one month

Caleb has been home for exactly one month. Seems like he has been part of our family for much longer. He just fits. Doesn't hurt that he is beyond cute (don'tcha think?!!)and has one of the sweetest little voices you've ever heard. Even if we have no idea WHAT he is saying most of time!

He said his first English phrase about a week ago: "every letter makes a sound" from the Leap Frog Learning Letters and Sounds DVD. He sings that phrase over and over (with a Chinese accent!). So STINKIN cute! He still hates naps. This afternoon was the first time ever that he didn't throw a massive crying fit when I laid him down. Thank goodness! A month of daily nap battles has been my limit. Now we need to get him to sleep ALL the way through the night and not just until 3 or 4 or 5 or even 6am. All are way too early for this mama. I bought a CD alarm clock this week for him. We are trying to teach him to stay in his bed until the music starts playing. I think that after only three days he has finally understood! We're hopeful for longer naps and nights.

Summer break is dwindling away and I'm definitely not ready to go back to work (so to speak!). I am almost caught up on laundry from our beach vacation last week and am now faced with having to get school started soon. I usually like to start by August 1st, however, considering that I still haven't ordered all of the curriculum, it isn't looking too promising that we'll make that date this year. Where has the summer gone? Oh ya, it went to China. And South Carolina. And a few weeks got lost somewhere in there too. Maybe a trip to Target to buy some new school supplies will get me excited about it?! I DO love new pencils and journals and Post It Notes and colored folders and new crayons and...

We did have a wonderful vacation at the beach. We all needed some time to bond together as a family and just hang out together.

So our not so perfectly timed vacation ended up being just about perfect. And thanks to the generosity of my parents, it was about as cheap as a vacation as we could do (which was good b/c a night out for ice cream for a family of six costs about $20.00. YIKES!).

And, lest you think that our real life is drama-free or always as cute as the pictures I choose to post here on my blog...

This is what the first day looked like for Caleb. A lot of this

and a little of this...

Before he finally warmed up to the idea of the beach (and all of it's sand and scary crashing waves!).

currently...

on vacation...

When we planned our family vacation last year we thought we'd be in China in the winter...possibly spring at the latest. NEVER, NEVER did we think we'd be in China in June. So our mid July yearly vacation w/my parents and brother's family seemed doable. Well, as it turned out just as I had unpacked and caught up on laundry it was time to pack again for our beach vacation. It has turned out to be a really good thing. It has been nice to just relax as a family. More pictures to follow later.

a rainy 4th of July

This is what our 4th of July ended up looking like...from our garage.


It rained just about all day long. So we spent several hours in the garage. Lovely, huh?! Actually, the kids couldn't have been happier. Caleb was thrilled with the fact that he was wearing Daddy's work gloves.

Add:
a purple umbrella.
and a plastic pumpkin.
and a bike that you can't ride b/c the training wheels are lost.


and two sisters and a brother to enjoy it all with


and it ends up being a really great day. Even in the garage.

i'm glad i didn't know

We took Caleb to his first doctor appointment yesterday with the international adoption specialist. The bottom line: he looks great! His immunization records are superior and his current stats (height, weight, developmental milestones) are GREAT. Aside from a slightly awkward shaped head (from laying on his back for nearly the first 15 months of his life), he looks much like any other 4 year old boy. He loved being poked and prodded by the doctor. Really. He just smiled and giggled and thought it was so fun. The doctor couldn't get over how easy going and happy he was. She said that the other doctors will just LOVE him. Most kids aren't so thrilled to be examined!

Which brings me to my next point: other doctors. We have a LONG list of doctors and specialists to visit. Most involve getting opinions of when/how to further correct his cleft palate and lip. Here is the current list of appointments I now need to set up:

pediatrician - dentist - orthodontist - ear/nose/throat - craniofacial - plastic surgery - speech pathologist - and, believe it or not, a few others...

So, ya. I'll be busy running around and sitting in medical offices for the next few months. And you know what I thought when I left the hospital yesterday with this huge list of doctors to contact? I'm so glad that I wasn't told this last year b/c I'm not quite sure I would have signed up for this. I'm pretty sure that if I had been told that Caleb would require so many specialists, doctor appointments, and surgical procedures I may have said no. I may have thought it was too much. Too much time. Too much emotional stress. Too much money. Too much for me to handle. But you know what? It isn't. It's what our son needs and that's pretty much it. We'll do what needs to be done.

So today I'm thankful for what I didn't know a year ago. To think that we could have said no to a list of medical issues and missed out on this sweet thing...!