Oh what a day it was!!

**Before I start my regularly scheduled (but not on time by any means) blog post, I have a little "business" to attend to. After we experienced Colby's negative reaction to returning to us from the waitress' arms in Taiwan (in stark contrast to his sister's unwillingness to LEAVE our arms in China.), I wondered if it had to do with the fact that she spoke a language he understood and looked like the people who were his family. Well....at the airport, he walked right up to my mom and asked to be picked up. Our tact with Kailin had been to follow her comfort level, so I let my mom pick him up. He didn't want to come back to me. I talked with our social worker and after we discussed his foster care situation (and how much he was loved), she agreed with me that his bonding process is slower in coming than Kailin's was - he accepts indiscriminately and then refuses us as a way to control the life he feels is beyond his control. To sum up this little novel, we are requesting that no one pick him up even if he asks. You are welcome to kiss his head or his cheeks, give us all a group hug, or play with him on the floor. But please don't pick him up, ask to hold him (even for a minute) or feed him or do anything else that a parent would do. I don't mean to sound like a control freak mom, but this really is the best thing for Colby and for us. Thanks for being understanding. Hopefully it won't be long before everyone can pick him up and give him a squeeze! Without further ado... I bring you today's post..."

I thought before I talked about Friday, I'd post some pics I took of the kids on Thursday wearing the traditional hats we bought them in Wulai. Kailin adores hers and Colby....removes his with fervor (although he didn't want me to wear it either- so he's laid claim to it - just prefers it not to be on his head....)

Also couldn't resist this picture of Kailin having applied bunny ears to her brother. She delighted in the experience - he wasn't so much a fan!

Wow! What a day yesterday was! It started literally as soon as it started. I was just finally falling asleep about midnight when Colby cried. I got up and got him a bottle which he sucked down with glee. He didn't smell like he needed a change, so I put him back in his crib and settled into the rocking chair to wait. And wait. And wait some more while he rolled around and fidgeted. Finally, I decided to just have a whiff again. Sure enough. So I changed him and put him back and within about 15 minutes (including a lovely rendition of a Colby original song), he was out. Back to bed at 1:30. At 3:45, he was crying again. Steve went in, but they had a fundamental disagreement regarding whether Steve would hold him or lay him in his crib. So he cried. Loud. It wasn't a scared or hurt cry - it was just mad. Well of course I got no sleep. At some point I went downstairs and made a bottle and got the teething tablets and deposited them carefully into Colby's room. Steve came back to bed about 4:45 and then Kailin was awake at 5:15. Steve, bless his heart, let me sleep til just after 7.

When I came downstairs my darling daughter screamed at the top of her darling lungs, "MAMA! It's your BIRFDAY!!!!!!!" I just have to love that girl! We had a lovely family breakfast and then I loaded the kids into the tub for a bath. Should've been easy. Wasn't. I couldn't find the baby wash. I resorted to using a baby shampoo we don't particularly care for. The kids played nicely and then fought and then played nicely. Colby was fading fast though, so I washed both kids, but figured Kailin's hair could wait til I had Colby out and dried off since she likes to play in the tub anyway. I turned around to get his towel and Kailin is screaming "Colby is PEEING in my tub!!!" Sure enough. Standing and peeing. I yanked him out and into a towel and started draining the water. I told her to stand up. She screamed that she was cold. I told her that was too bad. (although then I FELT bad) I dried him as quickly as I could and then left him wrapped in the towel on the bathroom floor while I tried to wash her hair. Finally got them both washed, dried, lotioned, and dressed as Steve emerged from his shower. ha ha. The experience did yield some cute pics, though!

When I emerged from my shower, Steve told me he needed to go work in the basement. I wasn't sure what he meant by that. A quick look down the stairs gave me all the info I needed. Water. Lots of water.

The ground is super super saturated and apparently it's saturated to the point that water has come up through our basement floor. Steve spent most of his day cleaning up the aftermath. I know I say it often, but bless that man. He wouldn't let me help at all. My mom came over for the day and he let me play with her and the kids all day while he did the grunt work downstairs. He's still not done - the water is so widespread that we weren't able to move all of the affected "stuff" away from the wet areas. He's got all the standing water up and 1/3 of the basement is dry. He'll shift another third around today and then (barring any further bouts of torrential downpours (or perhaps even just sprinkles at this point)) we should have 2/3 of the basement dry and all of it dry by Monday. The only bad part is we haven't had time to go through all the boxes of wet stuff - so we don't yet know for sure what all is ruined. I am trying to maintain that if it was in the basement to begin with, it must not be very dear to us or it wouldn't be there, so let's hope that holds true. I am comforted a little by the fact that my mom, who doesn't even have a sump pump since my dad took it out 30 years ago and never has water in her basement, also had some water in her basement (although not as much as we did).

On a happier note, Steve and the kids got me an 8" digital photo frame for my birthday! While mom and the kids and I ran out to get plastic bins we stopped and got a 4Gb USB drive so that I can load some of my digitial scrapbook pages onto my new photo frame (and tons of China and Taiwan pictures, too!). I can't wait to play around with it this weekend! My mom gave me money to take to Taiwan before we left, but she couldn't go without bringing me a little something on my birthday. In addition to a dozen beautiful roses, she also brought 2 of my favorites - strawberry mentos and Crabtree and Evelyn Gardeners hand lotion. Woohoo mom!!!

My sister Katie and her husband, Nick, came up to meet Colby and we all had pizza from my favorite place - Bada Bing. Yum!!! My mom brought a yummy raspberry almond torte and Katie and Nick brought vanilla frozen custard. Lo-cal and healthy it was not, but it was one of the best birthday meals I can remember! Colby took to his Uncle Nick like a fish to water and was forcibly trying to remove his sister from the red tunnel so that HE could see Uncle Nick better. That man sure does have a gift with kids! He had Colby pealing with laughter 5 minutes after they met.

It may have started out a bit rocky yesterday, but it was a blessed birthday indeed. God has blessed me with an amazing husband and beautiful children and a family like no other. I am so very very thankful to Him!

Last night was a better night on the Colby front. He went to bed just a little after 7 and only woke once at 3am and didn't even require us to go in there before he quickly nodded off again. He's still sleeping now at 6:45 (as is his daddy). I wish I could say the same for his sister. We let her stay up late playing with Auntie Katie, Uncle Nick, and Nai Nai and of course it was a mistake. She was up at 2:30 wailing that she was ready to start the day and then up at 5:15 (far too early even if she'd gone to bed ON TIME) for good. It's going to be a long one, I'm afraid!

Today we are off to Cricket school as a family (Kailin's classmates and some of our other friends are quite anxious to meet Colby) and then down to Steve's parents to pick up the rest of our laundry that we offloaded on Weds to fit Kailin in the car coming home. Then back home so that Steve's brother and sister in law, Mike and Jodi, and the kids' cousins Olivia and Nicholas can come for a visit. It should be another fun-filled and busy day. Tomorrow should be a little more quiet. Good thing for us that Colby loves the action - Kailin was a mouse when she came home, but Colby's much more of a tiger!