9 Days Post Surgery!

So, Garrett's surgery went well last week. He is still recuperating, but getting back to his old self little by little. He still needs plenty of rest, and suddenly having a nostril to breath through is a little tricky at night, but over all, he is doing great. I am hoping it all stays together the way it needs to in order to continue healing well over these next months.  I am amazed what his surgeon was able to do with so little lip tissue. He will be on a pureed diet for a few weeks, and keeping everything nice and clean is a challenge, but he is tolerating things much better than I would if it were me!

5 months

So, we celebrated our 5 month home date on Halloween!  The time is flying by. This upcoming Thursday, Nov. 8th, Garrett will have surgery to repair his cleft lip and palate! We are all anxious and excited to get it done.  I am hoping all will go as planned and he will have a smooth recovery with good pain management.  I just can't imagine his little face afterwards...  Last week, Alma and I both had the same dream that we were seeing him after surgery. It was so cool!
He continues to adjust fantastically to his new life, and is developing so well, I am always just amazed.  Over the last month, he has been speaking lots!  He understands pretty much everything, and is always able to get his point across with words, sounds and gestures. Once he has his palate repaired, he will start speech therapy. I expect he will be quite a talker! When I started back to work, he started staying with my mom during the day, with no issues whatsoever! We say goodbye at the goodbye window, and he always has a great day playing with the other children there. When I come home he runs to the door shouting "mama"!!!! I never imagined he would just fit right into all of our lives so easily.  Even Alma is still a wonderful big sister, after the novelty has worn off.  I still surprise myself when I talk of my "children"- I have 2 now! Thankfully, he is a wonderful eater, enjoying spanikopita, chana masala, quesadillas, and most of all- noodles/miso/tofu.  He still is unable to go to bed without me being in the room until he is asleep, and he is still a crazy roller/mover in his sleep.  There are still often times that I can't close the door to go to the bathroom or take a shower without an audience.  But his temper tantrums are now few and far between, and he is a happy, spunky typical 3 year old.  I can tell, sometimes he gets tired of kids asking about his mouth and taking a closer look to see "what's that little meatball?".  So, he's at just the right age to get his mouth repaired- and move on! Think good thoughts for the 8th!!! I will keep you posted when we return.

5 months home

Garrett dancing 1

2 months since gotcha day

And how time flies! Can't believe we have already been together for 2 months! Garrett amazes me every single day with his ability to go with the flow and enjoy so many new experiences! We celebrated his 3rd birthday at the end of June, went camping last week, had our first trip to the ER while I was packing to go camping (dislocated his elbow while playing- which luckily just popped right back into place on its own after having xrays), got bit by some bug while camping which made his face swell up (yikes), and went swimming today! We are just enjoying the summer, which is speeding by much too quickly (with way more foggy days than I would like).  Alma is still such a great big sister- I am so grateful that she is enjoying him and the extra responsibility she has now as a big sister.  I have taken Garrett to Stanford and UCSF for consults and will take him this week for a final consult at UCDavis before I decide where he should have his cleft surgery.  Then, we will get started with that.  I do wonder though- how will I keep such an energetic little guy calm and low key for the weeks following surgery?  He certainly keeps me on my toes!

Gotcha Day

Garrett's first day

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home over a week

well, since we have been home , Garrett is doing great! Took him in for a check up yesterday- just need to do some poop tests- fun.  I am getting the referrals going to have his cleft evaluated- I will take him to all 4 of the nearby cleft teams to find out what each would plan for him, then make the decision where we will go for the surgery. I am interested to see how each of their plans will differ.

So, where to start?  I guess with Gotcha Day.  On May 20th, at 4pm, Garrett was brought to our hotel room. Alma and I had wandered around town a little earlier in the day, had a little nap, set up a toy area and drew some pictures to tape to the wall there, then waited excitedly at our 7th floor window, peeking in all the cars that drove up to the hotel entrance wondering in which car he was!  It was so exciting!  Finally at 4pm, our guide called to say they were coming up.  Our guide, Lily, was wonderful. Such a fun, fashionable gal with a great sense of humour and very helpful the whole time we were in Nanchang.  Couldn't have asked for a better guide. Even through the worst of temper tantrums, she kept her cool and sense of fun!

We opened the door so we could see them come off the elevator, and there he was! He was a little weepy, and dressed up in pink fleece sweat pants and a little blue sweatshirt to go with his white lace ruffle socks and betty boop plastic sandles into which his wide feet were stuffed.  They came into the room, my guide, the driver the orphanage staff and child welfare director- all men except Lily.  Garrett wanted them to pick him up, they tried to help distract him with the toys Alma and I were playing with. We just hung out a little, he was very hesitant. Then after about an hour, all but Lily left. Garrett screamed, grabbing for them and cried heartbreakingly for about 10 minutes, then suddenly got busy playing with magnet shapes with Alma, and was done, never looking back.  I fed him a bottle which he guzzled down, and stripped him out of his super sweaty clothes, put on some cooler ones, and he just played and snacked the rest of the day, never crying again. 

That evening, he had a little stand up tubby, got into PJs and slept late the next morning.  I actually had to wake him up since we had to go the complete the adoption at the registration office.  I was afraid he would remember his situation when he awoke and cry, but when we woke him up, he looked up with a big grin and took a bottle!  It was just shocking.

Later at the registration office, he wanted nothing to do with the orphanage staff, clinging to me and playing with Alma.

So that's that for the first day-  I will be back to fill you in about the rest of the trip, little by little, as he is a busy guy! We are off to the beach for my daughter's school trip!

we're home!

 I think I am too jetlagged to give sufficient account of our trip- but while I have a free moment (the kids are sleeping) I wanted to give you a little update since we are now home, safe and sound and sleepy!  Our trip went smoothly, we had a great guide in Nanchang, and another in Guangzhou who both had a great sense of humour and made our time more enjoyable, as well as helping us through with the whole process.

Alma was a humongous help and is a terrific big sister! I am so grateful she was able to join in on the trip.  We did a little bit of sightseeing, and spent a lot of time hunting around for something we all wanted to eat, and played a lot with the fun stuff we brought along- yes the overweight luggage charge was worth it! Our hotels were both great, but it certainly is good to be home to sleep in our own beds and cook in our kitchen.

 Garrett is in great shape- overall a pretty happy camper and healthy- with a few heavy duty temper tantrums thrown in now and again just for kicks!  Actually, we all are adjusting to our new life together and having fun getting to know our little guy.  He loves making funny faces and getting a laugh out of us!  He is NOT thrilled about our cat or the dog yet- he is pretty terrified, but it seems to be getting a little less scary each day.  All in all, the transition is moving along better than I could have imagined and I am thrilled to finally have my son home!

up, up , and away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are off in just 3 short days! Thank goodness I have a mom who is a good packer! We are all packed, paperwork ready to go, looking forward to starting the next chapter of this adventure.  I just can't believe that by sunday, we will see Garrett walk through that door and will get to be with him, hold his little hand, hear his sweet voice!  We are prepared for whatever may come as far as his reaction to this big transition- think good thoughts for him! We are bringing plenty of snacks for him and fun things to play with to ease it along.  Hope we all stay well throughout the next few weeks, and make all of our connecting flights!

Fundraising Update

Adoption day is getting so close!  I want to give you all a fundraising update- for this would never be possible without all of the support from our amazing community and the grant organizations.
Our total adopt cost including travel for my daughter and son is $28,178.
To date, we have raised a total of $20,912.50    (!!!!!!!!)
Of this total, $12,462.50 was from individual donations ranging from $2.50 to $4,000 each
As for grants:
The Fatherless Foundation: $750
The Gift of Adoption: $5,000
The Affording Adoption Foundation: $1,500
We also raised $1,200 at our fundraising party, with so much help from my coworkers at the clinic- baking lovely cakes and treats, bartending, collecting donations- from my brother and his fiance DJing, and from such generous donations of wine and beer, coffee and goodies from
Thanksgiving Coffee
Goldeneye
Fort Bragg Rent All
Claudia Springs
Brutocao
Handley Cellars
Meyer Family Cellars
Greenwood Ridge
Greenwood Gold Apple Juice
The Little River Inn
Anderson Valley Brewing Company
North Coast Brewing Company
and donations for the silent auction from Shani Christianson and her artist friends

Our family will never be able to thank you enough!  You have helped make this dream come true!
We are flying to China on May 18th, will be united with Garrett on May 20th and will fly home on May 30th, arriving just in time to celebrate my birthday May 31st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life is good...

Gotcha Day!!!

Our official day to meet and hold Garrett forever is May 20th!  Once he is in our arms- he is officially a part of our family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  a new beginning for us all!!!!

Oh happy day!

TA!!!!

Hip hip hooray for a TA!!!!!!!  We are hoping to travel on May 20th to finally meet our little Garrett!!!! Yay!!!!!

one step further!

I received the I800 approval today! Soon, I will receive the travel approval, and I am estimating that I will be traveling some time in May- YAY!  We had lots of fun this past weekend taking some photos for Garrett, which I was able to send to him in a soft photo album through Ann at Red Thread.  I also sent him a disposable camera to take some pictures before we arrive, and a little note letting him know we are thinking of him everyday, and will soon bring him something fun to play with!

Hopefully, it will ease the scariness a little at least to be able to recognize our faces from the photos I sent.  I wonder how the nannies are preparing him for the big day???????

Three Cheers for The Fatherless Foundation!!

I am so grateful to have been awarded a grant for $750 from The Fatherless Foundation! Hip Hip Hooray! What a generous grant for our adoption! Thank you so very much.

Bal Mandir

LOA today- YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After stalking my email for the past month, today, on day 67 since our paperwork has been in China, we received the notice that we have been approved by China to adopt Garrett!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What a relief to be moving ahead with sending in his US immigration paperwork, and getting closer (by babysteps) to bringing him home!!! oh happy day! we can really get excited now!  :)

update from the orphanage!

"Garrett is the leader among the children his age. He is naughty and likes to fight over toys with other children. He also likes to play and hang out with the caregivers. The caregivers all love him. He can say some simple words, although not very clearly. Because his pronunciation is not very accurate, we need listen very carefully in order to understand him. When he interacts with the caregivers, he understands everything that is said to him. He is a very bright child."

trying to be patient!

I am STALKING my email, morning, noon and night awaiting the Letter of Acceptance from China!!! 
The shortest wait I have heard of so far, for this part of the process has been 36 days- today is day 36.  I hope we are on the shorter end of the spectrum- think good thoughts for those processing our paperwork over in China!!