Now for the serious stuff!

Ok so the majority of people know that when you adopt from Ch*na you are pretty much told nothing. Yhea you are given a birthday that may or may not be right, a finding location, and alittle about the baby's daily life. You also get three "staged" pictures of the baby. In our case the pictures were taken when J was about 5 months old in the photos. You can also get the finding ad that is placed in the paper for the baby. This was given to us while we were in Ch*na. I recommend that you wait till you go to Ch*na before you purchase the finding ad online because most people are given it while there. This has a tiny black ad white picture of J when she was a few days old along with her finding spot location. And thats it. There is your babies history.
Now in our case we were told that J was in the Fuzhou orphanage. Just before we left we found out this was not true and that she was in fact in a foster home. We were also give the name of her foster mother and age. So we go to China and get little miss J! Once we were home I knew that I had to get any little small bit of info about her life before us that I could. That is where the orphanage yahoo group comes in handy. Through posting online with the foster mother's name and asking if anyone else had this foster mother, I was given the name of a man who lived in Ch*na. I contacted him and he knew J's foster mother personally! He called her that day to make sure she was the right person and she was.
Through him I was able to write her a letter that he translated and send her photos of J at home with her forever family. In return he went to the village that J lived in and took photos of the area and the home she lived in along with pictures of the foster mother. The greatest gift I got out of this were photos of J with her foster mom taken before we got her! I know this will be wonderful for J to have once she is older. I was also able to ask her foster mom questions about J when she had her. I found out she was brought to her at 1-2 days old and she did not leave her until the day we picked her up. This was surprising because usually they take the babies back to the orphanage a few days before the adoption. This explained alot of the grief J felt when we were going through the first few days. I was also given her foster mother's address and background info along with her children's names and ages. So this is all stuff I can pass onto J as she gets older. After seeing all the photos and letter from her FM I know she was well cared for and loved. We will continue to keep in touch with this wonderful woman who took such good care of our girl. I highly recommend you do this if you are able and if you want the man's info just let me know and I can give it to you. I will post some of the photos I was given here but I will not post photos with the foster mother in them. These are for Jaden.

A little potty talk!

Ok its not what you think people. No trash talk, we are actually going to talk about the potty! I know exciting huh? This post really is not for our family or people who have already been to Ch*na. Its more for the few stragglers who may stop by every now and then who have not been yet to pick up there little bundles of joy! I have been meaning to post for oh almost 6 months now but things have been a little hectic getting used to a VERY active toddler.
So here we go!
Before we went to Ch*na I would hear that they trained their babies very early to use the potty. I also heard horror stories of babies being tied to potties because the nannies did not have time to change so many diapers. I used to joke that since it had taken so LONG for our referral that my baby would be potty trained! Well guess what folks, she pretty much is! At least for #2 anyway!
I remember when we were in Ch*na and waiting for the girls our guide told us they used the potty. I was like "yhea right". So after 3 days with little miss J she had not pooped at all. Of course I had also been told that because of all the stuff going on the babies sometimes got constipated. So on the third morning with no poo I told Rusty we should just sit her on the potty and see what she did. They had the cutest little potty in our room. I'll post a picture!


So I sit her on there and she holds the handles and actually uses the potty!!! I was amazed and even called Rusty in to check it out!(dont worry no pictures of that!)
So after that she was pretty good about using that little duck potty! I did have to change two diapers while we were there. No biggie. I really would not have a problem if she didn't use the potty. Especially since I knew how the orphanages trained them.
So anyway home we go and Jaden pretty much keeps up with the potty. In the almost six months since she has been home I have changed may 10-15 poop diapers. In the last three weeks I have changed 0! Now I will not sit her on the potty if she cries! It is her choice. Now this has been one of the hardest issues we have had since being home. I know most people would love this problem but it comes with its drawbacks. While Jaden loves to "go to the potty", you have to know when she wants to go or you miss your window of opportunity! Jaden will hold it for days if you miss it! Then I know she doesn't feel good cause I mean come on people its not comfortable to be clogged up ya know. So far we have gone 4 days with no luck. I even talked to her doctor because it really bothers me. He said after four days to use the dreaded suppository!!! I also give her prune juice everyday and our new favorite vegetable is corn!!! We are also doing a schedule of when we potty, when we wake up, before nap and before our bath! In Ch*na she was on a schedule and went everyday but coming to the good ol USA messed her up. I think we are starting to get on a schedule which makes for a happy mom and happy baby. I have not had to use the suppository yet, but I did get it out and explained what I was going to have to do to her. And wouldn't ya know it she went to the potty!
Now I do not think Jaden was tied to the potty chair. She was in foster care from day 1 until the day we picked her up. I have been in contact with her foster mother(another post to come soon about this) and have found out alot of info. I also got pictures of a seat she would sit in that could also have something put under it to catch the good stuff if ya know what I mean. This seat is more like a walker without wheels. There were no ties that I saw. I even have a pic. of Jaden sitting in the seat! Jaden also did not have any marks on her that some babies have from being tied to the potty. Now if she had seemed the least bit scared of a potty there would be no way she would have been put on them.
Another thing is that Jaden prefers a big potty to a little girl potty! She will do #1 in a little potty but usually not #2. (good for me cause they are not fun to clean) So for a while I would just hold her on the big potty and wait. That was no fun. I can't tell ya how many times she kinda "fell" into the potty cause my hand slipped. Potty water is cold! But I finally found a little seat to put on the potty. She loves it! That's where we do the big business. I have even found a seat you can fold up and take with you! I am sure many of you know about these good seats but I am a first time mom here and it was news to me!
So that about sums up the potty talk. Having a big girl is kinda nice but it also makes me realize what I missed. I would have liked to have been there when she learned to potty. I would have liked to have changed her first diaper.
So all you soon to be parents be prepared, be very prepared.

PS. we don't always keep our potty in the living room, I decided it was easier to fix her hair today while she was on the potty!

A note from Jaden!

Dear family,(really just papaw cause I know he will do it)
 
I really need a Saints shirt bad!  All I have is this sign that mommy made and its kinda ghetto!  See mom never bought me a shirt because she said before now it was kinda embarrasing to be a Saints fan!  Now I want to show my New Orleans pride by showing all these Yankees up here in Ohio what a real football team is!  The thing is instead of Who Dat up here they say Who Dey.  Whats that all about.  Get your own line bengals!  And there are no Saints shirts to find!  Please help me out.  I am desperate here!
Love Jaden!
 
Ps. mom also wanted me to add these other pictures to show you how big I am getting!  I would not let her put the pictures of me throwing my fit because I am such a Diva!
 
 

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Our little model!

So today I took Jaden to have her picture made with her cousin Chase in Dayton. Jaden and Chase are close to two months apart in age and we wanted to get their picture made together for their grandparents. So we head out the door EARLY for our appointment at 11. I say early because Jaden sleeps in till anywhere from 9:30 to 10:30 everyday, but today she was up at 8! So the plan was to get pictures of them together and I thought maybe I would get one picture of Jaden alone. WRONG! She did so great! She was a little model smiling and hamming it up for the camera.
We put Jaden in her LSU cheerleader outfit and Chase in his Buckeye outfit for one and it was so cute! In two of the pictures it looks like she was even doing cheerleader poses! I don't know what we will do if our little girl becomes a cheerleader, she has two parents that were both band geeks!
So after many poses and an hour of work we had tons of pictures to go through. Needless to say because she did such a good job I ended up with more than just one individual photo of our little model!
The bad thing is that next week she is having her picture made with little Sophie Su! I told Amy she has to make me stand strong and only buy the one pose of them together or I am going to have to get a job!!!
Enjoy the pics and there are more on shutterfly!

Jaden's first taste of snow!

Well we have pretty much had snow on the ground since Christmas up here in the freezing tundra I call Ohio. Jaden had not been out in it because she was sick when we got home from Mississippi with a cold and then she had a stomach bug. But I decided it was time to get out of the house yesterday and get some fresh, freezing air. So we suited up in the new snowsuit to head out! It took about 20 minutes to get the suit, hat, gloves, and boots on.




Finally we get dressed and can head outside! She was so excited! She couldn't wait to run out into the snow!





She was loving it. Walking on the driveway was so fun. Then she went off the driveway and it go alittle deeper and of course she fell.



And fell again.



And again and again!



She walked around a little bit and ate some snow.



Then her runney nose froze up and she was done!



So back inside we went to take off all that snow stuff!




Then it was time to have a nice lunch and warm up! Jaden has learned that you need to clean your plate!



So we spent 20 minutes getting ready for her first snow and 5 minutes actually in the snow. It was so worth it!

Christmas with Sophie Su!

This past week we got together with Amy, Jeff, Charlie and little Miss Sophie to do their Christmas. We always have a great time getting the girls together. I am so glad that they have each other. It is going to be wonderful seeing the two of them grow up together!




Daddies and their girls!

A redo of the red couch minus 10 of our friends!

We waited for 4 years to get this shot!

Jaden was so happy to be showing her team spirit, little did she know two days later she would be cheering for a pack of losers!




People its a plastic knife, I promise no kids were injured during the taking of these pictures!

Unfortunatly big brother Charlie was playing the Wii and wanted no part in the pictures!