Things that make you go Hmmm...

This was the expression on Alina's face when I read her the letter she got in the mail from George Bush. Apparently the president sends a congratulations letter to all brand-spankin-new-barely-English-speaking citizens of the U.S.A. A very nice touch except the letter contains phrases such as:

"grand and enduring ideals"
"unfolding promise"
"hold beliefs beyond ourselves"

Huh? I'm not trying to slam the leader of our county, just merely suggesting that they come out with an easy-to-read version of the celebratory letter. It sort of reminded me of an excerpt from the reading comprehension portion of those hateful standardized tests. This got me thinking of other things that make you go Hmmmm. For example:

Where DO fruit flies come from? I mean, are they on the fruit when I buy it at the store and I just don't notice them? Or, worse, are they lurking around my house just waiting for a piece of fruit to attach themselves to. So annoying.

Where do all of the missing household objects hide when I KNOW that they did not leave the house. For example, we have at least 5 hair brushes. So why can't I find one when I go to do my hair in the morning? Is there some mysterious Bermuda Triangle in my house? If I find the hair brushes, will I also find my Abba CD and Meagan's slipper that came up missing the day after Christmas last year?

How is it possible that I am constantly sorting, washing, drying, folding, or putting away laundry yet there are always clothes on the floor. And I don't think we are TOTAL slobs. It's like laundry oozes out of the walls. Or like that character in the fairy tale...was it in Rumplestiltskin...where the girl has to weave straw into gold and the more she weaves the bigger the piles get. I'm pretty sure I didn't get the story right, but you get the idea.

A busy few weeks

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I was trying to come up with a catchy title for this post to explain what we've been doing the past few weeks, but the only one that comes to mind is "Mom is sick, the house is trashed and the girls have taken over" but that sounded sort of negative. It's true that I have had this wicked-flu-turned-sinus-infection thing. I am sick so much more often than the girls that it is not even funny. The truth is, I get tonsillitis all the time because I need to have my tonsils out because they are...well, rotting. Sounds gross and is even more gross in real life. Sadly, too many stories of "adult tonsillectomies gone bad" are keeping me from any more trips to the ENT in the near future.

This past weekend we attended a family reunion on my dad's side of the family. My dad passed away 15 years ago and I have done a terrible job with keeping in touch, so seeing my aunts and cousins was a real treat. My cousin had some old family photos converted to DVD. Here is one of my mom and dad when they were 15 and 19!

I also got some cute shots of Meagan and Mallory on the tire swing

Ok, and this one was not even staged. Of course they were SLEEPING. They cannot be held responsible for their actions

We're saving this one to use as blackmail. I'm sure it will come in handy at some point in the future

And finally, the many faces of Alina :)

There's a fine line between getting a drink from the hose and having the hose GET you!

This is my "I'm really tired and you're getting on my nerves now" face

Hmmm....I wonder what Meagan is thinking about

First Day of School

School started on the 15th so I'm a little late, but I wanted to get this picture up of my BABY. Look at those long legs! Sniff, sniff...wasn't she toddling around with her pot belly and holding her sippy cup just yesterday???

No Surgery! (not now anyway)

Alina had her appointment at the cranio-facial center this morning. What was supposed to be a 1/2 day event was over after one quick look in her mouth. The plastic surgeon does not think that any surgery is indicated right now. The small hole between her upper lip and gum does not pose a health risk and would only need to be closed if it bothers her socially (chocolate milk dripping out of your nose at the lunch table is enough to put a damper on anyone's social life) but I really don't think it will be an issue. When she is 6 or 7 she will definitely need a bone graft in her gum line so that the permanent teeth can come in. And she will likely need braces. In terms of her nose, which is a little asymmetrical, he feels it is best to wait until she is older since her face will change so much as she grows. Personally, I think her nose is adorable, but we are trying to anticipate how she will feel about it during those oh-so-traumatic teen years. By the way, the echo-cardiogram came back negative (praise God!). According to the blood tests, she will have to re-do almost all of her immunizations. Apparently they do not preserve the vaccines well in China (at least in her orphanage), so often they end of giving the kids "duds". She is slightly anemic but we are giving her a multi-vitamin now and trying to push iron-rich foods (my true Midwestern husband is happily consuming the red meat that is finding its way to the dinner table more often these days). What all of this means is that I think that we can officially declare Alina to be a healthy toddler!

Babysitters, Camping and the Tooth Fairy

We have had quite an eventful past couple of days. Meagan crossed a milestone as she lost her first tooth. Take a look at the before and after shots... now she really looks like a first grader!

The picture below is of Alina "chilling" (or trying to chill, I should say) as we camped this past weekend. Yes, we chose the hottest weekend of the summer to swelter in tents with the Bolender clan. I think we all suffered from some degree of heat exhaustion, but it was memorable nonetheless.

Also, yesterday was Alina's first day at the babysitters. Miss Tanya is wonderful, feeds her all natural foods and changes her diaper far more often than I would, but it is still a huge adjustment. Chris dropped both girls off at 7:30 AM, I worked a 9.5 hour day and picked them up at 6PM. I called to check in around lunch time and Tanya said that Alina had been stone-faced all day. I hated that she probably thought she was being abandoned again! When I finally came to pick her up, she was ticked off. She took one look at me, threw the toy she was holding on the floor and turned with her face to the wall. When I picked her up, she buried her face in my shoulder and hung on for dear life. The rest of the evening she excitedly walked around the house pointing at Chris and I saying "mama, mama, dada, dada" as if to say, yes, this is my house, and I still have a mommy and daddy. Whew, luckily we only have to do that 2 days a week!

Below is a slide show of some misc. shots over the past several weeks.

6 Weeks Home!

It's hard to believe that Alina has only been home 6 weeks. It feels like she's always been with us! On the 26th she turned 18 months. Since we missed her turning 1, we had a little birthday party for her. Sorry no pictures to post. I have tons of new ones, but something is wrong with the USB port on our computer. Anyway, I thought I'd give you a little update on how she is doing. The speech therapist in me can't help but comment on her speech and language...which is coming along beautifully I might add. She says or signs (mostly signs) almost 10 words (ice cream, milk, please, thank you, sit, uh-oh, mama). She understands almost 15 words (cracker, kiss, baby, ice cream, milk, please, no, sit, mama, dada, sissy, uh-oh, pray). And that with one of her ear drums completely occluded with wax! In 6 weeks she has gone from barely walking to walking steadily, climbing stairs and almost running. She eats practically anything you set in front of her and has gained 2.5 pounds! We can no longer see her ribs sticking out which is a huge comfort. She seems to know that she is part of the family and loves to cuddle. Last night at church she picked out daddy from a crowd of people and ran to him...and she could only see him from behind. I thought that was pretty amazing. The whole sibling thing is coming along, albeit slowly. Alina definitely does not like Meagan sitting on my lap and tries to grab onto her clothes to pull her off. And Meagan is constantly trying to be the little mommy and hold Alina like a "tiny baby." I feel like a broken record all day with the two of them, "Meagan, leave her alone!" Alina is going to be my strong-willed child. When Meagan was this age and I told her "no" she would melt into sobbing and tears. The other day, Alina was messing with one of my house plants. I told her "no" and she looked at me straight on, her eyes full of determination and smacked that leaf as hard as she could!

Medically, she seems to be doing well. We are waiting on the results of an echo-cardiogram she had earlier this week to check on a little heart murmur the doctor heard at her last appointment. On August 20th, we see the craniofacial team at Riley (plastic surgeon, pediatric dentist, ENT, etc.) It is literally an all day thing. Hopefully from that appointment we will schedule surgery to do a number of procedures on her nose and mouth. They try to do everything at the same time which means more pain, but only one time to undergo general anesthesia.

I go back to work on Monday. I'll be working a Monday, Wednesday, Saturday schedule which I am very excited about. I just hired a fabulous babysitter for the two days that Chris and I can't be with the girls. During the interview, Alina walked right into her arms and that never happens! She has a 5 year old of her own and used to be a special education teacher. Anyway, I'll let you know how things go that first day. We have left Alina only twice so far...once for 20 minutes and once for an hour. Luckily Chris will be dropping her off so I won't be walking into work a total basket case!