Adoption Update

We found out Friday that our agency has finally been re-accredited in Russia! Yeah!!! This means that they can now work within 4 regions (instead of 0, which was our current state). I think this will speed things up a bit, so now I've already had a sleepless night thinking about what to pack and how to get ready for a trip. I know, I know, not happy when it's slow and not happy when it starts moving again. But I really am happy about this news, and excited at the thought of someday getting a referral. This is good news!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day

We had a very quiet long weekend. We weren't necessarily trying to save on gas, but somehow we just didn't plan to do anything. So we really did nothing. Strangely, what should have felt good, instead made me feel guilty. One of those weeks, I guess, where I can feel guilty about anything (or nothing). Yes, today I went for a run around the neighborhood and heard all these other families having pool parties and backyard get togethers, and I felt seriously guilty that my poor children did not have the time of their lives this weekend. We didn't go to the opening of the pool at our rec center. We didn't go to the wild animal habitat. We just sat around. I'm certain that someday the kids will remember that there was this one holiday where we did NOTHING, and they will resent me.

I'm kidding, of course. But seriously, I don't know why I can't just enjoy doing nothing.

I am going to post a few pictures I took of the kids last week as I tried to get a good shot for a Father's Day scrapbook page for Jim. I may still have to work on Natalie's pictures, because she is hard to keep still very long and so there was always some part of the picture that was blurry. This is a secret project (the kids have also been doing some artwork for it), but I am not concerned that Jim will see these, because he is the one person I know for sure never reads my blog. Ever. If he ever asks me something that he would know if he had read my blog, and I say "you would know this if you read my blog" he looks at me like I have just suggested he stick his head in the oven and turn on the gas. I think he would rather block out the tedium of my life. It's bad enough he has to hear about it occasionally...to read it is too much to ask. So, I post with no worries:

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mother, my mother-in-law, and to mothers everywhere! Thank God for mothers!

I had a very nice one. As I write, Jim is giving the kids their baths. A bonus is that I won't have to wash the bathroom this week, as it is wet from floor to ceiling....both kids love to get daddy as wet as possible.

I did go to the grocery today, as I usually do on Sunday. To be fair, Jim did offer to go, but I just didn't think it was worth trying to explain everything we needed, where it could be found, and then dealing with not having the right things make it home. Apparently, other women were more trusting, more adventurous, or needed more of a break, because the grocery was full of men. I could tell something was different as soon as I walked in, but it took me about an aisle and a half before I realized what it was.

I noticed the noise first, from men making elaborate zooming noises and pushing the kid "car carts" really fast. Am I cynical to doubt that they would be so energetic if they did the shopping every week? Then I noticed that the rythm of the aisles was just...off... Minor fender benders with carts, and a bit of confusion all around. Men on their cell phones, calling home to ask questions. One man I overheard saying "Well, I'm standing right in FRONT of the aluminum foil but I don't SEE it." snicker

I give them credit for trying though. I would have thought it was Super Bowl weekend with that many men in the store at one time. So hats off to all of the hard-working mothers everywhere, and also a tip of the hat to the men who make an effort to help them.

On This Day 5 Years Ago...

On this day 5 years ago, we met the most wonderful boy. He loved to be wrapped up tight like a burrito, and was always cheerful as long as he was fed and allowed to sleep. His first love was a ceiling fan - it was so fascinating. He loved to sit in his "boppy" before he could sit on his own. He loved christmas lights, golf, and cheese.

He captured our hearts five years ago, and he still has them.

Happy Birthday Liam!

Feel Free to Comment

My very wise mother-in-law asked me the other day what I was doing to maintain some adult interaction/conversation now that I am home with the kids. I don't think I ever really answered her, because there was some commotion in the background that involved children shouting and screeching (rare, I know). Since then, I've been thinking about the question, and have come to the conclusion that it is probably something I need to work on. I will admit, to anyone reading, that in the interest of time I am going to count my blog as adult interaction. OK, I know it is one-sided because I just type into a vacuum and the only responses I get are in my head. Maybe that should worry me. It doesn't, much. Does it matter if I only imagine that people smile or make a response to my rambling conversations with myself? If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? Well...I'm not sure, but I think at this point I will let anyone out there reading this know that it is OK to make Comments back to my posts. Maybe then I will know that I'm not talking to just myself, and I can actually count this as adult interaction and thereby avoid having to join a book club or some other sort of dreaded women's club with lots of by-laws and note-taking and rules.

I am sort of kidding. I do go to a neighborhood Playgroup on Fridays, but I don't know how much adult interaction that gives me, since we mostly talk about...children...

In other news, the potty training stalled despite the best efforts of the wonderful people at the Jelly Belly company. Purple jelly beans are nice, but apparently not worth too much effort. Not complaining though, because the big-girl bed is going marvelously. The pacifier use...well...she still sleeps with them, but she has an adorable habit now of waking up and pulling the pacifier (and the 3 extra that she also sleeps with) out of her mouth with horror and saying "This is for BABIES!" and she will proceed to take them into the "russia baby's" crib and drop them off until nap time. I think this is progress....or else she is just teasing me.