Inside Kat's Head

Nursery is Done!

2014-10-11T14:50:00.001-07:00

At an impressive 2+months since Pippa has been born I finally finished her nursery! She is still sleeping in our room so I'm giving myself a break on this one.

I loosely went with a woodland theme. It's pretty simple, not too extravagant but it's sweet and it makes me happy.

You will notice an extra crib and a fair amount of blue in our baby girl's nursery. Do not be alarmed. This is for what Elliot refers to daily as her Foster Bludder. She is very anxious to get that train rolling but we haven't quite opened that door yet. Maybe soon...

No Foster Bludder clothes in there yet as we have no idea how old he will be but fear not...there are about 10 bins of G's old clothes here and in TN to dig through when that goes down.

Pippa Jane

2014-09-23T21:51:00.000-07:00

We have had quite the sweet new addition since I last bothered to blog. I hate that I have been so lazy with blogging seeing as my memory is already a little blah and this is the closest to scrap booking I will ever get so I will try to back track a bit and capture some pregnancy, some 3 year old Elliot because quite honestly, while she is completely exhausting...she is also the most fantastic 3 year old in the world. Some 5 year old Griff and Suk-isms, etc.

We'll see how far I get this time before I slack off yet again.

Last Wednesday at 12:28AM, little miss Pippa Jane Spottswood made her fast and furious entry into this world. Pippa because I fell in love with the name and Jane after Andrew's mom, our JJ. She immediately stole our hearts and has proven to be the sweetest little nugget. She reminds us a lot of what Griffin looked like as a newborn except more feminine obviously. She has the same goofy expressions and makes the same face when she sleeps that he does to this day. Luckily she hasn't taken after his screaming for the first 4 months of his life thing....hopefully it'll stay that way!

She is also the most obedient of our children seeing as she followed orders for her birthday. While Elliot was a week late, I told little Pippa that her Zacky was flying in on Tuesday so if she could come the next day that would be fantastic. We picked Zacky up at the airport, had lunch, then I had a midwife appointment. (TMI alert!) I decided to get checked by the midwife because I am just too curious and was 4 cm so she stripped my membranes around 3PM. I had that done 3 times during the last bit of my pregnancy with Elliot before it did anything so I tried not to get my hopes up but my contractions (I have Braxton Hicks frequently starting early in my pregnancies) got more painful while I was still in the office so it gave me some hope that it was actually doing something. I ran some errands with my mom and the contractions got more frequent and more painful throughout the day.

We got home and I hid in my bedroom away from my crazy little monkeys for a bit trying to decide if these were the real deal or not. Either way I felt pretty crappy so laying down instead of chasing them was ideal. We had dinner and I tried to help put the kids to bed before Elliot got wild while my contractions were 2-3 min. apart and I threw in the towel. We called the midwife and headed to the hospital around 9. Got checked and I was 6cm so they admitted me. I labored in the tub, on the yoga ball, then walked the hall for a good 2 minutes before I decided I didn't want to do that and honestly it was the easiest labor I have had by far. G and E's were much more painful for much longer but I blame that on the fact that my water broke early on with both of them. Mine didn't break this time until right before she was born. The last hour and a half got pretty miserable but honestly it was nothing compared to the other two.

She was also the smallest, weighing in at 7# 13 oz. compared giant 9# 1oz. Elliot. Recovery has been a breeze. Going out with a bang with our (sniff sniff) last pregnancy. She is just amazing and the hardest part of having her home is keeping the three tornadoes from damaging her.

Elliot wants to hold her, feed her cake, and nurse her. Griffin is very sweet with her and kisses her all the time and pulled his mattress into the nursery even though she is sleeping in a sleeper next to my bed. Sukie is smitten too and kisses her all the time but also is not exactly graceful and likes to swing her legs and arms around a lot which scares mommy just a tad when she comes close to Pippa. Bedtime is when we all sigh with relief.

We just feel so incredibly blessed and amazed and lucky to have another sweet kiddo enter our family of....6...what?? She just fits right in. I talked Andrew in to one more bio baby but as soon as he held her he gushed with love and told me thanks for wanting another. She is such a good baby...did I already say that? Sorry. It's true.

And that's her birth story. Andrew, mom, and dad were in the room. We had amazing nurses and the same midwife that delivered Elliot was on call and delivered Pippa which is fun. I am just in love yet again and couldn't feel more blessed.

Photo Book

2014-07-31T23:24:00.001-07:00

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Kitchen Remodel

2014-06-30T09:02:00.003-07:00

FINALLY posting about our kitchen remodel. It took quite a chunk of time to finish and when it was finally done I wasn't really in the mood to do anything else remodel related...even blog about it. BUT now I'm ready to go!

We moved in to this house in May of 2010 but ~~most~~ all of our expendable income went to either adoption related expenses or plane tickets to TN so we just painted and did minor things to our aesthetically lacking home.

6 months after bringing home Sukie we decided to lay the 70's dysfunctional boxed in kitchen to rest and do some major remodeling. Watching 3 preschoolers that (shocker alert!) didn't always do as they were told or get along while trying to prepare 80000 meals/snacks a day in a kitchen that resembled a jail cell wasn't really working for me.

Here are some before shots from when we first looked at the house:

Wallpaper, broken fluorescent overhead lights that we didn't fix in the 4 years before we remodeled because I chose to just ignore it, really dysfunctional island that we have used as a tool bench in the garage since moving in, the list goes on.

Concussion inducing microwave with razor sharp vent hood right at head height, 70's everything, 6'ceilings...

Here is my hubster breaking the wall to fit in our new huge fridge.

Removing 2 layers of wallpaper. NEVERAGAIN.

Carpet in the dining room where many a child will throw food and many a dog will come in muddy from the back yard.

You get the idea.

And here is a few years later after wallpaper removal, painting the walls, cabinets, and countertops, and buying a fridge, dishwasher, and range just to make it a little more "cute":

Here are some official before pics before demo:

Kitchen in a Box

The wall that eventually got gloriously destroyed.

That drawer on the right was quite possibly the loudest drawer on the entirety of the planet.

And now.....drumroll puh-lease.....after 6 months of construction with 3 preschoolers in the house and due to really genius planning on our part 3 months of me having debilitating ~~morning~~ all day sickness and for one week coupled with strep throat while keeping said 3 preschooler out of the house!!!!! (First world problems I know but still)

I must quote my lifelong friend EP here in saying that being pregnant while doing a house remodel is...well...stupid-

"Doing a house remodel without alcohol is like doing a house remodel without nails."

Agreed and Amen

Without further adieu.

The hallway ceiling was also raised about a foot because it too was a VLCFNAR (very low ceiling for no apparent reason). A trend in this house. It feels so much more open!

The above picture is totally unstaged obviously. I couldn't be bothered to move stuff off the table or replace that light bulb or fix the curtains and my computer is on the counter because I am attempting a long overdue blog post. Forgive me. I cannot even begin to pretend to be perfect. It would be exhausting and I'm already there.

Anyway, I did it! I blogged about the house! (see, Andrew...it can be done!)

We used a lot of Ikea, I stained all of the wood on the island and the wood we used to on the beams on the ceiling 'with my own self' as my kids would say so I did contribute a teensy bit. There is still a little bit of work to do to finish it but with a summer full of visitors, I needed it to be "done" so I could introvert for a few weeks before the influx of company.

I LOVE it!! I love that the ceiling is vaulted and doesn't feel so closed in. I love how I can see the big windows in the front of the house from my kitchen sink. I love the extra storage even with the wall knocked down. I love out new floors. The farmhouse sink. The open shelves that Andrew and I (and some neighbors) built after we told our contractor that we were done. I had the vision for those shelves for months and it just didn't happen so I enlisted my poor husband and he did an amazing job. I may blog about how we did them in the next half decade if I find the motivation between 4-5 kids needing to be fed in my new kitchen 18 hours out of the day.

Anyway, I sure can ramble, eh??

Building a Nest

2014-05-17T21:46:00.001-07:00

Nesting has reached a whooooole 'nother level in our house lately. On top of the world's longest kitchen remodel, we are switching up all of the kids bedrooms something crazy. Almost done so pictures to come.

Our kitchen looks so much better! The before/after is quite significant (thank goodness!) because it was not very functional or cute.

Griffin moved downstairs and is loving having his own 'man cave' since sister number 3 is coming soon.

The reason for the madness is that while I am pregnant with a lone bambina, we are preparing for an additional 3 children. Why? 2 reasons, 1. We are crazy 2. We are getting licensed for 2 foster kiddos and need two extra beds set up just in case.

So the girls are going to get the awesomely adorable antique Jenny Lind twin beds my sis and I shared as littles (currently being shipped here from the great state of TN from my fabulous parents) plus an extra toddler bed (courtesy of the great Rachel R.) for a potential foster bro/sis.

Baby girl #3 will have a nursery with an additional crib in it for potential foster babies.

Plus we set up Griffin's old bunk beds in the play room for slumber parties/cousin visits (yay!), and because it doubles as a castle/enchanted forest/ house/ what have you.

SO. We have a lot of beds in our 2100 SF mansion. It finally felt like it was coming together today. Still some painting in the nursery and shelf building in the kitchen then we are calling it quits!

Also if anyone could please delve into the inner recesses of our memories and see what genius place we decided to put the crib hardware AND instructions a year and a half ago...that would be great. Thankyouverymuch.

*after pictures promised in the near future*

This mess was our living room this week due to a much needed bedroom carpet cleaning.

It drove me crazy.

Freshening up the girls' bedroom with some yellow paint.

Little hint to baby girl #3's name...what could it be?!

We have awesome neighbors by the way.

These guys were quite impressed with the power tools.

So...here is a crib...for a potential foster baby. One more home study visit and our paperwork is off to the state licensor!!! Yay!!! And woa!!!!

Sukie's 5th Birthday Party!

2014-04-09T08:58:00.004-07:00

FINALLY I have the energy/time/motivation to blog! I won't say it will happen frequently but it's happening now so there ya go.

We were extremely blessed to spend Sukie's 5th birthday actually WITH her! I hate that we missed the first 4...seriously...I think about it regularly. BUT we are just so happy to have been able to celebrate with her and that we had almost a year with her to get to know her and what kind of party would make her feel loved.

She waffled between Princess Sofia and Hello Kitty for months so I decided to do both. I was slightly terrified that she would choose one the day of the party that was not the one I prepared for. I'm scared of a 5 year old. No, I just wanted to make sure she was happy.

So, we invited a million of her closest friends and had it at our mid-kitchen renovation house and it was awesome. I thought our house would have been done way before her party...but...it wasn't even close so I cracked the whip and at least got the flooring put in before we had 50+ people coming over.

Here is her party in pictures:

There were manicures and colorful/glittery hairspray in the Royal Salon.

Some of her favorite noshes included pizza, Cheetos, and grape soda. The latter 2 went against every fiber of my being to purchase but that's what the birthday girl wanted! (It is what she had at her going away party at the orphanage so I'm guessing that is what was provided at other celebrations there).

We had some arts and crafts set up downstairs. They could build their own Hello Kitty face or color or paint or whatever struck their fancy.

Princess Sofia's dress....kind of...

(too lazy to rotate)

Below is how we celebrated her actual birthday which was a couple of weeks before the actual party due to a house that was mid renovation...have I mentioned that? I may be ready to have our house actually DONE...maybe...kind of...

SO! She had a blast! We all were pretty exhausted afterwards and they all slept like little babies since due to a crazy February schedule we had it on a Friday night.

Happy birthday to the girl that has rocked our world this past year! We can't imagine our world without you!

Christmas Magic

2013-12-21T10:29:00.002-08:00

I'm totally loving our kids' love of Santa this year. They are all so smitten with the magic of it all. Yesterday we had a snow day. Griffin was the first one awake as usual. He got up and ran into the living room. I told him to look out the window and he ran over there and his face lit up while he exclaimed, "Finally!!!"

We weren't really sure what he meant until we were in the car later that night. He asked who made the snow. We said God made it. Very mischeviously....he said no....So I said, "Jack Frost?" And he said, "No! It was Santa!! I asked him to make snow and he said he would try and he did it!"

So apparently when we he met Santa he asked him for snow and that explains why he looked out the window every morning afterwards saying, "Not yet...."

Also, we lost Elliot's "Tiny BBs" (her little blankey) a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was at the grocery store and have gone back a couple of times checking their lost and found to no avail. She keeps asking for it but is fine with her Big BB's. Last night as she was falling asleep she said, "I want my tiny BB's" with a little pout. I was so sad that we lost it.

Then Andrew walked out of the girls' bedroom where he was putting Sukie to bed holding tiny BBs! It had just fallen between the wall and bed. Elliot was already asleep so we decided to just put it in her stocking on Christmas Eve so that she thinks Santa found it and gave it back to her. Can't wait to see her little face!

I am so excited about Sukie's first Christmas!!! I love spending all of these holidays with her for the first time. She loved Halloween and Thanksgiving so I'm thinking she will also be a big fan of Christmas. Hope it's not too overwhelming for her!

Also, our Christmas cards haven't printed yet...and we leave Christmas Day for TN...so....they may not arrive until late January. My apologies.

Marathon Double Header

2013-10-31T13:53:00.002-07:00

My friend Anne and I have been running marathons together since 2007. Back when we were young and stupid, we decided to run a marathon in each state by the time we were 50. Sounded like a fun idea at the time.

So, fast-forward 6 years....and 5 kids later....we are thinking this might be a tough task. However, we are both slightly (READ: incredibly) goal oriented and competitive....so it must be done. Did I mention we live in WA and KS? Just to keep it complicated.

Since I was in TN for my baby brother's wedding, I called her up and asked if she'd be up for meeting in Louisville, KY to scratch that state off the list. I remember mentioning that we should try to pull a double header and she totally blew the idea off as crazy...remember this.

So, we "trained" for the marathon. I have very limited motivation these days so I found it incredibly difficult to get myself out there and do the bare minimum of my mileage. I am a slacker. Speed work hasn't been a part of my vocabulary since college so....I'm not in it to win it, people.

Now, 2 weeks before the marathon, I was already in Nashville and got a text from Anne suggesting that we go to Indianapolis on Saturday for that marathon before the Louisville one on Sunday. I checked with my babysitters AKA mom and dad, checked with my husband, pretty much looking for any excuse possible to say no. Didn't find one so I said yes.

She changed her flight and we I had time to run um....twice in those two weeks which is great preparation for a double marathon, right? I think I read that somewhere...

Anyway, I drove up to Louisville on Friday to pick her up at the airport then we drove to Indy from there...rolling in at about 10 PM. We got to our hotel room and promptly went to bed. About 5 seconds later, we woke up to a very cold and rainy Saturday morning. I, in my infinite wisdom (and also because I had no idea I would be running a marathon in Indiana when I left Seattle...was wearing a tank top. Nice.

We went to get our race packets, then hit up a CVS to buy more appropriate weather attire. We got some fluffy white ear muffs, some huge cotton (who wears cotton during a marathon?!?) hooded sweatshirts, and big men's gloves. It was all half off and cheap so we figured after we warmed up in a mile or two we could just throw off our extra layers on the side of the road.

Well....24 MILES later, we decided we were warm enough to take off the sweatshirts. Yeah, that's not a typo. It was actually surprisingly comfortable. They were big enough to fluff out ever time we took a step which let the cool air in so we didn't get too hot. The earmuffs were worn the whole time because quite honestly they stayed on way better than the sports headbands that I've used in the past.

It was a beautiful course except it resembled the set for the movie Prisoners, so I was slightly concerned that we were going to get kidnapped along the way.

We rolled across the finish line about an hour slower than our usual time (telling ourselves that we were saving our legs for the next day...yeah...) but still happy to finish. I was wearing a tank top, big black gloves, and white earmuffs....in other words, I looked basically like an Olympic marathoner.

We ate, then got in the car for Louisville. We got there just in time to get our race packets and since my feet felt like they had been run over by a truck, I bought new running socks...because that would make all the difference....right? Then we headed to our hotel to chill and ponder the decision to do this painful and slightly miserable and really stupid thing. We showered....complained about how stupid we were....took Excedrin...tried to talk ourselves out of it...etc. until bed time. We also ordered fajitas from the Mexican restaurant next door because everybody knows Mexican food is a great carbo loading meal....again...we are professionals.

It was much warmer in Louisville...but I had only packed one sports bra because, again, originally we were only going to run 'a' marathon so I started this race off stinky and with no functioning quad muscles. Good times.

That morning we were very slow to get moving...we had a slow breakfast...we walked 3 blocks to the car before realizing I left my purse in the hotel bathroom. I drove over and ran back in to get it before we discovered that we had the wrong address for the start line and it was further away than we thought. The race started at 8AM and we rolled up to the road block about a half a mile away at about 7:57. A not so nice lady that was manning the road block wouldn't let us through so we ended up jogging to the start which made us realize that our leg muscles were not quite in to this idea. We got there in time though and the first few miles, we may have looked like 90 year old women trotting along. Luckily our muscles warmed up a bit and we jogged along for a very slow 26.2. Luckily the race shirts from the day before were long sleeve so we wore them to stay warm. Preparation is key, people.

This was a pretty course too and it was perfect for our mood...not a lot of spectators. We needed our space. Grumpy is a good definition of our mood. I think we may have eaten about 300 sports beans along the way which may have made us a bit queasy but the caffeine in them kept us going.

The best thing in the world is that when we FINALLY crossed that finish line, there was a masseuse set up and she was giving free (thankfully because our purses were a half a mile away) massages. It was quite literally the best feeling in the world.

After we got some lunch and right before I dropped Anne off at the airport I think we may have decided that it wasn't too terrible and that we will definitely do it again. Maybe next time we will 'train' appropriately though. And maybe bring appropriate clothing. And maybe not eat fajitas in between. Live and learn!

Day 1-Indianapolis

Day 2- Louisville

It was slightly desolate out there once all the half marathoners turned around.

Recovery included a lot of stairs and needy children. There was a time when marathon recovery included laying on the couch all day. Can someone please explain to my kids that they need to do nothing but bring me food and rub my feet all day next time? Thanks.

Airplane Shuffle

2013-10-10T07:17:00.001-07:00

Anybody that has traveled with multiple preschoolers on the rare half empty plane has seen the airplane shuffle.

Our plane from LAX to BNA was surprisingly not full. After a fun filled 8 hour layover in LA where we ate some good food, ran around a beach in our long pants, and wandered around the 3rd Street Promenade a bit, we loaded our exhausted, sandy kids onto the plane

There were several people already sitting near us. After the flight attendant announced that the flight was not full, it was very amusing to watch all of the people within a 4 row radius nonchalantly stand up, stretch a little bit, casually pick up their carry on and move far far away from us. Like 8 people did this in a 2 minute span.

Works for us, we had 4 rows to ourselves! We spread out all over that place.

Still cracks me up how everyone scattered like we wouldn't know exactly what they were doing. Sir, you really need to stretch 3 minutes after you boarded. Ma'am, you need to take 2 carry ons into the bathroom with you?? Just be honest! You don't want to be near us. You think my kids will grab your laptop keyboard while you're working? Scream? Spill your drink? Talk really really loud while you're trying to sleep?? Climb over you a gazillion times to do very important things like run down the aisle?? You must have talked to the guy that was in the middle of us on the first flight....I joke.

Long ago I decided to never stress over other people on airplanes when traveling with small children, especially when we bought all of their tickets. Traveling with kids is already exhausting, stressful (leaving Griffin's backpack in the bathroom when E was a newborn and getting yelled at by a not so sweet security guy bc the bomb sniffing dog had to actually sniff the backpack...isn't that their sole purpose?? )

Anyway. I don't let my kids run rampant, but I'm also not going to kill myself to keep them silent and still for 6 hours straight. Sorry, not sorry. My kids travel enough to not act like complete maniacs. However, if you make a comment within their mommy's earshot about how kids shouldn't be allowed on planes (it's happened before) I might let them kick your seat.

I'm not ashamed of my weirdness.

2013-09-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

As I put my little kiddos to bed every night I entertain myself by picturing myself acting like each of them when I go to bed with Andrew at night. This might not seem weird unless you saw our kids as they were falling asleep at night. They all have completely different yet equally weird tactics.

I'll start with the eldest. Griffin hates sleep. He just doesn't require a lot therefore has fought it nightly for the past 5 years. His technique has changed over the years and I am pretty sure the most recent is my favorite. Typically he lays there moaning, "But I just don't know HOW to fall asleep!" "I can't do it! I need HEEEEELLLLPPP" then he is quiet for a while....then he flails about exclaiming that it is just too hard to possibly fall asleep. Then he changes the subject to the fact that he would really like us to get a LOT of real animals. If I promise to google whether or not our neighborhood would allow us to purchase giraffes for our back yard, he gets placated enough to allow me to leave his room. So, while I'm going through this weird and amusing ritual, I picture what Andrew's reaction would be if I laid there at night whining about how incredibly difficult it is for me to possibly close my eyes and fall asleep not knowing whether or not I could potentially own a giraffe.

Sukie is totally different. She usually goes to sleep fairly easily. She does request very specifically, "Cold water with IIIICCCCEEEE". If she takes a sip of the water presented to her and it is not cold enough for her liking she snubs it and demands frosty cold water. I would love to act like a princess like this at night, demanding very specific things and getting irrationally upset if it doesn't meet my specifications. That would be kind of fun. When I snuggle with her after reading some books though...she is hyper-snuggly. I LOVE it but when she is trying to schmush her cheek into my cheek and rubbing my arms/back/face and saying, "I love you mommy." my heart is literally melting, but I am also picturing how happy Andrew would be if that was my bedtime ritual.

Elliot is a bit manic at bedtime. She will lay there not so quietly sucking her paci (yeah, mommy can't quite let go of the baby stage there yet) then all of a sudden sit straight up and scream, "I wan' watch TV!!! I wan' watch TV!!!!!!!!!" then lay back down and quietly suck on her paci. A few minutes later she will sit straight up and scream, "I wan' light on!!! I wan' light ON!!!!!!!" then collapse and suck on the paci. Lastly she sits up and screams, "I wan' go out dere!!!!!!! I wan' go out DERE!!!!!!!!!" then fall back and go to sleep. This is my favorite to imagine doing to Andrew. I think one night I'm going to just do a combination of all three and see how long it takes for Andrew to either get out of bed to google either the giraffe thing or how to find a local psychologist.

This is my life. These are the thoughts that go through my head. Thought I'd share.

Woa

2013-09-06T08:22:00.001-07:00

This summer flew by. Seriously, isn't it June? I can't even summarize. We have just been so grateful to have Sukiecfinally home and relishing the fact that our 3.5 yr adoption actually resulted in this precious, silly, smart, sassy creature living in our house! And then there is the fact that it has also been HARD!

I was such a patient mom prior to April. This summer...no comment.

I would like a redo on some days but ill just hope my kids remember the awesome days :)

Sukie and I have reached a great place. So nice to feel like I "get" her for the most part and communication has come so far in general. Phew!

Elliot has grown up so fast :( she isn't 2.5 yet but acts about 12. Killing me! She is so sassy and talks like a big kid. She throws signs whenever I ask her to smile and loves to get NAKED then run around making sure everyone knows she is in fact NAKED.

She started tap/ballet/gymnastics and it may be the cutest thing in the world.

Griffin turned 5 this week. 5, people! I can't even. That's killing me. He is still so innocent and I'm not so secretly excited that his birthday came 3 days after the cutoff for kindergarten. One more year to stay a preschooler. Not complaining.

He loves his sisters so much (finally) and is definitely the ring leader since he is "the oldest". He refers to himself in the third person this way sometimes. "The oldest is hungry." Yeah....not kidding. Note to self...don't adopt a kid older than that guy. I may or may not threaten to do that during extreme acts of defiance though...

His party is this weekend and he chose to have a "chocoletty" cake because it's Sukie's favorite. Yeah. You read that right. The guy that 5 months ago would scream and cry if Sukie's did ANYTHING remotely similar to what he was doing picked out his birthday cake based on her favorite. We've come a long way. Thank goodness for my own sanity and poor Sukie's self esteem (not that she lacks this).

The three amigos play together so well, Coco may go through withdrawals when they start school next week.

Mommy will have to suffice. Sorry, Coco.

My Hero

2013-07-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sukie. She is my hero. This girl is a little survivor. She has put up with more in her 4 years than I have had to in my (use your imagination). She has moved to a new country and into a new family with a different language and culture and literally taken it all in stride (with the occasional expected tantrum). Mommy has had a few tantrums too so I'm not judging :). She has all of a sudden gotten a fun but wild 2 year old sister. Grafting with an artificial twin brother. Put up with a stressed/tired/emotional/imperfect mommy. All of this with just such a cute and sassy smile on her face (most of the time....don't get me wrong, she can pout with the best of them, cry dramatically at the drop of a hat, and has a good set of lungs...but overall she is a happy little stinker)

She has learned SO much English it is blowing my mind. She is so smart! I bought a CD with Zulu music on it and thankfully she still sings along to it. I just love hearing her little accent. Whenever she is carrying something heavy she says in her deep little voice, "I strrrrrong!!!" and has us feel her muscle. She still puts stuff on her head when it is too heavy and probably wonders why we don't do that too.

She basically taught herself to swim in our hot tub. We get in that several days a week because they love it and she has no fear. We went swimming in a lake last weekend and she was swimming around under water....just so impressed.

She and Elliot play together all the time. They are best buddies unless E gets tired and starts getting too wild.

Griffin and her are getting along much better now. G has decided that she is actually pretty fun to play with. The only (really annoying) competition with these two is who can get their car seat buckled first. Seriously. Every single time they race to buckle first. I am glad they can both buckle themselves now but good grief. If Sukie buckles first Griffin starts crying...it really breaks his heart. Griffin usually buckles first and she doesn't typically mind but one day she did...and it was epic....but we got through it and it just broke my heart. I could see her grief in that moment. I know that it had much more to do with that than the fact that he buckled first. I totally get what I heard/read about the adoptive parents taking on their kids' trauma/grief. I could see it in her eyes and just hate it for her. I'm just doing the best I can to help her heal but geez...that sounds easier than it is!

We went on our first hike and she did amazing! She has gone from not wanting to walk ANYWHERE to hiking almost the entire 2.25 miles! I was so incredibly impressed with her. We did have our share of mini meltdowns along the way but she was so proud of herself afterwards! Totally worth it.

So. This rambling post is basically me just bragging on our girl. We had a block party a few weeks ago and one of our neighbors that we just met later said she had no idea that we had JUST come home with her. She seems to feel like she has always been a part of our family and we certainly feel like that. I can't imagine our family without our Sukie. Griffin did say the other day though that since he is being so nice to his sisters that he deserves a brother. Here's hoping!

We couldn't be happier. So amazing to finally get her home and continue to bond with her. She is precious precious precious! She is pretty particular with the temperature of her water though...it must be the cold filtered water from the fridge, preferable with ice in it. Be prepared for the look of one pouty unsatisfied customer if it reaches her princess lips straight from the tap. So funny. Bless her heart.

**the Sukie Pout pictured here is because the beach had too many rocks on it. After this picture was taken I dropped my phone into the Puget Sound. It survived.**

Coco did it

2013-06-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

I hear that about 788 times every day out of Elliot's little mouth.

I think she assumes that she is 3 or 4 years old. If she could verbalize her thoughts I'm pretty sure she would explain that she was just going to skip age 2 altogether.

She LOVES her big bro and sis so much it melts my heart. I had the kids solo tonight and decided to let the older ones watch a bedtime movie while I spent some one on one time with Elliot reading. We couldn't get through 2 pages without her saying, "I want my Suksies. Coco sit mommy's lap here. Suksies sit mommy's lap here (pointing to my other leg)." I mean...so much for getting time alone with her mom.... We usually read to the girls together and I guess she prefers that. My bad.

Lots of Elliot stories tonight...can't help it! Tonight after her bath she wanted to put on Sukie's underwear instead of a diaper. Insisted. Gave a good argument even. She pointed to the bed and said, "I no peepee in da bed." Over and over. So I gave in and was going to wrestle the diaper or pullup on her later. Not 5 minutes later, she was brushing her teeth and all of a sudden said, "Uh oh...I peepee'd." Noooooo kidding. On went the diaper.

Tonight at the park they all ran up to the jungle gym and she climbed up to the tallest slide and flew right down it...then about two feet through the air and landed on her back. After wimpering for a second she manned up and climbed back up. Then she pointed to the tallest slide and said, "Coco fall." Pointed to the other slides and explained that she would fall on the biggest slides so she chose the smallest one. I love that she isn't afraid but also not totally reckless :)

Sukie is doing great! She is so adorable and learning so much English! I keep trying to not overanalyze every single thing she does. She stayed in my arms at church and gave other people the cold shoulder when we walked in (good! She knows I'm her mama and that she doesn't need to love on every adult that crosses her path). She kisses my cheeks over and over and over (I'm thinking, oh no...she is trying to please me and that means she isn't attaching). Seriously. I just need to love on her and parent her without analyzing every single thing! So hard when I just want to do what is best for her....but that seems so complicated!

She could eat boiled eggs for every meal and loves to pick out girly clothes...and change said girly clothes frequently :) I'm thinking a 4 year old girl with a closet full of new clothes requires the amount of laundry that a newborn girl might. I think my washing machine has been going nonstop since we got home.

She is so grown up in some ways and so not in others. She always asks for a pacifier when Elliot does. She loves when I dress her the way you would dress a baby. She always asks for help with things that I have seen her do on her own. BUT when she is in the tub with Elliot she insists on washing her own hair and body. Then she takes the loofah and scrubs Elliot down too. Pros and cons!

{half dance/half run/100% awesome}

Griff is doing so much better with it all! He really had a rough month and a half or so where I really was worried that he was not going to ever be nice to Sukie....like ever. He was really just trying to establish where everybody's role was and I'm super glad that Sukie is a few months younger than him. That seems important to the little guy. When people ask how old he is, his answer is,
"Ginormous 4!!!!" And obviously Sukie is smaller 4. Yikes. Who knew! Luckily she doesn't give a rip about birth order (yet) so he has backed down and now is finally just having fun with his sisters.

We have had several times in the past week where all 3 are having a blast playing together. Talking, laughing, being awesome. It's so great and wonderful but inevitably someone starts crying and the fairytale is over. BUT it is amazing and I'm totally just enjoying the sweet moments. (And ~~sometimes~~ often losing my cool in the not so sweet moments...but getting better!)

Love these guys!

Yumminess

2013-06-14T10:55:00.001-07:00

I'm collecting stool samples from Sukie all day. Elliot is demanding to be potty trained today. I'm babysitting my neighbor's newborn.

So basically I will be covered in bodily fluids all day if you need me.

At least it's from cute little people!

A day in the life

2013-06-12T22:20:00.001-07:00

Today was a pretty good and laid back day over here. Just so I don't invade IG with my weird pictures I figured I'd blog them. That way the only people who have to look at the million pictures of my kids do so voluntarily.

So....our day in pictures...

The following progression cracks me up.

Sukie is a little jealous...

Elliot leaves....

S and G snuggle....

Elliot gets jealous...

They both leave and Griffy gets silly

Griffin took 8 million stuffed animals to the park this morning. Then he got sad that nobody was playing with them and him. I told him to recruit some kids to play animals with him....he was successful.

In Africa we had to eat in restaurants a LOT more than we normally do...Sukie may have gotten the wrong impression because on the way home from whatever we do in the morning she points to every restaurant saying she wants to eat there. Whenever I tell her we are eating at home she yells, "NO!!!!" I guess my meals aren't quite up to speed with fish/chips and pizza....I won't apologize.

We are doing a tiny bit of "Mommy's Summer School" every day. Mainly to try to get S up to speed with the upcoming demands of 4 year old preschool. Griffin loves it....Sukie got a little PO's when I was trying to teach her how to write her name.

This is a classic Sukie move. Hand to cheek. Staring off into the abyss and literally in another world. You just gotta wait tills he returns to her Earthly body before getting anywhere. She came around and can now write an S and U. Proud of her!

This is Elliot's masterpiece.

And we're cheerful again!

And for some reason I had two four year olds freaking out over pacifiers today....true story. Lucky for them Elliot is laid back and was a good sport....

Griffin was calling his girlfriend, Eden on his pretend phone. His conversation was hi-larious.

This one prefers to be nake nake. Then she wanted to put on Suksie's (Sukie=Suksies in Elliotese)underwear...it was a bit baggy. Then Miss Coco fell asleep in her birthday suit on the couch at 5 but luckily it didn't require shampooing the couch cushion. She may potty train herself now that she thinks she is a 4 year old.

We had a good day! I can't say the same for yesterday evening but you win some/you lose some. Everybody is doing great! Love these munchkins!

Home 2 Weeks

2013-06-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

Phew! I am finally feeling settled and into the new normal. We are loving life with 3 kids! I think everybody has had their turn adjusting. Sukie took to us immediately but had some intense testing to see exactly what she could get away with in her new family. Poor thing has had several different caregivers in her short life so I think she knew the drill a little bit. Sweet baby, no more new mommies!

This is us on the plane on the way to Amer-di-ca!

Splash pad where mommy-who didn't get one inch of sunburn in 7 weeks in Africa- FRIED. Oops.

Costco

African Babywearing

2 Peas in a Pod. Lots of pics of these 2 bc Griff was still in his funk. Hopefully that's over!

Andrew and I had our share of learning to parent our newly adopted baby. Pretty different than having a newborn but we are slowly learning how she needs us to love/discipline/encourage/teach her.

Elliot was the most surprising one of all. She took to Sukie right away in Africa, did excellent away from mommy for 3 weeks because she had JJ and daddy all to herself, and has (so far) seamlessly adjusted to having two older siblings instead of one. She loves to act like her big sissy. Which means talking with a slight British accent, taking off her diaper bc she thinks she is potty trained...the peeing in her pants of course. She is hilarious, hilarious, hilarious! She refers to herself only as Coco. So if she takes off her clothes (which happens about a million times a day) she runs around chanting, "Coco Nake Nake!" If she wants to do something on her own she says, "Coco did it!" Love that baby. Sukie and Griffin sure do love her too (until she gets tired and pulls their hair).

Griffin had a pretty hard time with the whole pecking order situation but had a major turning point on Friday I think. He is obsessed with telling everybody that he is the oldest/biggest/tallest. I was a little worried about this for a while but I really think he has reached the point of realizing that Sukie doesn't care what order she is in the family. She isn't a threat. He is actually saying he is excited that they will be in the same preschool class next year...good news!

Sukie is a genius. She's my kid so I can brag on her. She has picked up SO much English in the past 2 months. Seriously amazing. I think part of the reason Griff got so annoyed is that she would parrot everything he said. He did not like that but I kept explaining that this was how she would learn English and he kind of got over it. She is so loving to us and just precious. Every time she wears tight pants and walks in front of me I just want to pinch her juicy booty. There. I said it.

She eats well and I know getting home has really helped with that. Eating out where the options are chicken, fries, or pizza and traveling generally result in more junk food options than at home. Poor thing got adopted by a dietitian. Bless her chocolate loving heart. I don't deny my kids of treats but it isn't an every day thing. She has gotten to the point where she doesn't wake up and go, {enter sleepy voice} "Mommy....cake." or "Mommy....chocolatey". It was cute but she would then throw a little hissy if I didn't honor the request. She loves eggs and in my mind that is a pretty healthy option. Therefore we almost went through a giant Costco carton of eggs in a week. Yowza. She loves rice, beans, eggs, yogurt, meat, and broccoli. That's my girl!

I wish I had it in me to blog during the last couple of weeks but I fell asleep so early and am teaching 2 classes so it was literally the last thing on my mind. I'll keep 'em coming better now though!

Home Again Home Again!!

2013-05-27T05:27:00.001-07:00

I have been a bad adoption blogger. Too tired and I had 2 classes start while I was there so internet time was mostly trying to get work done.

BUT we are home! Here is a run down of our last little bit in Africa and our trip home.

Mom was with us in Johannesburg for a little bit and it was wonderful! She was so helpful during all of the doctor visits. If she hadn't been there to keep Griffin entertained while I got all of those formalities done, mama may have lost her mind! The kids had a blast with her too which is always special. We went to the Lion Park where we got to pet baby lions and feed giraffes which pretty much made Griffin the happiest boy EVER. Sukie walked up the platform but wouldn't go near the giraffes. She actually went into the lion enclosure but would only get close if I was holding her. That was huge! I was surprised she did that since she is terrified of house cats :( Poor baby. We'll work on that. I wish I knew why. If she had been bit or if somebody had told her they were dangerous.

We spent our down time wandering around malls mainly. Just to have something to kill the time until we could finally go home!

We stayed at Mohlware Guest Lodge which was really cool. Cheap, cool, and on a petting zoo. What more could you want when traveling with kids. The kids got to feed the animals a couple of times and Griffin was in love with the horses, ostrich, goats, and sheep. There were also a ton of bunnies and chickens and surprisingly guinea pigs running around freely. Unfortunately there were also a MILLION roosters that made insane noises all through the middle of the night. That we didn't love but I got used to it.

We took mom to the airport and Sukie was exhausted and sleeping but poor Griffin just lost it. He had already said goodbye to JJ, daddy, Elliot, and Zacky at airports and now he was saying goodbye to Bella :( It was just heartwrenching to hear him cry and see how upset he was but luckily we were leaving in 6 days so we made a countdown calendar and that helped.

I did everything I could to keep them busy while we finished up applying for Sukie's visa at the embassy and they did pretty good.

Oh, the embassy appointment. We thought it would be quick and easy...why? I don't know. We being me and the other family that was traveling with us. They were a lifesaver during that last week. We did the embassy stuff together and went out to dinner every night together since we didn't have kitchens. That last week would have felt like forever if I didn't have them! My kids love their kids too so I'm sure they felt the same way!

Anyway the Embassy. We couldn't park there so we parked at mall across a busy 4 lane street. I had gotten there early because I just needed to get the kids out of our studio bedroom or I was gonna go cray. We walked around the mall a bit and then headed to the embassy. Which I was just guessing where it was. Since the last thing Sukie enjoys is walking....and it was in the afternoon so G was also tired and cranky, I put Sukie in the borrowed stroller (saved the trip for me!) and put G in the Ergo on my back. I hiked down the hill with all my paperwork and walked down a big hill to a crosswalk. I walked over and up another hill because it had the address I was looking for posted on it. After walking a long way up I finally asked somebody if this was the embassy bc it sure as heck didn't look like it. It wasn't. SO I walked back down that hill and looked up the hill where the embassy was. It was not a short hike. I luckily had left ample time so I dug in my heels and hiked up there.

I arrived and got through security. I was sweating like a pig. Griffin was excited bc he got to put his 3 stuffed animals that joined us through the x-ray machine. Sukie was in a good mood bc she got to ride in the stroller. She LOVEES riding in strollers. Pretty sure she never had before. Cutest thing ever when she realized it was a chair that moves for her :)

We got through security and sat down for what we were thinking would be a short wait. The G family showed up and we waited some more. Finally we got called up to learn that our appointment was actually scheduled for Thursday. It was Wednesday. I think mine and Mama G's stomachs dropped. Luckily they said we could still get it done that day. Thankfully bc if they couldn't I would have had to extend my trip. We were there for a good 2 hours but got approved for her visa and were told we could pick it up the next day! Last signature on a very long adoption felt really really good. Like. Really good :)

The next day we got their visas flawlessly. I returned the stroller, packed, and went out to dinner one final time with the G's!

The next day I left Mohlware at 10 after saying our goodbyes. After filling up the rental car, returning the rental car, loading all of our suitcases onto a trolley which I then rolled over my foot trying to get that and two 4 year olds through one of those stupid turnstile doors (still hurts), we made it into the airport! I got the carseat wrapped in giant saran wrap so that I could check it instead of lugging it through the airports then checked in! It felt so good to unload all of the suitcases we had been living out of for 7 weeks.

Sukie seemed anxious the whole drive to the airport and while checking in. We got through security very easily and went to find our gate. There was a little café down the hall with an excellent view of incoming and outgoing planes. This cheered her up so much. She got excited with each plane for an hour and a half which got her pumped up for the flight.

They both did so well the whole trip. I was amazed at those two. The didn't sleep at all on the first flight but were happily sitting and watching movies. We didn't have TV in Jo'burg so they were for some screen time :) We arrived in Dubai around 11pm. It was packed and loud much to my dismay. I couldn't go to the Emirates hotel this time because of the type of Visa that Sukie was traveling on. I felt like Tom Hanks in the Terminal. Trapped. It turned out okay though. I snagged a free stroller provided by Emirates for Sukie and Griffin happily took advantage of the moving sidewalks while I pushed her next to him on our search. We found two reclining seats together and after a while I got them to sleep despite the noise.

I on the other hand couldn't sleep for fear that somebody would take off with my bag containing the passport and visa that took me 7 long weeks to obtain. It was also 40 below zero. I eventually dragged Griffin on top of me to use his body heat for warmth. At about 5:30 S woke up to go potty so I had to get G in the stroller and drag their trunkis and backpacks with us since when I asked if she would pull her Trunki she looked at me like I was crazy and said very simply, "No." Don't mess with a sleepy Sukie!

We wandered, got breakfast, brushed out teeth, changed clothes and waited until our 9:20 flight. Time stood still a bit but eventually we boarded the final plane home! They were asleep immediately after takeoff. It was glorious. I fell asleep for 2-3 hours which was lovely. When they woke up they were kind of noisy but well behaved and we made it home after a short 14 hour flight...

As we were landing Sukie couldn't pull herself away from the window. She was so cute! After we hit American soil and she officially became an American citizen (yay!) Griffin kept saying in his sweet voice, "Sukie! You're in America! You are at America Airport! No more planes! No more check ups!" She looked out the window and then goes, "Dis Am-er-ca?" Like....this is it?? Then they excitedly disembarked and we made it through the line to get our passports checked. Since the embassy said that was all we had to do I was expecting to go through then get our luggage and meet our family and friends that were already there waiting at baggage claim. BUT the guy told me we had to go to immigration to make sure we had all the right paperwork. 'Scuse me?? The line was out the door. There were a ton of files in front of mine. I finally was told what to do and when I asked the immigration officer exactly how long this would take and he said, "Oh at least an hour."

I may have unloaded on him During our 7 week trip I didn't cry once. I held it all together. Being away from Andrew and Elliot. Working through behavior/language/overtired kids/moving from place to place. No biggie. Telling me that I had to wait ANOTHER hour to see my husband and 2 year old baby. Not cool. I am not proud of my actions, but since the Embassy said this was unnecessary I was pretty peaved that I stood around for over an hour for them to look through my papers and then tell me that she was a citizen. NO KIDDING. I have done over 3.5 YEARS of paperwork. I spent 7 weeks in country making sure I had all the paperwork. I didn't need Officer Obvious to tell me that yep... I had the paperwork.

When I was crying at immigration it upset Sukie so we were both sitting there crying and Griffin just hugged us bc he may be the sweetest boy on Earth.

I basically ran with the kids to the baggage claim, sailed through customs, got rid of the bags again and up the escalator to my awesome husband and precious precious baby. I may have left poor Sukie standing there while I hugged Andrew's neck but she immediately started playing with the kids that were there waiting for us. Elliot looked so big. I had a messy tear streaked face but it felt so good to be DONE.

After a few minutes, Andrew asked if I was sure I wanted to adopt again and of course I said, "absolutely." Having our sweet girl home with her forever family was totally worth the 3 years, 7 months, 1 week, and 6 day journey. Totally. My only regret is that we have a baby in Rwanda and sweet A in South Africa that will never be able to come home. Probably will never get over that but that just means that they will both be prayed for for the rest of my life.

Sifundo and Amahle...they have a special relationship. Sad that she lives so far away! Thank goodness for Skype!

Waiting to pick up her passport in Duran!

Loving on Zacky

Saying goodbye to Zacky before the longest most annoying road trip to Jo'burg! Think most annoying sound in Dumb and Dumber coming out of G's mouth for 7 hours.

The drive was gorgeous before it got pitch black and creepy.

G and his "Animal Friends"

Anyway, this is basically so long because I wanted to document everything. If I don't write it down now my mommy brain will definitely forget details :)

It's over!!!! Till next time :)

Passport!!!

Bye Bye Bella

2013-05-19T00:57:00.001-07:00

I have to give a shout out to my rockin' mother in law and parents for making this trip so much easier!

JJ is STILL in Seattle helping out with my sweet Elliot while Andrew works. Apparently Elliot always refers to herself in the third person as Coco and refers to Sukie as Suksies. Miss her and Andrew so much!

Bella flies home today and the rest of us should arrive in Seattle at 1pm on Saturday the 25th! Any Seattle peeps are welcome at the airport if you want...I may just fall asleep on the floor of Seatac though :)

Griffin may be a little homesick which is evidenced by his acting cray. He is also speaking broken English like Sukie which is not annoying at all... :)

We have been skyping with Andrew and Elliot AND G's animals of course.

Weeks 4/5 Part 2

2013-05-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

SO

Dad flew out on Tuesday...I may have written Sunday on the last post but it was Tuesday. I forget. So many trips to the Durban airport get me confused!

We were supposed to drive to Johannesburg with her temporary passport in hand on Tuesday. We hadn't heard anything about it being ready until late Monday around 5PM so we were very excited to hear that the passport was indeed at Home Affairs and we could pick it up Tuesday morning. We packed up Zacky's stuff in the car and headed back to Home Affairs for our third and final visit.

I got the passport without any issues (yay!) and she was so proud of it! Cutest thing ever. She still likes me to take it out and show it to people (makes me nervous though! Took a long time and lots of paperwork to get my hands on that thing!) Afterwards we killed a little bit of time at a mall before having to say goodbye to Zacky and take him back to the airport.

After dropping him off we went back to our hotel to pack up all of our stuff and play a nice game of Tetris trying to get it in our little car along with the 4 of us. We did it though! The poor kids had to ride the whole way with suitcases under their feet but they thought it was funny thank goodness.

It was probably the most annoying drive of my life but we made it alive so I can't complain! Ibruprofen is my friend though! I have used the heck out of the pharmacy I packed. Stomach issues, bandaids, headaches, sickness, etc etc....Also, Griffin and I got lots of snuggles and a couple of cases of ringworm from the orphanage it seems. Don't worry, the treatment is working and it is pretty much cleared up. Can't help but snuggle those babies though! While dad was here we went back up to Lily for one final visit. They had brought some donations and wanted to see Sukie's home for the past couple of years. We had a great visit. The fist kid I saw when we got there was of course A. Our almost son. He is precious. He probably wonders why I always flock to him and hug him and kiss him. Oh well, he doesn't seem to mind. Griffin loved playing with him though. They played for about an hour and a half straight. So sweet and a little heart wrenching. Sukie had fun saying goodbye to her friends one more time. We got some more closure then headed out.

Anyway, I backtracked.

So Tuesday after loading up the car again we dropped off the keys to the Breakers and headed to Jo'burg. It was a beautiful drive! Until it got pitch black outside...then it was a little creepy. So glad mom was with me! We didn't see a gas station for the longest time and got anxious so we put one into the GPS and it took us down a pitch black dirt road in the middle of a field...but we found a gas station and filled up! We weren't sure if we would find a place for dinner and didn't really feel like wasting time in a restaurant anyway since it was going to be so late when we go to the new lodge. I bought what looked like beef jerky for the kids. Griffin took a bite, looked like he was going to barf and weakly said, 'no thank you...' Meanwhile Sukie chowed down singing, "Thank you, mommy!" after every couple of bites...you win some you lose some.

Our new lodge is awesome! Jess (the other adopting mommy) found it and we love it! It's Mohlware Guest Lodge and to Griffin's delight is on a game reserve where we see lots of animals beyond the fence and it also has a petting zoo in the backyard. We have been able to let the kids feed the animals a couple of times which they love. Yesterday morning he wanted to say hello to his animal friends so we went in to the farm part...then realized the grumpy sheep was out of its pen. We thought it would be okay until it kicked up its feet and ran after unsuspecting Griffin. He yelled and took off running back towards me. After a few close calls we escaped the dangerous creature and didn't try to go back that day. Yikes!

We have been going daily to the hospital for tests for Sukie's visa. We just need to go one more time (hopefully) to get the paperwork then our consulate appointment is next week. We should get her visa on Thursday and fly home on Friday! Can't wait to see Andrew and Elliot!

I'll have to do a separate post on the Lion Park that we went to. It was awesome! Nothing like feeding a giraffe and petting a baby lion to make you feel like a true African tourist.

Hopefully this is a good enough update, Shelly!?!?!?

Somebody accidentally locked herself in a bathroom stall. Oops!

Griff and A

Sleepy girl after a day at Ushaka

On the freezing cold game drive snuggling between Bella and Zacky

Temporary passport! She keeps saying, "Go America" One more week, girl!!

Stinking pictures won't download all the way. Blast!

Update Weeks 4 and 5ish

2013-05-17T12:20:00.002-07:00

Oops...I've been bad about updating the blog or so I've been told :) Internet was not excellent until we moved to Johannesburg on Tuesday so that was my excuse then but the past few days I'm just blaming it on being tired. Adopting a 4 year old is similar to having a new baby in that at the end of the day I just am wiped. More so from trying to figure out how to parent a child from a hard place with a language barrier and some minor 'artificial twinning' issues with Griffin. It is SO much better the past couple of weeks than it was at first but still kind of tiring at the end of the day. Probably traveling with children in general is more tiring that it would be at home also.

We have had weeks where she would have tantrums frequently, weeks where she would just sit down and shut down, and now weeks where she is awesome with just typical 4 year old behavior stuff.

Griffin has been mostly good with her but we had about a week and a half where he would just smack her arm if she did something he didn't like. He isn't typically a hitter so it was so shocking for me to see him do it. It upset her probably partly bc it hurt physically but it probably hurt her feelings more. I had some talks with Griffin about it and he kept saying, "She doesn't look like what I thought she would." Since he had several pictures and knew what she 'looked' like, I'm translating that to mean the adoption isn't exactly what he pictured. She is a sister but she comes from a totally different background than him and speaks a different language. She needs mommy a lot right now and maybe he wasn't expecting that even though I tried to warn him about all of this. Poor guy. And poor Sukie for reaping the punishment for his feelings.

My parents decided to come last minute so they got here on May 6! It has been so helpful! Being without Andrew and missing him and Elliot has been tough but they have provided an excellent distraction and have been helpful when I had two 4 year old tantrums going at the same time. Dad had to fly home last Sunday but he hit it off with Sukie right away. She is a big fan of her Zacky.

Mom leaves this Sunday so I'm sad to see her go but she has a house that she has been building that needs the finishing touches decided on!

Griffin has always been territorial with his grandparents. When they got here he nicely stated that it would be an excellent idea for, "Mommy and Sukie to go have a playdate and Bella and Zacky to babysit him." Meaning he wants them all to himself just a little bit. We obliged and they took a nature walk together and I think that satisfied him because he was pretty good about sharing them with Sukie after that.

While dad was here we hung out at the beach and pool, went to Ushaka Marine World one day, and did another game drive at Hlulhuwe which was great! I'll blog later once I've downloaded all the pictures. That time we got up at 3 again for the 2.5 hour drive. It was pitch black and dumping buckets of rain on us. I think mom left permanent fingernail prints in the car seat. I am pretty used to driving on the right side of the car and left side of the road but the conditions made me pretty stressed too. We got there and ended up having a great day and saw a ton of different animals. We saw a big Hyena which was cool.

The guide told us that when families with small kids camp in the park (freaking crazy in the first place) the hyenas will literally stalk them waiting for the kids to be separate from the adults to hunt them. Maybe that's why they kept telling us to make sure the kids stayed close to us. Anyway, about 20 minutes later Sukie was laying down asleep in my lap and my parents had Griffin in the row behind us. They couldn't see Sukie and I turned around and casually asked mom if Sukie was still back there with them. The look on her face as she panicked and searched the floor of the truck was priceless! Sorry, mom...it was too easy. I think she had visions of Sukie battling a hyena. She might actually come out victorious...she's pretty tough.

The day that mom and dad came was pretty exhausting! I had been staying with friends about 30 minutes outside of Durban. When they came I decided to move back to the Breakers so we would have more room and more beachy/touristy stuff to do while they were here. I packed up/went to get the key/lugged all of our stuff up to our room trying to be patient with my slow African child while yelling at my speedy American child to slow down so as not to lose either of them. I had 15 minutes to empty the car before meeting the other adopting mom to drive out to Home Affairs to register for Sukie's new birth certificate. We needed that in order to apply for her temporary and permanent passports. We did that in a couple of hours. Then we came back, I did some grocery shopping, skyped with Andrew, got the kids ready for bed. Sukie fell asleep for 15 minutes before I surprised Griffin with the news that we were heading to the airport at 9:20PM to pick up Bella and Zacky. {Insert happiest boy in the world}. Sukie threw punches at me and tried to dive back into bed bc the girl likes her beauty sleep. I managed to wrestle her into the car though and we made it just in time to pick them up at baggage claim.

Sukie woke up enough to climb into Bella's arms and snuggle right away though. She woke up when we got back to the car and starting playing with Zacky. No questions asked, these are my grandparents and I love them. So amazing.

This is ridiculously long...I'll do a part 2. Phew! The pictures are downloading only 3/4 again...boo.

hitting Zacky's 'Bald Head Island'

Loving on Bella

Griffin running through the barrier to greet them. So cute!

Right after meeting them she requested that Bella lay down with her to go to sleep.

The next morning...

Enjoying her 'Zulu' necklace that they got her at Mardi Gras

Someone loves his Zacky!

Wish this didn't cut off bc on the other side is Griffin fruitlessly trying to get her attention. She was clearly not interested in talking with G. Attitude! Love it....usually.

Confessions of a Scandalous Peeing Boy

2013-05-02T11:48:00.003-07:00

Andrew, Jane, the kids, and I all had a wonderful week at the beach in Umhlanga Rocks after passing court to make Sukie a Spottswood forever! It was so nice! The weather was perfect. Jane was such a blessing and just wonderful for the kids and for us. Andrew and I got a little date night although I was so tired that we didn’t take too much advantage of the free babysitting. We waited till the kids were asleep to go so JJ didn’t go crazy trying to get them all down by herself. Thanks, JJ!!! We couldn't have done it without you!!! You made the kids so happy and made it a lot easier when all 3 wanted to be carried :) Best mother-in-law award, hands down.

We pretty much hung out at the hotel. We stayed at The Breakers and it was Uh-mazing! It was the cheapest with 3 bedrooms that I could find in the area that our friends were also staying at and turned out to be so nice! My parents will love it!

We discovered that Sukie is a total water baby. She loves the pool. The beach still freaks her out but once we are there for an hour or so she warms up to it and forgets that it is terrifying. At the pool she doesn’t think twice about dunking her whole head under and going down to touch the bottom and kick off to come back up again. Can’t wait to get her in to some swimming lessons! Elliot was also very brave at the pool. Her favorite thing to do is to stand on the edge and do cannonballs into my arms. She was so cold that she was trembling like a Chihuahua but was still so insanely happy. Love that little firecracker. Can’t believe I won’t see her for 3 weeks! Killing me!

Andrew, Jane and Elliot flew home last night. It was hard to see them go. Sukie clung to Andrew and I clung to Elliot right before they went through security. It was hard but I’m just glad they were able to stay as long as they did. I’m sure it will go by quickly and we will be reunited sooner than we think.

Since we had a smallish car and lots of luggage the logistics of yesterday were pretty crazy. We drove out to Kloof where I decided to take a very sweet couple up on their offer to stay at the flat above their garage until my parents come. They hosted our friends, the Burnettes when they adopted their son last year and they got us connected after we got to South Africa. I’m hoping she wasn’t offering to just be nice thinking I wouldn’t take her up on it :) I figured a change in scenery would help take the kids’ minds off the fact that the others were flying home without us. It worked! Griffin was so excited to go to ‘our new house’ that he practically ran out of the airport after saying goodbye. They have 10 and 12 year old sons that are precious and so sweet with the kids. Griffin LOVES to hang out with them and explore the yard and act like a big kid.

Anyway, we got up, got ready then drove out to Kloof to meet my hosts and get the key and drop off whatever luggage would fit with all of us in the car, then we went back to The Breakers to finish packing. Andrew, Griffin and I loaded up all of the luggage going back to Seattle and Andrew dropped me, Griffin and the luggage off at the airport. I rented a smaller car for the rest of my time here then took all the luggage into the airport to wait. Andrew went to pick up Jane and the girls and bring them to the airport. All of my kids are safely back in 5 point harnesses in the car! That makes me happy. Which is good because not driving at all for 3 weeks (Andrew rented manual transmission cars) followed by driving on the left side of the road but right side of the car proved trickier than I expected. I had a pretty scary close call but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

After they left I drove back to the Breakers to get the rest of my luggage and figure out where to drop the keys off which I figured it out eventually. THEN I drove back to KIoof and unpacked. This is our 3^rd out of 5 accommodations. It is perfect for me and the kids. Griff loves their dogs and I’m doing dog therapy this week for Sukie. She is terrified of them but I’m hoping 5 days with them will make her see that they will not in fact rip her limbs from her body. Could be interesting when we get home…

Anyway! Back to the subject of my title. At the airport when we were waiting for Andrew and the girls to arrive, Griffin had to pee all of a sudden. I had a cart pouring over with luggage and couldn’t leave it so he ran into the men’s room while I waited outside. He came out and we were walking back to our bench. After a minute or two he said, “I peed on the floor in there.” I asked why he would pee on the floor in a bathroom. He explained, “The seat was too high so I just peed on the floor by the toilet.”

Um…..oops. Sorry custodial staff at King Shaka airport…my apologies. I know how you feel.

Also the place that we are staying is perfect but doesn’t have a bathtub. Sukie has no problem with that. She jumped into the shower with me a few times last week and doesn’t mind one bit. The girl ain't shy! Griffin hasn’t attempted a shower since we were in Italy 2 years ago and that was a screamfest. I talked him in to it and told him it was just like rain…he surprisingly did it without a problem. About 15 minutes later when we were reading some books he just all of a sudden said, “I peed in the shower.” He had a guilty smile on his face and I just cracked up. About a minute later we were starting to pray. Sukie put her hands together and closed her eyes and said, “Dear Jesus…” in her cute accent then let the biggest toot I’ve ever heard rip from her little bubble booty. I have to say that I love 4 year olds. They are stinking hilarioius. Except that it was so smelly that it made Griffin cry clutching his stomach like he had been put in a gas chamber. Still funny but not as cute.

That is unless they are both ‘on strike’ sitting in two different places on the sidewalk refusing to walk…..that is not fun at all but I guess that is one of the consequences of traveling with little people.

*Maybe slower internet connections make my pictures not download all the way. My apologies. you get the idea though :)

Anyway. LONG blog post! I haven’t had the chance lately but they both were so tired today that They went to sleep at a decent hour! Amazing! Looking forward to exploring Kloof with them tomorrow. I don’t have any adoption work to do until Monday which is also the day I move back in to the Breakers. My parents get in that evening around 10. I still haven’t told Griffin they are coming. I learned from my mistakes and don’t want to hear, “Can we go to the airport and get Bella and Zacky now?!?!?!” Every five minutes for the next 5 days. I was thinking of just piling the sleeping kids into the car and lugging them into the airport to be surprised. Griffin will be so happy but I am thinking that might freak Sukie out. We shall see!

Okay…I’m really done now.

Pictures!

2013-04-27T05:38:00.001-07:00

Apparently adding pictures to my blog is a 3 day process. They don't look like they are actually turning out anyway so I might just have to wait till I get back to the US of A to do all of this. Our computer screen has partially bitten the dust too so that's not helping. We'll see if these turn out or not :)

This is the town that Sifundo's orphanage is in.

This is the clinic at her orphanage where we spent a lot of time! She has to go on Monday to get vaccine boosters since they don't know if she has had all of hers :( Not looking forward to that, poor baby.

Her orphanage.

This is her classroom.

Her teacher and little classmates.

Griffin sitting in Ma Rose's kitchen watching her do her thing. Ma Rose has been Sukie's house mother for the past year and a half and is such an amazing, loving woman. We are so lucky to have had such a great "Ma" for our baby when we couldn't be there.

Ma Rose and Sukie

Ms. Mbali saying goodbye to sweet Sifundo.

My crazy husband went flying in this contraption. He got to see giraffes, zebras, and Sifundo's orphanage from the sky though so it was pretty cool!

Lily of the Valley from the air

Our family!

Us and the family we lived with for the first 10 days and who adopted another little girl from the same orphanage.

In front of the Magistrate's office where she became a Spottswood!

Post Magistrate milkshakes

Seeing the ocean for the first time was a mixture of terrifying and exciting for this girl.

Happy with the sand, took a couple of days to not be scared of the huge ocean and waves :)

Sitting with JJ deciding whether or not to risk her life and go to the beach.

A sunny day at the beach with her Gogo, JJ.

We have been having a great time and she has gotten much better with the testing. We are all getting along really well most of the time. The kids fight off and on but when they are playing it is the sweetest sound to my ears! They are all so wonderful and my heart is bursting when I look at all of them together! We have been so incredibly blessed to have JJ come and help us out this week. She has been such a huge help and the kids are all so excited to spend time with her. Sukie has latched right on and it's as if she has been her Gogo since she was born!

My parents surprised me 2 days ago and said they were buying tickets to come about a week after JJ, Andrew, and Elliot leave! I could NOT be any more excited!! The closing on their new house got pushed back to June so they were able to come and I can't wait to see them and for them to meet Sukie and vise versa. I am not telling Griffin till we are on the way to the airport to get them though because he asked to go get JJ for about 48 hours before she actually arrived. Not in the mood for that craziness!

We have been just relaxing and hanging out at the beach and pool but will hopefully get to go on a safari this week. We went to the Hillcrest AIDS Center this morning because they have a shop with beautiful beaded necklaces/jewelry/animals/etc. It was so great and I'll definitely have to take my mom back there. She would love it!

Well, time to get offline and do some laundry! Our internet isn't as great here so I'm only on briefly. It's actually kind of nice once the withdrawal went away :)

Monkey Hunt

2013-04-25T03:47:00.000-07:00

We woke up on Wednesday after our court day and I went outside to get online. I was sitting at my picnic table checking my email and I kept hearing noises in the tree by me. It was full of monkeys! I love that.

Griffin ran out because he had woken up and as soon I said there were monkeys in the tree he took off. I tried to finish up quickly and run after him but as I jogging barefoot over to where he ran I saw a monkey run down the road after him and heard a loud, “Wooooo!!!!!! A monkey!!!!!!” It ran right past him.

Needless to say for the rest of the morning he was monkey hunting. He got the other kids involved and it was quite exciting. They took food out there to try to catch “George” the monkey that Griffin wanted to take home.

Eventually it was decided that the monkeys might not just come running into our arms. Griffin was very sad. He sat out on the bench in front of our house with his suitcase full of food and his stuffed animals lined up next to him waiting for George to come down to play. I asked how he was doing and he said, “Not good. The monkeys aren’t coming.” With the cutest little pout in the world. I love that kid!

*Trying to download pictures...might take a day or two.

We passed court!!!

2013-04-25T03:46:00.001-07:00

I can’t believe it is official. She is ours forever. It feels the same as the last 2 weeks of caring for her but with a huge feeling of relief. I was paranoid that we would be walking through a mall and somebody would recognize her and want her (reunification is great but not after I bonded with my baby!) Selfish I know but for real…we have had 2 worst case scenario situations before so it wasn’t too far fetched that this would happen.

We were supposed to show up at the Magistrate building at 9 so of course we got there at about 8:45….and waited….and waited….the kids were taking turns having meltdowns because let’s be honest, a magistrate’s court building is not exactly a fun place for 2 and 4 year olds.

Over 2 hours later it was our turn! The magistrate was amazing! He was so good with the kids and totally ignored the crazy. He signed all the papers and then prayed for sweet Sifundo. The whole time he was praying Griffin was on the ground throwing a tantrum but everyone pretended it wasn’t happening JThen we got a picture with him but Griffin was crying under his desk so he didn’t make the family photo J

We left the room with another Spottswood! Sifundo “Sukie” Thobela Spottswood! It’s so cute to hear her say ‘Sifundo Spottswood’ J

We topped it off with her throwing herself in the middle of the road and having a tantrum…very Spottswood of her J

Then the amazing ladies of Wandisa, Sarah, Ruth, and Debbie who we absolutely LOVE took us and the other two families that were adopting for milkshakes at the Spar. It was very fun and I was just so relieved…temper tantrums and all J

After that we went to lunch at the mall and then hung out at the house for the rest of the day. We had dinner at our lodge’s restaurant with the Gaffgas and after a long day finally put all 3 Spotty kids in bed!

It was what we had been waiting for for over 3.5 years and it felt good!!

Testing 1-2-3

2013-04-22T21:17:00.001-07:00

Little S is sure a fan of this testing stage. She is very dramatic and we have totally learned what a fake cry is compared to a real cry so I think that disappoints her a bit J

It’s going really well though. We have had some interesting moments to say the least but we feel like she is attaching well and all 3 kids are attaching really well so we are hopeful that it will get better once she has gotten through this stage.

We went to the Natal Lion Park today and it was pretty cool. We drove through the gorgeous park and came head on with a giant elephant which the kids loved. Then we drove a long way without seeing anything else. At the end is the Lion Park.

This is an enclosed area that we can drive through and drive right next to a big group of lions. There were probably 7-8 of them in there and they were gorgeous! They were literally right next to the car so the kids were geeking out…okay maybe the grownups were too…

We let the kids out of their car seats so that they could see them better and we didn’t feel threatened by the lions attacking us but trying to get Elliot back in her car seat after she has had freedom is slightly terrifying and I may have almost lost a finger in that battle.

Oh well!

After that we went back to the infamous mall to pick up a shoe I had to get repaired. It was a whopping3 dollars..what?? At home they charge like 30 bucks. I need to send for a few more of my shoes that are sitting crippled in my closet at home! Robyn…send the shoes!!!

Anyway, we had a great lunch at another restaurant that had a built in play area with a trampoline…seriously need to get some of these restaurants back home. They all 3 bounced away until the food came. Miraculous.

After lunch I went to the bathroom and when I came out Andrew was rushing out of the restaurant saying, “She ran!” Yes…our new little angel bolted in a crowded shopping mall. I’m happy to say we found her and tried to relay the message to her that this is a big deal and will never happen again but with the language barrier I’m not sure what got across. Can we say scary? I didn’t want to show up to our meeting with the agency today sans daughter that we haven’t even had court for…that wouldn’t go well.

Anyway…I’m glad I brought my anxiety meds J

She is precious, running away aside, though. She is cuddly and loving and actually pretty hilarious. We have fun with her and she has a blast with Griffin and Elliot. Andrew is at the airport with Griffin now getting JJ and a bigger car! Thank goodness because with attaching to a new sibling comes the usual sibling rivalry and they have either been playing nicely in the car holding hands or grabbing/hitting each other. I’m hoping the new car has enough space to separate them a bit so we don’t lose any more hair from Elliot’s maniacal grip.

We have court in the morning! I can’t believe it is finally here! According to the meeting we had today the work starts after court though so I’m a little worried about having to run a ton of errands and do a ton of paperwork with Andrew gone but it is kind of like doing the paperwork at home with him at work so I know it can be done.

Looking forward to getting things moving to make this official. We will have one more Spottswood in the morning! Weeee!!!!!

Pictures aren't downloading and I can only get internet outside which is too cold for me! In about 4 hours we can post her sweet face though!!!