Today would have been the day...

I can hardly believe it but today would have been the day for us to receive our referral if we had not joined the "special needs" process and accepted Alyson's file back in January 2007.

Michael told me recently that he would have never been able to wait this long. That makes me so sad because I think in reality we would have waited a lifetime for Alyson. It feels like we did wait a lifetime but yesterday was our familiversary, Alyson has been with us for 2 years. I can't even imagine the shell of a person I might have become if I had had to endure those two years without her. Waiting for word. Waiting for completion so we could move on with our lives. I feel so blessed and lucky that things fell into place for us when they did and we've been able to enjoy being a family of 4 for two full years now.

To all my LID mates from 3/14/06---Congratulations on finally hearing the news you've been waiting for. Congratulations on having the strength, faith, and hope to keep you going through this painful roller coaster.

And to all those with LIDs beyond 3/14/06---you are in our prayers. It's easy for us to say your blessings will come but I know how hard it is to maintain the hope, so be strong!

A picture from Gotcha day May 20, 2007:

A picture from yesterday, our 2 year familiversary:

my birthday weekend

We celebrated my birthday this weekend with dinner out, a great cake, and dancing in the rain. Alyson finally fits in my Goddaughter's pink polka dot party dress that I've been dying for her to wear. She looks like she should be on the cake :-)

Back to School

I swear Andrew was just a baby yesterday and now he's a 4th grader! The kids are both gowing up right before our eyes. I don't know where the summer went. Or the year for that matter!

We've been busy with a few trips, camp for Andrew, work for the grown-ups, and "school" (aka part time daycare) for Alyson.

I have grand intentions of updating the blog with pictures from the summer soon but for now here's a pic of the kids on Andrew's first day of school:

"Oh my Gosh Mama!"

That's the phrase of the week around here. I have no idea when/where she picked it up but "Oh my Gosh" is apparently a very useful phrase for a multitude of situations. My favorite use was in the car one day this week. She wanted to watch Mickey Mouse in the car but we were almost home so I said no. She started to cry and whine with her usually persuasive, "Peeeeease Mama?" but I said no again so she got quiet for a second then shouted "Oh my Gosh Mama!" in a tone that really said 'you are a mean devil-woman Mama.'

Alyson keeps us either laughing or completely dumbfounded most days. She is soooooo 2! She's feisty, sassy and bossy, but oh so cute and funny! She loves to sing and dance and laugh at herself.

We've been very busy the last few months. I finally finished school in late March, the same week that we went to Las Vegas for a vacation and to visit our friends who had recently moved out there. I have pictures from that week but never bothered to put any on the blog. They're mostly of the standard Vegas sights anyway.

The kids are both in swim lessons and doing great. Alyson is much more fearless than Andrew was at this age. A little scary but probably good in the long run.

Andrew is still a superstar at school. Straight A's every quarter and has not missed a single spelling word all year! He also got 100% on the TAKS reading test (that the Texas standardized test deal that all states have). We haven't gotten his math scores back yet but we're sure those are fine too. Andrew also took his First Communion this past weekend. I took a few pictures but I won't be posting them on the blog since there are other people's kids in most of them.

I'm still working every other Friday for Alyson's pediatric cardiologist but now that school's over I've also added 1-2 night shifts a week on labor and delivery. It's great to be back at my dream job but I had forgotten, in the 9 short months I was away from it, how hard it is. Physically and mentally. It's hard to start at a new place with new doctors and new paperwork and other personalities but it's bound to get better. I do like it a lot, it's just really hard work.

Michael is working hard as usual and has been selected for Lt. Colonel. He won't pin on for several more months still but it's exciting stuff! We're very proud of him and his accomplishments! :-)

We had our one year postplacement visit with our social worker this past weekend. It's amazing the difference in Alyson since the last visit. When our social worker had come last Novemeber we were still having major issues with sleeping and lots of signs of anxious attachment. Now Alyson is well adjusted to part-time daycare, sleeps all night every night, eats well, talks a ton, isn't overly clingy, and is basically a super happy kid (with intermittent epic toddler meltdowns :-)

Well, that's the best update I can do at the moment.

Here are few pictures from the park this morning...

As you can see, she has become a much more willing model for me lately and is starting to be a ham for the camera. Her sassy personality shines through in a few of these too!

Some new pictures

Here's an assortment of photos from Feb, March, and April (in reverse order...).
I'll try to carve out some time to post a proper update soon but the short version is that everyone is doing great!

These pictures totally crack me up and should give you a glimpse of Alyson's very 2 year old personality. I was trying to get a picture of her in her Easter dress and she insisted on Elmo and Cow being in the picture too. Then she had a hard time getting Elmo to cooperate apparently since she kept telling him to open his eyes and look at mama for a picture. (Note the crossed arms as she discusses his fictional lack of cooperation.)

Some bubble time with big brother...




These boots were made for sassing...

At the Austin marathon

The diva and her "glassies"

My baby turned 2 on Monday

Alyson turned two. I couldn't stop her. I guess I have to let her grow but it just seems so fast. She's losing her chubby baby thighs and cheeks :-(

Of course she's still adorable but she's turning into a real little girl now. She loves to sing and dance. The Wiggles are still her favorite. She knows all the words to The Wheels on the Bus and a bunch of other songs.

-She's very curious and still says "whas dat?" a lot. She has some funny little 2 year old speech sometimes. Everything with a "v" has an "f" sound now. When she tells Bailey to move out of her way she says "moof!" She also has something against the letter "w" even though she used to use it correctly. Now it has an "h" sound. If she says her food is too hot we'll say "no, it's just warm" then she'll say "horm?" It's a nightly dinner conversation now followed by lots of giggling.

-She had a stretch of pretty bad, but pretty typical, toddler tantrums but she's been doing better the last couple weeks. Or rather my reaction to them has been less so they've been shorter.

-She's getting opinionated about her shoes now but not her clothes thank goodness so I still have control over some things.

-She peed in her new potty a few days ago but hasn't had a repeat performance. We're not pushing it though.

-Her hair is growing pretty fast and I'm getting better at fixing it. We haven't cut it at all so what looks like bangs in the pictures is just the underneath shaved layer finally growing out.

-And the best news of all is she's pretty much sleeping through the night finally. She has been for a few weeks now but I'm not lulled into a false sense of security just yet. the best part about it is that instead of crying in the morning, or at night every so often, she yells out "Mama?" It's so great to hear that instead of the sad wail. Now she knows for sure that one of us will come get her and all she has to do is call out. She goes to bed happy and wakes up happy. I still wake up every couple of hours convinced I hear her so I'm still waking up grumpy but I'm sure that will get better.

I guess that's Alyson being two in a nutshell. I have a bunch of other pictures from January that I'll post separately another day.

Love to all! :-)

The storms in China

People have probably seen snippets of news about the snow in China but it's much more severe than what you might think. Many areas of the country are totally unprepared for this weather. Many of the orphanages in the southern provinces don't have heat, they've never needed it before.
Half the Sky is a wonderful organization that trains nannies and foster families for many of the orphanges and their website has updates on the conditions many of the orphanges are facing right now.
Please take a moment and read the updates and see if you can find it in your heart to make a donation to their little mouse emergency fund.

http://www.halfthesky.org/work/littlemouse.php

They are a reputable organization that we have been aware of since the beginning of our adoption journey.
Thank you :-)