Going back to work, leaving kids in daycare - no matter how good the day care situation is - has to be the hardest thing for any mother to do. This mother for sure. So Nov 12 came and it was time to get up early and get a shower, dressed, Eddie dressed, Izzy dressed, Is everything in Eddie's bookbag? Is Izzy's bag complete with diapers, wipes, change of clothes, bottles, snacks, bib...? Are all the forms for Eddie's school signed, folders emptied, homework assignments done, the box of baggies the teacher has requested, a can of coffee for the food drive, a picture of a tree for some project, oh and do the daycare people have all 12 numbers of where to reach us in case... aaaggghhh Bill helps out a lot which makes a big difference. Still off I go to work on Nov 12, crying all the way to work. This sucks.
But we made it through our first week. Now on our 2nd, but with Thanksgiving upon us, I have 6 almost uninterrupted days with my kiddies! Isn't this sweater the cutest? Izzy started daycare walking, falling, mostly falling. 2-3 steps, boom. 3-4 steps, boom. You know how it is. By Friday of the first week, she came back a steady walker. (with walking comes a lot of falling. Notice the red bump on her forehead.) She'll still fall, mostly when she's tired, or when I stupidly get a new pair of slippers that are as slippery as ice skates or to use a Bill-ism "as slick as whale snot". I doubt many people think of whales period, much less that they have snot or what it might be like. Being married to Bill, you inherit a lot of Bill-isms. There'll be more. Stay tuned. Anyway, that's how fast it goes. She's almost 20 lbs now, up 3 lbs since we were in China, less than 3 months ago. Her hair is full and thick. She's had a few colds, but kicked their butts in 3-4 days. She still smiles alot. First thing in the morning when I hear her cooing, I peer into her crib, and she's got a smile as wide as the Great Wall of China is long. The smiles we get at the end of the day are worth more than all the tea in China. She's doing great.
I love her expression in this pic. Too bad I didn't have the wherewithall to relocate the oh-so-attractive space heater before snapping the shot. I have the camera around and handy for just these moments, but somehow, when I notice she's looking particularly cute and may be in the mood to have me flash a camera at her oh, about 25 times - there's just not enough grey matter in my head to think of the stuff in the backdrop. Plus I'm almost sure that if I ever could put that much thought and coordination into it all, that by the time I removed all the unattractive items in the background and foreground, the moment would be over, and I'd never get any pictures of her. So here's a very cute picture of my Izzy and our space heater.
Its hard to believe - three months ago today, August 27, we were all sitting in that little room, pretty sure, they were about to bring the babies out to us, but not really sure how it would go, how long would we wait, were they coming in? Would we be called out? Adoption in China was a lot of not knowing, but finding comfort in being in a group and everyone else was sitting there, so why not? Many times in that trip, lost, in the dark, afraid - I found solidarity in these men and women we travelled with. I hope we get to have our reunion sometime. I would hate to lose touch with these, my brothers and sisters in the maternity ward.
My first time holding my Isabella. She was so scared. Wimpering, sucking her thumb. I'm sure full of uncertainty. I don't really look at these pictures often, because I find myself feeling so sad for how scared she was. So helpless I couldn't immediately communicate everything would be alright - that she was safe now. So sorry I couldn't do anything about getting to her sooner than we did.
This little piglet is pooped. All done with Halloween. Sitting out in front of the house, on the ground, by the giant kitty - she just hung out there for a long while pushing against the kitty.
On occasion, I sit at my computer at my desk in my bedroom, Eddie watching tv from my bed, Izzy playing with a stuffed animal or toy, not usually paying particular attention to either of us - I turned around the other day and found Izzy, all snugged in the crook of Eddie's arm, content as could be. I had to take a picture.
