Thursday, April 23, 2009

Another child?

The past few nights, I've gone to sleep super early. Typically no later than 9:00 which is early for a night owl like me. Well, last night I fell asleep by about 9:10. At 5:30 in the morning I woke up, asked Keith if he was getting up to shred (go figure) and fell back asleep. Then the dream came.

I had a dream about kids, like most others that I've had. I had a baby. I didn't actually "have" the baby - I never do in my dreams. I was handed a baby. I've never, ever had a dream where I've actually "had" the baby and I think that's a pretty strong sign as to what my future holds. So, anyway, I had a girl - she was cute as a button and, as in every other dream, I was not prepared.

I had no clothes, diapers, food, nowhere to put her, etc... I was freaking out as she was crying and was trying to figure out what to do. I managed to settle her down and Keith went out to get the essentials. By the way, at some point we were outside of a concert - not sure what concert - but I was waiting for him to bring me back some formula.

Long story short, I woke up to Andrew climbing in bed with me telling me he had a birthday cake made for me. My birthday is next Tuesday and his cake was all of his refrigerator magnets in a big bowl... Yummmmm.... especially at 7:00 in the morning!!

Fast forward to tonight at dinner....

Becky: "So, Andrew... do you want a baby sister?"
Andrew: "NO!"
Becky: "How about a baby brother?"
Andrew: "NO!"
Becky: "Really?!?!?!"
Andrew: "I just want a BIG brother."
Keith: "You have a big brother - Alex! Don't you want to be the middle brother and have a little brother or sister?"
Andrew: "NO! Just a big brother."

Welllll... guess we know how he feels about that! :-) Good thing we're not ready to move forward with anything. Poor little guy will have to get used to it some day! hehehehe.... As I told Keith tonight "It's gonna suck when we bring home four more kiddos". And of course, Keith turned a little pale about that too.

It's funny because I talk at work about how awesome my sister and my dad and step-mom are when it comes to babysitting Andrew. My friend, who has four children, said "wait until you have 4 kids... they won't be so willing." I feel a challenge coming on. :-) Mandy, Dad, Dasha?!?! Y'all ready? :-)


Here are a few more pics from Mandy's party:


Sporting the birthday girl's hat while eating cheese.


Nana, showing off the cool "Nana" mugs the Grandpa found for her! (She hates having her pic taken, but this is a good one!)




Keith, Alex, Brian and Richard wore Andrew SLAP OUT! Here he is returning a touchdown! :-)

A Nana, Grandpa, Andrew photoshoot! :-)

Love,

Becky

Friday, April 17, 2009

Then and Now

THEN...
On April 18, 1979 my baby sister was born. Isn't she just so cute??

...and NOW
And now, she's joined us in the 30-something world! My dad and Dasha had a birthday barbecue for her yesterday and then they watched Andrew so we could have an adult night on the town. We had an absolutely blast, but I think Mandy now realizes that once you turn 30, the next day's recovery takes twice as long. :-)




Happy Birthday, baby sister! Thank you for being my best friend and confidant for the past 30 years. LOVE YOU!

Red Threads

Today is a special day. It's a day that I am so grateful for, because without the life changes that took place, Andrew would not be our son. People that adopt will often talk about "red threads". These are the things that, in some way, shape or form, link you to the child that is meant to be yours.

On this day last year, Andrew was returned to the orphanage by his foster family. Without telling too much of Andrew's story, they did what was best for their family and for Andrew. I am forever grateful that they did what was best for him even if it meant Andrew going back into an institutionalized environment. On that same day, my mother was celebrating her birthday in Heaven and there is no doubt in my mind that she had some kind of hand in everything that happened.

I don't talk about my mom often. Although it's been 8 years, it's still raw. I'm still sad, confused and it's just easier to bury it all. That being said, for the first time in 8 years, I pulled out pictures and while looking at them, I smiled. Tonight, Andrew asked me what my mom's name was and where she lived. I showed him pictures and explained that she was in Heaven with the angels. That, of course, became a much bigger discussion. At one point, while looking at a picture he says "I 'member her. I met her before." I explained to him that he had not and he said "No! I 'member her". It was weird... freaky weird. I know, deep down, it was just a 3 year old. What's difficult is knowing that my mother will never meet my kids.

Andrew asked if my mom was Grandma Georgia. I had to explain that Karin (my mom's name) was my first mom and Grandma Georgia is my second mom. I then went on to tell him that he had a mom before me too. He asked me what his first mom's name was and you know what? I couldn't even tell him and that upset me. I know that birth parent searches are a taboo topic in the adoption world (and I'm not quite sure why), but that conversation was the push that I needed to dig into Andrew's background and try to get him the answers he someday deserves to know.

My mom would be so proud of Andrew and would just love him to pieces. She would have loved the entire adoption process (even the hard parts) and probably would have hopped on a plane to Moscow right along with us. Actually, we probably wouldn't have let her come because she'd try to bring a bunch of kids home with her. :-)

So, all of that being said... let me introduce you to my mom! Her name is Karin (pronounced like "Car in a garage" as my mom used to say) and she was born April 17, 1947 (I think). She was an elementary school teacher, a mother and an overall wonderful person. She was fun and, honestly, she never really grew up. She loved dying Easter Eggs, coloring and playing with playdoh even more then her kids did! The ocean was her favorite place to be and that is where she now rests.
My mom and yours truly (13 days old!)

Becky, Mom and Mandy dying Easter Eggs


The Florida Keys... where she loved to be the most!

I can only hope that I will be as good of a mom to Andrew in his younger years, the important molding years, as my mom was to me. One day, I can thank my son for forcing me to open my heart back up and let the memory of my mom back in. I'm sitting her with tears steaming down my face as I type this, but they are happy tears. Relief maybe?

Okay... time to lighten up a little. I was showing Andrew pictures of me and his Aunt Mandy from way back when. I showed him the picture below and the conversation went something like this:

B: This is a picture of your Mommy and Aunt Mandy when we were little.
A: This is you, Mommy? And Aunt Mandy?
B: Yep. When we were little just like you.
A: You were a boy???

It cracks me up because Mandy and I always joke around about how our bowl cuts made us look like boys.

Well, time to get off the computer and call it a night! I have a nice glass of wine and my husband next to me and SuperNanny to watch. :-) Thanks for listening to my ramble - this blog is my outlet and one day I'll be happy I journaled about all of this!

Hugs!
Becky

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hodge Podge

Once again, on my way to work, I had a great idea for what I wanted to blog about. Then I lost it. Things stay in my brain until the next thought comes in. If they’re not acted on immediately, they are lost forever and my “this is what I need to blog about” thought is loooonnnngggggg gone. Is it old age? Do I need to start playing Sudoku to keep the memory alive and well? Maybe more wine? I like the last one the best. :-)

So, I’m here with a hodge podge of things. Nothing too exciting. We’ve had a fun 24 hours. In case you didn’t see the news, we’ve had some lovely storms coming through the past few days. Yesterday morning’s storm finally got us. My neighbor’s tree fell on the power lines which, in turn, pulled our power lines. Since ours were pulled it pulled the pipe thingy that feeds the lines into the house and Keith heard a lovely “rip” noise as it was tearing our roof.

Thankfully, we have no inside damage and he and my neighbor were able to rig it up (don’t ask how – it’s not pretty and quite funny looking) and cover it to protect us from the rest of the rain we’re getting. It sure is a good thing they did that last night because we had more rain last night, some wickedly loud thunder early this morning and then we had another downpour. Our power has been off and on all day apparently.

Today was Andrew’s first dentist appointment. First thing in the morning, I was greeted by the Andrew’s evil twin. Boy, oh boy, was my child on a roll. I ended up having to force myself into the shower because otherwise I was going to lose my marbles. He obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed and took it all out on me. In the 45 mins it took to get ready and out of the house this morning, Andrew’s coloring book, his morning Mickey Mouse and something else I can’t quite remember (see paragraph #1 about my forgetfulness) were taken away.



(these weren't from this morning but are so fitting to what our morning was like)

Back to the dentist... Andrew has some big indents in his molars which makes him very susceptible to cavities apparently. The dentist said that so far all of the teeth look good but she put a “watch” on three of them. We’ll see what happens in 6 months!

Speaking of the dentist, can I gripe for a second? Good. I had to fill out a bazillion pieces of paper for them. I was a good patient and printed them off the web the night before so when I walked in 10 minutes early for my appointment I could just hand them over. Two of the forms I had to fill out were about their cancellation and tardiness policy. They allow you to be late once and the second time they “dismiss you from their clinic”. The language of both forms was very strict and quite intimidating.

My initial thought was – awesome. They are going to be like a well oiled ship and we’re going to be in and out. With policies like that how could they not be! Well, our appointment was at 8:00 and we got there at 7:50. At 8:25 we were called back (yes, that’s 10 minutes more then the 15 minutes of late time they allow their patients, in case you’re counting). They weren’t very kid friendly and being that this was Andrew’s first time I would have hoped they would set his mind at ease but I did that instead. Repeated “what’s that?” questions from Andrew resulted in little to no response. After the cleaning, back to the lobby we went. Then they called us back for x-rays. Then back to the lobby. Then they called us back to see the doctor (which was in a big room with other patients). Finally a few minutes after 9:00, we left.

I’m not typically impatient (okay, yes I am) but I do believe in “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander”. We were the first appointment of the day so they couldn’t have been behind. Practice what you preach, right?? I don’t think I’ll be heading back there anytime soon, not because of the fact we didn’t get called back until 8:20 because in the grand scheme of things that’s to be expected at the doctor’s office, but really because of the general attitude of the entire place. (wow… run on sentence!) If anyone in the Atlanta area has any recommendations for a pediatric dentist, please let me know!

A funny Alex story… He came home last night and told us that the next two weeks are Junior/Senior wars. Apparently, at his school, there is a tradition around prom where Juniors and Seniors pick on each other by rolling cars, houses, etc… So, he proceeded to ask if he could go one night this week with some friends. I asked who was going and he told me his friend’s names. I said “There is no way B’s mom is going to let him out at 11:00 on a school night to go roll houses.” (nor would we) He says “Duh… Everyone sneaks out! I’m just ASKING first.” :-) This follows Alex’s grounding for going somewhere he never asked to go. Needless to say, we won’t have to worry about him sneaking out of the house anytime soon!

And one last random bit… I’m shredding. Huh? What? I read about Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred video on the I Should Be Folding Laundry blog (which I love!) and my sister and I went out and bought it. We’re heading to St. Thomas in June and it’s our one last attempt to be bathing suit ready. Much to my surprise, Keith joined me the past two nights and, quite frankly, it kicked our rears. I’m sore today and didn’t even use any weights - tomorrow will be worse. How sad is that? :-) The 2 pound weights I bought are going to be brutal.

Yes, I bought 2 pound weights. I’m a weakling.

Toodles!
Becky

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter in Pictures!

Here is the day in pictures! I'm too tired (and full) to write about our day, but I'll try to do that later. We went to the Melting Pot for Easter Dinner and it was soooooo yummmmyyy but I'm still super full.

Andrew met the Easter Bunny on Friday. He doesn't like things that are "fuzzy" and umm... the Easter Bunny is pretty fuzzy. :-) One would think that he was just being all cute and posing, but he was really trying to keep his arms and hands away from the fuzzy guy.

So, without further adieu, here are pics from our egg dying fun, Andrew's egg hunt and our morning walk which wound up being a mini photo shoot!

DYING EASTER EGGS


SURPRISES FROM THE EASTER BUNNY

... AND EATING THEM!


HUNTING FOR EASTER EGGS

.... AND EATING THEM!


TAKING A WALK BEFORE CHURCH (and a little photo shoot)




I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Becky

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Milestone #1

It was one year ago today that Keith and I had finally decided to step away from the adoption and go on a mini-vacation to Destin, Florida. All I wanted was sand and sun and an escape from the hurdles (in hindsight, little hurdles) thrown our way. We just needed a break from it all. I worked from home that day and just as I was getting ready to shutdown for the day, I got the email we had been waiting for. Travel Dates! Granted, they were over a month away but it was a sign that things were moving.


You can read more about that day here. It is a day I'll never forget and the real beginning of an awesome journey to a very special little boy. We are so very, very lucky to be Andrew's parents and we are grateful every day that he is our little boy.


How can you not LOVE a face like this??



Love,
Becky