Made it through...........

Yesterday we both made it through just fine. Matthew only had one meltdown and had to be held for awhile, but mommy had none and was fine the whole day. I tell ya though, when I got home, Matthew and Rebecca had the front door open wide for me to come in. (Letting all the heat out of the house and the huge winds in the the house!) Other than that............I got BIG HUGS from Matthew and a BIG KISS from him too. *he missed his momma*

Daddy is enjoying both of our youngsters in the car now! hehehehe....*s* One who is the "drama queen" and one who just likes to have fun. Hmmmm, I'd love to be a fly in the car to see how all of them "have fun" to and from daycare!!!! LOL

Will let you know more later.........

One Month Home! One Month Home!

It's exactly one month since we got off a LOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG 30 hour flight that originated from Guangzhou, China and ended in Baltimore's, BWI airport. It boggles the mind that it's been a month already. I tell ya, my boy is growing up. He's losing that "baby" face I fell in love with that March day! Actually mommy and daddy fell in love with the pictures we were given from the adoption agency, but when we honestly got to truly meet Matthew in March 2007, he looked NOTHING like his photos! It took a little bit to get use to him looking at us and he was so much different than the year old pictures we had of him. Now? OH wow are we smitten with him!!! Him with us too.

Today we will celebrate his one month stay with us with a big cake mommy will bake after church. We will have one of his favorite things to eat for dinner too. (which is pretty much anything, as long as it is FOOD!) Even though the rain is falling, my heart is low because of going back to "work"........I'm going to savor every single moment today, if our daughter will let me! Yesterday with Rebecca was one of those days that you just want to throw in the towel and say uncle!!!! (as if we did, NOT) She was just as ornery and nasty as could be!!! Why? I have no idea, but she lost out on alot of priviledges! It's one of those things where she and Matthew went to play in her room, which they do with no problem (and don't make a mess), and when dinner was nearing to be ready, I went to call them, opened her door and just about had a heart attack right then and there!!! Markers were out (how she got them? Have no clue!!!), toys everywhere, shoes all over the place, sheets on the bed on the floor, papers everywhere, cards everywhere, bingo pieces spread everywhere.....I tell ya, anyone who knows me, knew I had to count to 2 before saying anything. (was lucky it was 2)

Trust me, the both of them cleaned up and when Matthew was done, he did as he was told and got his hands washed up for dinner. Rebecca? She was awful slow in picking up (mommy saw that) and told her to finish cleaning up. She didn't like it that Matthew was done and she wasn't........boy, the fireworks flew then!! Needless to say, daddy intervened and Rebecca did as she was told, but MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!! If we are doing this at age 3, Lord help us at age 13! (That's why it was one of those days!)

Matthew's been home for a solid month! Matthew's been home for a month! HOORAY! Our boy is such a darling! Who the heck needs to go back to work with a son like him!?!?! Playing on the playground all day is MY idea of fun! I know it's his also! Next time we go to the playground, I will take photos! LOTS of parents do that. Either photos or video. hehehe, might have to get someone to take photos of me on there too! :O)

Celebrate with us that Matthew has been home for one month! YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

OH, mommy is having the mommy BLUES! - Last Day with my boy!

I knew this day would come, I did, but all I have to say is I'm not ready! Maybe Matthew is ready to go to school (daycare), but not me. I found myself actually tearing up today as I put him into daycare (just for 2 hours, for his second day). The 2 year old teachers are so nice, and there are about 10 kids in his class, which is a good group, I should know, I've spent two days with them, but my gosh, hearing my boy crying for me was just as heart wrenching as you can get. I tell ya, the bond Matthew and Mommy has is just sooooooo "there" and we are just stuck like glue together! Boy, Monday will be so hard!!

We'll get into daycare later, but for the moment, I HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED by the Calvert County Health Department/ CDC and our pediatrician that Matthew has been approved to go to daycare! YEAH!!!!!!!! We can go and do things. BOY did we hit the playground HARD yesterday!!! Mommy, Rebecca and Matthew FLEW through all the playground equipment and then some near where we live. The playground is large enough to allow parents the opportunity to go all over the playground also. I tell ya, it's HUGE!!! VERY long, two maybe three stories, but there are bars everywhere so the kids CANNOT fall. That and the ground is made of some squishy stuff. There were 8 slides, rock climbing walls, monkey bars, see saws, a go round thing that the kids got totally sick of and watching them walk away from it was HILARIOUS! (like little drunken sailors!!!), and a HUGE spider web to climb up and down, cars & motorcycles to go up and down and back and forth on........I think I had just as much fun as they did! LOL

Oh daycare......yes, Matthew has gone for his second day. Yesterday was HORRIBLE for mommy! He cried for a whole 20 minutes and I knew I should not intervene, and I didn't, but wow......he was doing his "sign" for I don't want to do this. (waving his hands back and forth really fast) Crocodile tears everywhere......but after 20 minutes, he started to get into what the kids were doing. Clouds. Blowing through a straw to make shaving cream float across water! (comparison to clouds) He was fascinated with that. I just sat outside his classroom and "peeked" in from time to time without him seeing me. The teachers had to constantly hold him, but he was ok. He then went and made "cloud" pictures. He had a FIT again.....this time I intervened because he was kicking and getting out of his chair and being very disruptive. He was fine. (He stayed about an hour.)

Today? He stayed 2 hours and even had lunch with the kids in his class. They told me he whined after I left him there but then he went to play with the rest of the kids and had fun. He got scared once when they did some sort of music time with the kids. Apparently it might have been loud and sounds Matthew wasn't aware of, or have heard before. (reminds me of the drums at our church for the first time.....OH MY GOSH did he turn pale white and literally grab me (mommy) like there was no tomorrow!!!) The teacher, Miss Mary, said that he went and hid underneath the project tables and wouldn't come out. (They had to get him.) *** I keep thinking, if I were there, I could have explained it to him......he would have been just fine.*** I tell ya, don't call me on Monday!!!! Mommy will be in post-pardum mode until I can get to my little boy! Rebecca actually saw me today and her teacher RUSHED her to her "reading" class. LOL, that was funny! (yesterday Rebecca heard my voice and went OUT of her classroom to find me, which is a NO-NO.....and began crying, having a fit because I was with Matthew and not her! UGH!!!!) Rebecca was cool today! Mommy and her had a "talk" yesterday about it too.

ALL medications are finished! All tests are into the labs! OH YEAH.....speaking of labs......Roy's came back NEGATIVE! (Which is GOOD!) Mine came back, but was sent on to the Maryland State Laboratory in Baltimore! LUCKY ME! NOT! NOT! NOT! (Apparently some sort of E. Coli something or nother was found! In other words, I ATE SOMEHING BAD FROM CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!! DOUBLE, TRIPLE, QUADRUPLE UGH!!!! Do I have symptoms? NOPE! The pediatrician told me about it, so until they identify it, I won't be called by the CDC or Health Department! **whoopee** I know, I should be grateful, but if you had to get a call almost EVERY SINGLE DAY because of your child having a disease that is blah, blah, blah........you'd have the same attitude also!!! Trust me, you would!!!! Rebecca's labs haven't come back yet. Matthew's second lab went out yesterday. PLEASE PRAY he is parasite free, bacteria free, viral free, EVERYTHING free!!!!! I've been told by MANY adoptive mom's to possibly expect "worms" outta him in anywhere from a month to 6 months later! OH GOD PLEASE NO! I'd go nuts if that happened!!!!! I can handle alot, but worms?! OH NO! I'm praying on that one!!!

Other than that, we are doing alot around the house, spring cleaning, washing windows and curtains, lining my cabinets, just making the house better!!! For what you say? Hmmmmm.....isn't that the major question you'd like an answer to! ;o)

OK, upcoming things next? April 23rd, appointment for more vaccinations! May 1st, meeting all day with the Craniofacial team at Children's Hospital! (MAJOR DEAL)

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!! (God Påske)

Well, the Iversen's got a much deserved "getaway" this weekend and it's with friends who are FULLY aware of what Matthew has and have taken every precaution to make sure no one gets sick! (Trust me, we needed this.........especially mommy.) Today the kids are running around like chickens in a hen house with a fox in it! *redneck analogy, but it works* They have been so full of energy since Friday morning, it's been kinda interesting to see.


Matthew is doing great! He is on his second medicine for the shigella. (First med was for the giardia.) We hope everything will be gone by the time I need to go back to work because I really would like to save my leave for his surgeries coming up for his lip/cleft palate (fistula repair). He is talking more and more and yesterday while shopping in BIG LOTS on the Eastern Shore, I just started saying la la, da da, na na, ba ba..........well, little Matthew just started saying them also. AND SAID DA DA!!!!!!! Plain as day without the extra air intake that usually happens! SHOCKED ME! But after that, when I tried to get him to say it again, he couldn't do it without all the extra air. *DARN*


Rebecca is getting better with her little brother. The jealousy factor is still present, but it's fading. We have set up a NEW system with her because old standards of discipling her weren't working anymore. She has a BIG GIRL chart and earns hearts and flowers on it. For every 5 hearts, she gets one flower, for every 5 flowers, she gets a special outing with Daddy! (since she's a daddy's girl) It's working, so far!!

We went to Easter church yesterday and it was AWESOME! The guest worship leader was JEFF JOHNSON from American Idol, 4. He and his team were OUTTA THIS WORLD! ORBC is a wonderful church! (www.orbc.net) Oak Ridge Baptist Church. Yes, a Baptist church! Trust me, it ain't no Baptist church like YOU'VE been to! THEY DANCE! THEY HOLLER! THEY SING songs (not just hymns)............and the pastor? Well, he's VERY casual, VERY down-to-earth, and has a VERY cool wife!!! Check out their website if you get a chance!!!

Well, we wanted to say, HE HAS RISEN! RISEN INDEED! Happy Easter! Hopefully your day is filled with friends, family and lots of good food!

Happy Birthday to me! - Update on Matthew too.

Well, it's come. Number 38. Am I feeling it? A little bit. I need to catch up on the blog about Matthew.

In the past couple of days I have been fielding calls from our pediatrician, the local health department and one call from the CDC! Why you ask? Our son, Matthew. Most of his tests have now come back and two of them were NOT good. He has giardia, which we've already established, but he also has shigella - sonnei (non-fatal). This one is HIGHLY contagious and spreadable. Mommy and Matthew, for the most part have been home doing stuff. (If you want to know about shigella, visit the CDC site and search for it, YOU'LL FIND IT.) Right now, the local health department will NOT allow Matthew to be put into daycare until there is a NEGATIVE test result. AND.....the whole family has to be tested for both lucky diseases!! Nice huh? I don't think so, but I am thankful my son is OUTTA the orphanage that he was in!

The giardia comes mainly from contaminated water and the shigella is most likely from FOOD (but can come from water). We are trying to get Matthew straightened out. He shows NO symptoms of anything. (As our pediatrician put it, he's been there so long, his little body is use to it by now.) I've been speaking with ALOT of parents who are going to Matthew's orphanage and they are going to pick up their children with lots of antibacterial wipes and other precautions. Most likely, although I hope not, their kids will come back positive with these diseases also. I wanted to get the word out quickly for those traveling soon. I think I have.

One thing with adoption, you get the good, the bad, and the ugly! Our first adoption was hard in the fact that our Rebecca kicked, cried, screamed her way into our hearts for 3 days (and didn't eat, or go to the bathroom or drink either). With Matthew? It's the total opposite..........except the extra health issues. Other than that, we are good!

Matthew's vocabulary is growing and especially his understanding!!!!! Now mind you, when we say things to him, we add gestures to it. Like.....if you say yes to him, you shake your head in a YES way (up and down). NO-NO is moving your head from side to side.......HE KNOWS NO-NO really well and can say that!!! hehehehe....*S* We are still working on DADA or BABA but it's a VERY hard consinent to say. There is so much air intake from his fistula! *kinda frustrating* Matthew is thriving and loving his room now. LOVES the cats. Loves his daddy (waits on the couch for him to come home and then jumps up and down) and waits for his jei-jei (big sister Rebecca) so they can tear up the house momma just cleaned! :o)

Even with the health issues, we are doing well. Thank you some of you for listening to me. (Toni, Kathy) I tell ya, sometimes talking just soothes the soul. Having a child with rare bacterias that no one has ever heard of and us being the ONLY one's in the county to have them (so says the health dept.) well....ain't we special! *ugh*

Matthew's Mommy

SAD DAY today...........a forever child will never come home.

It's with sadness that I tell you about a little boy "Scotty" who was in our CHI family, who passed away in China while waiting to come home to his forever family. Scotty died of acute pneumonia and will never get to meet his forever mom/dad and siblings. It breaks my heart to know that just one of these precious kids didn't make it home, no matter what the reason. But death is the ultimate. Please, if you think about it, hug your kids tonight. Say a prayer for them, but better yet, this family you do not know, PLEASE SAY A PRAYER FOR THEM as they grieve. My wish, is that they would still pursue an adoption also, if not for Scotty, in his memory.

"May the tears of today, be turned into joy tomorrow." - KI

Doing well - 1/2 way mark of Matthew's meds

So far, Matthew is doing well with his meds for his "bug" that is living in him! (how many times can you say EWWWWWWWW!) We are having all the family tested as it's been so long since the time we received Matthew until the diagnosis. Which is fine with me! I'm pretty sure everyone else will come back negative (Lord, please) but this is just a conservative testing being done by our kids pediatrician. That's one of the reasons why I LOVE HER so much! She truly listens to us and truly cares about us all! Not just the children.

I've fielded calls from our local health department and the CDC. Nice?! NO! Asking all kinds of questions and being intrusive......like a typical governmental office can be! *snickering* (for those of you who don't know, I work for a federal government office) Other than that.........Matthew and mommy have been hanging out, going outside, playing trucks, taking pictures, going to the library, going to the playgrounds, every once in awhile going to the local Mickey D's for lunch, etc. I tell ya, each child is different. With our first adopted child, Rebecca, she liked Mommy at first and then became a daddy's girl, which is fine, but with Matthew? He is hooked to me! Mommy is Matthew's world right now. I tell ya, it's going to be very hard to leave him in just less than 2 weeks to go back to work. Matthew is just so needy for attention and love. To give that up.........right now.......well, ok, I need to get off of that subject because the tears well up and I just don't want to think about it. Each child is different. But "my boy" has so bonded with me!! Matthew loves his daddy too, don't get me wrong, he loves to be rugged with daddy and Becca, but he's definitely a mommy's boy! :o)

Know that Matthew is happy, healthy (other than the bug), and is tearing up spiderman and the trucks he has! WHAT A TYPICAL BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!