An Earthshakingly Great Day

The year long quest to get the boys readopted has now come to completion. Ben and Seb are now really Ben and Seb and are one step closer to becoming American citizens. Yes folks, CA has finally recognized our adoption and the year's tasks were more than worth it!

We got up early to make it to the courthouse on time. My parents as well as grandmother would make the day extra special. In fact, we got there 1.5 hrs early as I am a worrier, and would not miss this date because of flat tire or crazy mishap. This did give us time to make our way to Krispy Kremes for a little pre-court donut and coffee refreshment. Then, on to the courthouse. We were starting to get worried as our appointment time approached and the halls filled with dozens of families. Luckily, we were first on the schedule and wouldn't have to wait long.

We were sworn in, signed the paperwork and the baliff was kind enough to take several pictures. Before leaving the courtroom, the court staff cheered the finalization of our adoption.
Once exiting the courtroom, all of the other families cheered and congratulated us. I am not sure if that was partly because they were eager to get onto their turn.
Even the powers that be were excited. How do we know this you ask? Because there was a pretty wild earthquake, of course. No one was hurt, but it was a kind of funny end to a long and drawn out struggle.
The day would end with a celebration at Chuck E. Cheese, the boys' favorite. We would also go home to enjoy some ice cream and pie. It was a day to remember. One that will be close to our heart as long as we live, even if somewhat of a formality. Now, on to the COC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off to the Maggott races

Cross our fingers, we have had a pretty good time these last couple of weeks. Okay, it didn't start off that nicely when we awoke one morning to find thousands of maggots racing across our kitchen floor. Well, I guess my darling husband found them and was on his way out the door for work and woke me up. Everyone knows how I hate bugs and how overactive my gag reflex is, so it was a fun three hours of cleaning for me. I never knew how fast those buggers were. Thank goodness it was a one time outbreak and hasn't happened again in the last three weeks. I tell you, scream queen as I am.......I thought that the end of days was on its way......if horror films do nothing else, they make you paranoid. Never saw that many maggots in my life....if I had seen any at all.

The worst part was that I discovered that they had hatched from my poor little Peke's armpit. There was a laceration which had obviously been a good hatching ground. I felt so guilty when I discovered such. My dogs were my children before we had our boys. Spoiled and treated like royalty. Now they get a lot less attention and when I went to bathe my dog babies on that fateful morning (didn't want to leave any stone uncovered or dirty), I discovered that my Roenick had been neglected. I felt like such a bad mother. Of course, the vet said that it wasn't neglect, that it was a spider bite that got chaffed by the harness and not a sign of neglect. I still felt bad. But, aren't you glad I didn't take a picture to post of this embarrassing moment in life.

Here are my boys playing with their blocks and dancing to the top 40 playlist on XM radio via our satellite TV. Sebby really gets into the music. He is going to tear up the dance floor when he is older.....unfortunately, that may be literal.

The boys are still working on potty training. We are going with a no stress approach. We introduced them to the potty and encourage them to use it. They are now to the point that they ask to use it throughout the day with some success. They are still in diapers and not always successful, but doing rather well considering that the lazy side of me is still not structuring things enough. I guess at some point I will have to push it more, but right now I will be content with what we all can handle.

We went back home to the Bay Area for my grandfather's 75th birthday. Who knew that being a child of divorce could get any more stressful? I guess being a married child of divorce takes the cake because then you have three sets of grandparents wanting to spend time with the grandchildren. It worked out okay, but guilt monger as I am, I never can help feeling guilty that a three day weekend does not have enough hours in it to spend time with everyone.
We did have a great time though. It flew by way too fast. We drove up Thursday afternoon. Yes, my wonderful husband actually took a couple of days off from work. A much needed break under good circumstances this time. We spent Thursday night and Friday morning with dh's parents. The boys were very much spoiled by Lolo and Lola who let them get away with anything they would like to do. This usually translates into using fruit as play equiptment. Bananas and oranges as bats and balls, with a carrot mixed in for good measure. It is enough to drive me crazy, but I try to breathe and get through it. They are having way too much fun to have me step in and keep to my rules in someone elses house.
On Friday afternoon, we met up with my parents where we would stay for the weekend. We went to Bezerkley's Tilden park where the boys walked through the nature center, conned Daddy into buying them a few books and then we rode the steam train. It was a great time as my brother, his wife and his new baby accompanied us all. The boys loved the train and liked the toot toot of the steam blowing. Other kids on the train were screaming their heads off, but my boys were happy as clams: Ben sitting with me and Sebastian with my mommy. At first I thought it may be because Uncle Richard gave them each their very own donut for the ride, but even after the donut was long gone, the boys made it known that they now have a very real interest in trains. We rounded out the day by going out to lunch and thankfully the boys were ready for a nap and a peaceful rest of the evening.
On Saturday, my Dad, his wife and my Aunt and cousin, who were visiting from the east coast, were going on a trip to Pier 39 and invited us along. Knowing this wasn't a good idea for the boys, my parents offered to take them to the park and lunch while dh and I met with my other side of the family. It was great to see the shops.....except for the chocolate shop which set us back 50 bucks. We enjoyed the scene from a restaurant on the water and ate some great sea food. The only downside of the experience was the parking cost......7 bucks an hour......unbelievable!!!

That night we went to my Grandpa Doug's birthday party at the Pear Street Bistro. The boys were champs being surrounded by many a new face and my parents were great in picking them up after dinner so that Mike and I could enjoy the rest of the evening visiting with my dad into the wee hours of the night. The next day would be our last day of vacation in which we went to a barbeque at my Grandpa's house and visited again with our relatives from afar. We had a great weekend and it was hard to go, knowing that we didn't know when we would see this side of the family again. We are back at home, settling into real life and I am getting kind of bummed that the summer is half way over. This afternoon I put on a DVD of the boys pictures from when we picked them up until recently. It made me cry to see how much they have grown. It is like time is slipping away. I am so proud of my boys and love watching them grow up, but just wish it wasn't all happening so fast. They are such their own little selves with their own little personalities now. They are actual people with a will to communicate their own wants and desires. Gone are the days when I could pick a video for them or even when they agreed on which video they would want to watch.

As of late the favorite video is Barnyard which they call "Cows" and when I confirm that Barnyard is what they want to watch, they smile, stamp their feet and Ben says in his loudest cow immitation,"BOOOOOOOOOO!", as there is still no "m" sound in many of his words and then Sebastian follows with, "MMMMMMM", as his moo takes after the tractor/cows in Cars or the cows in the Einsteins, not sure which. Watching them playing or learning or sleeping or laughing brings an immediate smile to my face and then a tear to my eye as the love I feel for them is so intense, it just pours out of me. I can't imagine loving anyone more than I do those two little men.