Fall family pics

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Still waiting on our travel approval. I checked in with our agency (which I by the way rarely do) to see if they had any idea of when it might come. I received an abrupt reply stating that the CCAA can sometimes take up to 4 weeks to issue a TA and ours has NOT EVEN been there 2 weeks. They must've forgotten that I am paying them several thousand dollars to coddle me, call me sweetie, and tell me everything's gonna be ok.

No shortage of other news around here. The state announced it's decision to phase out the utilization of independent providers in the First Steps program. In other words, my job, at least in its current form, is over. My options are to do contract work with an agency or look for work in another setting. Either way I take a pretty hefty pay cut. Since the change takes effect December 1st, I am frantically looking for a new job before we leave for China. I have a couple of interviews this week. One with a home health company. It would be pretty easy for me to slip back into geriatrics, which I actually would not mind, since I get to work with clients in their home and completely bypass the nursing home politics. I hope to know something in the next week or two.

We have been officially hit with the "October crud." Meagan and I are on a round of antibiotics currently...and I am waiting for NiNi and Chris to get hit any day now. We did manage to squeeze in our annual trip to Brown County (which has morphed into our "annual trip to Brown County AND the outlet mall") Got some really nice pictures of our family, which I will get around to editing and posting in the near future. Somehow this month has gotten away from me. We are gonna cram the pumpkin patch, pumpkin carving, costume making, and trick or treating all into a 48 hour period this weekend. A fall festivities montage weekend!

Inside the 4-year-old mind

NiNi has somehow acquired the debating skills of a teenager. I wish I remembered to write down more examples of her creative reasoning, but here are a couple funny ones.

Both of the girls know that we are waiting on "one more paper" until we can pick up baby Ethan and we usually sneak something about this into our dinner-time prayer. The other day NiNi asked me, "Mom, when are we gonna get that paper?" I said, "I don't know, have you been praying about it?" She replied, "No, I keep forgetting." I said, "Ok let's pray about it now, 'Dear God help us to get that paper. Amen'"
NiNi was outraged and scolded me, "Mom, that's not a prayer...it's too short! It has to be longer, you need TWO things." (I think meaning two requests)
I told her, "No it doesn't, Jesus prayed lots of short prayers"
She slumped over, all defeated-like and mumbled, "Well, nobody told ME that."

Today we were talking about something else and I said, "Why don't you pray about it." NiNi said, "I don't like to pray in front of other people." I said, "Ok, then pray in your head." Still a little miffed she said, "MOM! It's TOO QUIET in there!"

On another topic...
Me: "Oh NiNi, look, it's a full moon"
NiNi: "What's it full of?"

Me: "Give me a kiss" (as I pucker out my lips)
NiNi: "Mom, not when your lips are WATERY!"

Here are a few knock-knock jokes:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Mrs. Smashed Potato head
Mrs. Smashed Potato head who?
A pumpkin wearing glasses

Knock Knock
Who's there?
A baby wearing a diaper on his head
A baby wearing a diaper on his head who?
Lamp head diaper head

I don't think she gets the idea of knock knock jokes yet.

And last but not least, we think NiNi has a mild food allery since she will occasionally wake up with a swollen lip. Very bizarre. It's not from a fall or a sore or anything. And it mysteriously disappears over the course of the day. I haven't been able to link it with any specific food. Now when we are eating something that she doesn't like, she'll say, "I can't eat that. It makes my lip fat."

Pre-K Pics

NiNi is really growing up, as she often reminds me that she is in Pre-K, NOT PRESCHOOL...because "preschool is for babies." She's still the smallest in her class. For the longest time, I thought that they combined two classes because so many of the kids were a whole head taller than her. Nope. All 4 year olds. Maybe by the spring she'll be out of 3T pants! Oh well, what she lacks in size, she certainly makes up for in grit. I also posted her picture from last year. Besides the obvious (that she is absolutely gorgeous) you can also notice the nice result from her nose surgery last winter. I'm happy for her that all of that pain and suffering was worth it.

Article 5

Just got word from our agency that our Article 5 is tentatively scheduled to be picked up next Tuesday, Oct 12. Whew, a 25 day wait! They sure took their time on this one...the two Chinese holidays thrown into the mix didn't help matters any. Even so, it is not unreasonable to expect our travel approval to come before the end of the month! And hopefully back home in time for Ethan to catch the last bit of Colts season:)

Happy 17 months

Ethan is 17 months old today! I know that one month will not mean much in the grand scheme of his life, but right now it seems like so much valuable time we have missed out on. Monday will be day 14 of a wait that has been ranging 15-28 days for our Article 5. Keep in mind that all of China was on holiday for a week for the Harvest Moon Festival beginning Sept 22nd, so that could delay things. Hopefully not. Please pray for a quick Article 5 and an even quicker TA (Travel Approval). We would love to be TA by the end of this month and then on a plane by the end of November. I have been sort of packing a little bit here and there. Just finished picking up the last of our aresnol of drugs. Antibiotics, Tamiflu, my migrane medicine, pedialyte, Tylenol, and a round of flu shots. Suffice it to say that a hospital in China is a very scary place to be, so it's best to prepare for the worst. I've also been smelling diapers (clean ones), testing nipples (fast flow, slow flow, orthodontic), and forcing NiNi into my mod new baby carrier so that I can try it out. I have 7 outfits neatly stacked in his crib. My mom keeps teasing me about the number of times that I have folded, unfolded, re-organized and folded again those outfits. Hey, give me a break...I'm nesting! Let's hope all this nesting brings on some good news from the CCAA!