Interesting fashion sense

First the backwards shirt (which by the way he did wear it that way to school and then decided to put it on the correct way once his friends started asking him why it was backwards!) and now this. Christian was putting on his shin guards and socks on for soccer practice and decided to make yet another fashion statement~tucking his pants into his socks! He asked if he could go to practice like this and since I am the type of parent to choose my battles (see previous post) I told him to go right ahead so out the door he went.

Since this week we seem to be on the topic of Christian I received an interesting call from his teacher today. The kids are allowed to bring a snack to school since they don't get to eat lunch until 12:30. I personally think this is way too long to go without a meal for a first grader even with a snack! His teacher asked me if I would send in an extra snack for Christian because he was complaining about being hungry. I told her I had no problem sending an extra snack to school but I was under the impression that only one snack was permitted. She told me it would be fine and that she has offered him ritz bits cheese crackers but he tells her he doesn't like the cheese only the cracker. She also said he asks to go to the office all the time to get some pretzels because he is hungry. I told her that if she hasn't noticed yet he is an extremely picky eater and she laughed and said "yes I have certainly noticed!" I could hear Christian in the background and she told him that she would let him talk to me but that he wasn't to ask for me to send candy to school for him. So what does he do? As soon as he hears my voice he says "Mom can you send me some candy?"

A backwards kind of morning

Today was a rough morning in our household! What can I say it is Monday and does anybody really want to get out of bed? Ethan had his last soccer game yesterday and even though they lost he played an awesome game! This morning Christian got up and was seemingly happy until after he ate his breakfast(not sure what caused the sudden change of moods). I started to hear stomping around in his room so I went up to see what was going on. He had "that" face on! You know the face I am talking about the "grumpy don't talk to me kind of face." He proceeded to get dressed and put his shirt on backwards. For some strange reason he always does this when he gets mad. I told him I didn't care how he wore his shirt and that he could go to school with it on that way is that is what he wanted. I am all for choosing your battles and this was a battle I was unwilling to fight! Well he left this morning with the shirt on backwards. I have a feeling he will put it on the correct way once he gets to school but maybe not.

Well it is October 9th and my prediction was correct.....

we have officially hit the 12month mark! We have yet to "surpass" it which I honestly hope we do not! I am so DONE with this wait! I think a more "realistic" timeline is 10-14 months even though our agency still quotes a 10 -12 month wait. I am so ready to be on the "other side" of this wait. I have been told that the "worst wait" is yet to come and that once you see your baby's face the wait becomes much harder as you again "wait" to travel. I understand that but I am still in this long phase of "waiting!" At least once I know "who" she is I will know "who" I am waiting for! Of course I am sure if we are blessed to have her referral by Christmas it will be especially hard to know who Mia is but not have her home in time for Christmas. That will be incredibly hard(not that I want to wait until after Christmas to have a referral!).

I am begining to feel like there is a light at the end of this very long tunnel. After much procrastination, I finally scheduled our travel immunizations today. I know I should have scheduled them a long time ago but I really needed to feel like this(adoption) was going to happen. I talked to the nurse and she said as long as we have our tetanus and the first two rounds of Hepatitis A & B we should be fine to travel to China. She said we can finish the third round when we get home. The first and second Hep A & B shots have to be given 6 weeks apart. She also suggested we take some malaria pills with us. Our first round is scheduled for November 5. Pray that we get a nice nurse because I am scared to death of shots!

As WE wait....I shop!

Since buying clothes isn't practical until we know what size Mia will be I have decided to build up Mia's hairbow collection. I have had to fight the urge on many occasions not to buy clothes. I love the combination of pink and brown and there are so many adorable pink and brown outfits! I ordered these cute clips from the site http://www.love2sparkle.com/. This is the first time I have ordered from this site but her clips are so cute and reasonably priced that I decided to give it a try! I ordered the purple and green sequin butterfly and the red sequin heart hoping that I will be able to use it in time for Valentine's day.

Two years~Seriously!

Seriously(to use a Grey's Anatomy line) has it really been two years since we have been LID? I can tell you that it certainly feels every bit like two years and than some! I am starting to see an end in sight since our MCC will have been submitted one year on October 9, 2007. We have been told the wait is about 10-12 months after you submit your MCC. I am certain that we will surpass the 12 month mark. It does seem that some families with our agency are waiting beyond the 12 month mark and I am sure we will be joining that group on October 9. How is that for optimisim? I would love to be pleasantly surprised and to have this part of the wait behind us. I am so over it!

Too sick for school?

When Ethan came home from school yesterday I could tell is wasn't feeling well. Of course he told me that he felt sick and didn't think he would be able to make it to his soccer game that night. I thought he must really feel sick to decide not to go to his game. I gave him some medicine and he laid on the couch for awhile under the blanket. About an hour later I asked him if I should get his soccer gear together. He said he was going to try to go and I assured him that I would tell his coach at the game that he wasn't feeling good and that maybe he could put his in a position that doesn't require a ton of running(he usually plays mid field so he runs alot). When we got to the game he was feeling a little better and the coach put him in as a forward which is his favorite position so he wasn't about to tell the coach he was too sick to play it. He played well during the game and even seemed back to himself after the game.

This morning he got up and was complaining that his head hurt, his throat hurt, and he was cold. I told him to go back to bed and he could stay home today. Our rule around our house is that if you don't go to school you spend most of the day resting~not watching TV all day. Around 10:00am he woke up and seemed fine. I told him that I thought he needed to go to school because he has an English test tommorow and I wanted him to be there for the review. To my surprise he agreed to go. In the end I think he discovered it might be more fun to go to school than lay around and "rest" all day unless you are really sick. In his defense I know he has a cold and I know he isn't feeling 100% but no fever, no vomit, to school you go! What a mean mom I am!

Bullets~again!

~We have been busy with football and soccer practices every weeknight. This makes me wonder how I would get anything accomplished if I had to work. My hat is off to working moms who manage to work and get their kids to their various activites, get dinner on the table, do homework, pack lunches, clean, catch up on laundry etc. I am tired just thinking about it!

~Speaking of soccer and football it has been an interesting year so far. Ethan is on a new traveling soccer team and they have had 6 games and only won 1 game so far. We knew this would be a challenging season with the team being new but it is hard to see the disappointment on his face as he walks off the field at the end of the game. Quite the opposite, Logan's football team is undefeated and his games always end with alot of cheering, excitement, and big smiles! And then there is Christian. He has only had one soccer game and he scored 6 goals! To be fair he has played a couple of seasons and is six years old so for some of these kids this is their first year playing. I would say he has quite an advantage over them.

~I went to a Pampered Chef party last week and ordered from another. My new purchases include the food chopper(how did I manage to survive without this?), a large serving spatula, a mini serving spatula, a garlic press, and the ice cream dipper. I have to say I have the ice cream dipper but it isn't suppose to go into the dishwasher and since Dan thinks any dirty utensil belongs in the dishwasher it is a dark shade of gray instead of the shiny silver it should be.

~About that ladybug on our timeline.....it will be two years on Saturday since we were LID. I wonder what will happen to the little ladybug once she gets to the end of the timeline. Will she just fall off? Or will our timeline continue to increase? I would love for her to fall off and our wait be over. I am trying to be patient and some days are better than others. Everytime the phone rings I hope it is our agency calling with a match. When I see that it isn't I can't help but feel a little dissappointed. So if you call and I seem dissappointed don't take it too personally~you just aren't "THE CALL."

~I have found another distraction or addiction during the wait~Facebook! I think it is great that you can connect with friends and see what they are up to. I am loving my new addiction!

Brothers divided

As the boys were getting ready for school today Logan and Christian both decided they wanted to wear their football jerseys today. Logan was first to get dressed and chose to wear his Ohio State jersey. With hearing this Christian had to wear his Michigan jersey!

First grade frustrations

I was expecting it to be a challenge for Christian to transition to first grade but I have been somewhat unprepared for his transition. I expected that he would be tired when he came home from school. I expected that he would be grumpy. I foolishly expected that he would be more than ready to go to bed at 8:30pm. Of the three kids he is more attached to me than Ethan and Logan. I understand it and maybe have even encouraged it because he is the baby of the family. He still loves to sit in my lap and watch TV. He readily gives hugs and kisses. He will lay in our bed and talk about the days events with me before it is time to go to bed and yes there have been many occasions that he has asked to sleep with me at night and I have let him.

I know it is a BIG change for him. Nighttime seems to be the most challenging for us. At night we will put him in bed and within a few minutes he is back out of bed again. Last night he came out quite a few times. One time his head hurt. The next time he had pulled the lamp off of the dresser and asked us to turn it on so he could see. He has never done this before and has never slept with a nightlight. Then he was too hot. And finally the last excuse was "I don't want to go to school" but not before he asked "can I sleep with you?" Every night recently this question has been asked. I tell him no and then put him back to bed. In the morning he is very grumpy. Ethan even asked today "why is he always so grumpy in the morning?" When he is getting dressed in the morning he will put his clothes on backwards and say he is going to school that way. Not wanting to give into that behavior I tell him if that is how he wants to go to school like that it is fine with me. As it gets closer to the bus coming he will quickly put his clothes on the right way. I know all of these behaviors are part of him trying to adjust to school and since I have been through this before I know this too shall pass.

He runs.....

and SCORES a touchdown and a goal!!!!!!!! Today Ethan and Logan had their first soccer and football games of the season. Dan took Ethan to his game and Christian and I went to the football stadium for Logan's football "pageant." I know what you are thinking "a pageant?" The teams just get introduced and every players name gets announced and they get to run out on the "big" high school field and play a short game. On the last play Logan scored his first touchdown ever! He was so excited and proud of himself! One of his goals this year was to get the chance to score a touchdown and HE DID IT! Ethan also won his soccer game and SCORED one of the goals winning his first travel game 4-1. It was a great sports day here! Unfortunately I will not be posting pictures of Logan's game because his school name is on his shirt. I am sure there is some way to edit it to remove it but I am not sure how to do it. A nice dad from Ethan's soccer team was kind enough to take 81 pictures of the game and there aren't any school names on his jersey I will share his pictures.

First day of school

Yesterday was the first day of school for the boys. Where has the summer gone? I really hate to have to get back into school mode. Homework, early mornings, early bedtimes, packing lunches etc. Christian was the first to rise and shine. He told me when he woke up that he was afraid he would miss the bus and he felt nervous. Ahhh I was nervous with him being gone all day but I tried not to let those emotions show. He has been a little extra clingy in the couple weeks leading up to school. I reassured him throughout the morning and by the time the bus came he was ready to go. I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast which they love but tends to be very rare around this house because I am not big on chocolate for breakfast no matter what form it comes in. I am sure their teachers will appreciate this rule!

So how was the first day of school? Well Christian did forget where his classroom was but one of the teachers helped him find it. He also only ate half a bag of Cheetos and fruit snacks for lunch. He came home with his entire sandwich, a friend's gogurt, his grapes, and half of his juice box. They all came home saying they made new friends, they liked their teachers, and there was no homework! I think it was a great start to what I hope is a great school year!

Yesterday was also my birthday so Dan and I went out to breakfast and lunch. We did a little shopping in between and had a great day together!

Cute picture and new haircut

"Cool" like Uncle Brian.....

Logan loves Under Armour gear! Anything Under Armour is cool to him! Uncle Brian also has alot of Under Armour gear so of course he is way cool in Logan's book! Last week we went to get school shoes and he found a pair of Nike tennis shoes that he really like so we bought them. Today we were at the mall and went into the Finish Line and he begged me to get him these Under Armour shoes. I told him I would get them for him but he had to agree to returning the Nike shoes. He agreed so we left the store with the "cool" Under Armour shoes. All the way home is was taking them out of the box and admiring them. He sat with them out of the box on his lap all the way home. Now is he cool like his Uncle Brian!

Middle name dilemma

We have been discussing choosing a middle name for Mia. I feel strongly about incorporating part of her Chinese name. To me her name will be one of the only thing she comes to us with and I really want to keep part of her Chinese name as her middle name. I like the name Grace for no specific reason other than I have always really liked it. Somedays I feel like it is only by God's "grace" that we have made it through this process and continue to have the strength to carry on. I like the name Faith because we have truly had to rely on our "faith" to make it through this process. My faith has grown so much in this process. I like Hope because "hope" is what has sustained us through the many obstacles we have faced and the long wait. We wait with "hope" because through our "faith" and by His "grace" we know we are following the path that He has laid out for us.

So where does "Bella" and "Christina" fit into all of this? My mom has suggested both of these names. Bella means "beautiful" and Mia Bella has a different sound to it that I really like. My mom suggested Christina to me last night because it is my middle name. She thinks it would be nice for Mia to have my middle name. I am not all that crazy about Mia Christina. I think she just feels guilty because my brother was named after my dad and my sister was named after her. So who was I named after? Noone and it has been a running joke for us. I also think that when we incorporate her Chinese name it could make for a really long name since our last name is long. Dan has pretty much left the decision up to me and while we will have to wait to see what sounds best with her given Chinese name it still remains a dilemma because there is no particular name that I really love more than the others. So what do you think?

Bullets~just because they are easy!

~School shopping is officially OVER! The supplies, book bags, clothes, and shoes are bought and sitting in the closets waiting to be used next week! This morning we got all the supplies out and marked their names on everything and loaded them into their book bags. I still cannot believe school begins in one week and one day but who's counting!

~Last week we went to Kennywood. We had never been there before. I grew up going to Kings Island and Cedar Point but not wanting to face the frustration of the boys not being able to ride the bigger rides and getting upset we settled on Kennywood. We had a great day and Logan and Christian were able to ride mostly everything. Christian rode his first rollercoaster which was quite big! In fact I was surprised he was tall enough to get on it! He LOVED it! I will have to say that as I get older I don't enjoy the rollercoasters. When I was younger and more of a thrill seeker I loved them but I guess my age is showing! Dan doesn't ride rollercoasters at all so we had to compromise that he would take the boys on the wet rides (I hate to get wet and walk around in wet clothes) and I would take them on the rollercoasters. It worked but my stomach and head did not like the compromise. Ethan on the other hand does not like amusement parks so I am sure it wasn't his most favorite way to spend the day.

~Logan will be making a trip to an orthopedic surgeon in a couple of weeks. A little background information, in May someone tackled him on the playground while playing what else~football and he fell on his arm. Since then he has had this bump over his elbow that has not gone away. Now that football practice has started it is starting to bother him. His pediatrician thinks it could be a ganglion cyst but will need an MRI to be able to tell.

~WAITING seems to be the story of my life right now. As I blog I am patiently waiting for my sister's wedding photos to be uploaded. First we were told it would be done over the weekend, then yesterday, and then by this morning. Well it is almost 1:00pm so the morning has past. Maybe when I am done here I will click on then link and they will be done. I am sure she is WAY more anxious to see them~all 1000+ of them.

~I am also finding the wait for our adoption more difficult these days. We turned on our MCC to our agency on 10-9-07 and the wait was 10-12 months for a referral. I e-mailed our agency last week and she said the timeline is still 10-12 months from when we submitted our checklist so we technically we could be receiving a referral any time now. I am trying to tell myself by the end of the year just so I don't get my hopes up but it is SO HARD! Knowing you are close and being at the end of the wait is the HARDEST! I keep trying to prepare myself for "the call" and have played it over and over in my head about how it will go. Which one of the ladies will call me? I feel particularly close with one of the ladies and have hoped it would be her that makes the "call". She has calmed my fears and frustrations on more than one occasion. At that point will I even care who calls~probably not. Will I ask the right questions or will I be a basketcase unable to talk? Only time will tell but I can't wait for that moment!

Swimming and rides

Our busy summer continues and we are enjoying every minute of it! We have been to one of our favorite places this past summer that has a pool, a few rides, batting cages, and a couple of playground areas. The weather has been HOT so swimming is a must and a perfect way to spend the day with three busy boys! Logan and Christian are my amusement park riders. Ethan does not ride any of the rides and says he hates the feeling of his stomach going up and down so he prefers the pool.

This year Logan started going off the diving boards~even the high dive! At first he climbed the high dive and decided it was too high and then got back down. Later in the day after he had built up his confidence by going off the low dive he was ready to try again. I watched him nervously (while holding my breath) walk to the end of the board and saw the scared look on his face. I yelled to him "You can get back down if you need to." He said with his voice cracking "No I am going to do it." Down he went and back up the high dive he climbed! He repeated this process all day. Unfortunately I did not have my camera on this particular day so I do not have any pictures of this milestone.

On another note my fearless six year old decided he wanted to go off the low dive. Against my own instinct I allowed him to climb the low dive and walk to the end. At the last minute I got this horrible feeling in my stomach and made him get off. Of course he was mad at me but I told him he could jump off the side of the pool into the deeper water and that satisfied him for most of the day. I think he would have been okay but I wasn't sure he was quite ready. Christian can do front flips and back flips off the side of the pool. I am not sure how he learned this so I think it was self taught. He wanted to try it off the diving boards but I am not ready for that! Maybe next year with another year under his belt and a few more swimming lessons!

Dentist appointments

This week the boys are going to the dentist. Ethan and Logan will go tommorow and today was Christian's day to go. Christian goes to a pediatric dental specialist because his teeth are very crowded. He use to go to our family dentist until last year when we discovered he had an abcess tooth. Our family dentist was dead set against pulling it. When I went to get a second opinion at the pediatric dental specialist his thinking was more in line with our thinking and we decided to have it pulled. Actually we had both of his top front teeth pulled to make room for his permanent teeth.

Today at our visit I had a feeling that we would be discussing extraction but only expected to discuss having maybe one tooth pulled. Instead he is recommending that we have three teeth pulled! Two on the top to make room for the permanent teeth and one on the bottom to make room for the bottom teeth. He said while this is not going to make his teeth straight and he will definitely need braces down the road it *could* lessen the severity of the orthodontic work he will eventually need. It *could* also lessen the pain of the orthodontic work because his teeth wouldn't be as crooked thus needing more work to be straightened. He said he can't guarantee that it will help but our odds are definitely better if we chose to extract the teeth. I hope tommorow's dentist appointments bring better news!

In regards to the last post I have decided that tonight while Ethan is at soccer practice and Logan is at football practice that Christian and I are going to do his school supply shopping. I decided I am going to take each of the boys individually to do their shopping. It will give us some one on one time together and will be less stressful!

Preparing to switch gears

This week is the official start to the boys' football and soccer season. Don't get me wrong I love to see them play but this marks the begining to the end of summer for us. Not that there aren't a few weeks of carefree summer days left before the boys start school (school starts on August 2o~grrr!) but with the fall sports season begining it is a reminder that for us a new routine must begin. I love not having a routine in the summer! We sleep in a little later, play outside longer, stay at the pool and swim all day, and NO HOMEWORK! I am not ready to say goodbye to my "laid back" summer days. After all I am still sitting in my pjs and it is 11:00am!

I am unmotivated to think about buying school supplies and getting back into a school routine. I haven't even looked at their supply lists for this year and with three of them going all day I should probably get started on that. Usually at the begining of August I start school supply shopping and have it all done with the bookbags packed. I have a couple days left before August 1 so maybe I will find the motivation by then. On a positive note, I have done some back to school clothes shopping for them but only because I have stumbled upon a few good sales. I am moving in the right direction. At least they will look good going back to school even if they are missing a few supplies!

We are planning a couple fun activities in the next couple weeks to wind down summer vacation. If my blogging is sparse you can assume that we are soaking up the sun and enjoying the end of our carefree summer days!

Pontoon boat and fishing

Last Thursday my dad, my brother Chris (who was in from California for the wedding), my grandma, and Dan and I and the boys went out on a pontoon boat on the lake to do some fishing. I have to admit that this was the first time my boys have ever been fishing. It is kind of pathetic for a mom of 3 boys! I struggle with doing outdoorsy things (again pathetic) because I am a indoors type of girl. Not that I don't like being outside but camping, fishing, swimming in a lake, and bugs are not my thing. I kind of worried about how my boys would do fishing. They are pretty active (aren't most boys?) and from what I have heard fishing requires patience. Ethan and Logan did really well and enjoyed it despite not catching a thing. Christian on the other hand had no interest! I followed his lack of interest when it came to baiting the hook. There was no way I was going to put a worm on the hook and toss it out into the water so I left the baiting to the experts!

I loved riding on the boat and that is my type of "outdoor" activity! Lunch on the lake~yep I am all for that! Fishing was peaceful but I can't imagine spending an entire day sitting waiting for a bite! What I loved most about that day is the memories that my boys will have of fishing with their grandpa and Uncle Chris.