Because I Haven't Posted In A While...

There really hasn't been much going on.

I mean, sure Jo has turned 18 months old and been in our lives 8 1/2 months. That's cool. She's still a monkey and climbing whatever she can. I'll have to post a pic of what the dining table looks like on a daily basis. Suffice to say that, for now, I'm pulling all the chairs away from the table so that she can't climb from a chair onto the table. Of course, I have to make sure that the chair isn't close to anything else she doesn't need to reach.

AND I have to make sure I push the office chair in whenever I leave the computer, otherwise, I'll find her sitting on the computer. Since the office chair is on carpet, she has a harder time moving it away from the desk.

Allen and I calculated (with the help of the internet, of course) the number of days that Jo was alive before she came to us. We figured out that on March 1, she will have been with us the same number of days that she was without us. And, obviously, on March 2 she will have been with us longer than without us. We may have to have a little celebration.

And for your viewing pleasure, my other daredevil:

Baby Steps

Are you sitting down?

Good. Because this may be a bit of a shock.

Over this past weekend.... we.... Allen and I....WENT TO DINNER ALONE!!!!!

We hired a sitter on Saturday night.

OK, back up. Yes, we've had grandparents stay with the girls, especially over the holidays. That was nice. But we still kinda felt like we shouldn't be gone too long. We didn't want the grandparents to feel taken advantage of.

But a teenager we pay? We're gone all night, baby! Just kidding. Jo did great.

In fact, she did so well with that, and she's been doing well in the church nursery, that I just decided to chance it....and I went to the gym on Wednesday!

I haven't been since August or September and Jo had to be held the whole 30 minutes she was there. This time I was a bit worried, since she was crying when I left. And following me since she can walk now. But when I went back she was walking around with a toy, happy as could be. The attendant said she didn't cry long at all. She didn't even START crying when she saw me. She just smiled and came to me.

SWEET! I'm actually excited that I can go to the gym again!

And now, for a little gratuitous cuteness



P looked so old to me in these clothes.


This is Jo's first taste of Mommy's Madeleines. I think she ate 3!

Heaven, Help Me

And, really, I mean that.

Have you ever been doing something, say checking email, and you hear a sound. It's a familiar sound, but you can't quite place it. It does seem like a sound that you really shouldn't be hearing.


So, you get up to investigate.

Accessories Make All the Difference

Don't you think?

I can't bring myself to get scissors near Jo's face yet, so...

Doesn't she look totally different? I've been missing those expressive eyebrows.



And, Phoebe got her new glasses on Wednesday. She really only needs them to read and do school work. Of course she HAD to take them to school today. I hope they make it home.

Remember When?

I haven't done this in a while, 'cause you know, I've been so wrapped up in myself. But check these out... new babies!

Referrals came in January 2. You're not going to believe this, but the people who got referrals in this batch had log in dates 2 MONTHS after us. Let me spell that ... TWO MONTHS! We got our referral for Jo 10 months ago. I cannot believe that they've only gotten through 2 months of parents' documents in 10 months. I knew things had slowed down, but I feel SO bad for the parents still waiting. And waiting.

I've heard that applications from parents outnumber the available babies. That sounds good, except for that word "available". It's not the number of babies in orphanages, it's the ones who are paper-ready.

I've also seen that the "review room" is about a year ahead of the "matching room". Meaning the hallway outside the matching room must be hard to get through. Actually, meaning the first step, review, has been done for a year's worth of more parents than have been matched.

Say a prayer for these waiting families and babies. I know how hard it was for us. Now, knowing that people whose documents went to China only 2 months after us are just now getting a referral...it blows my mind to think what they've gone through.

OK, this started out a happy post. Here are the babies!

2getSoph
The Jake Break
Pat’s little Sister
Q-Fold - Twins!
Welcoming Kathryn
To Bring Leah Home
Maria Hui Jun
Miss Gioia
Introducing Tiffany

The following blogs are expecting their referral in this batch:

The Sweeney Family
Sienna Bug
Our Journey to Baby M
Waiting for Julia

I'm Having Flashbacks

T'was a rough night at the Lineberrys' last night.
Friday night, J woke up a few times during the night, but not for very long. Not long enough to go into her room. It was out of the ordinary though. Yesterday, she wanted to be held a lot. Especially when we were taking down Christmas decorations. That was interesting.

Last night, she woke up a couple of times again. I went in to check on her, to make sure she didn't have a fever or seem sick. My mistake. I went in at 12:15. She was fine. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped crying and did the "more" sign and pointed to her door. I decided to see where she wanted to go, so I walked out of her room. She pointed to the stairs. I took her downstairs, she did the sign for water. OK, she wants water. Boy did she.

Silly me, I thought "problem solved". I even got a sippy cup of water that she could take to bed with her and we went back upstairs. I held her for a few minutes then went to put her back into her bed. Oh no. She was having none of that. Her right arm was wrapped all the way around my neck and her legs were latched on like vises. Alrighty. I sat on the futon in her room. She snuggled. I figured ok, let's have some mommy time, so I lay down on the futon with her on top of me and she was soon fast asleep. Hooray!

I went over and put her into her bed and she was instantly awake and screaming. Sigh. This went on until about 2am when I decided to let her "cry it out" and went to bed. At 2:30, when she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, Allen went in. He said she was standing in her crib holding the rail with her left hand, holding her sippy cup with her right hand, had her head down and eyes closed and was screaming. Is it possible she fell asleep standing up and crying? He woke her and changed her jammies to some that were a little cooler.

2:45, still screaming, I went back in and asked Allen to go make a bottle. Let's fill her tummy. Alright, full belly, cool jammies, dry diaper and back to the futon we go. Back to sleep on mom we go. Snoring, she actually said, "dada" in her sleep. Sleeping like a rock. Back to bed. Nope. Scream. Back to the futon.

You get the idea. At 5:45 I decided that nature was calling. I managed to get out from under her on the futon, pick her up, get my hands in a good position for putting her down and walked to her crib without her stirring at all. As soon as her body touched the mattress, instant scream. Too bad, nature wins on this one.

She cried for about 10 minutes and gave up. So, all told, I got a whopping 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Allen didn't fare much better. Apparently he was flipping channels on the TV most of the time I was in her room.

She's in a fine mood this morning, and has that "I slept on Mommy" hair.


I hope she naps.

A Christmas Overview

I had a request to update my blog. I can't believe I haven't posted since December 18. Well, I kind of can. I kinda just checked out of doing anything over Christmas. P and Allen had Christmas vacation, so I did too. So here is a small recap of Christmas day.

Well, actually, I think this picture was taken Christmas Eve from our balcony.

Here's P on Christmas morning looking pretty satisfied with Santa's offerings.

And Jo with her new phone.


The carnage. Actually, not much had been opened at this point.


Cutie pie.


This picture cracks me up. Santa brought P a dog that "grows and knows your name". She's thrilled with it. She loves to brush it and measure how tall it is. And it talks to her. (I've seen too many horror movies and find this creepy. "hi, Phoebe". It gives me chills.) Anyway, in this picture, P is happily brushing her electronic dog while the real, live dog wanders past behind her looking like she's saying "what am I, chopped liver?" Oh, Senna. If only you could say her name.