We All Got Big

Check out these cuties - Caed, JoJo & Will @ 6 months old

Caed, JoJo & Will @ 3 years old

This picture of Caed 'pushing' Joanna cracks me up

Caed is saying, "To infinity and beyond!" in this picture

Joanna & Caedmon

Still lovey friends :)

BFF

In the car on a way to a fun BBQ with friends today I was telling Caed the names of all the kids coming and he said, 

"Yeah but what about my friend Grady - when do I get to see him?"

He so misses his BFF in China :) And we miss him too :)

Here are some 'twin' pictures we took a while back that I forgot to post. It is funny because we seriously cannot take these boys out without someone (or many people) asking us if they are twins!

p.s. Did you notice my ? key is back!!!! Sean ordered me a new top to my laptop and installed it - he is the best :)

Ugh

I won't even start telling 'how we are handling this bad news' right now. Too much to say.

But I just wanted to write down these few things about how Caed is dealing with (or not dealing with) being in America. First off he is getting way less sleep here (I mean like 5-6 hours less sleep a day). Combine this with a child who has never had to sit in a car seat and begs [literally begs] us each time we say we are going out, "please just let us walk there, we can walk there, it won't take too long" and we already have the beginnings of trouble. Not to mention that he has Asian 'restaurant' and 'store' etiquette - which is far from appropriate here. He is so overwhelmed seeing all these toys and choices [and I totally relate to him on this one, thankfully I have enough self control not to throw a tantrum when I can't get that new transformer].

So on another note I took him to a park today and he runs up to the sand and says, "Oh Mommy look at all that snow!!!" It was funny. Later at the same park we were talking to a 9 year old boy. I asked him if he has brothers and sisters and he said he was an only child but had step brothers. He said he liked it because he doesn't really like babies, and I said yeah Caed is an only child too and he doesn't like babies much either, to which Caed piped up and said (I kid you not), 

"Our babies all died"

The kid looked at us with a confused look and I changed the subject quickly.

Wish I could understand all of what is in his head right now :(

:(

No baby.

We are devestated (understatement).

The Waiting

The waiting is so hard. It is like waiting to see if you are going to have an incredibly joyful day or a devastatingly hard day in the near future. It's daunting! Thankfully since we are back in he US for a short visit after almost 2 years abroad the time is passing quickly (for the most part). I have been keeping busy. Nights and early mornings are the worst. Or whenever I am alone and all I can think about is "did this work or not". I have no 'symptoms' or 'signs' at all. If anything I just feel completely normal - which scares me. Though rationally I know it would be unlikely to 'feel' anything this early. I read blogs of other women who have had early symptoms so that lack of anything doesn't feel like a good sign. Our plan right now is still to wait until Friday morning until we test. But we have this speaking engagement this weekend (Sat & Sun) at a place out of town, where we don't know anyone really well and part of me wants to put off the testing until after that is over with. I just can't imagine getting devastating news then having to sit and talk to people all weekend... So we will see. 

PLaNe

here are some pictures from our plane ride - 

caed playing with his geckos he named them; SeeSaw, Loony & Oopsie

Here they are checking out the clouds

His night-night and new Buzz toy we gave him for his birthday

We played this dinosaur game

And sleep!!!

Swimming with My Boy

A few weeks ago we enjoyed a swim at our hotel.

Silly faces

Frown-y Face

Learn to float

dentist

We took Caed for his first dentist visit the day before we left Thailand. It was only $10 for a check-up and cleaning! Caed did so good. 

My favorite part was that when we went in the room he looked at the doctor then turned to us and asked, "Is she in English"

The dentist asked him if he ate a lot of candy he said, "yes" haha

Thumbs (or pointer fingers) up!

And We're Back

That's right we are back on US soil! And oh so happy to be here, though honestly it feels surreal right now (especially since it is 5:00am and I have been up since 1:30...)

Our friends took us to the airport in BeiJing and Caed's friend Grady cried when we left - then for the next 4-5 hours Caed kept saying, "I am so sad I had to leave Grady." or , "I really miss my friend Grady." When we got to CA he asked each of his grandparents, "Do you guys know my friend Grady?" It was pretty cute.

The flight was good, went by pretty fast. Caed slept more than half (though we slept maybe 1 hour each). My parents picked us up at the airport and brought this big Buzz Lightyear balloon for C. He was so excited - you wouldn't have thought he hadn't seen his grandparents in almost 2 years, it was just normal for him. Oh and you know July 1st was Caed's 3rd birthday so he officially had the longest birthday a kid could have!

His Nana and Papa met us at the house with another balloon. First thing he said was, "Oh I already have a balloon, but I want that one too!" Later my Uncle J showed up with a balloon too - which made C happy as now he has three, which he holds and stands infront of the mirror.

We went out with our families to an early b-day dinnr for C. Mom had a Cars cake made :) We are so very blessed to have our parents here. They are amazing. We are so glad they all live so close.

We of course were exhausted and slept around 8:30 (it stays light so long here!). Caed woke up at 1:30 am and played for 2 hours then fell back asleep, I unfortunately have not.

One of my favorrite Caed lines from yesterday was when caed sat on the toilet here and said, "Wow this toilet is soft!"

I also realized yesterday that:

 I have forgoten how nice soft carpet is to walk on

It is a privelege to get to throw toilet paper in the toilet

There are now calorie marked on menus in California - crazy

Someone gave us a check and I have no idea how to put it into our back account

Streets here are so WIDE

We love California

We are very excited to go see some of our friends today (maybe that is why I can't sleep!).

As for the 2ww goes I am hanging in there. It is hard not to think "Am I or aren't I pregnant" basically all the time. I am trying to very hard keep my resolve though this time not to take a pg test until 2 weeks is up, so still one more to go, I am of course anxious!

When I figure out how to link my computer up to the wireless I'll post some pictures of our trip and reunion with family and C's b-day.