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...