February 26

Tovin had another peaceful night of sleep, we are all thankful for that!  He loves music, so we have Addison’s I-Pod playing quietly right next to the crib until he falls asleep, which has come pretty easy for him.  The music mix he loves best is from Tracy Dance Studio’s Recital 2012!  Jen definitely loves that!

About the I-Pod and I-Pads…it’s pretty pathetic, he has already figured out how to operate them.  He is very good at watching Addison do something, and figuring out how to do it as well!  He decided that he wanted to brush his teeth by himself today; it was pretty obvious that he hadn’t had this experience before, but didn’t stop trying until he got it.  It’s great to see him be able to pick up skills so fast! 

Tovin will turn 3 next month.  He is maybe in size 18 month clothing.  The clothes Jen brought from home are size 2T, not knowing how they were going to fit thinking that he would be small but…I guess we were a little bit off.  His pants are falling off of him, but with little adjustments and synching in at the waist they are semi-staying up.  We are doing the best we can with getting him to eat healthy food that will stick to his bones, but we know that once he becomes healthy he will have the ability to gain weight. 

It rained all day in Nanchang today, so we decided to go to the local Walmart, and also to the local porcelain shop.  Tovin’s province is known for the beautiful blue and white ‘made in China’ porcelain.  We bought a cookie jar type piece with a pretty cool Chinese design on it for the house, now we need to make sure that it gets home in one piece!  Our guide asked what we might use it for, and we actually said to put cookies in, and she said, “No, no, much too beautiful to put cookies in.”  Don’t think she liked that idea!  We had our camera with us on this journey, but we forgot to take pictures…I think that we all were admiring the crazy sights in Walmart (quite a bit different than back home) and also the shop and forgot to pull it out.  We will go back, because Jen is thinking that we need to get some of the porcelain for gifts.  We will take pictures then.

After our shopping excursion we came back to the hotel to eat and to rest.  When Tovin woke up from his nap he was full of smiles and giggles.  We were able to get some great pictures that portray his personality.  The three pictures of him hugging Jen – awesome!  He literally would hug her, lay back, sit there for about 4 or 5 seconds and then reach up for another hug!  It’s amazing what effect a little love and attention can have.  He’s changing by the hour. 

We are starting to see a very silly side of him.  Addison does a great job helping this come out!  I know that we have written that Addison is doing a great job already, but really we are all so impressed with her!  She is taking the big sister role to heart!  There have been some signs of jealousy, but how couldn’t she be jealous, her life has changed almost as much as Tovin’s in the last three days.  As far as Tovin goes, he too has shown signs of jealousness; he pushed Addison away when he was in Jen’s lap and she tried to crawl up to sit with them.  Gotta love this part of a sibling relationship.  However, Addison defiantly loves Tovin and is very concerned about his heart!  She has used her Doc. McStuffins knowledge with him many times…it’s very cute!  She has diagnosed him with a bad case of “blue blooditus”. 

We ended our day with a walk down the street to the walking mall.  Really it’s just a huge sidewalk with shops on both sides.  There aren’t supposed to be any motorized vehicles on this street, but that’s not always the case.  We walked to get a McDonald’s ice cream cone and a great winter coat for Addison.  Jen couldn’t pass up the deal, and they both (Addison and her) thought it was super cute; I just went along with it!  We ended up eating at the Red Bull (a Chinese restaurant down the street), as you can tell from the picture we are totally wet from getting caught in the rain.

Please send prayers Tovin’s way for his journey to Guangzhou on Friday.   We are not sure how the plane ride will go with the very rapid altitude change, and the not so pure airplane air!  Jen is not looking forward to this, but she knows that she can always take the advice of Tovin’s pediatric cardiologist –“if it looks like he is having a difficult time, ask for oxygen!”  Not sure if that is supposed to make us feel better or not? 

We are so blessed to have Tovin, heart condition and all, in our lives.  He is a beautiful gift from above! 

Have a super day!

Jason, Jen, Addison, and Tovin