Good Times Delgado Style

Find a Family Friday!!!

2012-05-25T15:43:00.004-05:00

Megan is such a cute little girl and she has a LOT of grant money $23,965 to be exact.

Please help Megan find a family fast and if you are her Mommy and Daddy please click HERE to get more information!

I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Happy 2 months home sweet boy and a post about our travels home :)

2012-05-17T22:03:00.001-05:00

I have no idea how two months have already gone by since we brought Anton home. It is blowing me away that he has been home that long and that he is doing so well.

I never talked about the plane ride home and since it was 2 months ago I think it's about time I did :)

Our host family woke up super early to be able to help us get out the door, Rob helped bring all of our luggage down in the wee hours of the morning in his jammies. It was freezing outside but I thought it was so sweet he helped us with everything. I was soooo nervous about flying with Anton. I was worried that we would have trouble taking all of our heavy bags into the airport, I was worried that they would try to search Anton since he was bandaged, I was worried that he would scream the whole time we were on the plane and I didn't know how I was going to feed him without being completely stressed out because he cried the whole time I fed him, every time I fed him.

We got to the airport and we were greeted by Alyona and a friend of hers. Alyona is one of the volunteers who helped get Anton to the better hospital, helped raise money to keep him there, helped raise money for his bandages and she checked on him all the time to make sure he had everything he needed. It meant a lot to me that she was there to see us off. They helped Sandy and I get all of our bags in and helped us move stuff around in our luggage because some of it was too heavy. They took us all the way back until they could go no further. There is a point in the airport where they check your tickets and your passport and there were TONS of people in line waiting to have their passport verified. I was getting very nervous because we were already running late and I knew there was no way we could make it to our gate in time if we had to wait in those crazy lines. Well Alyona spoke to the lady who checks the airline tickets (before you get in the crazy long line to have your passport checked) and I'm not sure what she told her but the lady walked us right up to the front of the line to have our passports checked :) It was amazing and I was so thankful all the staff at the airport had been so helpful up to this point.

I am so bummed out because I can't find the pictures of Alyona, Anton, and I at the airport but once I find them I will add them to this post.

We got through that part with no problems. Sandy was a rock star carrying all of our carry on bags and not missing a beat. Then it was time to put them through the x-ray and go through the x-ray thing ourselves and this is where it got hard. There were tons of people and I was holding Anton while Sandy was throwing everything on the belt to go through the x-ray machine while telling people, "Please wait, we have more bag." We had a ton of bags honestly I don't know how we got through with all the bags we had plus we had a stroller. This part stressed me out the most but it was fine and Sandy got all of our bags through without any problems. Then I walked up to the scanner thing, not the x-ray one but the one that takes a 3D image and they lady was telling me to do something with Anton but I could not figure out what she wanted me to do. I kept saying I don't know what you are telling me and she kept saying it in Russian. Then I figured out she wanted me to stand him up but I kept saying he doesn't stand then she kept telling me to stand him up in Russian so I just stood behind him and held him up. She then smiled and let us go through. That part was kinda funny.

We got to our gate and it was time for Anton to eat but we should have been boarding any minute. I thought it would be better to feed him while waiting instead of on the plane but we were in front of everyone and I knew they would be staring at me while I fed my baby with him laying down in his stroller screaming at the top of his lungs cause it hurt to eat and he chokes the whole time I fed him. I knew I had to get over it cause he needed to eat so I fed him while random people watched and made crazy faces. Thankfully the plane was boarding a little late so he got to eat his whole meal. Once he was done Sandy and I noticed a lot of people pre-boarding on the other side of us with small children so we walked up to the front and the lady at the desk completely ignored us while she talked on her phone. Thankful someone else who worked there saw us and said something to that woman and she took us back to pre-board. This was a huge answer to prayer because I didn't want people bumping into Anton and we had a TON of bags to get on the plane. We were able to get all seated and set up a comfy place for Anton before anyone else got on the plane.

Anton was amazing, he fell asleep before we took off and slept through the whole take off. I was shocked because up until this point he only slept in his stroller and it had to be completely quiet or he would wake up. Trust me on this one I was in the room with him sleeping at the hospital once and I moved which made a tiny noise and he woke up screaming. So for him to fall asleep sitting up on an airplane and sleep through the crazy loud noises of the plane taking off was a miracle.

I wish I could have recorded Anton the whole time we were on the plane to show you guys how well he did because looking back, I can hardly it. When he was awake he just played and was happy and when he was tired he just fell asleep. He took three naps on the plane and slept great all three of those times.

For about the last five hours Anton just wanted me to hold him which was amazing. He fell asleep on me for the first time which was the best feeling EVER. Once he woke up he did not want me to put him down so I just held him and we watched movies together and played together. This was such a neat time to bond with him! At one point I was so tired but he didn't want me put him down so I propped up my knees sat him on my lap and slept while he just sat there quietly.

The only times Anton cried on the plane was when I had to feed him or if I had to change his diaper. He cried at the top of his lungs every single time I did those things and it took about 15 minutes to feed him so this was very stressful for me but other than that he didn't really cry on the plane.

Anton fell asleep right before we landed and slept through the landing. I woke him up to change his diaper and clothes and he was not happy about that but once I was done he stopped crying. People waiting to get off the plane started talking to us and were so sweet and had a lot of questions about Anton's skin and the adoption. I was happy to answer their questions. The girls that sat behind us on the way home kept telling me how cute he was and how well he did on the plane. They were so sweet at one point Anton was asleep in his seat and it was time to eat so the flight attendant told me I had to raise Anton's seat since they were going to serve food. I started to panic and then I just turned around and told the girls something like, "Hey, he is asleep and if I move the seat he will wake up screaming, do you care if I leave the seat back?" They said they didn't mind at all and the flight attendant didn't say anything else about it. It was little moment like this the whole trip where I knew people were praying for us and I knew God had worked out every detail of our trip. The whole trip was just amazing and I know without a doubt God was working through the whole thing!

We waited until everyone got off the plane before we tried to get off so we wouldn't be rushed. Getting off the plane I held Anton and Sandy got all of our bags. I wish I could write a novel to tell you all how much Sandy helped me. She was amazing on the whole trip. She played with Anton and kept him entertained, watched him while I went to the bathroom, got our bags on and off the plane, and helped me with anything and everything I needed. Sandy is a rock star and I love her so much. I could not have done it without her.

We were walking toward immigration and there is a side for US citizens and then a different place for everyone else. A lady that worked at Houston airport saw us with our millions of bags and sweet Anton and rushed over to help us. She took us to the front of the line and even got the immigration guy to process Sandy on the American side. It was great. Then she took me to a room where Anton and I had to wait so they could process his paperwork and she told them to rush it for us too! It was awesome. It took a little while to get through all of this and she came back at one point to see what was taking them so long and told them to hurry again, ha! I was talking to Anton and explaining to him why we were there and that we would get to see Daddy soon then one of the officers said, "Does he know English?" I said "No." I couldn't figure out why he asked that then I realized I was talking to him just like I would Kenya or Judah and I thought to myself, "How else will he learn unless I talk to him?" Anyway that part was kinda funny.

The lady that took us to the front of the line and helped speed up our paperwork also went with us to help get all of our bags!!! She was so helpful and I can't say enough nice things about her.

It was at this point a police dog walked through and was sniffing the bags and I realized that was the first real dog Anton has ever seen. Think about that... He is 2 and he had never seen a real dog before...

We had to go through one more check point then the moment came that I had waited 14 hours for (well really 13 months). The doors opened and I saw Jason waiting in front of everyone for us. I couldn't help but be overcome by emotion. I had brought our SON home and there was HIS Daddy. Jason rushed over and Anton got so excited he kept pointing at Jason and saying "tom" which means "there" in Russian and he kept saying "Papa, Papa, Papa." He totally remember Jason and he was so excited to see him.

After we landed we had a 4 hour drive home and I was kinda nervous about this because almost every time we were in the car in Russia Anton would cry and cry and he even threw up several times because he was crying so hard. But again God blessed us and Anton was completely happy (except when I had to feed him once) the whole way home. We stopped right after we left the airport and got some Texas burgers (Sandy's request) and I had steak fingers and onion rings YUM. We just drove through because I was so ready to be home but the food was great. I was wiped out since I hadn't slept much on the plane so after I ate I crashed out and so did Anton in fact I think Sandy did too. Anton slept pretty much the whole way home!!!

I was sooooo excited to pull up in our drive way and I couldn't wait for Kenya and Judah to get to meet their brother but that will have to wait for another post cause this one is already way too long.

I hope you all enjoyed the details of our plane ride and drive home. God was so so faithful to us and I still can't believe how well Anton did on the way home!

(sorry some of the pictures aren't turned the right way I can't figure out how to fix it but I know my sweet hubby will fix it for me tomorrow) :)

Movie Monday

2012-05-14T12:45:00.000-05:00

Anton is talking so much and he is picking up on words just by listening to everyone around him. We were at Chili's the other day and one of the servers said "awesome" then Anton said it and it is now his new favorite word. I can't even count all the words he knows and he now knows around 10 signs. He is so smart and he amazes us with all the new things he is learning.

Here is a video a friend took at church with her cell phone.

Enjoy :)

Happy Mothers Day Mama Olga

2012-05-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

I wanted to take time to honor Anton's first Mama, the first woman in his life that he loved and felt safe with, the first woman in his life who loved him as her own son, the first women in his life who put her life on hold to take care of and love him, today I want to honor Anton's first Mama, Olga.

When we first found out about Anton he was 13 months old and as far as we knew he was still in the first hospital being swaddled all day long with no one to love on him or hold him. I could barely stand the thought of it. I paced the house all day long trying to find ways to bring him home faster and I was worried sick about him. Then we got the amazing news that Anton had already been transferred to a better hospital and he had a nanny that took care of him 24/7. I was overjoyed at this news and I was finally able to relax and work on adoption paperwork knowing that our baby was in good hands.

I will never forget the first picture I saw of Olga with Anton, she was pushing him around in his stroller and had the biggest smile on her faced. It brought so much joy to my heart to know she was there with him.

Then I found his Help Anton page on FB and I would check it all the time to see if they posted any updates. It was so neat to be in the adoption process while getting updates on Anton.

The more updates we got the more amazed we were at the level of care he was receiving. Olga became Anton's Mama and it was very clear that she loved him as her own child. Anton began to grow and learn more and more everyday with the loving care he was receiving from Olga.

On our first trip to Russia we got to see first hand just how much Olga loves him. She was very protective of him and made sure we weren't going to hurt him by picking him up the wrong way. She was very hospitable as well always offering us tea and chocolates.

Olga taught us everything she could about Anton so that once we brought him home we would know what he was use to. She taught us how to feed him, get him to sleep, how to do his dressing change, what she put on his face if he had boo boos, how to comfort him and so much more. She taught us everything she could and we were so thankful for that.

Here are a few pictures of Olga and her boy :)

Olga spent a year and a half of her life caring for Anton and she will always be his first Mama.

Olga,

We love you so much and we could never fully express with our words just how much you mean to our family. You will ALWAYS be Anton's first Mama and we are so thankful for the way you cared for Anton. Anton is one blessed baby and he has adjusted so well at home because of the amazing care you gave him. We miss you so much and we will always tell Anton about his first Mama. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY Olga I hope you have an amazing day filled with lots of love!!!

Love you sooo much,

The Delgados

Update on Anton

2012-05-08T11:23:00.001-05:00

I haven't really posted an update on Anton in a while so I wanted to let y'all know how he is doing.

Anton has adjusted so well, he has shocked us all with how well he is doing. He has bonded to Jason and I and looks to us to comfort him when he is upset. He LOVES Kenya and Judah and really enjoys playing with them.

He is the happiest kid EVER! He is never fussy (at home anyway) and just goes with the flow (for the most part).

Right after we brought Anton home I was running around but I needed to change his diaper so I stopped at a friends house really quick so I could change his diaper and he cried the whole time we were there. Then the first time we went to church he cried almost the whole time. I was worried that we would never be able to leave the house with him again but as of a few days ago I think he has overcome this fear. At church on Sunday he didn't cry at all and when people would talk to him he would just stare at them instead of shaking his head and telling them, "No". He even put on the charm and showed off his animal noises a few times. Then after church we went to a friends house and he was happy the entire time. I think he was scared at first because he was in the hospital and we had so many doctors appointments right after he got here he just never know if people were going to mess with him but I think he now knows he is safe at church.

I also think we got the issue with his stomach figured out. Anton is eating a lot of high calorie formula through his g-tube and at first he ate around the clock then we moved his feeds to three times a day and he ate each of those feeds over two hours and then ate the rest of his food through the night. Then we moved it to three times a day and he ate those feeds over one hour and the rest through the night. Lately, we moved his feeds to three times a day at thirty minutes each feed and he ate the rest through the night. I think what is happening is he is just getting too much too fast so we are slowing down his feeds during the day to see if that helps. He is handling his feeds well and hasn't thrown up or shown any signs of discomfort but we want to make sure we are feeding him at a rate that is right for him.

My camera has been broken for about a week so I haven't really taken many new pictures. We have done a lot in the month Anton has been home and it has been so exciting to get to see him experience new things. The highlight for me was going to eat at Chili's yesterday with Jason and all three kids. They all did great (well, besides normal kid behavior) and we had a great time. For the next day kids eat free at Chili's and the cool thing is you can get up to two kids meals free with the purchase of an adult entree. Just print THIS coupon and enjoy.

Anton's first time at church.

Everyone was so excited to meet him.

LOVE my sweet family and our amazing church.

God has blessed us so much and I am very thankful for our church family.

Anton and I met another Reece's Rainbow family at our local children's museum and we had a blast hanging out and letting the kids play. Julia's daughter was singing to Anton in Russian, it was so cute!

Karina and Anton had a blast digging for dino bones.

Anton's first time playing in the sand :)

We had such a great time together!

We also took the kids to a magic show. Kenya and Judah LOVED it and Anton fell asleep. Jason was there too and was taking the picture. This was our first time out as a family of five (besides church.) :)

After we brought Anton home it took about a month to really get in the groove of things. Some of that time was really hard but it is getting easier day by day. It seems like he has always been here and I can't imagine our lives without him.

I am going to start working on a post about his hands since that is the question I get asked the most so hopefully in the next few days I will be able to finish it.

I hope y'all have a great week!

Find a Family Friday (a day late)

2012-05-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

So yesterday was kinda crazy... Anton had been crying anytime I touched his G-Tube for a few days so I took him to the surgeon on Thursday and everything looked great so he treated him for an infection just in case and sent us on our way. Well Thursday night during dressing change Anton's stomach was very swollen around his g-tube site so I email pictures of it to his pediatrician on Friday and they said we should take him to the ER. They called ahead and let them know we were coming so as soon as I got there they took us right back. I have been so impressed by all of Anton's doctors they have all gone above and beyond to help us in any way they can and I can't thank them enough.

Once I got him in his room and unwrapped him to show his doctor his stomach it looked totally normal, ha. This always happens to us with our kids all of their symptoms disappear as soon as we get to the hospital. Thankfully I had taken pictures so I showed his doctor and he didn't think I was crazy (well at least he didn't tell me I was) :)

They did a g-tube study and watched (through x-ray) as the nurse pushed food through his g-tube. Everything went into his stomach and out of his stomach the way it was supposed to so thankfully the placement of his g-tube is perfect and it is working properly.

After that they had me give him a full feeding to make sure he could handle it and then they were going to send us home. About halfway through his feeding his stomach got big again so his doctor came in and said he really didn't know why it was doing that so we needed to see the GI on Monday. He is not in pain anymore so hopefully the GI can figure out why his stomach gets so big when he eats.

Here is what his stomach looked like on Thursday night kinda hard to tell but it is swollen all around his g-tube.

All that to say I totally forgot to post my Find a Family Friday post because I was at the ER with Anton so here it is a day late :)

Cooper was recently added to Reece's Rainbow and he is such a cutie!!! Is he your son?

Here is the link to his page on Reece's Rainbow if you want more information on this sweet boy!!!

I am also really excited to tell you all a group of adoptive Mom's were all talking and we have all decided to to Find a Family Friday every Friday and link up to each others blogs so more kids can get exposure. Please hop over to Amy's blog and check out the other waiting children and if you want to share about an orphan on Fridays please link up there.

And now some SUPER exciting news... Remember Kacey???

I posted about her on April 20th for my friend Kelly... Well her grant went from $200 to $1,364 in just 15 days!!!! Super excited about that!!! Spreading the word about these sweet kids, seeing their grants grow and watching them find families makes me so happy!!! Please join in on the Find a Family Friday and share about any child that needs a home.

Thanks!!!

In case you were wondering...

2012-05-05T12:07:00.004-05:00

In case you were wondering what we were doing at this exact moment of our lives I thought I would show you :)

Judah and Anton are riding their cars...

Kenya is playing a dolphin game on the x-box...

Jason and I are enjoying hanging out :)

and that's what we are doing right now :)

Movie Monday

2012-04-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

On our second trip to Russia, Anton had a book that played a song with his name in Russian. We thought it was so cute but we didn't realize it is a famous Russian nursery rhyme. Once we got home with Anton several people sent us the link to "Anton's" song on Youtube and we normally listen to it at least once a day. Kenya, Judah, and Anton all love this song!

Here is Anton dancing to and singing his song.

Here is a video of Kenya singing Anton's song to him during dressing change.

Here is his song if you want to hear the whole thing and see the cute little story.

UPDATE: Kenya, Judah, & Anton want this book... can you help?

2012-04-27T16:21:00.001-05:00

UPDATE:
I AM SO EXCITED TO TELL Y'ALL THE BOOK WAS FULLY FUNDED!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!!! I WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW ONCE YOU CAN ORDER YOUR OWN COPY!!!
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Our kiddo's love to read books, we have tons of them and they love getting new ones. But, there is one book coming out, well, hopefully, that they would love. It is a book about a little cupcake, named Preston, that is adopted... (I won't give away any more of this great, kids friendly story) and one of the authors of this book is their uncle, their very own Uncle Toe Toe! He even wrote original music to go along with the book.

They launched a Kickstarter campaign to make this book and music a reality, and there is only 48 hours left, and as of writing this, it is 93% funded. Thought some of y'all may be interested given your interest in children and adoption.

To learn more and join in and help, check out their Kickstarter page:

Here is a picture of Kenya and Judah with their Uncle Toe Toe and his girlfriend Tiff Tiff (who is also apart of the book/musical):

Find a Family Friday

2012-04-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

This sweet boy has my heart!!! Okay, I know, I say that about all of them, but Declan looks like he came straight from my womb. When I look at his picture I feel like someone stole my son and took him to Eastern Europe... he looks JUST like Kenya and Judah.

Oh I love this sweet boy!!!

Are you his family??? I think it would be a HUGE bonus if his family lives in Texas so I can kiss his sweet face. PLEASE, if you think he could be your son click HERE!!!

Oh how I hope he doesn't have to wait long for a Mommy and Daddy to call his own!

FAQ

2012-04-25T21:49:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all, sorry I haven't gotten to write the Frequently Asked Questions post until now. I am going to answer a few questions a week until I am all caught up. If you have more questions feel free to post them and hopefully I will be able to answer them soon.

What is Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) and will Anton get better now that he is in America?

EB is a very rare genetic skin disorder where basically the first layer of Anton's skin is not attached AT ALL to the second layer. Friction can cause blisters and a lot of friction can cause his skin to literally come off. We can kiss and hug him (apply pressure) but we can't rub his skin back and forth (friction). We have to be careful when we pick him up so we don't move his skin or it will come off. For a more detailed explanation of EB go HERE!

There is currently no cure for EB so as of right now Anton will not get better unless God heals him. In the month he has been home we have already seen his skin go from being really bad and full of HUGE wounds to almost clear to pretty bad again. The hospital that Anton was at for the last 16 months of his life took amazing care of him with the resources they had but we just have more research in America and better medical supplies to help heal his wounds. So yes he will most likely do better in America but at the same time he will always have EB so he will always get wounds.

Megan wanted to know about the day to day care of Anton's skin.
Once Anton wakes up in the morning the first thing I do is change his diaper. I look for new blisters around his diaper area and if he doesn't have any then I use some cream that is safe for cloth diapers and rub it all over the skin that his diaper will touch. The reason I do this is to keep the diaper from rubbing on his dry skin which would cause blisters. If he has a blister then I have to pop it and drain all the liquid out of it otherwise it would just keep growing since his skin is not anchored down. After I pop and drain it I put Polysporin over his wound to help prevent infection and I put a patch of transfer over the wound. If I think his skin is going to tear I put the Polysporin on the transfer patch so I'm not rubbing his skin. I also check for blisters around his arm pits and his neck. After that we snuggle then he is happy to sit on the floor and play with Kenya and Judah. I try to keep Aquaphor on his hands which helps him not get as many blisters. We are also putting cream on his cheeks to try to clear up the red circles he has on them. His dermatologist thinks that is Eczema and not EB related, so we shall see. That's pretty much all I do for his skin during the day. We do his dressing changes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays (he used to just get two a week.) I will post a blog about dressing change at some point but not today :)

Kim wanted to know how we bathe him without hurting his skin?
If we give him a bath in the tub we leave his transfer on while I am carrying him to the tub. Transfer is the bandage that his whole body is covered in. Then once I get him in the tub we take off the transfer from one limb at a time. I can rub his skin as long as my hands are lubricated. So I put tons of liquid soap on my hands and rub his skin (which is lubricated from the bath water). If he has an open wound I just pat that area. Then rinse off the soap with water. I was lifting him out of the water without anything on his skin but I barely moved my fingers across his legs and rubbed some of his skin off so I don't do that anymore. To get him out of the tub I get a piece of clean transfer, get it wet, then put it on his back and put another on one of his leg so I have something to hold onto when I get him out of the tub. I put my arm behind his back and tell him to lean back, which he does, then I put my arm under his legs and hold onto the transfer that is on his leg. I slowly lift him out of the tub and hand him to the person who is helping me. They hold open a soft blanket and that's what I put him on then I take him from that person and put him on his changing table.

Matt Williams wanted to know if I filled out a March Madness Bracket yet?
Matt I am sorry to say I never did fill out my bracket, in fact the only time I have ever filled one out is when I stayed with you and Patrice... I know, I am a bad person... :D

I will try to do a FAQ post again next Wednesday and maybe every Wednesday until I have answered all of your questions.

And here is a picture of Anton cause I know that's what you really wanted to see :)

On a totally random side note will you please be praying for my cousin Josh. He was in a really bad car accident and he is not doing well at all. He broke most of the bones in his face and lost one of his eyes. He is in the ICU and they are just waiting for him to get a little stronger before they try and do any surgery's. He is only a few years younger than me and I am very worried about him.

Okay that is all. I hope y'all have a great week!

Movie Monday

2012-04-23T00:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a video of Anton pulling up to a standing position in his bed. This was from our second trip to Russia and we were so excited to see him do it!

Find a family Friday :)

2012-04-20T10:40:00.001-05:00

I am re-posting this from my friend Kelly who brought her daughter home from Russia the week after us.
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She begins her daily walk toward me, uneven and slightly halting, as soon as she sees the groupa room door open.

Before long, her arms are wrapped around my leg and she is looking up at me.

She doesn’t make a sound. She doesn’t have to. Her piercing blue eyes speak volumes.

When is someone coming for me? Can someone love me, just as I am?

And then I wake, brokenhearted all over again.

Kacey.

One of the ones we left behind. The only child with special needs in Charlotte’s former groupa that does not have a mama coming for her.

At some point at the end of that first trip, Kacey stopped asking me if I was her mama. Maybe it was hearing me respond “nyet” each time she asked. Maybe one of her caregivers explained. Maybe she just knew. She simply resigned herself to being left behind—again.

On the second and third trips, Kacey would simply hug my leg and stare up at me. I will never know what Kacey was asking for in those silent moments—but I will never forget how her body relaxed and melted into me when I would reach down and stroke her fine blonde hair.

She deserves love all the time, not just when families are passing through her groupa room.

She deserves comfort from a family while she recovers from surgeries for her Apert Syndrome.

She deserves acceptance and opportunity and a family to help her blossom.

Think about it.

Is she your daughter?

If you think she might be, please contact Reece’s Rainbow.

If adopting is not something you can do right now, please share this blog post and her picture.

Donate to her grant fund. It only has $200 in it right now.

Please help me show Kacey that she isn’t forgotten—and that there is someone, somewhere dreaming of making her their daughter.

Share the love.

Kacey 15H | Reece's Rainbow Adoption Ministry reecesrainbow.org From an adoptive family who met her in August 2011: She is very active despite her limitations with feet and hands- she kept up with the whole bunch. Very determined, a bit shy.

Movie Monday

2012-04-15T13:30:00.001-05:00

So I thought it would be fun to post little videos of the kids on Mondays. If someone out there in the blogging world already came up with this idea and wants credit for it just let me know.

Our first video just might be my favorite one I will ever post. Anton LOVES blowing kisses and yesterday he started saying something after he blew the kiss so I started listening to what he was saying and I was blown away he was saying LOVE YOU!!! I couldn't believe it. We tell him we love him all the time but I couldn't believe he figured out blowing kisses and saying love you go together. It is the cutest thing EVER.

Anton would like you all to know he loves you!!!

I had this set to post tomorrow but for some reason it posted today??? Enjoy Movie Monday a day early :)

Could they be orphans no more???

2012-04-11T00:30:00.002-05:00

Posting on our blog that Anton was an orphan no more was so surreal. We had fallen in love with our sweet boy 13 months before we were able to post those word. Thirteen months of paperwork, prayers, and hard work and we were FINALLY able to say that Anton was OUR SON!!! It still seems so surreal, I still look at him and I just can't believe he is here. God is so faithful and so so good to us.

I can't help but think of the sweet babies we left behind though. Adoption is heavy on my heart tonight, well it is most days, but it is really heavy on my heart tonight. International adoption is VERY intimidating, trust me. I would have NEVER in a million years thought we would be adopting a baby from Russia. I thought it is too much money, it's too far away, there are plenty of kids here who need Mommies and Daddies, I can't travel to Russia, I just can't do any of it. But then God moved on mine and Jason's hearts and we couldn't do anything but go. God threw open the doors for us to move forward and each and every time we were at a deadline and needed money God provided it for us at just the right time. Now I'm not saying that God has to or will fully fund every adoption but I do believe that God has called Christians to care for the orphans (James 1:27; Deut. 10:18; Isa. 1:17; Jer. 7:5–7) and however that looks, He will pave the way.

You don't have to adopt to make a difference you can pray for the orphans to find families, you can pray for families adopting, you can donate to families adopting, or you can spread the word about these sweet kids waiting for families. If you don't think you have any extra money to give up to help, skip out on the coffee once a week, eat out one less time, or have a garage sale, EVERY penny counts.

These sweet kids have been on my heart for awhile now and I want to share them with you all.

Neal just turned one in March and he also has EB. I would LOVE nothing more than to see this sweet baby adopted and adopted soon! Neal has a FB page HERE. http://reecesrainbow.org/31789/neal-2h

Shaun has Trisomy 18 and after seeing several friends welcome Trisomy babies into the world my heart is burdened to get this sweet boy into a family with a Mommy and Daddy who will love him all the days of his life! http://reecesrainbow.org/1532/shaun-etkf-region-3

And last but not least is this adorable little girl Marcia. She has spina bifida and I know she would thrive in a family. http://reecesrainbow.org/27076/marcia-23

Don't let international adoption scare you, I am a HUGE chicken and if I can do it anyone can. I can say without a doubt I fell in LOVE with Russia and I really miss it now that we are home. These kids are so so worth it (they are not all from Russia, I just LOVE Russia now!!!)

There are many many more kiddos that would LOVE a Mommy and Daddy HERE.

If you want to help by donating to a families adoption fund but don't know where to start here are 2 of my friends that are adopting and could really use your help.

First is the Bolte family :) Kristy shared a link on her FB page with Anton's picture and his story. I instantly fell in love and knew he was to be our son. If it wasn't for Kristy sharing about our boy he might not be in our home right now so please show the Bolte family some love and donate to their adoption HERE.

The next family I want to tell you about is the Quinn family. I think the thing that impresses me most about this family is how excited their oldest daughter is about this adoption. Her name is Ashley, she is 20 years old and has such a HUGE heart for adoption and for her sister. She has a blog where she writes letters to her baby sister Laura and her soon to be baby sister Autumn. She is ALWAYS posting on her FB page about the adoption. I love this girl and her big heart. They are getting closer to being able to travel and I know they could REALLY use your donation to help bring Autumn home. http://reecesrainbow.org/21026/sponsorquinn

HERE is a link to many many families that could use your love, support, prayers and donations to help bring their kiddos home.

Thanks for letting me share my heart with y'all!

Brothers

2012-04-09T10:20:00.001-05:00

Anton and Judah already have an amazing bond and it fills my heart with so much JOY watching them interact with each other.

Enjoy the cuteness!

Life is good

2012-04-04T22:59:00.001-05:00

So I wanted to write this super long post with every single detail of our lives but I just don't have time so instead I will give you all a quick update with lots of pictures.

Anton is doing amazingly well! He is handling his feeds through the g-tube great and is the easiest kid ever. He has slept through the night since day one and he hardly ever cries. He is only on pain medicine for dressing change but other than that he hasn't needed any.

Kenya and Judah LOVE him and they have done so good being gentle with him. They are having a hard time adjusting though. I know they are confused because I was here then gone then here then gone again and now their brother is here so it's understandable, but I am so ready for them to not test us on EVERYTHING. It will take time, I know, but I just wanted to be real with y'all sometime it is hard not because Anton is hard but because Judah and Kenya are giving us such a hard time. We will find a new groove and I can't wait for that to happen.

We enrolled Kenya and Judah in a Mothers Day Out program two days a week so when Anton is doing Speech, Occupational and Physical Therapy they can be at "school" having fun. We are also having a nurse come out three times a week to help with dressing changes. Today was their first time to come and it went pretty good. Jason and I have gotten into a great routine and we work really well together during dressing change so it was strange to have to tell the nurse what to do when I am use to Jason being there and knowing what to do. I'm sure after some time the nurse will also know what to do, and she was helpful... it was just a little strange for me. I know after some time I will love having a nurse here to help.

Okay I think you are kinda caught up... And now for the pictures.

Here is Anton right before we left the hospital beside all of the stuff we had at the hospital. We pretty much moved in then Patrice, Courtney and Anita brought us a ton of stuff so we had quite the load to take home. All of it was much needed and we were thankful to have it.

Here I am right before we left, I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Kenya was so happy I was FINALLY home!

Anton LOVES playing in his highchair.

Watching Anton and Judah play and interact with each other makes me so happy. They are so cute together and they LOVE being together.

Rocking the grouchy face.

We have been bandaging Anton's hand less and less in hopes that we would be able to leave his fingers out without him hurting them too much, and we were able to do it yesterday! He has gotten a few small blisters on his fingers but has done great with having them out. We put soft gloves on his hands at night because we don't want him rubbing his face with the gauze that is on his hands and that has also worked really well.

This is his favorite toy from Courtney and Anita.

We had tornado warnings yesterday so we put the kids in the tub to wait it out and they all did great.

Kenya and her cousins finding bugs in the backyard.

These boys are just too cute!

That's all for now.

We are going home!!!

2012-03-30T16:09:00.000-05:00

Anton did end up having refeeding syndrome so we had to stay one more night in the hospital but WE HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED and will be going home once we pack up the room. Thank you guys so much for your prayers, love and support :)

Anton might go home today!

2012-03-29T12:58:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog. Anton is doing SOOOO good! They started feeding him formula through his G-Tube on Tuesday and he is now up to his full feeds and tolerating them well! They were a little concerned that he might have refeeding syndrome since it had been so long since he had eaten but they are doing blood work before we go home to make sure he doesn't have it. If he doesn't have it we will go home today if he does have it we will be in the hospital for a few more days.

Patrice left early yesterday morning and I miss her so much! Sandy, Courtney, Anita and Patrice were such an amazing blessing to have here the first week we were in the hospital. I couldn't have done it without them.

I also have to thank my amazing husband, he has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off taking care of us. He is working, coming to the hospital to see Anton and I, going to see Kenya and Judah at my Mom's, cleaning our house and washing our clothes. He has been AMAZING and I couldn't do any of this without him!

I wanted to also thank our families for all of the support they have given us and thanks to Momo and Gramps for watching Kenya and Judah while we are in the hospital.

Thank you to Jen also who has been coming to the hospital to see us then taking our laundry (including cloth diapers) home and washing them for us! I have lots of people to thank :)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has brought us food or sent us money for food. It has been so nice not to have to worry about getting food!

And a HUGE thank you to the ladies from our church who went to our house and cleaned it they said it wasn't bad but I am so glad it's done!

Jason and I did our first dressing change alone yesterday and it went great. Patrice helped me cut bandages before she left so that helped a ton. We did it in two hours and we both were talking about how much easier it was than we thought it would be. Anton did great and his skin is looking really good right now. He had a few spots that have been pretty infected for the past week but they are starting to clear up!

Anton is the EASIEST baby EVER! He was only fussy the first two days we were here and after that he has been so good! He is playing, talking, and learning more signs everyday. He understands us when we talk, which has happened a lot faster than we thought it would. He can sign "more", "thank you", "please" and "help". He can make the animal noises for bear, pig, cow, elephant and monkey. He says "Mama", "Papa", "Oppa" (the way they say "uh-oh" in English, I think) and "Tom" (Russian for "there"). He is the most amazing little boy and he is such a gift to our family!

Our hospital stay has gone great. I have really enjoyed getting to spend a lot of time with Anton and I haven't really gone stir crazy yet. I miss Kenya and Judah but I have gotten to see them a few times so that has helped.

Anton is adjusting well, in fact we had our two week post placement visit with our social worker today and she said, "This is more than the honeymoon phase after a child comes home, he is really bonded to you." If he is upset he reaches out for me to hold him and he lays his head on my cheek and I just snuggle and comfort him. He cries if Jason or I leave him and he LOVES it when his Daddy walks in the room. He really is doing great!

He is recovering well after surgery. He is in pain but seems for the most part to be tolerating everything really well! He is a trooper.

I don't think words could ever describe how God has worked on our hearts through all of this. I just praise Him more and more everyday for the amazing things He has done in our lives. Anton is such a gift, as all of our other children are, and I can't stop praising God for these amazing blessings!

Thank you all for praying for Anton and for us! We LOVE you all and I pray more then anything that you would know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior. Please take time to read the tab at the top of our blog that says "The Gospel" there is nothing more important than knowing where you will spend eternity and there is only one way to God and that is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. I love you all and pray that today you would be made right with God, there is no greater gift that you could receive then the gift of salvation.

LOVE you all so much!

Patrice's Time With Anton & Post-Surgery Update

2012-03-27T02:56:00.000-05:00

Patrice did a "short and sweet" post talking about her time here with Anton. It includes updates after the successful surgery and some great pics she took. Here are just two to tease you:

What are you waiting for? Go read her blog!

They just took him back & updates

2012-03-26T08:56:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: 1:21PM

Everything is fine we are in our room and hanging out with Anton. He seems to be pretty happy and his talking to Jason as I type this.

UPDATE: 10:20AM
The surgery is FINISHED!!!! Everything went great. Patrice and I went into the OR after surgery to re-bandage him now that we are back in the waiting room they will extubate him. Thank you for loving our boy God is so so faithful!!!

-------
UPDATE: 9:30AM
The OR just called and they just now started surgery. They were able to intubate him without any problems. The surgery should take one to two hours.

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Here is what Patrice posted on FB:
They took Anton back about 20 minutes ago. Surgery will take 1-2 hours. They would not let Vanessa go back for this part but will let us both go back to rebandage him at the end. We are confident that he is in great and EB experienced hands. Thank you for your continued prayers.

And here is what I put on FB:
They just took him back to surgery and they have operated on EB kids before in fact Anton is the second this week. I know they know what they are doing but it was so hard to let them take him. God is sovereign and faithful and amazing and we continue to praise.

I will keep y'all updated as I can.

Anton's surgery is in one hour .

2012-03-26T06:59:00.001-05:00

(thanks Patrice for this awesome picture)

My sweet baby boy will be having his G-Tube surgery in one hour. Please be praying for Anton and all of the staff that will be working on him. Patrice wrote detailed blog if you want to know specific ways you can pray click HERE.

Surgery is scheduled.

2012-03-24T06:24:00.000-05:00

Anton was pretty fussy the first two days we were here, now he is pretty content. He plays with his toys and sleeps in his stroller but oh man when Daddy came in today he LIT up. He was so excited to see Jason he started yelling and pointing at him until Jason picked him up. I only thought he loved his Mommy but I am telling you he LOVES his Daddy! It was so cute to watch them playing together today!

Anton being silly.

Playing with his puppet.

Making animal noises.

snuggle fest with Daddy.

Sleeping in his stroller all snuggled up with his new love, the cow blanket from Courtney and Anita!

Courtney worked VERY hard to win him over.

To say Courtney and Anita spoiled Anton is a grave understatement. This boy was spoiled rotten by them :)They bought him blankets, clothes, and every toy in Target. They are so sweet and have helped us out so much! They got everything I needed, have brought me food, and have watched Anton so I could have a little break to go get food. I will say it wasn't easy leaving him even if it was only a few minutes but I was so thankful to get to have just a little break and know he was in amazing hands.

Courtney and Anita are so much fun and they know how to entertain a kids for HOURS.

I have so much to learn from them.

Anton is looking in the big bag of toys from Target to see what's next ha

Courtney and her Mom had an early flight this morning so they will be headed back home shortly. It was such a HUGE blessing to have them here. I learned so much from them in such a short amount of time and it helped give me the confidence to know I can do this, I am the Mom, and NOTHING happens at the hospital without me saying it's okay!

Sweet snuggle time with Mama.

Surgery is scheduled for 8am Monday morning. We have seen the surgeon several different times and he has done surgery on EB kids before. We met with his anesthesiologist yesterday and he is amazing! Everything I was going to ask him about and everything I was going to make sure he knew he said them all before I could. They will cut the tape off of all the leads and use mepilex, they have meditape already (EB safe tape), he knew he couldn't tape Anton's eyes in surgery and he asked tons of questions about how much Anton could open his mouth. They will have him on a sheep skin blanket during surgery to make sure it's super soft and he will have all of his bandages on except for where they will operate. They already have an EB kit in the OR because they do have several EB kids that come to Cook's for surgery.

I felt so much better after talking to them both. Please be praying for our sweet boy no parent wants their child to have to have surgery but we know this is whats best for him and he wouldn't be able to eat without having it done.

None of this surprised God he is sovereign over all things to Him be the glory FOREVER!

The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. Proverbs 16:9

We love you all!

Anton was eating fine in Russia what happened?

2012-03-23T13:46:00.000-05:00

I wanted to clear up a few things. The question that has been asked the most since Anton was admitted to the hospital was "he was eating fine is Russia what happened?" I totally understand that question and I want y'all to feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Anton was eating fine in the hospital and really he was eating okay once we brought him home. The reason we had the swallow study done is he coughs a lot when he eats and gags a lot but he also did this in Russia.

During the swallow study what they do is give him a different things to eat and drink that have something (radio active I guess) that will show up on x-ray. Then they put it in a few different things for him to drink and eat to see where it is going once he drinks and eats it. They do a live x-ray the whole time he is eating and drinking to see where it goes. They started with a super thin liquid like water and it aspirated into his lungs almost every time he drank it, then they thickened it up a little (like chocolate milk) and tried that and he still aspirated a few times, then they made it thicker (like honey) and he still aspirated into his lungs then they tried baby food and that even aspirated. He FOR SURE was aspirating every time he was eating in Russia and the way we know is he had Pneumonia several times while he was there and aspirating causes Pneumonia.

It is only by the grace of God we caught it because you CAN die from aspiration. He can't eat anything else by mouth until he has physical therapy to learn how to close his airway when he is eating. Getting a G-Tube is a really good thing for his EB too because it will allow us to get all the calories in him that he needs to heal.

None if this is bad, Anton is NOT sick they just have to leave him in the hospital because we have no way of feeding him without the G-Tube.

Hope that helps clear things up. Love you all!

Update on Anton

2012-03-23T07:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was so busy and I was exhausted because I had only slept for one hour the night before. They hospital is taking everything very slow to make sure the do things the right way. All the nurses and doctors are willing to listen to us and so far we have had a great stay. The hospital has a Chick-Fil-A that is open till midnight... oh the joy that brings to me. Ha!

Anton had a study done to look at his stomach and check for reflux. He does have a little bit of reflux and they also found that his stomach is not in the right spot. I think they said it's transverse. I'm not sure what they are going to do about it but it is a good thing they found it before they put the g-tube in.

Then he had an ECHO done to look at his heart. We were told in Russia that his heart is slightly malformed, but PRAISE GOD his heart is totally normal!

He is being fed through an NG Tube that goes from his nose to his stomach. There is a picture of it below. We put transfer on his face (EB safe bandage) then taped the NG Tube to the transfer. He can't have any tape on his skin at all so the IV came out once and the NG Tube has been pulled out twice. That is the only bad part of waiting for surgery is I am always having to make sure he is not pulling on his tubes because they are not really attached to him.

Anton had a much better day yesterday, he wasn't fussy and even played a little bit.

Courtney and her Mom Anita flew in yesterday to help me and I am SOOOO glad they are here! They said I'm doing a great job but it is so nice to have them here to help me in dealing with the doctors and teaching a ton about day to day care with EB. We tried to get Patrice here too but Jonah might be sick so it was a no go :( We wish you were here Patrice!

They tried all day to win him over and finally by the end of night it worked! I was able to go take a shower while they played with him.

We did Anton's dressing change yesterday and he was in so much pain the hospital gave him a pain killer.

After his bath he crashed out and slept by me in his stroller all night. I was finally able to get some sleep too and I feel very refreshed today.

The thing by his mouth is not a breathing tube but the feeding tube that is in his nose.

We still don't know when he will have surgery. They are thinking it will be sometime next week so we will be in the hospital until then.

Love you all and thank you guys so much for all the prayers, love, and support they mean the world to us! We know that God is sovereign over all of this and we are so thankful Anton will be getting a G-Tube soon so he can get the nutrition that he needs.