What was I thinking??!!

It has been a week! A whole week . . . (well 6 days) without a diet drink. . . and I just can’t do it. I thought that having no sugar substitutes was suppose help you NOT snack, but I found the opposite to be true. If I had a hankering for a little sompin’ sompin’ instead of grabbing a can of my calorie-free buddy, I would grab a few crackers. . . if I was thirsty and “watered out” I would drink a glass of juice or milk. I was snacking all . . . the. . . time.

So I have come back to my little friend. . . I will never be so fool-hardy again!

8 months old

Today my baby is 8 months old! I thought I would give you a visual day-in-the-life.

Loves to eat and play with food


Loves to feed himself


Loves to put all things in his mouth


Loves to laugh


Loves to play with the mirror


Loves to play with dad


. . . But in every life a little rain must fall

A night at the opera

We got tickets to Carmen! I first found out that Carmen would be preformed here by our local opera company last May, right after we moved here. When I was looking at the schedule for the 07-08 season, I told Dave that we had to get tickets. They finally came on sale, for those of us not in the position to buy season tickets. The performance is in April.

I called and we got the last two seats together for the Saturday performance, well the last two "cheap seats." It seems there are still seats available for $125/each in the primo section. This is a new venue and I am looking forward to the christening of the new performing arts center. At the last performance we went to the seats were a little uncomfortable. A new building should have lots of legroom. . . we hope.

Grandma is scheduling a visit over that same time, so Spencer will be with family on our big night out. I can’t even think about leaving him with a sitter, not yet anyway. . . leaving him with Grandma will be hard enough.

I really do enjoy opera and am so grateful my husband enjoys it too, or at least enjoys it enough (or loves me enough) to take me. I have never seen Carmen, so this should be a real treat.

Saturday Shopping

We went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things today. . . and Costco was a ZOO! (I can’t wait until we get a second car and I can shop on a Tuesday afternoon again.) There were hordes of people glomming onto the little old ladies offering the free samples of crackers and maple syrup. The lines were out the door, but we escaped unscathed with our formula and jumbo package of diapers.

When we went to Wal-Mart they had someone dressed up like Pooh and I had to get a picture. . . By the way the 12-pack of Diet Fresca is not mine. . . . it is Dave’s. I promise!

Farewell My Little Friend

As I sit here drinking my Diet A & W crème soda, I contemplate my relationship with this lovely little diet drink. I read some articles about how Artificial Sweeteners Increase Weight Gain Odds and about how they can actually Encourage Eating. Apparently Purdue did a study that has raised some questions about the use of artificial sweeteners.

I am contemplating take a break from my lovely little friend. I have three cans left in the fridge and I think that will be the end of it. I think I will take a break for a month and see if I can tell a difference. I do LOVE diet drinks. . . and by love I mean that at any given time in the fridge we have an assortment of four 12-packs of delicious diet drink loveliness. So, this might be harder than I think. I told Dave I was going to give it up for Lent : )

Farewell my little friend, I don’t know if we shall see each other again . . . . at least on a daily (or sometimes hourly) basis. Goodbye. . . sniff sniff . . . (soft crying fades).

Who doesn’t cut their own hair?

When I was a freshman in college I had a roommate that would cut her own hair. . . . I was engrossed by this regular ritual. She would style her hair and cut her bangs to go with the style. I had never seen anything like it. . .a pair of scissors was just as important a style tool to her as her waving iron (yes it was the early 90s.) I had been growing my hair out for about 5 years. . . (inspired by Robin Wright in the “Princess Bride”) and this habit seemed so bazaar to me.

About 5 years ago. . .I tired it. . . I wanted to give myself bangs. My hair was really bugging me and I thought “Oh well, if it looks crappy and I can get it fixed.” Now, I end up cutting my own hair (well, my bangs) every now and then. Yesterday was one of the “I just can’t take it” moments. (I think it was brought on by the re-adoption photos.) My bangs were growing so long they were blending into my hair and I wanted to keep them.

I was going for the sweeping bang look. . . One day I will just go in to the salon and say, cut it all off and go back to short and sassy. That’s my cycle. . . I can admit it, I have the hair doldrums.

Re-adoption

We officially adopted Spencer 5 weeks ago today. So, on this day I guess it is appropriate that we re-adopted him in the US. The re-adoption has more to do with convenience of record keeping then anything else. The adoption in Vietnam is legal and binding, but having a US birth certificate in English makes life so much easier.

We took some photos from today and I must admit I got a little choked up with emotion, just remembering the G&R and the special day he came into our family. This photo is outside the courtroom waiting to appear before the judge.


Here we are with our attorney and have just raised our right hand to swear to the truthfulness of the documents.


The whole thing was probably about 5 minutes in front of the judge, very speedy. Afterwards we had our photo taken with him.


We were in and out in less then an hour total. We still had to wait to get some certified copies of the adoption decree and got to chat with a mom who just adopted from China last month. It was kind of nice share stories.

We only have one final step left and that is to have Spencer sealed to us in the temple. It is a wonderful blessing to know that we will be together forever as a family in this life and the next. President Gordon B. Hinckley has said;

“. . .reason demands that the family relationship shall continue after death. The human heart longs for it, and the God of heaven has revealed a way whereby it may be secured. The sacred ordinances of the house of the Lord provide for it.”

We know that we were meant to be with Spencer and him with us. And we know that we will be together as a family forever, my heart does long for it. What a wonderful and happy thought! We are going to the temple next month. We have planned it to be in Utah so grandparents and aunts & uncles can be there to celebrate and meet the newest member of the family. I promise to take lots of pictures.

It is always a party with Spencer

After almost a year of Dave working at his new job, I got to see where he works! Because he deals with information that is classified as “Trade Secrets” in order to get into the building you have to pass security, with photo ID and have an escort. Because I really never had a reason to see his office I never went. . . Today, all that changed.

Dave works with some wonderful people and they wanted to meet Spencer and they planned a party for us! After checking through security and getting a special visitor badge (Spencer too) I was able to see the inner workings of the Fortune 500 company. . . or at least enjoy some cake and open gifts in a conference room. I got permission to take photos in the "secured" conference room and thought I would share.










I was so completely touched by all the planning that went into this get-together. Dave works with some amazing people.

Snooze-ville

Before Spencer came home a friend of mine gave me a copy of, “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.” I have heard great things about this book for my sister-in-law and other pals too. I have been reading it and finally have been able to make a plan to help Spencer with his naps and sleeping through the night. The book has been so informative. Spencer is not a bad sleeper, but the last few nights he has been waking 4-5 times. That was just getting so frustrating.

As adoptive parents we have read stacks of books about attachment, bonding, abandonment issues, and so on. I have been so worried about these issues that I think it was to the detriment of his sleep issues. No one wants to hear their child cry, but after reading this book, it makes me realize that rushing in to sooth him every time he wakes is cheating him of the experience he needs in order to learn how to sooth himself.

After careful consideration, we had a plan in place. I was strong willed, with a firm resolve to not respond to every cry. According to the book, at 8 months old he should not need to wake more then 2 times at night for a feeding/change. We put our plan in place and were braced for the long night.

Spencer went to bed at 7 PM, he then normally wakes about an hour later and is easily put back down. So, at 7:30 I heard him cry and knew that it would only take me a few minutes to go in and sooth him back to sleep. I looked at Dave and said, “Do you think I should? It will only take a minute.” My wise husband just gave me a knowing look. (I guess Dads know “the look” too.) So I sat tight with a little knot in my stomach wondering how long our little one would cry. . .

4 minutes later, complete silence from Spencer’s room.

I know there will be some hard moments, but this gives me hope! Here’s to working on sleeping through the night on a regular basis!

“The look”

I don’t know if it is the new “momness” in me or because I have been teaching children (in Primary) for the past year, but apparently I have perfected, “the look.” You know the look I am talking about, the “you better be good or else” look. Well, here’s the story that facilitated this epiphany. . .

I was sitting with a big group of children in the chapel waiting for Primary to start. A little boy (who I don't ever remember seeing before), about 6 years old, was sitting in front of me chewing gum. He wasn't really chewing it, he was playing with it and seeing how far he could stretch it out of his mouth. I gave him the “look” and shook my head. . . he quickly put the gum back into his mouth and gave me a sheepish smile. . . Fast-forward 3 minutes. . . He was pulling the gum out of his mouth again, this time I just looked at him and held out my hand. Here’s the magic. . . he bowed his head and spit out his gum into my hand. . . (“Wow,” I thought, "it worked!")

I quickly deposited the chewing gum into a tissue and had a secret smile on my face. . . the words of parenting advice, from Dave’s boss, were ringing in my ears, “Remember, you are smarter then they are.”

Things are going well in the parenting department, although, our Sunday church schedule (1 PM -4 PM) is ruining his afternoon nap. Today he missed his nap completely, never a pretty sight. He was pretty tired tonight and went to bed at 6:30. Spencer is still the explorer and loves his Papa. Wednesday we complete the re-adoption, it sounds like it should be a simple process. I will blog about it and look forward to sharing our experience.

Favorite Things

Every year Oprah does her “Favorite Things” show and I am always interested to see what the picks are. So, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite things. If you are so inclined, I would love to see a list of your favorite things. I am always on the look out for things to make my life easier!

Services

NetFlix: We have been using NetFlix for about a year and I love it. They have every movie, documentary, and TV series you could want to see. This is how we got hooked on 24 & LOST.




Skin Care

Mary Kay Gentle Cleansing Cream 1: This is the best eye makeup remover I have ever used. I have been using it for about 10 years. It is the only Mary Kay product I use and I only use it on my eyes, but so worth the extra effort to track down a Mary Kay consultant.



St Ives Apricot Scrub Blemish & Blackhead Control: It does the trick, I use it every day.









Witch Hazel: A great astringent, started using it in 1995, LOVE IT!











Kitchen

Kosher Salt & Course Ground Pepper: I think they are fabulous. Every Kitchen should have some. It is a generic seasoning for all dishes but gives more flavor & a gourmet touch to your meals.






Brita Water Pitcher: It is simple and effective









Miscellaneous

Colgate Total: It makes me mouth feel so clean, although Dave says it dries out his mouth, you decide.





Tums Smoothies: A great way to get your calcium too, and they don’t taste totally gross.








Hand Sanitizer: I don’t really think the brand matters, but it is great to have on hand.

Good Times

So, Dave got food poisoning from our special Valentine’s dinner. I have never seen him so sick before. He wasn’t able to go to work on Friday but finally this morning is doing better.

I hated to see Dave sick and miserable. I felt so helpless. I also really missed having Dave around to help with Spencer. I honestly don’t know how single parents do it, I was so exhausted I almost couldn’t walk straight. Spencer was up 5 times last night, 5! He was up 4 times the night before. I was feeling so overwhelmed with everything. Oh well we’ll put this in the category of “motherhood experiences.”

Gifts from my two guys

Spencer gave me a gift this morning. He slept until 8:00AM! (Granted he was awake from 4:00-5:30 AM. . . but still.) I also got wonderful gifts this morning from my valentine. My cute hubby gave me a dozen red roses and a favorite treat of mine, ice cream! We do not indulge in ice cream too often around here and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s is a luxury that I do enjoy.

Tonight Dave is taking care of dinner, he is surprising me with the menu items and we will watch a movie. . . I picked the movie, Becoming Jane. I think it looks good and a love story Jane Austen style is a perfect pick for Valentine’s Day. Flowers, a sweet treat, dinner and a chick flick. . . my day is complete :)

17 pounds of baby = 753 pounds of stuff

As I was wedged in between the stroller and the washer trying to do a load of baby clothes with Spencer’s special baby detergent, the thought occurred to me. . . Spencer has a lot of stuff.

We are wall to wall baby, every room in the house has been effected. The pack-n-play has taken up permanent residency in the living room. Toys are strewn about the house. Spencer has taken over an entire cupboard in the kitchen, and there is a dedicated space next to the sink for bottles and formula. Our second bath is filled with all-things-Spencer.

I think what amplifies the situation is that everything that used to be within baby reach has migrated north. So, all the lower shelve items, coffee table items and anything within reach has moved. The problem is when we moved it, we just set it some place thinking we would find a permanent home later. . .Well it is “later” and the house looks like a hodgepodge of clutter and would be shown as the “before” on a make over home show.

Spencer is happy as a lark and I am sure he sees nothing wrong with the Spencer-centric living arrangement. However, my goal is to make things right around here. I need to get things straightened up and looking normal again. Space is at a premium and I need to figure out how to be creative. I am feeling good about it, as G.I. Joe says, “Knowing is half the battle.”

Birthdays and Baths

It was a great birthday for dad. We had apple pie and Dave opened his cards and presents. He got two ties, a belt and some birthday money. He also got a new camera. We were able to get some good pictures of father & son playing. (Note the new tie, Spencer helped pick it out.)




We finally got some pictures of Spencer in the bath. That boy LOVES to be in the water. He gets so excited to be put in the tub. . .he cries when it is time to get out. He might just be an Olympic hopeful. . . if only there was a “splashing event.”



In re-adoption news, we have scheduled time with the courts and our attorney to re-adopt Spencer. This means the court will legally change his name (from the Vietnamese name he was given at the orphanage) and also issue a U.S. birth certificate. We go next week to take care of the final documents. YIPPY!!!!

Happy Birthday Hubby

Tomorrow is Dave’s birthday and we celebrated today with an early present. He got a Nikon S200 camera. It is pretty neat! It is pretty slick when compared to the old camera, this is about 1/4 the size and had 3x the quality (from a 2.1 to a 7.1 megapixel.) I hope we can get some good pictures tomorrow with it.

I am making the birthday pie in the morning. (We always have apple pie instead of cake.) This year we are having Honey Chicken Teriyaki for dinner (as per Dave’s request.) It is a great recipe that I got from my sister-in-law and we really enjoy it. It takes a bit more time and seems appropriate for special occasions. It has been awhile since we have enjoyed it, and we are looking forward to it.

Spence will be sinking his chompers (also known as gums) into some rice cereal and we will play the Spencer-gets-a-bite, mom-gets-a-bite game at the dinner table. It is great to eat dinner as a family. We take turns each night feeding him at the table. He loves to drink out of a glass, or rather, he loves to slurp and blow bubbles into the glass. He is still figuring out the sippy-cup and so far hates bananas and green beans, but might tolerate a bite or two of applesauce.

Secret World of Play Dates

Okay, so why didn’t anyone tell me how great the secret world of play dates is! This must be the best kept secret in mom-dom. It is so great! Spencer got to play and meet his little buddy this morning and I got to hang out and chat. Isn’t that the best of both worlds? Tomorrow we have another play date with the mommy and daughter (same age as Spencer) from downstairs. It is like this wonderful little social network. I thought once I was a “stay-to-home-mom” that is all I would do, stay at home (and frankly that terrified me just the tiniest amount.) But, this is just wonderful. . . I get a chance to meet and hang out with people who also have the same interested that I do (namely drool and what to do about baby-gas.)

Spencer did great at the doctor. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. He didn’t like getting his blood drawn and is not a huge fan of shots, but all the nurses cooed over him and admired him and said what a wonderfully cute baby! I had to agree. . . I felt like a gushing fiancé showing people my engagement ring. Spencer is just so special and loves to flash that smile and charm the peeps. He is without a doubt the greatest baby. (No disrespect to all the other “greatest babies” out there.)

Sorry, I haven’t posted pictures in awhile. Our camera died, (DOA last week.) It had a long and useful life but, our 2 pound-dinosaur-AA battery consuming-geezer-2.1 megapixel camera finally just quit working. Dave is getting a new one for his birthday, so we will be posting photos again soon.

By the way Dave has posted his impressions of our trip to Vietnam if you want to check it out. . . it is pretty darn good.

Finally on a schedule

It is so good to get Spencer back on a schedule. When we were in Vietnam it was really good, about 2 naps and sleeping most of the night. Once we came home, someone wanted to be awake all night and sleep all day (didn’t we all.) But, finally, we have resumed a schedule! We are back to 2 naps and sleeping most of the night. It is so wonderful to have some structure again.

Another nice thing about our new schedule is that when Dave comes home from work, he takes over with the boy. It is so great to have a break after a long day of just “Mommy & Me” time. Dave is a wonderful father, Spencer loves him very much and waves his arms and coos whenever he comes into a room. Last night, Dave gave him a bath, bottle and put him down to bed while I went out and did some grocery shopping. It felt really good to leave the house and just meander through the isles.

We also have our very first play date scheduled for this week. This is a little friend from Vietnam too. We met this great family over there and they happen to live 3 miles from us! I am looking forward to seeing them play together and reminiscing about our trip. Isn’t that funny? We have been home for 1 week and it seems like it was so long ago that I can reminisce about it.

It seems we are settling back into our regular everyday life again. . . it’s wonderful!

Diaper Debate

I have been doing research and have been looking into G-Diapers. If you haven’t heard of them, here’s the skinny. They are an environmentally friendly choice over regular disposable diapers. They have a cloth outside, a washable re-usable liner, and a flushable insert. I was intrigued as I looked at their webs site. I would love to be environmentally responsible and with so many diapers going into landfills it makes sense to look at the alternatives.

Some things to consider: I don’t know if they work as well as regular diapers. I have sent out some emails to buddies who wanted to try the system. (I don’t know if they have tried them or not yet.) I want to know if they have leaks and if the process is practical. Is there a problem with diaper rash? If anyone out there has tried them, please let me know what you think about the product.

Cost is also another factor to consider. Right now I pay about $0.17 per diaper, (Thank you Costco.) It looks like to get the G-Diaper system set up is about $100-ish, from there on out it is $0.41 per diaper (flushable insert.) I hate be to be to too frugal, but when the cost is more then double it makes me think again. . . sure $0.24 doesn’t sound like a lot, but with 5-7 diapers a day it can add up. . . I am pretty sure we are not the only family on a budget here.

It looks like they are only available at one store, Whole Foods. So they are not as convenient to pick up. I have seen that they have online ordering and free shipping, so that could be a plus in the convenience category. They also have a starter kit for about $27, it has a couple of g-diapers and enough inserts for about 2 days. Maybe I should give it a try and see if they work.

Cloth diapers are another thing to consider. . . My friend told me she uses Fuzzi Bunz. I am not sure about all the extra laundry that cloth diapers require. At times I feel frazzled with things to do, cloth diapers seem like a pretty big time commitment. There are a lot of choices out there. . . Any advice is welcome.

Hallelujah!

This morning the chorus of Handel’s Messiah is ringing in our home. Spencer slept through the night. . . you heard me right after 4 nights of not sleeping longer then 2 hours in a row our little guy finally did it, he slept from 6PM-7AM and only woke up 3 times for bottles and diapers. I hope this is a sign of things to come! At the very least now we know it can be done.

We are also getting him accustom to food. He had been eating some rice cereal and tired some green beans and bananas (not a fan of either.) On Friday I take him to the doctor for a check up and hopefully get some nutritional advice for his diet.

Vietnam’s adoption future

As we are working on getting Spencer on a nighttime sleeping schedule and adjusting everyday life to accommodate our new little one, I just feel quite blessed to have Spencer home. The Vietnam adoption process was a great way for us to start our family. Our agency was great to work with and now that it is all said and done, I am so glad that things are finally as they should be.

One thing that Dave and I have talked about is adding another little one to our family. The adoption process is not a speedy endeavor, at least not for the many families we know. It is good to have a plan or two up your sleeve in case the current plan changes (either by you, or for you.) We thought perhaps Vietnam would be a great choice to continue to build or family, but the US government just issued a statement, “Warning Concerning Adoptions in Vietnam.” It is really disheartening. We know families that this might affect, who are waiting to bring their children home. I am just glad we got Spencer home safe and sound.

It is so hard to plan and wait and hope and then have someone change the rules on you. I guess that is one thing I learned in this process. My friend Wendy told me as we started this process that, “. . . international adoption is always changing, one minute a country could be open and the next they are closed, but a new pathway opens up.” I guess that is the situation we are in. Do we gamble and see if Vietnam might or might not work? Right now it is good to have all the options. We will certainly look at other countries for an international adoption. It seems though, that even though our wait was 15 months for Spencer, many countries have more extensive wait time. Are we willing to wait 2 years, 3 years, 4 years? That is a tough call.

We are also considering domestic adoption (though that can be just as precarious as international adoption with wait times and things changing). One agency told us they had families waiting for 4 years, there can be a lot of uncertainty there. There is also the foster-to-adopt program to consider. We know we want to continue to build our family but now it looks like Vietnam might have some future hiccups that we didn’t anticipate.

What it all boils down to is this. . . We know we will feel what is right for our family, whatever that may be. We will certainly make this a matter of prayer and mediation. We felt lead to Spencer and that he was suppose to be part of our family. I know as we think about this new little one the way will become clear.

Nightmare

I’ve had the worst dream for the last two nights. . . I dream that Spencer is waking up every 45 minutes from 6 PM- 4AM. In my dream, sometimes he was awake for 5 minutes and other times he was awake and fussy/crying for 90 minutes. It was pretty incredible. . .

Oh wait, maybe it wasn’t a dream. It’s hard to tell because I am a walking zombie right now.