Let the Games Begin...

We have had a great October. Halloween is a great time of the year, one of which we celebrate merrily. We made our 7th annual trip out to Didier Farms this year, and went trick or treating early at the park district where Hayden was able to play some carnival games, etc. But in the end, all that a child looks forward to is the REAL trick or treating, the candy, and their class party. Unfortunately, Hayden missed out on his party this year. With a bad cold that hit Thursday afternoon while at school, he spiked a fever high enough that we rushed him to the acute center (we were thinking H1N1?). Of course we looked like ninnies...

He missed school on Friday, but greatly our neighbor brought home Hayden's treat bag, his homework, and mentioned that the class missed him. We kept a close eye on him and his fever, praying he wouldn't miss Halloween. With it being right around the corner... Mom and Dad made a split decision; his fever had been gone for over 12 hours, the boy had enough energy for an army, and obviously needed to get groovin' to the music. So we bundled him up under his wizard costume... and told him he could go, under one slightly sad condition. He would have to go with Daddy (duh) and be secluded. We didn't want to risk getting anyone sick, thank goodness he is a pro at coughing in his elbow.

With extended "candy" hours, his first trip was brief. He was back within 30 minutes. But about an hour and half after that... he was ready to hit the road again. Overall, he did well. He was a bit tired in the evening, but we made sure we told him to "listen to his body", and he did. He slept like a baby.

I know it's been about a month since our last posting. To be honest, I was really hoping to wow everyone with some good news. But the best I've got is... we are still waiting. Waiting for our dossier to leave D.C., and waiting for our dossier to then process in Kazakhstan. But I did ask our coordinator one of several important questions I will share with you today. This is only tentative... and we all know now from what we have gone through in the past, things can change. She estimates six months. We hope that in the summer we will be able to travel, meet our daughter, and have her come home. We pray... with all our might. It would be perfect timing, for Michael, for Hayden, and for our family.

And now comes November. Let the official holiday season begin. The time when I ready myself for Black Friday, we (continue) to pick up gift items, we attend bday parties, B&B play practices, and Thanksgiving all wrapped into one month. I only hope our pocket book stretches so far. ;)

Lastly, I want to remind you as always, please view our "October" slide show on the right. Hayden looks awesome in my sister Kelly's old wizard costume. I touched it up with some silver stars, I drew them on to match a hat he won at the Frankfort fest. I also made his wand after seeing a craft idea for yard stakes. LOL, It turned out great!

We will do our best to keep you updated as word comes in, hopefully more frequently now.

Happy Fall! 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 9:16 AM

Watching Life Fly By

Lately I have found myself in a unique situation and wish I had my regular camera on hand. This instant was one of those times. I have never really been into photography, but for some reason I looked out the window that evening and a little voice told me I needed to "capture" this moment. Whether it was to make a memory of the beautiful sunset or the tree line, I knew it needed to be remembered. I tend to look at this picture as life flying by - what was in the mirror was the past.
On a recent family outing... Michael was driving my car. I saw this beautiful moment in time and grabbed my cell phone, turned on the camera feature and clicked. Though it didn't turn out as best as I had wished... I think it still gets my point across.
Ironically, Hayden has just grasped the concept of past, present, and future... *hehehe*

With that, a lot of time has gone by since our last post. Unfortunately there has been no news on the adoption.

Hayden is doing awesome in school! He has come home with several 100% on his spelling, math and high frequency/comprehension tests. We are so proud of him that he can balance school, therapies AND Beauty and the Beast. He is an example of an energizer bunny. ;) 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 11:09 AM

A Smile Is Worth a Thousand Words

Yesterday we expected to pick up Hayden's Wonka play DVD's at the park district. Unfortunately, they hadn't made the trip along with another set of play DVD's and were told we could pick them up this coming weekend when Hayden starts Beauty and the "B". More waiting...

Since we were already there, we made the most out of it and ran to the park next door. I don't know why I haven't ever seen this banner at the park entrance before... but once we crossed the parking lot and Hayden's shadow hit the "SUN" at just the right spot - I quickly had him pose and pulled out my phone for a click. (Thank goodness for the camera on my phone!)

This week were are counting our smiles and hoping they last. Hayden is finishing getting over a tummy bug, and we are hoping to NOT catch it. We still managed to have a great long weekend, but felt bad for Hay on Friday and most of Saturday.

We have received word that our dossier is being complied and will be shipped off to the K-embassy in D.C. this week. Once there, it will be processed and we believe it should take about 4-6 weeks. Though we have learned to not count our chickens before they hatch.

Hayden is enjoying 1st grade! When asked how his day went or how does he like first grade - his comments are always the same... "AWESOME!". We are so proud of him for loving school and keeping a smile on his face everyday! Below is a picture of our little guy, off to his first day of 1st grade. He couldn't wait for that day to come.


Crossing the finish line for today showing our pearly whites - we will continue to keep you posted on our dossier, Hayden's awesome school achievements, and any other of our future endeavors. ;) 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 11:30 AM

Bit Of Sunshine

A 2 foot narrow box arrived at my door earlier this week. Since I was working and on calls, I ignored the bell. I finished shortly after and remembered to check the door (junk flyer? Pinecone freebie?). Once outside, I found this marvel that put a smile on my face, something that hadn't appeared much this week. I was pretty sure Michael hadn't sent me flowers... who could it have been?

After arranging the bulbs in the bright orange mug, I searched for the card... "bit of sunshine" it read. Indeed it was. It wasn't until today that the bulbs starting opening into beautiful Lilies, sprouting and giving me hope that today was going to be a better day.

Later this afternoon, while cleaning the bathrooms (do you know how much fun it is to clean toothpaste off counters? Yeah, that much fun!), Michael called to tell me that our loan went through. We were approved for the same amount as before... no problemo. I could finally wipe the sweat from my brow and pull my panties out of a bunch.

In addition, yesterday I overnighted all the forms Dear Aunt Rita notarized to our agency. I once again do not anticipate any trouble with them, nor anymore paperwork. Hopefully we are in the home stretch.

I want to thank Michele for the wonderful flowers and for thinking of us. They really have added sunshine to my week.

Here's hoping for a great Labor Weekend, and a better week next week! 1 comments

Posted by Mel at 2:33 PM

Slow Down for Yellow Lights

How fast life can change in the blink of an eye, the flash of a light, or a ring of a phone call... that's the evidence of the past 2 days.

Sure, Hayden's 1st days as a first grader should be awesome... However, lately with good - we are tested with bad.

For instance... our papers from the Sec. of State should NOW be in the mail to our international agency. Even though they were mailed over two weeks ago. Yes, only 3 forms...

Next up... another change of paperwork for Kazakhstan. In regards to finances and number matching, Michael spent most of the first hour and half after he got home from work yesterday figuring out what didn't match, returning phone calls and completing a NEW form for the Kazakh government.

Lastly, and I do hope last (but most likely won't be least) because I don't know how much more I can take this week... we found out 10 minutes ago one of our adoption loans "expired". What bank says "Oh, you're not using this money? Then we'll take it away since you don't need it". AHHHH!!! Obviously we weren't notified of this, and they don't care that it was for our adoption. How we will manage to find the additional funds to bring home Baby V at this point, let alone finish paying the remainder of the fees is more than tear-jerking. Gotta love the recession.

So that's where we are today. Stuck at a yellow light... 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 11:00 AM

August 26th or Bust!

Michael will be so proud of me for using an anime picture on our blog. LOL I couldn't tell you which anime, but I would put money on it that he would know.

Anyway, Hayden starts school on Wednesday. I've had several migraines and feel the nerves packing on. Him however... he's been excited, ready, and roarin' to go for weeks. Now if only I could get my butt in gear and label those 24 glue sticks. ;)

Once again it's a bittersweet time in our house. We are winding down the summer by park hopping and picnicking. The last few weeks have been busy to put it lightly. Hayden's Wonka play was a BLAST and once again we are soooo proud of our superstar. We've attended bday parties and more museums and even had an impromptu visit with Nana for a few days. Who needs an expensive lavish getaway vacation anyway? Although I wouldn't have minded getting away to a nearby hotel for a few days - preferably one with a water park (like last year... this idea is still currently in the works for sometime in the nearby future).
And speaking of our superstar... Hayden has decided to continue with play. He starts rehearsing for Beauty and the Beast in September and the performance will be in January. A bit far away, but with several breaks in between. The singing, dancing (burns off so much energy!) and the social interaction are great pluses for him. And we can't beat the price for 2 hours of peace every Saturday. It's like a mini date for Michael and I.

With Hayden starting 1st grade in just 2 days, I have had many people ask me... "what are you going to do with all your time?" To be brutally honest, I really thought that by now I would have someone else who needed me and would occupy my time. That being Baby V if it wasn't obvious.
So instead, I will be decorating her room cherry blossom style. Possibly painting the overdue powder room and living room and continue working with my "work at home" company.

As for the adoption process, yet another question I get asked frequently (please don't think I mind the questions - it's great to know you are thinking of us!). All papers are done, signed and mailed in. We recently sent the last batch (the Dr. licenses, etc.) to the Sec of State and they will forward them to our agency. All our papers are being translated currently, then off to proper channels before making it to Kazakhstan. We are uber-excited.

We have had a terrific summer and couldn't have planned it better. The constant running around didn't seem to bother anyone or get in the way - just kept us on our toes. I am sad to send my boys off to start another year of school and close another awesome summer.
The thought of the trees turning colors weakens my knees.. YIKES!

Here's to hoping next summer our brood will be bigger and my smile will be wider.

P.S. Pics will be uploaded on sidebar soon if not already ;) 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 10:25 AM

The Story of the Three Busy Bees

This summer started at my Mom's traveling to Oak Park to see the city's park benches painted and decorated - TV Style. We traveled to Great Grandma Rose's house. We made a trip to Aunt Rita's to see Uncle Jim's awesome sparkly red Harley. We headed to Elmhurst to the free History of the Comic Book museum. We made several trips to downtown Chicago (this past week being trip number 2). Hayden had space camp at a book store, right after meeting Spiderman at a local toy store. Two children and one public museum, all free of charge thanks to our family superpass.
Plus lots more and the summer isn't over yet. Though the summer started with a hint of sadness (knowing that a huge vacation would be out of the question), we have been uplifted with giggles and amusement with our Family Fun Days (usually Wednesday). I have found such a reward, hunting down the cheap or even free (which many of our excursions are/were) places we have gone. Usually just spending money on gas or food (and even then sometimes packing a lunch).
With that, we are eager to look back on our summer and put together our memories. Thus making our huge vacation. Hayden has enjoyed every bit of our travels, whether we find a new park or head to the library for a few hours. Having this time during the summer, being able to have Michael home everyday - is priceless and we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Onto our second trip to the city... we had the opportunity to meet our coordinator from our agency. We knew we couldn't pass this chance up, especially with "K" being able to take our paperwork home with her (saving on stamps!!!).
So we hopped back on the train on Wednesday and met her for lunch with another client of hers, two sisters who are going to be single moms. We were thrilled to hear the one sister is waiting patiently for a Kyrgyz child. In addition, we found out our coordinator "K" is from Kazakhstan. Having lunch with her gave us the chance to chat with her about the process a little more and get to know her. Plus it's always nice to put a face to the person who is helping you bring your child home. :)
Afterwards, we took Chicago's free trolley to Navy Pier, used our family superpass once again and got in for free at the Children's Museum. Hayden had a blast digging for dino bones, playing in the Waterworks, etc. When we finished we lingered around till it was time to catch our trolley to the subway to the train. Whew... Yet again another hot hot day. LOL

This week Hayden starts bike camp (meets once a week with his P.T. for 4 sessions). He's psyched. I'm gonna need coffee, we need to be out the door by 7:30am. *Yawn*
Meanwhile, Michael needs to head to the bank for cashiers checks, I need to scan some forms to email to our agency while we wait on our Dr. to notarize... (this will help us along in the process and our agency can get started on translating our paperwork). We are eager to see things moving again.... starting to feel real again. A feeling that had once dissipated.

Anyway, it's late and I have been dying to watch Design Star (then Big Brother, if I can stay awake).
Us busy bees will keep you guys posted with news as it comes available, in addition to our travels (new slide pics posted on the right). 1 comments

Posted by Mel at 10:00 PM

The Windy WARM City

Last Wednesday was yet another Fun Filled Family Day. Yet, with a bit of a twist and a hidden agenda.

Hayden has been dying to take a train ride for decades... and with the eve of our papers needing to be apostilled, we thought what other way is there to travel to the city... "The way to really fly..."

So we hopped onto the Metra train early Wednesday morning after making a pitstop for a group of papers we overlooked that needed to be notarized. Luckily prior to this, our GREAT AUNT RITA lent her time and hand, notarized the majority of our papers and mentioned our Village having a notary - free and open at 8:30 every day. So we quickly notarized the ones we forgot and headed off to our adventure.

Anyway, we made it to the city without a hitch. Made it to the Sec. of State with no issues. Hayden was a trooper with all the walking. We passed many "skyscrapers" that kept us busy/occupied... not to mention a lunch stop. Once we handed the papers off for apostilling, all we could do was cross our fingers. However, nothing seems to come easy for us, least it doesn't look that way. I had a feeling our doctor's license's were going to give us trouble - and they did. They will have to be notarized separately by our doctor and then apostilled. Fortunately we are waiting on our change of country which coincidentally also needs to be apostilled. Either we will make another trip downtown, or mail these 3 forms to Springfield.

After we finished at Sec. of State, we headed off to do some sight seeing. We planned a surprise for Hayden, since he has also been talking about tall buildings that scrape the sky. We hopped on the subway (another cool treat for Hayden) and made our way to the John Hancock. The 94 floor flight up the elevator was some ride (Mommy felt yucky afterwards). But Hayden will be tickled pink to tell you he saw Navy Pier, and that the Ferris wheel is actually named after the man who made it named Ferris ("get it Ferris Wheel, Ferris made it" then he giggles).

The morning had started out cool, but ended quite balmy. We left the city sweaty, worn out, and in awe. Yes we are ready to do it again, but we should take a closer look at the weather next time :) .

With that out of the way, we have continued on our mini one day family vacations. I hope to post in the next coming days pictures of the giant park we encountered. Hayden enjoyed climbing the huge rope contraption - following Michael, with a bit of help. We are so proud of all his accomplishments everyday. In addition to that, his reading is coming along well! The radio in my car shows the name of the song, band, etc... and seeing that we are in the car a lot - Hayden is constantly reading the words and sounding things out (this just being one example of many times a day he asks us about words LOL). We are surprised every time.

Bike camp starts next week for Hayden. We hope this will give Hayden the encouragement and confidence he needs to ride his big boy bike more often - in addition to seeing his peers in the group riding.

We are still chugging along with Baby V stuff, hence the trip to Chicago. I am eagerly looking for a wall mural in a cherry blossom motif in pink and brown to help pull the room together and put some paint on the walls. Etsy,com is a great source with many choices, I'm just undecided.

We will continue enjoying our summer, we hope you will too - before we know it, fall will be here... 1 comments

Posted by Mel at 9:43 PM

Mail's Here

Just a quick note...
As soon as I got off the phone with the FBI - gosh that cracks me up - and was assured my prints were mailed the same time as Michael's, I heard the mail truck. I quickly ran out to the mailbox and instantly got goosebumps when I saw the large tan envelope inside. A slight weight off my shoulders.

;) 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 11:29 AM

How Quickly The Days Go By

In a blink of an eye, June will be over. In two and half more days, Michael will be done with summer school. In a little more than a month Hayden will have finished his theater camp. And our dossier is still not complete.

Currently I should be calling the FBI (how strange is that?) to find out where my prints are. Michael's arrived late last week with the final copy of our homestudy. Once the prints are in I believe we are off to notarizing. From looking at the time line (and remembering back) last year around this time we were in the same boat. Except we didn't get to the notarizing until the first week Hayden was in school. Still... I thought we would have been done with this by now.

On a lighter note - we are enjoying our summer. We purchased a Family Super Pass with a local kids museum and are reaping the rewards. We have already been able to get into the Milwaukee Public Museum (a treat for Mommy's bday) for free and another local museum closer to home for a playdate. This beats the zoo hands down! And they are air-conditioned!

Hayden is truly getting a kick out of summer. He loves loves LOVES camp on Tuesday and Thursday. We are practicing Willy Wonka several times a week (yes Mom too!). He loves to act out his favorite song - just don't ask him to sing on the phone, my poor mom was on the receiving end for at least 4 songs!
In addition to camp, Hayden is still attending his therapies and has swimming lessons on Fridays. We have also added what we assume is temporary therapy - a psychologist on Saturdays. This has been a great sounding board for our family, but also great interaction for Hayden mainly to help with his frustration, etc.

Our little water bug! Hayden's camp has the luxury of taking the kiddos to the local park district pool every camp day. So Hayden gets the chance to swim 3 days a week. This persuaded mom to buy a big boy another suit to aide in the laundry situation. He couldn't be happier.

With camp, that means mom gets quiet time - a taste of what first grade will look like! And I can't wait! Though I miss my guy, it's nice to have the peace and quiet and time to be able to get things done. What a difference. And you would think that camp would tire out dear ol' Hayden? NOPE!

June has definitely been a busy month. We spend our weeks being busy running around, weekends are even more hectic... bdays, playdates, errands, etc. July seems just as crazy, minus Daddy's summer school. We hope to have more summer fun days (Wednesday is our family outing day!) and relax more in August.

For now - we are enjoying Michael coming home early, the late nights catching up on TV, eating icy pops, throwing snappers (kid safe "fireworks, check your dollar store), reading, and eating dinner outside.

I love summer... just not the 90 degree weather. I just wish it would slow down. 0 comments

Posted by Mel at 9:32 AM