You wanna see some cuteness??

I can only suggest you visit here  Simply does not get any cuter!!!!

Taiwan R.O.C.ks

just a few pics today because I know you are waiting.  We are simply too tired to do more than that right now.  But just know it was SIMPLY amazing and worth every second of our hard work.  The children had a blast, the parents I think pretty much had a great time too!!!!

Sweet pillow Miss Tiffany gave to Hayden

Matsuzaki's arriving from Hawaii with Lexie

Hayden in a coma after the first day of ROCks

Mrs Chen's kid's

Chairman Pic

The Keady's

Daddy and Hayden the last morning of ROCks

Tyler's big sis Lauren who is Hayden's new BFF

Sweet Graycen

The Foster's

Hayden's  foster brother Tyler

Miss Paige

Taiwan sister's forever

Two HOT Atlanta messes

Paige, Hayden and Lexie after dinner at Babes

TWCA kid's

T minus 120 hours and counting

Ft. Mackenzie

The Clocktower

120 hours from now we will have 24 families getting settled here in the great, hot state of Texas and enjoy a weekend of friendship.  91 people on Friday night at our pizza party and 76 for the whole weekend!!  It has been a year of planning, years of dreaming and now it is down to 120 hours until R.O.C.ks.

I can't wait to see everyone:)

They are renaming the state......HELL

A lot of reunion planning and A LOT of whining and complaining about the weather.  How on earth did this reunion get planned here as we experience right now the 2nd hottest summer in history, and we are on day 33 of over a 100' straight.  It really was not my idea, I promise I warned everyone not to vote for it here in August.  I just am hot, sweaty and a bit pissy!!!  This weather could seriously harm some of these northerners....they are not use to this type of sultry hellish weather, who am I kidding; I have lived here for 21 years and I am not use to 109'.  I've got two families coming from HI....they may never leave the island again for fear that this is typical of the entire mainland.  It was hotter here yesterday and today than it was in Phoenix or Las Vegas, great they are both located in deserts, we however are not the desert but we might as well move to the desert... because appearently it is cooler.

There is seriously no END in sight as shown with the current forecast.

Zone

I am swamped right now with all of the final details of Taiwan R.O.Cks that is in 2 weeks!!  So excited, and will be so relieved to get to the fun part!!!  But anyway that is the reason for my lack of posting and lack of excitement around here.  Plus it is a 147 degrees outside and we don't even want to go out back to swim it is so hot right now.  You know it is hot when you are giddy that there is a 20% chance of rain in the forecast as well as a forecasted 98 degrees tomorrow.....seriously we live in hell!!

Okay so I have to tell you that Miss Priss walked in my room this afternoon with only her 2nd change of clothes today(man the changing of her clothes is a bit obsessive) she is dressed again in something that I have put in the "to give to the babies" pile and she has a briefcase.  She looks me dead in the eye with all seriousness about her and says "excuse me is my zone boarding yet"??????  I think this child has been on one too many trips!!!  I could do nothing except bust out laughing and take her picture that she happily posed for because she felt as though she was in all of her finery.  There is not a dull moment in our house with this child that is for sure:)

On a VERY happy note, last night we plugged in a nice new, bright nightlight and lo and behold we rocked, got in our own bed and went to sleep for 12 hours......can I get an AMEN sister??  I was not so lucky to get the 12 hours too, but I did get to sleep in my own bed without being kicked to death.  So please wish us luck again tonight.  We have made a HUGE deal of how awesome she should feel and how proud we are, and so on and so on.  So I will give you an update next week, but hopefully this was the real issue....she kept telling me she was scared....If it doesn't work we will go back to our co-sleeping arrangement.  I slept on and off on a cot or sleeping bag in my parents room until I was probably well let's not get into the details, but I was for sure in school.  Terrified of the dark, terrified of storms.  So if a nightlight helps then by all means a bright nightlight it will be!!! 

a KING is in order I guess

Okay let me just say first I am so grateful that for almost 2 years Hayden has been the best sleeper.  She did not start out that way and it took a lot of work, patience, and sleepless nights to get her there.  She had never slept in a crib when she came  home at 7 1/2 months....she had always slept with her foster parents.  She slept the first 9 weeks or so sleeping only if she were laying on my chest.  Then we transitioned to sleeping in the bed together, then her taking naps in her crib and then finally sleeping in her crib with me on the floor next to her and then we made it to her sleeping in her crib, in her room by herself.  It took months and months to get there.....but when we got there it was pure BLISS.  The child sleeps 12-13 hours a day with a nap in the afternoon.  It doesn't matter what time she goes to bed....she still sleeps 12-13 hours, we have had to wake her up before.  So please know from someone who LOVES and NEEDS a lot of sleep I am forever grateful that for 2 years basically with the occasion of being sick or being on a trip that Hayden has slept great in her own bed.  I knew when she first came home she needed that comfort and time with us in the bed, and I am a big believer in adopted children co-sleeping or at least sleeping in your room depending on their age. 

Okay so you know with this intro that the story is going terribly wrong right???? 

Well we went to the beach as we do several times a year, same place, same people, same bed, same routine basically.  Hayden slept with us as she always does, and has always transitioned and almost welcomed her bed when we would return....NOT so much this trip.  We have been home since July 8th and Hayden has slept one night in her bed!!  So she and I have been in the guest room, I have slept on her floor(okay so she has slept in there 2 nights) or we have pushed David to the guest room, or we all pile into our QUEEN size bed.  I have never really thought about a king, never really desired a king, but I think we will be shopping for KING this weekend.  Anyway, she will take a nap in her bed no problem, but when it comes to bedtime she doesn't even want her ritual rocking....we have rocked every single night since she came home.  So I have contacted an adoption specialist, I have asked EVERY single mom I know......and all I can say is we never knew so many kids slept in their parents room or bed.  The adoption specialist has advised us to keep her in our bed or at least in our room.  She said with her impending birthday she is going thru some development and this age is also becoming aware of dreams or nightmares, characters they see on TV, they are developing fears and we just need to make her feel VERY secure and let her work through it.  So that is what we will do.....but I will very tired and so it will be necessary to start trying out king size mattress' so we can all get some sleep.  But it seems gone are the days of 12-13 hours of sleep, and when she is in our room we can't get anything done in the evening unless she is staying up late and then she is waking up when David wakes for work.  So the amount of time I have to get anything done is just about ZERO!

Okay so just to add a smidge of humor to this post as well as a segway to a picture.  My good friend gave us a little princess toddler bed.  It has been in our attic, and I had actually forgotten we had it.  But we came across it the other day and thought "oh maybe this will work" and as we put it together, and even the first few hours it was together Hayden was beyond THRILLED!!!  She LOVES the idea of it(it is about 2 feet from my side of the bed)  But let's just say after one night she and I are back in the guest room.  She did sleep in it for most of the night, she did come and get in bed with us very early this morning, she did tell me that she really didn't prefer to sleep in her princess bed....she thinks mine is much more comfy and that it would be alright if she just staying in our bed.  SIGH
Tonight at bedtime and the mere mention of the princess bed brought on a fit and tears as though we were ripping her limbs off.  So it goes......this too shall pass.....RIGHT????

Beach part 2

I apologize that I am so behind on blog post.  I have a few people who wait each week for a Hayden update and they have been waiting for awhile now....of course those are just relatives:)  To show you the second half of our vacation would be just plain BORING as we did almost NOTHING except let David rest.  But that is why we go to the beach....to do nothing, but we were exceptionally boring this trip.  So will give you a photo rundown of the rest of the week. 

love this pic of Uncle Rick and H, they are mad about each other.

Shells and rocks H found on the beach

bubbles

and more bubbles

Hayden taking pics again....oh daddy how can you be tired??

we did find an awesome park to play

climb, climb, climb

"all because two people fell in love"

This is Goldie, H's new pillow pet from Aunt KK(LOVES IT)

That's my girl

are we done yet mommy??

I am QUEEN of the world

hmmmm I really wish you would stop taking pictures

I love my new dogs and doll for the plane ride home

catching up on a little Marmaduke