Guess who came home for a visit? SISSY!!!!!

John flew to Lubbock on Tuesday to help Sam drive her car (Cali) home for a visit.  On Wednesday morning they got up bright and early, and after Sam "puked in front of 7-11 like a drink girl," they hit the road.  I guess her pasta and chicken dinner was "questionable."  :)

When I got home from work last night I had Carter track his sister's cell phone - the only redeemable thing about the iPhone - and all the kids ran around giddy just waiting to pounce on their big sister.  We unloaded the car, got Daddy settled and everyone took turns hugging and loving on Sam.  Five months is a long time to wait for a hug!

Here is the beautiful decoration she brought home for Mackenzie's room.  I just LOVE it!

Hope you all have a safe and fun Memorial Weekend - I know we will.

Marlo

Happy (Real & Fake) Birthday Maddie!

Friday was Madison’s 5^th birthday; and boy, was it a busy weekend of celebrating!  Let me explain the title first.  Since Maddie only goes to preschool Monday through Thursday, we decided to make a special trip to share her birthday with her friends.  Mommy decked her out in her new outfit from Grandma Helen, a birthday girl sash and a Barbie tiara.  When we went to pick up our cupcakes, a nice man standing in line gave Maddie a $5 bill and told her to have a great day!  How sweet is that?  As we got out of the truck to go inside the preschool, Maddie squealed, “I AM SO EXCITED!”  Here she is with her besties and enjoying her cupcake! 

 While we were handing out our goodies, Maddie’s teacher, Miss Betsy, asked if today was her “real birthday or her fake birthday” – like maybe it was Saturday or Sunday.  I explained that today was really her birthday, and then the kids sang to her and squeezed her so much I think the poor thing went home bruised.

We had almost reached the house when Maddie asked from her little car seat in the back of my big truck, “Mommy, today is my real birthday, so when do we celebrate my fake birthday?”  Proof positive this child is ALWAYS listening.  I laughed and told her we would celebrate her “fake” birthday on Saturday with Ali and the twins.

I forgot to mention another Maddie-ism that she tossed out at me in the morning as we were getting dressed.  As you can see, Madison’s hair is getting long and it’s hard for her to brush the back.  Understandable.  I started combing through her hair and she announced that SHE needed to comb it.  I gave her the comb and stepped back, giggling, because I could see the huge KNOT back there.  She started on the side.  No problem.  Then the back - and it started to get caught, so she pulled harder and really embedded the comb in the nest of knotted hair.  She gave me the most disgusted look, let go of the comb and proclaimed, “GREAT!”  (Read that with LOTS of attitude.)  I couldn’t help myself and I busted out laughing.  Bad Mommy! J

The rest of the day was filled with playing with Barbie dolls and cooking and eating more yummy cupcakes (this was Madison’s request) from the Cupcakery.  Miss Amanda and Uncle Rich joined us in the celebration.  This is the Rapunzel hat Miss Amanda made for Maddie.  She's a cute blonde...but maybe we need to tell her she is Asian????

Let me stick a side note in here.  We didn’t go overboard with decorations and a lot of hoopla, but we did purchase Barbie plates and napkins and Daddy felt the need to also get a 10’ Barbie banner that read Happy (blank) Birthday.  They also give you the numbers 0-9 and letters (d, n, r, s t) required to customize the blank – in our case with 5^th.  So I’m standing on a chair taping this monstrosity of a banner to the wall in the kitchen with help from Codi and Carter.  I ask Codi to hand me the number 5 and then the letters T and H.  Carter is looking intently at all the letters left on the counter and he asks, “What the heck was this supposed to spell?”  Awwww…bless his little blonde heart.  Codi and I almost peed our pants!

On Saturday, Uncle Rich decided we should start Maddie’s “fake” birthday off with Hawaiian Shaved Ice from Oso Ono (check them out on Facebook).  OMG!  Rich and Amanda had already turned us on to Fluff Ice last year (left picture) – it’s ice that’s finely shaved to create an almost snow-like texture.  We love the original which has fresh chunks of mango and strawberries on top and is covered in sweetened condensed milk and blue boba.  To. Die. For! 

Shaved Ice is sort of a combo between Fluff Ice and a snow cone (right pictures).  Start with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, add beans, then the fluffy ice, cover with your favorite snow cone flavor(s) and sweetened condensed milk, and if you are feeling really indulgent, cover it with popping boba (juice filled boba balls).                                                              

Here she is waiting patiently for her treat.  The second picture is Mom and Maddie hanging out in her tent – playing with more Barbie dolls and watching a Barbie movie.

 

Later in the day we had a great visit with Alison and the twins.  We swam and laughed and shared pizza (also Maddie’s request) and finished off the cupcakes.  All the little ones were exhausted and it ended up being an early night.

So, you’d think the birthday would be over, right??  WRONG!  Sunday also became Maddie’s “fake” birthday complete with swimming again and getting all dolled up to go over for a BBQ at Miss Amanda and Uncle Rich’s house.  Every time Maddie asked to do something, or eat something, everyone accommodated her by saying, “Well, it is still your fake birthday.”  We have created a monster!

Thanks to everyone who called and left messages on Facebook to wish our little princess a Happy Birthday.  She is a lucky girl to have you all!

Marlo

Pandas or Owls? Seriously! Is this really all I can do right now?

The nursery décor has become my new pet project because there is NOTHING for me to do for the adoption right now and I HATE WAITING and not being in control. 

Most of you are probably going, “Who cares?  Just pick what you think is cute,” which is pretty much the answer I got from the males in my household.  But I would really like a little help here.  I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this yet, but Kenzie has some eye issues.  We really won’t know the extent until we get her home and have her evaluated by an eye doctor, but we are pretty sure she is going to need some type of special care. 

When we started out on this little adventure I became interested, um, obsessed, with owls.  I think they are cute and they represent being intelligent and they are EVERYWHERE – according to Angie.  I started pinning owl nursery ideas on Pinterest, Amazon and Houzz.  Since the room is a really light pink, I thought it would be super cute.  Done! Owls it is!

Then I began researching Kenzie’s eye issues.  Turns out she needs a “visually stimulating” environment to help with her eyesight, which has probably not been provided at all since birth.  We will need to make up for lost time. Light pink, butter yellow, mint green and baby blue provide almost no contrast and might become a blur of color.  The most stimulating combination of colors is provided by having two contrasting colors and the most contrasting colors are black and white.  Thus the panda idea was born.  I love pandas.  They are cute and coincidently come from China.  My only reservation is, could this be too stimulating for an entire nursery when we want to encourage sleep?  Sleep is good.  Mommy likes sleep.  Daddy likes sleep.  We would like Mackenzie to like sleeping in her crib, not looking around and deciding, “Whoo-hoo!  It’s playtime ya’ll!”  (I threw that little Texas twang in just for the Lubbock girls.)

So…Calm and possibly blurry, or, high contrast and possibly over-stimulating?

Please add your comments!  I can’t wait to see what everyone says! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello family, friends, fellow-adoptive parents, and the creepers who just happened on my blog…I know I promised to keep everyone apprised of our progress, and so far I’ve done a rotten job.  I will try harder.

Today is Mother's Day and I celebrated with joy and sadness in my heart.  I consider my job of being a mom a pretty big deal and I want all of my kids to know how much I love and cherish them.  I'm also sad today...sad for Madison's birth mom in Vietnam and Mackenzie's birth mom in China.  I'm sure their hearts ache today and I ache for them too.  I love them for letting me care for these beautiful girls - so, Happy Mother's Day...wherever you are.

Yesterday I went to the Art Festival with Heather, Aunt Donna and Maddie, and BOY was it disappointing!  We couldn't find anything that we just had to have.  We did have a nice afternoon strolling in the blistering heat though.  Today I spent the day in the pool laughing with the kids and waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  I really missed Sam today - but she sent me the most wonderful gifts.  A beautiful sculpture and a Texas Tech baby sticker to add to my truck!  Check it out...

 

Now on to adoption news....

I got all excited last weekend when I bought my first box of diapers at Costco.  Then I saw the price!  Holy guacamole!  I went with a size 3, because I really have no clue what size Kenzie is right now.  The last medical report said 15 pounds at her 6 month check-up, but these have been known to be wrong and she will be more than a year old when we get her.

 

It reminds me of Maddie and her chubby cheeks!  We all thought she was going to be a chunk and then BAM!  Here is your 11-pound 9-month-old!  Heck, I pushed out two big boys who weighed almost that at birth!  Love you boys!

I’ve been emailing back and forth with our social workers and adoption agency and the good news is our home study is done and just getting a final blessing from the adoption agency now.  I’ve also had all of our paperwork reviewed by our awesome agency rep – Nicole.  She is adorable and keeps me on track.  So, right now I have all of our paperwork DONE and just sitting in envelopes on my desk waiting for whatever piece is still needed. 

Envelope #1 is missing our home study and then it gets sent to USCIS (our government).  Envelope #2 is also missing the home study and then it is sent to the Nevada Secretary of State to have all the notary stamps endorsed.

When Envelope #1 returns (in the form of an I-797) it goes into Envelope #3.  When Envelope #2 comes back with a bunch of stapled papers, it also goes into Envelope #3.  There are two other envelopes floating in the mail system to New York and North Dakota and they should be back to me in a few weeks and then they too will join papers in Envelope #3.

Envelope #3 is the most important envelope…it is our Dossier…this is what goes to China and is the last of the paperwork!  Before it heads to China it will make a pit stop in Washington to be hand carried around to the Department of State and China Embassy by a sweet couple who call themselves “The Assistant Stork.”  These folks ROCK!  Instead of having to Fed Ex to DOS and then wait for it to come back and then FedEx to the embassy and wait for it to come back, they walk it around for us and then send it to our agency. 

Then comes THE WAIT.  We wait for China to log us in and then finally give us permission to fly over and hold our precious baby!   

So, that’s where we are now.  Maddie’s birthday is next week and Sam is coming home for a visit in a couple of weeks.  The boys are finishing up school and John is getting in a little golf.  I’m still contemplating the nursery décor and trying to stay sane.  I think I may hold a vote for the nursery?

Big hugs and kisses to everyone!