Do the math!

So I have never been good in math, but Bryan is supposed to be this math wiz and he was blinded too.

Preparing for our first day back at school this fall got me thinking. Brady has begun 8th grade... he is 5 years away from high school graduation! Kenzie just began 6th grade - 1/2 way through with her academic career (besides college)! Conner is considered one of the "big" kids in Elementary school. Entering 3rd grade he is a few years away from middle school! And little Jailyn is turning 2 the end of September. Wow! This means that Jailyn will begin Kindergarten when Brady is in his senior year in High School. I will be attending a High School graduation and a Kindergarten graduation all in the same week. WOW!

And next year, Jailyn will begin preschool. (She will qualify for special preschool) This means we will have one child in each school.. high, middle, elementary and preschool.
And we want to adopt another little one! Though we have looked into adopting an infant - I may be too old for this! Another 16 month old at time of adoption is looking better and better! Please pray with us that God will lead us to our next baby or older child!

How did I get here?

Wow! Life sure throws curves!

Don't get me wrong I love my kids but...

Today I found myself, researching Off Campus PE for our 13 year old son. Trying to convince the school that soccer players should have the same rights as a tennis player or golfer, so that he can have 7th period to train for soccer. Forbid a young boy is in PE in Texas and doesn't want to play on the football team... you're not a real athlete. So we have been told from one of the coaches! What are we even thinking that a 8th grader needs to leave school to train for his specialized sport? Is this world crazy or what?

Then I had to argue with my new 6th grade daughter about the school district dress code. We haven't spent 7 years in the school district!!! and every year we have heard about the dress code... but my Angel thinks she knows everything. Amazing how a few days in Middle School makes you an expert in everything! :) Needless to say, 12 minutes after school began we received a phone call from our beautiful daughter asking for a different shirt. "Why would you need a different shirt?" "Tank tops aren't allowed at school." Surprise! Surprise! She had to wait in the office before Dad brought her another shirt. (Dad offered to bring her the shirt - he was just protecting her from the wrath of Mom!) And of course, Kenzie always being positive... while she waited, met a newly enrolled student. They are great friends now. "Mom, we would never have met if I didn't have that shirt on." Oh, give me a break!

This is all after I had to spend breakfast bartering with our 8 year old. After not sleeping well last night knowing that I had promised that I would go to his school to have lunch with him and that I had to break the news that I had to break our date. (I had forgotten that Jailyn had speech therapy at the same time.) "Conner can I make it up to you next week and come eat with you then?" With his sad puppy dog eyes, that break my heart, he shook his head "no". "What if I call your friends Mom and see if he can spend the night?" Jumping down from the kitchen stool he began cheering "yeah! I get a sleepover!!!!!" Hummm... he got over lunch with me pretty fast! Wish the bags under my eyes would go away just as fast.

Last but not least, my darling almost 2year old baby girl! She only has about 25 words and many of them are only understandable by Mom and her speech therapist. There is one word that she can pronounce very loudly, and very clearly! "MmmoooooooM" We may not have the same eyes or skin tone but anyone who sees us in public knows that she is my daughter. Though we all wait for the day that our children say "Mom" Jailyn has learned to say it in a very demanding way. When we are in the car and she doesn't want to hold her sippy cup anymore its, "MmmooooM!!!" Does she forget that I bought a car seat with a cup holder on it? I do count my blessings - atleast she is not chucking it the length of the minivan and spilling juice everywhere!

I am also babysitting an almost one year old boy. He is so cute and so funny! But man is he fast and his favorite place is climbing on the stairs! He is going to give me a heart attack!

Who thought 40 looked like this!

6 months!

Amazing! Can't believe that we were united with Jailyn 6 months ago last Sunday! I am still amazed at how easily she has become part of our family! With a lot of prayer God prepared our family for this journey! Jailyn loves her siblings and loves mommy and daddy! She is so fun to play with, but even more fun to just watch as she gets a feeling of overwhelming joy spring through her body and she just runs and hops across the family room and down the hallway giggling! I wonder what she is thinking when she does this - she just looks so happy!
Jailyn loves swimming! Well, being in the water! She spent 2 hours playing in a friends pool on Sunday and only got out because mom made her! Yesterday we caught her taking her stacking cups to Cosmo's (our black lab) water bowl and playing in the water with her cups. This would be okay except for the fear I have of her slipping on the wet tile floor.
Speech is going well! Her therapist said yesterday that she is catching up to be close to her peers in speech. Her articulation will need extra work because of the severity of her cleft. We are still working on getting her to suck. She still drinks from her bottle and sippy cups on the side of her mouth - so that is my new goal to work on this month. Hopefully, we can break her of this habit! She does smack her lips together after we put on her lip gloss! :)

Update on the rest of the family!
Brady begins 8th grade in a few weeks! One more year of Jr. High! He loves soccer and is all about soccer! He even decided not to pursue football this year, so that he can give all his energy to his club soccer team (that Dad coaches). He is also the Asst. coach of a U-5boys soccer team! The Head coach is a close family friend who is excited to have Brady join him. Brady will also be a referee too - Here's hoping his too busy to get into trouble! :)
Kenzie begins middle school this year, entering 6th grade. She is busy with karate and soccer! Karate is her first love and she is excelling in this sport. She is a red belt presently and her goal is to be a black belt by the beginning of 7th grade! Dad is hoping this will keep the boys at bay! She has also joined club soccer this year (Dad is coaching). She is enjoying this too. Kenzie has been invited to travel with People to People Student Ambassador program for next summer. We will be looking into that more!
Conner J begins 3rd grade! Not sure who is more nervous about this Conner or Mom! He is also into karate and soccer. Soccer being his favorite, like Brady. Conner plays on two outdoor teams, one recreational team, and one club team, (Dad coaches).
He loves both teams! In Karate he is a blue belt, getting ready to test for red belt later this month. At this rate he will be a black belt by the end of 4th grade! Wow!
He wants to interview for the STORM team, Student Team of Role Models. This team helps lower belts learn their drills, patterns, kicks, punches, leadership... He is already looking forward to helping Dad coach Jailyn's soccer team!
Dad is working hard at Raytheon, still in the Naval Reserves, and coaching the kids teams and being the President of Manchester Soccer Club youth division. He loves soccer and has really found his niche!
Mom is busy chasing everyone! and will be baby sitting a little guy this school year. We are also looking into other adoption options and praying that God lead us to our next child. Please pray with us as we begin the adoption journey again. :)
Hope you enjoyed this longer post. Good thing they aren't all like this! :)
Have a great day! My children are beginning to stir for the day... here we go!

Love,
Jodi

What a trip!

WOW! We had a great trip this summer... Colorado for Bryan's mom's 75th birthday parties. That was nice hanging out with the family! Then we went to Glennwood Springs with some of Jodi's family for a few days of swimming in the hot springs pool! Then we were off to Omaha to see our friends, the Stahrs! What a crazy group of 8 kids and 2 mom's! People must have thought we were nuts! But, we had fun! After a week with the Stahrs we were off to Chicago to see one of Jailyn's friends from China. It was wonderful to see the kids together again - not sure if they knew each other, but they played together!
I could go into a lot more detail about our car trouble this trip but I don't want to bore you! - just know that I am looking for a new van! :) Enjoy these pictures!

Happy 4th of July!

Can't believe it will be 5 months tomorrow when Jailyn was placed in our arms! She has grown so much and has become such an "Anderson"! Creative, athletic, silly, loves to explore, loves to play outside with brothers and sister, loves to be the center of attention, cuddly, loves to talk and be loud, loves to kick the soccer ball in the house, loves to do karate! and is stubborn like the rest of us too. We are working on her manners now that she has many more words and signs. Yesterday morning she actually signed "No thank you" Course, the rest of the day she chose to scream and just hit whatever was being offered to her that she didn't want, but baby steps! She is at the toddler stage that she knows what she wants but is having a hard time communicating it to everyone else!
Things Mom wishes... the tupperware could find it's own way back to it's drawer. (I find tupperware in the strangest places! Jailyn must be playing the Easter Egg hunt game with Tupperware!)
... light switches were lower. Jailyn will let you stand and hold her for an hour and play with the light switch! "On" "Off" she says and laughs! It's cute for the first 15 minutes but after that... :)
.... a fence around the front yard and the drive way. Like every toddler explaining that they shouldn't go in the street is a very hard lesson!
... a computer for those little hands that want to pound on Mom and Dad's computer. I know the toy computers say 3 yrs and up but Jailyn may be getting one for her 2nd birthday in September! Maybe if I set up a little desk for her in the office she will enjoy that. (remember this is a "wish" list) :)

All joking aside, we can't imagine our family without Jailyn! She is such a blessing! The kids are so wonderful with her and help Mom out so much! We are still praying for another brother or sister for the kids, not sure if our next adoption will be domestic or foreign again - just beginning to look into it. God will provide!

Happy 4th to y'all! Sorry not too many new pictures since the last post... just this cute photo of Jailyn lining up for karate class with Conner. She is counting down the months that she can be a white belt... 15 months still! She has already learned the first pattern and has Mr. Padilla and Mr. Boone (the instructors) wrapped around her little pinky!

Love to all!
Jodi Sue :)

What a blessing!

Jailyn is growing and growing! Can't believe we left to get her 5 months ago! Our Gotcha' Day anniversary is less than a week away! Some ways it seems like just yesterday that we were in China and sometimes it seems a lifetime away. Jailyn is acting like a normal toddler... she has found the tupperware drawer- this is her favorite place to play!
Jailyn has graduated from physical therapy! She is doing so well there and is getting stronger every day! She loves to climb! Of course, she thinks she should be able to do whatever the older kids are doing.
Jailyn loves her family. Mom and Jailyn have a bond that will never be broken! She makes sure Mom is around, even if she is busy playing with someone else. Sure, makes me feel good!
One funny story... Kenzie and Conner were at karate camp last week, on Friday they did a demonstration for the parents. We went early and had to wait outside. Parents began showing and waiting with us - Jailyn decided it was her place to welcome everyone. She went to everyone (about 15 adults) giving them high-fives! Too cute!
For Father's day we wanted to go to Lake Texoma, but with all the rain lately we have put that trip on hold. We took Dad bowling instead. Jailyn loved it - lots of music, fun lights and being with the family! We all had a great time!
With all the other kids activities Jailyn has bonded with some new friends. One of her dear friends is Valentina! She is so cute and they play so well together! Valentina is a good little girl and keeps Jailyn in line when she tries to wander to far away.

Long time no post!

I know I am sorry for not posting for so long! Summer is hear and the kids are out of school and mom is going a mile a minute! But we are enjoying our summer! and we actually bought a new digital camera- so it is much easier to post photos now.
Here are some new ones of Jailyn!
She loves the pool and she loves playing with and eating cool whip! We tried play-doh but she ate too much of that!
I will write more soon - but wanted to get some photos posted!
Enjoy!
Talk to y'all soon!
Jodi Sue :)

15 weeks!

Wow! We can't believe that we were united with Jailyn 15 short weeks ago. We keep forgetting that we haven't known her forever. I thought I would list some things about Jailyn so that y'all can learn more about our wonderful daughter!

Jailyn is walking and walking! She actually would rather walk then
be held.
The only thing that seems to stop Jailyn is when Cosmo's tail is a waggin'.

Jailyn is recovering well from her surgery. Most of the stitches are out
and her swelling has gone down.

She's using many sign language signs to communicate. Such as, more, eat, drink, milk, sit, shhh, mom, dad, cookie, cereal, fish (goldfish crackers), bye and more that I can't think of right now.

Jailyn is learning a few colors - so far she has red and blue.

Jailyn is also using more words... mama, up, out (usually directed to Cosmo when he is trying to get at Jailyn's food), red, ella (for elephant)

She is very loving and cuddley...

and also very stubborn and knows what she wants and when she wants it! Still the Princess!

Jailyn loves ice cream and anything sweet!
She also loves anything salty!

She loves to do puzzles and play ball (throwing, kicking, and rolling).

Thankfully, Jailyn loves to be on the go and is learning to sleep in her stroller.
She enjoyed her first soccer tournament this weekend! We were at the fields 11a.m. to 8p.m. on Saturday - she was a trooper! Of course it helps that we have so many wonderful friends who give her the attention she loves!

She is not sleeping well at night (reason why I am up typing this at 3:00a.m.) We think she is having a hard time with her night time breathing due to the new airways and lack of wholes in her mouth. She has to learn how to breath again.

Jailyn is now drinking whole milk and juice! We are glad to be done with formula and hot hot beverages! Perfect timing - don't know how she would have tolerated the hot milk in the heat of Texas!

She still loves karate! Loves practicing her kicks and punches. She loves to show off her Pledge of Allegiance salute and bows. Her jumping jacks and push-ups are always a big hit!

Jailyn has bonded really well with the family! She enjoys being with other kids but loves being with her big brothers and sister! And they are so proud of her its great!

Thank you for all of your prayers through out the process of bringing Jailyn home and getting to know her! We still cherish your prayers! Everyday is something new! Hope this has helped fill y'all in on what Jailyn is up too. I hope to add pictures this week! Still no digital camera so I need to get some film developed!

Still going!!!!

Jailyn is getting back into the swing of things! She is very happy during the day and not in to much pain! She does still grab for the tylenol and motrin at times. She is doing great drinking pedialyte but now she is not so interested in milk.... likes yogurt and ice cream though. Her are a few pictures of her new look. Jailyn seems to like her new lip - she is making more "m" sounds and "b" sounds!!! We have speech therapy and physical therapy tomorrow. Hope she is a good mood for those!!!
Jailyn is wanting my attention now so I better so for now - hope to post more soon!

Jodi Sue :)

Every hour a differet story!

After I posted yesterday Jailyn had a very rough afternoon! She wasn't tolerating something and could keep anything down.
Continued vomiting was so hard on her - and on her throat! Around 6:30pm last night she started feeling better. She had some applesauce and some Gerber Graduate cereal. Everything stayed down. The doctor said to give her whatever she likes best... she ate 1 1/2 pieces of bread! She loves bread! Last night and this morning she ate a muffin and applesauce and presently is eating pancakes. She still loves to eat! Unfortuantely, she hasn't drank anymore this morning and continues to turn down the bottle of pediatlyte. Hopefully she will want to drink soon and wont get dehydrated.

Jailyn's swelling is going down and she is looking more like herself. The bruising isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

My back is feeling better too - I am trying to get caught up with my sleep when Jailyn sleeps.
Last night Jailyn didn't sleep as well as the night before. We aren't giving her any more tylenol with codine... that is probably what upset her stomach so badly. (very common)


Thanks again for your prayers!
Jodi Sue :)

Home Sweet Home!

Jailyn was released from the hospital around 6pm last night. She was very glad to see the front door of the house! She new exactly where she was! Dad and the other kids were at Kenzie's choir concert so we had an empty house. That was nice! Jailyn settled in and slept the entire night - a little help from tylenol with codine. :)
This morning was rough but again she has settled down. She has drank about 6 oz of formula and ate 1 jar of baby food! She did a great job eating! I think she wants to eat "real" food but I don't think we will try that today - start with the soft stuff.

Thank you for all of your prayers! I have been in bed with Jailyn today - lower back muscle-spasms. Not fun!

Have a great day!
Jodi Sue :)

Finally resting

What a long day it is now 7:20pm! Jailyn is doing great for being in such pain! We headed to the hospital at 5am. jailyn went into surgery at 7:53am and didn't come out until 11:50am. We spent 2 hours in the recovery room. I was able to hold her after about 1 hour as she was trying to come out of her deep sleep. She wasn't happy but glad to be in loving arms. I'm not sure she received the same love when she had her lip repaired in China. Jailyn has been in and out of sleep all day, mostly crying for the last 2 1/2 hours. Our surgeon came to see us at 6pm and ordered Tylenol with Codine for the night.
What all did Dr. Fearon do? He repaired her cleft palate, I can't remember the exact term he used for the throat but he repaired that too, Plastic surgery on her lip and nose - hard to explain... and she also had Dr. Peters the ENT put ear tubes in. A lot of work done!
We will not be released until Jailyn can drink. She has not wanted to have anything to do with her bottle this afternoon. Hopefully, the codine wil help ease the pain and she will want to drink tomorrow.
How does she look? Very swollen and very different. Her lip is much fuller and her nose and mouth are much smaller. Still beautiful but looks very different.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Please pray that we are able to get some good sleep tonight!
Love y'all!
Jodi

20 steps!

Jailyn had her first Physical Therapy appointment this morning. She had a great time showing off for her Therapist. Jailyn is now walking 15- 20 steps at a time. She is getting much more confident with her abilities! This afternoon was the first time that she let go of something (other than a person) to walk. And, she has learned how to stand herself up. I say she has learned...not always does she have the strength or control to do it but she is getting stronger. The PT thinks she will be walking really well by her surgery on the 30th. She will be even happier when she can run around with the big kids.
Jailyn still loves Kenzie and Conner's karate classes. She has the entire beginning and end of class routine down pat! She even puts her hand on her heart when I recite the Pledge of Allegiance. She wasn't too happy when Mom and Brady were on the karate mats... yes you read the correctly! Mom and Brady have joined Kenzie and Conner! Kenzie and Conner are much higher belts then us - blue vs. white! But we are having fun!
Jailyn is much better at saying,"Mama". She doesn't call me by name but when asked "Who loves Jailyn?" She responds "Mama". Hey that's the perks of being a stay at home mom!
I could go on and on about my beautiful daughter but since it is bed time and she is pulling at the computer I had better go.

Have a great day!

Learning more every day!

Jailyn is learning more all the time! She is so fast at cruising and crawling that we decided she needed a new playhouse to help her strengthen her muscles by standing and walking around in it. At first she wasn't too sure of it - but when the big kids came home from school and played in it she realized this is pretty cool. She has also enjoyed eating her snacks in it. This drives the dog nuts because he can't reach the food through the windows. :) She loves to tease mom at the stairs. She actually made it all the way up to the game room one time - (I was watching at a safe distance) Cosmo came running to me almost tattling that she was upstairs. Pretty funny!
Jailyn loved decorating Easter eggs. She wasn't excited about sitting in her high chair and not being fed - but once she saw what we were doing she was more then eager to jump in and join us! She did a great job!
Sunday morning she woke up with a nasty cold. This didn't stop her from looking for her Easter eggs that the Bunny had hidden! Each of the big kids took a turn helping her find her eggs. It was great!!!
Kenzie and Jailyn wore their China girl dresses to church. They looked just beautiful! I posted some pictures of the kids here but our home is getting so small that it is hard to get a good posed photo. - too many shadows in this spot! Maybe the weather will be nice this weekend so we can take some photos outside.
Jailyn is trying to use her words more and more. Her first official word is "Ella" this is what she is calling an elephant! This morning she was saying "mama"- but refuses to say it this afternoon. She greets people with a "ai" for "hi" and "uh" for "up". She also makes the same sounds for "all done" as she does the sign for it. She also tries to tell the dog (cosmo) "out". I was scolding Conner yesterday and she was sitting nearby - she looked at Conner with a serious face, pointed her finger at him and starting yelling at him. It was pretty funny!
At Jailyn's last appointment she weighed in at 18lbs 9oz. She has jained two pounds since we have been home.
Growing like a weed!!!

Jailyn is truly a blessing to our family!

Leaps and bounds!

Wow! Jailyn is learning so much! She amazes us every day! Yesterday was her first visit from her Speech therapist. Jailyn did great! She is trying so hard to move her lips to make new sounds! Tuesday evening she stood on her own for 20 - 30 seconds. Jailyn is so much like her brothers and sister! She isn't happy just standing - she has to do her little dance or her imitation of jumping jacks! (so cute!)
Wednesday evening Bryan was playing with her and she took about 5 steps on her own.
She loves her new walking game!! She is still not to sure about letting go of the coffee table to get somewhere but she will let go of our hands. Today I rolled a ball away from her and she began to walk toward it. About 7 steps and gravity had it's way with her - but she is trying very hard!
Such good news!

Have a great Easter!
Jodi

April fool's day!

Is someone playing a trick on me? It's 9:30am and my whole family is still asleep in bed! Including our princess! Ofcourse, she was up last night for a while but just wanting a bottle and some snuggling time! Jailyn is changing every day! She is becoming quiet the toddler. Our first month together she seemed like such a baby... not any more! Her personality is shining and she is much more comfortable telling us when she likes or dislikes something. She has decided that baby food is not as good as finger food. This is good and bad. Great that she wants to feed herself but she needs all the nutrients she can get and I felt better when she was on baby food only. Jailyn has quiet the sweet tooth and loves to eat. "eat" and "more" are her favorite signs to show us! Infact, she has gained 2 lbs! She is now 18lbs 9 oz. Yeah! Almost in #3 diapers.

Jailyn's ECI evaluations went well. The therapists fell in love with her immediately! She loves to show off! Jailyn will receive speech thereapy once a week and Physical therapy twice a month. We are hoping to be done with PT in a few months - we will be working on her balance and getting her to walk. In Speech therapy we will be working on consenant sounds and communicating through sign language. We want Jailyn to put two and three words together so that when she does begin speaking she will already understand the concept of using sentences.

Jailyn is bonding really well. We can tell that she is understanding the difference between family and friends and really good friends and casual friends. Though we are on the go every afternoon with the big kids activities we are always going to the same places... soccer or karate or school. She isn't fighting getting into the car seat anymore and laughs when we pull into the karate school parking lot! She knows everyone will give her lots of attention there!

Jailyn just woke up so I better go for now. Oh, our camera broke - so no new pictures - will go camera shopping this week!
Brady, Kenzie and Conner are doing great too! I think I may need to do a blog for each of them too! This is a fun way to keep connected with friends and family! Better than the annual Christmas card!

Have a great day!
Jodi Sue :)

ECI Evaluation

Jailyn had her first evaluation with Early Childhood Intervention. Of course the two ladies who were at our home testing her fell in love with her! Jailyn was all personality and having a lot of fun having all of our attention. To say the least she exhausted when they left and slept for 3 1/2 hours. :) Through the evaluation of social skills and cognitive(thinking and reasoning) testing Jailyn rated 16 and 17 months - right on schedule! (She is 17 months now) Speech testing was not as positive, of course we weren't surprised - she tested to have the speech of a 3 month old. We still have Motor testing on Friday. Since she is not walking on her own we suspect that she will be behind there too. Nothing we can't work with!

Jailyn is still a perfect fit into our family! She loves her siblings and all of their activities. Today we walked to school with Kenzie and Conner - Jailyn was a little cranky in the stroller until we entered the school. She looked around and had this look like - "Hey I know this place! This is where everyone oohs and aahs over me!" :)

So far Jailyn likes to eat everything we have offered her with the exception of strawberries. She loves cereal puffs and french fries. She makes funny faces when she has ice cream but always wants more! We haven't notice her to be allergic to any foods - that is always good. We haven't tried much chocolate yet - I'm trying to be a little good with her! :)

Cosmo (our black lab) and Jailyn are beginning to like each other! Cosmo thinks she is pretty cool when we take walks with him. Jailyn has begun petting and crawling up to him. He's not too sure about that but has been very patient! Making sure he gets Mommy time helps too.

Have a great day! Hope to share good news about her next evaluation!

Jodi Sue :)

Wow! We've been home for a month already!

What an incredible month this has been! Jailyn has changed all of our lives in an incredible way! She is such a sweetie! She loves her big brothers and sister. If she wasn't treated like a princess before she sure is now! She has everyone wrapped around her little finger!

When we were united with Jailyn she was quiet very curious about every thing around her. She is still very curious but is now on the go, crawling around exploring things, including the dogs food/water bowls. She loves learning new things! She has learned 8 sign language signs. This helps a lot in communicating with her.
A month ago Jailyn was only drinking formula and eating rice cereal. Now she is eating everything we put in front of her! She loves jar baby food, and gerber graduate finger foods. She can't get enough ice cream - even though she makes a funny face with every bite! She eats slices of turkey, ham and cheese. We still can't get her to drink juice or luke warm formula (needs to be very hot!) but we will get there!
Brady has taught her to say "uh-oh" when something falls. She is enjoying this game!
Kenzie and Conner have taught her to say "aye-ya" when she shows us her karate kicks and punches! She has the karate instructors laughing! And of course Daddy is teaching her the fundamentals of soccer.
Oh, did I tell you that she is still not walking. :) Jailyn loves cruising around the furniture and getting around in the walker - wont be long and she will be running around the house!

We have scheduled her palate surgery for April 30th. She has an appointment the week with the ENT to confirm if she needs tubes in her ears or not. If so, they will do that surgery along with her palate.

Sorry I haven't updated the picture... enjoy these new ones! I can't believe how much older she looks already!

Thanks again for all of your prayers!
We are still bonding and things are going well with that - Jailyn hates to go down to bed at night - which breaks my heart -I hate to hear her cry!

Talk to y'all soon!
Jodi Sue :)

She is amazing!

Jailyn is amazing! She is learning so much and she is such a joyous blessing in our home.
The kids are smitten by her and love helping out with her or other household chores so that Mom
can tend to Jailyn.
Jailyn is learning sign language. She has learned signs for milk, more, please, and mom. She is
very quick to learn and use the signs correctly.
She has been answering to her name "Jailyn". And is beginning to respond to games that we play with
her over and over again in English. Hopefully, she is beginning to understand us.
Jailyn loves to walk while holding on to someone's hand. She's getting pretty good at that but she still
needs a lot of work on her balance. She is getting better at exploring the house while crawling. She even
found the dog bowls tonight -"no!no!" Cosmo has been pretty patient so far... but his bowls - that's another
story!


We were going to get Jailyn's portrait pictures done tomorrow, but she has had a fever this evening - so
I think it will be a good day to stay home. :) Hopefully, sleep will help and we can get her portrait done another
day this week.

Thanks for keeping up with our journey with Jailyn Hope!
Jodi Sue :)

Dr appointment

Well, we met with a surgeon yesterday. He was very positive about Jailyn's prognosis. He wants to wait until the end of April/beginning of May to do the first surgery. The first surgery would consist of putting her palate together, fixing her lip and possible tubes in her ears. We really like the surgeon and his office. There is only one hurdle. Insurance. All of the Craniofacial Dr's in the Dallas area are merging their insurance contracts together - so presently they are all in limbo with insurance. We need prayers that this will all work out and coverage will be good. We were told that the surgery (not including anesthesia) runs $12,000. ouch! lots of prayers are needed concerning this!

Jailyn had her first taste of donuts today - yummy! they melted in her mouth!
We are off to the mall today with some other little friends and my friend Cindy.

Thanks for all of your concern and prayers!
She is a little blessing to our family!

love ya,
jodi sue :)

Finally home!

Though we have been home a few days we have not gotten a chance to write on our blog again. It is so good to be home!
Mimi, Papa Paul, Uncle JB and the kids were at the airport to welcome us home! We were later than expected due to a flight schedule change, but we made it! Jailyn did better than mom on the flights! If I would have had to get on one more plane I think I would have cried!
Jailyn is settling in at home. She is still the princess and has everyones attention! Like we had anticipated she has Brady wrapped around her little pinky. He is her protector! Kinda cute!
Kenzie is loving having a baby sister to care and play with.
Conner is wonderful will Jailyn too. He was definetely glad to have mom home though! He has spent a lot of time sitting with me and playing with my hair!
Jailyn wasn't too happy with her car seat on the way home from the airport but has fallen asleep in it every car ride since. She is also getting used to her stroller, still would rather be held, but loves the stroller that faces the person pushing her. She feels much more secure! (and we love looking at her!)

Jailyn's personality is bursting at the seams! Every day she shows us more. She is so animated! She has been to two soccer games already and one karate class. We arrived home Wednesday evening and Thursday morning Kenzie and Conner were showing her off at school. Jailyn did great and met a lot of new people. :)

Jailyn had her first dr's appointment here. She weighed in at 16 lbs 11 oz. and 29 inches long. A very little girl!

I hope to load some pictures tomorrow our our homecoming!
Thank you for all of your interest and prayers for our adoption! Jailyn is truly a blessing to our family!

Love y'all!
Jodi Sue :)

Logging out!

It is Wednesday, February 14th in China and we are on our way home!
We have a long flight ahead of us - we are leaving Guangzhou about 8:30am and will
arrive in Dallas around 4:30pm. (doesn't sound too bad - but remember it's Tuesday at 3pm right now - and Wednesday at 5am in China).
Our body clocks are going to be so messed up!

See y'all soon!
Love ya!
Jodi, Bryan and Jailyn

Day 12: Finally out and about

Finally today we were able to get out a little bit. Everyone is feeling some what better.
We went to the Zoo and Jailyn even sat in her stroller for a lot of the visit there. We finally gave in to picking her up near the end. It was great to get outside and walk around without someone trying to sell you something.

We were able to come back to the hotel for a nice nap before Jailyn's breathing treatment. The treatments seem to be doing a great job of breaking up some of her congestion. We'll see what Dr. Vernier says at home. Jailyn has an appointment with our pediatrician on Friday and an appointment with the surgeon on the 21st of this month. We are very interested in hearing what they both have to say about her health! We think she is perfect! :)

This evening we went on a Dinner Cruise. That was really nice. We didn't eat any of the food, after being warned by more than one person. But the atmosphere was great! We enjoyed the city lights!

Sorry this is a short one - Bryan will probably edit it later and add more - so check back again.
I need to tend to Princess Jailyn!

Love you all!
Can't wait to see you kiddo's!!
Jodi

Day 11: Sleep

Sorry we haven't posted in a while.... we have had a sick baby on our hands. We made it through the medical exam Saturday - thankfully Jailyn's fever broke and she passed, so she is eligible to receive a visa to the U.S. - yahoo! She does have an ear infection, bronchitis, sore throat, and a lot of congestion! And her fever has returned. Poor thing!

We were supposed to go shopping with our group today but since Jailyn and Mom got very little sleep Saturday night and now dad feels sick as well, we decided to stay home. We slept all morning and got up around 1pm. Jailyn was feeling much better. We went to the clinic at the White Swan hotel and they gave us more medicine and gave Jailyn a breathing treatment. The treatment seemed to break up some of the congestion. She will have two more treatments before we leave to come home on Wednesday!

For those of you who are waiting your referral... please take note - if there is anything you need while in China - go to your guide! I didn't realize they were there to help us with the babies health too. Our guide is wonderful and very helpful! She even called later at night to make sure we were doing well and if Jailyn needed anything else.

Hopefully, we will get a good nights sleep and be able to go to the zoo with our group Monday morning. We are also supposed to go on an evening dinner cruise around Guangzhou on the Pearl River.

I will post more pictures as soon as possible. Jailyn has enjoyed playing in the hotels' play area.
We miss y'all! Can't wait to get home!
See you soon kiddos!
Have you been to IHop lately?
Fuddruckers sounds great to me and Dad!!!! A great big beefy American burger!

Love y'all,
Jodi


love ya!

Day 10: Medical Appointment

Today was stressful! Jailyn had her medical appointment, and we were very worried that with her fever that she would be quarantined and Jodi and/or I would be stuck in China for another week. But thankfully, prayerfully, her fever broke! She passed and is feeling better today!

That occupied the morning. Jailyn and mommy spent the afternoon sleeping - getting some much needed rest to fight off their colds. Daddy spent the afternoon with our wonderful guide Rebecca doing paperwork for the U.S. Consulate. Rebecca will take that to the consulate on Monday morning. If all goes well, we will go Tuesday to take the oath and Jailyn can come home to the United States! :-)

We ordered Danny's Bagel for dinner (highly recommended). Food much to our liking. Bryan ate nearly an entire pizza, Jodi basically ate fries for dinner. So yummy!

We also spent some time in the White Swan play room. Jailyn had a ball! We will be going back tomorrow. Hopefully we are over the hump and she will continue feeling better.

Love you kids! Hope you are enjoying your time with Mimi, Papa Paul, and Uncle JB.
Mom & Dad

Day 9: Nanjing/Guangzhou

Our last day in Nanjing! We have heard Guangzhou is a more international city with many more restaurants that we will enjoy. We cannot wait to get there - let alone that means we will be on our last stop before heading home!!! :-)

Nancy brought us Jailyn's passport, vaccination record, and medical report from the orphanage. That means we are ready to leave Nanjing. Very exciting!

We spent the day packing and worrying about Jailyn's Saturday's medical appointment. We have heard that if the kids have a fever of over 38c (100.4f) that they will be quarantined for 7-10 days. Ugh! Fortunately we have some Motrin and a great family we met gave us some Azithromycin antibiotic. We will see how Jailyn is doing in the morning.

Nancy (see picture) brought us to the airport and helped us get our tickets and pass through security. We were sad to leave Nancy - she was wonderful! We cannot tell you the value of having a great guide, especially in a city like Nanjing that is much less internationalized than Beijing or Guangzhou.

We arrived into Guangzhou about 7pm. Rebecca picked us up at the airport and took us to the White Swan. A fabulous hotel and the nicest we have stayed in so far. We have a river view room which is gorgeous at night. There are so many lights, it looks like a laser light show. I will have to see if I can manage to get a picture!

Guangzhou is over 10 million people, and its not even in the top 3 largest cities in China - wow!

Busy day tomorrow (Saturday). We have the medical appointment in the morning and much paperwork to complete in the afternoon, necessary for receiving Jailyn's visa.

Less than a week away from arriving home! We are so excited to see Brady, Kenzie and Conner again!

Love,
Bryan and Jodi Sue

Day 8: Visit to the Orphanage

We woke up to a wonderful surprise Thursday morning (about 7am here, it was 5pm Wednesday back in Dallas) when the kids called our hotel. It was great to hear from them and we are so eager to see them again - less than a week and counting!

Our first stop was to the orphanage where Jailyn spent the first 16 months of her life. We are very appreciative to our guide Nancy who helped make the trip possible. China is instituting a new policy which requires a $150 fee to tour the orphanage - and none of that money makes it back to the orphanage. Since everyone in our small group was adopting a special needs kid and with the encouragement of Nancy, they gave us a tour without the fee. Also, many thanks to all our friends who donated to the orphanage - Nancy said the gift was another factor in the orphanage wanting to be sure we had a chance for a tour.

We began the visit by exchanging gifts. I could not believe it, but the orphanage gave us two gifts. One was a crystal ornament with Jailyn's Chinese name (Cao Yun Yan) while the other was a beautiful placard. We gave them the digital camera and a box of bottles specially designed for children with cleft lips and cleft palettes. We discovered they had to borrow a digital camera (apparently from the Civil Affairs office) every time they wanted to take photos to send to people. Now they will have their own - they were very appreciative.

The Orphanage (aka Social Welfare Institute) was rather nice. It was well organized and clean. All the kids had their own steel crib. The play area had a fair number of toys with a padded and colorful floor. Decorations (both from Christmas and for the Chinese New Year) were everywhere. Based on comments from other adoptive parents who have seen other orphanages in China, they agreed. This was the nicest they had seen. I was pleasantly impressed with the number of nannies I saw relative to the number of kids. The assistant director (Coco) is terrific and really loves all the kids. She speaks better English than the director, so she is likely the one who you'll meet.

Carrying Jailyn, Jodi was accosted by the nannies. She was clearly a little princess at the orphanage. It was amazing to see. Jodi was surrounded by nannies to the point she and Jailyn felt very uncomfortable. Jailyn's main nanny was the only once she was excited to see (see picture). Also pictured is the crib where Jailyn spent much of her time. Our guide was nice enough to decipher her daily schedule for us - we will have to try to get this posted for those whom it may interest (a little insight into their lives at the orphanage).

Our second stop was to the Nanjing City Museum. The third largest museum in China, they recently moved into a new building. Chinese history is extensive, and it was great getting just a small glimpse of some of that. Pictured is Jodi and Nour feeding Jailyn and Eli in front of a 3000 BC suit made of jade. It weighs 200kg (about 440 lbs) - I don't think the emperor ever wore it!

We also found a foreign languages bookstore today within a 10 yuan cab fare from the hotel. Hopefully we have a chance to get there and find some additional reading material. We are nearly finished with the books we brought. (Lesson learned - only First Class and Business Class on the plane have power for a laptop, so we spent much of our time reading or sleeping)

Tomorrow (Friday 2/9 in China) we get Jailyn's passport and travel to Guangzhou. We will spend the morning packing and hopefully getting Jailyn an early nap.

We are missing Brady, Kenzie, and Conner sooo much! But we are over the hump, past the half way point in our trip. We can't wait to arrive back home and see everyone!

Love,
Bryan and Jodi Sue