You know you're jealous . . .

or possibly you feel incredibly sad for me that I would think you are actually jealous.

We are going to see the Wiggles. Not only are we going to see the Wiggles - - we are sitting in the 5th row on the floor. Seriously, I get an adrenaline rush just thinking about it. Do you have any clue how excited Sister and Brother will be???? (Baby Brother will be at home . . . ummm, Mamaw, do you have any plans on August 24th at 1:30??? With what I paid for the tickets, we can't actually afford a babysitter and I think Baby Brother is still on the young side for staying alone . . .) I am sure that somehow Mr. C will get all of the love and adoration for making this happen, when of course, I am the only one crazy enough to sit online waiting for the box office to open so I could pay $38 a piece for tickets to the Wiggles. My sister told me today that when they saw the Wiggles "it was the best concert she had ever seen". She has been to U2, Billy Joel, maybe the Rolling Stones . . . who knows, but that is saying something . . . She said that she "was getting chills just thinking about it." So, $38 bucks for some mid-day chills on a hot Sunday afternoon seems cheap. Plus, I do secretly love the Wiggles . . . especially Anthony . . . here he is.

He is adorable, right? He is 4 years older than Mr. C (is that weird that I know that?? Wikipeda people . . .) so that makes him OLD and he can still wiggle!

As I am sure everyone knows, there is no Greg Wiggle anymore . . .he had to be replaced after he got some terrible and weird disease that makes him faint unexpectedly while wiggling. I suppose this could be traumatizing for all those pre-schoolers so it is good that we have a new Wiggle in his place. His name is Sam. Sister has informed me that she likes him better so we are good to go.

I plan to spend the next 6 weeks practicing all of the songs and dances that are most likely to be performed at our show. I want to get the full experience and I think this will up our chances of a visit in the audience from one of the Wiggles . . . I'll post a full review after the show. Have a Wiggly weekend!!

Knucklehead Chronicles Episode 1

We have a Knucklehead in our midst . . . a real Knucklehead. Don't get me wrong, Brother is really smart . . .sometimes freaky smart, but if you looked the word Knuclehead up in the dictionary . . well, you know the rest. As some of you know, Brother started climbing out of his crib when he was about 13 months old. We tried everything to keep him in, including a crib tent, which he proceeded to tear open and vacate. Since his version of getting out of the crib meant diving head first for the floor, we were forced to take down the crib and let him sleep in a big boy bed. Sissy didn't get her big girl bed until her 3rd birthday. Brother was 2 . . . a whole year early according to my calculations. Needless to say, his transition has been less than ideal. At this point, we have removed virtually everything from his room. No books or book shelf, no music (most of the time). There aren't even bulbs in his light fixture anymore. Mr. C's good friend, Mr. Black (and no, that isn't a code name but it would be a good one if it was) was special forces in the Army. He came to visit us recently and had a sit down with us regarding the state of Brother's room. He says we are training an assassin, just like they would in the Army. Put someone in a room with nothing and they will find a way to make something from nothing every time. A bit off subject, but interesting none the less. Anyway, we did try to leave the dresser in Brother's room, but we had to attach it to the wall so he wouldn't kill himself if he pulled it over. Here is where the real knucklehead comes in to play. The conversation I had with Brother after his nap a few days ago:

Mrs C. (entered the room to find Brother, half asleep, on top of his dresser with his full sized bed pillow and about 65 blankets): What are you doing?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brother: I sleeping Mommy.

Mrs. C: You are on top of the dresser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????????????????

Brother: But I didn't fall off and breakded my head open. This is where I have to sleep now. This is my bed.

Approximately 15 minutes later, the dresser was unattached from the wall and moved into his closet which is now secured with childproof locks.

I think an assassin is a fine job. I am sure he will get to travel to neat places and life will be very exciting.

Sally's Visit

Consider this a public service announement from the safety Queen, herself.

My friend, Neighborette had a visitor come see her. She came uninvited. She either met her at the grocery store or at Q'Doba. She is from Mexico or Florida . . . we aren't sure. She stayed for about 24 hours and when she left, Neighborette was not the same. You don't want her to come to see you. We do know her name. Her name is Sally . . . Sally Monella.

PLEASE DON'T BUY OR EAT ANY TOMATOS. THEY ARE STILL FUNKY AND FROM WHAT I HAVE SEEN, YOU DON'T WANT SALMONELLA!! (By the way salsa from Q'Doba counts as tomatos :-))

Stay tuned for a story about Brother and his knucklehead ways . . .

Yeah to Friday. I'm almost off duty!!!

Pinching Pennies

Now that prices are on the rise and the next big depression is on its way (according to Mr. C) I have been trying to pinch those pennies a little tighter. My sister has a close friend who is some sort of money saving savant. She knows how to use her CVS Extra Care Card to make actual cash and get free stuff at the same time. I cannot grasp the complicated series of events that must take place to make this happen, but she did tell us about a wesite that I can use to make some magic. http://www.fishingfordeals.com/

You must go there . . . here's how it has helped me so far. Ok, so we have about 62 animals and all the kids who live here . . . carpet upkeep is not to be taken lightly in this house. Our old vacuum was not working well and so Mr. C and I decided to take the leap to a Dyson. (There are literally entore blogs dedicated to the Dyson and its amazing performance . . . we have not been disappointed) But, the price is a bit steep as we all know . . . so I went on fishing for deals and found the Overstock.com message board. Here you can send a message to a manager at Overstock.com and ask for a discount on any item they have on their website . . . I asked and I received . . . $50 extra off of their already discounted price . . . a total of $100 cheaper than in stores . . . and it was brand new, not factory refurbished! People ask for discounts on anything and everything and most of the time they are granted! I feel like I have a fairy Godmother.

I have also gotten some free stuff. Like the following:

That's a Calphalon knife and a Senseo coffee maker . . . ok, I had to pay shipping on the coffee maker but to me it was worth it . . . a $55 savings and I will be saving money by not wasting coffee every morning, right?! Win win!

Go forth ans SAVE!

For the rude "anonymous" poster:

You know who you are . . . and I obviously don't. . . and you obviously don't know me very well and clearly have never met my mother or read the book to which I was referring. Try finding a sense of humor . . . or don't come back here, because you will be confused. . . . I have removed a portion of that post lest anyone else get confused but I will let it be known that my mother was hands down the most generous and loyal human being I have ever known and no one in the universe will ever love me like she did. Enough said.

I'm Back

I know you all have been sad, probably even devestated really, by the fact that I have taken an unintended hiatus from the blogging. This conversation I had with my sister early this week could probably explain things:


Me: Wow, my kids are CRA-ZAZY!! Why didn't I sign them up for thousands of dollars of camps and activities this summer? (By the way, the answer is because I am poor and lazy)

Sister: Yeah, the boys (she has 3 of them, aged 6 and under) are crazy too. Have you ever famtasized about what it would be like to have normal kids who sit still and color and read or watch TV?

Me: Every day . . . every day.


When your fantasies, both waking and sleeping involve calm children, this usually means that you need to take a break from blogging to get things under control . . . I took the break, but there still is no real control.

Anywho, I like to read. I like to escape from the grind and this is a safe, non-habit forming way to accomplish this. I read a lot. Here are two recent books I would like to recommend.


Selection #1


Come Back: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back

Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine

Holy Cracker Jacks!!! This book is a must read for any mom who wants to feel like her kids are perfect. Or for any mom who wants to get ready for the worst possible 4 years you could spend with a teenage daughter. This is a memoir (it is the craziest true stuff I have read in a while) of a mother's struggle to help bring her daughter back from the clutches of drug addiction. Not many of you all reading this knew my mother, but if you did, this is the kind of stuff my mom would have done to save me from drugs and I knew it, which is why I never would have ever considered the idea of going there . . . a little depressing along the way but an uplifting ending makes it worth it. The only bad part, why won't they tell us what "prestigious east coast university" Mia went to?? And why do I care so much??



Selection #2

Bitter is the New Black

Jen Lancaster



My sister lent me this book and it is High-lar-i-ous! It is a memoir too (who said I lost all my brain cells from having these three kids??). Jen was a spoiled sorority girl living high on the hog during the internet boom who proceeds to lose it all. I know that doesn't sound that funny, but it is . . .and she is doosy . . . condescending, slightly stuck up, bad tempered and yet you still want to be her best friend. Check out her blog http://www.jennsylvania.com/. Very funny . . . .

I guess it's official

Let me preface this post by saying that I am delirious with fever. I know what you are thinking; I am faking so Mr. C would stay home and help me just a little longer. (and he is that nice and he did come home today.) But it is true. Who manages to stay well for an entire week in Ethiopia and then comes home and gets sick? I am putting full blame on Baby C. as I have had to tote him around to about a googillion (did you watch Idol Gives Back . . then you understand) doctors to satisfy all of the agency's requirements. Some germ took up residence in me because of him!! But I am not bitter. Speaking of Baby C., that is what I am really supposed to be writing about.

So, I'll be totally straight with this one. During our process for this adoption, I spent more than a couple minutes wondering if I would "feel" the same about Baby C. as I did/do about Sissy and Brother. I had decided long ago that I was fine with feeling different...but I hoped it would be the same. Here's another tidbit of honesty . . . I am not the mom who fell in love at first sight. It was more like, "Could someone wash off this tiny alien like creature so I can get a better look?" It took time. I felt like they were strangers for a while. It is hard to get to know a stranger who can't talk, and in Sissy's case, cried for 4 months straight. All of this is to say that my standards aren't too high in this area, but I was still wondering if it would be the same.

In fact, it was a lot the same. The nurse handed him to us and we were like, "Nice to meet you. We love your pink clothes. You are way prettier than a newborn and even way prettier than in your photos. You are down right beautiful. Now what?" So a week and a half has gone by and here is where I am now. He is officially my son. I sat with him last night. Alone in his room, feeding him his bedtime bottle and I stared into those huge brown eyes and my heart did the swelling thing. You, know, when you feel for a split second that your chest can't accomodate the size of your puffing heart and you have to take a breath? Then I cried. This is exactly the same feeling I had, and have, with Sissy and Brother( tho less frequently when they are/were two). So, in case anyone is still wondering, it isn't different. It is the same. Just the same.. I don't know if it is as simple as hard wiring? I suspect it is a bit more mysterious than that. God, the universe, fate. . . . whatever. It is a wonderful gift to have given birth and it is an equally wonderful gift to have adopted. Sometimes life really is amazing.

One week down

Well, we have been home with Caleb for a bit over a week and I have to say, he is, as Mr. C. says, the most well adjusted member of our family. We figured out the nuances of his eating habits and he is close to sleeping through the night. He loves his sister and brother and they love him. The first thing they say in the morning is, "Where is baby Caleb!?" This is a shot of how we eat breakfast now . . . He looks stunned, huh? I think anyone would be upon finding that Sissy and Brother were his siblings . . .He passed with flying colors at the International Adoption doc and his immunizations are good so we won't have to redo a bunch of shots . . . good news for him.

Mr. C is back to work tomorrow so it is back to the real world for me. We'll find out what I am made of now, won't we?!

We are home!!

We arrived home yesterday afternoon, and were/are very happy to be home safe and sound. It turned out that I couldn't even send an e-mail to post to my blog while we were gone so this update is a lot later than I thought it would be.

We had a great trip. We spent all of our time in Addis Ababa, the capital city. We wish we could have ventured out to some smaller areas because we think we would have seen a more "real" part of the country. Addis is a huge city . . . way more pollution and smog than we thought there would be. All of the cars are very old so there are lots of fumes! We had a great driver and surprisingly felt safe all week riding in the van without seat belts . . . there is so much traffic that I think even if we had hot someone (which seems like a real possibility as there really are no driving rules) we may bot have even bent a fender. Just like any city, some places in Addis are prettier than others. To me, the best part of Ethiopia was the people. They really are lovely. Beautiful, beautiful people and so loving and open. We never felt uncomfortable and in fact were made to feel very comfortable by everyone we encountered. it was interesting that as soon as we got around Americans again, the stares started and we really didn't experience this in Addis at all . . .

So, now on to Baby C! He is really, really pretty . . . people have to ask if he is a boy or a girl. The nannies shaved his head before they brought him to us which makes him look really cute. He has been very laid back so far. The first couple of nights, when he woke up, he cried a really scared, sad cry . . . and then he would wake up for a few seconds and give us a big grin and be fine. He really just had no idea where he was . . . that was sad. He is a pretty good sleeper, tho he does like to eat in the nighttime which is a bit tiring!! He was great on all of the flights and has started his adjustment to our house well . . . he was excited to see the kids and they were thrilled to see him! The kids, and my in-laws and my friend Sarah were all at the baggage area when we arrived. They had signs and balloons. I cried like a baby when I saw the kids and there was a crowd gathered who were all so excited about him and us. It was very cool.

So, we hope that he keeps adjusting fairly easily. Here is a picture. Enjoy!

Addis-We are here!

It is 2:30 in the afternoon here in Addis . . . our flight today was delayed about 1 hour and had a rough landing but nothing too bad!  And I am a tough critic.  The guest house is very cute and the owner, Helen, is wonderful.  No word from the agency yet so we are relaxing with a woman here from Denmark, I believe, who has adopted a baby boy.  We are getting ready to have the traditional coffee ceremony.  John and I could really benefit from that!!

 

We'll keep you updated on Caleb . . . we may see him today and we may not!!

 

Love to the kiddos . . .

Mr. and Mrs. C

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DUBAI

We will keep this post short cause we are TIRED!! We arrived in Dubai after a non-eventful flight! We are very thankful for that and thankful that we only have about 4 more hours of flying tomorrow to get there . . . we will post more from Ethiopia . . . keep thinking of us and praying for us!!! We can feel it!!
Love,
Mrs. C and Mr. C

Only a daddy . . .

Here is another story just to make you laugh.

Brother, who is 2, has sort of been potty training himself. I just can't commit to potty training right now and frankly, he is doing a better job than I would, so I am letting him take over. So, most days he asks to go potty a few times and uses his diaper the rest of the time. For some reason, at bed time, he gets freaked out about pottying in his pull up and always asks to come out and potty right before he falls asleep. So last night, we hear him calling for Mr. C. Mr. C. goes up . . .opens the door . . . and there is Brother, totally naked, with a hand full of poop! "Daddy, I poopied!!" So what does Mr. C. do? Does he carry him to the bathroom and scrub his hand for 20 minutes? NO! He carries him down the stairs and tells him to show ME what is in his hand. Nice . . . and he's laughing. Way to teach him that pooping in his hand is a bad idea.
Boys (and grown men) are gross.

On a brighter note, we leave in 10 days . . . I am ready to get this thing done and be home!!!

Just a test

I am testing this to see if I will be able to post to the blog while we are gone .  . . Hope it works!

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We have a date!

We have an Embassy date to get little man's passprt and visa on March 31st . . . we will be leaving on March 28th!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone start praying that my Valium works.

And we are adding another one?!

I bet this has never happened to you:

First, let me say that Brother (2 years old) moved to his big boy bed about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I firmly believe that all children should stay in cribs until they are 13, but alas, he tore a huge hole in his crib tent (yes, he bagan crib jumping at about 14 months old) and launched himself out head first. So it was either paralysis or freedom . . . equally frightening for me, but in the end I think we made the right decision.

The transtion has been rocky. His room is now void of any belongings except his bed and he is finally sleeping again. In the process of his adjustment, we decided to turn his door knob around backwards so we could lock him in . . . I know some of you probably think that is mean, abusive or really just weird, but he kept wandering out when I didn't know it and one of his favorite things to do is open the front door and leave, so again, another tough decision . . . lock him or lose him. We locked him.

Ok, so last night before bed we are all together in Brother's room. We are happily reading Sesame Street books and staring in wonderment as Sister shows us her smarts . . . even Hamlet was there. Then we heard it . . . the click and the slam of a door. Yes, what you are thinking is what happened. Preston locked the door and the shut it . . . the only good thing (I think??) is that he stepped back into the room before he shut it so we were ALL locked in his room!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our neighbors who have the key are in Wisconsin and John's cell phone had approximately 10 seconds of battery time left. And maybe you remember from my profile that my friends call me saftey queen????? So, usually there isn't an unlocked door around here, but for some reason, thank heavens, the front door was unlocked and another neighbor saved us. Needless to say, the moral of this story is that if you have to lock your crazy 2 year old in their room, please move that special little key to the inside of his room.

And now, back to .. . . .

our regularly scheduled broadcast.

I thought I should get the blog up and rolling again before we travel. We will be leaving either March 28th or April 4th. We will hopefully know the final date by mid-week and I will keep you updated! We will be unable to access the Blogger site in Ethiopia, but I will be able to e-mail posts to my sister who will update the blog while we are gone. At the very least, it may be netertaining to hear stories about my 17 hours of flying while under the iunfluence of Valium . . .

Here are our most recent photos of Caleb. He is 4.5 months old and is already weighing in at 16.5 pounds. He is a bit vertically challenged at 24.5 inches long. So, basically, he is a circle. I can't wait to squeeze him!!