Halloween Party

On Saturday we went to our first Halloween party with Cassie. For you that don't know -- I truly dislike Halloween. Don't really know why -- I guess I don't understand the idea of having your kids beg for candy from complete strangers while they play spooky music to scare them. But, that's how I feel and most don't agree with me. But, I'm not going to prevent Cassie from enjoying some of the fun. There will be no trick-or-treating in her future but she can dress up and go to parties. So on Saturday we went to the Gymboree Halloween party. She had lots of fun but got a little overwhelmed at times and needed mama or dada to hold her. She still has problems with too many people. But she's getting a tiny bit better when it's familiar surroundings. And since we are at Gymboree once a week that seemed to help with the party.

Early Christmas at our house.....

for Sonny and I. Yep, we bought each other an early Christmas present. And most likely the only material one we'll be getting for each other. Since our best two gifts this year have come in cute-little-smiley-adorable-can't ask for the car keys yet-packages. So what great item did we buy each other? A Learning Tower. And guess who's it's really for? It's for the two big people but the two little people get to use it. It's another place for the girls to safely play, so mama and dada can get stuff done. Like mama cooking dinner and not worrying about someone getting in the way, getting hurt in the other room, going up the stairs, tormenting the dog, etc, etc. With the Learning Tower Cassie gets to 'cook' with her very own 'food'. So far -- it came in the mail Friday afternoon -- she LOVES it. She begs to play in it. She's now at counter height and can see what's going on in the real world. And it's safe for two kids in it at once and up to 500 lbs. Not sure why it's rated so high on the weight but if we ever all 4 and the dog want to get in it we could.






Here are pictures of Cassie in it last night and this morning. Oh, and it's adjustable to 4 heights. Can you tell I love it? And I put it together all my myself with the Cassie and Tehya both trying to 'help' me.

Because I'm a little slow these days.....

I asked our agency to see if they could get an update for us on Chloe on September 23rd. I got the update on Monday the 28th. The pictures we got were dated the 25th and the written update was dated the 27th. The 27th is also our LID. Kind of cool. Doesn't mean anything -- just cool.


And why am I slow -- because I just realized that the update and our LID were completed the same day -- which also was a Sunday.


And because I took up your time with reading useless facts, I'll reward you with more pictures of our other little angel. And no -- I can't get her to smile for the camera. Half the time she puts her arm up when she sees the camera. Check out the one of her in the dog crate closely -- she's got a chair in there and about 10 toys -- because that's the perfect place to watch Sesame Street. And the one where she's eating -- that's a bowl of spinach. She loved it. It wasn't plain spinach -- I made homemade gnocchi with a spinach cream sauce. Cassie and I loved it -- daddy ate it and didn't complain. And the bonus of the day -- in the last picture there's a new picture of Chloe on the window sill. Cassie has a few of these that I printed out on paper for her. When we ask her where Chloe is, she runs and finds one of the pictures, kisses it and then makes us kiss it. She's going to make a great big sister.

Where has the last month gone?

I don't know either. It's been one month and one day since I posted last. Sorry about that. So here's what has been going on with us since the last post.

1. We had family pictures done. (all pictures will be in another post -- it's easier that way)
2. Our dossier was hand-delivered to the CCAA on the 21st of September.
3. We found out last week that our LID (log in date) is/was September 27!!! So we now start the count down to our LSC. The average wait is 30 - 100 days. Since our dossier needs to be translated first - the 30 days isn't going to happen. I'm guessing it will be somewhere between 70 - 90 days. Today we are on day 22 -- but who's counting? (me)
4. All three of us had colds. Sonny got off easy -- his only seemed to last a couple of days, mine lasted about a week and a half, and Cassie's two full weeks. Of course Cassie's and mine only over lapped a few days -- so it was a long three weeks around here.
5. We met with our social worker and completed our 6-month-post-placement visit. We will have been Cassie's parents for 6 months officially on November 4th. (we have to send a report to China at 6 months and 12 months) November 4th will also be 38 days of waiting for our LSC -- but again, who's counting?
6. Cassie now has a social security number, a MI birth certificate, a savings account, and a US passport.
7. We also got a new update on Chloe, complete with pictures. She seems to be doing well -- she's grown in length but hasn't gained any weight since her last update in May. And she's got the skinniest little neck. In all the pictures we have of her, she's got a buzz cut. I can't wait to let her hair grow.

That's all for now. I promise not to make you wait as long for the next post.
See the posts below for new pictures.

~Sherry