First Swim Meet of 2007

Here is Harry (all 38 lbs. of lean muscle) getting ready to climb the block for his relay.

On your mark.

Get set...

Go!

Go Harry!

My cutie patootie



Cheering on their teammates. Harry is admiring a new friend. He really looks up to the older boys!

Brotherly love



Best buddies

The real reason my boys love swim team is the camaraderie!



I was really touched by all of the comments to my last post. I guess all of us Moms have these feelings in common at one time or another. Oh and let me say a few of my friends did warn me about how things were about to change.

I didn't get any good photos of Will swimming because his events are later and it was getting dark. Also, he was in a lane that was hard to photograph. Maybe next time.

Labor of Love

This what Miss Kate was doing when I turned my back for a second yesterday! Who knew she could crawl up steps? Not me!

I know that many of the people who stop by this blog are in the process of adopting or have recently adopted a child. I want to share a side of the transition that not a lot of people talk about... the hard side. I have never really opened up like this on my blog before. Mostly I use it as a digital scrapbook of our life and our journey adopting Kate Emerson. But here it goes....

Let me begin my stating that I am not complaining. I love my life. I am very blessed. I sincerely appreciate everything that I have. However, being a Mom to a 10 year old, a 6 year old and a one year old is really overwhelming for me right now. I have hesitated about putting this out there but I feel like maybe it will be helpful to other Moms who feel overwhelmed too. I belong to a group of on-line Moms who have recently adopted babies from China (many are first time Moms) and they have wondered why no one ever told them how hard it is. I thought long and hard about this. First, I think we do try to "warn" women about to become Moms but most of us think we can handle anything. I also think a lot of Moms walk around feeling isolated and tired and bored (yes, it is boring sometimes) but they don't want to admit it to each other. Finally, I think that even if people tell you how hard it is, you don't know until you're in it.

I thought that since Kate is our third child, I had some clue as to what I was getting into. In some ways I did. But in some ways, I didn't. I had no idea how having three kids at completely different developmental stages would pull at me this way. I also had no idea how being 10 years older than I was when I first had Will would impact me. Sometimes, I am more patient and experienced but at other times, I just feel tired and old.

Kate is in that really tough stage where she is cruising and trying to walk and sticking her little fingers into electrical outlets. So, I cannot turn my back for one second. This leaves little time to play with, read to and hang out with the older boys let alone cook dinner or call a friend. My once very clean and organized house is now messy. I used to cook healthy meals from scratch. We eat at the pool a lot now. I used to have lunch with friends, chat on the phone, etc. My friendships have fallen by the wayside a bit. I have turned into that Mom who cannot get a shower before noon on some days and cannot finish her sentences (or blog postings).Would I trade any of it to go back to life before Kate? Not for one second! But the reality is that this mothering thing is hard work. It is okay to feel that and it is okay to talk about it to other Moms.

I think that the tough reality of mothering to an adopted child presents its own unique challenges. For example, we waited SO long to welcome these babies into our lives. We played the scenes over and over in our heads about how it would be. So, when it is hard and we miss a little bit of our old freedom, we feel guilty.

Also, I feel as though I have 10 months to "make up" for with Kate. By this age, I let Will and Harry "cry it out" sometimes. I never let Kate do that. It is imperative that I earn her trust. I must meet her every need right now to do that. When Will was 10 days old, Dave and I began having a "date night" every week. We thought it was really important for our marriage (and we still think it is important). But, we have not had a date since the end of March! We just felt like Kate had to know that we were her parents and that we would meet all of her needs before we left her with a sitter at night. I know that while all of this is harder on us in the short run, it is essential for her emotional health in the long run.

I just wanted people who are about to go down this road to tuck this away in your head. While our children are the greatest blessing, it is hard work and some days are harder than others. This too shall pass and I am sure one day soon, I will say "where did my little ones go?" I am sure one day I will even wish to have this chaos back again:)

Will's Birthday Party

Will had his 10th birthday party yesterday! It was a good old fashioned afternoon of pizza, watergun battles, slip and slide, water balloons, root beer floats (instead of cake-- Will's choice) and baseball! In this day and age, I think the art of the simple backyard birthday party has been lost. I was thrilled that this is exactly what my son asked for to celebrate his birthday.

Will is such an awesome kid. I plan to write a special post about him this week. But after a month of birthdays, a baptism, a big trip etc...I am exhausted. So, that will have to wait a few days. Sit back, pour yourself a root beer float and enjoy the slide show. I did.

Some Summer Fun

Kate had a bit of a tough week since returning from Houston. We think that she got a little confused and overhwelmed after travelling and she had a bit of anxiety at bedtime this week. She is doing much better now. Here are some photos of her having some summer fun in her baby pool, at a birthday party (her first), eating a popsicle (also her first) and blowing bubbles on the back deck. Tomorrow is Will's 10th birthday party. I cannot believe I am old enough to have both 10 year old and a one year old!

People we saw

I took 532 photos during our visit to Houston! I lived there for 11 years and Dave lived there for 16 years (longer than anywhere else for him). Dave and I met, dated, got married, bought our first few homes and had Will and Harry in Houston. We are so blessed to have so many great friends there still. Here are just some of the wonderful people we visited last week.

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Houston Days 1 and 2

We arrived in Houston just in time to meet some good friends at Dave's favorite BBQ joint....Goode Company Barbeque. Texas BBQ is so good and we have really missed it. Harry and Dad are really enjoying it here.

Kate liked the BBQ but she did not like the heat at all! We had to move inside to the air conditioning. We enjoyed hanging out with Mark, Cindy, Aiden and Glenn!



The next day we went to the zoo (photos below) and one of our favorite little Italian restaurants for lunch. Will and Harry remembered that the waiter used to give them pizza dough to play with and they asked for some this time too.

Will was just so happy to be back in Houston. He was very nostalgic the enitre visit.

Kate riding the zoo train for the first time. She is wondering why anyone would live in a place so darned HOT!

Harry contemplating life on the zoo train. When we lived in Houston, I used to pick up Harry from pre-school, take him for a ride on the zoo train and then home for lunch and a nap. Those were special times for us. We used to see little bunnies that lived near the parked trains but Dad and Will never believed us.

Harry loved the fact that he could master the climbing apparatus at the zoo playground now that he is a little bigger.

The boys are in with the piranhas here.

In front of the meerkats, we bumped into adorable twins (Claire and Sophia) adopted from China. Within a minute another boy adopted from China and his family stopped to meet us. What a small world!

My 3 peanuts

Will and Harry at the Houston Zoo. When we lived in Houston, we were members of the zoo and it was less than a mile from our house. The zoo was our playground and I spent more hours there with the boys than almost any other place (except maybe the science museum). We had a great time visiting it and we were impressed with all of the renovations.

After the zoo, our good friends invited us over for dinner. Katie Ru is trying to kiss her new friend, Hadley. We have been friends with Hadley's Mom and Dad since Will was a baby. They made us a most delicious dinner!

Will and Brendan picked up right where they left off. I have pictures of them playing when they were about one. They both loved the zoo and the park back then!

Kate Emerson enjoyed some "toy sushi" at their house.

Kate, Hadley and Morgan

Kate and the road trip

Okay, so people keep asking me how Kate Emerson did on our 40 hour (20 each way) road trip last week. Well, this is how Kate's car seat looked. I realized that if I kept feeding her Ritz crackers, she was quiet and content. Now those of you who know me know that 1) I am a clean FREAK so you can imagine how I felt about these crumbs in her car seat and 2) we don't even eat Ritz crackers (they are NOT gluten free). But desperate times call for desperate measures.

One other little story...About an hour after we pulled out (kids all bathed and in their jammies), Kate got sick in the car. We were in a one lane construction zone and there was nowhere to pull over. I started to panic and made Dave pull over into the grass on the left side. I pulled off Kate's PJ's and Dave cleaned up the car (I would gag). I said we would have to toss those jammies. Will said, "Mom, you cannot throw those away. They are the first pajamas Kate ever wore in China." I quickly explained to Will that we have two pairs of the exact same jammies and I am sure that it is the other pair that she wore when they first got her. Isn't my son the sweetest?

On the way...a little side trip

As we were driving down to Houston, we started seeing signs for a place called "Rock City." Since Dave is a geologist this seemed like something we ought to go see. It was very interesting. We had a great time and I am sure we will never forget it!

P.S. Yes, I did write "driving to Houston" above. We drove there ---20 hours each way! And um, yes, we are crazy!

The last one...I promise

Kate's sweet little foot.

Harry and Dad


Kate and her Dada

The water being poured over Kate. I did pull out her organza bow at the last minute. She did not utter one sound as the water was poured over her head.

My side of the family

Dave's side of the family

"Uncle Neal"

"Aunt Tessa"

You can have your cake and eat it too

I know that you are probably sick of the birthday/baptism series by now. However, we are in Houston and I forgot my USB so I cannot upload photos from my camera. Also, my friend Elissa is such a gifted photographer that I must share her works of art. I will probably do one more post after this and then I promise to move on to other events in our life.