She's doing just fine

It amazes me how the time has flown by.  On one hand it seems like we were just in Taiwan and on the other it seems like she has been a part of our lives forever.  I look back on our pictures and tears still come to my eyes remembering what it was like to see her for the first time...to hold her and know that she was ours. Claire has an endless amount of energy and we are always on the run with her. She fills our lives with laughter and excitement for life like only a child can.

 

She has an infectious and devious smile all at the same time.

Jon and I were just talking the other day about her caretakers in the orphanage...we wonder if they get updates on the children that they loved and cared for. Claire had one caretaker in particular that was very bonded to her. She wept when we picked her up.  We send updates like we're supposed to but I wonder if those are just for the birthfamily...I wonder if these women care for and love our children while we aren't there and then with heavy hearts hand them over with faith to foreigners, never to know how it all turned out. How hard that must be. So we've decided to send an email to the orphanage explaining that we didn't know if the caretakers were updated,  but we wanted them to know how happy she is..how happy we all are and that she's well taken care of...and of course we'll attach the cutest pictures we can.  And we hope that it will get passed on to "Lilly" and she'll know for sure that that little angel is doing okay...

Back on track..

Well so much has been going on...let's update.  The past 5 months have brought some changes in our household.  About 4 months ago..Jon got hurt again..he fell at Pump it Up, which is an inflatable party place for kids..he and Claire were climbing up a high slide thingy, Claire squirmed and they fell...far.  Jon cradled Claire and she was okay, but he shattered his ankle-requiring surgery and Jon was out on disability for 4 months.  He is doing ok now, but will have problems for the rest of his life probably requiring more surgery as he gets older.  Didn't I say that he wasn't allowed on high things....geeesh..
I changed jobs. I was working 5 days a week(like most normal people) plus call shifts, but I didn't feel like the quality of my interactions with Claire were very good.  She's a day person and was just grumpy when I got home and I felt like I never saw her. So I went back to 12 hour night shifts and am now working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.  I love love love my new job and I love all the time I have with Claire now.  I'm with her everyday and I only miss the nighttime routine 3 nights a week. Plus I'm a true night person at heart so I need less sleep.  I hated hated hated getting up at 5 am 5 days a week.  The relationship between Claire and I has changed..she's not grumpy around me as much and we're able to do so much now.  I almost feel like a stay at home Mom.
My oldest nephew has moved in with us for the school year.  So now we have the terrible twos and a 16 year old.  Claire loves having him around and he's a tremendous help to us and is very good with Claire.  But let's not forget that he's 16.  Seriously he makes me feel old......
Our phone lines went down one night..I thought it was the computer so I pressed buttons..a lot of buttons..and reset things I probably shouldn't have reset..so our entire computer network was down...for many months...so after about 5 months we have it corrected and now finally I'm back on track...with more time to enjoy the things I like doing...like updating our blog...