Hey Boo Boo - You Wanna Go Steal Some Picnic Baskets?

Amelia and I are going to Jellystone Park - she is THRILLED! She has been begging to go camping and we've been looking for a nice day to go to the waterpark. When everyone else is hitting the books at the end of August, we will be here http://www.dellsjellystone.com/.

Cabin camping, water park, mini golf, boating, fishing, crafts, Yogi, Boo Boo, Cindy and Ranger Rick all during Yogi Bear's Medieval Times Birthday Bash.

Our cabin does not have plumbing, so it is going to be an interesting trip - - but 3 days with my girl away from the craziness of life. I can't wait.

A Bunny and A Box

Amelia is bunny sitting her cousins' bunny Charlie this week while they are on vacation. She is having a blast with him, but I think Charlie is a bit tired.
Rabbits do tend to poop a lot as well as chew on electrical cords, so I won't let Amelia take him out of the bathroom. She gets him out and he hops around the bathroom and she follows him picking up his poop. We have taken to calling Charlie the Poopinator. Sunday morning I gave in a bit and we sat on the couch with him on a blanket and played for over an hour. Then Amelia decided to climb into her new favorite toy (a box) and take Charlie along. I think she enjoyed it MUCH more than Charlie. Charlie is a really cute little rabbit and he is pretty smart too. I was holding him and he tried to jump out of my arms, so I quickly put him back in his cage - he went RIGHT into his litter box. Tonight Amelia let him out in the bathroom and then left him unattended. I was right outside the door and he came out - I said, "Charlie you're not supposed to be out here" and he went RIGHT back in." Then I went in the bathroom and he went out the door and I said, "Charlie" and he turned around and came right back in. (No Tammie I don't want Rocky - cause in addition to being smart and cute, Charlie stinks!)

After some good quality bunny time we decided to give Charlie a break and we went to the pool. After spending 2 hours there - I was VERY ready to head home...Amelia not so much. Thankfully Sissy and her friends agreed to let her stay with them. After nearly 4 hours of swimming Amelia was exhausted! She came home and climbed in her box. I made supper, but when I called her to eat - she didn't come. Yep, she fell asleep, still in her bathing suit - in the box!

Already? Really?

Today on the way to daycare/work, like many other mornings Amelia asked me, "Will you tell me the story of how you got me in China?" I started the story - with the normal interruptions of the pieces I was forgetting. Amelia's FAVORITE part is when I talk to her about being in the Civil Affairs office and Director Yu is bringing each of the girls in. This morning when I said this she interrupted, "You mean girls AND boys?"
Me: "No sweetie, there weren't any boys in our group."
Amelia: "Why not?"
Me: "Because there weren't very many boys at Yangchun Orphanage when I brought you home."
Amelia: "Because all the boys got to stay in China!"

In that moment in the car - tears streamed down my face. The thought of having to one day talk to Amelia about the ALL the reasons her parents may have chosen not to raise her, my heart broke. Then I pulled myself together my eyes hidden by my sunglasses and finished the story of the day we met...

I am so not ready to talk to my 4-year-old about China's population control policies and the preference for sons. She internalizes EVERYTHING and I know what this would do to her spirit right now. I have addressed very basically that China only allows families to have a certain number of children, did she make the leap to them wanting to keep boys on her own? Did she overhear a conversation among adults? Was the subject of boys just top-of-mind because our friend Kathy was meeting her little boy in China today? I know Amelia is really bright, and I'm certain this will not be the last time this topic comes up. I now need to find the best way to answer her honestly, but age appropriately...

Congratulations Kathy & Yang Yang

Today our friend Kathy met her beautiful little boy for the first time. Kathy had been waiting for this moment since July of 2006...3 years later: Evan just turned 2 and we are so excited to meet him! When I first saw his little face I said he was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen...It seems he just gets more precious as he grows. Congratulations Kathy! We will continue to pray for a peaceful adjustment for Evan Fu Yang.

16 and Pregnant

I didn't even know this show existed, but this episode it so heart wrenching. These two 16-year-olds are more mature than most adults I know; certainly more than their own parents.

MTV Shows

They have so much love for their little girl. I pray that she grows to have all the love and stability they dream for her.

MTV's 16 and Pregnant - MTV Shows

Outdoor Children's Theatre

Last year Amelia and I went to the outdoor children's theatre at a local "mansion" that was built in 1886 it was WONDERFUL and EVERY time we drive by she asks when we can go again. Finally this was the week! This year the play had MANY princesses in it, so Amelia LOVED it. I loved it because the main character, Princess Rose wasn't your normal princess; Rose liked to climb trees, fix things and had a tool collection. The play was written locally and the author did a great job keeping it the right length for kids (45 min) and involving the audience in the play.

The play only had a 4 day run, Wednesday - Saturday and we planned to go Friday night, with Saturday as a rain date. When I picked Amelia up from school on Wednesday I was exhausted, it was the first day I felt well and I had to go out of town for work, so we both had to be up so that I could be at work by 7:15... I decided she would be skipping gymnastics. Amelia was ALL for skipping gymnastics, but her friend Simon was going to the play and she wanted to go too. I expained that I didn't have a blanket or chairs and we didn't have time to go home to get them. Thankfully she was ok with that.

We decided NOT to wait until Friday to go to the play however because the weather forecast looked REALLY bad (a good decision). So, Thursday RIGHT after swimming lessons we headed over to the play. So glad we did - it was an absolutely PERFECT night - cool, sunny and NO BUGS:) On the way in I almost DIED when Amelia wanted to have her picture taken with the mansion's mascot - a person dressed up as an animal and she didn't hide behind me, but went up and hugged it! I had stopped at the candy store over my lunch and gotten Amelia some old fashioned candy which she loved! We sat snuggled on our blanket to enjoy the show! After the play the characters came out so the kids could get their autographs...I did try to capture Amelia's face, but she was NOT taking her eyes off those princesses:)

Observant

Amelia notices things that I wouldn't in a million years that a feature of a building looks like one she's seen before, or that two houses have the same tiny detail. She also notices things more important to a kid, but things that I never would for instance; we rented a Scoobie Doo movie yesterday and as we were watching it she said, "Something is WRONG with their voices." I assumed she wanted me to turn up the volume, so I did. She then replied, "No I can hear just fine, their voices are wrong - they don't match their lips. Fix it!"Scoobie Doo was one of my favorite shows as a kid, even watching it with her this morning - I didn't realize their lips weren't moving with their voices.

The other night we were watching Noggin - pretty much the only station ever watched in our house. A commercial for a new show came on; and Amelia said "How come the Jumparounds are called The Fresh Beat Band now?" Same songs, same people, same dances and MY kid notices that the name has changed. Crack me up! By the way - I am hoping this show doesn't make it long, can you say ANNOYING!

Swimming Lessons!

Amelia previously took the first level of swimming lessons at the YMCA three times and did not pass. I don't blame the Y as my spirited little girl decided in the last few classes of the third session that she would not wait in the pool for her turn, but instead stand on the side of the pool and cry until her turn came. She had the same teacher and lessons were at the same time, the only thing that changed was the other students and I had a feeling that it was a combination of her being the only kid in the class that couldn't reach the bottom of the pool and a particular little boy that was tormenting her:)

We took a year off from lessons and let her mature a bit - then we couldn't get in a class that worked at the Y, so we ended up at our city's indoor pool. They have Red Cross lessons there, so Level 1 is the same Level 1 that her friends have taken. I knew she probably didn't need it, but she wasn't old enough for level II unless she passed it. Level 1 was in the 2 ft and she LOVED it! Every Tuesday and Thursday for 3 weeks we went right there after daycare (Wednesday is gymnastics). There were only 2 other kids in her class, so she got lots of attention and really made progress on her front crawl.

The last day of class we were allowed to bring cameras, mine is still out for repair so these were the best pictures I could get with Amelia's camera. She was SO excited to find out after class that she had passed to Level II. Boy was my girl proud - and I am proud of her!
She starts Level II on Tuesday and she is a little nervous about going into the "deep end." It's actually 3 feet deep, but since she can't reach it's the "deep end" to her!

Grandma/Mom

Me: I wonder what Grandma is doing tonight

Amelia: You mean Mom, Grandma is your Mom.

Me: Right, Grandma is my Mom.

Amelia: Grandma is your Mom because she adopted you.

Me: No, I grew in Grandma's tummy; Grandma had 8 babies grow in her tummy.

Amelia: Grandma must have been REALLY fat when she had ALL those babies in her belly!

Me: They weren't all in her tummy at once, she had them one at a time. First Uncle Dan, then Aunt Laurie, then Larry, Tammie, Judy, Nancy, me and then Uncle Andy.

Amelia: You were one of the last ones!

Me: Yes I was.

and that was it - no more questions...

Family Help and Fun

I had a rough Monday, well actually I wasn't feeling like myself all last week. It just came to a head at about 2 a.m. on Monday morning- at which time my awesome Sister Nancy and her daughter Lauren came over. Nancy took me to the ER and Lauren stayed with Amelia. I'm fine, nothing I haven't dealt with before...I'll share more on it later.

We got home at 5 a.m. THANKFULLY Nancy had the day off as she was heading out of town, and she had time to rest before making the trip. I was well drugged, so I wasn't driving anywhere, including taking Amelia to daycare. My sister Tammie came and got Amelia at 11 a.m. and Amelia had an AWESOME day - they didn't bring her home until 8 p.m.!

First Amelia went and watched her cousin Katie at swimming lessons, then they picked up Jordan and went and got Happy Meals, and to the park to feed the ducks. Next they got haircuts and Amelia's bad Cost Cutters cut got straightened out...THEN they had a water balloon fight on Katie and Jordan's trampoline!

That looked like SO much fun! Thank you Aunt Tammie for sitting on the trampoline and getting soaked to capture those smiles!

After the water balloon fight it was off to Jordan's FINAL baseball game of the year - I hear he had a great hit ALL the way to the fence! I wish I would have been there to see it!
I am very lucky to have my family so close - I really don't know what I would do without them!

Photos By Amelia

Since my camera is out of commission I have borrowed Amelia's. When I was uploading photos I found out what my little photographer has been focusing on.

Barbie Fairytopia
Beautiful Stars, by Amelia
Babies
Wonderpets
It totally cracks me up that these are the things Amelia likes the most. She does love the TV:)

Pet Store

Amelia has MORE stuffed animals than any child in history. Seriously...it's a bit ridiculous! I think between Build A Bears and Webkinz she has at least 25 - add to that the assorted friends she's picked up on our various journeys and her collection is extensive!
She earned a trash bag full of animals back after helping me clean this weekend (they were taken away nearly 2 months ago when she refused to pick them up). She was SO happy to see them - I can't even tell you. I know most parents hate stuffed animals, but if you saw Amelia play with them, you may change your mind.
She NEVER goes to school without an animal to snuggle at nap time, her teachers are pretty sure she's never brought the same one twice (I beg to differ). She talks to them, feeds them, plays house with them, they are her "dolls".
Last night she lined her animals up on the couch and had a "Pet Store." Then she stacked them up for a fort and fell asleep on the pile...it was a pretty cute sight.

FUN FUN and MORE FUN, Nah, she's not spoiled!

Amelia had such a good time at my sister's last weekend! She LOVES going there...I have NO idea why:)Maybe it's her three "big, girl" cousins who entertain her for hours.Or Aunt Laurie, who will run around their beautiful backyard with her and play WHATEVER she wants. Or getting to bake cheese cake for Hannah's birthday - and then getting to eat cheese cake (her favorite!).
Or just MAYBE it's Uncle Phil, who not ONLY bought her a Build-A-Bear, but an outfit for it that Mom said she didn't need. AND then took her to play on the soft-play area while Mom shopped. AND then to The Gap to pick out a new outfit ("I told him I didn't need pink pants because I already had pink pants, so I got these instead"). AND then took her to play glow-in-the-dark Mini Golf.
I just have NO idea why Amelia likes going to Aunt Laurie's so much:)

Just Amelia and Me

I took yesterday off work, and planned to take Amelia to the amusement park on the way home from Aunt Laurie's if we had good weather - it was PERFECT! The sun was shining, but it wasn't humid, or too hot. I was nervous that the park would be crowded after a holiday weekend, but there wasn't a line for anything. We had an absolutely perfect day, just Amelia and me!

We ate lunch at Aunt Laurie's then stopped at the shoe store to get me some tennis shoes since I left mine at home. Amelia got a quick nap in on the way to the park and we got there about 1, just as everyone else was leaving to eat lunch. Last year, Amelia wanted to ride EVERY SINGLE ride, this year, she was actually afraid of some of the rides. The Froggy Hopper was her absolute FAVORITE ride last year, she went on it multiple times. Yesterday I had to talk her into going on it, and it took her a LONG time to start enjoying it. She still enjoyed the kiddie rides like the boats and motorcycles, but I had to get on the kiddie Chuck Wagon Ferris Wheel with her...That's OK it was MUCH better than the HUGE one she made me ride last year; which she did NOT want to go on this year. Thank GOD! Amelia NEVER forgets ANYTHING and last year she won prizes at a frog game and a duck game, so we had to go find the games. Once she played those, she was pretty much done with the amusement park. We had been there 1 hour and 20 minutes! Amelia was in a HUGE hurry to get to the new addition to the park - a water park! This was relatively small - they didn't have any of the huge water slides the Wisconsin Dells has, but it was PERFECT for Amelia. She went down EVERY SINGLE slide - which meant I went down them all too. We couldn't go together, but I would follow her up and then go down the slide right before or after she did - the funny thing was I was more scared than she was. I LOVED seeing the smile on her face as she rounded the turns - it was PRICELESS. After a few hours in the water park, we got cleaned up to go home; of course we had to walk ALL the way back through the amusement park to get to the car, which meant going on a few more rides. Amelia liked the lady bugs However, our favorite was the Tea Cups; we got ours spinning so fast I thought we were both going to be sick. I don't know that I have ever heard her giggle that hard! On the way out we stopped to get Amelia's cotton candy and to take the train around the park - then we called it a day. And a great day it was, just Amelia and me!

Tragedy at the Mall!

Amelia and I decided to make the trip to my sister Laurie's for the 4th. The plan was to walk in the children's parade at home and then drive to my sister's right after. We woke up on the 4th to rain and 60 degrees; the parade was "cancelled" for us. We took our time and left for my sister's in the afternoon as her girls had to work until 8 anyway. There is an outlet mall between here and there that makes a nice place to stop...and we were going to visit friends who just brought their second daughter home from China in April, so we HAD to go to Children's Place to get a gift:)

When Amelia first came home from China she liked towels, she had 4 or 5 small towels that she would snuggle and suck on at nap and bedtime. I was VERY careful that she did not get attached to just one. Then her teeth started to come in and she started to pull the strings out of the towels with her teeth, so we switched to thermal receiving blankets. It took awhile, but eventually she accepted these as a substitute. Again I was VERY careful not to let her get attached to just 1...in fact we had 13 of them; some at home and some at daycare so that she could have a clean one daily.

I'm not sure when it happened...but ALL OF A SUDDEN Amelia became attached to a particular blanket. This wasn't even one of her blankets; yes it was a thermal blanket, but it was one Grandma bought at a garage sale for her to use for her dolls. It was very worn out and had another child's initials on it...this was BLANKIE. Blankie goes EVERYWHERE! I generally do not allow Blankie to go into stores, for fear of her getting lost, but Saturday I wanted to shop and didn't feel like fighting Amelia in the rain to get her to leave Blankie in the car; so along she came.

We were at the mall a couple hours and only went to a few stores; it was getting later than I wanted to be there, so we ran into Subway to get some dinner. Amelia dropped "Blankie" her best friend on the floor and I picked her up and said, "You better be careful or you are going to lose her." Blankie is a girl! Little did I know what was about to happen. After Subway we ran into The Gap as I had a black shirt on - and of course I could not wear a black shirt on the 4th. The store was PACKED and the fitting rooms were full, so I just tried my shirts on over my tank..picked one, paid and left. We went from Gap to a 50 cent ride outside of Children's Place that I promised Amelia she could ride if she was good. She road the plane - then we climbed in the car and took off.

A half hour down the road Amelia asked, "Where's Blankie?" I turned around and stared in horror! I didn't have her - she didn't have her. I got off the Interstate at the next exit - pulled over to the side of the road and dug!! I looked through every bag - through the stroller - tore the car apart - Blankie was gone! I got back in the car and looked at Amelia. "Where did you have her last?" "Did you have her on the airplane?" "Did you have her when we left the store where mommy bought her blue shirt?" She didn't know.

I knew we had Blankie when we left Subway, so she had to be at The Gap, in the parking lot, or in the Airplane by Children's Place. I started pulling out receipts, I called Gap - they didn't have her, Children's Place, hadn't seen her, Mall Office, no one had turned her in at lost and found. There was no point in turning around as the mall would be closed by the time we got back...no one had Blankie...I was panicked. Amelia scary calm...it was as if she didn't care. I knew I was in for a LONG night.

We got to my sister's and she completely understood the problem...her girls are all over 17 and STILL have their blankies...they even offered them to Amelia. They didn't fit the bill. Laurie dug through the doll blankets, the blankets she saved from when they were babies - NONE of them worked. Amelia finally fell asleep, but it didn't last long. She cried and cried HARD- the grief was intense and it killed me to see her in such pain.

Sunday after church where I instructed Amelia to pray that God take good care of Blankie - and a visit with our friends - we headed to the mall. While Amelia played with her Uncle Phil (more on that later!) I went to EVERY store in the mall looking for a substitute. You see Blankie has to be thermal - but SOFT...and that isn't easy to find. Remember I have 12 at home that are not acceptable, even though I continue to wash 5 of them EVERY time I do towels - just in case something like this ever happened. I finally found a package of 2 that I thought would work. I bought them, hunted Amelia down, she was hesitant to accept them, but finally took the blankets and immediately did a suck test. THEY PASSED! She only woke up once last night and the new Blankies seemed to do the job - although she continued to ask about Blankie and whether she would ever see her again. I was honest...I said I didn't think so.

I continued to call the mall office multiple times a day, even though I left my name and number, because they are supposed to get ALL the lost items for the entire mall -and on the way home tonight we stopped to check in person...NO LUCK! I said, lets just go check at The Gap to make sure...we walked in and I went up to the first person I saw. I asked if they'd found any childrens blankets. She said, "Is it white?" I said, "Well, it used to be pink - now it's more grey." She went behind the counter, picked up Blankie with one finger (just like me) and said, "Is this it?" Amelia GRABBED Blankie and immediately started sucking on her(after it had sat on the floor for 2 days!) It was ALL I could do not to start crying and hugging this woman! It was WAY better than winning the lotto!!!

Needless to say - we have a new rule, Blankie is now housebound. She will no longer be allowed to leave the house and the new blankies I found yesterday will be going to school. We are NEVER EVER EVER going to lose Amelia's BEST friend - who she plays with, dances with and talks to - AGAIN - EVER!!! (Pardon the blurry photo...my camera also saw a bit of tragedy when it got stepped on at the fireworks...Amelia was just trying to jump on my lap...OOPS!)

4th of July!

We had an unusually cold 4th of July. It was jeans and sweatshirt weather all day...brr. It wasn't weather for swimming or picnics...we skipped the annual kids parade where kids ride their decorated bikes and hand out candy and headed out to my sister's house a couple hours down the road. Amelia wanted to see the fireworks with her cousins like last year.

It wasn't any warmer, but we still had fun. Amelia handed out the glow bracelets and bubble gum we had bought for the parade to my sister's friends at a party. Nearly 50-year-old men in pink glow bracelets = priceless! The gum was a big hit with the teenage boys as they shot off their illegal fireworks while blowing big pink bubbles.

Next we headed off to another party to actually watch fireworks, this was a party my niece Hannah's friend was having with her family, so there were LOTS of teenage girls, and some younger kids. The noise from the fireworks didn't bother Amelia at all, but she was very cautious with the sparklers at first! That was just fine with me!!

 

The fireworks were great and we had a fun evening, we always do...then it was off to bed, for a very very LONG night...which I will write about another day.

Forever Family For Four Years!

Four years ago today, I was a shaking single woman when Director Yu handed me a tiny little 9-month-old-girl with stickin' up hair; today I am a single mom holding a growing 4-year-old girl. It doesn't seem possible that four years have gone by already. I thank God, daily that Amelia's first family made it possible for me to be her mother.
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July 3, 2005 - The Day We Met In China

China Checks Out Charges Babies Taken From Home - WSJ.com

China Checks Out Charges Babies Taken From Home - WSJ.com
The thought that babies were taken from their Chinese parents because they could not pay the fine sickens me. Yet,if we look back in our own, American history, how different is this from what happened in the U.S. in earlier decades when we told unwed mothers, you can't be a good mom right now, "But don't worry we'll find your baby a home with a mom and a dad."

Adoption is wonderful for adoptive parents like me - yet there is always hurt...even in the ideal situation when a parent surrenders a child willingly, the first parent is still a parent in his/her heart and mind, and the child as I've witnessed with Amelia, no matter how loved, will always ache from the absence of the first parents.

In a perfect world, there would be NO need for any child to leave his/her first family. Society would find a way to support families so that they could remain intact. I realize there will always be extremes when a child wouldn't be safe in a first family, but when there is a parent willing to do his/her best to provide love, care, and a happy home to a child, should we not do everything we can to support their choice and help them remain together?

My life would not be the same without Amelia in it...but how different would her life be if she had a chance to be raised with her first family? I'm not saying I would change my decision to adopt, I'm saying that in addition to adopting the world's orphans, we need to look at ALL the reasons children aren't with their first families and see what we can do to help keep them together.

Ballerina Baby

Amelia is feeling much better - FINALLY. After being home with me Monday, and Grandma Tuesday and Wednesday it was time to go back to school today. Her temp had been 99 since last night, so I was comfortable sending her - and she did just fine. Today was their class picnic and parents were invited. I was able to walk over and play with Amelia and her friends and enjoy lunch on a blanket. I love that Amelia's daycare is so close to work!
After work we went to pick up her dance pictures - I am actually quite happy with them. Parents weren't allowed in the studio for the 10 minutes TOTAL they spent photographing the 9 girls individual and group photos, so I had very low expectations - but I was pleasantly surprised! Amelia had a couple of big milestones tonight!
First we took her training wheels off of her bike. She's been asking me to do this since spring and I finally decided I had time to work with her this weekend, so we would do it. Well she rode it up and down the driveway with me hanging on and that was it. She was too nervous. We'll keep trying, but it's fine with me if we put the training wheels back on:)

After we came back in the house we could hear the older neighbor kids playing in the backyard. The sweet little girl next door invited Amelia to come out and play with them - so she went outside - WITHOUT ME. This was the first time she's played with the neighbor kids outside without a parent hovering. Of course I was about 20 feet away and could hear everything. She only played for about 20 minutes before it got dark, but she thought she was pretty cool!

Tomorrow is a very special day for us as we celebrate 4 years as a family! I am off work and school is closed, so we'll be doing something special together. I truly CANNOT believe it's been four years already!