Life in the Slow Lane

We have enjoyed a lazy summer. No big and exciting trips; just a lot of lounging by the pool and time spent with family and friends. It was so nice not having to wake to an alarm clock each morning (besides Pudding's early morning shouts from his bedroom) and being able to eat supper together each night without having to race to this practice or that meeting.
But all good things must come to an end and, truth be told, I think we were all ready for school to begin. Chipmunk and Monkey are usually best friends; by the last week of July, they were at each other's throats all day...a sure-fire indicator that it is back-to-school time. Now that school has been back in session for a couple of weeks, I have our peaceful household back. We also decided that Pudding needed to go to preschool a few day a week. We know that he is still quite delayed socially/emotionally, but I didn't realize quite how delayed until I watched him interact with other children his age this summer at our library's summer program. He has made such amazing strides in the 16 months he has been home; never in my wildest dreams did I think he would be at the point where he is now. That being said, he needs a little extra push in learning how to follow rules and play in a group setting (with other children besides his siblings). So last week, he started at the same preschool that Monkey attended. I love this preschool and think it will be a perfect fit for Pudding. The class size is very small and the teachers are amazing. I am sure that he will thrive there.
That leaves HotDog and me with three afternoons all to ourselves!! I'm not sure who is more excited about that...her or me?!? Granted, she takes a nap so her time as the only child at home is limited; still, she is thrilled that we get "girl time" together! If you ask her what we need to do during our girl time, she'll answer "Go shopping. Do our toenails. Eat ice cream." I think I'm going to be in trouble during her teenage years!
HD is excited that Sprout will be able to share in our girl time too. We are still not sure when that will be though. We continue to wait for our much-anticipated LOA (China's official acceptance of our adoption). Most come within 30-60 days; we are at day 68 (I think) and still waiting. We did hear that our dossier made it out of translation and is in the review room, which means it should just be a few more weeks. Initially we had hoped to travel in August; now I'll be thrilled to have her home for Thanksgiving. I find it amazing what we though would be our quickest adoption will now become our longest adoption (almost a year from the time we committed to her). I have no right to complain as there are many other families that have waited a much longer time than us. It's just hard knowing these children are waiting in orphanages while they have families that are so anxious to bring them home. Adoption is definitely not for the faint-hearted.
The one thing that does make this loooong wait a little easier is new pictures of our little Sprout!! We have been so blessed throughout this adoption in getting pictures of our newest little love. It had been a few months since we had gotten a new update on Sprout so I decided it was time to send her a care package and remind her that her family can't wait to bring her home. We also sent a photo book to show her pictures of her new family. I was hoping to get one or two new pictures. Imagine my delight when I received 9 new pictures of her with the photo album we sent. I love, love, love seeing her study the pictures of us...every little connection to her helps.

LID

I was so happy to wake up with an email from our coordinator informing us that we finally have an LID of 6/7/11. This is about a month later than I expected it, but at this point I'm just happy to be logged into the system. We now wait for our LOA, which is the official paperwork from China saying they have approved us to be Sprout's parents. The average wait for LOA right now is 30-60 days. The program allowing us to reuse our dossier seems like a total mess at this point so I'm going to go ahead and expect a 60+ day wait. I was praying for September travel, but now I'll be happy to have her home by Thanksgiving. No worries though; it is what it is and it is out of our hands. We will be thrilled whenever it is she joins our family. In the meantime, tomorrow is the last day of school for Chipmunk and Monkey so our summer fun can officially begin!!

A Bittersweet Surprise

While the wait for LID is still dragging on, I was thrilled to see a new message in my inbox. There is a family in Shanghai this week that is adopting a little boy from Sprout's orphanage. They were able to visit the orphanage and check on some of the children with families that are waiting. Sprout is in a different room than their new son, so I was just hoping that they were able to catch a quick glimpse of her and let me know how she looks. Imagine my surprise when I found four new pictures of our little sweetheart, along with two quick video clips!! I always love getting updated pictures of our little girl but the video brought an entirely new level of happiness. Seeing her waving at the camera and saying Mama brought tears to my eyes. After struggling during this looooong wait for an LID, the video was a great reminder that there is a beautiful little girl waiting for her mom and dad. However, it is a little bittersweet to receive new updates on her, as we can see her growing up without us there. Everyday we miss new milestones; everyday she becomes more of toddler and less of a baby; everyday she misses the love and attention that her family is anxious to share with her. The wait is so hard but so worth it.

Pity Party

I just heard from our coordinator that we still haven't been assigned an LID (our documents logged into the system). We were DTC (the date we sent all of our documents to China) on 4/29 and it usually takes about two weeks to get an LID. Not in our case. Evidently it is taking longer since they have to copy all of the documents from our previous dossier. Sigh...
This isn't a huge deal but it is disappointing. It seems as though everything in this adoption is taking a few weeks longer than it should. This is the part of the adoption process that drives me crazy. We have done everything required and now we have to wait for the various governments to do their part. I can't stand the fact that Sprout is halfway across the world waiting for us and there isn't a single thing we can do to make it go any quicker.
We still have no idea when we'll be traveling; that is all dependent on how longs it takes to get our LOA. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for September travel but it might be late September at this point. My head knows that would be great as we are leaning towards taking Chipmunk with us and that timeframe would fall during his fall break. But my heart just wants to hop on the next plane and hold Sprout in my arms as soon as possible.
And the adoption roller-coaster continues...

Progress!

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.

Happy Easter

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter!

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.