Jay-R's surgery

I am right now trying to convince Jay-R to go to sleep. He should be tired after a busy day of church and swimming with his cousins. It's almost 10 pm and we need to all be going to bed. We got home from Kory's parents house and had to take Ashleigh to her BFF's house for the night due to our early departure time tomorrow. Jay-R cried all the way home, "I want my Ate!" Ashleigh was exceptionally quiet all afternoon. She really wants to be at his surgery tomorrow but there is only 3 days left of school and she already missed almost 2 weeks this semester for our Philippines trip. So anyway, right now he is winding down but keeps talking. He just told me "cereal first" meaning he wants his cereal tomorrow before his surgery. He knows he can't eat when he wakes up in the morning. We explained that he was going to the hospital (he was there once for pre-op stuff), they would give him something to make him sleepy and then they would work on his teeth while he was sleepy and Mommy and Daddy would be there when he woke up. He seems okay with. There have been mornings when he wakes up and asks me to call the dentist so I know his teeth hurt. The surgery is scheduled at 7:30 am tomorrow (Monday)...if you get a chance, say a prayer for Jay-R and his Mommy and Daddy...and his sister who would rather be with him than at school. We'll give everyone a post surgery update tomorrow night.
ps-He's asleep! :)

"I love my school!"

That was one of the first things Jay-R said when I picked him up from school today. That was music to my ears. Tuesday and today he did "trial" runs and stayed at school until 2:30 meaning he has experienced naptime twice. He has adamantly told me for weeks, "no sleep at school." The teachers at school reassured me that he did not need to sleep, only to be quiet on his cot. I brought books and the picture album he had at White Cross along with a family picture including him added to it. He fell asleep both today and Tuesday at school. He told me that he slept and that he cried. I wasn't surprised he cried. I'm sure he felt disoriented when he woke up and he never really wakes up pleasantly from short naps even at home unless we are in the car going somewhere he is excited about. His teacher said he did really well. This really reassured me. Jay-R has his oral surgery on Monday and then I return to work full-time on Wednesday. I left his school today with a really good feeling and a sense of calmness and peace. I've been praying about this transition of me returning to my full-time job. Occasionally, I have to work 12 hour days at work but we will cross that bridge when it comes. For now, I am enjoying my last few days with him as a stay-at-home mommy and I promise to upload those camping pics soon!

On another note, I attended our daughter's year end awards program at school. She earned many different awards and a trophy for 200 Accelerated reading points. She also received the Presidential Scholar award but she's not convinced that President Obama signed all those awards. We are very proud of her and her desire to help Jay-R be prepared for kindergarten as well.

"Boom! Boom!"

Jay-R has experienced his first American thunderstorm tonight. I was sitting in his bedroom on my computer while he was lying in his bed...our nightly routine. All of a sudden, a huge clap of thunder exploded followed by lightening. Jay-R sat up in his bed and whispered, "I'm not sleepy anymore." I went to him and he clung to me tight! He was scared and on the verge of tears. So, he is sleeping with his Ate Ashleigh tonight who has graduated from being afraid of thunderstorms. Big sis will keep him safe tonight and he knows tomorrow it's back to his bed unless (he tells me), there's another "boom, boom!"

On another note, Jay-R had his first teeball game. We made it before the rain. It was cute watching the boys run the bases...from first to pitcher's mound....too cute! In teeball, everyone bats, everyone runs, no one sits the bench, and no one is out. Everyone is a winner and there are treats after the game. Life doesn't get better than that!

Picture Post

On Mother's Day, we enjoyed a nature walk at a local metropark. We are a family that likes to be active and outdoors. The picture of our daughter is her as a Junior Historian at the local museum. Isn't she cute? I love the braids...last year her hair wasn't long enough for braids. We had a great Memorial Day weekend and hope everyone else did, too. We enjoyed our first camping trip of the season and Jay-R's first camping trip in his life. Camping stories and pictures coming soon....

Here we go again...

Post placement visit number two is completed....two more to go. The two visits have went fine. Our social worker asks a lot of questions about Jay-R's adjustment and as we answer, she observes Jay-R as he runs through the room with his sister on the way upstairs to play together. From watching him, it's easy to tell, he is adusting rather well!

When we were on our first leg of this adoption journey and compiling our dossier, our international agency closed their office in our state forcing us to find another social worker to handle the things that needed done locally and not long distance. (Our international agency is two states away). That was hard. Anyone going through the adoption process knows and understands how important it is that you have a good rapport with your social worker. I joke that my social worker knows more about me than my own mother! You have to share personal details of your life. So, anyway, we found another social worker and we like her, too. Only, we found out at our post placement meeting that she is changing job positions with another agency so....here we go again! If possible, we may be able to transfer things to another agency and continue to use our current social worker. I need to research if there are any costs in transferring a competed homestudy. We do not need any additional, unexpected costs!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Saturday was our anniversary. We enjoyed our first night out sans children in months. My cousin and her husband kept the kids for us. We had to rethink our original plans of pizza and a nature walk due to the cold (will it ever warm up?) and decided to try Smoky Bones. We enjoyed the pulled pork and then did some window shopping at our favorite stores. We didn't buy much but enjoyed being together. The kids had a blast eating out, playing soccer, playing at the park, and just hanging out with my cousins. Jay-R learned some new phrases such as "Hey baby" and "Hey girlfriend." Thanks Chris for that one! It's cute...what can I say? He also did a cart wheel for the first time for us. He is such a monkey. Everyone had a great time. It was encouraging to see Jay-R bond so quickly with my cousin's husband because he is usually hesitant around men.

Today, Ashleigh did a presentation on the Philippines for her Social Studies class. Jay-R wore his barong to school to show the class the national Filipino shirt. He looks so handsome in that outfit. Ashleigh did a great job presenting to her class. She used Powerpoint and her class had many questions for her. She gave everyone a peso and some dried Filipino mango.

I'll post some pictures soon. I am awful about uploading my pictures. Both my SD cards are full! We got some great pictures Mother's Day of the kids. I will try to post those this week.

Growing in so many ways...

Jay-R is going through a growth spurt!

Lately, he has been eating like crazy. He eats all of his meal and then says he is still hungry! He ate an entire Wendy's kids meal and extras and was still hungry. He has also been trying new foods. He usually doesn't like them, but he is trying things. That is all we ask of him. Today, he told me he didn't like yogurt. I told him to please try it. He ate it all!

And, the sleep issue...we have a routine established with stories and all that. He has been waking up less at night and when he does, all I have to do is walk him or carry him back to his bed, tuck him in, and make sure his music is on. He goes right back to sleep.

The English is coming...he says new words every day. He wanted to work on his kindergarten ready pack today and he wrote his numbers willingly. He repeats new phrases as if he is processing them in his mind what it means.

It is fun to see the world through his eyes. We took him hiking in the woods on Mother's Day and he loved seeing a deer and walking through the woods. We can't wait to take him camping. We have a pop-up camper and he doesn't understand how we along with 2 dogs are going to sleep in there. He enjoyed his first S'mores at a friends house this weekend, and he loved it. It is also such a blessing to watch the brother sister relationship between him and Ashleigh evolve. They get along so well. He gets to go to Ashleigh's school next week for a presentation on the Philippines which he is looking forward to. So many changes in such a short time...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and waiting mothers!

Zoo Pictures

It was a beautiful day at the zoo Monday but very busy. Everyone residing in the same county as the zoo gets in free on Mondays (not us, of course!) so it was crowded along with many schools. But we had fun. I love the picture of him on the elephant statue. My picture was taken on that same statue when I was 5 and I have a picture of our daugther on the elephant when she was 5. His two favorite animals were the monkeys and the penguins. He had fun watching the penguins swimming. And, I have never seen the hippo out of the water lying on the ground so that was kind of neat to see. We bought a pass so we have year of zoo fun!

Emotional Challenges of Motherhood...

My family leave from work is dwindling down. I now have less than a month until I go back to work. I try not to think about it...it makes me sad. When we first came home, I was so overwhelmed with all the changes in my life and Jay-R's meltdowns, that I thought going back to work couldn't come soon enough. Now, that we have been home for over a month and he is adjusting well, I am sad about going back to work. I have mixed emotions. I love my co-workers and I miss the social and adult interaction from work. I also love my job as an Activity Director in a nursing home. I love the residents and I love my job-it's different every day! And financially, we need my income. That being said, I have grown to love my new position as a temporary stay-at-home mom. I get to be relaxed in the morning and not feel like I'm rushing my daughter out the door so she can make it to school on time and I can make it to work on time. I'm home when she gets home from school, and I get to be involved with her soccer team. And, of course, I get to be home with Jay-R all day learning more about him every day. My love and attachment grows every day with him. It will be hard going from being home with him all day to spending only a few hours in the evening with him during the week. I have also realized I am more insecure as a parent with him than my daughter. What I mean by this is that my daughter knew from the moment of her birth, that I was her mother and I would protect her and love her. Jay-R has only known that I am his mother since October (in pictures) and in person since mid-March. He is still learning to trust and to know that I will be here for him always. There is no doubt in my mind that he knows I am his mother, but sometimes, when I think about the five years of his life I missed, it makes me sad. We are beginning to make many memories and he is learning what being part of a family is all about. I know when I go back to work, it will be so hard to not have all this time I have now. Our plan is daycare (which is his preschool) 3 days a week and lola (grandma) 2 days a week. We really feel he needs the daycare setting to help transition him before kindergarten. Even now, it kind of bothers me when other people are holding him. I know it is healthy for him to bond with other people and by all means, I encourage this, but I always feel a sense of relief when he is back in my arms, his arms around my neck, and saying, "I love you Mommy". Being a mother is hard...trying to balance work, children, spouse, and your own sense of identity. I was able to work only part-time until my daughter started school and I loved having this time with her. And, I am thankful that I have been able to take this leave from work to have this time with him. In three months, he will be in kindergarten and our daughter will start jr. high. Children grow up too fast!

On a totally different note, Jay-R went to bed right at 9 tonight! Yeah! Hopefully the early drop off at preschool in the morning b/c I have a dr. apt. will go okay. He doesn't like the caregiver changes when they take bathroom or lunch breaks.

Picture Post

Jay-R is at preschool so I am using some of my free time to post pictures and then upload and order some prints. We visited the Butterfly House last Friday and he loved it! We were there an hour and a half and he would have stayed longer had we not needed to leave to pick up Ashleigh from school. He just sat in amazement and watched the butterflies fluttering around. One landed on me and he loved it! They also have huge goldfish in their pond and he loved those, too. He took the "no touching" rule very seriously, too. I am hoping to visit there again soon with Ashleigh, too, because she loves going there, too. The sand and water table pictures-he had fun helping Daddy put it together and then had fun playing outside. I found blue sand which was fun until we added water on Sunday-made quite the mess! And the box-what is it with kids and boxes? Yesterday, it was nice so we headed to the zoo. I'll post those pictures soon, too. He had his picture taken on the same elephant statue that I had my picture taken on when I was 5!

Front Page News....

Yes, we made the front page of our local newspaper. They did a story about Jay-R's adoption. They had called asking if they could talk to us. I love to talk to people about our adoption experience and to raise awareness about adoption. At this point, we have settled into a comfortable routine, and none of us could imagine our life without this boy with boundless energy.

Here is the link to the article (sans color photo): http://www.ourtownsnews.com/FUL/phillipine-adoption



I am looking forward to some girl time with Ash and her friend tomorrow. We are going to see the Hannah Montana movie. I'm not a big fan of the show but the movie previews look good. Kory is going to work on baseball with Jay-R. He has his first practice on Tuesday and he is so excited!



I promise to post pictures soon. The problem with digital cameras is it is soo easy to take a million pictures and then leave them on that little SD card. Since our Philippines trip, I have around 600 pictures I need to sort through and decide what I want to print. I have some pictures of him playing with his sand table and from our Butterfly House outing which he loved. I'll try to post them this weekend.