Why I Don't Have A Cooking Blog...

So my ego won't let me show you pictures of the wonderful chocolate cake as it appeared from the over...that is after it oozed over the sides of the pan, looking more liked lava than double chocolate. (JB's gonna love that mess...he's the mess cleaner in our house. I'll have to serve him a piece of cake before I clue him in on the oven. OOOPS!)

The above picture is the final product, after a little surgery to even things out and a frosting adjustment. (So un-Ganache of me, but I had to add some powdered sugar to the frosting because I wasn't paying attention and added a WHOLE stick of butter instead of 1/2 and the frosting was too runny.) If there is one thing I learned from Anonymous (my mom) it is how to repair a cake disaster!

In addition to being a decent cook, you have to be a REALLY good photographer to have a cooking blog. I'm not...a decent cook, or a good photographer. With the adoption complete, I guess I'll have to keep looking for another new direction to take the blog. Cookin' ain't it.

But, the number one reason why I shouldn't have a cooking blog:



Bottle-propping.




Go ahead, save this child. Report me...call DHS right now. Poor little ignored-thing, she couldn't even finish her bottle before she fell asleep on the kitchen floor...

Snow Bear

After yesterday's ramble, I thought a picture was most appropriate for today. It is snowing and we had to get out to get brother to school. It was the perfect time to break out the cool snow bear outfit from Mimi and Auntie Anne. It is so cute!!

I am off to make the chocolate cake featured on the TOday show yesterday. I could get use to staying home, but my wasteline might never forgive me! (I really am going back to work...really...)

Ramblings

Sister

Little sister is recovering (again) from a nasty infection in her arm. Our doctor believes the spot was originally where she was given a vaccination in November. It has been slowly growing since we arrived home. It ended up being very wicked...I wouldn't have believed that much green ooze was possible from that little arm. The bump is better and she's stopped the projectile vomit now, so all is well.

Needless to say, we already think she's pretty incredible, but I imagine if we ever get her to 100% she'll be even more amazing!

WB

WB is ready for me to go back to work. Sad, but true. He was excited the first week I was home. He was intrigued at being a "car rider" and being picked up and dropped off at school, but now he has decided that he really misses his friends in before and after care so he wants me to drop him at 7 am and pick him up at 4:30 so he can be back on his regular schedule. (We are so blessed to have great before and after care at the school!!!) But mostly, he wants me back at work so that I am not cooking dinners every night. The kid could live on noodles and pb&j, and isn't much interested in real food. With my work schedule, we are pretty lax about dinner time. With me home, we are eating real dinners every night and he's tired of onions, mushrooms and green things. Hate to tell him, the new meal planning efforts are here to stay.

JB

I am proud to announce, after a REALLY long wait, we will have an official ceremony recognizing JB's promotion to Lt. Colonel! Woo Hoo! It is a dream realized for him and I'm very proud of my Marine. (Even if he is in the Guard now..lol.)

Other Stuff

Unlike Walker, I am dreading the thought of going back to work. (But yes, Stacey, I'll be there on the 18th!) Staying home just isn't a realistic goal for me right now. I am sure that once I am back in the swing of things, I'll be happy to be back in my old routine. Funny, I'm having a harder time with the thought of going back to work after DoriGrace than I did with WB.

So very happy for Heather for the long awaited referral of Caleigh! Another Can Tho sweetie is coming home! Heather's story is so interesting, she and her husband adopted twin boys from Can Tho seven years ago. I'm so excited for her family!

Scary news for those waiting to adopt from Vietnam. My heart aches for those paper chasing and waiting on referrals. I hope the US and Vietnam can iron out the differences and get a honest process in place for the benefit of the children and waiting families. On a selfish personal note, I don't know what this will mean for us and our quest for one more. Since we've been home, I have been pretty obsessed with pursuing a waiting child to bridge the gap between WB and DG. I guess we'll just wait and see...

Fly Girl

Hangin' with by BFF (best friend forever)...Fly Girl. She's so cute. She looks just like me, except she has purple eyes. She has dragonflies all over her outfit, (the symbol for Vietnamese little girls) so we call her Fly Girl. She is my first baby doll..."Santa" brought her. My mom thinks she looks kinda scary because she has black and blue ribbon for her hair, but I think she's the coolest!

DeeGee

Why I'm Not Mother Of The Year...Again

WB's school called at 8:30...had I forgotten our meeting? Ooops! I'm apparently so obsessed with child #2, that I forgot a teacher meeting for child #1--which has already been rescheduled 3 times!!! They were happy to reschedule...no harm...no foul...but I feel like crap for being so irresponsible!!

So...since I am so obsessed with the princess, and since the prince is safely off to school (where they pay lots of attention to him...unlike at home with his poor mother....)...here's my favorite morning pic of the girl. Outfit courtesy of Aunt Lori...head tourniquet courtesy of Julia.

Things to Keep Away From DG

We had a very eventful morning. We had an 8:30 appointment for pictures so that I could get DG's adoption announcements off in the mail. I don't know WHAT I was thinking scheduling the photographer, who happens to be 35 miles away, at 8:30 on a holiday, but I can't blame it on anyone by me! (I won't even detail what a crazy person I was yesterday, driving around and trying to find clothes for everyone!) Anyway, we made it -- and only 10 minutes late. Little sister did great, aside from the constant breaks to remove her hands from her slobbery mouth. I can't wait to see the finished pictures on Thursday! I've been designing this announcement in my head for AGES!!

WB is becoming quite the big brother. He is genuinely concerned for DG's well-being. He is the first to run to her when she cries. He speaks to her in that real high-pitched "I'm talking to a baby" voice. And, he is forever correcting me when he feels I'm not doing a good enough job. "The sun is in here eyes...that is too tight, she doesn't like it...she's hungry...she's tired...." I am so proud of him for taking an interest in her, but seriously, I seem to be continually reminding him that I know something about babies! After all, he survived infancy and has lived to tell!

At any rate, on the way home today he felt the need to list (for the benefit of his parents) all the things we should keep away from DoriGrace.

1. Knifes and sharp objects.

2. Water, because she is to young to drink it and she can't swim.

3. Fire.

4. Electric cables.

5. Strangers.

6. Small things because she could swallow them.

And finally,

7. Piranhas, (and just in case I didn't know...) they are only in South America, not Oklahoma.

We will, no doubt, have our hands full with #1-6 for the next 18 years. Fortunately, Little Sister is completely safe from #7 because we're too broke for another tropical vacation anytime soon.

Pictures

Little sister is warning up to the camera...slowly. She seems to feel a little better every day and is showing more of her personality. I am getting the hair a little more under control, even though my stylist recommends we allow it stand straight up and accentuate it.

Well Baby

We had our first real visit with our Dr. today. You may recall that he saw DG the day after we landed (Jan. 2) and diagnosed her with RSV and an ear infection. She has gained almost a pound since then! He did recommend that we move her off Soy and on to Good Start and temporarily add some dark Karo syrup to a couple bottles a day to help her with her BM issues. (I SO regret not pumping to feed this child! We could have skipped a lot of her digestive issues!)

He was amazed at the improvements she has made in the last two weeks. He said she has almost caught up developmentally and that by her next visit, she should be right on par! Unbelievable! He was very impressed with her attachment to me and how she looks to me for reassurance. He really things are isolation/bonding work has worked! WooHoo!

I forgot to take her shot record, so he just started with her 4 month shots. We'll get caught up next time if she is missing any. She was very happy, until she got poked 4 times! She also appears to have a couple of teeth on the way, so she's had a pretty miserable day. A great report, but a miserable day.

On a positive note, we seem to have found a partial hair solution. We'll see if we can get updated pictures tomorrow. That's it...we'll have a hair fashion show tomorrow! Now..if that isn't something for you to look forward to.....

The Mohawk

The babe refuses to smile for the camera. Honestly, she doesn't always look this shell-shocked. Her hair, on the other hand, always looks this precious.

She is feeling better and getting stronger everyday. She is smiling more and more, especially at her brother and the dog.

Turning The Corner

Thanks to my fabulous husband, I was able to sleep from 6 pm to 10 pm yesterday, then sister went down I and slept (completely uninterrupted) from midnight to 4:00 am. I feel like a new person! She's had a bottle and is back down and should be out until 7 am and that means we "should" all be back on schedule! WooHoo! I know it seems like a simple thing, but it is just crazy how difficult it was to get back on Central Standard Time!!

Good news for the travelers...USCIS is going to give them pre-approval later this week and a final interview early next week! I can't wait to greet them at the airport.

I have promised some updated pictures...several requests to DoriGrace's hair and the nursery...I'll get those up later today. (Monte, previous pictures are still available, you just have to go back to the earlier posts!!)

Calling In The Big Guns

I am just so saddened and shocked by the plight of my fellow travelers! I can't believe they are still in Hanoi...still waiting on an interview...still waiting. Granted, we all booked tickets for the 10th, but we never fully expected we'd be there the whole time. Especially after things went to quickly for us. I mean, we've been home a week!

Shelly did say that "Dr. D" himself was up late working the phones on their behalf. Good. It is time. It is needed. I just can't imagine my family in limbo like this. (I didn't pack enough drugs to wait this one out!) The whole lack of response for them is so unbelievable! I keep telling them that it will end, eventually; however, I'm sure that would be more comforting coming from someone who actually knows WHEN it is gonna end!

At any rate, my thoughts and prayers are with and for my friends, Dave, Shelly, Kaylyn, Katherine, and Kayden; and Stacy, Chris and Beckett. If you've got a prayer list, please add them to it. They deserve to be home with their babies by now!

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As for our house, we are asking ourselves this question: What is the real difference between a.m and p.m. anyway? I mean, if one sleeps a sufficient number of hours in a 24 hour period, does it really matter if they are a.m. or p.m. hours? Just curious...Little sister and I seem to prefer only sleeping during daylight hours these days. JB has moved upstairs to sleep during normal hours and DG and I are bonding over reruns of Without A Trace and Intervention, and the entire season of Boston Legal. (So...maybe that's not appropriate material for a 4 month old. Well, don't tell my social worker because we have post placement interviews soon! What else is a girl to do at 3:00 a.m.?)

What Time Is It?

I could easily title this, "Sleep, Glorious Sleep #2", since that is really the theme of my life these days. I finally crashed Sunday morning and slept from 7am to 7pm. Guess that explains why I am posting at 2am on Monday morning! Physically, I feel pretty good, I just can't seem to get my sleep schedule turned around. I guess this does make it easier to get up with DG at night. She seems to be having some of my issues.

We changed her to Soy as soon as we got home. The formula change hasn't really helped with the gas, neither did the drops. She's just working it out. She is breathing MUCH easier and not coughing up her lungs anymore, so things are improving.

JB starts back to work and WB is back to school in a few hours. While I know we need to get back to a regular schedule, I sure will miss all the QFT (quality family time). We've only had the baby out once, to go to the doctor, and we've only had a couple of visitors. We've tried to keep things as calm as possible and I think that is really helping. Of course, we had to bring Smore home yesterday. He was really surprised and curious about the small creature that had captured our attention.

DG is doing incredibly well. She is getting stronger everyday. She is now rolling over and getting better at stabilizing her head. She has grown to like tummy time and is showing real interest in her little toys and rattles. I've researched where she should be at 4 months, and amazingly, in the last two weeks she has almost caught up!! Now...if we can just work on that sleep schedule...

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KellyO - I apologize for taking so long to get my photos sorted, but I finally sent two to Jynger for you this morning!

Sleep, Glorious Sleep

Perhaps it is because WB is eight and it has been a while since we've had a baby in the house, perhaps it is because we are still adjusting to the time change, or perhaps it is just selective memory, but I'd totally forgotten that having an infant was this hard! LOL! Little sister is really having trouble getting on a schedule. I am sure it is related to the fact that she surely must feel like crap. Her breathing so loud...and her nose is so snotty...no wonder she can't sleep. Poor thing, she is so tired that when she starts crying, she almost gets to the point where she is choking herself. Last night, I was reading back over my posts from the trip and I was really laughing at myself. Didn't I say this was the lowest maintenance baby I'd ever seen. What was I smoking? She was obviously in shock then. It hasn't taken her long to realize she rules the roost here.

WB went through this RSV thing when he was about this age. I remember him sleeping in his carseat so that he could breath. Little sister is sleeping in her bouncy chair and it does seem to help. We are scheduled to go back to the doctor until the 14th. Hopefully we'll be able to get some medicine down her before then. She does get a little better everyday, but she sill doesn't sound good.

She rolled over for the first time today and is really getting stronger everyday, but is still really having trouble with gas and does (more than a fair amount) of screaming. So far, JB and I have been tag-teaming when she gets up at night, but that changes tonight since he goes back to work on Monday. Looks like I'm about to miss out on some more good sleep and catch up on all my Law & Order reruns.

The Eagle Has Landed

We are home, safe and sound.

Thank you Stephanie, Lew & Lori, A, W, J, Miss Val, L & C, Nanny and Papa, and Cousin Beth with the midnight welcome at the airport. It was totally unexpected and will always be remembered! Even more unexpected was DoriGrace's nursery! Thank you to Miss Val, Julie, Beth C., Mary, Kelli and Lori....it is beautiful and worthy of a seperate post...which it will get once we've had some rest.

This trip, this experience, has been one of the most positive experiences of our lives. Indeed, it is impossible to put into words the extent of emotion it touches in us. We will always remember the trip to DoriGrace, and one day soon I hope to be able to find the time to really write this story for her. There are so many things we don't want to forget to tell her. We will be forever grateful for the gift of our daughter. She brings such life to us, and we are humbled by the opportunity to be her parents.

We are now recovering from the trip. I couldn't get WB to sleep until 5 am. When he finally dropped, he slept for 14 hours. DoriGrace had a terrible night and went to the doctor today...she has RSV and an ear infection. She is on medicine and seems to be feeling better already. John Booth and I are just happy...tired...but so in love with this little 10.4 lb. bag of rice with crazy hair and big brown eyes.

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Our prayers remain with our Can Tho partners...Dave and Shelly, Chris and Stacey. God speed!