Happy Birthday and Gotcha Day!

Today is Cael's 8th Birthday! Even though I have absolutely insisted that each of my children stop growing...they continue to do it!! WAH!! Last weekend, my folks came to town for a quick visit and a post-Kai birthday and pre-Cael birthday party.

My dad's choral group was singing the National Anthem at the Redbirds home opener. It was really cool! The older boys went with Pop to hear the music and we took Kai to see the Parade of Ducks at the Peabody hotel...too cute!

Today, we celebrated with dinner at Red Robin and their fabulous bottomless fries...they may be re-thinking that campaign after our visit there, tonight! After eating all of all those fries, the celebratory burgers and milkshakes...not to mention the complimentary chocolate sundae...we were too full for birthday cake! Cael made the decision to spread his birthday into tomorrow, where we will light the candles and drag this party out until Friday! What kind of cake is that? Please don't laugh...Cael had asked for a Texas Sheet Cake-Ice Cream Cake combo and this was my attempt with the cake, chocolate-marshmallow ice cream, and that warm chocolate icing that I really tried to cool before adding on top of the ice cream...you can see that a little melting did occur. In spite of Sponge-Bob's appearance...he was not harmed in the making of this concoction...I never said I was an artist!

On Friday, we will celebrate the 3rd anniversary of his "Gotcha Day!" (I added a few pics from those days as a reminder of how much he has grown!)
It's hard to believe that is has been three years since Cael became a forever member of our family! He had just turned five when we met and he has nestled his way into our hearts and lives, as if he had been with us since the day he was born.

Cael is our sensitive child (he gets that from me:-) He takes everything you say to heart, so choose your words carefully...and he won't forget them either! He is smart beyond his years and is most definitely a pleaser!

We love you Cael...and in the words of Billy Joel, "Don't Go Changin'!!"...really...stop growing up so fast!

Happy Easter!

It has been a rainy Easter Weekend around here...so we hung around the house on Saturday in our jammies. We colored eggs, baked a coconut cake and some hot-crossed buns...and enjoyed time at home as a family.

Today, after church (note the ties on the dashing young gentlemen), we made our way to The Helmsmen Club on base for their fabulous Easter brunch. It was the first time, in a long while, that we did stay home for a big meal on Easter. I gotta tell ya...it was pretty nice! While I do love to cook those big holiday feasts, I don't like that it is over so fast and I'm still in the kitchen cleaning. Today, we were able to sit and talk about the meaning of the day and then walk away from the dishes...pretty cool!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. We hope your day was filled with good food and family!

Here Comes the Boom!

The Ferland Academy is back in full swing around here...and while the days have been full of academic excellence, the evenings have been for burning off some steam! Since it has been pretty cold, our evening walks have turned into wrestle-fests and pillow fights!

Tonight's main event started with Jay and Kai...then Cael finished his shower and joined in...followed by Cam. Eventually, Rhett could take no more and we allowed him in the mix. At one point, Cael got knocked off the bed and I think Kai was trying to give him some version of CPR...

What fun! But it's hard to get the littles settled down for bed:-)

Cross-over Ceremony

What a big night, here in the Ferland household. Campbell was one of two boys to participate in a cross-over ceremony. This means he moves from being a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout...and what an emotional event it was. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and one of the more formal that I have witnessed.

The first part of the ceremony is the awarding of the "Arrow of Light". This is the highest award in Cub Scouting and is the only Cub Scout badge that you can wear on your Boy Scout uniform. Cam had to work on outdoor skills, physical fitness, and learn more about citizenship and working with others. In addition to the Arrow of Light, he also received the Super Achiever award which means he earned every activity pin possible as a Webelo (he was the ONLY one who did this...but I'm just bragging!!)

Below are the pictures from the event...I cried through the whole thing!! At the end of the ceremony, we had a little reception, and then the Boy Scouts (who you will see removing his Cub Scout uniform parts and replacing them with Boy Scout components) take him to his first meeting.

We are SOOOO very proud of you, CAMPBELL!! Here's to you making Eagle Scout, someday!!

Baby Steps

We are slowly beginning to find our way into a new "normal". Kai seems to just about be over the croup (as are the other 2 boys!) and we think we have stumbled into a general wake, food, nap, and sleep schedule. While he was sick, the potty training sort of fell off, but that seems to be back on track with (you guessed it) peanut M&Ms! He has begun to actively explore the house and his room. His comfort level has increased to the point that last night, we made the move to let him sleep in his "big boy bed" in a room he shares with Cael. He slept through the night, came down with Cael this morning, without a single tear (and was even smiling). He napped there, this afternoon (with some convincing), but by this evening, he asked to go to bed at 8:30 and got right in that bed like he'd been doing it for years! What a relief! Now, Jay and I might get a full night's sleep!
Jay will re-convene school for Cam and Cael on Monday, so that will require a shift in the routine, but we have definitely made baby steps toward what our life will be like...that is, until I go back to work the first week of April!

A couple of weeks before we went to China, we found someone in town who was selling a regular stroller and a jogging stroller. Both have been lifesavers! Jay and I have been easing back into our running routine and we've found that it is a great way to get Kai into nap mode!

Thanks for the continued well wishes! We feel so very blessed and are anxious to get to see many of you, soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday, Kai!

Today is Kai's third birthday. Gosh. It seems like only yesterday, he was two and we were just coming home from China! (is that even remotely funny to anyone else, but me?)

Anywho...Kai continues to slowly improve, but the poor fella just really wants to sleep. So we keep him up as long as we can to force fluids and other nutrition in his little body. Surprisingly, this morning he awoke smiling and asking to eat! YEAH! He nibbled on some rice cakes that we picked up in China and some good 'ol Cheerios! Other than that, the only thing we have been really getting him to take in is chicken and beef broth.

Suffice it say that I would love to have posted pictures of him blowing out candles and eating cake, but I could not keep him up pas 6:00 tonight. Our plan was to have cake and ice-cream after the older boys returned from scouts. I figured I would let him sleep, then wake him up when the older boys returned home...BAD MOVE...and BAD MOOD! While we were pretty sure he would not yet be into cake, we KNOW he likes ice cream. He had also enjoyed watching the boys spell out his name in peanut M&Ms atop our family's tradition of a Texas Sheet Cake for birthdays. So, I do have a few pictures of him, first thing this morning, and after receiving a new truck.

With heavy eyelids, myself, I am heading to bed...hoping for a full night's sleep but prepared for the continual coughing (now sounds dry and just plain irritating to him). Thanks to all for the wonderful emails and comments. They are so special to us! We also want to thank you for your continued prayers as we strive for a new normal!

G'night!

The Last 48 hours

Well...we did not fall off the face of the earth, but the China plague got us after all! Jay and I have had pretty mild cases of congestion and sore throat, but Kai has been very sick. Poor little guy!

Here is a run down of our home coming:

We arrived in Memphis, on time, at 0700 on Friday morning. Cam and Cael were absolutely smitten with Kai, and Kai ate up every bit of the attention! After stopping off and filling up on biscuits and gravy at Cracker Barrel, we made our way home to see our four-legged baby, Rhett. This meeting was NOT love at first site...at least not for Kai. I think Rhett was happy to have us home, but Kai was extremely afraid of the dog, as we expected. We decided to let them have their own spaces and spend the rest of the day trying to stay awake! We went for a walk to the park, watched TV in English, and snacked on foods we had missed the last couple of weeks. By evening, Kai had started to run a low grade temp and by midnight, he had spiked a high fever with a seriously croupy cough. All this equals no sleep for Mom! By morning, his fever and cough remained and the poor guy wanted to sleep ALL day...which we let him do, with the exception of trying force fluids in him, every chance we got. In between sleeps, we tried to catch up on laundry and grocery shopping, etc...but Kai really just wanted to be held all day...and that was just fine by me! While Saturday night was rough, too, this morning, his fever started to break and we began to see glimpses of the Kai that we came to know in China, re-appear.

Unfortunately, our plans to introduce him to everyone at church this morning, were not going to come to fruition. Therefore, we laid low and were thankful for signs of continued recovery. By this afternoon, after a walk to the park, Kai had made peace with Rhett and even tried to give him a hug and a kiss. The pictures are of the first smiles we have seen since first arriving home and they were a welcome site! (Please don't judge me in my physical state! I have had a total of 23 minutes of sleep in the last 48 hours:-)

As I was typing this post, Kai was taking a bath and had asked to get out to go to the bathroom. OK. Check. Kai goes back in the tub while the older boys were watching and playing with the bath toys and keeping him entertained. Then IT happened. Yes. The big "it". Cam runs over to me yelling that Kai has pooped in the bathtub. I immediately deny it. How could this be? He just went! I was there! But sure enough...there it was...the evidence...and not a male in sight to assist with the clean-up (except for Kai who looked as shocked as the rest of us). Bleach and scrubbies to the rescue, to include a thorough cleaning of all 476 bath toys that had been also floating in the tub. I re-filled the tub with fresh water and bubbles so that Kai could get another thorough cleaning and then I allowed him to splash around and enjoy his brothers who, after some coaxing, agreed to come back to entertain him some more. After about 15 minutes, they call me to tell me that Kai is ready to get out of the tub. I look over to see that he has one leg draped over the side of the tub. Yes...you know what is coming next. In slow motion, as I am telling him to wait for me, he slips and bumps his head on the faucet. That well-deserved scream session lasted a solid 10 minutes with me trying to hold ice to the bump behind his ear. Poor guy...what a miserable two days!

So as I type this post, I realize that it is official! In the last 48 hours, I have now cleaned up just about every possible body fluid from just about every orifice of my new son's little body. And you know what? I would not change a single minute of it (except maybe the part where he slipped and bumped his head). These are the three kids that we have spent the last 15 years praying for and God has GREATLY blessed us. Not even the sleepless, croupy, jet-lagged nights of fretting would change my mind or my heart that each of our kids were fearfully and wonderfully made...just for me and my patient husband.

I hope to be able to provide you all with some better homecoming pictures in the next few days...as soon as we can find our camera!

Love to all!

U-S-A! U-S-A!

We are now on American soil...PTL! While our flight into LAX was almost an hour late, we sailed through customs and immigration without any trouble...and in less than an hour! What a difference between here and Chicago-OHare during our last adoption! The first picture is of our son with our guide, Kelly, just as we were leaving China, followed by Kai learning that he could watch his own movie on the plane...then the one of our newest American Citizen...even if he was a little tired and cranky!

We have nearly a 6 hour layover until our flight to Memphis, so we had an all-American-hot-dog-dinner with another adoptive family from Minnesota (Yeah, you betcha!) who were also on their second adoption. Very nice people who were still fighting the plague of China (fingers are still crossed that we don't get sick!) After dinner with them, we still had another 2 hours to wait, so we went to a place where we could chill out with some chips and salsa (a big hit with Kai) and waited to move into our boarding area.

Kai could not hang on, until boarding (after midnight) so we have now let him fall asleep and made him a little pallet at our feet. I hope that we do not regret this on the 4 hour flight back into Memphis.

Anyway, We had a great time in China, but GOD BLESS AMERICA! We can't wait to squeeze our other 2 boys in a few hours!

More from Memphis!

Last Day!

I knew it! We stayed up until 10 pm and slept until 0500...finally adjusted to China time...and we leave in 12 hours:-) That's OK...we're headed home!

I think we have decided to catch a cab out to Shamian Island, and enjoy it one more time before we leave, today. There are a few more haunts that we want to get to, and we think we will have plenty of time.

Last night, we decided to go back to our new favorite restaurant, and we are hereby declaring it the new "Lucy's" for all adoptive families! I will write a separate post, once we are home, with a new and improved packing list and some places that have easy walking access and are kid (and wallet) friendly! The Greenisland Western Restaurant was a big hit, again, last night. We ordered a dish that equates to Chinese fajitas made with spare ribs. Our other dish had a little meat mixed with fresh ginger and broccolini. The meat in both dishes was so tender and had such great flavor! Kai LOVES meat! So much so, that I had to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him. It was pretty scary! He had shoved a big piece of meat in his moth and it was stuck! It finally came out to the point that I could physically pull it out...whew! OK...so we really have to cut his meat small and watch him like a hawk with meat. (Do you think my nomination for Mother-of-the-Year will be revoked?) I think it scared him pretty good, too, since all he could do was stare at his plate for several minutes before deciding he would continue to eat. In the end, he decided that sucking the marrow, right out of the bone, was safer.

Since it was our last night, we splurged, and the three of us split an ice cream sundae....also a big hit, and no choking hazard!

Below are a few pictures of our last evening, here. You can see that Kai is a real comedian and an escape artist. (BTW: The pull-up on his head was clean:-)

Next post....U.S.A!!!!!

THE FERLANDS HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY (well...almost)