In Love With..

Giraffes.
Elmo. Thomas the Train.
Trail Mix. Cereal. Mac-N-Chz. Coladas (V8 Smoothies).
Green pudding. Blue ice-cream with sprinkles.
Swings. Singing. The 'Avalanche' game at the museum.
My Sandbox. Bubbles. Other kid's toys. Other kid's clothing.
'Annie' Music: Maybe and Tomorrow
My belly button and all songs and books pertaining to it.
Public toilets.
Pencils and Pens. Listening to your heartbeat with my stethoscope.
Presents delivered to our door. The dog park. The dog (Tasha, aka Labba).
Peanut butter and honey bear sandwiches.
Freedom of a toddler bed. Flying in airplanes.
Running from my mom and/or dad in public places or when it is time to go potty or go to bed. Screaming at the top of my lungs when I am asked to whisper. Baths.
My sister, Devika, who I haven't met yet.

Growing Up

A little update on Maya ~
She is turning more and more into a little girl! Yesterday was the first time I have ever seen her actually walk down the stairs in our house by herself without holding onto anything! Yay! Her gross motor skills have been a tad behind, so it is nice to see her catching up to kids her age. I actually just saw her do it again with a different set of stairs.. so I am glad to see she is gaining confidence.
Maya's nanny left on Wednesday for a 10-day trip to Hawaii (I know - WHAT?!). It has actually been nice to spend the past few days with Maya.. just the two of us (dad is in the middle of a huge project that is causing him to work ~18 hr days, so we haven't seen him much lately). I notice such a big difference actually. No big meltdowns, no sleep issues, much less whining. She is noticeably happier. Now I wonder.. is the difference just that we have spent this time together, or because I am having a better attitude/giving off less stress-vibes because I know that I am not going to get any work done and I'm choosing to see this time as a vacation of sorts? It's all about the mom, right? That's what the psychiatrists say eh? Yep.. it's probably me. Inspiration to work harder on putting aside work stress when enjoying family time in the future.

So yesterday we are in the car and on our way to the pet store to visit the animals. We had one of those conversations that surprise me.
Me: 'I like the birds. I think I would like to have a pet bird'.
Maya: 'I would like a bird too.'
Me: 'Maybe we could get a bird for Xmas this year.'
Maya: 'I will ask Santa for you, mom.'

And today before dance class (which, btw, is sooo darn cute!):
Me: 'Maya, we need to comb your hair.'
Maya: 'No, we don't need to comb my hair - it looks fine mom.'

And later today in the car..
Maya: 'I'm going to have a grande latte mom!'
Oops. Obviously we've gone to Starbux a few too many times together!

Hopefully we can get to my hometown soon so that my parents can hang a little with Maya and see how much she has grown up since Xmas (when they last saw her). Mom got some not-happy news from her PET scan this week.. the cancer is back. :(( It's still only in her bones, which is a plus. She started chemo again yesterday. Such a downer though, as her hair had just gotten back to normal and now she'll lose it again. I'm on the lookout for some cute hats for her. It's never fun to wear hats during the hot summer months. Poor mom. She needs some entertainment from a chatty 2 1/2-yr-old!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! Have a fun, safe weekend!

Sad News

Very sad news. Steven Curtis Chapman sings some of the great adoption-related songs that are often used in the Adoption Journey films that I create for families. He and his wife have been quite influential in advocating for adoption. One of his daughters was killed yesterday in a tragic accident.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family today.

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/

NASHVILLE, TN...5/21/08... At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters.

More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles.

Patience? No Thanks.

Yeah.. that pretty much sums it up.
Today is Devika's 9 month birthday. We are no closer to bringing her home.. and our hopes that she would celebrate her first birthday with us are pretty much extinguished. Not that it isn't still possible, but its looking unlikely. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best eh? Frankly I am hoping we have her home by Xmas.
We found out recently that our friend, the judge, in Kolkata.. has decided that he wants to sees a copy of the orphanage's renewed CARA license before he will grant any further guardianships.
So now we are stuck. The orphanage is going thru the renewal process.. which just takes time. CARA (India's Adoption governing agency) is requesting more info/details from the orphanage.. and the license is still in process of being renewed.
We aren't worried that it WILL be renewed.. we just know that sometimes these things take time. A lot of time.
It is India. Nothing seems to move quickly in that country.. except maybe the crazy traffic. And the monkeys.
It's hard at this stage - when we only need the judge to say 'yes!' and we can start to plan our travel. Our child is waiting for us! She needs to come home and be with her family.
I can understand the judge wanting to make sure that everything is legal, etc.. but for gods sake. CARA already reviewed that portion.. so let us bring our child home! It isn't in our hands, so we can just pray that this is resolved ASAP and that ISRC's license is renewed so that we can move forward. Not just for our family.. but all the families and children who are waiting.

In other news, we just returned from a little trip to Vegas. :) DH and Maya joined me for the first part of the week - spent our time doing kid-friendly activities (eg..rainforest cafe, lions, awesome pool at the Hilton timeshare). My mom and sister joined me for the last 3 days - girls weekend! Was very fun! Mom had never been to Vegas, so I'm sure it was quite the experience for her. I loved how the first time we left the hotel and walked across the street to grab the monorail.. there was a VERY blatant 'escort' selling her 'wares' to a guy in a car on the street. We had to walk right past her - as she was shoving her bootie in the car window. Welcome to Vegas Mom!! Omg.
Maya had fun though.. she loved the monorail (of course!). Only bad thing is that she thought that she was Ms. Meet-N-Greet (I hope there is no career at Wally-World in her future - haha), and felt the need to chat-up all of our fellow monorail-riders. Her latest fav DVD is Elmo Goes To The Doctor.. and in one of the scenes, the doctor asks the patient to 'take off his shirt please'. So Maya gets all hyped-up on the monorail and starts pointing at people and yelling for them to 'Take off your shirt! Take off your shirt!'.
People were asking exactly what type of establishments we have been visiting with our 2-yr old?
Sigh.
News from the gene pool: my brother was just diagnosed with an extremely rare jaw tumor. Not malignant (thank GOD), but very large and a major issue. He's having surgery in June.. and might have to have up to 1/2 of his jaw replaced with metal. Only 54 people in english-speaking countries have ever been diagnosed with this!! Poor guy. Completely bizarre.
And.. mom had a PET scan today to check for active cancer cells. Praying all is still well.
It's a good thing that I'm not passing along our genetic make-up to my children. Seriously.
Well, HAPPY 9-MONTH BIRTHDAY baby Devika/Satarupa! I hope you were given an extra milk-biscuit today. We love you!

{btw.. date this post was completed was May 13th, not the 7th. I hate how blogger doesn't update the date.)