Fingers Crossed

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for my friend Michelle. She has been officially waiting for a referral from China for over two years. She has been in the adoption process for even longer then that. Her sources tell her that she should hear something Friday or Monday ... Fingers crossed ... Fingers crossed ... come on Malia!

A song from Queen Lucy

so she's a little bit sassy but musically gifted although her lack of concentration makes our alphabet really really long!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Finally

Blogger is actually "remembering" me so I don't have to sign into my own darn blog everytime. Not earthshattering news, or even that exciting but there you go ... I hesitate to write about something very positive happening with Lucy right now (because some blog spirit will go right into the room where she's sleeping and whisper in her ear "Lucy your momma is happy that you are ..." and Lucy will wake up a changed girl). It's true. So you'll have to look at my next sentence and omit words that start witn a capital N to understand what is actually happening in our house. Lucy has Not been sleeping about 12 hours every night for two weeks. I have Not had to actually wake her up some mornings so we can get out the door to daycare/work. I actually have had to resume the use of my alarm clock on work days. I am Not happy about this :).

A Challenge

The challenge is to click on the words "I bet you cry", watch the video and DON'T CRY. Good luck. Try to ignore the Chicago Bears part and the tears will come faster ...

Cats

 

 

 

 

We love them and we think they love us!

Sorry

 

 

 

Dear Lucy,

Sorry I procrastinated.

Love, Momma

Jumping all the time ...

 

 

 

 

Lucy had the boys over this afternoon. She missed her nap (not their fault, they were as quiet as they could be). It's killing me but I think my kid is getting closer to phasing out naps. NOOOOOOOOOOO. More often then not she still naps, but there are those days when she just quietly lays in her room for an hour without ever sleeping. I don't dig those days. She's not quite old enough to handle life with out a nap and it makes our afternoon/evening very explosive. All of the kids loved jumping on the trampoline. Lucy has developed several new dance moves that involve the trampoline or the bar on the trampoline. She's getting lots of good exercise and my sofa cushions are getting a well deserved rest.

Don't be too jealous "Jerry" out West!

 

 

 

 

I have a certain soul friend, blog friend ... fellow single mom to adorable Ethiopian toddler friend who CLAIMS to hate Elmo. I am really with this person I will call "Jerry", Elmo's voice is enough to make both of my cats dive under the sofa and sometimes I really want that red furball to just grow the heck up! However, at one point my darling daughter decided to LOVE Elmo. She doesn't really watch tv, not even when I beg her to (and really, despite my best intentions to not encourage TV, there are times where I'd give anything for 10 minutes of her sitting still) just watch Sesame street! So for Christmas my auntie Deb bought us tickets to the show "Elmo Grow Up". Lucy had a blast. She was captivated for most of the show, dancing, singing and watching. It was funny and cute. The show was about what the Sesame characters wanted to be when they grow up. Basically I think the point was that they could be whatever they wanted to be. Enter my mom (remember the gingerbread house episode?). Well she was trying to drive home the point to Lucy and said, "what do you want to be??? I know, you can be the President!!!!". Way to go grandma! At the tender age of 2 I had to point out that President was one thing she could not be, blah. I also added that she can not be: 1. too right winged 2. a monster truck rally attendee 3. a war monger.

Dreams

 

 

 

A conversation with Lucy this morning:

Momma: Did you have any dreams last night?
Lucy: Yes
Momma: What did you dream about?
Lucy: The sunshine momma
Momma: That's the best dream ever
Lucy: sun hot momma

Thank you Cathy ...

 

 

 

 

Thanks Cathy for your trampoline suggestion. With the tramp in da house I think we'll survive January at least. After spending a day trapped in the house with Lucy my mom told my dad to go out and buy one for Lucy that very evening! Wonder what we'd get if I left her with them for a whole week ...

Swim

 

 

 

 

Lucy is a fish in water. She loves to swim and like little MP rocks in her goggles! Grandpa came to observe the lessons and became official swim photographer.

Spamharish

A conversation at an Ethiopian spiritual concert this afternoon:

Ethiopian woman: Hello Eskedar, how old are you?
Lucy (Eskedar): I 2!
Ethiopian woman: Do you speak Amharic?
Lucy (Eskedar): Si, Hola!
Ethiopian woman: I think that means no.

Investors take note

Rosedale Mall is up for grabs! Lucy decided to share it last night and confirmed the rumor this morning: "Momma, the mall is everybody's, Lucy share it". So come, shop, play, eat before the offer is pulled from the table. OH and stay out of Baby Gap they have some dangerous dangerous sales.

Nurturing ...

Yesterday I was watching Lucy with one of her dolls. She rarely plays with dolls or any other toy for that matter, so it captured my attention. She was on top of the slide (we have a giganto castle in our living room right now) and was holding the baby. She looked down at that baby and ran her fingers down baby's cheek, "It's ok baby, no cry baby, Lucy's here, I love you to pieces baby". Ahhhhh it was so sweet. For one thing I love that she's playing pretend, I love that she is using her doll rather then a ball and I LOVE that she's kind and nurturing (to the doll anyway ... if you saw the video a couple days back, you'll see that it doesn't always extend to real live loved ones).

Daycare

Lucy has had such a difficult time at dropoff these past few weeks. I feel so bad. This morning it started before we even left. I was helping her get dressed (she let me help her this morning) and talking about our day. Her lip stuck out and tears started welling up in her eyes "no school, stay home momma, I cry momma". Maybe deep down she senses that in my heart I am a stay at home mom and I would love nothing more then to take her out of daycare and stay home to teach her during these early years.

Sunday

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

True Love ...

OK I know I should have been doing something other then filming this interaction BUT it was just too funny to not share with the world. Seriously, these two love each other so much they can't stand each other. My daughter is quite the riot starter ...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Adoption Communities

LUCY'S HAIRDO: THE MODIFIED HAYAT!

Tonight I write about adoption communities and the value of staying connected. I imagine many first-time adoptive parents get all excited about hooking into adoption communities, they read their pre-adoption homework and imagine how they will keep their kid connected with their culture. Some folks either by intention or accidental omission move on when their child comes home. Baby/kid comes home and suddenly you're more concerned with ear aches, school, day-care, getting more then 4 hours of sleep etc.

For me, being hooked into an adoption community (both online and in person) was really important while I was waiting, having someone as crazy (Sarah) as I was and in the same exact place in the wait was so so helpful (think shopping therapy and major gossip).

Years later I find myself still "addicted" to this online community. It is fun reading about other people's processes and hearing about the new policies, wait-times etc. It is also nice to be able to chime in with the voice of experience here and there.

I learn about hair care, skin care, writing life-books and general adoption politics. I celebrate with people and mourn with people ... many I've never met in person.

I have become "real-life" friends with people I've met on the forum or through my agencies waiting-families group. These groups have become one of my biggest support networks as well as a huge resource.

Relative to other international programs Ethiopia is still young. When I adopted in 2005 I had a 45 minute wait for referral and it was for an infant girl (even though I was open to gender). While I was completing my dossier for Ethiopia, the news of the Jolie adoption hit the papers. Ethiopian airline officials still didn't quite know how to handle the fact that I had an infant ticket but no infant (on the way to Ethiopia) and I was able to get an infant bassinet with little or no fighting.

There are still things that many of us folks who have adopted from Ethiopia are trying to come to terms with and figure out. There are social and political issues that we struggle with. There are medical issues that are relevant to hunger that our children face and that our pediatricians need to be educated about. Today I learned from another family about a health related issue that I am positive affected/affects my child.

It would be easy to go in a corner somewhere and deal with issues when they come up or when the become problematic. It would be easy to forget how special my family is, in the wonderful but tedious every day life it's easy to forget how our family was formed. I don't look at Lucy and think "adopted from Ethiopia" I look at her and see my daughter, no thinking needed.

I stay involved for myself and for Lucy.

2008

SNOW - HARD TO WALK IN

OUR MAKE SHIFT TRAMPOLINE AND WINTER EXERCISE SYSTEM

THE GRIN OF TROUBLE

HAPPY GIRL

HER NEW YEARS EVE ENSEMBLE

EVIL LAUGHTER

ANOTHER VIEW OF NEW YEARS EVE DRESS

Happy New Year!!!! Just a quicky. I want to accomplish all of my resolutions before the end of the week so I have to get off blogger and start sorting, throwing, filing, writing reference letters etc etc ... Rip off that band-aid Stacy. My goal (morbid as it sounds) is to make my life organized and pain-free in case I meet an early demise ... (I would hate to be embarrassed of my "dresser drawer filing system" or my basement full-o-stuff in the afterlife).