Disney Trip with Text and pictures!

Saturday Morning we loaded up the car and the kids and headed out to California. We stopped in Quartzsite for lunch at Burger King, but it was a pretty uneventful drive out.

The first night we stayed in Quality Inn & Suites walking distance to downtown Disney. We walked over as soon as we got settled and had dinner over at the Storyteller Café.

We like them because they are very allergy friendly for Landon. We ate there the first night last time as well, with Laura and everyone, and really liked it. The food is tasty and the service is great.
Ollie was a little stressful, but not bad. Once I got him to start eating the muffins we were pretty good. He and I played a lot of games.

I took him potty and he had his first experience with an automatic flushing toilet. It freaked him out, and follow on issues with these toilets made it so he doesn’t want to go potty for me anymore.

Once we finished our dinner we walked around Downtown Disney. Landon really liked the Lego store display out front. He built a car and raced it. Landon also found an Agent P hat, which he loved so much and talked about the whole time we were there. In the end, it’s what he chose for his souvenir. I got my Beignets from the Jazz Kitchen, and we went back to the hotel to try and go to bed early.

Sunday was an early morning. We got up at 5AM and from there headed over to the Paradise Pier Hotel for early “Pre-check in” where we dropped off our luggage, got room keys, and parked the car. Then we walked over to the park, and Opened up Disneyland!
Star Tours, followed by Space Mountain, and then Ollie got his first ride on Astro Blasters. Oliver did not like it and cried. But on the bright side, he lived through it. Landon didn’t want to ride the Nemo Subs, because they were too scary.

We went over and hit Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and the Winnie the Pooh ride. Ollie was nervous on Pirates, and didn’t like Haunted Mansion. As we entered the elevator, Ollie started shaking his head crying, “NO NO NO! NO MAMA NO!” I felt so bad, but once we were on, he calmed down. (When we rode it the second time, he even liked it!)

Then we went over to Tom Sawyer’s Island (er, apparently it’s “Pirate’s Lair” now). The boys really liked this. Ollie had no fear, and was jumping up and down on the bridge.

Landon didn’t like the bridge so much. Too High.
At some point we hit Alice in Wonderland, and then Landon begged to go on the Teacups. Bobby took him, because Bobby is an awesome Dad.
All of that happened before 10AM.
All of that. For reals.

So at 10AM, we headed over to California adventure. We walked onto Ariel’s adventure, and followed that up by waiting almost an hour to ride Toy Story Midtown Mania. For the record, it was not worth the wait. On the bright side, Oliver wore the 3D glasses and seemed pretty okay with the ride. We had lunch at the Mexican place near Ariel’s Grotto, and ran across the Phineas and Ferb Rocking Dance Party. It was pretty neat, but Landon refused to go dance.

We then explored the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. The Boys really enjoyed that, Ollie’s favorite thing in all of Disney was this little slide there.
. We also did this weird rope bridge thing that tried to eat all of our shoes.

Speaking of shoes, Ollie continues to be a nightmare when it comes to shoes. He won’t wear them, kicking the off all the time. But you have to have shoes on to ride all the rides, so we were constantly taking off shoes and putting them back on.

Oliver finally dozed off in his stroller and we made our way back to Disneyland. Once there, we shopped and explored until Ollie woke up. Then we hit Jungle Cruise, It’s a Small World, and visited Mickey in Toon Town. We had fast passes for Soaring over California adventure, but Oliver was cranky and tired. Bobby went back to the hotel that night and got a decent night’s sleep.
Landon and I decided to use the fast passes. Except Landon was tired, so he rode around in my Cinchworm carrier, which we also used to transport Ollie for a lot of it.

Landon and I stumbled into the Mad Tea Party, which was pretty cool, but only stayed for about 10 minutes until our fast passes were good. We rode the ride, then went back to the hotel.

Monday morning we again opened the park, and managed to start out with riding the rocket ships.
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Bobby got to take Landon on Space Mountain, which broke down when they were fifty feet from boarding. Eventually they managed to get on, which was good.

After that we finally headed over to Autopia. Landon and I drove one car, and Bobby took Ollie in the other. Landon enjoyed driving around the track and did a great job of steering. He couldn’t quite reach the pedals though, so I got to take care of that part for us. This was followed by running over to Thunder Mountain, where Landon and I waited in line while Bobby got us fast passes to ride Splash Mountain again. Landon and I got within 50 feet of boarding, when the ride broke. It broke so bad they gave us fast passes to come back later and cleared the line.

So we did Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain again. Then had lunch at the Hungry Bear, as they have the dairy and gluten free bread we all love. We did Roger Rabbit and rode the Train around the park. Ollie was grumpy, so Bobby took him for some shopping, then back to the hotel for a nap. Landon and I got in some more rides, including a third time on Haunted Mansion, where I discovered Landon CLOSES HIS EYES for half the ride. He claims it’s his favorite and always begs to ride it again!

Landon and I also rode the Columbia ship, and managed to get on Thunder Mountain with our fast passes.

Then it was time to meet up with Bobby, and we explored CA Adventure, riding Monster’s Inc and visiting Turtle talk with crush as well as Sorcerer’s Workshop, which was really awesome. In Beast’s library, you can take this test and it tells you which Disney character you are most like. Landon is Shere Khan. I’m Lady (yes, from The Lady and the Tramp). Bobby is Buzz Lightyear.

We took the kids back to Disneyland and did Tarzan’s tree house and rode the Jungle Cruise one last time. The plan had been to stay for fireworks, but both kids were fading fast, so we finally said goodnight and goodbye to Disneyland.

Tuesday morning we woke up and met Uncle Jack for Breakfast with Goofy. The food was tasty, the company good. They made Landon special safe pancakes, and Oliver loved that the pancakes were in the shape of Mickey. Ollie ate like a pig, dipping everything in yogurt.

We finished up with a little shopping before driving all the way back home!

Overall an amazing and fun trip!

All the pictures can be found here on

Ollie 2.6

Dear Ollie-
On May the Fourth, you turned two years and six months old. Also, happy Star Wars day! (May the Fourth/Force Be With You.) I dressed you in a Yoda shirt, since you are a little young to have a say in the matter.

It’s been a busy past two months for you. You’ve greatly improved all your animals sounds, and enjoy playing that game more than ever. You can also recite the entire alphabet. For a while, you could do pretty much all of it, except when we got to “L” you would emphatically insist that the next letter is “P” completely ignoring the letters M,N,&O. You also sometimes skip J and V, but most of the time, you’ve got it down.

You have come SO FAR with transition points. You still often cry at drop off, but your behavior when we take you out has improved dramatically. I’m not exactly sure what changed, only that you’ve started to follow directions a little better and not freak out when we go out. Eating out improved first, and now when we go out, you might fidget or want to be entertained, but you don’t start crying and having a fit anymore. And the last week or two, you’ve even been okay with me putting you in a cart when we go shopping! It’s been so wonderful, and I’m so proud of you.

You had a pretty major appointment at the Melmed Center with Dr. J on April 18th, just before we started seeing major improvements in your transition point behavior. The doctor spent a little time with you, looked over a very extensive questionnaire your Dad and I filled out, and interviewed all of us. In the end, she came up with the following:
-Developmentally Delayed
-Developmental Language Delay
-Encephalopathy of unknown origins
-At Risk for Autism

At risk for Autism really through me for a loop, but the more we work with you, the less I think that Autism could even be an issue. Both your speech therapist (Vicki) and your DSI (Lorraine) feel that you are doing great, and that if you are autistic, that you are very high functioning. I don’t think you have Autism, based on all of my research and your rapid improvements since we had the tubes put in your ears. All and all, it doesn’t matter too much what they label you with, because you are awesome, just the way you are. Based on Dr.J’s assessment, we have added an OT (Stephanie), who has now been out to see you twice. She is very nice, but the two of you are still getting the feel for each other. This means you are up to three therapies a week.

You’re making strides towards Potty training. You stay dry most of the day at school, which is awesome. You are hit and miss at home, but we’re still working on it. You do seem to like going peepee in the potty, and you enjoy the candy you get when you go. Hopefully we can get you trained before you turn three. That would be amazing.

In March, we took a Cabin trip and went hiking. At the time, you were still not doing good around transition points, and did not enjoy the hiking. Despite the fact that you love to run everywhere, you did not want to run on the hikes, but instead wanted to be carried. Other than that, you had a good time though. The first night we were there, it was very cold. You woke up in the night freezing, because you always kick your blankets off! I got up and touched your skin, felt how freezing you were, and put you into bed between your father and I to warm you up. You (unlike your older brother) immediately cuddled down and went back to sleep without issue or kicking.

You are engaging in pretend play more and more! My personal favorite is the relatively new Phone game. You put the flat of your hand against your ear and face, and then say “HELLOW” I mimic you with the hand gesture and a “Hello! How are you?” You respond “I’m good BYE!” and put your hand down.

For Easter this year we went to the AJ Egg hunt again. You did rather well, collecting a couple of eggs and not freaking out at a new place with new people. For Easter you got a board book with pictures of yourself and our family going on adventures, which you really seem to enjoy reading.

At night when we put you to sleep, you tell us “Night Night!” But then you stay up and play with your toys. We let you get away with your little rebellion, because it makes you happy and you are relatively quiet.

You are slowly adding more phrases to your vocabulary. You tell me “TV on?” or “Turn it on!” and point at the TV. You’ve started telling specific people hello and goodbye, as in “Hello Dada!” and “Bye Bye Landon!” This morning you told your Dada to “Have a good day!” The two word combos you do on your own make me so happy. You are growing every day.

I’m really proud of how far you have come. I have a lot of faith in you. I know you will continue to grow, and that you are absolutely amazing. I love you very much.

Love always,
Mama

Cabin Trip March 2012

We had an amazing weekend at the cabin this weekend. Bobby and I were both able to take a short day at work and head out of the valley around 3:45pm. We arrived at the cabin only to discover that there was still a little bit of snow in a few places!

We were joined at the cabin by Jamie and Gyan, and their daughter Emily. Bobby made some tacos for dinner, and we chatted while waiting for Laura’s family to show up. They ended up running late, but made it the cabin around Oliver’s bedtime. Friday night we mostly hung out and let the kids play.

Saturday morning, there was still a little bit of snow/ice left, so the kids had a snowball fight, running around the cabin like little crazed monkeys. They had a blast. Eventually we packed up and headed out to Monument Peak East Trail, just outside of Payson.

It’s a three mile circle trail. Oliver decided right away, that he was NOT going to walk. Oliver normally loves to run everywhere, but take him on a hike, and he throws himself on the ground. So he spent most of the hike on Bobby’s back, although I also wore him for a bit. This is pretty much what I look like on a hike:

I’m rather fond of this group shot, taken by Gyan using my camera:

The hike was a touch long for Landon, and for whoever was wearing Oliver. Landon needs to work on his endurance a little, I think. He was flagging hard for the last mile or so. I held up fine, except for when I was wearing Ollie. Funny what 40lbs on your back does to your endurance. I had more fun when Bobby had Oliver, for sure.

We had lunch at La Sierra Mexican Restaurant, where we often have lunch. Oliver was in fine form, following his usual pattern of inconsolable temper tantrum until suddenly deciding he was fine and eating. We stopped by the Payson Candle shop before loading up and heading back to the cabin.

Oliver wanted to climb the stairs all the time, but we tried to keep him off of the stairs. He just doesn’t quite have the balance and stability for it. We walked down to the church on the corner and had the kids pose in the usual spot. I accept that Ollie is going to cry when we do this. I’d rather have him in the picture crying than not have him in the picture.

We took our walk to see the bats under the bridge, but they were not in residence when we go there. Do bats migrate? But the kids had fun on our walk.

We had dinner and played some board games, relaxed, read some books while the kids played outside. Once it got dark out, the kids played N64 in the loft, enjoying Mario Party and mostly not fighting. Oliver wore his footie pjs, since he was so cold! I can tell, this child is mine:

Sunday morning we had breakfast, got the cabin cleaned up, packed up, and took our usual pictures on the stairs at the cabin.

We locked up the cabin tight, and stopped at the usual hike for the waterfall on our way out of town, since we hadn’t made it there yet this trip. I wore Oliver for the hike down to the waterfall, and Bobby hiked Oliver out. The place was so pretty, as usual.

Oliver mostly wanted to throw rocks in the water, and he really enjoyed it. We had to keep an eye on him to keep him from getting in the water. Hopefully next time we go it will be warm enough that we can let him get his toes wet.

Our family picture turned out okay this time. Oliver isn’t screaming, but Landon isn’t looking either.

Once we were done with the hike, we headed into Payson and then on to home, where my family at least, spent the late afternoon relaxing and attempting to recover!

While we were at the cabin, I practiced a little portrait photography on everyone, and Bobby also got some amazing shots of Oliver. Here are a few of my favorite pictures, all the pictures from our cabin trip can be found on Flickr.

Here are my favorites of each person on the trip:
Landon

Oliver (I had a ton of favorites, here are three)

Damia

Emily

Elaira

Darion

Laura

Dirk

Bobby

Gyan

Jamie

And finally, courtesy of my husband, Me

Family shots:

Landon letter 5.7

Dear Landon-

You are five years and Seven months old. Let me start by saying that, for the first time ever, your Milk allergy has improved. Your numbers are down from where they were last year, and you dropped from a class 4 allergy to a class 3 allergy. On March 5th you were 47 lbs and 45.5 inches tall, so you have been growing as well!

You love your Video Games! I purchased Epic Kirby and you and I played through the game together, which was so much fun. I do enjoy playing video games with you! You love to play on the Nintendo DS, and your favorites are Mario, Kirby, & Sonic.

We recently changed how your chores work in the house. You were earning “stars” and 10 stars got a prize. Now you are earning actual money. You decided to save up for a Kirby game ($50) and have actually been working on that goal! I’m really impressed, and I hope you hold out and make it to $50. You’ve almost bought small toys a couple of times, but reminding you of your goal has you making the choice on your own to put back the toys and wait!

There is a little girl in Kindergarten at your school, but not in your class. She is in your Kid’s Corner (after school care program) class. She apparently has a crush of some sort on you, and always wants to kiss you. When I pick you up, she often says “Bye Boyfriend!” You are not happy about this, and always vehemently deny any association. I’ve been told that she is not allowed to kiss you, and that you guys play together fine most of the time.

You’ve had some minor issues in school. You don’t understand Spanish, not at all, despite spending half a day in Spanish for the year. You also moved down to the second best reading group, which still puts you above the average, but I know you can do better. You are in the top math group, and you really like that. You and I have talked at length, and you have decided you’d rather not learn Spanish. So for first grade, we’re going to switch to the close school, and you will spend all day in English. I think it’s the right choice for you. Overall, your grades are above average, and you are doing very well.

You’ve been through the six week Karate course twice now, and you really seem to like it. Swim class is going well. You are still level six, but they informed me this week that all you lack is the backstroke. Basically if you can master that, they’ll move you to level 7. The issue seems to be that you sink, rather than float, and kick down, rather than up. It’s okay, your father also sinks. And, for the record, so did you maternal grandfather.

You had a case of Strep Throat that wouldn’t quit. It started in January, while we were taking a weekend get-away in Tucson. We went to the Zoo in Tucson, and you were MISERABLE. Sad, complained you were cold, and just were not having a good time. By the time we were done at the Zoo, you had spiked a fever. We kept you resting, and took you to the doctor. You got an RX, but when you finished it, you came right back down with strep. Then you got another RX, and came right back down with Strep Throat again. The third RX finally kicked it. There was talk of taking your tonsils out, but if you can avoid strep for a little while, we may let you keep them after all.

You recently decided that you love science and want to be a mad scientist (or an evil scientist) when you grow up. I find this amusing on many levels. Your hero is Dr. Doofenshmirtz, from Phineas and Ferb. You still really like that show! Which is nice, because your dad and I really like that show as well. Oliver even seems okay with it sometimes! For Christmas you got a couple of science kits, and now regularly beg us to do “science” with you.

A side effect is that you became obsessed with the story of Frankenstein, asking me to tell you the story in the car on the way home from school almost every day. I finally found an abridged copy of the book, supposedly aimed at kids ages 4-8. Your dad and I were both a little upset by some of the things that happened in the book, and aren’t sure that it really is age appropriate for you. That said, you love the book and keep asking to re-read it. I’ve put the book away until you are older, even though you suffered no ill effects from hearing the store once through.

Your Dad and I decided to add to our family via adoption, so we’ve been talking to you about the process and how you will get a baby sister. You want us to name her either Candace (from Phineas and Ferb) or Goomba (from Mario)! I think it’s adorable, although not the name we will probably go with. You are excited to have a little sister.

Ollie and you are getting along most of the time. I think as Oliver learns to talk more, you’ll have more fun together. Currently you are so good with him, and you don’t lash out at him when he grabs at you or tries to take away items from you. We’re working with Oliver to respect you, but you are a wonderful big brother and a great role model for your little brother.

You continue to warm my heart every day. You love to sit with me or to cuddle. You enjoy giving hugs, and you are very sweet. I am so proud of you all the time. I love you very much.

Love always,
Mama

Adoption class!

This weekend Bobby and I spent all of our Saturday in an adoption class hosted by our adoption agency. The class is required training that must be completed before you can receive your child. There were 8 couples and one person whose spouse was unable to attend, 19 people total. The class was long, but good. It caused a lot of wheels in my brain to start spinning, so I’m going to sort of try to express everything in one long, jumbled up post.

First of all, it was wonderful to meet so many other people going through the process. They even had a family come in that had recently adopted two boys from Korea and talk to us. They were a light at the end of a long tunnel. We met some really great people who were at various stages in the process, some of whom already had their referral! We got to see some cute pictures of babies and hopefully make some connections for the future.

The process seems to move fast up until the referral currently, at least for those open to either gender. We have been told over and over again that our referral will take longer, since we are waiting on girl. Our agency said they are seeing one girl for every three or four boys. I know she’ll be worth the wait. Realistically I know it could be December or longer before we see a referral, but for some reason I’ve got a good feeling about it being sooner.

I need to select a book on attachment and read it. I already had a good idea that certain things needed to be done differently with “Goomba” than had been done with Landon or Oliver. When we first bring her home it will be important for her to stay with us, and for the first two weeks or so to not let others hold her to help her bond with us. We need to do all of the actual “parenting” for the first four to six weeks. This will be hard, as we’re very much into the whole “it takes a village” concept, and our boys often ask for food or other items from anyone at Laura’s house, and everyone co-parents. We’ll need to not go anywhere overnight for the first two months. Given that we try to go somewhere overnight once a month, totally doable. We’ll also not want anyone to stay overnight the first month, which is fine as we rarely have company actually stay with us, and Landon can wait on his friend spending the night for one month.

We talked about sleeping. I don’t intend to buy a crib for her. Most likely she’ll go straight to a toddler bed, but we’ll see what happens once she’s home.

We got a better concept of what it will be like to go to Korea. I really, really hope we get to go. The plan is to go, but timing will be everything. We’d most likely only be in Korea for 4-5 days. About two days as a tourist, just Bobby and I, and then we’d get to go meet up with our daughter and her foster mom (or family) for about an hour. In most cases, we’d get to ask questions and play with our daughter, and then foster mom would take her home for one last night. Occasionally the child gets to stay overnight with the new family, but that is apparently unusual. I would totally take her overnight at the hotel, if the option is there, but, in the end, I’m going to defer to what foster mom wants. In the event she doesn’t spend the night with us, the next day they would basically hand us our daughter, and we’d head to the airport. It’s a thirteen hour flight, with a little girl who barely knows us, our daughter. That said, I’d rather she take the flight with us than with a stranger, which is the backup option. I’m really praying we can bring her home before she turns two, so that we can avoid attempting to buy her a one way ticket, and because, I’d like her to come home as early as possible. (of course!) That doesn’t mean I’m not still planning on a three year old in three years. That’s what I just have to keep telling myself.

There was also a panel of adult adoptees from Korea, which provided some interesting insight on how to go about raising our daughter and respecting her birth culture. It was great to hear their perspectives!

The class was good, but a long way to spend a Saturday. I’m thankful our agency provided it and that we could attend!

Landon “names” his sister

Landon wants to name his sister “Candace” I told him I didn’t think we would be doing that. He then told me that he wants to name her “Candon” I told him I thought that might be a boys name.
His next suggestion was “Goomba.” I told him Goomba was cute, but that it was more of a nickname. He then declared that “Goomba” is her nickname. It made me think of how Landon was “Alabaster” and Ollie was “Bear” until we knew their gender and their name. So now in my head I’ve nicknamed her “Goomba” and it’s all Landon’s fault.
Of course, Landon then said that she should have a second nickname, Spikey Turtle.

Eventually, I told him the names Bobby and I liked, and Landon voted for “Eve.”

Eve and Ivy are my lead names at the moment. Bobby’s seem to change. We’ll know what her name should be when we see her. Part of it will depend on what her Korean name is, as we plan to incorporate that into her name, most likely as her middle name.

Other names we are thinking of include:
Dorothy “Dotty”
Gwendolyn “Gwen”
Alice
Ivy
Eve
Kaylee
Kyra (or Kira)
Wren
Meredith “Merry”
Tessa
Cora

International Adoption Journey, on our way to family of five

Many of you already have heard, and may have even helped us through the process so far, but I felt it was time to mention here that Bobby and I are currently in the process of adopting a child from South Korea.

The short story is that we are in process, we should be completing our home study next month, and then we will be waiting for a girl under the age of one to be “referred” to us. At this point we will get a picture and medical information on a girl in South Korea who is eligible for international adoption. This could happen right after the home study is complete, or it could take up to a year. There are less girls available for international adoption out of Korea than boys, so we are not sure how long it will take. Once we accept the referral, (accept that this specific little girl) we will have to wait for paperwork in Korea to be finalized before we can travel to Korea to pick her up and bring her home. It can take another 1-2 years for paperwork to be final, so we will be bringing home a little girl who is between one and three years old by the time everything is finalized and she actually comes home with us.

I was slow to announce all the details until the process was underway, and there is a lot about international adoption, specifically Korea that we needed to learn. At this point I think we are far enough along in the process that it’s pretty much common knowledge with most of our friends and family we see on a regular basis.

I’m going to do a series of posts about what we’ve done and why we decided to do what we are doing over the next couple of weeks or so.

Adoption timeline
12.25.2011 Decided to move forward with adoption
01.12.2012 Pre-Application in to Agency
01.31.2012 Attended Adoption Seminar at Agency
02.13.2012 Adoption Application completed and turned into Agency
02.18.2012 Application accepted
02.20.2012 Home Study Started
02.28.2012 First Home study interview (Couples)
02.29.2012 Second Home study interview (Bobby)
03.05.2012 Third Home study interview (Jen)
03.10.2012 Adoption Class
03.17.2012 Final Home study interview (Whole family in home)