Tuesday Ramblings

Since being downsized/outsized/reorg'd or whatever the correct terminology is, the kiddos are no longer going to daycare. Ryan rides the bus home and then I take Emma to preschool and pick her up at noon each day. Along with this it seems like we are home a lot more than we used to be. While not uncommon to have somewhat of a messy house, it seems like it's REALLY messy now.

A few things I've learned ... or most likely just now noticing ...

• One would assume that not being in the office 8+ hours every day that your house would stay spotless once you spend that time at home. Not so in our house.
• Ryan has turned our once always clean living room into his own personal office and playroom. Needless to say, it's never clean now. If I ask him to clean it up, it will appear to be clean at first glance ... but don't step in. There you will find items lined up against the wall that you do not see until you are actually in the room. Makes you wonder if he's thinking "if mama can't see it then it must not be a problem".
• I spent all kinds of time turning our basement into a play area for the kids replete with shelving, cloth storage bins with handles to make it easy for little hands to pull out and toys ORGANIZED. The 'organized' part lasted approximately 3.2 hours.
• Emma has decided to use one corner of the dining room for her personal storage. I have found all kinds of treasures there. Flip flops, lip stick, books ... all kinds of things. She uses a corner that you would not see from the kitchen nor from the hallway. Maybe she's always done this and I'm just now realizing it's a habit? Maybe she learned this pesky little habit from her brother Ryan?
• Rebecca likes to play in the toy kitchen that has been in the den since Santa brought it for Christmas. The problem is, she likes the pots, pans and even the toy coffee pot to make noise .... so anything she can find to stick in said toys to make them make noise is open game. Light Brite thingy's ... perfect for stirring in the pan or putting into the coffee carafe. Little wooden pieces that go w/ a toy cake decorating thing ... those are even better . If I had a penny for every light bright thingy I've picked up I'd be a very wealthy woman.

These nuisances are minor compared to this though. You can't imagine how many times I've been asked if Emma and Rebecca are sisters. I thought I was well read and well prepared for this question but obviously not because the hair raises on the back of my neck and some not so nice/kind words come to mind (just thankfully not out of my mouth) when asked this question. What is odd to me is that I have never ever been asked this question about Ryan and Emma, nor Ryan and Rebecca but yet they ask it about Emma and Rebecca with both of them right there with me. Yesterday at the park the question was asked "are they sisters or what"? What the heck does "or what" mean?

Please, please, please - if you are reading this and you're not an adoptive parent - please do not ask a parent this question. Just because our family is built a non traditional way doesn't make us any less a family. Nor the girls any less siblings.

If you are an adoptive parent and have been asked this asinine question - how do you handle it? With a simple graceful "yes" (which is what I have been doing even though that's NOT what I want to say) or do you get miffy, irate or maybe even try to use some humor? My mom suggested I simply say "no, they are brothers" and walk away.

Brian does not at all understand my frustration with this question but so far I do not think it has been posed to him. He tells me to judge not least I be judged and while I value his judgment and wisdom, the question still gets under my skin.

Matching Jammies

I'm not sure I can adequately explain this weakness of mine, but I absolutely love dressing the little dumplings alike ... especially in matching jammies. I found these the other day at Old Navy & thought they were too cute to pass up.

Balancing Act

One of the things we learned early on about Emma is that the child can seemingly balance on anything. She had just turned a year old when we got her and I can remember so well how amazed we were to find out that she could climb one of those curved type ladders at the playground. She could also climb up on the bathroom counter by merely hooking her little toes on the hardware. At some point in these past 4 years we were no longer surprised to find her on top of things. A child standing on the kitchen counter, what could be odd about that?


A fun thing I used to do with her was to perch her in front of me on my bicycle and we would go up a hill, turn around and then go down it really fast and up another hill only to turn around and do it again and again and again. She would hold her little arms up in the air and just squeal with delight. Probably not the smartest mom thing I ever did but she just amazed me how she could balance just on the little bar.


Brian's fun with her typically revolves around moving his legs around trying to keep her from climbing up in his lap and she will literally stick her leg straight up in the air trying to outmaneuver him.

Their latest trick is this - she sits in his hands and he lifts her straight up over him. Check out her little foot, she wraps it somewhat around his arm. It's so funny to watch! She makes it look so effortless.

We're thinking there must be some Chinese acrobat dna in that child :-)

Name?

When we adopted Rebecca we kept the name Rebecca for several reasons but mainly because during the long adoption process, and from the very first time I read about her - that was the name she was called and that was the name in my heart for her. What I didn't realize is that she must have been called by her Chinese name too because ever so often she will call herself by that name and always has the cutest smile on her face when she does. Lately though she has been asking "Emma Yu Jiao Jiao?" as if she is asking if Emma's Chinese name is the same as hers. We tell her no that Emma's Chinese name is Lian Guo Yan. So now Rebecca has made a game of pointing to herself and saying "Yu Jiao Jiao" and then asking the question about Emma but then saying "Lian Guo Yan" before we can correct her. This is such a fun game for her.

Well, the other day we were playing this little game and Emma asks me what Ryan's name was to which I told her Ryan's name had always been his name and then I gave her his full name. She then asks me what my name was so assuming she meant maiden name I gave her my full maiden name. She shakes her little head no and says "no, I MEAN - what was your name in CHINA?"

Out of the mouths of babes ...

Where Has The Time Gone - 4 Years ... WOW

Yesterday marked the four year anniversary of when we received "The Call" for Emma aka Miss Divine, M's, The Emmanator ... and some other little pet names we like to call the little dumpling. My goodness, where has the time gone!

To read the details of that day, click here:

http://hunterhappenings.blogspot.com/2007/03/happy-2-year-anniverary-of-referral-day.html


Who would have ever thought that little chunky monkey would have these dimples and sparkly eyes? Her paperwork was right on the mark though as far as her personality. It said something along the lines of "she shows strong preference" .... mmmhmmm, that's a very nice way of putting it!

The Lord certainly poured out a whole heap of blessings when he had His hand on matching her paperwork with ours. Amazing, she is simply amazing. She's so full of fun and life and absolutely never meets a stranger. We joke that she knows more people's names in our community than we do. Nothing like having a little goodwill ambassador in your family!

My Lap Cat

For some reason, it really tickles Brian the way Rebecca lays in my lap and then hangs her head over my arm to look at or talk to him. The snuggly little dumpling!

Cool Tees!

Check this out, a blogger I follow and respect has started a new business ... they are adorable!!! Their family is also a family that has been blessed beyond measure with adoptions but what amazes me is that that she is one of those special people you cross paths with in your life who really puts into action that which she believes. And let me tell you, she has a HUGE heart for orphans!

Happy shopping!

"The Look"

I've gone on and on about how well things are going with Rebecca, and they are ... but ever so often, especially if certain things are not going her way we get "the look". Thankfully this doesn't happen very often because honestly, it's almost impossible to not bust out laughing when she does this. She also makes this little blowing out air noise right before "the look" hits. This was taken the other day at the park, the same day as all the cute smiling pictures. However, it was time to go home and in Rebecca's words "NO GO HOME". Thankfully we live VERY close to the park!

She's also learned how to voice her displeasure with us when she is not so happy with us, I suppose it's her very worst insult. When she's aggravated (really aggravated) she will say "Emma's yucky", or "Mommy's yucky" - whichever one of us happens to be the supposed offender. While I do not care for the choice of words, I am happy that at least she can verbalize that she is none too pleased at the moment.

Playground Fun

The weather is finally warming up a tad around here and we've finally had the chance to get the kids out of the house to let them romp and play. And romp and play and play and play they did!

Miss Bex doing the Fancy Nancy thing

Rebecca discovered Emma's "Fancy Nancy" things the other day which were gifts to Emma from our family advocate when we first started the process of adopting Rebecca. She's no longer w/ our agency but still every bit in our hearts. We miss ya' Katrina! Thought it would tickle you to now see Rebecca playing with the dress up things!

14 Years Ago ...

Fourteen years ago Brian and I were married in a somewhat small wedding in Denton, Texas. Neither one of us were up for going out and celebrating tonight but we did go to Lowe's and also took the kiddos out for pie and ice cream. I laughingly asked Brian if 14 years ago did he give any thought to having 3 more children and especially two little dumplings crawling all over him. I know that for me, I certainly wasn't thinking that 14 years ago - at that point in my life I wasn't even sure if I wanted one or not. Goodness how times have changed! Back then my life pretty much centered around my career and around "us". Back then we did things like Gallery Night, ballroom dance lessons, weekend trips and all kinds of other fun things. Now, career is well - hmmm, not exactly a career at the moment and everyone who stops by here already knows about our quiver full of children. My blessings, each and every one of them. And of course the biggest blessing of all - my wonderful, loving, kind and thoughtful husband.

Happy Anniversary Brian, here's to many more!

Kids Say the Funniest Things

This morning when we drove into the parking lot at church Rebecca asks "what doing?" and we told her we were going to church. Her reply ... "YUM!". Maybe they're going a little overboard on snacks in children's church? :-) On the way home though she was singing over and over "I love mama. I love baba. I love Jesus". She's just too sweet.

We had a luncheon at church today and a friend of ours was telling us about her daughter having fertility problems and that her next step is to get an egg donor. Of course Emma doesn't miss anything and she starts asking "What's an egg donor?". I told her to ask Melissa (the one telling us about her daughter). I'm such a chicken - no pun intended.

This afternoon Brian & I watched a movie while the girls were napping, it was what Brian affectionately calls a "mama movie". Emma woke up and came in right at the tail end of it where the two main characters are getting on a plane. Emma being the child she is that asks 529,332 questions per day starts asking questions about them getting on the plane and then asks "Are they going to get a baby?"! We both got a good laugh out of that one.

Which reminds me, we were driving down the road the other day and Emma is asking me when she is going to have babies and then she tells me she doesn't want to because it makes her ears hurt and then she asked me if I would go with her. It took me a minute to realize that she was talking about her ears popping on the plane. I'm so silly, I of all people should know that babies come via airplanes.