Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

Wishing your family a happy healthy 2009

Liv is ready for the ball to drop!!!
A big happy new year from Olivia!!!

Oh how she's grown, this is Liv back on New Years Eve 2006!!!


Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a blessed and wonderful Christmas!!!


Friday, December 19, 2008

"Santa's watching you!!!"

I can't tell you how many times I have uttered those 3 words lately. We have been dealing with a bad case of toddler hood diva syndrome lately. The fact is the Santa threat does work. Liv will usually stop whatever it is she is doing and go off into the corner herself and then come back and tell me. "I happy Momma. Santa happy too" So she just works it our herself and then comes back by me when she is ready. Can someone tell me what I'm going to say after Christmas.

Actually Liv is only getting a few things this year because she doesn't really get Christmas yet. However every time we see a Santa, or she talks to him on the phone (Thanks Uncle John) she asks for the My Little Pony Amusement Park. It's funny because each time she see's a Santa she expects him to have it there with him. She doesn't get the whole presents under the tree thing yet.

We have been prepping for Christmas so here are some pictures from the last few weeks

Putting up the tree.
Liv loves the tree, she is always by it rearranging the ornaments.




Liv and Daddy helping with the garland.



Liv and I have also been baking. Here is Liv showing off the ones she made.




This one is for Santa.





Oops, we have had some accidents.






And we have been eating allot of cookie dough.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Their Christmas

Not too long ago I found out, through my adoption agencies message board, that it was possible to do a birth mother search. I had read other peoples posts about how the birth mother was found, and then you could send needed things to the birth mother. This non profit organization would also try to help the mother with donations and their services

Without hesitating I quickly emailed the woman from my agency, inquiring about how to do this, how much it would cost, the extent of contact I would have with the birth mother, etc.



When I told a friend about this, she paused for a moment and said, "Well wait a minute Nik, don't you think you should leave it up to Liv, to see if she even wants to find her birth mother, Maybe you should just wait till she's older and see if this is something she wants."



The truth is I didn't even think about what Liv would want. All I thought about was what my heart, my emotions, were telling me to do. In fact I think about Liv's birth mother often, every time she hits another milestone, or does something new or funny. I think of her when Liv is throwing a 2 year old tantrum, how would her birth mother handle this? Would her birth mother think I am spoiling Liv? Would she think I'm doing a good job raising Olivia?



All these things pop in my head from time to time, but lately , now two years after Liv has been home, what really occupies my thoughts is Liv's siblings. Olivia has 3 sisters and one brother all living with their Mother back in Guatemala. Her oldest sister is 12, her brother is 9, the other sister is 7 and the littlest one is 4. The oldest daughter goes to school the others don't. When I see Olivia curled up in her crib with 5 blankets, I wonder where they are sleeping. Are they begging for a tiny bit of food each day, when Olivia has her pick of the refrigerator anytime she wants. But lately as I am buying Liv Christmas presents, I think, what will Liv's birth families Christmas be like this year. Will their mother have to work, and the children be left at home alone. Do they believe that Santa will bring them something, when in truth there might be no money to buy food let alone a gift? There may not even be a house or a bed. Gifts might not even be a thought in their mind. They may need just basic food, water, and shelter.



Do I owe it to these children, Liv's brother and sisters to find their mother and try to help her anyway we can. Do I owe it to Liv to let it be her decision to find her birth family? Will Liv be mad at me in the future if I do the birth mother search? Will she be mad at me if I don't? I am haunted by these unanswered questions.

This I do know, whatever we decide to do, this Christmas I will be thinking about THEIR Christmas.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Why I limit her TV time

Liv usually only watches about 2 hours of TV a day. 1 hour of morning cartoons, and usually 1/2 hour before nap, and maybe 1 show at night. This video shows the reason why. If a show is on that she likes, she is glued to the TV. Here is Liv at a party Saturday night with her friend Tyler, right before we went home.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Crawling under a blanket

Why is it that this time of year makes you want to get under a warm blanket with a cup of hot coco, and just cozy up?????

When I should really have my butt out in the stores shopping. Seriously there are less than 3 weeks till Christmas. I have only one gift purchased, my Christmas cards need to be addressed, the tree isn't up, and Liv hasn't had her picture with Santa yet.

Am I the only one who is sooooooo far behind this year?????

Liv getting cozy under her blanket.
We have been watching all the Christmas shows on TV, It is so nice to see her enjoy all the shows I watched as a child.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Thanksgiving, RockBand, and Wedding

Thanksgiving was great, we ate way tooooo much, then Vaish and Jake brought Rockband over. If you've never played, you have to try it. Liv was just watching everyone play and then she begged to play the drums. So we disconnected the drum set and let her bang around while I sang the worst version of "Cheeseburger in Paradise" ever!!!
The wedding weekend was so much fun. Liv did great at the reception, all she wanted to do was dance. I would take her off the dance floor to get some water and after one sip of water she would drag me right back on. Of course I only have one picture from the wedding. I hope to get more so everyone can see how Liv was dancing the night away.




A picture before all the eating.
Liv playing with Uncle Jake!!

Liv and Mommy's duet, Vaishu Akka on the right was our only groupie.



Liv taking a break before her drum solo!!


Liv and Me in our Indian outfits!!!!