Red Thread To China 2007

Hey all Levi turned 3 today. His mimi brought him a little puppy cake for his mini birthday since we aren't having his party until next Saturday. ( I have to work tomorrow, bummer )He really liked the cake. We sang Happy birthday to him and he blew out the candle! I don't quite think he gets the whole birthday thing yet, but he likes presents. Here are some pics of his little pup-cake and my little man, enjoy.

Sandi

Hi everyone. The blog for our new adoption is Ethiopiaorbust09.blogspot.com. Our Dossier is on its way to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!! Join us on this exciting journey to bring our daughters home.

Well Levi has managed to keep his cast on for almost a week now with the belt that they made him. So maybe this may not be as bad as I thought. We just have to make it until the 10th of April for the first fitting and then another 2 weeks until they have the prothesis done and can fit him and teach him how to walk on it.

I can't believe that it has been 5 months since we first met this scared little boy in a dark building in China. Sometimes when I look into his eyes I still get glimpses of that scared little boy, but he is just amazing and is adapting so well for only being with us for such a short time. We are all learning together.

This friday will be his 3rd birthday, his first birthday here in the US. I want it to be so special for him because I am sure he never experienced this in China. We originally wanted to have it at Chuck E Cheese but sincce he is in a leg cast it wouldn't be much fun. We will figure out something.

I think the anesthesia finally has worn off, he is awake and even dancing a little in his bed to the cartoon music. He has asked twice now where his foot is. The first time I really was at a loss for words, I just said they fixed it. He seemed to accept that answer so I let it go at that. He has been awake for about 3 hours now and is in no pain. He still has his epidural in and will have it in until tomorrow morning. He has tried to pull out his IV a couple of times also, he really doesn't like it much. He slept quite a bit last night, although I didn't much. I kept waking up to check on him and make sure he wasn't falling off the bed. He was able to eat some crackers this morning and have more water. So they said he could have some cherrios and toast. We'll see how that goes. We are still on for getting out tomorrow afternoon.

On another note I have to run my older son Marcus to the eye doctor this afternoon because he has a piece of metal in it. I hate to leave Levi for even a second, but I don't have much of a choice. It seems like when it rains it pours.

Well the surgery went well, a little over the planned timeframe but just as we were going to go ask the nurse about him they paged us to come to recovery to see him. He wasn't too happy about all the tubes and wires attatched to him and he did cry for about 15 minutes before finally going abck to sleep. The kids came to see thier little brother along with a soldier that is in Jerry's unit and our social worker who is also a good friend of mine came by. Another friend of ours called and will try to come by to see him too. I am so glad to have all the support right now, I am not sure what I would do without it. It is one of the scariest things in the world to see your child in pain and not be able to comfort them. He did not do really well with the anesthesia and was a little cranky when he finally woke up. He is asleep again right now so I might just try to get a little nap in before he wakes up again. Jerry just left to go to the motel for the evening so it's just me and Levi. They are telling us he may be released on Thursday afternoon. I will try to post more later.

Sandi

Well here we are in Dallas, the appointments today really wore us out. We had to go from place to place meeting everyone invilved in Levi's surgery. We found out that Levi will be put to sleep even before they put in his IV or epidural for pain, which makes me feel so much better. I was worried that they would put the IV in before. Everyone here at the hospital is so wonderful and very considerate of Levi's and our feelings. They answered all our questions as though they hadn't been asked it a thousand times before. I couldn't ask for a better place or people to take care of our son, I have all the confidence in thier ability to enable him to walk.
They let us choose to stay the night tonight or come in the morning at am. So here we are at the hotel.
I probably won't be able to sleep again tonight much, I am just so nervous. This is only the second surgery we have had to go through with one of the kids,and the last was just a tonsilectomy, nothing near this. Jerry told me I am not allowed to cry in front of Levi tomorrow, but I am not sure I can do that. I will try though because I don't want to scare him. The older ones are supposed to come out tomorrow evening to see thier little brother.
I will try to post more tomorrow after the surgery.