Happy Valentine's Day!

We hope everyone had a love filled Valentine's day!

Shawn proposed to me on Valentine's Day 13 years ago. It was such a cliche day for a marriage proposal, but that's probably why I wasn't expecting it. For those who don't know the story, it goes like this:

We met on December 22nd and a whopping 7 weeks later had picked out a ring and were ready to make the plunge. Shawn was (is) a perfectionist, picky, and not one to make hasty decisions, so his family knew he was serious. He sent peach roses to my work, picked me up at the end of my shift, and announced that he was going to make me a nice dinner. His parents were out of town, so we had their house for the evening. He was so nervous and impatient that instead of making me dinner, he took me on a romantic stroll through the Jack-In-The-Box drive-thru. Some women would have turned and ran at that point, but I apparently saw through what was major faux pas on his part.

We got back to the house and ate our Sourdough Jacks and Curly Fries by candlelight and then decided to head for the hot tub. Now we're talkin! So we're in the hot tub talking "and stuff" and the rubber ducky that was always in the hot tub was getting caught in the current and kept bumping into me. Finally, I picked it up and set it on the ledge...Shawn kept putting it back in the water. After about 4 rounds of this, I finally noticed something attached to the ducky's neck. A plastic bag. What? I looked a little closer and noticed that there was something shiny in the plastic bag. It took for what seems like forever to realize it was a ring. I fumbled in the water to get the bag off the duck and I couldn't really tell you what Shawn said. I don't know if there was a speech or if he just blurted out the words, but I do know that he tried putting the ring on my index finger. He was so nervous.

So obviously, I said yes. We worked for the next year at planning the wedding and were married February 27th, 1996 on the beach in St. Thomas. Valentine's Day still holds a special place for me and we still have the rubber ducky. Because V-Day is so close to our anniversary, we usually don't do anything special, just a gift card or something.

Yesterday, in the midst of our quarantine pajama party, Ian and I did some crafting. I used to have all the time in the world to make cute paper crafts and have a large, expensive collection of stamps, punches, paper, embellishments, etc. I've gravitated more toward the electronic versions of these things now, but our general family/friend network still expects hand made cards for Christmas and birthdays. I have to admit I've fallen a bit short in the past few months. Once Ian is no longer insistent on using my paper cutter and fancy scissors, I'll get back into it a bit.

In the pictures below, you'll see that I was hardly worried about the ramifications of a baby with markers. He's still learning control...and that the inky part goes on the paper and not in his grip. His PJ's were half off on a sale rack and he'll grow out of them in a few months so...go for it kid. I don't have the energy to stop you!

Picking out the perfect stamp

He did a great job once he figured out which direction the marker part goes

He did a pretty good job drawing an arc...and I'm still convinced he's left handed!

Card making battle scars... Hang Loose Dude!

Slowly Making a Comeback

What could be better than staying in your jammies all day on a weekday...and it's not even a holiday? Well, it would be better if we weren't sick, but we'll take what we can get I suppose.

Ian has shown vast improvements over yesterday. After his nap yesterday, he was gray, glassy eyed...in short, a zombie. He refused to eat anything for lunch and just laid on the floor in a stupor. I took his temp 3 times, all with different results, but all over 101. He sounded like he had just run a marathon and his cough, well, it sounded like crunching gravel. I called the nurse at the pediatrician's office and she said that all but the cough are effects of the fever, not so much the cold, and told me that based on his weight, I could be doubling dosage of baby Tylonol I've been giving him. I gave him a dose while on the phone with her and within 30 minutes, he was up and playing. Not enthusiastially, but still a big improvment on the day as a whole.

For dinner, he would only eat cheese, but that was also an improvment since he hadn't been eating at all for the two previous days. Cheese it is. Fat, protein, calcium. Things he hadn't been getting.

He was ready for bed by 5:30pm and slept through the night again, with a cough here or there. I had decided to see how he was feeling upon waking up before deciding whether to take him for a half day or to stay home and call it a loss.

We called it a loss. He was in much better spirits when he woke up and actually ate an entire Nutrigrain bar. Things progressed well and we even did some crafts (yep, with a 22 month old!). As I realized the day was moving along without proper day wear, a shower, or any of the things normal people do toward an effort at normalcy, I decided it would be silly to put him through the prep process only to get to school just in time for a nap. He would probably be too wired to settle down for one and then I would be back for him shortly after. Not a productive day for anybody. So here we sit in our PJ's still.

We've had a few meltdowns surrounding his desire to eat only cheese for lunch (until I introduced him to the exciting combination of Pirate's Booty and yogurt). Polli also looked at him once, which prompted a theatrical "fall on the floor and cry to the point of hyperventilation". We haven't had one of those for a while.

Below are a few pictures of our morning in PJ's....and what a difference a day can make.

Ian looked like this most of his waking hours yesterday.

Good Morning! Awake and staying hydrated.

Climbing the stairs with a smile on his face. He must be feeling better. His milk at the top was the ultimate motivator.

Kisses from Polli are always good medicine.

Even doing some heavy lifting.

At least my laptop was put to use for something today.

Ian Takes A Sick Day

Sorry for the absence of an upbeat adventure today, but I've waded my way through Vicks Vapor Rub and mucus filled kleenex to bring you this post.

We all have the crud...Shawn, me, Ian, and maybe even Polli. Either that or she's mirroring our groggy vibes. Ian and I both started sounding rough last week and while I have been coughing and blowing into the weekend, he fared OK, only showing some signs of fatigue and a runny nose. By Sunday though, he was inconsolable. He didn't want to eat, play, be tickled...only sippy, blanket and sleep were welcome. He even had a mild bloody nose in his sleep Saturday night, which was quite unexpected and freaked me out a little. After reading, I think it was just the dry air in our house. Still, waking to see blood on your baby's sheets is scary.

He went to daycare yesterday, but when Shawn went to pick him up, he looked awful. I made an emergency Target run to pick up a humidifier and some Vicks based on the overwhelming online and Real Life advice. We plugged that thing in, gave him a bath, put Vicks on his feet and chest...and he slept through the night without a single cough... 5:30pm to 8:30am.

Pushing through the pain (and with very little paid leave available), I had to work for part of the day before I could come home to stay with him, but Shawn volunteered the "sleep in" shift. When I arrived home at 9:30, Ian was awake, eating breakfast (insisting on being handfed...and unusually picky about bananas and cheerios), and we even got some smiles out of him for the first time in a couple of days. Luckily, he is downing water and juice, which makes me feel a little better about the fact that he's not eating much. His color was better, but I could tell his tank was still running on empty.

We played in slow motion for about an hour before he started to fade. We don't turn the TV on much when he's awake and he's not terribly interested in it anyway, but I made an exception and we sat on the couch and watched Ni Hao, Kai-Lan- the new Nickelodeon cartoon about a Chinese American girl. It teaches snippits about Chinese culture and a few Mandarin words in each episode. It's technically the Chinese equivalent of Dora or Diego. Shawn is so excited that he now knows how to say Hi, Thank You, Red, and Green in Mandarin. Today, Ian and I learned up and down before he started to fall asleep in my lap.

After only being awake for a couple of hours, he's down for a nap that I'm hoping can go for a few hours to zap a little more of his cold out of him. He'll go down early again tonight in the hopes that he'll be well enough in the morning to go to school.

So this is the part of parenting that I did nothing to prepare for. Sitting by idly while my child is sick. There is so little I can do at his age for a cold but I hate to see him miserable. It's such a helpless feeling. He's too young for cold medicine and I don't know that I want to suppress his immune system from doing its job right now anyway. I just really wish I could do more to make him comfortable. I suppose as long as he is sleeping restfully, his body will do its job. I just wish it would do it a little faster!

Hopefully the next time you visit, we'll all be feeling better and the mood will be a bit more positive. If we're feeling up to it by the weekend, we're planning to go to a children's museum near our house, which will be a nice way to celebrate good health (and hopefully not catch more germs!).

The first smile we've seen in a while!

He was so happy to see his blanket. Love at first sight.

It didn't take much playing to wear him out.

Nothing's better than juice and a mom-leg pillow.

Even Polli's taking a sick day.

The Week in Review

This week was quite a whirlwind. Ian started daycare on Monday and almost immediately increased his babble by triple. He also came down with quite a cold, which is probably to be expected given the fact that he hasn't been around kids since leaving the orphanage.

He developed a cough and runny nose by Thursday, and Friday AM, he turned away food for the first time and didn't want to do anything. I felt horrible for taking him to school, but he wasn't running a fever and I'm still too new at all of this to tell the difference between sick and tired (he was up at 5:15am on Friday). I half expected a call at work any minute saying someone needed to pick him up. The call never came and when I arrived to pick him up, he was just waking up from a 2 hour nap and was in a good mood.

His teacher said he had a sniffle and a cough, but knew to expect it since he's in a new environment. She gave him a rating of "Cheerful", which is a step up from the "Content" he had received the rest of the week. She said he ate well and once again was the only kid to finish his milk. I was so relieved. She also said he has done better in terms of being away from mom/dad than any child she's had in a long time. I think there's probably just something familiar to the environment to him and, while that can be scary for some kids from orphanages, I think it's actually comforting for him. He really likes his teacher and it also doesn't hurt that she's Chinese.

Having woken him at 5:15am Friday morning, we put him to bed at 6pm and he slept until 9:30am this morning. He was happy and ready to go when he woke up, but still has lots of green stuff coming from everywhere (including his eyes) and was pretty wiped out by the end of the day. Again, quite a little trooper. He hasn't been whiny at all through all of it, but I've noticed that he is a little more attached to his blanket. He has started carrying it around the house along with his ever present sippy cup.

I also wanted to point out that thanks to the freedoms of eating at a table and chair at school, I've started giving Ian his early AM and afternoon snacks right up at the table. He loves his highchair still, so dinner is still in the chair. It's probably time to get a booster, though. He's bound to fall backward off our bench sooner or later.

Eating at the table... Why does he have to grow up this fast?!

He LOVES his blanket. We have two that get equal billing in case the day comes that one disappears.

Taking a moment from play to get in a sniff.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Year of the Rat everyone!

The picture above has absolutely nothing to do with Chinese New Year...Just a cute picture I haven't posted yet. Shawn thought it would be funny to put his shoes on Ian, who didn't see the humor. So the rat in this scenario is Shawn.

We are quite possibly the lamest family there is...we are doing pretty much nothing to celebrate Chinese New Year this year. There tends to be lots of build up in the China Adoption community, but when it came down to it, we just didn't have the time or energy to get off our butts and plan something.

Not to sound like the procrastinator I am, but we'll do something next year, I promise. I'm making myself feel better by justifying that Ian is too young to know what's going on (a little like Christmas) and he'll be ready next year. Another justification is that Ian and I both have colds and are still adjusting to the new waking/sleeping schedule since he started school. I can only handle one thing at a time; my claims to be a great multi-tasker are out the window right now. All I can focus on is tonight's episode of Lost, so apparently my priorities are a little out of whack, too!

To expand on our lameness, we didn't buy any traditional outfits for Ian in China...I just couldn't stand the outfits they had for boys...So the track pants and sweatshirt he went to school in this morning will have to suffice. Am I an abusive mother for not dressing him in red on the most important Chinese holiday? The guilt is creeping up on me now, as you can probably tell.

I plan to make Kung Pao Chicken and Dumplings (what we know here as pot stickers) for dinner, which we ate at least once daily while in China. Otherwise, maybe I'll just start planning for next year, when I think it will be more appropriate to make a big ordeal out of the holiday. Next year is the Year of the Ox... so I'll have to come up with something special to celebrate livestock.

For those unfamiliar with Chinese New Year, here is a blurb from Wikipedia. Click here to read the entire entry. For those celebrating, enjoy the holiday and much luck to you and your families in the New Year!

Excerpt from Wikipedia:
Chinese New Year (simplified Chinese: 农历新年; traditional Chinese: 農曆新年; pinyin: Nónglì xīnnián; literally: "Agrarian Calendar New Year") or Spring Festival (simplified Chinese: 春节; traditional Chinese: 春節; pinyin: Chūnjié) is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival (simplified Chinese: 元宵节; traditional Chinese: 元宵節; pinyin: yuánxiāojié).

What Can Happen in 3 Months...

Today is the 3 month milestone of the day we met Ian for the first time. There really isn't a better way to express how far Ian has come in 3 months than through pictures!

fyi: You don't need to sign in to view the slideshow...If it's not already playing, click the play icon in the picture down in the bottom left corner.

First Day of School

My baby is a big boy now! Today was Ian's first day of school!

...Well, first day of daycare, but a friend suggested that I call it school since, for what I'm paying, he'd better learn something! I knew this day would come and to be honest, I wasn't that anxious. More than anything, I was concerned with not knowing how he would react to the strangness of it all. Would he think I was leaving him with his teacher like his orphanage caretakers left him with us, thinking he'd never see us or Polli or his toys again? Would he cry the whole time I was gone? Would he know what to do, how to act...what about lunch without a highchair or a nap without his rainforest music soother? A coworker has her son in the same daycare chain/different location, and she convinced me that they've seen a toddler or two and the kids figure it out. I just needed to plan for a few off kilter days with his schedule, but he would ultimately be fine.

Boy, was she ever right. I woke Ian at 7am, a full 1.5 to 2 hours before his normal waking... sped him through breakfast and dressing and whisked him out to the car. He had a "what's going on" look the entire time.

Upon arriving at school, we checked in and went back to the toddler room. Three other kids were already there, two Asian, and the other a little blonde haired boy I remember from when I was taking my tour (with the same runny nose!). Ian broke away from me and headed right toward the toys. I talked with his teacher, Patricia, for a few minutes and put away his belongings (he already had a cubby with his name on it!). By the time we finished talking, he was already sitting with a little boy playing...well, maybe they just happened to be near each other. I've figured out that at this age, they don't so much play together as they do near each other, occassionally making eye contact or exchanging a coded babble phrase of some kind.

I waved goodbye and he waved back "da", which is Ian for "bye" or "hi". He was hardly concerned that I was all the way across the room. I left and went to Starbucks to get some work done for a few hours rather than come all the way home for such a short period of time. Three hours later, I went back to pick him up and as I rounded the corner, there he was sitting on a chair at a little table with the other kids eating his lunch...with a spoon...on a plate. It was the first time I became emotional. It was quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. There are no cameras aloud in the kids rooms for child privacy reasons or I would have gotten a slew of pictures.

I stayed while he finished eating and I'm happy to announce that he was the neatest eater of the bunch and drank all of his milk. The boy next to him was drinking mouthfuls of milk and then just letting it drool out of his mouth... another boy (the one with the runny nose) was stuffing an entire tortilla in his mouth and then spitting pieces on the floor... Another boy can only eat bread... I have to say Ian was the best behaved of the bunch from what I could tell. How proud am I?

We left once he was finished with his lunch and tomorrow we'll start a bit earlier and have him stay until after naptime. That is what was planned for Wednesday, so we're a full day ahead of his transition schedule already. Patricia said he cried a bit when he realized I was gone and once when he couldn't see her. He also wasn't thrilled about going outside, but I explained to her that he had no outside area at his orphanage, so his only outdoor experiences have been a few minutes here and there since we've been home...and it typically involved some sort of snow related torture. She walked with him around the playground and he was happy. On our way out, several older toddlers yelled out "bye, Ian!", which was really cute. All this in the span of 3 hours. It also states on his daily progress sheet that they played "pass the ball", listened to stories, sang songs, and counted numbers. I'm sure there was very little in the way of reciprocation of any of these things, but with repetition, it's getting stored in his little hard drive somewhere for use 6 months from now when he suddenly starts belting out 1 through 10 at the dinner table.

So, he's in his crib now, supposedly napping, but I can hear him in there talking away...much like after his playdate a couple weekends ago.

I should also mention that his teacher Patricia is from China, grew up near Beijing and went to University in Hangzhou... Where we met Ian! She lit up when she heard he was from Wenzhou and that we stayed at the West Lake in Hangzhou. She told me that Ian has a hairline and facial structure of Chairman Mao...and would be considered a lucky son in China. We were actually told by a few locals in China that he looked like Mao, but I assumed they said that to all boys as a gesture of flattery...maybe she was just saying that or maybe it's really true. I'm not sure, but it's funny to hear it from someone here.

Bless her heart, she and one assistant are in charge of 6 toddlers. She has been doing it for more than 5 years at this facility, so it's nice to know that she has no intention of leaving anytime soon. I think often about how much daycare costs (especially in our area), but then did the math and decided that per day for one on one attention from a patient and attentive caregiver, who so far appears to really care about the kids...It's worth it. Like so many have told me already, you really do get what you pay for most of the time. I couldn't do her job.

I'm excited to see how the rest of the week pans out. So far, so good!

Pictures below are from this morning, leading up to the big day. Looking at these, it's so hard to believe that less than 3 months ago when we first met him, he was so much more a baby...hardly even crawling or eating solid food. It really goes to show what time, love, and nutrition can do for a little person.

Blurry but cute.... "Yawn... Tell me again why you woke me up before I was done sleeping?"

"How do you like my outfit? Yeah, it'll get filthy, but I have to look cute for my first day!"

Already looking like an A+ student. All he needs is a backpack (and these days, an iPod, laptop, cell phone, GPS, and $20 for lunch money).

Outside the building... He's still not sure what's going on here or why am I taking pictures of him in a strange parking lot in the freezing cold.

Meet the Cousins

Shawn received a call last week from his cousin Troy asking if we could quit being rude and invite them over already to meet Ian. We were so excited to be nudged from our parental daze and made a plan to have them over today.

Most people don't know that they are part of the reason why we decided to adopt and also why we chose our agency WACAP. About 6 years ago, they asked us to write a letter to WACAP explaining why we thought they would make good candidates for adoption. Family is not supposed to write reference letters, but they made an exception and we were more than honored to be asked. Almost 4 years ago, their son arrived at Sea-Tac airport; 6 months old, from South Korea. It was their adoption experience that got us thinking that "someday" we would like to adopt internationally.

Almost two years ago, they came over for dinner with Alex, 2 1/2 years old then, and we quickly changed our mind about adopting from Russia and decided to look into other countries. It was Alex, with his wonderful personality and adorable demeanor that made us realize that we didn't think once the entire visit about his ethnicity. At the time, we thought it would be smart to adopt from Eastern Europe to continue Shawn's heritage... but Alex proved that lineage has nothing to do with where you're born or what language your ancestors spoke. We didn't look into Korea because it was at almost the exact same time that we received a Special Needs Waiting Child album in the mail from WACAP and the majority of the kids within were from Thailand, India, and China. Thailand and India have rules that would have made our wait lengthy and complicated, but China had several program components that were the perfect fit for us. That was March of 2006. The same month that Hu Xiang Xuan (Ian) was born in Wenzhou, China.

So, it's been almost 2 years since we've seen Shawn's cousin Troy, his wife Shannon, or their adorable son, Alex. He is now 4 and so grown up, but just as cute as we remembered him.

Alex brought Ian a cool orange truck that was a bit hit...and the two of them played "around" each other most of the evening except for when we made them sit next to each other for pictures. It's OK. One day they'll be playing with the same toys and running off to each other's rooms to play with trucks and otherwise cause trouble away from parent's ears and eyes.

It was great to get together and we hope to do so more often. Below are a few pics from our fun evening. I also included one from another homemade fun game... This credit goes to Trish and me. We discovered that Ian's ball popper is good for more than one purpose...It also makes a great snack shooter!

Ball Popper turned Cheerio Shooter

Ian meets Shawn's crazy cousin Troy

Ian really wanted to play with Alex's Transformer, but it was a prized possession not intended for babies.

Chatting about where eachother was born. Alex knew Ian was born in China. Very cute. It's hard to believe Ian will ever be this big.

Gone Daddy Gone

Shawn started back to work yesterday! He is now also reunited with big people again. I remember what a good feeling it was to get up and go on my first day back...having conversations with adults...using my brain for complex resolutions other than how to neatly navigate a diaper blow out or creative ways to keep a toddler happy. On the flip side, I also remember the empty feeling of not seeing Ian for such a long period of time and wondering if he was missing me...or if he was on his way to the ER at that very moment.

Shawn was very anxious to get back to work. He is the first to admit that stay at home mom's have a tough job. I, too, have a hard time imagining staying home all day every day...without breaking into the martini fixings during naptime.

So, since Shawn started back yesterday and Ian doesn't start daycare until Monday, we were left with a gap...a perfect gap for grandma Trish to fill! Shawn's mom was happy to jump at the chance at some alone time with Ian, so we invited her out to stay for a couple of days. She arrived Wednesday afternoon and leaves tonight. Two full days with her grandson. Can it get any better for a grandparent? I know it's so hard for my mom and dad, being so far away in Arizona. I so wish they could see Ian more often! I know the day will come though, that their place will be the fun place to go for summer fun...and we can ship him off for a week to play in the sun with his Grama & Paga!

Trish had a great time yesterday with Ian and by all accounts, things went seamlessly. He woke, ate, napped, and played as usual. He really is a 'go with the flow' kid and not much fazes him. Having a different caretaker didn't bother him a bit, which gives me much hope that he will acclimate to daycare without too much issue.

Since Trish is the one and only person supporting the "old school" film industry together, I was not able to get many pictures of their adventures together, but there are a few gems. I've also included pics of Shawn's final at-home-made toy with Ian, Lego Rollerskates, and Ian looking at a picture of my parents.

Ian's new kicks...This is how Olympic calibur hockey players start out!

Legos have never been so much fun!

Hangin out with Polli & Grandma!

Grandma, can you drink from a sippy? It's easy, just tilt your head back and close your eyes...

These people look vaguely familiar...they bought me my piano? In that case, I like 'em!

Gears, Legos & Wheels, Oh My!

What is Ian up to? Well, of note, he turns 22 months old today! In just a couple of months, he'll be 2...A big boy...Half grown!

In the meantime, he is still very intrigued by his gears (and discovered an entire bucket of them in his closet), but today, Shawn took him to The Lego Store to purchase his first set of Legos (fittingly on the 50th birthday of Legos!). Shawn said that the store was full of dads with their kids, likely because most schools were closed today due to snow and lots of people played hookie around here. Apparently, school buses can't maneuver the white stuff, but our city's plethora of SUV's can make it to the mall with no problem!

So, with his new Legos and bucket o' gears, he is a happy camper. I can tell it's definitely time to get him in school because he desperately wants to share them with his BFF, Polli, but doesn't understand that we don't want her to chew on them. I think he was confused about why it was OK to share with his new friend during their playdate, but can't share with Polli... even more perplexing is that we let him share some toys with her, but not all. Poor kid. He needs more human playmates!

He also fell in love with a piece of exercise equipment I recently ordered, which is simply a wheel with handles attached. He loves anything with wheels, so I might have to fight him for it. He carried it around the living room for much of the evening.

Ian loves his gears...I love his eyebrows.

Gears and Legos...The perfect marriage (he's waving 'hi')

Notice that half of this Lego stack has wheels.

Ian with my "ab wheel".... And I just noticed that it might be time to donate those pants!

This shows how much alike Polli and Ian have become... Here, Ian stands like Polli and Polli stands like Ian. Ian is also dressed exactly like Polli's pillow. That was a scary coincidence!