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COME FULL CIRCLE

This is a digital scrapbook of our journey to complete our family in Vietnam.

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9/28/2008

Team Sport

Sebastian is doing another season of soccer. He almost did tackle football but Mommy kind of talked him out of it this Fall. I can't remember if I told the story in an earlier post about how Sebastian was signing up for football until we found out he wasn't eligible for flag football anymore.

Anyway, the first time Sebastian played soccer, he was five going on six. That was the Spring we were waiting to go to Vietnam where our Ava was. Sebastian has changed a lot since that Spring. He has improved in the team sports aspect. He also is competitive and is actually "involved" in the soccer games. We've only had a few practices and only two games. Since practices and games are only once a week, we have been getting rained out frequently. I was able to capture some shots from the last game.
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Pre-game pep talk. Doesn't Sebastian look deep in thought?







































Ava trying to get in on the action.
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The team made a goal and Sebastian does a victory jump.
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9/27/2008

Inquisitive

Ava discovering Mom Mom's garden animals


























Pretty as a flower!













Doesn't it look like Ava is giggling and being bashful? She was actually trying to blow me kisses. I love how you can see her wrinkled nose behind her hands.


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Fantasy or Reality?

Is it any wonder how little girls get the idea of domestication at such an early age? Of course Ava is going to learn that chores is not just a gender thing (I hope). Maybe her pocketbook and cell phone means she will become a successful business woman.




























No, Ava did not recently have twins. She's just babysitting a set of preemies :-P












If only she knew how much I procrastinate when it comes to cleaning. So when does housekeeping stop being fun?


More play time

I bought a bin full of plastic foods and more play dishes at the last children's sale. Ava can still fit right in the bin and chooses to do so quite often. What is she going to do when she outgrows the bin?



Open Wide

Sebastian's molar has sprouted. The other three haven't come through yet. I didn't realize that his baby molars hadn't come in. I never realized they grew so late. He's already lost two baby teeth, I thought he was all done with baby teeth. The only reason I found out about his molar is because I still floss his teeth.

Our angel spreading her wings

Okay, she's running down the hall because she's hoping the wings will fly off her. She didn't really like having them strapped on her but Mommy thought she was an adorable angel. I bought them at a children's sale and thought they would make a good halloween costume or end up in the play clothes bin.



Early parenthood?

This is Ava's way of feeding her baby doll. I'm not quite sure if she understands the baby needs to be fed or if she's just testing the baby bottle first. But as you can see, Ava is very affectionate ;-)


9/22/2008

Well rested

This is what I found on Mom's bed when we came to pick up Ava one evening when Michael and I went out for a few hours. It just proves that babies can sleep just about anywhere and in any position. She looked like she was sleeping on a speed bump the way her back was arched. She didn't even bat an eye when I plucked her from the pillow and transferred her to the car seat.


Guess who's home?

Yes, I was video happy the past week. We were enjoying the last of the summer corn dinner when Ava heard the garage door open and heard Daddy's voice in the hallway. I swear I did not prompt her to do this! She's been making these facial expressions lately and I've been missing it all until this one time. Her expressions are priceless.

Ava's Daily Vocabulary

Ava uses these two words on a daily basis. One word is more demanding than the other. Can you guess which one?

UH OH....


UPPY!

Ode to Summer

I took these pictures a few weeks ago when we went to Chucky Cheese's for Mary's 3rd birthday. We stopped at June's house afterwards and the kids burned off some extra energy on Mary's new playset in the backyard. Say goodbye Summer (again)!






Get Up Sebastian!

This is what happens when you don't "share".

First Day of Fall

I'm sad that summer is officially over. So in order to get ready for Fall, I threw myself into the Fall festivities this past weekend.
Michael planted the Mums in the flower pots last weekend. I bought the pumpkins, scarecrow, Fall tablecloth (for the kitchen table) and some Fall scented Yankee candles. I even cooked a new Fall dish for dinner so the whole house smelled like pork stew and Yankee candles. Did I forget to mention that it was 85 degrees? I pulled out the Fall flag and propped up the scarecrow. Then I tortured Ava by making her my poster model. But at least it looked like Fall! ;-)



9/17/2008

Points from an adoptee

I have been reading several blogs from adult adoptees from Vietnam for the past several days. As I read some of their comments, viewpoints, reflections and emotions on adoption, I could see a little bit of myself in each and every one of them. Through the years, I have been torn about my own feelings as an adoptee. I heard that writing your feelings down can be cathartic for one's soul but I have never been able to articulate how I really feel. Perhaps someday.

I did read on someone's entry on adoptionblogs.com today and her words rang loudly with me. I have attached a quote from the post below. This is how I would ideally like Ava to feel about her own adoptee experiences. I have been worrying so long about how we will bring up the adoption subject with her. We WILL bring it up some day...this much I owe her. But at the same time, I don't want this to become an obsession. I don't want it to take over our lives. I want her to grow up with "normal" childhood memories and fondness. I don't remember when and how I discussed adoption with my parents. I just knew from a very early age.

"My parents did not raise me as being adopted (meaning I was raised just as other children) nor was it the central theme of my childhood. I was raised as any other child that was loved it just happened to be through adoption. I believe with adoptees the main thing should be providing them a loving family and allowing the too become the person they are. My childhood is not fulfilled with thoughts of adoption but normal childhood memories. When I think and remember things from my childhood it is about family times we had together, the holidays we celebrated, and the bonds that grew over the years. When I talk about my life I talk about my children, husband, family, pets, friends, childhood…my life which is not all about adoption."

I have also added new links on my blog sidebar (on the right). The links are to other Vietnam adoptee's websites. They are informative for both adoptive parents and adoptees on subject matters such as: struggling with issues, looking to make sense of their own adoption, finding others with the same feelings to relate to, etc. I think it keeps my thoughts in "perspective", especially when I don't know how to really feel during certain times in my life.

9/09/2008

Little Ballerina

Here's a prime example of Ava walking on her toe-sies. I have witnessed it several times and had to get it on camera of course. She cracks me up because I mentioned "ballerina shoes" and she thought I was going to put her shoes on.

Miscellaneous Musings

Lately, Ava likes to stand and walk on her tippy toes. She looks like she's practicing ballet. It's too early to tell yet but she is so adorable on her toes. Ava didn't actually put on the party hat she got from Mary's third birthday party. Mommy decided to put the hat on her because I knew her personality would come out once she started posing for pictures. Of course Sebastian had to get into the action. ;-) Remember Ava loves to play with shoes? Well, she likes other people's shoes as well!





Car "rockers"

What happens when you have two crazy kids and some really great tunes in the car?

Sebastian playing his air guitar and Ava grooving to the music. I was cracking up in the video because Ava reminded me of one of those bobble heads. Especially with her cute, silly grin!


Just in case you didn't get enough of Ava, this is her usual response when she hears music that really "moves" her!

Mirror, mirror, on the car seat.....

We were on a looong car ride on Sunday because Mommy decided to get lost on the way to a birthday party. Ava was giggling and chattering up a storm in the back so I had to find out what was going on. I have somewhat mastered the digital camera where I can basically point the camera lens anywhere and shoot the picture without looking at the view screen. Ava was just talking to herself in the mirror. I have a mirror hanging off the back of the driver's seat. I installed the mirror when Ava turned one and she was able to face forward. I've been meaning to remove the mirror but it's been her daily entertainment and amusement. since

The frog she's holding is called "Tad". It's one of the few things I've held on to from Sebastian's toddler years. Ava is slowly growing attached to Tad. When you squeeze the left hand it turns Tad on and when you squeeze the right hand it turns Tad off. Every time you turn Tad off, he says "bye bye" and Ava likes to say "bye bye" back. This goes on at least a dozen times. I will have to capture it on video one of these days. Everytime I whip out the camera, she stops doing it. I also think it's cute because Tad is more than half of Ava's size. Unfortunately it won't last long...they sprout up so quickly!

Rainy day recreation

A few pictures from a rainy afternoon. We got this cute kitchen set from one of Ava's daycare teachers. I happened to mention that I was in the market for a play kitchen for Ava but I didn't know if she was old enough. Her teacher overheard me and said she had one she was trying to get rid of. The timing was perfect! She goes through phases where she won't play with it by herself. But sometimes she will keep herself busy for about five minutes.

"Someone's in the kitchen with Dina...."







































A rare glimpse of Ava and Sebastian playing peacefully...for about five minutes until one of them decides to make up their own "rules".


























Okay, this has probably been done a million times but I had to amuse myself! When all else fails and the kids are starting to get on each other's nerves, you turn on some music and they get a little exercise as well! By the way, MC Hammer was actually playing in the background but you couldn't hear it very well so I downloaded the music file and edited my video clip ;-) I am the sound master! ;-) Sebastian was showing Ava the "move" and she caught on really fast.