Little Rock Feis 2013

Some of you know we do Irish dance around here. Well, Reese has been exposed to the art since she came home and our awesome dance teacher, Mrs Judy, has been working with her since she was 3, before she was able to start proper classes at just short of age 5.

Reese made an excellent showing for the McCafferty School on Saturday at our feis. Reese got 4th in her light jig, 5th in her reel, 2nd in her slip jig, 2nd in her single jig, 1st in her treble jig, and the icing on the cake was the 3rd place she got in her treble reel. That came with a trophy, which she is so proud of.

Congrats, Reese. Hope the medals keep coming.

As for our adoption, we got our I-800 approval on 4/24, paper copy in the mail 4/27. Sent it off to be authenticated on 4/29. Next step, DTC!

Birthday Party Pictures

Reese in her Halloween costume before her party

Dad, Mom, and Reese

Reese, me, and Mom

Reese with her cupcake with 8 candles on top (she doesn't like icing, so she added whipped cream after the candles were off)

Reese turned 8 on October 8, but we had her birthday party October 27 at a local pizza place. Given the proximity to Halloween, we told the kids who were invited they could dress up. Reese is being a leopard for Halloween, so she donned her costume purchased the night prior and drew on whiskers and it is just about the most cute thing I've seen. Some of you may remember Reese as a pink leopard back in 2007 for Halloween.

Reese, Halloween 2007

She had a good time with her friends and got some fun presents including a Boogie Board, a diary with a pen with invisible ink, a Target gift card, money, some iTunes gift cards, some cute clothes from Old Navy, and lotion and body wash from Bath and Body Works.

And here's a flashback through the years!

Reese 1st birthday (in China)

Reese's 2nd birthday (in China)

Reese's 3rd birthday (first home!)

Reese's 4th birthday party

5th birthday

6th birthday

7th birthday

TAYLOR SWIFT!

Reese by Taylor's bus

Bad shot of the big screen

Reese in her Taylor Swift Fearless Tour 2009 t-shirt and glow stick

Reese, Dad, and I went to see Taylor Swift last night. It was an awesome show. If you have any chance to go see it (even though most, if not all, of the shows in the USA are reportedly sold out), you really should. It's absolutely brilliant and exciting. Reese was tired, but she enjoyed it (well, that's what happens when you won't take a nap! >.> ) Anyway, this was Reese's first ever concert.

Excuse the bad quality of the shots, all I had was my camera phone.

Reese loves Taylor, but by the time the two opening acts were about done, she was ready to go. I think she was pretty sure Taylor wasn't really going to be coming out at all. Taylor Swift had like 9 costume changes, and every time there was a huge amount of applause, you could tell that Taylor really loves what she does and she's really grateful for this opportunity to do what she loves.

Life Does Get Better, But Right Now, It's Looking Pretty Good...

The Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri picture I told you guys I would dig up.

Aside from the fact, I'm feeling a bit under the weather. If I was smart, I'd probably go to the doctor, because I've probably been developing a doozy of a sinus infection for a month or so, but, well...what with physical therapy and a few other doctors appointments on a fairly regular basis, I value my days when I don't have to drive myself somewhere, alone.

Anyway, back to title. I had no where I had to go today until my Irish dance class at 7 pm. So I got up at 1 pm (yeah, late to all you folks out there, I'm sure, but I just wanted to not set an alarm for once this week, and that was when I got up without an alarm. I went to bed at 10-ish last night.), did some school work, folded laundry, did some laundry, pinned down some of the batting on Reese's quilt. Then, I went to dance, and I had Mrs. Judy all to myself, because none of the 6 or so other people (who woulda thought this could happen?) were there. So the technicalities of dancing got way more than the once over. They were nit-picked, inspected, and repaired to the best extent possible. I don't mind, but my legs probably will come tomorrow. So, I had a good workout.

Then, I came home and finally gave in and bought the English release of Tokio Hotel (album called Scream, released 05.06.08) off of iTunes, since there's a backorder on the Best Buy version, which will take 1 or 2 weeks. And I couldn't wait that long. I wanted my Bill Kaulitz. So, I bought Scream , and will be getting the uber version from Best Buy eventually, which has DVD extras. And I am now listening to it quite happily. So my world is pretty good right now. Things are calm, there's no turbulence, I'm not "running through the monsoon" (Tokio Hotel allusion, from their song, "Monsoon"), so life is pretty good.

We're making tentative plans for various things throughout the summer. We're going to a feis just outside Memphis at the end of May. I'm headed to Colorado in June for a photography summer studio. Reese will be staying home with me all summer, and possibly the school year depending on how the summer goes. Speaking of which, any suggestions for roughly K3-K4 level workbooks, teaching materials, etc. for us for the summer and/or fall? Since Reese wouldn't be as exposed to the teaching aspect of things being home than being at the school's summer fun program, we're trying to remedy that. She's known her ABCs since before we got home, but she can now identify them, she knows her name begins with an "R", so anything that starts with an "R" is her name right now, she can count and identify up to at least 15. She knows all her shapes and colors. We just don't want her to lose that. If anything, we want her to build upon that. And if she stays home with me this fall, we're really going to have to look into things. I'd really like to encourage her reading. She loves being read to, when she feels like it. She loves going to the kids area of Barnes & Noble Booksellers. I'd really like to work on her phonetics, letter-sound association, and recognition of basic words this summer, to where maybe she could get through Level 1 books with some assistance, if not alone by the end of this year, if not the fall. I know not to compare she to me, but at her age, I was frustrated by being unable to read on my own. She's learned a lot over the last 11 months, I don't care if she can read by this fall really. I mean, she's learned a whole new language over the last 11 months. But I want her to have whatever stair steps to reading I can provide her with, so that when she hits that point where she wants to read independently, we won't be having to rush through her frustration at being unable to read to get her to that point. It's a lot easier to learn when you're excited about where you've gotten to and consider it a destination and not just a hurdle on the way to something bigger that you'd rather have. So if you have any ideas for K3-K4 curriculum choices, educational ideas, etc., please comment on here, or email me. Thanks!

Check back soon for posts EVERY DAY IN MAY!

We got her!

Right after they came in.

Our guide, Michelle, trying to get Kai Jin to calm down.

Still trying to get her to calm down.

Reese KaiJin quite thoroughly unhappy.

On one of our beds at the hotel with her sucker and cheerios...and cell phone. LOL

We have a precious little girl! She was SOOOO upset. She was screaming and yelling and crying for her foster mama. She cried herself to sleep in our guide's lap. It was so sweet. Mom keeps going 'you did that when you were little'. She is so upset. But she's calming down now. She's got her cell phone, her green apple sucker, and a big ziploc bag of Cheerios...and she is at least content, sort of.

The director of the orphanage said she is very naughty. Oh well, she's still precious.

They were late to get there, and so mom and I were like pacing the office. But all's well that ends well. Our guide says she was worried she would shut down and not let the stress, etc. out and that's not good for kids, but man, she cried her lungs out. Michelle says tomorrow we will have a completely different little girl probably. Also, she NEVER sleeps alone, so she'll be sleeping with one of us tonight. I hope me. She's never had a jie jie before, but she has had Mamas. So who knows?

I hate to say I didn't take a bazillion pictures. We were too busy trying to get her to stop screaming. We found out that this province only does about 1 adoption a month. So we're a real novelty here. :)

Half an hour til we leave...

Soon to be more than just a picture...

Less than 30 minutes until we leave to go to the civil affairs office to meet Reese for the first time...and less than an hour until that fateful moment. I totally can't wait. I slept from about 9:30 pm to 6:30 this morning...I have no clue when Mom went to sleep but she got up at 3:30 am. Neither one of us went down to get breakfast because we're all nerves, so we munched on baby cookies and coke. Michelle laughed when we said we eat baby cookies because they're baby food. Oh well, they taste good. There's something that looks like a 7/11 when you go out of our hotel and to the the left. Green and orange border thing, you know? They have a pretty good selection.

Will post more after we get back to the room with her.

Sponsor Update-Thanks Stacey!

No unrevealed news to report.

Our friend, Stacey, sent us this ADORABLE onesie/romper style outfit for Reese. It's 24 mos and navy blue. It says Rockets are red, fireworks are blue, 4th of July is fun because I'm with you. Isn't that sweet? Well, LeLe, we're working on it.

Oh, Stacey also sent us the sponsor update she received on Reese from China Care.
Here's the high points:
She can walk up and down stairs. (not that we have any stairs at our house...lol)
She can dress herself. (I'm impressed...that's A LOT of layers to have to pile on...hehe)
She can say a few words clearly such as "afraid". She can tell her foster parents when she is afraid of something.
She likes to play outside.
She likes rice, noodles, soup, porridge (congee?), and sweets.
She loves her toy phone and picture books. (First official recognition of the phone-thing)
She does not like strangers. She has been taught not to go anywhere with anyone or speak to someone she does not know. (good in the long run....) She speaks politely to people she is familiar with.
She can go to the bathroom by herself and can tell people when she needs to go to the bathroom.
She enjoys cleaning things and when she sees someone wearing dirty clothes, she will ask them why they aren't wearing clean clothes.(oh, boy....we're gonna have to keep her away from the hobos downtown and my dad's route...lol)
The update says she is 88 cm (about 34 in. if I remember correctly, but we don't think the weight it accurate at all...so I'm not going to post it.

An awesome video a friend made

First, I thrive on comments. I live and breathe them. Please leave them. Ideas about things to post, your thoughts, whatever. I just want people to talk to me. *smile* Thank you.

Our awesome friend Stacey made this video for us called "Waiting". She made it using a bunch of the pictures we have of Reese and it is a tear jerker. We are so fortunate to have so many pictures and such great friends.
I have only cried at the supposed ends of favorite animes and Ladder 49. And I cried with this. I will cry when we get her. Mom will probably be dealing with 2 crying children. : )

We're coming, Le Le.

News, news, news

We received our LOA on April 4, 2007...whatever number day that was, I don't remember. It was returned to China on April 13, 2007. And apparently my mom accidentally only signing her first and last name, then going back and signing first, middle, and last beneath it worked because we got our TA today! : ) We're leaving on the 24th, and we should have a Consulate appointment on either the 4th or 5th of June. That's my current exciting news. (At left is Reese on her 2nd birthday, and at right, is Reese in March of this year, almost 2-1/2! The wonders of laser treatment and eye pressure surgeries and drops.)

Now for some brain food:

Port-wine stain is a vascular (containing blood vessels) birthmark made of enlarged capillaries. It effects 3 out of every 1,000 people born and is present at birth. The mark may darken as the child gets older and can be lightened with a laser. This usually has the most benefit when begun early in life, before the birth mark thickens. PWS covering the upper and/or lower lids is often associated with glaucoma. It can also be a symptom of Sturge-Weber Syndrome (SWS) or Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome. So any large birthmark, particularly across the face, should be evaluated. Doctors may order a pressure exam of the eye to rule out glaucoma if the mark goes over the eye and/or and x-ray of the brain to rule out brain involvement (a.k.a. seizures).