Big brother home for a visit

Big brother Evan came home for a fast visit today. When Olivia got up from her nap she had a surprise. She was so excited. It has been almost a month since she saw Evan he has been so busy away at college. He even watched her while mom did her afternoon bus route and then he was off again back to school.

This is her new wrinkle nose face.

Thanks for coming to see me Evie!!

What did you do all day?

I got this off of Donna's blog and couldn't resist copying it. This is too funny and rings soooo true.

What Do You Do All Day?"
A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.
Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.
He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"
She again smiled and answered, "You know everyday when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?" "Yes," was his incredulous reply. She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Will potty for Runts....

We have decided to see if Olivia is ready to try the potty chair. Last week I bought her some panties. That was a joke. The smallest they have is 2T which is for weight 27-32 pounds. I was pretty sure they weren't gonna fit a 20 pound butt. So I washed them in hot water and hoped they would shrink some. Then we put them on. She was so excited. She danced around the house and squealed and got sooo excited. 10 minutes later she peed in them. Okay..... that didn't go so well. An hour later the second pair was wet. It was then nap time so back in the diaper she went. Then we were busy until the next day. I pulled out the last clean pair and she said "Noooooo.... and ran away." Maybe the pressure was just too great.

Well, today I thought we would try it again. We got out the cute "Dora" panties. At first she said "Noooo" again, but I encouraged her. She sat on her potty and peed. YEAH!! Sucess. I pulled down a candy jar with runts in it and told her since she went potty she got a piece of candy. Well, her little eyes lit up and that was it. We have now peed 7 times today and pooped once (I think that was an accident while trying to pee) in the potty! She has kept her panties dry all day and only had a diaper on for nap and the two hours I was on my bus route. Everytime she sees the candy jar she decides she has to go again. Hey-whatever works!

Anniversaries and Certificates

Yesterday was our 6 month anniversary of adoption day for Olivia. It was the day that it became official in the eyes of the Chinese Government that Olivia was part of our family forever. The day before (13th) was our Gotcha Day anniversary. They day they placed sweet Olivia in our arms for the first time.

My mom was here visiting this week and was looking at pictures from just 6 short months ago and commenting on how much Livi has changed in the last few months. I can't hardly remember the little girl we brought home. The scared, untrusting little girl whose life was turned totally upside down in a blink of an eye. The little girl who would eat 3 foods, scream if she saw a bathtub and obiediently do whatever you asked because she didn't know she could voice an opinion. NOW- All I see now is the little girl who runs screaming through the house, who yells "NO" at her big sister, who takes things from her little cousin and possesively says "Nini's". The little girl who will now eat 6 foods (LOL), and squeals in excitement at the idea of a bath. If she thinks she has a chance at all of disagreeing with you on anything she will try, like any normal two year old.

Today we also received her new birth certificate. We completed her domestic adoption in June. We did not have to do this since Indiana recognizes all our Chinese paperwork, but Olivia's birth certificate was a Chinese one. If her BC was ever lost or destroyed or if she ever needed to get a current copy (some day if she wanted to adopt internationally for instance) we would need to try to obtain a copy from CHINA! Could you imagine that mess. So, by domestically adopting Livi, we were able to get an Indiana birth certificate for her and Indiana now has all of her records and her adoption is listed as an Indiana adoption. It makes things much easier.

Happy Labor Day

All is well in our household. The two college kids are adjusting well. Both have jobs and seem to like them so far. Evan is working at Durham's (I think that is right). It is a sports store. Funny story here....he is petrified of mice and rats. Yep, big ol' Evan can't stand them. First day at work and he is suppose to go back to the storage room to work on stocking some items. He hears some rustling but doesn't think much of it. Later one of the other girl employees mentions that "Oh, by the way Evan we have a rat the size of a cat back there. We have seen it, but we can't catch it." Evan, who is telling this story to his girlfriend says "I am telling you, if I see this thing I will be screaming like a girl and running from the back room." The funny thing is, he is not lying. There is no such thing as preservation of manhood for Evan if he sees a rat. All is lost. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in that store the day he comes face to face with Mr. Beady Eyes. Heehee.

Katie is working at QDoba's. It is a Mexican food restaruant. It is a cafeteria style place. She said the food is great (we will see how long she likes Mexican food now). She just started Friday so I am not sure yet what her hours are or if she is working in the kitchen or as the cashier.

Last week was her first week of classes. She was fairly unimpressed. Huge classes. Her smallest class was Anthropology with 140 and her largest was Pychology with 420. Huge difference from high school. She loves her pych class though.

Morgan is loving 5th grade. She LOVES her 5th grade teacher Mr. Perkins. She says he is so funny and is making the class very interesting. I love hearing that. To me that is half the battle at this age. She comes home spouting of facts that she has learned.

Livi loves going to her new babysitter too. She gets excited everyday that is it time to go to Grandma Maddie's house. She also graduated from the nursery at church to the 2-3's class so she is in a real sunday school class. She loves that too. She gets to color pictures and sing songs. She loves "cool". The last couple weeks she seems to really have blossomed in her talking. She is trying to say more. She is also dancing and skipping around the house. It was like she made a leap in another stage of toddlerhood. Her imagination play too is unbelievable. She will play with baby dolls, her play kitchen etc. and imitate everything she sees. I can't believe all that she picks up. It is a little scary.

Well, enough babble for now. I have to wonder in the delves of Evan's room to get some dress clothes for him (he has a business class and the Prof. requires that the kids (boys) dress in a shirt and tie for the class) and take them down to school. I am hoping not to get lost in the black hole. I told Livi she could come with me, but I need to put a bell on her first so I don't lose her. HAHA!