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So now I am 0 for 4 in predicting the gender of my children before they arrive.  With Jack, I didn’t even venture a guess before our big sonogram.  When Margaret was born, I was 100% positive she was a boy until the doctor pulled her out & said, “She’s breech!”.  And of course, who ever plans to adopt a boy from China?  I was just sure this baby was a girl, based on the way I felt the first few months of my pregnancy.  But nope — here comes little brother!

What a great time we had today!  I scooted out of work a lttle early with Will & headed to the elementary school for the big kids.  They got to leave school a whole hour early to go to my ob. appointment this afternoon!  Brad met us at the dr.’s office and we headed very conspicuously into the waiting room.  The kids were all 3 gems waiting for our turn & the sonographer even complimented them on their excellent behavior. 

We are all absolutely thrilled to start planning for little brother.  Please enjoy the the first ever video of our sweet baby boy!

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I grabbed my camera this afternoon to get some shots of Will practicing his t-ball swing.  As I brought the digital display up to my line of vision I realized that the trip counter is still set from the day Brad and I left for China a year ago November.  Can you believe it has been 459 days?  On the other hand, can you believe it has only been 459 days?  I waver as to which standpoint to take.  In some ways, it feels like yesterday that we were honeymooning with our new child in Guangzhou — and in other ways, Brad and I are sometimes shocked to remember that I did not give birth to this child.  It breaks my heart as I recline on the couch and this new baby pitter-pats inside my belly with its tiny feet, to think that I never did feel Will’s elbow or foot poking me from within.  I trip myself up sometimes, trying to grasp whether this is my 3rd or 4th pregnancy.  I forget I was only paper pregnant those 10 months with Will. 

In any case, 459 days is a lot of time in the life of a soon-to-be-4-year-old.  So much has changed with this little boy.  I can tell you that the scrawny, shy, hurting little boy has turned into an absolute monkey.  So much that I recently told my mom I was changing his name to George – as in Curious George.  You know how the man with the yellow hat says, “Be a good little monkey now George.  And don’t get into any trouble!”  HA!!!  Well, that’s my Will!  As soon as I think he is playing playdoh, he is instead digging cookies out of the pantry.  If I think he is in taking his nap, I peek into his room to find him doing gymnastic dismounts off the top bunk.  One moment I think he is right behind me, heading in the front door from school — but no, he’s standing on top of the van!  (I’m still not sure how he got up there so quickly.)  Into everything, climbing everything (then jumping off from way too high), curious to know everything! 

In his down time, Will is finally crazy about his books.  We read Curious George Goes to the Toy Store at least 3 times a day, in addition to the other George books.  But there’s also the Thomas book, and the fire engine books, and the Big and Little book from Aunt Molly, and the one with the bumpy plastic lady bugs that he loves.  If I sit down, I need to brace immediately for Will & his book to bound onto my growing belly & dig his elbow straight into my chest as he gets situated for the reading to begin.  You know how Brad quotes movie lines?  Well that’s Will with book lines — he knows them by heart now!

We are planning a Pump It Up party for Will’s birthday in 2 weeks.  If you’ve never been to one, Pump It Up is like a big warehouse-type building filled with giant inflatable slides, bounce houses, and obstacle courses.  He and his friends get to bounce for 90 minutes, then we get 30 minutes to infuse the kids with sugar in a private party room just before we clear out & leave the mess for someone else to clean up.  Sounds perfect to me!  I think Will is going to love it – he was thrilled to pass out his invitations at school last week.  He practically attacked his friends, running after them & screaming their name to thrust an invitation (that no 3 year old can read anyway) in their little faces.  I hope he absolutely LOVES his first-ever birthday party!

And finally, here’s what you’ve been waiting for — the photos from day 459.  That ball in the 2nd shot actually hit me, which Will thought was enormously funny. 

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So you all know Jack had croup last week.  And you know Will’s been sick.  Well Margaret got sick Monday night, as well.  After missing a week of work, I asked Brad to please take the day off so I could go back to work and rest a bit   In the meantime, I scheduled an appointment for Brad to take Margaret in to see the doctor.  Poor girl, she has strep throat & the flu!  And while they were in the office, the nurse practitioner checked Will.  Seems he has the flu & one of his ear tubes has fallen out – leaving a nice infection in its place.  Each of the kids has held on to a high fever for at least 5 days & missed at least 4 days of school.  Tuesday I had all 3 home sick at the same time!

So we’ve had a little buffet of viruses & bacterial infections and quite a nice selection of prescription meds lined up on the counter & in the fridge.  I just wanted to update everyone, in case you are wondering why we’ve disappeared from school, work, church, and playgroup.  We’re still here in quarantine.  I’m hoping to make it back to society sometime next week. 

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Just in time, Brad is on his way home.  Right now he is on the airplane for the first leg (Nairobi to Amsterdam) of his 30 hour journey.  He is going to be one tired daddy by the time he gets here.  Margaret spent the morning making heart-shaped Valentine’s cookies to welcome him home, and I hope to have a batch of chili simmering in the crock pot before we even leave for the airport tomorrow afternoon.  I talked to the school office & plan to take Margaret & Jack out of school early so they can ride along with Will and me to the airport.  If they are healthy enough to even go to school.

Jack is doing far better.  Thank goodness I took him in to the dr. right away – his cough is minor and his breathing is completely clear.  He is, however, still battling that fever.  It was 99 this morning, which means he is clear to go to school if I decide to send him (policy is under 100 for 24 hours).  I don’t see any reason to push it, though, if I don’t have to work. 

The bad news is that Will came down with one heck of a virus yesterday – not sure what it is.  He woke up with a very mild fever and a tummy ache.  Within a half hour of waking, he was hysterical his tummy hurt so badly.  I wrapped him tight in a blanket & held & rocked him for a long time until he settled down.  He finally drank a little bit of Gatorade about 3 hours later.  Through the day he was pretty run-down & didn’t have much appetite, and he fell asleep on my lap around 4:00.  An hour or so later, he woke up SCREAMING, shaking, and bright red.  His fever had spiked to 103.  I got his long sleeves off, held a cool washcloth on his face, and gave him Motrin.  By bedtime, the fever was completely gone!  It’s back today – on and off around 101/102.  He has a moderate wet cough, no throwing up, and no other symptoms other than being run-down.  I’m thinking it’s probably the flu, although I’m not going to take him to be tested unless his fever shoots up again tonight.

I’m feeing pretty good.  A little tired because I always stay up too late at night when Brad’s away, but otherwise fine. Even with the kids sick, life has been pretty calm around here.  Brad’s mom took the big kids again today, so they got to have a movie date & haircuts with Mimi (Thank you Mimi!).  Will’s taking a long nap, and I’m getting some work done for school.  The house is mostly picked up, and there is food left in the fridge.  The baby is kicking a lot lately, and I’ve even gotten a few big kicks that you can see just by looking at my belly.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for us this week and to all who have supported Brad in a myriad of ways on this trip. 

And just for the grandparents in Ohio, here are a few photos of Will and one of his new favorite activities – puzzles!

And Jack’s music class at the 3rd grade Program last week.  2 of his best friends are directly behind him.

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She lost her first tooth after school today!

The kids and I had a good week for the most part.  Jack came down with a big fever Wednesday during the night.  With all of the nasty bugs going around right now, I took him right in to the pediatrician the next day.  So my suspicion was confirmed, and Jack has croup.  The dr. put him on steroids right away, and instead of getting really bad, the cough & strider started clearing up by the next day.  What a relief, considering the croup nightmare we went through with Margaret last summer.  Jack is feeling pretty well during the day, but his fever is still flaring up around dinner time.  Tonight his cheeks were so red, it looked like he had a sunburn! 

I actually didn’t talk to Brad at all today.  We just couldn’t catch up with each other.  But Jack IM’ed with him, & they had a short video conference while I was putting Will down for his nap.  He was packing up for his overnight trip to the safari camp.   I actually have no idea where he’s heading, but in the past Chris has always taken groups to a tent camp on the Masai Mara game reserve.  We won’t talk to him for a couple of days now. 

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