Sorry, but hey we been busy

Ok, sorry, it's been a LONG time since we last posted,but the adjustment to a 19 month running our house and going 200 mph has taken its toll.  Renee use to keep an amazingly immaculate house, yeah..use to.  Hard to keep up with little Dr. Distructo..lol.  Maddie is growing by leaps and bounds and amazing us everyday.  She is SOOOO like her mom, both OCD/ADHA, they are so going to kill each other when she gets older. 

Maddie is such an awesome little girl, so smart, FUNNY, happy, strong willed, independent and most importantly, loving and well adjusted.  She owns us!

Renee and I are heading for a new journey in 2011, as we have decided to retire and change jobs.  Gonna be weird doing something different after 24.5 years.  Every once in a while ya have to roll the dice and say what the F&#k.

We promise to start posting pictures and keeping the blog up to date

Bragging a Bit

Wow, Renee is just an incredible, incredible person!  She manages to care for a now very mobile 14 month old and my mom.  Both are just doing incredible things under her care and she never takes a break or really thinks about herself.  We took Madison to some specialized treatment to be evaluated and they were amazed with her condition, progress and just general happiness.  I would love to take credit, but that is the same thing my mothers doctors told me when she was evaluated by specialists.  Renee, YOU ARE AMAZING EVERYDAY!!!!

Madison is crawling, almost feeding herself and just a very happy and content baby. 

5 shots and 5 Vials of Blood

Wow, Maddie had her first REAL doctors appointment today.  They did a full exam, she is in the lower 30%...surprise, surprise.  Overall they were happy with her condition and her outgoing personality.  BUT...she received 5 shots and they took 5 vials blood.  Man was she pissed!  She cried her eyes out and just sat and glared at the nurse after it was done.  If looks could kill.

3 hours in a hospital it way to much for an adult, much less a 14 month old.  Overall, she did really well and gave the doctor a run for her money while trying to examine her.  We gave her some baby Tylenol and she is back to her happy, playful self.

Definitely did not enjoy watching her get so upset and not being able to do anything to really comfort her.

Maddie it officially home in her mind and is setting the rules of the house.  She has decided that she will not longer go to bed at 8pm, it is now 10pm and not a second sooner.  The dogs are adjusting and Nikki is actually letting Maddie pet her.

Already A Month

Wow, monkey butt has been with us a full month.  Time has really flown by...feels like she has always been with us.  She is an awesome little girl, so happy and so smart.  The changes she has gone thru in the last month are incredible.  The report said she was introverted and shy, boy were they wrong.  She is outgoing, talkative, energetic, and so not an introvert!  She has gone from not being able to find her mouth to feeding herself, demanding a bottle, giving kisses, clapping and rocking out to heavy metal.  She studies everything we do and tries to copy us.  Maddie has travel from Beijing to DC, drove to FL, stopped over in SC and visited South of the Border.  When it comes to traveling, she is a little trooper!  Maddie we love you so much and are glad you dropped into our life, we love ya twerp!

Photos From the Orphanage

Well, we just developed the camera that we sent to Maddie's orphanage using Ann at Redthread.  They were kind enough to take about 17 pictures of Maddie and her mates.  The orphanage appeared clean and the kiddo's looked healthy. It was very sobering to sit back and look at how Maddie's life was during her first year in this world.  To be honest, it kinda made me sick to my stomach, not because she was mistreated or anything, but because she just looked so lifeless and just blah in the photo's.  Receiving the pictures was a double edged sword because we decided against visiting her orphanage (there were many reasons why we made our decision), but we wanted to look forward with Maddie, not look back, plus we did not want her ever going back after she joined our family, unless she chooses to in the future.  That chapter in her life closed on 16 May.

Again, I encourage anyone adopting from China to reach out to Ann at Redthread.com.  She is awesome.  But understand it is a roll of the dice, some orphanages do not respond.  You can also schedule personal shopping tours with her in GZ via her web site.  I am not getting paid to endorse her, just think her efforts go above and beyond and we are forever grateful for what she did for us by securing updated medical info and photos.   

Jett Laggin at 3 AM

Well, just sitting here at 3 AM with nothing to do!  Jet lag sucks!  Maddie is adjusting well and is enjoying being a rock star.  We are really, really lucky; Maddie fits right into our family and lifestyle.  She has no problem going where ever we want, although she does not like the car seat.  We are seeing great progress with the dogs, she is not rearing back anymore and Timmy looks for any opportunity to run buy and lick her arm.  I am just amazed by how the dogs have handled the transition.  Timmy did look a little disappointed when we went out for a walk and came back with her.  I guess he was hoping we would return her on our way out. 

We did learn some information about China adoptions while we were in China.  Per our guide, don't expect any speed-up of referrals.  They fully expect it to stay 4+ years and a huge shift towards special needs.  At our swearing in ceremony, they announced that in 2010, over 60% of completed adoptions were for special needs.  Of our group of 20ish families only 4 children including Maddie were non-special needs. 

We were fortunate to actually meet Ann from Redthread.com.  She took us on a private shopping trip and was awesome.  Despite what some agencies are telling their folks, she is great and was able to get us updated medical information and photos.  Something our agency did not/would not do.  The orphanage returned the bear and disposable camera we sent, they took 6 pictures for us.  

The Little Package Has Arrived Home!

Finally, after 4 yrs, 1 month, and 19 days, Madison is in the house!!  So far, so good!  Maddie has been a little trooper since we got her!  She has endured 3 plane rides totaling 17.5 hours, a 12 hour weather delay in Nanchang and 8 days of 90 degree weather with 100% humidity.  She is absolutely awesome, as long as Renee tells her it is OK, Maddie will do it. Right now she is not so sure about the dogs, but it's weird, they kinda understand and they are taking it easy with her.  China was nice and a lot different than we imagined.  We found the Chinese people to be very kind and supportive of us adopting from their country.  The trip was really cool, but man are we glad to be home, living out of a suitcase and eating out for a few weeks sucks after a while.  Also, thanks for the great welcome home...we really appreciated it!

NOTE to anyone traveling to China to adopt, buy the baby their own seat!!!  It would have been pure hell flying 13 hours with her in our laps.  Maddie crashed out and slept for about 9 hours of the flight.  That would not have happened in our laps.  It was nice to have the extra space and suitcase allowance because Renee shopped her butt off.