Two Whole Hands

Happy 10th Birthday Luke! I can't believe it has been 10 years since the night I gave birth to this boy. 10 years since I saw his little face for the first time. They say children grow up fast and they weren't kidding! He happily reminded me that in 6 years he will be driving! No!!!

I wish I could lock them away and keep them safe and innocent forever. It seems that the first 10 years of life are so uncomplicated. The next 10 years are such a confusing time for humans. They learn to love romantically and get their hearts broken. The world reveals much more of its ugly side to them and they have to learn how to deal with whatever comes their way. Puberty starts and their bodies do such weird things. Peers become strange and unaccepting sometimes. Can you tell I am a worrier? His first 10 years have been so great for him and he is so blessed. My wish for him this birthday is the next 10 years are just as good.

Anyway, his day started with gifts before Sage headed off to school. He got a new phone from mom and dad. We got him his first phone when he entered 3rd grade because he was going through some anxiety (turns out it was meds causing it) at school. It was free and not fancy. He has had the phone for nearly 2 years and never lost it! He was very responsible with it. I am the one who put it in the washing machine...it still worked but sometimes you couldn't hear him on it. It was time for a new one. He was so excited! He gave Sage is old phone (with the battery removed) and she hasn't put the thing down! She holds conversations all the time with whoever she imagines is on the other end of the phone! Cute!

Here he is with Zoey opening his practical joke gift from my sweet friend Aimee who is like an aunt to the kids. Zoey is sure it is something to eat! He immediately wanted to put the itching powder in his sisters bed!

This picture is of Luke with his special edition of People magazine who is featuring Demi Lovado and Selena Gomez. Selena is his first celebrity crush! He also wanted a full supply of Axe products. I think most of them stink but he loves them and is starting to want to smell nice....

Here he is blowing out the candles. He wanted a "fun-fetti cake with strawberry frosting" and that is exactly what I made him. He added the sprinkles! Know what he wished for? He wished the economy would get better so people would stop loosing their houses and could buy the things they need so other businesses wouldn't keep going out of business! Smart boy!
Having his first bite of cake....yum!!!

Guns and Boys

I just don't get the fascination with weapons and boys. I never have. We never promoted "boys toys" and always allowed Luke to play with what every type of toy he wanted to use. Somehow he naturally gravitated to swords. Swords I don't mind too much it's the guns I hate.

We own two guns and I have been to the shooting range before. I am fine with adults, its the kids that scare the crap out of me. I see Luke's fascination and it makes me so nervous. I have always been the type of parent that didn't think forbidding things was the best approach; maybe it will want the kids to want whatever it is more.

Last week Luke spent the night over at a new friends house and came home raving about all of the fun he had. What did you do I asked. The parents took them to a shooting range. The boys were not allowed to shoot and had to stay behind glass but it made me feel a bit weird. Once they got home they played with air soft guns. We had some neighbors in our old neighborhood that had air soft guns. We told Luke when he got older we would talk about it. I guess he is older...

We broke out our BB gun and he did some target practicing. Next thing I knew we were all shooting the thing! I needed to remind myself about my parenting style and I felt much better when we were doing something I was uncomfortable about as a family...here are some pictures from the uncomfortable event.

Look Who Lives In Our House

The other night I was outside with the dogs and I always head for our little bird house to see if anyone is home. This little guy was just sitting in the house poking his head out...

He usually comes home around dusk and just sits in front of his window...TOO CUTE!!!

New Blog

I have wanted to do this project for a very long time but never have. I have started writing about life. If you are interested here is the link....http://thewayiveseenlife.blogspot.com/

Lost and Found

Lucky day for Luke...he found his retainer after searching the entire house for it for 2 straight days. Luke has had his braces off for 3 months and now only has to wear his retainer at night. We see the darn thing laying around everywhere! I am constantly reminding him to put it away and put it in at night.

A few nights ago I told him to put it in and he said he couldn't find it. No worries I thought. We would find it laying on the kitchen table or downstairs on the table in front of the TV. But we weren't so lucky. Yesterday we got serious about looking. I told him that we couldn't fork out the money it would take plus the drive to Orlando to get him a new one. And if he didn't find it, he would be getting a new one for his one and only birthday present in a couple of weeks. This put some motivation in him.

We checked all the usual spots and then began tearing the place apart. We searched everything that had a pocket. We searched every single drawer. We took all of the sofas apart. We looked under every bed. I told him I though he threw it away with a paper plate. I knew we had it last Tuesday because we took it to his new dentist to have it adjusted. The garbage man hadn't come yet. So he and his sister (she was so nice to help him!) looked through a weeks worth of garbage! No retainer! I searched the recycling...no retainer. I was really beginning to think the dogs ate it.

This morning he and I went downstairs to search under the sofas one last time. I have been after him for about 4 days to pick up a puzzle that had been laying around. Bingo! The retainer was in the box with the pieces!!! He was so happy. I know he was sweating it thinking his birthday was really going to stink! I know if Drew would have given in and picked up the mess the retainer would have been gone!

I dreaded the braces coming off for this very reason. I knew as long as they were attached to his mouth we wouldn't lose anything. I wonder if he will lose it again....

Summer Rain

Drew and the kids love the warm summer rain of the south. In Portland it rained for 9 months straight and it was cold! Here in the south we get rain nearly every afternoon and it is so warm.

Drew and Luke thought it would be a perfect time to play catch. They had a lot of soggy fun!

Think Luke needs to get a little sun? He has inherited his dads Irish Casper skin! He is so dang skinny!!!

Summer Bordom

Who's big idea was it for children to be off for 90 days? Did they not have children of their own? Do they know that kids get BORED with "nothing to do"? That the kids will drive the parents up the wall daily? I think kids were off in the "olden days" so they could work on the farms for their families. News flash...most kids don't work on farms during the summers anymore. What about all of the info that just falls out of their brains all summer? We could eliminate the first quarter review that the schools waste so much time with!

So like most parents with kids home all summer, I am the entertainment advisor in the house. Since our budget is super slim I have to think of fun things to do that are either free or cost next to nothing. Here is a recent project the kids did.

The house already has a resident. We have been watching this little bird set up his new pad. Instead of using the front doors, he drags his furnishings through the little hole at the top. The twigs are packed so tightly in there. It is pretty fascinating to see how they make a nest.

The kids had so much fun with this I am afraid our whole backyard is going to be decorated with birdhouses soon!

Can You Believe The Difference??

I was moving some framed pictures around the other day when I came across the top picture of Sage and her best friend from the orphanage. She looked like such a little girl and now I think she looks so much more mature. I have noticed this about many adopted children after they come home to the US. I just couldn't believe the change in her....

Twelve Step Program for TV Addiction!

Is there such thing as TV Watchers Anonymous!! Sage (still working on calling her that :) ) cannot go into a room without being glued and mesmerized by the TV. It doesn't matter what is on...CNN, commercials or the digital music channel she can't take her eyes off of it! My kids are such polar opposites sometimes. I can hardly get Luke to sit his little butt down long enough to watch a show!

I have tried limiting the time she watches because she would just sit there all day long if we let her. If we tell her her TV time is up, she will move to the computer. I am not sure how much she was allowed to watch in the orphanage but I do remember if we took in a DVD to pass a little time, she wouldn't pay us any attention while it was on. Sometimes I really hate not having any history!! What was her life like before she was ours? Had she never seen TV? All of her memories are so jumbled now.

One nice thing is, she is really getting the hang of reading. We went to the library and checked out some books that are on her level (I kick myself for donating the 100's of Luke's books over the years!). In the evening before bed we have her go and read for some quiet time alone. It is a really hard thing for her to do but I think with time she will get used to it and I think it will give her a sense of pride in herself. Maybe I can get one of my children to sit still long enough to discover the love of reading!

Name Change

Not sure how this post will be received but this is our lives and we only get one shot at them. So on the brink of turning 40 I am learning how to live my life without any regrets!

Let me give you some background on how Tetyana kept her birth name. After we saw Tetyana's file we went to her region and met her. She was a beautiful child and we knew when the director asked us after only 15 minutes if we wanted to adopt her that our answer would be yes. It seemed like once we said yes they whisked us out the door with a stack of paperwork. Like many adoptive parents our heads were whirling and our hearts were full. We had found our daughter...the daughter I had dreamed about for years before I even met my husband.

You know the dreams...dressing them up in super cute things, doing their hair, decorating their rooms and as with any child....naming them. Before we left for Ukraine we made a list of names and decided once we saw our daughter we would chose the perfect name for her. But after we left the orphanage we were taken to a notary's office and asked what her name would be. Our facilitator left and told us she would be back in 10 minutes for the name. We felt so confused because our daughter was 7. We wanted to change her name but we also wanted to have a conversation with her about it first. Maybe give her the names we had chosen and let her decide what her American name would be. We were told her name could have been her birth mother's name and possibly not even her true name. We didn't know what to do, so we left her name as it was.

After being with her in her own country once we left the orphanage, I notice we were saying her name completely wrong. Yes we lacked the accent but even if we tried our best we still screwed up our own child's name! She pronounces her name "Tet-chon-na" and we call her "Tet-y-ona". Once we got home we saw that everyone who met her first could not understand her when they asked her her name and then just called her "Tatianna". So everyone butchers her name and always will. We tried to think of a nick name for her but nothing derived from her name sounded right.

On top of that I felt like we missed out as parents on naming her. It was one piece to my lack of attaching to her and making her mine. A good friend and fellow Ukrainian AP suggested once we moved, we change her name to her middle name (which is what we would have chosen for her first). After talking with Drew about this idea, we asked Tetyana how she would feel about using her American name. She was all over it! I have asked her a million times if she is sure and she says yes each time excitedly. So when I filled out her school papers I asked her one more time and told her if I put Sage on the papers we would have to stick to it. She wanted to know when we could start! We are all working on remembering to call her it. Each time we do, she gets a really big smile on her face. Today while playing Sorry! I said "It's Sage's turn." and she had a huge smile on her face and gave me a big squeeze! So our daughters name is now Sage.