Making a difference for one starfish in China

Apparently blogging and summer vacation don't go well together...

2011-07-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

So, here are a few random pictures of our summer so far. We spent a week or so in Illinois visiting family. Joshua and Madison fed lettuce to the giraffes at Niabi Zoo. We spent a day with friends on Tybee Beach, here in Savannah. Ryan took a break from gymnastics after his show and will resume in September. And finally, the New York City Buddy Walk does a 20 minute tribute on the big TV in Times Square to individuals with Down syndrome before the walk begins. Families can submit one photo to be considered for the video. The one of Joshua at Tim's desk at work is the one we submitted. His picture was chosen several years ago, but hasn't been again. We'll see what happens this year in a couple weeks. I will return once the kids are back in school at the end of August:) Happy summer everyone!

New shoes for Ryan

2011-05-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

As if these tan Chinese toes aren't irresistible enough, to top it off, he calls his new shoes "pip pops". Make the cuteness stop!!!!!!

Fun at Monkey Joe's

2011-05-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a birthday party at Monkey Joe's? What more can I say? Friends, unlimited bounce houses, pizza, cake and brothers. It doesn't get any better than that!

Harlem Globetrotters

2011-05-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Life has whizzed by at lightening speed the past month! Several weeks ago, Joshua and I had a "date" and we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. He loves watching crazy basketball shots of Youtube, so I thought he'd really enjoy the HG. Despite the picture of his fingers in his ears, he did have fun....haha. If he could make a suggestion, it would be to turn down the volume a bit. I went to see the HG when I was a kid and I remember them using a mini trampoline to do a bunch of their dunks and shots, but they didn't do that at all:( They did lots of long shots and some fancy passing and regular dunks, which he loved. Basketball is still his favorite sport. Stay tuned for pictures from his current sport....soccer!

Bird's Nest

2011-04-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

For the past several weeks, Madison has been telling me that when she goes into the garage, 2 birds are in there. I also noticed it one day when a bird startled me when it flew out of the garage. After it flew out, I still heard a small, scratching sound coming from the front of the garage. After investigating, I discovered yet another bird in the process of making a nest........INSIDE Madison's batting helmet! The batting helmet was hanging right next to the door that goes into the house from the garage. Not exactly the best choice for a nest location, so before any babies were born in the nest, we had to take the nest out. Since then, there is a new bird's nest in the bush right outside the garage door. Much smarter place birds!

A Belated St. Patrick's Day post

2011-04-09T10:53:00.001-07:00

Here in Savannah, GA, St. Patrick's Day is a big deal! Schools are even out on holiday for St Patrick's Day and the day after. Ryan's preschool does a parade. With this being my first St. Pat's Day in Savannah, I figured they would walk through the hallways wearing beads, and wearing the super cute leprechaun masks that they had made or maybe do a loop around the outside of the school. But no, it was a big deal! The media did a story about it online, the grand marshal of the big time Savannah parade was there to lead us, people came to line the street that the police had closed off! AND, the parade walked over to Madison and Joshua's elementary school where all of the students were outside watching. Too funny. Ryan refused to wear his leprechaun mask or any beads for that matter and me not even thinking about it in the morning didn't even dress him in green or decorate his big wheel. So, we didn't even look like we belonged in the parade. Oh well, there is always next year to get our act together:)

Because Tim is the CO of the air station, we got to ride in the parade...in our own convertible! It was tons of fun! Madison had the most people yelling her name from the crowd who knew her from school. But of course, there were the few that were yelling "Hey, Timmy! How are ya? Call me! You've got my number." Of course, we had no idea who they were.....just some slightly tipsy parade goers getting a laugh. It was pretty funny the first time because Tim turned to me and said, "How do they know my name?" Haha! Take a close look at the side of the car. Also, there are tons of girls and women lining the roads with really dark lipstick on. They run up to the guys marching and give them a kiss on the cheek. It was a great time! We're thinking about having Joshua join us in the car next year. He loves saying hi to everyone, so I think he'd get a kick out of it!

Prayers needed for Kiril, his family and those in Eastern Europe

2011-03-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

http://oureyesopened.blogspot.com/p/kirills-story.html

This story breaks my heart. All I can picture is Joshua's face in place of Kiril's and my heart aches to imagine what his life would be like in this situation. My heart aches to think of the unthinkable...what if he wasn't born to me. What if he was born in Eastern Europe, like Kiril and thousands of other innocent orphans with Down syndrome? The mentality there is years behind ours here in the US when it comes to the value of people with disabilities, specifically Down syndrome. The majority of babies born with Down syndrome are left at the hospital or taken to an orphanage. Please read this family's journey to adopt Kiril, and the heart break they are feeling right now. Please pray for them. The outcome of this doesn't just affect Kiril, but many, many other orphans who lie in cribs right now, without the love of a family.

A Must Read by Kelle Hampton....

2011-03-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

3.21

I couldn't help but share this blog entry by one of the best bloggers and photographers out there. Click on the 3.21 link above. She also happens to have a daughter with 47 chromosomes. I sure wish I could string words together as beautifully as she does!!

3-21-11 World Down Syndrome Day

2011-03-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today is World Down Syndrome Day. People with Down syndrome have 3 copies of the 21st chromosome (3-21). The rest of us have 2 copies of the 21st chromosome. So, today I'd like to share some pictures of Joshua doing some of the things he loves....all the while, rocking his designer "genes"!!

Chores

2011-03-08T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have been making a concerted effort to follow through with having my kids do chores and getting paid allowance. In the past, one particular child who will go un-named, would put up such a fuss when asked to do chores, that I found myself avoiding the conflict and doing them myself. Plus, I've always felt that "If you want it done right, do it yourself." Well, that isn't doing my kids any favor in the long run. Chores teach responsibility, accountability, working as a team and the value of money. I have gotten better and "said child" has also! I captured a few of their chores last week. Joshua has always been asked by Madison to help her which in most cases he willingly obliges. Other times he is coaxed or forced by his loving sister...LOL But I've come to realize that he is now old enough and perfectly able to have his own set of chores. And that should probably be followed by an allowance also. It would tie in well with learning about coins, which they are doing in his kindergarten class. So, for right now, Joshua has taken the "feed the dog" chore over for Madison. I see "taking the recyclables out" in his near future!

Here are a couple pictures of them swapping the laundry out, which then ensued a funny game of trying on mom's bra.....not to be topped by putting underwear on your head. I've got some great bra pictures, but I thought that would be far too much information to be floating out there in blog land. So, you'll have to settle for the underwear on Joshua's head picture and Madison with my bra on behind him...haha!

Super Hawk

2011-02-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

One perk of having a blog is....I get to brag about my kids:) Madison was on the high A Honor Roll (again) this quarter at school!! You go, girl!

And Joshua was chosen as one of 2 students from his class to be a Super Hawk because he is always cooperative, hard working, and responsible. Way to go, my man!

Did you ever notice that as kids add to their vocabulary repertoire, they tend to over-use what ever word they are learning? We call it the word (or phrase) of the week. For example, Ryan's phrase of this week is "next week". He loves his 2 morning a week preschool that he goes to. Each morning as we're driving Madison and Joshua to school, he asks "I-an go see Heather-Renee?" He has 2 teachers, but they morph into one name:) And many times my answer will be "No, you won't see Heather-Renee until next week." So, yesterday when I told him it was time to turn the TV off, he lunged for the remote (because that apparently that is the "activity of the week"...turning off the TV by himself using the remote), snatched it into his hands, pushed the button and turned it off. Then he lovingly said "Mommy can turn off next week." HA!

Like Dandelion Dust

2011-02-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

I rented and watched this movie tonight and cried like a baby. Most of you know that we have a son who we adopted from China a little over a year ago. The line at the end that really hit home was when the adoptive parents are talking to the birth mother and the birth mom says "Promise me that you will tell Joey that he has 2 mamas. One that loved him so much, she wouldn't let him go. And one that loved him so much she had to let him go." Sometimes I fail to consciously remember that Ryan has a "China mama". But tonight she is on my mind heavily. If only she could know that her son is loved, cherished and happy. I think that, if only in a small way, that would help ease her mind when she thinks about the son she loved so much she had to let him go.

Madison's 10th birthday party

2011-02-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

For the first time since Joshua was born, Madison got a "friends" birthday party all to herself:) We finally decided on a party at the local movie theater to watch "Gnomeo and Juliet". It was actually cute, with all of it's Elton John music and subtleties that were totally lost on the kids. It turns out that he directed it, so go figure! Before the movie, we all got a tour of the projection room and Madison got to push the button to start her movie. The machine behind her is the old style projector, which they still use (and played our movie). One of the 3 large round metal circles hold the movie, and it's gets threaded through the machine and it ends up on a different large round circle. She was able to look out the window behind her and down at all her friends who could also see her. Afterward, we used their birthday room for cake and ice cream. This was also the first year I haven't made and decorated her birthday cake...oh, how sad:( But it worked out because we had a very busy weekend and I wouldn't have had time anyway. She decided that she wanted one of those photo cakes with a picture of Spoonman on it, so there you have it. It was a great day!

)

Madison's birthday

2011-02-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

It's seems birthday's in our house this time of year come at you every couple weeks. That's not really true but Ryan's is in November, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and all that entails, and when you finally think you can relax....here comes Joshua's birthday in early January, followed by Madison's in early February. I guess that explains why we are finally getting around to Madison's friend birthday party, which is this Sunday. And once that is done, we'll have a long dry spell until November rolls around and we start all over again.

I'm beginning to realize this year that as kids grow, their present requests get more expensive and they usually come in small packages. Madison got the iTouch she wanted and has had lots of fun learning from Dad how to download apps and music and TV shows/movies. I will continue to keep myself in the dark in that department as long as possible.....one job off my plate:) It's been fun watching them bond over silly games. One night last week I had tucked Madison in bed and thought she was sleeping until I heard these strange squawking noises coming from upstairs. That's when I discovered that she and Tim were sitting in our bed....she was playing "Angry Birds" on the iTouch and he was playing "Angry Birds" on the iPad, side by side.

Grandma sent gifts for Madison but couldn't leave Joshua or Ryan out. So they both were able to open a present.

Ryan loves his roller skates! And it was his recommendation that he needed the helmet:)

And for the 2nd pie in a matter of weeks, let me introduce you to the chocolate cream pie! Yum!

Squeeze Me, I Squeak

2011-02-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

Look carefully at the sticker on Ryan's shirt. He's been know to swipe the stickers off bananas in the grocery store.....well, this one came off of a dog toy at Walgreen's. It just cracked me up to see it on him!!! LOL

Doesn't Joshua make a great air station Commanding Officer? He was quite busy signing forms and checking his unclassified email.

And let's just say that Mango has been enjoying our warm, sunny days in the back yard. Life is good!!

Catching up....

2011-02-11T10:46:00.001-08:00

Well, as so often happens, life takes over and you can't find time to do everything you want/need to do. So, here are some pictures of what we've been up to these past few weeks.

Tim and Madison went to Madison's Girl Scout "Candy Land" Father/Daughter dance. I think Tim found himself hanging with the other dads while the girls danced on the stage. Personally, I would have loved to see a picture with Tim on the stage, hands in the air also...LOL

Ryan's latest obsession is Wii boxing. Or as he will say in front on strangers "I-an hit people? I-an knock people down?" I-an is "Ryan" without the R. For obvious reasons, I've been trying to teach him to say "Can I play Wii boxing?" It's not uncommon to find him punching his beloved "Lamb" to knock him out. Or for 2 stuffed animals to be boxing each other. He was even using his spoon and fork at dinner the other night to box each other. I knew for sure when I heard him say as one utensil was laying flat on it's back "Eight, nine, ten....knocked out!" Oh boy!

Speaking of dinner...this was Joshua a couple weeks ago. He woke up the next morning with a fever. The last of the Tobiasz kid clan to succumb to it:( He's all good now!

One of Joshua's favorite toys has always been anything that involved balls rolling down a track. He got this a couple years ago for Christmas and got a kick out of how tall I made the tower. Speaking of obsession....this could be considered one of Joshua's obsessions. Not as much as it used to be when we had the Discovery Toys Castle Marbleworks. I would have to put that puppy up when he started crying that the marbles weren't rolling just so!

Madison turned "double digits" aka 10 at the beginning of the month. I brought cupcakes to her class to celebrate and asked her what she wanted me to make for her "family party". She wanted my mom's coveted lemon pie! Yum! I had never made it before because, frankly I was scared of it. Homemade crust, smooth lemon filling and fluffy meringue were more than I wanted to tackle. But, I couldn't say no to my double digit girl, so I made it. Store bought crust, smooth lemon filling and slightly less than fluffy meringue. It wasn't perfect, but it was close and it tasted like home:)

Spoonman

2011-01-28T12:26:00.000-08:00

We had to say a tearful goodbye to our 17 year old kitty, Spoonman this week. His kidneys had been failing for the past month and he stopped eating on Sunday. He led a long, full life. He moved to every state Tim and I have been stationed, which is Florida (where he adopted him), California, Alaska, Maryland, Louisiana, Virginia and finally, Georgia. Spoonman, you will be missed!

The ONEder Fund

2011-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

This is from a mom whose blog exploded after she shared her beautiful birth story of her daughter, Nella. Nella turns 1 soon. Check out her blog (address at the end of the video) and be sure to find the link about Nella's birth.

She puts the feelings we experienced when Joshua was born into perfect words. I wish we had as many lovey pictures of that lovely day when Joshua was born. But the mood was somber, we were scared and paralyzed. Joshua just turned 6 last week and every year on his birthday, I feel sad that I don't have all of the happy memories I should have had that day. I had no idea how fiercely I would love him. I had no idea how perfect he would be. I had no idea how much joy and laughter he would bring our family. If only I could have known then what I know now, and my mood and feelings after the doctor came in 30 minutes after he was born and said "We think he may have Down syndrome." would be so different. I would have been able to celebrate his birth. But we celebrate him now, you better believe it! He is our rock star!

The last couple weeks....

2011-01-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

I know my blog entries have been sorely lacking lately...but I have to be in the right mood for blogging:) Here are some pictures of our last couple weeks.

Ryan's preschool had PJ day today. He thought it was so funny to be able to go to school in his pajamas! It looks like they had lots of fun!

Joshua's birthday was last week. He's SIX!!! We had fun eating out at Applebee's. He got a basketball hoop that is the perfect size for him. It goes from 5-7 feet and he loves it. He discovered how to do a "jump shot" and can get the ball to go much higher when he jumps as he shoots. He starts basketball practice at our local YMCA tonight. Hopefully he'll have fun and learn some about the game too:)

As we were eating dinner the other night, I turned to my right to look at Joshua and this is what I saw....green beans up the nose. Oh my! Who couldn't help but laugh but yet I didn't want to encourage any of my 3 to put anything else up their noses. So far, so good with that!

Braces!

2010-12-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

There are so many pictures to post from the holidays but that will have to wait for another day. I just wanted to post a picture of my little girl who looks so much older since she got her braces on. She has them on top and a palate expander on the roof of her mouth, which already is working. The day after she got the braces, she already had a small space in between her two front teeth. She's doing well with them and learning how to eat with all the stuff in her mouth:)

Gotcha!!

2010-12-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Ryan's Gotcha Day, which means that one year ago he was placed in our arms for the first time. After waiting the one day "harmonious period", China made it official on 12/8/09. His body, spirit and brain have grown is every way possible in the past 12 months. It just blows me away! He went from a virtual baby who was wobbly on his feet, drank from a bottle, didn't feed himself finger foods, had no idea how to play with toys, didn't speak, and shied away from any affection to a 3 year old little boy who runs every where he goes, climbs like a monkey, eats meat like there's no tomorrow, chatters in 5 word sentences non-stop, plays cars, rides bikes and gives the sturdiest kisses you can imagine. We are very proud of him and know that God picked him out especially for our family. He fits perfectly!

Making Christmas Count for Cliff

2010-11-30T06:30:00.000-08:00

Many of you know I love reading blogs. Especially blogs that have to do with families raising children with Down syndrome or adoption. And my favorite.....families raising adopted kids with Down syndrome!! There are so many amazing families out there adopting one, two, three or more kids with Down syndrome. Wow! I came across this blog today. This mom doesn't have a child with Down syndrome but she does have 2 kids with other special needs. She has made it her mission to get the word out about one beautiful orphan baby in Eastern Europe with Down syndrome. He is one of millions. Please click on the button below to read her blog post. And for the person on your Christmas list who has everything and needs nothing....why not make a donation in their name?? For baby Cliff...

Ryan's preschool party

2010-11-22T14:23:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Ryan's birthday celebration at his preschool.

Ryan's 3rd birthday:)

2010-11-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

Today Ryan turned 3 years old! It was his first birthday celebration since being a part of our family and maybe his first birthday celebration ever. Although last year while we were waiting for all the proper approvals to go to China to bring him home, we hired a company to send a birthday cake to his orphanage. You can read about it here We first met him on December 7, 2009, just a few weeks later.

Ryan loved his special day. He loved having "Happy Birthday" sung to him. He loved talking about the balloons he was going to get. He loved blowing into the air to show me how he was going to blow out the candles on his cake. He loved opening presents. He loved his cake and ice cream. He loved playing with his Ironman motorcycle, his Ironman mask, his Bat Cave and going to sleep with his ladybug Pillow Pet. He loved having the focus on him. Tomorrow we will be having more cake with his preschool class:)

It was such a joy to watch him soak up the attention and to know that every year to follow, he will be treasured and loved. I think his birthday will always bring me mixed feelings because as a mom, I can only imagine what his "China Mama" must be feeling when November 17th arrives. For whatever reason, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on this day and then she was forced to make the most heart wrenching decision that a mom could ever have to make. I know her heart breaks on this day. I wish there was some way that she could just know. If only she could just know that Ryan has a mommy, a daddy, a sister and a brother who love him. I wish she could just know that he is safe and healthy. I wish she could just know that he is thriving. I wish she could just know these basic things to set her heart at peace and to take away her worries and fears. But unfortunately, the ways of China adoption doesn't allow for this. So, I just pray for her. That some way, some how, she will just intuitively "know" that her son is loved, healthy and strong.

This cracks me up. One of his latest favorites is to snuggle himself under a blanket on the couch and settle down for some TV time:) Life is good, huh?

Elf Us!!

2010-11-12T13:58:00.001-08:00

Nap time

2010-11-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Ryan was suspiciously quiet last week while he was planing with Joshua in our play room. Joshua had come back downstairs and Ryan didn't follow, so I went upstairs to find him sound asleep in the middle of Little People town:) It was a day when he hadn't had a nap...proving to me that, yes, he still needs a nap.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ryan enjoyed his first Halloween and caught on quick!! He didn't want to stop trick or treating until we went around our whole neighborhood. He and Joshua were pilots and Madison was an angel:) I just love how Joshua hams it up for the camera..what a personality he has:) One of the first houses we went to, the guy opened the door in a wolf costume. Ryan is very intrigued by masks and he kept saying "more wolf masks" as we made our way around the neighborhood. He got to see a big witch arm puppet who opened another door and he loved that. I asked him if he wanted to trick or treat at the wolf's house one more time before we went home and he said yes but as soon as we got to the driveway, he shouted "no wolf mask" and turned and headed home quick!! Too funny!

The Pawnee earth lodge

2010-11-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

Madison had a report/project due last week. She had to write a report on a Native American Indian tribe and chose the Pawnee, who were a Plains Indian tribe. She also had to make a visual representation of the tribe and decided to make a paper mache earth lodge, which is the type of home they made. She made the lodge with Tim's help...isn't it cute?

Also, notice her new hair style?? She wants to grow her bangs out, so this is our in-between style now that they are getting long:)

Pray for Aleksa

2010-10-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I LOVE adoption blogs and the Cornish family was one of the first family's blogs that I started following several years ago when they tried to adopt their first child, Aleksa. They already had 2 bio kids at that point in time. I have never met them in person, but have followed their journey in amazement as they have adopted their children. I was so thrilled today when I saw this post on their blog. Please watch their amazing story and pray that they will be able to finally bring Aleksa home and into their family.

Buddy Walk is tomorrow.

2010-10-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

We will be meeting up with friends, fellow students and teachers tomorrow as we celebrate people who have Down syndrome and all of the accomplishments they have made. Buddy Walk is the annual walk to promote acceptance and inclusion of those with Down syndrome. We have made buttons for people to wear who are there to support Joshua. This is the picture we used.....I could just eat him up, he is so yummy!!

Joshua's eye surgery

2010-10-07T12:30:00.000-07:00

We've had a scary couple of weeks! Joshua saw his opthamologist after I had noticed that he was closing his right eye quite a bit when he was looking at something. The opthamologist said that Joshua had blood in his eye and that he feared he had a retina detachment or something else bad going on in the eye. He saw a retina specialist the next day, who also saw the blood in Joshua's eye. He said that because of the color of the blood, they think it has been there quite a while:( He did an ultrasound of Joshua's eye and thought that his retina looked OK but that he needed to have surgery to go in and remove the blood and to have a look around to make sure nothing was going on inside his eye to cause the blood. A week ago today, Joshua had the surgery and we are so thankful to report that his eye is PERFECTLY HEALTHY!!!! He saw no indication as to why the blood was there, so the only explanation could be a trauma that we never knew about or maybe a congenital blood vessel that burst...we'll never know.

Here are some pictures of his being goofy the morning of surgery at the hospital. We came home while he was still groggy from the anesthetic. He took a nap and woke up as if NOTHING had happened. He was in no pain, played as usual and was his same ol' happy self! We went back to the retina specialist the day after surgery and he removed the eye patch from the eye. He has a bright red area on the white of his eye where the surgery was and a little black and blue area under his eye but other than that, you wouldn't know he had surgery:)

We saw the opthamologist on Monday, fully expecting that his vision in that eye would have been severely limited from not seeing out of it for months. But again, Joshua surprised us all...including the doctor. From his measurements, there is no significant difference between his 2 eyes, meaning that there isn't any significant vision loss! We had a feeling because we had covered his strong eye at home and found that he could touch my nose, eyes, etc. Plus he was able to read his large print sight words with his operated eye!! We go back in 3 weeks for further testing once his eye is fully recovered to see if there is any loss of vision and make a plan to correct it!!! We feel so blessed and grateful for our answered prayers!

Joshua lost his first tooth!!

2010-09-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

Joshua lost his first tooth this week:) It had been really loose for several days and I was afraid he'd lose it at school. I was at school observing in his classroom on Thursday and while we were at lunch in the cafeteria I noticed that it was hanging on by a thread. So he let me wiggle it and out it came. I didn't have a "safe" place to put it at the time, so I put it in his lunch box, thinking "that probably isn't a great idea" but I didn't have any other options. His lunch box made it safely into his cubby, so I figured all would be good. Well, the lunch box didn't make it home that day but it did the next day. I had a fleeting thought about remembering to get the tooth out, but I went on autopilot or something and automatically took the spoiled milk smelly lunch box and ran the tap water in it and dumped it out in the sink, ugh! Then about 5 minutes later, I remembered the tooth! I *could* have reached my hand into the drain/garbage disposal that hadn't been run all day and was full of uneaten spaghetti and bread and hope to come out with that tiny little tooth....oooooh! Or, I could just turn on the garbage disposal, go upstairs and get Madison's old teeth and use one of those for the tooth fairy. Which do you think I did? Yep, I put Madison's old tooth under Joshua's pillow for the tooth fairy. Is that bad? So later that night when the boys were both asleep....see other photo for the interesting sleeping position of Ryan......the "tooth fairy" and "her helper" left some money under Joshua's pillow. If you want to know who my helper is, you may remember this post

Funny Madison story

2010-09-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I just had to drop what I was doing in the kitchen to come blog about something Madison just said. She's playing Wii Mario Cart and changed the car that her character is driving and from the kitchen I hear her say "Wow, this "mini beast" car sure is fast! Even though it looks like an 80's car." I said "What exactly is an 80's car?" And she replies "You know, one that hippies drive." LOL

FINALLY!!

2010-09-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tim finally agreed to make the mini van plunge!! We've had it now for a little over a month and I LOVE it! And ssshhh....don't tell him I said it but he's admitted that he likes it too!!

Sight word books

2010-09-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

I've been busy making some sight word personal books for Joshua. I went to a great conference this past weekend and it was a suggestion from the conference. I mean, what kid doesn't like to look at pictures of themselves?? Then, add in simple words that they are learning to read and you've got a motivated reader!! The first book is "Joshua's I Can Book". The second one has lots of family members in the pictures and focuses on learning verb meanings and words like........

Ryan is riding.

Mango is eating.

Just a cute one of Joshua and uncle Steve and baby Nathan.

I can be silly.

I can use the computer.

I can jump.

Ryan is sleeping.

Ryan is riding.

Nastics!!

2010-09-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

If I could have a dollar for the number of people who tell me I should enroll Ryan in a gymnastics class, I'd be rich. It's obvious that he loves to climb, tumble, run, jump, hang, flip plus he's very flexible and strong!! He's built like a gymnast! Well, he just had his 3rd "nastics" class yesterday. He has made huge progress in his ability to listen and follow along with the activities that the instructor has prepared, considering that he is only 2! His favorite activities are jumping on the really long trampoline that ends in a big foam cube pit and hanging on the rings/bar. He can effortlessly pull his feet up and hook them over the bar or through the rings. Look at those "monkey feet" as we lovingly call them!!

Ryan has been sleeping in a big boy bed since we moved to Georgia in July but I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of him. He and Joshua share a room and they both love having each other in the room.

Joshua's latest passion is playing "Wii bat". Here he is pitching and hitting some balls on our Wii baseball game. He also likes and can play quite well, the tennis game!!

First day of school!!

2010-09-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

The kids are into their 3rd week of school. Madison is in 4th grade and likes her teacher and has made several new friends and seems to have fit right in to her new school. Joshua is in the same school, in kindergarten and is doing very well and enjoys it. They both ride the same bus and Joshua has also adjusted fine to riding the regular bus with lots of kids on it. He even rode it home without Madison yesterday and did just fine:) This school requires uniforms, which I LOVE!!

Ryan is going to a local church preschool 2 mornings a week. He loves going to "I-an's kool" (aka Ryan's school) and carrying his bag, just like big brother and sister. He really wants to be riding that bus too!

Tybee Island beach

2010-09-03T11:10:00.001-07:00

We live 15 minutes from Tybee Island and the beach:) So, we can easily go in the evening after dinner for an hour or so while the sun sets. Last night we went out in hopes of seeing some big surf thanks to hurricane Earl. The waves were a little bigger than normal but not much. Madison tried out our new boogie board. It is so peaceful there....not many people and the lovely sound of the ocean with that salty smell. Life is good!!

Some Summer Fun

2010-09-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have tons more pictures to share, but these are the only ones I've managed to get onto my home computer, so let's start with them.

The first 2 are from Tim's Change of Command Ceremony when he took over as Commanding Officer of Air Station Savannah this summer. The best part for Ryan was climbing around in the helicopter that was in the hangar. Being the CO of a base has been Tim's dream job his whole military career and it's finally/already here. He loves it and I'm very proud of him.

On our way from VA to GA, we stopped at Busch Gardens and enjoyed our once per year free admission because we are active duty military. Thank you Busch Gardens, we had a blast!! Ryan loved all the rides along with Madison and Joshua.

Ryan has loved airplanes, helicopters, buses, trucks and especially motorcycles ever since we brought him home from China. Tim's aunt's husband, Christian, rode his Harley down to Savannah for the change of command ceremony and Ryan was thrilled to donn his goggles and catch a VERY SLOW ride around our little cul-de-sac a couple times on Christian's Harley.

Has it really been 3 months since my last post???

2010-08-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

Well, at least I have some good excuses....like going to Italy for 10 days, getting stuck in Italy for several days longer than expected, having our packers come 2 days after arriving home from Italy, finishing up the school year for kids, moving to Savannah, GA, unpacking boxes and setting up house, having 10 friends and family come stay with us, Tim's Change of Command Ceremony, driving to IL and spending 3 weeks with family, attending to all the things that come with moving with 3 kids like finding new doctors, therapists, specialists, schools, etc, etc..........and now here I am:) Somewhat settled and in a new routine with a few more boxes to unpack once the kids get back to school. I am LOVING Savannah and am so glad to be away from DC!!!!! I actually see my husband during the week and he's home for dinner every night, which never happened in DC. The people here are friendly and really take the time to get to know you. It's a small town feel and I'm loving it!!

Here are a few pictures from Joshua's last days at school in DC. We loved his school and teacher:( But we've also heard really great things about the school he and Madison will go to here. I've been in contact with other families who have children with Down syndrome and other special needs and they too rave about the school. It is fully inclusive with a regular ed teacher and special ed teacher who co-teach. It sounds like exactly what I want for Joshua. Plus his big sister will be at the same school to keep an eye on him:)

I'll be posting more pictures later, since most of them are on our other computer. It's good to be back!!

Spring Picnic

2010-05-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

Joshua and I went to the local Down syndrome association's spring picnic. Madison was off at a friend's birthday party and Ryan was touring a Civil War battle ground with Daddy:) So it was just Joshua and I, which was very nice. He had a blast with the musical instruments, petting zoo and balls/frisbees! He had no fear of any of the animals and eagerly touched the humongous snake. It was a great mommy/son day!!

Joshua's field trip

2010-05-17T18:34:00.001-07:00

Joshua's preschool class went on a field trip to a farm last week and I got to go along too. We all rode the bus together. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice, relaxing time. I just love seeing Joshua interacting with his friends:) I've always worried that because he speech in so limited, that he wouldn't have any friends, but so far, that is definitely not the case. He is very social and I guess when you're 5, great speech isn't necessary for friendship.

Chef Ryan

2010-04-29T17:31:00.001-07:00

Joshua made this cute chef's hat at preschool and Ryan has had fun wearing it!! Here he is cooking up some food in the Elmo kitchen.

Eggs....

2010-04-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

You may have seen this on You Tube. There's a whole series of different screaming foods. Well, Joshua loves the computer and he's gotten quite skilled at navigating the internet (yes, You Tube is one of his favorites), playing on some of his favorite sites like Starfall.com and Sesame Street and icarly.com. He can also open our family photos and videos and watch them. The screaming food videos are a latest favorite for him.

Well, today I came downstairs after helping Madison put away her clean clothes and found Joshua in the kitchen....Need I say more?

Cherry Blossoms

2010-04-16T11:48:00.001-07:00

We had friends visiting recently which gave me the excuse to do some touristy sight-seeing:) I was able to join them several times without the kids which was so much fun. I'm so glad I got to see the official cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin where the Jefferson Monument is while we are here in the Washington DC area. They were in full bloom the day we were there and just gorgeous!

Meeting Ryan's friend from Chongqing

2010-04-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

You may remember me blogging about meeting another family who adopted from Ryan's orphanage and a photo they were sent that had both Ryan and their daughter in it. Check it our here. We were able to meet up with them for an afternoon over spring break. We're not sure if the kids recognized each other. She was adopted back in May of 09 at about 16 months old. And Ryan was adopted by us in December 09. When Ryan saw her, he pointed at her pretty excitedly, so maybe. We spent the afternoon at a playground and had dinner together. What a great day we had and hope we can keep in touch! It's pretty awesome to think about these 2 little orphans who lived in the same room in Chongqing China being able to see each other again here in the USA with their forever families who adore them.

Poor neglected blog:(

2010-04-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

My poor blog has been very neglected for the past couple weeks...sorry! Tim's out of town, I'm tired and we've had house guests, so.....that equals a lack of attention here. I've got lots of pictures to post but I'll start tonight with some pictures of our Easter egg hunt that we did at a local church on Saturday. The kids had a blast and Ryan caught right on on how to collect the eggs in his basket. Joshua didn't care much for it....he preferred rolling the eggs that were hidden on the playground equipment down the slide:) Ryan got his first tattoo also...an Easter egg on his cheek. He's very proud of it!

And speaking of house guests.....my fellow Quad-Citian's who have moved away from the Moline area, you'll be very jealous to see what is sitting in my freezer right now!! THREE chocolate, Butterfinger malts! Our guests brought them packaged in dry ice just for me. There were 6 to start with, now there are 3! YUMMMMMMMM!!

The newest member of our family..

2010-03-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

My brother and his wife had their 2nd child on March 18. His name is Nathan, he was 7 lbs 10 oz. He shares a birthday with his great-grandmother who turned 97 the day he was born. Welcome little guy!

Ryan's first party

2010-03-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Joshua's friend's birthday party. It was at a place called Kids N Motion. It was all inside with big inflatable obstacle courses, bounce houses, slides, etc. The kids had a blast and Ryan loved every part of it! It's pretty amazing to think about the scared, noise sensitive kid that he was just 3 months ago! He has changed so much. He jumped, climbed, slid, drove, eat, drank and had a blast! And you can see the after math on the drive home:) Nothing better than tired kids!

Wii hair

2010-03-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

Joshua has loved playing Wii lately. He can't quite play all the games but he's figured out golf and baseball to some degree. When we first got the Wii a couple years ago, we discovered that he HATED it when he saw or heard the Mii screen or music. He would whine and cry and sign "finished". He did that over the course of the past couple years until recently when he's decided that he likes making Mii's. We have a random Mii that we call "Big Fred" and we like changing how he looks. One day he kept trying to tell me something and was pointing at the TV. I finally figured out that he was saying "Wii hair" and he wanted to change Big Fred's hair. How funny!

The other day I put gel in Joshua's hair and when I showed him in the mirror, he said "Wii hair".....HA! That guy just cracks me up!

Update....

2010-03-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

My mom was right, reading glasses are now a part of my life:) I'll have to post a picture later:)

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to this past week.

Ryan enjoys playing in the Sponge Bob Squarepants tent that we have. He and Joshua were making similar silly faces for the camera.

Ryan and Joshua still have their moments of not getting along but they are also figuring out that playing together is fun too. Well, Joshua has known this all along, so I should say that Ryan is discovering that playing with Joshua can be fun. One thing they like to do together is play this electronic drum set and dance.

Ryan is definitely learning from Joshua. One of Joshua's latest things is when I ask a question "Who wants to ____?", he will raise his hand and say "Me Me Me!" Well, tonight when I was getting Ryan ready for bed I said "OK put on your pants." And he raised his hand and said "Me Me Me" He hasn't gotten the long E sound yet so it was more like "M M M". Cute!

It's official.....I'm OLD!!!

2010-02-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

I bought something today that officially qualifies me as being OLD!! Here are some hints:

1. I got them in Target's pharmacy section.

2. I didn't need a prescription.

3. They cost $7.99.

4. They are 1.25's.

And if you know what I'm talking about, you must be old too:) Any guesses?

PS. I LOVE THEM!!!

What we've been up to....

2010-02-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

School is back with a regular schedule....woo hoo! This past Monday (President's Day) was originally a holiday but then the kids were scheduled to go to school that day as a make up snow day, but instead, it was still a snow day from our huge snow storm. So in total, they had a Friday off when it started snowing, then the entire next week off, then the next Monday (President's Day) with a 2 hour delay on Tuesday. Wednesday was back to the normal routine! The biggest issue once all the roads were cleared were the sidewalks and bus stops for kids that have to walk. The public sidewalks aren't shoveled and in many cases they have HUGE piles of snow that the plows and bulldozers dumped all the snow that was on the road on to. Today it's in the low 50's and snow is melting! Grass can even be seen in some areas!!

I came downstairs after talking to a friend on the phone last weekend and Ryan was sound asleep on the dog bed:)

Ryan loves helping and here he is helping with banana bread.

Tim and I took Madison ice skating on her last snow day.

Joshua & Madison's birthday party!

2010-02-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

Joshua and Madison's birthday party was canceled two weekends ago because of the boat-load of snow we got. We successfully rescheduled and had the party this past weekend. We had a good time and a puppy theme. I tried imitating a double cupcake puppy I saw at the grocery store. They turned out cute. We painted puppies, had a puppy pinata and played "pin the nose on the puppy".

Goodbye Spring Break, Hello Winter Break!

2010-02-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Guess what? It's snowing AGAIN!!!! We're supposed to get another 7-12" on top of the 26" that we got 3 days ago. Are you kidding me? I keep telling Madison, say hello to your new spring break, because you're living it right now. At this rate, we will have to go to school for the entire week they were supposed to get off for Spring Break. School is officially canceled through tomorrow, but with new snow coming down, I can guarantee you it will be canceled all week. Some districts have already made that announcement. The Federal Government has been closed all week so far. I can't imagine what downtown DC must look like. There just isn't the room to have huge piles of plowed snow on the edge of the roads. Plus, so many people use public transportation and the Metro to get to and from work, so the sidewalks need to be cleared too! It's got to be a mess down there.

The icicles are growing even bigger today. I took this picture out of my bedroom window to give more perspective on their length!

Ryan looks so cute after his bath when he's all wrapped up nice and cozy in a towel!!

We played doctor today, which will be good for him. He's pretty afraid when he sees anyone wearing the white coat and don't even put on a mask! He didn't even want me to pretend today to listen to his heart:(

We also got out the train set. When the train runs over a particular piece it makes a sound like when a train is passing and the gates come down to prevent cars from driving. Every time it did that, he made this cute puckered lip face. In fact, he does it whenever he hears anything out of the ordinary like a real train in the distance, or a fire engine, or a dog barking. Very cute!

The difference between cats and dogs

2010-02-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Dogs love to be with their owners, even when that means running around in 26" of snow and freezing their belly, feet and legs off. These shots give you a little more perspective on the depth of the snow. It's higher because we shoveled it but wow, that's a lot of snow!

The picture of the icicles don't do them justice! We have to warn anyone coming over not to stand directly at our front door, because they may become skewered if the 2' icicles decide to fall while they are standing there. We hear loud crashes as the sun warms the roof enough for one of them to fall.

Cats wouldn't be caught dead outside in those weather conditions! Spoonman decided it was the ideal time to steal the dogs bed and get as warm as possible in the sunshine.

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW!!!!

2010-02-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here's what we've been up to this week. Madison had her 9th birthday on Monday, which was a teacher work day, so they had the day off from school. They had also had the Friday off for teacher work day...you'll be seeing a theme here soon. We had a family celebration with cake and she opened presents. We had planned to have a friend party for Madison and Joshua today but you'll soon see why we postponed it until next Saturday:)

Tuesday was a school day, thank goodness, but Joshua stayed home sick from a cold that turned into a yucky cough and fever. He went to the doctor and is feeling better now.

Wednesday we had a whoppin' 3 1/2 inches of snow and school was....you guessed it....CANCELLED!! We used up all 3 built in snow days when they canceled school after the 21 inches we got right before Christmas, so every day they cancel from now on has to be made up, which makes it even more ridiculous. So, they will be going to school on President's Day as a make up snow day.

Thursday......halleluia! It's a normal day....both kids at school but with talk of an "epic" snow storm looming. It's supposed to rival the pre-Christmas storm we got. It's supposed to start during the day on Friday and not stop until late Saturday. So, drum roll please, school is CANCELED AGAIN on Friday at the forecast of snow. The snow did start around 10:00AM but there was no accumulation on the roads until around 5:00PM, so who knows when the make up day for Friday will be...ugh!

Ryan continues to love putting things on his head. This color sorting box is the latest. It fits just right and he wore it half the day like a piece of clothing, what a goof!! We entertained ourselves by playing in boxes and Ryan also found Madison's head band which he put on just right:)

Here's what the snow looked like Friday morning around 10AM.

Here's what it looked like today, right about the time Madison's party was supposed to start. The last picture is of our grill. Any bets on how many school days will be canceled this coming week?

The Cheesy Smile

2010-02-01T20:09:00.001-08:00

Ryan has so many different smiles depending on what is going on.....we call this one his cheesy smile. He does it when he knows you are mad at him and he wants to make you un-mad at him. He does it when people in the house are arguing and I think it's his way of intervening to make you laugh. This one was just because and I was lucky to have been taking some pictures of him with the puzzle. The cheesy smile doesn't usually come with eyes closed but this is close. I hope to be able to capture the many smiles of Ryan!!

Why Wouldn't I?

2010-01-27T05:16:00.000-08:00

Oh my, this just says it all....exactly how I felt when I knew that our family was meant to adopt and approached Tim with the idea. What "reason", I mean excuse, could I possibly give a child if I were to stand face to face with them and tell them why our family couldn't give them a home. I'm already too busy? With another child, we won't be able to afford _______(fill in the blank.....that big dream house, that BMW I always dreamed of, an extra vacation every year, blah, blah, blah!!) Frankly, anything that I came up with were are all pathetic, selfish excuses all about ME. How could I possibly tell these lame excuses to a child who has NOTHING....NO house, NO car, NO family, NEVER been on a vacation. Well, the answer is that I couldn't!

Sleeping and signing

2010-01-26T20:02:00.000-08:00

There seems to be something about spaghetti that makes Ryan fall asleep in his high chair. This was the second day in a row that he dozed off eating spaghetti. My bio kid's magic food that put them to sleep in the high chair was broccoli.....check out the link, I even blogged about it:)

Ryan enjoyed one of his first coloring experiences. He now knows to put an end of the marker on the paper and scribble. But he's definitely more interested in taking the caps on and off the markers!
I've been teaching him some basic signs since he doesn't have any words yet. Here he is signing "more". He uses "eat" and "down" and I think he did "help" the other day.

Ryan loves to.....

2010-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Brush his teeth. But he doesn't love it if I want to effectively brush his teeth, then he fights and cries.
Play with the toys in our basement!
Copy his brother.
Jump!
"Help"....he was alone in the kitchen for a couple minutes and here is what I found. He had the dishwasher open, had gotten into the cabinet and took out the dishwashing detergent, opened it and was working on the little place where you put the detergent in the dishwasher. This guy learns QUICK!!
Being outside!! We've discovered this recently since it's been so darn cold and snowy for weeks! He loves toys that he can ride. He hasn't mastered the pedals but can use his feet to move a bit. He cried today when it was lunch time and we had to go inside the house.
Running! Running! Running!
Eating! Spaghetti! This is lunch after our outside playtime... check out the yawn and the very heavy eyes in the next shot. He didn't cry when I laid him down for a nap which is my cue that he's really tired!

Random home pictures

2010-01-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures since we've been home. Ryan LOVES riding on toys....even backwards! I think after these, I'm actually caught up on the pictures that we've taken...yeah!!
We had Christmas #2 thanks to our good friends who sent the kids these gifts. Thanks Jen, Mike, Bob and Carole!!!!
Showing off a beautiful fairy necklace that she's worn to school every day since and Joshua hugging his Elmo DVD:)
Doesn't this remind you of the Fischer Price from our kid days??
Ryan trying on Joshua's school birthday crown.

Joshua's family party! We will be having a combined party for Joshua and Madison for friends in the next several weeks....the parties just never seem to end!
He likes cake!!!
We Skye'd my parents when Joshua was opening up his gifts. It was so funny when he opened this Elmo card that plays music.....he ran up to the computer to show Grandma and Grandpa:)
Sweet dreams!
Ryan LOVES the tub and water. He has no reservations about splashing, being splashed or getting water in his eyes. I think he'll be a wild man at the pool this summer.....if I can only figure out how to do 3 kids at the pool, hmmmm.....
Madison in her silk dress from China.
I was playing with Ryan shortly after coming home and put something on his head. Now he puts lots of things on his head:)

Why, oh, why do they torture me so????

SNOW!!!

2010-01-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

The day after we returned home from China (great timing), we got hit with a ton of snow!! This area gets snow every year but NOT this much. Tim measured 21 inches on the top of my car a day after, so a little probably had melted! It was up past Madison's knees. I didn't venture out until several days later to make a snow man. The kids got 3 snow days out of it....right before Christmas break, so they were excited!

Belated Christmas pictures and Ryan update

2010-01-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

OK, so being a mom of 3 with a hubby who works 12-14 hour days has taken a toll on my blogging. Here are some very belated pictures of our Christmas..... I have lots more recent pictures that haven't made it off my camera, so these will have to do for tonight.

Ryan is adjusting really well. His nights are MUCH better. He cries now when it's time to go to sleep because he doesn't want to miss out on what's going on, not because he's scared to death. This is actually a good thing for adopted children. Lying down and mechanically going to sleep isn't really "normal". Our bio kids don't do that...they whine about bed time, stall and make lots of excuses why it isn't time for bed because they are attached to their parents and don't want to separate from them. So, yeah for not wanting to go to sleep. His demeanor is totally different at bed time now, so I can clearly tell that it's not because he's frightened like when we first got him.

He is learning TONS!! It took him a good 3 weeks before he really let on that he was taking it all in. He's pretty serious when we're out in public or in a strange place with unfamiliar people. But in his home, he LOVES to run, jump, climb, laugh, be flipped upside down, twirled, summer-saulted....you name it, he likes it! Just within the last couple weeks, he has started clapping, giving high fives, doing "boo-yah", blowing kisses, playing peek a boo, doing several baby signs like "eat", "down", "more"....all those things that we teach our kids early on.....he had no idea about. It took him that long to try any of it. He loves getting praise and really seems surprised and proud that someone is taking the time to notice. And did I mention he loves to RUN? He went to my son and daughter's school last week and he is usually glued to my hip when we're out in public, he was a wild man in the gym of the school. My son's preschool class was in the gym playing with balls and Ryan absolutely loved having all that space to run and chase my daughter. He squealed with delight and did not want to leave. He is going to love it once it warms up enough to play outside!!!

When we first got him, the nanny mentioned that he didn't say much, expect 2 words in Chinese (which we never have heard). He made a car noise when he played with a car and the sound "t" as a back and forth game....beside the very high pitched squeal that must have been the sound he used to get any attention in the orphanage. Now he is making all kinds of sounds and imitating mouth movements. He said "mama" a couple days ago when he was following me but I'm not convinced it is an actual word yet. His squeal has diminished significantly!!!!!! It seems he just needed someone to show him and for him to feel like he mattered enough to try. He is super cute and there will be more recent pictures to follow......

Joshua's 5th birthday!!

2010-01-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

Joshua turned 5 yesterday!! Here are some pictures that his teacher took at school. Madison was able to come to his classroom and help him celebrate. We had cake and presents at home too. In the next several weeks, we'll plan a friend party combined with Madison's birthday which is in February.

We are all still adjusting well. Ryan is learning so much and starting to make tons of sounds. We think he said mama for the first time yesterday. I'll post more pictures and give more details soon....I promise.

The end to our China trip

2009-12-30T19:00:00.000-08:00

We can't just leave you thinking that Ryan is all smiles and happy all the time. He's pretty content most of the time (as long as I'm very close) but he does have a bit of a stubborn streak and gets jealous of Joshua which has led to a few tantrums. Here are a couple crying pictures from when we were in China. I always wish I had more of these of Madison and Joshua when they were little so I'm trying to remember to take a few of Ryan:)
Tim wanted a picture of just him in front of this huge Christmas tree but he was having none of it. He's wearing his squeaky shoes here.....can't you just hear him squeak-squeak-squeaking his way over to me:)
Nap-time!
This is the morning we were leaving China. Mr. Zhou was our guide in Beijing and Guangzhou. He lives in the US and works directly for our adoption agency....he's the BEST!!
Ready for the long plane ride home. Ryan became a US citizen when we touched down on American soil on our lay-over in Chicago, IL.

This is a picture of our entire group. There were 10 families adopting 3 boys and 7 girls, between the ages of 16 months to 5 years. All of the children had special needs of some kind from cleft lip and palate to deafness. Some families brought their other kids, some brought mom or an aunt so our group was quite big but tons of fun!!

Red Couch photos at the White Swam hotel

2009-12-26T20:06:00.001-08:00

Anyone who follows families adoption journeys to China knows there has to be the infamous red couch photos of the kids dressed in traditional Chinese clothes. Isn't he cute?

Random Guangzhou market pics

2009-12-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

We took a partial group photo in front of one of the many Christmas trees that we saw decorating the stores. And in almost every store/hotel/elevator/restaurant there was American Christmas carols being played. As we were standing around after taking the picture, several cute Chinese girls came up to us all to play with the babies and practice their English. A couple girls asked Tim if they could take their picture with him. I didn't see that happening or I would have taken one too:)

A little road construction on a side street. Never mind with barricades or cones!! And a bike full of oranges! Yum, we're missing these yummy, small, easy to peal oranges that the hotel buffet had out each morning! The last picture is of a man selling sugar cane. He would slice the hard edges off and the buyer would suck on it.

Buddhist Temple

2009-12-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

On our walk through the market and mall, there was a Buddhist Temple that we went through. It had 500 Buddhas inside it. It was very interesting if you could hack the incense that was burning everywhere. The last picture is of several boys who had fun showing us their skills on their skateboards.

Food court....China style

2009-12-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

I guess this is the equivalent to our outdoor food court. All I have to say is fried squid on a stick, scorpion on a stick, LARGE multi-legged bug on a stick, fried baby chicks anyone? And again, this wasn't just one rare and funky vendor.....these things were all sold about every 5th booth. The only thing we ate at one of these booths was some sort of fried ball that had cabbage, shrimp and one peanut inside and a milk tea. We wanted to try many other things (not the squid or bugs) but we just didn't want to risk having some serious tummy issues:)

Guangzhuo market and mall

2009-12-25T19:39:00.001-08:00

We walked off of Shaimen Island where our hotel is to experience the market and mall. The first picture is the first thing we saw as we descended the stairs that took us from the island over to the market area. On the man's blanket there are various endangered species parts. The thing that struck me most was the tiger paw! There were tons of little shops that all sold the same looking stuff....I'm not sure what most of it was. It looked like dried mushrooms, dried roots, etc. Then we got to the mall area where there were tons of little shops selling anything from clothes to shoes to jewelry to food. There were tons of people, sights and noise! But all so interesting! The last picture is several families from our group walking through the outside mall.

Random bike photos

2009-12-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

OK, we've survived Christmas and I'm not dead tired at the end of the day when everyone else is in bed, so I'll try to do some catch up on our China trip.....

One of the things I loved seeing most in China were the men and women riding bikes and the things they carry on their bikes. These loads are something! Here are a couple pictures...I'm sure there will be more because I was forever saying to Tim "Quick get the camera....look at that bike!" One of Tim's favorite bike cargo that we saw (couldn't get the camera quick enough to take a picture though) was a man who was driving a motorcycle and he had about 4 propane tanks strapped onto the back! The first bike picture above is of FULL water jugs and a box all strapped onto a regular bike. The second bike picture is of a bunch of Styrofoam coolers.

And of course, we have a few pictures of Ryan. He loved riding in the hip carrier that I was able to borrow from a friend. I'm so glad we had it because he screamed any time we put him in a stroller (or a high chair). Since we've been home, he's gotten used to the booster chair where he sits for meals and the car seat. Both of which he had never been in before (they don't use car seats in China). He screamed the first 2 times he was in each but now rides in them willingly! We haven't mastered the stroller yet because the night after we returned home to DC, we got 21 inches of snow!!!! The most snowfall EVER in DC in the month of December. So the stroller hasn't made it out the front door.

We're home!

2009-12-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

We arrived home on Thursday and we've been busy as you can imagine. Ryan is really adjusting great and Joshua and Madison are loving him....we'll see how long that lasts:) I will finish posting about our trip soon.

Medical appointment part 2

2009-12-15T05:15:00.001-08:00

Off to Guangzhou-Medical Appointment

2009-12-15T05:14:00.001-08:00

Ryan had his first airplane ride to Guangzhou and did great. We met up with all the families who have been in other provinces adopting their children. The next morning, we all headed to the required medical appointment for all adopted children. Ryan has obvious experience with people in white coats and masks and cried immediately when he saw them. The appointment consisted of 3 stops.....one to check weight, height and listen to lungs. He wouldn't sit on the baby scale willingly, so the nurse had to hold him and stand on the adult scale with him to get his weight. The second stop was a very basic hearing screening and to fill out a paper. The hearing test consisted of playing a piano on the left side of the child and then squeaking a bear on the right side of the child. He looked at both, so I guess he passed. The final stop was to remove the diaper and take a look there. He screamed through it all.

Finally, because China is now a Hague Convention country, he had to have any immunizations that his orphanage shot record showed that he was missing. He needed 4 shots. And because he is over 2, he had to have a TB test, which came back fine. It used to be that you signed a piece of paper stating that you promised to have your child vaccinated when you returned home, which makes a lot more sense than giving kids a bunch of shots at once. One little girl in our group needed 7 shots! Ryan ran a slight fever the next day and then developed a red rash on his feet and hands which has moved up his legs and arms. It doesn't seem to bother him or be itchy, so we're just treating it with Benadryl. We're not sure if it's a reaction to the shots or some new food he's eaten or something else he's allergic too. Hopefully time will tell. It's so hard to know when we've only had him a week and everything is new to him.

Chongqing- Three Gorges Museum

2009-12-15T04:51:00.001-08:00

On our final day in Chongqing we visited the Three Gorges Museum. A huge dam was recently finished that supplies a percentage of Chongqing's energy need. Chongqing is in the top 10 largest cities in China. But when the dam was made, it would flood over 1 million people's homes along the Yangzee River. For these families, the government relocated them and provided new jobs.

Another picture is of the large baskets that we saw men using to collect garbage. The men would have these baskets on a cart that they would pull. As huge as Chongqing is and the millions of people, there was no garbage on the streets or sidewalks. Also, notice the "Convenience Store".

Chongqing

2009-12-15T04:34:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures of our last couple days in Chongqing. Ryan got his Chinese passport the last day we were there.

Chongqing Walmart and hot pot restaurant

2009-12-14T02:44:00.001-08:00

Chongqing is famous for it's hot pot restaurants. The big pot in the center of the table has a burner under it. The middle pot is the spicy liquid and the outer pot isn't spicy. The waitress cooked all kinds of meats and vegetables in the boiling liquid for about 4 minutes. Then she would put them into a small bowl of oil and garlic and then they were ready to eat. It was very good although we weren't too impressed with some of the meats. They looked like different shaped bologna.

Chongqing Walmart

2009-12-14T02:39:00.001-08:00

We visited the Chongqing Walmart to buy formula and diapers. We really enjoyed the meat department. The pictures say it all......crabs, live frogs, live eels, huge hanging slabs of meat, full chickens including the heads. I could have spent all day exploring just this store!

Chongqing zoo Part 2

2009-12-14T02:29:00.001-08:00

Chongqing zoo

2009-12-14T02:27:00.001-08:00

We went to the zoo in Chongqing to see the pandas. Our guide said that 80-90% of all the pandas come from Chongqing because of it's excellent climate and bamboo. We had to include a couple local children that we saw wearing split pants. The little one decked out in hot pink is a boy. The Chinese don't really care about matching clothes and they like boys in pink. When a child has to go potty and they are wearing split pants, their parents help them find somewhere to go. Our guide said it would most likely be in some bushes or grassy area. We never saw that but we saw lots of little bottoms sticking out:)

Chongqing 12/11/09 city pictures

2009-12-12T22:29:00.001-08:00

Here are some random pictures of the city. Everyone lives in apartment building and seems to hang their laundry out of their windows. There aren't balconies, just usually a small area or sometimes a cage-like area that people seem to use for storage. One of the pictures you can see the older apartments dwarfed by the huge new buildings in the background. Chongqing is growing very fast and construction is everywhere. The traffic is wild! No one wears seat belts and no one uses car seats. But I never felt unsafe because the traffic never moves very fast. There are very few traffic lights and the roads seems to snake and twist all around which was strange. And although there was always tons of traffic, you were never at a total stand still. You just have to experience riding in a car here to understand how people drive. No one uses lanes, they weave in and out of traffic and even pass on the left while using the oncoming lanes (with cars coming) and honk a lot. There is a picture on a motorcycle type thing that has 2 back wheels and is enclosed. And one of some women who are cleaning shoes. Our guide also said these women are probably farmers who come into the city to make some extra money by cleaning shoes. (picture in next post)

Chongqing 12/10/09 Outside market

2009-12-12T22:09:00.001-08:00

One evening we walked across the street from our very nice hotel to an outside market. It was one of the most interesting places I've ever been!!! We were without our guide and by far the only Westerners in the place. I would have loved to take many more pictures but it felt kind of rude. We draw attention there because we are white AND have a Chinese baby with us. Our guide said the people are very happy when they see foreigners adopting Chinese babies because they know that they will have a better life than in an orphanage. Most people will watch you walk past them and then when you get past them, they will crank their head around to look at the child to see if they are Chinese.

In this market, which was basically a maze of small alleys tucked inside a huge metropolis of a city. For sale was everything from huge beautiful flower arrangements, fruits and vegetables, live turtles/frogs/eels, many different kinds of meat like squid and pig snouts, live fish to eat, pets like puppies and goldfish. We're told that the Chinese will anything.......anything that walks, swims, or flies, anything grown on trees, underground, etc. I believe it after seeing what is sold in the market.

Chongqing-12/9/09

2009-12-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

Outside of "Old Chongqing" was this man who was going to carry the fruit in the baskets using the stick over his shoulders. These men or women are called "stick stick soldiers". They are unique to Chongqing. Our guide said they are usually local farmers who come into town to make extra money by carrying big loads for people. Chongqing is one of the few cities where people don't ride bicycles because it is so hilly. Like the "San Francisco of China". So these men provide a service if you need anything big or heavy carried. We saw many of them but weren't able to get many pictures.

We also had traditional tea. Our host made us yellow tea and blue tea which are grown in the high mountains of Chongqing and unique to the area.

And of course, we have to show you some pictures of sleeping Ryan! He is doing well. He's becoming very attached to both of us. He wants to go to Tim whenever we're in a car driving and other times he just wants me. But usually he's happy with either of us. He is still quite serious when we're out in public around lots of people and noise. He's cracked a smile for others a few times and refuses to go to anyone else if they reach out for him. His nights are getting better too. Each night he still gets upset when we turn the lights off but we're seeing less of the self soothing behaviors each night. We have him fall asleep in our bed and then move him into his crib and then he sleeps all night. He's very quiet during the day but when he wakes up in the morning and he's the first one up, he will lay in his crib and babble away. His nanny said he doesn't say much except "jai" which means "let's play".

Chongqing

2009-12-12T21:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the delay in posts. We've had power issues with our computer but right now it's working! We met Ryan (Gotcha Day) on Monday and had our "Harmonious Period" with him overnight. Then on Tuesday we went back to the adoption center in Chongqing to make it official. Here are some pictures of us making it official. That evening he had his first bath with us. His nanny said he got a bath every day at the orphanage and he did seem to know what to do and enjoyed the bath!

The next day we went to "Old Chongqing". Some of the structures there went back to the 1600's and much of it was original with no renovations.

The Great Wall

2009-12-10T00:51:00.001-08:00

The Great Wall

2009-12-10T00:49:00.000-08:00

Jade market and The Great Wall

2009-12-10T00:47:00.001-08:00

We went to the jade market and learned about the different kinds of jade. There was a man outside the market cooking sweet potatoes.....I liked the young guy's hair! Then off to the Great Wall. There are a couple places in Beijing where you can climb the wall. We went to an area that was a giant circle. Our guide said it was a headquarters area inside the circle.

Our first day with Ryan

2009-12-10T00:29:00.001-08:00

Here are some more pictures of our first day with Ryan. The group picture is the head nanny that brought him from the orphanage and a vice-director of the orphanage. We brought him back to the hotel room and peeled off the layers:) First was his padded yellow coat, then the bright orange turtle neck sweater and finally the pink thick long underwear top/bottoms. He gave us his first smiles with some foot tickling. And finally, he is ready for bed in his red reindeer PJ's!

PICTURES!

2009-12-09T05:59:00.000-08:00

Update

2009-12-08T22:41:00.001-08:00

I'm glad to hear my post was successful! So, for our update:
We arrived in Beijing on Friday night and met another couple in the airport who is also using our adoption agency. We met up with Zhou who will be our guide in Beijing and Guangzhou. Zhou works for our adoption agency and lives in OH but travels to China with all of the families. We got checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn) which is as nice as a 5 star hotel in the US but only costs around $75 (US) per night! Fancy buffet breakfast included for both of us! There are a total of 11 families here and we all stayed at the same hotel and toured Beijing together on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we first went to a section of the Great Wall and climbed a zillion steps.....it was amazing. The weather was cold (30's but sunny) in Beijing. After the Great Wall we went to a jade market and learned how to spot real jade. Jade is considered good luck here in China. We also toured a cloisenette (sp?) factory and learned what goes into making these beautiful vases. We had a traditional Chinese lunch with many different dishes on a lazy susan in the middle of the table with everyone sharing them all. Then we were off to see the Olympic Bird's Nest and Water Cube, followed by an acrobatic show. We were all getting pretty tired about that time of night (6PM) so we back to the hotel for some rest. Beijing is 12 hours ahead of East coast of the US.

On Sunday we saw the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, a huge egg shaped Opera House. We didn't get too much time at either place so we basically just walked through and took a quick look. After that we got back onto the bus and went to a pearl market and learned a bit about salt water and fresh water pearls. Then on to the silk market and learned how silk is harvested and made into material or quilts. It was all very interesting!!

Our visit to the silk market was cut short (along with 2 other families) because we had to catch earlier flights to our separate provinces. Zhou hired a van to take us all to the airport and we got checked in. Of the 11 families, all but 3 are going to different provinces and we are the only family here in Chongqing (from our adoption agency). Our local guide met us at the airport (around 7PM) and got us to our hotel which is even nicer than the first. It's a Howard Johnson and another 5 star hotel. It is amazingly clean and the staff are all very friendly and efficient!

We meet up with our guide in the morning and she showed us what is around our hotel in walking distance. Chongqing is HUGE! We stopped at a mall and had lunch...the food has been so delicious! When we finished we had 30 minutes to organize ourselves before the driver came to take us to the adoption center in Chongqing to meet Ryan. We brought all of our necessary paperwork, gifts for the orphanage staff and baby supplies. We get there right at 2:00 and there is one other family there holding their very upset son. There are 2 other children are waiting for their new parents, but neither of them are Ryan. He arrives about 10 minutes later. His nanny places him in my arms and he starts to whimper but not cry. He's holding something in his hand that looks like a package that has sore throat lozenges in it. The nanny pops one into his mouth and he quiets down to suck on it. Our guide said that they are a kind of "milk" candy. I get to ask the nanny all of my questions and learned what his routine is. They gave us a bottle for him and a package of the formula that he's used to. He continues to be very quiet during the ride back to the hotel with a little bit of whimpering. After about an hour of playing back at our hotel room, he smiles. He likes his feet tickled and loves all the toys that we brought for him. We stayed in the hotel room for the rest of the evening and he continues to be pretty serious but giving us a few smiles. We gave him a bottle which he ate. We also ordered room service and he ate whatever I fed him. The nanny had said that he is a good eater. He eats really slow and doesn't protest....just eats. He was very scared when it was time for bed. He cried when we put him in his crib and his body got really stiff, so we brought him onto our bed. He didn't want to lay down and just sat up with huge, very worried eyes and scanned the room looking right and left for quite a while before dozing off. He slept all night and woke up whimpering again when he saw us, but warmed up quickly by playing.

We're working on getting photos onto our computer and I'll try to post soon....promise. More later!

We have Ryan!

2009-12-07T19:25:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lack of blog updates! I forgot my "secret" email address that I will use to post to the blog. China blocks certain web sites and blogger.com is one of them, so I have to go about posting differently. I'll use this brief post as a test since I'm not sure if I have the correct email address and write more details once I know it's correct. Could someone out there email me at wtobiasz @ gmail . com (minus the spaces) and let me know if this posts to the blog, since I can't see it myself!

Thanks!!

We're going to China!!!

2009-12-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a whirlwind couple weeks! Our adoption agency called last week giving us a head's up that our travel approval MIGHT be on it's way. They wanted to warn us that they have a group of families heading to China on Dec. 3rd and if our travel approval did indeed come, would we be willing and able to go on Dec. 3rd? So we tentatively prepared to go and then our travel approval came on Monday, we got confirmation of our consulate appointment yesterday. So, we're headed to China tomorrow! We didn't know for sure we were going until yesterday!

We fly to Beijing and stay for a couple days to tour the Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc. Then on Sunday we fly to Chongqing, which is the province that Ryan lives in. We have our Gotcha Day on Monday, which means we get Ryan. We then travel to Guangzhou, which is where all adoptive families exit China from. We will return Dec 17th!!

I'll be attempting to update our blog, including pictures, so stay posted.

Ryan, here we come!

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a very relaxing day with lots of great food! We have fried a turkey for many years now but I woke up Thanksgiving morning and remembered that we didn't have a propane tank!! So we went with plan B and cooked one in the oven. I stuffed it with my mom's oyster dressing recipe that I LOVE!! We also had Tim's cornbread casserole recipe that he LOVES! Plus the sweet potatoes with pecan topping, and my grandma's cranberry recipe....yum, yum!

We started the day by getting Joshua a big boy bed!!! We bought a bunk bed set that can also be used as twin beds. That way, when Ryan is out of the crib, they can have matching beds since we plan to have them share a room. Here are some pictures of Joshua showing off his new bed. Doesn't his smile light up the room???

Ryan's USA birthday party

2009-11-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

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These pictures are a little late, but we also celebrated Ryan's birthday. The kids helped me bake him a cake and decorate it. We sang him happy birthday and wish he could have been with us on his special day. BUT.....maybe and only maybe we will be meeting him soon! Our adoption agency called me Tuesday and said that they have heard that China will be sending them some travel approvals. They won't know whose will be in the package or exactly when it will arrive but she wanted to know IF ours happens to come, will we be willing and able to travel to China Dec 3!! That is a whole week earlier than I had last heard. So there are MANY if's and maybe's here but if our TA comes and everything falls into place (ability to get plane tickets, a Consulate Appointment to finalize the adoption in China, etc) then MAYBE we will be leaving for China a week from today! Oh my, do I have a bunch to do between now and then but so much of it requires knowing for sure so my head is just spinning at this point:)

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for! That is one of the reasons I was never able to put adopting out of my head. How could I possibly say no to a child who has nothing when we have everything?

Awesome story....

2009-11-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

I have belonged to Ryan's orphanage yahoo group since we were matched with him. It is made of up families who have adopted from the exact orphanage where he is in Chongqing. What I've discovered is that it is a small orphanage (around 20 children) and the last family to adopt from Liangping was a family who traveled to bring home their daughter in May 09. We've talked about what is known about the orphanage, the health of the babies coming from that orphanage, how the babies bonded with their new families following the adoption, etc. But I never sent a picture of Ryan until last week. I sent the pictures we received after sending his birthday cake to the family who had traveled in May. I was curious about who the adults in the pictures were and if they had met them. The email I got was unexpected and went something like this...."Oh my goodness, I think Gia (their daughter) and Ryan may have been crib-mates or buddies." They used the same service that we did to send their daughter a care package (in March 09) and got a few pictures. And guess who is sitting beside their daughter in the crib.........our Ryan!! She emailed the picture. Ryan is in the yellow and pink outfit and Gia is in the red. So this could be the youngest picture we have of him. I believe all his referral pictures were taken in April 09. What a treasure to have and to have contact with a family who has adopted his friend. We're hoping to make plans to meet up with them at some point so the kids can re-unite. They live in another state but it's right on our route when we travel back home to spend time with grandparents!

And if that isn't great enough, they used the same adoption agency as we are using. This is very unusual because our agency is pretty small and not many use them when adopting from China. How very cool!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ryan!!!!

2009-11-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

Ryan turned 2 on November 17th!! Since we weren't able to be with him on this special day, we had a company called Red Thread in China send a cake to the orphanage. We just got pictures of the celebration. Wow, what a cake! I am so grateful each time we receive pictures of his life at the orphanage. It gives us a small glimpse into his first 2 years of life. I was hoping for a smile with this set of pictures but it looks like our first glimpse of a smile will have to be in person! No news to report....we're still waiting on Travel Approval. Our agency did get a package from China with documents in it, but our TA wasn't one of them:( So, we wait some more.

I also have been thinking of Ryan's birth mom a lot this week. I know she is thinking of him too as his birthday came and went. I'm sure she wonders where he is, how he is and has an ache in her heart because she will never know the answers to her questions. That must be agony for a mother to feel this way. I pray that some how she will have a peace and just "know" that he is safe, loved and cared for once he becomes our son. I pray that that peace will lift some of the burden she must feel thinking about her son that she will never have the privilege to raise. If you haven't already, scroll to the bottom of the blog and watch the video.

We also had a celebration for Ryan's birthday on Tuesday. We made him a cake, sang him happy birthday and had a family party:) I'll post pics soon.

Waiting, waiting and more waiting.....

2009-11-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

Adoption is like expecting a baby through pregnancy in so many ways, only way more complicated. When you decide to adopt and are waiting to be matched with a child, it's like when you want to have a baby and are "trying". After all your paperwork for adoption is finished, sent to China and then you are matched with a child, China sends you the child's referral paperwork.....you could liken this package that comes via Fedex to your "paper baby". Your wait to pick up your child from China is called the paperwork pregnancy. Right now, as with my first bio child, I'm feeling almost 2 weeks over-due. Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Come on China, just sign our paper and be done with it!! We want Ryan home for Christmas. We are already missing his 2nd birthday, which by the way is TODAY!! We sent a cake to his orphanage and hope to get some pictures and questions answered soon. I'll post when/if we get some pictures:)

Matt Man

2009-11-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

Introducing, Matt Man! Matt Man is an activity in the Handwriting Without Tears program. Joshua has been doing some of the pre-writing activities at preschool and loves it. I took the HWT workshop when Joshua was younger because it is a great program for any child who struggles with handwriting, which most kids with Down syndrome do. And since I'm an OT, I was able to get continuing education hours out of it. Matt Man teaches kids body awareness, number awareness and spacial awareness. There is a CD with lots of great songs, and Matt Man has his own song as you build him using the wooden pieces. Isn't he cute?

Let's play ball!

2009-11-09T19:33:00.000-08:00

Joshua LOVES playing any game or sport that involves a ball! He has always been good at catching, throwing and kicking. I signed him up for a baseball league and now we know he's also good at batting from a tee.....not so fond of standing in the field and waiting or not very fond of running the bases either. But batting was a hit....and hit he did! Of course he wanted the "real" bat, not the plastic one. He would march up, put the ball on the tee and 90% of the time, hit it past the pitchers mound on the first swing:) Enjoy the pictures of him playing ball!

He is also mastering dribbling a basketball. Hopefully a video to follow:)

On the adoption front, we are now officially waiting for the CCAA (China) to issue us our Travel Approval. The United States part of the process is finished and our paperwork is in the hands of China. Our adoption agency excepts it in the next 2-3 weeks. So, hopefully we'll be home in time for Christmas.....with Ryan!