The New Help

I've always wondered what it would be like to have a cleaning lady.... I've always thought it sounded nice. Now I know. It is nice!

Sarah with her super cool vacuum cleaner. I love this thing! It says things like, "This place is a pigsty!" - "Did a tornado come through here?" - "Who spilled the milk?" - "Let's clean up this mess!" All things that I would say - LOL!

Sarah loves her Dirt Devil mop. She mops my floors all day long. She even knows to mop under the couch, beds, and dressers. Wow, what does that say about me? :)

I promise this is not staged. Sarah loves to find my Swiffer duster and dust all our wood furniture.....and upholstered furniture.....and the dog. Just whatever she can find.

Sarah and Avi Joy helping me unload the dishwasher. They were both great helpers and they didn't drop or break any plates or cups. They did have fun removing the flatware basket and lower rolling basket after it was empty. Had to explain that those things actually stay in there.

So, what does my husband say about all of this cleaning. Well, to quote him, "That ain't right!" Personally, I think it is pretty awesome.

Luke, Sarah, and Avi Joy ready to ride at Dillon Int.'s Run for the Children "Fun Run." Don't we all look like hard core runners? Ha!

Sarah has a particular fondness for bugs lately. This morning she caught one and took very good care of it. She cuddled with it.......

She kissed it..... And, unfortunately in all her affection, she also squashed it!

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up now because this post turned out to be longer than I planned. But, I wanted to share that Sarah has 3 new things she can say: Nancy- sounds like "Na" and then a long e sound (from the book Fancy Nancy), I love you - sounds like "Ah la la" (also got that from Fancy Nancy), and back pack (got that from Dora).

I think it's working....

It appears that our new blog address is working (and re-directing from our old one). We decided it was time to switch the address name (www.theoklahomans.com) and blog name to better reflect our growing family. Creatively, our last name is embedded in the blog address and our family certainly became a "melting pot" when we decided to adopt internationally and domestically. Not to mention...who knows where we'll go for # 3?!

p.s. If you link to this site, please go ahead and adjust your links to reflect the new name in case blogger one day stops re-directing you from the old site...thanks!

Look how far we've come!

Andrew when he was 4 days old

Andrew now, 3 months old as of 7-17-07

It's really quite remarkable to see how quickly babies change. It is also a good thing, because I'm not sure how parents could survive that newborn stage with sanity in tack if it lasted any longer. Andrew has given us a few glimmers of hope that our days of extreme sleep deprivation may be coming to an end..... Of course, I probably just jinxed myself by saying that. He's had a few nights lately where he has made 5-6 hour stretches of sleep - and one night where he slept from 11pm until 6am. It was AMAZING!!! His reflux is so much better and he is really putting away the formula - as you can probably tell by the leg and cheek chunk. We know Andrew recognizes us now because he shows excitement to see us if we have been away. Andrew has also started fussing to get our attention if he is feeling ignored.

Andrew is also starting to respond to all of Sarah's attention. I think they are going to be best buddies very soon.

I'll close with one more (random) picture. Can you tell what we had for dinner tonight? :)

It's official....she's two!

On Thursday (7-5) Sarah experienced her first American birthday celebration. Our baby girl who couldn't walk, talk or even crawl 10 months ago is now a full-fledged toddler....and showing all signs of being two. :) We had some friends and family over last night to grill out and eat cake. Sarah, normally a very social and happy child, didn't quite no what to make of a full house last night. A series of events (out late on the 4th, spending the day away from home with grandparents having fun, eating dinner over an hour late, and having to share toys with other children) made for "the perfect storm" so to speak. But, we all still had a very nice time. After dinner Sarah had fun running around with her friends. It was hard to get her to sit still to open gifts...or to even understand that they were for her. Not until bedtime did she really notice her new stuff, and then we had the task of getting her to go to sleep. She got some really cute toys, Veggie Tales videos, books, and a few pairs of new shoes. Now she and I have a matching pair of Mary Jane Crocs. Michael and I bought her a kid-sized stuffed, slipcovered chair and she loves to sit in it with a blanket and a book.

You can't get through an adopted child's birthday and not think about the woman who first gave her life. I'm mindful that there is a precious woman on the other side of the world, for whom this day may possibly be filled with pain. We are forever grateful to her for our beautiful Sarah. I also thought a lot about the stark contrast between July 5, 2006 and July 5, 2007. From spending a most likely uneventful day in the orphanage on her first birthday, to having an abundance of gifts and love, friends, family and parents on her second. One of Sarah's sweetest gifts was a donation made in her honor (by her grandparents) to the children still living at the orphanage in Ninh Thuan. Our agency does such a great job with humanitarian aid - tying to make the lives of those not yet home, or those who will never know a mom and/or dad, a little bit better.

Here is a list of some of the things that Sarah can do, likes to do, and doesn't like to do as a two year old.

Can do:

-Walk, run, climb, spin around, and "dance"
-"Talk" using these words: mama, dada, baby, bow, ball, boon (balloon), eat, duck, hat, bug, a-shh (shoe), rain (we've seen enough of it!), hi, bye, and she is really working on saying "I love you."
-Use a fork with accuracy...still working on the spoon...
-Take off all her clothes (that would also be something she loves to do)-Buckle car seats and baby swings
-Give the best kisses and hugs-Blow bubbles in the pool and go under water without inhaling water
-Bring the baby his bottle, pacifier, and blanket-"Answer" the phone
-Get into lots of mischief :)

Loves:

-Her two favorite shows are Sesame Street and Veggie Tales. She imitates the Count's laugh when he does the number of the day on SS.

-Her favorite song is the ABC's. I used to sing it to her to make her go to sleep. Often times it will cheer her up right away if she is about to lose it.

-Food! The better question would be, "What food doesn't Sarah love?"

-Playing "Where's Sarah." The game where Sarah hides under a blanket while we ponder aloud all the many places she could be. Then she appears and we make a big deal about it.
-Doing somersaults and "flips"

-Snuggling in the rocking chair, reading books, brushing her teeth, rough housing with daddy, picking flowers, wearing jewelry, chasing the dog....

-Helping mommy "clean the house." Her favorite toy right now is her Dirt Devil mop. She is also quite fond of my Swiffer duster.

Dislikes:

-Touching grass with her hands

-Putting on her clothes

-Having her hair fixed

-Being told "no"

Well, there is so much more, but I think I'll stop there before the list gets obnoxious. I just know that if I don't write it down here I'll forget it later.

Fatigued

I guess Sarah's parents aren't the only ones who have been a little tired lately! Twice last week she literally just fell asleep. I guess it is hard work being an almost-two-year-old.

Belly is full.....time for a nap!

I think I'll just find a nice spot on the rug and rest my eyes....for about a 1/2 hour!