Warm days, cold days, in-between days

Isaac and I spent a good part of the day together 

as we went to see the urologist.  In his file from China

it mentioned that he had Hydronephrosis.  Nothing was done

for his condition since he "appeared healthy and was developing

like the other children".  Thankfully, his condition hasn't gotten 

worse (as far as the doctor could tell) and that it is "mild to moderate".

What a better way to wait for the doctor 

than to down a big, cold bottle of milk!

More testing is scheduled to see what is causing Isaac's 

kidneys to be enlarged.  We'll have that done

on Feb. 14.  

Meanwhile, Isaac has been working on counting.

He's doing a great job!

Jennai continues to amaze us with her abilities.

She rolls here, there and everywhere.

One night while I was working on the computer

she wanted down on the floor.  Soon I heard her giggling

and looked down to see her sitting up on top of 

Guille's Lego box.  

My, she was proud of herself!

Here, watch for yourself:

The boys each decorated a rice crispie house.

Jennai helped Isaac a little bit...

mostly by eating his candies.

They were fun to decorate... and eat!

Zoom, zoom, zoom!

Cardboard boxes make great cars.

This little lady loves to go places.

This particular day, she rolled over to me

dragging her snowsuit.

Temperatures warmed up for a couple of days

and the kids were able to play outside.

Isaac is a bit short to reach the pedals on his trike,

but he'll get it one of these days.

Guille really likes riding his bike.
I think Spring will bring the adventure of
removing the training wheels.

Both boys had fun cruising around in the

dune buggy. 

Isaac discovered the donkey in the front yard.

Guille used to like to "ride" the donkey too.

The warm temperatures and melting snow

made for a large "lake" in the back yard.  

The boys had a great time stomping through the puddles.

Whatever Guille does, Isaac is only a few steps behind.

How he adores his big brother! :)

Yep, she's on the go again.

She brought me the snuggli and pointed to the door.

We didn't go anywhere, but she had fun thinking we might!

Even while wearing pjs she's ready to go!

Jumping has been a favorite thing to do this week.

We all had fun finger painting.

SOMEbody missed the paper!

For the most part, we are adjusting pretty well
to life as a family of 5.  Guille and Isaac  play together
very well and both boys are quite the protectors of their sister.
She is not too happy when they get right in her face,
but the intentions are good.  She loves playing near them
and if they go to another room to play, she's not far behind.
Just like any 3 year old boy, Isaac continues to test his boundaries.
Some days it is a hard balance setting those boundaries
and working on the attachment and bonding that are
a necessary part of the adoption process.
We are making progress though!
We've tried to take Guille with us when one of us has to go somewhere,
or even just to spend a little alone time with him.
I think he misses having all our attention, even though
he loves having his brother and sister.
The other day he asked if he could go outside to play.
Knowing how much he loves being outside,
I bundled him up and sent him on his way.
I looked outside a little later to see this scene:

The wind was blowing a little bit, so he didn't hear me 

slide the door open and sneak out to sit down beside him.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" he asked me.

"Oh, I just came out to snuggle with my boy!"

After a quick snuggle and a big grin,

he was off to play with sticks and mud.

Thanks, again, for keeping us in your prayers as we continue to 

learn what is best for our kids.

They certainly are treasures and we want them to know

how special they are. 

My 3 “protectors”

This evening Guille and Isaac donned their “protector” gear (pieces of paper taped around their waists and calves) and bounded up the stairs to protect us all from fire, storm and bad guys.  After supper they wanted to put their gear back on, so we lined them up, and taped on their protection.  Jennai watched with all smiles.  I decided to wrap a piece of paper around her waist too so she could play with the boys.  Oh, was that a great move!!  I took a picture but had to promise not to post it, so you’ll just have to use your imagination.  All three had the chest protection but Jennai was the only one who had her underwear covered.  I guess a lot of those superheroes wear capes and underwear though, right?  Anyway, we went upstairs and she “raced” the boys to the top bunk. (I carried her.) Her little legs were moving a mile a minute as she giggled and gave the victory move as I set her down on the top bunk.    It was so precious to watch the three of them playing together and having such fun. 

 OK, so I started this post three days ago.  The kids are still enjoying being our protectors and have moved up to more “permanent” chest gear.  Guille made his own from a flat rate mailing envelope and pipe cleaners.  Isaac’s is made from a thin box tied together with a twisted up grocery bag.  Jennai still uses her paper protection.

 The weather has been really nice the past couple of days.  The boys have been out playing on the playset…in the snow.  Since it’s been warm, they come in quite soaked.  But, as soon as the snowsuits dry out… they’re ready to go back out.  I decided it was time for Jennai to get out and play in the snow too.  So I put on her snowsuit and put her in the snuggli, strapped her onto my chest, grabbed the sled and away we went.  All four of us got in the sled and “zoomed” down the hill.  (It’s a small hill, actually the sand mound in our front yard.) 

 Isaac the snowman

 Enjoying the playset

 CRASH!... Giggle, giggle!

Jennai watching the boys

 First sled ride

 Those boots just kept slipping out from under Isaac!

Try as he might, he just couldn't get up.

Isaac had his appointment with the urologist and he does have enlarged kidneys.  The doctor wants to do a couple more tests to see what’s causing them to be enlarged before he decides on a plan of action.  So sometime in the next week or so we will go have those tests done.  The doctor did say that the hydronephrosis is mild to moderate so hopefully the treatment won’t be too bad.  Meanwhile he continues to be a happy camper and a great imitator of his big brother.

Guille has been busy playing with legos and creating lots of flying machines out of them.  He built one “jet” that was close to 2 ½ feet long.  He has been doing a great job of keeping his legos contained so they aren’t toooooo tempting for the little ones.  Getting back to school has been a slow process.  With all the doctor appointments, jet lag (which THANKFULLY we are getting over!), and other interruptions we have yet to get into a routine.  We try to get a little bit done each day and are working back up to a “full day” of school.  Yesterday while working on math he said he had cobwebs in his head!    

Jennai and Isaac both enjoy talking to Gramma and Grampa on the phone.  I think they would spend the whole day saying "I love you Gramma", "I love you Grampa" if I would let them.  And, I think Gramma and Grampa would probably listen to them all day!! 

We "forgot" to open stockings on Christmas day (a bit jet lagged??) so we decided just to wait until January 6 to open them.  It was a good way to talk to the kids about how the Kings took gifts to Jesus when he was a small child.  It is also the day that God confirmed to us, 4 years ago, that Guille was a gift from the King of kings to us.  And what a gift he is!! 

And the Cardiologist said...

Today Jennai and I headed to Children’s Hospital to see a pediatric cardiologist to see how her heart is doing.  Back in April, when she had her cleft lip repaired, the doctors in China discovered a hole in her heart.  The cardiologist in China decided to go ahead and repair the ASD (Atrial Septal Defect)  since Jennai was not showing any signs of cardiac distress at that time and they didn’t want her to develop any problems.  When we adopted her we got the report that she was doing well and that she had been taken off all medication.  Well, since it IS her heart we’re talking about, we decided to get it checked out, just to be sure it really was doing well and there was no need to be on medication. 

The nurse did an EKG, the doctor listened to her heart, they did an echocardiogram (ultrasound) of her heart and then gave us the report.  They said, “Everything looks very good!  It is an excellent repair.”   

 Thank you, Jesus, for healing our little girl’s heart. 

In other news around the house, Isaac is the one who is turning out to be the picky eater.  Hmmm…. Go figure!  In China he loved to eat noodles.  So one night I decided to fix noodles and another night I fixed spaghetti.  And, yep, as any silly kid would do… they ALL slurped the noodles and made a mess… but isn’t that what noodles are for???  

We made a trip to BK to play at the indoor playground

 and have lunch.

Isaac and Guille played together 

and Isaac even scrambled up the big steps 

to come down the big slide. 

I think we are finally settling in.

The last two days Isaac has been all giggles.

I think he figured out that he is finally home... and it's a good thing.

I love hearing his laughter and the twinkle in his eye is delightful.

Elizabeth was over to play yesterday and Isaac got right in on the fun. 

 I don't think it will be long until Jennai is in the middle of it too.  In fact, the other night the boys had set up the little plastic bowling pins and were having fun knocking them down.  Jennai watched and laughed and then... rolled across the floor and took HER turn at knocking the pins down.  Where there's a will... there's a way!

 Snack time

Don't YOU want to come have noodles with us?

That's all for now.  Thanks, again, for following our story and praying for us along the way.

Happy New Year!