Fun Summer Day

We had a great time today at White Water!! Perfect weather and there was not a lot of people there. We packed up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (yes ten of those) and a few juice boxes and we were off and running.

I even took a friend of the boys with us as well. So yes, I took 7 kids to White water by myself and had a fabulous time, really I did! Looking forward to more fun summer days spent hanging with my kiddos :)

First White Water Day

No words necessary :)

Flower Girls

Beautiful flowers girls with their favorite neighbor ever. Betty sure does spoil my babies :)

Oh The Questions

Just read another blog and could SO relate to his post.  Here is a snippet from the post:

Question #5. So then the final question comes. The one they have wanted to ask from the beginning, but were too afraid to. A question driven out of the inability to comprehend what they are hearing.

Why?

Great Question

Why would you do this? Why do you want to have 6 kids? Why would you have a family of 8 on purpose? Why would you take on so much? Why would you adopt 2 at the same time, especially if they are not related? Why do you want to have a family so big that you have to drive one of those big mega-vans?
The answer may seem strange. We want none of those things.
We don’t want our lives to be incredibly difficult. We never set out to have a family of 8. We never wanted kids with special needs. We don’t want to deal with surgery. We don’t want to manage wheelchairs and walkers and physical therapy. We don’t want to deal with attachment issues. We don’t want to add development delay to our list of problems.
We definitely do not want one of those huge, ugly, white vans.

LOL, love that last line there ;)  You should pop over there and read the whole thing...good stuff!

Swinging

My boys just a swingin'

How's It Really Going?

So some of you have called and asked, “So how is it really going?”.  Answer to that is that I think it really is going OK.  Maybe it is because I set my expectations really LOW before leaving for China-LOL.  I really really really expected Ian to have a lot of issues adapting to his new life as a Straight.  Fortunately, I haven’t seen very many of those issues from him.  Now granted I know we are still in the “honeymoon” period, but honestly this hasn’t been nearly as tough as I expected it to be.

 

Now with that said, I don’t want you all to think it has been fairytales and roses either.  Ian has his moments for sure.  He is just like any other child and when he doesn’t get his way, he lets me know it.  He doesn’t have any problems telling me NO when he doesn’t want to do something.  Then when I let him know he doesn’t get a choice in the matter, he pouts and is on the verge of tears.  He stays that way until we move onto something else. 

 

Ian has been crying himself to sleep every night for the past week.  I moved a mattress into my room, so he is sleeping beside me on the floor.  Ian really wants to sleep in the bed with me, but I have had to stay tough about not letting him do that.  I just can’t go through another “bed removal” from my kids.  Maybe that is bad adoptive mothering on my part, but I just can’t do that again.  Ian knows he is safe. I think the night time just reminds him of all his life changes and gives him a chance to process things-which creates the tears.

 

Communication hasn’t been bad at all.  I think we communicate with each other quite well considering we don’t speak the same language.  I was also really worried about this area, but so far it hasn’t been a problem.  I usually know what he wants (and doesn’t want) most of the time.  I have used Google Translate a few times, but definitely not everyday.

 

Food is going OK too.  Ian isn’t very picky about what he eats.  I have found a few things that he really doesn’t like, but he usually at least tries everything I give him.  If I give him something he doesn’t like, he lets out one of his favorite English phrases…”Oh no!”.  Haha-he uses that one a lot.

 

Ian craves attention ALL.THE.TIME.  This has been quite draining on me.  He calls me about 788 times a day to see every little thing he is doing.  I know he hasn’t ever had this much attention paid to him, so he is really enjoying it now.  Problem is that it is wearing me down and can drive me batty at times.  I do the best I can and keep saying to myself “this too shall pass”.  Hoping it passes soon though ;)

 

So basically things are really going as well as I am showing on the blog.  I don’t sugarcoat here-STRAIGHT talk only from me.  So needless to say, things are well.  I am worn down after spending every single hour with Ian/kids for the past 4 weeks.  This working mom isn’t cut out to be a stay at home mom for sure.  I am back to work today, and happy about that J  I will be working some part time days throughout the summer so that I can spend time with the kids though.  However, yes I am happy to get a break and get back to work.

 

Thank you all for your comments and prayers during our time in China and transitioning back home.  Obviously they have all worked!!!

First Train Ride

Papa gave in and finally let Ian ride the train!!

Ready Set GO

Pool Day

One might think I have a pool as much as we are in one. But no I just have a nice sister who lets us even use her pool when she is out of town! Thanks Sheila the kids are loving summer so far :)

Too Much Dora

In case you didn't make that out, he is saying "Swiper no swiping!" from Dora the Explorer. Yes, over and over again. Hey, at least I get a break from ma mom ma ma mom ma ma mom ma ma ;)

Nana Rocks

Didn't take Ian long to figure out his Nana rocks! Ian already asks every morning to go to Nana's house. She is his new best friend for sure :)

Rough Life

We are really roughing it these days. ;)

Splishin and Splashin

Papa's Pool Party

Kids wanted to be the first ones in papas pool this year!!

Auntie Invasion

Stop

Oh and he has STOP down pat too!

No No No

Ma Ma Ma No No No. His most frequent words these days ;)

Home Makeover

My friend Kim went a bit crazy while I was gone the past two weeks. She bought a bunch of new furniture for my house and had a mad organizing frenzy the entire two weeks. Everything looks great and I know she logged a bunch of hours (not to mention money as well) of H.A.R.D. work in my house. Thanks Kim it looks and functions perfectly!

CJs Dad Update

Caleb and CJ left yesterday headed to Wisconsin to bury his dad. I can't imagine how that would feel. Please keep them in your prayers. They will be gone for a about a week. Ian asked where they were last night. I know he is confused as well.

Sent from my iPhone

Pool Fun

Ian loved to go swimming at the hotels in China. Imagine his shock an dismay when he discovered no swimming pool at his new home.

After a quick trip to Wally world all is well once again. I suppose he will just have to "settle" for our cheap little swimming hole :)

Yee Haw!!