A visit to our adoption agency

This past Sunday we made a visit to our adoption agency, Carolina Adoption Services (CAS) in Greensboro, NC. They were hosting an open house for the new facility they moved to, so we thought it would be a good time to take Jameson and meet everyone who helped in bringing him home (pics below). Overall I feel that we had a good experience with CAS. The Haiti adoption process is extremely difficult. A lot of what happens is out of the agency's control and sometimes that's hard to remember while going through it. In the end, Jameson is home and that's what matters most to us now!

CAS has also asked if our family would be willing to represent Haiti adoptions in a short film they will create for their website and to show at one of their upcoming fundraiser events.  This I'm super excited about because Will and I were just discussing how we can spread the word about adoption and what a great thing it is. 

Finally home and settled in!

We arrived home with Jameson June 22nd, 2017. Our lives have completely changed and we have been so busy, I have not had time to update my blog posts. We have finally managed to get into a routine and I have some days of free time during the week where I can catch up.

The first few weeks were kind of crazy. The transition was not too difficult, but there was some adjustments for Jameson and us that we definitely had to work out. The hardest change for J was sleep. It was extremely difficult the first couple of weeks during bedtime getting him to fall asleep. It was probably due to the major differences in living in an orphanage and coming to a place where he was an only child. But now, 6 weeks later, bedtime is much better!! Other scary things for J were grass and our dog Rocco. He was never exposed to walking in grass, so it was very scary for him. It also took about 2 weeks to become comfortable with our 9 year old beagle, Rocco. J also started preschool last week (part-time) and he absolutely loves it.

We found a good pediatrician and are working on getting him caught up. He is pretty healthy, but it will take several months for his weight and height to be where needed for his age range. The vaccine reports from Haiti are kind of weird and sketchy so we are working with his doctor to sort those out. I can say that digestive and food changes for J has been a little difficult. Lots of foods and textures that he is not used to, so many foods he wont eat yet. He does try some foods and lets us know if he does not like it. His tummy is also trying to adjust to all the new foods. I think it will take time.

He is picking up language fairly well I think. Last month he learned 10-12 new words and the last two weeks he learned two more. We have been working really hard on English (alphabet, numbers, colors, etc).

Overall, things have been good. J does have his moments of tantrums and typical toddler behavior. He is definitely not the same kid we knew in Haiti. His personality and character is so vibrant now. We can tell he is so happy with his new life here. Our lives are totally different now, but every moment of the adoption (and wait) was so worth it.