Getting Closer

Today Kathleen and Kellin have there appointment at the American Consulate in Guangzhou.  This is a very official meeting to get the final permission to bring Kellin into the country.  He has been cleared medically, and you get 2 levels of pre-approval from immigration ahead of time, so I don't think they can say no at this point.  Then the next day he will receive his VISA so that on Friday, THEY CAN COME HOME!  Our understanding is that he becomes a U.S. citizen then as soon as he enters the country.

Kellin has been a little fussy as of late.  Perhaps there was a honeymoon period that is now over and he needs to test the waters of "how will this lady act when I cry"?  As I think as I said before, as much as it is not fun to have a crying kid around you.  It is an important part of bonding for him to be upset so Kathleen can have a chance to comfort him, to let him know that now there is somebody there when he need it.  They tried getting back to the playroom yesterday, but Kellin wasn't feeling it much.

Kellin is doing a very good job of standing on his own now.  They are trying to get him to walk along furniture, but he hasn't been too interested yet.  The other day Kathleen did say he transferred from the coffee table to the couch, so that is exciting.  Kathleen and Kellin continue to find ways to play together.  She has started teaching him "how big is Kellin?" and a few time he has raised his arms up so she will say "So Big".  Kathleen says he thinks that is pretty cool.

Back at home, we said good-bye to Grandma.  So we are on our own again.  Things are going pretty smoothly.  Yesterday I have to admit I had so much school work to do that I let the kids watch a movie so that I could get caught up.  The movie kept them up a good 45 min to an hour longer than they should have been.  So Pooh was pretty crabby at daycare, and Tigger fell asleep in school.  As soon as I'm done with this blog, I need to go do some more.  I don't want to be grading all weekend, my first days with Kellin.  Luckily, Monday is a teacher workshop day, so if anything I don't get done this week, I can leave for Monday.

It is hard to imagine exactly what life with Kellin will be like.  We're about to find out.  Preparing myself for a challenging road ahead.  But I know our family.  There are going to be some tough times, but we can do it together.

Not sure if I will blog again before Kellin comes home or not.  We will only have one more chance to Skype with Kathleen, so I don't know what I'll be getting for updates.  It will be very late Friday when we get home.  In the mean time, we have piano lessons, Jump Rope 4 Heart, maybe gymnastics and of course more grading that needs to happen.

Thank you all so much for supporting us on this journey, and we will see you on the next road!  Haven't decided if we will start a new blog.  Racing2Kellin won't seem appropriate when he is here, but I'm sure some of you will want to know how things are going still.