handsful

We crossed off 2 “things to share with Lainey” this long weekend…the beach and the boat. We took the kids to the beach on Saturday. Lainey’s reaction? She stared at the ocean as I held her. I put her down and she held her toes up like “uh, what is this I’m standing in??” She touched the sand, then held her hand out for me to brush it off (see above picture). When we walked her down to the water, though, we could see her thinking ”yep, this is more like it”.

She loved the water, loved it splashing up on her, loved the waves, wanted Randy to take her farther and farther out. In the beginning, she wanted someone holding her hand the whole time, but she got braver as time went by.

All the kids had a great time…Ethan spent most of the time with the boogie board, Payton likes using the shovel digging big holes, Marley stays pretty shallow in the water and hates the sand (like her momma), and Abbey loves swimming deeper, into the waves.

We made the decision to keep Lainey in her bathing suit/swim diaper on the way home. Bad decision. She decided to “use” the swim diaper and we had to pull off the side of the road and change her. One car full of girls yelled “yahoooo!” at us as they passed. Not sure what that was about! Once changed, she spent the ride home licking the salt water off of her feet. lol…

Today, we took our ski boat out…finally, as Randy would say. This is our first time out on it this year…guess we’ve been busy? Lainey enjoyed when we went fast (big shocker there, the girl loves anything fast), didn’t like having to sit still for long, liked waving to the boys when they were kneeboarding, and wondered why everyone else was swimming and she wasn’t. Someone forgot to bring the packed diaper bag, complete with swim diaper. So, no swimming for Lainey Q. Here are a few pics…

She wasn’t thrilled with the life jacket, but she does look pretty cute in it :)

She hardly ever takes a bad picture…

The guys…you can see Ethan’s healing face. Last week, he dove too close to the underwater step in our pool and scraped his face in 4 places. I’ll try and remember to post a close-up of it. Yes, we realize how fortunate he was.

She likes riding in the boat, but doesn’t much like kneeboarding or tubing like the other kids. Did I mention that she’s like her momma?

We found out on Monday that Lainey now has a surgery date…May 29th. Yep, NEXT Thursday. Sooner than we anticipated, but we’re glad that she’s getting it done now. She’ll be all ready for birthday cake in July :)

They plan on trying to close her whole palate in one surgery, and the ENT will place tubes in her ears. She’ll be on various levels of a liquid diet for 3 weeks and have to wear arm restraints (www.snugglewraps.com) for 2 weeks. They don’t want ANYTHING to go in her mouth during those 3 weeks…fingers, sippy cups, forks, spoons, etc. The restraints will keep her arms fairly straightened out, keeping those fingers at bay. We will be feeding her with a syringe and tube set-up and/or a regular cup. She’s enjoying her cup lessons, as you can see above.

Her recovery period could be rough, but we’re trusting God. Lainey is one very resilient little girl, she has handled more in her young life than most and has come through it shining. God will be with us, as we help her, and she’ll be talking our ears off in no time :)

Taken before heading to the game…

Our boys had their final Red Sox baseball game today, to decide the champs in the Minor 9 division and they won! What a game! We’d score, they’d tie it, they’d go ahead, we’d tie it up…again and again it went back and forth, until we were last to bat and brought the winning run in. My heart was racing the whole time…couldn’t they have just beat the tar out of ‘em and made it easier on me?!?! And, while I’m complaining, couldn’t it have been a little less hot? lol… It was great.

One of EJ’s TWO hits today…see where he left the ball? Nice bunt. He got another base hit later.

Pate got the job done in the outfield, with some great fielding.

Trophy time…EJ

Pate

Back row, last kid on right – Pate; Front row, 3rd from left – EJ

We’re Number 1…

One of the 17 ladybugs that we released

I mentioned on an earlier post that we had lots of “life” around the house and I wasn’t talking about the 5 kids. The ladybugs, butterflies, and tadpoles were all busy making changes and…voila…it was time to let them go their merry way. The tadpoles-turned-toads have been leaving us a few at a time. Marley gathers them up each morning and takes them to the pond behind our house. We still have quite a few to go!

Abbey helps a ladybug make her break from the habitat. We had 17 larvae, that all turned into ladybugs. However, one of them looked “lame” from the start. We decided we’d just keep her (I know, ladybugs can be boys, but I call them all girls) rather than release her, but she died the next day. Poor gal.

Lainey enjoyed the release time, but she wasn’t so good at sitting still!

One of the 5 Painted Lady butterflies that we raised and released. One of the caterpillars never crawled to the top of the cup to attach and cocoon, so we thought that one didn’t make it. When we opened the cup to put them in the butterfly tent, there he was, cocooned on the bottom of the cup! So, we laid that one on a papertowel on the floor of the tent and he did just fine.

Handsome dude. Needs a haircut.

Needs a haircut and a pair of sunglasses.

Abbey held the last one, after the others all flew the coop!

On a serious note, I’m sure you’ve all heard about the massive Wenchuan earthquake that hit China in the Sichuan province that has claimed the lives of at least 20,000 people and damaged or destroyed 4.5 million buildings. Read that again…that is almost impossible to imagine. Our adoption agency,www.chinesechildren.org has established an earthquake relief fund (ERF) to help orphanages purchase tents, food, diapers, medicines, and other supplies needed. 100% of your donation goes to help the orphanages affected. You can donate online at the above link, or send in your donation to CCAI marked “ERF”. We have found out that Lainey’s orphanage, Bengbu, was thankfully not damaged in the earthquake.

We had our doubts when we were in China. She was very apprehensive about her first baths, and HATED having her hair rinsed! Once home, she began liking baths and then eventually loving baths. Her FAVORITE part now is having her hair rinsed…we pour cup after cup, she shakes her head back and forth wildly, smiles her biggest smile, and quickly signs “more! more!”.

We waited till the water in the pool was a little warmer…though, not warm enough for mom (I’m the bathwater kinda swimmer), so dad took her in for her first dip. He went slowly as first, taking her deeper and deeper. She never looked concerned or frightened at all, and soon that smile started creeping up.

Randy bounced her, spun her, even dunked her under twice. Loved it all. He put her in her floaty and she splashed and splashed. The other kids splashed her and she screamed in laughter. After about 25 minutes, we noticed her shaking a little bit and decided she’d had enough…even though she didn’t want to get out! We call our other 4 kids “fish” because they love swimming and are that comfortable in the pool. We’re now 5 for 5!

One happy Momma on Mother’s Day! Our day in a nutshell…went to church with the kids while Randy was in the air, on his way back from CA. We arrived home and there he was! The kids received presents from Dad’s trip, and I got a beautiful new watch! Lunch out at the Times Grill (yum), a couple of errands including chocolate milkshakes (double yum), and back home for yardwork and swimming. A wonderful day!

More pictures tomorrow…including some of a certain someone who took her first dip in the pool today. ;)

Happy Mother’s Day to the ladies who have their children today, and to those who are staring at the pictures of their little ones, so far away, anxious to have him/her in their arms. And, especially, to those still waiting. I’ve been there, both with my bio kids and with Lainey. Your wait will end, and you will be a mom. I look forward to the day when I can rejoice with you! Hugs…

When I read on our science curriculum today that we were to make electrical circuits, I thought maybe I should put this one off till Randy could be around and help. I’m pretty good with potting soil or raising caterpillars (truth be told, we currently have larvae changing into ladybugs in one cage, 5 cocoons that will soon be Painted Lady butterflies in another, and way too many tadpoles to count in a bin outside). But, electricity? I’m proud to say that we all figured it out and our circuits were a success. How fun to make lights light up with just batteries and copper wires! The kids loved it and so did I.

Here are a few random photos of the little gal from this week…

What is it they say? Don’t buy toys, just buy boxes.

First masterpiece!

Bye, see you next time!