Palabras

Lately there has been a source of contention in my home, though it pains me to admit it. My wonderful husband and I are equally yoked when it comes to the virtue of strength (i.e. stubbornness) and so we have yet to resolve it. So, my blogging friends and family I would like to take our issue before you as a jury of our peers to see who's side you are on. To prevent any biases I will not disclose which of us is supporting which point of view. Please read through the following case and then vote for the side you are on in the poll to the right of this post.

Issue: Can River's use of the word light (or "ite" as he says it) be considered his first word?

Argument For: River LOVES to talk. Right now it is mostly baby talk with no rhyme or reason. However, in typical baby development he has started to mimic words and intonations in his regular gibberish and has started to use words though not for their intended meaning. For examples of his recent lingual developments see Exhibit A, B and C:

Exhibit A - For a while now River has said what sounds like, "Hi" when he first sees someone, when someone leaves the room and then returns shortly, and sometimes even randomly. It sounds more like the "h" sound followed by a high pitch mini scream but it was when he would use it that caused many to wonder if he was really using it as a salutation.

Exhibit B - Since he was around 8-9 months he has used the word "Mama" as an indicator that he wants to be picked up, wants you to hurry up fixing his bottle and/or food, is upset and is in need of reassurance, etc.

Exhibit C - Debbie, River's nanny told us that the other day when she walked by her refrigerator and a picture of her kids while holding River he said (filtered through baby speak), "Hi, kids!" Debbie said she usually says this when they walk by her refrigerator but on this particular day he decided to beat her to the punch and mimic the words she usually says.

Since he was a baby, River has LOVED lights. He reaches for them and stares at them often. Recently he has started saying, "ite" when pointing and staring at the light. He will also look and point at the nearest light when anyone says the word. His use and recognition of this word have been observed by myself, Cory and his nanny Debbie.

Therefore it is the argument of the party in favor of declaring this his first word that his use of the word and recognition of the word when used by others dictates that it go down in his records as his first word.

Argument Against: River LOVES to talk. On that there is no disagreement. Nor is there any disagreement on the fact that he has used words like "Mama" as indicator words or the fact that he does indeed recognize the word light when used by those around him and ocassionally uses the word himself. To call it his first word, however, is a bit premature. For evidence supporting this theory please see Exhibit D:

Exhibit D - River does not use the word light consistantly when pointing and looking at the light. Sometimes he will say, "A-da" or "Eeii" when pointing at the light. Also, he will not always repeat the word when asked to.

Therefore, it is the argument of the party against declaring this as his first word that his inconsistant use of the word, regardless of the fact that he recognizes it when spoken by others dictates that it is premature to call this his first word. Most likely it will be his first word but we need to wait until he uses it more regularly to dictate it so.

Thank you in advance for helping us to solve our issue!

River v. Roosevelt National Forest

This weekend we went on our very first camping trip as a family of 5. No, we have not recently adopted 2 more children that we have yet to announce. Really when you are camping you must include in the total number the four legged attendees because they are just as active participants as us bipeds. So, with Nico and Lukin we were a party of 5.

We set out for Roosevelt National Forest Saturday afternoon though we had originally planned to leave Friday. Our usual favorite sites were all taken (one of which by a rowdy bunch I will mention later) so we found ourselves a new spot that was nice and secluded and most importantly (as it was a VERY hot day) shaded. We hiked, crawled around the campsite, listened to music, shot Cory's new 9 mm pistol, and all around had a grand time. Roosevelt National Forest is absolutely gorgeous and you can always find a nice secluded campsite without having to hike several miles to get there. All good and completely FREE! The best kind :)

River absolutely loved his first camping experience. He had a ball crawling around the site getting as dirty as possible. I tried to take several pictures to illustrate just how dirty he was (the dirtiest he's ever been in his life) but none of the pictures did it justice. The only challenges he had with the experience were taking an afternoon nap (which never happened) and falling asleep while the rowdy bunch in our favorite campsite got wasted, hooted and hollered and then to really showcase their intelligence - started firing off a gun. At that point we almost packed up and left for fear for our safety but luckily the rowdy group settled down and so did River. He slept in his pack'n'play and though I was fully prepared to be up several times with him getting him bundled back into his sleeping bag and blankets during the night he slept like the proverbial baby that he is and didn't wake up until we did... which was still way too early anyway for a weekend. 6 AM. But he woke up as cheerful as ever and it was difficult not to feel the same way around him.

And now for the best part of any of my posts. Lots of pictures of River:

Crawling around the campsite.

The men of the site.

Family picture on a hike. Warning, do not stare directly at my legs as they are so incredibly pale that doing so may cause temporary or permanent blindness. I guess that is what I get spending too much time indoors this summer...

The Fire.

River in the process of eating an entire tofu dog! What is that sound? Oh yes, it is the sound of me celebrating the fact that my son is showing hippie tendencies :)

The morning after.

Playing with the doggies (Nico - left, Lukin - right). Have I mentioned before how incredibly patient these dogs are with River? They take ear pulling like champions :)

Lessons in style

Have thin flat hair that doesn't respond to the usual mousses, gels, and hairspray? Or just on the go and don't have access to hair products but need a little volume? River says, "Smashed up Twinkies can be the solution to any hair woe."

Just follow these three easy steps:

1. Take 1/3 of a Twinkie and eat a small portion of it.
2. With the remaining portion get good and messy making sure to really smash it in your hands.
   
3. Fluff your hair while still covered in the Twinkie.

And the results speak for themselves...


Use strawberry cream filled Twinkies for a fun twist.

Almost, but not quite.

Today River is 11 months old. Oh, so close (too close for this mommy) to his first birthday. In honor of this momentous occasion I will refrain from my usual sappy mommy sermons. Instead here are 11 of my favorite pictures over the same number of months:

Happy Eleventeenth Month Brithday, River!

Had to share!

Last night I had a dream Cory and I were on a reality TV show for couples struggling with infertility. I'm not sure what the premise of the show was. Perhaps they were going to give us free reign of all fertility treatments available and whoever got pregnant first won $1,000,000. Or perhaps we were going to have to compete against the other couples in feats of skill to win the opportunity to receive various infertility testing, treatment, and procedures like hormone level blood tests, SA's, Clomid, treatments for PCOS and/or Endometriosis, laparoscopy, IUI, IVF, etc. Here are a few of the entertaining jewels of the dream that I remember:

• Paula Abdul was the host. Perhaps my dream reality TV show offered her the $10 million a year salary that American Idol wouldn't!
• In typical reality TV show style all competing couples lived together in one large mansion.
• Tensions were already starting to mount though the competition hadn't fully begun. There was one other couple that I knew in the competition. I currently work with the husband and went to school with the wife. The wife is a very nice, non-judgmental person in real life but in my dream she was already trash talking the other contestants which randomly also included that girl Daisy that first appeared on "Rock of Love" and then on "Charm School" (I could be wrong about Charm School, but I don't watch either show, just spend some time goofing off on TMZ.com during the day and seem to recall that perhaps she got in a fight with Sharon Osborne on the show?).
• We each had our own "fertility cave" which was underground and accessed by standing on a scale that only descended if it matched your exact weight. Don't know what a James Bond Villan-esque cave had to do with fertility, or what would happen if you put on any weight, but it was in each couple's fertility cave that the couple received their fertility testing, treatments and procedures. Maybe I've just seen too many movies or read too many books about secret underground lairs containing cutting edge technology. Each couple was also responsible for keeping their fertility cave clean!
  

So there you have it! My extremely weird dream about a reality TV show for infertile couples. Perhaps I should contact the major networks with this idea... I know I'd watch it! The sad thing is we haven't even started trying to get pregnant yet and already my mind is tormenting me with silly dreams about the journey ahead! At least I got a good laugh out of this dream and hopefully you did, too. It was just such a funny random dream that I had to share :)

Have you seen that episode of Seinfeld...

when Elaine is "black-balled" by some secret medical society when she confronts her doctor about the fact that he wrote on her medical file that she is a difficult patient? You know, the one where in the end she has to draw eyebrows back on Jerry's Uncle Leo's face with a Sharpe while at some doctor's office out in the country and and it gives him a mean look? And then the doctor writes down on Leo's medical file that he is being difficult? Well, I'm feeling a bit like Elaine lately.

When I first started investigating the who/what/where/why and how of a home study I contacted two agencies. One local agency and our Church's agency. The local agency never responded, our Church agency said they couldn't help but gave me the number to an agency that mostly did just home studies. I contacted that agency and was a little troubled when they seemed to think we would have to go the whole 9 yards and do a home study, training, etc. So I went back to the county we lived in and tried to find out exactly what we needed. Since doing that I have made countless calls to local lawyers, not to mention our own lawyer, local agencies, and about every office in the county with the word "Clerk" in the title. Some were helpful, others weren't. But two things have been consistent; getting sent to voicemail only to never receive a return phone call or being told, "No I'm not the one that deals with that, you need to talk to 'This Person'."

I'm sure it is just a bunch of bureaucratic red tape that is making this difficult but even agencies and our own lawyer are slow (if ever) to respond to me. I feel like I have been "black balled" by those in the legal and agency side of adoption for some unknown reason. Perhaps because someone wrote on my adoptive parent file that I was a difficult patient? Maybe I will get a mysterious phone call in the middle of the night to confirm I am in fact Jill Preston and the spelling of my last name to confirm my own suspicions in this regard... I'll let you know if I do!

Excited to Announce...

... that Angie will be posting on my blog now! I am so excited for her to be able to share her experience as a birthmother with everyone, adoptive and non-adoptive mommies alike. Prepare to be edified!

Serveral shorts that make this one long

As August, the last full month of summer begins, here are a few shorts from the month of July:

Lions, and Tigers, and Balloons, OH MY!
Just when I thought "going the extra mile" for customers was a dead art in any chain store (I dare do no more than mention the name of Home Depot lest I fly off the handle!) I was in the checkout line at King Soopers (which is what the Kroger Brand Grocery chain is called here in Colorado) when a clerk came up to me with a balloon for River. I was ecstatic because I remember getting balloons at King Soopers when I was a little kid! River was very curious about the balloon and tried to grab it, bite it and smack it around. At that point it had turned into a great day.

With a spring in my step I unloaded the groceries and loaded River into his car seat. I tied the balloon around the handle of the seat and proceeded to load myself into the car when all of the sudden River let out a piercing scream like he had been hurt. I flung open the door only to find him with the most frightened look on his face that I have ever seen. The cause of the terror? Why none other than the balloon floating lazily on the ceiling of the car a couple of feet away from him. I tried to talk him out of his fear and let him touch the balloon but that only extracted another round of screaming, this time seeming to come from the depths of his soul. Apparently, he is okay with the balloon so long as it only invades his personal space on his terms. I tucked the balloon behind his seat until we got home. At home he was back to playing with it an enjoying it until finally it went the way of all balloons and deflated to its original state of limp plastic.


Facelift
It all started when Cory bought a faucet for house he was plumbing. The homeowners wanted a different faucet but returning the first faucet means paying a restocking fee which is pretty hefty considering the cost of the faucet. So, Cory decided to put it into our kitchen. Problem was it didn't really match our sink, or the hardware on our cabinets. So those must be replaced to make the faucet match, right? And if we are getting rid of those we must also get rid of the counter tops and tile because they match the sink and hardware to be replaced, right? And while we are at it why not ditch the crappy carpet from Home Depot that is only 1.5 years old (pause to recollect myself) and the ugly old linoleum with hardwood floors? We know someone in the business! So, a little over a week ago we began the task of redoing our kitchen to match the faucet. Here are the before pictures:


And here are the pictures showing where we are now:


Cory's parents are in town this weekend and his dad has been invaluable in helping us getting in the new counter tops! So much thanks to John/Dad/Papa Bear :) It is spectacular having no kitchen sink, and having our refrigerator in the living room makes me feel real classy! In the end though I know it will be worth it as our kitchen previously transported me back to the late 80's early 90's every time I entered it with its spectacular flowered, mauve and blue wallpaper and faux gold handles on all of the cabinets and drawers. A million thanks to my husband for all his hard work updating our kitchen!

Summer Classics

After reading a conversation between old high school friends on facebook regarding rereading "The Classics" I decided to do the same. I didn't have any particular book I wanted to read so why not go through all of the books I still have from my advanced placement english classes in high school? My first read was "Wuthering Heights" and I will admit that it was none other than your favorite teeny bopper book and mine that inspired me to start here: Twilight. Regardless, it was spectacular! Wuthering Heights had some of the most deplorable characters pre-Professor Umbridge but the love and hate between said characters is infectuous, dramatic, and honest. I highly recommend it. I am now reading "The Great Gatsby" after which I will read Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." After that I was thinking of reading some Hemingway and then maybe some Steinbeck and Salinger. Any other suggestions of great classics?

The Best for Last
A conversation on Friday with the County Clerk's office revealed the fact that in our county Home Study's are not required! When the judge reviews our petition he/she may order a home study to be completed so we may not be completely off the hook but we don't have to have one before we file our petition to adopt. Needless to say I have been on Cloud 9 all weekend. Unfortunately our lawyer was unsure whether or not he had received the results of our fingerprint background checks (even though we were fingerprinted back in March) which probably means he never submitted our information to get the background check through CO's Child Protective Services either. So we will still have to wait to resolve these outstanding issues but we have one less obstacle and $1600 less standing in our way of finalizing River's adoption. If you are the praying type, please include us in your prayers that the last unresolved issues will be resolved quickly so we can submit our petition before River's first birthday. And if you aren't the praying type, positive thoughts would be greatly appreciated as well!