What do we do in the summers???? Baseball!!

Another day in the life of the Cavenders! Today was Judi's first day at her daycare; a home daycare. She did really well, no tears or anything. Daddy said she gave him a high 5 when he left and she didn't even ask for me until just before I showed up. Tonight we have a baseball game for James and Jazmin's first game. They're at the same time, but at least at the same ballfield. I can stil between the fields with my head swiveling back and forth! Jazmin is so excited; she is very into softball right now; I hope she stays liking it even if they don't do well!

James is pitching and playing first base this year; I think he looks good. The first game he walked a couple but struck a couple out, too. As the season goes on, I'm sure his skills will improve. I do love watching him out there on the mound.

Tomorrow is Jazmin's piano recital; she has what I think is a really hard piece, but she's been practicing a lot. Then next week, she's got dance recital. May is always such a busy month for us.

Judi is gaining so much English! In fact, so much, I've started putting in at least one movie a day in Chinese, to try to keep it going. It doesn't seem to hamper her English skills, which I worried about at the beginning. She's just hysterical with her antics and funny the way she "handles" the older kids! She and Jazmin are getting along so well now and play together wonderfully most of the time. They still have their moments when they irritate each other, but that's just sisters for you! Judi is in teeball and liking it very much, except she peters out on the practices early. Her first game is next week; should be veeeerrrrry interesting!

The picture is of Jaz in part of her dance costume and her hair all curly (shhhh, the curls are an add-on!), but they look great!

I love my daughter..........

For those of you reading this who aren't familiar with adoption, it's not always a case of "love at first sight". With Jazmin it was; she was a baby, and who doesn't just fall in love with babies instantly, especially ones with huge eyes that stared into your soul?
With Judi, it was different. I had hoped that it would be the same, but instead of a sweet, quiet baby, we were handed a 3-year old teenager! She had a fully formed personality with some rather undesirable habits and was fully articulate in Chinese, and just by the tone of her voice you could tell what she was thinking, which wasn't always a good thing!
So I had to fall in love with my daughter over time. I've been Judi's Mama for 60 days today, and I'm thrilled to say I'm no longer going thru the "motions" of mothering. There's a saying in the adoption world, "Fake it til you make it!". That's what I did; I did for Judi all the things I am supposed to do as her mother: fed her, played with her, comforted her, hugged her, kissed her, you name it. At first, I felt like I was babysitting; when was someone going to come get this rambunctious, misbehaving child??
Than last week, something happened. We were at Grandpa's house as usual. I was fixing dinner and called everyone to come eat. Judi came running at full tilt, hit the kitchen floor in her socks, and WHAM! Right on her little hinny she went, and slid right into the stove; ouch! Well, you can imagine, she came up wailing and grabbing for me, her Mama! I picked that little girl up and held on tight; she was sqeezing me so hard I could hardly breathe! But I felt that amazing rush of emotion, that overwhelming feeling that you're the only one in the world who can soothe the hurt and take away the pain. So for all the world to know, I love my funny, silly, rambunctious, stubborn, always-on-the-go Miss Judi!

More happenings in April............

April is a busy month for us..with baseball for James, softball for Jazmin. Jaz is also in dance and piano, though I think next year she may have to make a choice as she now wants to do cheerleading as well! James' basketball team finished up in 2nd place in their tournament, not too shabby, they played some great b-ball. He wants to stick with it, so in the fall he'll start on the junior high team. If he works just a little harder, he might be a starter.

Finally got Judi's Social Security card ordered, now have to get her birth certificate, I am such a procrastinator! Dad and I are also having a huge garage sale on May 2nd! I wonder how I ever fit work into this schedule, but I better remember, cause I go back to work fulltime June 1, but am working some evening hours now because they basically guilted me into it.

I'm happy to say Jazmin, I think, has morphed into her role as big sister. When she comes home, Judi follows her everywhere. She (Judi) still seems a little jealous of her big sis, yet wants to do everything, get everything, and be everything Jaz does. And she kind of goes into baby mode when Jaz is first home from school, wanting to be held and carried. But then when Jaz says, "come on, Judi, let's play", she's off like a shot!

Her English is just flowing along, new words every day; her newest is "no", which she likes to use frequently! And "nobody"! Where did that come from??

Something she does i find soooo funny, is when we go to the store and she picks up toy after toy and I say, let's put that away, we're not getting that today - she will say in a forlorn tone, "ooooooh, noooooo". But she puts it away! So far, no tantrums! She pouts when she doesn't get her way; thank goodness! I've been through some whopper tantrums with my older kids; glad to not have that to deal with, at least for the time being!

Some new pics to enjoy..............

Easter and Judi's birthday on April 14th

Suffice to say, Judi likes Easter because not only did we have an egg hunt at my Dad's place where she discovered not only the fun of finding eggs, but that they had CANDY in them! Then we had a small birthday party for her at the park. We invited a few friends who'd gotten to know Judi in the month she'd been home. She had a blast and when she saw the playground, she said "Wow!!". The pics tell the rest of the story.

The "eyes" have it!

Wow, been awhile since I posted! I could not resist putting these pictures of the girls' eyes on here; we were just goofing around with the camera, but I thought they turned out so cute! Can you guess whose eyes are whose? On another note, here's the scoop........Judi is just fine! Her CAT scan showed no atrophy whatsoever, and all her bloodwork came back fine. Children's Mercy did say she'd had Hep A in the past and now had immunity. So knock on wood, our special needs little girl is completely normal! Well.....unless stubbornness and an inexhaustible energy level are special needs! We praise our Heavenly Lord for his blessings on all our children, we are truly fortunate to have these great 4 kids to enrich our lives!
Judi continues to settle in and try to establish herself as the boss; she and I have really great days together. She occasionally tries to assert her will over mine, most notably at nap time, but she concedes if I push the issue firmly. The biggest thing that works with Judi is simple firmness; I'm the parent, you're the child, period, my job is to love and protect you, even if you don't like being prevented from doing something you think is fun!
She is really starting to use English spontaneously now; her vocabulary includes "wait", "I fink so", "night, night", "one more", "Hello, Kitty", "cookie", "lotion", "hello", "bye-bye". I believe she understands a great deal of what we say now; whether she chooses to listen is another story.

She and Jaz are still working it out; Jazmin has taken on kind of a bossy big sister role in a gentle way, but Judi does NOT like her telling her what to do! She will play with Judi on days when we're all home together, but during the week we're so busy with basketball games and now baseball and softball, we're not home that much! Jazmin is in machine-pitch with Jr as the coach; she seems to really enjoy playing, hope that lasts. We're going to try tee-ball for Judi, I showed her once how to hold the bat and run the bases and she had it down, plus I think it'll help her run off some energy.

James is finishing up his basketball season; he's really become quite good; still not a starter, but with a little more practice, he'll get there. He wants to continue all through high school, so you know where we'll be all the time!

Jessica, our oldest, is just concentrating on grades right now. We had to do a worksheet for all 4 high school years and she was really excited about that; she likes to have things planned out, like I did at her age. She's been a huge help looking after the girls' at "gege's" games.

If I don't post again til after the weekend, everyone have a Happy Easter! Judi's birthday is the 14th, but we're going to celebrate it Sunday night with just us and then have a party on the 18th.

Enjoy the pics of my crew!

All's Well (so far).....

Such beautiful princesses, my Jazmin and Judi! They have found at least one thing in common; they both love to dress up! Jazmin has taken to taking Judi's arm and they will parade around the house singing "da dum da dum"! So cute! I took these pictures when they were at it; I just love this picture of Judi. My little angel with the slightly bent halo!

As far as Judi's medical tests, so far all have come back normal!! Praise be to Him for his blessings on this child! Her bloodwork and CAT scan showed absolutely nothing significant; after her final appointment at Children's Mercy in KC, we'll know for sure.

Other than that, we're keeping busy with Judi's antics, James' basketball games, and everything else that goes with being a big family. Only 3 more kids and we'd be the Waltons!

Like sands through the hourglass...............

I have been Judi's mother for exactly 18 days today; each day it gets easier and more believable. That may sound strange, but sometimes it just still seems so unreal after 13 months, that she's here! And wow, is she here! Everyone knows when Judi's around; she's almost constantly talking, laughing, squealing, or giggling. It's when you DON'T hear her that one MUST go find her, because it usually means she's found something to occupy her interest that isn't desirable.
She is becoming much more affectionate with me over the last couple of days...........I find the more patient I am and don't stress over every little behavior issue, the more she seems to respond to me.
And I've discovered that she, like Jazmin, is very willing to help do things, like today when I was emptying the dishwasher. She helped me empty and fill it and I told her "good girl!" She knows this phrase very well, because I use it often. Can I teach this aspect of her personality to my older two???
Couple of things to note; Judi has slept 11-12 hours the last 3 nights! Once she's asleep, she doesn't wake up; she's down for the count! When she wakes up, she calls "Ma-Ma!" and waits for me to show up before she'll get out of bed. Also, tomorrow I'm getting the results of all her labs, immune titers, and CAT scan. The doctor's office told me there's no cause for concern, but I want to read it for myself. I think I can safely say, however, that whatever is up there in her little head, it certainly has not affected her intelligence! She's picking up more and more English phrases, like "be nice", "this-a-way", "goodnight", "be carefy (be careful)".
Something else I found that's helped a lot is a website with 6 pages of phrases to use with kids her age; I went through and said them all and she laughed at me after each one! I don't know if I was saying them funny, or if she just thought it was funny that Mommy said something she could understand! I used some of them today and she knew exactly what i was asking; now if I just knew what she was saying in return!
Will post some new pics tomorrow and the lab results; hopefully good news all around...stay tuned...