Summer??? Where Are You??!!

This has been our skyline for much longer than I'd like. Seriously, it rained the entire month of May, although we did manage to escape 2 weeks of it while we were in China :) And it has rained well over half of June. The few days it hasn't been raining, it's been unbearably, swelteringly hot & humid!!! What happened to the summers of my childhood??? My poor kids have been stuck inside for most of the season! And Milo has been coming up with new ways to entertain himself:

(*sorry for the blurry pics, but he was moving fast!)

Yeah... he's between the back of the couch & the wall.... This boy finds trouble everywhere he goes. It feels like Groundhog Day a lot. He messes up each room he enters, and I get to clean it up after he goes to bed. Every. Single. Day. 

He does make our lives interesting. We're almost always laughing at something he's doing. He's desperately trying to speak with us. He can now say:

Dada

Mama

Uh-oh

NO!
Thank You**
Xandra**
**it's a bit garbled, but I can understand it**

I've been trying to teach him a little bit of sign language, but I'm apparently not doing a very good job of it. Mostly, I just want him to be able to tell us when he's hungry and/or thirsty. As it is right now, he cries/whines/fusses, and we have to figure out what it is that he wants (it's like having a newborn on some days). We've also noticed that he no longer speed-eats. In fact, he's slowed down so much that there are many times I end up taking away an almost full plate from him because he'll happily sit at the table playing around with his food for an hour or more. He's really grasping that there is always food available. I think it's a great sign that he's really feeling comfortable with us & bonding well. Yea!!! :)

Sunday Snapshot

These are a couple of my favorite shots from yesterday's semi-disastrous photo shoot at the park. 

Little of This & That

Isn't this the cutest outfit?? I LOVE the slippers she added to complete the look!!

So, the kids & I spent over half the day in our pj's (see picture above). I love pj days, but I finally decided it was much too pretty of a day to waste indoors. After their naps (well, Milo took a nap; Xandra played in her room), I got them dressed & packed them into the car & we made our way to a local  park.

Please Note:  These are the only smiles I got out of Xandra all day. I realize she is old enough to give up nap time, however she does still benefit from them. Seriously. She skipped nap time yesterday as well, and was fine. But two days in a row was really pushing it for her, and I ended up with the cranky, moody kid today. About 10 minutes after we got to the park, Xandra complained her foot was hurting. I thought she may have gotten dirt or a rock caught in her sandals, but no... she had a blister. I now had a tired, cranky, moody, & *in pain* child on my hands. 

Milo was in his stroller, so I told Xandra to jump on my back & I carried her all the way back to the car (keep in mind this is a big park where lots of people go for wedding pictures, so it was quite a trek back to the car). Let me tell you just how difficult this task was for me. Matt & I decided to start working out a couple days ago. We stupidly chose P90X. My entire body is in pain. Seriously, it flippin' hurts to breathe! 

Anyway, I made it (thank God!)- I got the kids back to the car, strapped into their car seats, stroller thrown put away in the trunk, and finally collapsed into the front seat completely out of breath. Xandra & I argued most of the rest of the night while I counted down the minutes until bedtime. :) 

I think I'll try our photo shoot again in a few days when Matt can accompany me to the park. Trying to coordinate both the kids (especially when one missed their nap) by myself was not easy!!

Gotcha Day Video

It's been a work-in-progress for a while. I hope you all enjoy!

Dad...

I know this is late... Sorry! 

My dad... We've definitely had our up's & down's. But he chose me. He adopted me shortly after my parents got married. It's a gift that can never be repaid. I love him a lot... more than a lot. :)

And my husband... One of the best dad's I know. He adores his baby girl (who will never be any older than this in his mind)

And it's because of Matt that Milo is part of our family. He ordered the information packet from the adoption agency (unbeknownst to me).

These two men are the people I look up to the most. And I know that our kids do as well. Happy (late) Father's Day, guys! We love you!!

Bribery

Is it wrong to bribe your kids? I know there are differing opinions on this parenting philosophy, but it is what it is. And at times, it does work. I know I've beat this topic to death, but Xandra's attitude is just about ruling our household. I can't stand it. I hate that our days revolve around what mood Xandra is currently in. Because this is what we're dealing with on a daily basis:

She's stopped eating without being yelled at, cajoled, begged, and punished. We went to dinner with my dad last night to celebrate Father's Day early. She was very excited to see Papa, until he was actually standing in front of her. For some reason, her mood turned 180 degrees, and she suddenly didn't want anything to do with him. 

Tonight, we went through the whole routine again. She refused dinner, so we told her she had two options: sit at the table & eat or go to bed. She chose bed. Ugh. 

We stopped by Walmart earlier today where Xandra found this: 

It's about $33, but I really wasn't prepared to buy it for her today. Not with the way she's been acting recently. So I taught her a new word -"Expensive." :) 

I spoke with Matt about it, and we decided to get it but hold it until her attitude starts to improve. Right or wrong.... I just hope to God it works!! Even a temporary fix at this point would be worth it! 

1 Monthsary!!

I cannot believe it was 4 weeks ago this evening (late, late tonight- technically around midnight) that we came home from our life-changing trip to China. We've had Milo in our lives for nearly 6 weeks. WOW!!! I've decided to try to chronicle how Milo has changed since we met him & the personality he's revealed to us over these weeks. He is a complex little man!

This is Matt's favorite picture of meeting Milo- he was not at all happy with our arrangement!!!

 Milo was really not happy about being thrust into this crazy man's arms!

A few minutes later, he's stopped crying & started half-heartedly checking us out.

We noticed right away that Milo was quite a hot-box! We assumed it had a lot to do with the fact that he was dressed in essentially a winter outfit (that striped shirt was a very heavy cotton!), while the room was easily nearly the 80 degree mark. We have since found out that Milo deals with stress by raising his body temperature. A lot. Seriously, that boy can make himself sweat profusely on an ice cap. It's his tell-tale sign that he's upset when you feel his little head getting hot.

He did not speak or babble when we first got him. To my knowledge, he has never said anything in Chinese in our presence. One of the orphanage workers mentioned that he understood a lot of Chinese words, though she never mentioned anything about his speaking. He is starting to try very hard to communicate with us. Of course, he said "Da Da" first (darn it!), but he is just now starting to associate it with Matt. Unfortunately, he also uses "Da Da" for "dog-dog." He will occasionally say "Ma Ma" but not too often (I hear it the most when he's upset about something). Just within the past week or so, he's begun to point. He points to things and looks to me for the words. So we spend a lot of time walking around naming items, people, and places.

Thankfully & frustratingly, he understands "No." That's not to say he abides by it!! And he's rarely pleased to hear it! Since he held out on walking for a while, we were honestly beginning to think he just may be an "easy" baby. ;) NOPE! He seems to relish tormenting the dog the most! He has surprisingly good aim when he throws things, which he does a LOT of toward the dog. When we first got home, Lexie (the dog) was really liking Milo because he likes to share his food with her. Then he started throwing stuff at her, so now it's a love/hate relationship.

Milo is a very happy boy overall. He gets so proud of himself for things, and he always sticks his tongue out! I love it! (I really need to get a picture of that!) He's not the steadiest of walkers yet, so when he gets to his destination without falling, he gets thrilled!

Matt has mentioned to me a couple of times that he doesn't even notice Milo's missing arm any more. I still notice it, but I'm very aware that it doesn't slow him down one bit. Our social worker had mentioned something during one of our conversations that stuck with me- she said there would be times that we may feel as though we're just babysitting this child. Slowly, she said, the babysitting feel would subside. I have to admit, there are times I do feel this way. Days when I count down from nap time to bed time, knowing that I've finally made it through one more day. Please don't get me wrong- there isn't one minute of one day that I don't love Milo with all my heart. I'm still getting used to his personality and our new daily routine. This summer has been such an incredible gift for our family, with both Matt & me at home to bond non-stop with our son. Whenever I'm having an "off" day, Matt is there to take over & let me decompress. (Love that man!!) I will be a bit sad when this incredible summer ends.... Thankfully I don't have to think about it for a while!!