Christmas Pictures

Merry Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and the Lentz parents were wrapping.
For their two children, one of which won't stop crapping (in his drawers).

They wrapped and they wrapped until their fingers were numb.
For their two children, tweedle dee and tweedle dumb (again, not sure which is which).

The children were all snug and asleep in their beds (or on the floor).
Their snores were so loud - how could that come from such small heads?

Their parents were tired and kind of grumpy too.
These kids are such work, who really knew?!?

How do you stay up late and drink like you were young...?
When Momma is woken up at a quarter to one (with Everest's bloody nose).

And now Momma has her strep throat back, this she knows.
Her throat hurts and is scratchy and there is snot in her nose.

The kids woke up on Christmas to presents and candy.
What followed was batteries, loud toys and temper tantrums so dandy.

Now dinner has been had, dessert is over, the kids in bed.
The grandparents are wishing to Florida early they had fled.

Ahhh, the life of the Lentz family...boy is it fun.
Ahhh, Christmas is over now, finished and done.

You should see this house and its inhabitants, oh what a sight.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Pictures tomorrow.

The Harmonica

We have a harmonica in our house. I hate this harmonica. Ryan had it hidden on top of the refrigerator and Everest has been asking where it is. We finally relented and now there is a bit of a screaming match going on between who gets the harmonica. We don't have arguments in our house due to #2's language. We have screams and whines, which is totally fun and enjoyable on Saturday mornings. By the way, why do my kids wake up early on the weekends and we have to drag their little asses out of bed on weekdays? Today Ryan's mom and sister are coming down to babysit so that we can actually get some much needed Christmas shopping done. We are actually going to go out to dinner together (gasp!)! Last night I got home a bit early from work, we packed up the kid's pajamas and we picked Everest up from school and then Kingston. We told Everest we had a lot of surprises for them. First surprise, McDonalds. Second surprise, we let them play in the play area at McDonalds. I detest play areas (almost as much as harmonicas). We then got into the car and I told Everest to take off his drawers. He looked at me like I was nuts and then got a huge smile on his face when I pulled out his jammers. He started to put on his pajamas and then Kingston got a huge smile on his face. They didn't know what we were doing but the change in routine made them excited. We even changed a diaper in the carseat. Impressive but not nearly as impressive as changing diapers in some of the places we changed them in China. We got onto the highway and I pulled out treats. We had happy boys in the backseat. We went and took a drive through the Christmas lights on Lake Monona and then let the kids stay up way too late pillow fighting in Kingston's room. They were not in the living room so Ryan and I were quite fine with it. Our house is starting to achieve some sort of order. Having Ryan off on Fridays helps. The painter came Thursday and Friday and did our bedroom and basement. I love our basement. I want to live in our basement. I feel like I am living in a grown up house. We are starting to make it our own and starting to get rid of the aqua, red, yellow and turquoise colors that our home's former tenants enjoyed. I'm not going to lie, our house still has about twenty cheerios on the kitchen floor. Some of which Kingston ate last night. Oooops. And we still have piles of laundry but I guess this is our new normal for awhile. In about one hour, Granny Margy and Auntie Trina will be walking through our front door. We will leave them with the harmonica playing children. In fact, Granny Margy gave Ryan the harmonica for Christmas one year....bad idea Granny Margy, bad idea.

I was going through videos of China and came across this one. Looks fun, doesn't it?

Sitting on Edge of Bed

As I write this I am sitting on the corner of the bed, as far off of the bed as possible without falling off. The cat is licking my sleeve and trying to budge his way onto the keyboard. Kingston is straining to see me from his bed (hence me sitting on the corner) and every other seconds says a pathetic, "Momma." It may be starting to be every two seconds. Maybe he is getting tired. Crap, he's at it again. Be quiet kid.

Ahh two minutes later and the only thing I hear is the TV and the cat purring. Damn, I just heard another momma. I thought I had achieved sweet, sweet victory.

In the past two days I feel like Kingston is starting to latch onto the language a little bit more. You can't understand a word he says but he is trying. We can make out some stuff just because we're around him but others wouldn't have a clue. He says Monkey really cute whenever he sees a monkey picture. He also did get quack quack for the duck today. Progress folks, progress. I'm actually quite impressed when you think of what he's been through.

He is still saying momma. I keep saying, "what?" but he only answers with another "momma."

Ryan went to Everest's parent teacher conference today and I'm proud to report that our kids is brilliant. Well not really but he's brilliant in our book. He is doing quite well. His teacher noticed the maturity level having increased since we've been home from China so I have not been imagining it.

Battery is about out and I am about to lose my mind with the repetitive mommas so I need to go bang my head against the wall.

Drug Dealing Lullabys

In China Everest's song was, "hush little baby." We modified the song to include momma buying a three or four bottles of wine when the ring don't shine. Originally Kingston's song was "twinkle twinkle little star" because that's what he first sang to us. Well you can't modify twinkle twinkle enough. The other night, Ryan said that he has been changing up "mary had a little lamb" to include additional lyrics where mary and the kids at school eat the lamb. Last night I gave it a shot while putting Kingston to bed. I ran through the traditional lyrics and then that bitchy Mary had herself a lamb BBQ. Tonight I walked past Kingston's room to hear Ryan singing, "mary had some crack cocaine, crack cocaine, crack cocaine."

Ahh the simple things.

We are watching Storage Wars on A&E. Ryan said that he kind of wants to put Kingston in one. It's the holiday season so we won't.

Honestly Kingston has been great. Besides having a new kid in our home and the exponential stress that it brings, he is a good boy. He really is. We just hadn't been prepared for a 1 year old in a 1 year old body who is actually a 3 year old. Shame on us. However, if we were prepared for that we wouldn't have been prepared for something else. You can never prepare for all of the maybes and what-ifs that adoption brings. Or parenthood in general brings. I think little Kingston is going to surprise us all. He'll probably start doing his own lyrics soon.

Plugging Along

We are stressed here. Both Ryan and I ended up in urgent care on Sunday. Luckily for us (unluckily for my mom) my mom had planned on coming up to do Christmas shopping on Sunday. Ryan went in for a crazy infection on his leg from tackle football with the kids and I went in because I woke up in the middle of the night knowing I had strep throat. My mom took a look and told me to head to the doctor. A quick test confirmed what we had suspected. Meanwhile Ryan had a huge antibiotic shot in his leg. Lovely. I feel a lot better today and went into work because I have missed enough being sick.

Meanwhile I am just pissed. I am pissed at almost everybody. I am pissed at Kingston because he wouldn't sleep. I am pissed at Ryan because I almost had Kingston asleep and he ruined it. He is fixing it with bringing me icecream. I am pissed that everything that tastes good has fat in it. I am pissed that I haven't worked out in over a month. I am pissed that really none of my friends called us to see how we were doing when we got home. Text messages do not count. I am pissed at texting.

I am sad. I am sad that I haven't given enough love to my cat when he loves me unconditionally. I am sad that we moved. I am sad that my old house sits empty and alone. Sort of like me. I am sad that we have Christmas decorations up and I haven't been able to shop for my children. I am sad that there are clothes all over the floor. I am sad that it is 10:00 at night and I just sat down. It's just a bit much for me right now.

I have the adoption eye twitch back. My eye apparently twitches when I hit the extreme stress level, which occurred during Everest's adoption and only a few times since. It started again during the strep throat episode. I usually have a cool and calm demeanor but I think my insides take a beating, hence the twitching and infections and general internal resulting pissiness tonight.

Sorry for the doom and gloom. I am just feeling sorry for myself.

A stranger in a strange land

I cannot catch my breath half of the time. The amount of things we need to set up and do keeps on increasing. In Parents of the Year Award news, I realized that Kingston had a holiday party at his daycare today. I realized this when I dropped him off and all of the kids were dressed cute. My kid was slumming it in the jeans he wore yesterday, bed head and a big scratch down the side of his face. Needless to say his parents will not be in attendance because they are negligent.

Last night could have verged on suckage. Everest came home from school sick with a fever and Ryan was heading to the Badger basketball game with his friend. So it was a sick and crabby Everest, an excitable Beebs and me with a glass of wine on constant refill sitting on my bed watching the X Factor, which I will admit is a guilty pleasure. I fell asleep by 9:00, I think before Beebs did. Because the night involved a 9:00 sleep time, the night did not hit suckage level.

It’s so strange having a stranger in the house. A strange stranger. It’s funny because when you give birth to a child you know their bodies from the beginning. You know every strange lump or discoloration. With Kingston we are just finding all of these things out. We are now putting double diapers on Kingston before bed because he soaks his bed EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. One of these diapers is supposedly the diaper of all diapers and alas that still didn’t stop the soakage. Anyway, I digress. This diaper is an actual diaper, not just a pull up and I can’t remember the last time I put an actual diaper on a kid. Anyway, I digress again. So I plop the kid down. He totally knows the drill. I lift up his booty and there is a tiny line of what looks like stitches. I won’t go into details on where exactly the stitches are but it doesn’t look like it would be a comfortable experience getting said stitches. This new find was not in Kingston’s medical files. So the kid doesn’t have the skin condition we thought he had and he has stitches we never heard about. Doctor has been called and appointment finally made. Kingston needs his vaccinations but I’ll admit it was the curiosity of his stitches that finally got me to pick up the phone and make the appointment. Going to the doctor is going to be a totally fun experience that I am letting Ryan do alone.

I've been trying to put a lot of thoughts down into this blog post and just deleted about 30 minutes worth of writing. I think I am too tired. I am going to regret it later.

Ryan and I have off from work tomorrow. I will try to post later this weekend after a relaxing and kids in daycare day. Ahhh, finally what I consider a "free day!"

First Week of Daycare

The first week of being back to work is done. Done. I am tired. I have escaped upstairs. There is some sort of football game going on between the boys downstairs. A lot of screaming is involved. I actually made a dessert. That’s totally sick. It’s in the freezer freezing or doing whatever it is it is supposed to do before I dip it in chocolate. I am not sure what got into me. I don’t even eat desserts. Am I turning into a domesticated woman? I doubt it. I hope not.

Today we drove to Milwaukee to Everest’s friend’s birthday party. We were two blocks from our old house. I was too sad to drive by. It would have broke my heart all over again.

It smells like burnt chocolate in the house, which doesn’t make sense since this is a frozen dessert I am making.

I hope the kids go to sleep soon.
It’s only 6:30.

There is a large pile of laundry on the chair in the living room next to me. It’s almost like I didn’t see it until just now and I’ve been sitting here for a good half an hour. Scary.

I need a cleaning lady.
Ryan not working on Fridays isn’t going to cut it unfortunately.

The football players just trampled up the stairs. Dang, so much for my escape.

Random Thursday Thoughts

And already it is December. Kingston has been with us for over a month, which to me is insane. We are still trying to adjust to all of the newness in our home. Kingston is pretty amazing. He is just this little fragile being but at the same time he is a tough brute. I think he is a sensitive soul. I think both of my boys are. Kingston is not loving daycare. Mom is not loving dropping Kingston off at daycare. The little lamb-head howls. It gets worse everyday. Now it starts as soon as I ask him to brush his teeth. It is completely heart-wrenching. I know that everybody says that he will get used to it and that kids react this way but our situation it is different. Every morning Kingston probably thinks he is being dropped off to stay. He probably thinks that if he is a good boy we will pick him up at the end of the day. I know this by his complete surprise and unbelievable happiness when we pick him up at night. I want to be able to tell him that we will not leave him, that it is not another orphanage but I cannot and this breaks me each day.

In other news, Kingston is eating like a professional. He can put down the food. Last night he had about 10 chicken nuggets, which kind of disgusts me. He needs to fatten up though. Luckily enough for Ryan and I, Kingston seems to go to the bathroom at school so that we do not have to deal with the consequences of too much unfamiliar food. We knew he loved us.

Kingston got footie pajamas from his Grandma BJ and Grandpa Kirby and the kid looks awesome in them. Everest wanted some so I was able to find some. The two of them in their footies is pretty great. Took some good pictures last night of my footied kids. I will try to post them later.

We’ve laid down the law in our house that mom is not a jungle gym. It seems that whenever I sit on the couch I am trampled on. With Kingston it isn’t so bad because it is like a pesky fly that lands on you but with 45 lbs of Everest it can get a bit dangerous.

The boys have a habit of walking around while brushing their teeth just like Ryan. This is a habit of Ryan’s that I detest on many levels. Now the kids will walk out of the bathroom, footy pajamas on and toothbrushes hanging from their mouths. I will yell, “Get back in the bathroom,” and will chase them back in. Well now it has turned into a game where they run back into the bathroom and Ryan and I hide. We proceed to scare the crap out of them when they come out. There is going to be a lot of dental work if this continues.

Everest is doing better at not annoying me. Yesterday he managed to keep his hands to himself for the most part. The other day I caught him coming out of my closet where the Christmas presents are. He said he was just looking at my clothes. Um yeah, I don’t have spiderman T-shirts so there is no way you are looking at clothes. I told him to say goodbye to his Christmas presents. A massive mental breakdown ensued where there was the continuous mantra of howling, “No goodbye my Christmas presents.” I am a softie and told them I wouldn’t take them back after Ryan told me that he looked at Christmas presents too as a kid. What?!? I never did that. Just another difference between boys and girls I suppose. How are we wired so differently?

Today is my birthday. I am 34. I am not too excited to be 34 but there is some sort of level of excitement still on having a birthday. I used to do it up on my birthday but kids put a damper on all you can drink at the Nitty Gritty. I can’t believe I am 34. Seriously. Where did the last 34 years go? I have a husband and two kids and a cat and a house? No wait, I still have two houses. I am an adult. Why do I not feel like an adult? At some point do we start feeling like adults? I don’t think I want to.

Whoever said that having kids was rewarding? I do not feel rewarded. I feel tired. Having kids makes you tired. Having kids makes you feel pretty crabby. Having kids ages you. Will my kids pay for botox? I love them but wow. You should see us at night. Not sure how people maintain a relatively peaceful existence with two kids. We were duped.

First Day

Today was Kingston's first day at daycare and he broke my heart. I told Ryan that I couldn't take him in for his first day. I didn't think I could leave him there. My baby is so fragile in so many ways and I didn't want to be the one responsible for breaking him. By pushing it on Ryan I remained innocent. I thought about him the entire day. I picked mr. slim pants up tonight and I think he was shocked to see me. I think he thought that daycare was his new orphanage and it made me so sad. I hate to put that pain on him. I believe is quite happy to be a Lentz and all I want is for him to feel secure and to know that he isn't leaving us. However, he is just too young to understand. Everest was old enough to get it even with the language barrier. We would point to a picture of home and say "1", then point to school and say "2" and then finally point to home again and say "3." He got our diluted way of telling him how his day would go and it just worked. Beebs is another story. He is just such a baby in so many ways. But he got through it and I got through it and here we are. 10:00 at night. I am exhausted. Good night.

Hanging in there

We are alive and well. A few days after we got home I was done. My body was done with me. My immune system said enough is enough of you. I gave you my all for two months. Done. I got sick. I had a fever for about 7 days that wouldn't break. In the middle of it all Ryan also got sick and missed his first day back to work. Thankfully the kids stayed healthy. Needless to say we've had issues just catching up with a life that is moving too fast. I started to feel better right before we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house. Luckily enough my dad handled the cooking and both my parents and Ryan's mom brought the side dishes. All I needed to do was buy the turkey and make some dips and instant mashed potatoes. Yesterday Ryan's mom and sister watched the kids while Ryan and I ran to Target to buy some much needed lamps for our living room. It was amazing to just get out of the house to do something for the house without bundling up two kids. It was easy. It made us feel normal. Today is the first day that we are really alone, both home with the kids and feeling ok. After waking up with Everest for a bit this morning I was able to go back to sleep until 10. Kingston luckily can log some hours in the sleep department if everything is quiet around him. It's just a struggle to keep things quiet until he decides to wake up. He usually wakes up completely soaked. Headed back to target today to figure out the diaper situation. Kingston is really quite proud of himself when he pees in his little baby toilet. He lets out a "YAAAAAY!" And there are high fives all around. The other day we were out and he went into the bathroom with me. He got very excited that I went pee in the toilet. He said, "YAAAAAY Momma!" and proceeded with giving me a high five. More later, off to conquer the day.

Home Sweet Home

So we're living a strange little existence here at the Lentz household. I think we would be having a pretty good time except for the fact that exhaustion set in and so did some viruses. I have run a fever for the past three days. Ryan has a sinus infection. The boys are fine except that they suffered from jet lag quite a bit. Kingston isn't sleeping through the night. Every couple of hours you'll hear his little cry. It's getting old. Our house is a complete disaster. Both Ryan and I were too sick yesterday to do anything. Today I was at the doctor's office and then in bed while Ryan was on Kingston duty. We have dishes piled up like we are in college. Then you can add in the laundry from the trip and it's a bit out of control. We have piles of clean clothes scattered throughout the house. At least it is clean. It would be embarrassing if I wasn't so sick. My mom is coming up tomorrow to help out. We also don't have daycare set up for Kingston yet. We've looked at some places and found a couple of them that we like but I want to be able to ease him into it. We have been unable to do so given that I haven't felt like I could stand up straight for more than a half an hour at a time. I am supposed to go back to work on Monday. I am thinking it will be Tuesday. I did not estimate sickness into the mix when scheduling my departure.

Kingston is a crack up. His little personality is showing through quite a bit. We will really need to work on language with this guy. I think a speech pathologist is in his future. He seems to understand what we are saying but he did not have a lot of mandarin language skills to begin so I think there is a bit of delay there. He kind of grunts and whines to get what he wants. I don't think I would want to learn to speak either. Again, it's getting a bit old. I think he has the smarts - he understands commands like, "take your shoes off" and "go wash your hands." It's just that he is lagging a bit. I think he will catch on but it will take time.

I am completely over the potty training thing. He knows when he has to go and he tells us he went after the fact. It's beyond annoying.

I am just crabby.
And tired.
And sick.

Kids are eating McDonalds. That is showing that today I gave up. I couldn't even heat anything up.

The Last Few Days

The last day in Guangzhou was tough for me. I was so sad and I think the reasons behind it were many. I know a lot of adoptive parents are sad to leave their children’s birth country and I think that may have been part of it. I know that there is a certain sadness that comes with taking your children away from the only life they have ever known but in that respect that happened when we took Kingston out of the orphanage, a world away from the day-to-day lives of people in Beijing and Guangzhou. I think my sadness had to do with #1) We were leaving my “safe place.” I had no sadness upon leaving Beijing. We had been looking forward to leaving Beijing. Guangzhou was sunny, beautiful and warm. It had a pool for the kids to play in. We were as relaxed as one can be adopting a new child into our lives. I know that in parts of this blog I made this trip seem easy breezy. Adoption, even under the most ideal circumstances (which we had), is not at all easy. It was extremely hard. It was difficult for me to know that we were altering the happy family existence that we had for the unknown. We were taken out of a comfort level that was difficult for us to achieve as a family of three before we had potentially been ready to do so. Guangzhou put those difficulties and reservations on the back burner because it offered us a place to regroup from Beijing. It allowed us to put our defenses down and to take a breath. We were able to cross the street without completely fearing for our lives and the lives of our children. It allowed us to let our children run free just a little bit and play like children should be able to do. For me, Guangzhou will always hold a special place in my heart because it allowed me start to love Kingston and it allowed me to regain a level of patience with Everest. #2) I was extremely sad to say goodbye to our friends that we had grown so close to. After meeting Nancy, Tom, Betty and Eli in Beijing it was hard to say goodbye in Guangzhou. I couldn’t stop crying as it signified the end of our trip for me. Our friends were also our “safe place.” With them we were able to laugh and sometimes laughing is hard to come by when you are in China adopting a child. They just got it. It is hard to find people as good as they are. They were patient with us and they were patient with Everest. I know that we will remain close to them and we are looking forward to meeting the rest of their families in the hopefully near future. #3) Our adoption trip was done. We came, we saw, we did and we were leaving. And we were leaving with a child. We had faced the unknown and we persevered and we were moving on to face more unknowns. We will likely not adopt again. I know that we said that before and I will never say never but adoption at this point is extremely unlikely.

On our last day in Guangzhou, we woke up and had a relaxing breakfast with our friends. Kingston slept 15 hours so it was just Everest and I at breakfast. Everest has become a big boy who I actually allowed out of my sight to hit the buffet line on numerous occasions so that I could drink my coffee in relative peace. Our last day in Guangzhou was spent at a department store as it was raining. It was a tad bit of a sensory overload as is most experiences in China. We had to pick up toys and food for the trip home and as it was raining, what else is one going to do in China? We arrived back at the hotel to find out that we could board an earlier train so it was off to a quick McDonald’s lunch with our friends.

Getting the four of us checked out of the hotel was something of a fiasco. When we were just about packed up I asked Kingston if he had to “ney-neyo” knowing that he uses neyo-neyo interchangeably for #1 and #2. He looked right up at me and pushed some right on out. Great. So I started to change him and for some reason this time it made me dry heave. I was gagging and just about puking. Everest had never seen someone puke besides Kingston’s projectile vomit when we got him. He started bawling. I think he thought I was hurt. I was. That poop physically pained me. Two minutes after changing him, luggage in the doorway and he does it again. We can’t get out of the room because the kid kept pooping. We made it out of the room and checked out. The tears started as we were checking out. The receptionist asked if I was ok. Ryan told her that I was just so happy to be a Marriott Rewards Club member. We said our goodbyes. They were not fun for me as previously mentioned. We boarded our bus and waited at the train station for Kingston’s visa so that we could enter Hong Kong. We got on the later train so that all of us could sit together. We were traveling with another family and we made the two hour trek to HK. It was a long day for everybody. We arrived in HK around 7:00. Around 6:00 we thought we were there, packed up all of the kids’ toys, put Kingston in his carrier (not an easy task) and headed to the door. Someone who spoke English told us after the fact that we didn’t arrive until 7:00 so back we went. About halfway to HK we all realized we did not know where our hotel was in reference to the train station. After the two plus weeks we’d been through simple things had been forgotten and all rationality and common sense was long gone. We did manage to remember after a few minutes that we believed our hotel to be close to the train station. Luckily enough it was attached to the station. Oh and in the middle of all of this Ryan realized it was our anniversary. When we got to the hotel we ended up upgrading our room. We paid a fortune for it but the receptionist made it seem like a good idea. At that point anything sounded good but I could have slept in a suitcase and been fine. I really wanted Ryan to see some of HK so we dragged the kids out in the rain and found a restaurant. Everybody was exhausted but we managed to get a cab down to I don’t know where and found an Italian place. I went to the bathroom and a cook walked out without washing her hands. I ate anyway. I was too tired to complain. It was delicious. The kids ate like champs. It felt so good to be one step closer to home and to familiar food that wasn’t McDonalds.

We got up at the crack of dawn after only a few hours of sleep and off we went. As we waited for the hotel shuttle one of the hotel workers were trying to get Everest off of the floor. I freaked out at them and after a few attempts to make Everest get up they left us alone. I think I looked deranged and you would have thought they would have taken one look at me and decided it would have been in their best interest to leave us alone. They did not.

At the airport we had more pooping issues. Twice for KT and once for Everest. I don’t know what all happened but at one point while I was spending the last of our HK dollars I came back and Ryan frantically said he needed money. I asked why and he replied that he needed to tip the janitor for wiping Everest’s ass. I handed him the rest of our HK dollars. About $7 in US. Usually I feel like Everest should pay us to wipe his butt so it was the least I could do for a complete stranger.

The airplane ride wasn’t too atrocious. It was the best it could be for 14 hours with two kids, which is not good and was not fun but we got through it. I am glad it is over. Then we followed the fun of the plane ride with a three hour bus ride. Good times. Danielle met us at Memorial Union and brought us home. Kingston wasn’t sure what to make out of the place and definitely was not sure what to make out of the cat. He is warming up to both. He finds it funny that the cat’s food is on the floor. At least I think he does because he calls me over to look at it, says, “Meow” and giggles.

Kingston was not a fan of his new bedroom and crawled in with Everest. After about 15 minutes of laughing, both kids were asleep. We managed to stay awake for pizza and then we were asleep as well.

Today is a new day. Kingston tried cereal for the first time. What kid isn’t going to like Lucky Charms?!? He is busy exploring his new house and surroundings. Not much to explore given our lack of furniture. All is well for the most part. Will we have difficulties? Yes. Will our children struggle with having lived in an institution for a portion of their childhood, yes, but do all kids struggle with something?

I don’t look at them and see challenge. I look at them and see unlimited potential. I look at how far Everest has come in two years time. I look at how far Everest has come in just 6 months time. Right now Kingston is chasing a remote control car and squealing. He has potential.

I can’t believe I have kids. The fact that it is plural is outrageous to me. How did I get to where I am today? How did this all happen so quickly? I look at my children and I know that miracles do happen. I look at them and know that God exists. I look at them and see the innocence that is too soon lost. I look at them and see hope, faith and goodness. I look at them and I know that Ryan and I made the right choices. Although our family is not a conventional family, our family is just that, our family. Although their eyes are not ours and you cannot see the resemblance of us in their smiles, you will see Ryan and me in their personalities. You will see us in their manners. You will see us in their morals. You will see us. They may not be from us but they are part of us nonetheless. My children are my joy, my inspiration and my future. They are Everest and Kingston Lentz.

It's Official - Kingston is stuck with us

It’s official. Kingston is our boy. We took our oath and our visa gets picks up tomorrow and our guide is meeting us at the train station with it. We take the train to Hong Kong with another family and we’ll spend the night in Hong Kong. We are somewhat wishing that we had an extra night in Hong Kong. We didn’t know this little trooper would be as easy as he is. We are also not excited about the long flight home. The past few days have been sunny and hot. Today is 85 degrees and we are heading out to the pool. Last time I checked we didn’t have one of those in our backyard and I’m guessing the weather is not going to be even remotely close to 85 degrees. Facing reality is what we are having an issue with. Going home, establishing a routine and living our lives. I think we will be ok but I think that there will obviously be unforeseen challenges. Things are easy where we are right now. Our every move is taken care of. Our guide tells us where to go and when. In a way we can be mindless and in most ways we are.

Everybody is headed to the Pearl Market. We are deciding against going. You know I love to shop but bargaining with two boys running around is not going to be a priority. The boys need to wear themselves out in the pool. I think tonight we will lay low. The boys need to get a good night’s sleep.

Kingston is continuing to crack us up. I think I may love him. I am not sure yet. He is a trouble maker but he is a cute trouble maker so it makes it a bit easier to handle. The poor dear has no clothes that fit so today I asked the concierge for scissors and I cut off his pants that we got him in Beijing into a pair of rag-tag cut-off shorts. They don’t look half-bad. Actually they don’t look half-good either. That action garnered a bit of attention. Speaking of attention, I don’t think I mentioned the other day when we were at the park feeding the boys oranges. Everest had taken off his shirt, Kingston’s clothes don’t fit and Ryan and I were sweating through our clothes. There were no less than 30 people gathered around us. I took video of them watching us and talking about us. I kind of love that. Just the strangeness that we are to them. The strangeness that we are to our own selves.

We’re heading off to the kid’s playground at the hotel and then on to the pool. There is a bar connected to the pool. It is only 10:30 in the morning. We’re totally ok with that.

Guangzhou's Finest

Today we were supposed to go to the Folk Museum and instead had a late breakfast and hit a park across the street. It is super hot here. The heat is intensified when you are lugging two kids around. We finally stumbled onto a mini-amusement park. As we are pushing the kids onto one of the rides, Ryan asks me, "Well...do you think it's safe?"

Everest decided it was prime time to decide he had to poop and had to poop bad and of course there is nothing in sight. The next forty minutes were dedicated to finding Everest a bathroom. During this time, Everest was picked up for most of the duration. I am not sure why - was the poop going to decide it didn't want to come out if carried? We finally found a squatty potty and Everest went in with Ryan. About 5 minutes later they came out, Ryan about gagging. Apparently it was the squatty potty that made the poop not want to come out. I don't blame it.

We decided it was time to hit the pool. The pool is awesome. We spent a ton of time there today and likely will tomorrow. It's just easy entertainment.

Tonight I went out without underwear on. I didn't have any left. I only felt somewhat less dirty than if I had gone out with dirty underwear on. We went out with our friends again tonight, this time to a Thai restaurant on Shamian Island. I wanted to tell them I wasn't wearing any underwear but decided it was inappropriate. It was only after I was back in the hotel room that I realized I could have worn my bikini bottoms. Oh well. The good news in all of this is that we picked up our laundry and our kids can stop wearing the same socks that they have worn for three days and I can stop being trampy and wear some clean undies.

Ryan headed out to 7-11 tonight to pick up some supplies (Tsingtao and pringles) and was approached numerous times by Guangzhou's finest ladies. He did pick up one of the finer ladies cards. Apparently her name is Anita as her card states and you will get a "Passionate Night" with her.
"You Want beautiful Young Chinese girls for sex? Yes, that's What we have. We are Provig dinProfessional service. Excellent quality Of our girls is guaranteed and fast delivery is our promise. We Will Assign girls according to your special requirements, your comfort, and Pleasure!Do not hesitate, call now! 24h serve the doorstep."

I can't wait until she gets here.

We are on Vacation

We landed in Guangzhou late last night. The kids were amazing for the most part. Kingston took his first airplane ride in stride. There was a lot for him to look at – his own little TV, headphones, magazines, he took it all in. Everest was happy that there was a game console on the TV. I was ok until Everest spilled his whole yogurt on the ground. It was the last straw in an already very stressful day. My eyes physically hurt. We didn’t get to sleep until around 1:00 am and we were up at 6:45. Plus, I had to sleep with Everest and he used me as a scratching post for his dry legs while he was sleeping. It was kind of like being humped by a dog.

We arrived at the China Hotel Marriott in Guangzhou and it was honestly such a relieving experience. We were so over Beijing and were beyond excited to land in warm weather. I was never a fan of the White Swan hotel that most adoptive parents stay at in Guangzhou. It is closed for rennovations and although we are not directly on Shamian Island, we are a short drive away and our hotel is super nice.

The medical exam was today. The term medical exam shall be used loosely as it is a chaotic mess of screaming children and doctors doing the least amount of medical work possible. Wow, you would honestly not believe how crazy it is.

So KTL is not a happy camper today. He is not happy at all. He is in turn making the rest of us not happy. He is a screaming, bratty, typical 3 year old who did not get enough sleep. He is making my head hurt. I want to make his head hurt. He needs to go to sleep, like now.

So the other day I forgot to mention that Kingston got to ride in an elevator all by himself. Yes, we are already teaching the young lad independence. Actually, we are neglectful parents and we all got off the elevator without the poor dear. He rode down to the parking garage by himself while I frantically tried to follow in a separate elevator. Kingston arrived safely back to lobby by his lonesome and I followed shortly after. Everest was bawling his head off because he didn’t want to lose his brother. Meanwhile Ryan and I were cracking up at the debacle. We were wondering if it wouldn’t have been nice to lose him maybe just for an hour or two so that Ryan and I could grab happy hour in peace. Parents of the year.

Today we did some paperwork and we went and “sat” out at the pool. Kingston loves the water, as much as Everest but his body is just so skinny that he gets way too cold. The weather here is absolutely gorgeous and if we didn’t have a three year old crazed maniac with us we might actually say we are on a bit of a vacation for the next couple of days. We may venture out around the hotel tonight to check things out and then it is early to bed. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to a Folk Museum. I think I would rather not. I mean, me, Ryan, a 6 year old caged animal and a 3 year old beaver cannot do a museum without causing total havoc. Ub other news, we were called out today for ordering beer at lunch (I know folks, shocking). Meanwhile, we figure that they are probably hitting the mini-bar hard when they get back to the rooms.

We absolutely love the family we were with in Beijing. They took Everest to the pool today. Love them! They have been wonderful to both us and to Everest.

Packing Up

We're packing up today. We've classified our laundry into categories: #1) Very dirty #2) Dirty and wearable only after washing twice. Makes packing easy. Throw all clothes into suitcases.

My second child is fake crying in the bathtub. He is really good at that. They must do it at the orphanage to get attention. I walk in there and he smiles at me. I walk out and he starts at it again. This blog post has take a half an hour.

Everest and Ryan are "working out" in the gym. I am not sure how much "working out" Ryan is getting out of the experience.

Littlest man just got out of the bathtub and every time he is walking around naked I am reminded of just how small he is. There is a two and a half old with us (6 months younger than Mr. Tao) and he is 5 lbs heavier and shorter.

He just broke the clock in the room. I'm ok with it. It'll probably cost us $60 and is worth about $1.50.

The shaved hair on his forehead is growing back in little chunks and it looks like he has hairy growths on his forehead.

If he does not have a diaper on he tells us he has to neyo-neyo (pee). If the diaper is on he pees in it. I suppose I would too. I think he is scared of doing the lash in the toilet. He screams when we put him on it. He wants to sit on my lap as I am typing it (with his bare butt). As cute as it is, I am not having it.

I just noticed that he is really dry. Probably because of his love of the bathtub. I just introduced him to lotion. Of course we had to use the whole bottle - just as with food and drink we have to use all of it. Every last drop.

The Balloons are Deflating and the Wine is Depleting

We have no less than 5 balloons in our room. They are deflating. It is time to leave Beijing. The clothes are all dirty three (or five) times over. We are ready to be done. My wine is gone. We are ready to be done.

Today we went to the Summer Palace, which was quite beautiful. Things are hard to see when you are constantly wrangling and corralling two boys, one of which does not understand you and one of which pretends he doesn’t.

I don’t think Kingston really had any major outbursts today. The boys got 14 hours of sleep last night. They definitely needed it and we definitely needed them to have it. It did improve Everest’s disposition a little bit, Kingston’s was a ton better.

My back is killing me.

I am so tired of this hotel. There are dried noodles and crumbs all over because they don’t vacuum. I make the boys take off their shoes immediately upon entering the room. Why? It’s not like anyone else ever has.

Beebs is Kingston’s new nickname for the time being. A little like Beaver but just a twist that makes Everest giggle uncontrollably. Hopefully we will think of a more suitable nickname soon.

Had braised tofu for dinner. Really good but now my stomach really hurts. I was supposed to have lost weight on this trip but of course I am gaining as I think I tend to eat when stressed and when the only safe choice is chocolate pocky sticks, pringles or mcdonalds. It is rather TBD on the braised tofu being safe.

Tomorrow we are off to Guangzhou. Our flight is at 6:00 at night and we are set to arrive at 9:00. It will be a late night for tweedle dee and tweedle dumb (I don’t know which is which). We join up with the other families and we are looking forward to seeing their children. We have really enjoyed our time with our Beijing travel partners. Nancy and Tom adopted Eli, a little guy who will likely need a portion of his leg amputated. They also brought Nancy’s twin sister, Betty with them. Last night when we were going to sleep Ryan said, “Melissa, it would hate it if you had a twin sister.” Thinking that was rather harsh I asked him why and said I thought it would be cool. He came back with the fact that he would be unable to fart in our hotel room. Very true. And I will leave you with that.

Zoo Day

My first born is driving me nuts. Completely nuts. I WANT TO SCREAM but my second born does enough of that for all of us. I am going to give Mr. E-V the benefit of the doubt for today's actions and will leave it out of this blog post because this should be more about door #2 than #1.

I have not lost it yet. But I am close.

Today I walked to the grocery store and back and I did not cry. It was two years ago where walking to the grocery store put me into tears. Our lives were forever altered and we came through stronger than we were before, stronger as a family and stronger than our individual parts. Our lives have changed yet again and this a scary thing for all of us, even those of us who don't choose to wear Spiderman shirts.

Mr. Kingston Tao is becoming quite the interesting little man. We can't quite figure him out. He keeps us on our toes as we are never quite sure when a fit will start but the fits are not too out of control. However, the poor little dear gets all red in the face, the screaming starts and he about hyperventilates. The first few times I thought he would puke.

Today we put Kingston on the scale and he weighed in at a whopping 24 lbs with all of his clothes and shoes on. This makes me so sad. There is no way a three year old should weigh 23 lbs. That is just sick. Hopefully it will not take long for Mr. Tao to put on the pounds as he is eating more than all of us put together. The only issue is that he likes to put it all in his mouth at once, realizes he cannot swallow or chew it all up and ends up looking for me to grab something to spit it out in. Classy little guy. Fits in well with us.

I think that the best part of the days are when we get back to our hotel room and we all run around, jump on the beds and wrestle. Kingston is a bit of a brute. He will fall and will get right back up to jump onto my unsuspecting back. He is a character and I am looking forward to introducing you all to him. He has a cute little smile and he knows how to charm like his brother. He is a tad shy around strangers and I think we are already seeing him shy away from Mandarin speakers. We are his safety net now, we are his food supply, his survival, his fun, his family.

We finally put them to bed around 5:00 this evening. Could turn out to be a very bad idea tomorrow morning around 5:00 am. Kingston is as Ryan just put it, "totally beavered out."

Heading to the Summer Palace tomorrow. Looking forward to it as we did not get a chance to see it last year. Hoping to also document some areas around the hotel for both Everest and Kingston's benefit as they grow older. As I walked to the grocery store today it hit me more than ever that this was their first home. This is their heritage before there was a family. This is the land of their first language, familiar food and like faces. Although I would not choose to live here, my children did not choose to leave here and I must respect the home they once knew. I must respect the chaos, the clutter, the beauty, the tradition. I also must not let them forget.

Another Day is Another Day is Another Day

Today was one of those "free days," which I think are designed to torture new parents. Luckily slim mcgee #1 and #2 woke up late. Success. We even relaxed in the room for awhile until King Tut decided that he needed to unleash one of his ear surgery temper tantrums, which I think was a result of Ryan or I doing something he deemed to be close to the end of the world.

I took Everest out of the room and the maid looked at me and stuck her fingers in her ears and shook her head. I nodded at her and made a motion like I was drinking as a result. Whatever.

We went back to the Temple of Heaven again today and ran the kids. Ran and ran and ran the kids. And ran them yet some more. We also went to the Pearl Market again - the Pearl Market has pearls I think but we never make it past the second floor where all of the knock-off merchandise is. We promised Everest a spiderman t-shirt and we picked up Mr. Crazy #2 a pair of pants and a couple of "polo" shirts. Kid will be decked out tomorrow. We got Kingston a pair of pants the other day out of desperation because he only fits into one of the pairs we got him. We couldn't find him anything that resembled normal. We finally found one pair of pants that has writing all over it. Jibberish English. One of the phrases is, "eye ohio." Again, whatever.

We were ripped off by a rickshaw driver today. I wanted to punch him in the face but I did not. Everest afterwards said, "Ma, what does putting the smack down mean?"

We had a new family come into Beijing today. They adopted a little guy from a neighboring province. We went to the Chinese restaurant with them tonight and ate way too much yet again.

Things about China that I like:
My children (well at least one of them so far)
Scales in bathrooms - why doesn't the US do this?
Noodles, rice, noodles, rice oh and dumplings
Tsingtao
Cheap Coke and water
Pocky sticks and Pretz
The Great Wall
The kindness of people

Things I can do without:
Squatty potties
Can't find hand sanitizers to buy
Can't drink the water or eat raw veggies (no salads)
Feeling dirty but not necessarily all China's fault. No clean clothes has something to do with it.
No time to put on makeup or workout.
Hard beds (but that is growing on me)
Rickshaw drivers
Pollution
Why do they only give us two towels every morning although they know there are four of us?
Why are they not changing our bed sheets - again feeling really dirty.
Need to wear swim caps in pool even with shaved heads - but good for a laugh

Tomorrow it is off to the zoo with our new travel partners. I am nervous that they will think the beaver is one of the animals. In all honesty, the resemblence between the two kids is striking to me at times and strangers and our travel partners alike have made the call without our prompting that the two look like brothers. There are times when their actions are startling similar. Their laugh is a key indicator - in addition Everest does this fake cry that sounds very, very real. He had not done it in front of Kingston and today Kingston started to do it. It sounded just like Everest complete with a laugh afterwards, very proud of himself. Then Everest started to do it and we had two fake crying and then giggling boys who thought very highly of themselves. Both boys also have a bluish mark between their eyes. Although very similar, Kingston is coming into his own.

He is officially ours (we think)

Yesterday we went to the notary, the civil affairs office and to get passport pictures taken (I think but really I have no idea). We put our red fingerprints on our signatures and I think that means that what they call our "harmonious period" is over. Ha, harmonious period my ass. At what I think was the notary Kingston decided to have his first full on fit. Screaming at the top of his lungs like I have never heard screaming before. Ear piercing. Pinching (I have a welt), a few spits, kicks and hits. I think we just went with it. I know I did. I sat there and said, "We handled Everest, we can handle this fit." Our guide who has obviously seen it all in terms of adoptions said that it was a good thing that he was acting out. It shows personality. I don't know what kind of personality. Jeesh. It was good though to see that he wasn't the happy go lucky kid that he seems to be and that he has some spunk and fight in him like his brother.

The rest of the day was great. We actually hung out in our room quite a bit, which is nice to be able to do. With Everest we could only go to sleep in our room. Now mind you, our room is not nice. It is littered with cracker crumbs, and an ever-growing mountain of dirty clothes that I cannot bear to put on my body after knowing what it has been through. Poor Everest has not had clean pants in three days. Underwear is clean though. Brought a lot of super heroes.

Kingston's clothes don't fit so we have been buying him a few odds and ends to get us by. Hoping to get some laundry done in our bathtub tonight. Seriously.

We went out for dinner at Tim's BBQ again and they had a Halloween party. It was great for Everest because they gave him candy. They took their picture with him and then took one of our table. We figure we'll be on their wall. It was pretty good.

I had to take a break because there was some diaper issues. Kid tells you as he is going poop, not before. He yells Momma and get this look on his face that can only be describes as, well, like he is going poop.

Heading down for breakfast as the crew is getting antsy.

More later tonight.

Free Day

Our free day sucked.

We were up way too early and neither of the kids got enough sleep. Number #2 was probably sick of being in a wet diaper as he honestly pees every half hour.

We started off with #2's temper tantrums right away and they continued until we put him to bed at 5:30 this evening.

#2 is smitten with Ryan. It is annoying for both Ryan and me. He cries and squeals and is generally just pissed off if I try to pick him up or hold his hand.

His cries and squeals occur both when he is happy and when he is mad and to be honest they generally just piss me off either way.

It was non-stop today. I feel bad for Everest. I felt him go a bit downhill today. I feel like I am ruining him and I refuse to do so and it makes me feel a bit of animosity towards the little beaver. I can't help it. It's just the way I feel.

Oh, we got Kingston's head shaved today. He screamed like I have never heard a kid scream before. Thankfully he has a small head. Ryan and Everest got their heads shaved too. The people probably thought we all had lice. We tipped well because of the screaming, as well as the lice thoughts that they were left with.

We went to Tim's BBQ today. That was the highlight of the day. A western glimmer of sanity in a rough day. Kingston tried a brownie and ice cream and enjoyed. Ryan and I tried beer and enjoyed.

Heading to bed because today sucked and tomorrow is going to suck even worse. Headed to the notary or something like that. Official paperwork moves like molasses as nobody will likely be in any hurry to complete anything to get us out of there. Maybe our shrieking kid will hurry them up.

Love,
M, R, E, K

The Great Wall

The boys slept until 7:00 today. Amazing except I was awake at 4:00. We had to rush it to get down to meet the group by 8:30 to get to the Great Wall. Breakfast was the usual craziness, even more so since it was busy. Normally we are down there before or shortly after it opens so we were actually surprised to see pancakes and fried eggs. Apparently those who sleep in are granted additional Western options, which Everest was thrilled about. Pancakes and syrup and Chinese noodles. I love noodles. I don’t know that I can get sick of them. I think I will probably find out on this trip as we have about a shelf of them that we bought from the store and we’ve been ordering them whenever available.

Last night we went to a local Chinese restaurant near our hotel. We didn’t know of this place previously. It was awesome! Four adults and three kids and one baby ate for $50 US dollars and it was good food! This also included two huge bottles of local Chinese beer. It was great to eat locally. Normally it is quite a drive out for dinner or else we are doing pizza or the restaurant downstairs. Found out that the restaurant had a health code rating of a “B.” Quite impressive really. Kingston also broke a dish within about two seconds of being seated. Just not used to the kid thing. Really going to have to child-proof when we are home.

So, the Great Wall. It was good to be back with Everest and see him enjoy it. He was only somewhat scared of the gondolas and it was more for my attention than anything. He hiked up the entire portion of the wall from the gondola to the top without wanting to be picked up. Kingston, on the other hand, had the privilege of riding on my back in the baby carrier. So glad we bought that thing. I am going to be using it all of the time. Apparently they do not have t-shirts at the Great Wall that say, “I climbed the Great Wall with a 28 lb baby on my back.” They have about everything else though. Kingston walks really well, way better than Everest did and he runs too. I think this must have to do with his skin (more of that in a minute). The boys are loving to chase each other. Today we had our guide Joy translate, “Zhang Tao, chase your brother!” Kingston would look at Everest and just take off after him squealing his not-so-little scream.

Kingston does not appear to have any skin issues. From the pictures we had of him previously he looked to have the same nails and types of hand and feet blisters that Everest had. This is not the case any longer. His nails are growing fine and he does not appear to have a blister on him. It looks like there is scarring as though he has had blisters in the past but it looks like he will not need to be wrapped. It kind of makes me sad for Everest. We had told Everest that Kingston would have “special skin” too. Everest does not seem to be bothered that he does not though. I could always say well, Kingston is special too, he sucks his bottom lip like a beaver and he is going to have two holes from his fangs dug into his bottom lip. No worries.

Tomorrow is a “free day.” Ha! Free day to me means kids in daycare, mom sleeping in. No such luck in Beijing, China. We are taking it easy in the morning. We are going to work out, shower, hit the store to buy Kingston some drawers that fit and then we will go to a park to hang out. While it might seem like this is easy breezy this time around, it is anything but. I do not feel suicidal or homicidal but it is very hard. Love to you all!

Full Day #1

Yesterday was an emotional day for me. I think it just comes with the territory. It is really hard to adopt a child. It is hard to bring another child into your life who can walk and talk and who you have no inkling of what to expect from one moment to the next. This child was not born to you. They do not have your genes. They are complete strangers. And Kingston is just that, a stranger. He is to us as we are to him. However, I tend to believe he is quite taken with us strangers. Luckily Ryan felt exactly the same but just didn't cry continuously about it like I did. Really though, last night really went off without a hitch. The boys ate noodles in our room and they were asleep by 6:00. Everest in bed with me and Kingston in bed (until he fell asleep and moved horizontally) with Ryan. By 6:02 Ryan and I were ordering pizza (I know, shocking). I love ordering pizza in China because you never know what you are going to get. All you say is, "meat pizza" and you will get "meat pizza." The first time it was canadian bacon (I think) this last time it was pepperoni and sausage. The sausage looked like rabbit poop so I declined to partake. Ryan said the rabbit poop was good. I was asleep before Ryan finished up the poop.

We all got up around 5:30 in the morning and went down for breakfast. Breakfast is a bit different now. Meaning simply that I don't think I sat down until everybody was almost done eating. I managed to pour myself three cups of coffee none of which I drank because as I came back I had yet another request. More potato pancakes, more orange juice, another milk please (at least there are pleases). Ryan was on Kingston feeding duty leaving me to run circles around the buffet line.

Then there was the diaper damage. We smelled it a-comin'. Ryan and I are not equipped to deal with bio-hazards of this nature. I mean, seriously. Whoah. We ran into the bathroom, kid squealing, Everest (love him) going to grab diapers without being asked. We was unleashed cannot be described. Then I have Ryan telling me, "Melissa, these wipes have to be flushed. You can't get the big clumps with the wipes!!" Excuse me but when did you become diaper-changing guru and if you have become one since our nuptials, you can gladly take said diaper-changing guru title! Kingston went straight into the bath, which he was less than pleased about.

I know I said this before but the kid is small. I cannot even put the word small into capital letters to stress how small he is because the word small would then be bigger. He has on 24 moth old pants today and they are adjusted to about the smallest waistline and cuffed. He is doing better with the shirts - a 2T or 3T will do for all those grandmas shopping.

Everest has been nothing short of amazing. I continue to be amazed by his ability to adapt all the while not losing his ability to laugh and play. Kingston did something (I don't remember what but it was naughty and annoying and Everest said to me, "Mom, it takes time." Smart words from a smart boy.

Now for the other Lentz. Wow, he is something and I am not sure what. He is a goofy looking thing with his hair cut (or not cut) the way it is. Everest came with a tail so I can't complain, however Ryan wants this new Lentz's hair cut asap so it's pretty goofy. The Beaver, as I've taken to calling him occassionally has a habit of biting his lower lip. The kid has some ginormous chompers in the front. I think it is a stress reliever for him and a way of self-soothing. He comes with the extra bonus of sucking on his bottom lip when he goes to sleep. We have also taken to calling him Teradactyl because of this (don't ask me why) and because he has a high-pitched squeal of a hyena (why we don't call him that I don't know...)

We hadn't been planning on doing the Forbidden City and Tiennamen Square tour but we decided to just for the ability to interact with others. We are happy we decided to do so. One family we met has two older boys who Everest has boy-crushes on. They have been wonderful. We got about as much out of the tour this time as we did last time, nothing, because we chased and corralled boys the whole time. We are headed to the grocery store for the second time today and are heading out for dinner with one of the families in our group. I am looking forward to that but it means changing out of my pajama pants. Yes, I am in the business center with my pajama pants on and yes I sat on the ground numerous times in Beijing and yes my second born child ate dirt, not once but twice off of the ground in the Forbidden City. He is adjusting, we are adjusting and I will get some pictures up. Just have not downloaded them yet.

Love, The Leave it to Beaver Crew

And we meet

It's now the 27th of Oct. For the past two days we've been out and about. Going to parks, walking around, seeing the sights. Everest is having a hard time adjusting to the jet lag. He'll do fabulously in the morning and then by 1:00ish he is fading. The first full night of being here he fell asleep around 3 in the afternoon, we managed to wake him for a half an hour and then he slept the whole night through until after 7. Of course now we are dealing with a kid whose sleep system is just all messed up. When he is supposed to be sleeping he is awake. When he is supposed to be awake he is sleeping. I think that meeting Kingston today has taken care of some of that.

Last night we managed to keep Everest up through dinner. We went to the Union Bar and Grill on Sanlitun Street. We learned last time that Sanlitun Street had a connotation of putting back a few beers. Well of couse we had to check it out. When you tell a cabbie you are headed there they giggle and make a motion with their hands like they are drinking. However, Sanlitun has some awesome surroundings. They have a big mall that has stores that we don't have at home (Super Dry Uniglo), as well as some good Western style restaurants. Ryan and I went there the night before we met Everest so we felt it fitting to do the same the night before Kingston.

We've been having issues getting cabs if we are not at our hotel. Either the cabs drive right by or they gouge us. We've figured out a workaround where I stand on the street looking desperate. I hand the cabbie the card to the hotel and while he is looking I flag over Ryan and Everest and we barrel into his cab before he has a chance to say no or $30. Ha take that!

So what you are all waiting for...the introduction of Kingston. Let's just say that it is 2:45 in the afternoon and since 4:00 this morning I honestly aged 5 years and counting. I woke up to Ryan telling Everest to go to sleep. I handed Ryan one of my earplugs and then both of them were asleep within minutes. And then I was awake. Thanks. I got up a little while later and hung out in the bathroom by myself. I thought that it would give Ryan and Everest extra time to sleep and give me time alone to think. So I stood there and thought. I thought mainly about what I was going to wear to meet my son. How stupid is that? Probably very. Actually I know very, however, there seemed to be nothing more important at 4:30 in the morning. I put on a pink shirt that I had gotten at Gap a few years ago. I always thought it was of a large feather. However, as I was looking in the mirror I noticed it was a lady with hair all over the place. I thought, mmm...she looks like a little erotic....is this appropriate to meet one's son?!? I decided it was just fine.

Everest and Ryan popped up this morning and Everest did not happen to notice the erotic looking lady on my shirt. Ryan did not either.

We headed to breakfast and then met Joy, our guide. It was an interesting morning because we went to the orphanage instead of meeting Kingston at our hotel as we had met Everest. It was about a 45 min. drive. I think Ryan and I were both somewhat nervous but through this whole ordeal I have been calm. Too calm. Scary calm. We took some pictures on the road in and we arrived. I blocked out all thoughts that would registrer tears and we waited. What was the most emotional for me at the time was that Everest grew up there and that I was seeing Everest's home before ours. That is a powerful thing. We started signing papers and Kingston arrived. He does not look like our pictures at all. Wondering if he is the right kid. Don't have time to register because Everest is already in his grill. Kingston is crying. Kingston stops crying once the nannies open up a chocolate bar to which Everest wonders why he does not have a chocolate bar. We promise Everest a chocolate bar. My first reaction as Kingston's size. He. is. so. small. TINY. It is like he is a little walking infant. Not sure what size clothing he will wear. We will see tomorrow when we get him in his clothes that we brought. He has some fabulous socks on though. He would not have anything to do with us at first and then the orphange director came in. We took some pictures and he handed Kingston to Ryan. Kingston didn't seem to have an issue. We took some more pictures. Joy told us it was time to go and Ryan handed Kingston to me. Apparently he said, "Momma, let's go." All mandarin speaking people laughed and away we went. We climbed in the van and with great fanfare Kingston proceeded to vomit the teddy graham crackers that we had given him all over himself and Ryan. Everest started wailing. I cleaned up. That's what moms do afterall. Ryan had puke in the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt, which I am not going to lie kinda makes me laugh. We took pictures, went to the bank and came back to the hotel. We realized that Mr. Kingston wears diapers. WHAT?!? Oh boy learning curve there.

We witnessed Everest grow up in front of our eyes. We started to see that our second born son has the tendency to be a little sh!t but then again so was Everest. We are being tested already and there have been a couple of fake spits at us. Sorry skinny you are not match for us.

Amongst all of this, I am sad. I am so sad. I think that Kingston will be great. I think he seems like he has a funny little personality but I am already sad for the threesome that we were that we are no longer.

I better get upstairs. We went and got diapers, Tsingtao and Great Wall red wine. To those of you reading who may decide or decide not to adopt from China after reading this, do not let your husband buy you red wine that simply says on the label, "China Red Wine." It will make you want to get back on a plane and head back to the US immediately.

Pictures to follow tomorrow if I can muster up the energy.

Love from China,
The Lentz Family of Four

The Journey Begins

We arrived in Beijing yesterday around 3:00 in the afternoon. We started off the morning bright and early and Everest popped out of bed when the alarm went off. He said to me, "Ma, ya know the coolest thing about today?" "No Everest I don't (me still asleep and in denial about this whole China thing)." "Well Ma, the coolest thing about today is everything about today."

The flight in was actually somewhat tolerable. About two hours into the flight, wine in hand, I said to Ryan - "Hey, I am actually enjoying this a bit." I spoke way too soon. Luckily the plane was a bit empty in the back and before we took off the flight attendent (I love United flight attendents) said to the guy next to me that he could head back to a row with less people, which gave Ryan and I the fourth seat in the middle of the aisle. Everest's eyes were closed before the plane took off. VICTORY. But a short lived victory as he only slept a short time. After a few hours Everest was over the "everything is the coolest" and was ready to get off the not so cool anymore plane. Insert whining, some tears, fidgeting, etc. He was incredibly over tired and I was ready to be off. I can't blame him. He did manage to sleep again for a bit more and gave Ryan and I a much needed break.

When we landed we were met by our Bethany representative, Joy, who was like an oasis. She remembered us and of course remembered Everest. She pointed at my hair, "Ah, you cut your hair."

I think that people are disappointed that Mr. Chunhui no longer speaks Mandarin. I told Joy that Everest was too naughty to be in Chinese school. She said, "Ah yes, I read the first and 6 month reports."

We got to the hotel and Ryan went to the grocery store. We tried to make two bowls of noodles with our kettle. Everest fell asleep before his was done. You will notice that I said the word, "try." We were not too successful. Between the two of us we have five higher education degrees. One would think we could make instant noodles. Everest could have done it better. Pizza Hut was the answer.

Which brings us to the morning and when I say morning I use the word very loosely as it was 3:00 in the morning when Everest decided that he had enough sleep and was ready to explore Beijing. No amount of explaining could deter him. He managed to lay (and not lay still) until 5:30. Seriously. And I need to add that during this brief interlude of sleep he decided he needed to poop. Not once but on two separate occasions. What kid poops twice during the night?!? I mean, you seriously have to go bad to wake up once let alone twice.

This morning we were not the first down for breakfast suprisingly. There were other crazies among us. Everest in his Spiderman jammies with fried noodles and dim sum. The kid is taking full advantage of the food here.

We ran to the grocery store again and then set out to explore a bit. We went to Beihai Park, which was one of our favorites from the last go around. Everest seemed to be taken with all of the Chinese children. He wanted to play with them and seemed to be excited that they all looked like him. His excitement about being here in general has been fun for us. He wants to see "China buildings, China people...and eat noodles." He is doing all of that.

We also had our first squatty potty experience today. Everest was somewhat mortified. He does not remember them. You know it's bad when a 6 year old with no qualms about hygeine let's out a cry. This one was BAD. There was pee all over. I know it was pee because there was not a sink where any other water could have come from. As Everest got ready to pee I told him to hit the potty. In hindsight, he could have just let loose on the walls and it wouldn't have looked any different in there. I squatted like a champ.

I have to admit there was a certain amount of denial that came with coming on this trip. Everything about the last trip was hard. So, so hard. However, this time Ryan and I both feel a certain sense of calm. I don't know what it is. Familiarity? I woudn't think so. Beijing is anything but familiar. I feel somewhat that it is a trip of redemption for us. Look at us, we did it. Look at our son, he is incredible. I have personally never been more proud of Everest in my life as I have been thus far on our trip.

The stares started as soon as we were at our gate at O'Hare and continued obviously when we arrived in Beijing. It is hard to read the stares. I know that a lot of the stares are because he is cute, regardless of the nationality of his parents. Other stares are of a curious sort. Why is that boy with those parents? I also can't help thinking that there could be animosity. I did not feel this way when we were here before but now I feel it. Maybe it is my imagination. Maybe I am tired. No wait, I am totally tired.

The stares just make me more proud. Look a us, we did it. Look at our son, he is incredible.

Tomorrow is another day of roaming around the city. Thursday morning we are getting up early (suprise, suprise) and heading to the orphanage to meet Kingston. After seeing Everest interact today with the children, I look even more forward to bringing Kingston into our lives. I know we made the right decision. However, I will likely need to be reminded of this as the trip continues.