Girl's Weekend

Hope was kissing herself in the mirror

Getting her hair cut

All done

At the mall play area

Mary Kate standing on an egg

Hope is floating in the bowl of cereal

Time to slide down the bacon


Mike and the boys headed to Wisconsin for the weekend to see one of his brother's get ordained. It would have been nice for all of us to go, but I knew it had the potential to be confusing to Hope, and, as I've mentioned before, Hope is NOT a good traveler. So, the girls and I stayed home and I declared it a Girl's Weekend. On Friday night I gave the girls baths and I told Mary Kate I would blow dry her hair for the first time if she wanted. She decided she wanted me to do it, so after her bath, she sat on my lap and I blew her hair dry. Hope decided that she didn't want to be left out, so when Mary Kate was finished, Hope sat in my lap and cocked her head to the side to let me know that she wanted her hair dryed too. It was so cute.

On Saturday morning, Mary Kate and I took Hope to the "beauty parlor" to have her hair trimmed. It was pretty uneven in the back, so I wanted it trimmed in the back so it will come in nicer. Hope was a CHAMP at the "beauty parlor". It's a place that specializes in kid's haircuts and they do it right (and fast). After that, the girls and I went to the mall to do a little shopping and to play, of course. This was a great place for Hope to practice being a little more adventurous with her gross motor skills. She does not seem to have great coordination, although our pediatrician thinks that may get better once we have the tubes put in her ears. Overall, it was a pretty good Girl's Weekend!

Micah's Birthday

Micah is posing with fish tank accessory

Micah was excited to receive an X-Wing Star Wars Lego set

Micah is posing by the garden he planted on our deck

He harvested 8 green beans. We ate them with his birthday lunch.

Mom and Hope at the baseball game

Dad and Mary Kate

Samuel

Cute Hope

Mary Kate

Micah watching the game


Micah's birthday fell on a Sunday this year. He got to open his presents from us before church. I made waffles for breakfast and then we headed to church. After church, we had lunch, which included the 8 green beans from Micah's garden. The boys played Legos for a while and then we headed to a minor league baseball game. We came home, did some more Legos and went to bed. It was a full and fun day!

Micah's 7th Birthday Party

We celebrated Micah's 7th birthday at a local park on the day before his birthday. We continued with our tradition of having a family-only party. I keep waiting for the year when Micah asks to have a party with his friends from school, but the day hasn't come yet. It probably helps that his birthday is in the middle of summer and his friend's aren't at the forefront of his mind.

Micah asked for a Star Wars birthday this year. Mike and I spent many hours making a cake that was supposed to look like an X-Wing Fighter. The cake caved in while we were making it and caused great frustration for Mike and I. I am pretty sure that Mike is going to start boycotting our cake decorating adventures soon. Other than the cake disaster, everyone seemed to have a great time at the party, especially the birthday boy!!!

Blue Moon Ice Cream

One of Mike's brother's and his family were on vacation when we first arrived home from China. When they returned home, they were wanting to meet Hope. They picked up some Blue Moon ice cream and came over to our house for dessert one night. I'm not sure if Hope had ever had an ice cream cone before. We had never given her one up to the point. It was like instinct. She knew exactly what to do and she looked so cute with the blue ice cream all over her face.

18 Months Old

Hope turned 18 months old on Friday. I was able to snap a couple of pictures. I have found that if I place her on the edge of the porch, she's not sure how to get off and I can get a couple of pictures before she gets too agitated. I have forgotten what a game it can be to take pictures of a toddler.

Our transition home continues to go well. We have been blessed with some delicious meals, which have definitely helped as I continue to get used to our new normal. Hope also seems to be adjusting well. We finally made the decision to transfer her out of our bed. Mike put the pack 'n play right next to my side of the bed. I laid her in there for her nap and laid next to her with my arm in the pack 'n play while she worked herself to sleep. It seemed to work OK. We are excited at the thought of no longer sharing our bed with a toddler who sleeps sideways and kicks in her sleep. On the other hand, we know that co-sleeping is very good for attachment, which is why we decided to still keep her very close to us at night, just not in the same bed.

Yesterday Hope was diagnosed with her second ear infection since we have had her. I also took her to a clinic while we were in China and had her treated for an ear infection. In the research I did before leaving for China, I learned that many (possibly most) cleft-affected kids suffer from chronic ear infections until they are able to get tubes in their ears. We will be getting into an ENT ASAP, but until then, I'm thinking she may have to be on antibiotics to take care of this issue. She is in better spirits today than yesterday, which is a good thing for all of us.

Sisters

I LOVE putting my kids in matching outfits. It makes me very happy. I have a special relationship with The Children's Place around Christmas and Easter because of this very reason. Well, you can imagine that I was excited to have a couple of matching outfits for the girls. I tried to get a cute photo, but it just wasn't happening.

Overall, our adjustment has been going very well. Hope is sleeping and eating wonderfully and she and the other kids are playing really well together. I didn't know what to expect and feel very blessed that things are going so well.

Welcome Home!!!

Hope and I arriving in the terminal


Daddy and Hope are reunited


Our first family picture (MK was not cooperating)


Hope meeting her Grandma for the first time


Mary Kate giving Hope a hug


My parents, Hope and I left Hong Kong on Sunday morning at 9:15am. We had a direct flight to Detroit, which lasted 14 1/2 hours. Let's just say it was a L.O.N.G. flight. Hope took 3 little cat naps the entire flight and that's it. She was awake for about 12 hours of the flight and unhappy for about 11 of those hours. It's kind of like labor... once it's over, you kind of forget how bad it was. A year from now, I will probably look back on the flight with fond memories, but right now it's a little too fresh. But, we survived.

We arrived to Detroit on time, but Hope and I had to go through a special line for immigrants. The man who was working the line did not know what he was doing (he told me so himself) and it took him a long time to process the adopting children coming through his line. Because of this (despite my valiant effort of running like the wind through the Detroit airport) we missed our connecting flight home. I was disappointed. I shed some tears. And then I moved on. The next flight out was only 1 1/2 hours later, so thankfully we didn't have to wait too long. Hope slept through the entire flight (it lasted all of 30 minutes), which was beautiful.

We arrived at the airport and I was so excited to see my husband and kids. They were joined by about 20 other family members and friends, which was really fun. The kids were so excited to meet Hope and she seemed interested in them too. We got home around 5pm and I put Hope to bed at 6pm. She slept all the way until 8 the next morning. She clearly needed to catch up on some sleep. Thankfully, she has had no problem switching her days and nights since she skipped an entire night of sleep on our flight home. That is a huge positive. I am so thankful to be home and to be beginning our new lives together.