Prayers for Ellie Grace's Family

Tyler's little Ethiopian friend Ellie lost her daddy yesterday. Dear Tracy and family we are thinking of you....

http://www.silerhappenings.blogspot.com/

Uncle Ryan Gets Married!

We celebrated my baby brother's big day this past weekend! Here is a link to photos from that day.

Ryan and Shannon

Happy Day!

Rainbow!

Waiting for the storm to pass!

The kids and I are in the basement due to a tornado warning. Amazingly the lights are still on but the TV is out so I am depending on Jason for radar and storm updates. I hope it's over soon! It sounds like it's calming down a bit outside!

9 months old!

Here is our sweet, happy, and GROWING little man! He had been home just over two months!

He is doing well. He is still fighting with the infection on his arm from a BCG vaccine he received while in Ethiopia. We meet with a specialist next week to determine whether he will need surgery on his arm. He is nit bothered by the infection and has been healthy! Please keep Tyler in your thoughts. I will keep you posted.

7 year check up!

We've got 50 lbs and 52 inches of a boy here!! Jack's well child check up went great! He is soooo tall! He's in the 80-something % for height, and 26th for weight. This is a boy diagnosed as failure to thrive just a few years ago...way to grow Jack!

Future rock band!

Future master chef?

My shopping bud!

We have made some progress in the out in public area with Jack in the past year! His tantrums and screaming were out of control this time last year! He still has problems but I think it's safe to say we've taken some baby steps on the right direction!!

Long "lost" videos of baby Jack!

My mom, aka, Grandma Josie always had her video camera each time she visited our house! We did not own a video camera back in 2003. We were able to take small, grainy, soundless videos with our digital camera. Those small videos are the only videos we have of the NICU or when Jack was a baby. I never allowed anyone to bring video recorders in to the NICU. At the time I couldn't handle the stress and bright lights on top of watching the monitors to make sure Jack was still breathing! I don't regret it and am grateful for the tiny videos we do have.

My mom came across a box with some old tapes and a VCR and decided to take a trip down memory lane last week and I am SO GLAD she did! She called me over and I was amazed at all of the footage she had of baby Jack that I forgot even existed! Videos of him just home from the hospital, videos of my late grandma and Jack, and videos of our old house and set-up! They were hard to watch because the look on my face in the very early ones truly shows my state of mind. Complete panic! I remember wanting to be back in the NICU because it was safe and because there was a nurse to do his wires and feeding tube...because their was an entire team of doctors that could come to your side should your baby stop breathing. It did get easier. Day by day, week by week.

So without further intros here are those moments:

We had 6 feet for weeks and weeks. That is all the further I could carry baby Jack! Looking back now it seems surreal -- but we did it!

Bottle feeding:

I will highlight some more in another post -- here is the link to all of our videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/angigistarr#g/u

Picking up new braces :)

YAY!

The lost stroller wasn't lost after all!!!! The box that went missing was just an accessory! NOT the stroller itself!!! The company is going to take a small amount of money off, and process our return today! HUGE relief!! Still filing claim with fedex for lost accessory box!

Video of Tyler Chomping on Some Puffed Rice...

Tyler has been eating very well these days! He has moved on to 3 jars of stage 2 foods a day and loves almost everything! He likes peas the best!! I tried some puffed rice cereal just to see where he was with his fine motor and he did quite well! His face is priceless...

Blogging Milestone!

This is post number 700. 700 posts in 7 years....

It's been really neat to look back at how far we've all come!

Our family has grown and we have met some great friends through blogging!

There are things I would have never remembered had it not been for blogging. Every single day of Jack's NICU stay, Ever single day of Morgan's NICU stay...and each day on my journey to bring Tyler home. There are the funny moments, and sad moments...

I started using a program to turn our blog entries into memory books. I have 4 of the 7 years completed so far. I hope one day our kids read these books and have special memories and photos long after this blog is gone!

Just a nifty little tidbit to share this morning!

June 2010 Photos :)

Our June 2010 Album is up!

JUNE 2010

I posted this on an ebay message board, but wanted to turn to my blogging friends too! It is a long story for another post, but I ordered a SN Stroller for Jack...it cost a little over $600. It was too large...like adult-sized too large, so I had to return it. I really want to take the time for another post about wheelchair woes...so it is coming! Here is the problem I am having right now...

am hoping someone can offer some advice!

I purchased an item from a great ebay seller. Unfortunately the item was too large and the seller authorized a return of the item.

I packed the 3 boxes in the seller's original packaging and dropped them off at our local FedEx Ground pick up location.

2 of the 3 boxes made it there today. The 3rd, and most expensive box, did not. The tracking information states "shipping info received" so it looks as though it was never scanned at pick up or picked up at all.

I contacted customer service at FedEx and opened a case#
for their package tracing dept. And now, I wait. I informed the seller of the delay as well.

So, my question is, how do I handle this situation? What happens if FedEx cannot locate my package? Am I out the money spent for my item? How much are FedEx Ground packages covered for? I never saw an notion for additional insurance, so I shipped it with whatever, if any coverage they offer.

Thank you in advance!

Catching Up!

So, I apologize for not keeping everyone up to date! Time goes by so quickly and before I know it it's time for BED! Jack started his Summer School Program this morning, Tyler is napping, and Morgan is happily not having to share toys with anyone at the moment ;) Now I am in between 3 tons of laundry...and sitting for just a moment to have a cup of coffee and catch up with blogging!

Let's go one by one for an update...I'll start with Tyler! He is feeling much better after being so sick from an infection on his arm. The site is healing and he is finished with his antibiotic. We are still watching the site, but it looks so much better than it did last week. He is eating very well, sleeping like a DREAM, and is just the happiest, funniest baby. We are still really low key and haven't been out much at all, or had too many visitors. It's really, truly helped with bonding and attachment. I believe he knows us well now and shows stranger anxiety (but does warm up and flash his gorgeous two-tooth smile). He loves, loves, LOVES Jack and Morgan. His whole face lights up and his little legs and arms and legs go a mile a minute whenever he sees them! He is gaining so much strength too. He can sit unassisted for a few seconds, can pivot and roll, and is trying like crazy to push off with his little feet to scoot on his belly. He started babbling "da, da, da" and has found his little voice. He also started eating stage 1 baby food. We are going slowly due to his tummy sensitivity to certain items! So far he has tried rice cereal, squash, and sweet potatoes. Today peas are on the menu! He is still on Soy formula and is doing really well. We are so happy he's home and love him to pieces!

Hmm, who's next? How about Jack! Jack amazes me each day...his language has exploded and he uses so many new phrases and words each day it's awesome! He has been healthy and seizure free for months...he is growing like a weed too. Who knows how much he weighs these days?! I'd say a safe bet would be 55+ lbs! Back in April and May he saw a bunch of his specialists...which nicely freed up our summer. We are looking at some type of orthopedic surgery within the year. Quite honestly I have put it on the back burner and will worry/obsess over it more after our follow up appointment in September. I will absolutely keep you posted! We've had a HUGE mess with his wraparound services....to say I am displeased is an understatement. Super long story made short...for months I requested (if at all possible) to keep the same TSS this summer. I mean our family has been through the biggest change to date...mommy had to leave for Ethiopia for 10 days...we brought home a new baby, and Jack who has a hard time with change truly needed consistency. His summer school program is at a new building and this fall he will return to school and have a new teacher and a new classroom. This is a lot of change for any kid, but for Jack it's all coming at once and I fear regression with all of the wonderful progress we've made with his therapist over the past two years. So they gave us two new TSS's (one for school, one for home) AND a new BSC. So essentially at a time when our family is stretched as far as it's ever been they take away EVERYONE. I know I don't have to tell some of you how EXHAUSTING it is to work with a new therapist. I mean starting from square one (regardless of how good the therapist is) is just...painful. So we're in the middle of meeting the new team, and they are great, don't get me wrong! But the reasons for switching therapists (TSS hours and availability for the summer) are not jiving with me considering our new TSS is unable to fill all of our hours. I just want to cry. In fact, I have. It's too much. We are a family that puts 110% plus into therapy. So much is at stake...my sanity being one (very important) thing. So, yeah, I'll keep you all posted on that front too! Jack's behavior has been pretty darn good through all of this though. I am very proud of him. He is using strategies he has learned over the past two years. Although, as I mentioned before, we have been very low key for the past month. So he hasn't been faced with a lot of demands or outside stress...so I am curious to see how school goes for him today. I miss him already, and he's only gone for 3 hours!

Morgan! She's just filled with cuteness, curiosity, precociousness, fun, and a VERY strong will! She and I have the most amazing conversations. I wish I could record each and every one. She is growing up right before our eyes. She takes the roll of big sister quite seriously. She had a few weeks of preschool (2 days a week) at DDS (where Jack went). We know the staff and love it there. She is in a class with typical kids and kids with special needs. I told the teacher don't be alarmed if she doesn't notice things like wheelchairs, walkers, or braces...she's so used to Jack that she won't care if a kiddo doesn't walk or talk -- she'll march right up to them and play or compliment the color of their wheelchair! She loves to help mommy and daddy around the house and loves to talk. She talks all the time. She woke up early (6 am) this morning and as I was getting Jack out of the bath tub she said "Hey mom, is it morning yet?" "I love you, you are my BEST friend." and then laid back down. She's so sweet!

I hear Tyler already! I did have to stop typing to switch a load of laundry, change batteries in a toy, and take a phone call! I promise more posts to come!

I love the site rainbowkids.org -- I wanted to share an article I read just now:

http://www.rainbowkids.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=714

Finding Me I am American June 01,2010 / Mary Behan

Four Irish-Americans and a Chinese girl walked into a restaurant. If you are waiting for a punchline, that wasn't a joke: It's just my family whenever we go out to dinner. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Mary and I was adopted from China when I was two and a half. I've always wondered what people think when my family and I are out together. Do they see what I see: two parents and their three children? Or do they see two Americans, their two sons, and mentally check me off as my older or younger brother's girlfriend? Do they even think about what they see, or am I just obsessing over the minor details? For a long time, I hoped I was just obsessing, because it was those sorts of questions that made me feel insecure about my place in my family. Those questions made me doubt myself, and, as cliché as it seems, they made me wonder about my identity. It began with exasperated sarcasm. "Wait, so, are you Japanese or Chinese?" "Neither," I would say, "I'm Irish." There would be a pause. And then,"Wait, really?" My general answer to The Question was, "No, not really," but if I was feeling particularly irritated, I would say, "What, you couldn't tell?" Eventually the sardonic remark, accompanied by a roll of the eyes and perfected deadpan, became my way of ignoring a question that, for some reason, bothered me. It bothered me because even though I was a Chinese girl adopted by an Irish-Catholic family, I did not want to be categorized as "Asian" by other people when, for the better part of my life, I did not even categorize myself as Asian. Friends' lighthearted comments about my "Asian-ness" were actually funny, but when someone, in all seriousness, asked me about my nationality, I always felt offended on some level; I did not care what I was, so what gave other people the right to question? In the summer of 2007, after my freshman year, I traveled to Beijing to study with a Choate Rosemary Hall program. There, while all of my white American friends called me Fu Ping, my Chinese host family insisted on calling me Mary. It was their attempt to make me seem more American despite my obvious Chinese appearance, because having an American in the home was exotic. I had grown up in a Roman-Catholic middle school, where, to my classmates, everything about me screamed Asian!; this was the first time I had ever met anyone who considered me just plain American. It was a strange concept and more than a little odd, but I liked it. When I came home from China that summer, I experienced another "first" in regards to my race. It was my cousin's wedding, and someone I had never seen before, decided to go down the line of cousins with whom I was sitting and play guess-the-parents. To my cousins, she said,"You're Bridget's, right? You are, too. And you're Susan and Chris's," while my younger brother received a,"You're Tish and Mike's." She stopped at me. Her blank stare and hesitation lasted only a moment, but it was a moment too long. "Tish and Mike's," I supplied hastily. "Oh." She couldn't tell. But then, I tried to tell myself, why should she be able to? I mean, it's not like I was ever going to hear, "You have your father's eyes," or "You look just like your mother" from anyone. Despite knowing all this intellectually, I still felt hurt, rather than annoyed or uncomfortable. That one incident kept replaying in my mind; I was incapable of just letting it go as I did most other comments about my race. It made me think. What am I? I came closer to answering that question the summer after my sophomore year, when I learned through awkward conversation and random speculation that my roommate at the Middlebury Monterey Language Academy was from the same orphanage as I was. Later, when I returned home from camp, my mom and I set out to see if we could find other girls from my orphanage, or maybe even from the foster family that took care of me after my brief stint as a newborn in the orphanage. Our investigation, including the exchange of part-English, part-Chinese, and part-Babelfish Online Translator emails, ended with a trip to China at the beginning of last summer, and a foray into the first two-and-a-half years of my life there. We planned to visit the relatively small city of Fuzhou, in Jiangxi Province. While there, I found memories of a toddler who chased rabbits, pretended to do schoolwork with her elder siblings and practiced making sad faces. I heard tales of a girl who knew she was leaving and told her daddy she was going to America to make a lot of money to buy him a drink, and stories of a newly adopted child who sat at the hotel door and screamed until she cried herself to sleep. I came face-to-face with the forgotten. With the physical remnants of my past. I found an old, one story cement house riddled with over-grown weeds and traditional good luck signs pasted on the sides of the door in faded red. I saw a broken crib kept long after its occupant departed for America, and a garden through which a toddler used to traipse under the illusion she was helping to grow things. And, finally, I met a family so full of love, that even after they endured the pain of watching me leave, they cared for 13 more infants, ending with a girl they found on their doorstep. I met a mother, a father, and two older siblings who despite 14 years and a language barrier still called me their daughter and sister. I met a family that made me feel unbearably guilty: I wanted to be able to tell them I loved them and remembered them, because they so obviously loved and remembered me. I wanted them to be more than strangers to me so badly that I cried when I knew no one was watching. And yet. There was something missing. As selfish as it makes me seem, there was a whisper of disappointment that only I was able to sense, a feeling that some integral part of what I was looking for just wasn't there. When I went to visit my foster family, I was told many things about myself, but I was not told who I was. I realized, after the trip, that I should not have expected to find the answer to my question of self-identity with my foster family. They could not tell me if I was Chinese, or American, or perhaps even half-Chinese and half-Leprechaun; that was something only I could figure out. But I did not know where to begin. Strangely enough, the beginning of enlightenment came later in the summer, as the start of school drew close and I finally picked up my copy of "Confucius Lives Next Door." It was ultimately a conversation with my mother about the summer reading book and the campus speaker Cathy Bao Bean that really settled things for me. The conversation went something like this: "So, I heard there was a speaker," my mom said casually while I was impatiently trying to hang up the phone on her. "Yeah," I said unenthusiastically. "Cathy Bao Bean." "Well, what did she talk about?" "I don't know. Being Chinese and American?" "Well, Mary," my mom said in that reproachful tone of hers, "don't you think that's kind of pertinent to you?" I thought about it. Cathy Bao Bean is Chinese. I'm Chinese. Cathy Bao Bean is an American citizen. So am I. Therefore, two plus two must equal . "No," I told my mom frankly. "Not really. She's actually Chinese." What I meant was, Cathy Bao Bean grew up in a Chinese household, and she learned those Confucian values that Reid writes about in "Confucius Lives Next Door." AHA! my mind all but screamed at me. So this is the answer, it continued.This is who you are. Perhaps it seems narrow-minded, but I don't identify with the Chinese, socially or culturally. Like many Americans, I don't even fully understand their society or their culture. I just look like them. So I would like to thank the author of "Confucius Lives Next Door," Cathy Bao Bean, and my mom for guiding me to that elusive identity of mine: I am Mary Katherine Behan, which is about as Irish a name as you can get. I stand at an intimidating height of four-feet-eleven-inches, and, just like the rest of my family, I am American. Embodied in my idea of being an American is that I have the capacity to be whoever I want to be, regardless of what I look like. The world can assume I speak fluent Chinese, or Japanese, or Korean, or am good at math, simply for the fact that I am of Asian descent. I don't mind anymore, because I know who I am.

Referral Photos :)

Since I couldn't share them back then, I want to share them now...these are the very first photos we saw of our little man. I stared at his little face wondering so much about him...it was hard to tell his actual size in these pics! He was 8.5 lbs here and 4 months old...

Here he is now, at 16 lbs and 8 months old :)