I am going to try and keep this journal up for the first year home. Maybe some of the things we have learned through this adjustment time will be of help to those of you that are going through the same thing.
Sept. 5, 2000 - We visited Grammy and Grandpa while they were camping this week-end, Vickie had a blast. She loved being out doors in the mountains. She is really settling in. But she isn't sleeping at night like she did in China.
Sept. 10, 2000 - Today Vickie met her cousins Brandon and Brianna. We all got together for mom and dad's birthday. They weren't able to meet our plane because of it being so delayed. They are just about 6 months older, but it sure seems like they are a lot older. But I know that she will catch up soon.
Sept. 11, 2000 - We saw her Dr. for the first time and though she is very healthy and happy. He feels that she younger than what we were told. He wants to run a test to see if we can determine it for a fact. But he warned that it may not show any thing conclusive because of her age. He also said that we need to re-do all of her shots. Oh well I had hoped that she wouldn't have to go through that.
Sept. 15, 2000 - I think we are finally over the jet lag. I have felt like a Mack truck had ran over me. I didn't feel it going to China but I sure felt it coming back. My friend who has adopted twice said the same thing happened to her both times.
Sept. 24, 2000 - Well today we celebrated her birthday. We also had her welcome home party, so we had a rather large birthday party! We are talking about changing Vickie's birth date we may picked to honor Jeff's mom by using her birthday, we shall see what the tests say. We honored my mom with Vickie's middle name already. Our friends that are Chinese said that this is also an appropriate way to change the birth date. That China would be please. So to honor the date China gave her we had her baby dedication today. Vickie was an angle while being baptized. I think she liked being the center of attention.
Oct. 1, 2000 - We have been home a month it is hard to believe. Vickie is adjusting fine except at night she wakes up 5 or 6 times with night terrors. It is really worrisome. We have talked to the Dr. and our social worker they suggested we put a small crib in our room. We found a co-sleeper it is a little crib thingy that attaches to our bed. I hope it helps.
Oct. 4, 2000 - Today Cassie gave her China report at School for Christian Heroes. This also counts towards her 4-H project.
Oct. 6, 2000 - Wow the co-sleeper has really helped. She was only up twice last night. Today was a hard day though she had blood drawn, shots and a TB test. Yuck
Oct. 12, 2000 - Not TB. But she is sick again. The Dr. said he thinks it is Allergies.
Oct. 24, 2000 - We leave for Disney and the CCAI 2000 reunion. Cassie is really excited.
Nov. 4, 2000 - We all had a blast. Vickie really enjoyed it too. We stayed with our dear friends who are more like family than friends. Jeff, Vickie and I all slept in the same bed and Vickie didn't wake up once. It must just be that she likes to be close to us. Now that she is back in the co-sleeper we shall she how she sleeps.
Nov. 17, 2000 - Vickie is sick again. We don't know what is going on about once a month she is sick and on antibiotics. Our Dr. isn't sure what is going on.
Dec. 11, 2000 - We have been busy with school and my teaching. But now I am down with bronchitis. I will be glad when the 16th is here we then have a break from Grace until Jan. 16th. We are so thankful that Jeff has been able to work his schedule so that he can watch Vickie while I teach my class, on the days that he can't, I have been allowed to wear her in my hip-sling, I really think that has helped with her attachment.
Dec. 14, 2000 - I am better. But Vickie is sick again. Cassie started coughing so maybe this month it isn't the crud that Vickie has been having every month.
Dec.22, 2000 - Our friends had the girls to a Happy Birthday Jesus party. They both had a great time. Vickie because all the other girls were Cassie's age and they were spoiling her.
Dec. 24, 2000 - Tonight Vickie met all of my family. The Borst family always gets together for Christmas Eve. We have every since I can remember. With Grandma gone now I wondered if we would again this year but was so glad to get the call from Mickie that we were. Vickie is starting to take some steps but she spent the whole nigh on my lap. She did get down on the floor with her gift exchange toy. Everyone loved meeting her.
Dec. 25, 2000 - Wow Vickie didn't know what to play with first. We had part of the day here then a second Christmas at my brother's and his family at their house. Vickie is one tired little girl she wouldn't go down for a nap at all today. I hope she sleeps tonight.
Jan 1, 2001- Wow I can't believe that last year at this time we didn't have our darling Vickie Jo. I wasn't even sure that we would ever get her. Now she is our happy loving little girl.
Jan 9, 2001 - We got the test results from her bone test and they are inconclusive. So we are just going to go by our gut feelings and change her date. When we file the paper work in April.
Jan 16, 2001 - Well we didn't have the first day back at school after all we had a blizzard instead. Wow does Vickie love the snow. It was so deep that she couldn't move around. Cassie pulled her on her sled. By the time it stopped snowing we had a total of 3 feet.
Feb 3, 2001 - Happy Chinese New Year!!! we went to a celebration put on by our FCA group and another Asian group. It was so fun. We also met up with the family that we met in Guangzhou what a small world. They are going to join our Church so Vickie and Me Ling can play in the nursery together.
Feb. 10, 2001 - We celebrated Vickie's birthday. It was so fun with all of our family and friends. But our house was really crowded! Vickie had a blast. I did a blues clues theme and she was so excited. Jeff's mom came so we had an adult cake for her. She had so much fun celebrating this special day with Vickie. She really is please that we chose her birth date. She was a little hurt when she found out about Vickie name. But she never let on. So I am glad that this is the date we chose. My mom also told me that this is my granddad's birth week he died before I was born . He was born on the 11th.
Feb. 17, 2001 - Vickie is sick again. Her Dr. said that if it happens again next month he has a plan. I hope so. It isn't that she is that sick it just can't be good for her to be sick all of the time.
March 16, 2001 - Well the whole family has been sick for most of the month. Vickie had RSV but we kept her with enough fluids that we kept her out of the hospital. We had to go three times for oxygen checks but they were all fine. The Dr. decided to put her on one type of antibiotic then when they end, start her on another type, then a third type and see if we can get her over this. He feels that she had a dormant infection that she probably has had for months before we brought her home. We hope it will work now. We also had a very sick goat, Vickie's favorite pet, but he is on he mend also. We almost lost him.
March 18, 2001 - The twins turned 2 today. They had 4 sets of 2 year old or older twins that are in Brandon and Brianna's play group. But Vickie did wonderful. She played and had a great time. She is really getting so that when she is around a group of people she isn't so shy and not wanting to set on only mommy's lap.
April 27, 2001 - Vickie has now gone over a month with out a cold. Wahoo I guess the antibiotic treatment worked.
April 28, 2001 - We joined our local FCA group. We had a play date at the Children's Museum. The kids really enjoyed themselves. Cassie had a few girls that are almost her age. I think they were 8 and 9 so she had fun also. We then went to lunch with Me Lings family.
May 9, 2001 - Something happened today that kind of had me feeling jealous. See at school the teachers and staff gave one of the teachers a shower for her newborn baby. It was really nice but I couldn't help think that "how come they didn't give Vickie one!" I guess that is just another case at how people look at adoption different from having a baby.
May 15, 2001 - We are on our last week of school both at home and at Grace. I am so thankful that this year is almost over. It has really been rough with Vickie and getting use to having someone under foot when we are schooling. I formed a yahoo group for Home School families and it has really helped a lot. I got some great ideas on what to do to keep Vickie occupied while we were doing school work. We also did a lot when Vickie was asleep!
May 20, 2001 - Vickie is finally sleeping most all of the night with out any night terrors. She is waking up once at night then we put her over in the co-sleeper and then she sleeps the rest of the night. It is wonderful.
May 29, 2001 - Vickie had her check up and she is finally on the American charts. She is in the 5th and 10th percentile!!
June 9, 2001 - We worked the CCAI information booth at the Christian Family Expo. I can't believe that 2 years ago we were one of the families asking about adopting from China. Now we were a family showing off our little China darling. It was so much fun.
June 19, 2001- Well it finally happened Jeff was laid off at Oracle this morning. We knew it was just a matter of time since they have been doing this every six months for at least 2 years.
June 22-25, 2001 - Vickie's first camping trip. She loved it. She spent time climbing on rocks and playing in the dirt. She even went on a hike with her "BaBa" my dad. She had so much fun. She and Cassie shared a bunk with each other and she thought that she was big stuff sleeping in a sleeping bag. She still woke up once a night though Cassie slept straight through it.
July 3, 2001 - We finally found time to go and have a professional family portrait done. We will find out how it really looks on the 25th as the previous is in black and white and blurry.
July 9 - 13, 2001 - This is VBS week at church. For those of you who do VBS you know what I am talking about. Those who don't it is a day bible camp for an entire week. What a lot of work. Vickie wouldn't stay in the nursery while I worked. We have really had a hard time with her staying there. Our social worker said that we shouldn't push it until we have been home a year. That Vickie could still be reacting to being in the orphanage. So Jeff took care of her. I guess that is one good thing about him being laid off.
July 21-27, 2001 - County fair!! What a fun whirl wind week. Cassie took Reserve Grand Champion with her Global Citizen ship project. She did her project on our adoption and the effects of infant abandonment. I was really proud of her. Vickie spent the whole week wanting a baby chick. She loved holding them.
*We lost our wonderful Dr. Blitzer August 18th, 2002, we will miss him so much. Our new Dr. looking over Vickie's records had brought up that she feels that Vickie was premature not that her birth date is wrong. So we have decided to keep the date that China gave her...