Cadence: Mom, why did I get this new nightgown?
Mom: Because I love you, Sweetie. I knew you liked it when we picked it out. And you were a good girl at the store, so I got it for you.
Cadence: (smiling sweetly, then coming to give Mom a hug)
Cadence: Mom?!
Mom: Yes, Sweetie?
Cadence: Who would I be with if I didn’t have my Mommy and my Daddy?
(WOW! I’m thinking this is too big for such a little girl)
Mom: Probably with your A-yi, and all your friends back in China.

I have to shake my head, realizing that my little girl probably “gets it”. Never underestimate the “get it” powers of a child.


(After watching a Brittish show)
Cadence: Mom, what’s it mean when you say, “my bum hurts”?
Mom: That’s English for saying, “my bottom hurts”
Cadence: (Laughing after she realizes what was said in the show)
Cadence: How do you say other words in English?


And last....but not least. We got “THE” question yesterday

Cadence: Mom.
Mom: Yes, Cady?
Cadence: How do babies get IN TO a mommy’s tummy?
Mom: (blink, blink)
Mom: (Calling out loudly) Daddy....She has a question for you!
Dad: Yes, Cady?
Cadence: I want to know how babies get into the mommy’s tummy.
Dad: Well, remember we’ve talked about co-operation?
Cadence: Yeah.
Dad: Well, when a mom and dad love each other, they co-operate and work very hard together to get the baby into the mommy’s tummy........But not until they’re married.

Nicely put, Scott. And thanks for helping me dodge that bullet...for now.
I know I said earlier not to underestimate the “get it” powers of a child, but hey, I’M not ready for this one yet!

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender


Today marks the 26th month since our paperwork has been logged in with China. We expect it to be at least another 24 more months.
Ah well...more time to save money till the big event, and more time for our love for her to grow in our hearts.
And we’ll be posting about it again in two more months.
We are now officially counting the days to remind ourselves about month number 28.

We have a couple new performances to present.
The first of which is the Spring Performance for her dance class. In a later post we’ll display her ballet and tap dance performace which is taught by a different dance teacher. The first performance in this one is so cute because the girls become “bottle necked” when they start to move into a circle. We could really see Cadence’s ballet steps in this showcase, even though she is not learning ballet in this class. She points her toes and fingertips and tries to be so graceful.
The second performance, Scott attempted to do picture-in-picture. Next time one of us will stay close up and the other will stay full screen, and we’ll see if we like that better.
We have an opportunity to keep her in this particular class as she moves to Kindergarten in the Fall, because the dance teacher has classes in the Elementary school also. We’re just not sure if we want to keep her in this class or move on to one that will train more dance. We do know that she LOVES dance and performances, and she always has. If she’s not performing in a dance arena, she’s performing in the living room. She’s going to be one of those kinds of kids that uses performance as an outlet.
No matter what else we do, she’s going to continue in gymnastics. But it’s very sad thinking that this might have been her last dance performance. My baby’s growing up. I’ll be going thru a lot of the baby-growing-up-whining these days. She’s already graduated from the dance class and ballet/tap dance, and in only a week she’ll be graduating from preschool. This time in her life is a major life change.
And although I’m so anxious to see who she evolves into, I’m a mess, knowing that I’ll never have that little baby back again. Hold on to them while you can. Hug them when they ask you. Rock them in the chair when they need it. sing to them, read to them, cuddle with them. It all goes so fast. I’m grabbing mine up every chance I get these days.

Here are some before/after still pictures from the performances of the past...
Spring 2006 Showcase





Winter 2006 Showcase







Spring 2007 Showcase





Winter 2008 Showcase






(Spring 2009 stills to come)

But now, we present the Winter 2009 showcase in it’s full glory.

Cady Cast now here. We’ll see if the idea takes off, and if we can have enough to talk about to have more. Note that the site is heavily QuickTime oriented(download and install for free right here), so please just clicky on the star to visit. When you get to the next page, to see the podcast, click on the next star, or click on the tab at the top that says CadyCast.

There are a lot of events happening around her in the next couple of months.
Tomorrow I’m going to a tea party at Cady’s preschool to celebrate Mother’s Day. I love these kinds of events and the special time it gives Cady and me to be together to celebrate our mother/daughter bond. And she has a (hand around mouth, and whispering loudly) SPECIAL GIFT to give me during the event. No one tell Scott, but I adore handmade presents so much more than bought ones. I’ve been wanting a sapphire ring for a long time now, but every year we run in to budget issues, so every year it becomes a part of my wish list for the next year. But when I get those cute little hand made goodies of love, somehow it just doesn’t matter any more what else was on my wish list.

After tomorrow’s event, on May 16th, Cady is going to have her spring performance in Jazzerettes on stage. The following week, she will have her yearly performance for Kinder Dance, a combination class of ballet and tap. Then, next month my baby graduates from preschool.
Pictures to come of all the events.
But for now, here’s a few pictures of her practicing for Kinder Dance.

Sometimes she looks so old and serious.







Stretching, with feet in first position




The “Dancer Walk”.



But she really does love this class.











Showing some attitude

Tonight is one of those difficult nights.
After everyone else had gone to bed. I sat for a while in the quiet of the living room. I started thinking about my children, and felt so blessed that they love me, and that they’re safe. I realized it’s very feasible that Melody is already alive. My heart was heavy with the possibilities that she needs me.
I sat there and realized how fortunate we were with Cady. She was healthy, she was loved, she was taken care of before us. She smiles so brightly. All that we could possibly want for her, with the circumstances as they were, her needs were met, both physically and emotionally.
I sat here tonight with similar worries to the burdon I had for Cady before we became a family. I haven’t felt so connected in a worrisome, motherly way since we were waiting for Cady. At that time, I wavered between feeling good that we had chosen to adopt a child whom we knew was older than the normal toddler, but worried more so, knowing that she could have been harmed in that time without us. The same feelings welled in me tonight, but about Melody. Once again, we’ve asked for an older toddler. And even though it hurt, knowing Cady was without us for all those months, we felt a need to ask again for the same age range (12-26 months old). It was all paperwork and stamps and money and more research for a short while. It didn’t hurt till tonight. Knowing that she might already be born, and alone.
Are we really going to be just as fortunate again? COULD WE? Is she safe? Is someone watching after her, caring about her NOW? Can I love her as much as I do Cady? Will it all just click together, as if it was supposed to be from the beginning?
So, tonight, I prayed. I prayed for my adult son. His happiness. His needs.
I prayed for my daughter whom I already know. That she stays safe. That she stays happy.
I prayed for my daughter whom I have not met yet. That she is able to bond with someone who will care about her, and love her enough to give her happiness.
I feel equally connected to all three, but know that each has a different path for me in their lives.
Tonight was the first night that I really felt the need to comfort my baby. It felt good. It felt good because it made me realize that I can love her as deeply as I do my other children. But it also felt sad, and lonely, because it was the first time that I really thought about being here with Cady, cuddled in, reading her a book, feeling happy....yet knowing that her sister is most likely out there, without us. And this is all I could do.
If nothing else, these thoughts and prayers bring me closer to the power of believing.

Scott took this photo at work, and every time I look at it, I laugh.



Corporate America at it’s finest!

CCAA has updated their information to announce that they’ve finished reviewing applications received by April 30, 2007.

YIPPEE!

So, what does this mean?
What this means is that they don’t have any questions for our family about requirements to adopt another child from China. It means that we sent everything in correctly.
Initially, CCAA simply stamped the paperwork to indicate the pieces were all there and translated. Upon review, they actually “review” all the papers to ensure they were all sent in, and correctly notarized, and approved for adoption.
It’s actually a huge step in the adoption process.
When we adopted Cadence, passing the Review Room was around one half the wait time. Of course then the total wait was only 10 months, but we had passed Review Room by the 5th month of waiting. If that’s any indication for us now, and IF things speed up as all indications are pointing, it means that we’ve endured 1/2 the wait, or more for Melody.
There were huge declines in applications after April 2007 because of the new requirements set out by China. So, in theory, (hopefully) this also means that CCAA workers can now shift more time toward matching, at least that’s my take on it.
And the last thing it means, is this is the last hurdle for our waiting. Sure, there’s more waiting. We’ve waited 2 years, and might have to wait 2 more. But no more hurdles, except of course for the idiotic ones here in the US, which force us to possibly reapply thru our own governmental paper-pushers after the current applications are so old that they’ve expired.

But.....for now.....I think I’ll just bask in the glory of knowing that China thinks we’re A-OK.

YIPPEE!!!!

It seems by the time I start to blog about something, the event has lived out it’s time, and it’s on to the next thing.
I wanted to still post pictures showing our Easter fun, if nothing else, to show that we actually had Easter here.

The weekend before Easter was spent at Cadence’s best friend’s house, Alyson. They had a pre-Easter event, of sorts, with several of their friends from preschool. Her dad made lots of bubbles for the girls, and Cady tried catching them in a pretend watering can. Needless to say, she didn’t catch too many, but at four years old, it’s the going, not the getting there that matters more.

Alyson’s house:


Alyson is on our far right. Cadence is in the middle.



Goodies in the eggs






BUBBLES!!!!

















The next Saturday night, we colored our eggs. Cady got very scientific in her color exploration.






I think Mom’s done this before.


And then, it happened. The Easter Bunny came!!!!!















.....and left Daddy trying to figure out how to take out all the goodies in the basket that he dropped off.


BTW, this is the same Easter dress she wore TWO years ago. She insisted.


Easter 2007