Holy Hellion!!!!

After school for Ping and swim for me, we came home. I was about to make a few phone calls when I got a call from Meri. She was heading to Friendly's for lunch and wanted to know if we wanted to accompany her and Lucas. Well Ping was already in her Princess dress and not in the mood to change, but I got her to do so and off we went. Lunch was fine for us, but we wanted to put the children at another table. The two of them were feeding off each other. What one did, the other had to do and so on and so on and SO ON!!!!!! Both children are still alive. They are lucky little devils.

I spent the afternoon making a bunch of phone calls. Our dryer is no longer blowing hot air, so that needs to be fixed. I also had a lot of other calls I had to make. There is always something to do, right? All Ping wanted to do was sit behind me, sit on the desk, screech in my ear and basically annoy me to no end. I was glad when Bill came home. I thought for sure she would go and bug him. However, we ended up both being bugged and yelling at her. Honestly, she seems like she is overtired. She really is a good little girl, but some days are trying!!!!! Today and tonight was one of them. She cried at everything. "I WANT ICE CREAM." "No, no ice cream, you had some at lunch." "WAH!!!!!!!!!!!" "Would you like some yogurt?" "NO, I SAID I WANT ICE CREAM!!!!!!!!" This went on for 2 or so hours. I finally said to Bill at 7:30 pm, "get her to bed." She was just an absolute 3 1/2 year old beast!!!!!! Not sure why she is so tired. We haven't done anything major this week that I can recall. Maybe she just didn't sleep well? Maybe too much running around on the playground at school? Needless to say, she fell asleep pretty quick tonight!!!!!

No pictures from todays lunch. Frankly, I didn't have the energy to beat the two into submission just so they could sit together for a picture! Meri didn't either.

I hope your day with your children (if you have any) was calmer than mine:)

Mama Out!!!!!

Happy Family Day!!!!

One year ago today, we were introduced to our daughter. We were supposed to meet her at 10:00 am. However, due to snow in her Province, we didn't get to meet her till closer to 5:00 pm. The Ayi walked in with her. Bill immediately sat on the floor and started telling her in Chinese that we loved her. I sat back. I didn't want to overwhelm her. We signed the Harmonious Agreement and went back to our hotel. Bill left me with this little one to go get juice for her. There the two of us stood. I tried to undress her for a bath because the Ayi's said she had an accident on the way to meet us. She screamed and tried to hurt me. She scratched me. She tried to poke and scratch out my eyes. She wouldn't let me touch her. It was awful. Bill came back to the room, helped me get her undressed and the two of them took their first bath as Baba and Shayla Yu Ping. Life has never been the same since.

Here we are one year later and while she still loves Daddy the best, I can say that I believe she honestly loves me too. There was a lot of crying in the beginning of our journey, but they have been replaced with smiles and laughter.

Today we celebrated the day by going to a place in Worcester called Sweet. It's a bakery. For $5.00 you get a cupcake and you can put frosting on it and decorate it. Meri and Lucas came with us. I was told it was going to be $5.00 for decorating and $1.50 per cupcake. Well after handing her a $10 for the both of our kids, I fully expected to have to pay more at the end. However, they never asked for any more money. I was pleased given that it was $10.00 too much for what they offered. Don't get me wrong, it was so nice to get out and chat, but it was not what I expected at all!!!!!! I had seen photos of the place and it looked so nice. The photos were of the back room where there is a bar. It opens at 7:00 pm. Live and learn. We are going to take Ping out on a Saturday to celebrate as a family. This Saturday we have a funeral and that by far is more important. So we will choose another day. Not sure what we are doing yet, but you can be sure I will blog about it.

One last thing before I go. I got a call from DCF today. That is Department of Children and Families. I have an appointment next week to have my house looked at safety wise. This marks the beginning of a new chapter. Who would have thought that one year to the day I would receive a call from them? I sent in some paperwork a few weeks ago. We are now legally ready to expand our family.

Well it is off to bed. Trying to get into bed a little earlier than 1:00 am! I have a feeling that I will be uploading pictures till then though. Oh well!

Mama Out!!!!!!!

Meeting our sweet daughter. February 25, 2008.

Snazzy Kitty from Build A Bear. Had to get her a lovely cat bed too.

Ping enjoying her cupcake.

Lucas and Ping.

Picture of the decorations at the bakery.

Meri and Lucas.

Another shot of the interior of the bakery.

Ping's glorious creation.

Meri holding a disc she decorated. She wrote Mom on it.

Ping enjoying herself.

The two misfits. You should see the hell we went through to get these two to take a picture. Never could get them to smile at the same time.

Like the sign behind them? They are anything but sweet.

Meri and the cherubs.

Meri with the Pingster.

Meri. I was trying to get a picture of her pregnant belly with the sign. She wanted no part of it, but smiled after she pulled her sweater over herself!

Lucas loving him Mommy.

Ping and Mama.

Meri and Ping.

Ping in her new nightgown. The other day when we were in the store and I showed her this, she says "I love it, I love it, I love it." Bill and I nearly collapsed from laughing. It was so darn cute! So here she is one year later on February 25, 2009. She has less hair than she did a year ago. Wonder why that is? LOL. I love you my sweet baby. You are the biggest joy in our lives.

Look at the time....it's 12:55 am. I knew it. I can't get to bed any earlier than 1:00 am. It's in my blood!!!

I could shoot myself!!!!

I woke up at 8:45 am today. Why????? I never heard my alarms or I never set them last night. I have two alarms and I am usually very good about setting both of them. However, something happened and I never heard them go off. Needless to say, my girl never got to school and I never got to swimming. I felt awful. I felt guilty. I feel like a bad parent. So I got up and showered and got Ping ready and we went out to do a stint of power errands. I was all over today from Worcester, to Holden to Clinton and then to West Boylston. We were gone 2 1/2 hours. Ping slept for the most part.

When I got home, I made a few calls but didn't get very far. Ping wanted to color after we had lunch, so I grabbed her big box of crayons. She was watching TV and coloring and being a good girl. I was at my computer, in the kitchen cleaning out the dishwasher and doing a few other things around the house. She was never really out of my sight as we were on the same floor. Around 4:30 pm, I went into the living room to pick up a little and to sit down. We usually do this around 5:00 pm or so because she likes to hide under the blankets when Daddy comes home. As I was walking into the living room, I saw a trail of black crayon all over the floor, the window and the door. When could she have possibly done that? What is when I went to the bathroom for 2 minutes????? I swear I am going to get the electronic fencing that they have for dogs, so she is contained. Then I am going to make the walls and floor all rubber. She needs like a cell in a prison!!!!! Thank goodness crayon is easily erased with a little cleaner. Years ago our parents didn't have that!!!! It was an easy clean up, but still! Why did she even do it. She had 3,000 pieces of paper next to her????? I asked her, but never did get an answer. I swear, I have a very curious, spicy nut on my hands. I love her to death, but she is a challenge!!!!!

Ping got a wonderful gift in the mail from Ayi Christina. She got an adorable Asian Cabbage Patch doll by the name of Faith Summer. Inside the box were two pictures of Ping from a year ago and a beautiful handwritten note. This CP doll has three ponytails and if you remember some earlier pictures of Ping, she had three ponytails. So this doll reminded Christina of Ping. I was so touched, that I cried. This Cabbage Patch was Christina's before she decided that she wanted to pass it on to Ping. Christina decided to close her application with China due to the awful wait and various other reasons. It broke my heart that she pulled out, but she needed to do so for her sanity and her heart. I support that decision 200%. So in honor of meeting our daughter 1 year ago today, Christina sent this adorable little doll. Thank you sweetie from the bottom of my heart. You continue to amaze me.

Ping and I watched a little TV tonight together because Bill had to go to the Fire Department. Ping was crushed about that. He promised he would be home as soon as he could. So every 2 minutes "Is Daddy home?" I felt bad. All I could say was "No baby, not yet but soon." So we went upstairs at 8:00 pm for some reading and bed, but she wouldn't let me read her books because Daddy reads them and we needed to wait for him! So I asked if she wanted me to sing some of her favorite songs. She did. However, she didn't fall asleep. She just kept asking about Daddy. Finally I heard the car coming in the driveway. I told her to look outside in the driveway. She was so excited. I heard Bill come in and come up the stairs so fast. He jumped into bed and he read her a story. I am such a second class citizen in my own home. Today the 25th is one year and Daddy is still her favorite. It's okay though because she is his favorite too!

Well speaking of Ping, she just came downstairs and crawled into my lap. It is time to pass her to Daddy so that he can carry her back upstairs. I am going to go join them so I can get my butt up tomorrow!!!!!

Mama Out!!!!

Nothing new here. That isn't a bad thing.

Yesterday I slept in and let Daddy and Ping get up and have fun by themselves. Ping loves having her Daddy to herself and I love having the bed to myself. She usually starts hounding him around 7:30 am or 8:00 am. She is usually looking for breakfast. Yesterday she was dying for pepperoni. I told Bill that pepperoni isn't a breakfast food, but she really, really wanted it per him. So? There is no reasoning with those two.

When I finally rolled out of bed, I paid bills and did a few things at my desk. Our big afternoon excursion was to Walmart. Hardly a fun day. It was pouring out, so who wants to be out in that anyway?

Today I had plans to take her out to play at an indoor play place. To be honest, I was tired and I know she had to be tired. She barely slept last night. Every time I looked at her, she had her eyes open. So I decided to scrap the day out and just stay home. Ping colored and played with her new Build A Bear Kitty and I worked at my desk. I dropped off my taxes, but some information is still needed so I had to address that. I also had another 4 or so business calls to make. I did that and basically prepared stuff for errands tomorrow. Donna always says to me "what are these errands you are always doing?" So I will tell you Donna so you don't have to ask! I have to go to the post office, the UPS place, the social worker's office and the accountants to drop something off. I also have to make another couple of calls. I feel good when I have days like this. I accomplished a lot and there is great satisfaction in that. When I don't accomplish something in a day, it's a waste of a day. I learned that from my parents. Many don't agree, but that was my training, what can I say??? My Dad was a workaholic. He loved to work. When he wasn't working at work he was working at home. He never sat. Neither did my Mom. She worked, but when she wasn't working, she was cleaning, doing laundry, running errands, paying bills, doing errands, etc. I am sure she felt she needed to keep up with my Dad. I have to say that my parents were also the first born children in their family, so they were taught to be ultra responsible. They were sweet enough to pass that on to me! It's a curse I tell ya! I don't get it, with all the running around I do, why aren't I majorly stick thin?

I did run out for a quick pedicure when Bill got home. It's cheap and it's quick and I go once every two months. I am in the pool most days, so I don't want my feet looking awful. However, the real reason why I do it is to keep my feet in shape. The Lymphedema that I have does a number on my toenails. I have to be very careful not to cut them because an infection could be extremely dangerous. So having someone do them has become more of a necessity. Sadly, all I wear is stupid sneakers because it's the only thing my feet fit in with all the swelling I have, so it's not like anyone sees the pretty polish on my tootsies!!!!!

After getting home and cleaning up some, I headed upstairs with Bill to try our new saline sinus cleansers. My doctor has suggested that I get a Saline Lavage for some time now. I know a lot of people use Neti-pots to clear out their sinues. Frankly, I have not wanted to get one at all. I knew the sensation would be awful, so I hadn't addressed getting one. However, yesterday I bought two. Both of us have been suffering from headaches and colds, etc., so I bucked up and got one for each of us. So I told Bill that we should bond upstairs in our bathroom over our double sinks and do this together!!!! Is that not love???? So up he went with Ping and the warm water and I followed a few minutes later. He already did it by the time I got up there. I was like "why didn't you wait?????" I was hesitant about doing this. I don't know why, but I wasn't keen with putting water up my nose!!!!! I didn't want to swallow it and get a sore throat. That was a fear I had. Not sure why. So Bill proceeds to tell me it's nothing, but you do feel like you are drowning. Really? That is just SWELL! So the fear that I have had is being realized!!!!! I did it thought. Of course Bill laughed at me. Ping would come over to me and yell in my face "Hi Mama!!!!" I said to Bill that I felt like I needed concentration and he, Ping and the two cats needed to step away from me!!!!!! So I put the water up my nose and let it drain out the other. Getting the picture? I kept coughing and spitting. Bill was beside himself laughing at me. It was kind of funny. I was so determined to not let anything be swallowed, that I was hacking and spitting. Bill said he immediately noticed the results and I have to say that I do as well. I did it at 8:00 pm and not it's 1:00 am. I feel like my sinuses have been completely opened. It's really cool. So now that I have explained how wonderful it is, run out and get yourself a Neti-pot, okay? Enjoy!

Well it's time for me to hit the hay. I hope you are well.

Mama Out!!!

My little sweetie

Ping just came downstairs. It's 1:25 am. She walks into the family room where Bill is snoring and sleeping on the floor next to the hot radiator and says "Daddy, it's time to go to bed." When he doesn't answer, she says "Daddy, it's time to go to bed." Bill jumps up, picks her up and turns the light off. I was in the office. I walked out to give her a kiss. I have never seen him move so fast. The love they have for each other is so endearing. I could light a bomb under him and he wouldn't so much as open an eye. I thought it was so cute and grown up of her to tell him to go to bed which is where he belongs!!!!!

Tonight at dinner, Bill had some soup. Ping has to stir it and literally blow on each spoonful for Daddy. If he doesn't eat it fast enough and gets caught up in conversation, she says "Daddy!!!!" It's so funny. In the very beginning after she put the crackers in her soup, she blew so hard on the hot soup that a cracker flew across the table. We all laughed. She gently blew on every single bite from there on out though.

Earlier today she jumped into the comforter that was lying on the floor in the corner. She was sitting straight up and so Bill says to her "Ping, what are you doing?" She said "I am sitting in my nest, tweet tweet!" We just cracked up laughing. We do that a lot around here. She does the funniest things all the time.

I forgot to mention that yesterday Ping was talking to me. I was at the computer and caught up in something. I was not paying attention to her at all because she was just babbling, but I was pretending that I was. She finally walked over to me, snuggled into my side and said "Mama, you are not listening to me!" She caught me! Oops. I told her that I was very sorry and that she was right. I was too caught up in what I was doing and not paying her the proper attention. She is too damn smart sometimes!!!!

Mama Out!!!!

One year ago today!!!!!!!

We embarked on the biggest day of our lives. We left for China. It's hard to believe a year has passed since we got into a van at 4:00 am to take us to the airport. We have indeed been introduced to parenthood and we love almost every minute of it. I say almost because there are those moments when they do things that make you shake your head.

Today also marks a very sad day. Our dearest friends Sarah and Brad lost Sarah's mom to cancer. I received the call this morning. I am grateful Sarah's mom is at peace. She was 78 years old. I am sad that she has passed on as I have known this woman for twenty plus years. I remember years ago when she used to rattle pots and be a nervous wreck before company came over. My mom was the same way. I could hear Sarah's mom in the background talking to her other daughter Faith, when Sarah and I would talk on the phone. What I most remember about her and I always will is that she was forever telling Sarah how wonderful she thought Sarah was. How beautiful and smart and special she was as a woman. I always thought it was so sweet. Sarah is the youngest of nine children. Sarah has lived with her mom for 39 years. First Sarah lived with her mom and sister Faith and then when Sarah bought a home, the two women moved in with her. Losing a parent is one of the worst losses one can face. I am sorry that Sarah and Brad and their family are facing this now. Keep them in your thoughts if you would please.

My friend Donna, my Godchild Nicole and her handsome brother Michael came to visit us today. We hung out and chatted and played with Ping. We then went out for dinner. Miss Ping promptly passed out after her hot dog. What a tired puss she has been!!!!! We then came back to the house and while I chatted with the kids, Donna napped!!!!! It was good being able to chat with them. I do love them to pieces.

I hope you are all well and to Sarah and Brad, we love you.

Mama Out!!!!!

Ping sitting on Mikey!

Climbing all over.

I have conquered him.

My girls Ping and Nicole.

Thank goodness this vacation is over!!!!!!

I honestly don't get it. I am exhausted. I have gotten up early all week long despite that it's vacation. Why? Well it's because my darling daughter gets into everything!!!!! So this morning, she gets up and heads downstairs to "watch TV." I tell her not to touch anything. She says she won't. So I stayed in bed for another 15 minutes. Not sleeping, but just thinking out my day. I also woke up with a terrible headache. I just didn't even want to move my head. After a short period of time, Ping runs in my room and into my bathroom. I ask her what she is doing. She is doing nothing yet her hands are behind her back!!! So I said "show me your hands please." She just looked at me so very sheepishly. So I asked her if she was making a mess. She said she was not making a mess. She then said "Ping don't touch Mama's desk." I told her that she was right and she shouldn't touch my desk. She is well aware of this. However, she must have had a temporary lapse in memory. This dear girl got into a full bottle of White Out. I was so mad. There was no need for her to get into it. She was only downstairs for minutes. Mind you, I can hear her walking around, so I wasn't concerned. So I flew down the stairs and found White Out all over my desk, calculator, paperwork and a few other things. Never mind her hands that were covered. Now for those that are familiar with White Out, you know it's nearly impossible to get off your hands!!!!! First I got it off my desk. That took some time. Then I began working on her hands. It took 2 freaking hours to get it off of everything. In the meantime, we both were getting it all over our pajamas and such. So I decided to strip us down. Now this wouldn't be a big deal, but I don't walk around in my pajamas never mind naked!!!!! In addition, I have glass doors! However, nobody comes to the house and oil was recently delivered, so I wasn't concerned. However, I remembered the last time I was downstairs with no clothes on, someone actually came to the damn door!

In addition to Ping getting the stuff on her hands from her wrists down to her fingernails, she also got it in her hair and in her ear and some down into the canal. She must have had an itch!!!!!! So after I finished up her hands, I moved her to my office so that I could wash her ear. We were only in the office for 2 minutes when the freaking doorbell rang!!!!!!! OMG!!!! Here we are, two naked chicks hiding in the office which has a window on one side and a door on the other. Ping kept saying "Mama, who is it, is it the A bors?" She means the neighbors:) Well all I could see was that it was a man. I kept peering around the corner. When I finally saw him walk away, I ran into the living room and hid while I told Ping to sit in my office and not move a muscle. There was a car in my driveway and two men with briefcases. So I watched them leave and go onto the next neighbor's house. It was the "JP" people. I have not seen this religious group go door to door in years! I have never encountered them here at all. Of all freaking days!!!!!!! Needless to say, I had a terrible morning.

I cancelled our morning plans because we would have been really late getting to them. This afternoon I was supposed to take her to a make your own sundae event, but because my head was absolutely pounding and we were so tired, we stayed home. I sat for a little while with an ice pack on my head. It improved, but only slightly.

Bill came home around 5:00 pm and we headed out to meet Meri, Joe and Lucas. We made plans to go to Build A Bear in Natick and then to have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Ping stuffed a kitty and picked out a cute dress for her. She got shoes for her and a cat bed. I thought the cat bed was unreasonable, but Bill insisted we get it. He didn't have much as a kid is what he said. Whatever Mr. Rock E Feller!!!! That is what I call him when I think he is unreasonably spending money we don't need to. Did the cat really need a pink bed???? I am waiting for the regular pussy cats in the house to claim it! After stuffing the bear and Lucas stuffing a dinosaur and a doggie for his new baby brother to be, we went to dinner! The wait was about 40 or so minutes. They don't have a child's menu or a safety glass or cup for the kids to drink out of. We all thought that was odd. Ping had a little rice and literally passed out in the booth. Talk about a tired chica!!!!! I had a chicken sandwich and Bill had a chicken and rice meal. He then had banana cheesecake. I didn't eat cheesecake as I was stuffed! I did bring home a piece though. I am not even a fan of cheesecake. I find it's very rich and heavy!!!!!! Anyway, we had a great time. Now Ping and Bill are asleep and I am going to go join them.

Christina, thank you for your kind comments. I try to take Ping to as many things as I am able to. I want her to remember her childhood fondly. I want her to have good memories like we do. Hopefully she will pass this on to her family if she chooses to have one.

One final thing before I go, please say a prayer for my friends Sarah, Brad and Sarah's mom. Sarah's mom is very ill and they are only providing her with comfort measures at this time. I am so very sad for them. Thank you!

Meri has some photos, so I will be adding those when she sends them to me. For now, here are mine. Never did get one with the two kids:(

Mama Out!!!

Computer screen with White Out.

White Out on my desk. It was so thick.

White Out on her hands. If you could only see how thick it was.

Her kitty before she was stuffed.

Lucas holding his dinosaur.

The stuffing.

Ping stuffing her kitty.

Sewing kitty up.

Giving kitty a bath.

Daddy giving the kitty a bath while she holds down the pedal.

Naming kitty. Princess Ping is what was chosen.

Passed out Ping at dinner.

Our sleeping baby.

Another day down

I am exhausted, so I am going to make this quick if I can. First I want to say thank you to everyone who leaves comments. I appreciate the fact that you let me know you are reading what I am writing. Keeping a blog is a lot of fun, but sometimes it's tiring. So when it's 1:00 am in the morning like it is now, it's nice to know that it's totally worth it. There are a few people who don't comment, but do tell me they check in nearly daily. I appreciate that as well.

So on to sharing our day. Today I took Ping to the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury. I have never been there before, but have heard a lot about it. A few days ago, I found on some site that they were having a Scones and Cones children s event. It is a fundraiser for the mansion. So on Monday I called and signed the two of us up for the outing. We had a wonderful time. We got there early, so I was able to take a few photos of Ping without that many people milling around. It was funny because the woman that opened the door is a woman that I swim with. So that was a nice surprise. She was nice enough to take a photo of the two of us. It came out horrible, but I will post it anyway. So at 2:00 pm, we were told the history of the house and then we all moved into another room to listen to a children's story. Ping was the youngest one there. It was all girls between the ages of 6-10 I would guess. Most of them were there with their grandmothers, but there were some mothers there as well. Ping wasn't into listening very much, so she crawled over to me and looked out the window. For 3 1/2 years old, she really was well behaved and I was so thankful. I always find myself very tense when I take her to things like this. I am always nervous she is going to have some crazy outburst. However, I continue to take her to places. I always will I suppose:)

Before the reading of the book, they passed out hats called Mop Hats. So she got to keep one. I didn't get a great photo of her in it. I will have to get one at another time. After the book was finished, we sat down and had fruit punch and little sweet tid bits. There were pastries, brownies, marshmellow treats and such. We then went into another room and made our own ice cream sundaes. Ping loved that. She put on everything. After the hot fudge was put on her ice cream, she added little M&Ms, Oreos, brown and rainbow sprinkles, pineapple and a cherry. The gentleman at the end of the table put the whipped cream on. I was shocked she didn't ask for any in her mouth. Daddy taught her that little trick! There was a gentleman from a local newspaper there, so he took some photos of her. We then sat down to have our ice cream. It was served in a waffle bowl in a sherbert cup. I told Ping she could eat the bowl. So what does she do???? She picks up the entire sherbert cup and tries to eat it. Everyone at the table laughed.

After eating, we walked up to the third floor which they had opened for us to see. They had tons of Christmas houses on tables there. So we did a little bit of exploring and then we left. It was less than 2 hours which was perfect. I was so pleased with her behavior and she had a ball!!!!! She of course passed out on the way home. It's been a busy week. Sure wish I could have passed out on the way home.

I taped a movie last night. I watched it because I wanted to tape a movie tonight. It's rare that I tape at all anymore. So I sat to watch the movie and it was in subtitles. I had no idea. Can I just say that the movie was fabulous!!!!!! I had to watch it in two parts tonight though. I passed out in the middle of the first part. Bill said "Jill come eat" and I was like "huh????"

So that was our day. It was splendid. I hope yours was as well!

Mama Out!!!!!

Exterior shot of mansion.

Exterior.

Exterior from the street.

Miss Ping entering.

Us on the stairs.

Miss Ping on stairs.

Miss Ping on stairs.

Looking from first floor up to the fourth.

Little girls listening to story.

Room story was read in.

Close up of little girls.

Woman I swim with explaining history.

Room where we made our sundaes.

Shot of room we had tea in.

Story read was about a horse, so each girl got a horse cookie. By the time it got home, it was horse dust!

Another shot of room.

Cute little card with Ping's name.

They had 8 children. 1 boy and 7 girls. This room was corded off.

Ping looking in mirror. This is where the bride freshens up when there is a wedding.

Close up. She is into scrunching her face lately when I ask for a picture.

Nice smile.

Looking down the stairs.