Palm Sunday

Will is really learning to sit during church. He can sit by me or on my lap if he's not loud. But as soon as he is loud, he has to sit by daddy. Then if he continues, daddy takes him to sit in the foyer. There are chairs with windows that look in at the pastor so it's not like he can play. Then when he;s quiet he can come sit by mommy. :-)

Lately I'd say he is starting to have some sadness. Sometimes when I look into his eyes, they seem sad. He has started being defiant too. It's something new for him. He hasn't pooped in his pants without coming to me either before, during, or right after, he goes in his pull-up and tells me "momma, potty" in the 6 weeks we've been home. He has started being mean to us (more hitting, yelling, taking Libby's things, etc) and sneaky in things. Today for lunch the kids had leftovers (one of Will's favorites - a ham, potato, cheese casserole) and when Libby finished , she wanted some ramen noodles. Of course William wanted some than. Anything Libby has, he wants. :-) So he got a bowl as well. :-) Libby finished and went to play, William, very slyly, pushed his bowl off the table and , viola, he was done too!

Ah, the joys of mommyhood! I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!!!

Orthopedic and Craniofacial - done

Yesterday we had an orthopedic appointment where they took some x-rays of Will. His spine looks great - the one nurse thought he might have a slight curvature of his spine- but nope. Yay! :-) They also took some x-rays of his arm and hand. He doesn't have a radial bone in his right forearm and there is no thumb. Very very classic for VACTERL syndrome. We will meet with the hand surgeon in May. I think Will will probably have "pollinizacion" (something like that....that was off the top of my head tho) where they will make the forefinger into a thumb so he can have the ability to grasp. I think there is something they can do for the missing radial bone too.

Then we saw the cranialfacial doc regarding his cleft lip/ palette. He actually had a very good surgery in China, but the uvula is pretty funky. Well see the whole cleft lip/pallet team in about a year and they will be able to decide what could be done, if anything. We have a hard time understanding alot of Will's words so that gives him time to learn more of his sounds.

Here is a picture of the whole family...FINALLY! We are never all together long enough to get a picture so I brought my camara to church. Even there I have to act quickly because we usually take 3 cars cuz everyones going in different directions afterward! :-)

And here's one of William...he just loves ice cream cones!

Medical Appointments are beginning

Here is a recap of the past medical appointments William has had, and the upcoming ones.

First of all, we saw the pediatrician 5 days after we had gotten home. All was basically fine there and we decided to get a stool sample and have blood work done. At the Dr.s lab, they poked him a couple times and couldn't get a vein so they had us got to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. I decided to wait until I had an appointment with the International Adopted Children's clinic through the hospital in case they wanted blood for something else - that way he didn't have to be stuck over and over.

Some spring fun on the trampoline

I had the appointment with the nurse there for a "Welcome Home Appointment" (how cute) on March 21st abd I received a list of the doc's we will see....
-cardiology
-urology
-orthopedics
-general surgery
-cl/p drs (cranial/facial)
-genetics

We went to the lab that day and had his blood taken...it took 2 tries before they foind a vein that would give up some blood. That next Friday my doc called and told me the newborn screen they do came back abnormal and he's got "organic acidemia". We have to have bloodwork done again. :-(

I have the appts made, except we will also need an appt at the hand clinic at Froedert Hospital, but I'm going to wait and catch my breath.

March 31st, we went to the urology clinic. The Pediatrician thought he noticed a hernia so that was first on the list. He doesn't have a hernia, but he does have chordee and his test*cles need to get "tacked" down.

Next we went to get an ultrasound of his kidney. Made sure that there was only one (yup). Then we went to Cardiology. He had an echo cardiogram done and the heart doc said his CHD was GREAT! Both holes closed and there is an issue with his aorta where it's shaped funky, but we will do an echo every other year and watch it.

Both excellent news!

This Wednesday we have genetics and general.Then Monday the 11th, we have cranial/facial and orthopedics.

Here is my beautiful Megan and her guy Tyler. Aren't they cute??

after 1 1/2 weeks home.....

Will discovered PillowPets. He saw a commercial and went around the house patting his chest saying "pi-yo" and it finally dawned on us what he was talking about. :-) So of course we headed right off to Walmart to let him pick out his own.

 It's been so nice out so we got the kids out on the trampoline. Yay! They love it. Will keeps getting Joshua to take him out there during the day.

We Are Home!

Friday night at 10:00 pm we finally were home. The worst part of adopting, for me anyway, is the LONG trip home. Sitting on an airplane for 15 hrs with a new child. A layover in NJ that lasted 6 hours. Then a teeny tiny airplane that had to circle for an extra 1/2 hour at Mitchell Field cuz it was foggy/snowy/rainy and there was a slowdown with the 3 planes in front of us.


BUT


We are home! It's been fun getting William used to things we do here. Including dogs (!) , weird food, people coming and going. Now we shall start with doctor appointments. And I want him to meet our family and friends. He is just a joy to have in our family. Liberty is such a wonderful big sister. M,J, and J love him too. The boys think he is hilarious when he gets in his "acting up".


We had such a nice trip. We were there, in Guangzhou, with 8 other Madison Adoption Associate families. Our guide Connie was absolutely FANTASTIC! All of our appointments, re: our kids physicals, to all the paperwork, to the actual CA, she took care of. We had alot of good food. We got together at Lucy's Diner for meals sometimes. It's a little diner type restaurant that they "try" to make American food. We enjoy the effort and can eat relatively familiar food. :-) Libby and I were big on their grilled cheese. Mmmmm.

Connie took the group out to a traditional Chinese restaurant, and she ordered for us what she thought we'd like. She asked if it was ok to order their famous roasted pidgeon (squab? or something like that). So we had that, of course tea, fried rice, spicy chicken dish, fried pork and scallions (it looked like deep fried bacon), and some other dishes i don't remember. There was orange slices and guava slices for dessert. All very very nice.

Life is good!

Sometimes I wonder how/why God has blessed me so greatly. I have such a great group of people in my life!!!

What day is it even??????

Last day here. I wasn't sure if it was Thursday or Friday, but it's Wednesday. hehe. Must be because of OMOT syndrome ( old mom of toddler).


We are off to take the Red Couch photo then to dinner.

William got a haircut today. The gal was just trimming a tiny bit, and Brian motioned to cut of his Elvis sideburns, and she said "oh, girl?" lol Poor Will!

CA today....all done!

This morning was our consulate appointment. It went so smoothly and quickly. First we took the oath, the the gal called our name and she went through our paperwork. That's it. They tell you there is an interview, but it was absolutely nothing. She asks friendly questions like how is he doing, and that type of thing. Nothing at all. We're done! Will is ours! He is definately going to be a wonderful addition to our family. :-) The big kids love the whole skyping thing. :-)
We get his visa tomorrow and then we are going by van to Hong Kong on Thursday morn, and our flight leaves from there Friday morn. So it is looking like we might walk around HK Disney, the free part tho!
Then HOME! Yay!!!