Can you guess whose little piggies these are? Aren't they sweet and perfectly yummy?


They belong to my little lovey, Theo. Of course. :)

Theo now tips the scales at 20 pounds 9 ounces in his nicest jammies. So lets just call it 20 pounds. That means that he has gained 7 pounds in the past 5 months. He has grown three inches in height. He has gained 1 inch in head circumference.

Let's put that weight gain into perspective. He has gained as much weight in the last five months as he gained in his first four years.

I call that astounding. A miracle.

New adventures start this week...pre-school!

Jinxed?

Did I mention that I was going to go to bed early last night? Well, I don't have a superstitious bond in my body but I'm wondering if I jinxed myself or what.


It's cold here. Record cold temps. They even closed school due to the cold. It's really cold. I let the kids play outside the other day but they have not asked to go out one single time since then!

Ralph wanted to go out, too. Just too cold honey!

So just as I was about to crawl into bed last night the power went out. Very unexpected! It wasn't windy or stormy. All our power lines are underground so I couldn't imagine what could have happened. No power here means no heat and no phone.

After waiting in the dark for about an hour I started getting nervous. How cold would the house get overnight? Should I get a hotel room or look for a shelter? I left my teenager in charge and took a drive around town. The whole place was dark and desolate. Spooky. I did not see a police cruiser or a line crew anywhere.

After a little panic attack (and a little pity party) I went to McD's to use the internet. I was able to FB chat with James and make a plan to load up all the kids and take them to his mom's house. I dreaded waking all the children and loading them up. At least the van was warmed up!

Praise God! The power was on when I got back home. I was still mad about missing out on those two+ hours of sleep that I had counted on. I guess the lesson is not to count your chickens before they hatch, right? I learned this morning that some other friends' power was out for over eight hours. Yikes!

Well, today was fun. The children were out of school again. They have a little cabin fever I think. It's been a crazy, loud day.

Rose dressed Ruby in one of her spring outfits. Cute! Inappropriate, but we weren't going anywhere so no big deal. I'm still wondering when her hair is going to grow. hmmm.

Zhen has an ouchie on the back of his ear. He keeps messing with it so this is what I was forced to do. Poor sweetie. He actually loved the arm splints! Strange, huh? A friend told me that he might really enjoy the deep pressure that they provide. Classic sensory need.

I experimented with introducing Theo to Bach tonight. He really enjoys loud noises, so I thought loud music might go over pretty well.

What do you think?

I can't wait for his sedated hearing test next Monday. I really want answers about his hearing. I want him to feel connected to his world and I don't think is right now. I want everything for him. :)

Bad news/Good news...

Ok the bad news first. I messed up Ralph's medication schedule today.

The good news? I get to go to bed early because I messed up Ralph's med sched.! *sigh*

I'm looking forward to the quickly approaching day when there is no medication schedule to worry about. I'll be so well rested you won't recognize me!

PS-more good news...Theo is growing! He's broken the 20 pound mark. It must be the vienna sausages he's developed a taste for! haha!

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.