A visit with Albert

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm just about ready for bed but am posting a quick update from today.  First of all, we really miss being at church.  Yesterday, Jeff was thinking that he might make it to church this morning but we had another rough night and didn't get to sleep until 5:00 am or so again, so decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea.  The good thing is that TongJie got up at 10:00 am and has had a much more normal schedule today, taking a nap in the early afternoon and eating dinner at a normal time.  We got him asleep in his crib around 9:30 but now he's up again and crying.  I have a feeling this will be a long night.  Jeff is carrying him around now, but it's my turn pretty soon.  Not looking forward to leaving at 7:00 in the morning for a long drive.

My parents and also my grandma have kindly been taking care of our dog, Albert, while we've been in China and during our adjusting at home.  They report that he's been a very good dog, which doesn't surprise us because he really is a wonderful dog.  They brought him over to visit early this afternoon right before TongJie took a nap.  Albert was so excited to see Jeff and I, and we were happy to see him too because we've missed him.  TongJie was wary of him, but didn't seem too scared.  Albert didn't seem to care much either way about TongJie.  I think after things settle down, they will end up enjoying each other a lot.  Albert had fun running around in his own yard and checking everything out.  My parents took him back to their house because we're leaving tomorrow for Seattle for a couple days so today wouldn't have been a good day to take Albert back for good.  Maybe we'll regain permanent custody of him on Wednesday if things are going well!

We went for a walk before dinner and TongJie was rather fussy and didn't seem very happy even in his stroller.  Jeff barbecued chicken for dinner and that was a big hit.  TongJie ate and ate.  Tonight we gave him veggies, chicken, sweet potatoes, and cheese before we even got out any fruit and that was a good idea because he ate the other food first.  Usually he'll go for the fruit right away and fill up on that, but when we gave him the other stuff first he still "miraculously" had all kinds of room for honeydew melon even after eating everything else.

Tomorrow we have an appointment at Children's Hospital about TongJie's cleft palate.  We have no idea what to expect, but we're hoping for possibly a timeline for when we might be able to get his surgery scheduled.  We were able to get his two Seattle appointments on consecutive days, so we'll stay overnight in another hotel (oh joy!) and then have his appointment with Dr. Davies on Tuesday at the UW Medical Clinic.  We're looking forward to meeting with Dr. Davies because we've really been impressed with him during all the phone and email conversations we've had with him.  He specializes in pediatric care for kids who are adopted from overseas, so we're glad that he won't act like TongJie's small size, late development, or general health are shocking.  We do know that the next couple of days will be stressful for all three of us, but we're feeling okay about it because at least everybody will be speaking English and we don't have to travel on any trains or airplanes!  I doubt the breakfast in this hotel will be as good as the fancy hotels we stayed at in China though - they probably won't even have watermelon.

Here's a photo of Albert's visit today. 

 Jeff was trying to have the same confused expression on his face

Chestnut got jealous and tried to jump up on Jeff's lap along with TongJie

Being mischievous on the kitchen floor