8 months

It's hard to believe it's been 8th months since we met our precious daughter. Alots happened. We celebrated Matt's first Father's Day.
Tianna was baptized on June 27th at St. Josephs Church in Ronkonkoma. She gave Matt the "What the heck are you doing to me" look when he held her over the water. But, she let Deacon Mike DeBelles do his thing with the water on her head. Then, while he was blessing her and talking, Tianna watched him intently, like she was really listening to everything he was saying. We had a great time at the party afterwards, even if the AC in the restaurant wasn't working and everyone was sweating to death.
We found that Tianna is really part fish. She absolutely loves the pool and is already swimming under water, holding her breath. No holding the nose for this little girl. She's meeting so many new friends between going to school and my high school friends who have children around the same age. Tianna's language and speech is improving every day. Our little girl is also growing every day. She's grown 2 inches in the 8 months we've had her.
She's full of personality. Has her own style of clothes. She picks out her clothes every day.
Tianna loves Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, The Wonder Pets, and now we can add, My Little Pony and the Care Bears. Of course, she still loves Mickey Mouse and her Barbie movies. We found that the library helped us with the My Little Pony and the Care Bears. lol.
Tianna still loves her barbie dolls and playing with her learning toys. She can not only sing the alphabet song, can recognize all her letters and knows many of the sounds. She watches the Leap Frog learning DVD's. She's learning so quickly. I am so proud at how well she's doing.
Tomorrow, we'll be driving to NJ (about a three hour drive) to visit with my brother Michael and his lovely wife Joni (whom I always thought of as a sister and a friend). We'll be spending the day in their pool (Tianna will be thrilled) and then spending the night at their house. Something Tianna has never done before (slept away from home other than a hotel in Disney). We're looking forward to it but a little nervous since Tianna started having night terrors while in Disney. But, she'll enjoy our visit with the family and their two huge Bernise Mountain Dogs name Darla and Rocker. Monday, we'll visit my old job there in NJ and I look forward to seeing some old friends.

5 Months and Mothers Day

WOW, 5 months, its been 5 months since Laura and I 1st met our daughter. It has been a wonderful time. Some lows but so many more highs. Tianna had her cleft pallet surgery back in March. This week she received a clean bill of health from the surgeon. She is now back on normal foods and can feed herself. She is oh so very happy.

Her speech is improving every day, mainly because of the surgery. However she is now is school, pre-k, and its only been two weeks and you can hear a huge improvement. She knows her colors, well at least the main ones. She can recognize shapes and is able to put complete sentences together.

We are putting finishing touches on her Christening, set for the end of June. Also in two weeks grandma and grandpa and the three of us are heading to Walt Disney World. Tianna does not understand but I got a feeling she will understand when we see Mickey and Minnie for the 1st time.

In April grandpa, uncle John and myself took Tianna to her 1st Mets game at Citifield. She had fun, even if she did not totally understand what was going on.

Of course this Sunday will mark the 1st Mothers Day for Laura. We have a nice weekend planed that includes dinner out for the three of us on Saturday and an afternoon lunch with Micheal and Joni. Then Sunday night we will be spending the evening with my parents and brother Jim and his girlfriend.

Its been a wonderful ride, one that I know will always have new surprises each day.

Surgery complete

Tianna and mommy came home this afternoon after spending parts of three days at Stony Brook University Medical Center. It was a tough three days for all involved. But with the support of family and friends we all made it. The surgery was Monday morning and Tianna had no idea what was about to hit her. She was given a "loopy" medicine around 7:30 and in about 15 mins she was medically drunk. Laura brought Tianna into the OR and that's when Tianna began to fight. She pulled the mask off of her face and gave a swift kick in the ribs to one of the PA's.

Waiting for the surgery to finish was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The surgery started around 8 am and was finished at 11:30. Then the fun began. Tianna was not happy with the arm restraints that keep he from putting her hands in her mouth. And of course the pain and discomfort was driving her crazy. Outside of a painful attempt to put an IV into her on Monday afternoon the rest of the time at the hospital was about what we figured it would be. There was a lot of pain, discomfort and Tianna just did not want anyone around her at times.

When I look back on the three days I feel there are a few people to thank. 1st one is Tianna, the little girl was a real champ dispite all that was thrown at her. It was painful, uncomfortable and confusing but she really held up strong. Next is Laura, her skills as a mom really came through this week and she showed just how much love she has for Tianna. I may not say it enough but I am really proud of Laura.

Our sister-in-law Andria, who is a nurse at SBUMC came by about 7 times during the 1st two days in the hospital to make sure everything was going well. And to make sure Tianna was get the best of care. My parents came by all three days. On Wednesday they stayed there until the end as I had to go back to work and they drove Laura and Tianna home. Laura's sister Maureen and her Aunt Dingy and our friend Missy all stopped by as well. And to all our friends on FB who gave Tianna prayers and well wishes.

Tianna appears to be adjusting to her arm guards. She may hate them but she is making the best of it. It is only a short 4 weeks or so. By May we will be in Disney and Tianna will forget all of this.

Looking back on Three months home

Well St. Pattys day marked three months home for Laura, Tianna and my self. This has been three months like we have never seen before. Laura and I have both settled in nicely as parents. Laura has been staying home and taking care of Tianna. And despite that fact that at times it may seem like no one notices what type of a job she is doing, take it from me "she is doing a wonderful job". Tianna feels so comfortable with us. She wakes up every morning singing a tune, in Chinese we assume. Most mornings she has a smile when either of us go in to get her out of bed. She has learned that there are things in her life that are HERS, and no one is going to make her share it with no one.

She love to eat just about everything we feed her, not all but most. She loves Corey, I am not to sure if Corey loves her. However Corey will run into her room to wake her up. She loves Mickey Mouse and we have booked our May Disney world trip. Tianna does not understand that we are going, I guess we can keep her in the dark until we get there.

The next big step in Tianna's growth will come this Monday the 22nd. She goes for her Pallet repair surgery. We have a top of the line surgeon working on her, but Laura and I are still nervous and since Tianna does not have a full understanding of English it is hard to explain to her whats going to happen. But we know this is for the best and one day she will look back on it and know we did this for her.

Well that's all for now, please pray for Tianna for a successful surgery and recovery.

Looking back on the 1st month

Today was Tianna's 4th Birthday and of course her 1st USA Birthday. We have now been home for just over 1 month and it has been an interesting one. Jet lag really did a number on the 3 of us. But that only took a week to over come. Laura lost her uncle and then we went right into the holidays.

The month has been filled with doctor appointments, 1st time meetings with family and friends, my birthday and my parents 50th wedding anniversary party. Then today Tianna's birthday. Through it all Tianna has fallen into a routine that has made life easy at home. The crying when its nap or bed time is all but gone. She is learning English and now can count to 10. She understands so much more then I ever thought she would this quickly.

We are now preparing for her cleft pallet repair surgery in February. We are all looking forward to the Chinese New Year Celebration that our agency is hosting next month. At that time we will be able to reunite with some of our travel group. And the best news is that we are looking into to heading to Disney World in May.

Laura, Tianna and I are getting into a groove as a family. Life is good right now.

Jet Lag, Blizzard, a Passing and the Holidays

The adjustment to home life as a family for the 1st week was not that smooth. We got home on the 17th and two days later we were hit with 25 inches of snow. The jet lag really did us all in as sleep patterns were all off for a few days. Then less then a week after coming home Laura's uncle Tom passed away. Uncle was like a father figure to her for many years and his passing, although not a total shock, still hit us hard.

Uncle Tom had been sick for a couple of months (although, he'd been ill for quite some time) and we both thought he may not make it until we got home. But as it turned out his last good deed was waiting till we got home so Aunt Carol would not be alone. He never did get a chance to meet his new Great Niece Tianna, but he was very excited for us when he found out we made it home.

The holidays were a lot of fun. Tianna really did not understand why she was getting gifts at every house she went to, but she liked it very much. After about a week, Tianna was settling in to her new house and her mom and dad.

It seems that now every couple of days there is something new to experience with Tianna. The 1st dinner out, meeting her new extended family, visit to the firehouse. Its all new to her and Laura and I are getting a lot of enjoyment out being parents.

Going Home Part 2 December 17th

We were nearing time to board the plane for the loooooong flight home. While waiting for the boarding announcement we met up again with the lady, her mom and her new daughter. She was visibly upset. I asked her where she was sitting and they told her that she was got 3 single seats. They had nothing together. I could not imagine having all three of us sitting in different seats for a 14 hour flight.

When we saw them on the plane they were in the back with us. They were able to get two together but grandma had to sit in the row behind them. Laura and I both felt the stress of doing an adoption and being on the road had taken a toll on her.

Tianna was wonderful on the flight considering how long it was. She had only two crying spells and one was before we took off. I on the other hand was not as good. I have been afraid of flying lately, not really sure why considering just how much flying I had done in my life. Perhaps since I have a wife and child I feel I have more to live for. Well what ever reason it is, turbulence and I don't mix.

As we got closer to Newark I began to reflect on how our lives have changed in the last 4 months. It seemed that an adoption would never happen, and now it was almost over. Everything was almost over. No more paper work, medical exams, home study updates and most of the quest to become parents was over. Laura and I were now mom and dad. Or as Tianna would say, "Mamma" and "Pappa".

The movement through customs, immigration services and luggage claim was pretty smooth. While waiting for the luggage my dad called wondering where we were. I could tell mom reached a point of not being able to wait any longer. And her wait would end shortly. The 1st family member we saw was my brother Jim, then mom and dad.

The ride home was fun as mom, dad and Jim got to hear about our trip and to FINALLY meet Tianna. Tianna dozed off for a short time on the way home. When we got to the house it was decorated by some of our friends from the FCC LI group. Tianna loved her new room and the play room was a big hit.

We were finally home, as one journey ended a new one was about to begin.