Long bullet post, anyone?

• Monday - normal, school for boys at home, school for MK away from home, piano, and home. Normal.
• Tuesday - Happy 1/2 Birthday to Pryce! 7 1/2, wow! He was up bright and early awaiting his special day festivities. No cake for breakfast. Instead, he was served a pile of pancake halves with a Kiss on top as a substitute.....the 1/2 cookie cake came later in the day with his friends at co-op. He topped his day off with a southwest night out for dinner - his choice - and a boyscout meeting with friends! Now, in between his festivities, something else occurred. There is a little girl in our home who is 2. She is usually a diaper wearing 2 year old but on Tuesday she had a change of heart. P, MK and I were at a bookstore while C was doing a writing class. MK had a rather large, full diaper on. I decided to take it off though I did not have another diaper with me in the store. I knew she would be ok until we could make it back to the car. She was. Thing is, I FORGOT to put a diaper back on her! She was wearing a cute little monogrammed diaper cover without the diaper! So, we went to co-op, I took her to her class - yes, diaperless! I left. Two and a half hours later I went to pick her back up and she is wearing a summer outfit. I inquired as to why. Their response, "Well, she was going potty and her dress was a little too long and it got wet. She has done great, though, with the potty. She went several times!" At this point, I realized she had gone to co-op minus the diaper and I figured we may as well try our hand at potty training!
• Wednesday - Up bright and early. Abandoned school for the day. The boys were off to a friends house to play while Ryan and I took Mason-Kate to the hospital for her one year check up with our local cleft team. All in all, a good report. Palate has healed great. No mention of a fistula. It is long enough. Her air flow is good. No nasal sounds. This means nothing to those who do not have a cleft child. But for those who do, she looks good. Her lower jaw is growing at a faster rate than her upper jaw - not a shocker as this is common with cleft children. The shocker was when they told us she would do orthodontic work prior to her next surgery. We had never heard this one mentioned before. We knew orthodontics would be involved obviously but we assumed that would be after her bone graft surgery. Oh well, they will guide us. Her speech is good. Her ears are good. All looked good. They even gave us an option to see them in two years versus one.....I declined their offer. I like to check in, so we will see them in a year. Following her appt., we picked up the boys and headed to the grand opening of Publix. This is not a biggy for some but it is HUGE for me! I am in love with this grocery store and what their ice cream selection has to offer to my own palate. The boys declared this the best day ever when they were allowed to buy a hot dog and a drink for the mere cost of $1.oo. Did I mention that the new Publix is only a mile and 1/2 from our house - YAY! It really is the small things that make the world go around!
• Thursday - Normal. Busy. Fun. Day.
• Friday - That is today. We are off to spend some time with my grandmother who turned 89 years old yesterday!

LID - November 2006

It is November 2009. Three years ago this month, we received confirmation from our adoption agency that our compilation of paperwork (dossier) had been registered with the CCAA (Chinese Adoption officials). At that time, we were told things were slowing down a bit with adoptions from China and it may be as long as 14-16 months until we were referred a healthy daughter from China. We set in for our wait. It boggles my mind that, three years later, after we have been home with our "special needs" daughter for 20 months, the wait continues in China. We would STILL be waiting had we not switched programs. STILL. And we would have waited at least another 18 months to two years, at best. Sometimes we all make decisions, that in the long run, may not have been the best. And then other times we make decisions, life changing-leap of faith taking decisions, that we couldn't imagine a better outcome to!

Halloween 2009

"What time are we going?" That is the question that was asked more than a few times in our home yesterday. We did our traditional Halloween party with our surrounding neighbors and then we ALL set out to trick or treat. There were A LOT of children and they were EVERYWHERE. Honestly, it was a little stressful. Thankfully, the children were quite oblivious to the chaos, their concerns being what house to go to next and keeping track of their accumulation of candy. Mason-Kate figured out quickly that the only thing she needed to do for a treat was to walk up and smile. Of course, I told her to say "Trick or Treat" and she retorted, "I can't say dat!" so she substituted with "Please" and "Thank You." By the end of our evening, the childrens question turned from "What time are we going?" to "Can we go home?" Luckily, we did decide to call it a night when we did....literally a minute following our arrival home, it not only rained, it POURED. The Trick or Treaters were gone and the trading of the candy began. Mason-Kate was up to her old tricks of being sly. As the boys were concentrating on the fair trade market, MK was busy stealing a piece here and taking a piece there from their loot.

The boys made pinatas in Spanish class this week. Our butterfly princess.

What happens when you go to the pumpkin patch late in the season? You wind up coming home with Charlie Brown's pumpkin, not perfect but in need of a little character. The children were proud so that is all that really matters. The second pic is of the children dancing to the Monster Mash!

And, last but not least, us. Not often do we dress up. However, we were invited to an adult only party in the neighborhood and being the social bugs that we are, we were happy to attend! Problem? No costume. An hour before the party was to begin, we were slated to go as Dorothy and the Scarecrow (with allergies not doubt as we did not have any hay to complete the costume!) from the Wizard of Oz. I was on the phone with a friend who mentioned the above idea....I shared it with Ryan and before I could even finish the description, he was busy making our shirts. We got several laughs.

What a fun week we have had! Monday, baseball. Tuesday, co-op and meeting. Wednesday, spanish, baseball and golf - note here that baseball was supposed to have ended last week but the game goes on. Another note, P played his first season of machine pitch baseball and came out with the highest batting average for his team. Thursday, Fall party for MK, pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving fun with family.

A conversation with one of the boys: (I was sitting at the computer reading an email from Ryan. The content was in response to something I had sent to him earlier and it made me laugh out loud.)

Son: "Mom, what are you laughing at?"

Me: "Well, I should just tell you that your father and I may not ever be able to give you everything you could possibly want or every Star Wars item you desire, but we can give you a safe, happy, loving home."

Son: "Oh, well, that is ok mom, you don't have to give us all of the Star Wars toys in the world. (I was looking at him thinking he is so sweet, he just needs us and he understands, aww - but then he continued...) There are only THREE Star Wars toys that we really NEED. (He proceeds to name them) Don't worry though, Santa is coming soon and I think he can buy it all."

Another conversation: (There has been talk of us POSSIBLY going back to China. Not anytime soon - the process is not fast and we will have to iron some things out first. And I should note, for the family's sake, it is all TALK at this point, everyone breathe.)

Son: "Mom, are we REALLY going back to China?"

Me: "Buddy, I just don't know. We would love to. If we do, it won't be for several years due to paperwork, being matched with a child and then waiting to travel. And we wouldn't necessarily get a baby - maybe a three year old or so. We will see. What do you think?"

Son: "I want to go back but I don't want to get a three year old."

Me: "Well, we will see. Why don't you want a three year old?"

Son: "I just want one that will listen to us when we tell her to do something - you know, one that doesn't cry!"

Me: "Good luck with that at any age!"

And, of course, a conversation with MK:

Her class went on a hayride on Monday.

Me: "Mason-Kate, did you have so much fun at school today?"

MK: "Yes!"

Me: "How was your hayride with your friends?"

MK: "Bumpy, me sit on my bottom. Colby sit with her (note he is a boy) mommy."

Me: "Oh, Colby sat with his mommy? Did you sit with Ms. Leila?"

MK: "Not so much."

MK did have a speech articulation evaluation on Wednesday. It showed a two month delay.

This is something I just remembered happened this past week and I want to remember it one day....one will ask at some point at what age did MK know she was adopted. I do not believe that she knows even what adoption means but I do know she is familiar with the words and uses them appropriately even at the age of 2. She loves the book "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes." We read it at least two or three times a week. It is a story for children about Chinese adoption. The story talks of the babies in the orphanage, their nannies, a mother's desire to adopt, the trip to China and back. When we read it together, MK's favorite pages are the ones with pictures of the airplanes....there is one page with a plane going to China - Mason-Kate will always say, "On that plane, my mommy, my daddy, my Pryce, my Col-Col - no Finwey, he at my house." Then there is the page that talks of being on the plane coming home from China and MK will say, "Me, me on that plane with my mommy, my daddy, and my boys." When asked, Mason-Kate will say that she was born in China. This has really been the extent of our talking to her about adoption. Imagine the surprise I had when she announced last week to her speech therapist, "I adopt China!"

The boys in our lives are gone yet again. Last weekend they spent camping with the childrens group from our church and this weekend they are camping with the Boyscouts. With that said, MK and I have had a lot of mother/daughter time to share. MK has always been one to imitate others. On Gotcha Day, MK wouldn't let me hold her at first. Instead she liked sitting on Ryan's lap and playing the "lean and look" game. I would lean one way and laugh and she would do the exact same thing, over and over. She imitates almost anything that she sees and likes, from singing to dancing to sword fighting, etc. - and now words. Apparently I say the word "seriously" too much. Yesterday I was changing her diaper and I was telling her that soon we are going to say "bye, bye diapers" and wear big girl panties. She cut her eyes at me and in a very 'you are kidding, right?' tone she said, "Seriously?"

Last night eight families, who have adopted a child internationally, gathered in our home to celebrate. One family just received their referral of a beautiful baby girl in China, one family just began the process to adopt from Bulgaria, two families are adjusting to life with their new little ones - one from Ethiopia, one from China, one family waits anxiously for news of their LID and the rest of us took it all in. It was an amazing evening of catching up, stories and laughter!

The serious and the not so serious....

Ring Around the Rosie.....and Hide N Seek (no one had the heart to tell the girls they should hide somewhere where they couldn't be seen!)

Red Couch Photo for the China girls!