Ché's 1st Day of School

Of course, I asked to be late to work due to not knowing how he'd do at a new school, but fear not, no problems. We were really early, so we had to wait in the hallway about 10 minutes, but then he walked in gave Ms. Julia his filled out forms, and found his card to flip to let them know he was here. Then he answered the question of the day, "What is your favorite color, red or blue?" with blue as his answer. (His real favorite color is yellow, but those were the only two choices!) Then he preceded to the table to play with play-doh, and I said "Goodbye" and gave him a kiss. On the way out I signed to him, love you, and he signed it back then said "Bye!"

No crying, no fussing, nothing. I was so proud of him.

The Santa Picture!

Last year, Santa got a hi-five, this year, it was a race to see if he could get there faster than lightening. Ché was very excited to hand Santa his letter, and tell him that he wanted "toys and trucks, and cars too!"

We then had to explain that Santa doesn't give you those things right then! haha!

Thank Goodness the Bears won yesterday. Else our house would have had a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad Christmas.

2 years ago

Our lives were drastically changed.

On Sunday, December 18, 2006 after 6 hours on a plane to Guatemala, hand picking our baggage off the broken baggage claim, and going around and around the airport deciding whether or not to actually go out, we got a call saying that in 30 minutes our son would be at the hotel.


It was an unnerving moment. I didn't know what to do first, or how we were ever going to be ready to meet this child, let alone be the sole caregivers for him. I believe I took a shower, not knowing what else to do.



These are my two favorite pictures from the trip. The first time Mike ever held Ché. He was definitely holding back tears. The woman in the picture is Ché's foster mother. She was wonderful, and we still credit her with Ché's good behavior.

(Can you tell how scared and confused Ché is? He cried for about 30 minutes after the foster mom left, but then was very quiet for most of the rest of the trip)


And, Ché and I, in front of the enormous Christmas tree in the lobby of the hotel we stayed at. This picture was taken the day we left, and we were waiting for the taxi to take us to the airport.

One thing I've been thinking a lot about, especially now that Ché has been home for more time than he spent in Guatemala, is nature vs. nurture. I think this picture sums it all up.

Can you see it? The facial expressions?

While today is a special day, we've decided to celebrate his adoption on the 21st, which is the day we arrived back in South Bend, and the day our whole families got to meet Ché for the first time.

And it's over!

Mike has been gone since November 30th. About 6 days. In toddler time, it's a lifetime.
Mike has been here, way up north, where they have even more snow than at home, and colder temperatures too!

Ché did fairly well, better than last time Daddy was gone. We had Daddy cards, a system where we pulled a number off every day counting down the time till Daddy came home, and I tried keeping him busy with crafts, baking, and other projects, but last night, he'd had enough.

I got 2/3 of the way down my mom's driveway when he started begging for his blankie, which he proceeded to cry into most of the way home, until the pitiful "I miss Daddy," came out. All day today he's been obstinate and impatient, and every time I ask him what is wrong, the answer is, "I miss Daddy."

I swear if Daddy ever goes out of town again, Ché's going too. It's a good thing he called and they're coming home a day early. I don't think Ché or I could take another day alone together.

Keen Footwear

A fellow blogger, Daring Young Mom, is having a give away for Keen Footwear. It looks amazingly comfortable and durable.
Check it out and enter the contest! You might win free footwear or accessories! Totally worth it, and you never know when you might get lucky!

Going Away

I just returned from a CASA Conference in Indianapolis. I was leery about going, as I've never left Mike and Ché alone overnight while I went off to a big city.

I enjoyed myself. I listened to some good speakers and got some good ideas to take back to work. I received an awesome bag... and stole some great swag. A friend from work and I drove down to Indy together and shared a room. She lived there for 12 years so drove around and took me to her favorite bar. Now, those of you that know me, also know that I'm not a drinker, and definitely not a bar person. It was way out of my comfort zone, but I did enjoy myself, and learned that I like martinis. The place was called Rock Bottom. I had the applitini and a sexy bex. The appletini tasted like a jolly rancher, and the sex bex was so sweet it was scary how much it didn't taste like alcohol.

On the way home we stopped at World Market, and I bought way too much stuff since I've never been to one before. It was great. Truly wish we had one here.

What I learned the most from the conference though... That I missed home and couldn't wait to be back.

A man, a mustache, a plan. (*Updated with Clean shaveness)

So, Mike is participating in a mustache-a-thon, for lack of better words.

Some people from his work are participating as well, so he's not the only clean-shaven weirdo walking around with the snow flying.

Many of you that know Mike, also know that he always has facial hair. ALWAYS. I have never (in 7 years), seen him totally clean shaven. One time after the slip of a razor, I did see a great reduction in the amount of facial hair, but never clean shaven off. It's really an odd site, and I'd love to have a picture, but don't. The only I have is this:

Pre-shave, but a lot less hair than normal.

And Post Shaven.... hehe.

The money that they raise for growing mustaches is going to be donated to our local Boys and Girls club. Sooo, all you lovely people, how about a 5 spot to help out our Boys and Girls club?

It truly is legitimate, even though it sounds crazy... check it out: http://www.mustachesforkids.org/

Awesome

I regularly read a blog called Cake Wrecks. It's hilarious, maybe more so for me since I like to make cake, but check it out sometime, it's worth the laugh! (Thanks Suze, for the link!)

Sometimes though they showcase really good cakes... like this one:

Entirely made out of cupcakes. egad, I can't imagine how much work that was. The portrait consists of 1,240 cupcakes. If you're like me and only have two 12 hole cupcake pans, you'd have to make 52 batches of cupcakes. That's a lot of bakin' yo.

Celebrate Adoption!

November is National Adoption Awareness. National Adoption Day is Nov. 15th this year. Coincidentally, Nov. 18th was National Adoption day last year and was Ché's 2nd birthday, but his first birthday with us.
Here's a calendar of ways to celebrate adoption every day this month.


http://www.adoption.com/national-adoption-awareness-month/

Check it out, and see if there is a way you can support and promote adoption!

My 1st Time

No, no not that!

What I mean is that for the 1st time since I've been able to vote, the candidate that I voted for won.

It's exciting. I traditionally live in a red state, and last night it went blue, for the first time since LBJ was elected. That was in 1963. 45 years of being red...

Mike and I watched the celebration in Grant Park, and the concession speech given by McCain.

CNN still hasn't called Indiana even though 99% of the precincts are reporting and the vote tally is

Obama: 1,352,356

McCain: 1,329,370

That's a difference of 22,986. That's not many people, but it's enough.

However, right now, we all need to stop thinking and celebrating/mourning about who won, and who lost, but what we can do together to make this presidency work, to strengthen the economy, to improve healthcare, to get ourselves back on our feet.

One man cannot do this by himself. We have to do it together, so I'm going to do my best not to gloat after this post of course, but for now:

The Speech

Oh my!

Coolest thing ever! I always wondered how people got the cool blog backgrounds without having to pay...

I'm just not that tech savvy, and I wasn't going to pay someone money to change mine when it's not like a lot of people read it anyway, but then today I discovered:

http://thecutestblogontheblock.com/
and am amazed. Free blog backgrounds! It's great. Check it out, they might have something you like too!

An update! (Now with pictures!)

We did say "cheese." Thanks for the suggestion Liz!

In fact we even did a "Toddler cheese" family picture. It was great. I'll have to post when I get a chance as we bought the rights to the pictures. Ché was very malleable. He let the photographer put him any way she wanted and just stayed there until she snapped the picture. It was almost like he was a mannequin. She kept saying that he was "awesome" and "handsome."

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We're on our round of shots. We started them on Sunday and they hurt! I did some reading and it's actually the medicine that stings, not the needle, so there isn't much we can do to help that. I go in tomorrow for an ultrasound and blood work to see what's going on in there.

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On Sunday, Ché wanted to play outside for awhile. So I sat out and watched him scoot around on the driveway in the lines a couple neighbor hood kids made with chalk. I decided since it was a gorgeous day and that I would spend the time painting my toenails. I do not do this often, but I like to do it. It was a Sunday and the Bears were on, so I now have blue and orange toenails. I know this doesn't make an interesting blog post, but there's more. When Ché saw what I was doing he was immediately interested and insisted on having his toenails painted too. How could I refuse? I tried to explain that it was something that girls do, but he insisted that he too needed Bears toes. So he now has one blue foot and one orange foot full of painted nails. Of course I took pictures!

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I've been knitting like a fool lately. I think it's the cool weather. I have recently finished two projects that I'm really happy about. One is a pair of socks for Mike. I used a self pattern yarn in blue, green and brown tones that reminded me of a stream. They are really stretchy, and I'm told that he likes them. (I always worry that I'm going to get one smaller than the other...)
I also finished a hat for Ché. It's a simple ear flap hat in a subtle multi green color. However, since we don't make things simple in our house it has bright orange dinosaur spikes on the top! It's the hat he picked out and was really excited to see it being made. He proudly wore it this morning after seeing it completed for the first time.

I also opened an etsy shop. I don't have anything posted yet, because I haven't taken the time to photograph anything that's lying around, but I'm thinking of offering the dino hat as a custom order. It only took me about 7-9 days to finish completely since it was knit on big needles.

Visit my Etsy Shop if you care! I don't have a lot but if you have something specific in mind, please let me know and we can see what we can work out!
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Very ready for this election to be done. I can't fathom how someone can still be undecided. What more information do you need? What more can they say about one another that's going to sway you?
To tide me over, I've visited this site that Mike pointed me too. Take a look. It's silly.

http://yeswecarve.com/

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Wash, Rinse, Repeat!

It's time again for the fun of injections and hormone drugs! I'm glad that I called, cause I have to take pills today...

It's gonna be an interesting week to say the least!

On another note, I interviewed for a job today. I don't need a new job, but there is certainly room for improvement in where I work now. I could really use more of a challenge. Of course I got the stock answer "I have more people to interview, and I'll be in touch," so I just have to wait and see. I've never felt so confident going into an interview though, since I don't "need" the job. Such a different experience!

Belated, but better than never!

Saturday, October 11, 2008 was Mike and my 5th year anniversary (I can hardly believe that I'm old enough for that...)

But it's true. 5 years. 19% of my life has been lived with Mike, which is 1,852 days!

Amazing.

So we celebrated with a gift card that Mike had received for his birthday (Thank you!) and enjoyed an evening alone.

We dined at Bonefish, where Mike, very predictably had the trout with tomato, lime, garlic sauce and I had the pork tenderloin with the portabella piccatta sauce. It was very yummy. Of course we shared some Bang, Bang, shrimp and a key lime pie piece for dessert.

Since our reservations were at 8:00 we went home after dinner, put on comfy clothes and watched TV. I know, you're jealous of our very active life

But, the best part is that I got to spend time with Mike, alone, without being interrupted. I love Ché and wouldn't do anything to change our family, but it was nice to have a night alone!

I'm happy to be married, I have no regrets, and I'm looking forward to many, many more years! I leave you with this:

We were grinning like fools, so Mike said in his PicasaWeb album. I'm still grinning like a fool though knowing how happy I am, even though we do have some bumps in the road!

Yay us! and Happy Anniversary Momd!

Toddler Musings

Every Monday Ché attends "school." Mike and I switch off taking Ché to school every week so that it isn't a burden on one of us, and we both get the joy of picking him up at the end of the day. I believe we both take different routes to get to school, and the route that I take, leads us down a very busy residential area with a lot of kids. Being that we're traveling around 8 o'clock makes it so that there are a lot of buses out in the morning. One thing that I have been amazed at is the differences in the conversations now involving the buses vs. a year ago. A year ago at best we got a "BUS!" shouted excitedly from the back seat, but now, it's much more involved.

On our way to school this morning (10.13.08) we took our normal route, since driving down Portage usually heeds 6 or more buses.
We (Ché and I) were counting buses and I was explaining the difference between the school bus and the city bus.

(Can you tell the difference?)

Well, luckily the city bus in front of us dropped a lady off with her groceries, and he saw it, promptly telling me “Momma, that bus dropped that lady off.”

So then Ché continued to tell me that he would like to ride a bus too. I told him that he was not old enough to ride the school bus, however that anyone could ride the city bus. I asked him where the bus would take him and he told me that it would take him to school, then pick him up at school and then drop him off at home where Momma and Daddy and Candy are.

This alone was a great conversation but it didn't stop there!

So Ché continues talking about when he’s bigger he’s going to ride the bus to work. (What an environmentalist we're raising!) I ask him where he works, and he told me at a hotel. I asked him what he did for his job at a hotel and he told me that he ate and swam in the swimming pool, then he changed his mind and said that he swam in two pools. He also went on to tell me that sometimes he feeds the bird at the hotel where he works, eating and swimming. (Some of this comes from our trip to Indy where the hotel had a parrot in a cage that of course was fascinating)

I then asked Ché what he wants to be when he’s bigger, and he told me, “A lobster.” I confirmed what he said and he further explained that he wants to be a lobster so he can “pinch, pinch, pinch.”

(Perhaps this is what he has in mind?)

Fascinating. Utterly fascinating that we have moved from "BUS!" to whole conversations with context and meaning, and free thinking. Sigh, I guess he really is growing up even though we still wear 18 mo. pants...

Our first not nice thing to say.

Ché said his first not nice thing this morning. Sure he's said other words, but not with the point of saying it. Just repeated, but this morning, when Daddy asked Ché to eat his breakfast (I know how dare he.) Ché looked at him and said "Kiss my butt."

We cannot for the life of us figure out who has said this. Ché tried to pawn it off on Grandma, but we know better. For some reason I just can't picture Grandma taunting a toddler with "Kiss my butt." throughout the day.

The Indoctrination

Is strong in Ché.
On Saturday, Ché woke up asking for socks. I give him credit, it was chilly. However, he cared what socks. What kind did he want? Bears socks.

When I informed him that they were in the wash and not clean, he sighed, then very nicely said:

"I want Bears sheets"

The indoctrination has not only started in our house, but it is strong in our house.

It's been a while...

Boy, it's been a while since I've put anything up here...


So what's new?

• September 5th I had surgery to explore and poke around my uterus. That was fun...What was fun though was that we stayed at the Embassy Suites in Caramel, Indiana, which was about 6 blocks from the hospital (rather convenient) and it had a parrot. That's right a parrot. My mom had gone with us so that Ché could go to, and I don't think there is anything more exciting than having breakfast with a parrot.On another note, I did have a *tiny* bit of endometriosis, a flap of hanging tissue, and some ovarian drilling done. I was sore for about a week and a half, and the worst part was not being able to lift Ché. I had a 10 lb. weight limit, which just wasn't fun.But I feel great now, and I have noticed a difference. The ovarian drilling (This link is a picture, you must be very brave to click on it...)lowers testosterone levels, and I think I've noticed a difference in the way I've been acting and feeling. Mike was a tremendous help during that week and a half. He took care of Ché, and made sure that I wasn't doing things I shouldn't be, as well as doing some extra things around the house.
  
• September 21 -- Go Bears! Even though they lost, it was well worth the trip! The seats were great, we didn't get any sun, thanks to the structure holding the big TV. We also got a great souvenir for Ché...

Given his great love of Daddy's Bears and Halloween this year, it's been a great thing.

• Ché's been talking up a storm, with his new favorite things being: "Mama said I could," and "I'm just teasin'." It really makes for some interesting conversations, but not as good as the one last night where he wanted me to help him hold himself down so that he didn't spray all over the bathroom. There was a lot of "You tuck it Mama" going on, which was hard to explain why that was not my job.
• We still have not moved Ché to a big boy bed. He will climb over the railing but only if it is down and if one of us is around to supervise. I have to admit, I'm glad he's not in a big boy bed, it really saves us sometimes in regards to not having a little person in our bed, or one staring at you at 5 in the morning. Not that Ché is a bad sleeper, I just don't want the possibility of that.

Other than that, life's been fairly boring. How about you?

Looking Back

Last night Ché was playing in the basement playroom, and I took advantage and decided to look at some e-mails, and catch up on some blogs.

One blog had a post of a 13/14 month old Guatemalan adoptee trying to figure out the shaking head and nodding business that we know as Yes/No. Ché heard and of course wanted to see the video.

He watched it with amazement and then asked to see video's of Ché. I obliged.

Ché and I ended up watching some videos of himself from when he was little, some from Guatemala, and others from home.


I have to say, I don't remember some of those things happening, and what amazes me even more is that they seem so long ago, when in fact they weren't.



Ché was amazed too. He knew it was him that he was looking at and then was laughing at himself the entire time. He would point out when Daddy was talking, or if my hand was in the picture, etc.

It was really cute. If I get a chance, I'll post the two movies that made him laugh the hardest.