Five Months Home Update! (Lots of pics)

A couple of days ago, we recognized Gambo being home 5 MONTHS!!

Look at those gorgeous brown eyes!!

(Note: this may sound confusing because of the last post, about meeting him 6 months ago, but that was when we first MET him.  We spent several weeks in Uganda with him.  Therefore, now I am just updating time spent actually home).

Gambo keeps learning and growing every month.  It's amazing!  He is sounding out more and more words and trying to communicate more.  He already has the phrase "All Done" mastered and uses it for about everything that he does not want to do (as well as indicating that he's all done eating or whatever).  It's so funny to ask him, "Do you want to go potty?"  "All Done!"  Ok....   Ha Ha!  Look at this cheesy face:

We enjoyed little things this month like eating lunch out on our patio.

*It's funny how you get used to things... in this photo it is probably around 91 degrees F in the shade there.  Which felt nice to us... considering it is often over 100 degrees during the day.

*Oh, and since I am the picture-taker in the family, you might see a lot of photos of my handsome husband with Gambo instead of me.  Sorry, just the way it works!

Gambo and I went out to Mark's work for a office picnic, and Gambo got to see where Mark works.

Maybe Mark is getting him ready to follow in his footsteps... here he is pointing out planes to him.

Or maybe I'm teaching him a few things of my own... here he is "cooking" and trying to stir "flour, baking powder, and salt" together in a bowl.

He still enjoys eating his plums.

And he kind of enjoys his baths too (Though he only wants to stand during them).

Music time expanded into Gambo getting trombone lessons from daddy.

(But he still prefers guitars.  He even points out the guitars every Sunday at church!)

OK, time for FIRSTS!!

Gambo experienced his FIRST rainstorm in America.  

There were rainstorms in Uganda, but since we've been home... yeah, it hasn't rained much. (Maybe overnight a few times).

He was maybe a little scared at first.

Then he thought it was kind of cool.

I think he liked the umbrella best!

He had his FIRST mini photo shoot in the mall.  Isn't this adorable?

He got to see the BEACH for the very FIRST time!

He was unsure of the waves.

What does this feel like?

Oh, I'm not sure I like what this feels like.

Walking on sand was a new challenge for him.

But in the end, he loved playing in his little bathtub of water.

And getting sand all over himself!

As a special treat afterwards, he got his FIRST experience at Chick-Fil-A.

He even got to meet the real COW who said hi to him.

The cow disappeared before we got a picture with him, so Gambo enjoyed this sign instead... and kept "mooing" all day long!

*In fact, he hasn't stopped mooing!  Now he thinks that everything makes the sound, "moo"!  ("Gambo, what does a cat say?" "Muuuuhhhhh")

Next, as part of our commitment to attachment, we have been very careful about keeping him close to us when we are out and about, for several months now.  We decided it was time to start the transition to being out of the baby carrier when we went to church.  So Gambo got to sit in church for the FIRST time, without being strapped to us.  

(Of course, we still had to take him back to the "cry room" because he was making noise).  But we are working our way up to getting him ready for the nursery.  

Some people might not understand why we don't put him in the nursery right away, so that we can enjoy church by ourselves.  But it is important to look at it from Gambo's perspective.  A nursery may look a lot like an orphanage.  And we want to encourage attachment to us, not him retreating back into a scared little boy who felt unheard and uncared for in any way. (I'm not saying that nursery workers would not care for him, just that he comes from a very different perspective than a child who has grown up in a loving family all their life)

So, he has yet to spend time in the nursery, but taking it slow is how we have chosen to go about it.

Lastly, our little Ugandan is looking forward to being a US Citizen.  And we are looking forward to it too!

We still have to wait another month before we can apply for a court date, but I will keep you in the loop the moment we get to officially call him a citizen.  This is also a big deal because we will get to officially change him name, and let him take our last name!  He is already ours, so we can't wait for it to be on paper!

PRAYER:
-If you think about us, would you also pray with us to get his green card in the mail soon.  Something so simple should have come a few weeks after we arrived home.  Now, five months later, I have spent some of the longest hours of my life, over the course of multiple phone calls, on the phone with the USCIS (US Citizen and immigration Services) trying to fix THEIR administrative error.

-Pray for strength to accomplish the paperwork needed for the finalization of his adoption in our state.

-Pray for the excess finances required for unexpected post-placement reports needed for finalization, as well as for what is left of our paperwork (I think the Certificate of Citizenship costs over $500!).

-Pray for Gambo's transition to more interaction with people outside the family, like care-givers, nursery workers, play-date friends, etc.  And wisdom for us to know when he's had "too much to handle" that it causes a break in attachment.

Thank you all for joining us on our adoption journey!

Six Months Ago Today...First Meeting (with pictures and video)

Six Months Ago Today... 
we met our son for the very first time!

Six months ago he joined our family, and our lives will never be the same!

   We are blessed beyond measure to have our little baby boy in our lives.  I can't believe it has been as long as it has.  

   In honor of today, I thought I would post about the day we first met Gambo (I told you I would post travel posts anyway, well... I'm just now getting to it!)

Meeting baby E:

Feb 16th, 2013

I am sitting here writing right now and getting to look at my son's face!  Today we met and brought home with us baby E.  Mark and I couldn't sleep-in this morning, even after getting in late last night.  We woke up and 6:30am, with a few crows of the rooster outside our guest house window.  We spent some time together in the morning to get ready.  While we waited for Kristy (my sister-in-law who came with us to take pictures and document the trip), we mostly finished organizing the room for E.  Then we went to breakfast.  The guest house makes breakfast for us, and we could order a bunch of different foods.  Mark got scrambled eggs and sausage (which turned out to be British-style sausage).  I had a cheese omlette, which was good.  We ate out on a balcony overlooking the beautiful gardens.

We arranged a driver from the guest house to take us to the baby home.  It was a little bit of a drive out there.  We got there at 11:30am.  On the way I felt little butterflies in my stomach thinking about what was to come.  But mostly I was just ready to get there.  

We pulled up to the baby home and there was a big metal gate in front, so we waited for Kristy to go first and video tape us.  

We walked into a court yard.  I looked around and saw a lot of kids, but not E immediately.  

We said hello to all the people there, then we went inside, and the first person I recognized was Carissa (the other adoptive family from our agency who were there at the same time to adopt from the same baby home).  Carissa and Jon were still there to pick up their girl S.  So, actually, I was meeting and saying hi to them and the caregivers when E came into the room.  

Sophie, his caregiver, was carrying him.  

He was wearing a dress, because that is the clothes they had for him.  We said hello tenatively.  Then I asked to pick him up, and when I did, he cried. 

 To be expected.  "Who are these people and why are they white?"  

(Here's the video of us first meeting):

Anyway, I gave him back, but then Mark held him, and he was OK with Mark, but still not happy.  Then we sat with Sophie on the couch while she held him and just talked for a long time.  I pulled out a toy we brought for him, a little rattle/ball, and that seemed to loosen him up.  

Eventually we were able to touch him and hold him.  We were able to change him into some boy clothes that we brought for him. 

I tried giving him a bottle at first but he was fussy.  He preferred Sophie to feed him.  Anyway, we spent about an hour and a half there and I got to ask Sophie lots of questions.  I held E too.  I was nervous and a little scared because I didn't know what I was doing.  

We took lots of pictures.  Sophie cried when she had to say good-bye to him when we left. She loved him almost like her own child, and he really loved her.  

He took a nap right away when we left so he slept the whole way home, about an hour.  

Then we got back to the room and we were trying to get him to calm down since he seemed upset.  He would NOT take any bottle but his bottle from the orphanage.  (Thank goodness they let us take that with us!)  And his bottle had a HUGE hole in the nipple so that the milk flowed really quickly and poured down his throat and neck.  Sadly, he doesn't know how to suck on regular nipples.  We felt like he needed to eat, but he wasn't eating.  We did notice that he had a wet diaper two times, so we changed that.  

We put him in the carrier and walked to a cafe for lunch.  

Kristy and I had hamburgers with a little bit of a spicy sauce on them.  Mark had a chicken pita.  They all came with fries, so I gave some to E.  

He really liked them, yeah!  We tried giving him yogurt bites, and he spit them out.  Then we walked back to the house.  

E really seems to like the carrier.  Then we tried calming him down.  Mark put him to sleep in his arms, so we placed him in the basinet, and I took a nap next to him.  

Then he woke up, and we tried feeding him again.  We finally managed to get him to eat rice cereal mixed with formula.  He ate a good bit of it!  

Then we played with him a little bit more before we were ready to go down to dinner.  We decided to have dinner here at the guest house, since it was easier.  This time I put him in the Moby wrap and he liked that too.  I had chicken and rice and veggies for dinner.  Mark had the boiled potatoes, so we fed him more potatoes, rice, chicken, zucchini, and he ate it all.  It was good to have him eat something.  

Then we came up for bed.  He was pretty calm, so we got him ready for bed.  I slathered on the mint body butter, and he really liked that.  It calmed him down, and I loved giving him soft touch.  Then we put him in a sleep n' play and rubbed his head and sang for him.  He was really sleepy, so we put him in the basinet.  Mark prayed with him and I, and we put the sound machine on.  Thankfully Sophie told us that he sleeps on his stomach, because as soon as we switched him to his stomach, he fell asleep.  Now he is sleeping soundly, so is Mark, and I am journaling.

What we've seen today: E loves his daddy, and will cling to him.  He also likes to hear singing, and I learned some songs from his caregiver today.  He can babble and even give high five's.  He is super tiny in his diaper size, and each pair of shoes we brought are too big.  He has gorgeous brown eyes.  

The day has been a long and educational one.  He is still scared of us and misses his caregivers, but we are showing him love in the best way that we can.  

Tonight I was holding him before bedtime, and he was resting his head on my chest.  He was being really snuggly.  I rested my chin on his head, and had my arms wrapped around him, and just felt a moment of joy.  I thought "This is my son forever.  This is the two of us together.  I feel really at one with him right now, and this moment is so special.  I will treasure this forever"

    The first night proved to be an eventful one, but that is for another post...  Now you have a glimpse into our first day together as a family of three.

    So much change has occurred since that day!  We are so in love with our little boy now, and he is much more attached to us and in love with us as well! 

Six Months Ago:

Skinny, sullen, inactive

Today:

Smiling, chubby cheeks, active

All praise and glory can go to our Heavenly Father who put this family together!

Most of the photos taken by Kristy Struska

Four Months Home! Pictures and Video

       Hello!  It seems like time has flown by.  (I am a few days late on posting this, but that's OK).  I feel like I have been with my son forever.  It's crazy to think it was only four months ago that we arrived home from Uganda!

Thankfully July has been a pretty down month for us.  We stayed at home and didn't stress about going out too much.  It has been really hot here (so excuse photos of my baby dressed only in a diaper.  I would normally dress him, but we are all sweating over here).  

So, if I could pick three themes for this last month it would be:

Walking, Plums, and Music!

       Gambo really started taking off on his walking.  He is so confident in walking now that he does it most of the time.  He is even starting to run a bit.

Here he's happy to be walking:

       So if June was the Grape Harvest (by the way we picked 37 POUNDS of grapes from our backyard)... then July is the Plum Harvest!

Our plum tree out back has been loaded down with plums that we were just waiting to ripen.  It's a good thing we started picking, because the tree was starting to sag

and was growing over our wall into the neighbor's yard.

First picking yielded 15 POUNDS of plums!

We probably have about 85 more pounds left on the tree.  Yikes!

Gambo's helping to wash the plums

I was never a plum fan before, but it turns out that these are pretty sweet!  And it makes a huge difference in the taste that they are homegrown.  

Gambo's version of "helping":

If you have any good plum recipes, send them my way!

      Lastly, Gambo really increased his music time and his proficiency.  He LOVES to play the guitar (and asks for it every day).  He LOVES to play the piano.

And he LOVES to drum.

We love watching him dance (and clap) along to music too.

Time for FIRSTS...

-This month Gambo got his first haircut, done by Mark!  He had a section of his hair that was not coming in well (or could have had a lot of breakage do to rubbing his head on the highchair or something), so he ended up with like a weird stripe around the back.  You can kind of see it in the plum washing picture:

So Mark decided to trim the bottom section that had grown, to match the middle, but he left the hair on top untouched.

-I worked on doing his first style with the little hair on top.  Not much of anything but a little twists up top.  (it doesn't hold very well though)

-He got 3 more teeth in the last month!  So, I guess this would be the first time to have four teeth? (had to fit it in with the theme!)

We are so thankful for how much he has grown.  He fits right in with our family, laughs with us, is silly like us, and loves us so much.  He has started sleeping through the night, so we are finally catching up on some sleep.  He's a great eater and has enjoyed pretty much everything we give him.  

We are approaching having had Gambo with us for 6 months (this is counting the time we spent with him in Uganda).   It's so exciting!  I'll post more when the big date is here.

We are looking forward to what is in store for us next month!