We have been home now for a little over six weeks. It has been a little crazy getting used to having an almost-two-year-old, but we are starting to settle in. Although Kristi, who is famous for being early for everything has not been on time for much. We got to church early this last Sunday, but really only because I was teaching.
A brief recap: We got home on Friday March 13 and had an crowd of friends from FBC Bossier and from Lake Charles and Leesville...and Jamie from Lake Charles. It was very touching. Everyone had read my posts and we had food waiting for us at home--the Ben and Wendy Lee brought Mexican food and chips and salsa, and our friends decorated our house and brought food for the rest of the week. Over that weekend, Kristi and I both felt bad--her much worse than I and Amy Wilson came and sat with Amelia Belle (she still didn't like me) so I could shower and brought us food.
On Monday and Tuesday we had doctors' appointments. On Monday we brought Amelia Belle to the Cardiologist. She has a minor heart condition (VSD) and short of the hole being gone, we got the best news we could have gotten. The hole is high in her heart, very restricted and loud. That's all Greek to me---to bottom-line it, she has no restrictions,no medication, and no surgery. The doctor said she could run, jump, play professional sports if she wanted to and get married and have children--basically live a normal life. We will have to follow up every 6 months and then every year for a while, but that's normal. Next we went to the international adoption specialist. He looked her over and pronounced her normal, healthy and beautiful. He did instruct us to get blood drawn and take a lot of stool samples to rule out any abnormal infections, parasites and such---we just got that done last week. If she has any intestinal parasites we all have them.
In the six weeks we have been home lots has happened. We celebrated Easter, Thatcher finished up soccer and started baseball and just have settled into a normal life. A few of the highlights:
- Amelia Belle has SEVERE separation anxiety. She is clingy and wants to be held most of the time--but just by Kristi. Kristi doesn't have much of a break.
- We have tried to leave her with a few people. During Bible-study Miss Amber watches all of the kids and Amelia Belle will stay with her for a while. Carrie has kept her a few times and she has stayed in the nursery at church for moments at a time until someone comes to get us to tell us that she is screaming at the top of her lungs with HUGE tears.
- She's not in love with me yet, but we are making lots of progress. She plays with me more and more and lets me hold her. She likes me to swing her around and reaches up for me when Kristi is trying to get her to sleep.
- Thatcher is an AWESOME big brother. He loves his baby sister and is really proud of her. He brought his class to the computer room at school and showed them pictures of his trip and baby sister and told the all about the trip. Ms. Julie and Ms. Laura said he is a new kid--still very polite and well behaved but much bolder when talking to his teachers and friends.
- Thatcher started T-ball. He is playing with the Sidewinders. Most of the kids are at Providence Classical Academy where he will go to Kindergarten in the fall. Derek Johnson from our growth group is coaching and Thatcher's having a great time. It's cool to meet some of the other parents from Providence.
- We went to Lake Charles and Leesville for Easter. Amelia Belle got to meet her Douda, Uncle David and Aunt Jesi and Papa Ed and Glenda and went to lots of Easter Egg hunts. She also went to big church with everybody in Leesville. She did not behave so well (neither did her big brother).
- Amelia Belle is walking much better. She is still funny to watch, very unstable but gets around quickly.
- She is also saying a lot. Momma, Daddy, nite nite, Buck Buck, uh uh (for no), ouch, and a few more. She makes a lot of noise and our friend from church--a speech pathologist--told us that as verbal she is that she will soon have a word explosion and begin speaking a lot. It is also amazing how much she understands, considering she has only been hearing English for less than two-months.
- She says ouch really loudly when anything is bothering her, whether it hurts or not. Everything she does, every gesture, every sound is over exaggerated and loud. I imagine it is a coping mechanism to get attention or scare people or other children into giving her her way.
- She makes funny faces and gestures to music. We saw this from the very beginning. She did not like riding in a car in a car seat and we found that when we turned children's music on she began to bob her head, make faces and wave her arms. It is really funny.
- Thatcher and I have been seeing people using dip (crab) nets and fishing in the bayou by our house. We went and caught nothing, but Thatcher has been using a hoop net attached to a string in our ditch in front of our house, pretending to crawfish. At least he's not in front of the TV or video games.
- Kristi is having fun buying way too many girl clothes. I have the two best dressed kids in Bossier City. Maybe Bossier Parish.
- I bought a guitar and have had two lessons. Don't laugh. It won't be so funny when I'm playing to sold out stadiums.
- Amelia Belle has been using the potty. Saturday night, Kristi put her on the potty and she pooped. She did it again Sunday several times and now through Tuesday has continued to use it when she is put on it. Amazing. The kid isn't even two. We didn't think she was being potty trained in the orphanage, but our agency said that at any time, after an initial regression due to the "big change," the baby may resume where she was in potty training. Again, amazing.
So a lot has happened. I'm sure I've forgotten a lot. But to some it up we are extremely blessed in a lot of ways. We have great friends and family that have supported us and offered help and encouragement. While we have had a few minor frustrations we are figuring things out and have settled in.
