I am SO happy to say that we received our I800a approval (US immigration approval) last Saturday and that, as of tomorrow, the last piece of our paperwork will be on its way to China! Woohoo! I am so relieved that our portion of paperwork is finished. Now we begin the wait for LOA. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of the process moves quickly and we will be traveling to pick up our little Sprout sometime in September.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate this little milestone than heading to sunny Key West for a week. After non-stop rain/thunderstorms/tornadoes over the past week, a little fun in the sun will be paradise. Did I mention that the kids aren't going?!?! Yes, Stu and I will on our first kid-free vacation since 2003! I know I'll miss the kids but lounging by the pool, napping, reading and having grown-up conversations and beverages sounds like a little piece of heaven.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Tooth Fairy
Our household has had a couple of visits by the Tooth Fairy this week. I expected one visit as Monkey has had a loose tooth for the past several weeks; but I never thought that the Tooth Fairy would be visiting my three-year-old!
Last Tuesday Pudding woke up from nap crying and pointing at his mouth. For him to wake up upset is unusual but once he refused to eat/drink I knew there was something really wrong with him. He managed to eat a little bit of rice later in the evening but I could tell he was still uncomfortable and his bottom teeth were bothering him. Bright and early the next morning we made a stop at our regular dentist. Pudding is still terrified of doctors (not that I blame him after his past experiences with heart surgery/tonsillectomy) but I was hoping that Pudding would feel comfortable since Stu's Crazy Aunt Carolyn works there. No surprise, however, that he wouldn't let them anywhere near his mouth. So off to a specialized pediatric dentist we went. I was keeping my fingers crossed that this appointment would be a little easier since they are geared towards working with children. No such luck. He flipped out the second we walked and I could see the terror in his little eyes. I had to hold him down while they took x-rays and the dentist took a quick peek at his teeth. Pudding kept reaching for me to rescue him and I felt so guilty that I couldn't help. I was shocked when the dentist told me that both of his bottom middle teeth needed to come out. I decided to go ahead and have it done then and there since I couldn't imagine bringing him back and putting him through this experience again. Luckily they gave him some medicine that made him groggy and he didn't seem too upset when they took him from my arms to perform the extractions. When they brought him back to me, he was hysterical. He kept pulling at his mouth (the numbness was really bothering him) and blood was everywhere. I was holding back tears as I tried to comfort him; I was literally sick to my stomach with guilt...not that I could have changed anything but it was just another traumatic experience at a doctor's office for him. My poor baby. Thankfully he feel asleep on the way home and woke up in a great mood with no problems at all with the teeth (or lack thereof). Since then he comes up about 5 or 6 times a day and asks "Where's the teeth? Bye bye teeth!" And while he has a big gaping hole in his smile, he is still as cute as ever.
Not to be outdone by his little brother, Monkey immediately started wiggling his loose teeth every second he could. He tried eating apples and even asked for string so he could wrap it around his tooth and a doorknob. I jokingly told him I would use the pliers to pull it and he actually considered it for a minute. After countless tries and wiggles, his grandmother was able to yank it out on Saturday. He was so proud! But then came his big dilemma: He was spending the night with his grandparents and was concerned that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't know where to find him. We were quick to reassure him that the Tooth Fairy is magical and she would know exactly where he was. Chipmunk was still worried that the Tooth Fairy would get confused so he wrote the sweetest note letting the Tooth Fairy know that Monkey wasn't there and providing her with the address where he (and his tooth) was. He made sure to leave it on Monkey's pillow just to be safe. So sweet. I love it that they have each other's back and look out for their siblings. I need to keep reminding myself of that amongst all of the chaos and noise. Despite all of the yelling and fighting, they really do love each other.
Last Tuesday Pudding woke up from nap crying and pointing at his mouth. For him to wake up upset is unusual but once he refused to eat/drink I knew there was something really wrong with him. He managed to eat a little bit of rice later in the evening but I could tell he was still uncomfortable and his bottom teeth were bothering him. Bright and early the next morning we made a stop at our regular dentist. Pudding is still terrified of doctors (not that I blame him after his past experiences with heart surgery/tonsillectomy) but I was hoping that Pudding would feel comfortable since Stu's Crazy Aunt Carolyn works there. No surprise, however, that he wouldn't let them anywhere near his mouth. So off to a specialized pediatric dentist we went. I was keeping my fingers crossed that this appointment would be a little easier since they are geared towards working with children. No such luck. He flipped out the second we walked and I could see the terror in his little eyes. I had to hold him down while they took x-rays and the dentist took a quick peek at his teeth. Pudding kept reaching for me to rescue him and I felt so guilty that I couldn't help. I was shocked when the dentist told me that both of his bottom middle teeth needed to come out. I decided to go ahead and have it done then and there since I couldn't imagine bringing him back and putting him through this experience again. Luckily they gave him some medicine that made him groggy and he didn't seem too upset when they took him from my arms to perform the extractions. When they brought him back to me, he was hysterical. He kept pulling at his mouth (the numbness was really bothering him) and blood was everywhere. I was holding back tears as I tried to comfort him; I was literally sick to my stomach with guilt...not that I could have changed anything but it was just another traumatic experience at a doctor's office for him. My poor baby. Thankfully he feel asleep on the way home and woke up in a great mood with no problems at all with the teeth (or lack thereof). Since then he comes up about 5 or 6 times a day and asks "Where's the teeth? Bye bye teeth!" And while he has a big gaping hole in his smile, he is still as cute as ever.
Not to be outdone by his little brother, Monkey immediately started wiggling his loose teeth every second he could. He tried eating apples and even asked for string so he could wrap it around his tooth and a doorknob. I jokingly told him I would use the pliers to pull it and he actually considered it for a minute. After countless tries and wiggles, his grandmother was able to yank it out on Saturday. He was so proud! But then came his big dilemma: He was spending the night with his grandparents and was concerned that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't know where to find him. We were quick to reassure him that the Tooth Fairy is magical and she would know exactly where he was. Chipmunk was still worried that the Tooth Fairy would get confused so he wrote the sweetest note letting the Tooth Fairy know that Monkey wasn't there and providing her with the address where he (and his tooth) was. He made sure to leave it on Monkey's pillow just to be safe. So sweet. I love it that they have each other's back and look out for their siblings. I need to keep reminding myself of that amongst all of the chaos and noise. Despite all of the yelling and fighting, they really do love each other.
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