School

Ok, Joey started school last thursday, and it has not gone well. On Thurs and Fri the school called and had me get him early because he was very upset. They had four plus adults crowded around him trying to coddle him, hmm, maybe that was part of the problem. on Monday the school was on a half day, and they forgot to put Joey on the bus with his brother and sister. If you know me I was fuming. I drove to the school when the bus got here and he was not on it. The counselor apologized, and the principal tried to make excuses. I went in to get him and left very fast, but not before letting them know, that this was a very good way to make him frightened at school. We are suspicious of his crying at school. I think he is using it to go home early. When I got to school Friday to pick him up, he immediately stopped crying and pulled me to the car. He was very happy to get home and play. Not the reaction typical of a child who was really upset by something. I think I may play the tough mom today if the school calls. I will go and talk to him, but I will not bring him home. He needs to stay in school, he will miss out on his ESL classes, and he really needs them. Joey is back to crying daily whenever he doesn't get his way, or Ian (2yr old) bothers him. However, he is really having fun with Mick (4 yr old) and Daniel (9 yr old). Joey had his initial eye exam on Saturday. Well,good and bad. He does not have upper strabismus like his file had stated. He has DVD. Which is worse. Probably no surgery which is good, but it is Neurological not muscle related. It can't be fixed. His eyes do not work together. He uses one at a time, and the brain shuts off the other one, and that one will flip upward. He will eventually need glasses because of the strain of only seeing with one eye at a time. He will also have very poor 3-d vision. He will over time, learn how to compensate for this. No glasses this visit, but he now needs to be followed every three months, and our insurance only covers one visit per year. What else is new! We are going to Florida the weekend before Thanksgiving to meet up with my parents on their vacation. It will be the first time for Joey to meet them. I think all should go well. Joey has added to his english vocabulary. He now says: Hi, hello, thank you, bye bye, good morning, and pee pee corectly. He says I love you, but we do not think he knows what it means, and he says it at the wrong times. He told the lady at the chinese restaurant the other night, Bye bye I love you. He will say please and water when reminded. We are working on 2 and three words together, like: please mama, thank you mama, more water please, etc. Joeys huge fear of dogs in China, is gone. He loves our dogs and Amy our 70 lb mix is his favorite. He even did well at a friends house with their 2 dogs. He has a stuffed animal cat that he really likes. He talks to it and pets and kisses it, so if I can convince my husband, maybe a cat will be in Joey's future. I saw a beautiful siamese mix at the shelter, and I was very tempted. She was almost the same color as his stuffed animal. We shall see. If anyone would like to send me suggestions on the school issue with Joey, please do, I welcome all help right now.
Take care, and thanks for reading ~ Heather

A Week of Adjusting

Everything is running smoother now. Joey made it through a full week of Smith house routine (very Crazy with & kids). He went to a fall festival at church and really had fun. Joey is very used to his name now, and is sleeping through the night. He was getting up to pee 3 times a night for attention, but he would go to bed when told to. Now he doesn't even get up to pee. YES, YES, YES. SLEEP, SLEEP, SLEEP. Joey really loves his older 2 brothers and sister. He is doing well with his 8 yr old sister and 4 yr old brother, but still does not like his 2 yr old brother. He will fight him for toys and attention with pushing and shoving. We also found out that Joey was stealing from everyone, and hiding the items in his backpack. When we corrected him for this he stomped his feet and pouted. However, there has been no more stealing. He has only had 1 tantrum this past week, and it was in front of Paul. He will not do it in front of me anymore. I guess he figured out fast that tantrums and crying get you no where with Mommy. He will still cry when not getting his way with the 2 yr old, but we are working hard on controlling this. He is still pushy and very in your face, but we will work on it. He is now saying thank you, hello, goodbye and I love you, and he uses it correctly. He understands more english daily, he is very smart. How He expects to be entertained every minute of the day, so he is going stir crazy at home. He should be starting school next week, and I think he will enjoy it. Joey really enjoyed trick or treating, and caught on fast to the treat part. Joey did really well at his first church service, and we went to our annual church picnic after. He did good and had fun, until the soda. He really liked it , but I limited his intake. This he did not like. He was going to throw a very big fit when I told him no more, but he controlled his emotions, I was very proud of him. We then decided to go home, we did not want to push to much stress on him. He had a big week, and overall I think he did very well. I am doing much better now that I get to sleep. This week will be quiet and low key, getting him ready for school.
I will try to update again this week, but I do not get much time on the computer. Thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and support in our continued journey to bond with our new son.

Another day

Sunday has come to a close. Another long night, Joey was up from 2-6am, then fell asleep until 8:30am. We did have a better day though. He had some rough patches, he does not like being told no. He threw a doozy of a temper tantrum, after we took a book away that he could not have. He is still not doing well with our 2 yr old. Hopefully this will get better sooner rather than later. He is doing well with the dogs, and had a lot of fun with his older siblings today. I got to go out for 5 whole hours to run errands and go grocery shopping. I took my oldest daughter for some quality time, and it was great. Joey did well with me gone, only one crying spell (3 for the day). We celebrated his 6th birthday with dumplings and a cake. He really liked that. He fell asleep during book time tonight, and with no nap today I hope he sleeps through the night. Tomorrow starts our weekday routine, this will probably tire him out until he adjusts. He is now giving hugs and kisses freely to our 3 older children and not just us. Still not close to the other 3. Well I am falling asleep at the computer, so goodnight to all, and pray that our Joey sleeps all night.

Tired and emotional

We are exhausted. Liang is not sleeping well at all. The adjustment is slow going. I do not think Liang is enjoying a large family. Hopefully this will change. He had some bonding time witth Kurt, our oldest, yesterday, it was nice. The communication barrier is harder than we were prepared for. I am very emotional, I have so many thoughts and feelings going through me right now. I hope I have not destroyed my family, we have been receiving negative comments and in my tired state, I start to let it get the better of me. We are taking it slow, one moment at a time. Paul goes back to work on Monday, and our life is back to it's regular schedule, maybe this will help.

We are Home

I am sorry we did not post from China. We did not have computer access. Finally, after a long flight we are home. Our trip to China was very interesting, with a few bumps in the road. It was an experience I will never forget. I will write about it at a later time, but I am exhausted now. Our son never cried in China, but when we got home, he let loose. He had a very long hard cry, and then started having fun with his new brothers and sisters. Xiao Liang's name has been changed to Joseph Liang, but we will continue to use Liang, because he has let us know he does not want Joseph. Maybe he will change his mind down the road. It will be awhile for pics because my computer can't handle my new camera software. I will have to put on a disc and then download. Take care, and thanks for following.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet boy

TODAY IS LIANG'S 6th BIRTHDAY

We have new pics sent Monday.

travel dates

I forgot to mention, we are keeping our original travel dates. We will leave Atlanta for Guangzhou on the 9th, arrive on the 11th. Stay at the Victory Hotel (for some rest) the 11th and 12th,and see the sights in Guangzhou. On the 13th Fly to Zhengzhou and meet Liang, adoption on the 14th, fly back to Guangzhou on the 15th for medical appt. Stay at the White Swan the 15th-21st. Do paperwork/rest on the 16th, back to medical on the 17th, sight seeing on the 18th, visa interview on the 19th, Oath on the 20th, pick up visa and leave for Los Angeles on the 21st, arrive in Atlanta and the 22nd.