Celebrations

Today was a very special day! Today is Justin's first birthday and I cannot even tell you how blessed we are to be celebrating it with him. When we received his referral back in September one of my prayers was that he would not celebrate even one birthday without his forever family and God graciously answered that prayer. Since we have been home less than a month we decided to do just a little party at home with our immediate family and then next month we will have a bigger party with friends and extended family.

My second attempt at a 4 kid photo!

In addition to being Justin's first birthday, February today was also the one month anniversary of his gotcha day, so here are some photos to celebrate!

Brothers!

Justin has the best big sisters in the world!

Sometimes you just gotta make a fish face!

I can't believe it has been a month since this precious boy was first placed in our arms!

Overall Justin is doing great, but he still struggles with sleep. He has attached very well to Jason and I, and is starting to really love his big sissy, Jordan. We are now able to lay him down once he falls asleep, but he still wakes up multiple times a night and needs to be rocked back to sleep which can sometimes take an hour or more. He is also a very light sleeper and will sometimes still wake up when we go to lay him down which means starting the entire process over.

Since being home we have had Justin's initial appointment with the pediatrician and a visit to the International Adoption Clinic at Children's Hospital. Both appointments went well and we are happy to report that Justin is only slightly behind developmentally, but all of the doctors are confident that he will catch up quickly. Up next are a bunch of tests and specialist appointments for which we are praying for more good news!

At Home Update

We have been home for about two week now and since I want to be honest I have to tell yo that it has been hard. It is a different kind of hard and one that you can't truly understand until you've lived it. These two weeks have been some of the hardest I have ever been through so I can now say with certainty that international adoption is NOT for the faint of heart. 

Justin is doing well overall but his biggest challenge hands down is sleeping. Since coming home he literally will not sleep (at nap or night) unless we are either holding him or he is laying on us (next to us is not good enough - he must be in our arms or laying on us). Add in his jet lag and we are getting very little sleep, and during the week when Jason has to work I have to take on more of the night shift which has been SO hard. 

I took this pic on February 3rd at 1:21am. Justin was up due to jet leg and was playing. He loves bottles of all sizes and was playing with an empty 2 liter when he just crashed, so I covered him up and laid down on the couch to try to catch some zzz's (he slept for about an hour and a half). This was Jason's first day back to work and I was in tears that morning before he left. 

I took this next photo on February 5th during his morning nap. This was the first time I was able to get him to sleep and then lay him down with him immediately waking up. He is making very slow progress and most days it is three steps forward and two steps back.

When it isn't nap time or night time this baby is an absolute joy! He is happy most of the time and has the sweetest disposition. It is actually ironic because during his waking hours he is, for the most part, laid back and easy going, but as soon as it is time to sleep watch out!

My first attempts at trying to get a decent picture of four kids

Exersaucer time!

A certain boy is over the moon excited to finally have a brother!

The girls!