There's No Place Like Home...

The travelers have returned safely, albeit quite tired. It is so amazing to have everyone under one roof. It is our first day back in the grind. Dh had to return to work today. He will have more time off next week after the arrival of baby boy 2. It is not even 9 AM and I am already ready for a nap :) Four diaper changes (we add a newborn to that mix next week), breakfast prep and clean-up, playing, trying to get in a little school, and catching up the laundry. Life is going to be busy for awhile and I feel incredibly blessed that it is.
Dh, Banana, and Joseph arrived in the late afternoon on Sunday and after such a long trip, they were all exhausted. Poor Joseph couldn't keep his eyes open and fell asleep after only a few hours. Everyone was in bed quite early, except me. I just couldn't help myself, once dh was sleeping I kept going to check on the little guy and even looked in on my sleeping girls a few times. It is so nice to have them all together.
Joseph has had some trouble with jet lag. The first night he was up for hours in the middle of the night. I tried to comfort him, but he wanted dh who was quite tired from his trip. Poor dh was pretty tired again yesterday. We spent a relatively quiet day at home (as quiet as can be expected when you have two almost two year old toddlers, a three year old, and two older girls excited to see their dad and play with their new brother). We only ventured out to celebrate Mass as a family. We were blessed to have our first Mass together with Juliana be Christmas morning, and yesterday we were equally blessed to have the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul to celebrate Joseph's arrival, and we did indeed feast.
Last night, Joseph slept much better. He was only up for a short time early in the night. Unfortunately, the jet lag has caught up with dh and Banana. Apparently Banana was up at 3 AM, and she was shortly joined by her sister Bear (who claims she didn't miss Banana too much and yet gets up at these crazy hours to play with her). Dh was up at 4 AM. I can't imagine how he is going to make it through the work day. I am sure it will be another early night for us.
Joseph is such a cutie. He is quiet and likes to watch the girls. He is constantly looking for something new to examine. It took him some time to warm up to me, but with dh back at work he has had little choice. My heart melted today when I extended my hand to him and he grabbed it and walked around the house with me.

The girls are enjoying playing with him. Bear in particular seems to have developed quite a bond with him. She is a little more rough and tumble with him. Banana is my amazing helper. I know I will be relying on her more than ever. Bophie is Bophie. She enjoys having the extra commotion so she can play a little more on her own. As expected, Juju is having the hardest time adjusting. She is very sweet to Joseph, she constantly calls him "baby." It seems odd to hear this as he is just as big as she is. She is perhaps a little taller, but has more fine features. Joseph is more solid and his hands and feet are definitely quite a bit larger than hers. In a short time, after finally being well-fed, I expect he will outgrow her. Each time we change Joseph's diaper, Juju has to have hers changed. If he gets a hug, she is right behind looking for one as well. If he gets socks, she needs new socks. He gets tickled, she shows us her belly for a tickle. I expect this will last a short time as well.

I am quite proud of myself for getting out such a long post. I have been up and down from this seat more than a dozen times so I apologize if it seems disjointed. I imagine this will be typical of my posts (assuming I get the chance to post) for at least a few months. I also am sad there are not more (and better) pictures to add. The camera batteries were dead when dh arrived home and so we still don't have a good family shot. Come to think of it, there still isn't even one picture of Joseph and me. I suppose this is the plight of a fifth child :)

Thank you again for all the prayers, kind words, and support. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Now only one more countdown. Baby arrives in three days...

It's The Final Countdown

2 days till Joseph...
7 days till baby boy...

This morning was my final OB check-up for little baby boy. Since I am scheduled for a c-section and don't tend to go early, these check-ups are usually fairly quick and painless. Blood pressure checks, the dreaded scale, and listening for the heartbeat. Since dh has been in China, I have just taken the three little girls with me. They do pretty well and it is typically not a long time so a snack will bribe them.

Today, I pushed my luck. We got up early to make it to Mass. Then we went for breakfast, then a few errands, then to the appointment. My quick and easy appointment turned out to be quite a bit longer than expected. My doctor decided because of some inconsistencies in baby's movements, it was a good idea to do a non stress test. This was my first test of this kind so I didn't know what to expect. Turns out it was well over half an hour of being strapped to a monitor with three little girls, including an almost two-year-old and a three-year-old, at nap time in a teeny-tiny exam room with what felt like paper-thin walls. The girls were pretty well behaved, but I would not, by any means, call that a NON-stress test. It was to me the epitome of stress :) At least I have peace of mind knowing baby boy is doing just fine.

I suppose that stress has to be put in perspective as well. With less than two days until dh returns, all four of my "I cannot deal with this while dh is gone" list items have managed to be averted. The list?

1. NO labor
2. NO stomach bugs
3. NO car trouble
4. NO major household appliances/electronics troubles

So far, so good.

Please pray for my travelers this weekend. They will be leaving tonight and have almost two days of long flights, long layovers, and a toddler who doesn't like flying.

Joseph's Red Couch Photos

For those not in the China adoption community, I explained the red couch photos here.

Guangzhou

I know it has been a long time since I posted. Trouble is, I have had three little ones full of boundless energy with Dad half a world away and unable to rough house, tickle, and run around with them. On top of that there is a fourth little one, in utero, sapping every ounce of energy I seem to have. We have been trying to get out of the house a little more so that the girls can burn some energy. The end result is that I am tired and the girls still seem like they could go for hours.

Meanwhile, in China, Dh, Banana, and Joseph arrived safely in Guangzhou. Joseph apparently did not enjoy flying on an airplane and this does not bode well for the long trip home with one leg of the flight lasting 14 hours.

They are enjoying Guangzhou much more than Zhengzhou. It is warmer (60-70 F), and there seems to be more to see, better restaurants, and there are more adoptive families to meet. Banana, in particular, is enjoying talking to the children that have traveled to China with their families. She is also enjoying the breakfast buffet with more Western options. Joseph continues to eat well. Our morning Skype conversations usually end with him fussing to get down to breakfast.

Dh and I spent quite some time in Guangzhou for Juju's adoption, but it sounds as though they are venturing off Shamian Island much more than we did last year. They visited a toy store which dh said was an absolute madhouse. At Banana's insistence, they went to the zoo. Dh thinks a zoo is a zoo, whether here or there, they are pretty much the same. They have explored some new markets, and revisited some of the ones dh particularly enjoyed on our last trip.

I have done my best to pick out some good pictures from those dh has had a chance to upload. The first or second day they were in Guangzhou dh was excited about the more than 40 pictures he had taken that day. I couldn't wait to see them. I couldn't believe it when I looked through all the pictures and found king cobras, slaughtered alligators, skinned opossums, and the likes. In all those pictures, there was not one, not one, of little Joseph. I gave dh a hard time that evening. He responded that Joseph prefers to ride in the stroller quite a bit so he felt like the only pictures he would have of Joseph were all just him in the stroller:)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Joseph tries on Dad's new hat. He looked all over for one of these on our trip to Juliana. He found one in a store for the Chinese Police.

Hanging out with his oldest sister!

No idea what this is, but I liked her smile-- the little girl's, not the statue :)

Apparently Banana gets a real kick out of the mopeds and motorcycles being driven on the sidewalk. She said they do slow down when they get close to pedestrians.

Joseph's Gotcha Day

** Sort of Gotcha Day, the real gotcha day will come when we are all together as a family. We have a few more weeks for that :)

It seems odd for me to be writing this post, I really wish blogger was not blocked in China. I will do my best to relate dh's experiences.

Dh and Banana left early to go to the Registrar's office. When they finally got to meet Joseph they were surprised by how big he was. He seemed to be much bigger than Juju who is a little over a month older than Joseph. They also really liked his leather pants-- leather lined with fur. From the video it seems that Joseph was fairly comfortable with David. He was quiet and withdrawn, but became more anxious when handed to his sister for a moment. He later warmed up to the notion of Banana holding him.

After signing the necessary paperwork they left the Registrar's office and came back to the hotel. Unfortunately, there was some paperwork mix-up and our adoption guide had to take him for a few minutes. Dh knew I was anxious about seeing little Joseph so he called. I really thought he was kidding when they said they had to take him back for a moment. It isn't fun to play games with a woman who is nine months pregnant.

After a few minutes, Joseph was returned to them. He was quiet, but content to have dh hold him. He laughed when tickled, and seemed to really like any snacks he was given. He sat on dh's lap for quite some time then got on the floor and played with Banana. He instantly was drawn to the noise-making Tonka truck and laughed each time it made any sound.

Joseph was getting hungry so they were going to run out and get lunch and stop at the store for snacks. I thought it was a good idea to give the little guy a bath and try on some of the clothes they had taken. I was worried everything would be too small and they would need to pick some things up while they were out. Dh said he was going to sign-off and get Joseph in the bath. I asked him to leave the Skype running, even if I couldn't see, I could hear and be part of the day.

Dh started to undress him and all I could hear was, "Oh my goodness" over and over again. It seems the leather pants weighed about 5 lbs and they were just the first layer of clothing. As they peeled back the layers both dh and Banana said he was much smaller than they thought. After a quick bath it turns out most of what I sent will be a perfect fit. Even the shoes seem to fit him.

Since it was 3 AM here, I finally had to sign off. They needed to feed the hungry child and I had to try to get some sleep. Again, technology is amazing. I am so thankful for it. It is still not a good substitute for being able to hold this little one and I am anxiously awaiting their return.

Miracles

You'll note from the time stamp on this post that I am up much too late. It has been a very emotional day for me. I started about this time yesterday and have only gotten minimal sleep so please bear with me if I ramble or don't make sense.

I spent the day with my sister and family as her surgery time got pushed back further and further. After she was finally taken to the pre-op room, I left to come home and tuck my little ones into bed. Shortly after that I got a phone call from my youngest sister. She told me they had decided not to do the transplant-- my heart fell. All that for nothing?

It turns out this was the very best news. They decided not to do the transplant because when they were able to get a good look at her heart doing what they call a TEE (an intense echo cardiogram) they found that her heart was functioning rather well. The doctors think that because the LVAD has been doing the work for the damaged heart, it has had time to heal itself. They now think there is a good chance that given a little more time her heart may heal enough that she would be able to have the LVAD removed. Essentially, they felt her heart was too healthy to transplant. There are no guarantees, but they felt that her chances of healing were pretty good. Praise be to God.

She was sedated, but no incisions were made. The last update I heard, they were waiting for her to wake up so they could share the good news. Thank you all for your prayers. We are so blessed.

I am also up late tonight because this is the best time to see little Joseph in action. They are 13 hours ahead of us so I have to be up at odd hours if I want to Skype and see the little guy awake. He is coming out of his shell today and seems to be more active and noisy. He especially likes a little truck his aunt DD sent him and laughs when he sees it. Unfortunately, dh has grown a little weary of the noises it makes. Apparently he hit the button non-stop for about 45 minutes yesterday as they were trying to make their way through the registrar's office. He also has followed Juju's footsteps and cries whenever dh is not in sight, even for the few minutes dh showers. I remember how trying those mornings were.

I will get to my Gotcha Day post, hopefully tomorrow, after some much needed sleep. I will try to post lots of pictures. Thank you again for all your prayers.