A Terrible Tragedy

I am in shock writing this, but my friend, Carrie's sweet daughter, MJ, who I wrote about two posts ago passed away. While I have never met Carrie in person, she comments on every blog post of mine, and I consider her a good friend. Another of Carrie's friends posted about her here.

The Hair is Gone

Well, I cut off 8+ inches of hair and my package is in the mail to Pink Heart Funds, an organization that makes wigs from donated hair. I am sure I will post a picture soon:)

Here are some October ones in the meantime.

I Have Been Tagged

I have been tagged by my friend, Carrie. I am a regular reader on her password protected family blog, but here is her "adopting again" blog that is not password protected:) Carrie and I were both waiting for referrals with CCAI, she adopted 6 year old MJ a few months before we brought Lia home.

OK, seven random or weird facts that you might not know...

1. I get started on a lot of projects, just rarely finish anything: scrapbooking (I promise to give it another try Amy and Becky), quilting, baby shoes, soap making, candle making...

2. My house is usually a disaster. I love staying home with the kids, love to cook, love to play... but I have not yet mastered keeping a tidy house.

3. Bob has slapped me twice. Both stories are VERY funny:) The first time was when we were living in Alaska. It was Thanksgiving and we were coming home from a friend's. I was carrying a very heavy stoneware Pampered Chef pan with half a cake in it. It was icy, and just as I said to Bob, "Be careful, the driveway is slippery, " I flew backwards, cake pan flying up in the air and down on my head. I just laid there, stunned, when Bob came flying around the car, yelling. "Meghan, Meghan are you OK?" As I said, I was a bit stunned, and didn't respond right away, so he slapped me across the face to make sure I was conscious... I am laughing just thinking about it. The second time was when I was very, very pregnant with Garrett. I was laying in bed, sweating like a pig, wondering what possessed us to have a July baby. Bob was sleeping, when he sat up in bed (sound asleep) started yelling, "What is that?" while looking at my enormous belly, and then slapped my belly. He has no memory of it. As surprised as I was at the time, I even laughed about it then:)

4. I have been thinking of applying to law school, or minimally taking the LSAT to see if it is even a possibility. I would love to work with families, particularly on adoption related cases. I am pretty sure I don't want to return to teaching.

5. I would love to adopt another child, but at this point finances, home space (lack of space), and a reluctant husband are stopping me:)

6. I would love for us to live outside of the US at some point. I am not sure where, but somewhere warm. Living in Michigan and Alaska has me dreaming of warm climates.

7. The music that I most like to listen to (in no particular order): Dave Matthews Band, U2, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. I love watching The Office, Grey's Anatomy, House, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives and Private Practice.


And now I am going to tag the following friends (sorry!)
1. Amy C.
2. Karen S.
3. Nicole G.
4. Kim O. (Because she isn't busy enough....)
5. Amy
6. Leslie
7. Tracy

"Ba-Ba" Revisited

As you can see, we haven't gotten anywhere with the bottle in the last few weeks. She walked her "ba-ba" around the backyard for quite a while yesterday. Note the baby laying face-down in the grass:)

And the Winning Continues!

This time, my dad is the lucky one. He entered a raffle, buying only one ticket for $20, and was just informed on Friday night that he is the proud new owner of a 2009 Harley Davidson. My dad recently bought a motorcycle and rides around down at his cottage, but now he will have two of them! I know he has visions of him and my mother riding around together, but anyone who knows my mom knows that that won't happen. Here's a picture of the model that he won. Exciting!

I won!

This is pretty funny. On the way to school on Friday the radio station that we were listening to was having a "contest" to win a gift certificate to a local restaurant. The question was, "What was Jack Wagner's hit song that went to #2 on the charts?" If you knew me back in the mid-80's, you probably remember my infatuation with Jack Wagner and General Hospital... Well, I called in, answered "All I Need" and won the contest. The kids were pretty excited that they heard me on the radio. Although, Caelan and Garrett stretched my prize a bit, by the time they got to school I won a certificate to a restaurant and "A lot of money."

Family Day Tomorrow

For our friends, The O'Meara's. Bob and Kim worked together for a few years while we lived on the west side of the state. They are picking up their sweet daughter on Monday! I can't wait:)

Follow their trip here.

Mackinac Island Pictures

We had a great trip last weekend. The weather was beautiful. The kids did a lot of swimming at the hotel, and while on the Island we rode the 8 mile trail around it. This is the first year that Caelan rode her own bike. Bob and Garrett rode one of the "tag-along" bikes, like a tandem, and then I had Lia on the baby seat. We walked around quite a bit, had a nice lunch, played at the playground. Bob and Garrett took a horse pulled taxi ride, while the girls and I picked out the fudge. Yum!

The Beloved "Ba-Ba"

Lia loves her bottle. We knew that she had very few solid foods and was fed primarily using a bottle when she was at the SWI. When we were in China, however, she ate anything and everything that she could get her hands on. Now that we have been home for 4.5 months, she has become much pickier. There are a few foods that she fairly consistently will eat: oatmeal, yogurt, bananas, pasta. Actually these are the four things that she will eat for breakfast/lunch. She eats well at dinner, but oddly refuses dinner foods at lunch or breakfast (I have tried this several times). But, she is VERY attached to her bottle. I have tried to limit her milk/soymilk intake to 24 ounces each day, but it is hard. She is very easygoing- however when she wants her bottle, there is nothing else that can console her.

I am starting to try to figure out ways to discourage her bottle dependence without upsetting her. I did have her pick out some new sippy cups, but so far she is not very receptive to drinking from them- though they make pretty good storage containers for toys and cereal...

Any tips?

Our Little Republican

We are faithful Obama supporters, but due to Miss Caelan's close relationship with John McCain (see picture taken during last year's Mackinac Island trip)- our girl has been trying to convince us to vote Republican.

OH- all is fine with Lia's kidneys. There is no problem, and all tests came back perfect!! I will post more pictures from this weekend later tonight.

Language

While I am impatiently waiting for the results of Lia's most recent lab work, I just want to mention how quickly Lia is picking up words. She still doesn't combine words yet- well unless "Bubba, NO!! MOM!!" counts? Bubba is Garrett's nickname.
She can repeat fairly clearly any word that I say to her and correctly uses quite a few words on her own. In fact, today we were counting as we were going down the steps and I said, "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" and but then we were at the bottom, then Lia said "9." I was surprised.

We are going to Mackinac Island tomorrow for the weekend, so I am sure that I will have quite a few pictures to post next week.

Formula and more

I got an email this week from CCAI about the possibility that children under age two, adopted during the first part of the year may have consumed some of the contaminated formula that has sickened so many children in China. I have been following the story, but given very little thought to the fact that it could have affected her. Lia was only drinking formula mixed with rice while in China and was actually still drinking Chinese formula through May, after we brought her home. I am not sure if she was fed the Sanlu brand, and in fact I can't even remember what brand we bought for her while there.

To be safe, we are going to have a urinalysis done. She doesn't seem sick, but there are a couple of concerns that I have had that are still not really fitting.

She is also being retreated with 3 medications for the H Pylori and we will check again for that in another week or so. I felt that her initial symptoms were still present and our ped. spoke with the gastroenterologist at U of M and he suggested retreating.

On another note, our annual Mackinac Island trip has been postponed. We have gone the weekend before my birthday for the last 3 years, that makes it this weekend- but the kids have soccer and Bob has to facilitate a United Way volunteer event at his school. Weather pending, we plan to go next weekend.

Yes, my 34th b-day is Wednesday and oddly enough (because I feel as good as I did at 25!!) I have had strange aches and pains this week. First, I woke up unable to move my head yesterday- like I slept funny and then this morning, I was having trouble with my knee... Ah.. I need to get back into shape:) I did great this summer and now I am falling back into bad habits.

Hair

I have been growing out my hair for two years now so that I can donate it to Locks of Love. I think that I now have a 10.5 inch ponytail, ten is the required amount. Yahoo! I like having longer hair- just not this long. I think I will try to grow it out another half inch before I cut it- I NEED to be able to put it in a ponytail!

Soccer

For the first time, Caelan and Garrett are playing soccer. Neither has played before. Caelan's team (with my friend, Becky and I as coaches) had a tournament this weekend. They ended up coming in second place for their age group- there were 16 teams. Wow! They did great. Caelan did better than I expected, especially considering it was her first game.

Garrett also had his first game. I think that Bob was slightly frustrated, as I know he is hoping that Garrett will be his star athlete, but Garrett just ran up and down the field smiling at the spectators. I am not sure if he ever kicked the ball- well maybe he did have one "kick off" but he sure was a happy little guy:) I laughed so hard. Too funny.


And isn't Lia adorable!?!

My Day

8:00 Bring Caelan to school
8:15 Bring Kali (our husky) to the groomers
8:30 Bring Garrett to School
12:00 Pick up Garrett
3:00 Pick up Kali
3:30 Pick up Caelan from School
4:00 Bring Caelan to Religion Class
Drop Kali off at home
5:15 Pick up Caelan
5:30- 6:30 Caelan to soccer Practice
Home by 6:50...
Sigh... Oh, and this all adds up to close to 70 miles of driving today. Big sigh...

First day Pictures

Caelan is now in the 2nd grade at the school where Bob is the principal. Garrett started his 2nd year as a preschooler- now he goes 3 mornings a week. The transition went smoothly and everybody was thrilled to be back at school. Well, maybe Bob could have handled another month off (hee hee!)

Here are some pictures. This first one needs some explanation- Lia wanted to get down and walk around (see her expression?) and Garrett has been VERY resistant to getting his picture taken. We have taken quite a few pictures this summer of Garrett's backside:)

Garrett and his best friend, Amelia with Lia on their first day.

And because she is so adorable, here are a few more pictures of Lia. Compare her latest sleeping arrangements with a few posts ago. She sure does love her stuffed animals!

This one was also taken today. Lia seems to have gotten into a fight with some ants? spiders? Who knows, but she has some bug bites that popped up after yesterday's backyard play.

School starts tomorrow...

and I almost hate to say it, but I am glad. I am looking forward to having some one-on-one time with Lia. We will be able to go to her playgroups and run errands while Garrett and Caelan are at school. I am having a very hard time being out of the house with all three. The two attempts at grocery shopping with all three were disasters. I was the frazzled mom at the grocery store with the cranky, whiny group of kids. Even the library has not been fun. I can certainly handle one, I am pretty good with two at the store and library, but not all three. I am sure it will get better:)

I started back at work, I am an online math and reading teacher. They switched over to a new classroom program, however, and I think that more teachers were switched over than students since I have worked only six hours in the past three weeks. I am hoping to work at least 10 hours soon, but for now it is nice to ease back in.

More tomorrow...

Summer Reading

I did manage to read quite a bit this summer. Here is my list:

Done with Appointments- YAHOO!!

Well, the eye exam and hearing exam went fine. Lia was cooperative and neither doctor noticed anything unusual. She had three vaccines last week, and while she wasn't too happy about them, she is pretty tough and tolerated everything.

Our "Little" Garrett also had his four year check up. He is a pretty small guy and due to his activity level he didn't grow much from 1-3 years old (moving constantly, never sleeping)- but this year he gained 6 pounds and 3 inches. He is now 36 pounds and 41 inches. Wow! We were starting to wonder about him:)

The only lingering Lia issue is something that was stated in her medical reports- that she has "Malabsorption." Even the doctor who reviewed her charts said that it could mean a number of things. She was diagnosed with H pylori right when we brought her home, but even after treatment she still seems to be having issues (you don't need the details!). She has actually gained three pounds since we were in China, but if the issues continue our pediatrician may check with a U of M gastroenterologist to see if we should check for other things, maybe gluten allergies(?) I am not sure. But, she is really doing great!

Three Months

It was three months ago yesterday that we met Lia for the first time. Our adoption was finalized three months ago today. I am going to post some pictures from today and then a one taken the day we met her and then one from the camera that we sent to the SWI. How much she has changed:)

Four months ago at the Orphanage:



Today (this is the same bear):




A few hours after returning to the hotel on our first day with her:

Today: