Brown Girl In The Ring

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Clear Day

Sometimes I can't believe we live in such wonderful place.

It is the middle of November and we spent our day in the sun

playing in the sprinklers

then making a post office out of a big cardboard box

where we can mail our letters to santa.

Weird but wonderful.

Send In The Clowns

We had a wonderful Halloween.

This year we decided to send in the clowns.

And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don't bother - they're here.

Pretty In Pink

Pretty in pink

Isn't she?

Pretty in pink

Isn't she?

Baby Mine

Today Cy's adoption was finalized. He is officially our baby boy for life!
We are so grateful to his birth mother for entrusting us with such a miracle.
She will be in our hearts for life as well.
Our baby, Cy:

Baby mine, don't you cry.

Baby mine, dry your eyes.

Rest your head close to my heart, 

Never to part, 

Baby of mine.

Little one when you play, 

Don't you mind what they say.

Let those eyes sparkle and shine, 

Never a tear, 

Baby of mine.

If they knew sweet little you, 

They'd end up loving you too.

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes, 

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me, 

Sweet as can be, 

Baby of mine.

All those same people who scold you, 

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows.

But you're so precious to me, 

Sweet as can be, 

Baby of mine.

Baby of mine

--Alison Krauss

The Summer

This summer

we listened to the melodic drone of the lawn mowers every day

we kept cool in every body of water we could find

and we spent our evenings cuddling.

I like this routine...

I think we should keep it in place

"Til the summer comes undone."

--Yo La Tengo

Daddy's Girl

"When the sun goes down and it's getting late

You say it's time for bed

She just takes her time

Acting like she never heard a word you said

Little baby wanna hold you tight

She don't ever wanna say good night

She's a lover, she wanna be daddy's girl

She don't ever wanna be without you

Never have to worry she won't doubt you

Then she puts her head upon your shoulder

Says she'll marry you when she get older

She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl
She'll always be Daddy's Girl"

--Peter Cetera

Two Of Us

My brother and sister-in-love had their baby girl in January.

She was 9 weeks premature.

Cy was born in March.

Alexandra was due in March.

Technically, they are the same age.

or

Technically, she's older.

but no matter how you look at it...

Cy is bigger.

It's fun to have cousins the same-ish age.

Even if my kids tower over their cousins of the same age. {grin}

We're Going To Be Friends

"i can tell that we are gonna be friends

walk with me, suzy lee
through the park, by the tree
we will rest upon the ground
and look at all the bugs we've found
then safely walk to school
without a sound 

tonight i'll dream while i'm in bed
when silly thoughts go through my head
about the bugs and alphabet
and when i wake tomorrow i'll bet
that you and i will walk together again
cause i can tell that we
are going to be friends"

--The White Stripes 

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

I wasn't sure how to tell this story...
I wasn't sure I wanted to.
I wasn't sure how Rio would feel about it later
But it is part of her life
and "every little thing she does is magic."

We took the fam to Disney World for Rio's 3rd birthday.

Mark had a company picnic at Sea World the day before 

so we decided to make a long weekend of celebration 

for our beautiful girl.

She delighted in Shamu

She giggled her way through feeding the dolphins

She was in awe of the princess castle

She was kissed by Donald

and

She almost jumped ship on the Jungle Cruise

just to get closer to the animals.

It was wonderful!

Then on our last day at Fort Wilderness

she had a seizure.

She more than likely aspirated

but then she was given ativan

significantly suppressing her breathing 

and they intubated her

but they went too far into one lung

causing a minor collapse of the other lung.

The trauma to her little body was too much.

She was on a ventilator for 8 days.

It was horrific.

I'm appreciative that she got to enjoy the magic before the hell.

And we're thrilled to have her home

to hear her voice

to see her smile

to kiss her cheeks

and hold her hands.

The thing is that I've always known what a gift she is

I've always soaked every bit of her in

I've always been amazed by how lucky I am

to mother THIS child.

I don't need anymore reminding.

You hear me universe??

Cut Your Hair

New baby

Three year old

No time

anymore

to straighten

all that 

hair...

While You Were Sleeping

"While you were sleeping

the babies grew

the stars shined and the shadows moved

time flew...

"While you were sleeping 

I tossed and I turned

til I closed my eyes

but the future burned

through the planet turned a hair grey

as I relived the day...

"Full of dreams, you overslept

and keeping with quiet, through the walls I crept

I walked on tiptoe, sent the darkness swirling over all the kitchen in the early morning

I'll never catch up to you

who sleeps so sound

my arms are useless

my heart beats too loud to go to sleep

my mind's too crowded

While you were sleeping."

--Elvis Perkins

Pumpkin & Honey Bunny

We had a lovely day yesterday. And the best part was getting a good picture of my two babies -together!

Rio went on an easter egg hunt at Mimi and Poppa's:

Then we were supposed to meet everyone for a barbecue at the beach

but the blue skies suddenly opened up

and let the rain fall

just as we arrived at the beach.

Typical Florida.

Still a nice day.

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

New Soul

I'm not one to believe that everything happens for a reason.
I do think that some things happen in order to lead you to something else.
But I certainly don't think everything can be attributed to reason.

That being said...
My last post described our disappointment
but what we didn't realize at the time was that disappointment was merely
a stepping stone -
a door that needed opening -
so that we could experience the most precious gift to come:

Cy Colton

While we had started the adoption process again,
I was looking primarily for a situation in FL.
Rio's birth mother contacting the agency did several things...
1) it got our butts in gear to get our home study done toot sweet.
2) it got us back in touch with the agency that would bring us to Cy.
3) it prepared us for an imminent arrival.

We found out about Cy's birth mother on March 1st
She chose us on March 2nd
and our boy was born on March 3rd. Talk about a whirlwind!
She is the sweetest girl in the world and
we were thrilled to be able to spend time with her,
get to know her and one of her children,
and learn all the wonderful things about her that
we'll be able to pass on to Cy!

We thank our lucky stars and Rio's birth mother for bringing us to Cy and his birth mother.

We spent two weeks in Utah (more on that later) and we're finally home!

Life moves in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

First Family Photo

Melt Your Heart

We had decided to adopt again.

It was time to expand our family...
To double our love.

And just as we started to put ourselves out there
we got a phone call.
Rio's birth mother (our angel) was pregnant and wanted us again.
She was due February 24th.

It was as if the moon and stars had aligned once again
to bring this person back into our lives.
I feel like the skies open up and she appears in our lives.
As if we're connected somehow.

I mean, how bizarre is it that at the exact moment in time
when we were ready to adopt again
She's ready to give birth again -
surely to another divine being.

But it quickly went downhill.
A potential birth father decided to be full of pride.
And I get it.
She wants it all.
She wants the guy, the family, the stability, the life full of love.
I wish it for her every day.
It's just too bad it leaves us with a broken heart for what could have been.
But it was never ours to begin with.

"And we've lost the people we could have loved, and you...
It's bound to melt your heart."
                                      --Jenny Lewis

Christmas In Hollis

The holidays were a blur of activities

and runny noses

and unseasonably cold weather

but they started off nice. and. quiet.

We took Rio to the Main Street Holiday Parade -

the Ringling elephants were even there (since we live in a circus town) -

It is something Rio is still talking about.

And of course we went all over town checking out the light displays.

Those are the times it'd be nice if it would snow in Florida.

I had to put environmentally-friendly poly-fil

on the ground around our snowmen

just so they wouldn't look weird.

Sad, I know.

The tree was pretty.

The presents survived until Christmas 

despite a 2 year old thinking it was the most fun

to jump on the boxes

and a dog who tried to lift his leg

once.

And I even got Rio to sit in front of the tree for a little photo op

to make up for the missed shot of her with Santa.

I had her distracted waving and talking to Grammy

and I thought I could casually place her on Santa's knee,

snap the picture,

and move on with our day.

But once she felt herself placed on someone's knee

turned around and saw Santa,

she ran off crying.

We'll try again next year!

In the end

Rio enjoyed the magic,

we enjoyed her,

and we made it through hosting the entire family

at our new house,

flooded kitchen and all!

(fyi: don't put all the potato peels down the garbage disposal at once)

Happy New Year!