First Winter at Home!

What a fun time we have had with Micah this winter! From his first Christmas at home, to his first snow! He has brought us so much joy! We cannot imagine life without him. It is hard to believe that in just 20 days, we will have had Micah for 1 year! He may have been born in Kolkata, but he was born to be part of our family for sure!

Oxymoron

Ok, Rest with an almost 2-year old at home must be an oxymoron. I realize now how spoiled I was last week having my husband and my mother here at home with me to wrangle the boys. Nathan is fine and would watch a movie or cartoons for an hour or two. Micah, on the other hand, is out of control! He wants to be playing with someone and is not content to just sit still. Although he wants to play, he is still very short-tempered and if anything does not go his way, he screams, hits, pushes, pinches, bites, or whatever is necessary to get what he wants. If I ask Nathan to go play with Micah in their room, inevitably Nathan comes to me crying about every 10 minutes because of Micah.

Every morning Micah wants to have some juice and wants to sit on the couch with some dry honeynut cheerios and watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon. So, this morning I tried to go back to bed after getting him situated. That lasted about 10 minute before Micah was back in my room. For the next hour he was climbing in and out of my bed. He'd be asking for his night night (blanket) and juice, leaning over saying, "Booboo, Mommy?" When I said, "Yes, Mommy has a booboo," he would then ask over and over again, "Okay, Mommy, Okay Mommy?" Then he would holler for NayNay (Nathan) to come help him down. While leaving the room he would say, "Love you, Mommy!" This was over and over again with every step till he left the room. Of course he expects me to respond after each one. I will admit that this is precious, but early this morning, still under the effects of the allergy meds I took at 4:00 a.m., I did not find it so cute! Once in the living room, it was quiet for a minute. Then I hear Micah banging on the coffee table with Nathan's play hammer. I closed my eyes thinking, "It won't last long." Then I hear Micah playing a lovely tune on the girls harmonica right outside my bedroom door. So, I gave up and I am trying to get up and moving and start my day. Maybe Micah will lay down for an early nap! I continue to be hopeful! :)

Adjustments

Considering how our lives have changed since the holidays, I think we are all making the necessary adjustments fairly smoothly. My mom is staying with me for a while and my husband took off last week and this week of work to be home and help with the kids. The girls have gone back to school and I think it is good for them to be back in their usual routine. Nathan is a little trooper and understands that he has to be easy with mommy for a while. Micah is the one who does not really understand what is going on. Since we were gone for 2 days, although he was here at our house with my parents, I think he thinks we are going to leave again. Every time David or I start to head outside, he goes crazy with crying and trying go with us. He is also not sure why I am not holding him like I did just a week ago. I have gotten him to hold my hand now and follow me to the couch so that he can climb up beside me. He is such a busy little boy and such a mover. When he runs toward me with arms flailing, shouting, "mommy," I flinch a little and brace for impact. :) Hopefully I won't have to do that much longer. I guess this is going to be our new "normal" for a while. I'm very glad that kids are so resilient!

Favorite Things

I have decided that I need to be blogging about my cancer experience for my own therapy, but I didn't want to do it on my "adoption" blog site. I have been trying to decide if I should blog on a cancer site, or just add another blog to this site that people can link to. At least for now I have set up another blog since I am familiar with this process and I am just going to post a link on this site. My blog site where I am going to try to share my journey through breast cancer is going to be candice-favoritethings.blogspot.com. We'll see how it goes.

Two Roads

It's funny, but for some reason this morning, my mind is drawn to the line of a Robert Frost poem...two roads diverged in a wood.

In 2007 we started on our adoption journey. Some close friends and co-workers of ours, got their login date to china that year. We have been on this adoption journey together, although their journey has taken a very different path than ours did. Long story short, they are leaving on Thursday to fly to China to pick up their little 4 year old beauty! I am so excited for them I can hardly stand it. Just 11 months ago, we were headed to India for Micah and I can remember the emotions like it was yesterday.

What a difference a year can make. It seems surreal for me that while our friends are on a plane to pick up their little girl, I will be sitting in a hospital room recovering from my mastectomy. Two close families headed down two very different roads in 2010. My consolation is that the same God is watching over both our journeys. As He is looking down onto the woods and watching our paths diverge, He is guiding us both. He will be with our friends as they land in China and head to the orphanage to meet "Anna" for the first time, and He will be with me after I wake up from surgery and begin making plans for my treatment to follow. So, I will rejoice with my friends and follow this new path for me one step at a time!