Pumpkin Eater Turns Two

While this is Peter's second birthday, it is probably the first birthday he's been able to celebrate. It's hard to believe that it was just a year ago that we were gearing up for our trip to bring this little guy home. We've seen that serious look on his face quite a bit this first year, but every day it's there a little less. For the most part we get smiles now unless he's somewhere unfamiliar, or if everyone is looking at him. 

Each day we see more of his personality emerging. Yesterday while trying to dress the crew of boys, he had already been changed and dressed, but when he saw the changing pad out and heard me call Joseph he came running and quickly laid down. When he heard my reaction he gave out the most mischievous little laugh. He's going to be a little prankster. He's also a little climber and has some serious flexibility to go with that little build. He and Juju have some incredible gymnastic skills. Unlike Juju, Peter has little fear.

As the third little boy, he's going to need these skills to negotiate with his older brothers. This threesome certainly keeps me on my toes. 

Peter is all about food. He doesn't tolerate being hungry and boy is he ever particular. He especially likes sweets and snacks. He wants to be just like his brothers and often asks to sit at the table at meal time. It was amusing to watch him try to tackle pizza. 

How blessed we are to have this sweet, quiet, special boy. He melts my heart with his infectious laugh, his desire to be loved, and his crazy antics. I am so thankful he was given to our family. What an amazing gift. 

Our Newest American

Little Peter is finally on the road to recovery after his surgery. We are starting to see the sweet little boy who stole our hearts. It has been a rough two weeks, with many follow-ups and a trip to the ER. Finally, we are getting some sleep and I hope to put a surgery post up in a few days.

Surgery Update

Finally, I'm getting around to posting this update about Peter's surgery which has been written a little here and there. Sorry for the long post, but this post is more for my own benefit, remembering this piece of our family history.

Peter's surgery took longer than expected, but the doctors felt it went well. His recovery on the other hand...not so well. When Joseph had this surgery I was totally unprepared how difficult it would be to see him in pain. When they wheeled him into his room in this large white cage, my heart broke. You could hear him crying all the way down the hall and he was writhing and thrashing in pain. I thought that since we knew what was coming with Peter it would be easier this time around. It wasn't. It was still so very difficult to watch our child in obvious pain. Still, I found comfort in the fact that he stopped crying when I held him. These first few months Peter has been home have been all about bonding and I was so glad that I could provide him some very small measure of comfort.

When Peter first came home we had quite a bit of difficulty feeding him and getting him to take even liquids. Thankfully, there was a doctor on the trip to China who assured David his thirst would eventually kick in when he wasn't as stressed when Peter consistently refused to drink anything. The trauma of this surgery left Peter again refusing to eat or drink (really who can blame the kid), and we had to stay at the hospital longer than expected. We tried so hard to get him to drink anything, but he just wasn't having it.

At home, we continued to have to practically force any food or drink on a little one who cried more than I thought possible with less sleep than I thought possible. We spent the first week post-op trying to comfort the very uncomfortable one, worried about him not eating or drinking, and all with minimal sleep. I felt like I was a couple cups of coffee short of normal-- only I couldn't have that coffee because of little baby girl in utero.

On Sunday morning, after a week of little sleep and nerves shot from the crying, I noticed that something in Peter's mouth didn't look right. It appeared that he had two tongues. Knowing he had been wearing his no-no's (arm restraints that keep his arms straight), I knew he couldn't have gotten anything into his mouth. When I looked closer, thank goodness for the flashlight app on my iphone, his palate had fallen and was resting on his tongue. I immediately ran him downstairs to show David who had tried to let me sleep in by taking the crack-of-dawn kids who didn't understand how sleep deprived their parents were. He quickly called the hospital.

By the grace of God, our surgeon was at the hospital. When he realized we were local, he met us in the hospital half an hour later. He had already scheduled the OR, and in no time at all we were back in the same waiting room until there was news about this new procedure to stitch his palate back to the roof of his mouth.
When we finally got to see him, we were again taken aback by how small and miserable he seemed. This time they had so much trouble inserting an IV that the only place that they could get it was his forehead. He had many bruises to point to how many times they had tried other locations.

We were able to go home that afternoon. Peter did a better job with drinking and as long as I was holding him, he seemed in better spirits. He had a comfortable little spot on top of my watermelon stomach. The trouble was that he would just get settled and almost asleep when Baby Girl would start to kick and jab letting him know he was invading her space. This would frustrate him and there were inevitably more tears. Sibling rivalry sure starts early. At night, Peter was frustrated at his arm restraints. They have a long piece of velcro that sometimes had him stuck to his sheets. He also likes to curl up and that just isn't possible with those things. It was a miserable three weeks for him.

It took two more weeks of fussiness and a very serious little boy before we finally started to see glimpses of the sweet boy we were beginning to see before the surgery. His laughter was a balm to this weary, hormonal mother who wanted so much to bear all of her little boy's pain. The more he laughed and played, the better we all felt. Now weeks out of the surgery he is such a sweet, funny little boy who laughs, plays, eats like a horse, and enjoys trying to keep up with his brothers. Thank goodness that ordeal is over...

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

I'll let you decide which one is the Butcher, Baker, and Candle Stick Maker...

Palate Repair

Bright and early tomorrow morning, if it can be called morning, we will be taking this little one to Children's Hospital to have his cleft palate repaired. The surgery is expected to last three hours. Your prayers are much appreciated. As parents, both dh and I wish we could spare him this day and would gladly bear the pain for him.

For the three months this little boy has been in our home we have done all we can to let him know how loved he is and I dread tomorrow. Today as he played with his brothers and sisters laughing, giggling, and climbing (he is quite a climber), all I could think is it's a good thing he doesn't know what is coming tomorrow. It is heartbreaking to know he will be in so much pain. No one could have prepared me for how difficult Joseph's palate repair would be and it is that much harder knowing what we are in for this time around. Still, we know we are so blessed to have the opportunity to help him get this care. How blessed he is here and has a family to help him through this process. How different his life could have been...

As we drove home from Mass today, I tried to explain to Banana that Peter's surgery, while painful, is necessary for his health. Right now he seems fine, his palate doesn't seem to be causing trouble, but in the future it will impede his speech development, he may develop an infection, and his life is generally better having his palate closed. While it seems harsh to put him through the pain of surgery, it is better than allowing him to remain in this state. Sometimes we have to endure great pain to remedy something that might seem like it's no trouble, something that we've learned to live with. The end result, though, is that we are able to grow and develop properly, we avoid bigger problems in the future, and our health, physical or spiritual, is so much better.

Please keep this little one in your prayers tomorrow.

Peter's Baptism!

DH here as guest blogger again.

On Saturday we baptized our dear little Peter! Nikki and I are so happy to welcome Peter into the Church. The sacrament of baptism is such a beautiful, wonderful gift. Our family is blessed to have this little boy become a Christian.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:18)

In light of our adoptions from China, Mark 16:18 has always struck me as rather apropos. How wonderful it is to be able to bring a child from such a distant country into the family of God.

If you look closely at the photo below, you will see Peter grabbing at the water as he is about to be baptized. Father Gregory remarked that he has never seen a child want to be baptized as much as our little Peter. :)

Here is Peter with his favorite person. For some reason after we returned from China, I have become chopped liver and Nikki reigns supreme.

God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. (1 Peter 3:20)

Feed Me Cake!

Or, in this case, bread pudding. Unlike our other children, Peter needed to be coaxed to eat bananas and still doesn't care for watermelon or peaches. He does like bread pudding and doughnuts, however.

I say, enjoy the freedom while you have it, Peter. When you get home it will be asparagus and brussels sprouts!

Free Day

DH here. Today was a free day for us. That means we didn't have any adoption-related appointments or group events that we needed to attend. We decided to be adventurous and take a taxi out to the Yellow River Scenic Region. It cost 300元 for the trip, but that included the chain-smoking taxi driver who turned into an instant tour guide. I'm glad he decided to be our guide because there was no way we would have gotten back to Zhengzhou on our own. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Adoption Day!

DH here with another update. Today we took a 15 minute bus ride to the China Adoption Registration Center as well as the China Notary. Even though we were done at noon, everyone was rather tired afterwards. Part of this had to do with an overly hot bus and part had to do with the nature of 13 children who were not in the best of moods.

Peter, Bear, and Grandpa were all very patient as Dad checked and double-checked the required paperwork at each government office. It was a good thing too because there were a couple mistakes. Luckily, these were not made by DH. Once these are fixed this afternoon, Peter will officially be ours. It will then be illegal for us to abandon him in China. Given how attached all of us have become over the last 24 hours, there is no chance of that happening.

P.S. Don't tell Nikki that Peter likes McDonald's french fries. I told him to enjoy these while we're in China because when we get home Mom will only be feeding him healthy food. :)

Gotcha Day!

A very happy DH here! Today was Gotcha Day for our little Peter. While he was very serious at the Adoption Office, back in the hotel room Bear had him giggling and laughing in no time.

Peter doesn't want anything to do with the bottle but enjoyed some baby food and seems to be a very content little guy. Tomorrow we go the the Registration Office to finalize his paperwork.

We can't wait to come home and have Peter meet his mother and the rest of his family.

Enjoy the following photos and pray in thanksgiving that this day finally came!

We have our TA!!!

Finally, we are nearing the end of our paperchase alphabet soup. We just received notice that we have received our Travel Approval, meaning we are welcome to travel anytime to pick up our dear little Peter. We have one more step before booking our tickets, we have to make a Consulate Appointment which will finalize Peter's American citizenship.

Right now we are being given two travel options and really hoping for the first. The first option means dh will leave in about 10 days. It will put them home around one month from now. In one short month that precious boy could be home with his family. The second option means waiting a few more weeks and puts them home right around Easter, with a strong possibility of being a day or so after Easter. For so many reasons we are praying for that first option.

We should have definite travel dates in a few days. Please continue to pray for Peter and our family. For those IRL friends and family, please understand if I seem a little overwhelmed, frazzled, and such the next few weeks. The long wait finally ends with absolute chaos as we prepare for this trip and the arrival of the newest family member. Why, oh why did I leave so much to the last minute? Suitcases to pack, locate clothes for the new boy, find a dresser, move bedrooms, prepare travelers, prepare for weeks without dh... the list goes on and on.

In the end, God willing, this little boy will be home with a family that loves him dearly-- and that is worth much more than the waiting, the endless paperwork, and the ensuing chaos.

Happy First Birthday Peter!

Today is Peter's first birthday. I have been asked at least half a dozen times (I do have half a dozen kids) if we could have birthday cake even though he can't.  It is a bittersweet day for us. On one hand we are so thankful for this precious child. We anxiously await the joy we know he will bring our family and are so thankful he has been given the gift of life. We are also grateful we have been given the gift of sharing his life. It is difficult because we aren't there yet. This milestone reminds us how many hardships he has endured. In a culture that lavishes children on their birthday, we are poignantly reminded that today there will not be presents, there'll be no cake, nor candles, nor singing. He will spend another day and night in an orphanage waiting for the love of a family.

 He is too young to understand all the preparations we are making, can't see the mounds of paperwork we are slowly but surely making our way through. He can't hear his many brothers and sisters who pray every day for him. He can't comprehend how his life is about to change. Soon enough, God willing, we will have him home.. and then we will have a true celebration!

**The pictures were sent to right after Christmas to show how well Peter has done after having his cleft lip repaired. He will have his palate repaired after we bring him home.