Happy New Year!

As midnight approaches on the last day of 2009, I'm reflecting on all of the changes for us in 2009. And that makes me wonder what 2010 will bring! The Adoption Roller Coaster ride is settling down (3 post placement visits to go yet, and legal paperwork to finish up everything). But life with 4 children will be anything but settled ;-).

There hasn't been much to report yet from Joshua's pediatrician visit. Blood was pulled, and stool samples turned in, but we don't yet have the results? A CT scan and/or MRI will need to be done, eventually. And a chest xray was done (continuous mild cough) and showed NO calcification in the chest, PTL :-) ( a risk with his birthmarking on the chest and back). But there is fluid at the tops of both lungs. Joshua started antibiotics yesterday to hopefully get rid of the fluid IF it's bacterial? He still seems pretty healthy otherwise :-).

The pediatrician approved the sedated eye exam and sedated dental surgery for 1/22/10. I don't know if "I'm" ready though!

Joshua has been fairly happy, healthy, curious, and fun most of the time. He's had spells of grumpiness the last couple of days also. Teeth? Antibiotic? Growing? We'll have to learn more Chinese and he'll have to keep adding to his new English words. :-)

THANK YOU ALL for your part in bringing Guan Yan home :-).
Cindy and Phil

First Pic of all 6 of us together at last :-)

Eye Appointment

The eye appointment today was a bust. I didn't know enough Chinese to help get Joshua to look at the eye chart, and he didn't/couldn't name the pictures he saw (or didn't see?) on the eye chart. And everytime the doctor shone a light in Joshua's eyes, he shut them tight :-}. So doc sent us home with a practice eye chart. And we'll practice the light in the eyes part also.

Joshua is at high risk of glaucoma where his Port Wine Stain birthmark covers the one eye. The doctor said he'll need that eye examined every 6 months for the rest of his life! He wants to sedate him at the hospital to get a good exam. :-( So the sooner we can teach Joshua how to do these exams, the better!

So we don't yet know if he's in the early stages of glaucoma in that eye. BUT he definitely is not in the middle or end stages of it :-). And that's a huge praise right there!

Joshua saw his first snowfall today, but he didn't like the flakes falling on his head ;-D.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Pictures and Dentist

Some say they missed word as to where to go to view pictures? Try www.calledtoadopt.shutterfly.com and password guanyan. I have many more to load :-), but between really awful jet lag and sheer busyness unpacking and trying to get ready for Christmas, I haven't yet had more time to use Ryan's laptop and load in more pictures (our main computer is definitely dead).

Joshua had what was likely his first dentist appointment today. By doing everything at the same time as big sister Toshia, he was able to see what she did first and then immitate. He did so well! :-) He even held still enough for 2 good bite wing xrays out of 3 tries!

He DOES have one new permanent front tooth... just an extremely early teether for whatever reason? Most children don't lose their front teeth until age 7. Joshua is not yet 5. While his teeth are badly stained, only 2 molars have cavities! Yahoo!

Unfortunately, those 2 molars are horribly decayed :-(. He'll need to be sedated at the hospital and both teeth capped after repairs. Since they already hurt him (he whimpers during every tooth brushing in that area, poor guy!), we'll have to do this ASAP. We're booked for 1/22/10 right now.

Off to the eye doc tomorrow. His physical will be next Monday.

Joshua didn't feel very well when he got up this morning, and had lots of spells of crying and tantrums this morning... the worst morning since we met him. Poor Robert cried along in sympathy. We unfortunately know too little Chinese to know what was wrong, but after the dentist, he took a FIVE hour nap. He's been back to his normal cheerful self since, PTL! Please help pray he stays healthy, and that his teeth don't bother him too much until we can get them fixed. THANKS!

We are Home!

Phil, I, Ryan and Joshua all made it safely home yesterday afternoon :-). PTL!! I'm sorry I didn't post right away. We were wayyyy beyond tired. Everyone was in bed and sound asleep by 7:30pm, LOL. Some by 6:30pm. We are definitely "off" though. Phil was up at 4am. Joshua, I and Ryan got up at 4:40am, though Ryan was able to go back to sleep. Hopefully we'll readjust soon :-).

Joshua loved his 3 airplane flights home :-). And he laughed and chattered excitedly to look outside at sunrise this morning and the see the MOUNTAINS out our windows :-). He has been busy exploring EVERYthing... even the inside of my file cabinets, LOL.

Phil is gone right now meeting his brother, Bruce, 150 miles away to bring home Robert. It will be a dream come true for me to have all six of us safely home. :-)

Joshua cried and cried when Phil left. And he had cried and cried when I left earlier to run a quick errand 2 miles away. Attachment is going well!

It is SO wonderful to be able to access everything freely again, including this website!

My computer, with all it's emails and email addys, failed to fully start when we got home :-(. So if I haven't emailed you directly, please forgive me. I think we'll have to wait for our wonderful Costco rebate in February to get a new computer here at home up and running :-). PTL the old one lasted JUST long enough to get all the paperwork and emailing and printing done we needed to do pre-adoption!!

THANKS again SO much for all of your prayers for this adoption and trip :-). We sure felt them!

Almost Home we Pray!

Today was our Oath Taking Ceremony at the US Consulate in downtown Guangzhou. All of our US Visa paperwork is in, and we've duly sworn to something (the swear-in was done in front of some 50 adoptive families at once and Joshua had HAD it and was screaming through about half of it). So hopefully Joshua's US Visa will be issued tomorrow! We'll be picking it up around 3pm and heading another 2 blocks or so down the street to the train station. We're scheduled to take the 6:15pm train to Hong Kong.

We learned today that once we land in Seattle and take Joshua through customs, he will become a US Citizen right then and there!!!!

His behavior has really gone downhill the last 2 days also. I suspect he's wondering why we keep taking bus and boat trips and STILL come back to the hotel in China? :-} His 4 yr old mind can't grasp the "wait" part. Maybe he'll improve when he finally DOES get to leave China? We pray so! Have I told you all this child is LOUD?? ;-D

And the bathroom issues! ;-D I think I FINALLY get his phrase for "I have to go to the bathroom NOW, right this second!!". LOL - we've had some... ahem.. interesting experiences not being able to understand his Chinese when he has to go in public! And he is not at all above using perfect strangers to tell us he needs to go now! ;-} Poor boy!

Thanks for the Prayers!

We learned after breakfast this morning WHY Joshua GuanYan (yes - I think we need to adjust his name as he ALWAYS refers to himself as Guan Yan, and never as just Yan) felt cranky and had a bad night's sleep, and then didn't eat much breakfast. He was breaking out with hives on his leg and abdomen!! :-O

PTL another family suggested maybe it was a reaction to the cute Chinese costume he had been wearing for a few hours the night before for a Holt photo shoot? Maybe? Or the Chinese jeans he had been wearing before and after the photo shoot? Or?? I say PTL because I found out the only pediatrician Holt trusted a child to see was some 30 minutes away in downtown Guangzhou. Phil and I quickly searched the internet to see what we could rule in and out on our own first.

Also PTL I had boughten some skin rash medicine with Tea Tree Oil in it (in case of lice - a non-poison first try). We bathed him, spread the Oil on, gave him a dose of allergy med... and within the hour he was looking and feeling lots better :-). The hives haven't come back yet tonight, and he's back to his active, happy self :-). Whew!

We're all SO ready to come home! Two more sleeps in China and hopefully we can take that train to Hong Kong and head home!

Thanks for the prayers. I put a few new pictures on shutterfly. The bulk are on a different camera that needs charging first.