Catching up . . . kind of

I know it's been a while since I've posted - things have been a little busy lately. :) Since I last posted, Jet has turned 2 months old, Reese is 23 months old (Where have these last 2 years with her gone?!) and we're still losing sleep. :) So this post is going to be a little bit of a catch up post.

We've had some really nice weather this past month (stinkin' southern winter) so we were able to get out and do some things during the months of October and November. Jet, Reese and I went to the zoo (Jet was super thrilled about his first trip to the zoo!) with my sister, two of her boys and my aunt (who was in town visiting). Reese even fed the giraffes - until she saw the long tongue of the giraffe and then promptly refused to feed them any more. :) She did, however, have no problems mingling with the goats. :) It was a fun day.

We also ventured out to the Callahan Fair over this same weekend in October. This is the next town over from where we live and they have a fair every year. It's a nice small town fair with the typical fair rides and games. We like going to help support our local community. Nearby farmers will bring in animals for the kids to look at and pet, plus there's usually some local produce around as well. This year they even had a rodeo. It's fun to go and see people we know - the local high school band always has a funnel cake booth and we NEVER have a problem supporting them (Several of the band members are in my Sunday School class at church - I teach middle school/high school girls). :)

Jet also turned one month old during the month of October - his first month truly flew by! We traveled to Frank's parents' house to celebrate this day with them! He even had a cake and we all sang happy birthday to him (This is tradition in the Chinese culture - you celebrate one month and then the 100th day of the child's life. We were able to do this with Reese as well - it is so nice to be able to share this part of their grandparents' heritage/culture with our children!). No, he didn't get to eat any cake, but he still had fun! :)

The last thing we did in October was visit a corn maize about a half hour away from us. This is a pretty popular local place and was the first time we visited (Thank you, Groupon!). The day we chose to go was the day in which the kids could dress up in costume. It was also a themed Wizard of Oz day, so as the kids walked through the corn maize they would come across characters from the Wizard of Oz and the characters would give them candy (we went October 29th). It was a lot of fun! Reese dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Jet was a pumpkin - thanks to a cute hat that my mom bought him and a precious outfit my Aunt Joan sent! :) The kids got some candy, walked around a maize, played in a playground, looked at some animals and danced to music up on a stage. :) Oh, yeah, they also played in a haystack - I can't believe I forgot about that - it was their favorite part!! :)

November was slightly less busy for us. We started the month off by participating in two walks. The first walk was for the Leukemia and Lymphona Society. Frank and Reese walked in this one in support of one of his co-workers. Reese enjoyed "talking" with his friends. :) The 2nd walk we all took part in was the Buddy Walk. This is the Down Syndrome Association of Jacksonville's yearly walk to support the research for Down Syndrome. We walked this year in honor and support of our close friend's baby boy who has Down Syndrome. Our team was called Abram's Army and there were a lot of us! :) It took place on the beach and unfortunately was one of the cooler days of the month! Frank and I tried to make the whole walk, but it proved very difficult with strollers. :) We were happy to have come out, though, and support our friends.:)

I was able to visit with some friends this month by hosting a 31 Party. It was nice to have some adult interaction and fellowship! :) I was also able to get down to my old work place and introduce Jet to my ex co-workers. :) Of course, Reese loved being there and walked into the classrooms as though she owned the place. :) She is such the social butterfly! :) And we visited a local duck pond where Reese had a great time feeding the ducks (she was sad when they swam away)!:)

It was great to end this month with Thanksgiving and Jet turning 2 months old. We spent Thanksgiving with Frank's family and truly enjoyed the day! There was lots of yummy food and of course, football! :) We have so much to be thankful for this year (as we do every day of the year!)! It still amazes me every day how two little lives were added to our family! What a gift!! :)

Now if we could just get Jet to understand how thankful we would be if he slept through the night . . . ;)

Funny Feelings

It all started innocently enough - a night out to dinner, a walk around Toys R Us and then home for a cup of coffee (decaf) and bed. Only my walk around Toys R Us was not very comfortable - so uncomfortable, in fact, that I had to sit down a couple of times during the visit to the store. That should have tipped me off that something was amiss . . . but I just chalked it up to the baby being really low. So home we went where I sat and relaxed.

Then came 4:20 a.m. on September 25, 2011. I woke up suddenly and knew something was different. Then the pain came . . . and I started timing it. For the next hour I kept my eye on the clock and focused on the contractions. At 5:20 or so I woke up Frank and said that it was time to call my OB. He groggily caught on to what I was saying and got up. I called my OB who told me to go to the hospital, which I happily agreed to do. :) Upon arriving at the hospital I was placed in triage and was placed on the monitors. After a half hour or so (I'm off on the timing a little due to the pain of the contractions) I was checked and had only dilated a cm, if that. They decided to monitor me for another hour and then called my OB to see what she wanted to do (they were pretty sure I'd be admitted so they had already started an IV with fluids). Since I was over 40 weeks at this point and obviously in active labor, they admitted me (Yay!!). I got moved upstairs and waited for the anesthesiologist to arrive (I was counting the minutes). After receiving my epidural, my OB arrived and checked me (I had dilated to 6 cm in the span of about 3 hours); she then told me to call my sister, mom, husband's parents and have them come to the hospital now (they were all going to wait for a little while). Once they arrived (everyone got there about 1 o'clock) my OB broke my water and within a half hour I had dilated to 9 cm. Around 2 p.m. I started pushing and at 2:21 p.m. Jet Xiang Ting was born. :)

It is amazing how instantly and totally your heart is captured by such a little person!! :) Frank and I were so blessed to have Reese and now the Lord has given us another blessing. The only feeling I have is utter amazement and gratitude!! My prayer is that we never take for granted these gifts that have been given to us!

Rest and Relaxation

About 2 weeks ago I was given rest and relaxation orders. Now to many this sounds great! However, my rest and relaxation orders were given due to our little boy trying to make an early entrance into this world. :) I guess he's getting as excited to meet us as we are of him! :) We had to remind him, though, that he needs a little more time cooking! :) It took some convincing too . . .

Wednesday, July 27th, I woke up feeling very crampy. Now I've felt this way before, but it usually goes away quickly enough. This time it didn't. So after having cramping for about 3 hours (I had had some the night before as well) I decided to call my OB's office. I figured they would tell me it's nothing, probably Braxton Hicks or something like that. Nope. They wanted me to go to the hospital to be monitored and checked out. Yay. :/ So I finished feeding Reese her lunch, ran her over to my sister's house (whose husband was very kind to watch her along with his four) and then met my husband at the hospital. They got me situated pretty quickly and hooked up to the fetal monitors. After a little while they told me that I was in deed having actual contractions and that they were going to start giving me turbo (I don't know how to spell the full word). I got a shot about every hour (up to 3 shots). The first shot actually did stop them for a little bit. The next 2 did nothing. Bummer. And unfortunately after going through all of that, it turned out that I had actually dilated - so I was admitted to the hospital and was going to receive magnesium in an effort to try to stop the contractions. Not what I wanted to hear, but if it stopped the contractions and kept little man safe then it was worth it.

I ended up receiving fluids, plus magnesium, plus antibiotics. I was also given 2 shots of steroids that would help speed up little man's lung maturation (just in case he did come early - I was only 32 weeks at this point). Thankfully after receiving the magnesium for about 2 days my contractions actually stopped (for the most part - I still had a few, but nothing like when I arrived on Wednesday) and I was able to start taking procardia (a pill that's supposed to relax the uterus and prevent contractions). It was a relief to know that things had been halted - thankfully I hadn't dilated any more over the course of those 2 days. After being monitored for another day or two I was able to go home - with strict instructions to be on bed rest.

My parents actually left for FL the Wednesday night I was admitted and made it to the hospital mid morning on that Thursday. It was so nice to see them and have them here! My dad has since gone back home, but my mom has stayed to help out. I am so thankful for her being here!! Because she's here, Reese has been able to be at home with us and even though I can't pick her up or play with her, I at least get to see her and talk with her every day. How much I would miss that if my mom weren't here! I am also thankful for my in-laws who will watch Reese in a heartbeat - they actually kept her during my time in the hospital and for a couple days after I got home. Frank and I are extremely blessed with family who take such good care of us!!! I don't know what we'd do without them!!

Anyway, that's my exciting story! Lord willing, little man will stay put until I'm at least 35 (I say at least, but we're praying for him to make it to 36 or 37 weeks) weeks. That's how long I'll be on the medication, so we'll see how it goes after they take me off. :) I appreciate everyone's prayers!!!! :)

Vacation Time

This past week was our bi-annual Pletcher family trip to Lake Norman, NC. It is always a mix of fun, chaos (especially as we add more and more children to our families) and relaxation. :) It was wonderful seeing all of the kids play together and watching Reese interact with her cousins! :)

We had beautiful weather and enjoyed many evenings out on the back porch, reading or just enjoying the sunset. Of course we swam in the lake (which Reese loved) and we rented a pontoon boat one day and jet skis another. Reese tried out both with no fear or reservations! :) I think she had a blast!! :) There was a water balloon fight on Wednesday thanks to Aunt Jess and Uncle Tom, plus s'mores. :) Our family held a small baby shower for us while we were there (which we are very grateful for and appreciate!) and we celebrated the kids birthdays (those that were in the months of June and July - there are four of them with summer birthdays). The kids had fun opening presents and trying to break the pinatas that Uncle Zac brought. :)

We ended the week by going out to dinner Friday night at a local steakhouse. It was a nice way to finish up our vacation. :) Please enjoy the 100s of pictures below! :)

Decision Time

I originally began this blog with the purpose of sharing our adoption journey. It started back in 2007 with Frank and I filling out the paperwork and getting on the list to wait. Then it was a waiting game. What we didn't expect was the miracle of our little girl, Reese. So in 2009 we were put on hold on the list (no one was able to see our file or choose us to adopt their child). We were okay with this - we knew we would need the year or so after she was born before we were ready to welcome another child into our home. And so, when this past January came around we were getting ready to update our home study and be made active again. Then . . . . we found out I was pregnant again. This time Frank and I both knew what this would mean. It would mean being put on hold until, at least, our little guy turned 1. However, this time when communicating back and forth with our contact at the adoption agency (Who is wonderful, by the way! This kind woman has been super encouraging throughout it all and has been nothing but honest with us!) we were asked a tough question. Would we consider pulling out until we are truly ready to go through with the adoption? I want to tell you, this was a hard question to take. We'd been going through this process for 4 years now and we both truly believe that the Lord would have us to adopt. But we also recognized how the Lord's been answering our prayers throughout the past years as well. At each time we were to update our paperwork, I got pregnant. It happened with Reese and it happened with this little one. So we took a lot of time to talk, PRAY and consider what was best. Not just for us, but also for the other families who are waiting and longing for their forever child.

So with heavy hearts we agreed to pull out of the adoption process. We are still open to adopting and will be following the Lord's leading. We are so thankful for the children that the Lord has given us and we pray that one day we'll be able to add one more - one who is waiting right now for us as we are for them. Thank you for following along with us and supporting us as we began and now end (for the time being) this part of our journey.

We love you all!!

Easter 2011

It seems amazing that we are celebrating Easter at the end of April this year - even more amazing is the fact that it's the end of April already!! Where is this year going?! :)

This past weekend was a lot of fun! We were blessed to have Frank join us on Friday (he rarely gets a day off on holidays) and went to the beach with my sister and her family. It was Reese's first time at the beach and she had a blast! :) She kept running further into the water - scared me, but she was loving it! Even when she got knocked over by the water, she just took it in stride, got back up and kept playing! :) It was a lot of fun!! :)

Saturday was our church's Easter egg hunt. Reese was so little last year that we didn't even take her. This year, she seemed to enjoy finding the eggs - or at least holding on to them. :) We enjoyed watching her just run around and have fun. :) Her cousins were there, too, and she always seems to have a good time with them! :)

After the egg hunt (and nap time), we went over to my sister's house to hang out and dye some eggs. Thanks to Aunt Carrie, Reese didn't eat much dinner, but she did get some good candy and a nice, big cupcake! :) It was fun to watch the older kids dye their eggs. Marcail wanted to put sparkles on all of them. :) Reese did end up eating one of the eggs that were cracked . . . :)

Sunday was another busy, fun day! We got up, dressed and went to church to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. I love Easter, but it always reminds me that we should be celebrating His resurrection every day! Anyway, it was a great service and the nursery always does something cute with the kids. So we ended up with chicks made out of Reese's feet on a piece of paper. :) It was cute. :) Then after church we headed straight over to my sister's again for a nice Easter lunch and another egg hunt. The kids had a blast looking all over her backyard for the eggs! Reese got a little distracted by the slide, but after we redirected her to the eggs, she got the hang of it! :) After the egg hunt and lunch we all just hung around and visited for the rest of the afternoon. It was a wonderful day of remembering what Christ has done for us and spending time with the family!!

Yesterday I had my anatomy ultrasound. It went really well and the baby is doing great! We are always so thankful for the good reports on the baby! We also found out that we're having a boy, so now the hunt for the perfect name will start! :) This one will probably take us a lot longer then choosing Reese's name did! :) Below is a slideshow of the ultrasound pics - there are 7 of them and the very last one is the shot proving it's a boy. So if you don't want to see it, quit watching after you see his profile shot. :) Enjoy!! :)

Blessed

Many of you know already, but for those of you who don't - I'm pregnant! :) Frank and I are very excited about enlarging our family and we know that Reese is going to be a GREAT big sister! :) God's goodness never ceases to amaze me! :) So far the pregnancy has been going well - except for the all day nausea and lack of energy. :) Keeping up with Reese (who is now walking) takes a little more out of me than it used to! :) But so far all doctor appointments have gone well and our little guy or gal looks healthy and strong! :) It is hard for me to believe that we will have two little ones to be thankful for this Thanksgiving instead of just one. God is so very good!!! :)

Baby Ting #2

Reesey Girl Walking

I'm One!!!

While we were in PA, Reese celebrated her first birthday! It is hard to believe that a year has gone by so quickly!! So many changes, so many lessons learned, so many blessings!!! :) We can not imagine what our life was like before we had Reese anymore!! She is such a joy and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with her!! :) We love you, Reese Lan-Li!!!! :)

Christmas, Christmas, Time is Here (think Alvin and the Chipmunks version)

Yes, I know Christmas is past, but I still thought the title appropriate. :) We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas in PA with my family this year. And crazy as it sounds, we drove. Yes, we drove. We left at 3:00 am on December 22nd, meeting up with the Hicks' in GA. Thankfully, the kids did great! Our only snag was in WV where we hit traffic and it took us about an hour to travel less than 5 miles. The frustrating part was that we were only about an hour and a half from home. This is about when Reese started getting fussy - but she was a trooper and hung in there until we got to my parents' house. All in all it took us about 16 hours to get to PA. Not quite as bad as we thought and we were finally at my parents' house. Where there was SNOW!!! :) Reese got to play in it twice and went sled riding down our small little hill. She laughed and seemed to have a good time. I know she won't remember it, but I took lots of pictures to prove to her that she did see snow. :) And Lord willing, one day we'll live where it snows!:)

Spending Christmas with my family was wonderful! We went to Christmas Eve service, had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and enjoyed a great evening of fun and fellowship. All of the kids went down to bed very easily and we adults stayed up playing some games. Frank and I went to bed around 11 or so only to be woken up at about 12:30 by Reese (who shared the room with us). Normally we would have just ignored her and let her fuss it out and cry herself to sleep, but this night we had agreed to let Gabe and Marcail sleep in the room with us as well ( so that "Santa" could get his gifts out of the room they were sleeping in.). So we lay her back down not once, but twice, only to have her get up, point over to where she can see Marcail and start to "talk". So we went out to the living room (where the toys already were) and let her play around for a little. We think she really just wanted to see the toys before everyone else. :) Finally at about 2 or so, we'd had enough (after all, we knew it'd be an early morning) so I woke up my parents, we put the extra pack 'n' play in their room and laid her down in a room by herself (she's such a socialite already!). :) She went to sleep pretty much right away and slept in until about 9 that morning (she didn't mind missing the other kids seeing the gifts- she had already seen them after all.). :) What a kook! :)

Christmas day was great and we were able to hang out in PA until Friday (we left early that morning and made it home in only 13 hours- yay!!). On Wednesday, the 29th we had every single member of my family and their families there at my parents' house. That would be 11 adults and 8 children in my parents' house. It was crazy!!! But we so rarely get everyone together and it was awesome to see everyone! :) What a fun time we had!! :)