Her Name is Rio

Brown Girl In The Ring

2011-12-02T10:51:00.002-05:00

Tra la la la la...

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Clear Day

2011-11-15T17:39:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I can't believe we live in such wonderful place.

It is the middle of November and we spent our day in the sun

playing in the sprinklers

then making a post office out of a big cardboard box

where we can mail our letters to santa.

Weird but wonderful.

Send In The Clowns

2011-11-01T10:53:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful Halloween.

This year we decided to send in the clowns.

And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother - they're here.

Pretty In Pink

2011-10-11T22:00:00.000-04:00

Pretty in pink

Isn't she?

Pretty in pink

Isn't she?

Baby Mine

2011-09-13T23:41:00.001-04:00

Today Cy's adoption was finalized. He is officially our baby boy for life!
We are so grateful to his birth mother for entrusting us with such a miracle.
She will be in our hearts for life as well.
Our baby, Cy:

Baby mine, don't you cry.

Baby mine, dry your eyes.

Rest your head close to my heart,

Never to part,

Baby of mine.

Little one when you play,

Don't you mind what they say.

Let those eyes sparkle and shine,

Never a tear,

Baby of mine.

If they knew sweet little you,

They'd end up loving you too.

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes,

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me,

Sweet as can be,

Baby of mine.

All those same people who scold you,

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me,

Sweet as can be,

Baby of mine.

Baby of mine

--Alison Krauss

The Summer

2011-08-22T16:26:00.000-04:00

This summer

we listened to the melodic drone of the lawn mowers every day

we kept cool in every body of water we could find

and we spent our evenings cuddling.

I like this routine...

I think we should keep it in place

"Til the summer comes undone."

--Yo La Tengo

Daddy's Girl

2011-08-03T16:18:00.000-04:00

"When the sun goes down and it's getting late

You say it's time for bed

She just takes her time

Acting like she never heard a word you said

Little baby wanna hold you tight

She don't ever wanna say good night

She's a lover, she wanna be daddy's girl

She don't ever wanna be without you

Never have to worry she won't doubt you

Then she puts her head upon your shoulder

Says she'll marry you when she get older

She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl"

--Peter Cetera

Two Of Us

2011-07-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

My brother and sister-in-love had their baby girl in January.

She was 9 weeks premature.

Cy was born in March.

Alexandra was due in March.

Technically, they are the same age.

Technically, she's older.

but no matter how you look at it...

Cy is bigger.

It's fun to have cousins the same-ish age.

Even if my kids tower over their cousins of the same age. {grin}

We're Going To Be Friends

2011-06-22T13:47:00.000-04:00

"i can tell that we are gonna be friends

walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we've found
then safely walk to school
without a sound

tonight i'll dream while i'm in bed
when silly thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when i wake tomorrow i'll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that we
are going to be friends"

--The White Stripes

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

2011-06-15T18:16:00.000-04:00

I wasn't sure how to tell this story...
I wasn't sure I wanted to.
I wasn't sure how Rio would feel about it later
But it is part of her life
and "every little thing she does is magic."

We took the fam to Disney World for Rio's 3rd birthday.

Mark had a company picnic at Sea World the day before

so we decided to make a long weekend of celebration

for our beautiful girl.

She delighted in Shamu

She giggled her way through feeding the dolphins

She was in awe of the princess castle

She was kissed by Donald

and

She almost jumped ship on the Jungle Cruise

just to get closer to the animals.

It was wonderful!

Then on our last day at Fort Wilderness

she had a seizure.

She more than likely aspirated

but then she was given ativan

significantly suppressing her breathing

and they intubated her

but they went too far into one lung

causing a minor collapse of the other lung.

The trauma to her little body was too much.

She was on a ventilator for 8 days.

It was horrific.

I'm appreciative that she got to enjoy the magic before the hell.

And we're thrilled to have her home

to hear her voice

to see her smile

to kiss her cheeks

and hold her hands.

The thing is that I've always known what a gift she is

I've always soaked every bit of her in

I've always been amazed by how lucky I am

to mother THIS child.

I don't need anymore reminding.

You hear me universe??

Cut Your Hair

2011-05-20T18:02:00.000-04:00

New baby

Three year old

No time

anymore

to straighten

all that

hair...

While You Were Sleeping

2011-04-27T20:51:00.000-04:00

"While you were sleeping

the babies grew

the stars shined and the shadows moved

time flew...

"While you were sleeping

I tossed and I turned

til I closed my eyes

but the future burned

through the planet turned a hair grey

as I relived the day...

"Full of dreams, you overslept

and keeping with quiet, through the walls I crept

I walked on tiptoe, sent the darkness swirling over all the kitchen in the early morning

I'll never catch up to you

who sleeps so sound

my arms are useless

my heart beats too loud to go to sleep

my mind's too crowded

While you were sleeping."

--Elvis Perkins

Pumpkin & Honey Bunny

2011-04-25T11:41:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely day yesterday. And the best part was getting a good picture of my two babies -together!

Rio went on an easter egg hunt at Mimi and Poppa's:

Then we were supposed to meet everyone for a barbecue at the beach

but the blue skies suddenly opened up

and let the rain fall

just as we arrived at the beach.

Typical Florida.

Still a nice day.

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

New Soul

2011-03-22T11:15:00.001-04:00

I'm not one to believe that everything happens for a reason.
I do think that some things happen in order to lead you to something else.
But I certainly don't think everything can be attributed to reason.

That being said...
My last post described our disappointment
but what we didn't realize at the time was that disappointment was merely
a stepping stone -
a door that needed opening -
so that we could experience the most precious gift to come:

Cy Colton

While we had started the adoption process again,
I was looking primarily for a situation in FL.
Rio's birth mother contacting the agency did several things...
1) it got our butts in gear to get our home study done toot sweet.
2) it got us back in touch with the agency that would bring us to Cy.
3) it prepared us for an imminent arrival.

We found out about Cy's birth mother on March 1st
She chose us on March 2nd
and our boy was born on March 3rd. Talk about a whirlwind!
She is the sweetest girl in the world and
we were thrilled to be able to spend time with her,
get to know her and one of her children,
and learn all the wonderful things about her that
we'll be able to pass on to Cy!

We thank our lucky stars and Rio's birth mother for bringing us to Cy and his birth mother.

We spent two weeks in Utah (more on that later) and we're finally home!

Life moves in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

First Family Photo

Melt Your Heart

2011-02-25T11:01:00.003-05:00

We had decided to adopt again.

It was time to expand our family...
To double our love.

And just as we started to put ourselves out there
we got a phone call.
Rio's birth mother (our angel) was pregnant and wanted us again.
She was due February 24th.

It was as if the moon and stars had aligned once again
to bring this person back into our lives.
I feel like the skies open up and she appears in our lives.
As if we're connected somehow.

I mean, how bizarre is it that at the exact moment in time
when we were ready to adopt again
She's ready to give birth again -
surely to another divine being.

But it quickly went downhill.
A potential birth father decided to be full of pride.
And I get it.
She wants it all.
She wants the guy, the family, the stability, the life full of love.
I wish it for her every day.
It's just too bad it leaves us with a broken heart for what could have been.
But it was never ours to begin with.

"And we've lost the people we could have loved, and you...
It's bound to melt your heart."
--Jenny Lewis

Christmas In Hollis

2011-01-11T17:37:00.002-05:00

The holidays were a blur of activities

and runny noses

and unseasonably cold weather

but they started off nice. and. quiet.

We took Rio to the Main Street Holiday Parade -

the Ringling elephants were even there (since we live in a circus town) -

It is something Rio is still talking about.

And of course we went all over town checking out the light displays.

Those are the times it'd be nice if it would snow in Florida.

I had to put environmentally-friendly poly-fil

on the ground around our snowmen

just so they wouldn't look weird.

Sad, I know.

The tree was pretty.

The presents survived until Christmas

despite a 2 year old thinking it was the most fun

to jump on the boxes

and a dog who tried to lift his leg

once.

And I even got Rio to sit in front of the tree for a little photo op

to make up for the missed shot of her with Santa.

I had her distracted waving and talking to Grammy

and I thought I could casually place her on Santa's knee,

snap the picture,

and move on with our day.

But once she felt herself placed on someone's knee

turned around and saw Santa,

she ran off crying.

We'll try again next year!

In the end

Rio enjoyed the magic,

we enjoyed her,

and we made it through hosting the entire family

at our new house,

flooded kitchen and all!

(fyi: don't put all the potato peels down the garbage disposal at once)

Happy New Year!

Little Room

2010-12-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

Rio's Nursery was a difficult endeavor to say the least.
We had just come out of the depths of a failed adoption
and I needed to do something.
I wanted some hope.
So I figured if we built it a nursery, our baby would come.
One small problem: I had no idea if our baby would be a girl or a boy.
I set off to design a welcoming space for our child
and I was thrilled with the result.
And you know what? She did come shortly after.

Long story short -
I was proud of the room I had created for my little darling and as we departed our old house, I wanted to find a way to keep that room with me forever.
So I took a million pictures and then
submitted it to Ohdeedoh
on a whim.
And today
they featured Rio's Nursery!!!

Rio looked at it online and said, "Awwww, what a boo-ful (beautiful) room! Oh, it's so boo-ful!"

What more could I ask for?

Back In Your Head

2010-12-02T11:22:00.002-05:00

Right after my last post

my computer bit the big one.

I tried in vain to resuscitate it...

I didn't want to deal with having to spend the money

or possibly losing all my stuff

or having to learn something new.

But here I am

on a new iMac.

Merry Christmas, Mark and Alicia.

So now I'm trying to find all my photos

since the dates got scrambled in the transfer.

And I'm getting annoyed that the return button won't work...

what am I doing wrong??

"I just want back in your head."

See what I've been missing.

Find out how you've been.

Remind me to store some photos on the PC

in case this should ever happen again.

The Pretender

2010-11-15T21:38:00.001-05:00

I get my love of music from my father.

It all had meaning to him

and he would talk about either the history, the band, or the beats...

He taught me how to listen to certain classical pieces when I studied

in order to keep my heart rate at the optimal pace for learning.

I got my first real record player

when I was 2.

Every year we used to drive

from Pennsylvania to Florida.

Back then cars didn't have dvd players

and we kids did not have ipods.

Heck, cassette players hadn't even come out yet.

They came out when I was 5 and I didn't have one until I was 8 or 9.

I'm totally dating myself, I know.

So whatever your parents played on the radio

was what you listened to.

My dad would make himself a mix tape

every year

from his records.

We had to listen to those songs over and over again

for two days straight.

Sometimes I hear one of the songs play

on t.v. or somewhere

and I am instantly transported

to the back-seat of our old Datsun.

But I have to admit

they were good songs.

Thanks, Dad.

Go ahead, make yourself a feel good mix:

The Pretender - Jackson Browne

Charlie Brown - The Coasters

Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right - Bob Dylan

Low Budget - The Kinks

50 Ways To Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon

Pinball Wizard - The Who

Rocky Raccoon - The Beatles

The Great Pretender - The Platters

What songs bring you back?

She Smiled Sweetly

2010-11-12T16:31:00.000-05:00

Why do my thoughts loom so large on me?

They seem to stay, for day after day

And won't disappear, I've tried every way

But she smiled sweetly

She smiled sweetly

And says don't worry

Oh, no no no

Where does she hide it inside of her?
That keeps her peace most every day
And won't disappear, my hair's turning grey

But she smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
And says don't worry
Oh, no no no

"There's nothing in why or when

There's no use trying, you're here

Begging again, and ov'r again"

That's what she said so softly

I understood for once in my life

And feeling good most all of the time

But she smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
She smiled sweetly
And said don't worry
Oh, no no no
Oh, no no no
Oh, no no no

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

2010-11-10T17:14:00.000-05:00

One of my best friends died

unexpectedly

and way too soon for me to deal with.

My friend who was only ever as far away as my feet.

She was my baby before I had Rio.

She continued to be my baby afterwards

just in a different way.

She followed me wherever I went

and was a constant source of joy in my life.

I don't think she would have wanted to stop living life

so young

when there was still so much fun to be had.

That makes me angry.

and it makes my heart hurt.

I love you, Shimi.

Never Enough

2010-11-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

Halloween was full-fledged event this year.

DJ Lance stopped by and almost blew Rio's mind.

She's still talking about how DJ Lance is going to come back.

Our friend Mike had better keep that costume handy

for the occasional appearance.

Rio was Storm from The X-Men.

A super hero, of course.

We can't go visit Uncle at the comic book shop any other way.

I decided I would make her costume myself to save a little dough.

I think I spent more than if I would have simply purchased the darn thing!

But it was a learning experience...

and at least I was domestic for once.

We went trick-or-treating at Grammy's house.

Grammy's was the only stop that really mattered.

Then we attended a halloween wedding being held at my brother's shop.

It was a DC theme (in the world of geeks, you're either Marvel or DC.)

Our friends were The Flash and Black Mask.

I was Black Canary and Mark was Green Arrow.

If you read comics, you'll totally get all of this.

If not, I look like a hooker and Mark looks like a homeless Veteran.

But it was fun.

Another halloween for the books!

Girl Of An Age

2010-10-27T10:52:00.001-04:00

We were in Asheville, NC last weekend to attend Mark's cousin's wedding.

It was amazingly beautiful!

The trees were brilliant and the weather was mild enough for us Floridians to enjoy the cool breezes without shivering to death.

The ceremony was in a field by a river.

There were fairies scattered here and there among the guests.

The fairies carried baskets filled with wings, wands,

and glow sticks for the children.

Rio was in heaven.

Despite a rocky start where she kept yelling,

"Nook! A horsey! A big, big horsey!"

as the bride arrived in a horse-drawn carriage.

And then she met Harrison.

He came over and asked if Rio would play with him

and then proceeded to make himself at home with our family.

He was terribly cute

and I wouldn't mind if Rio wanted to marry him

in a similar outdoor setting

when she turns 30.

People Are Strange

2010-10-18T10:21:00.000-04:00

Especially 2 year olds.

Every Day Is Halloween

2010-10-15T10:34:00.000-04:00

Rio and I just finished decorating for Halloween.

This is my favorite holiday.

I've spent the last couple of months desensitizing Rio to all things scary.

Witches are now super cool

ghosts are radical

and pumpkins are where it's at!

I routinely hear, "Nook, Mom! A Piser! {Spider}"

My neighbor said our display was "a little dark, don't cha think?"

Last time I checked, it wasn't called Rainbows and Puppy Dogs Day.

Wait...that might actually be a fun holiday.

I'll write to my state representative...

see if we can get that baby on the books.

There's my baby girl playing with a snake.

It makes a mother proud {sniff, sniff}

Now we'll see if she'll sit on Santa's lap this year without screaming.

If he was a gargoyle, she might not have a problem.