Odds and Ends

Hi All. Hmmmm, 15 months since the last post. Lots has happened. I decided that this was the best way for the grandparents and other extended family to enjoy the kids' piano competition. If I have time, I will post some other pics later.

So, here goes an attempt to post 2 videos . . . . (FYI - it's been an hour and the first one still isn't done. I'm thinking this might take a bit of work.)

Several days later and I'm trying a different route - the first never worked. Here is Molly's performance. And here is Peter's performance.

Each year our piano teacher signs her lesson kids up for the ACSI piano festival. The kids have to prepare and memorize a song, and then depending on their level, they need to do various scales, cadences, minor scales, know the key and time signature of the song and what those mean, etc. Peter (level 3)did Pachelbel's Canon in D and Molly (level 1) did On Wings of Song. They each did great and earned blue ribbons. Peter was a bit upset because he forgot to use the pedal until the very end . . . ah well. Other than that, he did great. Molly was very shy and a little "goofy". I guess you can pull that off when you're only 8! She also tends to rush through the song, so I reminded her to slow it down. She definitely slowed it down . . .

The other big news here is that Sofia (seen in the back of the picture to the right) applied to Diakonia at her school. That is the 8th grade student leadership group for the school. They help organize chapels, fund raisers, community service projects, school activities, back-to-school and new-student activities, etc. She had to have 2 teacher recommendations, a pastor recommendation, write some essays, go through a grade and behavior check, and an interview. There are only a limited number of spots available, so it wasn't a sure thing. I am so proud of her for going through with it - it's the first time she has ever done anything like this. She got her letter yesterday after school informing her that she did make Diakonia. Wow! The brand new 7th grade Diakonia members will go to their first meeting in a couple of weeks and start their training for next year. Needless to say, she is a bit excited.

I don't seem to have a good picture of Peter winning the district spelling bee, but I have a cute picture of him waiting for the regional bee to start - only Peter would calm his nerves by calmly reading my Simple and Delicious magazine. Doesn't he look great in a tie???? (his goal was to NOT be the first person out . . . he met his goal. And no, he wasn't the second person out either!) Regionals is for the top 4 kids from each district in grades 5 - 8. Being a 5th grader (and not realizing that he might go to regionals) he didn't get too far, but he has plans to go again next year, and the next, and go all the way to nationals in 8th grade. My nerves can't handle it, so I'm hoping this madness will fade with the years!

On the Micah front - he is now a big 4 year old boy! I can't believe how big he is getting. He is totally crazy about Thomas the Train, so of course we had to have a Thomas birthday cake.

What else??? Hmmmm, spring has hit us this past week. I thought my parents might like to see how the tree in our front yard managed to pull through after not being watered all last summer. Mom, is this picture making your eyes itch??

Peter got a home run Tuesday in his baseball game - right over right center field. Beautiful hit!

Todd has been working on overhauling our kitchen counters. He has the granite countertops in (can I tell you that granite is REALLY heavy when it's 2 adults and 3 kids moving it??????), and he's started working on putting in the back splashes. Here is a nearly done picture of one section of the kitchen. He still needs to put in the grout and drill the holes for the plug-in face plates. I think it looks awesome!!!! However, I'm ready to have this be done. I'm tired of the dust!

I think it's time for me to stop now. There is so much more I could say, but I'm tired of sitting at this crazy computer. Time to see if I managed to succeed with the videos above . . . .

December 2008

Greetings from California. OK, I admit. It has been waaaaaay too long since I last posted. We have moved from Ohio to California. That happened way back in July/August. We have settled in, and are trying to unpack those last pesky boxes. Seems that the first 97% of the stuff unpacks relatively quickly, and that last 3% just never seems to jump out of the boxes by itself.

Last Saturday, the "big kids" (Sofia, Peter, Molly) were making our traditional Rocky Road Brownie Mix in a Jar Christmas gifts for teachers and friends. They were doing a great job, when suddenly, Micah swooped in and decided to help. I managed to get a bit of it on video. If you like to hear little kids belly laughing, then check out this video. I apologize for the sideways tilt of the production . . . just tilt and watch :)

I'm going to try to get more on the ball with posting. Does that sound like a New Year's Resolution???

Micah is officially a Venema, New Bed, Developmental Explosion

Well, it is official. Micah is now a Venema. It has nothing what-so-ever to do with paperwork, legalities, etc. It is purely, totally, and completely related to a favorite pasttime - READING. This kid is a fanatic about books. He will sit in bed and read. Sit on the floor and read. Sit in his carseat and read. Sit in his high chair and read (although WHO would give him a book at the table???). Sit on the couch and read. Sit on his porta-potty and read. Heck, he will even read in his sleep! When we move to California, Peter and Micah will share a room. For those of you who know Peter, you know that we have to give him his Christmas presents that contain books at the end of the present opening time, otherwise, he will sit in the middle of all the rucus and READ while ignoring all the other presents. I shudder to think what the boys' room will look like. Will it be possible for a room to hold as many books as those 2 will need to keep them satisfied?? I can just picture a room filled with books - stacked on the dresser, the floor, the chair, tottering up to the ceiling with just a small winding path to the closet and beds . . .


New Bed - We went to drop of Peter at a friend's house last weekend for an overnight. While the mom was showing us around their house (they built it themselves - awesome place!), I saw a Little Tykes train toddler bed in their storage room. She mentioned that they were getting ready to start selling things in there on eBay. I of course, immediately offered to take the bed off her hands. Sofia, Molly, and Todd put it together the next day before Todd headed off to Albuquerque for the week. I thought it would be a great playtoy for a week - you know, just to let Micah slowly get used to seeing it, get comfy with it being next to his crib, etc. Uhhh, NO! He was sooooo excited about the thing, that he practically threw himself into it at naptime. Luckily, we have a very set bedtime ritual - book, song, bed, with the same words said every time. We went through the ritual, I put him down, walked out of the room, and hid behind the door to watch. He sat up, looked around, got out of bed and followed me out the door :) We did this 2 more times before I decided to call in a quiet little, "No, Micah, stay in bed. Lay down," as he was climbing out of bed. We did that 2 more times, and then the little stinker WENT TO SLEEP!!!! When he wakes up, he stays in his bed and . . . reads! We have now had 5 successful naps in the train bed. I wanted to hold off on the overnight thing because I wanted backup in case he got out of bed to wander during the night. Last night I put him in his crib, he stood up (looking soooooo pitifully cute), signed BED, and just stood there looking at me. Mommy crumbled, Micah moved to the train bed, and all was fine with the world. I wonder how long this honeymoon period will last?

Developmental Explosion - The title says it all. We have had another of those incredible developmental explosions. One day he is a little blob, walking around, playing with his toys, par for the course . . . and the next day he is doing all kinds of new things! I'm sure I will leave out a ton of newbies, but here are a few of them. Todd's mom asked Micah if he could jump. He looked at her, bent his knees, and bounced up and down. That's really the first time anybody had asked him to do something and he DID it. Poor kid has now been bombarded with requests - can you find your socks? where are your shoes? take this to Daddy (3 rooms away!!), go find your bear book . . . What's next? Oh, the other day, out of the blue, he grabbed the spoon out of my hand and started feeding himself. I like to think it's because of all the hours I have spent trying to get him to HOLD the spoon. Who am I kidding? He just decided to do it. Two days later, he started eating his peaches with a fork. Stairs - alternating feet! Balls - kicking them! POINTING TO BODY PARTS!!!! I've always known that he knows body parts. We can ask him to give us a kiss on the nose, cheek, forhead, etc. and he does it, but to POINT? No way!!! One day he grabbed my hand and pointed my finger at his body parts. The next day he was doing it on his own. He is now telling me when he has a stinky diaper (I can't get him to change his own diaper yet - just kidding). He will now sit on his porta-potty without a diaper and read a book. He has decided that he really DOES know how to drink out of a regular cup - complete with swallowing and no dribbling! He figured out how to take off his pants while at our church soup supper a couple weeks ago. I finally just took his pants away from him and let him run around without. The next morning, I found him in his crib without pants OR diaper. That's one I am NOT going to encourage. He has developed a really cute sense of humor - Todd does this "waka waka" thing where his finger bends up and down and comes closer and closer and then tickles Micah on the neck or tummy. Micah now walks around saying, "waka waka" and tickles HIMSELF and giggles just as hard as if Todd were doing it. The last thing I can remember right now is that he will now sit and listen to a story, not just look at the pictures.

More later . . . the kids have arrived.

Happy Birthday to Us - March 9, 2008

Well, another year has come and gone. Micah turned 2 Sunday - yeah! I turned 41, ugh! We had a pretty good day around here. Since Dayton is still pretty well snowed in, things were very slow. We made it out to church along with about 6 other folks :) Then we went to the Olive Garden for lunch. Yippee!!!!!!!!!! I didn't have to cook or eat grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup (standard Sunday noon fare). Plus, I have left-overs for today. Micah was pretty oblivious to the fact that the day had any special meaning whatsoever. He did, however, totally enjoy eating his cake.

I thought long and hard about what kind of cake to make for him. I finally decided to do a giraffe. It is amazing how many giraffes can be found out and about when you have a 2 year old who is ga-ga over giraffes. Luckily, Michael's had a cake pan for me. Lucky, also, that Micah recognized the cake as a giraffe, and announced to the entire family (over and over again) that there was a giraffe sitting on the table in front of him. That top left picture is of him signing, "Giraffe!!!" The right picture is of the group effort to do the candles - Peter lit them, Sofia helped blow, and Molly held him back so he wouldn't jump into the flames. All in all, a successful venture. Last, but not least, was present time. We couldn't resist putting Micah INTO a bag - a present for Mommy!

The last picture I am posting has nothing to do with our birthdays other than the fact that I took it on our birthday. I just thought it was a cute one showing him up and walking around like a real, little person. No more little toddler :(

Arnold Challenge

Well, I haven't posted in 4 1/2 months! It's about time to get back to business.

This past weekend, Peter had his last gymnastics meet. It was held in Columbus, Ohio at the Convention Center. This was "the biggie" - the Arnold Challenge. This is a HUUUUGE event that was started by Arnold Schwarzenegger (ok, I probably mangled his last name) years ago. It has grown to encompass something like 37 different sports (weight lifting, body building, gymnastics, martial arts, competitive cheerleading, fencing, etc.), with 17,000 participants, and 150,000 spectators! Peter was so excited about this - I'm surprised he slept at all the night before. I finally managed to get videos of most of his routines. I have been trying all season, but the positioning has been terrible. I am in the process of trying to post these videos. Be patient, I'm doing my best!

For those of you who don't know about Peter - he is competing for Stars Gymnastics in Dayton, OH, Level 5. He did qualify for the state meet, but at this point, we don't know if the gym is going to be sending the boys to the state meet :( I have been looking at the websites for some of the other gyms that he has been competing against. Some of them have the kids in Peter's level practicing 10 - 12 hours a week! Peter goes 4 hours a week with an additional, optional, 2 hour "open gym" practice on Saturdays. He has been placing consistently in everything but the pommel horse. I think he's doing great when you look at the competition. Funny - people always talk about the parents pushing the kids. With him, it's the opposite! He is begging us to find a gym that will LET him practice 12 hours a weekwhen we move to California. Todd and I are having a hard time convincing him that this needs to be for fun . . . he needs to have a little bit of balance in his life!

I seem to be having a bit of luck posting these routines. Enjoy! (the ones highlighted in blue have been successfully done - it's taking about 45 minutes per video, grrrr)

Peter's Parallel Bars Routine
Peter's High Bar Routine
Peter's Floor Routine
Peter's Rings Routine

ENT Visit and "Good News and Bad News"

Micah and I headed down to Cincinnati yesterday for his 3 month ENT (ear, nose and throat doc) and audiology follow-up. Micah has had 2 confirmed ear infections and a suspected ear infection since we have had him. On his last infection, he was definitely pulling and rubbing at his atretic ear. Also, I can get all the way up to his crib before he turns to look at me. My totally un-expert diagnosis was - I think he is getting ear infections in BOTH ears (so I wanted to talk to the doc about going ahead with the CT scan of his ear), and I think he is retaining fluid in his left ear (so I wanted to talk about tube options). I gave the nurse the updates, and when the doc came in he brought up both points! It's so nice when the professional's opinion lines up with your own, isn't it?? So, he is getting a tube in his left ear . . . don't know when, because we are going to get his little private area fixed up at the same time (ok, he's getting circumcised) and we have to get a referral to urology, go for the initial visit, and then coordinate 2 surgeon's schedules. His CT scan is scheduled for next Thursday (he has to be sedated). That means that I have to put off his shots for another week - I don't want to risk him getting sick or they won't do the scan.

OK, now for the good news/bad news section. The good news is that Micah is now standing up in the middle of the room and walking around. The bad news is that now that he is up and walking, he has discovered that he can actually OPEN the bathroom doors. That means I will be heading out SOON to buy toilet locks. He got into the toilet 3 times today before we figured out that he was actually OPENING the door . . . I just thought the other kids were leaving the door cracked open. Yuck.

Sorry, no pictures today. Kind of like a "grownup" book :)

Micah's First Steps

Micah has been working hard this past week trying to master his next big milestone - walking. (Click on the word "walking" to see the video). OK, truth is, Mommy has been working hard this past week trying to get Micah to stand up long enough to take a couple of steps. He just loves to crawl. He stands and plays. He cruises furniture and walls. He loves to be on his feet. But when it comes time to walk, he prefers to crawl. Well, last night, he surprised us by taking 6 or 7 steps. I tried all day to re-create the feat for pictures, but he would have none of it. He finally decided to cooperate, and Peter caught it on video . . . Yeaaaaaa, Peter! Sofia could barely contain herself . . . as you can see at the end of the video. Molly squealed. The dog ran around. Micah just kind of looks at us all like we are crazy! Do we REALLY want him to start walking?? Yup!

The Communication Lightbulb is . . . Plugged In!

Everybody keeps asking how Micah is doing. Yesterday's post was a family affair . . . today will be a Micah only update. In short, he is keeping us busy, and wearing us (and himself) out.

You may be wondering about the title for today's entry. Well, I think Micah is finally STARTING to get the idea about this whole tw0-way communication thing. The lightbulb is not ON, but I can see that the lamp has been plugged in. I think the bulb may even be glowing :) He is currently using 3 words consistently - unprompted and with meaning. Those 3 words would be "all gone" (ga-ga), "Mama", and "milk" (mmmk). I would like everybody who reads this to try to say "milk" without opening your mouth. Go ahead - press your lips together, say "mmm" and then get a good strong "K" sound . . . but DON'T OPEN YOUR MOUTH. Not so easy for you and me, but Micah sure has it down pat. He will lay in my arms while drinking his bottle and say "Mmmmk. Mmmmmk. Mmmmmk." The only problem is that every time he says it, he expects me to sign it. If I don't, he pulls at my hand until I do. He will say more (mmmmmmmmoooo), up (puuuup uuuuup), and bye-bye with prompting. He signs "dog" (but never when a dog is around) and will sometimes wave. He recognized several signs - milk, caterpillar (one of his favorite toys), bear, all done, cheerios, cheese, toast, peaches, bath (he signed and said that one today), and horse. When I say he recognizes them, I mean he ranges from total comprehension to him looking at my hands with this "that-looks-familiar-what-the-heck-does-it-mean-I've-almost-got-it-agh!" look on his face. He likes for me to sign words ON him - he will grab my hand, pull it over to him and lean in waiting for me to sign on his body. His favorites for me to do are Sofi, Peter, Molly and Daddy. Recognition is a great first step. Now we are just waiting for him to start using some of this great language.

Now for development - We took Micah back to the International Adoption Clinic last week for a 3 month follow-up visit. They re-evaluated him in several areas. When we visited them in June for his initial evaluation (he was 15 1/2 months old), they came up with these results.

Gross Motor: 9 months

Language: 8 months

Fine Motor: 6 months

Personal/Social: 5 months

At our most recent visit (he was 18 1/2 months old), they came up with these results.

Gross Motor: 11 months

Language: 13 months

Fine Motor: 12 months

Personal/Social: 10 months

The lady who did the evaluation was a little fussed about the lack of progress in the gross motor area, but the doctor said to just wait until the 6 month follow-up before getting too concerned. He has made great strides in other areas . . . his focus has been on things other than learning to walk. We are now spending lots of time walking all bent over (that would be the adults are all bent over - holding his hands, the back of his shirt, his overall straps, etc.). I have seen an improvement in his assisted walking in just the past week.

The little guy continues to laugh and giggle up a storm. I was standing next to the crib last night, swaying him back and forth and getting in my last cuddles before putting him down. I noticed he would laugh . . . and stop . . . and laugh . . . and stop. I finally took a look. His hand would lightly brush over the top of the rail to his crib everytime I swayed toward the crib. I have no idea what was so funny about that, but I got a kick out of his giggles. He is doing a bit of climbing. He loves to put blocks, balls, small toys, etc. into the tube of his ball popper (see picture above). Luckily we have been able to get everything out so far. I think I reported in an earlier post that he likes to crawl through the kitchen, open my pantry, take out the baking powder and corn starch containers, build a tower out of them, and then leave the kitchen. He has now graduated to the baking powder, corn starch, and Mrs. Dash seasoning blend. Who-hooo! 3 stories tall! He continues to be a one-baby wrecking machine, capable of destroying an entire room in 3 minutes flat. He has now discovered the craft cabinet - he can pull out the drawer of crayons and empty it completely. The drawer also makes a comfy seat (as pictured above). And last, but not least, he thinks it's hilarious that he can now reach the door handles - booooing! giggle, giggle, giggle. booooooing! giggle, giggle, giggle. booooooing! giggle, giggle, giggle.

Lost Teeth, Surgery, and 2 Birthdays!

Last week was quite the busy week!! Molly has had 2 slightly loose teeth for some time now. She has also had 2 adult teeth coming up behind those 2 loose teeth for quite some time now. FINALLY, after forever, Molly has lost her first tooth - yippee! I took a picture, but it came out all fuzzy. Use your imagination :) Luckily she lost it before her surgery. I think she was a little worried that it would fall out during surgery.

Next on the agenda is the afore-mentioned surgery. Molly was scheduled to go under the knife at 11:30 on October 1st. She had to stop eating at 1:30 am, and had to stop all liquids by 7:30. After that, NOTHING in her mouth at all. I had a plan . . . I woke her at 7:25 and gave her a glass of white grape juice. Everything went smoothly. At 8:15, I was wrestling with my curling iron and trying to keep Micah from getting into the toilet/ grabbing the curling off the counter/slamming cabinet doors while shouting directions at Molly (brush your hair, get your coloring books, brush your hair, where is your blanket, brush your hair, brush your hair) when suddenly Molly walked into my bathroom. She spied a pile of animal crackers that had migrated from my pocket (confiscated at church the day before) onto the bathroom counter. She said, "Oooooh, my animal crackers!" I said, "Uh-huh. . . .Micah, NO, that's hot . . . animal crackers?? NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Too late. We found that 1/2 an animal cracker can push surgery back by 3 hours. Molly was really good the whole day. I could tell she was nervous, but she finds so many ways to entertain herself. When it was finally time to go, the nurse gave her a Tylenol/sleeping medicine concoction. It was really funny watching her sloooooowly go under. She got kind of giggly, and squealy, and her speech got kind of slurry, then she started waving at things that weren't there . . . . Watching her come out was about the same. She was a sleepy little thing for several hours. On the plus side, she got to have popsicles and blue slushies. One of the pictures I am posting shows the side effects of the blue slushy. The doctor said everything went well. They had to cut down through 3 layers of muscle to get to it, but it all came out once they got down to it. There was quite a bit of bleeding, but that was to be expected since they had to cauterize all of the capillaries feeding into it (hemangiomas are an abnormal build up of blood vessels in the skin or internal organs . . . consisting of dense, usually elevated masses of dilated blood vessels.) . She is left with a little soreness and a 3 inch long scar running down her back just to the left of her backbone. Now, the challenge is to keep her inactive for 2 whole weeks!! She stayed home Tuesday, but went back for a half-day stint on Wednesday. Thursday it was back to business as usual. Wow.

Todd's mom took care of Micah the whole day. She then got to care for Sofia and Peter as well, thanks to the delayed schedule. It sounded like Micah was a little angel for Grandma the whole day. I should have expected it - he is such an easy-going little guy. Thanks, Grandma!

And for the final bit of news. Sofia and Molly had their birthdays on Wednesday, October 3rd. Happy 10th and 6th, girlies!! I am posting a picture of Sofia reacting to opening her present from Peter . . . when she started to open his present, Peter ran and hid behind a chair. Todd and I thought he was scared she wouldn't like it. Turns out, he was scared of what he thought she would do when she saw the present. Turns out he was right to hide! She saw it, screamed, and LAUNCHED herself at him! Who'da thought a Webkinz horse could bring out such excitement? I am also posting a shot of Molly seeing her Barbie Dream House (rescued from a friend's attic after 20+ years of storage). She hit frequencies with her screams that I didn't think were humanly possible. Guess they enjoyed their gifts. Sofia had her birthday party on Friday - she was off for parent-teacher conferences. Molly will be having hers this week on Saturday.

Oops, THIS is the final bit of news. Micah is finally starting to get the idea of how to use a spoon. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are two thousand words.

September in a Flash

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! Things keep happening, and I think, "Wow, I'll have to put that in . . . " Oh well. Here goes.

September started with the Venema family heading off to Camp Kern (YMCA Camp) for Family Camp over Labor Day weekend. This was our second year there, and it was every bit as fun as the first year. Thanks to Myrna and John for inviting us!!! For those of you who don't know about Family Camp, it is a fun-filled weekend with more outdoor activities than you could ever imagine. We did rock wall climbing, rappeling, verticle mazes with looooong, hiiiiiiigh zip lines, high ropes courses, swimming, hiking, BB guns, archery, canoeing/kayaking (Molly in picture above), giant swings (Peter in picture above), long mine tunnel slides, horse back riding, camp fires, human clue games . . . I'm sure I'm missing a few activities! All the kids were troopers. It's really crazy to look up and see your 5 year old rappelling off a 50 foot tower, or to see them flying down a 100 yard zip line. Some day I might get used to seeing them do this crazy stuff. (I just have to keep reminding myself that I used to do crazy stuff, too. Wait, I STILL do these crazy things.) I was a little worried about how Micah would react to being away from home and sleeping in a porta-crib, but he didn't seem to miss a beat. He wasn't too thrilled about being put into a climbing harness, though :) (I have tried to put the harness picture on here TWICE, but it refuses to attach in the correct position - just tilt your head to the left and pretend it's on there right.)

Sofia is again being lambasted by homework at school. She's doing pretty well this year. I think it's mostly due to her new study technique :)

Next in our month was a continued effort to figure out what's up with Molly. I noticed a huge bump on her back when she bent over for her scoliosis check during her kindergarten physical in August. She had an ultrasound which showed that it wasn't the quick easy little fat pocket that the doctor was hoping for. Then she had a 30 minute long MRI (no sedation!!) which pretty much ruled out any malignancy (whew!). Then we were off to a surgeon at Dayton Children's Hospital. He seems to think it is an hemangioma which is embedded in her muscles just to the left of her spinal column. She will be having surgery next Monday to remove it. However, that is happening on October 1st, so you'll have to wait until the October update for more on that :)

We have been going to the Dayton area's Family With Children from China (FCC) playgroup. There is a little girl there who is only 6 weeks older than Micah who came from the same orphanage. I love to see Micah and Ella together!

Finally, Micah went down to the International Adoption Clinic in Cincinnati this past Monday for his 3 month check up. He is now officially, completely ON THE CHARTS!!!! His head is in the 50th %ile, his length is in the 10th %ile, and his weight is just above the 3rd %ile. The scales say he has gained 3 pounds since we came home, but my arms and back would swear to a 5 pound gain at least! He is doing all kinds of new things - imitating sounds, putting blocks INTO things, building towers (mostly he just knocks them down and we build them, but he is finally building them himself), climbing, going down stairs, starting to drink from a cup, FINALLY starting to eat some table food, he laughs and giggles all the time . . . he is just a ton of fun.

I came home the other night after taking Sofia to her flute lesson and found Todd and Peter out working on the lawn mower. Micah was set up on the drive with a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. He was SOAKED from head to toe - but only on his front side! He had been standing at that bucket for about 45 minutes just splashing and splashing and splashing . . . If I had to say what his favorite activity was, I would say splashing in the water. He does it in the bath, buckets, sink, dog water, toilets . . .

It's time for me to close. Micah is awake and ready to tackle the afternoon. Check back for more updates. Really, I will do them more often!

First Day of School and an Itchy Head

Hmmmm, looking at that title, I'm feeling a little creepy . . . most people put "school" and "itchy heads" together and come up with lice! In this case, that would be a most incorrect correlation :)

Three of the kiddies started back to school yesterday. Sofia is in the 5th grade (when did she get so big?), Peter is in the 3rd grade, and little Molly started KINDERGARTEN! We took the obligatory first day of school picture at the front door. This year we somehow managed to add the "gansta" pose, as well. Looking at that shot makes me wonder how I managed to get them into the car and off to school. Truth be told, when I got out of the shower at 7:00 AM, all three were up, dressed, hair combed, beds made and breakfast nearly done! We didn't need to leave the house until nearly 8:00. Ahhh, if it would only last. Today, I had to wake up Molly at 7:10, and drag Sofia out of bed at 7:15 . . . Peter had a repeat of yesterday. They all had a great time yesterday, so I have high hopes for a great year.

OK, now for the itchy head. I finally managed to capture a shot of Micah scratching the top of his head with his toes at the dinner table. My other monkeys think it's hilarious, so . . . monkey see, monkeys do.

Back and a Loooong Break

So many people have been after me to update our blog, but I just haven't been able to find the time. 4 kids, a hubby, dog, cat, hamster, frog, a house, gymnastics, riding lessons, doctor appointments . . . I've been lucky to find time to breathe!

I haven't figured out how to do captions for pictures yet - so this one to the left was taken at the airport when we got back from China.

Everything has been going wonderfully here. Micah has slid into the family like he has always been here. It took about 2 weeks to get totally comfortable in his car seat (he made the 6 hour car trip back from Chicago with nary a whimper). It took a few weeks longer to get the high chair routine down (I had to sit with my feet in his high chair and Micah on my legs. I would feed him, laugh with him, and gradually slide him closer to my feet. He would laugh, eat, and whip his head around to be sure my feet were still there. This went on for a couple of days. Finally, I pulled my feet out from under him, and . . . he went into a hysterical crying fit. The next day Todd took over and had him eating pancakes in his high chair within minutes. I take credit for laying the groundwork!). He is mostly adjusted to baths (Todd keeps slipping on his swimming suit and hopping in the tub with Micah - I have a very clean husband). The stroller, however, still seems to be an "acid" stroller. He sees it and starts screaming. I have decided that the true purpose of a stroller is to carry the diaper bag and other purchases while I cart the kid on my hip.

Micah has gone to see the docs/therapists down in Cincinnati at the International Adoption Center. All of his blood work has come back just fine - no HIV, syphilis, Hep B or C, all immunizations took, liver and kidney functions are fine. He has visited the ENT doc (ear, nose and throat). His hearing test was - right ear has a 65 dB loss, and left ear is at 15 dB. This was pretty much what we expected. We will get more accurate results as he gets older and can respond a bit more responsibly. His TB test came back reactive, which seems to be very common in kids adopted from China. It can be either that he was exposed to TB, or it is a reaction to a vaccination that they give in China. We had a chest x-ray done to be sure that he does not have the disease - all clear. Now we get to give him antibiotics for 9 months as a safe guard in case he was exposed to it and is carrying the "bug" in his body somewhere. It will be a pain to get this bitter tasting crushed pill down him for the next 9 months, but worth it in the long run. He has gained 3 pounds since we got him, and grown a full inch!

Now for the fun stuff. He crawls like a speed demon. Loves to escape from Daddy and climb the stairs to play in the toilet in our bathroom. He can demolish a room in about 10 minutes. He is cruising furniture. He loves to imitate baby birds (open mouthed "AAHH", to which he expects us to do a nice, loud, "AAHH!!" back to him. Quite a funny sight when all 4 kids and myself are doing this walking through a store.). He thinks it's fun to pull his right leg up and scratch the top of his head with his toes WHILE SITTING IN HIS HIGH CHAIR (still trying to get a picture of this). He can snarf down 2 pieces of pizza as fast as I can. His favorite position is upside down. He finally started feeding himself a couple of weeks ago (unfortunately, he started with blueberry pancakes - not the cleanest thing. He ended up with blueberries all over his face, hair, clothes, arms, neck, etc. ). He's got lightning fast hands and will catch hold of ANYONE's hair who has the misfortune to walk within grabbing range. He loves to hug and cuddle. He loves to give kisses (unfortunately, he gives kisses on your nose with his teeth - have I mentioned that he slobbers ALOT?). He sleeps very well - 10 hours at night and a couple hours in the afternoon. I just have to put him in his crib and he plays himself to sleep. I could go on and on. He's totally awesome. So far, things are much easier that we thought they would be.

Negatives - diapers and drool. Enough said.

Sofia, Peter and Molly have been champs through this whole process. They think Micah is the cutest baby in the world and really have fun playing with him. I hope that these feelings continue as school starts up again. "Mommy time" will be at a premium once school, homework and extracurricular activities start up, so I can foresee that some jealousy issues might pop up. Hope not!! Micah seemed to be attaching to both Todd and myself . . . until Daddy went TDY for a week. He would have nothing to do with Todd for a while when he came back! We expected it, but it's still hard to see it happen. We get to go through that again next week. Ugh.

Well, I'd better sign off for now. Lots to do around the house while the little guy is asleep.

Day 16 and beyond!!

Hey Alex - recognize this place?? We ate 1 or 2 or 8 meals here!

We did manage to get all of our "stuff" packed away into bags - the 3 we brought with us, and the 2 that we bought over in China. Todd got a kick out of shopping for our new suitcase. The people kept telling us that they had disposable suitcases, or for more money we could get a suitcase that you could use more than once. Todd managed to hold his tongue for a while, but the comment finally burst forth (with a muted chortle), "Well, if I'm going to buy a suitcase, I certainly hope I can use it more than once!" Before coming here I had never heard of a disposable suitcase. Live and learn. The suitcase shopping also netted us 8 more purchases - maybe we should have bought that mongo-huge, gargantuan sized suitcase that we had laughed about earlier! The good news is - as I stated in the first sentence - that we did manage to get everything in. Everything, that is, except the one plug adapter that I used with my curling iron - it's still in the closet outlet in room 1430 of the White Swan Hotel. Of course, that was the one thing that we had borrowed for our trip. Radio Shack, here we come.

For our last meal in China, we decided to try a new restaurant. Todd and I were both terribly depressed at the end of our meal - it was by far the BEST meal we had eaten the entire trip, and we realized that we will probably never have another meal like it again. Todd stated quite emphatically that if we had found it earlier, we probably would have eaten there every day for the entire trip. We picked up a business card on the way out, hoping to pass on the name to other folks. Joke was on us - it was all in Chinese. We did manage to tell one person about it on the walk back to the hotel, though. If you are interested - go out of the hotel, turn right, walk past Lucy's, past the tennis shop, you will see tennis courts on your right, go in where the hostess is standing, they will take you through a courtyard and up some stairs - order the Sweet and Sour Chicken. Wish we knew the name!

Finally, Friday morning arrived. We were out of the hotel at 5:45 AM, and caught an 8:20 flight to Tokyo, then on to Minneapolis, and finally to Dayton. Total travel time was a little over 24 hours. Micah was awesome on the flight. The only time he cried was when I put him on the changing table in the airplane bathrooms for diaper changes. Other than that, he sat on my lap (or Todd's lap) and played with his fingers, stacking cups, rattle, my necklace, our hands, etc. He never seemed to be bothered by take-offs or landings. He smiled, laughed, slept, and was an all-around joy. One highlight of the trip was the McDonald's in the Tokyo airport - yes, McDonald's was a highlight. I had the best hamburger I'd eaten in a good, long time - almost tasted like there was a bit of horseradish or black pepper or something on it. And the french fries . . . heavenly!! Now, to satisfy my other cravings - PB and J, Subway, City BBQ, and ICE COLD WATER.

Even though Micah was awesome, it was the longest 24 hours I have ever experienced. I just couldn't wait to see Sofia, Peter, and Molly. If I let myself think about them, I would start crying. I guess 2 1/2 weeks without seeing them was just a wee bit too long for my taste. When we finally got to the airport, I couldn't seem to hold onto them long enough or tight enough. Thankfully, they were pretty tolerant of their overly emotional mother, and they let me hug on them and kiss on them as much as I wanted. I think they missed Mom and Dad, too. It was great to see my parents, too :) Our friends, Tom, Lisa and Beth Clinch were part of the welcoming committee as well. They very thoughtfully provided the welcome home banners that the kids colored and held at the airport, and also helped transport people back to our house from the airport. Another surprise - our friends the Dobbs were there, too! They left from the airport to start their PCS (for you non-military folks, that means they left the airport to start their drive across the country because they were moving). After a year of waiting, they just couldn't leave without one quick glimpse of Micah!

Now for the important part - Micah and the kids. We had been showing Micah pictures of the kids the whole time we were over in China. I kept wondering how much this was going to impress him . . . after all, he's only a little baby! Micah took one look at Sofia, smiled a HUGE smile, and put his arms out for her - remember, he still isn't really smiling at people much. We had her sit in a chair, then let him sit on her lap. He looked around at all 3 kids and smiled. Guess that answered my question! He did really well with my parents - again, we had showed him a picture of them, too. He relaxed enough with them to fall asleep on my mom Sunday afternoon - how sweet.

We have now been home for 3 full days. On Saturday night/Sunday morning, he slept 18 hours with a short 45 minute awaked period around 4:00 AM. He seems to have adjusted completely to the time change already. We are desperately hoping that this sleeping pattern continues. However, I'm sure that the tried and true kids' rule will apply to Micah - As soon as you figure out the baby's schedule, the baby changes it. He seems to be fine with Buddy (cocker spaniel), but is still a little uncertain about Fido (cat). This isn't such a good thing, because Fido likes to jump into the crib and sleep with Micah. I'm just waiting for him to wake up at some point and find Fido in the crib. Yikes. He officially hates his car seat. His very first car seat experience was coming home from the airport. I sat in the far back end of the van so he could see me from his his in the middle row (he is facing the back - only 18 pounds, and really doesn't have much neck and back strength yet). That trip was fine. Second trip was today going to Sofia's riding lesson - not too bad. Cried for a couple of minutes. Third trip (home from the lesson) - he screamed for the whole 20 minutes, and then hiccuped/gasped for 20 minutes after getting back in my arms at home. Fourth and fifth trips (to and from gymnastics) - equally bad. Luckily, Todd came home in time to do the kid switch at the gym, and then I was able to pick Peter up alone at the end of the evening. Everybody seems to be adjusting just fine to Micah being in my arms for 7 1/2 of his 8 waking hours each day. We will see how my arms and back adjust to it as he is awake for longer periods each day - ugh. Luckily, Todd's mom arrived today just hours after my parents left. It will be really nice to have an extra set of hands around for the next week. I'm hoping that Micah will feel comfortable enough by the time she leaves to sit on the ground for short periods of time so I can get some stuff done myself.

Before anyone asks - NO, I don't have any pictures from him at home. My camera's card is full, and I don't want to delete until I can backup my pictures. Yes, that is approximately eleventy-gazzillion pictures on my camera. Todd, you can stop laughing now - that's why I bought a digital camera . . . THINK HOW MUCH I SAVED by not developing 50 rolls of film :)

FIRST FOR TODAY (Monday, June 18) - Micah was playing with two stacking cups (playing means he had one in each hand and was examining them intently) when he suddenly dropped one. It fell between my leg and the arm of the recliner. He actually LOOKED for it (first time), LEANED OVER to continue to look for it (obviously the first time since it was a continuation of another first time event), and then STUCK HIS HAND DOWN TO SEARCH FOR IT AND RETRIEVE IT!!!!!! I was blown away. Up to this point, he has never shown any sign of wanting to find something that had been dropped, or even an awareness that an object continues to exist out of sight (OK - I am trying really hard to avoid using phrases like "object permanence" . . . I don't want to sound like a textbook). Maybe this is just a breakthrough in him realizing that he can now go after and get what he wants - no more crib bars in the way. He is continuing to become more comfy with the kids. I think the kids are getting more comfy with him. I've got 2 awesome Mommy's helpers in my 2 girls. They love to sit with him, play with his hair, help distract him when I change his diaper, etc. Peter is so funny - he just takes Micah in stride like he's part of the furniture.

I am rambling a bit. I think I will draw this to a close so I can get a bit of sleep tonight (although I am not a bit sleepy yet). 4:00 AM comes really early when you don't get to sleep until 1:30 AM.

Day 14 and 15 - June 13 and 14, 2007

OK, I'm starting off by posting the pictures from the medical exam yesterday. I was in a hurry to go catch the boat for our river cruise and ran out of time.

Wednesdays post - Today was our Consulate Appointment. Todd and I only had to sit in our room while our guide, David, ran over to the American Consulate with all of our paperwork. He then did all the hard work, while we played with Micah in our room. We were quite relieved to get his call letting us know that everything had worked out just fine.

Next it was out to SHOP!!!!!! Todd just loves to shop :) OK, I love to shop. He loves to bargain with the shopkeepers. It works out quite nicely. Now, how on EARTH will we get all this stuff home??

Last for the day was a river boat cruise. We ordered Papa John's pizza to take with us. It was a very nice couple of hours going up and down the river and seeing all of the buildings. It is amazing seeing the small, run-down older buildings tucked in among the huge, new skyscrapers. David says that when he was young (20 years ago) he would ride his bike through the fields to get to downtown Guangzhou. Now those fields are the huge skyscrapers. Kind of sad, but progress keeps on going. The last picture is of our hotel - The White Swan.

Post for Thursday - Today had two main events. The first was the attempt at packing all of our stuff into the bags that we brought with us. It was not a success. We will be heading out to buy a new suitcase as soon as I finish this blog.

The second event was the taking of the traditional adoption picture on the red couch in the White Swan. It is normally a picture of all the babies in your travel group. However, since we did not get to travel with a group, we contacted the other family that is here who got their little girl from Micah's SWI. They came over this afternoon, and I swear the kids recognized each other. Micah saw Anna and was all smiles. He crawled over to her and started touching her, smiling, laughing, flirting like a big boy! They were both really happy to see each other, so the photo session was a total success!!

Ok, so we really had three big events today. Probably the most important was our trip to the American Consulate where Todd and I got to take our oaths. Micah slept through most of it, but woke up just in time for the actual oath-taking. When we finished, he looked in my face and started laughing. Probably because I was starting to get all teary-eyed. That's why Todd was laughing, at any rate :) We got the legendary sealed brown envelope which contains all kinds of important paperwork that we have to give to the immigrations people when we get back to the good old US of A, and Micah's Chinese passport (I am posting a picture of him with it - it's a little red booklet).