Updates

The boys first day of school outside before we head in. Mommy's little monsters!

First Day of School 8-24-09

Checking out Caleb's Cake!!

I'm 3 Mama!!

One Year Ago

One year ago today our family of three became a family of four as we all went to Fuling, China to meet an 18 month old little boy named Fu Bao Gao. Mama, Baba, Joey and Lao Lao boarded a bus for a 90 minute trip from Chongqing to Fuling to meet this little boy that would be coming home with us. We were all so excited and nervous as well. How would he react? How would Joey react? Is he going to scream for hour? Is he going to shut down and ignore us for days? All we wanted to do was hold him, hug him and kiss him but we knew he would not be ready for us at all. How do you explain to an 18 month old that they are going away from everything they have ever known in their short life?

Here we saw "Gao Gao" from across the room. He is trying to figure out what is going on!!

Brothers at Last!! And Joey starts taking care of Caleb right away!

One scared little boy, not too sure what is going on clings tight to Baba.

Brothers in every way!! Christmas 2008 the best of buds!

Getting to be such a big boy!

Baba, Caleb & Joey

What a year it has been, Caleb went from this scared boy to the most happy kid. Joey and Caleb love being together and are rarely apart! Caleb wakes up happy and goes to bed happy. We have been blessed with the most amazing children. Thank You God!! And happy one year "gotcha day" Caleb. WE LOVE YOU!!

go Barefoot!

Reflections

Best Buds Joey & Caleb

Joey's first day skiing!!

Reflecting back on 2008 it was an amazing year of changes, challenges and growth. Our amazing son Caleb was added to our family almost a year ago. Joey and Caleb amaze me every day how well they have adjusted to their life with Lee and I and with each other.

Caleb had two surgeries that you would never know he had...........even the day after. What an amazing boy. He has the brightest outlook and is always smiling. Joey, he is always the caretaker. He takes care of his brother and always comforts him when he is not feeling well. If anyone is not feeling well he is there to offer loves and help you out. We are so blessed with our amazing children.

It has been a year of challenges for me. It was a huge adjustment growing our family and working through all the "normal" routines for us. At times it was very overwhelming for me and I fear that some of my personal friendships were severely neglected in the process. As 2009 gets underway I hope to rekindle those friendships. Any of my dear friends or family I have neglected this past year I am very sorry!!

It has also been a year for growth. I am back in school and think I am finally figuring out what I want to be when I grow up!! I started selling some amazing children s books and I have started taking better care of myself in many ways.

I hope everyone has an amazing 2009.

Christmas

What is in this bag?!? Caleb getting into his first Christmas!
Caleb, Baba and Cousin Sydney playing.

Fun stuff!

Caleb is one COOL Dude!

Santa brough me a Rammy!!

(AKA Colorado State Marching Band CD)

New Adventure!!

I have always had a passion for books and now having 2 adorable boys from China I am always looking for great resources of books about China and other diverse cultures for Joey and Caleb. I found that through Barefoot Books and have decided to join their team. I am now a stallholder with them and wanted to announce to everyone they have some beautiful books and gift packages available for the holidays. Please click on the attached banner to visit my website and see what's available. Let me know what you all think!!

Caleb's Surgery Update

Caleb's surgery went well yesterday. They repaired his Hypospadias and rebuilt the opening for the uretha. We were also able to have an injection done that we are hoping will stop the kidney reflux. We wont know for a few months if that is successful or not so we stay on the antibiotics until we can retest him. His testicles seemed ok once they had him completely under sedation. So all and all it seems we accomplished a lot. And the reflux we were expecting to deal with next year but it seemed to make sense to try this. We were able to come home with no problems. He slept a lot yesterday and was pretty much back to normal this morning. Around 11:30 he was saying he hurt and when I went to change his diaper his stint in his penis had pulled out some so I called the Dr. He said to come to the hospital and he would readjust it for us. By the time we got there the stint had come out completely and so the Dr just removed the stitch holding it in place and we are going to watch everything. It is too risky with the swelling to put the stint back in place. We will follow up with the Dr again next week.

Thank you to everyone that was sending thoughts and prayers our way!!

Caleb's Surgery Tomorrow

Caleb is scheduled for surgery tomorrow September 3rd. We expect this surgery to be outpatient and we hope to be home in the afternoon. Please send your thoughts and prayers our way as Caleb has another surgery. This should be the last one for at least a year!!

Caleb's First Football Game!

Caleb had a weekend full of firsts!! Not only did he turn TWO on the first but the night before his birthday he went to his first football game!! We have season tickets to Colorado State Rams and we really enjoy going to the games and Joey is a HUGE fan. His favorite animal he sleeps with is "Rammy" a white CSU Ram we got at a game last year. Caleb enjoyed his first game and at one point was cheering "Hooray" then "Boo"he couldnt decide what he should be cheering so he went with both!!

Caleb's Two!

I can't believe my baby is two already and that he has been with us for six months!! He is amazing. He LOVED getting gifts for his birthday. He wasn't too sure what to do when it was time to open presents but I think he will have it all figured out by the time Christmas gets here and he see's Joey next month opening his gifts. He loves the movie Cars and any kind of moving vehicle. Planes, trains, but most importantly CARS. Joey picked out a set of matchbox cars for Caleb and he wouldn't hardly put them down all night long. It took until tonight before he was really interested in some of his other toys!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

More Summer Fun Pictures!

Summer Fun Pictures

Poor Delf is now officially "Kid's Stuff"!!
Burrito Boys!!
4th of July Fireworks Show

Vaseline Anyone?!?

Ok...........so I know this started out innocent enough.........you know a boy has gotta have a little vaseline when he is changing his pullup right!?! But I think this is getting a little carried away!!
I have to keep patting my head to make sure I got

ALL my head covered, I would hate to miss a spot!!

And just for the record in case you have not tried this yourself................vaseline DOES NOT wash out with shampoo. Makes it very difficult when boy in questions HATES having his hair washed!! The boys definately keep life very interesting and full of tons of adventures. I am learning more and more every day. They say you should learn one new thing every day to stay young. At this rate I think I should live forever!!

Caleb's Adventures

Caleb has decided to have a busy week this week. After a fun day playing at the lake Sunday the boys were playing in the dining room and next thing we know Caleb is crying and when Ba Ba picks him up his eye is bleeding. Well after cleaning it up a little we can see that his skin has popped open on the corner right next to his eye.

We go out to talk to Joey and try to find out what he hit it on and Joey is hiding under the table systematically pulling all the chairs in around him. Well.........after explaining to Joey we are not mad at him that we just need to know how Caleb hurt his eye in case we need to go to the Dr. he decides to come out of hiding. I call Lao Lao to have her come over and watch Joey so we can take Caleb to the Dr. In the mean time Joey is "demonstrating" on Rammy (his CSU Ram he carry's everywhere these days!) what happened to Caleb. So as far as we can tell via Joey's demo is that he either dropped the booster seat on Caleb or he put it on Caleb's head and pushed down on it..................so off to the Dr. we go and the thought they would have to do stitches but were able to use Dermabond to seal everything up. Here are a couple of pictures.

So............we are thinking ok........crisis over..........we are done for a while..........BUT..........

Caleb has other ideas!!

Monday night I come home and Lao Lao and I are getting ready to go to golf lessons and next thing I know I am in the other room and Caleb is crying and Lao Lao is asking him if he is ok. Go into the room and he had decided to stand on the couch and try to get Lao Lao when she wasn't looking and stepped (or tried to jump) off the couch reaching for her and landed hard on his arm. Well he gets up and is not using his arm at all!! We finally get him to raise it to about shoulder height but it just doesnt look right.

SO..............I call Ba Ba and tell him to come home we are going to Urgent Care again tonight!! Lee comes home and Lao Lao stays home to take care of Joey for us again! Well, by the time we got there and in to see the Dr the Motrin I gave him at home kicked in and he is moving his arm just fine like nothing ever happened!! Ba Ba has now told him no more visits to Urgent Care for the rest of the year!!

AWESOME BLOG MAKEOVER!!

We just got the most amazing blog make over from Diana. She was waiting for her adorable daughter Dori when we were waiting for Joey and we were memebers of the same DTC Group from July 2005. I was so excited when I learned she was doing blog makeovers because I had been looing into them for a while. What do you all think?!? Also......she designed this great signature to match!! I love it all!!

Joey's Art Project

Joey decided to express his artistic side one afternoon. I guess the rockers just look better in blue!! As well as Joey!!