Mission: Little Brother

Aug 2010 Update

2010-08-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Almost four years ago, I held a very scared little boy in my arms in China. He clung to me an trusted me unconditionally that I would take care of him. He had spent the first two years of his precious life in an orphanage with his hearing completely unaided with his caregivers assuming he would never speak. After just a few days, he shared hugs and smiles with us and quickly loved us as much as we loved him. As he fell asleep in my arms, my promise to him was that I would do everything in my power to help him attend a mainstream Kindergarten program on time. At his IEP meeting in the spring, his teachers and speech therapist all said they expect him to be a very successful Kindergartener, and today, Jack started Kindergarten at the same school all our other kids have been attending. It has been a long road to get here and I am sure we have challenges ahead, but Jack is doing really well and I am beyond proud of him! Those days in China seem almost a lifetime ago!

A quick update: Jack will still need once a week speech therapy at the local public school. He has mild to moderate hearing loss (hearing at 20-40dB unaided) so benefits from wearing his BAHA on the softband. We are considering having the BAHA implant - maybe next year? I think Jack benefits tremendously from his canalplasty that has given him much improved directionality to his hearing. He functions well without his BAHA, but we feel his speech is much better when he wears it. The school district has provided an FM system for the classroom, which I think will work well for him this year. Everyone who is involved in his education and therapy has been tremendously helpful and seems to sincerely care about him and his future (which I believe is bright!).

Here are some pictures of the first day of school - my how they grow!

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Jack is doing great. His ears are healing nicely. The new skin graft is wrinkling a bit like in the past, but it is our hope that the ear projection will stay just as it is right now. The two ears match pretty well and the ear canal on the left ear looks much bigger.

I have to share this story... Last week, Jack came in and was talking to me about his ears. He was telling me that his ear does not bend any more on the top (where the medpor is), but that it does bend down on the ear lobe. He was telling me very factually, like he was just informing me. He wasn't upset about it or anything. So, I told him that it was just a little while ago that he didn't have any ears and that Dr. Roberson and Dr. Reinisch did the surgery so that he could have his big ears. He looked at me like I was completely crazy! It was very cute. He has absolutely no recollection of having microtia or what his ears were like before all of this. I thought that was kind of amazing.

Here are some pics from today:

Happy New Year!

Recovery

2009-12-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

A quick update...

Here are some pics before surgery. They were taken the morning of the surgery. It always seems that Jack's ears are a little puffy in the morning, so the definition of his ears is not as good as it usually is. I didn't think about that before I took the pics.

Then, here is a picture of Jack watching "Cars" on Dr. Novak's (the anesthesiologist) ipod while in pre-op.

Dr. Novak has a 3 year old himself and was very compassionate. We also saw Dr. Champeau (Jack's anesthesiologist from surgery 1 and 2) in the pre-op room and he remembered Jack. He was there to take care of the other little boy. I have just loved all the people at the surgery center. They are all very caring.

So, the surgery went well. Dr. Roberson adjusted the ear drum on the right ear. It seems that Jack had some scar tissue in his left ear canal and once Dr. Roberson removed that, the canal opened up nicely. Dr. Reinisch added some skin behind the left ear, but did not move the ear up as we thought might be needed. Dr. Reinisch also removed two scars from Jack's scalp (they were from the cups that we used to protect the ears after the first surgery on each ear). Dr. Roberson was very optimistic that this would do the trick. We are very hopeful for less skin shrinkage this time around.

After surgery, Jack was not very happy about the bandage on his head. When I put him in the car, he told me he had to have it off because he could not hear his DVD player well enough. I thought that was kind of funny that my child who could hardly hear a thing a few short years ago was complaining about the bandages affecting his hearing....

Jack is recovering very quickly from this surgery. He is running around like a crazy boy and we are continually telling him to slow down. He had a little more pain this time because Dr. Reinisch did not use the pain pump on the skin graft site, but we just gave him Tylenol with coedine a few times and that seemed to make it all better.

I just sent some pics to Dr. Roberson and Dr. Reinisch. The plug has fallen out of Jack's right ear and the left is oozing a little bit of blood. Both Dr's emailed back right away and Dr. Roberson indicates that we need to put a plug back in, so we will need to pay a visit to Palo Alto tomorrow or Thursday. Dr. Reinisch says the sponge looks good.

Here are the pics I sent the docs:

Long Overdue Update

2009-12-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

I know it has been ages since I have updated this blog. I have thought about it often and I know many have requested and update and current pictures. I will add other pictures perhaps tomorrow. I won't go into great detail about why I haven't updated, but suffice it to say that I have been a little occupied elsewhere...

So, to give an update on little Jack...

He has started school this year with the older kids (thus his school picture). He is in a mainstream transitional kindergarten program (TK) that is designed for kids that turn 5 in the fall to give them something a little more than preschool when they are not old enough for Kindergarten. I love Jack's teacher and she has been absolutely awesome. Really, the whole school has embraced Jack. The only "complaint" I would have is that many people (especially kids) give Jack a little too much attention and tolerance for his mischief and orneriness!

As far as his speech... Jack attended a great communication preschool program through the school district along with his traditional montessori preschool program last year. He also received one-on-one pull out speech therapy about 3 times per week. All of this made a big difference in his speech. Most people can understand him just fine now. He does have some lingering issues, such as leaving off ending consonents and some specific consonents (like l at the beginning of words) and consonent blends (like th) that are still difficult for him to use correctly on a regular basis. He is very "coachable" and watches so carefully to see how to make the sound and can almost always get it right when giving it the proper attention. Getting it right all the time when he talks is not quite there yet. So, in addition to his TK program this year, he also attends speech therapy through the school district once a week. His current speech therapist (who is really great) showed me the response difference when she asked him questions while allowing him to see her lips and when sheilding them - wow. He has become quite a proficient lip-reader and is definitely lip-reading to supplement his hearing!

On to hearing... We struggled this year to get what I felt was an accurate hearing test. Jack is a challenge to test right now (as I am sure many kids are at this age) and it takes two good audiologists to get an accurate result. He just starts messing around too much and they have to be pretty inventive to keep him on his toes and interested. Once we got an accurate result, we knew that his hearing has declined slightly. He is in the 35-40dB range pretty much across the board. This is okay, but not great. As a result, Jack has been wearing his BAHA to supplement his hearing while at school. It took him a while to be amenable to wearing it again, but once he got used to it again, I think he likes being able to hear better. He will also be fitted with an FM system in the classroom after the first of the year.

Very funny though - one day I was talking to him and he wasn't answering my question. He was wearing his BAHA and I asked if he had the volume turned up. He replied very flatly, "no." I asked why and he simply told me, "because I wanted it quiet." Now, I have to say it would be nice to have that luxury once in a while!

Once we knew that his hearing was down a little, Dr. Roberson recommended doing a CT scan to see if there was something else going on. With that information and further examining his ears, we know that the ear drum on Jack's right ear has pulled away from the middle ear bones slightly and the left ear drum has some thickening due to a sort of chronic infection. It is believed that the infection in the left ear is related to the skin graft shrinkage behind the ear which has pulled the ear in to Jack's head and pinches off the canal somewhat. This causes fluid to get trapped inhis canal, which then gets infected. Once we had all that information, it became clear that it would benefit Jack to have surgery to correct these issues, improve his hearing and reduce the infections.

So that all brings me to where I am now... waiting for Jack to come out of surgery. Dr. Roberson and Dr. Reinisch are here in Palo Alto operating on another little boy and are doing Jack's revision surgery today also. This is great for us because we don't have to have two separate surgeries. Both Dr. Reinisch and Dr. Roberson have been very felxible and caring as we continue on our journey.

I will post an update after the surgery - maybe tomorrow.

Handsome Boy update!

2009-03-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

First, I should apologize for everyone who looks at the blog waiting for an update... I have struggled to get back to this regularly. I will try to make up for some lost time here with a good update and Jack's recent portraits...

So, here is the handsome guy in his recent pictures from school. I think these are the best pictures of Jack and was so tickled when I saw them that I bought the whole entire package!

Okay, now for an update on what has happened since the last post. Overall, Jack recovered easily from the surgery. This was definitely easier than the first two surgeries. He was basically back to preschool within two weeks and I was not worried about him. The patch of skin on his left ear that was wrinkled and replaced has healed nicely. It is still a bit discolored, but it looks like it will be a big improvement.

Here is a picture of Jack from Dec 31, 2008:

You can see that he quickly healed and the projection of the left ear had already reduced...

Next I will attach some pictures of Jack's ears from tonight:

As far as the projection of his ears, it appears as though the skin grafts have shrunk again behind his left ear (even though this graft was a full thickness graft taken from him tummy and was less likely to shrink). This has pulled his left ear into his head almost back to where it was prior to this surgery. I believe that the projection on the right ear is actually a little better and the wrinkling behind his ear is slightly improved. It will still take some time for this to heal and soften.

It is my belief that this shrinkage is really just how Jack heals. Some people are just more prone to this problem and unfotunately, Jack happens to be one of them. I don't think it would have mattered what surgery approach we chose, we would have encountered this problem.

We met with Dr. Roberson and Dr. Rienisch early in March (on a Sunday evening prior to their joint surgery day in Palo Alto). It was so kind of them to see Jack on a Sunday evening which helped us avoid another weekday trip to Palo Alto and waiting for them to be able to see him around the surgery times...

First, Jack has had a persistent ear infection/cough thing that started with an allergy/cold problem that has been going on for a while. In late January, Dr. Roberson gave us amoxicillan that knocked it back a bit, but did not get rid of it. He gave us Augmentin and that has completely cleared Jack up. His cough is gone, his appetite is back and his nose is no longer congested. I am hoping we can stay ahead of the allergies next time they strike and treat them before it winds up in an infection again...

Next, we discussed the narrowing of Jack's left ear canal. Dr. Reinisch believes that it may be partly due to the implant shifting downward a little a pinching off the ear canal. I could see when he pushed the implant up slightly that the canal indeed opened up a bit. The rigid plug that we were using before definitely opened the canal. However, Dr. Reinisch is concerned with the rigid plug injuring the medpor implant. We agreed to try to soften the skin and potential scarring by using a steroid ointment and a soft sponge like plug. The plug is like an expandable sponge. I dip it in some ointment and place it in Jack's ear canal as far as I can. We have been doing this nightly for about 11 days. I think it has opened the canal slightly. I emailed the doctors tonight to determine next steps. I will post again as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, Jack is still in his speech preschool and is also getting one on one speech therapy once a week for about 45 min. I am thrilled to report that his drooling is nearly gone. This is a really big deal for Jack as I believe the social stigma of his lack of control over his saliva was beginning to cause problems for him. In addition, his speech continues to improve. His brain gets ahead of his speech skills quite often and he really needs to slow down and complete all the sounds in a word sometimes, but overall, he is still making great progress. I attribute this to his speech preschool and the therapist that his helping him privately.

I think that is a pretty good update for recent events. I am hoping that things calm down a bit at work and I can post more frequently. I will close with a photo of all the kids being goofy:

Surgery 3 - 1 week post op

2008-12-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Today is one week post op. I removed the pain pump last Friday (not as bad as I expected), and then the sponge on the outside of Jack's left ear on Sunday. Here is a picture of his ear after the top sponge was removed last Sunday:

It was good to remove just a few stitches so that I could be prepared for today. This evening we removed the rest of the stitches and the sponges. Jack did pretty well through it all and didn't cry. Of course, there was plenty of sugary bribery involved...

I am behind at home, behind at work and just generally behind in everything. It will be a miracle if anyone sees a Christmas card from us... So, a short post here and some pics of the sponge removal...

And, last but not least... Can you say ornery?????

Surgery 3 went well

2008-12-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

This morning, we arrived at the surgery center at 7:15 am this morning. Jack was a trooper. He really only asked a few times for something to eat and really was very patient. I think at about 9, they took us back. Probably the hardest part was that Jack didn't want to wear the yellow jammies they had planned for him. It wasn't until the Versaid kicked in that he finally got over the yellow jammies. Soon after that, they took him back for surgery.

They called several times to update us in the waiting room, which was very nice. It sounded like they started about 10:45am and then Dr. Reinisch came out at about 2pm. He said that he replaced the skin grafts behind both ears, replaced the puckered skin on the front of the left ear, removed the hair, fixed the scar (from the cup after the first surgery) on his scalp on the right side, and adjusted his earlobes and the tragus on each ear. He placed a wick in the left ear and we debated what to use to keep the canal open. Dr. Reinisch is not crazy about having the hard plug in there - he is a little concerned with it rubbing and exposing the medpor. I will follow up with Dr. Roberson on this...

It took a while for Jack to wake up. His ears are very swollen. They pretty much look like they did after the bug bite this summer. He has sponges behind the ears to support them and one sponge on top of his left ear when the new skin is. Once he started to perk up, he began eating. And eating. And eating. He really ate like a teenager, pretty much until he went to bed. He was kind of upset to notice himself in the mirror and touched his ears and then frowned really sour. He was not pleased with his appearance. Other than being al ittle wobbly and not happy with the sponges behind his ears, he was actually in great spriits. He watched a few movies - while he ate - and then went to sleep at about 8pm.

We have an appointment to see Dr. reinisch at 9:30am and then will head back home. I will drop Trish off on the way and should be back home before bed time tomorrow night. When we get home tomorrow, I will post pictures.

Leaving for Surgery...

2008-12-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning Jack and I will head to LA for Jack's final surgery of the year. Hopefully this will be his last surgery...

We have a pre-op appointment with Dr. Reinisch late tomorrow and then have to be at the surgery center at 7:15am on Wednesday to check in. I am anxious to get this behind us, a little worried about what we are in for regarding recovery, and concerned of course for Jack. It is always a little nerve wracking to have such a young child under anesthesia.

The good news is that this surgery will be shorter - about 4 hours - and should have a much easier recovery. Dr. Reinisch has told me that we will have to remove stitches ourselves and probably the pain pump that will be used for the skin graft site. This will save us from another trip to LA, but I am not sure I can do it! I may have to recruit a little help...

Chris has to stay here for the week for other obligations. My mom arrives on Thursday to help with the kids. I am forever grateful to my friend, Trish for going to LA with me. It will be nice to have some company during the long wait and also an extra pair of hands.

More tomorrow...

Who invented it???

2008-11-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Little boy's underwear that is... Who designs it? Is it intentionally designed to torture little toddlers? Jack has a perma-wedgie from wearing his underwear backwards for the last 4 days. Ridiculous. Why in the world are all the characters on little boy's underwear on the butt???? Elmo, Thomas, Spiderman, all on the butt... Poor kid.

Two Years Together

2008-11-24T20:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been thinking about this post for a few days. It is almost unbelievable that on 11/21/08, Jack had been with us for two years!

For the first two years of his life, he had nearly the exact same routine every day, in the same place, with the same people. Weeks went by, and one by one, his little mates left with their forever families. For two years, no one came for little Hou Dong Guo. Then, two years ago we met a very scared little boy in an orphanage a half a world away. To him, we surely looked funny, smelled funny, ate strange food and took him away from the only place he ever really knew. He trembled with fear and cried his little eyes out until he fell asleep in my arms in the cab on the way to the hotel. He woke up and we were still there and he was still scared. He clung to me day and night for a few days and then began to open up.

He came home and was embraced lovingly by his new siblings. After being home for a month, he enjoyed the miracle of hearing with the aid of his BAHA. His speech blossomed with his personality and he meshed so well with our family it was clear he was always meant to be with us. He gained 10 pounds the first year home as the night terrors dissipated and he came to realize that we are here for him no matter what. He has brought our whole family great joy as he was baptized and experienced Christmas, Easter, the Fourth of July, Halloween and other American traditions for the very first time.

His second year with us has been filled with surgeries, recoveries and healing. His language skills have progressed to above average (which has been amazing to witness) as he learned his colors, shapes, ABC's and essentially caught up to be a typically developing 4 year old. He loves his brother and sisters and is full of boyish mischief. He loves camping, swimming, reading books, Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightning McQueen. Together, we scared away monsters under the bed, learned to jump off the diving board and finally, finally (as of this week) pee in the toilet (HOOORAHHH!). He has a fabulous smile, an infectious laugh and heart warming hug. And, maybe most importantly, because of two very talented surgeons, Jack no longer needs his BAHA and has two ears that can hold up a pair of sunglasses and allow him to listen to music through headphones. We are forever grateful to everyone who has helped Jack on his journey, from the nannies in the orphanage, to his speech therapists, to his surgeons and their incredible and caring staff, to our friends and family. It truly takes a village!

Jack has been so very brave and has brought us much joy and a our fair share of tears. We didn't really know what we were in for two years ago when all this began. It seemed simple enough, the little boy in the picture tugged at our hearts. Who knew what the Lord had in store for us? An amazing journey that has barely just begun....

Little Jack, we love you!

Stage 2 surgery decisions

2008-11-22T20:43:00.000-08:00

Some good news to post...

Jack has been wearing his plug in his left ear pretty much all the time. We take it out about twice a week to clean it. It usually has a bit of wax and gunk in it, but has been doing its job very nicely. It does not bother Jack and we have been able to move up to the largest plug with no problems.

This week we went to see Dr. Roberson and have a hearing test. Dr. Roberson cleaned Jack's ears first and said that his ears look great. Even his left ear, the middle ear bones are touching the ear drum just as they are supposed to and the canal is looking great.

Other good news is that just in time for this hearing test, Jack's allergy problems have diminished significantly. His nose was clear, he seemed to be hearing well and his speech has been great. This was really great as we expected to use this hearing test to determine whether Jack's left ear needed a revision to improve his hearing.

As far as the hearing test, Jack's left ear tested slightly lower than his first hearing test in March. He is about 40-50 dB across frequencies, which is good, but not quite as good as the March test. His right ear is about the same, in the 40-50 dB range. This is good, given that his ear drum is using only the stapes. The great news is that given his hearing and how everything looks, Dr. Roberson feels that there is no need for a revision for his hearing or his ear canal. He also feels hopeful that his hearing will improve over time. I asked Dr. Roberson if he would recommend aiding Jack's hearing if it doesn't improve and he said it was borderline. So, we will pray for improvement and wait and see.

So, this all means that we will have Jack's third and hopefully final surgery with Dr. Reinisch on Dec. 10 at Cedar's Sinai in Los Angeles. We have not started to talk to Jack about the next surgery. I am wondering if he will remember all this, hoevever, it should be much easier this time around. In trading emails with Dr. Reinisch and observing Jack's ear, I think Jack will need some additional skin grafts. Jack has unfortunately had a lot of shrinkage of the split thickness skin grafts (from the scalp) and I think Dr. Reinisch may use a full thickness skin graft from Jack's tummy to replace the wrinkled spots that are scarring. Jack will also have the scar spots on his scalp removed and closed, hair removed from his ears and his right earlobe adjusted. I also think Dr. Reinisch will improve the projection of the left ear, which is very close to Jack's head.

Though I am anxious to have another surgery, I will be relieved to have this one behind us. I will post regularly again post surgery (as much as I can).

Please keep Mr. Jack in your prayers.

Jack turns 4 and gets a new plug...

2008-11-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

After MUCH anticipation, Jack turned 4 last week. He kept telling us, "MY birthday is coming up, MY birthday!" He had seen Jaden and Carter have their celebrations and he was very ready for his turn to be the center of attention. We talked about what would be his favorite thing to go do and settled on staying home. Jack's favorite thing is really not any place or thing to GO do. He loves very much for us to just spend time with him - the venue is not importatnt. So, we stayed home and just had a little party for him with everyone just spending time playing with him and his new toys. He was in heaven. Sometimes it is hard to believe that he is 4. He is still our little guy, his hands still seem so small and he still loves to snuggle. Here is a picture and a little video clip:

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Halloween was great fun. Jack had a Thomas costume, which I think he refused to wear at school and suddenly decided was an okay idea just before we went trick-or-treating. I simply can't explain the logic of a four year old, but in the end, all was fine. Here is the cutie all dressed up and ready to go:

So, Mr. Allergy (aka Jack) is doing better. We are using Zyrtec daily with Rhinocort spray and frequent saline spray to keep his nose clear. All of this seems to be helping his sinuses and allergies. That helps his hearing, which in turn helps his behavior. So, good news there. His right ear canal is looking much better and the plug is doing its job.

I traded emails with Dr. Roberson this morning and we decided to put the next larger plug in Jack's right ear. Hopefully this will keep the canal open and enlarge it before the next surgery, which is scheduled in December. Then, if some scar tissue still needs to be removed, it can be done at that time.

Left ear update

2008-10-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Last week the molds came in. On Friday, I took Jack to Palo Alto to pick them up. Dr. Colen removed the wick, cleaned his ears out said they both look really good. She then inserted the plug in the left ear. We then had it modified a little by shaving off a little of the outside rim and putting a small hole in it so we could tether it to his shirt.

We came back home and right away it was persistently falling out. Here was the solution to that problem:

We had Jack wear the plug all day and night until Monday. We have been taking it out while he is at preschool. It is pretty tight when we put it back in, but he seems to not be bothered by it when it is in place. He seems to be hearing a little better and things are looking good.

We will graduate to a larger plug soon and are praying that this will do the trick.

All for now...

Progress comes in little bits

2008-10-01T20:36:00.000-07:00

I know, long time without and update. So sorry. This one will be worth it, though...

Last week I took Jack to California Ear Institute. His hearing test was pretty horrible, but his ear has some debris in it and he is all stuffed up from allergies. The good news is that his ear canal is still open and Dr. Roberson was able to make an impression of his ear canal to have a mold made. They will have 4 serially larger molds made with a hole down the middle so Jack can hear while wearing it. We will put the smallest one in first and then will move up to the larger ones to hopefully keep the canal open. Before we left, Dr. Roberson was able to get a wick in place really well. So, that was all good. Now, we wait for the molds to come in...

So, here is the "worth it" part. Jack LOVES dinosaurs. I can hardly say the names. Jack is simply fascinated with the dinosaurs themselves and the complicated names for them. Here I am reading some off to him with him repeating them.

Pretty AWESOME!

Quick update

2008-09-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, the Tobradex drops we are using in Jack's ear appear to be helping quite a bit. The wick is loose and even fell out this week because the ear canal is opening up so much. We are keeping a bandage on the ear to keep the wick in and moist with the drops. We are relieved that it seems to be much better. I will try to post some pictures in the next few days.

A setback week...

2008-09-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, last weekend while in Colorado to visit family, we noticed that Jack's left ear canal (second surgery) began swelling. The outer ear seemed fine. We thought maybe he was just having a tough time with allergies. By Monday, his left ear was essentially swollen shut. I emailed Dr. Roberson and Dr. Reinisch and it was decided that we should bring him down to Palo Alto. Chris cancelled everything at work and took Jack to Palo Alto on Wednesday. Dr. Roberson says that it is not actually swollen, but scarring. He had a very tough time putting in a wick and it was rough on everyone involved. Jack was very upset. Chris came home with Jack and unbelievably, by bedtime, the wick had fallen out. I emailed Dr. Roberson again with the bad news. He thought it might make a difference if we tried again. So, I cancelled my obligations at work today and took Jack down to Palo Alto today. After much effort, Dr. Colen got another wick inserted. Jack was very brave, but ended up completely hysterical. I felt so bad for him. It was hard not to cry with him. We put a bandaid over his ear in the hopes that it will help keep the wick from getting snagged on something and falling out again. We will keep a bandaid on his ear and use Tobradex drops which have a steroid in them. It is the hope that this will open the canal enough that by the next time we are back to see Dr. Roberson in a few weeks, a silicone plug can be made to force the canal open a little more. If this works, we will use progressively larger plugs to hold the canal open. If all that does not work, Jack will have to have the scar tissue removed and the canal re-lined at his next surgery. This is all so dissappointing. Jack's hearing is much improved (along with his behavior) with his left ear functioning. This could result in Jack having little hearing in his left ear until January. I am so sad to have this have this happen.

Please keep Jack in your prayers...

The best (or worst) mom ever!

2008-08-24T21:42:00.001-07:00

It all depends on your perspective...

Yesterday, Chris and Carter were off at a soccer tournament and I stayed here for Darby's tourney. Jack and Jaden stayed here with us, so we were busy as usual. So after Darby's games, I did some things around the house and before I knew it, it was 4:30pm. Dinner time was approaching and my charges would soon begin asking the dreaded question, "What's for dinner???" So, to head it off at the pass, I suggested that Darby look up a movie on the internet. We were goin' out. We settled on Wall-E and headed out.

I think Jack has only been to the theater once or twice, so he is still very excited about the whole experience. Jaden could care less about the movie, it is really about the junk food for her. So, when the previews are over, Jack has a pile of popcorn in his lap and the fireworks are shooting over the Disney castle on the big screen. He looks over at me with the biggest grin he can create and says, "It's boo-tee-full mommy!!!!" He was sooooo happy. Jaden was her normal self and pretty much talked non-stop through the whole movie. I swear the only time that child is quiet is when she is sleeping.

So here is where the best/worst mom in the world part comes in...

We all enjoyed the movie (excpet for Jaden who has no idea what she saw) and were headed home at about 8pm when Jaden has an epiphany in the back seat.... "Mom, we ate popcorn, candy and slurpees for dinner!!!" Darby and I just about died laughing. I don't think I have EVER fed my children such a meal in all my nearly 13 years of parenting. That's dad's job and the kids know it - ha.

So, here I am, hoping no social worker is reading this and feeling secure that my kids thought, for just one day, that I am indeed the BEST mom in the world.

Finally better - 7 months right ear, 3 months left

2008-08-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

I am sorry, I know it has been a while since I posted last. Jack has really struggled since the bug bite. His left ear has been infected ever since. The latest round of drops appeared to be working much better. The inflamation in the left ear had visibly dissipated and the ear was much less red. We saw Dr. Roberson this week and he removed the wick. Both Jack's ear drums looked good and he can hear much better after having them cleaned. I think his ornery factor has gone down a fair bit as well! He was very happy to be cleared to go swimming on Sunday and was quite the fish! Here are the recent pics:

So, we did a "staycation" this past week and toured around northern California with some good friends from out of state. We played on the beach at lake Tahoe, camped in the Santa Cruz mountains, hiked, toured Alcatraz, Fisherman's wharf and Chinatown in San Fran, drove up the coast and rode the famous "skunk train," drove through a giant redwood tree and toured a lighthouse. Some carsickness and lots of photos later, we arrived back home and send the kids back to school this morning. I think we are all relieved to be back in our routine. I highly recommend the staycation - discover your backyard!

Here are some pics from our adventures:

I will add more from the other camera soon.

Also another big day for Jack today! We finalized his re-adoption in California. One last pile of adoption paperwork complete! Jack will now recieve a California birth certificate. It's official, he is stuck with us for the rest of his life!

One week post bug bite...

2008-07-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I think Jack has nearly recovered. The swelling is gone. On Friday, we went to California Ear Institute at Palo Alto for a check up and to have the wick removed. His right ear, which was the one that was so swollen, was completely clear. His left ear, which was not swollen but was the more recent surgery, is still a bit infected. So, we are still using Floxin drops two times a day and will return to Palo Alto Friday for one more check up.

Here are some pics from tonight.

The swelling is down

2008-07-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

Update on the bug bite...

Chris took Jack to see Dr Roberson on Tuesday. They put a wick in each ear canal as the left (not the one that was extremely swollen) was infected and the other was risking infection. The wick allows the drops to get into the canal and to the ear drum. He will have these removed on Friday. Dr. Roberson suspects an allergic reaction to the bite.

Here are some pictures from today:

As you can see, the swelling has gone down significantly and things are looking better.

Jack is needing to wear his BAHA to hear. We are thankful to have it.

All for now...

Not enough bug spray...

2008-07-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, this weekend we went camping. Our first camping trip since before Jack's last surgery. We stayed pretty close to home, but far enough to be out of cell phone range. Not having cell phone coverage is relaxing and I needed it.

We had a great time roasting marshmallows, playing in the river and for the kids - playing in the dirt. This happens to be Jack's favorite pastime. Give the kid a shovel, bucket and a dump truck and really nothing else matters. The saying, "take only pictures and leave only footprints" doesn't apply to Jack. Or for the rest of my kids. We bring home dirt. Lots of it. In the car, in their hair, on their bodies, on the gear. They played either in the dirt or in the river most of the time. A kid's paradise!

On Saturday, Jack and Jaden insisted they were not tired enough for a nap. What do you think????

Unfortunately, we also got eaten alive by mosquitos. We sprayed and sprayed and still got bit. I am pretty unscathed. But the dirt diggers got it pretty bad. So, last night, I noticed Jack's right ear (first surgery) looked a little swollen. It looked like it might have been bitten by a mosquito. This morning, we were shocked to see his ear looking like this:

So, the blessing of no cell phone coverage made me a bit stressed at that point. We packed up everything in a big hustle with much appreciated help from our fellow campers. We hightailed it back in to cell phone range and immediately called Dr. Reinisch. He said he has seen this before and would call in an antibiotic as a precaution. He said he thought it would be better within about a day. We traded emails with Dr. Roberson and Dr. Reinisch and sent pictures. We have now given Jack 4 doses and are praying for some improvement by morning. If not, we will be headed to Palo Alto early this week. His ear canal is swollen completely shut and he really isn't hearing well at all.

So, keep Jack in your prayers....

Surgery 2 - two months

2008-07-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Jack is doing great. He is VERY happy to be able to swim. In a stroke of amazing luck, one of the interns at work has lifeguard experience and we hired her to give the kids some swimming lessons. I will have to get a video clip of the new family fish! Jack is a head down, legs kickin', doggy paddling machine. And, quite proud of himself too, I might add. I think the major difference is that he can hear us while he is swimming.

We have noticed that he is very loud and loves to hum and jabber nonsense as he plays now. He has also started a retro kick of raspberry blowing and tongue clicking. These are things the other kids did as babies and I never heard Jack doing this. I think there is something about exploring those sounds that is just fascinating him! So, all that is fun.

Here are some pics from today of Jack's ears. I have noticed that his right ear (first surgery) is getting sunscreen stuck in the little nooks. Kind of nice to finally have that problem. I think it is still slowly gaining some definition.

His left ear is softening up a lot and is slowly looking better.

His scalp hair is slowly filling in.

We have a happy boy!

Update - post surgery #2 hearing test

2008-06-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post an update since Jack's hearing test this week. Dr. Colen cleaned out Jack's ears prior to the test this time. We then went over for the test. The audiologist had Jack throw balls into a little basket when he heard the tones. He was so funny, he had to smack the ball she was holding with his ball before he would wait for the tone - kind of like a little "cheers!" He did pretty well, but ran out of steam at the end. At the very high frequency, he tested at a pretty significant loss, but that could have been because he wasn't paying attention well enough. A couple of times he was waiting and said, "I can't hear it!"

Anyway, his hearing is much better than I expected on the day of surgery. He is hearing at about 40dB across frequencies - except the very highest. Of course we have seen this in his speech over the past few weeks. He has just gotten so much more clear and he is giving Jaden a run for her money on airwave time - he is talking so much!

Of course, we have a waiting game here now to see if the hearing stabilizes at this level - hopefully it will. If it does, Dr. Roberson does not think that we will need to aid Jack's hearing from this point forward. Amazing. He says that two ears working together at that level should serve Jack very well.

We continue to be a little dissapointed in the shrinkage that we are seeing with the skin grafts resulting in wrinkling on the front of his left ear and the backs of both ears. I have asked Dr. Reinisch about this and he says it is from the use of the split thickness skin grafts. He says they see this a little sometimes - more often with asian skin. He has also said that Jack is in a league of his own on this issue. He says we will just have to see how much they soften over time and address it at the stage 2 surgery. He said he may have to add a little skin.

Dr. Roberson and Dr. Colen felt that the little white spot on Jack's left ear is actually the medpor framework that we can see through the skin. This is where the skin struggled and peeled off. We will see what Dr. Reinisch says, but they were pretty certain. Neither of them felt it was at risk of exposure.

So, we are scheduled for December 22 for Stage 2 in Palo Alto and will probably keep this date even though Dr. Roberson will likely not need to do a revision.

When I get a chance, I will post Jack's audiogram here:

All for now!

Surgery 2, Day 30

2008-06-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jack continues to do really well. We have been having him wear hats to prevent sunburn on his scalp where the skin graft came from. The hair is coming in a little thin and is taking some time to come in the rest of the way. This weekend, he saw a "Cars" hat and just had to have it. If a kid has to wear a hat, he might as well like it, huh? It was pretty darn cute too...

Here are some pictures of his left ear. It continues to heal and look better each day. There is some reddish crusty stuff in his ear canal that seems to be accumulating. I emailed Dr. Roberson tonight, but I am sure he will say it is nothing to worry about and that they will clean it out when he has his hearing test.

We think he is hearing very well right now and he has been a lot more conversational and his speech has been much more clear.

Big kid update... Carter got his braces off today - yippeee! His speech is much more clear now too - ha! Darby had her first appointment with the orthodontist today and will be getting her braces this summer. Good thing we like this guy as it looks like we will still be seeing him regularly...

Surgery 1 - right ear at 5 months

2008-06-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

It has taken a few days since removing the sock that the swelling in Jack's right ear has finally starting to dissipate. He was also sleeping on it, and that made it swell more too. Now that the cup is off, he is sleeping more on his back. It has been nearly 5 months since his first surgery, so I thought I would post a picture of his right ear. I have noticed that it is becoming much more defined than I remember it being prior to the second surgery. I think his ears are healing much more slowly than others that I have seen pictures of. Dr. Reinisch has said that often asian skin heals more slowly. I suppose he IS the expert....

Suregy 2 - Day 24 - Check up

2008-06-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today, Jack had a post op appointment in Palo Alto. We plan to leave the cup and netting off from this point forward. I don't know if I am just more comfortable this time or what, but his ear seems to look more healed to me. I asked Jack if he could hear me out of his new ear and he says no. Who knows if that is actually the case. We will know more when he has his hearing tested, which will be on June 25. Dr. Colen removed most of the packing but left a small amount which will dissolve over time. We will still put drops in Jack's ear twice a day. He is not allowed to swim just yet - bummer. It is hard when all the other kids can and he can't. So, here are today's pictures of Jack's left ear:

He was quite thrilled to put Jaden's sunglasses on - conveniently held up by a pair of ... EARS!

He is doing MUCH better behavior-wise, which might be related to the fact that he has been back in preschool (and away from me???). He is just generally happier! I have bought him two new hats from Old Navy. We are concerned about the skin graft site on his head and sun exposure. We are just going to try to keep a hat on him all the time. So, I got him to say his ABC's...

Today was Jack's last day of speech preschool for this year. I took Jack there first thing before he went to Palo Alto to give the teachers each a little thank you note. I was thinking that about two years ago, we first saw Jack's file. He was in an orphanage on the other side of the world. Had he stayed there, we would never have experienced the joy of this little boy... seen his smile every day, felt his sincere hugs. He would likely never heard leaves rustle in the forest, never heard water run from a faucet and may have never spoken a word. I think it has taken a small army of helpers for Jack to hear and to speak - to be able to say his ABC's! My gratitude runs deep for everyone who has supported us on this fantastic journey. Jack has learned a lot and taught us a lot - he was meant to be with us.

Surgery 2 - Day 18 - dressing change

2008-05-28T21:27:00.000-07:00

Jack's sock has been getting loose and Dr. Reinisch had recommended that we change the cup today or tomorrow, so we did this tonight.

This is getting SO much easier. I am better at it and Jack is more patient. So, I removed the cup and dressings.

Here is his ear before I cleaned it:

There is a small sore spot on his skin graft site. I put some bacitricin on it. I cleaned his ear with Q-tips and peroxide and got a lot of crusty stuff off. There is some tan colored skin that is peeling off and the skin underneath looks really good. The dark spot below his ear canal looks like if I peeled the crust off that it would bleed. So, that was left in place and the whole ear was covered in bacitricin ointment.

I replaced the cup with the cutout at the top and put the sock back on. Seemed like I did all that in no time flat!

The left ear has pulled in quite a bit, but overall, it is looking good.

Here are some pictures:

Oh, and lastly, we had some canine adventures this weekend too. Moxie, who has been systematically chewing up everything in sight, stepped on something and cut the pad on her paw on Sunday. Of course, on Monday morning, it would still bleed profusely if not bandaged, so she had to go to the vet hospital for surgery to stitch it up. Of course, this happens on a holiday, which was not cheap! And this is our SPCA rescue dog! The only bright spot in all of this is that I might go get a year's supply of those plastic collars. They are very effective in preventing her from chewing on her paw, but they also prevent chewing on everything else! Why didn't I think of that SOONER!!!!

Her she is in all her misery.

Breakfast attire

2008-05-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

This morning, Jaden and Jack came outside while I was doing some yardwork. They watched me while they sat and at some breakfast. When Jack first came out in his footie pajamas, I told him that he couldn't come out without shoes on. Here was his solution...

Yesterday, he was very happy listening to music on some headphones. I am sure it will be fun to do this again when his other ear is healed.

Surgery 2, Day 12 - the second time is easier

2008-05-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Today, we went to Palo Alto for a follow up appointment with Dr. Colen. Dr. Roberson was available by phone from another office if necessary, but he was not called.

At our follow up with Dr. Reinisch last week, he put some more blue silicone on and put a little hole in it for us to put drops through. This worked pretty well. Today, we removed the sock and cup and Dr. Colen removed the blue silicone. All this went pretty well. Definitely easier than the last time. The hardest part for Jack was the adhesive on the cup. Part of what is making it easier is ensuring that the sticky part of the tape is not in his hair when we put it on. Dr. Colen cleaned Jack's ear a bit and then we replaced the cup and sock. We decided to not remove the yellow gauze there in the office and agreed that I would do it tonight at home. We plan to go back in a few weeks to have all the packing removed from the ear canal. I sent Dr. Reinisch the pictures tonight and we will see what he has to say.

The only thing of concern for me was that there seems to be a dark spot on the skin graft. Dr. Colen said that this can happen sometimes and that the skin will likely slough off the top and the membrane below provides good blood flow for the skin to regenerate. Here are some pictures of his ear, you can see the spot below the canal and above the earlobe. The sponge and packing are still in his canal.

I think the ears are very even from the front, which is amazing.

When we got home, I took the sock back off and we removed the yellow gauze. I am glad we got it off now as it was much easier than the last time. We soaked the gauze with water by putting a wet washcloth on his head. Then, I pulled in the direction the hair was growing and it peeled off pretty easily. Here is a picture of the top of his head after the gauze was off and then Jack helping by holding the cup...

We have modified the cup to try to be a little easier on the sore spot that the cup is making on his head again. We cut out a gap at the top of the cup - here is a picture:

We then put some gauze under the edges where the cup meets his head. This s
will relieve some of the pressure, hopefully. I will watch this pretty closely over the next few days. Then we put a new sock on and here is a half smile from my ornery boy...

I am relieved that we are about half way through this recovery period and dreading the remainder of it. Jack is just bored not being able to run around. Tonight we let him ride his trike around the back patio. This seems to be a good release without running! Hopefully we can do that some more this weekend. Sometimes he likes to play "crash" and that would bring it all to a halt.

All for now, more soon...

The naughty boy...

2008-05-21T20:42:00.001-07:00

Jack has been a bit of a pill the last several days. His ornery factor is very high. He is picking on Jaden, pulling dogs tails, doesn't want to go to bed, and just is generally argumentative about nearly everything. I recall going through this the last time. Last time, we chalked it up to a possible sensory overload because of the new hearing. This time, I think he may just be trying to make me nuts. Or, maybe he is just a smart boy, getting away with everything he can while people are doting on him and feeling sorry for him?

Anyway, he can hear very well right now. I was in a room downstairs and he was coming down the stairs and was asking where I was. I said (loudly, but not yelling) that I was downstairs and to come on down. He hollered, "Okay, mommy, I'm coming!" I about fell off my chair. His speech is really pretty good right now and he is using more and more complicated sentences. A big difference since his surgery. I am assuming it is from his ear being cleaned out.

We have a post op appointment with Dr. Colen on Friday.

More soon.

Sonja

Day 6 - first post op for left ear

2008-05-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Warning - PICTURES posted below might be a little rough for some...

On Friday, Darby, Jack and I loaded up to drive to LA for Jack's first post op appointment with Dr. Reinisch since his surgery on Monday. Things have been much easier this week, mainly because we all know what to expect (including Jack). He had been talking about Dr. Reinisch taking off his hat in anticipation of this appointment. Chris, Carter and Jaden stayed behind for Jaden's preschool graduation. Here is a picture of the happy graduate:

We left Sacramento about 4pm and arrived in Santa Clarita at 9:30pm. Santa Clarita was a good stopping point that was less expensive than going all the way to Burbank or Beverly Hills. Only about a 30 minute drive for the morning. It was a pretty easy drive with little to no traffic. Darby was a most excellent co-pilot and I am glad she came with me. She brought the tunes and kept the movie reel going for Jack who was happy as a clam in the back. We also joked along the way about the various odd town names and signs. We both feel sorry for people who live in Pumpkin Center, CA. We also agreed that Angeles National Forest is missing one notable element - TREES. How does that happen? My only minor complaint is that we listened mostly to Miley Cirus in the front poorly dubbed over Thomas the Tank Engine playing in the back. That is enough noise to drive any sane person crackers in short order.

So, we sleep (or not) through one heck of a party in the room next door, got up and made our way to Dr. Renisch's office in the morning.

Dr. Reinisch was in the office by himself. He removed Jack's netting, the gauze, drains and the blue silicone covering his ear. Jack was not nearly as hysterical, but was certainly not pleased with the process. The removal of the drains was much better this time - I had heard they were doing it differently and it was certainly easier on Jack. I forgot my camera and Dr. Reinisch sent me these pictures:

You can see that his skin graft came from the top and front of his head. This has not bothered him much at all.

Though I was a little worried about the redness, Dr. Reinisch thinks the ear looks good. I am happy with the symmetry - Jack's ear lobes were not symmetrical before surgery and they are nearly level now. The ear will come in to his head quite a bit as it heals, just as the right ear did. He is not completely pleased with the right ear's projection and feels that maybe it came in too far. He expects to adjust the right ear a bit in the stage 2 surgery. He will try to improve the definition, reduce the scarring on the back, adjust his ear lobe and remove the little bit of hair. He will also remove the scar where the top of the cup rubbed on the right side. Dr. Reinisch says he will just cut it out and pull the skin together and it should be fine. We discussed the next surgery and Jack is scheduled for Dec 22, 2008 if he needs the middle ear bone work from Dr. Roberson as there are some other combined surgeries scheduled in Palo Alto that day. If the middle ear work is not necessary, Dr. Reinisch said he could schedule Jack's stage 2 as needed. So, we will wait to find out what his hearing is and go from there.

We replaced all the dressings and met a nice couple from Ireland. The little boy was three and Jack was pretty amazaed to see someone like him in the office.

We left at about 11am and drove around a bit before heading back to Sacramento. We arrived back home exhausted (okay, that was me - everyone else napped), but happy to be home.

Home again...

2008-05-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Jaden was glad to see Jack when we got home today and did a full inspection of both Jack and Rhino. She was pleased to see that Rhino was all patched up. She wanted to know how "they" did it and thought the little head bandage was a hoot. Then, a little lunch and a nap.

Jack has done pretty well today. We are going to have to watch Moxie as she nearly knocked Jack over a few times. He is still a bit wobbly, is coughing some and runs a low grade fever intermittently. This is about the same as last time. His energy is not quite back yet, but he is definitely hearing better after the ear cleaning yesterday.

A funny thing is that every time we lay him down to change his diaper, he complains about the pain in the back of his head. He had a skin graft on the back of his head the last time and it was painful for him. We only made him lay down maybe once and then we changed him standing up. This time, his grafts were taken from the top of his head. After he lays down, he realizes it doesn't hurt and then he always looks like he is amazed. I keep telling him that the sore spot is on the top of his head and he doesn't believe me until he is laying down and realizes that it is not painful. Powerful memory there...

Hopefully more sleep for all tonight.

Getting ready to go home

2008-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

Jack was finally taken to the recovery room and we got to see him shortly after 6pm last night. He was a little frantic when we got in there because he was trying to find the tag on his blanket and his blanket was lying underneath him. He just has to hold that tag and suck his thumb and all is right in the world. So, once we got the blanket out, he cuddled up with me and dozed for a bit and came out of the anesthesia just fine. We had the anesthesiologist put Jack's IV in his right hand this time so he could suck his thumb and that made things much easier this time. I think maybe he dozed a bit more and was a little more groggy.

Jack in the recovery room:

We left the surgery center about 8. A very long day.

Dr. Renisch and Dr. Roberson and pleased with the outcome. They said the ears look symmetrical and that the canal placement is good. Dr. Reinisch worked on the back of Jack's right ear for a bit and that lengthened things a little. He said there were some glands that he drained that were creating some of the bumps. I have to say, the wait is just torture.

Jack back at the hotel watching TV:

I forgot to ask for their pictures, but when I get them, I will post them here:

Last night, we gave Jack some of the tylenol with coedine before bed and he woke with a start at 2:30am. He just sat straight up. He was shaking a little and a bit feverish, so we gave him another dose of the tylenol and he slept most of the rest of the night. He was up a bit off and on and I am very tired. I can tell sleeping on his right ear is not feeling right to him but I think he will get used to it.

We are staying at the Embassy Suites in Santa Clara and it has been very nice. If we come again, this will be our spot. It was not too far from the surgery center and Chris has frequent points that we are using to defray the cost. So, Chris and Jack went down to get breakfast while I got a little more sleep. We are now packing up and going to head home. More soon...

Surgery #2

2008-05-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Jack sleeping in our hotel room the night before surgery (last night on the left ear for a while...)

This morning was not as stressful as last time. Chris woke Jack up and changed him into his froggy jammies (not planned - he was supposed to sleep in those but had a major diaper blowout last night causing me to go on a jammie hunt at 8pm on a Sunday - thank you Sheri for guiding me to a Target). I told Jack that it was time to go to surgery and to get Rhino. Jack said, "Can I go with him?" Funny. As a matter of fact, yes, you can go with Rhino.

Jack at the surgery center in the morning:

We arrived around 6:20am and checked in. The nurses remember us from last time. Jack is more cooperative and things go smoothly. We have the same anethesiologist and we are very happy about that. He called last night and gave us instructions - remember no eating after midnight, no liquids after 5:30am and juice or water only at that point. He has such a great style and is very knowledgable and caring. We know Jack is in good hands. Jack drank his happy juice *yuck* and got... happy. Rhino got a leg band and is all prepped for surgery. Before we know it, they wheel him off.

We are waiting here by ourselves today and are doing Sudoku and crosswords to keep busy. I thought I would write a little update, in case people are checking today during the surgery. The nurse brought Rhino out and I stuffed him and stitched him back up. We really needed a fur graft, but I think I did okay until Moxie gets ahold of him again. Rhino also got a very cute ear bandage. I am sure Jack will find that amusing.

Things are more on schedule this time and Dr. Reinisch came out earlier to let us know that they had cleaned Jack's right ear out a little more under the scope. His ear drum looks really good from his surgery in January. Dr. Reinisch pulled back the left ear flap for Dr. Roberson to start the canal and then came out to give us an update. Dr. Reinisch figured that Dr. Roberson would be done by 11 or so.

About 11:15 (I think) Dr. Roberson and Dr. Colen came out and gave us an update. Overall, things went well. The facial nerve is doing well and he is pleased with the canal placement. Jack's middle ear bones were deformed though and they removed the malleus and incus bones. We knew that Jack's left ear was not a good as his right and that the middle ear space was smaller. Dr. Roberson will have to do a second surgery on that ear to put in prosthetic bones if Jack is unable to hear with just the stapes. Sometimes, the connection with the stapes is good enough to result in hearing improvement. If not, the second surgery gets an improved result about 80% of the time (in typical atresia repair - results for the combined surgery are not known). This is not great news that the bones were deformed, but we are still hopeful for good hearing in this ear. I have attached an ear diagram for those who want to understand this better:

Chris has gone to retrieve some lunch... More later...

Getting ready for surgery #2

2008-05-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we are getting ready for Jack's next surgery.

Friday, we went down to Palo Alto for Jack's preop appointment. We met with Bruna and Dr. Colen. Jack had his ear cleaned out and I think it has helped his hearing. He did really good with it - with a little bribery. Bruna was so great in talking to him and distracting him while he laid there - she is just great. We filled out all of the paperwork and got our prescription for Jack's antibiotics for after surgery.

Then I took Jack to buy a new hat. Last surgery was in January so we weren't outside much. This time will be different. So, I thought it might help for him to pick out his own hat. After a long search in Old Navy, we found the shark hat. Get ready to see a lot of this one, Jack LOVES it and mom is happy. Here he is playing in the dirt at Darby's track meet today.

Chris' mom will be here tomorrow to stay with the kids and we will head to Palo Alto. We have to be at the surgery center bright and early at 6:15am on Monday. We are excited and anxious all at once. It seems easier in some ways this time around, because we know a little more what to expect. In other ways, I dread the weeks to follow. Most of all, I dread finding ways to keep Jack from running around for the next 3-4 weeks. I have bought a new Thomas movie, some new Thomas books and take along size Thomas trains. I also got a a very soft pillow for Jack in the hopes that it will make it easier for him to sleep on his right ear. Since he came home with us, he has pretty much always slept on his left side. That will all end on Monday. I think he is getting used to his medpor ear on the right, but not quite enough to want to sleep on it. Hopefully, the pillow will help.

I have not blogged much about our new terror Moxie. She has steadily been munching her way through our house and yard. She is not trusted really anywhere. The kids are enjoying her, except when they have some precious belonging shredded while backs are turned. This recently happened to Jack's favorite stuffed animal, Rhino. Rhino went to Palo Alto with us last time, and he is making the trip again. Only this time, I have suggested to Jack that maybe the doctors can fix up Rhino and give him a little surgery while Jack gets his big ear. I plan to sew Rhino up while we are in the waiting room and we will see if they will bandage him all up after surgery. Jack seemed VERY excited about Rhino's surgery while he has not really been too excited about his own. I think this will help distract him a bit and we will be able to focus on Rhino getting patched up. Here is a picture of poor Rhino...

I will plan to blog regularly again over the next few weeks to keep everyone updated on Jack's progress.

Please keep him in your prayers!

Jaden's big accomplishment

2008-04-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun video I made of Jaden learning to ski - enjoy.

Quick update

2008-04-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

Jack is finally recovering from another cold on top of his allergies. His hearing is better again. His ear is taking shape a little more every day.

We are noticing a little hair on his ear that will need to be removed. Dr. Reinisch usually does this in the stage 2 surgery that we are expecting in the fall. The back of the ear is still looking pretty rough. Again, we expect this to be resolved in the fall.

More soon...

New Family member!

2008-04-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

Introducing Moxie (definition: energy, pep), our new family member! She is a 9 month old shelter dog that is believed to be a coon hound. We brought her home today. Coon hounds are reportedly very energetic dogs. Moxie is not really living up to her name just yet and is looking a little sad right now because she got fixed today. We expect she will be feeling better and living up to her name soon...

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Our blessings are great this Easter and I hope everyone who is reading is equally blessed!

I have not had a chance to post regularly lately and I think that will not change anytime soon. We are very busy between kids and work. Darby is in track and Carter is sort of an honorary member going to the practices and participating as much as they will allow. They are also both in the school play, which I am crafting some costumes for. Darby is still playing indoor soccer, for which I am helping coach and Carter and Chris are very busy with scouts (we have an exciting camping trip to Yosemite coing up for that). Jaden got two caps on some "defective" teeth and her and Jack have both been battling allergies. No rest for the weary here...

When things get busy I have a tendency to forget stuff and do some crazy-ish things. So here is one from yesterday... I went to the grocery store to get stuff for the week. As usual, I was in a rush. I had a few things in my cart and stopped to get some pork chops. I found what I needed, plopped it into the cart and sped off. Two aisles later, I went to put my popcorn in the cart and was shocked to see two bottles of wine that I had NOT selected. Then, I realized that the only thing that I had actually selected that was in the cart was my pork chops! Yikes! So, I headed back over to the meat aisle and transferred my pork chops over to my actual cart and left some poor person's cart there. I am sure someone else now feels like they are losing their mind! Good grief!

Anyway, Jack is almost finished with his antibiotics. They definitely helped as his nose is not oozing green anymore. We do notice that if we miss the Claritin for one day, he is miserable and I think has a sore throat. So, I am looking forward to that passing. His hearing seems to be better, but he is preferring to wear his BAHA right now saying he can hear better with it. I am fairly sure it is because of fluid, but if his hearing doesn't improve in the next few weeks, I will probably see if Dr. Roberson can see him.

Some other humorous miscellany:

This week, Jack was wearing some headphones. He has always liked to wear these and usually wears them on his cheek bones, which I assume he hears conductively. I had never thought about headphones since his surgery. So, I went over to him and pulled them up on to his hear and he instantly began SCREAMING. They have a child-proof loudness setting, but it was obviously too loud for him and was a bit of a shock! I felt awful. So, I showed him the volume button, and helped him turn it down. He was very happy after that...

Yesterday, we were coloring our Easter eggs, which was great fun for all. The only scary thing is how many eggs we have to eat when we have 4 kids wanting to color eggs. Carter took a look at Jack's work and said, "I know why he is putting so many stickers on his eggs, it's to hold them together!" Needless to say, Jack was a little rough on the eggs! Here is a sample:

Nonetheless, fun was had by all hunting eggs.

Lastly, only people that moved to California from Colorado would actually swim in an outdoor swimming pool in March. But, yes, 5/6 of our family was in the pool today, on Easter Sunday. Yes, on purpose. And no, I did not partake. Crazy!

Day 60 - Buggers everywhere

2008-03-17T19:26:00.000-07:00

Well, Jack has gotten sick. Last week he seemed to have some allergy or cold thing going on. He had a stuffy, runny nose encrusted with green goo. His speech turned nasaly sounding and he has been saying "What?" or flat out not responding. I starting thinking he had fluid in his ear. I e-mailed Dr. Roberson this weekend and he called in a prescription. He just wants to make sure we don't damage his still healing ear. We are two days into the antibiotics. The green is gone and that is good. The nose, however, is still like a leaky faucet. I also don't think we have much improvement in the hearing. Probably still fluid in there.

So, we have a fairly grumpy boy on our hands.

He did let me take some pictures, so here they are:

Very slowly, the swelling is going down and there is more definition to his ear. Patience is a virtue, right? There is some wrinkling still on the back of his ear, but the skin is all getting more soft and feeling more "part of him." That probably sounds strange, but at first, it felt like I was touching a plastic ear. Now it feels more warm and fleshy and part of his body. Here is a funny thing too... When he gets mad, his whole ear turns beet red. Good blood flow...

Jack gets a banana!

2008-03-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

A SPEECH banana, that is!

I want to share what happened today. To understand it fully, you really must get to know the speech banana! Here is a picture of an audiogram (decibels/loudness up and down and frequency/pitch across) with a banana shape outlined on it. If you can hear sounds within the banana shaped area, you can hear typical conversational speech. Many other sounds are shown pictorally on the audiogram.

For the first two years of his life in China and when Jack first came home, he was hearing at about 60 decibels across frequencies - completely below the entire speech banana. He could hear the dog bark, the lawnmower and his parents holler, "NO!" He could not hear normal speech, which is why he had no discernable Mandarin. His hearing loss was moderately severe.

When Jack got his BAHA from the Let Them Hear Foundation (have I mentioned how AWESOME they are???), he was hearing in the 20-30 decibel range. This put his hearing within the normal range except for very high frequency sounds.

Today, with no hearing aid, he heard sounds in the 20-40 decibel range depending on the frequency. He has access to almost the entire speech range without his BAHA! He only has mild hearing loss now and is at 40 decibels for only very high and very low frequency sounds. Here is a copy of his latest audiogram:

He really did well with the hearing test and cooperated like he was a pro. Next, Dr. Colen cleaned his ear out while he laid very still (wow - what a difference!). It is possible that his hearing test results might have been a little better with some of the debris out of his ear. Everything is still looking great. We will stop the ear drops now unless he gets his ear wet (like swimming) and won't have another appointment until his next preop appointment. The last thing we did was get a loaner BAHA for Jack's left ear from the Let Them Hear Foundation and dropped off Jack's to be sent in for repair. It is our hope that we will someday be able to donate it so that perhaps another child can have the gift of hearing!

I am exhausted from such an exciting day, and again amazed at how far we have come....

Day 46 - Speech! Speech!

2008-03-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Jack's ear from today. Above his ear, you can see that the little scab fell off his scalp where the cup had rubbed it raw. This happened yesterday. There are already hairs growing back. I think it will be fine.

Well, tomorrow is Jack's hearing test. I am excited to know the results. I can tell he can hear better and his speech is evidence! I am going to post a little clip of him working on his flash cards. I am just amazed at how far he has come! His speech teachers will be thrilled to know how hard we have worked on his homework (we have been kind of bad since his surgery keeping up with everything).

So here is the budding conversationalist!

Day 40 - The Phone is fun...

2008-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I was on a trip for work. I usually call home in the evening. I often talk to all the kids and last Jack. Jack usually has the phone held up in front of him and he hears me through his BAHA. Well, his BAHA is still broken. For the first time, Jack held the phone up to his ear and had a conversation with me! It was really awesome!

Not much time to write, but here is a picture of Jack's ear. He scratched it a little when he conked his head on the pew at church on Sunday. We put antibiotic ointment on it and it seems to be healing.

More soon...

Day 32 - To hear is to be overstimulated?

2008-02-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe hearing doesn't always equal happiness when you are not used to hearing. The past several days have been a bit rough. Jack has been hyper, loud, disobedient and a bit sleep deprived. It is hard to sleep when you are used to quiet surroundings when you conveniently turn off your hearing. When your hearing stays on, it is hard to go to sleep. When you can hear, it is also easy to wake up to soft noises in the middle of the night and early in the morning. Sleep deprivation does not wear well on Jack. What a grump. Grumpy Jack often results in grumpy parents. We are trying to keep our sense of humor about it all, but Jack is definitely adjusting to his new sense of hearing. I think it is just a little overstimulation that will wane with time. Interestingly enough, when we turn his BAHA down, he gets angry and turns it back up. That problem was solved today when the BAHA went on the blink. It will probably have to go in for repair. So, that was probably a little blessing from above...

Enough of that. Here is Jack's ear today:

The back is looking like it maybe has some cysts present that Dr. Reinisch may have to remove in the Stage 2 surgery. I am also wondering if the wrinkles will go away. Overall, it is starting to show some more definition and shape and is looking better everyday.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog! We have it set up to send us an e-mail whenever someone comments and we always enjoy seeing those e-mails pop up. We feel very blessed to have such incredible support.

Today we took the kids skiing. Jack hung out with Mom and Dad while Jaden took lessons and Darby and Carter went off on their own for the first time (also the first time we didn't ski and the kids did). We actually enjoyed just a relaxing day in the sun and snow. Jaden did great. Jack was oblivious to everything and just had fun in the snow. I took Jack and Jaden back to the car after lunch to rest while Darby and Carter skied for a while longer. Jaden was so tired after her strenous 1.5 hour lesson that she fell asleep within 5 minutes of sitting in the car. On the way home, I asked her what her favorite part of skiing was and she immediately retorted, "The swings!"

Day 27: To hear is to be happy!

2008-02-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today, we made another journey down to Palo Alto. I may be able to recite the Disney movie, "Cars" by heart before Jack has two ears, but boy does that make the drive easy.

Dr. Colen cleaned Jack's ear a bit, much to his distress. Then Dr. Roberson came in and removed all of the packing. Though Dr. Roberson assured me this was not painful for Jack, he was no less hysterical. Dr. Roberson was granted the gift of amazing patience in the midst of one squirmy, screaming little boy. It was very hard to hold him and not cry with him. Soon enough, it was all out. In a very low and soft voice, I asked Jack, "Do you want your Spiderman snacks now?" and he quickly replied, "Yes." He is most definitely hearing very clearly! Just amazing. He swiftly recovered from all the trauma and was a very HAPPY boy for the remainder of the day. When we went outside, a large truck was driving by the office behind some bushes. Jack located the sound of the truck immediately and tracked it as it passed the office even though it was behind the bushes. Sound localization has been a huge struggle for Jack and that was really just incredible to witness.

Dr. Roberson says that the skin grafts have healed very nicely and that the ear drum is secure all the way around. He says it looks really good.

We will see Dr. Roberson again on March 4 for a hearing test and we will know more then. I can say without a doubt that Jack is hearing MUCH better than before.

Dr. Reinisch sent an e-mail this morning encouraging us to clean Jack's ear and remove the sutures. He is warning us that if we leave them in too long, it will increase scarring and leave suture tract cysts. Dr. Roberson cleared Jack for a bath tonight, so I knew we would be cleaning that ear (and the rest of the grubby little boy that hasn't had a bath really in nearly a month!). In hind sight, I wish we had just rubbed on the ear like Dr. Reinisch suggested last week. I didn't realize how easily some of it would come off.

So, first we used q-tips and hydrogen peroxide and just rubbed on the stitches (while Jack watched a movie). A lot came off with that.

Then, a BATH! I really can't believe he hasn't had a proper bath in nearly 4 weeks. Gross. Anyway, he was thrilled to be taking a bath and could hear me even with the little cotton in his ear.

While he was in the bath, I washed his hair and tried to get some of the scabby dead skin off his skin graft sites. It looks like a really bad case of cradle cap and that stuff is just not coming off. I will just have to keep at it. I also washed his ear a bit more. Here is what it looked like after all that:

It is definitely getting better every day! Today was a great day and it was fun to see Jack so bubbly and happy and conversational.

Many people have asked, so I will share that we have Jack's second surgery scheduled for May 12. I really feel better about that after today!

Day 22 - Little sprinter boy...

2008-02-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

Kind of like the Little Drummer Boy, only different. I don't know what got into Jack, but he was SPRINTING everywhere today. He is just a happy little guy. This morning, we took the cup off his ear and let him just leave it off. He was in my bathroom and was looking at his ear in the mirror. He kind of tilted his head and said, "That's my new ear." Then, he smiled...

So, I said I would post a picture of the sore spot from the cup. This picture is from two days ago, but it still looks the same.

Today, we went to church and had Jack wear the cup with the velcro strap and no adhesive to see how it stayed on. It was okay for church, but it does not stay in place well enough like that for all day use. We don't want to put the sticky tape in his hair, so we went back to the cup with the netting tonight and will try to keep it like that for the rest of the week. We actually left the cup off his ear for most of the day today. He did fine. But this week, he is going to start going back to preschool in the mornings and we would rather be safe than sorry. Since Dr. Roberson modified the cup, it is not bothering his head so much, so I think it will be fine.

Here are some pics of his ear before we put the netting and cup back on:

We will see Dr. Roberson on Wednesday this week and he will take out most of the packing. I think we will see a big difference in Jack's hearing this week!

More soon...

Day 18 - Trip to CEI

2008-02-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

Today, Jack and I went back down to Palo Alto to see Dr. Roberson and Dr. Colen again. I understand that Dr. Roberson asked us to come down a day early because there was concern over the yellow gauze that we couldn't remove. I was a little worried that he saw something of concern in the pictures that I have been e-mailing. So, I was glad to hear that everything still looks good. He said there was a bit of debris in the canal and that was normal. We agreed to come back down next Wednesday and he said he will take most of the packing out at that time. Then we will be able to tell a lot more about the hearing.

I asked him about pre-school and going back to a normal routine. I think it is safe to say that Jack and I are tired of so much together-ness... I am ready to get back to our normal routine. So, he said that he feels that things are pretty well healed at about 3 weeks. That is this Friday - Yipppee! I already feel guilty for letting him ride his little scooter around the house... His ear still looks very fragile to me, though. I think we will probably try to keep the cup on for an extra week (Dr. Reinisch is saying to leave it off after this week) and let Jack go back to preschool in the mornings only. They don't go outside in the morning and everything is more calm. Then, back to normal the next week.

We took the cup and dressing off again - more hysteria - more bribery. One thing that I have not written about is the sore spot that the top of the cup has created. I will try to post a picture soon. It really looks awful and very sore. Dr. Roberson and I discussed it. He explained that the blood flow to the skin is compromised because of the membrane harvested from under the scalp. We unknowingly had his BAHA softband on the top of the cup the first week and probably exhasperated the trauma to this spot. I have seen this on other blogs, but Jack's spot is really the worst I have seen. Dr. Roberson modified the cup, cutting out a little wedge so that there is nothing touching his head where it is so sore. This will allow it to heal, though I can tell this will take a long time.

I forgot to ask about washing his hair and had to call from the car on my way home. Dr. Roberson asked us to wait until next week. This is just not the same as a Medpor ear reconstruction without the ear canal. I know we would have washed his head and given him a bath by now if not for the ear canal. Good thing its not summer or we would have one stinky, grubby boy on our hands.

Anyway, I know that several people knew we were headed to Palo Alto today and I wanted to post a little update.

All for now...

Day 17 - Yellow gauze be gone

2008-02-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

Last night, I emailed some update pics to the Doctors. Dr. Reinisch e-mailed me back and said Jack's ear looks great, but that we need to get the yellow gauze off. The longer we leave it on, the more the hair will grow into it. He also said we should wash Jack's hair and clean his ear up. We are not clear on how to do that and whether we need to take precautions to not get the ear canal wet, so for now, Jack is going on week 3 with no bath. His hair is just growing back, so it doesn't really look dirty and he is not itching his scalp, so I was not so worried about it. But Dr. Reinisch was pretty clear about that gauze...

So, tonight we removed the netting again and to my surprise, the cup had almost completely come loose. So, it was a good thing we took the netting off, or we wouldn't have noticed that. We then soaked the gauze with wet washcloths and I just started gently pulling. After an hour, I finally was making progress working around his BAHA softband.

Jack was very patient (okay, I bribed him again and let him watch a Thomas movie while I did it). He kept turning his head and saying, "Go slower mommy!" I pulled in the direction of the hair with two pieces - top of the head forward and back of the head downward. Luckily, the blue stitch that I thought was left behind was only in the gauze, no skin involved. I was told that stuff would just kind of fall off after a while, but man it was really stuck!

Here is the top of his head at the end:

Finally, it was all off and he had two pieces of chocolate. At this rate, by the end of the year we will have a kid with two ears and no teeth. We sort of cleaned on his ear a little and then put the cup and netting all back on. We are down to our last cup until the supplies from Dr. Reinisch's office arrive tomorrow.

Dr. Roberson's office called and asked to see Jack tomorrow instead of Wednesday, so we will go down tomorrow.

More soon...

Day 16 - Dressing Change

2008-02-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

Pictures of Jack's healing ear below...

Jack continues to do well. This week, he went to his speech pre-school two days. I stayed with him once and he went and stayed by himself on Friday. The teachers have remarked that he is talking a lot more. I notice that he is placing consonents at the end of words spontaneously. Specifically, he is putting "s" on the end of plurals. The "s" sound is very soft and hard for him to hear, so a big thing to get that on the end of a word! He is also a lot more conversational. Instead of just stating what he wants, he is telling me more about things he notices. For instance, he will tell me, "Mommy, look, a big truck!" Then, when I say that I see it, he will say, "I like that big truck!" And then, as we pass it by, he will say, "Bye, big truck!" It is fun to see the shift. I always wonder if it is related to better hearing...

So, today, we changed his "hat." While he was eating a fruit snack, I took off the netting while he sat in Chris' lap. I let him just sit like that for a while. Then, I started pulling off the gauze padding little by little and he mostly didn't notice what I was doing. The yellow gauze protecting his skin graft is supposed to just come loose. Though it does not seem to be painful, it is still very much stuck to his head. So, I just trimmed the edges and we just left it on. Here is a picture of the skin graft site:

Then, I got some finger nail polish (acetone) and dipped a q-tip in it. I slowly started rolling the q-tip down where the cup was adhered to his skin and sure enough, it started coming off. As long as I went really slow, it came off relatively easily. Jack was definitely not happy about it, but he was not hysterical like he was the last time. We put bactiricin on his ear, replaced the cup with a new, clean one and put a new stocking on his head. He definitely prefers to have his ear covered.

So, here are pictures of his ear today:

It seems that the swelling is going down and it looks a little better every time we take the cup off.

Day 11 - A long day

2008-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Picture warning for this post - pictures of Jack's healing ear below...

Well, Jack has been doing just great. We had a little concern this weekend as there was some additional oozing from the cup area. It is very hard to tell if this is from the drops or from something wrong. So, I called Dr. Roberson's office and talked to the on-call Dr. on Sunday. He was very re-assuring and felt there was nothing wrong. Regarding the drops, he said, "The more the merrier." I felt better having called, even though I always feel bad calling the on-call Dr. after-hours. I may try a needle-less syringe.

Jack has been watching a lot of movies, which, up until lately he was completely disinterested in. I wonder if he can hear them better? Anyway, he is very interested in these Thomas movies and so has been playing with his train set also. I will post a video clip here:

My mom has been sending little packages for Jaden and Jack, which has been very exciting! Here are the kids with a sticker book and a very NOISY microphone that Jack loves (gee thanks, mom).

Today, we went to Palo Alto for a follow up with Dr. Colen and Dr. Roberson. I was thinking on the way there how traumatic our first trip was (over a year ago!). Jack was just hysterical most of the way and I think he ate a pound of animal crackers en-route. I had a kid CD blaring the whole way as it was the only thing that somewhat consoled him. I was so glad to get out of that car! Today, Jack very quietly watched the movie, Cars while I sat in on some conference calls for work. What a difference...

So, when we got there, Bruna ushered us right back and when she asked Jack how he was, he kind of sheepishly patted his head and said somberly, "I got a hat..." It was pretty funny. I had been telling him we had to change his bandages today. Bruna was great and took Jack to get a basket full of toys that he could pick one from at the end of the appointment. She sat on the floor with him and really made him feel better.

Dr. Colen cut off the netting, which made Jack very upset. I don't think anything was painful, I just think it was memories from last week. I forgot to bring some mineral oil to use in removing the adhesive strip from the cup, so after a few tries, we just left it on. We decided I would just rig it up to get home and then work it out later. Dr. Colen removed the outer-most sponge. She explained that Jack still has a lot of packing still in the ear canal, so he probably hears better (which I can tell), but will probably hear even better when all that is out. I put a new cup over the old adhesive and Bruna and I put the netting back over his head and cut out the hole for his face. He just hates that whole process, but once it is in place, he is all fine.

The ear is still pretty swollen, but here it is with the sponge still in place:

I expect I will see that look again when Jack is, say, 14???)

Here is the back of the ear:

Here is the ear with the sponge out. The canal looks very large, but it will shrink over time.

Both Dr.'s felt that Jack's ear looks great and that the canal is healing nicely. I was a little worried that the back of the ear was sort of bruised-looking, but Dr. Roberson thinks it is no problem. I did notice one stitch that was missed last week and Dr. Roberson said let's just wait to pull that out until next week. Jack had sort of had enough. Dr. Roberson wants to see Jack next week, saying that he would like to see him a little more often than normal as this is new. So, I will make another appointment for next week.

When Jack and I got home, I laid him down and drenched the adhesive strip in mineral oil. Jack was not happy. I rubbed it for a while and then pulled it off. Horrible. When I put the cup back on, I made sure there was no adhesive in his hair this time. That should make things a little better.

He took a 2 hour nap after all that and is my happy boy again tonight.

More soon...

Day 7 - the cup moved...

2008-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

Today, Jack had the pleasure of staying home with Dad. I went to the office. Somehow, during Jack's nap, it seems that the cup protecting his ear came loose from the adhesive strips and was misaligned a bit. It didn't look like it would make it through a night of flip-flopping Jack-style, so I called Dr. Reinisch. I always feel bad calling a Dr. - especially on a Friday night. He was really awesome and said not to worry about calling at all - to please call if I am worried about anything. So, we agreed that we would try to replace the cup. Dr. Reinisch reminded me that it took three of us to get it all back on last time. Chris and I decided to try with just us and see if we could do it. If not, we would call a friend. Dr. Reinisch felt we might have to replace the entire stocking as they tend to get very stretched out when you remove them. We decided to see if we could just pull it up above his eyebrows and not take it completely off. Before we started, we offered a sucker in return for good behavior. We pulled the stocking up to his eyebrows and laid him down. Jack laid very still. He cried a bit - I think just because he was scared it would hurt. Dr. Reinisch just uses the adhesive strips on the bottom half of the cup so that it doesn't have any adhesive on the hair. As a result, the cup came off fairly easily. We took some pictures, but they are a little blurry, so I am not going to post them. His ear is very swollen, but still looks pretty good. We applied the new cup and pulled the stocking back down. It looks to be fine - not too stretched out. I have also cut a little hole in the stocking one side around his temple for the BAHA. This allows his BAHA to connect with his head so he can wear it a little to the side. It was leaving a big red mark in the front and was bothering him. We have been putting drops in Jack's ear to keep the sponge moist. This is a bit of a challenge as we have to poke the drop bottle through the hole in the cup. Since I can't really see where the drops are going very well, I just squeeze several in there in various directions and hope that some of it is hitting the sponge. So, while we had all the gear off, I put some drops on the sponge for sure.

So, here is a picture of him after all that. He is just a pretty happy boy!

Day 5 - First post op appointment

2008-01-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

Picture warning for this post - they might be tough for some to look at...
Today was a very long day for Jack and I...

Last night, Jaden was very ill and up off and on. Jack was tossing and turning, so little sleep was had. Chris' mom got the older kids off to school. Jaden was deemed too sick to go back to school so she spent the day with Grandma and they dropped us off at the airport for our 12:15pm flight.

Before we left for the airport, I took these pics of Jack.

The drains go away today - yeah! For people who may have to deal with these drains, here is my tip. Jack kept getting the tubes caught on things and the older kids thought they were a bit unpleasant to look at. So, we started putting a shirt or vest over the top. We pin them to the undershirt and then put the top shirt over. They seem to just stay in one place and didn't bother Jack near as much. We did the same thing at bedtime. One pair of zip-up footie pj's with a button up top over the drains.

As Jack and I manuevered through the airport, we garnered a lot of attention. Jack is so happy and normal behaving, yet he looks like he just got a lobotomy with all that head gear. People just stare and stare. It was a little unnerving.

We got to Burbank with little hassle, rented our car and ventured out into the rain. I only got a little lost and Chris guided me back on track by cell phone. I get so twisted around down there! I am taking a compass next time. Back where I grew up - the mountains are always on the same side - namely, the WEST. Those hills just screw me up! Anyway, Jack was a trooper and we got to the office by about 3pm. Our appointment was at 4:45pm but they took us back right away to help us make our flight back.

Dr. Reinisch, Dr. Lewin and the nurse all helped. I held Jack in my lap and they began working. I have to say it was just awful to have to hold him. He just screamed his little heart out. They removed the stocking, the gauze pads, the cup over his ear and the other stitches. He was completely screaming. One place on his skin graft was bleeding pretty good, but most of it was just oozey. The last and by far worst part was the removal of the drains. I have never heard Jack cry like that before. I was relieved when they were done. I gave Jack a pile of jelly beans and they gave him stickers. I'm not sure that made it worth it, but he sure perked up.

Both Dr.s said his ear looks really great. Dr. Lewin took some pictures - see below. We agreed for them to shave his entire head - this is not necessarily the standard practice - but we thought it would be better than a somewhat odd mohawk. There is a sponge in his new ear canal - it will be removed by Dr. Roberson in Palo Alto. Jack is still pretty upset in these pics, but we think the ear is looking pretty good.

Jack really came around pretty quickly and Dr. Lewin took this picture of him before we left the office...

So, the plan is to see Dr. Roberson on Tuesday of next week. We will remove the dressing again then. In the meantime, we will be putting drops in Jack's ear through the holes in the cup. After the visit with Dr. Roberson, we will put the cup back on. We will change it one more time the following Sunday. Each time, we will take pictures to send to Dr. Reinisch. We may put the cup on one more time after that, depending on how Jack is doing with it all. He really doesn't pull at it much at all. The only concern is really when he is sleeping. He rolls all over the place while he is sleeping. We are expecting the ear to swell some now as the blue silicone that was protecting it is now off. So, the next time we see the ear, it will probably be pretty puffy.

All for now!

Check up tomorrow

2008-01-22T22:22:00.000-08:00

Today, I called Dr. Reinisch's office and set up post op appointment for tomorrow. Jack and I will fly to Burbank tomorrow and see Dr. Reinisch and then fly back. Chris was able to use his frequent flyer tickets on Southwest, but we only had two tickets, so it will just be Jack and I. Dr. Roberson was very comfortable with us flying - that was our main concern. Chris was asking how I would be able to carry everything - kid, car seat, stroller, backpack... I said that I will have the magic of a very cute, charming little boy with a huge head bandage - people will help me, right? I will let you know tomorrow!

Jack's swollen eye is back to normal and the puffiness is gone from his face. He is getting a little bit too used to all the attention and pampering. I expect that we will be facing a detox period when he is healed up...

More soon.

Day 3 - update and surgery pix

2008-01-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

I will issue a picture warning at the beginning of posts for those who may have a queasy tummy. I think these are not too bad, but this is the first picture warning...

Jack continues to improve. He had no fever today. He is doing this very cute slow-motion jog when I tell him to quit running. The drains have quit collecting fluid and before he went to bed his swollen eye was nearly back to normal.

For those who are reading this blog, you are in for a special treat! A STOCK TIP! Buy into Kimberly-Clark now! The Herne family is using record numbers of Kleenex tissues as the cold has migrated to another family member. Jaden is now running a fever and blowing her nose right with me. So, by the time it makes it through the whole family, Kimberly-Clark stock should have gone up. Now it is also time to pray that Jack doesn't get it - at least not soon. Whole lotta hand washin' goin' on here...

This evening, Dr, Roberson, via Sheri Byrne sent me the pictures taken during surgery. So, below I am posting Dr. Roberson's photos with the first glimpse of Jack's ear. We think it looks really good!

Day 2 - Jack is Back

2008-01-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, Jack is back. That is the good news and the bad news! I need a bull horn with a recording of "SLOW DOWN! NO RUNNING!" Sheesh! I am also wondering if the anesthesiologist turned him into a 12 year old - this morning when I was hollering, "No running," he hollered back, "I KNOW, I KNOW!" as he slowed to a jog...

So, let me re-wind a little. The first night in the hotel, Jack slept pretty good. He was restless off and on, and running a little bit of a fever. Of course, I didn't bring a thermometer... He does not like the Tylenol with codeine *yucko* but will take it when bribed with 5 jelly beans for successful consumption. I didn't bring a thermometer, but I did bring the bribes! He seemed to feel better after taking that. I don't know if someone made a mistake, but when we filled the prescription for that stuff, we were given a PINT of it! Holy cow, we will save that for all future surgeries for everyone in the family and will still have some left over. Anyway, the back of his head seems to also be quite sore. The Tylenol helped with that.

When he got up *at 5 am* we watched some movies and he walked around a bit. He was a bit perplexed with all his new head gear and the drains took some getting used to. He kept telling me he wanted it off. He was generally sluggish, but ate some applesauce and easy mac for breakfast (his pick) and seemed to be feeling okay. Here is a picture from the morning after surgery...

We showered and packed up and headed back to Sacramento at about 10. I am grateful that Chris' mom stayed with us, I don't know how I would have done all that by myself. Jack slept most of the way home. He was glad to be home and was eagerly inspected by the siblings with everyone relieved that he is okay. Here he is eating dinner.

In the evening, Jack was running a fever again (about 101F), so we traded jelly beans for Tylenol/codeine again. I took cold medicine and we went to bed about 8pm. Jack and Chris have traded spots until we know Jack will sleep through the night without trouble. He often wakes up and starts pulling on everything. He is relatively easily settled, but was up last night from about 2-4am with a low grade fever. I gave him some regular Tylenol about 3 and that seemed to help.

So, this morning, our little Jack is back. He is happy and bouncy and talking up a storm. He does look like he was in a boxing match now (see picture). We were warned about this and know it is normal. It doesn't seem to bother him, except that he keeps trying to rub his eye to get it to open a little more. Since he was feeling good, we all went to church this morning and he did great. The drains have little bulbs to collect the fluids and they are kind of disturbing to Carter, so I put a short sleeve shirt on Jack and put the drains outside of that and then put a sweater on top of that. This seems to work well as they don't get caught on things as much and Jack doesn't mess with them. I will be glad when they come out.

Here he is today with his boxing look...

So far, no fever today, so I am relieved. If he had a fever again, I was probably going to call the Dr.

More soon.

Day of Surgery

2008-01-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

What a long, exhausting day...

Here we are shortly before 6am arriving at the Waverly Surgery Center in Palo Alto. Jack was very tired, but miraculously, he never asked for anything to eat or drink. Since he wasn't allowed to have anything, we were grateful for that. Our little Jolly Green Giant not asking for something to eat? What was up with that???? Maybe an answer to a prayer...

Shortly after the paperwork was complete, Dr. Roberson, Dr. Reinisch, Dr. Lewin, Dr. Colen, and the anestesiologist came out to talk to us. Dr. Roberson explained that he felt the hearing outcome potential was a little greater with the right ear, so they would prefer to start with that one first. We discussed the procedure and timing. They made us feel very comfortable with their plan for the surgery and said they thought it would take about 7-8 hours. We then discussed the post op care and agreed to the post op appointment schedule.

Dr. Reinisch planned to start and do the endoscopic harvest of the membrane and the skin graft from the scalp. This will leave Jack with no skin graft site on his leg, tummy or arm, which is great. We understand that this is often the worst part for healing and pain and is much better from the scalp. Jack will only have one incision over the top of the ear - no scar on the scalp. Then, Dr. Roberson will come in and do the ear canal. Last, Dr. Reinisch will come back in and complete the Medpor procedure.

We then went back to the pre op room. A nurse took Jack's stats, gave Jack and his stuffed Rhino an arm/leg band, marked the right ear "yes" and gave Jack some "happy juice." Boy was this a humorous sight! Jack was a drunken three year old for the next several minutes. Maybe a peek at his 21st birthday? He is a very funny drunk.... He was really loving his sparkly stickers. They kept getting stuck to things and he lost track of them and was leaning all over woozy-like trying to find them. For a little humor, I have uploaded a little clip of drunken Jack. Just don't call social services on us - we swear this was surgery related. I was tempted to swipe some happy juice for myself though, seeing how great Jack was feeling!

Next, the anetesiologist came in, reassured us again and then wheeled our drunken Jack off at about 8am. It was a tough moment.

About 9:15am, we were told that the surgery had started. The Let Them Hear Foundation staff kept us busy chatting and brought us all kinds of puzzle books, water, gum and such. We talked for hours and are sooooo grateful for their generous gift of their time. They also bought us lunch :-) and we enjoyed the distraction. (Special note for the people who visited and waitied with us - you are all amazing - THANK YOU!!!!!) We were given a few more updates that things were going well when the skin graft harvest was complete and also when the ear canal was done. Jack was very stable throughout the procedure and Dr. Roberson was pleased with the middle ear space, the middle ear bones and how the ear canal turned out. He feels that Jack will likely have good hearing in that ear.

Chris went to Long's drugs and filled the prescription for the antibiotics and the Tylenol with codeine so we wouldn't have to fill it later (a tip from another blog - thanks).

I think it was about 6pm when the doctors all came out with smiles on their faces. Everything went really well and they were all thrilled with the outcome. They showed us pictures of Jack's ear from after the surgery, before all the bandages were put on and it really looks fantastic! Dr. Roberson was going to try to e-mail it to me, so I will try to post it soon. This was nice because it will be a while before we get to see it.

So, Jack was then taken into recovery. The doctors all came by again and gave us some last instrcutions. Jack was very drowsy and just waking up. He was a little irritated at the IV that was on his left hand and kept pulling at it. I finally figured out why he was so mad - he wanted to suck his thumb! So, he finally ate some applesauce and drank some water and they took out his IV. He was very pleased and immediately was sucking his thumb. His voice is a bit horse from the breathing tube and he is not happy that his BAHA doesn't fit where it is supposed to go, but I think he will get used to it. When we were able to see that Jack was doing well, Chris took off to head back home as his mom is here now to stay with Jack and I.

So, here are some pics of Jack in back at the hotel. He fell asleep at about 8pm and is cozy in bed for now.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for Jack and our family over the past days and weeks. The Lord looked after our little Jack and your combined strength was definitely with us today...

I am going to head to bed now. It has been a very long day and I can confirm that I have collected myself a pretty good cold. I am hoping I don't give it to Jack...

Day before surgery

2008-01-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we had our pre-op appointment with CEI. Unfortunately, Dr. Roberson and Dr. Colon were called into an emergency surgery at Stanford. A bit stressful for us, but the staff did a great job of answering our questions in the absence of the surgeons. There was some minor confusion about which ear would be operated on tomorrow. I think we have settled on the right ear. We will confirm in the morning when we meet with the surgeons.

We are waiting tonight to hear from the anethesiologist. He is supposed to call tonight to just check in with us and see if we have any questions.

We called Darby, Carter and Jaden and it appears that Grandma Herne hasn't given up and driven back to Wyoming - whew! Sounds like the kids got to go out to dinner and that seemed to be a hit.

So, in the morning, we have to be at the surgery center at 6:00am. We have never been there before, so we are leaving our hotel at 5:30am. Jack doesn't get to eat or drink anything after midnight tonight, so he should be all kinds of cheery. We are feeling better after our appointment today. They gave us all kinds of ways to get in touch with people if we have any questions or concerns and a few people from the Let Them Hear Foundation (http://www.letthemhear.org/) will be coming by to stay with us while we go crazy waiting. The Let Them Hear Foundation Insurance Advocacy Program helped us get our insurance to pay for Jack's BAHA (hearing aid) - they are really great people and I was so touched when they called today to say that they will be coming by to support us.

The surgery is expected to last about 7 hours. That will be one long wait...

Here are some before pics of Jack's ears and Jack playing in our hotel room.

Any and all prayers are welcome - tomorrow will be a long day for us all.

Long overdue update...

2008-01-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know it has been a long time since my last update. Things have been very busy in our house. Four kids definitely keeps us hopping. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

So, for Jack, he has just come so far... I just had to attach this video clip of him singing, "Jingle Bells." He and Jaden are sitting amongst the Christmas mess doing a puzzle and in his joy he started belting out his power-version of "Jingle Bells." It is really hard for me to believe this brave little boy, just a year earlier, had not heard clearly - much less heard English!

We were blessed this past year with some amazing speech and language therapists who came to our house and Jack's pre-school weekly. They worked with us and with him and we will be forever grateful for their impact on all of our lives. I dedicate the "Jingle Bells" to them!

Upon turning 3, Jack moved on to a new speech pre-school. This pre-school is the only one of its kind in the school district and, amazingly, is only about a mile from our home! Jack has made even more progress since attending this class 3 times a week for two hours in the morning. He then rides the school bus, like a BIG MAN ON CAMPUS, to his Montessori school. Here are a few pics of him with his GINORMOUS backpack and getting off the school bus. He is just beyond proud of himself!

So, we are now moving on to a new chapter this week. Jack is having surgery on Friday. We have carefully weighed our options for Jack and his hearing is our highest priority. When Jack was just a little boy that lived in China in a picture in a file, it was easy to research his condition and say we could just have surgery and help him. Now, he is our son. He has taught us so much about bravery, love and joy. He has given much more than he has taken and the decision to have him undergo surgery weighs heavily on us. It can possibly provide him with nearly normal hearing and an amazing looking ear that will help him to have good self esteem as he matures. We hope and pray for a successful surgery!

We are also embarking on some new territory. The two surgeons that we have been consulting are widely known for their incredible work.

Dr. Roberson at the California Ear Institute in Palo Alto performs canalplasty. Jack's cochleas are believed to be functioning normally, but he has no ear canal. Dr. Roberson can make an ear canal and ear drum for him. In Jack's case, he has a good chance of having near normal hearing.

Dr. Reinisch is a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. He is known for his work with the Medpor procedure. Using a polyethylene implant for ear framework, he will construct an outer ear for Jack.

These two surgeons will be performing these procedures in one surgery for the first time on Friday. Dr. Reinisch will be coming to Palo Alto to operate with Dr. Roberson for Jack. This will reduce our surgeries by one at least. Hopefully, if things go as planned, we can do the other ear the same way, possibly turning 5 surgeries into 3. We are grateful for these surgeons taking the time to help us in this way, and hope that it can help many other people with microtia and atresia follow the same path.

I will be posting more over the next few weeks to keep people updated with Jack's progress.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Update...

2007-03-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

I just logged on and realize it has been over a month since I have posted here. Wondering if anyone ever looks anymore??? For anyone that is still checking, here is an update on Jack and the rest of the family...

We have been very busy. I guess there is no need to explain that! We did sneak a short trip to Colorado in - kids in tow. Chris and I had some work to attend to and we had a new niece to meet! Little Trinity is adorable and Jack got to meet his cousins. For anyone reading this wondering why we didn't see them while we were there, I am sorry we didn't make it to visit everyone as it was a very quick trip! On the way home, I was solo on the plane with the kids. They did great! Darby and Carter sat next to a man across the aisle and were just telling him how Jaden would just bust a gut if we hit turbulence and soon after that it got quite bumpy. Sure enough, as predicted, she launched into a MAJOR belly laugh that had the back half the plane laughing hysterically! She got Jack going and there was no stopping them until we landed. It was indeed funny.

This past weekend we had to make an unexpected trip to LA to say goodbye to Chris' grandmother. She passed away rather suddenly last weekend. Always sad to say goodbye, but we celebrated her life and she leaves behind her spirit in many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. May she rest in peace with her dear husband, "Lefty" and her many close friends.

Jaden and I had an interesting talk this weekend. She laid in bed with me the morning after the memorial (before the funeral) and was telling me that great-grandma was in the blue box and that she couldn't come out. She understood that it was great-grandma's wish that the blue box be closed, so we couldn't open it. She wanted to know where they were taking grandma. After a long discussion about heaven, God and dying, she translated it to three-year-old speak and said, "So, God called her name and it was her turn to go to heaven?" Sounds like circle time in pre-school, huh? Pretty simple. When it is your turn, God calls your name and you do as you are told. She seems to get it a little better than the rest of us sometimes.

So we are recovering from the laundry heap now and getting everyone adjusted to sleeping back in their own beds. Jack seems to always have a hard time coming back home. He cries when put to bed until Jaden is in bed across from him. Then he drifts off on his own.

Jaden and Jack are in water torture, um - I mean, swimming lessons now. We paid for Jack to be carried around a pool while he screamed for 3 sessions before he really got anything out of it. He still is not happy about the situation, but will tolerate it. It seems that his chief complaint is that he has to take his BAHA off. He protests quite a bit about that and says, ”BAHA ON!!!” It is very important to us that the kids be water safe, but I am wondering if we tried this too soon with him. He really enjoys the water with us, so maybe he will get over it??? Here are Jaden and Jack trying out their goggles...

Other than that, Jack is really making AMAZING progress. He is literally speaking in sentences! His speech therapist said he wouldn’t do that until he had at least 50 words in his vocabulary, so I started making a list. He is waaayyy over 50 words now. He is piecing together various words on his own initiative to communicate and it is really fun to see him connect with language! A few weeks ago, I was cutting up his dinner and he saw that I was about to mix the veggies in with everything so he would eat them too and he screeched, “MY WANT HERE!!!” while pointing to his tray. He wanted me to put it over before I mixed it all up. Too funny. He says things like “I want to try” and “I want some more” and “I want up” - very impressive, we think! A big accomplishment is that he can (and will) say, “I’m sorry,” Very cute too, is when you sneeze, he will say, “Bless you!” His enunciation is not perfect, but it is really coming along and his consonants are very present at the beginning of all his words. They are beginning to appear at the end of the words too. He says “up” with the “p” on the end now and can say “ow” with a “w” on the end. So, he is just making phenomenal progress.

When I first met with the hearing and language specialists, they said they would measure Jack’s speech by his “hearing age.” By this, they mean that now they would expect his speech to be comparable to a 2 ½ month old as he has had his hearing aid for 2 ½ months. By the end of one year, they expect him to speak a handful of words. Needless to say, they are all blown away by little Jack. And, frankly, so am I. Here is this very brave little boy, taken away from everything he ever knew to live with these strange people in a new house in a peculiar land with all these odd rules, live with new “siblings” and forced to eat weird food (okay, maybe the food didn’t bother him too much). Now here he is, with what started out to be a very scary device making all this noise in his head – speaking full sentences to me two months later – in English no less! He is a very sweet little boy and, though I know I have said this a million times – we are blessed beyond belief.

A call from the Dr!

2007-02-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, on friday, a there was a message from Dr. Roberson's office. His assistant said that Dr. Roberson had reviewed Jack's CT and that he IS a candidate for the atresia repair surgery! Now we need to schedule an appointment for a surgery consult and discuss the pros and cons to make a final decision. It sure seems to me that the chance to hear normally is worth a shot. More on this soon, hopefully!

A Blossoming Boy

2007-01-30T20:36:00.000-08:00

Jack is making so much progress it is astounding. Well, so I am, I guess. Maybe I will start with my accomplishments first… I have well toned arms from carrying around toddlers. I can take a shower, get myself ready and get out of the house with 4 fully dressed kids in tow daily with 5 lunches, associated backpacks, clothes and neccesities in less than two hours. I can drive 3 hours each way to Palo Alto while entertaining a cranky two year old without crashing or going insane (it has been close, though). And lastly, I can put a Jack’s BAHA on him with a bike helmet (big challenge there).

As for Jack, it is hard to realize the progress until I am asked to quantify it. I took Jack to the California Ear Institute yesterday for a long day of appointments. First, we saw the speech pathologist. She was just incredible with Jack. She asked me to list the words he can say spontaneously (knowing the meaning and using them without prompting). I only came up with 4 off the top of my mind: mama, up, more and bye-bye. As we progressed through the appointment I realized how many more he knows. He can say banana, apple, peekaloo (yes, with an “L” in there – cute), no, on, shoe, eye, ear, nose, hi, grandpa, and I don’t know how many more. He signs 8 more words frequently. He has been with us for two short months and has been hearing English for just 3 weeks! WOW! It just struck me how far he has come in such a short period of time. The audiologist tested his hearing with his BAHA on and he again tested solidly in the conversational range, hearing tones at 20 dB across frequencies. He is hearing speech at just 15 dB – very clear! All the people at CEI were again amazed with Jack and he charmed them all. He was cooperative and full of smiles and gave out kisses (yeah, sloppy wet ones to near strangers) as we left. I have some great information on how to help him further and will probably seek some additional therapy for his drooling (which is likely caused by low muscle tone in his jaw) and increase our speech therapy to twice a week. Lastly, Jack was a star performer and slept through the CT scan that will tell us if he is a candidate for canalplasty surgery (allowing him normal, natural hearing). We will hear the results soon. A big relief that we were able to do this test without sedating him – probably the result of some prayers on my part and the good fortune of a fabulous, patient technician.

We (Jack and I) have had our first speech and language appointment with the school district people at our house last week. Lots of homework for Mom and Dad that has already proven to help Jack’s speech. They have made us aware of simple things, like how confusing pronouns are to Jack because we are referring to the same item using different words. Just try removing all pronouns from your speech for a while – it is hard! So, talking to Jack is now taking more effort, but we are already seeing the appearance of more consonents in his words.

Aside from all that, Jack and Jaden are getting along better everyday. Jack sure likes to pester Jaden and she just gets madder than a hornet! One day, she was pulling a blanket around the coffee table and Jack stepped on it. And so the cycle began; Jack steps on the blanket, Jaden screeches and tugs the blanket, Jack falls, screeches, gets up and stands back on the blanket. Repeat, repeat, repeat… Finally, I realized I was trying to talk sense to toddlers and confiscated the blanket! They have their happier, sweeter moments too and I will post some pictures here for evidence. They enjoy playing in the dog cage, squeezing themselves into boxes and baskets, and running around with the shopping cart full of important items while jabbering away at each other. Darby and Carter have gotten in on the fun and have been pushing Jaden and Jack around in the shopping cart, much to the delight of all. We have had visits from various family members, which has been really nice – we miss being closer to everyone, especially with a new little one in the house.

In the last month, Chris celebrated his 40th birthday with a trip with the guys to Vegas (and a cake with us at home),

Carter ran a car in the pinewood Derby, placing and impressive 4th.

Jack met the rest of his grandparents,

Carter played dart guns with grandma,

Darby earned an exemplary performance award at a Math contenst (sorry -no photo as I forgot my camera) and learned to sew on her new sewing machine with grandma,

So, overall we are very busy, but settling into a groove and adjusting well. I will post more when we hear back on the CT scan!

Parent-teacher conference

2007-01-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Well, today, I met with Jack's teacher to see how he is doing. In short, she is amazed at how well he is doing. Her chief concern is whether she should allow him to eat so much. She even asked me if we had talked to our pediatrician about it! She said he eats adult size portions and that he seems to want to eat all the time. She says he eats his whole lunch and then goes over to Jaden and gets more from her. I sort of forgot to tell her that he eats like the Jolly Green Giant. I guess we are just used to it. He truly eats almost as much as 9 year old Carter! I guess that would be a bit of a shock for someone new on the scene. Especially since he is so little.

She says she has to keep her with him on the playground because he is so little she is afraid she will lose him. She also said what a great help Jaden is to him. I guess she followed him around his whole first day and made sure to tell everyone if he was unhappy about anything. She asked to nap next to him and reminds them to put his BAHA on as soon as he gets up. Jaden also gives me a nice little report at the end of the day telling me what he smashed in his lunch and if he fell down. Very cute.

His teacher also says she was impressed that he pulls her to the changing table when he needs a change and signs diaper change. Oh, and of course he signs "eat" really well. We went over the signs and she has been using them and is impressed with how well he knows and uses them. She says he repeats things she says and does really well in the classroom. No surprise to me - he is a pleasure for her to have him in her class!

Jack's new best friend is the step stool. He carries it around like a treasured blankie and uses it to reach all the things that tall people have placed up high. I know soon he will be sitting on the island in the kitchen with Sharpies making new designs on the tile....

Photos added to last 3 posts

2007-01-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

I finally got the photos to post, so they are added to the last 3 posts.

The Belated Christmas Gift

2007-01-01T09:50:00.000-08:00

Since the last post, things have been a tad bit busy around here getting ready for Christmas with 4 kids. We had Darby's birthday, a visit from Grandma and a Christmas Pageant. It was Jaden’s first year to begin to understand the whole Santa thing and also to understand that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday – a wonderful time.

Jack’s first Christmas - he did not seem to understand at all what we were doing that morning nor what all the fuss was about. He got a bike helmet and associated gear and was not really impressed – he does like the horn, though.

Jaden tore into her gifts right along with Darby and Carter. It was fun to watch.

We did try something new this year. Darby, Carter and I sat with a pile of blank thank you notes and wrote thank-you’s as we opened gifts. It slowed us down a bit and enabled us to focus a little more on being thankful. We had a hard time keeping up with Jaden, but Chris filled in the gaps there afterward. I think this will be standard procedure around here from now on!

There was also a bit of excitement around our birthday cake for Jesus.

I know many people are waiting to hear about Jack’s hearing. Jack’s appointment with the audiologist was on the 29th at the California Ear Institute in Palo Alto. We took the whole family for this important event. We went to San Francisco on Thursday night and stayed at the Embassy Suites. The kids swam in the completely frigid pool and enjoyed the snacks and the “fanciness” of the hotel. This trip was our first with 4 kids and our travel woes are now a reality. We don’t fit in a regular hotel room anymore and we don’t fit in a regular car anymore. I think there will be more stories about us in the Embassy Suites in the future…

So, in the morning we drove the rest of the way down to Palo Alto. The audiologist was really great. First, we tested Jack’s hearing with headphones on. Unaided, he is hearing 55-60db across frequencies. This is consistent with him being able to hear us – especially if we speak loudly and close to him. She explained the BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid) to us and then put it on Jack. He was very quiet when it was first on his head. He seemed to be concentrating very hard and a bit confused by all the new noise. He did not try to take it off at all. She then tested his hearing with the BAHA on. He tested hearing within the conversational range – about 20 db across frequencies – awesome! We then left with this simple little device that will change Jack’s life.

In the afternoon, we went to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Darby, Carter and Jaden all found this place to be fascinating. We left with a membership! While we were there, Jack was tapping his head. I kept trying to figure out what was wrong. He wasn’t crying, but he seemed to not be happy. Finally, I looked at his BAHA and the volume had been turned down to zero. I turned it back up and he was happy again! Pretty cool. When we went back to the car, Carter leaned over Jack and said, “Hi.” Jack looked right back at him and said, “Hi,” clear as day. The “H” sound is very soft and we have NEVER heard Jack make this sound! Carter was thrilled.

Since that day, we have learned that the BAHA is a little finicky and will squeal with feedback whenever it is touched. Jack does not find this amusing and his head touches a lot of stuff unintentionally – he is, afterall a two year old. Things like the car seat, the back of the high chair, a loving 3 year old sister – all can be problematic. We are adjusting and Jack’s reaction to the feedback is milder now. We know better how to get it on and off without making Jack cry.

We have noticed that Jack already looks forward to having it on and will tap his head for you to put it on in the morning and after his nap – he likes to hear! His tantrums are definitely down in frequency and he understands us better. He has said a few phrases and the words he tries to say are clearer by the day. He wants to sit in our laps and have a book read to him more often and loves to listen to the noisy toys. He used to smash them up against his head to hear them. He tried that the first few times out of habit and hit the BAHA – SQUEAL! Ouch! He doesn’t do that anymore… This morning he pointed to a toy and said, “Gimme.” He says “Uh, oh” when something drops instead of “uh, uh.” It is just a million little things that add up to AMAZING. We are enjoying our belated Christmas gift beyond belief.

For some reason, my photos will not load - so you will still have to wait for photos!

Prayers have been answered today!

2006-12-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

Today, everyone in the house got up early, which NONE of us are used to right now. We left in time to drop off the big kids at before school care right as it opened and Jaden soon after that. Darby and Carter were a tremendous help this morning and knew how important it was that I leave on time. They were just great.

Jack and I then took off for Palo Alto and the California Ear Institute (CEI). About a half hour into our trip, I had handed Jack all the toys in my little magic bag for him to hurl on the floor of the car. He was ready to be out already. So, I started on the food. This kid can put away the crackers, let me tell you. It looks like a toss up between what actually made it into the belly and what is all over my car - but it made him happy for a while! Then, he was ready to be out of the car. We listened to music, which he likes to have up REALLY LOUD (note to self - get a new kid music CD). Then, a general meltdown ensued followed by a nap for the last 30 minutes of our drive. Three hours after leaving Sacramento and we were at the CEI office. There is only one good thing that can be said about this and all of our future trips to Palo Alto and it can be said in 3 words: CAR POOL LANE.

Jack then proceeded to charm the office staff and then amaze his audiologists. They performed a bone conduction hearing test on Jack. He sat in my lap in a little booth with a device attached to his head that vibrated sounds on his skull. He turned immediately when the first sound was made and I nearly cried. I don't consider myself to usually be a very emotional person, but God has answered some prayers and it touched my heart to see Jack hear so clearly. Jack has at least one functioning cochlea and maybe two. He heard everything in all frequencies down to 10 decibels. He was very cooperative and this will save us from having to sedate him for further tests. It is clear that a bone conduction hearing aid will help him a lot.

We then went to lunch. I ate some soup, while Jack wondered why I was trying to feed him after he just ate ten pounds of crackers. We then walked around the office area and had all kinds of fun walking along the planters, looking at spiders and ants (and smashing a few)and peering at people who were in the offices. He made many friends (none of them were bugs, though).

Here are some pictures of Jack picking me some flowers. Hard to tell if he is trying to be sweet or mischievous - huh?

We then went to meet with Dr. Choe and Dr. Roberson. What wonderful people these doctors are along with their entire staff. We agreed that there is no urgency for further testing since we know the BAHA (a brand of bone conduction hearing aid) will help him tremendously. We will start with this and some speech therapy and will go from there. So, our next appointment for the BAHA fitting will be on 12/29/06.

Then, Jack and I loaded up for the drive home. By this time, I was out of food and I think Jack's belly was out of room. After some very persistent and diligent tugging on the straps that trapped him, Jack fell asleep. A long day for a precious little boy and a day I will not soon forget.

A MIRACLE!

2006-12-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe not. But, it sure felt like one when Jaden’s preschool director today told me they have a space for Jack! I am so incredibly relieved! I think it will be good for him to be where Jaden is and I really like this school and the teachers. I was not thrilled about trying to find another place for him and making 3 stops every morning and evening. Whew!

We have been home a little over a week. It is hard to believe that Jack has been with us for just 3 weeks. It seems like so much longer than that! He is adjusting to life at the Herne house and his siblings are adjusting to life with Jack. I am trying to figure out how I am going to get out of the house in any reasonable length of time – for anything!

Last week, Carter very generously shared his killer cold with the five members of his family. We all got very sick, very fast. For several nights, everyone seemed to be up with some ailment or inability to sleep. As a result, Mom was not a happy camper. Chris was going to work, so every time someone got up with some hacking cough, I got up, shared in the hacking myself and then tucked the poor soul back into bed. It seemed that by the time I got myself back into bed, someone else was crying or at the bedside. I am glad all that is over. We all seem to be recovering now.

The fantastic news is that Jack is sleeping through the night, in his crib, by himself. A huge accomplishment for this young lad – only after a few rivers of tears. It took about 3 nights of mean mom putting him to bed for naps and night time and letting him cry. He now offers his courtesy protest cry for about 2 minutes and then sucks his fingers while he drifts off to sleep. He does still wake up in the middle of the night, but only with some grunting and then goes back to sleep on his own. This was a tough 3 days for the whole family, but the result is that everyone gets to sleep at night. Poor Jaden had the worst of it since she couldn’t sleep in her bed while her new brother cried. She went from Darby’s bed to Carter’s floor, to mom and dad’s floor. It was a happy night when everyone was sleeping in their own beds all night!

Last week, we had the pediatrician check up. Good news – Jack is developmentally on target except for speech. I thank the Half the Sky program for this. However, he is not even on the growth charts – he is so small. He weighed in at just 21 pounds. I can see that his little legs are getting some chub on them, so maybe he will catch up at least a little bit. He also got 4 shots and was so very brave. He really didn’t cry much at all for this – well, not compared to the going-to-sleep-by-yourself-torture. Then, we had blood work - that was rough. I am glad it is over and I am sure he is too. Unfortunately, it made me think of how many times this little boy is going to have to be stuck with a needle over the next few years as we deal with his hearing and ears. I think it is harder on me than it is on him!

Tomorrow, we go to Palo Alto for Jack’s first ENT appointment. It is my hope that he will cooperate for the behavioral hearing test. If not, he will have to be sedated. I am expecting that they will order his hearing aid on Wed and then we will get it about a week later. In the meantime, I have signed him up for the early intervention program through the school district. They will provide a speech therapist who will come to our home a few times a week – awesome!

Jack and I are enjoying our days together. He loves to play with cars and enjoys being outside. He can’t quite reach the pedals on the trike and wishes very badly that he could. He loves going to the store and the post office with me and is exploring a variety of new foods. He still prefers noodles to anything and so I am using a little trickery to get some veggies in. He ate goulash laced with peas and ravioli laced with green beans. Today, he ate a cup of noodles with tofu chunks – ha! He is also feeding himself with a spoon and fork. See the video evidence here...

In the evenings, Jack is playing with his older siblings. He is still throwing things a bit too much and throws himself a little pity party several times a day if I tell him “No” to anything. Once he is done crying (and often flailing) in his crying spot, he stands up and gives me a big hug. I think it does him good to just let it out. These episodes are decreasing in frequency and length, so I think we are making progress. Tonight, he stood on a stool and helped make the pizza dough with Jaden. He then helped make his own pizza and stuffed his mouth with some of the extra pepperoni. He was soooo proud to be “helping.”

Jack’s vocabulary has been expanding as well. He says “bye, bye” now and likes to say this and take off in the other direction with the little shopping cart. Very cute. He also can say Jaden – though it sounds more like “Ada.” He can sign more, eat, drink, and done consistently. Just yesterday he ran around the corner saying, “mama, mama” and signing “drink.” I got him his water cup and he was so pleased with himself that he was able to tell me what he wanted! I enjoy so much watching his progress!

Sorry, I can't post photos because Chris has the cord I need to upload... More after tomorrow.

Good to be HOME!

2006-12-02T19:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know it has been a few days since I have posted. So, let me try to recap...

We left Guangzhou early Thursday morning for Hong Kong. The flight went well and we managed to keep Jack awake for this leg. We had a pretty long layover in Hong Kong and Jack insisted on using chopsticks himself in the airport. See the video here...

We then loaded up for the long flight to San Francisco. We flew Cathay Pacific and the flight was just great. The food was good and they gave us two great little kids meals for Jack. He had his first fish sticks, snubbed the potatoes and experimented with peas (I think he may have actually consumed a few). He slept for a total of about 5 hours which was good because it will help us adjust when we get home.

We then did the luggage transfer through customs hauling the cranky boy with us and then sat for our torturous 3 hour layover. We wanted so badly to just be home! Jack enjoyed the airport and loves to watch the service vehicles at work.
He calls cars something like "ta-shey" which we are wondering if it is something in Mandarin. Soon enough, we load up for the short 20 minute flight to Sacramento.

When we arrive, our dear friends, Deb, Trish, Jo and Matthew brought Darby, Carter and Jaden to the airport to meet us. What a warm welcome indeed! They were holding a very nice banner and greeted us a the bottom of the escalators. Jack was very curious about all of this commotion. It was soooo good to see the kids! We split up and rode home. Jack went with Chris and took a little nap en-route with not much fuss about his car seat trap. I will have to post these first family pictures later as my camera was not snapping at the time and I will have to get them from others...

Grandma and Grandpa had a very welcome spaghetti dinner ready for us when we arrived home. So, Jack's first meal at home was a very messy spaghetti feast!

Jack then slept most of the night (like his normal up several times routine). We then kind of woke him up in the morning. He has since really enjoyed playing with the siblings and is exploring the house in earnest. He truly loves the backyard; the sticks, the leaves, the dirt - he is all boy. He is also VERY two and is continuing to test the boundaries - for everything. Jaden is doing so well with him and is enjoying showing him the ropes. A favorite toy in the house is the toy camera - he likes to snap our pictures...

The first full day home was Friday. All the older siblings went to school. I ventured out for diapers and smaller britches for Jack. Chris collected his truck, the mail, etc. We then took Jack to meet and greet at the elementary school. Jack was very happy to have Carter carry him around the class (and Carter was quite proud indeed). When the kids came home, I was surprised for my birthday with a girl's (just Darby and I) trip to the spa for pedicures - fun! Then, back home for the kid-made cake (very nice) and dinner AT HOME (yes!).

Jaden and Jack took their first bath together (the first one that Jack has enjoyed) last night. Jack made a fantastic mess with the water and was very upset when the fun was over. Then, last night was a bit of a mess. Jack was up most of the night fussing. Chris took over in the wee hours of the morning and we are all somewhat cranky today. Overall though, things are going well and Jack is settling in very nicely.

Let's all pray for sleep tonight.

And Then There Was One

2006-11-29T05:34:00.000-08:00

Only one diet coke left. I drank it like champagne to celebrate our last day!

Today started slow, we woke up without any rush and went down for breakfast in the hotel, a very large spread covering all the continents for sure. You can have omelets, french toast, baked beans, dim sum, cheese and crackers, hot wings, fruit, whatever you like! While we were at breakfast, we saw this guy working very hard at rowing his heavy boat upstream just outside. I thought it was such a contrast right outside our five star hotel restaurant. Only in China.

After taking some pictures in front of the fountain in the hotel, Chris took Jack to the play room because mom was not feeling all that well. We then lazed around for most of the morning alternating between packing and watching the Discovery Channel.

While Jack napped today, I was laying next to his crib and he just about melted my heart. He woke with a start and looked up at me and said, “Mama, mama!” and clambered out of the crib, into my arms and gave me a big hug! Very sweet. I am such a softie, I then let him sleep next to me…

We woke Jack up from his nap a little early and got on a bus for the 30 minute drive to the new US Consulate location. It is located in a beautiful, newer area of Guangzhou with numerous high rise buildings. There were about 65 families there today to take “the oath.” You would think that it is some sort of important ceremony, as it is the last step in Jack’s US citizenship, but, its not. Everyone stands up together and raises their right hand while many babies cry in the background because it is actually nap time. Then we all strain to hear what we are to be repeating and try to comply - then she announces, “Congratulations!” Our guide hands us a brown envelope to give to the customs people in San Francisco and we are done. Pretty anticlimactic.

We then met the rest of our remaining group at Lucy’s for dinner. Before we left, I finally gave in and took my Cipro. Chris and I have eaten nearly the same the whole time we have been here and I have no idea what might be making me not feel so good, but my stomach is in this continual churn. Chris seems to be fine. Jack polished off his customary two bowls of chicken congee and ate my sandwich and some of his crackers. I drank water. On the way back to the hotel, I took a picture of Chris with another funny sign warning spitters of their potential punishment (note that 20 yuan is about $2.60 and yeah, that is Chris pretending to spit). I also took a picture of the exuberant, “MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!” sign on the side of our hotel. You will notice the elaborate Christmas decorations in the background of the hotel photos as well. We thought this was interesting and asked our guide in Chengdu if people in China celebrated Christmas. She laughed and said, “No, just the hotels do.” Too funny.

Anyway, enough of all that. Jack is getting into a new phase. I started out signing, “No,” until I realized he can hear that word just fine. I discovered this when I said, “No,” when my hands were full. His response? A big frown. Now, when we say, “No,” to something – like for instance, hurling a grilled cheese sandwich at the lovely girl across the table – he turns and hurls a second piece! Then, when removed from the situation, he launches into a bawl that says, “MY PARENTS JUST CHOPPED OFF MY LEG!” Some might think that this is cute. His parents thought it was cute – the first time. Now, not so cute. Another thing to work on!

So, Jack has been going to bed without much fuss lately as long as you leave a hand on him while he settles down. Tonight? He takes my hand a positions it EXACTLY where he wants it. Demanding little fellow, huh?

He is darn cute when he wants to be and smiles a lot now. If we smile at him, he smiles back. He loves to be twirled around and giggles out loud at this. He jabbers a lot when we are in the room and today got a big kick out of dropping stuff so I would say, “uh-oh!” He is holding his own sippy cup now and is still eating non-stop.

A few last thoughts about our experience…

We leave China this time with a deeper understanding of the culture and heritage of our children. The Chinese people, though not typically religious, are very spiritual and have been kind and helpful. We have enjoyed learning more about the rich history and traditions of China and look forward to bringing all of our children back here someday!

As we have shared our journey with our family and friends, we once again are reminded how blessed we are to have such a wonderful support network. You all have been awesome! Thank you all for your kind words and everything that everyone has done to help out in various ways.

Lastly, we pray for a safe journey home so that little Jack can be united with his forever family. He has waited a long time for this and we can’t wait to be home with him!

Next post – from Sacramento!

Daddy's boy

2006-11-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

This morning, we stayed in bed late. Primarily because Jack is still getting up several times a night and it is wearing on mom. After Dad made his bottle this morning at about 5:30am, Jack and I snoozed a little later. This will have to get worked out when we are back home…

We sauntered down for breakfast, and we introduced Jack to french toast, which he devoured. We have been restricting his diet a bit due to the bad bad diapers. This has gotten better, so we are letting him eat a few more things besides rice and noodles now. Hopefully, no more digestive issues (I know you are all glad I shared that with you).

Chris took Jack to play in the play room while I snuck in a workout and showered. It was nice to have some quiet time of my own. We then had to wait in our room for a confirmation that our paperwork was in order. Chris took Jack into the hall to play with the Rife family and then we played some more in the room with some toys Jack confiscated from Emma.

Good news, our paperwork is all in order and all we have to do is go to the consulate tomorrow and take “the oath” and we are done! Jack will then be a US citizen upon setting foot on US soil! We are excited to finish all this.

Chris then put Jack down for a nap. When we got up, Jack was clearly liking all this Dad-time and was not giving me the time of day. He started to cry whenever Chris left the room (even to the bathroom). If I tried to hold his hand today, he put the hand on my side behind his back and snubbed me (this was usually reserved for Dad). It was sort of nice to see him make this shift.

This afternoon, we had the traditional “red couch” photos taken. You will see in the photos, Jack suspicious of the pending torture, me informing Jack of this pending torture and then Jack actually BEING tortured.

After the photo torture, we went on another formula-hunting-trip/adventure. We took a cab (with Maggie, our guide’s help) to Carrefour, which she described as the French version of Wal-Mart. Let me tell you, it was a confusing maze of aisles and escalators and people! We had a heck of a time finding the formula – I think it took us about an hour of searching. Of course, NO ONE in this place admitted they spoke English. This time, we did ask for the scoop – which in China mysteriously does not actually come with the formula, you must ask the clerk for it separately. She dug around behind all the bags and dug out the scoop. Now, Jack can have his formula measured! Chris has been semi-guessing. Something we would have NEVER considered with child #1 (Darby, you lucky girl). Child #4, no scoop? Chinese soup spoon and a good eyeball will work just fine. Throw a little extra in for good measure since he’s skinny…

This evening, we went to dinner at Lucy’s with most of the group to bid a fond farewell to some of the families that will be leaving tomorrow. As I sat there at dinner, I was in awe. Here we sit with children with various needs; one child blind due to cataracts, one child with a cleft nose, two repaired cleft lips and Jack and his cute little ears. All these parents, taking a leap of faith that all will be okay, willing to do anything for these children. They are all special and their little personalities are beginning to emerge. It is wonderful to see them all opening up, willing to share a smile and even laugh. They all know by now that their parents are here for them and will take care of them forever. We all face varying degrees of therapy, surgery and challenges, but I know the Lord is with us all.

Before bed, Jack got a dose of Benadryl (for itching) and a head to toe scabies treatment as this seems to be spreading. He was definitely not thrilled with having cold lotion smeared all over his itchy body. Hopefully this will do the trick and maybe I will get some sleep too.

Last day in Guangzhou, tomorrow.

Medical Exam Day and some adventures

2006-11-27T04:23:00.000-08:00

This morning after breakfast, we had to go to the clinic for Jack’s medical exam. He was not thrilled with being examined. The pictures speak for themselves, but I will say that he was never tortured while at the clinic. Interestingly enough, he passed the hearing test! He turned when the nurse made the sounds in each direction.

We then met with the Rife Family and walked to the department store in search of Jack’s brand of formula. An interesting walk. No success on the formula, but we then ventured into the back alley jade market and found some neat little treasures. We walked back and after Chris had told the Rife boys (teenagers) about the meat market we ran across two years ago, they wanted to see it. Well, we found it. I suggested we turn back after a half a block – yuck. Chris and the others insisted they saw dog carcasses among the goats. It was disgusting.

So, after this little adventure, Jack took a short nap in the room and then we met some other families for some tours. We went to these same places when we were here two years ago, but thought it would be good to get out of the hotel for the day. We toured the Six Banyon Trees Buddist Temple and Jack was blessed by the buddist monk here. We also lit some incense and made a wish for each of our children.

Next, we toured the old Chen family temple. The Chen family is the largest family name in the Guangdong province. The temple is beautiful and now serves as a museum and tourist attraction. It was originally built as a place for the family to pay their respects to their ancestors and school their children.

Last, we went to a provincial craft shop and poked around a bit. It was here that Chris and Sal (one the dads we were with), found some snake wine that one could try a sample of. Snake wine is maybe not what you would expect – it is liquor with a snake in the bottle. Yes, a whole, real snake. Probably a bit more disgusting than tequila with the worm, huh? Well, my dear husband actually willingly tried the stuff (and paid a small sum for the privilege)! He did not give it a good review – something like the most disgusting thing he ever had in his mouth…

Tonight, we met some families at Lucy’s for dinner. Families who have been here before will be saddened to hear that the noodle shop next to the White Swan has closed. This was our favorite place for pan-fried dumplings and we were looking forward to it! So, Lucy’s down the street instead tonight. Jack was presented with his first french fry and poked at it like it was a twig. He was happier to eat his chicken congee (overcooked, watered down rice with chicken bits) and devoured two bowls.

Jack is really comfortable and content with us both now. He is very interactive and smiles a lot. He listens very carefully to us and now responds to “Jack” consistently. We are also pretty sure that he is speaking some Chinese to us. Today, we noticed that Jack has two small patches of pustules – one on his leg and one on the small of his back. We immediately suspected it was scabies so I took a snapshot and sent it to the pediatrician in CA (isn’t technology awesome?). The Dr. confirmed the suspicion and we will spot treat tonight and hope it fades. Other than that, Jack is perfectly healthy and ready to grow!

Tonight, he had a little chat with Chris about his siblings and grandparents – view the video to hear his sweet voice!

Tomorrow, we will get the final okay for our paperwork – only a few days left!

Paperwork and Pictures

2006-11-26T05:53:00.000-08:00

Our second day in Guangzhou was a bit of a lazy one. We slept in a bit, which was nice as Jack is still waking up startled about every few hours each night. He does go right back to sleep, but this is wearing on me a bit. The breakfast buffet here is amazing, so we took advantage of that. Jack sat in a high chair for the first time, which was great so that he can smear his goo on his surroundings and not his loving parents.

After breakfast, we went to get Jack’s picture taken. You’d thought they filled his mouth with lemons, but he actually just hates to have his picture taken and you have to sneak up on him to get a good one. They weren’t interested in being very sneaky. We also picked up our freshly laundered clothes (I had to include a picture of this - it was 92 yuan for this - about $12).

After that little adventure, Chris took Jack to the play room and I filled out paperwork for his visa. Then, while Jack took a nap, I snuck a little shopping in. This afternoon, I spent a few hours with Jack in the play room. He made all kinds of friends and definitely loves the trucks! This play room is definitely going to get used by the Herne’s – Jack loves it in there.

This evening, we went to a Thai restaurant that was very yummy. Jack polished off two huge bowls of congee and some Thai crackers and some pumpkin. Only way to say it is that this kid can truly EAT. He should be about 4 pounds heavier by the time we leave China!

We played in the room this evening and then mister-I-don’t-want-to-go-to-bed was tortured into a slumber.

We have a few adventures planned for tomorrow, so I will keep this short!

Day 1 in Guangzhou, Ornery Boy and WORDS!

2006-11-25T06:21:00.000-08:00

This morning we crammed and shoved and squeezed all of our Chengdu treasures into our bags BARELY getting it all in. I am down to two diet cokes and Chris didn’t make me drink them before we left. At the airport, our bags were slightly overweight and we were lucky or our fabulous guide Sandy said something sweet, because I still have two diet cokes and our bags were all clearly overweight. We were sad to say goodbye to our very wonderful guide, Sandy. She will remain in our hearts forever and we will definitely be keeping in touch with her.

Jack was pretty excited in the airport and insisted on carrying his little lunchbox through security and to the gate. We survived another gate change announced in Chinese. I have found a good strategy is to identify a “marker person” – today it was a lady in orange. When she moved, we moved. We got on the right flight and Jack sat nicely in his own seat and made mischief. He drew his first picture on the China Daily (and partly on the drop-down tray), read the safety card over and over, played I-drop-it-and-you-pick-it-up and ate the mystery lunch. He was very cute and garnered a lot of attention. Once again, when we showed people our explanation card, we got the “thumbs up.” He was a big smiley boy the whole way and didn’t nap.

We met our guide, Maggie and headed off to the White Swan. We understand that the US Consulate has moved since the last time we were here. Maggie says the only thing that has changed around the White Swan is that there are more stores – go figure. As soon as we arrived, we saw many of our Beijing group and everyone seems to be doing well. It was nice to see everyone with their children.

Jack has really opened up today. He is interacting with other people (he played “kick the beachball” in the hall with another little boy) and smiling a lot. He hung out with Chris outside some shops while I poked around and was perfectly happy (and Dad didn’t even have food). But, when we went to dinner, and he really showed his ornery side! He was grabbing stuff on the table and pounding things with the chopsticks and generally being a handful! He really does not like it when I tell him “no” and frowns or jerks away from me in defiance. A little pickle he was indeed!

So, when we get back to the room, I figured I would try to settle him down a little and grabbed the books and the photo album and sat down with him. I was pointing to the pictures and telling him who they were. We got to the last page, and I was saying, “grandma, grandpa.” He liked this page, so I repeated it several times. Then he VERY CLEARLY said, “rampa,” “ramma.” He said this several times and pointed to the correct picture each time! Wow! I even closed the book and he pulled it back, opened to the right page and repeated it several times! So, his first official verbal word is, “grandpa.” Then, he went on this little verbal rant, jabbering and slobbering all over the room. He pointed to me and said “mama.” He pulled out the little baby picture books and babbled his way through them. This is really the first sounds we have heard from him and if this is any indication, he is going to give Jaden a run for her money! He seems to be perhaps speaking some Chinese, because he makes the same sounds for the same pictures every time. His favorite pictures were definitely the cars and trucks.

Anyway, this was all a very exciting end to our travel day. We begin our visa paperwork for Jack tomorrow…

Photos - Last Day in Chengdu

2006-11-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Last Day in Chengdu – Panda Research Base

2006-11-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

Well, today is our last day in Chengdu and we have to say in many ways we are sad to leave. We have really enjoyed our time here, getting to know Jack’s birthplace. This is a great city, full of the old and new and rich in history. The people have been both curious and friendly and the food has been tremendous. It will be sad in some ways to leave Jack’s roots behind, but he is feeling more comfortable with us and it is a good time to move on…

This morning we got up early and Sandy took us to the Panda Research Base. The Sichuan province is very well known for Pandas as their natural habitat is primarily contained in the province. The Panda Research Base here in Chengdu houses 50 pandas and is beginning to release them back into the wild. They have made tremendous strides in breeding and have raised many baby pandas here. We were able to get very close to both the Giant Pandas and the Red Pandas. The habitat that these pandas live in is really amazing and very natural with lots of space. Bonus for me – Jack let Chris carry him for most of our visit!

After another wild cab ride, Sandy brought us Chinese fast food to our room and we paid about $1.50 for the whole thing and it was yummy! We got two orders of spicy dumplings, two orders of spicy noodles and a huge order of Jack’s favorite, chicken dumplings. Jack is eating non-stop and we are seriously wondering where this kid is putting it all – he will rival Carter!

This afternoon we spent trying to cram all of our treasures into our luggage, strategically placing things so as to not be overweight on any of our bags – a true art form! This evening, Sandy took us to a tourist area for our last great Sichuan meal and a nice walk.

Jack has officially pounded the spinner toy into submission and it no longer works except as a hammer. He is smiling a lot now and will walk with us no problem. He is going to sleep in the crib with only a short protest and is just a sweet little guy! He played on the bed today for a long time putting all his toys in and out of his lunchbox and pounding them all with the spinner. He is signing “more” consistently and knows the sign “no” (he responds with a resounding frown). He can definitely hear and responds to his Chinese nickname “Guo Guo” (which sounds like go-go) if there is not too much background noise.

Next post: Guangzhou!

Catching Up on Photos

2006-11-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

SLEEPING PEACEFULLY

TOMATOES FOR DESSERT???

THE AREA WHERE JACK WAS FOUND

FATHER AND SON
(Isn't this one enough to just melt your heart???)

THE FAVORITE TOY

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

THANKSGIVING DINNER

SILK LOOM

Happy Thanksgiving - we have documents!!!!

2006-11-23T05:37:00.000-08:00

Chris' thoughts:

Today we got Jacks adoption registration form from the Sichuan provincial government, so he can travel to Guangzhou with us on Saturday. Along with that we now have his Chinese passport so when we get to Guangzhou we will need to complete his visa paperwork and then we are home free.

Tonight Sonja and I have decided to tag team the blog. There are so many things here that I find amusing that I thought I should spend some sentences detailing them. So here goes: the main topic on the board is traffic and riding in cabs. If you don’t know, you cannot drive in China unless you have a Chinese drivers license. After riding in cabs and busses for the last week I can tell you that most 2nd graders who have driven the bumper cars at any amusement park in the US should get a grandfathered drivers license in China. This trip to China we have seen many more traffic signals than our last trip, which is not many. Chengdu is a city of 6 – 8 million, and they have about the same number of traffic signals as the city of Fair Oaks. Of course as in bumper cars, these signals are only a suggestion of what an organized society would expect from drivers. If you stand in our hotel room and look down onto the intersection below, it is 8 lanes wide by 8 lanes wide and always full. In Chinese, 8 lanes wide equates to 10 – 14 cars wide, plus 4 rickshaws, 20 bikes, and 10 to 30 pedestrians. This total does not include the brave traffic officer standing in the center of the intersection with the lighted wand directing it all. If the officer was the maestro, and traffic an orchestra then the music would sound like Iron Maiden crossed with Liberace. From the ground level Sonja and I have crossed these streets daily and we feel fairly safe, but it is crazy because the cars will turn into the pedestrian area against a red light, and it is commonplace. The cars do not travel fast because then there would be mayhem, but they do manage to get around. So my ranting is done, and if you ever find yourself in a Chinese Cab, I suggest closing your eyes like I do.

Sonja’s thoughts:

Early this morning, we met Sandy and took a cab to the silk brocade factory. I have to say, this was amazing. The silk is woven on these huge looms that take two people to operate. The patterns are loaded on the top of the loom and the top person is responsible for pulling up the threads at the right time according to the pattern. The person on the bottom of the loom is responsible for pushing the threads through one by one. As a team, they can weave just 7 cm in one day! Many of the patterns they were weaving here are over 2000 years old and all of them have some particular meaning, often spiritual. The history of silk weaving can be traced to Sichuan, and so Chengdu is an area well known for the silk brocades produced here. In fact the trade route from Chengdu to the Middle East was known as the Southern Silk Road. So, the silk weaving and silk embroidery done in this area is well known for being very beautiful and of high quality. We really enjoyed the tour. Really, though, the big news here was that Jack allowed Chris to hold him while we walked around. Of course there were some caveats; Chris had a never-ending supply of crackers, and I had to be within view. Good nonetheless!

We then returned to the hotel, once again via cab (I think this is why Chris has the cab rides on his mind!), and had lunch in our room while Jack napped. It is raining outside and we are very weary of the attention we garner when out and about, so it was nice to stay in. Unfortunately, housekeeping did not clean our room since we were in it. So, the next time we left, we had a bilingual conversation with housekeeping. Well, okay, so my definition of bilingual is we spoke English and they spoke Chinese. When we walked away, we figured either they were a.) going to clean our room while we were out, or b.) they asked us if they had cleaned our room yet because they couldn’t remember and they thought we said not to bother.

We met Sandy downstairs and she took us (via cab) to the pearl factory. This was very touristy and full of Koreans. Interesting, but we only stayed a short while. Again, Chris and his crackers were a hit with Jack and he is liking Dad more and more.

We then headed to a restaurant for our big Thanksgiving dinner. It was Sandy’s idea to take us for Beijing Duck (aka Peking Duck). This was another wonderful meal (Sandy added some of our Sichuan spicy favorites to the order too)! So, we all agreed that we have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. We have now 4 amazing children and an incredibly supportive and wonderful network of friends and family that just couldn’t be better! How great is that?

I will close with a little more about Jack. He is starting to get a little more inquisitive and curious. Today, his smiles are emerging and he is feeling much more secure. As I type this, he is supposed to be sleeping. Instead, he has figured out that there are switches on the nightstand that turn lights off and on. He also just peeled off his pajama bottoms under the covers. I think we will be hopping when he teams up with Jaden back home…

Jack is opening up – he has his first word

2006-11-22T05:03:00.000-08:00

First, let me please apologize for the technical difficulties! For some reason, we were unable to access the blog for the last week. Good news – after some help from the US (thanks John and Christy) posting everything up through yesterday, we are mysteriously able to log on to blogger now. So, hopefully our posts will appear daily from now on. Ironically, I have now been able to load some video clips into YouTube and they are linked here, BUT I am not having great success posting photos, so those may be added a little later. For now, enjoy the video!

This morning, we took it easy. Sandy is busy pursuing our paperwork and needed the morning for some meetings, so we just hung out at the hotel. We are little bit tired of our rock-star status and everyone staring at us and whispering. Jack is walking around now, so we cruised around the hotel floors and made nice with all the staff. Jack does not want anyone to touch him, but he loves to wave goodbye to everyone.

Before his nap, I was feeding Jack some crackers and teaching him the sign for “more” - big news, he signs this now by himself! So, his first word is “more.” Smart little boy! Jack cried for about 30 minutes before his nap, which we thought was a HUGE improvement. When he got up, we fed him ramen noodles for lunch on the bed again and then met Sandy for the afternoon.

First, we went to see the spot where Jack was found. From the police report, we know that he was found under and overpass on the west side of town. Sandy tells us that there are a lot of migrant workers that live in this area and many of the people are very poor. She said that she believes that Jack’s birthparents left him in this area because it is close to the location of the old orphanage that is now a senior home. She believes that they were probably migrant workers and did not know that the orphanage had moved to its new location a few years earlier. The sign outside the building still says it is the Children’s Welfare Institute. It is a bustling area where migrant workers wait for day-labor opportunities so there are many, many people around all the time. It is likely that his birthparents could not afford any medical treatment for him and were forced to make this tragic choice. It was a very emotional day for me to think about two years ago what painful decisions his birthparents faced that resulted in Jack being placed in our arms. We are so pleased to have some photos and information that we can share with him.

Next, Sandy took us to get a massage at a local massage place. The massage was AWESOME. The young people who did our massages were very curious about Jack and asked Sandy a lot of questions. They just couldn’t understand why we would adopt a child when we already have 3! The one child policy certainly has a far reaching cultural impact. I don’t think there is anything we could have said that would have helped them understand. They enjoyed looking at the pictures of the kids and said Jack was a lucky boy (there was no explaining that we were the lucky ones).

After this, we went to a Sichuan restaurant for dinner and Sandy ordered only local spicy food for the adults and some dumplings for Jack. She told us she would never order that food for her American clients and we were so glad she did! It was very flavorful and we loved it. I don’t think Sandy slipped anything by on us this time – I think we ate chicken – but I guess we will never know for sure… At dinner, I discovered that Jack is indeed a little ticklish and I was able to get him to laugh. He is definitely feeling more comfortable with us! Tonight, only 5 minutes of crying and the fingers went in the mouth and he was sound asleep shortly after that - what a relief...

So, a little more about this precious little boy… He eats non-stop and will eat anything we put in his mouth. He has been eating nearly all day. We have discovered though, that we have to watch that he is swallowing. Yesterday, he had watermelon for breakfast and then an hour later when I gave him his bottle, he spit a whole bunch of watermelon at me! He loves his little light spinner and has been pounding it on stuff all day. Now, it has a vibration problem as the spinner is no longer straight. He doesn’t seem to care and is sleeping with it again. He sucks his forefinger and thumb on his left hand – at the same time – when he is sleepy. His finger has a huge callous on it from his teeth we think. He has a very sweet smile and loves to run into my arms. He is very smart and conscientious. If something falls on the floor, he runs over to pick it up and hand it to me. He is just a very sweet boy and we are very blessed!

Transition and Super Dad

2006-11-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Nov 21

Well, yesterday was an exciting day for us and clearly a terrifying day for one little boy. At the orphanage, the director told us that she knew Jack was our son because he came to me and was not crying when I held him (of course, I had the food). He really didn’t want to have anything to do with Chris, but he was stuck to me like Velcro. By the end of the day, my back was killing me and I was covered in slobber (I think a clear sign of a happy mother?). He finally gave in to sleep on my chest after a long cry and then we let him sleep between us for the rest of the night. He just seemed so scared.

Today is definitely better. This morning, he let Chris feed him his morning bottle (without me next to him). Though he is two, we think he is accustomed to 3 bottles a day. This is good for us as it provides a nice time to bond with him. So I actually got to take a shower without my Velcro. We then headed to the Registrar’s office to complete the adoption registration. After this paperwork, the adoption is final. He is just going to have to get used to us now – he is stuck with us!

After the adoption registration, we took a walk to the People’s Park. Right now in Chengdu, the Chrysanthemum Festival is going on. There are flowers everywhere and the People’s Park is really pretty. There were some signs everywhere that had peculiar English translations that we got a kick out of. There were many people in the park doing dances, exercising, playing games at tables and walking through the park. We really enjoyed our time at the park and bought some cool souvenirs at a more “local” stand. Us carrying Jack around generates a lot of interest, so we show people the note our guide has given us explaining why we have him and everyone gives us the “thumbs up.” So, by this time my back was really killing me as Jack won’t let Chris carry him without making a complete scene. So, I talked Chris into taking a rickshaw back to the hotel. If you hear in the news that a rickshaw driver had a heart attack after pedaling two Americans in Chengdu, China, I am afraid we are to blame. Poor guy, we gave him a workout!

So, when we get back to the hotel, Jack is very tired and still terrified to go to sleep. Super Dad to the rescue! Chris stuck it out with Jack and got him to sleep IN THE CRIB! Chris then encouraged me to get a massage to help with my back (oh, and I think he took a nap with Jack, so don’t think he is too generous). I went down to get a massage and I can tell you that it is hard to convey to the Chinese beauty salon that you want a back massage when you don’t speak Chinese! I got a neck and head massage instead and it felt good, though my back is really no better. Oh well.

So after all this, Jack wakes up a happy boy. He ran over to me from across the room smiling this afternoon and is right now sitting on the bed eating some strange Chinese crackers that are both sweet and salty. The notary came to our hotel room and notarized all of our registration paperwork (while I fed Jack the Chinese version of ramen noodles with chopsticks on the bed). I thought that was all kind of weird. We paid him and now we are done with all of our paperwork here in Chengdu. We just have to wait now for the official copy of the adoption certificate and then we are off to Guangzhou.

This evening, our guide Sandy, took us to a local Chinese restaurant. At this place you can order small samplings of several different kinds of dishes. They were all very good and many were very spicy. Sandy let us just dig in and one of the dishes Chris and I both liked happened to be cow stomach. Sandy got a big laugh out of this. I have to say if she had asked beforehand, I would have declined and it was actually pretty good.

After dinner, we went to the local opera. The show was wonderful and Jack enjoyed it as much as us. The colorful costumes were mesmerizing to him and I think he heard the music as it was quite loud.

So, Jack is finally asleep in his crib after a long, hard cry. He cries and cries and almost falls asleep and then looks around and realizes where he is and launches off again. I think falling asleep is just especially scary for him. Overall he did much better today and even gave us several smiles. He walked around the room and stood in the bathroom this evening while I took a shower. He has been carrying this light up toy that we gave him non-stop and is even sleeping with it now. He is so happy that he has figured out how to push the button by himself. Anyway, better today and better tomorrow I am sure.

I am off to bed, it is late here. Darby, Carter and Jaden, we miss you much and can’t wait to be home!

Sonja

Gotcha Day!

2006-11-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

Nov 20

We woke up early without an alarm clock this morning, imagine that! Sonja and I were both a bit too excited to get the day started so we were up and waiting for our guide a full half hour before our meeting time.

We loaded into a nice cab and rode about an hour thru the city of Cheng Du to the orphanage on the far western side. It was another crazy cab ride and raining off and on to add to the excitement. We arrived at the orphanage at 9 am and were greeted by the director herself, plus her staff. After introductions and document signing, Jack was brought in within a whirlwind of activity. He took to Sonja without delay which in our opinion is a good sign. Soon after we got Jack, we got to visit with 2 other children whom are waiting to be adopted, Sonja has been in contact with their families and they asked us to check on the kids while they wait for their travel approvals. Both kids were fantastic, dancing and singing for us as well as eating as much candy as we would put on the table. Jack also liked the candy pretty well, other than he did spit out the M&M’s that we brought along. We got to tour the orphanage and it was immaculate, both the grounds and the building are amazing. The kids in this orphanage have it better than most kids on the planet when it comes to housing and yard.

Without fanfare, we left with Jack on our ride back to the hotel. One item of note here should be that there were no men in the orphanage, all ladies. This presents an issue as Jack has been a bit scared to come near me, so he has been in his mom’s arms all day and also why I am writing tonight’s post rather than Sonja. This has been a tough day on the little guy and he cries pretty hard when Sonja puts him down or acts like she might put him down, as well as when he gets his diaper changed. We were able to peel the layers of his orphanage clothes off (to dress him in the clothes we brought), and as most of you know the Chinese are fundamentalists when it comes to layers. I think he might go to bed at some point tonight (this is prayer request here) with less clothes on than he has ever had before.

So we got back to the hotel, ate a small lunch in the room and he took his nap (in Sonja’s arms). When he woke we wandered thru the local shopping district and found him a couple of outfits so he now has more than one pair of clothes. Our guide took us to a diner called Western food for dinner, it turned out that they only have silverware, not chopsticks. I kind of liked the pizza with carmelized onions, chicken bones, and some other sort of meat, but it will not become a fad in the US is suspect. We came back tonight and started our registration paperwork which we will submit at 8 am tomorrow. Somehow I forgot about all the paperwork that goes on when in China. So that is the post for today, I hear the baby snoring in Sonja’s arms right now. Each time she has tried to put him down for the last 3 hours he has screamed, so he might be sleeping where he is tonight, on our bed next to his crib. I am learning a bit already about hearing impaired children, they like to be able to see you at all times. I suppose this comes from them not being able to hear you if you are behind them, anyway so all day he has wanted to keep both Sonja and I in front of him. I suspect our dog Rugger is going to love this part of his personality.

We had a great Gotcha Day and we look forward to completing this section of our trip so we can get to Guangzhou and then back home. We have missed Darby, Carter, and Jaden something fierce so the sooner we get home the better.

Nov 19 - Chengdu

2006-11-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

Nov 19

We made it to Chengdu! We have had a GREAT first day here in Chengdu!

This morning, we got up bright and early for our flight from Beijing. Our guide helped us check in. We had one bag that was slightly overweight and they let it go – so, I didn’t have to drink one of my precious remaining diet cokes. Our guide helped us check in and we said goodbye to her at security. Our gate was 25 and when we got to the gate, there was actually 25A-H. So, we looked up our flight on the board and proceeded to gate 25D. We were in a sea of Chinese speaking people and NONE of the announcements were in English. We are assuming this is like a typical puddle jumper gate area and we will be on a small plane. Well, after a while, we realize that people are boarding through the gate, so we start following. At the last minute, we realize the flight number has changed! Yikes! Over to the board again and sure enough, we must have missed the gate change announcement and people are boarding our flight over at 25H! We race over and get on our bus to the plane. When we board the plane we were astonished to get on an Airbus 330 – which seats the same number of people as our United flight from San Francisco to Beijing! We were seated 8 across and the plane was about 90% full! Big flight! We left and arrived on time and found our luggage no problem.

One crazy taxi ride later and we are at our hotel, the Yinhe Dynasty Hotel. It is a local hotel, and is very nice. We then settled into our room and met our guide Sandy for a little walk around the area. Man, there are a LOT of bikes here! Sandy says that there are 300 new cars on the road every day, but the bikes seem to far outnumber the cars. Rickshaws everywhere and bikes, bikes, bikes. Sandy took us to the grocery store for water and then on a little tour of the area. Our hotel is downtown, so we are in the middle of a lot of shopping areas. She showed us the department stores, which are government run, and the local private market stores in a pedestrian area. There were just so many people everywhere it was just plain crazy. Little street vendors selling food, jewelry, toys, etc. and people walking, riding bikes, mopeds everywhere. It is Sunday, so there were a lot of families out and about. Sandy went back to the hotel and we went back out ourselves to buy a few things for Jack for tomorrow. We found a cute stuffed giraffe that plays music and some crackers. We have found some stores to go to tomorrow to buy him some clothes and shoes and will also let him pick out a toy or two. Darby will be pleased to know that orange seems to be a very popular color here. Carter, the street vendors are selling little turtles about the size of your fist. I thought of you when I saw them, but I am sorry to say that I don’t think I could bring them on the plane!

Sandy says laundry is a little expensive, so while we were out, we bought a Tide soap bar to do our laundry ourselves. When we got back to the room, we washed our pants and it was completely disgusting. I can’t believe I was wearing those clothes. They were so filthy and we think it is just from the pollution and maybe the places we have been sitting. Now we have clothes hanging all over the hotel room and it will probably take everything 3 days to dry .

After the laundry, we met Sandy for dinner. We could not get a cab, so we took rickshaws to the restaurant – boy was that a crazy ride! We told Sandy that we like spicy food and that we wanted to try the Hot Pot, which is a local favorite. I have to say, this meal was definitely a major highlight of our trip so far. I am not exactly sure what all we ate, but boy was it good. The best way to describe Hot Pot is that it is the Chinese version of fondue. They brought out a huge bowl of broth with spices including a slew of red chili peppers and brought it to a boil on the burner under the table. Then they brought out a variety of things to toss in the pot; noodles, fish, spiced beef, lotus root, potatoes, other vegetables, some mystery seafood, sausages and I think some pork. We tossed this stuff all in the pot and then fished it out with a slotted spoon when it was cooked (with chopsticks!). We then dipped it in sesame oil with a bunch of garlic in it and ate it up. This was one of the best meals we have ever eaten! It was fabulous. Darby and Carter, you guys would have thought it was fun and we missed having you here for this! We ate at a table outside with a fabulous view of the city lights. We really had a great time.

Lastly, Chris may be holding out on me as he is saying that he is not sharing my misery, but I can barely walk without my quads reminding me of my day on the Great Wall yesterday! Man, am I sore! I have told Chris that I am sure it is because the steps were about waist high for me (okay, maybe not waist high, but they sure seemed it!).

So, now we are back at our room and the crib is here, all ready for Jack. We are all packed up for our trip to the orphanage tomorrow morning and excited to meet our new son!

Next Post: Gotcha Day!

Sonja

Nov 18 - Beijing

2006-11-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Nov 18, 2006

Day 2 in Beijing – wow! This morning, Chris got me up bright and early (since we were both coughing instead of sleeping) for a morning workout. Chris can not use the treadmill because he would hit his head on the ceiling. So, we resort to the stair stepper and other equipment, which happens to be located on the deck next to the pool. This would all be fine, except that the pool is located next to the breakfast area, separated by some meager greenery. So here are Chris and I, sweating like crazy next to these poor people eating their breakfast! I quit early….

We showered and came back to the workout breakfast area to eat. The selections are an eclectic mix of east and west, dinner and breakfast. I passed on the baked beans, but did have some Chinese dumpling soup with some watermelon and cantaloupe on the side – yum.

Then, we all loaded up on our tour bus and headed to Badaling. Along the way, we stopped at the Jade factory and had some lessons on fake vs. real jade. We were good tourists and bought a few things, used the very Chinese bathrooms. Then, it was on to Badaling.

We have noticed that there are an AMAZING number of bicycles on the roads here in Beijing. In fact, I would venture a guess that there is one bicycle for every car. If you think it is a bit dangerous to ride a bike on the roads in Colorado or California, you should see these folks! Yikes!

On the way to Badaling, we noticed that the sky was blue – yes BLUE! It was a beautiful day in Beijing. Our guide (who is awesome, by the way) informed us of the many changes that are taking place in Beijing to prepare for the Olympics. One problem that they have tackled is the pollution. You can certainly tell the difference. The have apparently moved factories out of town, planted many, many trees and increased public transportation and pollution controls on cars. I really could not believe that the sky was blue.

We got to Badaling and were just awestruck by the Great Wall. It was a very steep climb, but we enjoyed it immensely. This section of the wall was built 2000 years ago with manual labor. It was a tough climb for us and we were really huffing and puffing. I can not imagine hauling ROCKS along with my own bodyweight! Can you imagine guarding Beijing on the wall in full body armor and carrying a weapon? We finally turned back when we realized that we were the only ones left that were over the age of 30! The steps are uneven – some are very tall and some are very short. This was indeed the REAL stair stepper.

We then toured an enamel factory where they take copper pots, plates, vases, etc. What an intricate process this is. We ate some fabulous Chinese food for lunch at this factory before we went to the Ming Tombs where several emperors are buried. We took a 30 minute walk through here and took some pictures with some of the statues. There is reportedly very good feng shui (energy) due to the arrangement of the park. Next: on to the acrobatic show. This is a very well known show in China and these acrobats were just incredible! I can tell you, there will be no trying any of that at home!

After this busy day, we are now back at the hotel, packing up for tomorrow. Our checked luggage must not weigh more than 88lbs, so we have some creative packing to do. Chris is trying to get me to drink all the diet cokes I brought so that we can reduce the weight of the bags. I didn’t realize that a six pack weighed 8 lbs until they were all but packed…

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures. We are anxious to get to Chengdu tomorrow – one step closer to Jack!

Sonja

2006-11-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

Nov 17

Past and Present…

Beijing has been so interesting! We are seeing all of the construction and preparation for the 2008 Olympics making Beijing new and polished amongst the awesome rich history.

Today we went to Tianamen Square (which is just HUGE). The 1989 events are a taboo topic here and the average Beijing resident would only know what we would tell them. After recently reading “Red China Blues” Tianamen Square evokes strong emotions for me. More interesting, really was the south side of the square where the very old Manchurian City gates used to be. The structures on either side of what used to be the gates is all that remains as the gates are long gone. Very beautiful! Chris and I walked down to this area and were repeatedly approached by students trying out their English on us. Very funny. They just wanted to talk to us so that they could practice. Then, they invited us to the art exhibition across the street.

Next, we toured the Forbidden City, which was where the Emperor lived and worked during the dynasties prior to 1911. Many of the buildings in the Forbidden City are under renovation. There is a big effort to polish up! This area is HUGE and the buildings are just beautiful. We were able to look in the windows of many rooms in the Emperor’s quarters. The rooms look cold and stiff to us. I also got my first China toilet experience here… somehow I avoided that on the last trip.

From there we went to lunch - Chinese food that was thankfully ordered by our guide, Jill (who is great). The food was good and the service was typical China sloooowwww.

From there we went on to our Hutong tour, which was the highlight of the day. Manchurians lived in groups close to water. The word Hutong used to be a Manchiran word meaning to live close to water. When the Manchurians came to Beijing, they lived in groups down narrows alleys with a common small courtyard. These areas are now known as Hutongs. Long ago, a family would occupy one Hutong, living together around a small courtyard that was shared by the extended family. Now, there are only a few Hutong areas left that are being preserved by the government because of their historical importance. Many of these Hutongs are now occupied by people renting them from the government for a very low rate. Several families in the Hutong area host tourists in their homes to show people how they live. So, we were able to tour the Hutong area and met a lady who had lived there for 48 years! She is a 75 year old retired nurse who raised her family in the Hutong. Her whole residence is about the size of Darby’s bedroom. It is basically a studio apartment; however, it has no bathroom. There is only a public bathroom down the street. This lady is Catholic and had 3 children (before the one-child policy). It was very interesting to hear about her life and see how she lived. She had a huge flat screen TV and a microwave, but heated her house with coal briquettes that boiled water into the radiator! We really enjoyed this tour and realized how much we take for granted. Lastly, everyone should say a prayer for the skinny little rickshaw driver that had to peddle us around the Hutongs. His legs must be killing him!

Tomorrow, we will see the Great Wall and do some souvenir shopping. We have met some really great people here and are touring with 6 other families (19 people in all). It will be great to see everyone again in Guangzhou after we all have our children!

More soon,

Sonja

Well, after a day of stops and starts, we are finally in Beijing! We arrived at the airport in Sacramento in plenty of time for our flight and got on the plane, buckled up and the pilot immediately announced that there was a “ground stop” in San Francisco and that the flight was delayed for at least one hour. Not good news when there is only one flight to Beijing every day! In the nick of time, the flight re-boarded and left. We had a fantastic sprint to the gate in San Francisco and BARELY made our Beijing flight!

The flight was long and fairly sleepless for both of us (I think I got a few 20 minute naps). It is 3:10am California time right now, and 7:10pm in Beijing. We are very tired and ready to go to bed! Tomorrow we tour Beijing. We have met up with Steve, Mary and their 3 year old Jenna. I had met Mary on line - so it is nice to put a face with the name! We will be here in Beijing with them and we think 5 other families for the next few days before we all part ways to the individual provinces.

Beijing has California traffic (or maybe worse) and is very smoggy. The city is bustling with activity and teeming with history. We are really looking forward to tomorrow!

Sonja

Out With Security and Off We Go!

2006-11-15T07:18:00.000-08:00

First things first. When we first decided to use this blog, we thought there was a good chance that no one would be home when we were gone. Thinking it would not be such a good idea to leave home and publish a blog with all our travel plans, I kept our names and such out of the blog. Since Grandma and Grandpa W are staying at our house with the kids - and this format is driving me CRACKERS - I officially quit being security conscious as of today!

So, Chris and I are sitting in the Sacramento airport - on our way to Beijing - after a teary-eyed goodbye. I slept maybe 20 full minutes last night as I fretted over all the things I might have forgotten to pack and might have to find in a Chinese Wal-Mart. Darby and Carter got up at the crack of dawn to ride to the airport with us (their choice). Grandpa is now tasked with making it home so that he can get them safely to school on time. Darby was a bit weepy - making me a bit weepy. We will certainly miss the kids while we are gone...

We are also thinking about a little boy half a world away who in a few short days will have his whole world turned upside down. We are praying that he (Jack, not Chris) will be filled with bravery the day we meet him and take him away from everything he has ever known. He has never had a family, never had a mommy to sing him a goodnight song, never had a Daddy to hold his hand tight. Soon he will have all this and it will likely be a bit terrifying! So, keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we embark on this journey to help this little guy make the transition into our family!

Sonja

Travel Dates are FINAL!

2006-11-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today we finalized our travel arrangements to and from China. We are getting excited! We leave Sacramento on 11/15 and arrive in Beijing on 11/16. We will tour in Beijing for a few days and then travel to Chengdu on 11/19. We will get Little Brother on 11/20 and will stay in Chengdu until 11/25, when we go to Guangzhou for our consulate appointment. We will then head home on 11/30.

Grandma and Grandpa W will be arriving Monday for a whirlwind tour of schools, grocery stores and such and we will leave Wednesday morning early. We are sure going to miss the kids, but know they will be getting spoiled without us....

More soon!

Traveling SOON!

2006-11-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

Today we got the call we have been waiting so long for! We are approved for travel to China! We have a tentative departure date of November 16th! Yes, that is next week and yes, we are ready! Our agency requested our consulate appointment and when it is confirmed we will be able to firm up our travel plans. Next post - travel dates!

Here we come Little Brother!

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Halloween fun was had by all. A scary ghost, a gypsy and a little blue M&M scoured the streets in search of treats!

Update on Little Brother:

A flurry of travel notices arrived on Monday and ours was not among them. I was just crushed. Now I hear on the internet that the next batch is in the mail! Great news - this probably means that they will arrive on Monday (or maybe Tuesday). We will probably leave within a week or two! We are READY! We have our visa's we are partially packed and mentally we are READY READY READY!

Woohooo!

Happy Birthday Little One...

2006-10-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well, today was Little Brother's birthday. We are so sad that we can't be there with him today. Big Brother and Biggest Sister both remembered that today was his birthday and said a special prayer for him. I let them know we will celebrate when he comes home.

We are hoping that there will be a package on Monday or Tuesday at our agency with our Travel Notice inside... Lots of buzz about this on the internet. We really hope to travel before Thanksgiving!

We are grateful that the kids' Grandma and Grandpa W will be staying with them here. They have been awesome just waiting on deck for us to hear about our travel dates. So patient and flexible, it has just been a relief to us!

Hopefully some good news soon!

Surprise update from China and a local one too...

2006-10-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Surprise! Today in our e-mail was a fantastic update on Little Brother complete with this picture!

Here is what the update says:

10/17/2006 Update

Medical/Development:
He is being potty trained.
His current health is good.
But he likes to suck his fingers and when sucking the fingers, he will slobber.
He has a bath very day and is training to brush his teeth.
He can say baba, mama.
He sleeps well, but sometimes when sleeping, he will cry. It seems that he is dreaming.

Personality:
He is closest to his "grandmother" Zhou Xiao Rong.
His favorite toys are toy cars and some small toys.
He likes to go outside.
Playing outside will make him happy.
When he can not get the food, he will upset.
He is affectionate.
When he is fussy, they will hold up him, give him some foods or play with him.

General:
The orphanage said that his daily schedule was also the same with that was mentioned in his development report and had no change.
He eats soft rice and mashed meat or noodle and mashed meat, drinks formula mixed with rice cereal, juice and boiled water and his favorites are candy, biscuits, apple and some snack.
He has been around rabbit, cat and chicken.

So, wow was that cool or what? It sure was a nice little spirit lifter for DAY 99 of our wait!!!!

They also said he weighs 22 lbs which will work for our size 18 month clothes perfectly. Dad thinks it is funny that they said he likes candy - seems he will fit right in! We are also curious if we will have a second finger sucker - same fingers maybe? Well, this just made our day. Even the older siblings enjoyed getting a peek at him.

So originally, I was going to post some recent pictures tonight. Here they are taking a back seat to the exciting update...

Big Brother's birthday at the Giants game (Barry Bonds up at bat) and a little ice cream cake...

A little mischief with Big Sister...

Who knew fish could use a ladder? We went to the salmon festival down by the river and saw the salmon jumping up the ladder to spawn. Pretty cool!

Good news, bad news...

2006-10-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

The good news... We received an EXCITING e-mail today! Our agency sent us a note today to let us know that our dossier has moved to the "Match Room!" This is exciting news, because it means that our dossier has been reviewed and the next step is for our travel notice to be sent. Usually this will arrive at our agency in a few weeks! Once it arrives, our agency will request a consulate appointment for us in Guangzhou. This consulate appointment is the last thing we must do before we can leave China with Little Brother.

According to my estimations, we should be departing sometime between Nov 6th and Nov 20th. Hopefully on the sooner end of things so that perhaps we can be back for Thanksgiving!

So, here is the bad news... Little Brother will be having a birthday on October 26th in China without us (sigh).

In the meantime, we have our next batch of paperwork. Nothing compared to the first batch, but we are on to applying for our Visa's and other miscellaneous travel documents.

Now we need to get serious about packing too! More soon!

So, what have we been up to?

2006-09-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

While we wait, there is actually a lot to be done. With three kids in the house there seems to be no shortage of things to be done. So, I thought maybe it would be nice to give a little update on the rest of our lives!

The kids all seem to be adjusting to our new routine with school back in session. Big Sister started a new preschool and after a few teary-eyed days is enjoying her new Montessori environment. See photo of the first day of school...

Biggest Sister and Big Brother are enjoying their new teachers and are immersed in soccer. I am helping coach Biggest Sister's team and that consumes our Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Dad is treasurer for Big Brother's scouts (I guess paying the family bills was just too much fun and he wanted to find some extra ones :-).

Last weekend was Big Sister's 3rd birthday. It arrived amongst great anticipation as the age of 3 seems to bring with it the awareness of gifts. We had a BBQ with many folks from work stopping by for ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs and brats. Another big event for the weekend was the first haircut for Big Sister. It seemed a bit of a crime to cut off that long sprig of hair after it took so long for it to grow, but the end result of my clipping is quite cute after all!

A few weeks ago we painted Little Brother and Big Sister's bedroom blue and are getting ready to decorate it with some stars and moons handmade by the kids. Before the birthday party we did a furniture shift with the arrival of Big Brother's dresser. So, Little Brother now has a dresser and everyone's closets got the big clean-out. The crib is now up and ready for Little Brother and his freshly made flannel blanket is hanging at the ready. Dad got a little sentimental as he assembled the crib for the last time. We laughed as we recalled the first assembly during Monday Night Football in the living room of our first house. This turned out to be a critical error as it didn't fit through the doorway and had to be disassembled and re-assembled - a fact that has not been forgotten!

I have also tried to get a jump start on the Halloween costume making this year. We are sewing a bold and colorful gypsy costume for Biggest Sister and a black cloak to go with a scary mask for Big Brother. Big Sister will use a recycled blue M&M costume - anyone remember that one? We will just have to see what we can convince Little Brother to wear, but I am betting on a pumpkin costume (thanks fairy godmother).

So, the days go by and we wait still for our TA. I think today is something like day 65 and I am starting to wonder if we will indeed make it to China in October. I sure hope so. Little Brother, we will be there as soon as we can!

New pics!

2006-09-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Great news today! A wonderful lady that I met in a Yahoo! group was in Chengdu in August to get her little girl. She very generously offerred to take pictures and send them to those of us still waiting. Well, today I checked my e-mail and she had sent us four photos of Little Brother! The pictures are of all the children singing a goodbye song to the little girl who is leaving the orphanage.

So, we are still waiting, but we have been blessed with a little peek at Little Brother (he is sitting next to the man in the pink shirt and is wearing a pink tank top and blue shorts).

We don't have our TA, but this was sure a nice surprise!

Are You Back Already?

2006-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I have not posted much to this blog lately. My excuse? We have been a tad bit busy!

Between getting the the Biggest Sister and Big Brother ready for school, a vacation to Yellowstone and a new school for the Big Sister, we have been hopping a bit around here. Yesterday was the first day of school and my homework was to cover what seemed like 58 books (okay it was only 6, but sheesh!). Tonight we took a breather and rode bikes to the park. The Dad is out of town, so just me and the kids. The big kids' new chore is to do the dinner dishes and I am already liking this A LOT.

So, the title contains the most Frequently Asked Question. No, we have not gone to China yet (sigh). But, I know I have not posted much about the process, so I thought it would be helpful to tell everyone about the BIG WAIT.

On July 10, we sent off our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt Little Brother. The clock then starting ticking away. The next critical milestone is when we get a "Travel Notice" or what some call a "Travel Approval". This is basically a notice from the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) that our paperwork has been approved and that we may set an appointment with the US Consulate in Guangzhou. This travel notice is expected to come about 60-90 days after we sent off our LOI.

So, when will the TA come? Well, on the Waiting Child Yahoo! Group, there is a really great woman who tracks the dates for all the people who will send her their info in a truly spectacular spreadsheet that is posted for all to see (this is really wonderful for us engineer types). The average wait right now for a TA is 82 days. Today, we are on day 38, so I am thinking we are halfway there? We really won't know until we get that TA! Many people who have dates in mid June are hoping to get their TA in the next week or so (the rumor is that the director who must sign the TA's is in Mongolia right now and will sign them when he returns). It is possible that our TA could be in the next batch that comes (perhaps at the end of the month or the first week in Sept), although I am thinking it is more likely that it will be about the second to third week in Sept.

Next milestone? Get the consulate appointment set. Once the consulate appointment is set, our departure date can be set. We will depart about 2-4 weeks after getting our TA.

Here is where there may be a small problem..... In October, the first week is a national holiday like Labor Day that lasts the full week. Also, in Guangzhou, where the US Consulate is located, there is a major trade fair that is held the last two weeks in Oct. I understand that it can be VERY difficult to get a hotel room at all, much less at a reasonable price during this two weeks. UGHH!! So, the best thing will be to get that TA early enough that our agency can schedule our travel such that we can get to Guangzhou for the second week of our trip before mid Oct.

Clear as mud? Yeah, I figured. Well, the bottom line is that we are praying for a TA by mid September. So, if you didn't understand a lick of all the stuff I typed above, you can just say a prayer for a TA before mid September!

July 17, 2006

2006-07-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got an exciting little package in the mail! Our adoption agency had a representative go to the Social Welfare Institute (SWI) to visit Little Brother a few weeks ago. While they were there, they made a small video of him and mailed the CD to us. It arrived in the mail yesterday! After a few tries, we were able to play the clip on The Dad's laptop. If I can somehow figure out how to post a portion of the clip, I will do so.

Little Brother was fairly grumpy in the video because they had just woke him up. But he is so very sweet. He seems quite attached to the nanny who was holding him and really did not want much to do with the agency representative. She was able to bribe him with some candy and eventually he let her hold him. He can walk, but seems a bit wobbly and quite small. Big Sister, Big Brother and Biggest Sister all enjoyed seeing him. Big Sister seemed very intrigued! Later, when I was going to the store, she said, "You go get Little Brother?"

Not just yet, for now we still must wait....

July 9, 2006

2006-07-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

The Dad in the family, whom I will affectionately refer to as "The Dad," gives me a bit of a hard time for my use of the internet. I consider it a tremendous source of information and a major time-saver for a working mom. There is really nothing better than being able to shop in your PJ's at 10pm after the kids go to bed without driving up a single drop of $3/gal fuel. I love it!

Well, in this whole adoption journey - starting with Big Sister (different than the Biggest Sister), I joined some Yahoo! groups. I have met some fantastic people through these groups and gleaned some incredible insight and advice. I saw Big Sister's orphanage before the trauma of seeing it real and in person, I knew what to pack and what to buy in China. The Dad always asks, "How do you know that?" when I have some sort of seemingly impossible piece of knowledge. It's one way for me to stay ahead of him - I will never be able to recite the US Presidents in order...

For Little Brother, I have joined the Chengdu orphanage group, the Waiting Child group and two Microtia/Atresia groups (one specific to adoption). Through these groups and local friends, I have determined what doctors we will likely see when we get home and know much better what to expect when we meet Little Brother.

BUT, best of all, I "met" a wonderful person who resides in Chengdu and visited the orphanage on July 4. She was kind enough to seek out Little Brother and he let her take some pictures of him. I will be forever grateful to her for sending me these precious pictures of Little Brother that drew me to tears...

Too cute, huh? We just can't wait to get him!

More later!

July 6, 2006

2006-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

We are happy to share with everyone the pictures of the newest member of our family!

Little Hou Dong Guo currently resides at the Chengdu Social Welfare Institute in Sechuan, China. His birthday is October 26, 2004 so he is almost two years old!

We have sent off our letter of intent and understand that we will need to wait 2-3 months for our travel notice and then we will travel 2-4 weeks after that. We are thinking that this will put us in China perhaps in October.

Little Brother is part of the waiting child program, meaning that he has a special need. He was born with a condition called bilateral microtia/atresia, which means his ears did not form completely and his ear canals are closed. His nannies at the orphanage report that he can hear. We know that with his condition that he must have some hearing loss and we know that many kids with this condition can have their hearing restored to near normal with a bone conduction or bone anchored hearing aid. I will talk more about this in later posts. I have been fortunate to have some wonderful people who have steered us in the right direction and it turns out we are in close proximity to some excellent doctors who specialize in Little Brother's condition!

I will post more tomorrow - it is getting late!

July 5, 2006

2006-07-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to set up a blog and worried about how hard it would be. So far, so good. So, here is my very first post to share our story of our journey to bring home the new little brother for our family. How exciting! I am a blogger!