Winner, winner, chicken dinner

I felt like a winner because this weekend Chad and I were going to be on vacation! We were going to take Charlie to his first trip to Disney and I was so excited! I bought him a DVD I used to watch as a kid about Disney World and we watched it over and over again. Luckily, we are careful about what we tell Charlie what we are doing because if you tell him "we are going here" any more than 15 minutes before the event actually happens, he will drive you literally insane and think that you have to go right that minute.....Soooo.....We would just vaguely ask him "Would you like to ride on the boat?" "What would you say to Mickey if you met him?" Because a few weeks ago, I started to feel rough. Tired. Sick.
Turns out I have mono. Bad. Not to complain, but yes, I am going to for a minute. Bear with me. I have had a fever for 14 days. That is not natural. I have been throwing up for 7. Once again, that tests what should be allowed for one human to endure. Mono, for lack of a better adjective, sucks. So, our Disney Parade has been rained upon. Que pity party.

Enough of that, I know that nobody likes a whiner. I did, however, win a great prize from Meagan's giveaway! Yippeee Tattered & Inked for this great prize, I originally thought I would get this in red for Charlie's room with "C"s all over it, but the more I looked at his wall space, the more I realized there IS NO WALL SPACE! So, I decided that I wanted to redo the dining room instead.

Our house isn't very beige, but our dining room is one exception. To be honest with you, B.C. (Before Charlie) we didn't eat in our dining room. We ate in restaurants : ) or on our couch in front of the T.V. But now, I've been staring at 4 beige walls and it is making me nauseous. (Oh wait, thats the mono)

So currently, it has one tiny wooden sign that pretty much found it's way onto a rouge nail and a sad, sad, wreath I made during my "Martha" phase. Ugly. Boring. Stay tuned for the makeover as soon as I get my mojo back.

Baba's to the rescue!

My Momma

My bonus Mom

Tonight is the first night in four weeks we've been Baba-less in our house :0(
While I'll been icky-sicky, I have been so thankful to have two live in nannies, housekeepers, chefs, and chauffeurs taking care of business! Chad's mom for three weeks and my mom for a week. I am so spoiled! I had to cook my own dinner tonight....What's a girl to do?
So, ok- I promise I am done talking about mono. It's over. You don't have to listen to me complaining anymore. Ok- just one more time....the only thing good that came of the last 5 weeks of my life with mono, was loosing 17 pounds. The rest required around the clock Baba intervention. Which under healthy circumstances would have been awesome- doing lunch, manicures, pedicures, shopping, not being a zombie.....but I am so thankful for two wonderful, kind, Godly, strong women in my life that aren't scared of mono germs!

After driving the Baba's to SC, the Dada's needed a break!

Where have you been???

Well, it's been a while. Time flies when you're having fun!

• I've had two colds in two weeks (I'm just happy it's not MONO! Where I was at this time last year....) But the last two weeks have gone like this: A cold for a week, stomach bug over the weekend, two days of good health and then WHAM....another cold. It was like a sucky cold sandwich, but once again, NOT mono, so I can't complain. Well, I could complain, but I bet you would stop reading. If you haven't already.

• Charlie's US Passport came in the mail last week! Yipppeeee! He is so proud of his "blue book". You have to send pretty much  EVERY single important original document you have to obtain said passport (original adoption decree, original birth certificate, original citizenship certificate, Russian passport). And hope and pray that they make their way home. Though the Post Office. Yikes. Post Office does not scream confidence in the whole dependability department to me. I guess I've had too many smashed boxes, lost parcels, etc. for my liking. I literally had nightmares about these things getting lost in the mail. But we got the passport in the mail on Tuesday and his original documents were returned on Friday. Not too bad. Sorry I said bad things about you post office. 

• We got Jack's birth certificate in the mail! Yeah! The next day, I went down to the Social Security office. You can read about Charlie's social security office experience HERE. Well this time around it was A TON easier. I guess everyone is more comfortable with a US born adoptee as opposed to a Russian born one. No two hour wait, no supervisor's supervisor. In, out. DONE! I called this time and they said I didn't even need to bring Jack since he was a baby. After his social security card comes in the mail then we can amend our income taxes and actually claim him for 2011. Which brings me to my next bag o' fun....

• Charlie's adoption tax credit. We got a check in the mail for our return MINUS the adoption tax credit. Oi. Then three days later a letter saying "don't send anything at this time, but your tax return is "under review" Yikes. Apparently if I haven't heard from then in 45 days I need to call a 1-800 number and then in 45 days they'll call me back, then in another 45 days.....Do you see a trend here people? I LOVE that our country says "Ohhhh YES!!! Adoption Tax Credit" and then makes you jump through hoops to get it. I mean, I can see if it's a $40,000 credit, but it's not. It's $13,360. Really, if you made two (maybe 3 trips to Russia) I can GUARANTEE that $13k is chump change. Five airline tickets, three visas, room, board, drivers and mandatory medical exams cost more than that! That's not even counting agency fees, home studies, blah, blah, blah. So, I am getting ready for a fun time with our own government. Yeah....

• Jack has not one, but TWO teeth poking through! Wow. It seems like it happened overnight. I mean, he's been drooling and chewing on everything in site for two months. But the teeth just "pooped" up overnight I swear. He's been eating "real" food everyday and LOVES it. I mean LOVES it. I've made him carrots, sweet potatoes, applesauce, peas, beets, acorn squash, purple sweet potatoes. Another boy that LOVES Mama's cooking. He's also eaten these dissolving rice rusk biscuits. They are called "Mum Mums" and he gets so mad after he's eaten them all gone. Like I am withholding food from him! "Where are my mum mums? What have you done with my mum mums???" He is also sleeping from 8:30pm- 7:00am WITHOUT waking up. Praise the Lord. I feel like a new person. Sleep is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Did I mention he's sitting up by himself too??? Where is my baby going???

• We went to the park today and Charlie took the initiative to climb up to the monkey bars. Now, we've monkey barred a few times last summer by holding him up, but this time he was playing with some friends as we watched from a distance. He climbs up and ROCKS the monkey bars all by himself. All the way across. I was literally cheering from the "mommy bench". The other mommies on the playground probably thought I was crazy. But if you could have seen him. He is so strong and so tall and so....well all boy. Big Boy. Then he proceeded to lay down in the mulch and make a mulch angel, which explains all the mulch in his pockets and underwear when he comes home from preschool. We are still going to speech therapy once a week and he's gotten a little better sitting still. He is still so stubborn, so I can't really say at this point if it's making any difference. I think the kid's going to college saying "pood" instead of "food". 

• I am starting a new "fun" blog about what I've been passionate about lately- making my own soaps, cleaners, food. Trying to live more frugally, and "green" even though I hate using that word since I pretty much kill the earth on a daily basis. It's not ready yet, but be on the lookout for it's BIG debut soon!

•  And I think that's about it in a nutshell. We have been so busy, getting geared up for summer. Praying that it's a good one....

Transformation

This week we have had Bible School at our church. I must say, I was "that parent" on the first night.
I still have mono, yes, I know, it's been 4 weeks....but I am feeling 100% better than I was. My only symptoms are what I thought mono was all along- extreme fatigue. I feel like myself, UNTIL I start moving around too much. Then I break out in a sweat, get dizzy, and MUST find a seat. Anyway, I was so determined to go to Bible School with Charlie. I couldn't stand the thought of missing any more of his firsts. So, I went. I sat. I sat nervously and anxiously during opening ceremonies-Will he tell anyone if he has to use the bathroom? Is he going to cry since he doesn't know his teacher? Is he going to escape from the room? Is he going to push the other kids around? What if no one understands what he is trying to say?
It was slightly chaotic, as any event with 90 children should be. Shuffling, shifting, finding name tags, registration forms. I sat with him while the youth praise band did their thing (wonderfully, I might add....) and then I walked Charlie to his class. He says "Bye Mama!" I think I must be hearing him wrong and go into his class with him. I sit for 5-10 minutes. He is sitting on the carpet with the rest of the kids, listening to the teacher read the story. Then it's time to rotate to the craft room. Once again, he says "Bye Mama". Que tears.  From Mama.

For the next three nights, I drag my hiney to Bible School (with the help of my live in nanny, house keeper, cook, and chauffeur for the last three weeks, my mother-in-law, Donna, God Bless her....) and it's the same thing. I sit with Charlie for the opening and closing concerts, but he is so excited to go to school every night, he can hardly stand the excitement. He grins from ear to ear about "Bible ool" He starts talking about "Jesus" non-stop and he insists we fold our hands to pray at meal time instead of holding hands. Then he starts creating costumes and brings out his books about Jesus. He wants to take his Bible to the grocery store with Baba. He knows after dinner we get dressed for Bible School, so he keeps saying he's done with dinner.

Easter Celebration, April 

I say all that to say this. Two months ago, we had an Easter Celebration at the church. Same chaos, same crowded rooms, people moving here and there. Same loud, rockin' praise band. This was Charlie then. Quiet, timid, unsure of himself.
And this is him now. Singing, dancing, engaged in his surroundings.

Bible School, June

At some point, I got a little weepy at the transformation he has made in just a few months. While I was thanking our children's director, Ms. Jana, for all the hard work she had done (without me helping her at all because I had been so sick....) It lead to this thought. Just think about if adoption didn't exist. Charlie would have never had this opportunity. He would have never learned about the love of Christ. He wouldn't be singing or dancing. He wouldn't have the joy that he has in his heart. He wouldn't know the love of a Savior.
If that isn't motivation for every Christian to adopt or help someone else to adopt, I don't know what is.