Hudson's finished room

Dream, Discover, Grow! I finished Hudson's room last night by hanging up the wall art and applying custom vinyl decals. Christy at Graphic Spaces was wonderful to work with.  I put all of the vinyl decals up in less than two hours. They were very simple to apply in comparison with another product I'd previously purchased at a Target.

Sunday Snaps

 Yes, it's a lot of pink.  Isn't it?
 I've stopped trying to tell her that these are weeds, not flowers.

 

She tells me, "Mama, they're WEED FLOWERS!"

spinning seeds

 simple things  tiny moments  amaze me  and take my breath away  anything but discarded put here for a purpose  new life, renewal, growth

Video: Let's Talk about Taiwan

four year old 我愛你 translation troubles

When I put Hannah to bed I try to keep the same bedtime routine.  We put on jammies, potty, brush teeth, floss, and then get tucked into bed.  I tell her, "Night night.  I love you.  Wo ai ni!"  One night as an afterthought I asked Hannah what wo ai ni means.  She responded, "It means go to sleep!"  I cracked up so hard.  It means "I love you!" not "Go to sleep!"  Hahaha!

Hudson fotopalooza

After waiting for what seemed like forever for meaningful updates on Hudson, here's what we learned about him in March. He was 81cm tall and weighed 13kg. He loves to play with others. Once he sees anyone playing the game, he will jump in right away. Sometimes he wont cry if someone takes the toy away from him. He has a good appetite, he is sweet, and not afraid of strangers. He loves to see himself in pictures and wants to take a look at the camera after shooting. Hudson loves to play ball and is extremely happy when someone plays ball with him.














Still waiting for travel dates. I've got apartments picked out in Taipei that would work if they have availability, learned that airfare prices are pretty stable for mid-week travel in May, have selected a beach house in Kenting to stay at for a a couple of few nights. Hudson's and Hannah's things are packed. I have a list of what clothing I'll be bringing. The kids things will be in my suitcase and Kevin's taking care of everything he needs in a large backpack. We'll bring a duffle bag with us to put clothing in on the way home to make room in my suitcase for things we buy in Taiwan.

breakfast date

  I had a breakfast date this morning   with my BFF before going to story hour at the library.   I love how she wrinkles her nose.  We don't do this enough!

growing up so fast

This photo of Hudson is dated December 29, 2011.
He's twelve months old here.

Every photo is a treasure.

Hudson's final decree is in!

I made the mistake of looking at my cell phone at a red light on my way home from work.  It was a message from our adoption agency.  It wasn't an emergency, but they'd like to share with us some news before the weekend.  Of course, I called it right away!!!  I was blown away to hear that our final decree was in.  That means that the adoption has been finalized in Taiwan!  I was really surprised, and so overjoyed!  I started crying.  It's a good thing that I was almost home and was turning off the state highway.

The adoption facilitator in Taiwan is working on travel dates already.  We might have these as soon as next week.  I'm anticipating leaving for Taiwan in 3-6 weeks, but we'll see what happens when we get this information next week.  We'd like to do some sightseeing in Taiwan before picking up Hudson, like we did before getting Hannah.  I've got a couple of apartment rentals picked out in Taipei, and I'm really excited that airfare costs are at an excellent price in May.  All three of us could fly to Taiwan for less than the price of one of our tickets when we went to bring home Hannah over Christmas and New Year's.  That's a blessing!  There isn't extra money in this adoption budget for super fancy hotels and business class airfare with this adoption like there was for Hannah's.

I'll be starting to post photos shortly.  That's what you're all waiting for, right?  :)

We went out for Chinese food at our neighborhood restaurant to celebrate.  This was Kevin's fortune.

Meet our son! - referral photos

Meet our son!

More photos to follow. Not many, but we have a few more. :)

Redirect: Rethinking Tikki Tikki Tembo

This is an important read from Taiwanese American children's author Grace Lin regarding the book Tikki Tikki Tembo.

seven months

Hudson Ray, It was seven months ago we first heard of you, little man. Thinking of you, every day. Trusting in others that work in your best interests to bring us together. I hope you feel loved tonight. You are from afar. Love, Mama

so loved

We went out to dinner last night with two other adoptive family friends. We met one family online and the other at while shopping at Target. What do we have in common? Little girls that are SO LOVED! By the end of the year we'll add THREE little boys under age 2 to the mix of this group from China and Taiwan.

I'm laughing so hard right now.  Kevin was just talking to Hannah about our upcoming trip to Taiwan and told her all about going to the Hello Kitty Cafe with desserts that look like Hello Kitty.  Hannah asked if they had cupcakes and strawberry cake.  I find this so funny as last time we were at the Hello Kitty Cafe in Taipei Kevin made it known that he was not having a good time and enjoyed stabbing his gelatin Hello Kitty with a fork repeatedly.  This time with a four year old little girl, things are different.  Kevin's looking forward to going there because he knows she'll love it.  That's my man!  :)

Hello Kitty Cafe - January 1, 2009

This is what 35 looks like.

I woke up at age 35 with Hannah climbing on top of me. I pretended to still be asleep, hoping she'd decide to rest her head on the pillow next to me so I could lay in bed for another 30 minutes. Then the little squeaky voice whispered, "Mama, is it your birthday now?" I replied yes with my eyes closed.  She excitedly whispered more loudly, "Then you'll be five!" I opened my eyes land laughed.  Love that kid!  Kevin cooked us breakfast, and we eventually got out the door for a day of shopping and eating out.


    Checking out the used Wii games section at Game Stop.Picking out all of the Disney Princess, Dora, Diego, and Ballerina games to show to Daddy. This is what "like father, like daughter" looks like.    We had a fun day eating out, being together in the sunshine, and doing a little shopping. RETURNED all of the warm weather clothing in size 18 months that I had recently purchased for Hudson and purchased a few 2T short sleeved polo shirts and a shorts set at Old Navy and Target.    French fries, chicken strips, lemonade, and a play place for lunch.Knocking over a cup over and over on purpose to be funny.This is what happy looks like.
  Not working out or counting calories on my birthday.Love in my eyes as Hannah takes my picture with my iPhone.This is what 35 looks like.    A long fun day with Mama and Daddy and falling asleep in the car on the way home.Exclaiming "But I'm not tired!" when we wake her up to do potty and jammies before bed.This is what tired looks like. Feeling very blessed on my birthday.  Thanks to all of my friends for the well wishes today.

birthday present for me - a Hudson update!

On my birthday eve we received an email with SEVEN photos of Hudson.  He is a big boy!  At fifteen months he is 81cm and 13kg.  After reading the email on my phone at work, I'm doing the math and realizing that he's two pounds heavier than Hannah!  Tonight I broke out the CDC growth chart and realized that's over the 90th percentile for weight at 75th for height.  Going to have to take back the 18th month things that I just bought at Old Navy for him!  Hudson was described as being very social and not afraid of strangers.  He loves to play ball and is extremely happy when someone plays ball with him.  Such a contrast to our little shy flower that only talks to people that she knows very well.

good girl

Kevin's been talking a lot lately about how good of a girl Hannah is. She wants to please us, is very considerate of feelings, shares well, and accepts bad news well and rarely throws a fit. Telling Hannah, "Stop that. You're acting very naughty." is very hurtful to her feelings and will cause her to cry. It does get the point across that the behavior is not acceptable and must be stopped. She's so sensitive about the word naughty that we have to reserve it for truly bad behavior.

Lately when we're in a public place and Hannah observes other children misbehaving, she'll whisper to us, "That girl is being naughty." I find this terribly amusing!

Hannah rarely makes a fuss when it is time to go to bed. She's not happy about it and will sometimes tell us, "I'm not sleepy" a few times before jumping into bed, but that's about it.

We're certainly blessed with a very good girl.

video: biker chick

We went to the toy store Friday night after dinner



and tested several bicycles to see what size and style would work for Hannah now



and would give her some growing room for the next few summers.



Of course, a bicycle that is PINK with STREAMERS and a BELL
and decorated with PINK CUPCAKES fits the bill perfectly.
The baby doll with no hair even gets to ride along!



In case you couldn't tell, I'm very proud of our little biker chick!

when, when, when?

I can't help but analyze Taiwan adoption timelines again. From submission into court to adoption finalization often ranges from 1.5-4 months. We should have been submitted into court in early/mid January. That means if things are going smoothly, I'm hoping for some good news that the adoption is finalized anywhere from now until two months from now. And that's a definite maybe.

Thrilled to read facebook status updates about two adoptive family friends leaving today and meeting in Tokyo on the way to Taiwan to meet their sons!

care package on the way to Hudson!

XXL care package and a book about our family for Hudson's foster family is on the way to Hudson. Contents: baby photo album, two outfits, socks, two sets of jammies (including space jammies from Auntie Lora), ball, teddy bear, tooth paste, tooth brush, Bumpkins bib, and chocolates for his foster parents. So happy to ship this that the comment "Do you have a new grandbaby?" from another customer at the shipping store just rolled off my back. Seriously?!? Kevin finds this extra funny. Not fair that Kevin is 6.5 years older than me and hasn't been mistaken for Hannah's grandfather... yet.

adoptive parent blunder for the evening

I sent Kevin out to pick up a movie that I reserved on Redbox tonight titled "The Shunning." I used to work one day a week in a community with a lot of Amish and enjoyed learning about this group of people. It was a made for TV movie and I assumed that it would be family friendly. Anyway, I had no idea that the film was about a woman who was adopted by an Amish couple and never told about the adoption. Hannah picked up on it right away, about five seconds after I did.

In my head alarm bells went off. Oh no! We have to talk about what's going on in the movie. We stopped the movie and talked about why the twenty year old young woman was so upset because her mommy and daddy never told her about her adoption story until she was a grown up. This made the young woman feel very angry. I reminded Hannah about how we talk about the baby house and Taiwan family and she has seen lots of pictures of herself in Taiwan. I emphasized that we don't keep secrets about her adoption in our house, that she can talk about it anytime she wants to, and that it's okay to feel happy or sad about her adoption. I shared that I would be very angry, too, if my parents kept secrets from me about my adoption.

I asked, "Is there anything you want to talk about?" Hannah replied, "My baby brother is in Taiwan and he's going to be coming home soon. I'm going to share my toys with him."

I love that girl dearly. Movie resumed. Ding ding! Text message. One new Hudson photo! Hooray!