This Time Last Year...

To my sweet baby Quinton,

This time last year, my little one, you were only a dream.

You were just a picture that I couldn't take my eyes off of.

Those big blue eyes captivated me and drew me in.

Once I saw your sweet face and those sad eyes just begging for a mommy, it was over. 

I knew you were meant to be mine.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would travel across the world for my first child, but you, my sweet boy, were worth it all.

Your smile takes my breath away.

Watching you sleep is precious beyond words.

You are so special to me.

I love you so much and thank God everyday for choosing your daddy and me to be your parents.

You are a bigger blessing that I could ever have dreamed of.

You have overcome obstacles that little boys your age should never have to endure,

but your will to survive was so strong and your life has been redeemed.

Quinton, your daddy and I love you so much.

And we will be forever grateful to God for His perfect match made in heaven.

Mommy and Daddy love you bunches little one!

We're Still Here :)

We have been home for almost 2 months! Quinton is doing fantastic! He changes so much everyday. It is really unbelievable to watch. He is just bursting with personality.

Lots has been going on here. Quinton had his initial evaluations completed by early intervention in order to assess his abilities and determine what kinds of therapies he will qualify for. In most areas he fell somewhere in the 8 month old range and he qualified for speech, occupational, and physical therapy. We are so excited to get these therapies started and watch him grow even more. We took Quinton to the dr. yesterday and he weighed 20 lbs. 13 ounces. That means he has gained about a pound since coming home. 

He is learning how to work cause and effect toys instead of just banging them together to make noise. He is up on all 4's a lot now-just about to crawl. He is standing on his own (bearing his own weight, just needing to hold a finger for balance) and he is transitioning from a sitting position to laying on his tummy. Before he just laid flung himself backwards and smacked his head and then rolled over to his tummy. He laughs and smiles all the time and is really seeking out attention. 

Work is back in full swing. It is so hard being away from him all day. I told myself that I would stay after work everyday to prepare for the next day so that I would not have to bring work home with me, but I just can't. I am just itching to get my hands on him and hug him and kiss his sweet face. We have been very fortunate as far as childcare is concerned. We were going to put Quinton in daycare, but it was going to cost at least $600/month. Brian was going to have to work so much off duty to pay for it, he was hardly ever going to get to spend any time with Quinton. So, his supervisors graciously allowed him to come off of the dual sport bikes (first shift) and go back to second shift. This was a huge sacrifice for Brian too because he loves riding motorcycles all day, but he did it for his baby :) So, now Brian keeps Quinton until 2:00 everyday and then my mom comes home from work and keeps him until I get off work and go pick him up at her house. We love having him with family all day.

Brian is embracing fatherhood. I knew he would be great, but there really are no words to explain how incredible he is with Quinton. He shared this story on his facebook the other day:

I was at home depot with Quinton and this lady stops me and tells me what a blessing it is to have a child with ds. She has a 21 yr old with ds in college. Right as she said it I felt QB's shirt getting wet. He peed in my arms. lol And you know what? It made me smile. I love being a daddy. What a great day.

How sweet is that? I love him!

So, things have been busy but fantastic. Here are some pictures from our favorite photographer Alisa from Pumpkins and Pearls Photography :) Check out her website if you live in the Charlotte area and are looking for some awesome family pictures. She also designed us some beautiful custom thank you cards that we should be getting today! I can't wait to send them out!

Quinton is loving life and we are loving him. Thank you for helping us bring him home :)

Growing Up Too Fast!

I actually wrote this post a while ago, but when I got up to get the camera card I knocked over the computer and busted the screen :( It cost somewhere around $160 to fix (and that was with a police discount) making this officially the most expensive post yet! Anyways-the important thing is that the computer is fixed and I can start posting cute pictures again. So, here is the post from I don't know how many days ago :)

I just cannot believe how much Quinton changes everyday. He continues to amaze me. One of the toughest things though is finding a balance between the teacher in me that wants to see him learn new things and the mommy in me that missed the infant phase of his life and wants him to stay a baby just a little longer. Last week my little guy decided that he could hold his own bottle. I know that this is fantastic, but I won't lie. I love the time that we spend together-holding him in my lap and feeding him his bottles. Oh well, we still have a little more work to do so I will enjoy the moments while they last.

We got a call from the doctor last week letting us know that Quinton's blood tests did indicate that he has some mild hypothyroidism :( I know that this is far from the worst news that we could have received, but my heart just sank. He will face enough challenges in his life. This is just one more hurdle we have to get over. So now we will add pediatric endocrinologist to our list of specialists we need to see. Hopefully we can get his levels under control and it will not be an issue. Update: Since I wrote this post, we have had some more testing done which indicated that Quinton does NOT have hypothyroidism! Yay for lab errors!

As far as doctors are concerned, we have been so blessed. Dr. Kelly was great with Quinton and so were his nurses. They are working on referrals to a cardiologist, the endocrinologist, and a special chromosome clinic at Duke. He also quickly referred us to the early intervention team and they have already been out to the house to start initial paperwork and they will be out the first week in September to do an evaluation to determine what therapies he will benefit from. I am so excited for him to get started!

Lots of people have asked if we have made any progress with feeding. The short answer is yes. The past week or so, Quinton has been willing to eat some applesauce or yogurt from a spoon, but he has a really hard time. He sticks his tongue out, so it's hard to get food in and once you get it in, he puts his thumb in his mouth like a bottle nipple to help him swallow. We will get there though. It is definitely a step in the right direction.

We have been very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have been so generous with their time and have also showered Quinton with some very nice gifts. A very sweet lady named Sharon who only knows us through this blog sent a case of those denim diapers all the way from Florida. They are so cute. Sharon-I will try and get a picture of him wearing them soon :) Thanks to everyone who has come to visit/babysit and who have sent/brought gifts. We really appreciate it.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for my students. I am excited to see them again, but not so excited about leaving Quinton. Luckily my mom and dad were each able to take a week of vacation, so he will not have to start daycare until September.

It seems like there is so much more I would like to share, but I can't think of it right now. Hmmm...guess that means I need to be better about keeping up with this blog ;) It's been hard to find the time lately. Quinton certainly keeps us on our toes, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Well, here is what you have all been waiting for..pictures!

Mostly Pictures

We took Quinton to the pediatrician this week. Everything went well. He weighs 19 pounds 13 ounces and is 29 inches tall. He got some yucky shots. That was no fun, but the nurses were much nicer that the one that gave him a shot at the orphanage. He did recommend that we see a pediatric cardiologist to check out his heart since he has an open oval window. He said that it is nothing to be alarmed or concerned about right now though. His murmur was really hard to hear and very faint-thank you God! He told us about some early intervention services provided by our county. They will come out and do some initial assessments and help us get started with speech, occupational, and physical therapies for Quinton. 

The video clip below is from the first day we met Quinton. I cannot believe how much he has changed. Compare it with the pictures and video of him now. It is amazing what a little love will do for a little boy :)

Fast forward 2 months and look at him now!

And today he found the dog's water bowl. I just watched him forever before I thought to record it. I love watching him explore. 

I'm kinda biased, but I think he's the most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life :) I love him so much and thank God for his precious life everyday.

It's Been A Week Already!

This past week was a whirlwind. We got home last Thursday and our days have been full of family and visitors. I cannot even describe to you all how good it felt to be home with friends and family and to be sleeping in my own bed again. Quinton continues to change everyday. A little more of his personality shines through and he is really coming out of his shell. We are so in love with him. He will be sitting on my lap and then all of a sudden he will flash me a sweet smile that I swear is worth a million dollars and then thrust forward with his arms outstretched to hug me. It is absolutely priceless. As I am sitting here typing, Quinton has fallen asleep in his daddy's lap. He used to fall asleep alone. Never ever again will this little boy with a heart of gold be alone. Never. Ever. Again.


Here are some of our homecoming pictures. A huge thanks to my friend Alisa for taking them for us! There were so many-too many to choose from. You can check out my facebook profile if you want to see them all.

At then end of most of my posts from Ukraine there was a countdown to one thing or another, but there is nothing to countdown to anymore because God has answered our prayers and our little boy is Home. For. Good.

Update

Wow! You all are amazing. I cannot believe the responses we have had to our blog. So many people have come up to me and asked if we are going to continue blogging. No wonder things went so smoothly for us. There were friends of friends of friends following our journey and praying for us. We cannot thank you all enough. I will continue to update the blog for sure. Your comments served as a constant source of encouragement when we were anxious, frustrated, and homesick. Your prayers are what helped us through.

Quinton is absolutely coming alive! He is thriving before our very eyes. I don't know what all to say-words just can't describe the joy he had brought to us. His smile lights up the room. It is so special to rock him to sleep at night and to be greeted in the morning with a huge grin. There is really nothing better. He loves the bathtub, rattles, and anything that makes noise. He loves having a mommy and a daddy and a family and friends. He is sitting up on his own now like it's no big deal even though just a few weeks ago he needed help holding his head up. He is not crawling yet but does a great inchworm scoot and is now getting up on all 4's. I think he will be crawling before we know it. It is so fun to see him transform. We have 18 days before I have to return to work and I plan on soaking up every moment with him that I can. Here are some pictures from the past few days. They're not in order and I'm too tired to fix them...sorry ;)