Four Months Since "Gotcha Day!"

Wow, where does the time go? I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. My job has been busier over the past few weeks, so we've been a little crazy around our house. This week marks four months that we have had S with us! Again it feels like it has gone by so quickly, yet at the same time it feels we've had him forever! He continues to do well and is learning more and more, too. Here are some differences between what he is doing now compared to when we got him in April.
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-He walks everywhere and is getting very fast now!
-He eats lots of table food and is working on eating with a fork (with a little help!)
-He's eating more in general. (Some meals/days are still hard, but things are way better than they were shortly after we returned home.)
-He gives us good hugs and holds on tight and cuddles with us, especially in the morning or after a nap.
-He says "thank you," "uh oh" (he LOVES this one!), "mama" (although he does not yet associate this with me), "dada" (he definitely knows this is Michael), "yea," (along with clapping his hands), "bye," and "oh." He babbles/talks a lot more than he did before and seems to be trying to communicate with us much more these days. We're working on saying "ball" among other words and have tried to teach him the sign for "more," but he's taking his time with these.
-He is beginning to try to put things back where they belong. For example, when his changing pad was in the floor recently, he held it up and reached for his diaper caddy because he knew that was where we kept it. Also, today we moved a chair away from where it had been sitting this past week. After his daddy got up from it, S tried to push it back to its original location.
-He likes to spin himself round and round, especially when his daddy does it first!
-He loves to be chased and try to run away from us and from other kids who play with him, which makes him giggle histerically! :)
-He enjoys playing outside in the grass and exploring all of the dirt, mulch, leaves, etc. on the ground.
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As far as his meals are concerned, he does have more interest in eating. We still have difficult moments, but we feel he is eating much better than he was 6 weeks ago. We continue to give him Zantac and are still following the suggestions of his feeding therapist and nutritionist. They recommended that he drink something called Resource Just for Kids. It has 1.5x calories of Pediasure. It has to be ordered online or through a pharmacy. They also make a juice now. We've ordered both of these for him and hope they will help with his caloric intake as well. Our feeding therapist also wants us to make him a mac&cheese recipe that has soooo many calories per serving. It is a recipe from the Food Network, and I'm not much of a chef. So I've got to get myself organized to find the 7 types of cheese that go into it and get it made for him very soon.

Next week, S will have his surgeries. On Wednesday, they will correct his lazy eyes and blocked tear ducts and perform his little boy procedure. We are glad it will all be done at once so he will only have to be sedated one time and only have to go through one recovery period.

Here are a few fun pictures from the past few weeks:

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Congratulations to all of the families traveling to meet their children (Kim and Martin , Jane and Jim, and Amy) and to those getting their court dates (Brandy and Coby , Amy and Travis, and Pam and Brandon)! Congrats to our friends Jenny and Randy and Lee and John on getting their kiddos and to our friend Emily on being approved in court to get her little one! Congrats to Allison and Stu on getting approved for their little girl, too! And finally congratulations to Suz and her family on their new little blessing! God is so good, and there are a lot of amazing families being created or added to by another little one, even despite the ever changing and complicated world of adoption.
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Last night we were able to meet up with Jenny and Jeff. It was great to hear more about their little girls, and we continue to pray for them that they will get their court date very soon!