Conferences... for a 2 yr old??

The other day I had Anna's conference at Montessori. Personally, it seems so silly to me to have a conference for a 2 yr old. But we'll go with the flow! The people are very nice and we do like it there, we have no complaints. I just personally have inner turmoil regarding sending her to Montessori vs staying at home with Mom. You see part of me wants her with me during the day and the other part needs a little down time to get things done and refuel.  So this battle continues to go on inside of me. Sometimes I think God is giving me this little extra time- kind of easing me into re-expanding our family. When we have more children and I homeschool this down time will probably not be happening. Even when Sarah is here I won't really have time to myself. Jim and I have talked about me taking some time on Saturdays and then he can spend time with the girls. Anna is at Montessori 2 days a week. We are planning to continue with that schedule so Sarah and I will have 2 days- just the 2 of us!

We enough of my inner turmoil and back to the conferences! Sweet Anna is our baby. We love to baby her- she gets carried, she sleeps in a crib, still uses a high chair and sippy cup and we do not have big plans to potty train in the imminent future. I guess in her Montessori class she is one of the older girls and within 2-4 months she will move on to the preschool room. (My baby in the preschool room- oh please.) I encouraged them to keep her in the toddler room for as long as possible. After all, she has only been home 15 months and we want to give her plenty of time to learn, to experience and grow at her own pace. All in all our conference went just fine but I guess she needs to work on her independence with daily skills- washing hands, putting on her coat and hat, putting on her shoes, etc. She also needs to talk more in class. Work on her manners- please , thank you, etc. Then there are a few academic skills to work on- colors, numbers, alphabet, etc again. So Katie went to get Anna and I went to the conference. The minute Katie steps in the door Anna starts talking away, their conversation goes from colors to what they did during the day. Next thing she does is put her jacket and hat on... all by herself! The teacher with Anna was stunned, the teacher telling me she needed to work on these skils doesn't even know she can do them... IF she wants to! I guess our daughter is choosing not to talk in class- that is okay - she gets in the car and counts to 10 and sings songs! She is taking it all in but for now she is watching some things and not participating in them. At ECFE- they joke that she will be taking the teachers job soon because she knows all the finger plays! By the way she does say please, thank you and sorry BUT she needs an occasional prompt!  Way to go Anna- you go girl!! 

One more thing- Anna tends to play with the younger kids in the class- I guess she mothers them. She has never really enjoyed kids her own age. She seems to like them older or younger- no artificial twinning for her!

These pictures are of her putting on her jacket- flipping it over her head! 

Cozy Jammies!

When little ones sleep they kick off all their covers. Anna is quite good about covering herself with a blanket but still when she is in a deep sleep blankies go everywhere! First I bought her sleeper jammies with the feet BUT they were too small and of course being very efficient I took off all the tags, threw away the receipt and put them in her closet- darn- back to Target I went. I got a few pair the next size up and then I stumbled on these cute cozy jammies, They are made of the same material as the sleepers but no feet! We just love them and I think they are soooo cute!

Mark is home for the weekend from Denver. Billy is home working on a school project. Anna is loving having her brothers home! I think sweet Sarah will love her brothers (and sisters), too! They have a lot of fun together! Thank you Lord for these wonderful children! What a joy they are!

We also have a pair of cute pink sunglasses that look a lot like sweet Lucy Joy's lost pair. How did they get all the way to Minnesota?

Playgroup at our house!

Our FCC playgroup came over to play! A couple of the kids have moved onto kindergarten so we are missing some of our friends. We will also have a few new kids soon. Anna's big sis Sarah will be joining us and 2 of the families will be getting new little ones! Right now Anna is the youngest in the group so I seem to be the mom running around the most and unable to sit down and chat with the ladies. As Anna gets older I will be sitting and the new Moms can do the running! When the kids first came my darling daughter just wanted her Mom but later in the afternoon- SHE PLAYED!! Totally interacted with the last 2 children that stayed a little later. No parallel playing, actual interactive play! Way to go Anna!!

I've been what? Tagged?

Okay Mom- I will try to play along.  Mom did you tag me because you are lurking through others blogs and you really don't know most of the people, whose blog you read? I'm sorry mom, I know you have a lot of friends. I didn't mean it that way. 

Here goes- 7 things about me!

1. I'm liking this family. They pretty much think the sun rises and sets on me. There is always someone to hold me, get something for me and play with me. Every so often I let 'em know what I want and they all jump! It's pretty cool!

2. I do this babbling thing- you know pretend I'm carrying on a conversation with myself. They all think it is so cute. I guess none of the other kids did that when they where little, so they all get such a kick out of it. When your the 6th kid- it's kind of hard to come up with something new but I thought about it for awhile and decided to try this out- it worked!

3. I am from Shangrao, Jiangxi Province. They call us the spicy girls! Hello Mom! We like zippy, spicy foods! In this house they consider butter and salt, spices, oh and if they want to get really daring they may throw on a dash of pepper. Thank goodness for ordering out Chinese food! Ya know, a girl's gotta eat!

4. Well, I have this big brother Johnny and every time I see him he has a ball of some kind and he's throwing it up and catching it. I've tried that catching thing, it's not all it's cracked up to be but throwing, now that is fun! Plus who needs to catch when all these big people go running after whatever I've thrown! If you want to see them move really fast throw the food!

5. I love to write! A blue pen on any body part works best!

6. I like to talk on the phone! Sometimes I talk to my big brothers and sister, but really anyone will do!  I just push a few buttons and see who I get!

7. I am a T.V. star. My stage name is Ki Lan. My show is called "Ni Hao Ki Lan". You have probably seen it on T.V. It's kind of like a Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus thing. Nobody knows it's really me. Yeah, I know, I seem just like any other 2 yr old BUT I'm really a celebrity!

8. Oh boy, I guess I'm just like my mom! Ya, get me going on me and I just can't quit! But, I just have to add this one - I have the best time driving my mom crazy when she is trying to take a picture. I look at her and I make this really cute pose, she runs and gets her camera and wants me to do it again... yeah, right mom. So then she keeps calling out my name and get this- I pretend I don't hear her. The lady has a hard time giving up, she just keeps on trying. Picture after picture, she takes of me. I try to give her one decent one now and then. This is my favorite game! I'm good at it and I win!

Some family time in Phoenix!

We had a wonderful little family getaway- 4 days in Phoenix! Anna was a bit fussy before we left so we took her to the Dr., one of the tubes has fallen out and the other one is blocked- so there may be fluid behind it. We really questioned if it was worth going but then decided to go for it! We are so glad we did! We all loved the family time without interruptions! Jim, Anna and Johnny went swimming 5 times in 3 days! Anna loved the water! She paddled around in her water wings! She knows to close her mouth when she goes partially under! We went to the Phoenix Zoo, took walks, relaxed and had great dinners- at our place! Oh, yeah, take out! Anna loves the great food that other people fix her. I ordered a salad and her chix fingers and fries- big oops! She wanted my spinach salad with buffalo tomatoes and feta cheese!   She devoured it and wanted nothing to do with the chix fingers- who can blame her!  P.F. Changs was another huge hit for her! Anna loves chameleons- one of her favorite book's is "The Very Mixed Up Chameleon"!

It was so nice to have a few more summer days! On top of that we heard we got our LOA- icing on the cake!! 

We have our LOA!

Dear Sweet Sarah,

We are so happy to say that our LOA has arrived! It is so very exciting for your new parents, brothers and sisters. In the eyes of the Chinese government you are our daughter!! It means we have been approved to adopt you! LOA- stands for Letter of Approval.  When I first read the e-mail I didn't believe it, I was so surprised that it had arrived. I had begun to preparing myself for a much longer wait. God is so good dear daughter. He is bringing us closer together! He is bringing the dream closer to fulfillment! Soon this blog will be filled with you and your little sister, Anna!

God Bless you!

A Beautiful Fall Day!

Today was a perfect fall day! Jim and I took Anna on a walk at a local state park. We realized quite quickly that if we actually wanted exercise we will have to go home to the treadmill. Dear Anna stopped every 4 feet to check something out. It was a wonderful adventure for her and it was delightful for us to watch her! She marveled at everything, picked up everything and threw everything! High on her list today were rocks, sticks and leaves. Getting a little mud on her (new) shoes and falling down on the walking path filled with leaves made the outing complete! The fall colors were magnificent. It is a joy to see the world through the eyes of a child. We look forward to next year when we take this walk with Sarah!

ALL CLEAR!

Anna just had her ultrasound and she does not have kidney stones! We are very glad about that! We have not received the official results but radiologist there said that her kidneys and bladder looked clear. Yahoo!!

The ultrasound is scheduled...

We went to the pediatricians office today and talked to Dr. Jennings regarding the melanine issue. Anna's orphanage had 19 children with kidney stones and 3 were hospitalized. That is the most I have heard of from any orphanage. Given this information, we decided to bring Anna to the pediatrician. We are the first to do so with our pediatrician. They were very aware of the issue with the formula and other milk products in China. We have scheduled a renal ultrasound- it just so happened they could get us in tomorrow- Friday. We currently are not seeing any symptoms of kidney stones but most of the kids that have kidney stones are asymptomatic.

 This problem may go back as many as 8 years ago. No one really knows because it is difficult to get accurate information from China. It may be that many families will not need to rush in and get their child checked but may need to keep this issue in the forefront of their thoughts should their child develop any symptoms. We are not sure who will be going to China to get Anna's big sister, Ming Ming and for that reason we felt we should know if Anna has kidney stones or not. It would not be good to bring Anna back to China and then have health issues while we are there. We just feel like we need to be accurately informed. We will evaluate whether or not Ming Ming will need a renal ultrasound.  I am thinking we will do it for her, too. I am sure she is still drinking the milk in China. 

I do have to say we are eagerly awaiting our LOA. It is beginning to get a little painful. We want so much to bring our darling daughter home. Today is day 90... Our agency has continuously said 3-4 months but I saw others getting theirs in 60-80 days and hung onto that hope. I probably have set myself up for disappointment. So if I go by OUR agency, Saturday, Oct. 11th will be 3 months, Nov. 11th will be 4 months, it should come between those dates! 

Cousin "It"!

I am definitely dating myself with the title of this post!  Did anyone ever watch the "The Adams Family"! Whenever Anna has a bath this is what her hair looks like- so before she even goes to bed we need to put in a little pony on the top of her head! She has an adorable itty bitty forehead and her hair grows straight forward- she cannot see a thing unless we tie it back!

Anna is also starting to have mini tantrums- they are so cute! This is how it goes- usually she is overtired, she gets frustrated about something minor- like she wants a third cookie, 2 just didn't do it for her. She tenses all up and then she stomps her feet in place. Sometimes she will try to scream or grunt but she doesn't quite have the vocals down yet. After that comes the fake cry BUT be aware the fake cry can go on for a long time. Sometimes we will try to figure out what is wrong, other times we will attempt to negotiate and sometimes we just go to bed ;-)!! Tonight we went to bed! I think that is what she wanted anyways!

New Shoes!

Well, I am not the worst mother in the world but I'm not the best either... We ran out to get some new shoes for Anna today. It had been awhile since we got her shoes because she spent most of the summer in crocs. They measured her feet and much to my surprise my itty bitty baby has size 7-7.5 feet! Since the weather has gotten cooler I have been putting her old shoes on her and they are size 5. No wonder she begs to take them OFF! Maybe now she will leave them on! They are pretty cute on her! She got a pair of tennis shoes, a pair of pink/rose Mary Janes and little brown booty shoes, too cute!! 

Today is big brother Johnny's birthday! Anna loves her brother and I bet Sarah will, too! 

Success!

While I was filling up the bathtub Princess Anna was on the royal potty. She was succesful with both potty and poopy! I no quite sure if she new exactly what happened but at least we have some success stories, already. We will not be actively pursuing potty training since we HOPE to be leaving for China but the royal potty is available if it is needed!

Anna has a few step stools around the house. She is such a big girl and can stand on the one in her bathroom and wash her hands and brush her teeth! It is so cute to see such a peanut doing these things! Step stools are good for other things too like reaching Mommy's make up and getting into drawers with permanent markers... we need to watch this one closely!

Anna and I will be re evaluating our weekly schedule. It is a bit to busy. We need more time for just Mommy and Anna at home, instead of rushing off each morning.

For the Lord is good.

His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

Psalm 100:5

In the beginning!

Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord for he is good!

Psalm 118:29

I am very excited to get this blog going. I am so computer illiterate that I never thought this could happen! Thank you, Lori for getting me started and boosting my confidence! I love photographs, I have always wanted to do more scrapbooking and I love to write! Blogging seems to fit all the criteria! To top it off  we will have recorded our darling daughters as they grow! This is a new passion and good thing to do especially while waiting to go to China to pick up our sweet 8 yr. old! We have been keeping track of Anna's journey (She is currently 2.5 yr old today!) through Journey to Me but it is time now to move on with her story! Our Sarah is still in China and we are waiting for our LOA ( on day 83). For now we only have the pictures they have sent to us, once she is with us her journey will move over to this blog, too. Praise the Lord for the time is near!!

Today our darling Anna is officially 2 1/2 yrs. old- wow, time has gone by fast. Happy half birthday sweetheart! You are a joy to your family!