Moving along...

Pete and Repeat!!!!

Love that smile!

Little Miss Attitude with papa!

The kids are definitely making big strides. They are really showing their personalities and really getting comfortable with Rhett and I. What one boy does, so does the other! It is all fine if it is something they are supposed to be doing but sometimes they are real trouble. That is ok, it let's us know they are normal. We have been waiting for the hammer to come down and witness the tantrums that we hear about with the adoptive kids but it has not been too bad so far. Tonight, Rhett put on Sebastian's bedtime diaper and he would not stop crying. The type of cry we heard when we put in his ear drops. So, once I was done with Cate I went over to him and thought he may have filled his pants (there I go again with the human waste talk!!) and that he felt bad about it, but when I went to look and re-did his diaper he calmed down and then he said he had to go chi chi (which is pee in Spanish). Then all was better! Rhett was going to give me a break and try to put Cate down, he thought he got her down then when he came in the computer room where I am we heard her crying. He went back in and then not long after he came out with her and he just looked ragged. So, I just got back now, I hope she is finally asleep. This 2 hour bedtime process has to stop! I don't mind holding her but seriously, this girl is something else!

It is now almost 10:00 and I want to get to bed, but I thought I would give a health update. John had another bad diaper this morning after breakfast so I asked the staff to call the doctor. Here the doctors make "house calls"...so nice. So she got here at about 2:15, right in the middle of naptime, but oh well.

Updates:

Sebastian: All is looking well for him, I told her he was so miserable when I put the ear drops in and she said for me to stop if it hurts him that bad. She looked in his ears and they were dry, so that was a good sign. We are all very happy to not have to deal with ear drops for him. So he is on a Claritin type medicine and a nasal spray. All three have allergy type symptoms, which the doctor said is common because of the pollution and the change of weather here. I had thought that but it was good to hear from her. She did think the adenoid and tube surgery is a good thing for him. So, we are down to 2 items for him...Yeah!!

John: He is our walking medicine cabinet. He is on a nasal spray, the Claritin type medicine, a diarhhea med, antibiotics for fluid in his ears, and we have to flush his ears with hydrogen peroxide. I think that is it but I could definitely be missing something. I do not have their medical records chart that I started with me!!

Cate: She was not on anything until today. She now has a nasal spray and also the Claritin type med. She has a little runny nose and is stuffed up (when she is crying for mama it is a nasal whine! She also has been in a contraption for her hip dysplasia. The doctor looked at her records and there were x-rays done last September that were fine and then more done in February that supposedly were not fine???? So, the doctor looked at her hips and did not think there was an issue at least by the way she could move them. So, she said when we get back to Minnesota, we will just have to get an x-ray done to make sure. But generally, children with hip dysplasia only wear the brace for 3 months. It is not awful but when I am carrying her the majority of the day, it gets a little cumbersome! It does not seem to bother her at all.

I have been quite overwhelmed with all of this health stuff, but the doctor said this is very common for children here and once we get back to the clean air in Minnesota, they should be fine. Also, all three of them were put on a parasite medication. I know that sounds good, but that could very easily be what all of the diarhea issues are from. That is common for children coming from the orphanage. So that was a one time dose that we gave them at dinner tonight and it must have been pretty good tasting because they gulped it down.

Anyways, once we get back to Minnesota, we will be taking all three of them to the U of M International Adoption Clinic and they will give them complete workups and we will know where we stand. We are very fortunate to be that close to a facility like that. Everything seems to be pretty minor, we just hope and pray that is the case. We have quickly found out that the orphanage leans more toward the conservative side because they need to report everything to the ICBF (governing authority).

Ok, I need to sign off for the night, my mornings come very early! Especially if Miss Attitude wakes me up in the middle of the night!! (But, there is nothing like those big brown eyes peaking through her crib and crying mama...even at 2:00 in the morning!)

Holly