Our New Normal

It seems so strange that Kohl has only been officially in our family 3 weeks and 2 days. In so many ways we feel like we've been with him so much longer. I can't even imagine our lives without him anymore!

I realize it has been awhile since I posted an updated on here and there may be a few people that are only following on here and not on Facebook (it's so much easier to update on Facebook so there are LOTS of little updates there, especially now that we've got a very busy little boy to run after all the time!)

We arrived home on September 25 and were completely exhausted. After a week and a half we are finally feeling back to normal and jetlag is hopefully behind us.

Since returning home we are getting accustomed to our new "normal," which will be changing again in a couple of weeks when I return to work.  Chris has already started back to his normal routine with the church.  I have been spending every day at home with Kohl which has been a lot of fun! We have had so much one-on-one time to focus on bonding and attachment. He had made huge progress while we were in China with that and he has come even further since being at home! Some of his favorite things to do right now are playing with his lawn mower, taking a bath, playing with measuring cups (and any other bowls/spoons/etc he pulls out of a drawer in the kitchen), rearranging all the books in his room (this was the very first thing he did when we took him in his room), and playing/petting the dog and cat (seriously, he adores them- it is the cutest thing in the world when he gives them kisses).  He loves his room and likes playing in there, but is not crazy about his crib yet.

We are still laying kind of low and letting him get use to our routine.  We will slowly start transitioning him to daycare in the next few days that way he will hopefully be ready for a full day by the time I go back to work.  Many people have been asking when he will be out and about with us.  We are taking this day by day and meeting new people can be very overwhelming for him. Please know that every decision made regarding when you get to meet Kohl or hold Kohl, etc. is nothing personal and has everything to do with him and what he needs.  It make look very different than how biological children are raised and that's because it is very different. We ask you to please respect decisions that are made in Kohl's best interest, even if they may seem strange to you.

Kohl has already made a few trips to town (he loves to sleep in his carseat!) and we are hoping that very soon he will be at church.  We have a few things to ask of those that attend church with us or those that see us out and about in town.  (Please remember these things are only temporary. Doing these things in the beginning for a while will yield big returns in a few months). We ask that you please not come up to him in big groups.  If 1-2 people are around him that is about as many as he needs right then. Again, meeting people is overwhelming. He is a very outgoing boy, but he becomes very reserved and shy around new people.  If you don't get to see him the first Sunday he's there, please remember that he'll be back and you can hopefully see him then!  We are also asking that you not try to hold him or get him to come to you. The only people holding him right now are Chris and me. He is still getting use to who mommy and daddy are and learning what a mommy and daddy do. We don't want to create any confusion in his little mind about that. Please don't give him anything- food, gifts, etc. All food and all gifts need to come from us right now (if you do have something for him it's not a problem, we just ask you to give it to us and let us give it to him). We are so excited about everyone getting to meet him and if you have any questions about anything from above please don't hesitate to ask!

I also want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has brought us food or is bringing us food since we've returned home! It has been such an awesome blessing to be able to focus on Kohl and not have to worry about cooking dinner.

Here are a few pictures since we've returned home.

Giving Kita kisses!

My aunt found this. It's a rocking horse / child's desk / high chair! It's very neat. He loves it Aunt Shirley!

Never too early to start chores!

Helping momma cook pancakes! 

He loved the peanut butter pie made by Mrs. Shirley at church! Daddy couldn't believe Kohl ate the last piece!

Mmmmmm!! Lasagna! 

Yall, seriously does it get any sweeter than this?

This is our newest game. It's called sit in the laundry basket and let momma pull you up and down the hallway until she gets SUPER tired!!!