Playgrounds and Chocolate...Life is Good.

Okay, the first time I took Kate to the park near our house, she wanted nothing to do with it. The bark on the ground gave her the heebie-jeebies, and the whole experience seemed to be overwhelming...particulary the swings. She did not want me to let go of her (or visa versa). Well 3 months later, she's a new woman. I mean, this is a girl who walks on grass, for heaven's sake.

A few days ago, we met Colton and his 2nd grade class at the park a couple blocks from our house, for a picnic. After all the kids left, Kate and I were the only ones in the entire park...and it's a big park! I put her in the swing, and no height seemed to frighten her. At one point, she closes her eyes and leans her head waaay back...swing, swing, swing...and lets go with her hands, her arms straight out to the side.

She looked so free...I wanted to be her at that moment, feel what she was feeling...the warm, almost-summer breeze, and the swing rocking, rocking with a quiet squeak as it went back and forth. I think it's safe to say, she likes the swing.




Kate is definitely a candidate for sunscreen. When we were in China, if anyone commented on her being pretty, it was always in relation to her very light skin. To the Chinese, the paler the skin, the more beautiful. Someone told her she had skin as pale as a moonbeam. I thought that was lovely.














Kate said, "Hi Mama" when I took this picture...not very clearly, but I understood her.

















You're pretty little when your head doesn't even touch the bottom of the swing!






















higher, HIGHER!







WOOOOHOOOOOO...No hands!












I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here..chocolate chip cookies at the bay, licking the brownie mix spatula at home...yes,
life is good. :)

Kevin's work party

Kevin had a work party down at the bay Saturday. Thank goodness I ran back upstairs to grab sweaters and sweatshirts, because it was very breezy down there. Well, there were hot dogs and lemonade and potato salad, but Kate discovered the chocolate chip cookies. They looked home-made and were very yummy. Kate agreed.










It's funny how even on a breezy day, if you put a chocolate chip cookie on the cement picnic table, it's warm enough to melt the chips.








Baby wipe, please?





This picture was from today (Monday) Kate is a bit under the weather, with a mild fever. She's been very clingy and grumpy, and didn't eat well at all this morning. At lunch however, she ate pretty, well, then promptly fell asleep, with a piece of bagel in her hand. I couldn't resist taking her picture, before getting her down.

I wiped her off and scooped her up and she looked up at me just for a moment, and closed her eyes again. I don't get to hold her asleep very often. (She is only able to sleep in her crib. If I hold her, she will just stay awake!) I relished looking down at her sleeping face, all nuzzled against me.

Kate at Home

I couldn't decide which of these pictures to take out, so they're all here...Kate 3 wks. post surgery, at home in the backyard, and gettin' comfortable in her new high chair. Until we go back on a regular diet, there's not a whole lotta eatin' goin' on in that chair, but she did seem to be enjoying some soft scrambled eggs. :)




I love, love, love this picture...her little pink sweater, her hair, the gentle look on her face.







Oooohh! I just wanna kiss that face!







What is this?? LOL!









I look at this picture and I can see her Chinese mother, her father, and even her grandparents looking back at me. I truly wish I had some way to let them know she was well, and loved.






Little cutie baby.









I think this is when I feel "bonded" to her the most, when she smiles at me like this.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

This is the neatest exhibit. There's no pacing, or other behaviors you sometimes see with animals at a zoo. It's a very large, peaceful enclosure.





Mommy, Brendan, Colton & Kate
(Ryan was being a pill, so he's not in this picture.)






Miss Katie-pie (or Katie-poo as Kevin and Ryan call her) hanging out on a bench watching the lemurs in the tree, and the ducks waddling by.














This is way past my naptime...
(2 1/2 wks. post-surgery)






Kate wandered onto the grass without even thinking, then stopped and looked down at her feet, and started looking around..."Oh my gosh...I'm on the grass...Hello!, a little help here?...O.K., Don't panic...just walk toward the sidewalk...I can do this."








Hey, check it out...I match the flowers in Colton's flower bed!

Fun in the Jacuzzi - 2+ weeks post surgery

Are all those kids ours???
I counted to make sure they were all ours, and that one of my nephews hadn't slipped into the photo! 1,2,3...4,5...6. That's a lot of kids. (I'm a lucky Mom :)








My step-daughter, Amanda, (17), and Kate...(almost 2)




I love Aunt Cathy's jacuzzi. :)






My favorite people.
Kate fits in so well with our family, it seems she has been with us always.
(left-right: Ryan, Bryson, Colton, Amanda, Kate & Brendan)

Palate Reopened Further

I'm washing dishes and Kate wanted me to pick her up. So she stands in between me and the sink, with her little pig tails and smiling, pushes against my legs. I stop washing dishes and pick her up, lifting her high. Kate laughs, with her mouth open wide, and I can see her palate. (Gasp! Oh, no. Oh, please tell me, I'm imagining it...) She opens her mouth again to laugh, and sure enough, her palate is now open not only on the side about an inch, but also in the back in the middle. The entire 'oval' of skin that makes up the "new" left side of her palate is precariously still in place. My hands shaking, I call the doctor.

Ever since the last visit 6 days ago, when we found out it had opened up, I've been watching her like a hawk. Nothing has gone in that mouth that could have damaged it. She doesn't put her hands or toys in her mouth, no chips, crackers, only soft food or liquids, and she still sleeps with her "no-no"s on her arms (which do not seem to bother her in the slightest). I cannot believe it has reopened further. Heavy sigh.

We had a visit with her surgeon scheduled for the next day. He agreed that she has had a 'severe disruption' in the palate. He says there is nothing he can do now, but we will have to wait until it is completely healed, and then try to repair it. (We'll see in 3-6 months) He also said that it will be difficult to repair, and that he has never had this happen before. I do know he usually repairs babies, as opposed to older children. Could this be a reason? No one knows. Could it be related to her lip coming open after surgery in China? Being mobile? Laughing or "talking"? You rack your brain when something like this happens, and at the end of the day you're left with..."Okay, well, this isn't what we had planned, but this is where we are now....how do we move on from here and get from point A to point B?" I do worry about her speech being delayed. Her surgeon said, "Right now I'm just worried about her palate. Let's just take things one at a time, concentrate on getting her palate healed and repaired, then we'll move on to worrying about her speech." o.k.

Many times I've prayed for patience or to be a stronger person...I didn't realize that often times God doesn't grant you patience, but rather teaches you patience, and He doesn't make you strong, but rather gives you opportunities to become strong. I look forward one day to having a conversation with God and discussing our miscommunications.

Poway Park & Kate day 10

Last weekend we took the kids to Poway park, about 10 minutes from our house. It's a beautiful park, in the downtown Poway Historical district, and they have a real train there, that's over 100 years old. The train takes you on a "trip" around the park, under all these shady trees. It's a very pretty and peaceful place. The boys also like to go because there are usually crawdads and polliwogs in the stream.








(Checkin' out the little fish and polywogs in the stream...it's funny to think that practically everything is a first for Kate!)



We made the mistake, though, of going to eat at the Hamburger Factory that's right there. Kate is on a mainly liquid diet, and we ordered her a chocolate shake, and brought along applesauce and a little pudding cup. No. Hand over the hamburger and those onion rings, and I mean, now. Right now! We won't be going out to eat again until Kate is back on a regular diet.

Kate seemed to like the train. A little boy we were sitting next to kept looking at the tape above her lip. I said, 'she has a very interesting mouth, doesn't she?'. He nodded and then smiled at me. "It was a lot more interesting a week and a half ago." His mom smiled and asked about her surgery and her adoption, where she came from, and how she seemed to be doing. I find that people are very interested, in a nice way, when they see that we're very matter-of-fact about her surgery and how she came to join our family.



Do you just love this gentle little hand on Brendan's cheek?

















Someone's starting to get sleepy. This is day 8 after surgery...the tape above the lip helps protect the stitches when wiping her nose or mouth, and adds a bit of support in case she gets bumped in the mouth.






Here we are on day 10. I don't really wear the tape much anymore...it falls off everytime I eat or take a shower anyway...just like a band-aid.