Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Rage against the system

When we were in China I had my first experience with Lucy and her rages. They were beyond a full-out temper tantrum, they were just a pure, old-fashioned rage. It was easiest to just restrain her in a hold unti they abated - if you didn't, she would go on to throw herself on the ground, throw up, bite, pinch and more.

I think all kids deal with the shock of adoption in different ways. Gwenn slept her way through all of the stress, Ella ate her way - and Lucy appears to be ragin' her way through the stress. The rages have slowed down - from 3-4x day to about 1 a week right now. Huge progress. However, when you are in the midst of the rage, it isn't all that fun...

Monday, August 27, 2007

New Blog link posted

Some friends have just received their referral for their new daughter Isabel. They have a great blog and a beautiful baby!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Cheerleading

Gwenn has started cheerleading with her friend, and while it's been a rocky start, it is going better. Ella is doing pep squad, and would have preferred the full cheerleading - she wants the outfit so bad it isn't even funny. Here is Gwennie in all her glory...

Updated pics

Well, Lucy is growing hair and starting to get used to her new surroundings. She is still a little velcro girl, but doing great. Here are some new pictures of her!





Sunday, August 19, 2007

What have I been doing for almost 6 weeks?

Well, it's easy - adjusting! Adjusting to coming home, 3 kids, keeping up the house with a permanently affixed 2 year old hanging on my leg, going to the doctors (for all of them) and more!

Let's see if I can give some brief updates:

Coming home from Guangzhou:
It's just a miracle we made it back at all, I have to admit. On the way home from GZ I decided that I could handle escorting the 7 year old son of a work colleague home on the plane, so on the morning of the 15th we met in the lobby of the White Swan and made our way to the airport. Lucky that we got there early, and lucky that I was flying b-class, as the flight from GZ to Tokyo was cancelled. We were the first in line, and a mere two hours of waiting later, we had been scheduled on an ANA flight from GZ to Tokyo that would get us there with plenty of time to spare for our flight. And even better, they upgraded Will (my 7 yo companion) into b-class as well.

Well, I have to tell you that ANA is a lovely airline, and they flight attendants did their very best to keep Miss Lucy happy and occupied while we were on the flight. It didn't work, but they did their best.

We got to Tokyo with plenty of time to spare for our 6p flight to SEA. I figured the first thing to do would be to get our boarding passes for flight 85 (they wouldn't print in GZ) so we went to the ticket counter. While we were there they agent was quite frantic, and finally told me that we would have to go to the gate to fix the seat issues (they were trying to put Lucy is a seperate row from me). Well, while we were in the air NWA decided to move us from flight 85 to flight 8 - and they were holding the plane for us to board! We finally got seats, and got someone in b-class to move to another seat, since I wasn't about to sit seperately from Lucy. We literally had 10 minutes or less between the flights - we got on board, they closed the door and off they went. The bummer was that our baggage was labeled for flight 85, and when we didn't get on it, they pulled it in Tokyo, which explained why in SEA we had no luggage. We had it delivered the next day. The other bummer was that no one knew we were on this flight, so after landing, we had to finally call and let folks know that we were here and come and pick us up!

I don't want another flight like this last one. At least Lucy slept most of the way from Tokyo to SEA.

Home:
Well, it's been crazy and I'm sure I'll have more to say, but the first week I slept, got Lucy a crib and a new car seat since she is so small, and got over jet lag. The second week I started to plan what to do with my time. The third week I started to work, and have kept on doing home projects ever since then. I know it's probably not the best to spend all my leave time doing stuff like worrying about new doors, making orthodonist appointments, and such - but it's so nice not to do it at work! I need about 2 more weeks.

Things that I still need to do:
  • Call Lowes and find out if they found my measurements for the doors I'm ordering yet - they seem to have lost them
  • Call the roofers back - they did the roof expect for the garage, and I'd like it to all look the same. I'm waiting for a bid.
  • Call Ed back - he is the guy who is giong to do the inside ceilings after the water damage post-windstorm last fall.
  • Take Viivi to pass her written test, and then fast track her for the driven test.
  • Dermatologist for Ella, since her mystery "itchies" are getting worse and spreading
  • Follow up with neurologist, and Gwenn's meds seem to have plateaued
  • Still search for a pediatric cardiologist, since Dr. Stamm is like 80 - and talk about repeating the echo test
  • Go to the InSpa for a day and get ready to go back to work
  • Call vet - all 3 animals still need to go

Oh yah - and stop worrying about what I'm not getting done, since I'm supposed to be spending time with the girls.