3 Months Since Gotcha Day

On Tuesday October 16th we celebrated Kristy's 3rd month with the family. She is doing great and has fit into our family perfectly. Her English is becoming more and more clear. She is learning shapes, numbers, and letters. She loves to have books read to her and does not really care about TV. She loves to listen to music and will dance when she hears it. She also loves to go on walks with Mom and Dad around the neighborhood. She had a lot of firsts in the last month. Her firsts included a haircut, a trip to Riverbanks Zoo, orchestra concert (Kourtney's first high school orchestra concert). OK, she really didn't make it through the concert but we tried. She started daycare this week and seems to being doing good. She is glad to be picked up and wants constant attention when we get home. Today was her baptism at church. Her Uncle Neil assisted our ministers in the baptism. The entire Yongue family was able to make it so it was the first time all 7 cousins were together. Here are a few pictures from this past month.

Kristy's First Bike

We don't have a long update this time. We just thought you would like to see Kristy on her first bike. We'll have a longer blog later.

September Update

Our updates seem to be less and less frequent. Thats what happens when you have two teenagers and a 2 year old in the house. Kourtney began her freshman year at Lexington High School and says she loves it. Her class load is challenging and the dance class load is adding to the demand. She is dancing in the Moving South Dance Company this year. Kelly began the 8th grade at Lexington Middle School this year. She is also dancing at Moving South as well. Kristy is in the flow of things or we are just in her flow. She is learning new things everyday and we are working with her constantly to get her up to speed with American two year olds as quickly as possible. Her English improves everyday. She went for a physical this month and everything looks great. The ENT doctor thought that her cleft surgery was fine. He was surprised that she didn't have tubes in her ears yet as this is commonly done with cleft affected children. He said the first signs of ear trouble and we should have the tubes put in. Kristy has met almost all of her family and of course she is the center of attention at each gathering.
We have found a daycare in Lexington for Kristy when Judy goes back to school. We dread that day but she will probably be better with it then her mom and dad.

The Empress Has Taken Over

Kristy has been with us 1 month (and a few days) and has been at home 3 weeks now. She has adapted very well to our family and her new home. Shortly after getting home we celebrated Judy's birthday and the empress has learned that cake and ice cream is a good thing. In fact, we have found very little that she will not eat. The only exception appears to be raw vegetables. We think that the texture is what is most objectionable. Her language skills are improving everyday. The orphanage worker that brought her to Guangzhou said she did not speak very much but that has all changed. She is still behind what a normal 2 year old says but she is learning new English words everyday. She has become really attached to her mother and since daddy is away at work all day mama has become number one now. She loves her two sisters and they cater to her every whim. We have pretty much stayed at home with her in order to help her attach and bond. She has been to some parks and her favorite thing are the swings. Her current record is 30 minutes. She did go with her mother and sisters to Surfside Beach to visit her Grandmama. She did not go to the beach because Daddy was not there and did not want to miss her first trip to the beach. She has been to our family doctor and the ENT. Both gave us a good report. The ENT said that the first sign of any ear problems would mean that he would have to put tubes in her ears. This is a common procedure with cleft affected children and we have expected that someday she would need them. In case you don't know we have lost Brittany. She had been in failing health before we left for China and it got worse after we left. Ironically we had to give the go ahead to put her down on the day we got Kristy. After 17 years it is difficult sometimes not to see her in the house. I will leave some pictures of the empress in her castle.

We Have Our Itinerary

We have our trip itinerary. We leave July 13th and arrive in Beijing on July 14th. We will visit the Great Wall and Forbidden City on the 15th. July 16th is Gotcha Day. In adoption terms this is the day when we receive Kristy and she becomes part of our family. You can follow our trip from our travel blog. Just click the Trip to China to Bring Kristy Home link above. It has our full itinerary already posted.