WHOOOOOSH....that's the sound of our summer flying by

Well, I am not so great about keeping this blog up to date. Our summer is literally flying by....3 weeks from yesterday the 2 "big" kids will be back in school. I will have a 4th grader and a 1st grader this year. How did that happen?!?! They are getting so big, so fast!

We bought the kids a big pool this summer. Well big for us...it is an above ground pool that is 4 foot deep....my kids think it is huge ;-) It has kept them so busy, and has been so nice to have something fun to do outside in the 100 degree temps that we have been having this summer. Everyone loves it...even Cora.

Speaking of Cora....she is doing amazing. She's sleeping well, she's been walking for about 3 weeks and getting better every day (I'm sure she'll be running to keep up with her siblings soon), she's adjusting to our family amazingly. Her siblings have also adjusted amazingly to having a little sister. I thought for sure that Owen would go through some jealousy, but he has done so well. They all continue to love her to pieces, and I swear they think she hung the moon. I know they wouldn't use these words, but I think they feel as blessed as TJ and I do that she is part of our family. We are so lucky to have her! Adoption rocks!

Cora has really adjusted easily to being part of our family. Our only real struggle with her...is with eating. While we were in China, she refused to eat anything but a bottle for us. The orphanage indicated that she was eating soft foods so while in China, I honestly thought it would all be better once we got home. We gave her a few weeks at home to adjust before we pushed the issue with food. When I decided to push the issue with her....it did NOT go well. It was like we were torturing her by simply putting a bite of baby food in her mouth. She was literally covered in sweat because she was screaming so much. Even giving her a sippy cup instead of her bottle would send her into hysterics....I decided that maybe we were in over our head and we could use a little help.

We were lucky to be in China with a couple that lives about 10 miles from us....and lucky again that 1/2 of that lovely couple happened to be a speech pathologist. She has given us many helpful hints for helping Cora and her eating, and she also helped us find a wonderful speech pathologist that specializes in eating issues in children. We are learning it is not necessarily a control issue for Cora like we thought, but a sensory issue. For example, she hates having food on her hands, and is very hesitant and fearful of new textures. (You should see her barefoot in the grass....not pretty) I noticed right away in China that she wouldn't put toys in her mouth when she was playing. This is one thing we have really encourage her to do here at home while she's playing. As she is exploring her world more by putting toys and other things in her mouth...her willingness to eat is also improving.

About a month and a half ago Cora was finally starting to let us put very small tastes of food in her mouth, but then she would refuse to swallow anything. She has made amazing progress in the last few weeks....she is now eating stage 2 baby food off a spoon and she is actually swallowing it! We have to make a few modifications for her like reclining her highchair....but SHE IS EATING! We have a long way to go before she is eating like a normal 20 month old, but we are making progress....praise the lord! Please pray that we continue to make steady progress in the eating department.

Cora had tubes put in both ears last month. She can very obviously hear much better now. She interacts with everyone so much better now that she is hearing us better. She is babbling much more now also. She has another appointment with the cleft team in IA city in mid August. We will be scheduling her palate surgery after that. We are thinking sooner than later for the surgery since she will only eat pureed foods at this point anyway. We are working to get rid of the bottles since she can't have them after surgery. I am hoping to have her down to maybe just one a day by the time we do surgery. (She gets 3 bottles a day right now.) I'm a little nervous that we are going to majorly regress with everything after the surgery.

I am sure that I have left out tons of our goings ons in the last couple months, but I know all of you would rather look at pictures that read my ramblings.....so here you go

This is one of Cora's favorite spots to play.

(Please ignore the dirty bib that she is wearing)

 This is Grace on the fourth of July...not looking so happy in the heat....but I love how you can see her cute freckles in this photo.

She is so stinkin cute!

This guy had a birthday and is now my big 7 year old (Please be kind and ignore the filthy         smeared patio door behind him...I find it impossible to keep it clean for longer than 5 minutes) ;-)

Owen and Cora are only 20 months apart in age.....I find their size difference hysterical.

He's near the top of his growth chart (yes folks, he is only 3), and she is barely on the growth chart.



Happy Friday everyone!

-katie

Life with 4 children is....busy!

I am not so good about updating this blog...I am sure the 2 or 3 people out there that actually follow this blog were really concerned about no updates right?!?! Life with 4 kids is busy, but life with 3 kids was also busy...so it has really been a pretty easy transition for us. Our laundry seems to have multiplied dramatically...I seriously can't ever seem to catch up. Cora is doing amazing, and we can tell she is really feeling much more comfortable in her environment now. We are all sleeping at night now....which is amazing. It only took about a week to get her sleeping though the night. Now that we are on this side of it...she really did transistion pretty quickly, but holy cow that first week was rough!

Look at that sweet face....we are so lucky to be her parents!

Cora arrived home about 2 weeks before softball and t-ball started. We were thankful she had that little cushion of time before we were at the ball fields 4 times a week. She is learning to be a lover of all things softball and baseball....haha! She is getting tons of attention from the other parents...so she is having a great time at the games. Owen can keep busy during the games by climing up and down the bleachers, and there are a couple other little brothers of players that he plays with so he's a happy guy at the games also. Grace and Ethan are both having a great time playing...so everyone is happy!

Cora has had 2 trips to the pediatrician's offiice so far. (I wouldn't let them do the shots and blood draw the first time....she hadn't been home a week yet, and I thought that was to soon to put her through that yet, so we had to come back.) She is barely on the american growth charts, but she seems to be a very healthy weight for her height! The 2nd visit....baby girl got 6 immunizations, she was diagnosed with bilateral ear infection, and she got a blood draw and finger poke. She was NOT ammused.

She had her first appointment with the cleft team in IA City last Monday. Talk about a whirlwind day. They didn't really give us a whole lot of information that we didn't already know. The plan is to wait 4-6 months to give her a good adjustment period before we do the surgery. TJ and I both feel like this is great, and we were both very agreeable with this plan. Plus it will be nice for her not to have "ouchies" during the summer.They want to see her maybe 2 more times before they do the surgery. We will probably end up with tubes in her ears prior to the palate surgery, but we most likely will do that closer to home not in IA City.

We have been having lots of fun with Cora. The kids think that it is so fun to take her new places, and do "firsts" with her. Here are a few pictures from the park the other day.

Baby girl LOVES to swing!

Owen cheesing it up for the camera...silly boy!

Ethan was nearly impossible to get a picture of...he didn't want to slow down long enough to get a picture taken....I guess that probably makes him a very typical 6 year old boy!

Grace...my first little love. Love this girl!

The kids still think Cora hung the moon....and by kids I mean Grace and Ethan. I think Owen could take her or leave her somedays. He's getting used to having to share mom during the day. He has done really well actually. It is Cora that seems to be the jealous one. She can be playing happily, and if Owen climbs in my lap....she is over by us in no time and quietly nudging him off of my lap....little turkey! She hasn't figured out yet that Mommy has plenty of room on her lap to love on her babies at the same time!
We have been having so much fun with her home. We feel so incredibly blessed that God chose us to be parents to all these munchkins!

Here is a picture of the kids at the park the other day. We made them take a break from the playground for a picture. (All 4 looking at camera = success!)

Happy Tuesday friends!

-katie

update

I didn't get the blog updated before we left China. We left on Thursday morning Apirl 19. We met our guide in the hotel lobby at 5:45...a little early in the day for my liking...but yeah we're coming home! Our flights were fairly uneventful. Cora did amazing on all the flights. I think she did better than her Mama. Other than a couple emergency poop explosions (by Cora...not TJ or I) everything went great. We didn't bring enough clothes to account for the pooping issues on the plane....so by the time we landed in Chicago...Cora and I both had poop on our clothes....(those tiny airplane bathrooms are not the most ideal place to deal with a extremely messy diaper)

We have been home for 5 days now. We are jet lagged and really struggling to get Cora to sleep well. She slept well for us in China but, now she has developed an aversion to being laid down to sleep. She slept all night last night and it was magical! It's amazing what a little sleep will do to improve your outlook on life! TJ and I neither one are very good at sleeping in a recliner...so we are hopeful the full night of sleep is a trend that will continue. I wouldn't even care if it was my bed she was sleeping in....just so I didn't have to hold her in an upright position all night. She has still been on "China time" and was waking up between 2:00 and 3:00am everyday since we got home, and she would not go back to sleep after that. I don't think we were either one prepared for how exhuasted we would feel.

On a much more positive note....we finally have all our babies under one roof! Cora is doing well adjusting to being home. She is such an easy going girl. (except at night) Her sister and brothers have been so excited to have her home, and Cora really seems to enjoy playtime with them. I let the kids stay home from school last Friday so they could spend time with us and their new sister...they loved that! Owen has been proudly telling everyone that he is a "big brother" now. So cute! We were so ready to be home...we were REALLY missing the kids at home. I will leave you with a picture of all my babies TOGETHER!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

-katie

Tuesday, April 17

Today was the consulate appointment day. It was really very low key...not necessarily what I had been picturing in my mind. Now we are just waiting on the visa for Miss Cora. Next step is....HOME! Our little girl will officially become a US citizen on Thursday, April 19 when we land in Chicago!

After our Consulate appointment, we did more shopping....bought a few more pair of shoes...HA! We bought the kids some souvenirs, and we bought Cora some special items that we hope she will always treasure as reminders of where she was born and spent the first year of her life. Hopefully when we get home I won't wish that I had bought more.

We went on a dinner river cruise Tuesday night on the Pearl River. It was only a "dinner" cruise because we had all ordered pizza and brought it with us on board. We ordered Papa Johns pizza, and it tasted just like back home. We rode on the Dragon boat. It was fun to see Guangzhou all lit up at night...very pretty.

Cora is all ready to go on the river cruise.

Cora and her Daddy.

Enjoying the sights on the river cruise.

We will be home soon!

-katie

Monday, April 16

Today was really a fun day. We went to the safari park...which is a big zoo here in Guangzhou. It was really the best zoo I have ever been to. It really would have been lots of fun to have the other 3 kiddos with us today, but we took lots of pictures to show them. I would definitely recommend the safari park to anyone going to Guangzhou. Cora slept through the first half of the zoo, and she was really not that impressed with the rest of it. TJ and I thought it was great though! My favorite part...we got to see lots of Pandas!

Cora was really impressed with the Panda's!

After we got back to the hotel, we headed over to Shamian Island again. We ate at a little Italian restaurant. It was really pretty good. I really enjoy the atmosphere on the island. There is much less people and it is much more relaxed over there. This Iowa girl was definitely not prepared for how crowded it is here in China!

Cora has been a little off today. She is not feeling the greatest again...poor girl is a bit constipated. (Anyone that is preparing to come pick up their little ones....remember something for constipation.) We didn't bring any meds to help with constipation problems....but gotta love these adoptive families...someone helped us out by giving us some meds to help her. Thanks again Tamra and Chris! (I am sure when she gets older...she will love that I shared that with everyone!)

Our Consulate appointment is Tuesday morning. We will get her visa sometime on Wednesday, and then we will leave for home on Thursday morning. So our flights are Guangzhou to Tokyo, Tokyo to Chicago, and Chicago to DesMoines. I am praying for no delays and easy travel back home. We thought it was a little rough coming here...now we get to do it with a 17 month old...(I am not complaining...this is an answered prayer)  We are praying that she sleeps much of the 12-13 hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago.

I am getting so anxious to get home to my the other kiddos. I am really missing them. I am so excited to introduce them to their new sister! Cora is not going to know what to do when we get home and have more of a schedule...we have been dragging her all over the place here and keeping her very busy. It will be so nice to get home and establish a routine. I am really looking forward to a home cooked meal!

I will leave you with a cute Cora picture. She is SO FLEXIBLE! She can sit with her legs out straight and lay her head on the floor between her feet! She is such a joy!

-katie

Sunday, April 15

We had a great day today. We got to go to a church service that was held at a nice little church on the island. It was an amazing experience to see a room full of Asian believers. It was a Chinese/English service so we did understand most of it, although I don't think it translated quite the same. I am so happy that we were able to do this. I can only assume it was Cora's first church service she has ever attended.

After the church service we did more shopping. We went to Sherry's place...she had tons of squeaky shoes! Miss Cora got LOTS of new shoes! I bought I think 15 pairs....and yes TJ she NEEDED them all ;-) I bought 2 or 3 pairs in each size up to a 9 (I think.) The shoes are very nice quality and were all in the $5-$10 range! I bought her a pair of Zebra print boots that I seriously can't wait till she can wear them....ADORABLE! Any ways...enough about shoes....

We got back to the hotel and took a cab over to the jade and pearl markets. (We missed the tour bus our group took....me late???...never) We got there fine by taxi, and we eventually found our group. The pearl market was 6 floors of shops that all sold basically the same thing. At the jade market was tons of beautiful things....we han't found our tour guide yet, and it was difficult to shop without of Chinese speaking guide. TJ and I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to go see and experience more of China.

We were able to take the tour bus back to the hotel with our group....we were very happy that we were able to find our group in such a busy, crowded place. There definitely is comfort in numbers. (and a guide that speaks Chinese)  ;-)

We went to dinner with our group that night. I thought the food was pretty good. I didn't ask what it was, but most of it looked pretty safe. We were told that if you like the food, just enjoy...and don't ask what is in it! Ha! Ha!. Everyone in our group is so so nice, and it was so great to get to know some of the other families a little better.  It really is wonderful to connect with all these adoptive families.

After dinner we walked next door to another restaurant. They had tanks of fish, turtles, crab and many other unrecognizable things right in the front of the restaurant. These tanks of animals/sea food were not for decorations...but it was actually the things they would be cooking for your dinner....yuck!

We think the bucket on the right was chicken hearts. (maybe...we really have no idea)

Some sort of snake that yes...will be eaten (not by me!)

This is alligator tail...sounds yummy doesn't it?!?!

Turtle anyone??? Another thing I have never dreamed of eating.

It was a great day here in China. Cora is feeling better today, and we continue to see more and more of her personality. She really is AMAZING!

-katie

Saturday, April 14

Saturday was our medical check day. We left the hotel at 9am. Our guide told us to expect a crowd, as there would be about 60+ families that all needed their children seen, and the clinic was only open in the morning.

They were right....it was very crowded in the clinic. It was very hot and stuffy inside and all the warm bodies in there didn't really help with that, but whatever we have to do to get her home....we will do. The amazing thing about the clinic being that crowded is....it was crowded with adoptive families! Which means there are that many more kids that now have families...God is good!

Saturday evening we went over to Shamian Island and went sight seeing with another couple that has been to China before for an adoption a couple years ago. They helped us find our way on the subway. It was definitely an interesting experience...very crowded. I am not sure we would have been brave enough to try the subway to get over to the island without them.

I wanted to show you how crowded the subway was. People just push their way in and you end up packed in there like sardines. I have noticed while out and about that the buses are like that also.

We ate at Lucy's while we were on the island. Lucy's has always been a popular restaurant for adoptive families. It was kind-of like an American diner type of restaurant. TJ and I both had cheeseburgers and fries. It was different than home...but actually was pretty good.

We also did a little shopping while we were over at the island. We finally found some cute things to take home for the kids. There are lots of cute little stores on the island that cater to adoptive families. I really enjoyed Shamian Island. It is not very crowded, and it really is very beautiful. (Thanks Chris and Tamra for showing us around!)

Cora is still refusing to eat anything. She actually cried for about 5 minutes because I put a cheerio in her mouth. The orphanage said she was eating "soft" food. I have tried so many things, and she just pinches her little mouth shut. She spits things out if I actually get a bite in her mouth. I have just decided we'll keep trying but she may just live on formula and rice cereal (I am mixing in the bottle) while we are in China, and we'll fight the food issue later when we get home. She is doing fine on the bottle...so that will work for now.

On a happier note....she is really starting to warm up to us. We are seeing her cheerful little personality lots more today. Also she slept all night for us! That was her first night that she really slept well....yeah for more sleep!

-katie