We have been home for 2 months today. It seems like Mia has been here forever. Life is great!
Kissing Memaw
And here's a kiss for the rest of you!
Snow days, oh, the snow days!
I like one, maybe two snow days per year, but I'm officially done with them. If it snows again, we are all leaving town. LOL
Yesterday started like any other Saturday, although, it was Tuesday. People slept in, we made pancakes, cleaned the house, etc. etc. With nothing to do - I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. A clean house is a house in order, right. No mess = no chaos!
Around 6PM the house was nearly spotless and that was about the time Mark decided we should start an indoor game of wiffle ball except he didn't tell anyone. He just pitched the ball up and swung the bat - he couldn't do this again for a million dollars, but the ball hit the full Dr. Pepper which fell over onto a bunch of bills, thank you notes and school papers. Let's just say what happened next was not a pretty sight but all your thank you's will be nicely scented of stale Dr. Pepper.
Around 8PM we were just about finished with dinner and I let Mia down out of her seat. She walked straight over to my full cup of juice and attempted, unsuccessfully to take a drink. After drowning her face & clothing, she let the rest fall on the floor. Did I mention it was Blueberry Pomegranate Juice? - No? - well, yeah - it's purple. Thank goodness for hardwood.
After getting over the stickiness in my very clean kitchen, today would be a much better day. Going into the office without Mia. Have a lot to do before my board meeting on Monday. I start at 5:30AM, get ready, get the kids ready, complain that we are running 30 minutes later than I want, out the door at 7:25, drop kid #1 off, Mark is too sick to go to school (he has a cold), convince him he's not too sick to go to school, tell him to call me if he starts feeling worse, he tells me to just plan on 12:15 (great!), go thru carpool twice, get gas, get coffee, drop Mia off at my parents, drive to work, arrive at 9AM. Disgusted at time frame but whatever, have a lot to do. Our Admin Asst. says the IT guy is supposed to bring the computer back today. By computer, she means, SERVER!!! I can't do my work without the server. Are you freakin' kidding me???? Call the IT guy and he's says it will be about lunchtime. Perfect...I was going to leave at 1PM to pick Mia up before the boys...
Work for an hour, go pick Mia up. Take parents some yummy donuts and have coffee with them. Oh well - at least I got to spend time with my parents.
Geez - just another day in the life of 3 kids! TG for kid #1 who just made fun of me throughout.
Our agency Holt International is currently accepting applications for Thailand adoptions.
Seems like the entire country is digging out of snow storms and yet, Canada is hauling it in for the Winter Olympics. Global Freezing...
Mia laughs every time she sees snow. With year round temps of 90s in Thailand, this is all new to her.
Unfortunately, the boys weren't outside so no pics of them this time and we couldn't stay out long because I misplaced her gloves.
She was unimpressed by riding the sled.
She's looking at the snow on her hands.
This girl is so funny. She's been after my Starbucks cup since we hit the US. From almost Day 1, she has looked at the Starbucks cup and said aaaaah. She's so smart -
A rare moment of sitting still - she LOVES her chair!
For kicks and giggles let’s start our typical day at midnight.
Sleep is my friend - I like it - I miss it - but I’m doing ok. Much better now than a month ago and MUCH better than 2 months ago. WOW - can’t believe we left for Thailand 2 months ago. It's very cold here now and I wish I could have brought some of that Bangkok heat home with me.
Between midnight and 5AM - she wakes up 5-10 times (yeah, it had gotten better but I posted about it and it went backwards). When she wakes up, it’s only enough to wake us up and we either pat her or give her an empty bottle (pacifier). She is taking about a half bottle at 2 AM. She wants another at 5AM. Thankfully, we both fall back asleep easy. Mia is the light sleeper not us.
5:00 Mia’s internal alarm - everyday with 10 minutes of 5AM she wakes up crying, hungry
5:45 Chris’ alarm
6:00 Chris’ 2nd alarm
6:15 My alarm - I get the boys ready for school
6:15-7:10 Pray the boys don’t wake Mia
7-8 - Bottle and back to sleep - the boys normally wake her up - she's SUCH a light sleeper
9:00 Wakes up happy and Breakfast
9:30 Shower and Bath
10:30 Nap
11:30 Lunch
12-2 Play, errands, work, etc.
2:15 Go get the boys, Bottle, Nap
Some days she takes one nap at noon and some days it’s two like above.
3:00 Homework, Play & Snack
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Bottle
7:00-9:00 - Play Play Play & Snack
9-10 Bottle and Bed
Ok - it’s not like we do all these things on the hour or whatever but generally, this is the day. I also try to either run an errand, work at home on work stuff or home stuff too.
In between - try to keep her out of all the things she isn’t supposed to be playing with!!! This is nonstop because she is constantly “into things”. Some days I get “stuff” done. Some days are measured by bottles and diapers!
I'm not really all about doing everything exactly on schedule. Pretty much - as long as everyone is clean, happy, and the house is somewhat in order, I'm good.
One thing is definite - time goes so fast so I’m treasuring each day and every cute little thing she does.
Have to get these down before I forget - Hey, none of us are getting any younger and I'm not convinced that Blueberry Pomegranate Juice is going to “nourish my brain” enough!
While in San Francisco -
I told Mark that Mia just went to the bathroom. He asked how I knew and I said she made the poop face. A couple minutes later she hiked her leg to climb in the suitcase and Mark asked me if that was the pee stance. She did look just like a dog hiking her leg to pee. I cracked up laughing but he was serious.
This morning - I jumped in the shower and she stood outside the shower door crying. She was moving her hands through her hair like she was washing her own hair. Too Funny! She loves to play in the water and she takes a bath as soon as my shower is over.
Today I caved and gave Mia another cabinet - soon she will have all of them within reach... I also gave her a box of baggies. It’s just not worth the fight.
She also LOVES shoes. She was checking out her closet and noticed a pair of shoes that she has not worn. She got this huge smile on her face, grabbed them off the shelf and had to put them on. I cracked up at seeing how cute her little feet looked in them so I had to take pictures. I love baby feet. Flip Flops - it’s 20 something degrees in KY this time of year so I had not even tried them on. They were a gift from a dear friend that came WAY before Mia and we were keeping them forever - whether they fit or not. There were many days while we waited that I pulled the flip flops out and just stared at them knowing the wait would eventually end.
Apparently, dog food tastes good. Not sure what that says about my cooking but that's all I have to say about that.
This is definitely her Mommy’s girl - she LOVES electronics - the phone, the laptop, the remote (although, I never use that one). She is playing with the mouse in this picture and was SO excited that I didn’t take it away immediately.
There’s nothing better than children. Last night she crawled over to me and laid her head on my chest and fell asleep. I could feel her breath on my face. All 3 children have done this over the years and I just thanked God for moments like these.
