October???

Wow! I cannot believe it has been a month since my last post. I love writing and it is quite therapeutic for a stay at home mother whose adult conversations are few and far between...however, with 2 toddlers at home, 2 in school, a business ran out of the home, 2 starting basketball, getting the house ready to put on the market, hosting a Halloween party, planning a birthday party, plus all the demands of "normal" day to day, I have no clue where October has gone?!?

First, Anna is doing great. She is just as rotten as they come and she knows exactly what to do to get what she wants...or at least TRY to get what she wants! She has the pitiful crying, with no tears, down to a science. As soon as someone picks her up, miraculously the crying stops. She knows what she can do and what she is not suppose to do. She tries and sometimes succeeds in sneaking up the stairs. If she is caught, she will slowly start to descend, knowing she is in trouble. She also has started getting into the drawers of her chest. She will clean out the bottom two drawers, throwing clothes over her shoulder and never looking back. I have caught her a number of times and now, if she is doing it and hears me, she will jump up, run away from the chest and lay down on the floor...almost like, "I didn't do that, I was laying right here the whole time." Yes, she is in training for her "terrible twos".

She is still not verbalizing anymore than she was two months ago. She is making a few different sounds, but not trying to mimic any words. Anna's eating just keeps improving. She is eating more "table" foods. Still nothing with a lot of texture or big pieces, but she loves mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, beans, chicken noodle soup with crackers crumbled and grits...yes, grits.

Can you see the little double chin??? Yes, she is my daughter :-)

I had never eaten grits my entire life, and actually thought they were gross. But, we went on a little weekend excursion while the boys were on Fall Break to Gatlinburg, TN. While enroute, we stopped to eat breakfast and I tried to find something on the menu that I thought she would eat. Normally, she will eat oatmeal in the mornings and I knew that grits had that same consistency, so I ordered them. She ate grits every morning we were gone and has since eaten 2 boxes. Much to my surprise, they are actually pretty good. Kind of sweet and just a hint of a corn taste, but not gross at all. We have joked that she is definitely a little southern girl now since she loves her grits!

Kiss My Grits!

We go for her first consultation on November 20 in Louisville, KY. She will see a whole host of doctors. We expect to be there all day. I really dread the whole process, but am anxious to get it started at the same time. We expect to get the timeline of treatment for her surgery on that date. She has adjusted really well and I think that Anna feels safe with us for sure, so hopefully it will not cause any set backs.

Anna had her first Halloween with a party and trick or treating. We had some family and friends over the Saturday before Halloween for a costume party and then Anna and the boys went trick or treating on Wednesday. However, I really don't know if it would constitute as really trick or treating since we only went to one place. Anna has had a runny nose and cough as well as Parker, so I really didn't feel comfortable with getting them out in the first place, but Parker, Jacob and Carter really wanted to go. So they got dressed up and we went to Rodney's parents. Carter was a "skater", Jacob was a "Optimus Prime" at the costume party and then a "military man" for trick or treating. I don't know if the Transformer costume had just been done, so he wanted something else for Wednesday or what, but he refused to wear it again...so we were trying to come up with something to appease him 30 minutes before we left. Parker was "Darth Vader" and Anna was a "spider".

The cutest little spider - EVER!

Probably, the youngest true Star Wars fan. He knows everything about every movie and has since he was 2.

The Wild Crew...they never all cooperate for a picture

Anna's birthday party is this Friday night, so hopefully I will have some really good pictures to post from the party. She has the "cutest" little dress to wear...sorry, but that sort of thing excites me :-)

I will try to do better about posting. So sorry to all you who faithfully check only to be disappointed!

All she had to do to get her way

Loving this great fall weather in Kentucky and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna.

Another Blessing...

Okay, I have given plenty of time for the news to be spread by the rightful "spreaders", so I think it is my time to announce that Anna has a new baby cousin....from China!!!

Seriously, how cute is she???

On August 23, 2007, my cousin, her husband and her son received the news that they had been matched with a baby girl - Qing Zu Qiao - which they will name Salem Cassidy ZuNei. She is from the same province as Anna, Guangdong. They are only 1 month and 16 days apart and both were born with cleft palates. Fortunately Cassi did not have a cleft lip at birth and because of her fragile state when she arrived at the orphanage was able to be enrolled in the Love Without Boundaries program and her palate was repaired in China. Obviously when she gets home, they will have her evaluated for any future procedures or corrective surgeries, but we pray that everything was done correctly, healed properly and minimal will have to be done.

Gina, my cousin, is still in the "paper chasing" phase of the process, but they are making good progress. Their home study is finished and have the majority of the paperwork needed other than that precious I-797-C / I-171-C. Basically the US Homeland Security or Immigration saying they can bring a foreign born orphan into the country. We are hoping that they can be DTC by Thanksgiving, which is very possible.

We are just ecstatic about Gina and Richie's adoption and cannot wait to get Cassi home. What a cool thing for Anna to have a family member soooo similar to her in so many aspects. What great friends and support they can be to each other. It truly is another blessing from God.

We prayed for our daughter, but in the journey to Anna, we prayed for so many other children that were/are in need of a loving home. We also prayed for God to move on hearts of those that could care for these children. For us, this is an answer to one of our prayers. And fortunately, we get to not only see an answer to our prayer, but we get to be related!!! How awesome is that??

Anna and Cassi will be able to give each other something that neither Gina or I can give our daughters...the ability to truly relate. I can sympathize with Anna, try to understand her questions and the pain that she will experience when she begins to wonder "why?", but I will not be able to relate to the many questions and feelings she will have regarding her birth family, her birth country, and the fact that there are so many things about her history that we just don't know. But, she will have a close family member that can say, "me too." I hope that they are a great support system for each other and and work through these questions together. God is so good. God's timing is perfect and His plans are complete. I wonder what else He has in store for our family...only time will tell :-)

So incredibly happy for Gina and Richie, and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna to Cassi!

Ahhh....Parenthood

You gotta love being a parent.

A Friend Is Coming Home...

They have been together practically since birth, shared a nursery at the same orphanage, adopted through the same agency and both mothers have anxiously waited for "Gotcha Day"...finally one of Anna's friends is coming home.

When we were matched with Anna, it wasn't long until I met another lady who was adopting through Children's House International, our agency, who was adopting a little girl, just a couple weeks younger than Anna, who was in the same orphanage, who also had a repaired lip, cleft palate. Both Jeanne and I have corresponded through e-mail throughout the process and took joy in the other's completed steps to bring our daughters home.

Jeanne is in China now and received her daughter, Annabelle, on Monday. Today I finally got to see the pictures of Annabelle and a report on how they are doing. Both mom, sister and Annabelle are doing wonderful and she is adjusting well. We are so happy that Annabelle will soon be coming home.

I opened the pictures of Annabelle with her family and showed Anna, she immediately began smiling and reaching toward the computer screen with her little finger stretched out to touch the screen. She would touch Annabelle's face and smile. She rubbed her face over and over and then gave her "sugar" multiple times. It was so sweet. I know she recognized her. I wish I knew what she was thinking.

Wishing all the babies were soon coming home and sending congratulations to Jeanne, Julia and Annabelle!

Toddler Time...

The school year has officially began for Carter and Jacob. After I take them to school, it is just Parker and Anna with full reign of the house for over 6 hours...Toddler Time! From Backyardigans to Diego, Weeble Treehouse to baby dolls, Thomas the Train to Toy Story, it is non-stop play.

Parker, especially over this summer, has gotten so used to playing with the boys, he played "big". All he wanted to play was StarWars, Transformers, Spider-Man, etc. But, this past week, with just him and Anna, he has really started playing like a "little" boy again. He entertains Anna with basically whatever she wants to do. He just wants to play...and Anna, she just wants to do whatever she wants to do.

"Pirates Say ARRRR!" Anna loves Pablo

Her favorite things are a Backyardigan microphone radio type thing, a stuffed monkey that plays music, LeapFrog fridge magnets, and the Jessie and Woody dolls from Toy Story. The change in her personality in just two months is just amazing. She has gone from a very quiet, unadventurous, sedentary, untypical toddler to a vocal, playful, exploratory, teasing, energetic 21 months old.

Anna is now eating IN a high chair. It took us over a month and a half, but we finally done it. When I put her in the chair and put on her bib, she starts getting pretty excited.

Parker loves to play with whatever, especially if it makes noise or could potentially make a mess. It is just the boy in him. He can take a simple juice box and somehow get 'sticky' from head to toe, manage to get it on the table, floor, chair and drip it all the way up the steps. It is only like 4 oz. of liquid, but you would think from the mess it was at least 2 gallons. He has also returned to drawing...on the walls. I thought we were broke from this habit, but he managed to get a hold of a purple crayon, which are all but under lock and key, and drew me a lovely picture between the t.v. and a wall in the family room. The sad part was I was up stairs when he did it. But I was busy, he was being so quiet "playing" I just let him play, or should I say color the wall. He is only three and I have to sometimes remind myself of that. He is soooo much bigger than Anna and I tend to expect him to act a lot older than her. But his is only 17 months older and they are really not that far apart.

If Anna has a baby in her bed, then Parker needs a baby in his bed.

Anna is still very small for her age. She is still wearing 6/9 month clothing with a few 12 month outfits mixed in here and there, but she is acting more and more appropriately for a child her age. She is making more sounds, trying to mimic actions she sees, fussing when she doesn't get her way, and just beginning to act like a normal little girl. When I think about the huge strides she has made over the past 2 months, it just makes me so proud of her and her resilience to overcome the obstacles that she has already faced in her short life.

I know her hair is still to short for dog ears, BUT dog ears was one of Rodney's things. We were both excited about getting Anna and bringing her home, first and foremost, but we both had "things" that we just couldn't wait to do with a little girl...I was excited about dresses, Rodney was excited about dog ears. Finally, I have managed to get two little twigs of hair, that stick straight up, in dog ears for Daddy.

Anna is just the just the most perfect little girl any mother could have every dreamed of. She is sweeter than sugar, cute as a button and she is mine. I don't know why I have been given this enormous blessing, but I am so thankful that God has allowed me to be Anna's mother.

Waiting at the backdoor to show Daddy her new hairdo! Seriously, he almost cried :-)

One very blessed mother. Sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna

Anna's First VBS...

Last week, Anna attended her first Vacation Bible School. Obviously, she didn't attend a class, but she was there with her brothers, looking really cute...so that counts :-)

Cutest little girl there...seriously!

In the last few days, Anna has really kicked it up a notch. She is playing lots, lots more and she is actually grinning. She smiled before, but there is a difference. She squints up her eyes and makes an effort to spread her mouth and show her teeth. She sometimes does it even when she doesn't know she is being watched. It is really cute. She is also being more inquisitive and showing out. She likes to have everyone's attention and put on a show. The other day, she was on the kitchen table (I know...bad thing, but it was surrounded by family members) and she was dancing and doing her "shoulder thing". She makes one shoulder come up to her ear over and over...it is like it is a little dance move of her's or something. We would laugh at her and she would start all over again.

Cheese!

Anna has started saying "bye bye" and saying "hi" more. Last night we were sitting in the den and she would open her mouth and slowly say "hhhhhiiiiii". We did it back and forth with each other many times. She would watch my mouth when I would say it. It was almost like you could see those little wheels turning as she opened her mouth and repeated it back to me. She is "jabbering" lots more too. She is making many different sounds. I don't think it will be long until she gives us some more words. But she has "mamama" mastered, so that's the main one that matters :-)

Anna also took off her pjs on her own. She woke up and I was making her breakfast before getting her...when I got to her room her pjs were thrown in the floor and she was just in her diaper. It was the first time she had attempted, to my knowledge, to take off her clothes. I was pretty impressed. She is also climbing stairs now. She had gotten up on the first step before, but never attempted to go further. Now, she will keep going until we stop her. She can climb really good, but of course it is that coming down part that she hasn't mastered. She is 20 months now, almost 21 months. She had been acting like a "walking infant" before, but now she is really starting to act more like a toddler. Exploring, touching, climbing, fussing with displays of her temper...she still has a ways to go, but she is definitely making huge strides.

Carter and Jacob were to start school tomorrow, but due to some air conditioning problems at the county middle school, it has been postponed until Monday....YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They can put it off until September on my account. So we have a few more days of the whole crew at home and a few more days without having a "real" schedule.

The boys had open house the last two days, Carter on Monday, Jacob last night. I asked who they wanted to take them or if they wanted us all to go. They both just wanted Anna and me to go. It was really sweet. They wanted to take Anna to their teachers from last year and show her off. They were just busting with pride and grinning ear to ear. I asked them about what they wanted her to wear and they were both very serious about what outfit she had on. They wanted her to "look cute". She did.

Glad summer break is extended at least 2 more days and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker and Anna.

It's Like She's Always Been Here...

Our house without Anna...it's hard to remember. Anna is such a wonderful fit in our lives, it is hard to imagine our lives without her. Yes, I remember when it was just the 3 boys and I was frantically gathering paperwork, waiting for news from our agency, praying for the next milestone to come, but it seems so long ago. It is hard to believe we have only been home just a little over a month.

Anna, ready for her first "real" outing since coming home.

So much has happened in the last month. Anna has made huge leaps and bounds. She is gaining weight, much more vocal and loves to play. She is actually becoming quite the jokester. She loves to "make you think" that she is going to kiss you or come to you and then right when she is in reach, she turns quickly to walk away. All the while with a sly grin on her face.

She does love her Daddy.

She is getting more used to having 3 brothers in the house. She knows what to do to get her way and what to do to get them to stay away. Parker, bless his mischievous heart, can come towards her and depending on her mood, she will immediately start fussing. Almost like she is tattling on him for getting too close. He is still learning to be gentle and to not try to grab her face and kiss her - constantly. It is almost like he just gets so excited to love on her, he just goes overboard...but sometimes, she humors him and it is too cute!

In the last month, Anna has had her first pediatrician visit and got her first round of immunizations. She was so good at the doctor's visit. She was very compliant and was just a perfect little trooper. Her immunizations, were the same. She had to have 6 shots. 2 in each leg and 1 in each arm. She was so pitiful for about 2 minutes, then she was her normal self. She ran a fever for about 1 day, but never really fussed. I kept Tylenol in her just in case she were to be uncomfortable. Our local health department is checking with the CDC to see if they suggest redoing all her immunizations or not. If so, we have to go back in 2 months for another round, if not, we go back in January.

I have talked with Shriner's in Cincinnati as another option for her palate surgery. We are still undecided about where and when. I have had another adoption professional suggest we wait a few more months to eliminate any potential set backs due to the pain. I don't want to rush it for sure, but I don't want to wait and cause any further speech delays/impediments that might be caused due to waiting.

You've read the cute poem about fingerprints on the doors and furniture...have you heard the one about the "footprints" on the furniture?!? I dust and come back in 5 minutes, max, only to discover my 3 year old has been dancing on the coffee table.

Why do I clean my house?

Anna definitely knows her name now. She can be turned around or around a corner and we can call her name and she will turn or come around the corner. Parker also knows her name. When she gets into the cabinets, he says, "Anna Mei, no, no." He likes the bossy part of being a big brother.

Our first Independence Day with Anna was not quite what we had hoped. I was very excited about her first 4th of July in America, we had plans to go to my cousin's house for a cookout and Anna had some very cute "Patriotic" attire to boot. Late July 3rd, a stomach virus hit our house and it hit hard. I was up nearly all night with Carter and Parker. When one wasn't up sick, the other was and if there was a few minutes between the two, I was cleaning up from where someone didn't make it to the bathroom...sorry for any visuals. So, on the Fourth, we had Anna quarantined upstairs with Rodney hoping the germs wouldn't infest her little body. I knew that if she were to get sick, it wouldn't take long for her to become dehydrated fast. I had been in the sickness all night, so I tried to stay away from her as much as I could in case I was infected. So our Fourth was very uneventful in the means of Patriotism, but in the sense of busy, it was a full day! Sheets, towels, rugs, and clothing was washed, floors were mopped (3 times), trashcans sanitized and kids were bathed (Parker 3 times...yes, this is related to the 3 times mopping the kitchen floor...again sorry for the visual). The reality of having multiple kids getting sick simultaneously hit hard. Next, year...we are going to celebrate BIG!

This was our July 4th. The boys downstairs watching movies with strict instructions to not go near Anna.

Happy 3rd Birthday Parker!

Anna was fascinated with the wrapping paper

We had to incorporate about 4 themes in his birthday, Spider-Man 3 cake, Transformer card, Ninja Turtles Shirt and Pirates of the Caribbean Action Figures...he loved it.

Last Thursday, we had a little photo session. It was such a grand idea. Should have thought it through a little better. It was the four kids and myself, all dressed up, for an outdoors photography session. By the time, we got to our location, Parker was totally disheveled, wrinkled and ready to play, not sit and smile. Anna was hot and not cooperative. Carter was hungry and very adolescent. And Jacob, he was aggravating Parker every chance he got. I seriously thought I was going to go nuts and the poor photographer...I am surprised she didn't say, "never mind." It was so hot and the kids were so not in the mood. I just hope there are a few good ones. But, thankfully, the photographer is super nice and sweet and was so gracious and willing to do whatever to make it work. She definitely earned her money that day. Hopefully, we will get them back this coming Friday and I will be able to post some good ones. I sure hope so, cause I hate the thoughts of having to do that again!!

After we got home, I took Anna out in the yard for a few snap shots. These are a few of my favorites.

She makes this face when "she thinks" she is being funny

We are so blessed to have our family. I cannot imagine not having Anna in our lives. When I think about how easily we could have missed out on this blessing, it just makes my chest hurt. How many times does God want to bless us and we reject Him? The journey was not easy and it took God's strength and faith in Him to make it, but I would do it again in a heart beat. What He calls us to do, He will supply all the strength, resources and means to accomplish His will. The method of His provisions may not be in the way we expect or even desire, but there is always a lesson or another blessing in the ways that He sees fit to provide. I had to learn a few lessons in pride but in those lessons, I was so touched by those who desired to help us bring our daughter home. I know that God not only blessed us with the means to bring Anna home, but I know that He will bless those who blessed us.

Undeservingly, we were blessed again with another precious child. We are so grateful and humbled by His mercies and blessings upon us. I hope that our family can be an encouragement to others to seeks God's will in adoption for their family. There are so many children throughout the world that need and deserve a loving family. It is our prayer that what God has done in our lives will somehow help another child, even if only one, find their family. I am so thankful that Anna found her's.

So blessed to be a mother to four and sending love from Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna.