Catch Up Slide Show

Check Out Another Post Below... with an Update!!!

Season of Hope... Merry Christmas

I feel bad that I don't find the time to post more often. Having two busy, 2 years olds in the house can be a little crazy! (There aren't any books on parenting Virtual Twins!) Impulse control is limited, sharing is rare. Screaming and taking toys away from each other is a regular occurrence and climbing onto furniture is a constant battle! The second I leave the room they climb on the couch or try to play with the computer or printer... We call them little termites!

If two year old twins isn't enough... Chris is in High School now, in drivers training, (!) dating (!) and just quite busy. My husband is working 11 hours a day and has an hour commute each way (13 hours away from home a day!)  He is home only for a few hours before the girls are in bed, making for a super long day for both of us. We always KNEW that until the girls were both 3 and potty trained... this would be the most difficult period of raising them. It's just a season... a busy time all the way around.

PLAY
They love to play with blocks... it really is uncanny. My son NEVER played with blocks when he was little. Kate and Hope will build towers together, put blocks into buckets and carry them around, dump then in and out and build again.  Hope will hand Kate a block and then Kate will build, then they will knock them down and laugh like crazy.  We have several different sets, I swap them out every few days.

READING
They both DEVOUR books!  Sadly... literally.  When Chris was two, we had a routine of reading several times a day.  It was dreamy to sit with him on my lap and snuggle with a story.  Kate and Hope chew on books.  I have so many beautiful books that have been destroyed.  Hope likes to peel board books too... Now I have a special basket full of ABC books (Already Been Chewed) those are the only ones they can have unsupervised. Sadly reading to them has been difficult because they fight over who has control of the book, what page we are on etc... I have found that reading to them while they are in their high chairs or in the tub is a way to keep them from grabbing the book from each other. I just feel sad we are missing that wonderful snuggy reading time.  I know it will come later when they are a little more mature.

SINGING:
Hope LOVES music.  It is one thing that will always calm her down. Just when you think she isn't even paying attention she will yell  "Yeah!" and clap when a song is over.  No matter where she hears it, on TV, on the radio, in the store, at church.  It's super cute.


Kate loves music too and has started to sing.  She tries to sing along to any song she hears even ones she has never heard before.  She can sing ABC's all the way through and is cracking us up with "Dingle Bells"!

DANCING
Both girls love music, I tape 'Dancing with the Stars' just to watch them dance around while watching.

Hope has this hilarious wiggle.  She keeps her body completely rigid, arms down at her sides with her hands flexed out, then she starts wiggling at the shoulders... it's hilarious!

Kate will move around waving her hands trying to pirouette like a ballerina and she will bow at the end and laugh her big laugh so proud of herself.  Need to get them into a dance class this winter.

SPEECH
Hope was assessed in her 2 year appointment with speech delay.  After many weeks of appointments and delays we were able to get her into a speech therapy program. I'm not really sure how much this program is doing for her speech but I can see it will be a great help to acclimate her to a classroom setting and transitions. We tried her in 'Come Play With Me' in September and it was a disaster.

That said, since September we have seen her speech develop.  The concern was that she was only saying the first syllable or last syllable of most words. She was calling everyone Mama, including herself. (however her Chinese nickname was MungMung so I have always thought that was what she was saying)  Now she calls herself Hope and even says Me. Daddy and Chris are finally happy that she is calling them by their names too!

She is repeating well now and recently started saying words that end in TS, BS, PS.  Like bibs, oops, poops, wipes, boots. (We get the giggles when calls boots, boobs!) She knows MANY animal sounds but can only say some of their names... I believe she knows what they are but just can't say the word and their sound is much easier to say...

Kate - is speaking in full sentences with an amazing vocabulary and hilarious mannerisms.  She watches (too much) Little Bear and I see that she has picked up a lot of his expressions. She will cup her hand on her chin and say "Hmmmmm, let's see.  I know! How 'bout (then whatever she wants)"  Last night at dinner after taking a bite she yelled out "Delicious!"  She likes to say, "Amazing!" and we think she is!  We love when she will yell "Come on Hope, over here!!"

One day she was snuggling on my lap and I asked her if she was my Little Bear, she said, "Mama? Hope, your Little Bear too?" LOVE.
 
FOOD
2 year olds eating...
Kate will eat bread, pasta, rice, crackers and fruit and very little else. Picky like her brother...She is my challenge. She will eat some raw veggies, tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber, but her protein is limited to turkey sausage, hummus, peanut butter only if jam is with it. I hate that she won't eat eggs.

Hope will eat anything that isn't nailed down.  We finally took her pacifiers away when she was biting the nipples off and chewing off the plastic.  She is like a Golden Retriever puppy. This is also a challenge!


CHUBBY BABIES
My girls are both petite... in height.

My vision of Hope was always a little waif of a thing but this was not to be.  Again with the Golden Puppy analogy, but she has the biggest feet and hands and the chubbiest cheeks!! Her chest measurement is bigger than Kates and she feels like a ton of bricks to lift. I'm guessing she is at at least 32lbs now.

Kate is a bit more willowy all over except she maintains her big round belly! Must be all the carbs she's eating!

MILESTONES
Sippy Cups vs. Cups: When they stop throwing their cups on the floor when they are 'done' I will switch.

Potty Training: I'm going to start with Kate in January, she is probably ready.  Hope can play along too but I don't think she will be ready.

Big Girls Beds: Here is something that if I had ONE, I might consider it... but they share a bedroom and go nutty in there when they first go down for nap and when they wake in the morning... Hope is not a deep sleeper and needs much less sleep.  She has ZERO impulse control, she would be all over that room and jumping on Kate... We might wait until Chris goes to college in 4 years... then they can have their own rooms... I think at 6 they should be ready?? : ) Just kidding... I think....

CHRISTMAS -
This year we are decorating on the light end... 4' tree on a table in the kitchen. A few knick nacks on the mantle, wreath and done.  Again, Hope does not understand the word, NO and does not stop even when you are telling (yelling) her to stop. So to keep her from getting hurt or destroying anything we are waiting another year to get the big tree back into the living room.  Last year we had the little tree on a table in the living room behind the couch... I don't even trust her with that this year she LOVES to climb on the couch.

I got them these adorable smocked dresses for a song! I can't wait to take them for pictures!

I bought the KidsCraft Pink Retro Kitchen set for them this year and am adding a bunch of toy pots and pans and play food.  They are getting Little Mommy Dolls and a few things to go with them from my mom and that's really about it.  Trying to keep it simple this year. I can't wait to play house!

So whether you read all my ramblings or not...

Merry Christmas and I pray for you a Season of Hope. God is Good, His timing is Perfect and His Love for you is beyond measure...

Happy 2nd Birthday Hope!

September 5, 2005 - Jim and I had our first serious discussion about adoption.

September 5, 2008 - Lin Yan Mung (Hope) entered the world into the arms of her first family, who loved and cared for her during her first 3 weeks.

September 5, 2009 - Jim, Chris and I stood on top of the Great Wall of China and thanked God for the amazing journey He led us through.

Happy Birthday my sweet Hope!

Wild Abandon

Click to enlarge

Hope's Baptism

Looking forward to next Sunday when we will finally Baptize our baby girl!  More to come soon!

Hope and the Jelly Beans!

DSCN2998, originally uploaded by irwinfamily22.

Love this little video of the girls eating jelly beans! It's hard to capture Hope's smile in a snapshot...Watch Hope's little smile and wiggle through this whole video!

Easter Bunny

Have a "Hopeful" Easter

It is only because of my faith in God and my belief that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save me... from myself, that I have Hope, literally and figuratively.

From the moment I began trying to conceive a second child until Kate was placed in my arms was 9 years, 5 months. It would be an additional 16 months until Hope was placed in my arms. It is difficult to describe those years. Even though I was already incredibly blessed with the most amazing little boy, it was not enough for me or for him. The drive inside me to fix this had its own power.  Those who know me best, know that I am not really 'driven' by much. "A Type" is not EVER used to describe me, I savor life, I take things slow, I am introspective, a deep thinker, a dreamer.... I don't find a lot in life worth 'fighting' over. I am a realist, I am one to make due, find joy in what I have.... but this... this had a power of its own.

This period of my life began when Chris began nursery school and would last all the way through 6th grade. His entire elementary years. I was so blessed and happy being his mother but I had a fog of frustration and sadness blowing in and out on a regular basis. I always felt guilty for this. For not being happy with the amazing life I already had, for wanting more...

For 10 years I prayed. I prayed to become pregnant, I prayed that God would lift the desire from my heart, I prayed for adoption, I prayed for guidance, I prayed.... and my faith grew and strengthened. God brought me through those years.

I believe, God's perfect plan for me was to be a mother, to give birth to all of my children, to not suffer a moment of unhappiness. I believe this imperfect life got in the way and caused my infertility. I don't believe He caused me to be infertile, so I would adopt my precious girls, any more than I believe that he made them orphans so that I could be their mother. I believe He could have easily, healed me and helped me move on but He chose not to. I believe that it was Him driving me to overcome what this imperfect world handed me and put me back on the path He intended for me all along.

I am humbled that God would provide me with, not only a HOPE for an eternal life free of illness and sadness but, in this life, He turned my brokenness into something perfect and beautiful.

He gives us Hope for a future, now. We just need to ask, believe and then let Him do the rest..

Tiger Girl!

Hope Li Mei is coming up on her 18 month birthday and 6 month anniversary of being home with us!  I wanted to commemorate her 18 months with her dressed in the beautiful dress we bought her in China and with the Tiger we just had to get her after seeing her referral pictures!! You've come a long way baby!!

(Sorry for the grainy copyrighted photos... I couldn't wait to post them!!)

Year of the Tiger

We had our first family Lunar New Year party this past Saturday in honor of our daughter Hope and her cousin Grace! We had a mix of Chinese and Korean food, treats and traditions.  So amazing to begin this new year with our family complete! 

5 Months Home - 17 Months Old - Valentines Day - Happy CNY

We are still here...

Just have been settling in and enjoying life as a family!

Hope is coming along.  She is sleeping through the night. finally. and taking regular naps.  It took her a full 5 months to relax enough to sleep comfortably in our house.  It was a tough time... I'm so glad we have that behind us.

Now that she has met all her mobility milestones we are working on speech.  She can now say, Hi, Bye-Bye, Up, Down, Chris, Eat, Uh Oh and Woof!

We started signing with the girls just for fun and it is amazing how quickly they are picking up the language.  Kate signs, Eat, More, Milk, Please Bye- Bye and Hot.  Hope is signing Eat and More!

We are keeping busy cooped up most of the time indoors due to the cold temps here in Michigan but we have had enough lunch dates at the mall here and there to  keep us busy.

I have more to post on soon... I have pictures of our Meeting Eden and Valentines Day.

Next Saturday we are having a special Chinese New Year celebration so I'm sure I will have some pictures to post on that!

Gotcha!

After waiting over 2 years in the China program and almost another in the Korea program... Amiee met her daughter today! Just look at those smiles! It just says it all doesn't it! I am so overjoyed for them and can't wait to meet her myself!!

UPDATE! She just posted more picture on her blog! Check it out!! Link in post below!

Journey to Eden

My friend Amiee and her husband Ron are in Seoul, Korea getting ready to finally meet their daughter Eden. They were supposed to meet her last night but due to severe snow storms it won't be until tonight. (morning for them!)

I know, I know... you have always heard of people picking up their children at the airport when adopting from Korea but Amiee and Ron are part of a new process Korea is trying where the families are encouraged to travel to Korea. They will have the chance to meet their daughter in her foster home, meet the foster family and allow Eden to become acquainted with them before they take her home a few days later.

If you are interested in following their travels click Here !