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“Whas dat?” is a question I hear a lot from Fabul-O. Rather than answer her right away, I always ask her what she thinks it is and she’s usually right. This is how it went tonight:
O: Whas dat? (as she pokes at me)
Me: You tell me.
O: B00bies.
Me: Yes, b00bies.
O: Mommy, you gots big b00bies. I have little b00bies. Daddy has b00bies, too, but his aren’t big like yours or little like mine.
She’s right.
The next round of delightful confection is upon us….
I will not disclose how many of these bunnies have been consumed thus far and more will meet their demise before all is said and done. It’s almost pathetic how addicted I am to these creepy looking, odd textured delights. Bon appetit!
This was my blogpost from two years ago….
Well we are finally able to access our email. Last nite we weren’t able to so there were no picures. We met Olivia yesterday afternoon about 3:30. We were the third family of four to be called. She was not happy, to say the least, but we were expecting that and were as prepared as we could be. She has a set of lungs that must be the size of Texas and they sure do work. She cried for about an hour and then settled down some. Last night we were able to get her to smile and giggle a little bit. She has a cold and is congested and tugging on her ears so that’s not helping any. We gave her some Cheerios and she has held two of them, one in each hand, for about an hour. She won’t eat them and she won’t let them go, either. When the nanny handed her to us, she had a small piece of wrapped candy in one hand a pack of cookies in the other. She never tried to put either in her mouth. She loves her daddy and has gotten picking his nose down to a science. She loves to open her book and turn the pages. She’s still not sure of everything and we are letting her set the rules. She went down last nite about 8:30 and slept until almost 7 this morning.To sum up, we love her. We love her more than we ever thought we would. Being a mom feels good. However, I have quickly experienced the angst of not being able to make my baby feel better.Here are some pictures and we’ll send more as we get them off the camera.Lots of love to everyone.
Will, Susan and Olivia
Three years ago, someone made a choice that, unbeknownst to us, would change our lives in a way we never dreamed possible. February 20, 2005 a tiny baby, we now call Olivia, was taken to the Chongqing Children’s Welfare Institute (also known as Chongqing Children’s Home) in Chongqing China. While we’ll never know the circumstances surrounding the choices of her birthmother/parents, we are blessed and honored to have this child as a part of our family tree. Exactly one year from that date, she had her forever family.
It’s amazing how our lives have evolved over the past two years. I think Olivia has probably taught us more than we could ever dream of teaching her. We have our moments, but if we didn’t we wouldn’t be a normal family. However, what we also have is love; a lot of love. Not to mention THE coolest kid on the planet.
Here are some pictures from the day we were promoted from a couple to parents…
My girl today:
I love her. I love her. I love her. If another blessing is never bestowed upon me, I will have known the greatest blessing of all: the love of my daughter.
The day after when the candy goes 1/2 price. Wish it went half calories, too!
I’ve hesitated blogging about this, but it’s interesting in a not so ordinary way, at least to us it is.
A couple of months ago, Will shouted for me to come to the living room. When I got there, he told Olivia, “Tell your mommy what you just told me.” This is how it went:
Olivia: My father is very, very sick.
Me: Really? Where is your father?
Olivia: He lives far, far away.
Me: Where does he live?
Olivia: Far away.
Me: Olivia, what is your daddy’s name?
Olivia: Will.
Me: What is your father’s name?
Olivia: I don’t know his name. He’s sick, mommy.
Me: What’s your mommy’s name?
Olivia: Susan.
Me: What’s your mother’s name?
Olivia: Oh, mommy. Stop being silly.
Here’s the skinny on the “being adopted” gig at our house. Olivia knows she was born in China. Baby Jia-Jia’s picture (her referral picture) is on her nightstand and she sometimes asks to see her baby picture and we’ll look at it and talk about it. You ask her and she’ll tell you she was born in China and came to North Carolina on an airplane. She knows her address and phone number so she’s well aware of where she is. There are strict instructions at her school that they are NOT to approach the issue of adoption with her at any point for any reason without first talking to me should it ever come up. I am her mommy. Will is her daddy. End of their discussion with the rest being handled by me and I’ll let them know when it comes time to do differently. Not bitchy, just my thing. So, after speaking with the teachers and administrators, everyone told me it’s never come up at school and, if it should, they know how I wish to have it approached and handled. I’m happy with that.
Now, back to that night…I explained to Olivia that I am her mommy and Will is her daddy and that while she was born in China, we will always be her mommy and daddy and there is nobody who will ever make it any different. We haven’t taken the plunge into the birthmother thing yet…it’s coming, we just don’t think it’s time. Her reply? “I love you so much. Don’t be silly and help me with Mike’s blanket, please.” Mike is her doll…he was cold.
From time to time things like this pop up and it just floors me. She still calls herself Jia-Jia and answers to it and Olivia and all the pet names I throw out to her. She and my mom were playing restaurant the other day and, of course, O was “the lady” (a.k.a. the waitress. Yes, we eat out waaay too much) Anyway, she told my mom her name was Si Jia, which is her Chinese name. We NEVER call her Si Jia and I have no idea where it came from. Mom enjoyed her imaginary soup and Si Jia was the best little waitress in the joint.
I’m sure a lot of it is kid imagination, but it makes me wonder. This kid is amazing.
I have a digital pressure cooker I got for Christmas two years ago. I don’t really know why I never used it; I think maybe I was scared of it. Well, scared no more. Last night it’s maiden dinner voyage was for beef stew. It turned out pretty good. I need to tweak my recipe for pressure cooking, but it was delicious for the simple fact my usually-cooks-all-night-in-the-crock-pot stew was done in 20 minutes once the pressure built up. I didn’t put potatoes in it but the carrots were soft like I love them. Easy peasy: Brown meat using the neato brown feature, use packaged beef stew mix mixed with 1 cup of water, throw in the carrots, put the lid on, push the button, and, VOILA, dinner was on it’s way to being done.
Tonight’s dinner was fajitas. Love, love, love fajitas. Browned the chicken in the cooker, mixed my fajita seasoning with 1/4 of water and a hint of lime juice, poured it over and added my onions and peppers. Set the timer for 12 minutes and, VOILA, dinner was served. Yippee. Again, a tad bit of tweaking needed but, for the most part, de-lish-us!
