The year without a Summer

The girls and I just returned from 6 weeks in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. It rained a majority of the days and the temperature seldom went above 80 degrees. They are calling it the year with no summer! So different from the weather here at home. We are having a severe drought and a heatwave with a string of days with temperatures over 100.

We had a great time. Here are a couple pics from the trip. I will post more later this week.

Sunny Days

Sunday was a beautiful (and hot) day. The girls enjoyed the afternoon playing in their new sprinkler. It was C's first time to play in the water. She was hesitant at first, but was right in the middle of things by the time the afternoon was over.

Field Day

Well, I have been remiss in posting pictures from E and O's field day at school. They had a wonderful time. Yes, E's lips and teeth were blue thanks to the pixie stix and ring pops! O's hair (and clothes) were soaked from the sponge relay. Oh to be young again!

Celebrations

This past week has been a whirlwind of big days. Saturday, May 9, marked 5 years since O was placed in my arms. Oh how's she grown and changed. She is a joyful little girl who fills my life with much needed sunshine. It was Mother's Day the day I received O in a hot and steamy unairconditioned room at the Civil Affairs Building in Wuhan. She was bundled in several layers of clothing including a new polar fleece outfit to cover it all. Her shoes were way too big and I lost one on the way back to the hotel in all of the commotion. Here are a few pics of O when we were in China to get her in May of 2004. (E was just 3 years old at the time!)

On Saturday, the social worker came to conduct our 6 month post placement visit for C. Hard to believe it has been almost 6 months!

Then Sunday was Mother's Day. Where better to celebrate such a day than home with 3 generations of women!

Cinco de Mayo

Tonight we went up to school to watch E and O perform in the Cinco de Mayo program. Here are a few pics of the 2 most beautiful girls in the program (and their baby sister, too!)

Celebrating C

Today C turned 2 years old! What a joy to spend this birthday with her. She spent her first birthday alone in China. This past week marked 5 months since we received her. It seems like it was just yesterday and yet somehow like she has always been a part of us - the third little pea in the pod!

She took cupcakes to school to share with her friends and of course we had cake after dinner. She enjoyed the multiple renditions of Happy Birthday. She looks very sweet in her new birthday dress and hot pink patent shoes. She cannot make a 2 with 1 hand, but certainly gets the job done with 2! Here are some pics from her special day. Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

What a week...

We have had a rough week here in our home. Late last week C ran low fever and coughing, running nose, etc. Went to the doctor last Friday and paid money to find out she just has a cold. By Saturday, C appeared to be better. On Sunday, O started running fever and manged to get as high as 105.2. Very scary! Of course the doctor was not in. The on call nurse told me that if I did not get her to drink more liquid and get her fever down I would need to get her to the ER. If you know my O, then you know you want to save the ER and IVs for a last resort. So, I put cool compresses on her and forced her to drink. Within the hour the fever inched down out of the 104 range. I spent the afternoon and evening/night giving motrin/tylenol on a regular basis to keep her fever from spiking again. By Monday morning she was fine. Wednesday, C started again with the fever. Last night she started complaining that her mouth hurt and today she cried with pain just when she drank. I went to the doctor again to hear what I suspected...hand, foot, mouth disease. Nothing to do for it, just round the clock motrin for pain. It will run its course in a couple of days. I have not slept more than 3 hrs at a time for over a week now. I am exhausted and worn out.

On the bright side, have I mentioned how much I love these girls?! There is no doubt in my mind that they were always meant to be mine and be together. Who knew that it was even possible to love so passionately and with such abandon! There is nothing like the love that a parent has for a child. I am so thrilled that I get to be the mother of the 3 most wonderful girls in the world. Here's a glimpse of what I get to see every day!