We have been home for 9 days now and things are starting to smooth out.. We are starting to get into a routine which is outstanding! She is making progress everyday. Sleeping is getting better! We are down to an occasional whine in the middle of the night. That is a huge improvement. She has also been sleeping longer which is great. For the past couple nights she is in bed at 8pm and waking up somewhere between 6am and 7am. I have been very strict about nap times, the length she sleeps at nap time, and making sure she is in bed at 8pm.
I am starting to finally get back to feeling like myself. That trip and adjusting once we got back really took a toll on me. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. I think the exhaustion hit me very hard. I was very irritable and not myself that is for sure.
Here are some things we are seeing from Jaelynn
1. Eating - She is not doing the best here. You would expect her to eat anything and everything but that is not the case. She likes very bland foods which was likely the staple of her diet in the orphanage. She will eat rice and ramen noodles like they are going out of style. The problem with ramen noodles is they are full of sodium. I drain all the broth from the noodles when I give them to her to reduce some of the sodium. She will eat a lot of fruit which is good. I just keep trying different things and sometimes she will eat it and sometimes she won't. We will keep trying!
2. Potty - She is potty trained which is awesome! I take her on a regular basis and she is fine. When she has to go #2 she will come to me and give me this look and yell potty or pull her pants down. I am starting to get the hint when she has to go now.. LOL. We have to work with her on taking her pants up and down so she can go on her own.
3. Bath - Good to go here! Loves it now. She is even starting to splash and get water in her face. She also lays down in the tub.
4. Language - It is amazing how quickly she is catching on to this! She understands a good amount of what you tell her already. She also repeats you a lot. She will have this down in no time. This kid is always talking and singing.
5. Development - She seems to be on track for a 2.5 year old. I expected to see some delays being in an orphanage for so long. She walks, runs, climbs, uses utensils to eat, and likes to write. She is also very social. She is shy at first but will get right in the middle of the kids and have fun with them after a couple minutes. She also has no problem entertaining herself with her toys. She loves to be outside. We took her to the zoo and she loved it. We have had her out on several small trips in the car this week so she has no problem with the car seat now.
6. Bonding/Attachment - She fits into our family perfectly! She is extremely lovable and affectionate. She will tell you love you and give you the biggest hugs and kisses. While she is a mommy's girl she has done good attaching to Philip and Devin. Philip stayed home this past week from work to spend time with us which really helped. This allowed him to really spend some time with her and start that attachment process. She has even went with Philip a couple times without me which is huge! Her and Devin are also doing good. They love each other to death. Devin is doing better coping with her crying. You can sense the jealousy sometimes with both of them. However, I would suspect that is pretty normal for siblings.
I will do my best to get some pictures posted on here soon. With everything going on I have not even got the pictures off my camera yet.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Home Sweet Home!!!
We arrived in Orlando Friday evening around 8:30pm. It was so awesome to see my hubby and son. I missed them something fierce when I was gone. Jaelynn warmed right up to Devin and Daddy. She even let Daddy pick her up as soon as he saw her. That is a surprise because she would not go to anyone else but me. I think the Face Time helped her get to know both Devin and Philip a little before she actually met them in person. She has not had any issues with Devin or Philip. She loves them both.
My first concern was getting her restrained in the car seat. I was certain she was going to scream the entire way home. She did not! It didn't even seem to phase her. Overall, I would say she is adjusting to our family very well. She is a very happy child. She is always smiling and giving you hugs and kisses! We have two Chocolate Labs and she was terrified of them initially. Each day gets better with that. She is to the point now where she is interested in petting them which is good. She still gets freaked out if they bark or come towards her fast.
Our biggest challenge is sleeping! Last night was our 5th night home and the first night I got a full nights sleep. I have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night which is awesome when you are coming off of a 24 hour trip to get home. I am EXHAUSTED..... She has a full size bed and I have been sleeping in her bed with her. Her sleep issues are two-fold. The first hurdle is adjusting to the 13 hour time difference. That is tough. The biggest issue is that she is scared and wants to make sure I am by her side every minute when she sleeps. She wakes up constantly through the night whining and reaching out to touch me. The first couple nights it was crying and screaming. Now we are down to a whine. So, good news is that we are making progress! little at a time... This constant whining is waking me up and I can not get back to sleep.. Last night Philip slept with her (after I got her down to sleep) and I was able to sleep in my own bed all night.
This has been a big adjustment for Devin also because he is used to being our only baby! He is really good with her and most of the time pretty happy. There are times you can tell he gets sad which breaks my heart. He really gets upset if she starts screaming and throwing a fit. Loud noises have always made him nervous. So, he usually ends up in tears and holding his ears. If we are home I tell him to go in the other room so he doesn't have to hear it but when you are in the car you are kind of stuck! Hopefully, he will get used to it. Overall, he has been a trooper and is a GREAT big brother. I didn't expect him not to be. He is a super loving kid!
Jaelynn had her first visit at the pediatrician and everything went good. She is small in height and weight which was not a huge surprise. No major concerns which is great. They have to do her vaccinations over so that started today. That resulted in 4 shots. Not fun there! I have to take her to get some blood work done to rule out any major issues.
Right now as I write this Jaelynn is on her first trip without mommy. She went with Philip to pick up Devin from school. It was Philip's idea so I let him do it. She left ok. We will see how she is when she gets back.
My first concern was getting her restrained in the car seat. I was certain she was going to scream the entire way home. She did not! It didn't even seem to phase her. Overall, I would say she is adjusting to our family very well. She is a very happy child. She is always smiling and giving you hugs and kisses! We have two Chocolate Labs and she was terrified of them initially. Each day gets better with that. She is to the point now where she is interested in petting them which is good. She still gets freaked out if they bark or come towards her fast.
Our biggest challenge is sleeping! Last night was our 5th night home and the first night I got a full nights sleep. I have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night which is awesome when you are coming off of a 24 hour trip to get home. I am EXHAUSTED..... She has a full size bed and I have been sleeping in her bed with her. Her sleep issues are two-fold. The first hurdle is adjusting to the 13 hour time difference. That is tough. The biggest issue is that she is scared and wants to make sure I am by her side every minute when she sleeps. She wakes up constantly through the night whining and reaching out to touch me. The first couple nights it was crying and screaming. Now we are down to a whine. So, good news is that we are making progress! little at a time... This constant whining is waking me up and I can not get back to sleep.. Last night Philip slept with her (after I got her down to sleep) and I was able to sleep in my own bed all night.
This has been a big adjustment for Devin also because he is used to being our only baby! He is really good with her and most of the time pretty happy. There are times you can tell he gets sad which breaks my heart. He really gets upset if she starts screaming and throwing a fit. Loud noises have always made him nervous. So, he usually ends up in tears and holding his ears. If we are home I tell him to go in the other room so he doesn't have to hear it but when you are in the car you are kind of stuck! Hopefully, he will get used to it. Overall, he has been a trooper and is a GREAT big brother. I didn't expect him not to be. He is a super loving kid!
Jaelynn had her first visit at the pediatrician and everything went good. She is small in height and weight which was not a huge surprise. No major concerns which is great. They have to do her vaccinations over so that started today. That resulted in 4 shots. Not fun there! I have to take her to get some blood work done to rule out any major issues.
Right now as I write this Jaelynn is on her first trip without mommy. She went with Philip to pick up Devin from school. It was Philip's idea so I let him do it. She left ok. We will see how she is when she gets back.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Suprise!
Hi all! Sorry for the delay in updates. Kelly sent me a message last night, however it's a little more difficult to post these things real time as we are faced with a 16hr time difference now that we are back on the west coast! Jaelynn & Kelly are doing much better than they reported in the last update! They have huge news! Check it out!
"It is Tuesday afternoon here in China and a lot has transpired since my last update. I am sure you could sense my frustrations in my last post. I am finally starting to feel better today.
We are coming home 3 days early... Yay! I spoke to my guide on Sunday and she recommended I email the consulate to try to get Jaelynn's Visa appointment moved from Thursday to Tuesday. They agreed and she had her appointment today (Tuesday morning). So we should get her actual Visa tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) and then we are free to leave.. We booked flights to leave Friday morning which puts us arriving in Orlando Friday evening. We are leaving directly from Guangzhou which is great. We go from here to Tokyo, then Houston Texas, then home sweet home! We were originally scheduled to take a train to Hong Kong and leave from there.
Enough about us coming home early and on to an update on Jaelynn. She is doing good! She is starting to understand more of what I say. I continue to see improvement each day. She likes to talk so she will say whatever you ask her to and she also repeats you a lot. She is the typical two year old who plays, has fun, is extremely lovable, and throws fits when she doesn't get what she wants! She loves to cuddle and give lots of hugs. I got my first kiss yesterday :) She is doing good with sleeping. She takes naps and goes to bed at a reasonable time. She loves taking a bath now. She likes to brush her teeth. She is potty trained. The two hurdles with that are to get her to communicate when she has to go and to pull her pants up and down. I just make sure to take her often and she is good!
She is not eating worth a darn still. I just keep trying but not too worried about it. We will work on it when we get home. For now she is living off of fruit, yogurt, and formula. I took her to McDonalds and she wouldn't eat chicken nuggets. What kid doesn't like nuggets? Haha. She did eat the fries. There is a McDonald's right outside the door of this hotel which is convenient."
Love,
Brandy
"It is Tuesday afternoon here in China and a lot has transpired since my last update. I am sure you could sense my frustrations in my last post. I am finally starting to feel better today.
We are coming home 3 days early... Yay! I spoke to my guide on Sunday and she recommended I email the consulate to try to get Jaelynn's Visa appointment moved from Thursday to Tuesday. They agreed and she had her appointment today (Tuesday morning). So we should get her actual Visa tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) and then we are free to leave.. We booked flights to leave Friday morning which puts us arriving in Orlando Friday evening. We are leaving directly from Guangzhou which is great. We go from here to Tokyo, then Houston Texas, then home sweet home! We were originally scheduled to take a train to Hong Kong and leave from there.
Enough about us coming home early and on to an update on Jaelynn. She is doing good! She is starting to understand more of what I say. I continue to see improvement each day. She likes to talk so she will say whatever you ask her to and she also repeats you a lot. She is the typical two year old who plays, has fun, is extremely lovable, and throws fits when she doesn't get what she wants! She loves to cuddle and give lots of hugs. I got my first kiss yesterday :) She is doing good with sleeping. She takes naps and goes to bed at a reasonable time. She loves taking a bath now. She likes to brush her teeth. She is potty trained. The two hurdles with that are to get her to communicate when she has to go and to pull her pants up and down. I just make sure to take her often and she is good!
She is not eating worth a darn still. I just keep trying but not too worried about it. We will work on it when we get home. For now she is living off of fruit, yogurt, and formula. I took her to McDonalds and she wouldn't eat chicken nuggets. What kid doesn't like nuggets? Haha. She did eat the fries. There is a McDonald's right outside the door of this hotel which is convenient."
Love,
Brandy
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Unhappy Traveler 😞
Sorry for the delay In updates as Kelly & family have been traveling. This is the very first update that I haven't been able to FaceTime with Kelly & Jaelynn as I also have been traveling back to California! This is the first update that hasn't been positive. It's seems that we have a very unhappy traveler. Check it out:
Unfortunately, this is not one of the happiest updates. Friday and Saturday were very stressful for me. We left Nanchang and arrived in Guangzhou Friday evening. That was Jaelynn's first time on an airplane and it was a total disaster. I've learned that when Jaelynn doesn't get what she wants she has huge meltdowns. Screaming fits are great when you are in a large group of people. Kidding of course! The first melt down started when I put her seat belt on her. I should of known that would happen. She has never been in a plane yet restrained by a seatbelt. She is going to love her carseat when she gets home.. The second meltdown was when I would not let her keep putting a book in the seat pocket in front of us. I didn't want her to bother the person in front. I could of probably avoided the meltdown over the seatbelt by just putting her in my lap first and worried about the belt once she got settled in. Lesson learned there.. In addition to the meltdowns she cant sit still. She also wanted to play with the tray table and stand up in the seat and push buttons for the lights and flight attendants.
Saturday she had her medical exam here in Guangzhou and she did fantastic! No issues there. We are just waiting for her Tb test results to come back. Afterwards we took a short trip to Walmart to pick up a couple things. That ended in yet another meltdown. I had to take her bag of snacks away to pay for them and she lost it. I can deal with a fit at home but in public is more difficult. I have learned to distract or re-direct before the fits start rather than just always saying NO to her. When she does get into the terrible fits I stick to whatever it was that I didn't allow her to do. She definitely has a strong personality so I have to stand firm.
This trip is starting to become very difficult. We are stuck in a hotel room most of the time. When we do go out with our guide and other families there is a lot of shopping involved or touring temples which is tough with a 2 year old. Especially a two year old that doesn't really know us that well or understand her boundaries yet. It is much harder than I anticipated. The other huge frustration for me is not having Philip and Devin with me.. I would love to have their support here and I miss them tremendously. I am trying to get her Visa appointment moved up to maybe come home early... Although it may cost me too much to change my flights. More to come on that.
Now for some good news. The attachment is going good. She is very attached to me. She does not want to leave my side. Baths are going good. She takes a bath with no problem. Only issue is when I rinse her hair which isn't that unusual. She is not doing the greatest with eating. The first day or so she did good and now she only wants to eat fruit, and rice. She did have her first McDonalds chicken nugget yesterday. She ate two of them and some of the fries. She is still drinking formula. My initial reaction to that was that she is 2.5 and still on formula. However, as I look back I am thankful she is getting some nutrition out of it.
Love
Brandy
Unfortunately, this is not one of the happiest updates. Friday and Saturday were very stressful for me. We left Nanchang and arrived in Guangzhou Friday evening. That was Jaelynn's first time on an airplane and it was a total disaster. I've learned that when Jaelynn doesn't get what she wants she has huge meltdowns. Screaming fits are great when you are in a large group of people. Kidding of course! The first melt down started when I put her seat belt on her. I should of known that would happen. She has never been in a plane yet restrained by a seatbelt. She is going to love her carseat when she gets home.. The second meltdown was when I would not let her keep putting a book in the seat pocket in front of us. I didn't want her to bother the person in front. I could of probably avoided the meltdown over the seatbelt by just putting her in my lap first and worried about the belt once she got settled in. Lesson learned there.. In addition to the meltdowns she cant sit still. She also wanted to play with the tray table and stand up in the seat and push buttons for the lights and flight attendants.
Saturday she had her medical exam here in Guangzhou and she did fantastic! No issues there. We are just waiting for her Tb test results to come back. Afterwards we took a short trip to Walmart to pick up a couple things. That ended in yet another meltdown. I had to take her bag of snacks away to pay for them and she lost it. I can deal with a fit at home but in public is more difficult. I have learned to distract or re-direct before the fits start rather than just always saying NO to her. When she does get into the terrible fits I stick to whatever it was that I didn't allow her to do. She definitely has a strong personality so I have to stand firm.
This trip is starting to become very difficult. We are stuck in a hotel room most of the time. When we do go out with our guide and other families there is a lot of shopping involved or touring temples which is tough with a 2 year old. Especially a two year old that doesn't really know us that well or understand her boundaries yet. It is much harder than I anticipated. The other huge frustration for me is not having Philip and Devin with me.. I would love to have their support here and I miss them tremendously. I am trying to get her Visa appointment moved up to maybe come home early... Although it may cost me too much to change my flights. More to come on that.
Now for some good news. The attachment is going good. She is very attached to me. She does not want to leave my side. Baths are going good. She takes a bath with no problem. Only issue is when I rinse her hair which isn't that unusual. She is not doing the greatest with eating. The first day or so she did good and now she only wants to eat fruit, and rice. She did have her first McDonalds chicken nugget yesterday. She ate two of them and some of the fries. She is still drinking formula. My initial reaction to that was that she is 2.5 and still on formula. However, as I look back I am thankful she is getting some nutrition out of it.
Love
Brandy
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Moving on!!!!
Well it looks as if all went as planned in Beijing and the Busters are ready to move on to the second leg of their trip! Again, I was able to FaceTime with Jaelynn & Kelly today! What a difference in just a few days! Really it was Jaelynn and Sophia on FaceTime because they of course needed to be the center of attention! So cute! Here is what Kelly had to say about Days 4 & 5! Take a look!
"Wednesday we went sightseeing and had lunch at a good Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was much better than our first experience. Our guide Jenny took us there. The quality of the meat here is not very good. For example the pork is more fat than meat. Our guide was telling us how Chinese people eat all the meat on animals such as the head and necks of ducks and fish. We only went to local restaurants twice since we have been here. It is too difficult to even order (when you go by yourself) because most people speak very little if any english. Every morning we eat the breakfast buffet at the hotel. It is a huge buffet. They have everything from typical breakfast food to lunch foods as well. They have a good variety of Chinese food such as fried rice, lo mein, spring rolls, veggies, steamed buns, congee, etc. We brought ramen noodles and eat them for lunch or dinner on occasion. We have also ate KFC and Papa Johns. They have Mcdonalds here but we haven't tried it.
We went to a park on Wednesday and Thursday and Jaelynn got to burn off some steam. She needed it. It is tough being in a hotel room with very little to do. They do not have a play area here for kids. So, we have used the halls and lobby of the hotel as our place to go on walks. Her toys have become whatever she can get her hands on in the room such as pull-ups, toilet paper, you name it... At the park she would play with other kids when she would see them. She is very social and active. On the go big time... Our guide works with adopted families while they are here and has been doing this for 10 years so she sees the children all the time. She was surprised how vocal and active Jaelynn is. She said a lot of kids are quiet and reserved at this stage. Not our little peanut!
As far as the adoption process things are right on schedule. This first stop here in Nanchang was to get Jaelynn, finalize her adoption, and get her passport. The adoption was finalized and we applied for her passport. Our guide is going to pick up her passport tomorrow. We ended Thursday by packing our suitcases to head to the 2nd leg of our trip Guangzhou. We board a plane Friday at 6pm China time arriving there at 7:30pm. This will be Jaelynns first plane ride. I am glad it is a short one. We will see how it goes..."
Please keep sending all of your kind words! Kelly is looking forward to reading them and she appreciates them more than you know!
"Wednesday we went sightseeing and had lunch at a good Chinese restaurant. The restaurant was much better than our first experience. Our guide Jenny took us there. The quality of the meat here is not very good. For example the pork is more fat than meat. Our guide was telling us how Chinese people eat all the meat on animals such as the head and necks of ducks and fish. We only went to local restaurants twice since we have been here. It is too difficult to even order (when you go by yourself) because most people speak very little if any english. Every morning we eat the breakfast buffet at the hotel. It is a huge buffet. They have everything from typical breakfast food to lunch foods as well. They have a good variety of Chinese food such as fried rice, lo mein, spring rolls, veggies, steamed buns, congee, etc. We brought ramen noodles and eat them for lunch or dinner on occasion. We have also ate KFC and Papa Johns. They have Mcdonalds here but we haven't tried it.
We went to a park on Wednesday and Thursday and Jaelynn got to burn off some steam. She needed it. It is tough being in a hotel room with very little to do. They do not have a play area here for kids. So, we have used the halls and lobby of the hotel as our place to go on walks. Her toys have become whatever she can get her hands on in the room such as pull-ups, toilet paper, you name it... At the park she would play with other kids when she would see them. She is very social and active. On the go big time... Our guide works with adopted families while they are here and has been doing this for 10 years so she sees the children all the time. She was surprised how vocal and active Jaelynn is. She said a lot of kids are quiet and reserved at this stage. Not our little peanut!
As far as the adoption process things are right on schedule. This first stop here in Nanchang was to get Jaelynn, finalize her adoption, and get her passport. The adoption was finalized and we applied for her passport. Our guide is going to pick up her passport tomorrow. We ended Thursday by packing our suitcases to head to the 2nd leg of our trip Guangzhou. We board a plane Friday at 6pm China time arriving there at 7:30pm. This will be Jaelynns first plane ride. I am glad it is a short one. We will see how it goes..."
Please keep sending all of your kind words! Kelly is looking forward to reading them and she appreciates them more than you know!
Love,
Brandy
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Baby steps in the right direction!
Hi all! It seems forever since the last update, even though it's been one day! Kelly and Jaelynn are both doing amazing! I had the opportunity to FaceTime with them and Jaelynn was surprisingly interested! She is a completely different baby than just 2 days ago even! When Jaelynn saw my daughter, Sophia, on the iPad she immediately said "baby"! Super cute! You can tell that she is already forming a strong bond with her mommy as she didn't want Kelly to give me any of her attention! Here is what Kelly wrote about her experiences on day 3:
" I am really starting to see Jaelynn's personality com out. We facetime Philip a couple times a day and he commented yesterday that she doesn't even look like the same kid. Philip was sticking his tongue out at her and she would laugh and do it right back.
She is going to be chatty I can tell. She is always singing and making noises. She is starting to understand some basic English words. It is amazing how quick kiddos catch on. For example, when I ask her to sit down she will. So far she has said dada, Devin, bye-bye, hi, Jaelynn, mama, baby, Sophie, and nanny. That is pretty good for only being with me for 48 hours. Now, some of those words i have asked her to say but some she has said on her own.
We ventured out to Walmart yesterday to get a couple things. It was very different from our walmart at home that is for sure. She is going to like to shop when she gets older. That girl wanted everything in the store. I think she was just overwhelmed by all the stuff, colors, etc. She would point to things, try to grab things off the shelves if you got to close, and she would get frustrated if you didn't give her what she wanted. We walked downstairs to get Papa Johns Pizza afterwards (it is in the same building) and she took off running at one point. She is going to be an active kid.
We also got over a huge hurdle with the bath. Last night I put her in a small baby bathtub with bubbles and she went in with no problem. I wont say that she loved it but she did ok. Every time she got bubbles on her hands she wanted them rinsed off. She was guarded but she did it.
She is really good about going on the potty which is awesome. Our guide brought us a kids potty because she was having a hard time going on the actual toilet. The toilets here in China are very different. They are like a toilet placed in the ground that you have to hover over. She is not used to sitting on a toilet. Kids here also wear split pants so they can squat without having to pull down their pants. These obstacles along with her not being able to communicate has created some challenges. However, I would say she is farther along with that than expected.
We are still finding our groove with getting her to sleep. The first night she slept in the bed with me. The problem is that she is ALL over the bed. I am afraid she is going to fall out of the bed and I cant get any sleep worrying about her. So, she has been in the crib the last two nights. First nigh in the crib went fine. However, last night she cried. She did not want to go into the crib. I held her until she went to sleep and then put her in the crib. She has been sleeping good. I just feel bad making her sleep in there but i cant risk her falling out and me getting no sleep.
So, hopefully I am not boring everyone with details. I created this blog for a couple reasons. One reason is to keep everyone updated on my trip and the second one is to have an online type journal to refer back to"
Love,
Brandy
" I am really starting to see Jaelynn's personality com out. We facetime Philip a couple times a day and he commented yesterday that she doesn't even look like the same kid. Philip was sticking his tongue out at her and she would laugh and do it right back.
She is going to be chatty I can tell. She is always singing and making noises. She is starting to understand some basic English words. It is amazing how quick kiddos catch on. For example, when I ask her to sit down she will. So far she has said dada, Devin, bye-bye, hi, Jaelynn, mama, baby, Sophie, and nanny. That is pretty good for only being with me for 48 hours. Now, some of those words i have asked her to say but some she has said on her own.
We ventured out to Walmart yesterday to get a couple things. It was very different from our walmart at home that is for sure. She is going to like to shop when she gets older. That girl wanted everything in the store. I think she was just overwhelmed by all the stuff, colors, etc. She would point to things, try to grab things off the shelves if you got to close, and she would get frustrated if you didn't give her what she wanted. We walked downstairs to get Papa Johns Pizza afterwards (it is in the same building) and she took off running at one point. She is going to be an active kid.
We also got over a huge hurdle with the bath. Last night I put her in a small baby bathtub with bubbles and she went in with no problem. I wont say that she loved it but she did ok. Every time she got bubbles on her hands she wanted them rinsed off. She was guarded but she did it.
She is really good about going on the potty which is awesome. Our guide brought us a kids potty because she was having a hard time going on the actual toilet. The toilets here in China are very different. They are like a toilet placed in the ground that you have to hover over. She is not used to sitting on a toilet. Kids here also wear split pants so they can squat without having to pull down their pants. These obstacles along with her not being able to communicate has created some challenges. However, I would say she is farther along with that than expected.
We are still finding our groove with getting her to sleep. The first night she slept in the bed with me. The problem is that she is ALL over the bed. I am afraid she is going to fall out of the bed and I cant get any sleep worrying about her. So, she has been in the crib the last two nights. First nigh in the crib went fine. However, last night she cried. She did not want to go into the crib. I held her until she went to sleep and then put her in the crib. She has been sleeping good. I just feel bad making her sleep in there but i cant risk her falling out and me getting no sleep.
So, hopefully I am not boring everyone with details. I created this blog for a couple reasons. One reason is to keep everyone updated on my trip and the second one is to have an online type journal to refer back to"
Love,
Brandy
Monday, January 6, 2014
Starting to see smiles 😄
Hi there! It seems for the most part all is going well for Kelly, her mom, and Jaelynn! Kelly sounds great, says she has been able to get some rest, and is looking forward to her return to the states with her new addition! Here is the most recent post I received from Kelly:
"Jaelynn was brought to me right on time Sunday. She was brought to our hotel room which was nice. She was able to grieve here instead of being in a public place. It only took her about an hour to calm down. Could of been a lot worse. Thankful for that. She has allowed me to hold and comfort her which is good for our bonding. There were a couple occasions today where she became sad and would cry while snuggling with me. I feel very bad for her. I am starting to get a couple smiles out of her which is awesome!
Today we finalized the adoption. So, she is officially a Buster! Overall, she is pretty healthy. A couple minor issues that are pretty normal for living in an orphanage for the past 2.5 years. We went to breakfast today and she did great. She is a great eater! Bathtime was another story. Last night I could not even get her in the tub. Today I put her in the shower and she did ok until I had to wash her hair.
Devin was so excited to see his sister. We facetimed him so he could see her. He is going to be a great big brother. I already miss him a lot and I still have 2 weeks to go :(. I know he is in good hands with his Daddy... That is comforting."
Please continue to share your well wishes with Kelly and they new baby! I will continue to update regularly!
Love,
Brandy
"Jaelynn was brought to me right on time Sunday. She was brought to our hotel room which was nice. She was able to grieve here instead of being in a public place. It only took her about an hour to calm down. Could of been a lot worse. Thankful for that. She has allowed me to hold and comfort her which is good for our bonding. There were a couple occasions today where she became sad and would cry while snuggling with me. I feel very bad for her. I am starting to get a couple smiles out of her which is awesome!
Today we finalized the adoption. So, she is officially a Buster! Overall, she is pretty healthy. A couple minor issues that are pretty normal for living in an orphanage for the past 2.5 years. We went to breakfast today and she did great. She is a great eater! Bathtime was another story. Last night I could not even get her in the tub. Today I put her in the shower and she did ok until I had to wash her hair.
Devin was so excited to see his sister. We facetimed him so he could see her. He is going to be a great big brother. I already miss him a lot and I still have 2 weeks to go :(. I know he is in good hands with his Daddy... That is comforting."
Please continue to share your well wishes with Kelly and they new baby! I will continue to update regularly!
Love,
Brandy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)