Grace is walking

Grace started walking on her own on Monday. It was only 4 steps, but
by Friday she was walking all the way across the room. My first 2
weeks back to teaching was smooth. The students were even glad to see
me which made it extra fun for me. Now Anna and I are on a 2 week
spring break and all of us will leave to visit family in Tennessee next
weekend. Anna is already missing her teacher, and it has only been one
day of spring break. She loves school and her teacher so much this
year!! Roy is still doing well - actually right now Roy and Anna are
out for their special time at breakfast and the library.
Love, Debra:)

Grace is 1 year old

It has been almost 2 months since I have added to the blog. Things have been very busy but I have also been avoiding writing about our story. Roy has been in the hospital twice this year with an episode of major depression. He has had depressive episodes before, but it has been so long ago that it was before he and I met. There was not an obvious trigger for this depression, but it did start with the insominia from the China trip. Roy has been home from the hospital since February 12th and within a few days was doing remarkably better. This is his second week working full time, and he even has energy to help out at home in the evenings. Believe me , I was needing some help with the girls.

Since I have written, we had our Baby Grace turn one year old on February 9th. She is doing great with activity and her sleep has improved too with 2 nights this week where we all slept through the night. She is not walkinng yet, but she loves to stand with her hands up showing me that she has her balance. Then she giggles because she is so proud of herself. As soon as she decides to walk, which could be any day, our lives will change again. How FUN! Grace has not gained any weight (just under 20 lbs) since we adopted her so I am always trying to push the food. The doctor is not concerned, but I know she needs to start gaining soon. She doesn't throw up anymore after eating, but that stopped before we saw 2009.

Anna still loves being having a little sister! They are so cute playing together!!! I have found some of Anna's behavior challenging so Anna went back to counseling last week. Also this week Roy and I are meeting with her counselor to get some ideas in how to improve our parenting to best help Anna deal with her anxiety. Anna has had a lot of changes with a new sister and Daddy being sick so we do want to understand her and support her the best we can. Anna has no behavior problems at school so I know it is directed at me and her wanting more of my attention.

Next week is my last week of Family Leave time, and I am a little nervious about how I will handle one more thing in my schedule when I return to teaching. I only work mornings and do love teaching so I know it will work out with a little adjusting. We have someone coming to the home to watch Grace for the mornings so I don't have to add another drop off during the busy morning time which will help. I work for 2 weeks and then have a 2 week spring break. Then I work another 7 weeks, and it is summer time. That doesn't sound bad so why am I concerned? Another change I guess is why.

Here are some pictures of Grace and Anna. I need to show off my cuties and my now one year old.
Debra

Saying Goodbye to 2008

Grace has not lost a bottle in over a week now, and we are so glad the tummy issues are behind us. She still has a strong gag reflex so we try to be careful. This morning Grace ate 3 Cherrios before gaging on the fourth. She is learning how to move the Cherrio in her mouth with her tongue. Grace is not scared of our cat any more. Jasmine, the cat, is so good with the girls!! Roy has had problems with insominia since Christmas Eve and is now seeing a little improvement the last couple of nights. It is hard for him to function on no or little sleep but he still plays with the girls and does what he can. Even though we will be celebrating the New Year it will not be at midnight. Last night we were in bed at 8pm and that is the latest we have stayed up since returning from China as we have almost adjusted to the time change. Tonight we may party until 8:30 or 9pm. Happy 2009 to everyone!

Christmas day pictures

>
> We spent about 6 hours on Christmas day in Noblesville with 16 family
> members gathered. Grace did pretty well being passed around, and
> Grammy was proud that Grace feel asleep on her. It was a good
> Christmas!!
>

Christmas Letter 2008

Today I Kissed an Angel
today I kissed an angel I knew it from the start
the first time my angel smiled at me I gave away my heart
today I kissed an angel this angel child of mine
though not of my creation my child by God's design
today I kissed an angel my heart is dancing wild,
a family by a miracle blessed by this angel child.
-Unknown


2008 has been the best year ever since we became a family of four! We kissed our angel Grace on December 8th and returned from China on December 18th with great joy and some jet lag. There is no better gift than another beautiful child in our family during this Christmas season. In China, Anna loved climbing the Great Wall and was a natural big sister at caring for Grace. At church on Sunday, Anna was the proudest I have ever seen her as she held her baby sister tight. Roy and Anna will go back to Eli Lilly and Park Tudor School on January 5th, but right now the four of us are enjoying each other. I am taking three months family leave time with Grace, who after about a half hour of screaming when she met us has claimed us as her family with her love. Thank you for your support and friendship through our adoption process. We know we are blessed with our family and friends!
With Love, Gratitude, and Peace,
Debra, Roy, Anna, Grace (and Kitty Jasmine that Grace is not so sure about yet)

Christmas Eve

A couple of hours after I posted yesterday, Grace vomited but only about a fourth of the bottle so it is still getting much better. Today was the first day that we decided to wake Grace up from her morning and afternoon naps after 1.5 hours of sleeping to try to get her on our time zone. Last night from 9 pm to 10 am, Grace only slept a total of 2 hours. I took a long nap this afternoon trying to make up for working the "night shift" as Roy calls it. Anna is starting to do better with the time change. Christmas will be such a busy day with family in Noblesville (only a half hour drive) that it will be good for the time change or a total melt down. Grace had a bath in the kitchen sink today, and I posted picture of it. Grace is crying so I am done writing for the night.

Doctor visit went well for Grace

Grace's doctor visit went well. (Thanks for asking Cathy.) He is not so concerned with her loosing a bottle since she is hydrated and feeling well. He thinks it will improve with age (by 12 months). I am thrilled that we have gone 48 hours without vomiting a bottle so I think things look better already. Maybe her stress level is decreasing a little. Grace loved the waiting room of the doctor's office because there were lots of kids to watch. The doctor was also wandering if a laser had been taken to her 2 haemangiomia spots because they are indented, especially the one on her lower back and to a lesser degree on the bottom of her foot. He is not concerned about anything and said she looked on target developmentally for a 10-month old. We are still struggling with jet lag, but thank goodness that is the only problem going on here. Only 2 days to Christmas and Anna is getting excited. Tonight we are going to wrap a few presents for cousins. We will spend Christmas day in Noblesville at my sister's house (Angela) with my parents and Bonita's family (other sister). Anna and Grace will have 5 cousins to play with ranging in age from 21 to 5 years old. Anna wishes it was all 10 of her cousins so we will have to see the Tamura cousins again soon so she can show off her baby sister. The pictures are the cousins, Alexis and Olivia, visiting on Saturday. We have not been taking many pictures since home so I will have to get the camera out on Christmas day. Grace has been smiling more and pulling herself up to furniture. I think she is getting more comfort and stronger everyday.

Hoping for a better night

Last night was a bad one at our house. It was 6:30 am until I had my first sleep for the night. Unfortunately, Anna is having lots of trouble with the time change adjustment. Grace takes about 3 naps a day and sleeps a few hours at night if she is not throwing up in her bed. Grace has been throwing up at least a couple times a day which I think is gag reflex and having a cough. I started making her bottles a little thicker to see if that would help since I am wondering if she is getting liquid in her lungs. I am not trying foods other than congee (rice porridge) because she has such trouble with gagging. Sometimes she will throw up immediately after a bottle, but it can be a half hour or two or three hours after a bottle when she throws up. I have an appointment with Grace's doctor on Monday so it will be good to brainstorm with him and hear his ideas. Grace is pretty good natured even though a couple more teeth are cutting since leaving China. She definitely wants to me held lots so that is what I am getting done here. We are thinking of going to church tomorrow if we have a decent night, but we will see how we feel in the morning.

We are home!!

There were no flight problems coming home, actually all our flights were on time. I am glad we came home on yesterday since Detroit had 8 inches of snow today. One day would have made it a lot more difficult with the news reporting that about 1000 flights were cancelled today due to bad weather. It was fun to be welcomed at the airport by Bonita, Angela's family, and Paster Lori. Anna loved the signs at the airport so much that we let have her wish of being in charge of the signs here at the house. My parents came over today for a short visit since going to the airport at night would be too hard on Dad.
my mom was able to hold Grace without any crying (from Grace) which is better than she did for other family members at the airport. Anna is still not asleep, and I hear her coming down the stairs. I let her sit with me for a few minutes. Now Grace is awake because she threw up in bed. Grace has a cold and the coughing causes her to throw up easily. I think I better go-I will post more tomorrow.

Tuesday - last post from China

All the paperwork went smooth and is complete at the US Consulate. Tomorrow we have the "oath ceremony" where we will have no pictures because we are not allowed to even bring a camera in the building. This morning we played in the "Swan Room" which is a baby play area in the White Swan Hotel with many babies from our group. Anna received lots of attention playing ball and chase with me and other adults from our FTIA group as Grace finished her half hour morning nap. After waking Grace liked playing ball and playing with the small kitchen. Anna and I did a little shopping, just the two of us, in the afternoon. Last night, the three families with Yangxi babies from Guangdong Providence tried a little local restaurant that Margie found. The food was great and atmosphere even better.

Roy started packing dirty clothes today, and we are excited about only one more day until traveling home, Roy wasn't feeling so well today- he said he had really low energy but was a trooper joining us on outings. He doesn;t think he is getting sick, maybe it is just the jet lag catching up with him. This will be our last post until we are home. We fly out early Thursday morning (Wed evening Indy time) starting at Guangzhou to Tokyo to Detroit to Indianapolis. For those meeting us at the airport, it is Northwest Airlines landing at 6:33pm from Detroit. Thanks for all the support we have received!!!!