Emma....a princess?

Emma fussed over getting dressed up the other day. She is definitely a blue jeans and sneakers (and Crocs!) kind of girl. She's nothing like Hannah who loves frilly, girly things. She's pretty down to earth, but when she saw herself in the mirror, she was transformed. Her face lit up as she saw her reflection and she said, "I'M A PRINCESS...Wow, I'm a princess." It was very sweet.

Hannah's Violin Recital

On Sunday, Hannah had her first violin recital. She's taking lessons with Hillary's first teacher, who is amazing. As I walked into the church, I saw a young boy about 7 or 8 years old rehearsing a concerto with the pianist. As I watched and listened to this child, I was overcome by emotion. The whole day brought me back to the time when Hillary was learning and playing all the same pieces. Our experiences with Hillary and her music has brought so much joy to all of us. As I sat in the church on Sunday and listened to these incredible young musicians, I had to pinch myself. What a thrill to go down this path again with another beautiful daughter. Hannah played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Run Pony, Run Pony variation and she was spectacular ;^)

Hannah woke up and came running down the hall. "Is anyone up in this house?", she yelled as she burst through my bedroom door. She had a look of shock on her face as she ran to my bedside. She opened her mouth...she had lost her first tooth! She's been teasing us for months about losing a tooth, but her teeth hadn't really started to even get loose yet, so I was pretty surprised to see her with a hole in her gums and a tiny tooth held in her hand. Apparently, the night before, when I was at school, Hannah was giving Emma a piggy back ride and had hit her chin trying to put her down. I guess that was enough to knock her baby tooth loose and during the night, it just feel out.

Hannah was thrilled! Not only did the toothfairy leave money under her pillow, but she now has concrete evidence to prove to everyone that she really is growing up.

Apple Picking

Last Sunday, we had a little get-together with a few of the families from Hannah's travel group. Her travel group was huge and had 34-35 families from all over the country, but most are from the Northeast. Those from our area have become like extended family but we haven't gotten together as much lately as we used to...we are all so busy. It was a beautiful day and the girls had a blast together and it's clear that we need to do this more often. It's a very special group and I know how important of all these girls and their families are, not only to Hannah, but to all of us. We were all especially glad to see Tess, who had moved out of state last year but was visiting for the weekend and able to spend the afternoon at the farm with us. We hope to have a holiday get-together and then do something special for our 5 year adoption day celebration in February.
I had no time to edit or crop the photos, so here they are as is ;^)

Hannah

I took this photo of Hannah on her way to school the other day. I don't know what I did but I think the color and texture, especially of her skin, is really interesting. She has yet another bump on her head. She always seems to bonk it in just the same spot, poor kid. Anyway, I could look into her eyes forever. She such an extraordinary little person! She blows me away.

Another day...

I just got my laptop back from HP. It hadn't been working right for weeks and I couldn't even get an internet connection. So, I'm back to uploading photos and hopefully I can catch up with blogging.

Yesterday, I had a sitter for the afternoon. I had worked in Hannah's school library for an hour (during her classes trip there) and then had gone to pick up diapers and such. I then had a doctors appointment for myself, was going to grocery shop, etc. but I got a call at about 3pm from one of the Harvard University doctors. Hillary had gone to the student health center for a bad cough and mentioned she had lower right sided pain which had gotten worse over the course of the day. I got a call at about 3pm, right in the middle of my own appointment, and this doctor thought, from her pain and other symptoms, that she might have appendicitis. Since I was half way there, I cut my appointment very short and flew into the city to pick her up (they were going to put her in a cab and send her to the hospital for a CT by herself...how sad is that?...no way!). As we sat waiting for the test, her symptoms got worse and she was really feeling lousy, but she was in very good spirits (as usual :)). She kept trying to send me home knowing I had a paper to write for school, but there is no way I would have gone. I sat there appreciating, like never before, the fact that she is attending college close enough to home that I can go in when she is sick, etc. In fact, I came home and dropped a few hints to Matt about staying close to home when he goes off to school (in just 2 years :( ).

The CT didn't reveal appendicitis, but a ruptured cyst. She barely complained (that's Hillary!) but I know from experience just how painful they are and how sick they can make you feel. I couldn't imagine her dealing with this alone in some far away place especially with the question of surgery looming. She would have handled it just fine, but I would have been a nervous wreck being so far away. Actually it was fairly relaxing to sit with her yesterday...she's always delightful company. When they released her, I took her to Whole Foods to get her something to eat and get her some comfort foods to take back to her dorm. I dropped her off about 9 and headed home to the other kiddos. Pete took over for me without a hitch (as usual...he's incredible). He got Christopher from school and got Hannah to her violin recital rehearsal, got groceries, made dinner, etc. When I got home, homework was done, the house was clean and the girls were asleep. I called Hillary this morning and she is feeling a lot better and was soon going to be heading off to class. I'm feeling pretty thankful that it worked out so well and that I could be of some help. I feels awful, as a mom, when you can't be there when your kids need you. I'm very glad that I could be there and am even more glad that she is feeling so much better this morning.

"Are you really her mother"?

Yesterday was my first day as a library volunteer at Hannah's new elementary school. I LOVED it! It was so much fun to see Hannah in school and get a little glimpse inside her new world. She is thrilled to have me working at her school and was so excited to see me when she walked into the room. The look on her face was priceless! She seemed so proud as she pointed me out to her friends and said, "that's my mom!" One little girl came over with Hannah and asked, "Are you really Hannah's mother?" I told her I was. She scrunched up her nose in disbelief and said, "You, you, ah...you look..." and then there was a pause. During that awkward silence, I wondered what might be coming next. How would Hannah react and what could I say to help pick up the pieces? As my mind was racing to find a good answer, the little girls said, "You look JUST alike. You both have long hair and even the same color shoes." Phew! I got out of that easily and Hannah went right on beaming. Made me realize it's time to really give this all some thought. Her friends are getting old enough to make observations and ask some tough questions and I want to be able to respond appropriately when put on the spot. Some of this would be common sense but if anyone has any ideas for good resources on the subject, I'l love to hear.