Joys and Challenges

To say the past few weeks have been busy would be a major understatement... I don't know where the time has gone and I can't believe I only have 2 weeks before I go back to work and Sam starts daycare.

We have had several medical appointments for Sam... 1 year checkup, vaccinations, lab work, audiology screening and next week we will be meeting with a doctor who specializes in evaluating internationally adopted children. This doctor used to work at the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Minnesota and she will be able to give us advice based on the medical information we were given as well as what is typical of children adopted from a Colombian orphanage. We also will be meeting with our social worker to complete our post placement report required by the state. Then we meet with a lawyer to get our adoption re-finalized. It's really just a formality since everything is already finalized and recognized by the US. The main benefit to re-adopting is that we will get a new birth certificate issued by the state and another adoption decree (in English). It will make life easier in the long run once Sam needs to get registered for school or when he gets a passport... or driver's license (scary thought!).

Last Sunday, Sam developed a nasty cough and by Monday morning he was wheezing so we brought him into the doctor (again). Right away the doctor heard the wheezing so she decided to order a chest x-ray... which was a horrible. They strapped him into this contraption with his arms above his head and his face against the wall and then made me leave the room while they took the picture. I felt so bad for him but it took him all of 5 minutes to forget all about it. After looking at the x-rays, the doctor said he has walking pneumonia as well as reactive airways disease (asthma) so she prescribed an antibiotic as well as a nebulizer treatment. She said alot of kids actually outgrow the asthma as they get older so hopefully that will be the case with Sam. We knew that he had been treated for reactive airways at the orphanage so the asthma diagnosis didn't come as a big surprise but it still wasn't easy to hear. The first couple of days he fought us on the nebulizer but then once he got used to it, he did fine. It only takes about 10 minutes to do the treatment but to get a 1 year old to sit still for 10 seconds, much less 10 minutes is no easy task.

Since he started the Albuterol, his sleeping habits have changed drastically. We used to be able to rock him for a few minutes then put him in his crib and he'd go to sleep and not wake up until the next morning. Now we need to stay in his room until he's asleep or he will scream like he's being tortured. He is also waking up in the middle of the night... usually only once but when he wakes up, he's wide awake and it sometimes takes over an hour to get him back to sleep. Because of the timing, we initially contributed this to the Albuterol since that's a common side effect but then I was reading an article on bonding and attachment and it made me think it might not be the medicine. The article said that once children have formed a strong bond with their parent(s), they will often show the exact signs that Sam is showing us now. So while it's hard to deal with the sleeping issue, if it means he is forming a stronger bond with us then I guess it's all worth it. He took his last dose of medicine today so it will be interesting to see what happens this week.

I've been horrible at taking pictures since we've been home and that's mostly because it's next to impossible to get Sam to sit still, look at the camera (or general location) and smile. I also have had a hard time getting Joey and Sam in a picture together. I know, I know... I probably need to develop some realistic expectations. Anyways... here are a few of the pics I did manage to take over the past few weeks.

Sam's first "real" haircut with Lindsay.

This picture makes me laugh... Joey kept insisting he was not tired and minutes later, this is what I find in the living room...

Grandpa E. was Sam's first out-of-town visitor

Sam loves crawling through the tunnel... especially when Joey is chasing him.

Our little ham... with bananas all over his face

We had lots of family and friends in town to watch Josh run his first marathon. We met him a couple different places to cheer him on and Joey was so excited to see his daddy!

We all anxiously waited for Josh at the finish line and Sam patiently sat with grandma.

Way to go Josh and Sarah!!

After the marathon, we had a small belated birthday party for Sam. As you can see from the picture, he really enjoyed his cake... especially the frosting!

Like most 1 year olds, he was more interested in the paper than the actual gifts but he had fun.