Dec. 10; First PP Visit and Getting Ready for a BIG Move!

 Dec. 10 ::

"As you probably guessed - we've been pretty busy and little to no time to hop on to post an update!!
We've had packers come for two days straight, our first post-placement visit with our social worker, and yesterday movers came to move everything out of the house.

So far it's gone pretty well - we've tried to just stay out of their way and to keep in one room to another to minimize stress for our lil guy. I guess the downside of trying to stay completely out of the way is that we've had things packed that shouldn't have been...like...important adoption paperwork...😨

Yesterday we ate out for the first time with him since getting home from China, and it went well! We went to Chick-fil-a and he enjoyed his chicken nuggets and playing in the play area with big bro and big sis. We then took him to the local community center's indoor play area. We honestly keep a very close eye on him around other kids. He hasn't harmed anyone, but when you've lived in a place for 2 1/2 years where hitting happened all the time...well..ya know.

We found a couple new favorite snacks - dried edamame beans and raisins.

We've been blessed with sleep since we've been home, but he's still not getting as much as he really needs for his age. Lastnight we almost got to 10 hours with him, but with waking up around 4a very restless like the night before. He's been sleeping in his pack n play by our bed nicely (which we're happy about!), and I go and soothe him if he wakes up and whines - and honestly give him a bottle (I know, not the best thing to give a lil a bottle in bed, but this is for his comfort - not going to take that away from him anytime soon).

It's been challenging to get ready for a move! Today I've been working on cleaning the house the best I can, all while tending to his needs. I'll leave to go upstairs (he's gated in the living area), and he'll shout "MOMMY?!!!!" I yell back, "Yes, honey????" And he babbles and says again..."MOMMY!!!!" As long as I'm answering back he seems okay, but I just try to take breaks and play or love on him when I can.

On the dog...we still have a gate up. *Sigh.* But..he fed Tarsus treats (by throwing them over the gate at him) and seemed to sort of enjoy watching him eat them up (that or he was hoping he'd choke to death on one..😂

Today Tarsus snuck out the back door and went running, so the baby and I were inside watching everyone try to track him down and he thought that was pretty funny (or again..hoping Tarsus would just run and never come back!).

He cracks us up so much. He'll have full-on Chinese-baby-babble conversations with me with the most *serious* facial and hand expressions. I typically just act like I totally know what he's talking about and chat with him through it and he loves it.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Iowa after we go to church. Today as I was getting things ready, emotions flooded. So many good memories in just a lil over 2 years of time. Precious friends. :-(
We'll break up our trip to OH in two days and stay overnight in Peoria, and hoping to meet up with a sweet friend of mine who just adopted a few months ago from China as well!"

                He could only take so much smothering at this point as you can tell by his face!

                                                Like a warrior getting ready to battle. Ha!

Dec.6 - A First Real Kiss

Dec. 6::
 
"Yesterday he learned to say, "Chwonnn, twooo, WEE!" (translation:: 1...2....3!!). Today I *think* he may have repeated "I love you" but won't say for sure.

As you see in the pictures - yesterday was pants on the head, today was socks on the hands. ;-)

Lastnight a sweet nearby friend (another adoptive-mama) came and brought us dinner! It was delicious and she also brought a bag full of snacks and goodies she knows her kids have loved (she also has a daughter from the same province as William!). That bag has been heaven to William already, and he *loooves* the shrimp crackers. 

Things have gotten better with the dog...somewhat. He's told the dog off multiple times (shouting at him, stomping his feet at him, etc) - which we thought was good because it showed some bravery...at least. :-D He'd also not mind if the dog came right by the gate near him, but there were times he was definitely scared by the dog unfortunately..so it will take time for sure.

Tonight Ms. Cosette and I got away to grab dinner and to go see a movie and that was really nice because we got time together and sweet boy got bonding time with Daddy. Before the movie I offered to get her an ICEE (which is a very rare treat) and she kindly refused saying it was too much), so I told her I really wanted to get her it and it's the least I can do considering how awesome she's been. We got home and baby boy was sleeping on Daddy. His bonding with Billy is gradually getting better and better which makes me happy.

He also gave me a first *real* kiss on the cheek, and hasn't been wiping my kisses off his as of late! The first time I kissed his cheek it was as though he thought it was the weirdest, grossest thing ever and quickly wiped it off dramatically. So yes...not seeing him wipe off kisses and giving me a real first kiss is monumental! :-)
 
Sidenote - my billfold was left in China! Thankfully it was in the lost and found at our last hotel. We've had some complications getting it shipped here and are still working on getting it back. Sadly, while pretty important, it's been the last thing on our minds.

Tomorrow packers begin to come and pack up things. I hope lil William does okay with them moving around the house. :-\ He doesn't fare super well with people he doesn't know (which is pretty much everyone outside of the 4 of us).

The next day they come again to finish up packing, and our social worker will be here to do our first post-placement visit. We've honestly got a lot on our plates, and could use prayer -- mostly for lil William through it all..our number one goal will be to make him feel as secure and comfortable as possible through each transition. I cannot wait to be in our new home and finally settled!

And about moving away from Iowa..I really haven't had time to process that (or many things for that matter). We've loved Iowa so much and will miss it."

First Two Days Home

I'm copying and pasting what I updated on Facebook during that time since it was written while things were so fresh on my mind!

From Dec. 1::

"We're home!!

We left our hotel in Guangzhou very early yesterday morning for the airport, and boarded our flight. We then flew to Shanghai where we had a connecting flight to Detroit. Then we boarded from Shanghai to Detroit around 11:30. We really had no time to do anything but get our luggage, re-check, and go through immigration and security again. Lil William honestly did surprisingly well. Of course there were times where he got restless, went crazy on tv touch screen several times, bounced in his seat, but over-all he slept a good bit and didn't cry for the most part which is pretty amazing. The main big cry he let out was on our last short flight (imagine that
), when the stewardess made us put him in his own seat and buckle him for take off and landing (he haaaaaates being strapped in). I sort of warned her he'd scream his head off, and she was trying to reassure me he'd be just fine but sure enough...he screamed. :-D The other flights let us get away with him simply being on my lap.

One of the worst parts of international travel (especially with connections) is the looooong waits to get through immigration, security, re-checking bags, etc. It's not so bad on your own, but add in a 2 year old and that makes things interesting for sure! He has done so well though considering.

We got into Des Moines around 5:30p, and went straight home. No fanfare, just went home and showed William around a tad. We're not hyping up "home" to him considering we're only here until the 12th and then we're off to Ohio. To him this will seem like yet another hotel stay. He seemed to immediately enjoy the amount of space though and started running around and acting goofy!

I need to get him on video when he's sweetly "singing" (babbling/singing) while dancing. It's pretty cute!!!

I'll post more tomorrow! And more pictures I couldn't load the last couple of days in China!!"

The first full day home; Dec.2::

"
Lastnight went worse than ultimately hoped for, but better than expected! Sweet boy fell asleep in my arms at 11:30p lastnight so I carefully put him to bed in his pack 'n play by our bed in our room, and we immediately went to bed to get as much sleep as we could in case he'd wake up mid-night. Sure enough he was up at 1:30a and very restless for 2+ hours constantly asking me to take him to the glider rocking chair to rock him, then back down to check out our bathroom, then to our bed and again and again...and again. Eventually around 4a he fell back to sleep in bed with us where we remained until 1p today! I'd say jetlag is alive and well considering we've been getting up around 6a...definitely not 1p!

We got up and William had hard boiled eggs (one of his favorite things to eat) and some warm milk. I woke up with a headache and my eyes wanting to stay shut which is unusual for me (I'm not a morning person per-say, but I usually always feel well in the morning and ready to start the day). A cup of coffee with mocha peppermint creamer has been heaven to me (I haven't had a full cup of coffee in the morning since pre-China, because in China they either give you very very little coffee or just having to handle William and forgo most of it).

We're just taking it very slow today. William is playing with stringing beads while the kids watch something on the tv (very thankful the tv is high and out of his reach unlike the last hotel's!).
Billy has already installed cabinet latches, outlet covers, and doorknob covers (we thought we'd just keep a close eye on him seeing we only have a week and a half...but...yea..;-)
 
New words are "Thank you, Mama" and others that he tries to repeat. And words he will be using for a while are "NO" in Chinese which sounds like "Boo-how" but he says it like "Bee-yow!!!" It took us a while to figure that out sadly. He's learning gentle touch more and more which is something we've worked on since day one. Throwing things has gotten better, but just this morning he played with left-over egg yolk from his boiled eggs and tossed those (so we have a lil ways to go!).

The time we traveled to China was *perfect* for weather. Absolutely comfortable. But it honestly does stink to get home to such cold weather when we'd love to take a stroll to the park, play on the trampoline, etc. It'll make our attempted cocooning a little harder being stuck indoors (harder as in...cabin fever big time!). We'll see if he'd like to go out still, but he isn't used to such cold. Even 65 degrees and a lil wind in China was cold to him."

The Rest of Our Time in China

This is a terribly late update, and for those of you who've kept up with our blog and who we left stranded since the last time we posted, you have our biggest apologies!! I've been meaning to sit down at the computer (something I don't do anymore) and update this blog, and today I decided I'd try to do exactly that.

Looks like we left off on Nov. 27th when we visited Shaiman Island!

Nov.28th came and we visited Guangzhou Zoo --- I'll go ahead and just paste what I wrote in a personal Facebook post that day (and I apologize for sloppy writing - I had to quickly do what I could since we were busy with William!):

"Today we went to the zoo and William wasn't terribly amused except at some monkeys where he made cute monkey noises at them. 😊

We're struggling with bedtime routine, but being in a hotel room combined with a toddler that isn't used to so much stimulation will do that! Bedtime in his case is basically when he's so tired and finally just falls to sleep on the bed and we very carefully put him in the pack N play. He doesn't take naps really, so by the time bedtime rolls around, we honestly enjoy the break, as much as we love the lil guy. Last night we fed him and got him to sleep and bed, and ordered Papa John's and enjoyed that while watching Jurassic Park on a very low volume. 

We only have two full days left and I can't believe it!! Most can't wait to get home, but I could stay here longer. Our stay in China has flown by far too quickly, and I would love to take in Williams birth country and culture more. I already miss China as I talk about leaving.."

Then that day came and went and here is what I posted on our last day in China::

"Yesterday was a big day and we went to his visa appt at the US Consulate here!! We get his visa today. 😄😂

Last night we went on an evening cruise with other families here, and it was so nice. Lil William seemed to enjoy it compared to other things we have done.

He's doing pretty well, and did better at breakfast this morning (we're pretty sure he's never sat in a highchair before being with us so that's been a struggle, except today he cooperated!).

Another highlight is that he will willingly lay down to be changed now and seems comfortable.

He's gotten more comfortable out in public and today he snuck out of his stroller and started walking to explore! Normally that wouldn't be a good thing except in his case, it is because he at least feels comfortable enough to do so whereas before he felt safest in my arms or just in the stroller.

I forgot to mention that we finally got him in the bath! At first I thought he'd have a breakdown, but it helped to have sis in there (in her swimsuit). He loooooved it!

Today we went to a beautiful park nearby our hotel (seriously beautiful). It had an adult exercise park and ping-pong tables. And everywhere you go you see elderly doing stretches, yoga, or hacky-sack.
The vegetation and landscaping is the most beautiful I've ever seen.

Today is our last day in China, and I hate to say goodbye. I really do. I love it here. I'll now dream of bringing William back one day and will look forward to sharing with him what I know and remember about his birth country/culture."