Two Weeks Home......

Tomorrow Noah will have been home for two whole weeks! Overall, he is doing really well. Actually, exceptionally well :) I will be honest- the first week was rough, and we were basically in survival mode. We went to bed every night exhausted and sometimes wanting to cry :) But, we hung in there, continued to establish boundaries and rules in our home, and lovingly, yet firmly let Noah know that he would be expected to follow them. It was, and sometimes continues to be a hard balance to find, a balance between grace and structure/obedience. However, when we are tempted to let our frustration control us or to lose our patience, we stop and think about what Noah has endured, just in the short time we have known him. Who knows what he has experienced before then. Our goal is to show him love and to be a source of consistency.

The last couple of days, we have seen smiles most of the time, and he is even beginning to call us "mommy" and "daddy". Just today he also reached for me to carry him and to hold his hand. This is huge, as until today, he had not ever asked for any type of physical interaction with me. I loved it!!!

We have seen progress in Noah's behavior- the "meltdowns" as we have come to call them are for the most part less frequent and don't last near as long as they use to. They mostly occur when we ask Noah to do something he doesn't want to do, like quit playing to eat dinner or go to bed. All very normal. We can still see that Noah is still working through some grief and anger, and most likely will continue to for several months. His whole world has been flipped upside down and we know it will take time for him to see that we are going to be here through thick and thin, loving him and supporting him.

He and Caleb continue to play well together, though they do have their very normal
"brother moments". Just lately, Caleb has especially become somewhat jealous of the attention that Noah is receiving, and quite often I find both boys in my lap holding on for dear life

Today Noah had a visit at the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Kentucky. We were literally there almost five hours! We met with an occupational therapist, physical therapist, medical doctor, and also had lab work done and a chest x-ray. It was a long, but productive day. The occupational therapist was very impressed with the skills that Noah possesses, and she said he is right on track if not beyond where he should be. That is awesome news and we are very blessed. The physical therapist also said that Noah was right on track.

Dr. Taylor (the international adoption specialist) was very pleased overall with Noah's health, though she was concerned about a few things, mainly Noah's distended stomach and lungs, so she ordered a chest x-ray and also an abdominal ultrasound, which Noah will have later in the week. We already heard back from the chest xray and everything is fine. So now we just wait to have the ultrasound done. In the meantime, I will also be sending in poop samples. Yep, I said it. It's not the most glamorous job in the world, but it is part of being a mommy :)