Slightly Obsessed-or- My husband doesn't really mind

As many of you know (or should know) I am a HUGE Buffy/ Angel fan. OK really anything that Joss Whedon does BUT his best character EVER? that would be Angel - the Vampire with a soul. No he does not glitter. No he is not always good. Yes he has better hair than the glittery vamp. Yes he is my obsession. Now, I know that Angel does really exist- right? Maybe he could. I would still have no shot with him because 1)He would be a Vampire and 2) I would not be Buffy- so there it is. I have to settle for being slightly obsessed with David Boreanaz- you know the actor that brought Angel to life. Every once in awhile I have a "David Dream" and then spend the next few days on the internet, staring at pictures of the loverly, wonderfully broody, sexy beast that is D.B.
Leslie knows all of this. He takes it in stride. I mean first of all, have you ever heard my husband talk about Salma Hayek? NO? Well, it's close to my David Thing. We just laugh about it. Ask yourself why though, why does Les not mind? Here it is.....In MY mind, if David Boreanaz were to walk into the room, my hair would fluff up and I would immediately drop 50 pounds, my thighs would revert back to the 16 year old manifestations of themselves, the polar fleece that I was wearing would turn into some slinky black number and somehow, my legs would be shaved- then I would walk over to David and thrill him with my wit and charm and he would spend the rest of his days pining for ME. Leslie know the truth- I would stay exactly as I was, but I would sort of get all glassy eyed, twitch a bit and drool down my front. Leslie knows that MAYBE D.B. would give me a sort of pitying pat on the head as he tried to avoid the spit bubbles that were coming out of my mouth and walk on and live his life.
It's sad but true. I'll jut keep looking at David online and hope to God that we are never in the same room (particularly when I haven't shaved my legs and I'm wearing polar fleece).
ok ok the real reason that Les doesn't mind? Because he knows that mostly I am being silly and funny and I would never leave him for David - I may do some serious french kissing with him in a closet though- no I would NOT. I would maybe kind of want to though.
Here is a YouTube video made by someone more unbalanced than myself. Go see for yourself what a hottie the DB is. (oh it's like 9 minutes long or something I don't expect normal mortals to be able to stand that much DB at first- you must build immunity- lest your mind melt from the power of His Broodiness DB- so just get the general idea and then step outside for some fresh air)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_WrKlNAYog
At about the 8 minutes and 13 seconds mark, there is a picture of him in a bathtub? That picture sort of makes me a little twitchy. OK I am going to go shave my legs, in case I run into David Boreanaz at a Giant Eagle in suburban Cleveland while I am buying lettuce or toothpaste - that's possible.
Right?

Pictures

If anyone is interested and wants to take a look , you can click on the following link to see some pictures from our Christmas-es past- well since we got our hot hands on Evie anyway...http://moreofus.shutterfly.com/

Then this link is to a photo album with a smattering of pictures of Leslie and I- they are from before we were married to the present, go on go see what kids we were.....http://moreofus.shutterfly.com/throughtheyears

Fifteen years

Fifteen years ago, yesterday, two young kids stood in a church in Mansfield, Ohio and said their vows. Leslie and I were 20 and 21 when we got married and I can not believe how time has flown. I still haven't managed to ever find quite enough time to spend with him. I still look at him and my heart flutters.
We have lived in Ohio, New York, Alaska,and North Carolina. We have travelled in a car, with a new baby, from Alaska to Ohio. We have been to Hong Kong and mainland China. We were in New York for 9/11. We have been through many sick days and more healthy days. Leslie had seen me through broken thumbs, Chicken Pox, herniated cervical discs and too many days with high hormones. We have been separated once and come back together. We have suffered through Infertility and fought through to end up with Evelyn. We have fought like cats and dogs some days. Some days we have lain quietly and snuggled all day. We have laughed, oh how we have laughed. We have survived Nursing School and Boot Camp for the Coast Guard. We have managed our life with more than our fair share of long absences (Coast Guard) and had many happy reunions. I have had drunk phone calls from two countries and several states. We have watched precious family members die and we grieved--new babies being born and we have rejoiced. We nearly starved on Alaska Highway 1 and then nearly divorced when Les scarfed the last Slim Jim for himself.
The times the I remember most are the times that I have been somewhere with Les, off in a corner at a party, laying on our couch or jabbering at each other on the Subway in New York. Times where we were just talking and laughing about what, I can't even remember but I remember being with him.
We have had some very hard times together. We have had some wonderful times together. I wouldn't change a second of it. Not for a million dollars. Want to know why? Because all of those moments added up to me being right here, snug in my own home on a cold winter day, my daughter from China playing quietly at my side while my husband is downstairs rustling up some lunch for us all.
That, my friends is a great fifteen years.

Christmas Re-cap

Here are just a few of the pictures that we have taken for Christmas this year. Although I have a bunch of pictures, I was disjointed and unorganized in the taking, so I have missed getting a picture of everyone and there were non taken of the three of us together!! I missed getting any of my Dad or sister, only one of my Mom, hardly any of the adults with Leslie's family. Oh well, it was all fun anyway.
Christmas Eve was spent here at the house with Jodi. We all had a nice evening with a good dinner in our bellies and a roaring fire. Jodi brought presents and we had a stocking for her so we had a few gifts to open.
Christmas Morning- Ev was up at 7 am and neither she or I could go back to sleep- much to Leslie's dismay. We headed downstairs and the first thing that Ev wanted to do was to go check on the Dwarves the live in our basement (you know they keep the heat going, live under the house and brew beer), so we did that and then dove into the presents. I feel like maybe I went a little overboard this year but she enjoyed everything. The Mighty Masters Art Kit was a big hit and so was the Rocking Horse! Another fave was the Princess Leia costume that I found for 80% off and bought on a lark- she ended up wearing THIS all day at my Mom's instead of her party dress. After some play time with her new stuff, we headed down to my Mom's. Let me say that there was a veritable frenzy of presents there! It was chaos! We had a great ham dinner and then watched some of our old family movies that we hadn't seen in years. It was very emotional for me, to watch my parents young and proud and to see us as a young family.
Then on the 27th - Leslie's family came here for their Christmas shindig. We had 8 adults and 5 kids and that too was chaos. There was ALOT of great food and plenty of conversation. We let Scott and Aden join in with the adults to play Pictionary and they were quite good.
We have bee recovering ever since. The Leia costume seems to be just as enjoyable today as it was on Christmas and I now have several large art pieces to enjoy! This was a super Christmas and one of my favorites ever. I am still recovering but need to pull myself together for the New Year's Eve Feast that I have planned.....

Christmas Stuff-cont'd with bullets

• I finally have some Christmas pictures up. Blogger was acting up for awhile, by the time I got the slide show to work I didn't want to go in and add text for fear that an hour of work would go down the drain- so we have this addendum entry.....
• Decorating the tree was so much fun this year. Ev was really into it and was a helper with every stage. I always set out bits of fruit and snacks while we decorate so that's why she's munching on something in a couple of the pictures.
• I have a few pictures of our ornaments this year. Some ornaments Leslie and I have had from our first Christmas together so they are 15 years old! Hard to believe they have survived, as we have had many military moves during that time.
• The Polar Bear that Ev made is special to me. She just sat down last week and made it- all on her own! I love that it really does look like a polar bear and that it was her idea.
• My mantle forest is thanks to Leslie. I mentioned that I wanted a little pine tree forest up there and he went right out to his workshop and made those for me. They are all originals and I think they look quite pretty. Can you see the beeswax moose we tucked in?
• I have the panda ornament to honor China in a small way during our Christmas season.
• The octopus is from Hatteras- we love octopus around here so it's appropriate that we have one. We are not the only people I know with an octopus on the tree, Les' sister Jenny has one too!(they also have a panda!)
• I used to have alot more Christmas stuff about the joint, sadly we lost an entire tote in the last move and it was Christmas. I had alot of handmade things from friends and family in there so it's really bothered me that it's all gone.
• 2 days until Christmas!!!! I can not wait to see Ev's face when she sees her rocking horse! And her Mighty Masters Art Kit!!!!!

Christmas Stuff

Home Movies-or some run on sentences from a still medicated Mother

I sat last night with my husband and my daughter. We were all on our couch, one of us legally stoned on muscle relaxers, and we were snuggled up and talking. One thing lead to another and the family videos came out. So we sat on our couch, while the snow fell outside and we watched our movies from China.
We aren't like many adoptive families. I haven't shown these videos to Evelyn, except once when she was around a year or so and then she had nightmares for three nights. Most adoptive families have Gotcha Day videos- we don't. Most adoptive families watch these videos on a regular basis- we don't. I am not saying that they are wrong and we are right. I just felt that with Ev's personality and some of the things that we were going through with her that it would be best to just establish that she was ours and not focus so much on the adoption. We talk about China and I answer her questions any time- anywhere. She also has certain stories from China that she loves to hear and she will ask to hear them- when she wants. After we first got her and she was old enough, we weren't shy about bringing China up, but as she got older and I knew that it was established with her and I knew that SHE knew we were proud of her and where she came from- I backed off. Now, all of the China and adoption talk is instigated by Ev. I like it that way. I think it works for her.
There we were last night..... She wanted to watch the China videos. Bad. She really wanted to watch. So we started them. AND SHE LOVED THEM. I was so happy. You never know which emotion that the children will grab onto while watching those videos. I held my breath for a bit because when I got Ev, she was crying. I knew that she would notice that (duh) and I wasn't sure if that would make her nervous or sad now. She did notice and asked "why is she crying?" I just told her that she had, had a long day and that she was hungry and hot and tired- she said "oh- how little was I?" Then she sat there, watching those first moments and the smile on her face was a mile wide. She sat there all cuddled up next to me and watched as we became the family that we are. She had a million questions and she was happy the whole time that we watched. I sat and cried and cried.
My emotions were all over the place. Now that I know Ev so well, I could look at that little face and see how afraid she was at first. I watched the footage of me rubbing her all over with lotion for the first time and how she just laid there, mystified and loving it and looking at me as if to say "what is this?"and I knew that no one had ever touched her like that and she was amazed at the way it felt. I watched as she drank her first few bottles after we had gotten her used to a smaller hole and her meals started lasting more than 45 seconds and I knew that she had never had that luxury. I cried for all of those reasons, and more. I cried because I have this , almost muscle memory of how it felt to clutch her to me for the first time and how I am sure that my heart had never taken a beat until that moment. I cried because that tiny, hungry frightened little baby was now a bright, funny, chatty, sassy, sturdy little girl -right next to me. I cried because , quite frankly, she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am glad to be her Mother. I am glad that I can call her mine.
I have the sweetest cutest girl.
And I went to China to get her.
And now she's here.
How cool is that?