A Birthday for Pudding

In all of the LOA excitement, I failed to mention that Pudding's birthday was last week too. It was quite a week for celebration at our house! We had a big party for him last year on his 3rd birthday (the first birthday he celebrated with us), so we kept it low-key this year...well, as low-key as things get around here.
We started the day at a local gymnastics facility for some bouncy fun. HD isn't all that fond of bouncy houses (nor is she a fan of other kids in general) so she stuck close to the ball pit for much of the morning.


They pretended to "swim" in the balls for more than an hour; I pretended not to think about what kind of germs covered those hundreds of plastic balls. We followed that up with a yummy lunch of PB&J before heading home for a quick nap in preparation for their first soccer practice/game of the season.

Yes, Stu signed up the Littles for soccer in the U4 league this fall. I was a little hesitant at first; after all, they are just three- (and a brand new) four-years-old. But the league is all about getting the kids on the field and letting them have fun. Considering they have to sit through their brothers' practices/games, this might be the perfect introduction to the (very) basic fundamentals of the game.

They were both very excited about playing soccer...HD was particularly excited about her pink soccer gear! Their excitement last approximately six minutes.

It started with Pudding getting upset because he had to take turns (very unusual for this kid...I think the long morning was starting to catch up with him). Then HD declared that she was finished because, "It is so very hot." The girl does not like hot weather. And the idea that we wanted her to run in hot weather...ha! She had a meltdown, Pudding had a meltdown; we were quite the spectacle! I learned my lesson though - no busy mornings on the day of soccer for those two. I'm hoping next week's practice/game will be better...otherwise it is going to be a looong six weeks.
Tears were exchanged for big smiles at the suggestion of going home for a little birthday cake. Seriously, does this boy not radiate happiness?!?!


The birthday celebrations didn't end there. We followed that up with a small swim party with Stu's family. I think Pudding was more excited about his dinosaur cake (his newest obsession) than anything else that weekend!




Another birthday in the books. Based on the smiles, I think it was a success.
Happy Fourth Birthday to the Happiest Little Kid I know!

LOA!

After waiting for 76 days, I am thrilled to say we have received our LOA from China! After being so discouraged about the adoption process last week, today I am positively giddy with excitement. While we still have a few more steps to go before we can travel to pick up our little Sprout, it is such a relief to have this part finished. The LOA is the great mystery of the process; some people receive theirs in 30 days while others wait over 100. The rest of the process is much more streamlined and regimented. If the current averages continue, it looks like we may be in China in mid-November. Chipmunk is beyond excited at the prospect of spending his 9th birthday in China with his new sister. I am just happy that she will be home with her family for the holidays. Not too much longer sweet baby girl!

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.