Our son is coming home! A more than a dozen egg day, and...the power of Pull-ups

If you checked in to the blog last week, you already know the great news that our son is coming home to us next month!!!! The guys are leaving the end of this month and will be home with L.B. the middle of next month.  We are overjoyed (and a little overwhelmed, wasn't I going to learn Mandarin???/) that he will be with us so soon.  We are particularly grateful that he will be home sooner than later as he has been moved from his foster home (where he has been most of his life) to the government orphanage.  I can't imagine how difficult the transition must be for him.  Little does he know what awaits him...

So you may be wondering, what happened to that other blog entry??  In a bizarre mishap, I ended up e-mailing a message to the blog that I sent out to a small group.  I never knew I could do that until I saw it on the blog.  The problem was, I had a lot of identifying info about our son which is a big no-no at this point to post publicly.  Oooopsie! I hide my face in shame.

Okay, that wasn't me...and this kid has no shame!

As we anticipate growing our family again, I was reflecting on the amount of food that has been disappearing from our house lately...and how it is only going to get worse.  Today was a "more than a dozen egg" day.   I used 11 at breakfast alone, and that was just for the five kids!  Throw in some hard-boiled eggs for lunch, and that put us at 17, eggs that is.  Against my strictest orders, the children have completely disobeyed and are, gasp, GROWING!  Look at these boys:

and this muscle man

Add in a silly girl...

 and another one...

If you think about it, stop and pray for our newest son.  That poor baby doesn't realize how much his world will be changing.  Not only will he get parents and three older sibs, he will be forced into a trio with these two......

Pretty scary stuff!!!  Good thing he doesn't know what is really waiting for him. 

 This is the picture of the kids we sent to him to break him in gently.

Someone around here is turning three this week!!! It was our plan to work on potty training while the guys were in China.  In anticipation of that, we bought some "Cars" pull-ups to be used for that "event."  The boy took one look at those underthings and said he wanted to use them.  I explained that in order to use them, he had to keep his diaper dry all day.  Now, up to this point, there had been no desire on the part of the boy to be potty trained.  We weren't getting the "readiness" signs that you read about in the potty training books.  All we were getting were the "I could hardly care less" signs.  Imagine my surprise when the kid pulled it off.  Wait, that doesn't sound right.  Imagine my surprise when the kid stayed dry all day! That little stinker had the ability the whole time and decided (sooo true to his independent spirit) that he would potty train himself! Forget the "power of the one ring" (for all you "Lord of the Rings" fans), this my friend, is the "power of the pull-up."  May it reign (until we transition to underwear).

So...now that we only use diapers for night time, here is another use for them, being the "reusing" kind of family we are:

I'm not sure who will be blogging about this next trip, but rest assured, we will be more than happy to show off our newest son!!!!!

Some long lost pictures

In looking for some video of our "gotcha day" with Kara, I found some pictures from China that I have never posted.  Way back when I started this blog, I didn't know how to post the pictures, so all my old entries are pictureless.  Unfortunately, the bulk of our China pictures were on the hard drive of an old laptop that no longer works,  They are now on flash drives that we do not currently have in our possession (but hopefully will get soon).  To those who know us, e-mail me if you want the link to see the gotcha video.  I can't load it here as it is too big.

Before I show the pics, I do want to say that we should find out this week when the "boys" will travel to China to get LB!!!! We are hoping the end of this month is you can believe it!!!

Okay, this is not a China pic...but I had to slip in this photo of "Micah Mouse"

 This is the famous "red couch" picture.  All adoptive families must travel to Guangzhou as it is the only city to issue immigrant visas.  So the place is crawling with "conspicuous families."  The White Swan (nicknamed "The Baby Hotel") was where we and many other families stayed.  They have a playroom in the hotel sponsored by Mattel.  One day we returned to our hotel room to find a gift from Mattel - a Barbie holding an Asian baby!! No lie!  So on this couch are the two kids who were with us the entire time we were in China.  You can see how much they were enjoying the red couch photo shoot.

 We were in a group of 20 families total.  Only three families adopted from Beijing, the rest flew out to their various provinces to get their kiddos.  Here are the moms and kids with the paparazzi.  Hard to believe, but this really is in the inside of the hotel.  And that is a waterfall to the right.

 We wandered around to the local outdoor markets and found various delicacies...I think the bags on the floor had dried worms and there were bags of dried seahorses on the second shelf.

 Dried snakes, nummy!!!

 Sea stars and snake skins

 Really big flies (I was glad they were dead and not buzzing around my head)

 Little did Micah know who would really be doing the pushing around...

 Little Miss Money Bags...she is walking around with three money bags (noticably empty of the thousands we brought over there!)

When we get the other pictures I will be sure to upload them (I mean, some of the thousands) and be one of those obnoxious people who force you to view their vacation pictures!  But really, won't it be worth it to at least see "The Hypermart" and the lady who wiped Kara down after we were horrible parents and took her out in the rain???  See this entry for that story http://froislandfamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/no-good-very-bad-parental-units.html
(It was August 4, 2010).

trying video again...

I'm going to try again with that self-incriminating video of the drive-by shooter...

Random pictures

So I either post successively, or wait for long periods of time between.  Blogging consistently is not my strong point...obviously.

I have some random pictures and a random comment from M (the two-year-old going on 20).  Yesterday, out of the blue, he asked me, "Where is Juan Peron?"  Me: "Uh, Juan Peron, as in the Argentinian dictator?"  M: "Yeah, where he is? He's on the movie?" Me: "Yeah, you remember seeing him? Well, he's dead now, he lived a long time ago."  M: "What about the lady?"  Me: "You mean his wife, Eva Peron?" M: "Yeah, how she die?"  Me: "She had stomach cancer and died."  M: "Oh. Can I have more milk?"  Okay, so in history I read about Juan Peron and showed the sibs a few clips from "Evita."  I didn't even remember that M was in the room, nor did I ever think he'd remember Juan Peron's name.  Beware what you say around here!!!!

Here's some logic from the male WT:

M: Mom, I want some grasshopper pie.  Please have it?

Mom: Well, you said you were too full to finish your dinner.  How can you eat grasshopper pie if you're too full?

M:  (Thinking, contemplating...) Grasshopper pie will make me happy.

Yeah, you guessed it.  The kids got grasshopper pie. You gonna argue with logic like that???

So here's some assorted pictures...

Sisterly love

 If you thought the days of WTs making messes was over, think again.  Only now they try to clean up before I discover the mess, or try to hide it.  Here M was trying to help K by pouring cereal for her.

 One of them spilled water and so they are using the age old, highly efficient technique of kleenex on wet carpet.

 Cute and charming, huh?  Looks like a cozy little sleepover, huh?

 This is what they were hiding.  They were decorating with stairs with torn leaf "confetti"

 Get out the granola...here are my tree huggers....

 Ready for battle!

 When they're not fighting fierce dragons (or their older brothers), they like a friendly game of football, complete with helmets and...

 fancy footwear

 Recreating a scene from "Chopped," a cooking competition on the Food Network.  They are waiting for the judges' decision.  Notice the attention to detail on their presentation.

 This is what they do to babysitters around here.  We don't go out much...ransom is getting too costly.

How did I get here?

I finally remembered today that I have a blog and that I like to post things on it.  I also remembered that people have asked for pictures, so those will follow.  First you have to put up with my ramblings, or skip all that and get to the good part of the post.

So if you're still with me here and have not skipped to the pictures, I wanted to talk "briefly" (because there are pictures waiting) about some observations I have made lately.  The sad thing here is that I don't even remember what got me thinking about what my life was like PC (pre-children) and how I got to where I am today (okay, no you don't have to explain to me how it is that I had children.  I kind of got that part down.).  It's just that my PC life was so markedly different from my IM (insane mother) life.  Just look at the differences in the following categories:

What I wore:

Then - I got clothes from Nordstrom, nice clothes.

Now - Today I wore a full glass of ice water that the male WT tried to hand me, but succeeded in spilling the entire contents down the front of me.  It was really cold.

Music:

Then - I love musicals (Wicked, Les Miz, Phantom, etc.) and movie soundtracks (ever listen to YoYo Ma's work in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"?)

Now - I found myself singing these profoundly moving lyrics " If you like to talk to tomatoes,

If a squash can make you smile, If you like to waltz with potatoes, Up and down the produce aisle..."

Although I must say that the WTs (and the sibs) love "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat"  M asked for it today by saying, "We haven't listened to ' Joseph and the raincoat' in a while."

Pasttimes:

Then - I liked to sew, scrapbook, read, do crafts, etc.

Now - laundry (Okay, I do read still, but if it's a really good book, it's not allowed to come out of the bathroom.  Otherwise, my children would not eat, school would not get done, etc.  Bathroom breaks might be a little longer...sorry, too much info there.  I do recommend "John Adams" by David McCullough...excellent book.)

Conversation:

Then - When I was attending Grace School of Theology, I might have a discussion with someone about infralapsarianism, supralapsarianism, and sublapsarianism.

Now - I'm having a discussion with K about how she should put the horse "Shadow" in the corner if it continues to say "stinky." (Just a little background here...K has been using the word "stinky" a lot as an insult and has been told to stop saying it.  She is now blaming Shadow for saying it so she still gets to say it.).  By the way, M got into the conversation by saying, "I would give Shadow grace, but he will say it again, so I will put him in the corner.  He will come out and say it again, so I will discipline him."

Completing tasks:

Then - I could complete tasks uninterrupted before midnight.

Now - I was trying to sweep the floor today when I was interrupted by K, the "dancing queen." I had just asked her two minutes before she went outside if she had to go to the bathroom.  "No," she says.  Flashforward two minutes later, and there she is at the backdoor doing the potty dance.

Number of children :

Then - Two

Now - Hmmmmm, good question.....

Okay, so that wasn't so brief.  Yes, my life is very different now than it was.  Would I change it? Well, yes, maybe just for an hour or so if I could.  Come on, this is an honest blog, not a Hallmark card!  Do I love my life? Yes.  Now here are the pictures:

Headware pictures

She's really using her brain...

Parlez-vous francais?

The following are shots from the Lone Photographer who got caught this time

 The guilty party

 Incriminating himself (it is a video)

 Some artsy shots

 Apparently he had an accomplice.  I do need to point out that this shot and the one above it were taken when the two of them were underneath the couch cover.

Future occupations

 This is M's garbage collector outfit

These are pictures of D being a very good older brother and allowing himself to be "decorated" by the WTs

Sorry D, this could reappear on your wedding day....

The law of natural (and painful) consequences

I am so mean.  I am a really mean mom.  Don't tell Gabriel I told on him, but this is so very blog worthy I can't resist.

We finally got new computers, so we are now able to Skype (with video) the father at work.  The novelty of it was getting the best of the kids, including the biggest kid who insisted on making faces and showing us the inside of his mouth and a close up of his eye (much to the delight of his children). 

While the WTs were captivated by the size of Dad's molars and pupils, Gabriel slipped out of the room to rehearse a little scene he planned to perform for the camera.  We first became aware of this intended bit of theatrics when Gabriel came into the room hopping up and down with an ice pack on his mouth.  He took the pack off long enough to inform us that he had been pretending to drink a bottle of hot sauce, but now his lips were burning and could we please help because he can't get them to stop burning.  Now, like all good parents would react in a situation like this, we burst out laughing.  The father, for his part, was reduced to tears.  Gabriel was not amused and seemed to become quite a bit more agitated by our laughter.  I told him to drink some milk.

I left the room and let the rest of the kids talk to Dad, who by this time had composed himself long enough to do some research online while on Skype.  Gabriel was dancing around the house with his mouth in a glass of milk, a good portion of it having spilled down the front of his pjs.  We didn't realize it at the time, but we read later that the milk should have some fat in it (we drink nonfat) to help cut the heat.  Consequently, the milk was not helping and Gabriel said his lips were on fire.

I tried an old remedy of my mom's, a baking soda paste.  I plastered that on Mr. Hot Lips, whose lips really were quite red.  I heard James call out from the other room that yogurt might help.  With a bit of hesitation, I spooned out some nice expensive Greek yogurt for the Spice Boy.  I left him by the bathroom sink while I attended to the WTs, who were playing with every thing around the computer they could lay their hands on while Mom was out of the room and dad was in another city.

When I checked back in with Gabriel, he looked like Santa Claus, with yogurt all over his mouth and chin.  I could not resist a little bit of Kris Kringle humor (like I said, I am a mean mom), but it did make him laugh.  Finally, it seemed that the burning was subsiding, and we could get the full story out of him.

Apparently he had spied a wooden box of four hot sauces his dad had received as a gift.  His plan was to take one of the bottles, pretend to drink it, and act like his mouth was burning.  The bottles have been around a little while, so we are guessing that even though the bottles have never been opened, some of the sauce must have leaked out.  All Gabriel did was put his mouth on the unopened bottle and gave a more convincing performance than he intended.

I should mention that this was not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Tabasco.  This was "Dave's Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce,"  with the slogan, "The Hottest Sauce in the Universe."

When I put Micah to bed later, he asked, "What happened to Bobby?" (for those of you who don't know, Bob is Gabriel's nickname).  We had had a conversation earlier in the day about not putting things in your mouth (like, oh let's say, paper, which had been in Micah's mouth).  I decided to capitalize on the opportunity by saying, "Gabriel did something foolish and put something in his mouth he shouldn't have."  Micah: "Oh, did he have to sit in the corner?"  Mom: "No, his consequences were much worse."  Yes, sometimes a natural consequence is the best teacher.  Lesson learned.

A real update and consider us crazy...

Yikes, has it been since the beginning of February since I ratted on my kids?  Much has happened since that time that has kept us busy...I mean busier than normal...I mean, that is, OUR normal...which isn't very normal at all, is it?

For starters, we received our "Letter of Acceptance" (our first formal document from China) for our son.  We still have a number of hoops to jump through (mostly with immigration), but we are hoping for a travel date in May(ish).  But this is us, so anything can happen and usually does.

So, you may ask, is a family of eight enough for us? The answer is a resounding "no!"  There is a long backstory to this, but here are the highlights: We see a girl who needs to be a part our family.  We find out China allows for concurrent adoptions.  We ask our agency about it.  They say no can do, against policy.  I say policy is meant to be changed.  I appeal a change.  Agency bigwigs have meetings.  Agency bigwigs allow crazy family to start another adoption.  This adoption must start from the very beginning (which includes submitting an application).  This means two sets of paperwork for this adoption, and remaining paperwork for our son's adoption.  We are told we are taking a big risk as the girl is not yet adoptable.  We say no guts, no glory.  Our goal is to have all paperwork done by mid-April.  We are doing in three months what it took us nine months to do last time...when we only had three kids...before wonder twins...when we were still somewhat sane. 

Speaking of the wonder twins, what would a post be without a WT tale or two?  Lately they have been resurrecting old plays from the WT playbook.  Mama no like.  Only now they think they can rationalize their way out of trouble.  For instance, they used to dump out all the puzzles so we had mixed puzzle pieces all over the floor.  We took the puzzles away for a while until they showed interest in actually using the puzzle for what it's designed.  I caught them the other day gleefully dumping puzzles out again.  When I ask them about what they were  doing I get this, "But Mom, we're going to play with them.  We're going to use them with our dump trucks.  See?" (sure enough, their dump trucks are loaded with puzzle pieces. Really???)  Now those stinkers have me negotiating, "Oh, well, uh, don't dump anymore out, okay?"  I didn't, however, hear even an attempt at an excuse for spreading ashes all over the carpet.    I thought for sure I'd hear something abut pixie dust and trying to fly.

Micah's latest thing is to say that you are his best friend.  It sounds so wonderfully charming, and is usually followed by a hug and kiss.  You can get feeling pretty good until you hear this..."Mom, I love the tree outside.  It's my best friend.  I am going to hug and kiss it.  It's so sweet."  Our son, the tree hugger. 

Hopefully next time we will have more pictures.  We're using an old dinosaur of a computer right now that will not perform such a task. 

Happy day to you all!