"A little this and that'...

Needless to say, our Will is a real whirlwind... He's non-stop, 100% pure boy. Loves to tumble, roughhouse and be in the mix. Climbs like a monkey on just about anything he can get on (along with his baby sister). As a matter of fact, found them both standing on the kitchen table dancing the other day which was a real heart stopper! They are into everything together and great escape artists.

He's discovered the Wii and loves to play Just Dance. I might add that he's got great rhythm and usually beats most first time players which leads to embarrassment by most for his competitor after being bested by the 2 year old dance machine.

Len successfully defended is Doctoral dissertation on the 10th of this month so the kids are now calling him Dr. Dad. We can't say how proud we are of him for this amazing accomplishment. We will head down in May to his University for graduation. We're excited for all the kids to see him walk in graduation, we think it will be a really positive experience for all of them.

Griffin will begin baseball in the next couple of weeks. He's really excited about it and just loves the game. He's doing well in school. Once again our little man shaved his head for the St. Baldrick's Foundation for childhood cancer research. This is his third year! It's amazing that someone so young wants to help others and is willing to alter his physical appearance to accomplish his goal. He likes the fact that people will ask about why he shaves his head so he can explain why he, his dad and Pop all do this together.

Elena is still Irish Step dancing and participating in Girls Scouts. The other night they held a circus variety show at a local theater. It was a cute production and I know the girls like to put on a show for everyone to see. They were dressed as clowns and as cute as could be during their acts. She's doing great in school and would rather be there learning then really anywhere else (gets that from her Dad)

Our tiny little Jocelyn is still as cute as a button and lovable. Her asthma has been more frequent with the warmer weather but we're managing it with her treatments, she's not been hospitalized since the fall and we hope that we don't have a repeat anytime soon. She and Will are like two peas in a pod and need to be together or at least know where each other is at all time.

Wishing Happy St. Patty's day to everyone and happy spring.

There's so much to share...

I've not updated for a few months now and there is just so much to share about Will and the kids, overall.

Let's start with Will's medical. He's seen specialists in Ortho, Neuro, Cardio and Ophthalmology for various concerns. Well, I am happy to report that we've been kicked out of all never to return or have a return visit in 2 years for follow-up. We are THRILLED that he has gotten a clean bill of health. He is the perfect, healthy little man.

In November he began physical therapy to help out with his balance due to his missing lower right arm. It was throwing him off a bit and he was falling a lot, but now that he's built up his upper body strength, he's a whirlwind and has even learned to climb the stairs (I'm not so keen on that but the PT taught him how). We've yet to find anything that he limits himself with, which is fantastic. He keeps up with everyone and doesn't miss a beat.

He also began speech therapy to help him along with his English understanding. That is coming along a little slower but he's mastered several words in his short period since coming home. Jocelyn is talking up a storm so I think the competition with his little sister is going to be a good thing for him. As we did with the three kids, we taught him basic sign language. He's signing up a storm and modifies it when it requires the use of two hands so his own sign for that word or action. He is one very smart boy.

He celebrated his 2nd birthday with a big bash at home with all his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents which brings 40 people on average to a party at our house as I have a large family. Len can't be happier that he and his newest little man share the same birthday. We knew he was "our" boy as soon as we saw his photo way back in April but when he and Len had the same birthday we new it was just meant to be.

We moved into Thanksgiving which was at our house and with the same "lot" of family milling around. As he likes to eat and eat and eat, I have to say this was one of his favorite holidays.

Christmas was a blast. He and Jocelyn really enjoyed unwrapping the gifts, I should have remembered that wrapping paper is much more exciting from when Griffin and ElenaGrace were younger.

Santa was "OK" at best. He was even better if he was at least 50 feet away and could be waved to. Both Will and Jocelyn did sit on his lap and get a photo, but only after a few seconds of back arching and attempts to escape.

We've moved into the new year with a bang, literally. We let the babies bang pots and pans and blow horns out on the front porch before they went to bed for the night. They had a blast.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Finally Photos...

I'll let these photos of our trip and our first couple of days home do the talking for this post...

We're Back...

WOW - China is amazing and our son is just perfect in every way. With our three week stay in China we were able to see some of the most amazing places that you could ever imagine. We got to see the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Open Air Markets, Hutongs, spectacular parks and squares, The Great Wall, and so much more!

Getting our hands on Will didn't happen quite like we imagined, but how wasn't the important part, getting him in our arms was. We knew that meeting him at BWCI was not an option with H1N1 and had been told we would meet them in a conference room at our hotel.

Well all the kids in our group (four, including Will) were considered special needs so we got a call to meet them in the hotel's parking lot. Two nannies, a driver, four kids (from 22 mo to 7 years) and medical equipment all piled out of a small car (like an Accord). They looked at us, handed us our little ones, turned around, got back in the car and left us with our sweet kiddos standing right there in the Poly Plaza parking lot. Not the emotion filled hand off that I always envisioned, but the perfect moment for us.

Pictures and more updates to follow over the next few days as we settle back in and get readjusted back to our time zone.

And we're off...

Tomorrow afternoon we board the plane that will take us to our newest son. Tonight we will stay at a hotel near the airport to avoid any possible delays heading to Newark during morning rush hour.(No NJ Turnpike jokes - and in case you're wondering we are way south, closest to exit #2, just to get that out of the way)

We are anxious to get to Will but are finding it a bit difficult to kiss the kids good night and put them to bed knowing we won't see them for three full weeks. We know they will be fine, they are with my parents. It's just that this will be the first time we are both away from them at the same time (with the exception of one night while we attended GWCA East Meets West Conf where we first saw our Will) for any length of time and three weeks seems so long.

We were able to get Skype accounts set up on both our lap top and my mom's computer (thanks Satyra) so we will be able to see each other almost daily but not to get hugs and kisses will be miserable. We know it won't last forever, but will just feel like it.

This is a joyous time and we are going into this trip as a once in a lifetime event and will soak in as much of Will's culture to bring home with us and make it part of our family.

We'll see you all very soon and hope to be able to add to the blog to keep everyone up to date and involved (we have heard that we may not be able to access the blog from China, but will try)

Thanks to all for their support, encouragement, help, congratulations, etc. It means the world to us and we're glad to have you on our journey with us and are happy to share our joy with you all.

Three - Two - One...

We are only THREE days out from departing, can you believe it, we can't! We are double and triple checking every packing list we've been given, making absolutely certain that we have every possible form, document and ID that we require and are still trying to get the house in some sort of order (as if that will ever happen).

Griffin and Elena started school today so that was a big exciting morning. They both seemed excited to see who was going to be in their classes, This week is usually pretty good as it's mostly getting their desks/rooms together and getting reacquainted with their chums, next week will be a different story.

I see a lot of sleepless nights ahead due to excitement, nervousness and worrying about missing the kids while where gone.

The Clock is ticking.

T-minus 7 days...

We are a week from take off and starting to get more excited by the minute. I can throw nervous in there too. There's still so much to do! And leaving our other kids behind is going to be a bit tough for us. They are excited to be staying with their grandparents for a loooonnnnggg sleepover, but I'll miss my snuggles, hugs and kisses.

Here's a couple more photos of Will from various times at the orphanage. We can't thank them enough for taking such good care of him for us. It would seem he was very well taken care of and loved.