Beau is resting and doing well!

We arrived this morning at approximately 6:00 am and started the check-in process. By 7:3o am they were taking him to the operating room for surgery. The surgery lasted about 3 hours and the doctor said it went great.

He was in recovery for about 45 minutes before we saw him. That's when it got a little bit crazy. They moved us to our room and we were just putting our bags down when a nurse carried him in. Beau was pretty much hysterical. The nurse told me to sit down and then she handed him to me. I had no idea what to do with the iv and catheter and I wasn't sure if I could touch the incision site to hold him. Raleigh quickly stepped in and held Beau. (Raleigh was a child life therapist before going into the "corporate" world, so he is way better at hospital stuff than me.)

Beau stayed pretty wound up for several hours. His heart rate was in the 230's and his fever was 104. His oxygen level wasn't as high as they wanted so they made him wear oxygen. He did not like having that in his nose all day! I can't blame him! After the nurses had done all they could, the anesthesiologist came in. He was really nice and stayed with us and talked to us. He gave Beau some good anti-anxiety medicine and some stronger pain medicine and Beau eventually calmed down. It took a while for his fever to normalize, but it did finally come down. In the end, the surgeon and anesthesiologist think that Beau's heart rate and fever were mostly due to anxiety. Sweet Beau just worked himself into a frenzy and his little body was just over worked.

He has had 3 bottles of water, 1 bottle of milk and a few cheerios now. He wasn't really interested in eating tonight, so hopefully by tomorrow he will be ready for a little more food.

It is about 10:30pm and he is now snoring in the hospital bed! I'm not sure how long it will last, but for now Raleigh and I are just hanging out in the room. We should be able to head home tomorrow.

I will keep you posted. Here are a few pictures from today!

Good morning!

Beau was content to just hang out in the waiting room this morning!

When we went to our pre-op room, he felt safe in daddy's arms!

Here we are saying goodbye before the nurse took him into the operating room. If you can't tell in the last two pictures, he had been given a little medicine to help him relax.

Here is Beau after surgery and after several does of pain meds. Sweet boy!

We are ready!

Our bags are packed and we are ready!

We are off to our local children's hospital Wednesday morning for Beau's surgery! He is having his ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction repaired. The doctor will repair the obstruction and put a stint in Beau's ureter. About 6 weeks later he will have a 2nd surgery to remove the stint. The goals of repairing the UPJ obstruction are 1) prevent further damage to Beau's left kidney and 2) his left kidney may regain some of its function.

Hopefully Beau will have a peaceful spirit during our time at the hospital.

Raleigh's mom (Mimi) flew in from Colorado today and is staying with us for about a week. She brought us the most special book for the hospital. A member of her church made it for Beau. It is called My Quiet Book and is filled with activities!

This page has apples for counting! The apples snap onto the tree so it is also great for fine motor skills! The next page has a shoe to practice lacing and tying!

Ring! Ring! Who's calling? Beau will love to play with the telephone! Beau will also love manipulating the hands of the clock! The clock will be great for number recognition and when he is a little older we will practice telling time!

The little pocket is filled with a notebook and crayons! Fun!!

This page has a cute velcro puzzle and a glove to practice placing your fingers in the correct spot!

There are several other pages that are equally adorable! I know Beau is going to love playing with his new book in the hospital!

We are off to bed! Our check in time at the hospital is 6am, so it will be an early morning!!

National Adoption Month 2011

November is National Adoption Month! To kick off the month, enjoy this sweet video put together by another adoptive mom!

You might even see sweet Beau!

First Halloween Home

We had a wonderful and low key halloween! Beau was a pumpkin which I think was totally sweet! I figure he will be a super hero or pirate or something else very boy-ish for the rest of his life, so I wanted to pick something cute while he is still a baby! Plus, I was a pumpkin for my first halloween, so I think it is neat that he got to be the same thing!

We stayed home and had a pizza picnic on the floor. Then Beau helped us pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He was happy with it for about 30 minutes. Then we opened the door to a teenager with a scary mask and it really scared Beau. He screamed in a scared voice and it was so sad. After that, we just let him play inside the house and Raleigh and I answered the door.

We were kind of party poopers because we turned our lights off at 8:00pm once Beau went to bed so that the doorbell wouldn't wake him up. Unfortunately, a dark house doesn't keep the trick-or-treaters away. They just kept coming! Oh well! He seemed to sleep through it!

It was a perfect first halloween at home!

Beau is really into finding rocks right now!

Three little pumpkins sitting in a row!

Yay! Dad is home from work!

Beau really likes to play under Raleigh's desk. He likes to stack his blocks on the speaker! Notice his sweaty head! The pumpkin hat got a little hot after a while! :)

I was 6 months old for my first halloween! My mom made my costume! I am not a seamstress at all, so I didn't make Beau's costume but it is still cute!

Pictures from Today

It was a little cool in our house when we woke up this morning, so we put one of Raleigh's toboggans on Beau, mostly just to be funny. But I think he is so adorable in a little hat!

This afternoon Raleigh worked for a long time in the yard to clean up the leaves that had fallen. Beau and I snuck into the leaf pile for a few quick pictures.

P.S. Hi sweet cousin Erica! I think you let me borrow this green vest the first time I went to meet Raleigh's parents in Colorado. Well, that was like 6+ years ago and I still have your vest and I'm obviously still wearing it! oops!! You can have it back now! I love you!

Beau's First Birthday

I posted here about the pictures we received of Beau's first birthday! Here are a few of them! We are so happy to have these pictures!!

I am sorry I have to cover some of Beau's foster mother's face. She is beautiful and we are so very thankful for how well she loved Beau for 10 months, but I cannot show her face for privacy reasons.

Isn't the tol table lovely?! The hydrangeas are so pretty!

Beau looks so handsome in his hanbok! We received this hanbok from his foster mom, so we will be sure to have him wear it again on his 2nd birthday!

Weekend Rewind

Two weekends ago we took a road trip to visit my parents in Nashville. The weather was so nice and we had a wonderful time. Beau even let Nana (my mom) give him his first haircut...he was developing a nice mullet, so we knew it was time for a little trim!

He wasn't so sure about the haircut at first! We eventually gave him a popsicle as a distraction!

My sweet mom and dad relaxing in the swing and watching Beau play!

Beau loves to hang out with dad!

After spending all of Saturday and part of Sunday in Nashville, we headed to Cleveland, TN to visit my grandmother Diddie. We are so thankful that she was able to meet Beau. Her mind was very alert, although her body was very weak. She said that she would hold Beau once she got her strength back. My grandmother went home to the Lord 3 days later on Wednesday evening. Even though she didn't get hold Beau here on Earth, we know they will get to know each other one day in Heaven!

Fall Pictures

I really wanted to take a few pictures of Beau near our pumpkins! Don't all kids need the obligatory pumpkin pictures in October??? Ha! Ha! Beau really just wanted to play with the rocks instead of smile for the camera, but I still think they are super cute!