Ballerina dolls poop.
A lot.
They really do a lot of pooping!
And they do it in pumpkin buckets.
Let me explain. The other day while at what Bean calls, The One Dollar Grocery Store, I got one of those grab bags for girls things to keep Bean occupied on the drive home. Inside was a little rag doll Ballerina. To my surprise, Bean liked her. She has been playing with that doll since the moment she saw it BUT the only thing that damn doll does is poop! I have no idea why, but Bean just keeps playing "ballerina doll poops" over and over again. I get graphic descriptions of the smell and the mess, it's truly weird but harmless (I think, I hope). Since Bean has been prohibited from playing at/around/with the actual potty, she has a little bath room set up in a corner of the tv room, and the potty is a pumpkin trick or treat bucket that has been floating about since October. At least there's a lot of hand washing too!
God help me.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Home time
We have been having lots of play time here lately. Here are a few pictures I snapped during some serious rug vacuuming by The Bean (she loves her play vacuum and uses it for every bit of dirt that she can see). The last picture is Billy sleeping after a long evening of playing with his new pounce mouse- how did he get that back foot up under his head anyway?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Chatty Chatty Girl
I have to confess that maybe today I wasn't the best mother that I can be- sigh. We started out ok , I mean Bean did sleep in until 9 am and then we had some jelly toast for breakfast while talking about our day and a bit about how the move will go. And let me just say here that our upcoming move is nearly always on Bean's mind, she's not stressed too much I don't think, she is just incredibly curious about the logistics- more on this later.... Anyway the morning chugs on and Les and I decide that it is high time we take the Christmas stuff back to the storage unit and just go ahead and clean the unit out and organize it. OK great. We get there and Ev is playing about in all of the stuff, completely occupied but talking and talking and talking the ENTIRE time, so much so that I now have no idea what we decided to keep and what was getting tossed, I hope that Les was able to keep track. Then we had to go to the grocery because this house was a barren wasteland, all of the way to the store and through the store and back home and putting the groceries away and afterwards- she talked and talked and talked and talked. Now if you have never met Ev or seen her in what I call "In Full On Chat", well, then , you have no clear understanding of exactly how much this kid can talk. Les and I have not been able to say more than two or three words to each other all day! Now don't go thinking that I don't appreciate her for what she is and that I don't love her or hold her dear, it's just that 5 seconds all together of quiet today would have been nice. I was as patient as a mother with raging hormones can be but then I started to get a bit edgy and even though she noticed (and made comments on it) - she was completely unable to settle down and breathe a bit. Thus I greeted bed time tonight with undisguised glee and I am about to settle down on the couch and completely veg in front of the tv for a bit. Some of her comments today?
* "I am sorry that you are so grumpy but this IS a wonderful day"
* "Mom I can totally smell that chicken!"
* "Are we going to move into Aunt Rae's house?"
* "Will we move the potty?"
* "Don't forget, we do need jelly, the red kind, I really like that red kind , not the purple kind, I like the red kind, the strawberry stuff. It's right there, see it, on top, to the left Do we have bagels? They are right over there if you need to get some."
* "Are we going to live at Grandma's house when we leave Hatteras?"
* "Will we move out trash can with us?"
* " If we have fireworks (at Chinese New Year) then I will have to come in"
Oh how I love my silly talkative little girl. Maybe I should go get her? NAH!!!!! It's so blessedly quiet now, there's always tomorrow.
* "I am sorry that you are so grumpy but this IS a wonderful day"
* "Mom I can totally smell that chicken!"
* "Are we going to move into Aunt Rae's house?"
* "Will we move the potty?"
* "Don't forget, we do need jelly, the red kind, I really like that red kind , not the purple kind, I like the red kind, the strawberry stuff. It's right there, see it, on top, to the left Do we have bagels? They are right over there if you need to get some."
* "Are we going to live at Grandma's house when we leave Hatteras?"
* "Will we move out trash can with us?"
* " If we have fireworks (at Chinese New Year) then I will have to come in"
Oh how I love my silly talkative little girl. Maybe I should go get her? NAH!!!!! It's so blessedly quiet now, there's always tomorrow.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Well, well, well
This blog has been a bit quiet lately. We have all been recovering from what we will now call " The Holiday Trip That Almost Ate Us Alive". I had no idea how exhausted you could get travelling, I think the only other time in my life I have been this tired was during and after our trip to China.
I am fully aware that at least on my end of things, the exhaustion is partly psychological. I am dealing with quite a bit for this upcoming year and I think I am going into classic shutdown just to have some blank time in my mind for preparation.
What IS on Michal's mind? Hum, do you really want to know? If not, don't bother reading this post, tune in at a later date for more Adventures of The Bean, when my wit and sense of observation/humor have returned, no one will be the wiser.
First it is that wonderful time of year when I have to face the fact that I have lived yet another one of my years stuck in a layer of blubber. This is getting critical, I seem to be loosing who I feel that I really am, to this apologetic, rounded , watered down version of myself. I am letting it all sink in and trying not to fight the feelings of disgust and aggravation - maybe if I get REAL sick of myself I will continue past Feb with "good intentions". I have started things off right since we have been home. I have drastically cut back on the diet soda with the eventual goal of being completely done with the stuff ( my inspiration is my Dad who has stopped drinking regular coke after years of drinking it freely ). I have begun and exercise routine , yes Virginia there are thigh muscles, and hope to stick with that as well. I really want to loose about 30 pounds before we move, wish me luck. This is going to require a whole battery of changes and Les is right with me on this which is awesome. Also I am aging. That sucks!!! I always wanted to be the kind of person who "aged gracefully". HA! F that noise, I am going to go down fighting people, fighting to the bitter end.
Then, we do have the aforementioned move ahead of us. For me, this is the hardest part, these weeks of waiting and wondering and trying not to freak out, the possibilities, the knowledge that every part of my life will change for better or worse and I will just have to ride the waves. We can not plan a SINGLE thing for this coming year because we have no idea where we will be(well I know that come hell or high water , we will be at M- Farm on May 31st with Dan and Cherie). I know that it may not sound that stressful but, believe me, it is. Ironically when we get the news and I know where we are going, some of the stress will ease up. I will be able to start penciling in an idea of how our year will go, start researching the place that we are going to: in short I will be able to feel like I have a bit of control, the unknown will become known and we can move forward. OH! And with the move, comes the stress and work of intense cleaning and , as Les puts it "going through our things with extreme prejudice- this can take weeks.
Now also we are wanting to jump back into the world of International Adoption. YIKES! We really want to have another child in our lives and our reasons for adopting from China and not domestically have not changed, as a matter of fact we feel even more strongly against Domestic Adoption - for us as a family, not in general, since we started the process for Bean. I am not sure if any of you follow this world and know what is going on, but let me say things have gotten pretty bleak on this front. China has slowed WWWWAAAAAAYYYY down on referrals, the requirements have gotten much more strict and there is a terrible air of uncertainty with China now that was never there before. I am hearing tales of referral times stretching out to as much as 4 years. The thought of this makes me nearly senseless with frustration and worry and aggravation and disappointment. These negative feelings and worry are not just for me , but for every single family in the middle of, beginning of or at any stage of, adopting from China. I think about these families every day, I read their blogs, I feel their pain. I have no idea why we feel so compelled as a couple and a family to jump back into this, I just know that we do and that following these types of feelings are what lead me to Evelyn, so I will go along again when the time is right, no matter what the rumors and waits are. Is that crazy? Probably because I could eliminate an entire city block's worth of worry by just making the simple decision to not adopt again. Yet, I can't seem to make that decision, hell, I could hardly type it out! There is a bright side though, there are schools of thought out there that think when we are ready to jump back in, thing will have picked back up and China will be a bit more stable and quicker. We will just have to see what's happening when we are ready to go for it.
The other thing is Evelyn. She is growing and changing and I have to relinquish the last vestige of baby-ness. Her crib will be out of her room by the end of the week. We have a toddler bed coming for her. I used to think it was so silly to hear mothers lamenting about loosing that last thing of the baby days. Now I understand!! It's that you finally have to face the fact that you are now the mother of a child and not the mother of your little baby. OK OK she's great now and I love her and I love watching her grow it's just that well, she was just so damn buttery and bean-y as a baby and now she's all about " I can do it", " No thank you for the hugs Mama"- you know what I mean? It's bittersweet.
So that's it, in review, I'm fat , we're moving, China adoption is a mess and Ev is growing up- 'nuff said.
I am fully aware that at least on my end of things, the exhaustion is partly psychological. I am dealing with quite a bit for this upcoming year and I think I am going into classic shutdown just to have some blank time in my mind for preparation.
What IS on Michal's mind? Hum, do you really want to know? If not, don't bother reading this post, tune in at a later date for more Adventures of The Bean, when my wit and sense of observation/humor have returned, no one will be the wiser.
First it is that wonderful time of year when I have to face the fact that I have lived yet another one of my years stuck in a layer of blubber. This is getting critical, I seem to be loosing who I feel that I really am, to this apologetic, rounded , watered down version of myself. I am letting it all sink in and trying not to fight the feelings of disgust and aggravation - maybe if I get REAL sick of myself I will continue past Feb with "good intentions". I have started things off right since we have been home. I have drastically cut back on the diet soda with the eventual goal of being completely done with the stuff ( my inspiration is my Dad who has stopped drinking regular coke after years of drinking it freely ). I have begun and exercise routine , yes Virginia there are thigh muscles, and hope to stick with that as well. I really want to loose about 30 pounds before we move, wish me luck. This is going to require a whole battery of changes and Les is right with me on this which is awesome. Also I am aging. That sucks!!! I always wanted to be the kind of person who "aged gracefully". HA! F that noise, I am going to go down fighting people, fighting to the bitter end.
Then, we do have the aforementioned move ahead of us. For me, this is the hardest part, these weeks of waiting and wondering and trying not to freak out, the possibilities, the knowledge that every part of my life will change for better or worse and I will just have to ride the waves. We can not plan a SINGLE thing for this coming year because we have no idea where we will be(well I know that come hell or high water , we will be at M- Farm on May 31st with Dan and Cherie). I know that it may not sound that stressful but, believe me, it is. Ironically when we get the news and I know where we are going, some of the stress will ease up. I will be able to start penciling in an idea of how our year will go, start researching the place that we are going to: in short I will be able to feel like I have a bit of control, the unknown will become known and we can move forward. OH! And with the move, comes the stress and work of intense cleaning and , as Les puts it "going through our things with extreme prejudice- this can take weeks.
Now also we are wanting to jump back into the world of International Adoption. YIKES! We really want to have another child in our lives and our reasons for adopting from China and not domestically have not changed, as a matter of fact we feel even more strongly against Domestic Adoption - for us as a family, not in general, since we started the process for Bean. I am not sure if any of you follow this world and know what is going on, but let me say things have gotten pretty bleak on this front. China has slowed WWWWAAAAAAYYYY down on referrals, the requirements have gotten much more strict and there is a terrible air of uncertainty with China now that was never there before. I am hearing tales of referral times stretching out to as much as 4 years. The thought of this makes me nearly senseless with frustration and worry and aggravation and disappointment. These negative feelings and worry are not just for me , but for every single family in the middle of, beginning of or at any stage of, adopting from China. I think about these families every day, I read their blogs, I feel their pain. I have no idea why we feel so compelled as a couple and a family to jump back into this, I just know that we do and that following these types of feelings are what lead me to Evelyn, so I will go along again when the time is right, no matter what the rumors and waits are. Is that crazy? Probably because I could eliminate an entire city block's worth of worry by just making the simple decision to not adopt again. Yet, I can't seem to make that decision, hell, I could hardly type it out! There is a bright side though, there are schools of thought out there that think when we are ready to jump back in, thing will have picked back up and China will be a bit more stable and quicker. We will just have to see what's happening when we are ready to go for it.
The other thing is Evelyn. She is growing and changing and I have to relinquish the last vestige of baby-ness. Her crib will be out of her room by the end of the week. We have a toddler bed coming for her. I used to think it was so silly to hear mothers lamenting about loosing that last thing of the baby days. Now I understand!! It's that you finally have to face the fact that you are now the mother of a child and not the mother of your little baby. OK OK she's great now and I love her and I love watching her grow it's just that well, she was just so damn buttery and bean-y as a baby and now she's all about " I can do it", " No thank you for the hugs Mama"- you know what I mean? It's bittersweet.
So that's it, in review, I'm fat , we're moving, China adoption is a mess and Ev is growing up- 'nuff said.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
December into January
Well it was a hard trip in a lot of ways, we never really have enough time and with everyone's schedule, it can get difficult. If we didn't get to you for a visit, please don't be upset, we just simply ran out of time. We even had a couple of good friends scheduled and had to back out of bringing Ev because she just got so tired and overwhelmed that I just had to give her a break. She held on as long as she could but she is only three. We use my mom's house as a base and mostly everyone we need to see is an hour's drive or more and that is on top of the 13 hour trip just to get to my parents house. We did have lots and lots of fun though and we ate WAY too much. Here are some pictures...
The big Christmas Blowout at Grandma's house was about to begin....
Just Brevin.
Brevin on his scooter. I think he liked it.
This is a shot from the Annual Sibling Get-together. I have no idea how Leslie's sisters manage to get such delicious food out for everyone and in such vast amounts. It is always so fun to get to be with all of them for a visit.
Three cousins. From left, they are Kate, Evelyn and Audrey.
Evelyn with all of her big cousins, Kate, Aden, Scott and Audrey. Even though Aden's face blurred a bit, I think it's a pretty good picture of all of them.
I just love this picture of Audrey and Kate.
Evelyn and her cousin Brevin posing just outside of our favorite Chinese Eatery in Ohio. They were quite distracted by traffic and the fortune cookies.
This is Evelyn with three great kids, Jimmy, Brianna and Noah. They are playing their new XBOX 360.
No this is NOT Billy Bones. It is in fact, his brother, Toeby who was rescued and adopted by Jim and Lynnette. Toeby now enjoys quite the life, he has a fireplace to lounge in front of, treats are given freely and he is loved.
While visiting our friends in PA, we visited a local eatery for my favorite splurge food of all times, Cheesy Fries. Unfortunately The Bean decided that the bank of 8 tv's on the wall were a bit much and after much wailing and talking this was our compromise.
Evelyn in the backseat on the way home. She has her trusty flashlight so she could read in the dark.
The big Christmas Blowout at Grandma's house was about to begin....
Just Brevin.
Brevin on his scooter. I think he liked it.
This is a shot from the Annual Sibling Get-together. I have no idea how Leslie's sisters manage to get such delicious food out for everyone and in such vast amounts. It is always so fun to get to be with all of them for a visit.
Three cousins. From left, they are Kate, Evelyn and Audrey.
Evelyn with all of her big cousins, Kate, Aden, Scott and Audrey. Even though Aden's face blurred a bit, I think it's a pretty good picture of all of them.
I just love this picture of Audrey and Kate.
Evelyn and her cousin Brevin posing just outside of our favorite Chinese Eatery in Ohio. They were quite distracted by traffic and the fortune cookies.
This is Evelyn with three great kids, Jimmy, Brianna and Noah. They are playing their new XBOX 360.
No this is NOT Billy Bones. It is in fact, his brother, Toeby who was rescued and adopted by Jim and Lynnette. Toeby now enjoys quite the life, he has a fireplace to lounge in front of, treats are given freely and he is loved.
While visiting our friends in PA, we visited a local eatery for my favorite splurge food of all times, Cheesy Fries. Unfortunately The Bean decided that the bank of 8 tv's on the wall were a bit much and after much wailing and talking this was our compromise.
Evelyn in the backseat on the way home. She has her trusty flashlight so she could read in the dark.
Whew!!
We are home after an eleven day trip to Ohio. Let me just say that we had fun but the trip was 2 days longer than planned and we didn't sleep in the same place two nights in a row. Evelyn was a trooper and once again amazed us at how well she travels. I was the one shouting out of the car windows and begging for a fuel stop about 2 hours before we got home- Evelyn? she said "Mama it is night time could you please quiet down?" Then, Les kept driving past open gas stations and I finally promised that the next one he passed would mean that either: a) I was going to do a Bruce Willis style action roll right out of that infernal machine b) I was going to grab him and do a full-on choke slam on him when he did stop or c) I was just going to sit there and weep until we stopped, let me just say that he pulled in to a station in about 3.6 seconds after my announcement, averting what is known in certain circles as "A Michal Hissy". Also may I ask, why is it that the two people travelling with me do things such as order chili dogs while driving , drink chocolate milk from a faulty spill proof cup, and indulge in powdered sugar coated goodies and I am the only one who looks like a Stained Road Troll from Hell when we get out of the car? How is that possible?
Pictures tomorrow, for I am off to find my orange kitty and crawl into my very own bed in my very own room.
Pictures tomorrow, for I am off to find my orange kitty and crawl into my very own bed in my very own room.
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