5 months home!

I finally had ten minutes to sit down tonight and am so glad that I finally have time to update what life has been like these past few months!  I can't believe it has been almost three months since I last posted, but I suppose that makes sense considering the week after my last post I went back to working full time.  We also have had four people with influenza A, three people with strep, two different kids had ear infections, not to mention countless days of the stomach bug.  Yuck and more yuck!

In addition to the adjustment of going back to work, the week after Thanksgiving my husband asks me, "What do you think about selling our home and moving to my dad's?"

Um, no?!?

The thought of trying to have a super clean house, pack up all the clutter and mess, endless small projects, with three adults, three children, and two dogs gives me hives.

But, this was something we have kicked around over the past few years and Adam's dad does want to sell his place fairly soon now that he is close to retiring and they just bought a sweet cabin on a lake.  They were willing to not list their house and wait for us to sell ours and the timing, as crazy as it is, will never really be better.

My mom has been a huge help.  This is a bit of an understatement.  She has helped us with so many things.  Cleaning.  Staining wood.  Decorating.  Watching Peng Peng as our daycare.  Getting the older two on the bus every morning.  Making dinner almost every day (and setting the bar way higher than it will ever be again).  She has also had several days with three sick kids, driven to dr. appointments, twice a week drives Peng Peng to speech... okay, you get the big picture here.  My mom is the MVP of our household.

We have also continued to be very involved in launching our church in Elko.  Adam leads the praise and worship team and I sing and play keys.  Between outreach events, music rehearsal, Bible Study, and church itself (including setting up the equipment and tearing down), we keep ourselves busy.  What better way to fill a schedule than to serve God though, right?  I am most certainly not complaining.  We love our friends.  Our kids love it all.  Jamming with my hubby is kind of fun.  Most importantly, we have really grown spiritually and connected on a whole new level to God and what His purpose is for us.

AJ and Abby both participate in basketball on some Saturdays.  They also do karate on Fridays.  Abby is now a yellow belt and AJ just earned his green stripe on his belt.  Abby loves her gymnastics and is starting art classes and we have already signed up for a t-ball camp in May.  This is where three adults to three children is a great ratio.  I wouldn't even mind making that 4:3 :)

AJ continues to be so sweet and sensitive.  He is reading about a year above the district target, which makes me proud, and reading is something we spend a lot of time doing, which we both greatly enjoy.  It also gives us a good opportunity to snuggle.  AJ has really grown musically.  His voice sounds good and he has a great rhythm.  Earlier, when I was on leave, I was teaching both kids piano lessons.  That has been dropped a bit because of our schedules, but I could see him picking it back up again.  He loves to sing and is constantly tapping beats on toys and around the house.  He says he wants to be a drummer one day and play with Adam and I on the praise and worship team.  Not much else would make me happier :)  We have a love/ hate relationship with electronics these days.  He loves them, I hate them.  I must say though, he is very motivated to work and do things to earn time on electronics.

Abby has amazed me on a pretty close to daily basis academically.  She is reading way above grade level expectations - I believe she is at a second grade level.  She loves to write and will write full stories.  The other day the title of her story was, "I met this boy".  So, yes, she is advanced in that regard too which makes me dread what life will be like when she hits the teenage years.  She is so affectionate, funny, and always eager to learn.  She keeps me on my toes, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Peng Peng celebrated his second birthday...twice.  We had to reschedule his birthday party with extended family because we all (but him and my mom) came down with influenza A.  It was a Curious George party and the kids had so much fun with the blowers and balloons!  We also celebrated quietly as a family on the day of his birthday.

He continues to learn new signs, but what is most exciting is he really is starting to talk and is more willing to try imitations.  Before he would not really imitate much.  He would nod his head but didn't vocalize.  Now, he is about the loudest kid.  EVER.  :)  He tries talking and singing.  We encourage him to sign paired with the vocalizations though because unless you know the context of what he is saying it is difficult to understand him.  The other day he said, "Mama, where are you" and I totally knew what he meant.  So, what did we do?  Played hide and seek!

Peng Peng has been going to speech therapy twice a week, and we have seen good improvements there.  He is working on the b/ and d/ sounds as well as blowing through a straw and with bubbles to help him get pressure through his lips.  We had a bit of a battle with our home school district over getting serviced.  They denied him services, saying that because he signs so much he met what they felt were needs with language.  They didn't want to test him for articulation for at least six more months (to even start the process, plus the two months it would have taken to test and then finalize paperwork).  Fortunately I have enough friends and professional experts who were willing to support us and we went to the U of M Craniofacial clinic over break and THEY tested him for his articulation skills.  He was in the bottom first percentile with only one sound in the proper place of the fifty-some words they assessed him on (and the score wasn't even 100% valid because those words were imitations because he was not initiating the words).  So, now he does qualify for services.  We did decide to open-enroll him to the district where I teach, and I couldn't be happier about this decision.  We are in the process of waiting for our home district to complete their paperwork and the new district to finalize everything.  Hopefully within two more weeks he should be receiving services.

We also met with the GI specialist a few weeks ago because his tummy continues to give him problems.  We needed our third round of stool samples to be done testing for a bunch of things and had blood work drawn.  We haven't received results yet, but they are thinking he is allergic to dairy and soy.  I was devestated when at the appointment they diagnosed him with "Failure to Thrive".  I feel like he couldn't be thriving more.  Unfortunately, since we have been home in September he has gained less than a pound.  This is partly due to his surgery back in October.  It is also due to the massive amount of poop he creates, and unfortunately a lot of his food is not being absorbed into his body.  I met with a dietician at this appointment and she was very helpful in giving suggestions for ways to fatten this boy up.  Think about everything we never want to do, or things we do want to do but don't because we know it could be bad for us.  Add butter and oil to rice.  Whole milk (lactose free).  He can have fruits and veggies, but always paired with high-calorie things.  He is eating more of a variety of things, but definitely can be a picky eater at times and loves his candy.

Aside from the speech, Peng Peng amazes me about every, um, minute.  He is so incredibly happy.  And funny.  And bright.  And affectionate.  I walk into the door after a long day and what do I hear before I even turn the handle?  A scream that never ends and the patter of feet running to the door.  He hugs me like we haven't seen each other in months and even is so kind as to pat my back. He loves all of us - especially the dogs.

Whenever we go out people stop and stare.  Maybe initially because he looks different.  I think people try to do a quick assessment as to if he is mine, how old he is, etc.  He looks small for his age.  I am white.  It especially becomes apparent that we get stared at when I have the other two with me.  I can just see the questions that people think, but don't say (or sometimes do) - are all three mine?  Is he adopted?  Why did we adopt when we already have a boy and girl?  Then comes the fun.  He stares back.   He smiles.  He waves.  He blows kisses and says hi.  He bats his eyes.  Peng Peng brings a smile to everyone.  He has such an amazing personality.  He has had a rough start to life in many regards, but we also are so fortunate because we know that he was loved.  His biological parents loved him because they gave him up to give him a life they knew they couldn't give him.  The doctors loved him because they donated surgery with funds that people donated (in China).  The ladies and men at the orphanage loved him.  One look at the way they smiled at him proved that.  We love him.  I think my heart could burst I love him so much.  Our family and friends love him.  You are taking your time to read this, right?

Tonight at the dinner table Peng Peng played a game, that Abby takes great pride in sharing that she taught him, to pretend to not look at us while looking out of the corners of his eyes, and then make direct eye contact.  This always results in all of us bursting out laughing.  After dinner tonight I wanted to exercise, but it was too cold, so the three kids and I danced to "Just Dance" on the wii.  Peng Peng was jumping and dancing between our legs for almost the whole time.

I know I am missing some, but this is the updated list of words he signs on a regular basis.  I just counted, and it looks like it is already 82 words!

Current Signs (bold new):  all done, apple, aunt, baby, ball, balloon, banana,  bath, bear, bike, bird, blanket, blocks, boat, book, brother, brush teeth, bubble, bug, candy, car, cat, cereal, clean up, coat, cold, color, come on/ here, cookie, cow, cracker, dad, diaper, dog, down,  drink, duck, eat, egg, fish, flower,  frog, go, grandma,  grandpa, hat, help, horse,  hot, hot dog, I love you,  jump, laundry, lion, milk, mine, mama, mine/ my, more, monkey, music, orange, pig, play, popcorn, potty, shoes, sister, sit, sleep, snow, socks, slide, swing, thank you, time out, wait, walk, wash hands, water, up