Family Blog

The purpose of this blog was to document our adoption journey and all of the blessings and challenges that it entailed. Now that Johnny is safe at home, I will not be posting as regularly on this blog and will continue to post updates about our family of four on our family blog. I may still use this blog from time to time to post questions or thoughts about adoption but it probably won't see much activity. Thank you for following our adoption and if you would like to continue to follow our family go to:

www.babypell.blogspot.com

Quick Update

The Pell family is doing ok. The Tuesday after we returned from Ethiopia Johnny had a fever and was a bit fussier. Then on Friday evening Emma our two year old came down with a fever of 103.5 which continued through Sunday evening. We took her to the doctor and she tested positive for the flu (probably H1N1). We think this is why John and I were so sick while in Ethiopia. Emma ended up with a double eye infection, ear infection and horrible fever. These past few weeks of sickness and transition have been challenging. Getting up with a 6 month old every two hours is challenging, getting up with the 6 month old and a sick 2 year old is exhausting. My sister came to visit with my 4 month old niece this week which was a wonderful way to distract from the frustration of our sleepless children.

Except for the night waking, Johnny is doing great. He is happy unless he is hungry or tired and loves being held and cuddled. He is sitting up on his own and has even gotten himself into the crawling position a couple of times while reaching for a toy. While my sister was here, we noticed him whining for us and not for her when he was hungry or tired. There was a definite difference between mom and dad and his Aunt Heidi. We are so thankful that he has already started to show signs of attaching to us in a way he is not attaching to others. We know that we still have a long way to go to build trust with him but he is doing so well.

We having taken him out a bit on short errands but have spent most of our days at home so that he is not overwhelmed by all of the new sights, sounds and smells in our world. He seems to love people and lights up when someone has come by to drop off a meal or say a quick hello. By the way, thank you for all of you that are bringing us meals. What a difference the evening is when we don't have to worry about dinner. It has made for stress free evenings during this transition. We have such wonderful friends!

We are hoping that this week will be free from illness and we can start to get in a routine. With a little more sleep I think we just might be able to do this........