Hearing Update

Well Ricky flunked the hearing test today. This was his first test post ear tubes.
There were some positive signs...

1) No fluid in the ears
2) No infection
3) Hearing did improve from pre-tube hearing test.

Do we need to worry yet? They are telling me not yet. His ears can still be adjusting to the tubes. It could be a structural defect or it could be a permanent hearing loss. I'm not going to worry about it for now because I know he can hear. If it is a hearing loss, I think it is minor. Hopefully it won't affect his speech. It is hard to test kids at this age.

We go back in three months for another test.

We also talked to them about Ricky's constant sinus issues. Well they said we need to be on antibiotics for 3 weeks (not the two we were doing). So we have started another round of antibiotics. This kiddo has been on them more than he has been off them. We also are trying Nasonex (sp?). Hopefully this will clear up the constant gunk and coughing we have experienced since we have had him.

I will try to post some updated pictures this weekend!

Just Beautiful!

When Emily was a baby, I had someone do a pencil portrait. Here is a snapshot of it.

This picture was taken of Emily just after her Grandma Pat (Bill's mom) died. I always look at it and reminds me of Pat because I think Emily is looking up to heaven.

I always knew when we had a second child I would want another pencil portrait. I just didn't know who would do it. Well I found the perfect person - a fellow adoptive mom, Maia, to be (she is adopting a beautiful baby girl with cl/cp) who happens to be an wonderful illustrator. We just got Ricky's picture. It is beautiful and captures him perfectly.

We just now need to get it framed! This is a picture of the portrait that Maia sent us.

A Snapshot

I found a website that will analyze your blog and give you a snapshot of your words that you have used on your website or blog. So here is mine. Thank -god I didn't do this when we were waiting. I would hate to see all the negativity there.



For your own picture go to http://www.snapshirts.com/custom.php?sid=uji0n3j7fchdb9ep1a1s5ifgj6

So Sad....

I have been wanting to write about the earthquake in China but it is just soooo sad. NPR has probably some of the "best" pictures. I hate to write best but it definitely puts into perspective. In addition in the NPR diary of Chengdu there is a radio broadcast of the news reporter joining a mom and dad to find their 2 year old son who was with his grandparents. Not a happy ending.

The epicenter was in Sichuan Province. Ricky is from Chongqing. Chongqing use to be part of Sichuan then it broke off. A few hundred miles. So this does hit close to home for us. Ricky's orphanage Fuling was damaged. I'm told it is their new building - no children were in it yet.

I know that Ricky will never know his birthparents. There is no information. But now I feel like there might be another layer of his heritage gone. Where were they from? His birthparents could have very traveled very far from their home so that they couldn't be traced. They could have been from Sichuan Province.

It is just sad.

What can I do...

Well we have donated to Half the Sky (www.halfthesky.org). They work directly with orphanages. There will be new orphans plus parents without children. I sincerely hope that these new orphans and grieving parents find peace and the strength to get through this.

Hope, Faith and Love

These three words: Hope, Faith and Love have gotten me through the toughest time probably in my life.

Everyone writes about the joy of adoption. How wonderful it is. I'm here to tell you it is hard. Adoption is not for the faint of heart. It is truely the wildest roller coaster ride I have been on. Waiting for a child from China is a long process that is just getting longer for the people that are waiting. You get your hopes for a speed up of referrals but it is looking like people who were logged in when we were originally logged in (9/11/06) are going to be waiting over 3 plus years. Could be 4 years. Reasons behind the slowdown vary to : slowdown due to Olympics, China doesn't want to be seen as the number one exporter of babies, less babies available etc.... I can tell you what we saw at Fuling SWI - hardly any babies. Maybe they are in foster care like Ricky but there were certainly not alot of babies. Families before us have visited the orhanage and got pictures of many babies. We saw 3-5 babies. I truly feel for those waiting. My heart aches for you. Bill and I were trying for over 5 years to have baby before Ricky came into our lives. Before that we tried over 3 years for Emily.

I know alot of people go to China for a non-special need baby girl. In fact they request it. We didn't request a gender on our petition. We just wanted a baby.

For those waiting and able to, maybe consider a special need child. Maybe consider a boy. I know not all are able to switch to SN but if the option is available to you maybe consider a boy. At our agency someone waiting 3 weeks for match for a boy with Ricky's special need - cl/cp. Yes 3 weeks for boy. We are seen matches as young as 7-10 months old with cl/cp. That is very young. CL/CP is not an easy special need by any means but it isn't life threatening. Ricky will have an addition 3-5 surgeries in his childhood, speech therapy and orthodontic work. Please consider a boy if you can.

Back to Hope, Faith and Love....

Hope - Hope is what I described the whole process. I hoped for a baby. I hoped for healthy child. I hoped that the child would fit into our lives. It has been hard to adjust to having a baby in our lives again. But I can tell you Ricky fits into our lives. He is a very a special boy with the most amazing smile that lights up a room and changes your bad mood to a good one.

Faith - Adoption is a leap of faith. It doesn't matter what religion you are or not. You have to have some sort of faith to know that this is the right step. You have to faith that things will work out.

Love - Without the Love of my husband and family, I would have never been able to do this.

I speak of hard times. When we came home with Ricky, I experienced a level of Post Adoption Depression. It was really hard to think that I didn't love this little boy. He didn't ask for a family, we asked for him. Well through Hope, Faith and Love I can say that things have now turned around for me. I love this little boy that I call my son. Sure I get frustrated at things but I am in a much better place today than I was 3 months ago. So if you are just home, please know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Your light might be a month, two months, three months away but it is there. It is a lot of work to get out of that tunnel and stay out of the tunnel.