SUCH A JOY!!!!

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. Travis has been home for a year now. On May 21st of last year we met him for the first time. I had no idea how much this little boy would capture my heart. He is truly a joy to parent. He is one of those people that just makes your heart smile. Not a day goes by that he doesn't make us laugh and smile. I hope you can see from the photos the joy that we get to experience everyday.

FINALLY A NEW UPDATE

Well once again time has gotten away from me. It has now been two months since Travis became a part of our family. He is doing amazingly well. I of course had hoped for an easy transition for him, but in the back of my mind I anticipated a very long and difficult road. I can honestly say that it has been very easy, maybe too easy. I kind of expect things to start to go badly at anytime, but for now it is wonderful. He is smart, funny, cute and extremely loving. He is exactly as I had imagined he would be.

His health of course is always an issue. Although he is so much healthier then I thought he would be. But due to not being properly transfused in China his spleen is huge and may need to be removed. Right now we are trying to transfuse him monthly to see if his spleen will shrink. He does so well with his tranfusions. He doesn't cry or fuss when they stick him for IV's or blood draws. He is just amazing. His hemoglobin when we got home was 5.0. We now have him up to 12 and he looks so pink. I love seeing his pink little lips. I hadn't realized how pale he was when his hemoglobin was low. As for energy, he is always busy. He was still very active when his hemoglobin was 5.o. I guess he had just gotten used to it. I was a little worried about how active he might become when we got his hemoglobin within a normal range, but Grace does a good job of wearing him out for me. He loves his sister. He is like a little parrot and will mimick everything she says and does. I think he is going to miss her when school starts in August.

Well here are a few recent photos. I've included a few of Grace learning to ride her bike without training wheels. She is so proud of herself.

TRAVIS AT HOME

Sorry I have been so bad about updating my blog. I will try to be better. It is amazing how fast the days fly by when you have a new little one at home. Travis is definitely keeping me busy, but he is so sweet and loving that it makes it all worth while. He has really adjusted so well and continues to amaze me everyday. He is learning english so quickly and seems to understand even more then he can say. He has had so many new experiences since being home. He has learned not to be afraid of our cats, which he now chases through the house. He has been to the beach which he was not too sure about. He does love water though and the water table was a big hit. I did learn that it is best to put him in his bathing suit though, because he ended up wet from head to toe. Today he learned how to lick the cake batter off the beaters. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, but after a quick demonstration he caught on and kept saying more, which meant I was supposed to dip the beater back into the batter so he could have more to lick off. He makes each day a new adventure for all of us and I guess what I love the most is how he will go off to play just a little way from my side and then returns frequently to wrap his arms around me and give me a hug or a kisss. It just melts my heart. Well I hope everyone enjoys the newest photos.

WE'RE HOME!!!!

Well I hope everyone didn't give up on me, thinking I would never post again. I was not able to access even AOL once we got to Guangzhou. It was very frustrating not to update my blog, so now that we are home I will have to back track. We made it home on Wednesday night. Luckily our trip home went great. All of our flights were right on schedule, we got through immigration with no problems and Travis and Grace were great travelers. I was worried about Travis after our first flight from Nanning to Guangzhou, because he screamed when we got on the plane and I couldn't settle him down. He was scared to death and I felt so bad for him. Luckily he quickly figured out that it really wasn't so bad to be on an airplane especially because it meant he had his momma holding him and playing with him for long periods of time. He is quite easy to entertain. I think he spent over an hour on the flight from Beijing playing with the headphones. He would plug them in and then put them on his ears and laugh and get so excited to hear something coming out of them. It was the cutest thing.

Well I will post more later. We are still trying to get over jetlag. I was great the first couple of days, but I am really tired today and trying my hardest not to take a nap. Travis has been sleeping about 12 hours a night and has slept in his own bed. The first night he slept with us, because I could not convince him to get in his bed. I don't think he has ever slept in a bed, just a crib in the orphanage. Overall he has been doing great. He has decided that he wants to be carried everywhere all of the time. I think I may need a hip replacement if he doesn't decide to start walking on his own again soon. I will post some random photos from during our trip that I wasn't able to post before.