For the last time...

God willing...today...for the last time:

I begged Ralph's cardio nurse for a refill on Ralph's pulmonary hypertension drugs.

I begged for a same day turnaround on Ralph's pulmonary hypertension drugs at the compounding pharmacy.

I picked up the prescription mere minutes before the pharmacy closed for the weekend.
It would seem that my little Ralphie has kicked pulmonary hypertension. We'll get the official word sometime in March. I've prayed for years that he would outgrow this terrible disease. Some children do, some don't.

Ralph is an awesome little boy. If not for him we would not have thought to consider international Down Syndrome adoption. I love that boy!

More from today...Theo ate too many Cheerios. Doesn't he look full? He may be full, but he doesn't ever slow down when eating. I don't think he knows how to stop.

Zhen really enjoyed his soup tonight. Thanks Nancy!! These boys LOVE their food!

Fun Fam Photo!

What a blessing to have all of our children home for the new year! There may come a day when we are not able to be together for Christmas and New Year's so I'm just treasuring this time.

My plan was to take everyone to the local "pick your photos up the same day" portrait studio on Monday morning. Wes would be leaving town that afternoon and H. and Richy would be leaving early Wednesday morning. Well, crap. Can you guess? Yeah, right. They are closed on Mondays.

Sometimes it seems I can't do anything right.

This is what I ended up doing:
Cool, huh? One problem. Ruby was sleeping so she's not in the picture. Grrr. I may try again in May to get everyone in front of the camera again. That will be my next opportunity to have everyone here. :(

I said goodbye to H. on Tuesday night after being quite entertained by her marathon packing session. Richy is a packing genius, so she was in good hands. Before Rose was born, I used to joke that I would have to wait for my sons to get married to have a daughter. Well, H. is going to fit nicely into our family and I'll be proud to call her daughter! I hope she has a great time at college in Africa this semester.

Theo. Ruby. A match made in heaven. I thought when we adopted Zhen and Theo that we would be dealing with virtual triplets when them and Ralph. In reality, it is more like two sets of twins. Ruby is so excited to see Theo every morning. She likes to hug him and giggle and squeal at him. It's really quite sweet. They act like they were separated at birth.

I caught them playing together yesterday. This hardly every happens because at the age of 4 1/2, Theo is just learning to play. He mostly throws his toys and then goes to find them. Sort of like playing fetch with himself. But here he showed me that he can try to copy Ruby and use toys appropriately. It's huge, it really is.

He's got Mater...which is, by the way, H.'s nickname for Richy's truck! ha!

Since I don't believe that Theo can hear (and who knows when we be able to get him tested for real) I often wonder about him. Will he ever...this. Will he ever...that. Watching him play with Ruby yesterday answered some of those questions for me. Yes, he will. Yes, he is really in there!

I can't wait to get this boy some hearing aids and watch him come alive even more!

Next time...potty training! Wahoo!

Ice cream and cake day!

It is so fun watching Zhen and Theo experience new things. It's fun for the whole family! It was Leroy's idea to sing about the firsts that we witness. For example, for Zhen's first burrito we sang "Happy Burrito Day" to the tune of Happy Birthday. (We were pretty certain that burritos were not an orphanage staple.)

Now that Theo is taking off on eating solid foods the firsts are coming hard and fast! Yesterday was ice cream and cake day for him. And, yes. We did sing to him!! Ice cream and cake was a big hit. Look at his hand...

bwah-hahahaha! Ice cream come to papa!

He always bites the spoon if I'm not quick enough.

I didn't even mess with a washcloth. I just dumped him right in the bathtub!

I wish Masha could have an "ice cream and cake" day. Wouldn't that be nice? I'm giving away a variety of neat items this month in an effort to boost her adoption grant fund. Check it out HERE.

Up and at 'em!

I was up and at 'em at 8am today. Same as usual. Actually, I'm almost always up past midnight, too. So, no big deal. But, not everyone made it until midnight last night! The number one princess gave it up around 11:45pm. So close!

That's OK. I told her that it was the New Year already somewhere in the world.

Theodore is making a great transition to solid food. He loved our party food! Imagine mushy cracker hair-gel, though and you will understand why Theo had his New Year's Eve party in the kitchen sink!

Meanwhile the Yatzee game was going strong! Have you ever played with eight? It takes FOREVER.

Don't ask me why Jordan had a chef hat on under his party hat. If you tell him he looks strange he just smiles and stands up a little taller!

Mariocart races were happening as the new year rolled in.

Today is blog clean-up day for me. I have lots of outdated stuff on each of my blogs. I need to freshen things up a bit and that just takes some time. It's time. Plus, I'm announcing my Dead of Winter giveaway so be sure to check back soon.

Later today I have a rare treat to look forward to! It's not everyday that you get a new daughter. I guess it is OK for me to call her that since she calls me mom. Yes, today I get to meet the fabulous Heather from California. My son, Richard, insists that she is the "one," so I can't wait! If he loves her, then I know I will love her, too.

Happy New Year!

The family is playing Yatzee while I put these photos up. We are snacking on veggies and dip, crackers and sausage and such. Our New Year's Eve tradition. Tomorrow I get to meet my new daughter. More about that later...

2010 was an incredible year for our family. Really almost unbelievable. We are so very blessed beyond comprehension. More about that later...

Ralph, again, with his cars. He made a new parking lot in the kitchen yesterday.

Yesterday was one of those precious gifts from God...a 65 F day at the end of December. How wonderful to get outside and soak up a little sunshine and fresh air!!

We are in Kansas, after all, so the wind was blowing. Theo was none too pleased with the hat I made him wear!

Once he started swinging he forgot about being angry with me. Nothing but smiles!!

I had to sneak around the fort to get Ralph to look at the camera!

See? Not going to look at me!

When the tongue is out that far, he's having a great time!

Did I mention that Ralph is such a big boy now? Look at him go on the big boy swing!!

Got him!!

I needed a little help pushing Theo, so Ralph stepped up to the plate.

Look who I found playing together!

This is so rare! The boys like each other but normally play quite far apart. I'm sure before too long they will be best friends and partners in crime!

Wherever you are, I hope that you enjoy your own New Year's celebration. May 2011 be just as awesome!!!!!!

Merry (late) Christmas!

What a week we have had! Hope your Christmas was healthier than ours!

Do you like our tree with no ornaments? Actually the ornaments were all up high, out of reach of little hands. Here are Thomas and Ralph gazing at the gifts from Santa while I finish up the morning diaper changes. Gotta get everyone squared away before they dig in!

Ruby was very cute with her new pony and her new tea set. She's a little lady.

Zhen opened his Tonka truck and disappeared into his bedroom to play!

Ralph loved his light up spinner that he found in his stocking.

Ralph has recently decided that he is through looking at the camera for me. Every time I ask him to say cheese he turns his back on me! Little turkey.

By the day after Christmas we were on the downhill slide. Lots of snotty, drippy noses. Lots of coughing. The next day sore throats, headaches and general misery. I've been to bed before 9pm all week long! Now that is sick!

A few doctor visits and a boatload of prescriptions later, we all seem to be on the upswing. Just in time for the new year. Today we enjoyed the gift of a 65 degree day. It's so fantastic at the end of December to be able to send the kids out to play and get some sunshine without heavy coats.

Yeah, I got some photos. I'll share them tomorrow!

Oh man! It's almost Christmas!!!

Ralph was so sweetly playing with his cars the other day. He was concentrating so hard that I was able to get some photos without him even noticing. Even with the flash!

Lining them up neatly.
Oooh! This one is special.

Let's park on the end.

Perfect!

Look what we got this week!! Ankle-foot braces for the three boys. Strangely enough, Ralph likes wearing his braces and even attempts to put them on by himself. Zhen was not so pleased with them. Not yet, anyway. He won't even stand or try to walk in them yet.

Theo...well...what do I say. I'm going to have to hunt for the right shoes for him to wear with these. I'm going to have to make myself put them on him each morning, I believe. Once he starts school next month it will make more sense. Aren't they soooooooo cute?!

I can't forget about Ruby. Here she's working on an ice cream cone with no assistance. I think I should have made "no assistance" her middle name. This girl is IN-dependent! She is also wearing one of Rose's shirts. How fun that they are already sharing clothes!

It wouldn't be Christmas without playing with some bead garland, would it?

Or, sporting eggnog mustaches!

My fantastic husband had to work very hard to get the lights working on our Christmas tree this year. God willing, we will finally get to decorate it tomorrow night!

Also, the kids want to go caroling. So we are making a little song sheet and practicing. I think we will take some cookies to the neighbors and treat them to a song. I'll let you know if that actually happens!! You know how the best laid plans sometimes go, right?