BBQs, visits, and overstimulation.

We've had lots of activity, visitors and well wishers and are so happy to see everyone's overwhelming love for us and the baby. Julian is great, albeit a bit overstimulated. He was super fussy today and we're not sure if it is because of his eczema, a tooth on the way, or just too much busyness over the weekend.

Saturday we attended the bris of our good friend's son Avi. It was so touching to be at such an ancient ceremony- I cried and cried. Please note hormone surges happen even when you adopt. Seriously.

Mama Erika was kind enough to lend me her sling to carry Julian. This boy just loves slings...





Sunday morning the Roths and the Dubins visited, Asher wasn't so sure about the baby.
Then Dean the baby proofer came over for our 2 hour whole house assessment (SO worth the $65.)



Sunday afternoon and eve Kyle, Pam, and Shay had a shower for us with many of our old friends, and a few new ones. Long gone the days of (literal) showers in the men's locker room of the kung fu school, and welcome to family bbq's in southwest PDX!





Jacquie flew up Monday morning from SoCal for a 24 hour visit to see Julian, I can't believe I don't have a picture of her with the baby. What was I thinking? She left this morning and within an hour or so, go figure, the baby was fussy all day.

Typing this all out, I feel badly for packing so much in when the boy is still trying to acclimate. I am officially promising to spend the next 4 days just hanging out. That's what maternity leave is supposed to be for anyway, right??



Oh, and the baby looks like he'll be crawling pretty soon. He can scoot backwards across the room in the blink of an eye, and it looks like forward is at best, a few weeks away. No rush, trust us.

Chillin'

Wow, who knew, I actually like being off of work. We're hanging out together, enjoying, kicking it. I am so grateful for this time. Jon took these next few shots in the morning light. Little angel.







Everything is going swimmingly except for Julian's eczema on his face. Again last night he rubbed the skin off by smooshing his face into the sheet on his bed. Poor little man...





Just got an email from C$ and realized we forgot to post photos of his visit with J-LEB. We have unofficially made Colin responsible for Julian's underground education. Perhaps his first R rated movie?? Not until he's at least 8 though, oK Colin?



And dear friends, family, please send a post if you are still interested in updates here- hate to be spending time blogging when I could be, oh, cleaning the kitchen. Y'all know how much I love cleaning the kitchen.

Doctor visit and BaBa

We brought Julian to the pediatrician in Portland that specializes in international adoption ("IA specialist") and she was fabulous. She seemed pretty open about the naturopathic approach we will take, or at least she wasn't negative. I am excited to have found her as she is pretty nearby, and I want Jules to have a team approach for his health care. Turns out he has gained 8 oz in the 2 weeks since he's been home and she encouraged us to continue to "feed on demand" without concern. We are still working on figuring out what is giving him eczema and are looking for donors for breast milk as this will certainly help him (if anyone knows someone who is breastfeeding with surplus, give us a holler, please!)

Grandpa Howie (BaBa for now, as Grandpa is hoping to be greeted by name in the not too distant future) arrived late last night and Julian is enamored with him already. The baby has a particular love of BaBa's glasses...





Lots of laughing today. We all went to a gathering in PDX of a group of parents with kids adopted from Guatemala. 2 couples live within 6 blocks of us and we really liked them both. Very cool.

Then this afternoon Paul and Amy came by with Matilda.
There is only a 3 month difference between the kids and it is amazing how different they are developmentally. It happens so quickly. There are some moments I feel a little sad that we missed so much...


I don't think she's as scared as she looks...



What a day...I'm ready for bed already, but it's only 6pm!

week 2

shay and pam came to visit yesterday & we all went to the park. shay is sooo sweet with julian.



















smile for the camera!













the flash didn't go off but i thought this was cute.




























the boys totally cracking up.

Day by day...

It is hard to believe that we've only been home a week and a half. I'm just getting over a bad chest cold, which included a trip for me to the ER on Saturday morning for a benadryl shot and some steroids to treat a nasty allergic reaction to an antibiotic. I've been in a daze since then because I have to take 2 benadryl every 6 hours or the hives start up all over again. Lucky me the antibiotic is specifically designed to stay in your body for a week after you're done taking it. Maybe this is so I can sympathize with my baby's itchy eczema face...

Other than that minor blip, things are starting to settle down a bit. We're still trying to figure out the little details, and Julian's schedule. We are working hard on attachment games and techniques to make sure his transition to us is smooth, and stable. On Saturday we take him to the pediatrician at OHSU that specializes in international adoption. Hopefully she'll be able to give us some feedback regarding his progress in this area, and an idea about how soon we can allow others to hold the baby and participate in his care.














We're encouraging Julian to spend more time on his tummy. He hates it













He loves the Johnny Jump-up. Thanks Laura!













Tired and covered in lunch.













Anita brought Charlie over to visit. Boys in stripes and overalls, too cute.




Happy naked baby!

First few days.

We've now been home just over 3 days, trying to work out our rhythms (wow, that would make a great hangman word...)
Not too much to report, just some photos.


Julian's first visit to the naturopath. When Liz was looking in his ears he was so calm she said, "what baby lets you do that?!" Knock on wood the child seems to have Jon's temperament more than mine.




Home.


He wont sleep in the crib, but he's happy to play there.


Elwynn is hanging in there. Edge wont come in unless Julian's asleep.


Pam and Shay were our first visitors. Shay was shy at first then totally enamored. she told us she thought Julian wanted her to stay with him forever and ever. It's probably true.


His first ride in a car seat went over just fine. Thanks Jacquie and Nancy for the car seat/stroller combo gift.

The trip home.

With 3 giant suitcases (thanks pam and ky), one soft suitcase, a diaper bag, a food bag, 2 carry ons, a stroller, and the 3 of us, we said farewell to our new friends, packed up all of our stuff, and hit the road to the airport. Waleska, who works for our lawyer in Guatemala kept Julian entertained for the drive and we got to the airport with a few hours before our flight.





We got the baby bump to the front of the line and got checked in. All was perfectly smooth. About 2 minutes before boarding I noticed that they checked Julian in as a lap baby so we had to have someone switch seats to get back the third seat in our row which we had reserved for the baby. A little scramble and we were in great shape.

The first flight was 2 hours, and the baby woke crying as we landed. Otherwise, smooth sailing. Immigration took all of 15 minutes so we had a 4 hour layover for catfish at the houston airport. Second flight was 4 hours and Julian slept take off to touch down.









Liz picked us up at the airport and of this we have no photos because it was just about midnight and we were so bleary it was all we could do to just get loaded into the car. We still haven't found either of our sets of keys but thankfully the contractor had left a set in a lock box that we used to get in.

The chest cold I started to get in Guate turned into bronchitis so as of today I am doing little bits and pieces but mostly trying to rest. Jon is a trouper and both he and Julian are doing great.

Finally got the camera battery recharged and are busy taking pictures of all of the "firsts" at home. More to come...