Home!

So we have been home for three weeks tomorrow.  This post is a bit over due, but it is here now.

The last few weeks have been both hard and good.  Jet lag was quite the issue for a little over a week and getting 2-4 hours of sleep a night was not making for very sane parents.  But we survived that and were able to get both kids mostly on the same schedule, although sleep continues to be an struggle.  Both kids continue to struggle with sleep issues that make for some tired parents.

Even though this time is hard, we are so thankful for the support of our friends and family. From phone calls to see how we are doing, to meals, to last minute babysitting, to inviting us over to hang out....we are very blessed. We knew when we started the process to adopt that there would be struggles and we had prepared ourselves mentally for that.  What we weren't/aren't prepared for is how much of a blessing this whole process has been - even now when we are so sleep deprived  (I do things like leave my keys on the window ledge when we go for a walk), we are very blessed.  Blessed far more than we though possible a year ago when we started this process.  Thank you to those who have been and are continuing to support us as we muddle our way through this time.

Philip started back to work this week, so we have been working through that transition.  I don't think any of us were quite ready for Philip to go back to work but he had projects coming up that he needed to start working on, so the timing couldn't be helped. I wouldn't say it has been easy on any of us, but we are making it through and today was better than yesterday.  We are using skype to keep Philip in contact with the kids during the day and Li Rose seemed to enjoy "having lunch" with Daddy today.

Li Rose continues to do well.  We feel like she is bonding well with us and we are seeing bits of her personality more and more everyday.  She seems to be a pretty joyful child, enjoying smiling and laughing a lot.  She is in love with her brother and likes it when he snuggles with her or gives her kisses.  It is amazing to see the light that has come into her eyes over the last month - it is amazing what a difference a month can make.

Li Rose saw the neurologist last Wednesday and we honestly don't know anything new.  She had some blood work done last week and is scheduled to get and EEG done soon.  We are hoping all this testing with give us a good idea of where things stand health wise for her and if we need to continue her seizure medications.   We are waiting for PT and OT consults to go through so we can get started on those.  She is already making progress though, even without those services yet.  Thanks to two weeks of Daddy boot camp, she is now off the Chinese rice-formula mix and on half formula, half milk mix.  We are going to keep working on getting her fully on milk, but we feel pretty good with this progress.

Josh continues to do well with his transition to a big brother.  He is constantly concerned about Li Rose wanting to make sure she isn't left out of anything.  He likes to save her a spot in the grocery cart or make sure people know who and where she is when they come to visit.  He was really made to be a big brother! We are working on some gentleness issues, but that happens when you aren't used to babies or girls.

So that is the brief version of where we are right now.  We would definitely appreciate your prayers as we continue to deal with sleep issues.  Sorry there are not pictures tonight, I can't figure out how to upload them on this laptop. I promise to post some soon.