British Soccer Camp

This past week Konnor has been attending Soccer Camp. It is a British Soccer camp and all of the coaches are from Europe. It is an awesome program. Last year was Konnor's first camp and he couldn't wait to do it again this year. They do amazing skill buiding activities through games and fun. They also emphasize good sportsmanship - this is so important, especially in today's world where sometimes good sportmanship seems a thing of the past. Not everyone needs to win and they teach how to lose gracefully and to treat everyone with respect. Like I said, a great program.



The last picture is of Regan trying to put her shoe on. I told her to "get dressed" and she found her shoe and tried putting in on her foot. She wasn't successful, but she worked on it for 5 or so minutes before she gave up and came to me for help.



Regan's new trick is trying to run. At first, I wasn't sure what she was doing. I thought she was just out of control and walking really fast and then she would do a huge belly flop to the floor. Then, I realized she is trying to run. I told the little fruitloop she might want to get a little better at walking before she tries to run as it isn't working so well for her!!!!

Pool Fun

Saturday, we went to the public pool for the first time. They have a kiddie play area that the kids love. The deepest water is only 2 feet and it has a playground in the middle of the pool. Because Regan loved the water play area at Lakes Park so much, I was hoping she would love the pool and she did! She wasn't in the water more than 2 minutes when she lost her balance and went head first. Her head sunk like a rock and her bottom floated up like a helium filled balloon. I was right with her, of course, and she was only face first for a second or two, but it was like slow motion. I figured that would be the end of it for her, but she got over it right away and was ready to play. She didn't do any more walking without holding onto someone's hand after that incident! We went back tonight so that she could play some more and try out the big pool. She didn't have so much fun at the big pool, but her floaty suit is too big and it was bothering her. Regan loved the life guard and kept staring and staring. At one point, she got out of the pool and followed him back and forth as he paced the (short) length of the pool. I quickly got her before he realized he had a little shadow or before she got run over by bigger kids.

The pictures of her half dressed with a box of Cheez-its are because I think she is the funniest thing. I was sitting on the couch and Yunnie came up and sat with me. She rarely sits still for any length of time unless she is playing with a toy and I was enjoying her just hanging out with me. After ten minutes or so she got off of the couch, walked into the kitchen and I heard the pantry door open. She then came back with a box of Cheez-its, crawled up in the chair and proceeded to start snacking and watching t.v. I know to everyone else that is nothing, but to me it is too funny that she knows what she wants and goes and gets it. Just now, I found her back in the pantry getting the Cheez-its and feeding them to the dogs. They LOVE Yunnie! I'm obviously going to have to rearrange the pantry!

Yunnie has become my little domestic diva. I showed her for the first time last night where to put the little soap capsule for the dishwasher and how to close the door to the soap holder. Well, I have to brag on my little genius because tonight she loaded up all the utensils, I handed her the soap capsule, she put it in the little door, closed the little door and then closed the dishwasher door. I think that it pretty smart having only seen it one time! I didn't cue her or anything. Of course, then my little genius goes into the trash to start dumpster diving and when she was told to cut it out she heads over and tries to eat the dogs' food, I guess you can't have everything!

Nicknames:

When I head Regan's Chinese name, Nan Zi Yun I loved it! I thought it was so beautiful and sounded good together and so I kept the entire name as her middle. When I saw her picture, she didn't look like a Regan to me she looked like a YunYun. That is what she would probably have been called had she remained in China. The Chinese often take the middle or first name and say it twice. From that day forward she was YunYun. We come from a family of people who nickname everyone. I'm called Becks, Beck, Jenn, Sis, Jennifer, Aunt Weckadoodle, Wecknet, (the last two Konnor named me!)etc. Konnor goes by the names, KonMel, Melly, Nemton (from when he was learning to write his last name and kept switching the w to an m), Konmel Louis, Nemmy, etc. Most of those are from how he used to pronouce his own name. Yunnie is Yunnie, YunYun, The Yun, A Yun, Yunkins, Yun Cakes, Yunniekins, etc, etc. She knows them all and will come to any of them. Do you think she'll have an identity crisis when she is older?!?!? So, when people hear me call her Yunnie (the name she is called most often, pronounced Yoonie) they wonder where in the world I got that name from. Now you know, from her Chinese middle name. For those of you who really know me, you know it is because I'm a big dork and will twist just about anything into a nickname and it will then stick forever!!!

On a cuter note, Regan discovered her belly button this week. She now shows everyone, lucky them. Almost everyone who was in Wal-Mart last night got the dubious pleasure of seeing her belly button. She lifts up her shirt, gets a surprised expression, points to it and goes Oh Wow, see, Oh Wow. Thank goodness she hasn't connected that I have a belly button because I really don't want everyone in Wal Mart to see it! She saw Konnor's and now every chance she gets she tries to lift his shirt and look at it.

Another Exciting Week with Daisy the Dingbat Dog

This week had its own bit of excitement. My birthday had been earlier this week so on Saturday we went out to eat at a Japanese steakhouse. Regan decided to be ornery and she was sooooo badly behaved. We finally left the table to go outside. She thought this was a great reward and figured she would get to do some walking. Ever since she became a walker, she thinks she needs to walk everywhere (the parking lot, in the road, etc). Well, I was so irritated with her behavior I wasn't going to be allowing her to do anything fun as she would think she can get rewarded for misbehaving. I made her just sit outside and she was so mad! Good, I figured, she needs to learn a lesson. My mom came out to relieve me so that I could eat my dinner and when I came back out, Regan was having a great time walking my mom all over the place. Yunnie has my mom wrapped around her fingers!

On Sunday, Konnor was an acolyte for the first time. We attend a small church and although you are technically supposed to be ~8 years old to be an acolyte, Pastor Phil thought Konnor was responsible enough to do the job at 5 years old. The only concern was whether he could reach all the candles. Luckily, he was able to reach them all. The lighting of the candles was a bit of excitement in itself as Pastor Phil came close to losing an eye and his robe catching on fire as he helped Konnor.

Wednesday morning started with Daisy vomiting on my floor. No big deal I thought, she tends to snack on grass while she is outside. When I came home from work, I found that she threw up several more times. I got a little worried. As I was cleaning up the delightful mess, I found what looked like a sewing needle and ALOT of thread that she had thrown up. Now I was in a panic. I called my vets and they couldn't fit me in (I will never be going there again). I went down the line in the phone book and called the closest vet. They told me to come right over. When I got there, they determined that she wasn't in shock and so she could wait in the waiting room. We waited for only about 15 minutes and they took us back to a room. They did xrays and determined that whatever she ate she must have thrown it all up. Thank goodness! I was worried she had puntured an intestine or would need surgery. She was sent home with medicine, she had some subcutaneous fluids, and some special food. The office was very nice and so I made appointments for the dogs annuals. I didn't realize they were overdue. They were due in February, but I guess I missed the notices. We were in the hospital in February, so who knows. Anyway, it all ended well, but where in the world did Daisy get into this stuff?!?!?

I cut Regan's hair for the first time. Her bangs were getting out of control. I was a little concerned that she would look like a cut it with a weedwhacker. For a child who never sits still, I think she was a little concerned when I came at her with a pair of scissors. She was obviously a little concerned that she was going to lose an ear if she moved, because she sat quite still. You can see the difference between the third picture and the last. And of course, she chose that night to fall off the bed and get a humongous bruise on her forehead. Right on a spot that would have previously been covered by her too-long bangs!

Pictures:

1. Konnor the acolyte.

2. Regan loves shopping carts!

3. Regan LOVES to talk on the phone.

4. Regan likes to collect bottles and she loves to put her feet on everything and anything!

5. Regan and another buggy, shopping at PetCo!

6 Month Anniversary

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of when Regan and I officially became a family. It seems to have flown by and yet, it seems as if she has been with us forever. As I look back to what these past six months have been like, it amazes me all that has happened and how happy we are. For over a year, I waited to be able to start the paperwork to adopt Regan. It then took 22 months from the start of the paperwork until I held Yunnie in my arms.

These past six months have been packed with all kinds of activities and emotions. I look back on the pictures of when we were in China and I actually miss being there. By the time it was time to go home, I was more than ready to come home. And now, I'm ready to go back! I can still smell the air outside of our hotel room (a smell I don't miss!) and remember all the neat cultures and great people we met.

The first week & 1/2 home was horrendous. No sleep, a terrified, grieving little baby, and jet lag! A little over two weeks after we got home, Regan began a week of in and out of the emergency room and doctor's office. We then spent 21 days in the hospital. A feeling I will never, ever forget is when Dr. Mon came out of surgery and told me he didn't know if Yunnie was going to make it through the night. I will never, ever forget the look on his face. I look at the scar on her side and I am so incredibly blessed to have my baby girl. Dr. Jones told me that the scar is puckering a little but that hopefully it will fade with time. I am actually glad she has that little scar. It is a reminder of how far we have come and how the outcome could have been such an absolute nightmare.

After 21 days in the hospital, we came home for one week, saw all kinds of specialists, had all kinds of tests done and ended back in the hospital for an overnight stay. Thank God, it was not a reoccurence and we were able to go home. I wonder if I"ll ever get over the sick feeling in my stomach everytime Regan has a small rash or blemish on her skin. I was terrified a couple of weeks ago when she ran a fever and I had to keep telling myself in my head, that babies are going to run fevers and it doesn't mean the awful infection is back. The silver lining in the hospital stay was that Regan and I bonded more than I ever could have thought possible. I remember looking at her as she laid in the ICU bed wondering if I would ever see her smile again. The first week in the hospital she had to hold my thumb whenever she was awake or she would be inconsolable. There was no doubt in either of our minds that we belonged to each other.

Three and 1/2 months after coming home, I went back to work and got a second job. My brother rearranged his entire work schedule so that he could stay home with Yunnie. My grandparents call often to ask about Regan or they come to visit to see their little Chinee. They talk about her all the time and feel blessed that she is our family. My mother has been amazing and I couldn't do it without her. Konnor loves his cousin so much, and it is wonderful to see the two of them interract. Regan returns his love 100%.

Regan is no longer the rashy, scratched up, bug bit, little girl who was put into my arms. She is no longer the baby who screamed and cried for hours, only slept 45 minutes at a time for no more than 3 or 4 hours in every 24 during those first two weeks. I look back at the struggle to get her to eat solid food. She would only drink scalding hot bottles. I wasn't able to put her down for weeks! I still use the backpack my mom bought me, but it is for recreation, not just so I can have two free hands and yet let Regan feel close to me! She is no longer terrified of clothing changes, teeth brushing, batheing, grass, dogs, having her hair brushed, or having her diaper changed. She loves to be kissed and snuggled and loved on and for that I am so blessed. She is a funny little girl who has such an amazing personality. She is also the most strong-willed child I have ever seen!

I think of her Chinese mom and dad and wonder about them. How blessed we are to live in a country that allows us to make our own choices as to the size of our family. The freedom of choices. I hope her mother and father have peace. It took me a long time to even begin to understand their decision to place Regan in an orphanage, but as you learn more and more about the Chinese government and their policies you do realize that they probably had no choice. I can not even begin to imagine their sacrifice. They are missing out on so much. Because of them, I have been given an amazing gift. To know that if Regan had stayed in China she probably would not be alive today humbles me. God's timing and planning is a wonderous thing. I know that I am being so sappy, but as I look back on the past six months there has been such a rollercoaster of emotions. I am in such a better place now then I was 6 months and 1 day ago.

What a week!!!

This post is actually from last week, I just never got around to posting it. I also am having difficulty with the spacing on this blog. I seperate into paragraphs and yet it crams it all together when I publish the blog. I don't know. Sorry for the hard read!

Friday night, my mom, Konnor and I went out for Chinese food at one of the buffets. We went to the restaurant where we have gone several times. One of the young servers loves Yunnie and she has been there everytime we go to eat. Friday, we were not sat in her section but she saw us come in and she waved. She later stopped by our table during dinner to say "hi" to Yunnie. She is so nice and it is amazing that she remembers Yunnie and always wants to come up and say hello. She even remembers what province she is from. I would love to talk to her more, but because of the language barrier, it is difficult to hold a conversation. We spend the time nodding and smiling and she tries to get Regan to play with her. I don't know why she likes Regan so much, Regan usually doesn't give her the time of day and wants to eat or hide her head in my shoulder. A very nice young lady and it is a pleasure to see that she enjoys Regan.

Saturday, we took Regan and Konnor to Lakes Park. They have a little water play area there. I thought for sure that Regan would hate it, but thought she needed to be exposed to new situations. Well, she proved me wrong! She loved every minute of it. She was fascinated by this big stork that opened its mouth and would dump a ton of water onto the ground. Most of the pictures are of her looking up at the water coming down. She also wanted to keep joining the big kids and loved interacting with all the kids playing. Two little girls, who were about 2 1/2 years old kept trying to get her to come with them. She thought they were hilarious.

On Sunday, we went to church where she indulged her new fascination with dogs. To the dismay of Tiki, Yunnie has now decided that she loves dogs and follows them around and tries to pet them, pull on their legs or ears, and kiss them. Daisy puts up with it because Regan is her biggest food provider. She stations herself under the highchair for any flying articles of food. Yunnie has also been see on many occassions passing food to them under the table. Anyway, there is a seeing eye service dog who attends our church. For the first time, Regan wanted to go up to see the doggie. She stared at him for several minutes and sat very close to him, but didn't pet him.

Tuesday was her doctor's appointment. Her immune system results have not come back from the lab, so she didn't get all her immunizations. She weighs 19.5 lbs and is 31 inches long. She lost half a pound and I thought Dr. Jones would be lecturing us, but he said she looks healthy and so even though she does not register on the American growth charts for weight, he is not worried. His exact words were, "Look at her thighs, I'm not worried". I think she is a big girl and so I have no concerns. She eats like a horse but never, ever stops moving. She is very active and burns alot of calories. Dr. Jones had wanted to adopt a little girl from China and so he seems very taken with Regan. The fact that we saw him almost every day for several months has also made them well known to each other! She was turning on the charm for him, playing with him, hugging his leg, showing him how to fill out his paperwork, sharing her books, and talking. She usually is very serious around unfamiliar people, but obviously she likes his company. The most surprising act was that she leaned over and kissed him! Twice!!! Right on the cheek. It is a joke in our house that she is a stingy kisser, because she usually only kisses people when she wants something. If she is in her highchair or a buggy and she wants to stand up she will lean forward and kiss me to see if she can distract me from the fact that she is trying to stand! She is very clever!

Dr. Jones said he was very pleased with her progress and he said that cognitively, she appears to be advanced. She is putting two words together. She only has about three combinations of two word sentences, but she does use them. He said her imaginative play was very good. She walked around with her purse, her playing mommy to her baby, talking on the telephone, etc. She was copying alot of his actions. She pointed out things in the room , saying "see". She understands alot of receptive language. She can follow alot of simple commands (when she wants to ) and understands many things we ask her. She knows labels of quite a few things. Feet, shoes, stroller, bellybutton, put on your shoes, dance, etc, etc. Her language is what impresses me the most. The other day, she told me, "Day Day Kiss". She then leaned over and kissed Daisy. She enjoyed it more than the dog! I was patting her bottom the other day and she says to me, "Pur Pur Butt". I didn't even realize I often pat her bottom while I"m holding her and say, "What a cute purple butt!". For those of you scratching your head, I'm not losing my mind. We're talking Mongolian spots. She also takes her baby and flings her over her shoulder, pats her, and says, "pur pur butt". I know I"m nutty, but she is the joy of my life! She is amazing! I know I'm a typical mom who thinks the sun rises and sets with her baby!

Her newest thing is throwing everything in the trash. She was "helping" me one day and getting into every drawer and trying to wreck havoc. I got on to her and told her she needs to clean up. She then puts everything back in a drawer or in the trash can. While throwing stuff away (like shoes, remote controls, etc) she is saying, "Guh Guhl". She's a good girl alright!

Utilizing a little child labor.
No cars were moving in the making of this picture. The girl knows how to have a good time.

There is a little girl that is standing behind Regan. She is a month younger and makes Regan look like the Jolly Green Giant. Failure to thrive my rear end. (Referring to earlier post of doctors being worried that Regan is underweight) For those of you who have seen the size of her thighs, you know she is as underweight as I am.
You don't even want to know the places that mulch can hide.

Just Stuff

I had to post more pics from Disney, because I love the only one that we were able to get with a character without Regan crying. She was sleeping. Right now, she is shaking it to the music of JoJo's Circus.

Regan's new accomplishments this week are as follows:

1. She can call Daisy the dog. "DayDay"

2. She now will say "what!" in response to be asked a question.

3. She LOVES the phone and pretends to talk on it, saying "hello", "bye", "what", "ouch", and yoidee yoidee yo. The yoidee yoidee yo is actually quite a popular saying that comes out of Yunnie's mouth. I have yet to figure out if it means anything. Well, it obviously means something to Regan because if you say it back with a lot of gibberish she smiles, nods, and laughs. I also have to confess that I have to eat my own words. When I used to watch Konnor, I wouldn't let him play with the phone telling him that it wasn't a toy. I used to think he should know the boundaries between play toys and serious things. I have now learned that when your baby is being somewhat noisy in a place where it isn't really appreciated, you will give them anything to get them to hush up. The cell phone has now been used as a hush up toy.

4. Regan loves to yell. We are working on, "shhh, we don't yell". Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Usually, I put her somewhere and walk away and she will usually stop when she realizes that yelling isn't getting her the attention she wants. Thank goodness these spells only occur once or so a week. But, Murphy's Law, it is usually somewhere like the library.

5. She laughs all the time. What is funnier is when she cracks herself up! She will think she is so clever and will laugh and laugh at her own cleverness. Unfortunately for me, her cleverness is usually doing something she knows she is not supposed to be doing (like table dancing).

Regan went and had her final (we hope) bloodwork done. I had to get it done so she could finish her immunizations. Luckily, they got her on the first stick (which has never happened before). We met a lovely lady in the waiting room who wanted to know all about Regan and paid attention to Konnor. I sometimes don't feel the need to talk to everyone about Regan, but this woman was asking questions out of sincere interest and so I don't mind. I knew we would attract attention when we went out in public, but it still surprises me sometimes at how much attention we draw. It seems to come and go in spurts. Somedays, there is no extra attention and others we get quite a bit. Sometimes, I don't really focus on anyone because I don't feel like answering questions. I know it seems rude, but when you have about 10 minutes to get into and out of a store, you don't have 20 minutes to chit chat.

The second picture is of Regan taking a break from our second job. When Regan came out of the hospital, I had to get a second job. The hospital and medical costs combined with the extra time off I had to take because of her being sick took its toll on my bank account! In the past, I worked home health. Lee Memorial closed their pediatric home health division and so if I wanted to go back to work home health I would have to work adults. I would also have to find baby sitting and would not be able to see Regan as much. I decided to work a less paying job, but one that would allow me to be somewhat flexible with hours and be able to see Regan. I deliver papers. Not glamourous or fun, but you do what you have to do.

Joel and I have decided to end our engagement and the relationship. It was a hard decision that has been coming for quite awhile. Regan deserves to have a father who is 100% committed to her. It was a very difficult decision and I will miss Allison and Elizabeth terribly.