...and I approve this message

a day in the life....

Sitting in the kitchen eating dinner Seth says, completely out of the blue, 'Barack Obama'

Liam says, as if on cue, 'and I approve this message'.

I welcome commercials that don't end in 'and I approve this message'. LOL

What a campaign! What a win! (several big wins)

I can't wait for what's next.

A year since my last blog (pretty much) ... bad me

I was just looking at the Calcano blog....just as slack with their posts. That's makes me feel slightly less guilty about not posting updates.

I miss them somethin' awful. Did that sound southern? Wow. I've been here so long I just can't tell anymore. Anyway, I love them and miss them sooo much. :( I will be setting time aside to visit more in 2009. I guess we can call it a resolution of sorts. ...prioritize vacation days...family family family... We love you all.

On a Southern note, I love this place. While I truly miss my family, I really do love it here. I can't imagine life anywhere else. I can't imagine a life without the Deatons or a life without the Sanchezes. Both just as much family to me as the Calcanos, Sotos, Colonas, etc...

I was thinking about that today...friends and family who mean so much to me. Maybe it has been this year's election that has brought it to the forefront of my mind. Those that I love. Those who I want to see succeed and flourish in your careers and in your lives. Those people, like Elizabeth and Teresa, who are far away but never far from my thoughts or my heart. People who have truly shaped the way I see the world and give me a glimpse of our country's potential. Most of you will never read this but I feel compelled to type THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU.

Michael called me at work today to tell me Liam was sitting on the toilet "going poopy" reading a starwars comic book.

Like father, like son. :)

Indians and Pilgrims at School

All of the kids in Liam's class were required to dress as Pilgrims and Indians. The teacher sent home a note specifying which to dress as. Liam was supposed to be a pilgrim but I requested that he be allowed to be an Indian.

When we got to the school Michael said all the Indians had something in common. I nievely said, "a feather", to which Michael replied, "nope, there's something else." Sure as shit, I walk in the room and all the black children were dressed as Indians and all the white children were dressed as Pilgrims. wow. WTF???

As a sidenote, all the Black kids were seated at the 2 tables closest to the door. sigh.

We will be touring the Catholic School at our church very soon.

UPDATE (11/2008): We have been in FREEEEE public school since July and LOVE IT!

so tired...so tired..so tired but DONE!

I have finally finished the adoption photo album. I tried to include everyone but it just wasn't possible. I had to limit the number of pages because I need to print 20 copies!! We love all of you, whether we included your photo or not.

:)

Liam and I are on page 50 of Harry Potter and he's still keeping up! He loves it. If Seth wasn't such a distraction, Liam would be able to pay attention better. We read until mommy gets a headache from Liam talking to Seth and Seth saying, "mommy, mommy, MOMMY ... a ball, a ball?" Too bad we don't have more hours in a day.

When the boys are ready for bed, or when I'm ready for the boys to be ready for bed, we do our normal routine of bath, bed, brushing teeth, and books, and I put the baby gate up so they stay in there. Seth usually floats around the room for at least 30 minutes and then crawls in bed next to Liam. He has his own bed but they will only sleep together. Last night was a little different. I thought I heard a thump sound and when I went to their room to check on them, the 1st thing I saw was Seth, asleep on the floor next to the gate. The funny part was that instead of climbing into bed with Liam he went over to the bed, got his pillow, stuffed pig, and a blanket and took it over the gate and went to sleep. I guess he was so pissed off by being told it was bedtime he refused to sleep in his bed.

yes...I moved him to his bed.

Wonderful new words

Well, Seth finally has some words.

Last weekend he saw my coffee cup and said, "Mommy's agua".

Beer bottle = "Daddy's agua"

All cereal, crackers, goldfish and other crunchy foods are "fish".

Anything round, edible or not, is an apple.

OH yeah.....most stuff is preceeded by the word MINE. Mine apple, which really sounds like mine appooo, mine shoe, mine fish.

Luckily, potty is really potty so there are no bathroom miscommunications. I am thankful for small favors.

Liam Loves Reading Harry Potter

We've tried reading Harry Potter twice before but Liam had a hard time keeping up with the story so he lost interest pretty early on. I decided to try it again and what a difference!!! I stop every couple of paragraphs so we can briefly review what's going on and that seems to help keep him focused. He was so interested this time we read for over an hour before bed and I had to cut him off at the end of the chapter. He was asking about what might happen to certain characters and wanted to keep reading until we knew for sure what was going to happen.

I think it's so cool when he stops me to ask what a word means. That tells me he's really paying attention. Tonight he asked about spectacles, sparkling, and odd.

I wonder if I can a section to my goodreads.com profile for his books. :)

UPDATE: yes, I can.

2nd in home visit

Well, my little minions were more like themselves this time around. Liam even got a timeout. Seth was...well...he was 2. :)

Apparently, she neglected to send me a 28 page questionnaire. It sounds like some sort of in depth autobiographical task. 28 pages....tweeeeeenty eeeeeeight paaaages. I don't think every detail of my life would fill 28 pages. I wonder if it's a bunch of "What if...." situational stuff. Short essay....28 pages of short essays about us. WOW. I pity the person who has to read it. I can't imagine we'll end up writing "Best Seller List" caliber essays. I keep telling myself maybe 28 pages isn't as long as I think it is.

It is.

(time to go...the minions are howling)

Family Photo Album

I think I am going to post the final family photo album online for anyone to download. I have to send 15 printed albums to the adoption agency to send off so that version may be a little smaller than what I post online. I'll definitely get at least one or 2 photos of all of our family and closest friends. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress. If you haven't sent me pictures please do so soon because I hope to have the album done by our 2nd social worker visit, which is in 2 weeks.

I got home from work today completely exhausted. Not long after sitting down, Liam and Seth decided to run around in a circle. Seth was chasing Liam and they were just running and laughing. It was just about the cutest thing ever. As I watched them I thought, "I bet adding a 3rd child to the mix increases the collision rate drastically." hmm.

I wonder if you can love someone you haven't met yet...probably so.

:)

From Heavenly Angels to Minions of Satan in 10 Seconds

Both Liam and Seth were absolutely perfect while Janice was here. Liam was polite, spoke to her in a clear voice, and even said please and thank you. Seth was nice to Liam. No one fought over toys and they both ate dinner without any complaints.

Not 10 seconds after she walked out the door there was screaming, fighting, and fits over blueberries and yogurt. It's 8:15 and Seth is still pissed off about something.

All I have to say is thank you for saving it all for 6pm.

1st Social Worker In Home Visit

Well, tonight's the night! Janice will be coming over tonight at 5:00. Hopefully, I get to my house before she does. We have no idea what to expect with this visit. She's already us a bunch of questions about our families, job, hobbies, etc... I don't have much left to tell her. Of course, we still have outstanding paperwork. Last week was insane and next week will be worse. The whole house, except for Liam, has been sick. We are all just now starting to feel human again.

I'm so busy with my Chemistry class I can barely see straight. My 1st quiz is Wednesday night. ugh.

PM Update:
She's gone now. We all survived. Quite uneventful actually. She came in, chatted with us, took a tour of the Bradley facility and she was gone within an hour. She reminded us about our outstanding documents.

She'll be back in 3 weeks.

...and her name is Janice

Our 1st face to face with the social worker!!!! In my mind, we were getting ready to meet the anti-Christ sent from a far away land to judge our intentions and parenting skills. I imagined a bitter woman with a doubtful glare ready to wag her disapproving finger at me at any moment. Luckily, the world in my mind is not the one we actually live in.

Thankfully, she was late for our 1st meeting. The time spent in the car waiting for her to arrive was just enough time for me to be nervous, second guess myself, panic and then recover quite nicely. By the time she arrived I had it all under control....at least that's what I like to tell myself. Shannon told me not to get all worked up over the mountains of paperwork, requirements, and face to face meetings. In her usual awesome friend way she said, "Don't even get all worked up over it all. You'll see....you'll get all worked up and in the end when it happens it will be anti-climactic at best. You'll be nervous and worried about the meeting and once it's done you'll think, 'was that all?'"

Yup. She was right. Leave it to Shannon to put things into perspective for me.

Janice turned out to be a normal person. WHO KNEW??! So we emerged from the meeting with no battle scars, no wagging fingers, no judgmental stares...just normal, pleasant adult conversation. Oh, and of course there was Seth, swiping the papers off the table, writing on my arm and leaving a trail of raisins all around the room....but that part was to be expected.

Liam...what do you mean your finger is stuck...

yes, stuck! In a kaleidoscope. On the morning of Seth's birthday party Liam decided to put his finger in the eye hole of a party favor kaleidoscope. OY! Naturally, it got stuck. We tried everything to get it off without the help of the ER. Of course, mommy took pictures while daddy got to work with the tools. I never thought I'd hear myself tell the pediatrician, "Oh, you can cancel our appointment. We found the right Dremel tool attachment. That and a bag of chips and he's all good." I'll post the pictures tonight. HAHA!

Iris and Ivan (aka "The Cousins")

FINALLY!!!! FAMILY NEARBY!!! We are very excited to have Iris and Ivan so close to us. They live about 20 min away in a WONDERFUL 2 story house with their adorable puppy. If any family members want their new information you can contact me for it if you don't have Iris' cell number. For now she still has her NY cell. No, I won't be posting their personal infomation on the Internet. :)

1st Visit with the Social Worker

Well, the time is almost here!!!! Our adoption social worker has called us and we have an appointment scheduled to meet with her on Tuesday Morning!!! This will be our 1st of several face to face meetings with her. I'm really hoping she's a nice lady.

Florida Trip

We all had a blast in Florida with Grandma, Uncle Billy, and all the wonderful family we have in Florida. As usual, Tity Iris was a wonderful and gracious hostess and we just LOVED being able to spend a relaxing with her, Larry, Mama, and Papi. Here is the link to the pictures that most of you have already seen. Go to the photos...

Liam's 1st visit to the Art Museum

We took Liam with us to go see the Temples and Tombs Egyptian Exhibit at the art museum today. Seth had to miss out....no strollers allowed. I guess they have something against knocking over or touching (gasp) priceless pieces. Seth was happily napping anyway. Liam on the other hand skipped his nap, which wasn't as horrific as I expected. He managed to make it well over an hour before melting...actually, he was jumping up yelling "HIYA!!" as we walked through the exhibit. Yeeeah...he's 4.

Don't You Need to Buy a House 1st??

Actually, no. In this state owning your home, or even being married, is not a requirement for domestic adoption. We've decided to stay in the house we are renting for at least another year. We are just going to continue saving money until we see the house we want to buy. We definitely want to stay in the same area where we live now so instead of hunting, searching, and stressing out about finding a house and wondering how much we want to pay monthly we are going to stay put for now. We also have the option of buying the house we are renting but there's no rush. We love our neighborhood and since the boys will not be attending public school moving is one less thing to worry about. All we want to do is continue saving money, plan some family trips to NY and FL, and enjoy the time with our children.