Birthday month

February is a much loved month for JD!  It's his birthday on February 15th and a day he cherishes now that he has a family.   The back story is that I love my birthday ....LOVE my birthday!  and it's a family joke that the month of December is my birthday month and I make sure each day that get that!

Well, JD's month is finally here and he's loving it.  Yesterday Zoe wanted to have some potstickers for lunch and JD did not.  So as she was eating hers he decided he wanted some and she kept saying no (such loving siblings!!) and he kept saying, I just want one and she kept saying no (get the point???).  I was in the other room when I heard JD say "well, it IS my birthday month and I'm suppose to get whatever I want".  I laughed so hard and when I told Steve he said....yep, he's your son!!! 

Last year he had his first ever birthday with us and we took him and a bunch of friends to Chuck-E-Cheese (hello 2nd mortgage!!!!).  He had fun and said thank you to us a million times.  This year I asked what he wanted to do and he decided he didn't want a friends birthday but to spend the day at MOA (Mall of America to you outside the lovely state of MN) and buy whatever he wants at the lego store.  So....that is what we're planning to do tomorrow (Monday) if the weather cooperates!  We're expected to get a blizzard but hopefully we're able to go.  I'm so happy he gets to make his own plans for his own birthday and that he wants to be with us!   His actual birthday is Friday so we'll plan a meal of his choosing and I did buy him a drumset that we'll give to him and I know he'll love that.

I can't believe this is only his 2nd birthday with us and yet he's turning 11.  We missed so much of his life but you'd never know it with how quickly he's made his way into our family and it feels like he's been with us forever.  He's truly the most loving child and is thankfully for everything that we do/give to him.  We were able to send him a cake in China to share with others 3 years ago.  I'm putting those pictures on here as they bring back such wonderful memories for us.  We had all the proper paperwork stating he was our son and were waiting on the different steps that would take us to the ultimate gotcha day.  We had sent a photo book of our family, a few toys, and of course a Minnesota Vikings knit hat.  For his birthday we sent a cake, camera and a stuffed animal.  He still talks about the stuff we sent him and that he wasn't allowed to keep it but had to share with others.  That makes me so sad and ticked off!  This boy who is so compassionate to others was treated so unfairly. 

anyway.....these birthday pictures were sooooo exciting to get as we waited to get him and we fell more in love with him!!!

Love this of his cake and bears!!! The girl in the pink looks like she's wanting that cake....NOW!

Handing out cake to his friends.  Look at that smile!!!  I just imagined him so proud to share

Seriously??  more pictures?!?!!?  Can't I finally just eat my cake now?

surgery

JD had surgery again.  Thankfully it was only ear tubes and nose cautery but still not fun.  His ears are just a hot mess and hopefully will get better soon.  He has fluid and some hearing loss and I think they are waiting to see if this second set of tubes will help do the trick or if we need to go into further treatment.  He also gets nosebleeds and so they thought as long as they are in they would cauterize in  his nose.  Our ENT said he started with the left side and it was bloody and got it taken care of and then moved to the right side...yikes!  I guess that side was bad and he basically had to chase the bleed way back and do lots of cauterizing to get it to stop and hopefully find the end of it.  He is thinking it's a congenital thing and that JD probably has really thin membranes that makes his nose bleed easily. 

While he was under anesthesia he also had a pretty lenghty MRI of the brain and full spine.  It's more of a comparison to one he had last year and make sure that there are no significant changes and the normal stenosis a person with dwarfism has is withink "normal" range.  We meet with the neurosurgeon next week to discuss those results. 

I've discovered that JD comes out of anesthesia quite agitated and angry (totally unlike him) and we just have to go with the flow until it's out of his system.  They lost one of his socks in the process and that threw him for a loop and I had to keep assuring him that he has plenty of socks and will be okay! 

this is JD beofre surgery

and after

Happy National adoption month!!!

November is national adoption month and a great time to talk adoptions.  I'm going to start with how we got "into" adoption.

July 2004 we heard thru my cousin about a girl who just found out she was pregnant with a little girl and due within the week and wasn't prepared to be a mom or raise a child .  I jokingly ( well, half jokingly) said we'll adopt her!!!  Well, after talking to Steve and my cousin talking her her gal it was determined....we were adopting a baby!  Life got very hectic very fast.   Let me say this started on a Saturday night and by that Monday we were in talks with a lawyer and an adoption agency and totally out of our element.  On that following Wednesday my cousin called and we needed to head to Duluth (about 2 hours away) because the mom was in labor.  We got there and witnessed the birth and then reality set in.  I had 2 days to get home, get baby stuff together, have the lawyer work on the paperwork and start our home study with the social worker.  Friday we headed back to Duluth as a family of 4 and came home a family of 5.  I quit my job as we had a newborn to care for now and there was no way to work.  CRAZZZZYYYY.  We had such great support from family and friends and our wonderful neighbors brought gifts and were excited to welcome her to the 'hood.

The mom was calling a few times and her and her totally wacko mom (who never even came to the hospital to bring her distraught daughter home) came to see the baby as what I assumed was a goodbye.   Well, a month into having the baby the birth mom called and said she was taking her back.  WTF?!?!?!  are you kidding me?!?!!?  We were now a family of 4 again.  devastation hit and we knew we couldn't go through that again.  I couldn't figure out why it happened when it seemed so perfect. 

Fast forward to December 2005 and after talking about my empty hole in my heart Steve and I decided to pursue adoption again....in China.  We couldn't take a chance on losing another child.  We got logged in to China 5/24/06 and the wait was on for a non-special needs baby girl as young as possible.  When we started the process it was about 6 - 7 months wait for a baby and as we were doing our paperwork it increased.  When we got logged in they predicted it would be about 18 months.  Welll.....that continued to increase and really it turned out it would have been over 2 years if we stayed in the non-special needs route.  We started looking at the special needs list (our agency called them children of promise) and thought....lets' see what happens.  July of 2007 we asked to be match with a heart baby who was 11 months old at the time.... DENIED.   Then the next list we asked to be matched with 1 of 2 heart babies that were each about 2 years old.  I was waiting for the DENIED call to come again when much to my surprise they said you've been matched!!!   Zhou, Yidi was just over 2 years old and ours!!   We waited just over 4 months and we traveled to get her....FOREVER!!!

.

We traveled to China to get her January of 2008

Family was complete.

Or so we thought....

Another fast forward to September 2009.  I was still looking on the chat room of our old agency and Karen posted the cutest picture of a 7 year old boy with dwarfism and I was intrigued but knew we weren't adopting again so went on with life. 

Well, the following June (2010) out of the blue I started panicking over this boy with dwarfism in China and really had a sense of urgency to know if he had a family yet.  I was really hoping he did but yet again...hoping not as I just felt he was to be in our family.  After about 20 emails (or more) I finally tracked down the agency and found out.....no family has come forward to adopt him.  I just started crying and praying and knew I needed to talk to Steve (who has always said...NO MORE CHILDREN).  I prayed if he was to be in our family Steve would say yes and if not....I would deal with a very sad sad heart.  Steve took a few days and I finally asked AGAIN and he said we could go for it but if for some reason it didn't work out....we were not looking for another child to adopt.  We brought it up to our kids and Jake (the oldest) said no to adoption.  I said but it's a boy....not a girl and he again said no.  I said but he's older than Zoe so no baby and again...NO.  I finally said he has dwarfism and with missing a beat he said yes!!!!  Not that Jake was our deciding factor but it was a good reply.  Guo, Qing Qing would be our son. 

May of 2011 we traveled to China to bring JD home, at age 9, to his forever family.

Now our family is complete!

Adoption is wonderful, scary, frustrating, a blessing, and has so many highs and lows but the best part about it is is you are family and blessed beyond measure with watching all 4 of our children interact with one another and fight like normal siblings!!!

Bringing JD home at OneTrueMedia.com

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Remember me?!?!

Okay, this is soooo pathetic!!!  I used to blog daily during each of the adoptions and now I've quit and really, I miss it.  I'm going to try and start again!!!

School is in full swing and everyone seems to like it.  I cannot believe I have 2 in high school and 2 in elementary school!  

Jake turned 18 and went skydiving with my mom!  They both loved it and we're waiting on the pictures to come and I'll post them when they do.  We're working on his senior pictures and it's been fun to work with my new camera to take them myself.  I should practice more but think I got a few good ones that will work. 

Joey has started 11th grade and was on a good roll and bam!  got super sick.  He's been out of school a few days and took him to the minute clinic thing and they said he had strep throat.  No problem...meds will help.  Well, after 2 days of meds he was still going downhill and looked and felt miserable.  He was so stuffy and puffy in the face and couldn't eat or drink.  Steve took him to urgent care and he was dehydrated, blood pressure was up and guess what!?!!?  MONO!  He was switched meds for what I believe was a sinus infection and it cleared most of that up but he's still so miserable.  I finally took him to his pediatrician and his throat is still so raw and icky they put him on one more med and hopefully it will help.  As for the mono....his doctor said he should feel better by Christmas!  icky icky illness.   He should feel up to school again though and we're told they can help reduce his day if necessary to get him at least going.

JD is bumped back to 2nd grade and although the first talk of that was NOT pleasant...he did his usual buck up and go with it.  He loves it and is able to be in the classroom most of the day with his friends.  He gets pulled out for some ESL and speech therapy but otherwise he's immersed in the classroom and learning like everyone else.  His ears are still a mess and he needs another set of tubes put in.  He's got some hearing loss that we can only imagine was there for quite some time.  It makes me so sad to think of him still in China and hardly being able to hear, getting no education, not appreciated for his sweet, loving and joyful personality.  His is cherished now and it is amazing how cherished we are to him!!

Zoe is in 2nd grade as well and loving all the learning.  She's doing gymnastics and loves it.  I love watching her at practice and seeing how far she's come.  The day she figured out round-offs was so fun to see as her whole face lit up and she looked up at me in the bleachers with pure pride!!  They said she is probably ready to move up to the next level in a few weeks so that is so exciting!

I'm loving fall as usual.  It's my most favorite time of the year to see the trees change colors, leaves fall to the ground and to wear sweatshirts and jeans!   Steve gets bummed to think of winter coming though and I tend to agree a little on that!  I love winter until about January then I'm ready for spring to come. 

The pictures:
  JD and Zoe dancing at their cousins wedding.   They had so much fun

JD and Waipo with her dog George

JD and Zoe first day of school

 JD and Zoe at Waipos

 just the 4 of us and my moms....the "bigs" didn't want to go

 Joey, darn kid says photos suck out a piece of your soul!!! LOL. 

 JD swimming. 

 One of Jake's senior pics I took. 

I will try and come on more often!  I guarantee most of the pictures will be of  JD and Zoe as the bigs are not into having theirs taken and don't want to hang with us too much!!

I am starting out our new family blog and hoping to keep up to date on it!  I will start with an update on the family:
Steve:  thanking God he is still working at 40 hours per week!  He is the main breadwinner so we count on his income to live.  He's been enjoying the spring weather and loves to be outside.  He is currently in the process of fixing up a older Camaro with Joey and enjoys it alot.  He's doing it from head to toe and inside to outside!!  I'm so lucky to have him and so are the kids.  He's a wonderful man who loves us and cares for us everyday.
Liz:  working part time still and at home which is so nice.  I'm usually working while everyone is at school and my main goal is to be done when they get home.  I'm planning on returning to school in the fall but changing my major from court reporter to legal administrative assistant.  I'm super excited to learn more about the law and to work in that field and hoping the schooling goes well!
Jake:  he's in 11th grade and is doing well.  He's been driving for about a year now and has his "own" truck.   He just started working at sonic and I know will enjoy finally having his own money.  Jake continues to be a wonderful big brother and really likes being with the little ones.
Joey:  just turned 16 this year!  where did that time go?!  he's in 10th grade and has really good grades, he's a natural smarty I think!!  He doesn't have his license yet (good for our pocket book) but is already thinking of getting a job to have money of his own as well.   He too is a good big brother and this littles ones really love him. 
JD:  awww....my sweet sweet JD.  God truly put this child on my heart and I know I heard him say that he was meant for our family.  He's been with us for almost 11 months!!  Somedays I think it's already been a year?!?! and then other times it's like we've had him forever.  He continues to love to learn and is struggling a bit in school but really loves to go everyday.  He still has that contagious smile that just doesn't want to leave his face.  He is in the 3rd grade but they have him popping in and out of the 1st and kindergarten classes for reading and some math.   He loves being outside with the other kids and also really loves to do crafty things.
Zoe:  the princess!!  She's the only girl and still the baby in the family and I think that is where she belongs.  She's in 1st grade and I cannot believe how much she can read, and enjoys it!  She loves to learn and play with friends but also craves her quiet time where she can just be by herself to watch tv, read or play in her room.  She is so sweet and loving and yet....so sassy!!   I'm so glad she is part of our family and can't imagine life without her.
Sammy and Drake:  our spoiled rotten dogs!  they bark at every dog/person that walks down the street, jump all over people when they come to our house, track dirty paw prints on the carpet when they come in from a rainy day, ruin the wood floors with their nails, pick their spots in bed and don't move easily if they are in our way and yet.....give us the unconditional love we need!!!  They are part of our family (whether we like it or not) and we just love them!!!

That's the family in  a nutshell.  We are blessed with our 4 children and really really love them!!!