For Amy
Okay, I got tagged by my sis in law Amy and I thought it might be fun to play along...I have been tagged several times before, but really don't do this sort of thing on my family blog, so Amy, you gotta know I love ya to do this!
What were you doing
20 years ago: Okay, this dates me big time! I was enjoying my senior year in high school, listening to the best ever era of music, thought I was pretty cool for a small town girl, driving a VW rabbit, and working at Party Pals in the town I grew up in.
10 years ago: I had three handsome little boys, I was pregnant with little boy number four, we were remodeling my Root Ave. house due to an unfortunate dishwasher fiasco, life was moving right along at warp speed.
5 years ago: I was being a mom to four very busy little boys which obviously zapped my brain cells cause I can't really remember what I was doing-But I am sure it included Soccer, baseball, basketball, refereeing, disciplining, and lots and lots of laughing!
3 years ago: We had moved to our current home, decided to adopt and was in a full fledged paper chase to bring our baby girl home, We saw Maya's sweet face for the very first time on a computer screen, we were preparing for our trip to Taiwan and we cried many tears during the agonizing wait.
1 year ago: I was adjusting to being the mom of 5 kids, helping Maya adjust to her new life, finding myself after a very brief bout of post adoption depression, enjoying life with a sweet little girl in the house and enjoying the girls department at all my favorite places to shop!
So far this year: I have been trying to organize this house a bit better, I have been working on getting my jewelry business going better, we have enjoyed a quick trip to Monterey, and we are preparing for a trip to Utah soon.
Yesterday: I went walking in the morning with Maya, spent the day trying desperately to figure out why Miss Maya was so out of control ornery and trying to make her happy, worked on my jewelry business, attended a court of honor (boy scouts) for the big boys and got pinned by Tanner who earned his who advanced to a Life Scout, came home and got kids to bed and watched David Archuleta (?) kick some bootie on American Idol--love that kid!
Today: I walked my two miles with Maya, I should not be on this computer, I need to get tonight's jewelry show in order, I need to make a dessert for Dave an Jake to take to Cub Scouts tonight, I will spend the better part of my afternoon pretending like I am in preschool 2nd, 6th, 8th and 10th grade again as I help the crew with homework, and I will not eat chocolate!
Later tonight: Jewelry Show and my DVR-ed episode of American Idol, pick up for tomorrow.
Tomorrow: Another jewelry show, early out day for the boys, more walking with Maya, more not eating chocolate, and the other mundane things that I do everyday like picking up, laundry, sweeping the floor, playing with my girl, getting bossed around by my girl, etc, etc, etc.
This year I hope to: accomplish many goals I have set for myself to help me find a bit more balance, have more fun, keep exercising, take better care of myself, play more with my kids, and be a better mom and wife.
I will post new Maya pics soon!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Did you just say that?
Really, I don't know why these ignorant people seem to find me. Maybe it is because I am ultra sensitive to being watched in public? You see I come from a Ginormous family...12 kids, 2 parents, one marriage, all single births thank you very much! and we all got pretty used to being counted and talked about when went out as a family...and then I moved to California where the norm is to have 2.5 children, and I had 4 boys...now let me tell you, that gets certain people talking too. Oh and lots and lots of "Oh honey, are they all yours?" followed by many "God bless you's" to which I always answer "He DID!"
Anyway, Now we have our beautiful little adopted girl which really only adds fuel to the fire when we are out as a family or instantly makes David and I "the poor couple who could not conceive on their own so they had to go to China to get a child" when we have her alone. And seems to make me a magnet for very rude and obnoxious people to come chat with when its just Maya and me.
What I hear most often:
"Your daughter is beautiful, what is your husband?" (Umm, last time I checked he was a man!)
"If you already had four boys, what on earth made you decide to get another one?"
"How much did she cost?", "What did she set you back?", "I bet she cost you an arm and a leg!", and "What does it take to get something like that over here to the states?" (to which I answer, She did not cost me one penny, I paid for all the legal fees involved to bring her home, she's priceless, or just give them a blank stare and walk away)
"Why would you go and do that when you have kids of your own?"
And " Aren't you glad you signed up for a whole lifetime of that?" (said by a rude woman at the ballpark when my baby girl was throwing a fit because it was 100 plus degrees outside and she had sat through 2 games and did not want to be there anymore.)
Now I am so used to these questions and statements that they really do not phase me much anymore and I can quickly tell if I am going to need to get away from a person or if they are genuinely curious about adoption and not in a malicious way. Besides, most of the time you can redirect a question away from the personal stuff and unless the person is really DENSE, they get that they are being to personal.
But this last one got to me, there we were at our local craft store and after a very brief "Is she adopted?" conversasion with a lady in line--which went really well, she turned to me and said " It's just a shame that you did not get one with whiter skin, then she would look more like you." Okay, really did you just say that to me?
Number one, She is my daughter and we do not even see her skin color until people like you point it out to us, I really do not care what color her skin is, white, black, brown, purple, green, whatever. Number two, I can not believe you just said that in front of my 8 year old son...now I have to explain to him why you said that and he is "colorblind"! Third, I really, really hate that you feel it is a shame for my baby girl not to have whiter skin and that she will have to deal with people like you for the rest of her life!
Okay, sorry, ranting is over. I do want you all to know that I know that simply by adopting we opened ourselves up for each and every question and comment. I am not opposed to answering questions about Maya's adoption at all and even welcome them. I asked tons of questions before we adopted, and I am even drawn to families that I know have adopted. But when simple questions turn to small attacks on my daughter's ethnicity, or my mental state as to why I would choose to adopt when I have four perfectly good boys at home, the momma bear in me comes out!
That being said, I want to thank all of the people who simply say "She's beautiful!", "She's one lucky little girl" (No, I am the luckiest girl because I get to be her momma!), or simply smile and say nothing at all.
So here you have it, a not so brief lesson on what not to say to a family who has been BLESSED by adoption.
Really, I don't know why these ignorant people seem to find me. Maybe it is because I am ultra sensitive to being watched in public? You see I come from a Ginormous family...12 kids, 2 parents, one marriage, all single births thank you very much! and we all got pretty used to being counted and talked about when went out as a family...and then I moved to California where the norm is to have 2.5 children, and I had 4 boys...now let me tell you, that gets certain people talking too. Oh and lots and lots of "Oh honey, are they all yours?" followed by many "God bless you's" to which I always answer "He DID!"
Anyway, Now we have our beautiful little adopted girl which really only adds fuel to the fire when we are out as a family or instantly makes David and I "the poor couple who could not conceive on their own so they had to go to China to get a child" when we have her alone. And seems to make me a magnet for very rude and obnoxious people to come chat with when its just Maya and me.
What I hear most often:
"Your daughter is beautiful, what is your husband?" (Umm, last time I checked he was a man!)
"If you already had four boys, what on earth made you decide to get another one?"
"How much did she cost?", "What did she set you back?", "I bet she cost you an arm and a leg!", and "What does it take to get something like that over here to the states?" (to which I answer, She did not cost me one penny, I paid for all the legal fees involved to bring her home, she's priceless, or just give them a blank stare and walk away)
"Why would you go and do that when you have kids of your own?"
And " Aren't you glad you signed up for a whole lifetime of that?" (said by a rude woman at the ballpark when my baby girl was throwing a fit because it was 100 plus degrees outside and she had sat through 2 games and did not want to be there anymore.)
Now I am so used to these questions and statements that they really do not phase me much anymore and I can quickly tell if I am going to need to get away from a person or if they are genuinely curious about adoption and not in a malicious way. Besides, most of the time you can redirect a question away from the personal stuff and unless the person is really DENSE, they get that they are being to personal.
But this last one got to me, there we were at our local craft store and after a very brief "Is she adopted?" conversasion with a lady in line--which went really well, she turned to me and said " It's just a shame that you did not get one with whiter skin, then she would look more like you." Okay, really did you just say that to me?
Number one, She is my daughter and we do not even see her skin color until people like you point it out to us, I really do not care what color her skin is, white, black, brown, purple, green, whatever. Number two, I can not believe you just said that in front of my 8 year old son...now I have to explain to him why you said that and he is "colorblind"! Third, I really, really hate that you feel it is a shame for my baby girl not to have whiter skin and that she will have to deal with people like you for the rest of her life!
Okay, sorry, ranting is over. I do want you all to know that I know that simply by adopting we opened ourselves up for each and every question and comment. I am not opposed to answering questions about Maya's adoption at all and even welcome them. I asked tons of questions before we adopted, and I am even drawn to families that I know have adopted. But when simple questions turn to small attacks on my daughter's ethnicity, or my mental state as to why I would choose to adopt when I have four perfectly good boys at home, the momma bear in me comes out!
That being said, I want to thank all of the people who simply say "She's beautiful!", "She's one lucky little girl" (No, I am the luckiest girl because I get to be her momma!), or simply smile and say nothing at all.
So here you have it, a not so brief lesson on what not to say to a family who has been BLESSED by adoption.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Down by the bay...
We spent a couple days in beautiful Monterey Bay this past week and all I can say is I can not believe I have lived in Nor Cal for 13 years and have never been there! It is really my new favorite place to go with the kids...and definetely with out the kids.
We did a lot of this:
The kids were in heaven on the beaches and in the tide pools, the boys quickly climbed to the top of very steep jagged rocks much to the dismay of their very over protective mom... and Maya squealed and scampered up the beach with each wave that came in. She was happiest splashing and throwing rocks and sand...that's my girl! We got some great video of her, so maybe I will try to post that soon.
And we explored some very cool places like Big Sur, Carmel, 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach and the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. We even saw some Humpback Whales on the ocean, but they were to far out to get a good photo of them.
It was a great couple of days. We can't wait to go back!
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Many Faces Of Maya!
My oh my she was on one tonight, so I grabbed the camera to try to capture some of her many faces that come with her many moods!
And this is her "I am so cute you could not possibly get mad at me!" look that gets me every time.
She is drama for sure but we love every single minute of it!
My oh my she was on one tonight, so I grabbed the camera to try to capture some of her many faces that come with her many moods!
This is a face that I love to see and boy I wish I could bottle up the sound of her little girl giggles. I would save them for the days of drama that are sure to come with her teenage years, cause lets face it people, if she is this dramatic now I don't even want to think about the dreaded "change"!!!!
This is the face you get when you tell her to pull a "funny face"!
This is what you get when you tell her NO...and it comes complete with fake sobs and sighs followed by the occasional look up to see if you are watching and if it is working. Oh, and this look can follow you around the house if you try to remove yourself from its presence.
This is the face you get when she decides to put you in your place and don't even think she will hesitate...if you are not bowing to her royal highness, she will give you an earful!
This one and the one above by the title are her "I not talk (to you)" look which means she is pretty darn mad at you and if you try to get her to look at you she just turns the other way- and she is not easily distracted unless you have a bag of Pirates Bootie then she breaks in to her bootie dance and the world is a happy place again.
And this is her "I am so cute you could not possibly get mad at me!" look that gets me every time.
She is drama for sure but we love every single minute of it!
Friday, February 01, 2008
I heart Sarah!
Yay! I have a brand new look for my blog and I LOVE it! My cyber friend Sarah who is the soon to be adoptive mom to the sweet little miss Hannah Claire (what a lucky little girl!) hooked me up with this sweet design. Sarah and Rebecca are the talent behind Blogovers with Love and all donations raised there right now are going to the Chung Yi Orphanage in Taiwan...a place that is so dear to my heart. Maya's first home! It truly is an amazing place and I am so excited to be able to give something back to them. They took such great care of Maya for me until we could bring her home.
Thanks Sarah!
Yay! I have a brand new look for my blog and I LOVE it! My cyber friend Sarah who is the soon to be adoptive mom to the sweet little miss Hannah Claire (what a lucky little girl!) hooked me up with this sweet design. Sarah and Rebecca are the talent behind Blogovers with Love and all donations raised there right now are going to the Chung Yi Orphanage in Taiwan...a place that is so dear to my heart. Maya's first home! It truly is an amazing place and I am so excited to be able to give something back to them. They took such great care of Maya for me until we could bring her home.
Thanks Sarah!
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