Adventures with two...

Love is in the air....mail

Par avion, s'il vous plait. We mailed off a care package (finally!) to our sweet boy today. I had it all set to go and stopped by Fed*Ex over the weekend. They could have sent it for me for $105.05. Um...no thanks!

Luckily the USPS can get it there for $20.00...but there is no delivery guarantee or confirmation, so we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.

We included:
* a drawing of our family made by Em
* a photo album with many photos of all of us, with captions in English and Chinese
* some chocolate candies: M&Ms, etc.
* some beeswax lotion and lip balm for the foster Mama
* two disposable cameras
* a cool little rubber/foam-like car
* a Curious George counting book (I figured counting would be easy to figure out in any language!)
* a little duckie blankey made by Grandma Max
* a letter explaining who we are and thanking the foster family

Hopefully the package reaches them and Eli can see our pictures a bit before we meet him.

More luck with photos

Still riding high after receiving Em's newborn picture, I was so happy today when I received an e-mail from our agency with an updated picture of Elijah.  Can you even believe that beautiful smile? DIVINE! He has this amazing, wild smile in almost every picture we've seen of him. Speaking of wild, check out those overalls!

We are on day 63 of the wait (90 days is the average) and hope to hear something from China in the next few weeks. At this point, travel in late June still seems like it will happen. All of our fingers are crossed with hopes that things stay on track.

We can't wait to meet our darling son!

Priceless.

It's been almost two years since we got our referral-Em's paperwork and photos.

Two years since my thoughts about our girl went from dreaming to reality.

Two years since my thoughts on parenting, love and adoption went from definitive, black and white, and easy-to-sort-out, to much more complicated, deeper than I ever imagined and more amazing than your heart can know unless it happens to you.   

The morning after we met Em in Lanzhou we had to fill out paperwork with our adoption coordinator. The moms went down to fill out the paperwork while the dads were up in their rooms with the girls. We thought on our way down that it would be a quick signing of the papers, cross some t's, dot some i's. But we soon realized that the intensity of the questions that went along with the paperwork and we were both teary-eyed to think of the reality of the questions. Talking about where our girls were "abandoned", how many hours old they were when they were found. We were overwhelmed with the details of their lives even though we knew them all before we left. But suddenly it felt so much more real.   

That day we were given copies of the "Finding Ad" that had been published in the local newspaper on May 25th, 2005. With each ad there is a tiny photo of each child along with a note that describes where the child was found. When we got home I started thinking that they must have the original of this finding ad photo at the orphanage. So with each correspondence we made over the next 22 months, I would ask them about the photo. Luckily we have some good connections to the orphanage and a friend of a friend made a call to the orphanage to try to ask them about this photo. We knew that there were a few families leaving in March/April to adopt from Huining and hoped that they could send the photo with the families.

Wouldn't you know, this afternoon when I opened the mail, there was an envelope from the last family to return from Lanzhou and inside was a copy of the finding ad, a copy of a photo we already had and the *tiniest* little photo of our girl as a NEWBORN! The only picture we have of her first days of life.

A photo the size of a postage stamp? Priceless.

(click to enlarge)

First trip to the dentist

Em will be three next month and so it seemed about time to have our first visit with the dentist. We had checked out books about going to the dentist and played dentist at home. We used one of those rubber dental picks and she loved to count everyone's teeth. Em was excited and had all sorts of questions.

We got to the dentist office Monday morning and waited for her name to be called. The hygienist greeted us and put her hand on Em's shoulder to walk her through the door.  Em turned and said, "No, you don't touch my arm!" Great. I was instantly panicked that she was going to be difficult. We walked to the room and she said, "I don't want to sit in the chair." Again, panic, she's rarely so cranky, especially with strangers.  I talked her into it and she hesitantly perched herself on the chair.

The nurse asked her some questions to get her to relax but she was quiet and nervous. The nurse then asked her to open her mouth and she said, "I only want to open my mouth at home," and she pursed her lips together. Oh my. I was quietly, but firmly whispering that she needed to open her mouth. Now. I realized this was the universe laughing at me. You see, as a four year old, I bit the dentist's finger and wouldn't let go. I imagine my father was quietly, but firmly whispering that I needed to open my mouth. Now. (Needless to say, my father never took us to the dentist again.)

The nurse decided to show her some of the tools on the tray and she was intrigued by the little mirror. She gripped the mirror for the rest of the visit and began to relax. She was actually quite cooperative after that, thank goodness. They polished all of her teeth, flossed them and used "Mr. Water" to rinse her mouth. Luckily her teeth look great.

It was all worth it in the end since she got a huge sticker, a sparkle-y pink bracelet and a super ball.

Enjoying SPRING

Is it official? Is spring finally here?  For whatever reason, this winter has seemed more brutal to me than others. But finally, the snow has melted, the sun is shining. It was 53 degrees today, with forcasts of 69 tomorrow.  We spent yesterday and today outside and I assume the days ahead will be repeats of the same: trike rides, sidewalk chalk, gardening, swinging, raking and playing soccer. As it should be!

Little Tykes?

We inherited a Little Tykes "climber" from the previous owners of our house. It isn't a horrible piece, just big, bulky and plastic. It's not something Em loves to play on, so we had discussed selling it but never got around to it. With Em's birthday approaching, we've talked more serious about getting a nicer play structure and trying to sell the two old ones that we have.

So today, I was outside with the camera and snapped this picture of the climber and thought I'd pop it on Craigslist to see what happens. I did a little research on price and saw another that was up for $100, so I decide to list it for $120. New ones go from $299, and ours was a bit weathered and abused.

A play-by-play of our afternoon events:
3:10 Push "Publish" and the photos and ad go to Craigslist. Tom says, "I'll be shocked if you get $120.

3:40 I've already had THREE e-mails and one call about the thing, and I'm thinking I've underpriced it. I tell the first person to get back to me if she's interested.

4:00 I've now received 4 more e-mails. Who are these people? Are they all just sitting on their computers waiting for a Little Tykes posting?

4:10 I've had 3 consecutive phone calls. And haven't heard back from the first lady. I consider writing the second to come get it. I start the e-mail...

4:12 I get a phone call saying, "I'll pay you $150 if you put us to the front of your list." Um, SOLD!! She says her husband will be here within the hour.

4:15 Post a "Pick-up pending" addendum to our ad so people STOP calling and e-mailing. Erase m y phone number from the ad.  When it was all said and done, I had 18 e-mails and calls in less than two hours.

5:30 The father, who lives about 35 minutes from us, pulls out of our driveway with the BIG plastic climber strapped to his truck.

PLUS, he paid me $160..."just for the effort." DANG! I'm still shocked!! Never did I realize that a hulking plastic slide would fetch such a price or be so in demand.

Em just sat on the stoop coloring with sidewalk chalk the whole time. Not caring that her slide was being whisked away. She did ask at one point, "Mom, where's that guy taking my slide?"

I said, "Ahhh! You're birthday's coming, maybe you'll have a surprise!"

She leaned in and whispered, "Ooohhhh! What is it?"

Changes all around

You'll notice that the title has once again changed. My husband thought the last title was too corny, so I'm sticking with "advEnturEs with two..." for now.

Not only did the blog get a new look, but our dining room got a new look too. We moved into our house last June, and I painted the dining room a beautiful lavender. It's not that I didn't like the color, it's just that I wanted a change. I know, 10 months later...Tom thinks I'm completely deranged. We had two long I*kea shelves but they were just too cluttered. So I took them down, patched things up and painted the walls a nice green. Except, it wasn't right. So I mixed in some other colors from other jobs and tried a different color for the second coat. A nice green, except it still wasn't right. I left it for a few days just hoping that I would grow to love it, but when I got back from TX, I knew I needed to buy a new gallon of paint or hate the color in a month. If you know me well, you know this is my normal pattern. I need to LOVE it.

I decided to use Devine paint, since I have heard fantastic reviews from everyone that has used it. I loved how it went on, it covers VERY well and looks amazingly beautiful on the walls. It has great depth. The problem is, the living room looks so blah now...just kidding honey!!

The color is called "Green Tea". Obviously there are no pictures on the walls and I should have curtains up within the next week, as soon as I make them! Oh, and I finally gave up on the old rug. I figured it will only get worse with two kids, so I'll start looking for a new one in what, about 5 years? Click on the photos to make them larger.

Changes...

You might have noticed that things look different around here. Spring fever, I guess. It was time to freshen up and update my links. I added a few new books, took down some old pics and outdated links, and added new pics of Eli's referral for easy access. What do you think of the new look?

I worked out the new blog header with "Scrapblog", a site that a friend recommended. It's really easy to use and I messed around with several different ideas using all of their backgrounds, stickers and stamps. I can post layouts here, and just might do so in order to share more pictures with everyone.

I'm feeling the urge to post on a regular basis, so hopefully you'll stop by more often!

Canton, TX

Last weekend, I flew to Texas to hang out with some new friends. The online adoption community is a crazy place. Out of the thousands of people who blog about their experiences, it seems like a small, tight-knit group. When Shelba mentioned that they were going to the flea market in Canton and asked if I'd be interested, I jumped at the chance. I'm so glad I did!

I had a FABULOUS time meeting Shelba in person and the honor of being Mortimer's Mom's roommate for the weekend. Shelba's cousin, Melissa joined us and some other mamas waiting for referrals, Jules, Angela and Buttercup. (I'm not putting real names here, in case they don't want them posted...even though my husband keeps making fun of me for calling them by their blog names.) I have to say, every one of these women is amazing! Fun, energetic, engaging, sweet, creative and easy-going. It was great to be able to meet total strangers at the airport and feel like we'd been friends for years.

Here are some shots from the flea market. I LOVED the flea market and if I lived closer and didn't have to take things back on the plane, I would have snatched up some of the furniture I saw. Instead I bought some smaller things, and enjoyed my time watching the girls snatch up funky stuff.