An Unusual Thanksgiving

Well, if someone told me a week ago that this would have happened I would not have believed it.  Oli started coughing late last week and on Monday night woke up crying saying her ear hurt.  I took her to the doctor on Tuesday, by then the cough had gotten worse but she was still in good spirits.  After the doctor examined her, he proceeded to give her some tests (Oli was SO brave . . she did not cry once) drawing blood from her arm, inserting long Q tips up her nose, giving her 2 shots in her legs (an antibiotic) as well as some chest X-rays.  Well, long story short he diagnosed her with influenza AND pneumonia.  Mind you she had pneumonia less than 2 months ago. . .Fortunately she is responding well to the antibiotics and nebulizer treatments so I know she is well on the road to recovery but still, it was quite a fright!  

The doctor told us that he did not recommend Oli be with many people for the next few days so we had to cancel Thanksgiving at our house and wound up spending a very quiet evening with Anthony, Oli and my mom.  Very different from what I imagined I would be doing but regardless very nice.

Still no news about our son (or daughter), the waiting is very hard but I keep reminding myself that this is one of the lessons that this child that is coming into our lives is teaching us.

We spent November 21st, National Adoption Day with dear friends who have also adopted their children.  Here is a picture of that special day. 

WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Oliism

When I picked up Oli from school earlier this week she told me that one of the girls in her table said the following during lunch. "Raise your hand if you are Jewish". I asked her if she had raised her hand and she replied, "no, mami, I'm not Jewish, I'm Colombian!"

waiting waiting and more waiting

Oli doing the nebulizer on Teddy.

Oli has been sick for the past few weeks and was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. She has been home quite a lot doing 3 nebulizer treatments a day but is fortunately now feeling better.

I cant believe it is October and still no referral. I know each adoption is different and I should not compare them but things have been so different from the first time around. With Olivia, we waited 11 months from the time our dossier was sent to Colombia to referral. We were told 12-24 months so when we got the call it was totally unexpected and amazing. One moment I was making dinner and the next I was a mother. I will never forget it. This time around time we have already been waiting 30 months. The thing is that we keep being told it will happen soon and so we have put so many things on hold just in case we get the call. If we would have been told at the beginning it will be this long of a wait we would have gotten ready mentally for the wait. However, for the past year we keep hearing that we will get the referral soon . . . it is so difficult to be in this state of mind all the time. I find myself wondering "will today be the day?" so much, every time the phone rings the first thing that crosses my mind is always" is this THE call?"

The only bit of news that we do have to share is that last week we received the acceptance letter from Los Pisingos (the Casa Privada/orphanage we are adopting from) and we have been approved to adopt a boy from 24-36 months. We are very happy to have this piece of news and hope and pray that we can go pick up our son soon and begin our lives together as a family of 4.

Bye bye summer

End of August. . . . how time flies. We had a fabulous summer, Oli and I spent every day together and had a great time doing many, many things. We went to NY for 3 weeks to visit Nonna and Nonno, aunts, uncles and cousins Kiki and Frankie. The rest of the time we spent here in Miami, going to the pool & beach, seeing friends and going on playdates . . . we were very busy. I told Oli she was attending Camp Zita and she loved it!

Yesterday was the first day of school, it is her last year before starting kindergarten. She is attending Rainbow Montessori School, so far so good, she has not cried when Anthony dropped her off. I have a good feeling about this school and she is very excited she got to use the computer at school yesterday.

 

No news yet about baby # 2. We have also been working hard setting up the new bedroom and playroom, we are ready for the referral! Hopefully soon . . . . . .

first graduation

Here is a picture of Oli at her Muzart graduation with her best friends, Paige and Sydney last week. Sniff sniff. . . it was beautiful and of course I had tears in my eyes (I'm a Pisces, what can I say!). Now she will be home until school begins in August.

On Friday I was invited to participate in a Gladney Family Association (GFA) Training Retreat in Fort Worth, Texas for 2 days. The outcome is that we are now in the process of officially begin a GFA here in South Florida! This means we will be offering playgroups, educational workshops related to different adoption issues, as well as other events for our area. I am THRILLED about this and am really looking forward to helping organize this to be an awesome association!

I was very impressed with what I saw this weekend at Gladney. The comittment of the volunteers, the professionalism yet warmth of the staff, the transparency and integrity of everyone there really impacted me in a positive way.

no news yet. . . .

Oli's B day

Well, even though almost 2 months have passed still I have posted there is no news to report on the second adoption front, however we have been busy. In April Oli had her 4th birthday party, theme Curious George, it was her first real one with lots of friends (over 60 kids and adults!) invited. We all had a super time, but I never realized how much work organizing an event like that would be! Here are some pictures of the big day. May was also full of several important events, I cant believe the month is almost over as is her school. We have decided to keep Oli home this summer, we will be going to NY for a month anyway so we will stay busy doing activities at home and with friends until classes begin in the fall. Four is definitely my favorite age so far, she is so sweet and understands things and is able to communicate with such complex words it astounds me! She is truly a pleasure and a joy and I am looking forward ot spending these next couple of months together.

What to wear?

Well, the latest manner Oli has shown us her independence is by her dress style. I really would not know how to describe it, if I had to I'd say "layering". She just starts putting clothes on and keeps going. For instance, she will often put on an undershirt, long sleeved shirt (always long sleeves), a skirt, tights, a dress and a sweater on top. To top it off she was often insisting on putting on her nicer clothes that we save for special occasions. I decided it was not worth the arguments we had begun having so one morning I woke up at 6am and while she slept in my bed I rearranged her closet, moving rods and shelves until everything that she could put on was at her level and the better things were further up. This solved the wearing the nice clothes issue, and I have decided to let her dress herself as she wants, (I figured I should keep quiet until I really need her to wear what I want), although she does get some strange looks when we are out! Fortunately, she goes to a creative, artsy pre-school so they are OK with her wearing just about anything. We'll see what happens when the days start to get hotter!

Disco Fever

What a fabulous time we had last night. My mom took Oli to sleep at her house and we had 3 other couples over for a Murder Mystery Dinner. We had borrowed a mirrored disco ball and really decorated the place up, served Mac & Cheese with meatloaf on TV dinner trays and listeened and danced to Disco music all night long. . . .

Sick, sick sick!

The 3 of us have been out of comission for a few days now. Oli started with fever last Saturday, wound up with 103.5 on Sunday night. We had to put her in the tub with warm water and she was not a happy camper! After waiting for 2 1/2 (yes, TWO AND A HALF) hours at the drs on Monday morning he said it was just a viral infection and fortunately her lungs were clear so all we had to do was keep her hydrated. Of course Anthony and I proceeded to get sick right after that . I have not been so ill for a few years with a fever for 3 days and lots of coughing. I think (HOPE) the worst is behind us especially because we have our Murder Mystery Dinner to celebrate my B day this coming Saturday. I am SO looking forward to it. This year the theme is 70s Disco, which is my all time favorite era so I am even more psyched about it than usual. I'll be sure to post pictures soon! Anthony and I are going as Sonny and Cher!

Miami picnic

This past Saturday we had a fantastic picnic (thanks Sandy for organizing it!) with a few families that had adopted from Colombia in 2005. What a great time the kids had! It was a spectacular day and everyone had a good time. Hope to see you all soon again. A special holler goes to the Santos family who came all the way from Tampa to be with us (as well as the Velez family). Josh was the king of the day amongst all the girls (Liv, Francesca, Isabella, Victoria and Oli).