waiting for my family to come and get me!

waiting for my family to come and get me!
There's no place like home!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Gotcha Day


Garrett's first day

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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

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!

Monday, June 4, 2012

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!