We're Home
May 2008  |  June 2008  |  October 2008

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 We made it home! I cannot believe that we have been Nicholas’ parents for over a month already. What a whirlwind of learning and fun for us all. The flight home was fine. Our little angel slept the majority of the trip and was a great traveler. Dan and I, on the other hand, slept very little. Our plane from Minneapolis to Milwaukee was delayed by an hour. So close yet so far away for us and I knew that those waiting at the airport were so anxious to meet Nicholas. We finally made it home to a surprisingly large group of close friends and family waiting outside of the gate (not everyone is shown in the picture!). As we were getting close to the gate, a TSA worker looked at me carrying the baby, shook his head smiling and said, “If that group out there is for you, you may want to turn around. They seem a bit crazy!” We were going crazy with excitement to share Nicholas with his new family and present (and future) playmates. There were so many exciting moments of our trip: meeting our wonderful travel mates whom we think about all the time, standing on the Great Wall, and of course meeting our son. I must say that introducing him to the group at the airport was the most emotional and fun part of this adventure for everyone. Since then we have battled jet lag and colds. Nicholas did have an ear infection and cold but he got better real quick with a bit of medicine. He is such a happy baby. When we wake him up in the morning we always get a smile and a snuggle. Nighttime is when he is most entertaining. He sings to us, giggles and gets really active. Nicholas rolled over on April 27th for the first time (though the medical report said he had been doing it for awhile) and is sitting on his own better every day. He has quite a few tickle spots we have found so giggles are aplenty. Everyone has been asking how our first baby (dog) Logan is taking to his new housemate. The answer is…he isn’t! Logan could care less about Nicholas and is definitely not impressed with him. He won’t let Nick touch him, he runs from the monitor and hasn’t been eating too much. He is no longer the king of the Donaldson home! Nicholas on the other hand thinks the dog is hysterical. When we play tug of war (with the dog of course) Nick giggles and giggles. We have met a few of his new playmates. Owen and Ella were at the airport to meet him and have come over to play. We also went to their house to play so the mommies and the daddies could have their first play date/ dinner. The kids ate together and had a great time. Nathan also came to play and we have gone on a few walks together. We went to the zoo with Anna to see the monkeys as well as “Simba” and “Nala”. We can’t wait to meet other playmates as the weather gets warmer. Nicholas’ first doctor appointments at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin were last week. Nicholas did great even with the drawing of the blood…I on the other hand did not like it too much. Apparently he has tiny veins and they had to poke a few times. They told us that he is small for his age and he is behind in gross motor skills. Duh! They referred us to the Birth to Three program, again something I am not surprised by. The surgeon was very nice and we are anxious to get the surgery on his lip over with on June 2nd. His hearing is fine (he heard more beeps than I did!) though it appears that he has fluid in his ears so tubes will be put in, which is typical for children with clefts. I will update after the surgery is complete. Please pray for Nicholas’ health and for a successful procedure. We have confidence in the Children’s cleft palate team but are nervous of course. We are enjoying being back home with friends, family and in our own house. People here are very anxious to talk to us about Nicholas and we have gotten few stares. I love that people will come up and ask about him instead of running to get their friends to gawk at him. I miss the food in China and the beauty but Dan swears he won’t eat Chinese food again for a long time and would much rather see bungalows than pagodas! We are looking forward to the summer as we always do. It will definitely be a different kind of summer but one we have been wishing for many years. My first Mother’s Day will be spent up north with my mom.

We are truly blessed and thank God for all that we have been through in the last 4 months. We also thank each of you for your support and love. Dan and I are thrilled that so many people have given us such positive feed back on our website and we are happy we were able to help clean out some tear ducts and that it was something to look forward to. Finally, thank you to CHI our great adoption agency. Our trip was better and easier than we ever expected. Finally, we are parents to a beautiful little boy who has instantly gained a loving family of grandparents, great-grandparent, cousins, two fun uncles and a bunch of new playmates. What could be better? Nothing…As Dan would say, “we are (still) living the High Life”!

“Home is the nicest word there is.”
~Laura Ingalls Wilder 

Website by myadoptionwebsite.com