Couldn't they just shout?

Last night at dinner the four of us were talking about our summer vacation plans. SJ and I were telling the kids that in Belgium they can get HUGE waffles for snacks and in France they put chocolate in their croissants. It was fun watching their reactions to these things they haven't yet experienced, but we know will delight them. Then L turned the conversation to when we will be traveling to China. As we have said a million times before, we explained that it is not going to be for a long, long time. L needs to have her 5th birthday and B needs to have his 4th birthday before we can start thinking about our China trip. Here is how the response went:

L- “but daddy is going to China soon.”
MOMMY- “yes, but he is going for work and we have not finished all our paperwork for our little sister yet.”
L- “But couldn't he just bring home our little sister?”
MOMMY- “No sweetie, we need to wait until China tells us to come and get her.”
L- “But couldn't they just shout?”
MOMMY- “What?”
L- “You know, like this...COOOOOME AND GET YOUR BABIES!!! They could just shout really loud and we would hear them.”

We all had a good chuckle and then re-explained the whole process of paperwork, waiting, and referrals.

YESTERDAY-Just coudn't get the post up until today

Well it was one of THOSE days. The kind when in a semi-conscience state you are aware of the fact that there is far too much sunlight for the hour you had intended to get out of bed, and no matter how hard you try, you can't peel your drool covered face off the bed-sheets. That was how I started the day. Well actually, technically that is not true. SJ and I started the day together shortly after midnight addressing a child who insisted there were evil things lurking in his room. Lights on…. Lights off…. Door open…. Door closed…. In our room…. In his sister's room... The antics went on for what seemed like hours. Finally just when we thought it would never end, it did. We lay there silently listening for the next round, and it never came. AHHHH peace. Quite. Sleep...for about 45 minutes until L fell out of her bed and landed on the floor with a loud bang. The circus began again.

So yes, eventually with two bouncing toddlers leaping around my room, I did peel my face off the sheets and rise from the dead. I dragged my sorry ass downstairs, managed to fix them eggs and get a cup of coffee going for myself. While they ate I read a few headlines in the paper and bravely attempted to read a few WHOLE articles. Realizing there was no way I was getting to the gym in this state, I called a friend who I hadn't seen all week to see if she and her kids wanted to join us for some bike riding. (moms on curb- kids on bikes) Feeling like I was able to get the day going, I decided to make a phone call to SJ's doctor's office (a daily call we've been making for a few weeks to see if there were any cancelations so he could move up the date for his physical). After explaining why I was calling, I was informed of two things- 1. there had been no cancelations and 2. SJ's appointment for 4/27 had been canceled and moved to 5/31. FREAK OUT CITY! "NNNNNOOO, that that that won't won't work !" Stammered out of my mouth. After explaining AGAIN that this was paperwork for an adoption and that we just can't hold the process for a whole month for one piece of the puzzle, she apologized that there were just no other appointments. So, I cried. She put me on hold. We got an appointment for 4/28. She also let SJ come in today to have the labs drawn so the paper work will be done and signed on 4/28. PHEW!

So now, back on to me feeling like I could get on with my day. After all that I was now half an hour late to our play date and then off to lunch with my mom and then to meet SJ at the doc's office with the CCAI medical form. On our way home the kids and I stopped at Toys R Us to pick up a birthday present for a party and L threw the biggest fit in the store. It wasn't a tantrum. It was an obnoxious pre-adolescent fit coming from a 4 year old with a grand finale of her hitting me in the store. We left quickly.

We got home. I threw something together for dinner. Had them in PJs at 6:15 and when SJ walked in at 6:46 I grunted, "put them to bed". I was so exhausted that I decided to skip dinner and crawl into bed however when I got upstairs I found that I had put a huge pile of unfolded laundry on my side of the bed. I grabbed the whole pile and put it back in the dryer and as I was doing so, something fell out of the laundry. This...
went through both the wash and dry cycles. I guess things could have been worse today!


SATURDAY- Interrogation of family members to find out who puts packets of ketchup in their pockets!!!! (my money is on SJ)

Will the Game get Paroled UPDATE

Well the good news is that the Sequence game did get paroled. They have been taking very good care of the game and all its pieces. However, sadly we have had to put another game on "the list"- Cariboo is now on Death Row. I asked the kids several times to put away all the pieces to Cariboo after they played it and instead they brought the tiny bouncy balls up to the second floor to see how far down the hallway they could bounce them. When I found them doing this, I told them that that Cariboo was going to have to go on "the list" and they panicked! Trash day is tuesday so we will see what happens!

Date night downer!

Lord knows I don't get out to the movies a lot. It was one of my favorite past times before we had kids. Now it is a special treat to go the the movies. Getting to see a film is often the result of a well planned out "date night" for my husband and me. A night where I can check my cares at the door, chow on popcorn and just plain escape into a world where I am not trying to wrangle screaming children. Well for the first time in my life I am happy not to be a frequent moviegoer these days. I just saw on World News Tonight that a trailer for a movie called "United 93" is now playing in theaters. Apparently many NYC theaters started playing the trailer and frankly, that shocks me. Do we really think that the citizens of NYC are ready to be hit with a film about the worst day in their city's history? Albeit, this film is not about either of the planes that hit the twin towers but nevertheless, it jars loose memories and feelings we would rather not conjure up on a "date night"! I guess enough people complained that many theaters pulled the trailer. You can view the trailer at http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/. I watched it. WRENCHING. At the end I found myself with my hands clutched at my chest and going into UGLY cry. I am very happy not to have been upleasantly surprised by that in a theater. I can't say whether the nation is ready for films about 9/11 but I would have to guess that we are not. Well maybe I am not. I am curious about the movie but I am not sure I want to go sob for 2 hours. And that is exactly what I do in the face of images or stories from 9/11. I take the anniversary of 9/11 very seriously. We have a collection of newspapers, magazines and books that we take out for the week of the anniversary just to remind ourselves of that horrific day in history. I watch the reading of the names on TV and my husband and I play a TiVo recording we have from that 9/11/2001 morning. At that time, I had a TiVo season pass to Martha Stewart Living which aired at 9 am. Well on this day, the CBS morning show took over and we have live footage of that mornings broadcast including the second plane hitting. I guess I am worried that Hollywood will in someway mainstream this event or trivialize it. I do feel like it is too soon. For me the closest thing I can liken it to is the movie "Munich" - that was about a similarly tragic event but it was almost 34 years ago and there are many of us who would like to know more about the events at the 1972 Olympics and their aftermath. 9/11 is still recent enough that most of us remember it. Yes, too soon IMO!

Will the game get paroled?

Please tell me that other people are suffering from the Misuse of Toy Syndrome at their houses! I swear, I get the kids a game, they play it once and then take it to pieces and scatter the parts throughout the house. It frustrates me on so many levels. Number 1- I am not about to replace all these games/toys b/c we now have missing parts. Number 2- it is such a shame that they can't play these games anymore. So it all came to a head this morning with a yelling, screaming, running game they were playing while I was trying to talk with my father on the phone. They were trying to grab as many chips from a game called Sequence to see who could have the most ...Apparently while running, screaming and yelling. Now this game is one of the last few intact games we have and it's life was flashing before my eyes. So I have come up with a Death-Row sort of list for games that are not played with correctly. The suggestion that any toy or game that is not being played with correctly or taken care of was going to be put on a "list" and if they did not start taking care of said toy or game that the toy would be tossed in next weeks garbage run, struck fear into the little eyes of my darling children. So the Sequence game is currently on the "list" - funny since they immediately spread the game board out and are playing it together- QUIETLY - and having loads of fun. I am hoping to be able to parole this game but we will see what happens with those tempting chips over the next few days. Anyone out there have some suggestions on encouraging young children to TAKE CARE of their things?

Rumors....

Well I have been stalking Mary-Mia's "Do they have salsa in China" blog b/c she has her finger on the pulse of the china adoption community. Anytime anyone hears a rumor or gets a tid-bit of information from their agency they send it straight to M3 as she likes to call herself. I will say this again, Mary-Mia has a wonderful sense of humor and I find her blog entirely entertaining. So the rumor that is swirling from a few different sources is that the CCAA might do another round of referrals the first week of April. Well, we are in the first week of April right now so who knows. Keep your fingers crossed that they do send out some referrals asap so they can keep wait times under 12 months.

Thanks all for now.