The Binky Fairy

Our youngest daughter, Alenia has been a Binky girl from day one. She was sucking her fingers in utero and about 30 seconds after delivery. She has always been a very particular girl. The rules were: the Binky must be in at all times (unless there is a bottle in her mouth of course), she must be swaddled with just the right tension and to be held while sleeping or if you were lucky rotated at 27 degrees. Let me just say this made for one very tired Mama!! Once Alenia turned one, I only allowed the Binky's when sleeping. My pedi told me not to try and take them away until she at least 2 1/2. Once she turned 2 1/2 I tried to get her to throw them in the trash-NO, I tried to get her to give them to the little babies-NO, and I even tried the Binky Fairy idea before-NO again! Did I mention her nickname is PITA?????? Well, she just finished up her potty training and did amazingly well. She hasn't had an accident in several days. :) I am very close to traveling to China to bring home her "baby brother Audie" (who is an inch taller and 12 days younger) so I knew we had to get the Binky's gone before Audie came home, or she would be taking them on her honeymoon. I told her the Binky Fairy was coming tonight and she would have to find all of her Binky's and put them into the basket. If she did a good job and slept all night without them, the Binky Fairy would bring her a present. Alenia informed me that yes, she would surrender the Binky's to the Binky Fairy so she could give them to the little babies who needed them. When the time came she cried, no MY BINKY'S!!! I let her know that she was now a big girl and it was time for her to leave them for the Binky Fairy. She eventually helped collect them and into the basket they went. She went to be and then cried at her door for about 20 minutes before surrendering to her bed. The next morning, she woke up and yelled that she was a big girl and slept without the Binky's and there was a present waiting for her. We went out into the living room and sure enough there was a present just for her and the Binky's were gone. The Binky Fairy had left her a nice letter, a Tinker Bell doll that you brush and style her hair and "Fairy Dust"!!! She was so tickled with the fairy dust, she kept showing everyone, even after I vacuumed.

We have conquered the potty, the Binky's and next is the PITA!!!!! We have made it a week without the Binky's and she hasn't asked for them in last several days.

On Wednesday I leave for China, I cannot begin to express how excited I am. I wonder if I will be able to sleep the next several days. We have waited over a year since seeing Audie's face and now with it being so close, I just am soooo happy and thankful to God for connecting me with my son!!

Becky

p.s. The picture of the three girls was Alenia's due date and is Audie's birthday. How awesome and meant to be is that?????

What a big boy!!!

We got an update on Audie and oh my is he a big boy!! He is 103 cm and 17 kgs!! I think I will have to take back the 3T pants I have and get 4T instead. He just turned three!! We are so excited to being so close to bringing him home. Oh, how I can hardly wait to meet him and get to know his personality. What a trip this will be!!!

Anna and Avery are getting very excited about traveling and are ready to pack their suitcases. Sister Bear says that she is going to be Daddy's helper and go to the duck park and big girl school. Oh, I will miss my little girl. Even though she can be quite the PITA sometimes! ;)

Enjoy the new pictures and I will update the blog as often as possible in China.

Becky

Dare we say????

We're going to China!!!!! We were tentatively going to go on Dec 16th with the whole gang, but the darn stingy airlines had doubled the airfare. This left us with a really hard choice-there were three options.

1. All of us go and have about $1o K of debt afterwards. This about made my husband have a coronary!!!

2. Steve and I go and leave the girls here with his parents. This was not an option for me, be away from my girls on Christmas??? No Way, No How!!! Of course, I know Audie is in a great SWI and is loved dearly.

3. I travel alone in January to bring him home. Of course, I really couldn't disappoint Anna and Avery so they are coming with me!! I know I'm traveling by myself half way around the world with a 5 and 4 year old to adopt a 3 year old. Call me crazy, but I know we will have a wonderful trip of a lifetime!! I know the girls will help with Audie a ton and don't they have happy hour in the hotels each night?

So, we are leaving on January 7th and visiting Anna's first SWI, then going to Hangzhou and then Guangzhou then H~O~M~E!!!! Daddy, Allison and Alenia will be staying home with the dogs. Allison cannot miss more school and Alenia is already excited about being Daddy's helper when we're gone. She loves school and as much one on one time as she can get, so I think she will do well. I hate to leave her, but I am at peace that she will be at home with Daddy.

Audie's Family Day will be January 12, 2009 @0900!!! Yippee! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for a smooth transition. We will then go and visit his SWI the next day and the rest of the time we have minimal appointments. There will be lots of bath time, coloring, playing in the room, going to the park and SHOPPING!!!! Oh, how I love to shop in China. I will be buying many items for LWB's Art Auction in April.

Stay tuned and I will update you as we go and I will do my best to blog in China!!

Becky

TA!!!!

We finally received our TA last Tuesday!!! We are so excited. The girls and I were doing the TA dance and song!! I don't think they really knew what this meant, but they were happy to join in.
We are now awaiting our CA appt and then we can book airfare and actually make our paper chain to help the girls count down and go get our boy!!

It is definitely going to be different having a little boy after having four girls!! I'm thinking Super Hero/Princess Tea Parties???? Dinosaurs getting a make over???? Trucks delivering much needed supplies of bottles and diapers to three little girls and their babies???? At the very least it will be interesting to watch!

Becky

My Birthday Boy!!!!

Yesterday was Audie's 3rd birthday. Never in a million years did I believe it would take this long to bring him home. I really thought we would be in China by his birthday, but now the hope is for Christmas. We had a good day yesterday and tried to stay busy with the girls while sending Audie good thoughts for a great day. Then I awoke to the most wonderful pictures of Audie enjoying his birthday party in China. Once again, the boy has frosting on his forehead and nose, he will definitely fit in around here! I was startled by how much he has grown. He no longer looks like a toddler, but yet a very handsome little boy. Oh, I cannot wait to hug and kiss him, to tell him that we are his forever family and well, to spoil him just a little.

Please let our TA come today!!! I cannot imagine not having him by Christmas.

Becky

Birthday Season

Birthday Season???? Yes, at my house that is what it is called. Currently three of the four girls have their birthdays within 8 days of each other. I always want my kids birthdays to be super special, so I vow to do my best. Each girl had a dinner, presents, balloons, decorations and a cake on their birthday. Anna and Alenia had their own cake for their bouncy party and Allison had a cake for her party with the grandparents while they were in town. Too much cake!!! And this is coming from a cake person! ;) My house was overrun with toys, extra cake, Princess decorations, balloons, and just junk! It was really starting to drive me crazy! This was after spending 6 days and 5 nights at the glorious hospital with oldest daughter! We were released 4.5 hours before the said bouncy party (so glad I was smart enough to plan it somewhere besides home this year!). I had relatives in town, kids who had thoroughly missed their mommy, and an exhausted husband who was once again kissing my feet for the job I have staying at home with the little ones. I'm thinking, I will get caught up on Monday. Well of course, this is where God's sense of humor came into play, I got sick. I was home, but was exhausted and felt horrible for four days. My house is now a disaster and I'm pretty sure we're fixin to get nominated for Oprah's clean up your messy house series. My big plan was to do everything Sat morning after Museum school. Well, we were all exhausted after being in a dysfunctional funk for two weeks, the whole family took a four hour nap!! Since, when does this happen with the PITA??? So, on Sunday my poor family knew they had better pitch in or deal with a stressed out and grumpy mom. Then we treated ourselves to dinner and seeing MadagascarII. Now you ask when is Audie's birthday? November 23rd of course!!! Like the lady in Wal Mart said, "You need to find something better to do in February!!" . Well, two of them are adopted!! ;-)

Becky

PS, I promise to post she made it to three next time. Look for the PITA series!

MIA!!!

I cannot believe it has been a month since my last post!! We have been sooooo busy, it is unreal. The good news is we have received our LOA on day 117 for Audie!!! We are very hopeful that we will travel by the end of the year. I think celebrating Christmas in China sounds wonderful!!

We have officially entered "Birthday Season" at our house. Four birthdays in 18 days! We started the festivities last night with Anna's family party at home complete with a Snow White cake. She loved all of her presents and really loved being the center of attention. I took cupcakes to her class today and she loved having Princess and Spider man Cupcakes to pass out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnlspJFVPQ0

Allison has been in the hospital since Monday afternoon with blood in her urine and intense back pain. We have been filling her with Morphine and Loratab and still only have mediocre results. We are hopeful that we will have a more definitive news shortly.

Well, I must run as I have a few hours home before I return for my fourth night of sleeping in a hospital! Joy!! ;-)

Please, look for the "She made it to her third birthday" post coming soon!

Becky