Libby is now officially 2-1/2!

Where has the time gone? I think of our little scrawny crying baby in China, and have behind me, chattering away, a healthy, happy, LOUD little girl who has a ton of fun and brings a ton of fun with her. Libby's hair has thickened and darkened considerably. She continues to grow upward, with no sign of outward, although Eric teases that she has a belly. Her vocabulary continues to grow. This morning she had a snack of apples, raisins and cheese. When she was done she said said she wanted more, and when I asked her, "more what", she replied, "more everything". It just cracked me up for some reason. I realize that in a short time, things like this will be so normal that all those little things that amaze will just be a part of who she is.

I am still not feeling well and am darn tired of it. I hear from so many people that whatever is going around lasts for weeks, and this appears to be the case. 6-8 inches of snow has not improved my mood, although it is pretty. What the heck did that groundhog say? Eric is coming home from work for a bit to give me a break. I don't know how those single moms do it. I guess that is what family and friends are for, but it must be hard. My hats off.

Am getting my hair cut and colored tomorrow. My natural red hair seems to have been infiltrated by some bizarre color I had not seen before. I also found that if you pull one of them, 10 more take its place, no lie! Not liking it one bit.

After a few days of me being sick, and Libby refusing to poo, our house was becoming not a fun place to be. I felt so bad for Eric having to come home to his two crabby girls. Had debated last night about going to ECFE, but decided that we needed to get out of the house for a few hours. I am so glad we went. Our class had a break and some families dropped out, making it possible for other families to join. Should mention that it is an adoptive family ECFE class, and there are not them many of them available in the area. The new arrival of families also showed the changing tide of where families are going to internationally adopt. Before most of the children would have been from China, Russia, and Guatemala. Almost all of our new families have children from Ethiopia. Several of the families who had been in the group did not seem to enjoy it, and the new members all seem to bring a new and positive energy to it, so that is wonderful. Discussions are interesting and the night flies by.

I do have to brag up Libby a little bit. She has been a little monster to me, and sometimes to daddy, this past week. At ECFE, we always get to see Libby's pal, Tenzing. He sometimes has a hard time after the parents leave the room. Last night was no exception. When we came back to the room, the teacher was quick to tell me that when Tenzing began to cry, Libby immediately ran to the Kleenex, grabbed one, and came back and wiped his face, while comforting him. His mama confirmed the story with a laugh, and said she cannot even wipe his face! It was nice to hear this considering this has been our first week of kicking and hitting from a little girl who had never done it before.

It is snowing to beat the band outside (whatever that means). I guess the 4-6 inches they predicted is coming true. I am tired of winter, yet I hate how it looks when there is no snow on the ground-all dirty and depressing. Wish it could go from snow to green grass.

Am off to exercise. Still have a bit of a sniffle, but I need to stop the excuses and just get working out. I am so lucky to have the elliptical. It should be used for more than drying rugs. Wish me luck.

What a big girl she has become!

Who's Crazy Idea was That!

I am sitting down very dizzy after having done a meazly 25 minutes on the elliptical. To set things up, I have been telling myself to get my tuckus on it for months, but have always had a number of excuses to not do it. Even while Libby was napping, I would find more fun things to do, such as look at my Facebook page-hah! Today I had enough of myself, plus, I am so bored from having been inside for days, that I made myself get on the machine. Having first had the stomach flu two weeks ago, followed by a cold that I still cannot shake, perhaps this was not the best idea. I am listing a bit to the left and feel a little woozly. I am going to take a break now with some nice cold fluids. Thing is, my bottom already feels a burn. If I can get back in the blog saddle again, I sure as heck can get back in the elliptical/working out saddle, also. (I hope) Wish me luck.
Another thing I need luck with is Libby's potty training. She had been doing it beautifully for 5 days straight, including pooping with no issues. She has no problem still going pee, but for some reason has gotten upset about the ol' poo. I have no idea where this came from. She has gotten it into her head that it is "icky" and "bad". I have always told her it was natural and what your body just does and that yes, everybody poos. I am going to keep working on making it a positive thing. Wish I could read her mind to find out what changed. A 2 pound bag of Num & Nums may be in order for bribery (and leftovers to make Mama feel better).

Looking out at a gorgeous 34 degree day and wishing I had it in me to bundle Libby up and get out to enjoy it.

What a long week it was! I had to first recover from being so sick over the weekend to ending up with a cold at the end of the week! I was so dang mad. I would love to get away from here to someplace warm where we could all just relax and feel better. OK, I would feel better. How lovely it would be to be waited on right now-sigh.

We did have a nice weekend, even with me having a bit of a cold. Friday morning we went to Java Train, a cute kid friendly coffee shop with a caboose right inside for the kids to play in. Heather and Tenzing joined us there, as well as others from the St. Paul Mom's Group. It is such a fun place. While speaking with Rena, we found out both our husbands had to work Saturday, so we invited Rena and Lexa over for a play date. The girls had a great time playing together and really did a good job, with very little fighting. Lexa is just one month older than Libby.

Saturday evening was the St. Mary's auction. Eric had said that he did not want to attend, so I invited our friend Jenny as my date. He then turned around and said he was coming. I think this was to insure I did not spend too much. It was such a fun evening. The silent auction was great, even though I only got two items that I bid on. During the live auction, there was some comfusion as to which one of our group was bidding on a dinner, so two members ended up bidding against each other for the same thing. Let's just say the money goes to a good place.

Libby has been incredible at potty training. It was as if a light went off and now she just does it. She has had no accidents in days and days and is so happy to let you know that she needs to go. We are so proud of her. We do have to walk the "potty line" however. She likes some praise, and to get a sticker, but if you over do it, she shakes her head and tells you "no, no". We have not had to deal with it in public, yet, however, so that will be the next challenge.

I am still fighting a cold, so off I go to get a "real" cup of hot tea.

Recovering from Trivia Weekend and other Things

Whew, what a weekend it was. We had lined up the McCallister's to watch Libby for us so that we could play. Got to R & K's house to set up and the feed from KVSC was down just as the contest was about to start! Just in time, it was up again and after a few technical difficulties on their end, it was off and running. I did not get to stay late on Friday. When I picked up Libby, she was on the goofy side of goofy. She had followed Ava around and imitated her the whole evening. While Ava was at first flattered, she did become weary. However, Libby was given high marks for being very happy and sweet the whole stay. When I got home, I had a bit of a headache and did not feel well. Unfortunately, this lasted through the night. The next day I was debating what to do when Cathy called to say they were sick in her house and could not watch Libby. Within 1/2 hour, I knew I was to sick to watch her myself and with heavy heart called Eric to ask him to come home. I was very sick all day. Eric took Libby and Maddy to Como for the day. He and Libby then went to Marc and Teri's for dinner that evening. I slept. Thankfully, when Sunday morning came, I felt much better and so did the McCallister's. They were more than happy to watch Libby. I got to finish out the last 8 hours with my team. It was harrowing. Thankfully, I play with some amazing people. At hour 46, they go to blackout, meaning you no longer know your ranking until the awards ceremony. We were sure we had slipped a bit the last few hours. Imagine our happiness when we finished in 9th place!

Poor Eric had to work today and Libby is a ball of energy, so I am not able to really settle down, myself. It always takes a few days to recover from Trivia, and yet we are looking forward to next year, already!

Trivia Weekend

We are off for Trivia weekend. It will be 50 straight hours of fun, craziness, headaches, laughter and disappointment. I love it. I am so happy that Eric also fell in love with it the first time he came to play. We are so fortunate to have friends who offered to host it. Our house was too small and the layout not quite right. Their house works beautifully and is very centrally located.

My other happiness is that we have dear friends watching Libby for us so that I can play. She will have a great time at their house and I do not have to worry about her. I am coming home each night to bring her home for bedtime and to get to spend some time with her. I know she will have to much fun with Ava (age 6) and family, that she will barely miss us-sniff, sniff.

Better finish packing up the car and packing up this computer.

I know no one is privy to this site yet, but wish us luck! :)

Early Wishes for a Happy Valentines

We had a Valentine party at the home of one of the women in my St. Paul Mom's group. It was a very packed house with lots of moms and kids of all ages. Libby had so much fun. There were far too many treats, and we partook of them, of course. Poor Rena fell down the stairs while carrying Libby to me. I hope her "bottom" is okay.

Just finished a couple more loads of laundry, baked banana bread for this weekend, and attempted to straighten up a bit. I don't know why, but I am kind of tuckered out today.

Am still struggling with what I will write on this blog-how deep I will go, etc...Our other blog was 100% about our journey to Libby and then what it was like when we were joined as a family. With that, I was still pretty private. I will have to mull this over.

Tutoring

Today was my first day tutoring at Longfellow School. I was nervous about it for a couple reasons. I have not left Libby with too many people during the day, so this would be a new experience for her. But strangely enough, I was worried that I would not be of service to these kids who needed help with their reading. I don't know why I felt this way. I read a ton, read to Libby several times a day, and she knows her alphabet. Turned out my concerns were for no good reason. Libby had a great time at Kris's house. She gets to play with two little boys about her age. The caregiver is just wonderful and can handle all of the kids. The best thing is that Molly, Kris's 4 year old daughter, comes home and gets to play with Libby. Libby was in heaven. It was so cute to see. As for tutoring, I sat with Kris with one student while she read with her. I then had several students who came out to read with me. They are all at different levels, but the ones I saw have been making good progress. It turned out to be much more fun than I would have guessed, and it felt good, to boot. It is now on our calendar for the rest of the school year.

Libby had a restless night last night, so is napping quite hard right now. Daddy and Mama are pretty darn tired, also.

Our Trivia contest is coming up on Friday and we are very excited to be playing again with such a great team. Very thankful for friends who will be watching Libby over the weekend so that I can play. Could not bare leaving her overnight, so will come back each night to bring her home and put her to bed. Mama will not mind sleeping in a bed instead of a floor, either :)

Off to that pile of laundry that never seems to get smaller...

Mohawk Girl

Libby now loves her baths, especially if Dada is the one to give them. There are duck wars and super splashing and far too much craziness. Merlie is usually barking at the top of her lungs and the cats are hiding from the noise. I don't blame them!

Libby got her first haircut on Saturday at a kid's haircut place. They had it done before the video even started! She was very good and only got upset when the hair dryer was started up. I will have to take and post another picture, because she looks absolutely adorable.

to blog or not to blog

OK, going to try and give this blogging thing another try! We did so well when we were traveling to China and were first home, but fell off the blog wagon.

It is hard to believe that we saw Libby's face one year ago on February 4th for the first time. How the time has flown by. How our little girl has grown. Her language skills are flourishing more and more every day. I am so happy we signed up for a music class. She loves to sing the songs from it and you can tell it has helped her improve. Plus, we get to see her best pal, Tenzing on every Tuesday. We are all going to sign up for the spring sessions, so hope Teacher Linda is prepared for these two little monkeys to come back! :)

I am off to Eric's work, with cookies in hand, to try and sell church raffle tickets. I am pretty sure having a cute toddler along will help.

Tomorrow, I will begin tutoring at a local elementary school. The kids there are in such need of help. At first I questioned whether I could really do any good, but have been assured that they really need adults to help with basic reading skills. I think I can do that and am getting nervous and excited.

Crossing fingers I keep this blog thing going!