Happy New Year!

What a great time we had at our friends house Bob and Susan! We have spent new years with them for at least the last 7 or 8 years, except of course last year because we were picking up Andrew. We got some great pictures of some of the couples at our 80's themed party, even if you don't know these people it will take you back to that time, and it's good for a laugh. Andrew did awesome last night. I put him to bed in his pack and play at our friends house and we stayed until about 12:30 in the morning. We then put him in the car and I put him back to bed when I got home. It took a little bit to get him to sleep both times, but he did great and slept the rest of the night for us. It's a wander he was able to sleep at the party because I counted up to 30 kids there. Yikes!

Andrew with a wig on that we borrowed from our neighbors house!

Even my Megan played along with the 80's theme and found something to wear. She picked this outfit out by herself. Good job Megan!

The whole family but Alisha, but don't we look groovy. Alisha had other plans for new years! I guess hanging out with mom and dad for new years isn't cool when you are 17.

Our gracious host and hostess! Thanks guys it was a lot of fun.

Andrew, I can't wait to spend a new year with you!

One Year Ago!

Today I have spent some time reflecting on last years new years eve. My husband and I were getting on a plane and going half way across the world to get our son in Kyrgyzstan. It was crazy because when we were on the plane we were loosing time because of the time zones, so Cain and I had no idea of when to celebrate new years! We just kept one watch on Ohio time, and when we knew our kids, family and friends were celebrating we said "happy new years" to one another gave each other a kiss and tried to go back to sleep on the plane. About that time we were above the ocean on our way to Germany. It seems just like yesterday all that happened, because the memories are still so vivid in my mind. Part of me would love to go back to that moment, but the other part of me is so glad that a whole year has gone by. In a few days we will celebrate Andrew's gotcha day, and what an exciting day that will be! We have a fun day planned with our family. For now though, we will celebrate for the first time seeing a new year come in, with our son. Andrew has been feeling a little better so we are going to attempt to go out. We are going to an 80's themed new years party. That should be interesting! I'll post pictures tomorrow of all the big hair!

Cain and I standing in line to check our luggage, one year ago! I'm not sure how I survived this trip because I didn't even sleep the night before we left because I was so anxious! I'm amazed that neither Cain or I got sick this whole trip, with all the lack of sleep and being on so many planes on the way there and back home. My only advice is take airborne with you when you travel.

Our goodbye letter from Megan (she made us cry)!

Our stop in Munich, Germany! I'm surprised Cain is smiling, we hardly had any sleep to this point and it was at least 7 hours past our normal bedtime. What great memories!

Dealing with sickness and a question for parents of adopted children from Kyrgyzstan!

Andrew has been sick for almost two weeks now. It started out as a cold on Tuesday, Dec. 16th and by Thursday, Dec. 18th, the runny nose turned into coughing and wheezing. I then took Andrew took the Dr. where they told me that Andrew is dealing with a strand of the RSV virus, and they gave him a breathing treatment. Andrew's breathing and cough seemed great the next day on Friday, Dec. 17th but he was in one terrible mood. Then that night Andrew decided to not go to bed!!!! You read that right, he never went to sleep, regardless of all our best efforts. It was the longest night of our lives with Andrew. So on Saturday Dec. 18th, I was concerned that maybe there was something else wrong with Andrew, so back to the Dr.'s we went. They checked him over, and couldn't find anything else that was wrong, and the Dr. even said his breathing sounded great. She was also puzzled as to why Andrew never went to sleep. So on with our day we went, but the strange thing was as the day went on instead of getting tired, Andrew got more hyper. He only took one, one hour nap all day, and by the end of the day he was completely crazy with energy. He finally fell asleep on the way home from my parents house that night at 8pm, and we were all praising God for it. I slipped him into bed without him waking up, but the horrible thing was, he woke up at 11pm and was ready to party again. He was hyper and wouldn't relax to go back to bed. I tried for about 45 minutes and nothing seemed to work. Then I let him cry on and off for an hour and 15 minutes and he finally went to sleep. Of course I didn't get much sleep that night either because I was worried he was going to wake back up and be hyper again. So finally our little guy got back on his normal sleeping pattern, but within a few days the coughing started back up but this time it started getting worse. I then took Andrew back to the Dr. again on Saturday, Dec. 27th and they did another breathing treatment on him. This time they gave me the machine to take home and prescribed the medicine so I could give Andrew the breathing treatments regularly. In fact, now the Dr. is saying that Andrew is dealing with asthma issues and they want me giving him a steroid medicine every day for a year to prevent any cold from turning into asthmatic issues. I'm not sure how I feel about that, because I don't like medicating my kids long term. I'm going to look into my options and hopefully I will get to the bottom of all of this. It has been a frustrating road, and it still isn't over yet. I hope Andrew kicks this virus soon! I'll keep everyone posted.



I would like to hear from any other parents who have adopted from Kyrgyzstan. I do know one other family that adopted from Kyrgyzstan and their son has the same breathing issues. I'm wandering how common this problem could be among these children from Kyrgyzstan. Any feed back would be great!

Other Christmas Pictures!

So here are a few more photos of Christmas from my parents house from my dad's camera. There to good to leave out of the blog. For some reason my pictures didn't turn out so well that day, and in addition my dad was the only one who got the family pictures. We always make sure to get a group shot every Christmas of the whole family.

The Nice Picture!

The Crazy Face Picture!

Well I guess you can tell what my dad's favorite team is (North Carolina). He wanted to make sure that everyone in the family had a t-shirt of them for Christmas, so of course we got pictures of us all in them!

Go North Carolina!

Andrew made handprint ornaments for the grandparents for Christmas this year. He loves putting his hands in it to show that it is from him!

Our Christmas Memories of 2008!

We have had a wonderful first Christmas with Andrew! Below is a slide show, because there are to many wonderful holiday pictures to leave some of them out, but then I'm also putting the best of the pictures of each event as well. Last Christmas was a very hard time for me, because I had one deadline, I wanted Andrew home with us before Christmas. When that didn't happen I was very sad but made the best of it. Spending Christmas with all three of my children was the best present I could of every asked for. I thank God for the blessing of my family, along with the birth of his son Jesus.

First we had Christmas with Cain's family on the Sunday before Christmas!

Ryan and Sarah announce their new engagement! Way to go Ryan!

On Monday we baked cookies with my mom! Thanks for helping mom, it would of been boring without you!

Andrew also enjoyed playing with the cookie dough!

What are you up to girls?

Then we went to my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve!

Here is a picture of Andrew trying to figure out Kylee's curly hair!

Then on Christmas we opened our gifts with the kids and later both our parents came over as well as my Grandma. What a wonderful day it was.

This shirt is so fitting!

Andrew learns about the true meaning of Christmas (baby Jesus)!

We all worked on a Gingerbread House!

The house turned out great...

for at least a few minutes, until it fell apart!

Grandpa and Alisha chilling on the couch! I guess they won't get blamed for the gingerbread house falling apart!

Andrew it has been a great first Christmas with you. It was everything I imagined it would be. I love you and can't wait for many more Christmas memories with you in the future.