Fractured Wrists

Our little princess went all out this time and fractured now 1 but 2 wrists. It's been about 2 weeks since she first hurt them. As most of you know, she is constantly moving...jumping, flipping, spinning. She is usually using some piece of furniture (even though we are repeatedly telling her..."you're going to hurt yourself")to practice her gymnastics and dance "moves". :)))) This time she was doing somersaults and jumping on our bed. We think she just landed wrong and her wrists buckled. They hurt a great deal at first but, she is doing really well now.


Here's a picture of her with her braces. We were so happy they did not have to cast them. She takes them off to shower and wash her hands and pretty much functions as normal. She's such a little trooper.


We go back to the doctor next week for more xrays. They will decide at this time if she can go without the braces or needs to wear them for a few more weeks.

Short but SWEET!....

Adoption update. I sent our SW a quick note today just to check in and see how things are moving along. She let me know we are #9 or #10 on the waiting list and our Homestudy is next in line for her to complete.
This is wonderful, happy news :) Happy Valentine's Weekend!

I am hoping and praying those families that received referrals months and months ago, can soon go get their babies. To make a long story (or explanation of the process) short, there are quite a few families who received referrals back in May and June that are still waiting to be called to Travel. I can't imagine what this wait feels like and hope everyday that things speed up and get back on track. The wait for a referral is difficult but, the wait from referral to TC (travel call) must be agonizing.

Fun Family Outing

Today we took Gracie to see Disn*y on Ice. It was fantastic! As you can tell from her expression, she was completely mesmerized. It was so fun to see the joy and excitement in her eyes.

Gracie home sick

Grace has been home sick the past few days. She started out with a bad cough and fever last Wednesday. She seemed to be on the mend until Saturday night when she woke up with a high fever, (it had gone away) coughing, and throwing up. I took her to the pediatrician on Monday fully expecting to be told it was just a virus and continue doing what we've been doing....(hydrating, rest and Motrin). That has happened to me many times when Grace seemed much sicker than she is now. I thought MAYBE she would give us an antibiotic. I was completely shocked when she told me Grace has pneumonia. You would never know it looking at the kid, now. Like the pediatrician said, pneumonia can be very sneaky. Great news is the high dose of antibiotics has made her feel so much better already. She's bouncing off the walls today and is very stir crazy.

Needless to say, being stuck at home for days in the middle of winter can get old real fast. But, we're doing our best to keep busy...

We have played numerous board games. These are Grace's favs right now.

Coloring, crafts and baking are also keeping us busy.....

....and lots of doll playing.

She does tell me I'm not very good at the pretending part of this one. But , I do try. ;-)

Happy Birthday KJ!

Wishing the most wonderful husband and daddy a very Happy Birthday! I love you!
To celebrate, we had dinner last night at a local Japanese Steakhouse with some friends and family. Obviously, not the best picture of us but, the only we one we've got. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate. We had a blast!

Tonight, G and I made KJ his favorite dinner, pot roast and potatoes in the slow cooker. We then had a little celebration with just our family at home. Isn't the "cake" so creative? Ha!

Okay, Okay, I admit, with the busyness of the past few days, I forgot to make a cake. I didn't realize this until we were getting ready to sit down to dinner. So, G and I got creative and made do with what we had.

Our first Christmas celebration this year was at Uncle M and Aunt A's on the Saturday before Christmas.



On Christmas Eve, we went up to Schaumburg to celebrate with Grammy, Aunt L and Uncle M. and cousins, of course. We had a a great time and enjoyed the night. After dinner and gifts, we had to hurry home to put out treats for the big guy in the red suit.

We had plans to make it up to Michigan to spend the weekend after Christmas with Baba and Grandma. But, the weather had other plans for us. We hope to get up there for a long weekend sometime in January. We miss them!

New Years Eve was fun as always; a night over at the neighbors, filled with family and friends and fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Final Meeting in our Home

Our SW came over on, Tuesday 12.22. , to complete our final homestudy meeting. It went very well. She stayed for about 3 hours. The time seemed to fly by while we were talking, answering questions, and walking through the house.

The meeting started off with a short "Q & A" between G and our SW. K and I left the room so they could talk privately. When we returned, our SW recapped a few things for us. They discussed how Korea and America were on opposites ends of the ocean; how her little brother is going to look different than her; and how things around here may be a little a different when he comes home. G mentioned to SW that we've discussed this mostly through reading books...her favorite being Katie -Bo by Iris L. Fisher. I think she enjoys reading this one the most because it's very age appropriate. Our SW said the best thing G said to her was "I pray real hard every night for my baby brother to come home soon". ....smiling big smiles right now.

The rest of the meeting was fairly simple. We answered a good amount of basic questions (about our home and how we will provide basic care and needs for a new child) for DCFS licensing. We then went over the 'Child Acceptance List'.

We are so happy the homestudy is complete. I will be even more excited when it has been submitted and we are DCFS approved. Our SW told us she will start putting it together but, won’t submit anything until we are closer to #10 on the list.

We are guessing we are someone in the teens right now but, really can’t be sure. It will definitely be exciting to hear from her when we are at #10.

We did touch a little on timing with her. She mentioned most families have been getting referrals right around the 12 month of waiting mark. Although, I have been following other families on the Yahoo group and kind of already knew this, it was nice to hear her thoughts.

We think this was a great way to complete our adoption journey steps in 2009 and can’t wait for the changes, excitement, and blessings 2010 will bring!