FAMILY DAY !!!!

This past Thursday, just two short days ago, was the Bates Family Day. The OFFICIAL ADOPTION OF LITTLE MISS!!!!! Yeah... woo woooo... Awesome! We got certified in July, found out about Little Miss in September, and she came to live with us October 2nd. So, it seems like forever that we have been waiting for finalization, but really its only been 5 long and glorious and stressful months. Surprisingly short in adoption time lines. 13 months from the day we took our first certification class to the day Little Miss was officially OURS. Here is how Family Day went:

Our day started out much the same as any other weekend might have. We all got up, took turns in the shower, ate some cereal, and got ready to leave. There was palpable excitement in the air. Little Miss kept asking me if the Judge would like this hair clip or that one. Would the Judge like this pair of shoes or that one? I gave her a new dress that we had been saving for a special occasion. She wanted her long curly hair down, but that is always just a hassle. So we compromised with the sides braided to the back. Auntie K calls it the Princess Braid. We were all ready on time and in the car. Called Auntie K to make sure she was on her way, then turned around to get the camera we forgot, then called Papa to tell him to come... We forgot to tell Papa that our Judge was at the courthouse near his house, not downtown. I felt HORRIBLE. But Papa went with the flow, and with 20 minutes until our hearing.. jumped in his car and came to the courthouse... scruffy and all!

We walked into the wrong building, called Little Miss's caseworker in frantic mode, found out we were just around the corner from where we should have been. Back in the car, around the corner, through security... and Just in time. We said hello to our caseworker, Hailey's caseworker, and our lawyer. Auntie K was a few minutes late, so we shuffled our feet walking into the courtroom. She came speed walking around the corner with Racer and Princess in tow, just in time!

We sat at the tables, with our family behind us, and told God and Country that we would like to keep Little Miss forever. I had to answer a bunch of questions, Daddy answered that his answers were the same, then the Judge said a little sch peel and Granted our request for Adoption! Everyone was all smiles.. except Little Miss. She was so nervous and embarrassed at all the attention that she jumped into Daddy's arms and wouldn't look at any of the cameras. The poor Judge had perma grin for like 8 minutes straight while we tried to coax Little Miss to turn toward everyone.

We went outside, took pictures and pictures and pictures. Here are a lot of them...





Then Papa went to get ready for work. We hugged him and loved him and thanked him for coming on ubber short notice and apologized again for the screw up. Then all the Bates and the Powers (minus the working Uncle R) went to a celebratory breakfast at the very fancy and exclusive hole in the wall diner Giant Hamburger. No, don't turn up your nose. If you have never been, then you can not imagine the Yummi-ness that comes from this small family owned diner. It just so happened that our Family Day, that was scheduled 6 months ago, fell on another important day. It was Racer's 8Th birthday. He was very gracious and allowed us to co-celebrate our Family Day on his Birthday. He ate his pancakes like a wild animal, we played hilarious games with floating napkins, then we all went back to our house to change for our next adventure.
Auntie K and family are members at the Zoo. To say they go often does not do them justice, but it is always a fun family time to walk, stroller, and skip through the Zoo. Auntie K is our own personal tour guide, and twice this trip, gave us fun little facts just moments before the Train Tour guy said the exact same thing. She should work part time giving people tours. There were so so SOOOOO many people at the zoo, that Daddy let us all out and went on his parking adventure that lasted 35 minutes. We realized that not only were people in town for Spring Training, but that it was Spring Break! The zoo was like Disneyland. People were everywhere.
We rented our strollers, so the kids could take breaks, and went out on our adventure. We walked the whole zoo. We saw the bears right up close, on the backside of the enclosure. We watched the baby orangutan. She is so cute and funny every time we go.
Little Miss, Racer, and Princess took turns pushing each other in the strollers. All in all... we were at the zoo for a little over 4 hours.. a record for us! It was also the most beautiful 85 degree day. You could not have scripted better weather.
We all went home to relax and recoup from our outdoor adventure. At 6:30pm, the whole gang came over to our house. Uncle M, Auntie Kari, Papa, Mimi, Uncle R, Auntie K, Racer and Princess all came. We ate pizza and wings, had Birthday Brownies, and had a fun time. Uncle M and I challenged Racer and Daddy to a Mario Kart duel. We raced something like 8 races. During one, Racer was in the lead but Daddy was right on his heels. The whole family was cheering and laughing and giving encouragement... Watch Out... Go Left.. Here he comes... OOOHHHHh.... and Racer pulled out his victory with only a hair splitting him with his uncle. When he crossed the finish line, he fell to his knees with a victorious Scream! We all laughed at his excitement for several minutes before we could start the next race! All in all, Uncle M and I creamed the red team of Racer and Daddy... and I would like to say that it was entirely due to the amazing skills and tricks and hands of... Uncle M. I am not so consistent when it comes to Mario Kart... but boy did we all have fun. Little Miss and Princess played Memory in her room for close to 2 hours straight. At 9:30pm everyone went home.

I put Little Miss to bed. She was exhausted and excited and unsure how to calm down. We read from our bedtime story book and when she laid down, we said our prayers. Little Miss thanked Jesus for her room, her toys, and for letting her be Little Miss Bates. It was so cute.

What a beautiful and perfect Family Day. It wouldn't have been better. Ok, maybe if we had stopped to have a Cherry Slurpee...

Changes

There has been so much going on. Little Miss had her surgery. Mommy started her new position, working less hours and closer to home. Daddy started his new position, working more hours and farther from home. Little Miss went back to preschool.

I went back to the Mayo Clinic to have my yearly checkup. After surgery once or twice a year since I was 20, to clear my endometriosis, I decided to have a very lengthy and new surgery. Dr. Wizard perfomed my surgery the day before Thanksgiving 2006. I have been surgery and pain free ever since. I have a yearly follow up done to make sure I am still in remission. My follow up this year was not so bueno. Not only did I have pain during my exam, but I was scheduled for tests that showed that my disease is indeed back. I have an appt with Dr. Wizard in mid-April to go over our options.

So, between my health and new job.. Daddy's new job... Hailey's recovery.. the recurrance of her nightmares... and her pending adoption... I was stressed. Not only stressed, but exhausted. I developed shingles, which made matters worse.
Mommy was very much looking forward to turning around not only her heatlh, but her spirits.

Tonsils Out... Be gone!

Little Miss had her tonsils and adenoids out on March 1st. She was behaving fine and enjoying the new sites and sounds at the hospital, that is until they tried to wheel her away from Mommy and Daddy. TOTAL FREAK OUT!! So much so, that the nurses and doctor had to put a banana suit on Daddy, cap and mask and all, so that he could carry Little Miss into the operating room. She gripped him so hard, I thought she was going to bruise his neck. Daddy came back from the exchange feeling very guilty. He thought Little Miss would hold it against him when she woke up.

We went to the cafeteria and ate some breakfast and went back upstairs. They were ready for us when we walked in the door - Perfect Timing! Little Miss was still groggy but fighting the poor nurses trying to get the tube out of her throat. I started talking to her and she all but Leapt at my voice, coming over the bed railing and all. The nurses took away the bed and brought me a recliner to hold her in. When we were ready for our room, Little Miss was awake enough to ask for Daddy (as he is her security blanket)and so she rode to her room on his lap in a wheelchair.

We spent the next 26 hours in a very cool room at the new Childrens Hospital. We watched Hannah Montana.. twice, Tinkerbell Lost Treasure... twice, Tale of Despereux, Bedtime Stories, Backyardigans, Dora... and the list goes on. Little Miss was having a ball eating nothing but ice cream and treats!
Our friend, Mrs Spice, was fantastic and brought Little Miss a gift bag of goodies but more importantly FOOD... real FOOD... for Mommy and Daddy! We ate chicken alfredo and Brownies! It was awesome. Papa stopped by right before bedtime to let Little Miss know that everyone was thinking of her, and Auntie K was nice enough to feed our dogs LUNCH while we were at the hospital... who feeds their dogs lunch??

The night was the worst. Not only did Little Miss have nightmares disturbed enough to set off the cardiac arrest monitors, but the nurses coming into the room and touching her was very traumatic. Even though I was sleeping in her bed, holding her, the whole time... we barely slept at all. The nightmares would continue once we went home.

The whole week Little Miss stayed home from preschool, having Mommy/Daddy then Papa and Auntie K watching her. She never had a problem with her throat, just a problem eating anything but ice cream once she was better!! We are so excited that she is going to be better now.