St Louis in Instagram

We went to St Louis to visit auntie Jen over spring break.  I am pretty sure that she aged by about 7 years on the flight over.

She wanted to go to a beautician. Her hair was in a bad way so the experience was not good for her.  It took three hours to put in about 10 cornrows and that was with me working along side the beautician helping her comb out Lucy's hair.  In the end Lucy was SOOOO proud of herself and I was SOOOOO tired of standing. 

Lucy requested to sit under the dryer.  She was so cool.

Saturday morning we met up with Diane and 2/3 of her boys.  For a bike ride.

It was awesome fun. 

More later. 

Happy Easter.

Lucy's official talent show debut!!! Love this brave girl

Lucy's talent show practice

Lucy participated in her school's talent show this afternoon. Soon I will post the sweet video of the actual event. Here is the more animated "home version" of her talent :)

Love her

after seeing some show, or learning something about scuba diving and undersea adventures Lucy asked her ever faithful and obliging grandpa for some scuba gear (she actually asked for two sets, one for her and one for Morgan).  Grandpa came half way through with a lovely wet suit for Lucy (along with a snorkel and mask).  Wet suit appreciated during swimming lessons in January!

and seriously,  aside from a huge lottery win, what more could a mother ever ask or hope for?  I hope you can all read this section of her report card.  I am sure the academic stuff will come in its own time but the empathy?  the honesty?  let's all give a round of applause for my straight A(wesome) Lucille!!!!

bragging done.
will probably whine tomorrow.

RIP Kris Allison

Tonight we mourned the loss of our beloved blue fish Kris Allison.  She/he lived for a long long time. Longer then I ever imagined a fish would ever live.  The death was super traumatic for both Lucy and I as we were present to witness the fish's dying swim.  Ugh. Lucy took it really hard. She was devestated and cried harder then I've ever heard her cry, her whole body fighting the sadness.

Never check on pets right before bedtime. Never.

on Friday nights

On Friday nights I am burnt out beyond belief.  Toasty crispy done.
Short but sweet blog post.
Our new nutrition makeover needs a bit of tweaking (ie, we are in a rut and need to add some more variety and nutrition) BUT it is still working its wonderful magic.

1. Lucy has many many days at school with no time outs.
2. when Lucy does get a time out she gets really upset because she's worked so hard to avoid it
3. Lucy is SO proud of herself.
4. She is finally grasping reading and it's so amazing to see her brain clicking.

I am on a crusade now to cut dairy out of most kid's lives.
With that being said, I really really could go for some cheese and a malt right now.

adios amigos.

The Power of Facebook (or the amazing village I am a part of)

So earlier this week this mama bear got all riled up.  Lucy has been having some issues on the school bus. She is on the bus for one hour every morning from daycare to school.  I've always felt bad about her having such a long ride before a long day of school.  A couple weeks ago Lucy got into trouble for spitting on the bus. The details from Lucy are fuzzy, although normally Lucy will tell the truth even if the truth doesn't exactly 'set her free'.  All I know is that both Lucy and the staff at her school reported that the driver was really mean about the incident and unnecessarily rough with Lucy. 

So my radar went off when Lucy asked me rather randomly if I drooled when I slept.  "Why do you ask Lucy?"   Her eyes dropped and tears welled up in her eyes "I fell asleep on the bus today and I drooled and I think the driver is mad at me that I spit".  During this conversation she also let it out that some of the kids (k-8th grade) on the bus are mean to her.  The next morning during drop off some kid makes a remark about Lucy being there, my strong sassy girl immediately shrunk back against a wall and those tears started welling up again. UGH. 

at 7:26 that morning I posted this:  "Does anyone know anyone in s.Minneapolis that can provide before school childcare.from 7:45 till around 930ish? Lucy is struggling with an hour long bus ride and i'm struggling with her sadness" on my facebook page.

and at 9:57 the same morning I got this reply "Where do you live Stacy? Believe it or not my kiddos don't start until 9:40 so it might work..."   um. thanks Heather!   Lucy now will spend her two before school hours at a home with a family I know and respect. 

LOVE LOVE LOVE

and because I've been a photo taking slacker lately, here is an oldie but goodie.  Lucy and her future husband Wendim. 

OK OK

I was thinking it, but Mama Papaya did it and if she can do it so can I.   Blogging starts again now.  Thoughtful blogging starts tomorrow.  It's almost 11pm and I am rip roaring tired.  I will leave you with a photo.

or two

She is prepping for a career with the roller derby.

See you tomorrow.

It's a brand new year ..

2012 promises to be a year of transformations.  New job for me (hopefully), new acheivements for Lucy (for sure).  I am excited for this tangible shift of time/date because it shifts my mind and attitude giving me the kick I need to make some changes.  We ushed out 2011 with a small gathering of friends.  It was a fun night, the kids played hard!

We didn't do our traditional sled ride to Jakeenos because there was no snow.  Honestly I am happy about the no snow thing. It's been a load off my mind to not have shoveling and the yard is clean of dog waste. Every day that goes by is one less mess in our spring poop soup.  Nice

We started 2010 by taking a vacation to Madison to visit Blueberry and his family.

LOVED our time there.  Lucy just got done looking at these photos, exclaiming how cute Blueberry is and how she woudl really like to go back to Madison and sleep there for three nights next time. She doesnt' have to twist my arm.

We got the kids outside and moving while in Madison. Important.

Went to an open gym and Lucy jumped jumped jumped on the trampoline.

she figured out all sorts of ways to move her body.

Lucy has been doing great on our new diet regime.  It's really not a regime. As time progressed with her in public school it was getting more and more evident that Lucy might need a little (lot) of help in order to suceed in traditional education.  Her pediatrician started talking about adhd. I was thinking it before the pediatrician stated it.  Lucy's moods were all over the place and learning was hard.

I hope she doesn't hate me one day for putting this out in cyberspace.

I decided to try shifting her diet a little before doing anything more chemical.

Took her off of dairy.

Added more protein into her day.

Added Omega 3's at night.

Added vitamin/mineral supplement.

with the dairy exclusion came a forced foray into more whole foods, less packaged foods.

About 2 (give or take) months into this now and big big changes have happened.

She is learning faster.

She is more focused.

She can sit through a meal.

She is getting into less trouble at school.

see??? 2012, big changes.

She prefers HER world thank you...

In Lucy's world she spends her evenings shopping a sensory catalog for classroom supplies for her own class (you know, the one SHE teaches).  In her world she makes appointments for sick dogs and is able to provide some diagnostic services over the telephone.  In Lucy's world she has (and she has stuck by this claim for 2 years now) flown on Christmas Eve, just a little bit, just floating above the carpet a little as she was laying there (no one saw her but she did it).  In her beautiful world, Jack Frost is Frosty the Snowman and she KNOWS him and at times helps him with his handiwork.  She has checklists of kids who need time-outs, she has intake forms for new toddlers for my room (not REAL intake forms with any identifying client information mind you).   No wonder it sucks so bad for her sometimes when all her grown-ups expect her to live in OUR world.  I'd fight it too little girl (maybe not quite as fiercely)

Hi!! We are still here ...

So much has happened and at the same time so much is the same.  Lucy was batman for Halloween.

Lucy's 1st grade year is less dramatic then kindergarten but it's not without its challenges and heartbreaks. Live is challenging.  We live it the best we can but it's challenging, exhausting and stressful to live in a world created for more traditional personalities. 

Lucy's auntie Jen, the love of her life and our housemate for the past 6 years up and moved to St. Louis. Her job transferred her there.  Oh the sad sad sobbing that took place when we broke the news to Lucy. It was heartbreaking.  Lucy crying, auntie Jen crying ...  I wen't with Jen when she moved to make sure she unpacked and left Lucy with grandma.  Lucy and her mama were separated by states for the first time in six years.  I was pretty anxious. Lucy handled it pretty well.

FINALLY Lucy was picked as a volunteer at the zoo.  She was so proud.  She held the food dish and these birds flew over to her and landed there.  Lucy held so still. 

About a week after I returned from St Louis Lucy had a breakdown. She missed Jen so much.  Zeppelin bolted over to the sofa and proceeded to curl up next to Lucy as I rubbed her back.  Zeppy stayed with her until I brought her to bed over an hour later.  He's a devoted dog for sure.

Lucy has managed to hang on to her keen sense of style.

We started an elimination diet.  Taking out dairy and adding in lots of protein plus supplements to see if we can help Lucy's brain help her body to settle down a little bit.  We're only a week into the plan. We will definately let you know how it goes.

Lucy helped to make Lefse

In her excitement of actually seeing Santa Lucy totally forgot to ask the two questions she had planned:

1. Can she ever visit the North Pole and

2. How big are elf's

Oh well she says, we'll just write him a letter and ask.

See you soon!

outdoors

if Lucy hasn't spent adequate amounts of time outside

in fresh air

getting lots of sun

and exercise.

she become quite unpleasant.

and obnoxious.

and these days if we stick to our back yard.

she just claims she's too cold and wants to go

back inside after a few short minutes.

so when we have an unscheduled stretch of time.

and i am not too tired.

we like to take mini road trips out to the country.

enjoy county parks.

and be in a place where she can gets

loads of good exercise

and oodles of fresh air.

i get energized

and she settles down.

it's a win win.

I fear winter.

Six Years

I can't believe it's been six years since that life changing day when I walked into the baby room at the care center and picked my baby up out of that crib.

seems like every year, every day my heart grows a little to accommodate the intensity of my love for this daughter of mine.

Today as I was telling her about our famiversary (which is actually tomorrow), I said tomorrow is October 24th and on October 24th six years ago it was the day I walked into your room in the orphanage and picked you up for the very first time" ... Lucy says "ohhhh momma, you are so lucky"  yup.

It's always fun to recount what adoption was like in Ethiopia in 2005 (for me anyways).  In 2005, my daughter was a waiting child.   Yes, it's true for reasons that may  not lead to her being 'special needs' today, she was waiting then ... a 2 month old girl.  The staff at my agency was just waiting for me to finish my dossier because Lucy was waiting for someone who checked that magic box "I would be willing to parent a child with..."  and that one magical 'yes' was what matched me with Lucy. 

I arrived on the 23rd of October late at night, the next morning I walked down the steps of the 'guest house' into the orphanage and my child was placed in my arms, 30 minutes later I carried her back up the steps and from that moment I was responsible for her care.  

Right now that baby is waiting for me to come help her brush the Pretty Ponies hair out.  I must go. 

The Wedding of the Decade!!!

My cousin Scott (ironically not really pictured in this post) got married yesterday to the nicest, smiliest woman in all of Minnesota.  His mom calls it a miracle.  I call it smart, he might have waited over 40 years for this moment but he waited for the RIGHT woman and that is no miracle, that is some real Anderson smarts right there.

Lucy was the flower girl extraordinary.  She alleviated all of my fears and anxieties by NOT trying to overshadow the show with her wonderful, strong, overwhelming self.  Oh I fell deeper in love with her yesterday.

She was exhausted from a sucky nights sleep the night before but she held her stuff together all the live long day, even in those moments when it was just her and I and I expected her to "release her demons" she did not.

look at these handsome boys.  I love photo oh so very much.  See Sam in front?  Handsome little mini-Mike, or is it a mini-manly-Terri?  Hard to tell.  He's sure cute though.

There's my darling again.  Glad the photos were outside in her element.  I think this saved the day.

Look at those fall shadows.  This photo is pretty funny if you look carefully at each of the kids. 

and look at the beautiful ladies. 

Lucy gazing at the first dance.

and pooped out before she could get her groove totally on.

Wonderful wonderful wedding.

Love you Scott and Karin.

Yo

How are you?

 We are fine.  It seems like when things get exhausting the blog is the first thing neglected.  Far better to neglect the blog then the kid, dog, cat, house etc but still I hate neglecting the blog.  With fall upon us and
school hitting us hard we find ourselves sticking close to home Monday - Friday.  It gets a little lonely for both of us but cramming in errands, playdates or out of the neighborhood activities gets overwhelming really fast. 

 
Lucy is still sporting much better behaviors in first grade, working hard and having some fun too.
Currently she is all about space aliens.  Are they real?  Could they be real?  Are they in our attic?  What would happen if ...   She is also into ghosts. Seeing them, hearing them, getting woke up at night because of them, telling me that they like to hang out by my bed (spooky stuff). 

Yesterday I amazed her when I confirmed that yes, real cops wear panties under their uniforms.  I love being able to amaze her with my wealth of unproven information. 

Hope to see you all again very soon.