Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you all believe the holidays are all ready here? Where does all the time go? Obviously, this is a very special holiday season for our family as it's the first we get to share with our wonderful little guy. To kick off our holiday season we decided to do something really fun. We packed up the kids, loaded the car and headed over to Oglebay Resort to see their Festival of Lights. It was our first overnight trip with Andrew and it went really well. You never know how a baby is going to react to travel and change until you give it a try. I'm happy to report, Andrew did really well and appears to be a good traveler. Between the lights, indoor pool, yummy meals and fun shopping we had a great time.

Here are some pictures of the lights:


I snapped up some adorable Polar Express shirts for the kids and dressed them alike. I think they look like Santa's newest elves!





As we all get super busy during the holiday season, I hope we are able to enjoy the wonderful, relaxing, quiet moments here and there. I also hope we all can remember what we have to be thankfull for. As you all know, I couldn't feel more blessed to have the loving family I have and the two amazing children in my life. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

What a difference a year makes............

One year ago, Bill and I were told that our adoption from Taiwan was an *if*, not a *when.* We went through the holiday season feeling like it was a 50/50 chance of being able to adopt from Taiwan. We also knew that if we didn't get to adopt from Taiwan, there weren't really any other options for us.

Of course you all know that on January 18th of this year our lives changed and Andrew was referred to us. Who doesn't love a happy ending? Yet, I can't help but realize how many friends I have in the adoption community who are struggling to realize their dreams. You may or may not know that the Chinese adoption journey has radically changed since we adopted Lilianna. It used to flucuate between 6-15 months to get a referral once your dossier was sent to China. Sadly now the wait stretches well beyond 2 years and no one knows how long it will get. These poor waiting families are in some marathon race and they keep pushing back the finish line. Vietnam, which had reopened in 06 has shut down again. Many families have invested all their time, money and efforts and will never be able to adopt from Vietnam. Several of them don't have other options either. Taiwan is swamped with applicants and wait times are stretching out for them as well. What used to take 6 months, now is 3 years or more. Again, many families can't afford to renew their paperwork continuously.

It's all such a heartbreak. I've said that all children are worth all the effort it takes to adopt them. That said, it just shouldn't be this hard for families. I know so many fabulous, wonderful, amazing families who will make amazing parents and give wonderful homes to children. Yet they sit their and wait and wait and wait or worse yet.....doors close permanently for them.

It all makes me feel so lucky to have the two children I have. It's like winning the lottery twice. If there's any silver lining in all of the challenges facing adoptive parents today is that you never forget how lucky and blessed you are. Today in the midst of taking care of a sick Lily and running after a very mobile and into everything Andrew, I *still* realize how blessed I am to be the mother of two, amazing, lovable, incredible children.

Does it get any better than this?

Our New Schedule and New Milestones...

This is our first week of our new schedule with me back to working. Honestly, I had anticipated my being out of the house for 2 days a week to present some challenges for all of us. Happily, things have gone more smoothly than I had expected. Lily is loving preschool and continues to thrive there. Bill really enjoys his Mondays and Wednesdays home with the kids. Andrew is eating up all the attention from Daddy and loving it and I'm enjoying the time with my colleagues and students. All in all, not a bad first week back:)

On another note, Andrew has hit some new milestones this week. My job is helpfull and a hinderance as a Mommy sometimes. Sure, I'm aware of developmental milestones and strategies to help children reach them. On the downside, I can overanalyze and over-worry about things. Andrew is now 10 months old and has been with us for 4 months. He's actually ahead of the game in the gross and fine motor department. While social emotional development seems on target, his speech/language development seems a bit behind to me. Now, that totally makes sense given the language change and lack of stimulation in the orphange/foster home. I had been thinking to myself "Gee, I'd like to hear him make some repetitive sounds like 'da-da-da' or 'ba-ba-ba'. I'd also like to see him imitate us more in speech sounds."

Well, apparently Andrew read my mind and just started doing these 2 things this week. He's consistently saying "ba-ba-ba, la-la-la and da-da-da" and will repeat them after us. I *think* he may be getting the idea of Da-da for Bill, La-La for Lily and ba-ba for bottle. I don't know if they are true words yet, but I think he'll get there soon. On a funny note, if I point to Bill and say "Da-Da", Andrew will repeat me. If I point to Lily and say "La-La", he'll repeat that too. If I point to myself and say "Ma-Ma", he'll look right at me and say "Pftttttttt."

I'll leave you all with one my favorite pictures taken professionally:

If I had a magic wand..................

I'd use it make my son stop acting like a goat. Yup, the kid eats anything. I swear Lily only ate food. This little man eats edible and non-edible things alike. We aren't dirty people, but with a 5 year old and some high traffic areas, little
specks of things are bound to be on the carpet. A scrap of art paper, a crayon tip, a pop-tart crumb can be found in our great room. I purchased a Dirt Devil simply for this problem. It sits in the corner of the room and gets used a couple times per day. Still, my son has some strange inner radar that lets him know a crumb or
scrap of something has the carpet and it must be consumed now! I swear if you dropped a button on a football field, Andrew would find it. I've contemplated sprinkling Cheerios on the floor just so he'd get something edible. He's even beginning to consistently respond to "No mouth" Yet, he's also learning to turn his back and quickly stuff the crayon paper in when he thinks I'm not looking. Good to
know at 10 months his deceptive skills are growing. Untill he gets the concept of "we only eat food", I guess I'll keep track of the interesting things he's consummed. So far, the list includes a tiny tip of a crayon and a Chaquita banana sticker. (Yes, I can confirm both items have passed through his system safely.) I guess untill gets the concept that we only eat food, we'll call him Hoover.

Can you believe it's November already?

I sure can't. Time is going by so quickly and this is my last week of leave with Andrew. I start back to work on Friday. Now, I'm not going to sing the back to work blues, because I've been so fortunate to have the time with Andrew and Lily.

On another note, last week I purchased hats and mittens for the kids. This week, I'm contemplating park or zoo trips because it's going to be in the high 60's to low 70's. Go figure!