Insatiable

come on people, give me a break. i try to get pictures up when i can, but we have been a bit busy lately.

on Wednesday we went to UK to the International Adoptions Clinic to have her looked at. Dr. Taylor said everything looked good. they took A LOT of blood to run a bunch of standard tests. We won't know about those for a couple of weeks. the best news was about her foot. this is the first time we have really had someone with experience in the field look at it and she said it looks great. she thinks they did a great job in Shanghai (thank you Chinese surgeon and Julia and Marvin). she even said that she wouldn't bother with the shoes from now on. so, we aren't using them at all now and trying to strengthen her foot up. we will still see the specialist to see what they recommend (9/20). Natalie also met her first UK basketball player as he was getting some blood drawn as well.

i had to go back to work on Thursday. it went over pretty well. Natalie didn't get to upset (yes, i secretly hoped she would) and neither did i. view the picture below to see my triumphant return.

today she went back to the Peds Dr. here to start some of her immunizations. Amy took her there and while Natalie wasn't a big fan of the shots, she is taking it like a trooper now. the first picture you see is her napping after the rough day.

finally, if she looks a bit chubbier to you it is because she is. she is now 19.10 lbs and 30". She has gained about 2lbs since we got back from China.

Simply pictures

this kid loves her peanut butter.

nap time

sitting outside

Sorry and thanks

i apologize for neglecting the blog recently. hasn't really been much to talk about. Natalie seems to be doing fine and we have started to get her out and about to see some people that have made requests. we will continue to have her out occasionally, but can't do it too often as she shows some signs of stress after having a big day.

several friends and family have been very kind in providing food for us so that we don't have to cook or clean as many dirty dishes. we greatly appreciate all of the help you have provided. if anyone wants to come clean the house, feel free (jk).

don't have any pictures to post really. we haven't taken many as we are recharging all the batteries we used on our trip. will post some ASAP.

News

we received a very interesting phone call last week. our adoption agency, CCAI, informed us that they had an email from Natalie's foster family in Shanghai. i'm sorry, her what? apparently, when Natalie was in Shanghai for a bit getting her foot taken care of, she stayed with a very wonderful family. we had no idea that she had been there for 4 months and especially didn't know she lived with a family. let me say this IS NOT a negative thing. from the limited conversation we have had with Julia and Marvin, it sounds like she was cared for VERY WELL and loved the whole way. the only issue we had was not knowing about this. we would have loved to visit them while we were there.

anyway, i am not gong to talk a lot about her time with Julia and Marvin as that is part of her story that she can decide to tell people when she gets older. let the kid have some privacy, people. i will say that we are excited to hear from them and wish very much to keep in touch. they have already told us many things about how Natalie developed some of her wonderful personality. we are so grateful for the love and care they gave our daughter and we want them to see her flourish as she grows into a beautiful young lady.

one last piece of news. while she was with them in Shanghai, Natalie had surgery on her foot. again, not something we were told about, but oh well. we had some suspicions since there did appear to be a small scar on her achilles area. this comes as a big relief to us though. we were so worried about her having to go through surgery in this new and strange place we call home. fyi, we will still take her to get evaluated by the wonderful people at Shriners and see how they want to proceed. again, we cannot thank Julia and Marvin enough for the love, kindness, and blessings they showered on our girl.

in closing, enjoy the videos of bubbles by the pool and playing with Aunt Joyce's dog, Lily.

Like a boss

that would be Natalie taking her breathing treatment like a champ. she really has done well with that since we had to bring the nebulizer home. it has also made a big difference in her cough.

let me start from the beginning. so, i got sick and then Natalie and Amy proceeded to get it as well. you can blame it on me if you want, but the Dr. says this has been going around. so, we probably all got it on the plane. anyway, she came down with this virus and an ear infection. all this caused a fever, a nasty cough, and a less than sunny attitude. one of the main issues was lack of sleep. she kept waking herself up with the cough and then made sure we got up top take care of her.

luckily, it seems like we have made it through the woods. she slept all night last night and her mood is much improved. it could be that she is feeling better or that she doesn't have to make daily trips to the Dr. or wal-mart.

just thought i would let everyone know that we are doing better and hope to start seeing everyone soon. it starts tonight with a dinner date with the Hensleys. tomorrow it is Amy's family for lunch and my family for dinner. she has been out and about some during the day, so we think she can handle it.

Rough going

thought you all might like to see some more photos. these were taken Sunday at Granny and Papa's. Natalie really enjoys the pool which is awesome since it is great for bonding. now we just have to get Amy in there too.
so, Sunday was a good day, but it has been rough ever since. Natalie did come down with the funk that I have and has not been feeling well at all. it has really messed up the sleep schedule for everyone as well. i am starting to feel better though and she is about 12 hours behind me symptom wise, so hopefully she will be out of the woods soon.
parenting hasn't been easy so far. Amy does have to share the brunt of the load though as Natalie prefers her when she needs to be taken care of and Amy has taken to the mommy role very well. Natalie likes me in public and when she wants to play (imagine that). considering all the drastic changes in this girl's life, the screwy schedule due to traveling, and the sickness, i think we are all managing OK.
hopefully she will be feeling better soon and we can start to show her off.

The journey home

i guess i should fill you in on the goings on since we left China. the first flight from Guangzhou to LA was a breeze. i really mean that. it was an overnight flight for us and Natalie slept almost the entire time. we didn't purchase a seat for her, she was just going to be in our laps. however, there were a few empty seats on the plane and the very nice young man sitting next to us agreed to move to another seat (like he really wanted to sit with a baby anyway). so, that left us with an empty seat between us for Natalie to sleep in. awesome.

the next flight from LA to Atlanta went OK. Natalie really wanted to be active at LAX and crawl around, but after we let her do that for a minute and saw the filth she had on her hands an socks, we just couldn't do it anymore. so, she was quite active on the flight. pretty well behaved, but doing the jungle gym routine again.

the shortest flight of the trip, ATL to Louisville was by far the worst. of course, it took forever to get off the ground in ATL. it was hot in the plane and Natalie was pretty upset. we were about halfway to Louisville when the pilot got on and told us that we had to turn around. some kind of malfunction that prohibited us from lading in Louisville because of storms in the area. thing is, there were no storms at that time. some BS excuse for some other kind of issue i think. we were not happy. they ended up cancelling the flight. i was livid and was certain i was going to be very inappropriate in my conversations with the Delta folks. however, when we got off the plane we were told that they had empty seats on a flight leaving just a few minutes later. Natalie didn't take well to the change in her itinerary though and cried the last 20 minutes of the flight. i am talking screams. not fun.

anyway, we made it to Louisville. there were many family members there to greet us. it was very nice. special thanks to Carla, her mom, and her aunt for coming all the way down from Maryland just for the occasion. also, i apologize to Dave and Robin, that Delta screwed us over and we had to miss you. thanks for coming out.

one final note. Natalie did great last night. she went to sleep about 4pm (remember, this is 4 am her time) and slept until about 6 am. so, she was really tired, and it looks like she might have really taken a big step in helping us with the transition. if she continues to do well sleep wise, then we may be able to get her out and meeting folks a bit sooner than we had thought.

fyi, i did not sleep well and have a very nice chest cold, if anyone cares.