Getting Elizabeth... and Rachel

Happy birthday and misc...

Wednesday was Rachel's 2 year birthday!!! I'll post some pictures as soon as I have a few minutes to download them. She was able to celebrate it twice -- over the weekend we had a small party with our immediate family (all of whom live too far away to come over on the actual day) and on the actual day we invited some neighbors over for cake. She definitely had a great time. I think her favorite part was having everyone sing to her and eating cake.

Things have been beyond crazy here. A few highlights: Rachel was diagnosed with scarlett fever Monday. The good news is she is now on an antiboitic and appears to be getting better. We got Dan's car back from the collision shop but they forgot to fix something, so we had to take it back today. I just got it back and i do not think they did a very good job fixing this one paint chip which we paid them extra to fix -- so now i have to figure out if i've got the energy to keep fighting them over one small paint chip or since the rest looks fine to just let it go. Our leaves our worst than ever and we have uintil tuesday to get them taken care of. We got Hua Hua's blood work and skin test results back yesterday and the results were very odd. It appears her health problems with the hives and welts are actually the after effects of poor health conditions, parasites and other orphanage hazzards from her first year of life, which just breaks my heart. The short of it is we have to stick to our strict diet for another month, we have some allergy medication we're going to begin, and we will talk to our doctor in early January for the next step.

Also of interest to international adoptive families ....

First haircut

Rachel got her first haircut today. Here she is with her hairdresser, looking very nervous but so cute! I didnt get to take many pictures because she wanted to hold my hand the whole time. We took her to a place called carnival cuts. She gets to sit on a horse, watch a kid tv show, leave with a balloon and a toy -- what a place!

I wanted to get Rachel's first real haircut because a week from today is her birthday! She is very excited. this weekend our immediate family who live in the state are coming over to celebrate. I asked her what she wants to eat that day. She said tacos. (her favorite food) I asked her what she'd like for her birthday. She said, "Pillow. Blue" She has noticed that everyone in this family has a pillow on their bed but her. And i guess since her crib sheets are blue, she has decided she needs a blue pillow. A pillow is going to take up a third of her crib, but since that is her only gift request, we better find one!

today at meijer...

Ever have one of those grocery trips with the kids, when you want to be mad, but really there is no one to be mad at, and the whole absurity of the situation hits you and you just end up laughing?

So what am i talking about? our grocery trip experience this morning. We were there two hours. We did not get thru our list before I bailed. I'll have to be back either tomorrow or Friday.  here's the run down...

Our normally-empty-during-weekday-mornings store was jammed today, with thanksgiving only two days away, so we began rushing thru some sprinkles, hua hua's hand in one hand, Rachel in my other arm, a flood light bulb mistakenly purchased balanced precariously with my diaper bag across the miles, ok, blocks of taken parking lot spaces to the front door. Once there all the big carts were gone. So a tired Hua Hua, just finished with gymnastics, had to walk.

we got inthe return line. Waited. Five minutes later we were free to do our shopping. I stopped by some lion's football caps and noticed they were on sale at half the price i just payed for a nephew's birthday gift. So i put that in the cart, and made a mental note i need to return the other one. then saw a shirt a different nephew expressed interest in for christmas. But the size on the hangers did not match the size on the shirts. so i'm going thru the shirts, searching for the right size - which was literally the last one i got - and hua hua wanders off to the girl's hair bands section. Frantic i don't see her at first, then i do and give her a scolding about staying by me, and we're back to the groceries.

Crazy week

I'm sooo in need of a vacation, and the seasonal rush isn't even here yet - ahhh!!!!

Our schedule is full. And when anything else gets added, well, it doesn't take long before i feel llike i'm about to topple. In the past week:

Dan's car was hit. fortunately no one was hurt. He parked it in someone's driveway and when the person pulled out she hit it. The hit isn't horrible but it has meant numerous phone calls to insurance providers and collision shops, a trip to the collision shop, and next week two days as a one car family.

Hua Hua went to a pediatric allergist/immulogist. she has been having many problems with stomach aches, hives and occasional painful welts that just appear out of no where. We know certain food causes these reactions along with hyperactivity so now we're seeing a specialist for help. Our first visit was Tuesday. I feel like God's hand is totally on this. Get this, our doctor is chinese and doing research in china about the adverse effects of a western diet on chinese children! all I knew when we made the appointment was he came highly recommended. So, while we are still in the testing stage, for the short term Hua Hua is on a peanut and milk free diet. This is a hard core thing to do because milk proteins seem to be in nearly EVERYTHING. I've been hunting down vegan things, changing our dinner menus, and trying to find new recipes so she is not left out of snack time at school.

time to play

Tinkerbell has joined the dress up trunk, the Halloween candy/loot is shrinking, and things are back to normal here. Normal, that is, for winter. Currently i'm half sick - by that i mean i'm not sick enough for antiboitics but i don't feel so great, Rachel recently finished antiboitics for an ear infection and Hua Hua has a lingering cough that's been around for weeks.

These next two months are going to be a whirlwind. Thanksgiving in 2 weeks. Rachel's birthday in 3 weeks, Christmas in 6.5 weeks, then new year's day. I'm trying to get organized, to knock off a couple things each week so i can enjoy everything. But mostly the theme for yesterday and today was simply enjoying the girls being girls.

More halloween

The pictures, from left to right: Hua Hua, Leah and Rachel before heading out for trick or treating.

Dan (a Wiggle), Rachel and Hua Hua shortly before we headed out.

Hua Hua and a friend from preschool at her preschool halloween party held Oct. 30th. Hua Hua helping me carve our pumpkin. She loved it and Rachel officially declared our smiling not-the-least-bit-scary pumpkin a "happy guy." And then she wanted to feed him.

Our halloween summary: The kids had a great time, the parents had a great time, and we're all very happy we have some time to recovery before thanksgiving hits.