Linlee wanted to “cook” again today, so we made GF muffins. She actually did an excellent job of helping and even wanted to pour the muffin batter into the cups.
This last one is Linlee pretending that her beat-up ukulele is a violin…
November 3, 2009
A very short high.
So with the portfolio complete, I thought we were super close to getting on a waiting list for adoption #2, but I was wrong. There are more obstacles and now I’m thinking it will be winter or spring before we are on a list. Disappointed does not begin to describe my feelings. I noted in my journal that I’ve actually been working on this adoption for three years now. We started with China (again), but because of the very lengthy wait, switched to Vietnam, which closed, and then switched to domestic, in which we’ve applied to three different places. The paperwork that has been involved with each attempt is overwhelming. It definitely feels like I’m beating my head against a rock with this adoption and I’m wondering when I should stop, take some Advil and simply move on.
As for the adoption that did work…
Playing the piano with one’s feet is always a funny joke.
November 1, 2009
There goes October…
November already? Last month just zipped by. Today my little family headed to the mall so I could celebrate finishing the adoption portfolio. I knew just what I wanted to do… Buy a few things for the new baby! Before the bassinet (which I had to get for the portfolio), I hadn’t let myself buy anything for the next baby. But today I indulged myself in the daydream of baby #2 by picking out just a few things; a receiving blanket, bassinet sheets, two onesies, one sleeper, two bottles and a pacifier. I think that’s a nice start. What I discovered is that buying “gender neutral” is barely any fun at all! I’m also keeping my receipt in case we get an older baby and I need to return any of the newborn things. When we got home, Linlee asked if the bag from Babies R Us was for her. I told her, no, those things were for a baby and she is a big girl. So look at what she did:
She placed her baby doll on the bag of baby things. Makes sense to me.
Rob and I were both rather impressed with Linlee this afternoon when we watched her read this (keep in mind, she is only four):
She read the whole page, putting her finger on each word as she read it. If she got ahead of herself, she would go back to the word that her finger was at and start again from there. She may have the page memorized, but I believe she was reading. Smart cookie.
October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween!
Meet Little Red and the Pink Fairy (who already has a blue smile from a blue lollipop – her favorite). The Davises came over for dinner and trick-or-treating tonight. We had such a nice time.
I have to laugh at this picture. It was the first house of the night and Rachel is going toward the door; my daughter is going the wrong way. It took Linlee a few houses to get the idea, but she caught on and both girls had a great time. We all had a great evening. It truly is wonderful to have good friends to share these moments with. I feel lucky.
If you want to check out the two cuties last year, click here: Halloween 2008.
October 30, 2009
She’s lucky I’m letting her live.
So this afternoon Linlee ask for some popcorn. I went into the kitchen, put the bag in the microwave and set the timer for two minutes and ten seconds. That’s all it takes to pop a bag of popcorn in our microwave. But after only a minute, I suddenly prickled with mommy intuition. Despite the popping, it was too quiet. I walked into the dining room to discover that Linlee was practicing cutting…
With my sharp scissors…
On the adoption portfolio.
The portfolio project has been such a nightmare for me, I actually had to laugh. Of course she was cutting up my precious copies instead of her own blank paper in the kitchen; it could not have gone any other way. The good news is only one page was lost (otherwise I might need to be institutionalized). The other good news is I’ve finally finished.
Hooray!
October 29, 2009
Preschool Party
Linlee’s little class got to go trick-or-treating around her school today and then had a party. Linlee didn’t really understand why they had to walk around to other classrooms holding out a bag for treats. I don’t think she even got it that she was getting goodies in her bag. She just seemed confused. Poor darling. But she enjoyed her gluten-free cookie and gluten-free pretzels at the party. And of course she was the cutest kid there (it’s true!). Linlee looks like a little piece of candy in her pink fairy costume.
Hey Linlee, can you smile?
Is that not the most pained looking smile ever? Totally cracked me up! The smile below is much more genuine (the cookie helped):
I don’t know any of the parents of the other kids so I just blurred out their faces. Linlee’s teacher is the tall one in the vest.
October 28, 2009
The Pink Fairy
I tried to wait until Halloween to post pictures, but I couldn’t! Yes, Linlee is going to be a pink fairy this year. She is into anything with a tutu (which she calls a “dancing dress”). She actually wanted this outfit, but didn’t know that I got it for her until this afternoon. (I didn’t want her to be bored of playing in it by the time Halloween rolled around.) However, her school party is tomorrow, so I pulled it out of hiding and Linlee is delighted. Tomorrow she’ll have on polka-dotted tights and I’ll also have to put a long-sleeved top on under the outfit or else she’ll freeze. I’m volunteering in Linlee’s class tomorrow, so I’ll get pictures. (And if the tiara looks a little odd, it is because Linlee still has bows on from the day and our bad dog already chewed on it!)
October 27, 2009
My Sweetness
Linlee loves listening to the Riverdance soundtrack in the car. Whenever I look back at her, she is usually pretending to play the violin with the music. How cute is that!
October 26, 2009
Ugh.
I’ve finished revising the adoption portfolio and now I’m back in copying hell. Honest to pete, I don’t know why it is so difficult for me to make copies. I have a master’s degree, for god’s sake, making a copy (actually 24 pages times 7) shouldn’t be this challenging. Of course, my copier takes about 30 seconds to make one copy – no joke. And it doesn’t help when a certain four year old jams the copier because she’s “curious” or puts her sticky fingers on my precious, clean copies so that I have to make even more. I’ve only just started on the copies this afternoon and already I’ve run out of color ink, which I had a back up for (yay me!), and I’ve run out of black ink, which I did not have a back up for (curses). I can go no further without another trip to Staples. They know me by name now. This project makes me miserable.
Next let’s talk about my child’s school pictures. Last year, much to my astonishment, they actually got a smile out of Linlee. So this year, I bravely upped my order to include more pictures, even the eight by eleven (or whatever size the big one is). Here we go:
She looks miserable! I have thousands of those kind of pictures (which I delete and do not post). Now I’ve just paid for some more. It’s not my day.
