Our Yearly Bowling Event

Every year, in memory of Erin and to celebrate her birthday, we go bowling, watch one of the Grease movies (I or II) and eat something from Dairy Queen- all favorites things that Erin loved to do. 

This year the gorgeous weather made it a much easier evening event, with the temp in the 40's.  There have been years when it's been so cold out that we didn't want to leave the house, and one year the back doors of the car froze shut while we were in the bowling alley! (I'm not kidding)
January in South Dakota can be brutal.

Kinda dark, I know, but it's the only one with Quinn and Camille.

We won't disclose the scores..... :-)

Before heading to Sioux Falls for bowling, we first stopped at Hurley for a 5th grade girls basketball game.

5th grade girl's Fan Club!

Bri waiting to go in

Quinn and Luke- where are your pompoms?

Then when we got home from Dairy Queen, we played The Farming Game.  I gotta say, it was nice to put away the Saturday To Do list and just play with our kids for the day.

However, if they are out of undies on Monday because the laundry didn't get done on Saturday, I don't want to hear about it!

1 month anniversary

It's been one month since I first got my arms wrapped around Quinn, and now I just can't imagine her not being in our lives.   She has settled in as if she owns the place, and we couldn't be more thrilled! 

Talking on the phone is her current "thing" and everything becomes a phone, including the TV remote control.  It's hilarious to watch her babble, then say "yah, yah, yah" and then laugh as if she just heard a joke!!  What a character she is!

She is also fascinating by the piano- she will sit and tinkle the ivories for up to 20 minutes before wanting to get down.  Maybe she will be our piano player?

Not sure why this got fuzzy when I added it..?

I find myself getting caught up in just watching her- it's so surreal to see her as part of our family and I almost can't believe that she is finally here.  I'm sure that I won't always have this feeling of disbelief, and she will become just one of the gang, but for now, I'm enjoying the sheer delight that I feel when watching her.

I don't think the feeling of awe will ever go away. And I'm okay with that :-)

Luv with just a touch of jealousy

No one was more excited to adopt Quinn than Camille. 

Before Quinn came home, Camille was sorting out toys to share with her.  She was drawing pictures of her and Quinn playing together.  She had lots of big plans for the two of them, and at the root of all these plans was the hope that she and Quinn would become best of friends.

It's no secret that sometimes Camille feels left out, now that there are only 3 kids still at home.  Luke and Bri have a closeness that tends to leave her out, and they are both older and involved in alot of the same activities, which leaves Camille on the sidelines.

Her expectations of Quinn balancing out the sibling group were understandable. 

What she didn't expect was to be a little jealous of Quinn.  One day I read her journal entry, and it read "I hate that Quinn is here.  She gets everything."

Our conversation went like this:

Me: Camille, are you mad at Quinn today?
Camille:  No
Me:  You mentioned in your journal entry that you wished she wasn't here.  What is that about?
Camille: (typical avoidance)  I wish I was still a baby.  Babies get everything.
Me:  Really?  Like what?
Camille:  They get all sorts of stuff bought for them, like cool little boxes of cereal, and apple juice, and stuff like that.
Me: I buy cereal for you too, but you get the big bags because you eat more.  The little boxes are for Quinn's baby bag so she can eat them when we go places.  And you got apple juice when you were little too.
Camille:  Well, I wish I was still little.  And I wouldn't have to do school either.
Me:  Well, there are lots of things you get to do because you are 9 that Quinn doesn't get to do.  You got to go to the Chipmunk movie last night, right?
Camille:  yah.
Me:  Well, Quinn didn't get to go because she's too little.  She also has to take a nap during the day.  Do you want to go back to naps too?
Camille:  Ummm...No!
Me:  Well, there you go!  

(That was interesting- she managed to include in her disdain of schoolwork along with her complaint regarding Quinn- way to slip that in there, sweetheart!)

That was the first episode of jealousy we've encountered so far, so I think it's going pretty well.

Other than the "inequality of treats" infraction, all the kids are welcoming Quinn into the family and seem incredibly proud to have her as a sister.

And Camille is still banking on Quinn becoming her cohort in crime and all other fun activities.

(Don't you love the outfit?  She is quite the character!)

Happy Birthday Erin Leigh~

Every Jan 23rd seems to catch me off guard. 

I'm tooling along, minding my own business, enjoying the level of relaxation that comes from the After Christmas frenzy, and then I see the date on the calendar, and it takes me back. 

It's been 14 years since the accident and Erin would've been 26 years old today.  But in my mind, she will always be 11 years old.

Giving me flowers on Mothers Day

She was selected with JR Olsen as Crown Bearers for Homecoming

Happy Girl!

Holding her new baby brother Luke.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!  I'm sure the birthday parties in Heaven are incredible :-)

We all miss you and love you so much.

xxoo Mom

Bri's BB game

Today was a first for 2 of our girls- Bri had her first ever basketball game, and Quinn got to watch her first girls basketball game!

Bri was so excited and nervous at the same time, but she went out there cool as a cucumber and played very calmly and purposefully.  We were all thrilled for her when she made the first basket for her team!  They were outplayed with a score of 29-7, but she came off of the court flushed and exhuberated, telling us how much fun it had been and that she couldn't wait until the next game.

Bri, Shania, Kaylee, Tori, Coach Richards

Rebounding~

Bri and her Cheerleaders

I love that she got so much joy out of playing today and just being with her friends. For them, it is still just a game...not a reason to stress out, or an opportunity to fail, or a guilt trip from sports crazed parents and fans.  I relish this time in her life when playing sports is done because it's just plain fun, and for no other reason than that.

Great Job, Cougars!

Carpe Diem

This post describes so well to the conflict that I often feel- grateful to be a stay at home mother, but frustrated because many days parenting feels more like a job than a priviledge.  But, like the author, there are moments in every day that I revel in the joy of motherhood, even if it's only for a few minutes, and that nourishes my soul enough to get up the next day and do it again.

Enjoy~

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html

Look at those angel faces!

Food, and other updates~

From the time that we wrapped Quinn up and took her to our hotel in Tiayuan after Gotcha Day, she has been having, shall I dare say, Blowout Diapers.  At first I attributed it to the stress of leaving her orphanage and being placed with these two funny-looking strangers, and then thought that maybe the change of diet and formula may be the culprits.

We are at the end of week 3, and still experiencing diapers of epic proportions.

So, tomorrow Quinn has her first American medical checkup, and ironically will have a Japanese doctor at our local clinic! (We had a Chinese doctor there as well, but he just recently transferred to a larger hospital- darn it!)   We are hoping that he can help determine what could be causing her tummy to turn out these mini explosions. 

Mommy detail tonight was to fill a specimen cup with "poo" and put it in the fridge (wrapped in a sealed baggie) and bring it to the clinic tomorrow for parasite testing.  Often, kids will pick up giardia or other internal parasites in orphanages, and these are known for causing diarrhea, so this may be what's affecting Quinn.

Another possibility and an interesting fact I've unearthed with my research is that there is a prevalence of lactose intolerance among Asian children.  We discovered this as well with Native American children that we have had in foster care, and it stems back to a culture's native diet generations ago and whether milk was part of that diet.  This could be the culprit as well for poor Quinn, so we have eliminated dairy as best that we can and substituting Soy milk and yogurt for cows milk.  (Apparently the bacteria in yogurt helps the digestion and yogurt seems to go down better- go figure!) 

Considering we have our own dairy cow and are avid cheese and ice cream lovers, this is a daunting task when I look at it as a permanent diet adjustment, but for now, I'm trying to just take it a week at a time and see how she does with these modifications.

The whole cultural diet influence is so amazing!! Is it something programmed in our DNA?  My friend, Sara, was adopted at birth and tells wonderful stories of the food cravings she had for fish/herring and other "Nordic" food when she was being raised in an English/German home.  She is Norwegian by nationality, and she craved food that is historically consumed by Norwegians and people of that geographic area, although she was not raised with these foods as a main part of the diet presented to her.  Where did these cravings come from?

  It begs the question of Nature vs Nurture when it comes to our menus and the food that we choose to consume. And the fact that if hundred of years ago, your ancestors didn't have access to fresh milk in their diet, then their digestive system didn't regularly process milk and years later, their descendents are lactose intolerant because of that lack of milk. 

FASCINATING STUFF, PEOPLE!!!

Anyway, back to Quinn :-)  This little girl is an eating machine, lactose issues aside, and my arms tell me that she has gained weight since I first held her 3 weeks ago.

And I think we are making wonderful headway in the area of Trust.

She is bonding with her new siblings fairly well....

Helping Bri with her homework

And I think SHE thinks that this is kind of a good place to be...

She is definitely a keeper!