Navy Pier Pictures from July

I wanted Kamryn to sit in front of a bunch of pretty flowers. This is what I got instead!















Brendan became a star as he was picked to accompany the funny man doing tricks. Brendan did great spinning the frisbee on his finger while twirling the rings.















My mom, Kamryn and I went on the Ferris Wheel while Kevin, Matt and Brendan played mini-golf.

Matt's first school dance!

Yikes! Can you believe it? He went to his first Jr. High dance on Friday night. I dropped him off alone, and he had no problem going in solo. He was meeting a friend there though. He also had his cell phone with so if his friend didn't show up, he could call me to come get him. I thought 12 was too young for a cell phone, but now I'm glad he has it. He actually called me at the end of the dance to see if I was in the car line for pick up:) I asked if he danced, and he said no, only the girls danced. He had a fun time! Do you remember your school dances? I do . . . and it was the same way, the girls danced and the guys stood against the wall.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Our friends Carol & Rob and their 4 children came up from Indy last weekend to visit us. We sure kept busy, and we surely had fun. Matt was signed up for a babysitting clinic way before the visit was planned so we signed up Garrett too. Both Jr. High boys spent 7 hours on Saturday at this class while Carol and I took the rest of the gang apple picking.

The Chinese playgroup was meeting at the apple orchard so we joined them. It was a nice outing even if the kids were more into eating the apples rather than picking them. I know Brendan enjoyed eating the homemade apple cider donuts more than the apple picking. Actually, we all enjoyed those. I think it was the first time I've seen Kamryn eat an entire donut. Usually she just licks the chocolate off the top. Baby Logan was a dream as he just hung out with his mom. I think Vince enjoyed picking the apples the best although Lindsey and Kamryn had fun too.




Labor Day weekend is full of fun stuff to do around here so after the big boys came home, we headed to the River Walk in downtown Naperville. We hit the skate park first, and Carol was brave enough (or foolish enough!) to try it too. Garrett was so embarrassed that his mom wanted to skate, but I was impressed that she had guts to go out there with all those young boys! We brought bread to feed the ducks and then since the Last Fling was going on, we let the kids do one ride at the carnival.
At home we had some Chicago favorites for dinner; Italian beef sandwiches and real Chicago style pizza. Italian beef was something hard to find in Indiana. I did find it there finally at a Nancy's Pizza place. When I called deli's there looking for it, they had no idea what I was talking about. Carol told me that they are building a Dunkin Donuts in Carmel! We lived there for four years and that was something we always loved to get when we came back home because Carmel didn't have one. Now if only Chicago would get an Abuelos or a Paradise Bakery.


It was great to see the boys out in the backyard playing football and stuff with their friends. That's what they miss the most. We made sure to find a house here with a big backyard and it's mostly been empty. It means so much that our friends came up to see us. It was hard to say goodbye:( though. Already the kids are asking when are we going to see them next. If only school and sports didn't get in the way, our calendar would be more free for visits. We do hope to get down there soon though.

How often do you see this?

I wasn't driving when I took this picture, I promise. Thought it was funny to see a license plate with Hawaii on it, the Aloha state. Wonder why they are driving around Illinois? Wonder how they got their car here in the first place? Ferry boat I guess huh?

Matt's off for Jr. High!

I can't believe I just sent Matthew off for Jr. High this morning! I can't believe he needs to get up at 6:30 to catch a 7 am bus since school starts at 7:30. He was a bit nervous, and I can understand that. Heck, I went to the same school K-8th so I don't even know what it's like to go to a separate Jr. High. Plus, he still doesn't really know a lot of kids, so I bet he'd feel better if he'd recognize more boys in the hallways and his classes. On Monday we had Locker Day at school so we went to drop off his school supplies and he practiced his locker combination and found all his classrooms. Not staying in one classroom will be fun for him I told him. He came home that night and made a copy of the school map and his schedule and he highlighted all his rooms and taped his schedule to the bottom of the map. He is SO organized!

I used to take pictures of the boys on their first day of school, but I asked Matt if he was too old for that this morning and he said yes. (boo hoo) No such luck with Brendan either. I just took that first picture of Matt a couple of nights ago so that's as close as I'm going to get.

When we moved to Carmel, Brendan was still in preschool. So on his first day of kindergarten, I got his picture getting on the bus. The pictures below are of the boys their first fall day of school in Carmel (K & 2nd grade) and then them again in fall of 05 when Brendan was going into 2nd and Matt was going into 4th grade.

Well, both boys had a good first day. Matt said it was fun, and Brendan seemed in good spirits too even though he got home later than normal due to a tornado warning (so the school kept the kids longer rather than sending them home on the buses in bad weather.) The happy moods were probably because there was no homework given tonight. Let the fun begin.

Kamryn's First Stitches

Ugh! It happened. The kids and I were coming home from dinner out (hubby out of town) and I parked the van in the garage like always, and got out and walked around the van to Kamryn's side like always, and when I opened her door, she literally rolled out and landed flat on her back on the garage floor. I didn't know what happened until there she was staring up at me crying. It happened so fast and so unexpectedly that I didn't have time to catch her.

Brendan unbuckled her and apparently she was leaning on the door. I thought she was crying because she got the wind knocked out of her or from hitting the back of her head on the floor. I picked her up, and then we saw the blood running down her face.

She must have clipped the bottom of the door or something sticking out from the door because she had this puncture spot to the side of her left eye which was bleeding. I settled her down a bit, cleaned her wound and then we headed back into the van to go to urgent care. Poor girl. I was so hoping they could "glue" the wound but since it was circular, the doctor thought he should stitch it. Just one or two. What a lot to go through, the whole papoose thing because she was completely hysterical and quite strong for a little munchkin, the shot of novacaine, and two and half hours there all for just one or two baby stitches.

Our new rule, even though I know Brendan was just trying to help, is that no one unbuckles her unless you are standing by her open door and ready to grab her!

Fun with Chicago Playgroup Friends

When we moved back to the Chicago area, I did not waste any time joining the local FCC (Families with Chinese Children) group. After I joined, I discovered that there were two yahoo groups set up for the western suburb families; one is a monthly playgroup and one is a monthly book club/moms night out group. I joined both and enjoy them very much. We all have different aged children which is great especially because we can all help each other out. I got lots of great advice about the ear wax situation from moms who have been there done that. But it's also nice for Kamryn (& me) to get to know some of the girls around her same age better (& their moms:) so I found some 2-3 year olds & started a separate smaller little playgroup. We try to meet every week.

We get together at our houses mostly but this summer we've gone to the Glen Ellyn Splash Park and the Riverwalk Park downtown Naperville. Here are some pictures of Kamryn with her new little friends. (ignore the incorrect date on the one picture. Grandma just changed her batteries and thats what happens. I like that my mom can come to playgroup too!)

Kamryn's Therapy Progress

Kamryn has been doing great during her speech therapy sessions, and we've really noticed an improvement even after only a few sessions. Kamryn thinks it's great that Miss Lora comes over with a bag of fun toys to play with and even leaves us DVDs to watch during the week. Funny how Kamryn will repeat 2-3 words at a time for Miss Lora. During sessions, Lora will bring a toy up to her mouth to direct Kamryn to watch "how" to say a word or phrase. Monkey see, monkey do, and then Kamryn will take a toy and put it to her mouth just like Lora does.

Kamryn's new saying now instead of just "hi" or "bye" is "hi ya mommy" or "bye ya daddy." Cute how she's incorporated some Southern talk into her vocabulary. Must have been those few days with our Texas friends;)

I was folding laundry one day and unprompted Kamryn said "nice and clean." I was so surprised! I do say that a lot when folding laundry or getting her out of the bath, and I guess she does listen to everything.

A few nights ago she awoke in the middle of night crying hysterically at 2 am. She was wide awake so we went into her little play room off her bedroom and she was doing a puzzle and said, "I like the puzzle." Oh, I was so happy to hear a sentence but really wanted her back in bed instead. It's nice to hear what's on her mind though even if she still can't tell me why she awoke in the first place.

I had to take her for a hearing evaluation since she qualified for speech. I thought it would be easy since she's done one before in Indiana. Wrong. She screamed and kicked and would not let the lady put the ear probe in her ears. We finally held her down long enough to get a reading on her right ear, which is fine, but the probe wouldn't capture the left eardrum because of all the wax in Kamryn's left ear. So in the sound booth she did respond to the sounds coming from both sides of the room, but that only tells us that her one ear is working. They want us to come back after having the wax removed. We are using ear drops to help us with this. Many of the Asian kiddos have ear wax problems because their wax is flaky and harder to get out.

I have Kamryn signed up for a mom's morning out program at a Lutheran Preschool starting in September. They need a school physical form for her so we made a trip to the doctor. She weighs only 24 pounds! She had to have her lead tested again for the physical and thank goodness it is down to 5 now. When we got home from China it was 18. Don't worry, I've checked the Mattel recall list and luckily we don't have any of those toys.

Roloff Reunion

Last weekend we had our first annual summer picnic with my dad's side of the family. (Yes, Roloff is my maiden name.) It was a hot day but lucky for us not as hot as it's been lately. We all brought our own lunch and salads and desserts to share. My cousins David & Wayne grilled steak tacos for a few of us families and yum were they good! There are first cousins and second cousins and it's fun to see how the family is growing. My cousin's daughter Kristie just announced she is expecting! It's hard to get everyone together at the same time, so it was nice to plan this one day when we all could get together. Dani, Beth and Allie (my cousins Debbie and Diane's girls) basically played with Kamryn at the park most of the day. Kamryn loved the attention! If they lived a little closer, less than 45 minutes away, they would make great babysitters. The boys were happy skating in the skate park and playing ball in a nearby field. We had a shaded pavilion so the aunts and uncles were happy to sit at the tables and chat. It was a great day for everyone!

A Hard Life Lesson

Guinea pig: $14.99
Bigger cage in anticipation of babies: $80.00
2 earlier vet visits: $100.00
recheck, xrays & euthanasia: $181.00
Experience for Matt having a first pet: Priceless

I knew the first time we took Scooter to a vet that it was the day she should have had her babies. The vet examined her and told us it would be that night and then it didn't happen. I had a feeling something was wrong. A month later when we took her to a different vet, he examined her and said everything seemed fine, but I still had that feeling that it wasn't. We took Scooter back to the vet today and he did an x-ray. It showed 2 babies and a possible third and from the size of the skulls they should have been at term a couple of months ago, yes, back in May. Our only options today were to say goodbye to Scooter or to do a c-section but with no promises that it would turn out okay. After realizing how long these babies have been inside her, we choose the humane thing and said goodbye to our furry friend. The vet asked if he could do an autopsy since it's something he doesn't see everyday, so we allowed him to do that and then he called to say that we made the right choice since the c-section wouldn't have been a success after all because of all the damage inside. Her uterus was twisted like a kinked hose therefore preventing her from giving birth. Our poor little friendly Scooter. She would squeal every time she heard me in the hallway, and I interpreted it lately as a "help me" kind of sound. I would pet her and she seemed to relax. It's amazing how attached Matt and I became to this little pig. Matt was having a hard time saying goodbye, and it's a hard thing to learn with a first real pet . . . that sometimes the pets we love have to leave before we want them to.

Fun in Indy!

The kids and I had a great time in Indy last week. The first night we were there, the boys went to VBS at Northview (our old church) with their friends Julia & Sarah. During that time, my friends Edie and Sue surprised me with a little party at Edie's house for my birthday. It was wonderful to see more friends and catch up with everyone. Edie even had cupcakes from my favorite bakery in town!

We were supposed to check out the new water park in Carmel on Thursday, but the weather was not pool weather so we ended up at Ben & Ari's for pizza and arcade games with some friends.















Karen and Suzy (playgroup mommy friends) then took me out to dinner that night at the Cheesecake Factory (yum) while Sue graciously offered to watch the kids. It was a normal Friday with getting together with our playgroup friends. The only not so normal part about it was that now the girls are starting to potty train so for the first time we ended up in the bathroom for a potty party. Kamryn doesn't really seem interested in this yet, but liked Suzy's potty song! Oh, the things we do . . .

Since many of the families that we traveled with were in town by Friday night for the reunion on Saturday, we were to meet at a local park. However, it was raining again so McDonald's Play Land it had to be. I so missed not having our house there since last year we had everyone over for ice cream the Friday night before the reunion. Kevin drove down on Friday and we stayed at a hotel Friday and Saturday night with our friends who drove in 15-16 hours from Texas. (Jia in the picture) The kids loved swimming in the hotel pool together and it was great to have more time with them.










Jia lets Kendra put pigtails in her hair! Jia, like Kamryn, has two wonderful older brothers. The reunion was wonderful. It's so nice to be able to see the girls who came home from China with Kamryn and our other friends too who have formed forever families with sweet little ones. There were over 2,000 people at the reunion, wow, and everyone always looks so happy:)

Kamryn slept great while we were at the Orr's house, but the first night in the hotel she did not do so good. She woke up hysterical at midnight and nothing calmed her down. It took a good 10-15 minutes and she seemed really out of it. After she seemed more aware and awake while lying next to me in bed, she just looked at me and said "sorry" and then gave me a kiss. It was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. Poor girl. Poor Brendan. He ended up on the floor both nights, his choice instead of trying to squeeze in bed with us. So much for trekking the pack-n-play along. This is the first time we've been in a hotel since our trip to China, and I just wonder if she had a night terror.
We decided to stay longer on Sunday and went to the new water park then since it was a gorgeous sunny day. Michele and Alec and Delilah and Mark joined us and we had a nice afternoon.

Fun Photo Shoot

FTIA, the agency we used to adopt Kamryn, always does a calendar featuring all the beautiful children they've helped bring home to their families. The deadline for submitting pictures is this Saturday. Tonight I put Kamryn's flower girl dress on and took her outside for a photo shoot.

Oh No! The big 4-0!

Yep, it's here! And thanks to Melanie for these cute liquored chocolates (okay two are missing, the cheesecake one and the chocolitini) that have helped me get through the day! I am trying to think of this milestone birthday as a gift. It's truly a blessing that I have 3 wonderful children, a great husband, great family and friends and good health. But I still can't help thinking that oh-no, I haven't accomplished this or that. I just want to stop time sometimes . . . wouldn't that be nice?

Kevin surprised me with a very cool diamond watch, a Michele watch. I didn't know that they were so "in" but apparently his female reps have been talking about them. I guess that's one good thing about him working with women. I am no longer hip and do not know what's in except for Crocs and Hannah Montana but can still get hip presents!

We went to the Naperville Riverwalk today with Melanie and the kids and my mom and Aunt Bernice and had lunch with them. We then met Tina and her kiddos for ice cream. Yum, I got nice presents like chocolate, lotion and clothes . . . and got to talk to friends who were nice enough to not rub it in that I am getting older . . . isn't that what every girl wants?

Kamryn's Starting Speech Therapy

Kamryn is a very smart girl. She understands everything we say and can follow directions to a tee, but she doesn't talk. She only babbles and will say one word at a time. Her only sentences are "I do" when she wants to do something by herself or "whereareyou" all slurred as one word really when she is looking for something. Other 2-1/2 year old girls are talking full sentences very clearly. So I recently had Kamryn evaluated by Illinois' Child and Family Connections (early intervention) program. They determined that yes, she is delayed by 30% in expressive speech so she qualifies for therapy through their program. It's not free therapy but a therapist will come to our house once a week until she turns three or doesn't need the help anymore. We are glad to be getting her help so that she doesn't get frustrated and start acting out since she isn't delayed at all in any other areas. I know how to talk, but I'm not an expert at speech therapy so the education will be good for me too. I can't wait to really hear what's on her mind and actually have a real conversation with her.

Day at the Farm

Last Friday we met our Indy playgroup friends at Fair Oaks Farms. It was a great day, and we had such a wonderful time. When the girls first saw each other, there was lots of screams and hi's and hugs. It was very cute. It really seems like they remember each other. I was totally in awe at how big all the girls looked and how they are all talking so well in sentences! At lunch, Anna Li says, "This is my water bottle." Okay, I can't even get Kamryn to put two words together! The boys had fun hanging with Gus and Sam, Anna Li's brothers. I brought frisbees, a football and other outdoor toys so the boys would have stuff to do while the girls played on a little slide and blew bubbles.














We were able to take the bus tour this time to see where they actually milk the cows. It was very interesting how the cows lined up to walk into their little "stall" on this circular milking pad and more interesting to see them back up and out when their duty was over. We all shared the first time experience of seeing a cow give birth. Tess didn't like it all and was very distraught over it. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch as poor momma cow seemed in distress when the whole baby head and front feet came out together. One of the staff actually had to help pull the baby out. Amazing though really, and now it makes this guinea pig birth thing seem like a piece of cake. Still waiting for momma Scooter to go into labor.

I'm so glad that this place is a convenient and fun place to meet. Anyone traveling on I-65 should really check it out sometime. They have a restaurant with awesome grilled cheese and homemade ice cream. That reminds me of something funny one of the boys said after watching the baby cow emerge, "I think I'll skip the ice cream." In fact, no one skipped the ice cream and having the real deal at a dairy farm is indulgence.

Friends In China Right Now

I just added a link on the side of my blog for Journey To Rowan. We met this family through FCC here in Chicago and have spent a couple of days at the Lifetime pool with them before they traveled. Rowan is a doll, and we're excited to have another China baby coming home to a wonderful family!

Catching up

Kathleen & Peter's Wedding

We went to Florida last week for Kevin's sister's wedding. We left on Wednesday and stayed with Dad and Dianne. The boys loved swimming in their pool, and I was relieved that Kamryn did so well in the water too. Maybe those swim lessons at Lifetime Fitness helped:) She was not afraid of the water at all and loved sitting in the little ring.

One of Kath's friends and I had a shower for her on Thursday night. It was fun to get together for a girls night before the big event. We had lots of great food and she got really nice presents. For favors I had made little cards up saying how to flirt with fans and then attached them to Chinese fans. (that's why Kamryn had scissors the other week, she wanted to be like me with scissors) I also ordered fortune cookies with custom fortunes inside all about love with Peter and Kathleen's name and wedding date. Kamryn loved eating these cookies and the Asian sesame mix that Lynn had out.

After the rehearsal dinner we went to Margaritaville at Universal. Then Kathleen and I stayed at the JW Marriott for her last night as a single girl. While we were chatting, we noticed these bird sounds and to me it really sounded like an owl. The room overlooked the pools and there were lots of trees too. When we tried to go to sleep, neither one of us could since then we started hearing other sounds too like crickets. I felt like I was camping inside the Marriott. After a night of restless sleep, while I was in the shower, Kath searched for the tv remote and found that our alarm clock had nature sounds on it and it was on . . . all night long . . . what idiots that we didn't notice that at bedtime.

Kamryn was the flower girl and she RAN down the aisle at the wedding to get to Kevin sitting in the first pew. (At least she made it down without me carrying her.) Since she was running so fast, the rose petals in her little basket fell out along the way. During the procession out of the church after the wedding, she walked with me and the best man and we almost tripped over her as she stopped quick in her tracks to pick up every single petal that had fallen out on the way in. Everyone was laughing because she was so cute.

At the reception, it was more like a cocktail party rather than a sit down dinner. Good thing because the 5 of us were sitting at the table eating, and Kamryn took her fork and started running it through her hair. What made her think of the little mermaid movie at that particular time, who knows. Dinglehopper no, fork yes. (anybody know what I'm talking about? The little mermaid finds a fork in the ocean and her friend bird tells her it's a dinglehopper and humans use it on their hair.)

Kamryn loves her Aunt Kathleen and although this was the first time we've met Peter, she really bonded with him too. She loved being held by him and playing with him. We're all so happy for the happy couple, they really are a match made in Heaven. Friends Visit


Two weeks ago, we drove halfway down to Indy to pick up Julia and Sarah and then brought them back home with us for a few days. The boys were very happy to have them visit. We went to the skate park many times, and they all loved it. We went to this pretty cool restaurant all done in trains. The food is even delivered to the counter where you are sitting by a train. Kamryn loved it but I was informed by the older kiddos that it was too babyish. When we drove back halfway to drop off the girls, Sue gave us the book that Julia wrote in 4th grade so we could copy it. It's called "Moving Away" and it's all about the boys and the friendship that they all share. The book made me very weepy as I was reading it, and I just hope that we all continue to get together so that our friendship stays strong.

Guinea Pig Update

Since we boarded the piggies at a local pet shop during our time away from home, I wanted to make sure that Scooter was indeed pregnant and everything was okay before we left. So Matt and I took her to a different vet the day before our trip and he did a very thorough exam on her. She is still pregnant and doing okay. Doing the math now, I guess she got pregnant while in our care by Brendan's piggie Razor. So the pet shop was wrong, they were not both girls. I was kinda hoping that she would give birth while she was at the pet shop, but no such luck. She's back home now, so hopefully everything with the birth goes okay since it's got to be approaching soon.

Fun time at the Arboretum

Bugs, Boys and Scissors

One night we took a drive all the way to Hinsdale to try to see the Cicadas. We were disappointed because they must have been sleeping after a busy day and we didn't really see any. Much to our surprise the very next day, we had cicadas flying around our backyard! They loved landing on our deck. Then we went shopping at the new Promenade center with my mom, sister and her kids and the cicadas loved landing on us! Just this past week we went to the Morton Arboretum for FCC playgroup and those big bugs were buzzing around there! Yuck! Aren't they ready to disappear? I've had enough already.

Matthew celebrated his 12th birthday on the 15th! I can't believe he'll soon be a teenager. He was happy to have a laser tag party. I was happy I didn't have the party at the house.

Give Kamryn scissors and paper and she'll be happy for quite some time. She has such great fine motor skills, and she can really cut the paper well and into very small pieces. Makes cleaning it up not so fun, but it's worth it.