Jazzie and Tahlia

Mess

I am feeling the need to clean and organize. However, in order to accomplish it, I have to live with complete disorganization for now. This is difficult for me since I am a bit of a neat freak.

Yesterday I had the carpets cleaned in the family room and the playroom, so we had to move a lot of furniture and take items out of the rooms. Right now, all the stuff from the playroom is in our office:

This is what it's supposed to look like:

Because my office is a disaster, I am working in my kitchen which at the moment looks like this:

It may not look bad to you, but I much prefer my kitchen to look like this.

I also decided to paint the play room, but for now we just have primer on the one wall that was red:

The playroom looks so sad. All empty and cold, except my awesome new storage unit I just got at IKEA:

The girls are missing their playroom, but soon they will have a new and improved (and more organized) playroom. I am taking a lot of their things down to the basement since we will be having carpet installed there tomorrow and then we will finally have a finished basement!

For now I am trying to deal with the mess and disorganization. The only time that I can paint is in the evening after the girls go to bed. I didn't paint yesterday because I wanted to watch Dancing With the Stars and I won't be painting tonight either since I will be watching the American Idol finale. Hey, a girl has to have her priorities!

A new hearing aid

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Jazzie was going to have to wear a hearing aid as part of getting approved for a second cochlear implant. You may remember that I was not too happy about it (I'm still not). We already did the hearing aid thing when we were getting ready for the first cochlear implant and Jazzie got absolutely no benefit from wearing two hearing aids. As far as I am concerned, this trial period with a hearing aid is a waste of time, it won't change the outcome (the ENT and the audiologist both agreed to that) and it is going to significantly delay her surgery date. I was really hoping to have the surgery done soon, so that she would have her second implant in time for summer school. It would have been great if the teachers at her current school could have been able to work with her a little right after getting that second implant.

Even though Matt and I had reservations about the hearing aid, we were told that it would not delay our surgery date and that the hospital was going to go ahead and get pre-approval from our insurance company so that we could get the ball rolling. However, I found out yesterday that nothing has been done about acquiring insurance pre-approval and that we are likely still months away from a surgery date. We were misinformed and we are not happy.

However, Jazzie's face lit up when she first saw her new hearing aid with the pink, sparkly ear mold attached. She did not complain once during the fitting and programming of the aid and she is so excited to show her new hearing aid to all her friends at school tomorrow.

If the hearing aid provides her ANY access to sound at all remains to be seen, but at least my girl is happy.

As usual, she takes everything in stride, doesn't complain and smiles. I just love this girl.

3 words Sunday

We had a stare down, people!

Jazzie wanted a turn on the tire swing and she decided to stare at Tahlia until she got off.

It worked, because soon Tahlia came running to me in tears: "She is looking at me!!!!"

Please help a fellow blogger

This is my blogger friend Maryellen's daughter Hannah and her beloved pup, who's name happens to be Jazzie :-) 

The sad thing is that Jazzie has been missing for quite a while now and Maryellen and her family are desperately trying to find her. Please click here to see how you can help.

Tahlia's turn

Since I posted lots of pictures of Jazzie yesterday, it is only fair that I post some of Tahlia as well:

Want some strawberries???

They are gooooood:

Time to ride my bike now:

I am amazed by the difference expressions this girl has:

Tahlia to me this morning: "Don't forget the amputations!!!", which means "don't forget the invitations". Funny girl....   

Jazzie in action

What did we ever do before we had this play set in our yard????

 

5 years ago

Five years ago today, Matt and I were standing in a hotel room in the HuaTian Hotel in Changsha, Hunan. We were across the room from a group of people from the Youxian SWI holding six babies. One of those babies was my daughter. I tried to figure out which one was her. I honestly did not recognize her from her referral picture, but I couldn't wait to hold her. Matt and I anxiously waited our turn and when they finally got to our name, Matt and I kept jumping in to tell our guide what the paperwork was saying. He had some problems pronouncing our names and I remember practically shouting all the information at him, because I wanted my baby!

Finally, Jazzie's nanny handed her to me; I took one look into this little girl's eyes and I knew she was my daughter. My heart overflowed and the tears started to fall; I had just been given the most amazing gift and I knew that I would lay down my life for her right then and there. It was a very powerful moment. I forgot about all the other people in the room and for a moment or two, it was just her and me - together at last.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

I still can't watch this without crying all over again :-)

Jazzie, I can't believe it has been 5 years since that morning in Changsha, Hunan. I will never forget the moment that I first held you; it was one of the most powerful moments of my life.

I love you so very much.

Happy Forever Family Day to you, sweet girl...

(Our travel video can be found here)

Defending myself and pictures

First of all, I want to respond to "Deb" who left a comment on my last post with a lovely piece of advice for me. I tried to respond to you privately, but just as I suspected, your e-mail address is fake.

You know, I am aware that my children can pick up on things that are stressing me out. However, you obviously do NOT know Jazzie at all. She is by no means a basket case. Ask anyone that knows Jazzie. She is a very strong little girl and actually adapts quite well to new situations. Do you even have any idea what she has been through in her little life so far? The fact that she does adapt so well and takes things in stride might be part of her character, but it also has something to do with how her father and I are raising her. I find your so called advice extremely rude. Unless you have a deaf child, you have no place to judge me, for you have no idea what it is like and what the last few years have been like for Jazzie and for me as her mother. I have committed the last five years of my life to making sure that Jazzie gets all the opportunities she needs to succeed in a hearing world. I have made many beautiful friendships along the way. Sometimes the road to where she is now was hard, but mostly it was wonderful and amazing. Forgive me for being sad that a wonderful and amazing part of our life is over.

I am always very honest on my blog and people are certainly entitled to their opinions, but it just ticks me off when they hide behind a fake name and e-mail address. I was going to let this comment go, but I feel the need to defend myself AND my girl who is so strong and brave.

Moving on with some pictures of the girls on our play set:

And at the park:

   

IEP meeting

First of all, thank you for all the encouraging comments and e-mails. Trust me, I am educated on the whole IEP process and I know that the school is required to provide Jazzie with certain things. I wasn't nervous because I went into the meeting unprepared, uneducated or afraid that I was going to have to put on a big fight. It was just that this particular IEP is written for the next chapter in Jazzie's life: a brand new school; a "normal" school. I've never had to worry about making sure that everything that needed to be in the IEP was in fact there. I just knew it always was, since Jazzie's current school has always written the IEP's and I trust them 100% to know what is best for Jazzie. Teaching kids with a cochlear implant to talk is what they do. It is the only thing they do. This was the first IEP that was written by someone else. Someone outside Jazzie's current school and I was nervous about that. We were initially told that they would not be able to provide Jazzie with the 60 minutes a week of speech therapy that is being recommended and it seemed like Jazzie was going to be put in a classroom with a teacher that we had some concerns about.

After I dropped Tahlia off at a friend's house, I drove to the school in tears. The tears kept coming and I couldn't stop them. I realized that driving to this meeting was the beginning of the end, so to speak. It is really happening - Jazzie is leaving a wonderful place that I have grown to love so much and now she needs to start somewhere else; somewhere new and unknown. I kept telling myself to pull it together; I couldn't show up at the IEP meeting in tears or with red, swollen eyes! So, I stopped at Starbucks and got myself a latte. A big one. That helped ;-)

I got to the school and I walked into the meeting room where I was greeted by a bunch of friendly and smiling faces. I started feeling more at ease right away. It turned out that my concerns were unfounded. I should have known. Our school district has been nothing but wonderful, supportive and helpful in the past. There really wasn't any reason to think that they were going to be anything but that today. They managed to give Jazzie the 60 minutes of speech therapy and we got the teacher we wanted for Jazzie. They gave us everything we asked for and MORE. Jazzie's new teacher was at the IEP meeting and she mentioned she wants to go and observe Jazzie at her current school, just so she can get a better understanding as to how Jazzie has been learning and what she has been used to these past 4 years. I thought it was wonderful that the teacher herself requested this and that she is willing to learn as much as possible about Jazzie, her history and her special need.

I feel 100% better tonight than I did this morning. I am even feeling a little excited :-)

Thanks again for all your kind words. This has been a very emotional time for me and your encouragement means a lot. It truly does...

Weekend and today

I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. To all you waiting moms: Please know you were in my thoughts. I had the pleasure of spending part of my Mother's Day weekend with two good friends: Connie and Stacy. We spent Saturday together and had some good conversation, good shopping (IKEA and Target) and good food. Ladies, it was lovely and I can't wait to see you again soon :-)

Yesterday we spent the day with family and I was reminded several times how lucky I am to have these two girls:

Today I am a bit of a nervous and emotional mess, since I will be going to Jazzie's IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting this afternoon. Because of a business meeting, Matt won't be able to be there this afternoon and I am nervous about going by myself. First of all, I hate the fact that Jazzie is labeled as "Special Needs". She has had an IEP since she was three, but this is the first IEP that will be written for her new school. Before, I never worried about Jazzie and her IEP since she was still going to be at her oral deaf school and I knew things were going to be taken care of by people who know what they are doing. At her current school, all the children have a hearing impairment and she is not seen as "different". At her new school, she will be the only one with a cochlear implant and they will have to make some modifications to accomadate Jazzie and her needs.

I am apprehensive about today's meeting, because I am going into it already knowing that Jazzie's new school will not be able to provide her with what is currently being recommended. I am not thrilled with the fact that Jazzie might be receiving less services than what is recommended, especially since she will be getting her second implant this summer. If anything, she is going to need more at first, rather than less. But, I will be going into this meeting ready to fight for my girl. The good thing is that our school district has been very good to us so far and they have bent over backwards to give us what we think Jazzie needs. I realize there are a lot of other children who require special services and there is only one person to service those kids. Hopefully we can meet somewhere in the middle at the meeting this afternoon.

Wish me luck; I'll be glad when it's over.

MOTHERS and MOMS

Someone sent the following to me and I loved it and wanted to share...

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying,
"It's okay honey, Mommy's here."

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end
soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at football or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars.
And that when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom? they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before dinner.

And for all the mothers who count to ten instead,
but realize how child abuse happens.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for all the (grand)mothers who wanted to, but just couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.

For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon"
twice a night for a year. And then read it again, "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook
and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voice calls"Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home -- or even away at college -- or have their own families.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches, assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up - Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find the words to reach them.

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14 year-olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely from a war.

This is for all the mothers whose children have died before them and pray they can survive another day without them.

What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart?

Is it the ache she feels when she watches her son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes her from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2a.m. to put her hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 a.m. when she just wants to hear their key in the door and know they are safe again in her home?

Or the need to flee from wherever she is and hug her child when she hears news of a fire, a car accident, or a child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are Universal and so our thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation... And for mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for all of you  For all of us...

Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can--Tell them every day that we love them and pray
and never stop being a mother...

"Home is what catches you when
you fall - and we all fall."

On a lighter note...

Since my last two posts were filled with negative emotions, I thought it was time for some lighter stuff. I cannot stop looking at those pictures of Jazzie running the last bit of last Sunday's marathon with Michelle. They still give me chills. The official pictures of all the marathon runners crossing the finish line are up and they got a ton of pictures of Michelle and Jazzie. They can be found here.

The picture below was taken the day of the marathon, when we were walking towards the finish line. The girls are actually standing on "The Purple People Bridge". The bridge is for pedestrians only and you can walk from Kentucky to Ohio, simply by crossing the bridge. It is one of my favorite places in the city and it is absolutely beautiful on a clear and sunny day.

Now for the t-shirt give-aways. I was going to video tape the girls picking the winners, but our video camera broke, so these still pictures will have to do. The winner of the Brown Eyed Girl t-shirt is:

(Kennedy's mom)

And the Guangdong Girl t-shirt goes to:

(Becky)

Ladies, please e-mail me your addresses so that I can get the shirts out to you.

Last night our friends came over for our monthly pizza night. Besides having pizza, we celebrated Jazzie's and Kylie's Forever Family Days (in just a few days it will be 5 years since Jazzie was first placed in our arms and Kylie in her mom and dad's arms). We have celebrated the occasion together ever since we have been home with the girls. Here they are last night:

And here they are last year:

In 2006:

And in 2004 (sadly, the 2005 pictures got lost):

I am planning on spending the day with some friends today. I hope you all enjoy your weekend!!! 

You have got to be kidding me (UPDATED)

As if my experience yesterday wasn't enough, I found out the Today show is having an "America's Favorite Mom" contest. They have several categories (working mom, militairy mom, single mom, etc). One of the categories is called the "Non-Mom, which includes adoptive moms. Are you freaking kidding me?!?!? This deserves a great big WTF???? You can read more here.

What really gets me is that Donny and Marie Osmond are involved with this and Marie Osmond has adopted several of her children. I cannot believe she would even be a part of something that considers her to be a "non-mom".

Please contact NBC and tell them you are offended. I did.

UPDATED: It looks like NBC changed the name of NON-MOM category to "The Adopting Mom". I hope they were bombarded by angry e-mails and phone calls. I am still shaking my head over the fact they actually used the term NON-MOMS to describe adoptive moms. Just ridiculous. Here is what the category looked like before they changed it:

"The adoptive mom"

I am sitting with a group of other moms today and a woman gets up and says the following: "Can I have the attention of all you moms?" Then looks at me and says: "Oh, and the adoptive mom, too".
Huh? Am I not a mom? Why the need to exclude me from "the moms" and put me in a separate category by myself as "the adoptive mom"?

After a while, I very calmly approached the woman who made those comments and told her that I was a mom just like everyone else there and that there was no reason to differentiate the two types of moms at all. A mother is a mother. Plain and simple. She explained her thinking behind her statement: She just wanted to get the attention of all the moms and when she saw me she realized I wasn't "a real mom", but she didn't want me to think that she wasn't addressing me, so she wanted to make sure I felt included. Whatever. I felt included until she called me "the adoptive mom".

At first I was taken off guard by her statements and I was angry and hurt. Am I any different from her, really? She may have given birth to her children and I may have adopted mine, but we both want the best for our kids. We both would lay down our lives for our children right now if we had to. We both marvel in our children's success and we are both proud of everything they have accomplished so far. We both cried when our babies went to preschool for the first time. We both worry about our children's health and well being. We both agree that there is no love as strong as the love we have for our children.

Her words may have stung this afternoon and I was angry with her, but now I just feel sorry for her. Sorry that she doesn't know or understand that the love I have for my girls is so strong and powerful that I can't even put it into words. The fact that I didn't give birth to Jazzie and Tahlia doesn't mean our connection isn't special. The connection to my girls may not be biological but it is just as deep and just as profound as any mother's connection to her children, only in a different and very spiritual way.

Enjoying what the back yard has to offer

Some lovely worms:

Some pansies that came back on their own from last fall:

Our wonderful swing set (what did we ever do before we had this thing???)

A quiet moment to ponder:

Any takers??

I am following Lea from OH MY #6! for a little give-away.

I have been holding on to these two t-shirts, not able/willing to stick them in the bag every time I am gathering up clothes to donate:

The Guangdong Girl onesie is a size 24 months. Just look how cute it looked on Talley:

The Brown Eyed Girl shirt is a 4T, but after washing and drying it several times, it probably shrunk down to a 3T. Both shirts are still in very good condition. If you are interested in either or both, just leave me a comment letting me know which one you want and I will have Jazzie and Tahlia draw the winners :-)

Impressions

Jazzie is really into this Disney Princesses sing-a-long DVD that we have and she likes to do impressions of the characters. Some of them make no sense, but she is very consistent about them; they look the same each time she does them. Here are a few:

Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty:

Sebastian from The Little Mermaid:

The Wicked Queen:

Belle, from Beauty and the Beast:

The Beast (this is my favorite impression):

Snow White:

Princess Jasmine:

      

Flying Pig Marathon/3 words Sunday

My friend Michelle ran the Flying Pig Marathon here in Cincinnati today. She ran in honor of Jazzie and raised money for her school by doing so. Michelle  asked Jazzie yesterday to run the last .2 miles of the marathon with her, and she did...

I have to tell you that it was very touching to see all the runners come in near the finish line. You could see the pride, the relief, the exhaustion and the joy on their faces.  When I saw Michelle coming and I knew Jazzie was going to finish with her, I got a little emotional. Seeing Jazzie and Michelle run to the finish line together was absolutely amazing and brought me to tears. It was somehow very fitting. Jazzie has been working so hard to get to where she is now. It has been a long road, but she finally made it; she is ready to mainstream into our own school system here. The end of Jazzie's years at her current school is almost here; she is getting close to the finish line. We would not be here without the support of our amazing family and our wonderful friends like Michelle.

Cheering on the other runners and waiting for Michelle:

Okay, Jazzie - get ready to run!

Michelle, thank you SO much for doing this again this year for Jazzie. Congratulations on finishing the marathon. I can't even imagine walking anywhere for 5 1/2 hours, let alone running. You are awesome! Ever since I have known you, you have wanted Jazzie to succeed as much as we have, and you have cheered her on along the way. I was honored to be the one cheering you on today.

My 3 words for this Sunday are for you (actually, I have 3):

I just love this picture of the two of them looking at each other.

What's going on??

I have been thinking a lot about what has been going on with Jazzie lately; why she has been so emotional. She just hasn't been acting like herself and it seems that every little thing can set her off these days. I know the real Jazzie: a funny, smart, attentive and quiet girl. The angry, anxious and emotional part of her is something we don't see often, so I know there is a reason for her behavior lately.

I have noticed that each year since she's been home with us, Jazzie goes through a period where she is simply not herself. This happens about twice a year and usually around either her birthday, adoption day or the day she was found in China. Some people might say that makes no sense or that it's a coincidence. However, I know better; I know my instincts and they have never proven me wrong. I believe that Jazzie is still connected to her birth family somehow and I wonder if she is sad because her birth mother (and/or birth father) is feeling sad and is thinking about her. I wonder if she can still feel them and I wonder if she is still coming to terms with her abandonment in China. In my heart, I know Jazzie's birth family loved and wanted her; why else would they keep her for five weeks before leaving her in a place where they knew she'd be found quickly??

I have been thinking about why she got SO upset last night when it was time to go inside and she saw Matt dumping the caterpillars she had been collecting. Was that somehow related to her own situation? Jazzie had very lovingly made a home for the caterpillars in a bucket . She had placed some nice green grass inside so that the caterpillars would have somewhere soft to sleep. But when she saw Matt dump them, she became enraged. Was it too much to see something that she loved being discarded? I don't know, maybe I am making too much of the situation and she was just being a tired five year old having a melt-down over nothing.

I do know that Jazzie definitely goes through something emotional every year and it always happens around the same time of year. To me, that is no coincidence. Because of her hearing loss, I am sure she developed a strong sixth sense. I just wish she could tell me what it is that is making her angry, what is making her sad, what is making her anxious these days. I am trying my best to handle the situation with understanding, but also with boundaries. Certain behaviors are just not acceptable and I want her to know that. I need her to know that. But I also need her to know that I love her unconditionally and that I will always be here, even when she's angry, sad or scared.

I know that soon, Jazzie will be back to her normal, happy self. Until then, I hope she knows that I love her and I hope she gets to terms with her past. I only wish I knew what to say or do to make that happen sooner, rather than later. 

Pictures of my Tahlia

Can I just say how much I love my Tahlia? She keeps me busy with her never-ending questions, her never-ending engery and her never-ending curiosity, she keeps me happy and laughing with her infectious smile and funny disposition and she amazes me with what all she knows.

Yes, I simply love this girl...

(showing off her new Build-A-Bear leopard and princess hat she scored on her special day with daddy this past Saturday)

Answers

How long after you came to the USA did it take until you came to terms with being a resident? When did you really feel at home in your new country?
I became a naturalized citizen in 2004, but felt at home from the moment I moved here. Growing up, I was always reading about the USA and I always knew I would live here. My mom would often say that she would "lose me to that country one day". In a way, she was right. When we went to Holland several weeks ago, it was nice to visit, but it completely confirmed that here is where my home is, not Holland.

I've been a long time reader of your blog and remember you posting a while back about some eco friendly household cleaners you use. I've tried backtracking to find them but couldn't. I think some of our stores in Canada are now carrying them (I seem to remember a yellow flower on the bottles) but didn't really want to "test" them unless I knew of someone who had already given them a go. Please refresh my memory! Thanks!
You must be talking about Green works made my Clorox. I really think they are amazing.

I would love to know what brought you to the United States
I originally came to the US as an Au pair, which seems like a lifetime ago :-)

What did you "do" before becoming a SAHM?
Before becoming a SAHM, I worked at a local coffee shop which I so enjoyed. The people I worked with were amazing, the customers were great and I honestly loved it. To this day, we still go there as a family every Saturday morning for breakfast. It is a place that will always be special to me because of the people and because of certain memories: we started the paperchase for Jazzie while I worked there and the FedEx guy brought me her referral while I was working there.

I was wondering if you speak any languages other than Dutch and English. And do you speak to the girls in Dutch at home? Just wondering!
I learned to speak German, French and Spanish at school. However, at this point it is easier for me to read it/hear it than to speak it; I just haven't kept up with it enough, although I am sure it would all come back to me if I submerged myself into one language again. After adopting Jazzie, I also took classes in American Sign Language. I do not speak Dutch with the girls at home. After Jazzie got her cochlear implant, I only focused on getting her to speak and understand one language. At times I wish I would have spoken Dutch to the girls so that my mom can talk to them. My mom speaks no English and even though she gets along just fine with the girls, it would have been nice for her to be able to communicate with them a bit more. On the other hand, I have lived here for almost half my life now and it is MUCH easier for me to speak English than Dutch now ;-)

How tall are you?
I have that Northern European height of 6'1" and I HATE it!

How did you choose the girls names? And what are their middle names?
I was working at the coffee shop when we were waiting for Jazzie. Matt and I had been discussing names for a while, but hadn't agreed on anything yet. One day, my co-worker and I were talking about names. As we were having our conversation, a customer came in and ordered some hot tea. When I asked her what flavor tea she wanted, she responded "Jasmine". I loved it, Matt loved, so Jasmine/Jazzie it became.
Years ago, I used to watch "A Baby Story" on TLC all the time, and during one episode a couple had a baby girl and named her Tahlia. I just fell in love with the name because it was kind of unusual but pretty. I put that name in the back of my mind and then we were waiting for our second daughter, I mentioned the name Tahlia to Matt and he loved it as well. It was a toss-up between Audrey and Tahlia and Audrey almost was the name we ended up picking, but I am so glad that Tahlia is Tahlia.
We kept the girls' Chinese names as their middle names: Jasmine Mei Chun (beautiful spring) and Tahlia Chun Hua (spring flower).

In every picture I see your house looks so neat and tidy... How do you keep it so tidy with two little girls running around????
I am a bit of a neat freak. I feel out of control when my house isn't organized or things aren't put away, so in order for me to feel good, it has to look good. <

I'm still dying to know where you got the adorable backpacks the girls took on your trip to Holland
The backpacks came from here.

What is your favorite childhood memory??
My favorite memories as a child are the ones that I spent with my oma (grandma). I spent almost every weekend with her and together we would work in the garden, cook and play cards. Her home was one of unconditional love and I miss it; I miss her..

I'd love to know your favorite tasting recipe and your go-to recipe on hectic evenings.
A couple of things I always have on hand so that I can make one of my favorite meals when there is no time to cook are Gardenburgers, sour kraut and mustard: Cook the Gardenburgers, put on bread with mustard and top with sour kraut. It may sound weird, but they are so YUM!!!

Did your stepchildren ever express any concern when you and Matt decided to adopt? I apologize if the question is to personal but coming from a mother of three step-children (but mine are younger, 17, 15, & 12) who is starting the adoption process I have been wondering what it was like for you guys.
The answer to this question is simple: No, they never expressed any concern at all and welcomed both girls into our family with open arms, accepted them as their sisters and never looked back.

Besides photography, what is your most favorite guilty pleasure that, when you're indulging in it, you completely lose yourself to that moment?
One of my guilty pleasures is to sit alone, with a big cup of coffee, a big piece of chocolate and several gossip magazines :-)

One question answered (kind of)

Wow, when I asked you all to ask me anything, I didn't realize how many of you were interested in how Matt and I met. Some of you were worried that it might be too personal of a question. And for me, this particular question actually is. It has taken me all day to think about how to answer it. Matt and I did indeed meet under not so typical circumstances; as a matter of fact, we met while he was still married to his first wife.

You can imagine the complications that come along with a situation like that and it is hard for me to openly talk about it. Let's just say that lots of people were very quick to pass judgment and make assumptions that weren't true. People that I thought knew me and loved me for who I was, kind of turned their backs on me and the same thing happened to Matt. It was painful for everyone involved. However, I am happy to say that relationships that were once broken or at least strained, are now strong and whole again (including the relationship with my parents, my in-laws and my stepchildren). It took a long time to get to where we are now and I don't want to say anything to jeopardize that by rehashing the past.

So even though I told you all to ask me anything, I am going to leave it at that and hope you all will respect it. As for the other questions, I will answer them in tomorrow's post :-)

I've got nothing

First of all, check out these diaper cakes my neighbor made for a baby shower. Aren't they great???

Second, I have absolutely nothing to blog about.

So, I am going to follow Tracy's example and give you all he opportunity to ask me anything.

Go ahead, ask away :-)

Marathon runners are awesome!

Next weekend I will be volunteering at the Flying Pig Marathon, held annually here in Cincinnati. Every year, there are lots of runners who run the marathon in honor of students at Jazzie's school and it turns out that the marathon is one of the school's largest fundraisers.

There were two people that ran the Flying Pig Marathon in honor of Jazzie last year. One was my brother-in-law's twin brother, Terry; the other was a wonderful woman named Michelle. Michelle has been a long time reader of my blog. I am not sure how Michelle found my blog, I just know that she did and that she was somehow touched by Jazzie's story. She was able to raise a lot of money for the school last year and this year, she is running in honor of Jazzie once again.

I had to great pleasure to meet Michelle at the annual Pasta Pig Out that Jazzie's school holds for all the runners. Here is a picture of Jazzie and Tahlia with Terry and Michelle:

That is Matt inside the pig costume, by the way ;-) 

Michelle is one of the nicest and most selfless people I have ever met. Please stop by her blog and wish her good luck.

3 words Sunday

Girls Day

First of all, here are the translations to Tahlia's words:

Andomanic - automatic
Malarious - Hilarious
Maymaize - Mayonnaise
A lunchcold - an ice pack for a lunch box ;-)

Jazzie's note (Do not yoos AM sickers lick Jazzie) said: Do not use any more stickers like Jazzie. I liked how she shortened "any more" and used the initials AM.

It has been a rough couple of days with Jazzie. She has been extremely emotional this week and it didn't take much for her to completely break down over nothing, really. I am not sure what is going on with her, but I decided that she might need a little one on one time with mom, so we had a Girls Day today. Tahlia hung out with daddy and Jazzie and I started our morning with painting some pottery at one of those paint-your-own pottery places. Jazzie absolutely loves doing this kind of thing and even though we just went last week to make something for Mother's Day for Matt's mom, I felt bad for Jazzie because Tahlia's attention span is not very long and we had to leave before Jazzie was really ready. This happens often and we therefor have to wrap up fun things like this sooner than Jazzie would like. However, today Jazzie painted a plate and was able to take all the time she wanted. She decided when she was done, instead of me telling her she was done, because Tahlia had enough. I realize that it is completely unfair to Jazzie when we have to work around Tahlia, so I really wanted today to be all about Jazzie. She got to make all the decisions today:-)

After we finished painting our pieces, we went to the mall where Jazzie picked out some new summer p.j.'s and we had lunch there. After lunch, we simply had to stop at my favorite store:

After a quick Target stop to get some new flip flops for Jazzie, Jazzie and I got our nails painted. Jazzie was in seventh heaven and enjoyed this part of our special day the most. She was thrilled to pick out blue nail polish and couldn't get over the fact that I let her pick blue instead of pink :-)

The end result:

Translations, anyone??

Tahlia speech i