Tantrums, Fits and Night Sweats!!

And I'm not talking about Lucy!

We have been home for about a month now and Miss Lulu has acclimated beautifully!  She has been to several Doctor's appts and has handled each one like a champ.  It looks as though Lucy will be getting her palate repaired along with ear tubes at the end of May.  This will be the first of several surgeries over the next several years.  We still have appts to meet with a neurologist and a occupational therapist in the upcoming weeks.  We are crossing our fingers that all will turn out great.

Now for the tantrums!

When I decided to be a parent, I knew that children had a wide array of  behaviors and I was willing and up for the challenge!  Who knew that I would be the one having the tantrums, fits and night sweats??

When I knew I was going to become a mom I asked my sisters, friends and anyone else who had a child, "why is being a parent difficult and what does that mean ?"  I am not sure I even understand the magnitude of this question since I am only embarking upon week 5, however, let me tell you what has hit me straight away like a freight train.

The art of  BALANCE!  How does one balance family and work?  I have been back to work for 2 weeks ( kind of) and I feel as though I am not doing anything well.  How does someone organize themselves so they are able to be successful within their career and a successful mom?  I never understood why it was difficult to do both until now, when I am  knee deep in it. 
Right now I am working on finding balance and my goal is to find a way that when I am at work, I am 100% there and when I am with Lucy she has my attention 100%.  I am still struggling through and organizing my life in order to make that a reality.  But day by day and little by little I think we are getting closer.  I am so grateful for DVR!! 

I welcome any advice from you seasoned parents out there!

All in all we are fairing well but that is a little misleading since Gram Pam is still staying with us.  God only knows what my tantrums and stress levels will be like once she heads back to Nebraska!  God help us!

Hope all is well.  Try not to take it personally if I am slow to return your phone calls.  I think this explains it all.

                        This makes it ALL worth it! 

Dr Appts and Poop Specimens

We are home and have survived our first week back! 

We left Beijing and had a 14 hour plane ride to Chicago that was followed up with a stop in Nashville and then onto Austin.  Needless to say, it was exhausting!  Lucy was a champ.  I was worried that it would be a nightmare flying with a child who was 18 months old but she held out and did not let me see her inner demon until we were 20 minutes from Austin.  This was when she let loose and bared all!

We spent the week hanging out with cousins and just getting acclimated to her new environment.  On Friday, we went to the adoption clinic to have a thorough analysis as to where she is health wise and where we need to be.  I am so grateful to have Gram Pam in town because I am suppose to get poop specimen from Lucy for the next 3 days and Gram Pam has been kind enough to relieve me of that duty!

We are setting a few appts with Occupational Therapists and Neurologist.  Lucy is not walking at this time and we are 99% sure it is lack of development due to under use but we want to make sure there are not any underlining reasons.

Lucy loves her furry sister.  She has learned to smack her lips when I say "kisses" to Jazzmine.  Jazzmine  then proceeds to lick her face.  I am not sure if Jazzmine is equally as fond of Lucy but she does enjoy the extra food she is now getting due to Lucy's need to feed herself. ( Independent!)

Overall, things are going really well!  We have a few more doctor appts this week but mostly we are just getting into the groove of things.  I will try to update you every week on Lucy's progress.

Memories of China!

We can not wait for everyone to come home!  We are very excited to meet Lucy!!!

Coming Home!

As our trip comes to an end I wanted to take some time to reflect upon what an amazing journey this has been.  After waiting 5 years for Lucy, nothing could have prepared me for the adventure that these few weeks would have provided.  We are so grateful to our guides that helped us along the way so I am going to highlight a few of them.

Yo Yo, our guide for a total of 30 minutes who lead us through the trenches of the Beijing train station.  Without Yo Yo, I am not sure we would have made it to Nanchang!
Cocoa, our guide in Xian, she provided us with our first traditional tea ceremony, what a treat! 
Then there was our Chinese comedian, Sang, Sang!  He took us down the Li River.  He ran up and down the boat shouting at us " 5 minutes!  Great Picture!  5 minutes!"
Jenny, our guide in Nanchang will always hold a special place in my heart because she brought Lucy to us!
And finally Kelly, our organized, resilient guide of Guangzhou!  Without her attention to detail and making sure my paperwork was in order, I may not have come back with Lucy.

I am so thankful to each and everyone of these people because they helped us survive and thrive while we were in China!

 I would be remiss if I did not thank all of you who have supported me in various ways while I was away.  I appreciate all of you and am thankful to have such a wonderful support system to allow me to make this trip a reality.

We are headed back to Texas.  I am anxious to get Lucy into her new home and help her adapt to her new environment. I will keep you updated as we go through Dr's appts and the transition of life in Texas.

I am including one last video that will highlight some of the key points of our trip.

Here's to  the memories!

Guangzhou!

Guangzhou!

We are in Guangzhou!  I know it has been a few days since I posted anything but I have just taken some time to get to know my little Bohemian Mama!  She is fantastic.  She has a personality and smile that can light up the room.  I am almost positive that God sent her to me to enrich my life.  She fits so well with me and the family that is uncanny!

We spent the first day getting her visa prepared so she will be able to fly home with us.  She had to have a medical exam(she weighs 23lbs and height is 31 inches).  All of the Chinese people that see her refer to her as tall and spicy.  The spicy is reference to the females of the Jiangxi province in which she was born.  But I think she is spicy because she is one spit fire with an attitude to accompany it.  She loves to do everything herself which I embrace so I am going to try to include a photo of her feeding herself.  She loves noodles!!!

We have been touring with another family who just adopted a 14 year old.  This story is so inspiring that I thought I would share it with you.

10 years ago, this family adopted a little girl from China when she was 4 years old.  For the past 10 years this little girl kept referring to her sister in China.  The family just thought the little girl was referring to the other children at the orphanage.  Well across the sea in China, a little girl kept telling the orphanage about her sister she had.  Again, the orphanage did not pay too much attention to the little girl until now.  The little girl is 14years old and soon would not be eligible for adoption so the orphanage looked into the little girls story and indeed found that the girl did have a twin sister who had been adopted 10 years ago and lives in the United States.

The Orphanage got into contact with the adoption agency who in turn called the family and asked if they would want to adopt the little girls twin.  So they did!  They are here with us in Guangzhou finalizing the paperwork for the twin sister.  The girls are phenomenal.  They are identical twins and have very similar mannerisms.  It has been thrilling to be a part of their journey as well.

We will be in Guangzhou for several more days and then we are back to Beijing!  I will keep you posted.