A New Day

Last night I accomplished 11 hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep. Extremely hard to come by. I woke up a whole new woman. Well kind of. I wasn't any smarter or more attractive. Just felt better.

Last night when I picked Everest up from daycare I saw signs in some of the classrooms that alerted parents to pink eye. I longed to go into said classrooms, rub my hands all over everything and then stick my fingers into my eyes.

Tonight it was more wishful thinking than longing.

We're making progress.

The fundraiser planning is under way. I feel good about the place we landed on - we will all fit, it's a great private space and I think we'll put on a good party as the Lentz's always do. It was a tad touch and go for awhile but we're working through it. Good company always plays a big part and if our friends are there, we'll make it work.

Everest said shit three times in a row today at school when he didn't get to play with the polar bear toy that he wanted. He used it in the correct context. Way to go kiddo. His response to my lecture, "Well mom, I had a good nap today."

In all seriousness, what the heck is that all about?

Sometimes I feel like taking my hair and pulling it out strand by strand. Maybe my eyelashes instead. I won't look good bald but then again, how would I look without eyelashes?

My kitchen stinks.

Why does my kitchen stink?

My cat is perched next to me. His love is unconditional. He does not talk back, nor does he poop in his drawers. Although he does have a litter box.

I wish I could sleep all day like my cat and it might kind of be cool to poop in a litter box.

Maybe that's what my kid is thinking.

New Location

Just wanted to let everybody out there know that the location for Kingston's fundraiser has changed. We'll now be at the Red Rock Saloon, 1225 N Water Street Milwaukee, WI 53202 - (414) 431-0467. We will have the entire upstairs to ourselves all night and it's big enough to accomodate a large crowd, which I hope we have. More later - I'm exhausted and pretty crabby and anything I write right now would need a major filter.

Digging Out

So we are finished digging out of our snow storm.

Somewhat.

This was Everest's first snow day. I started to explain snow days to him on Monday and my explanations were greeted with shrieks and shrill screams. For a boy with an abnormally low voice, he can shriek pretty good.

So we woke up this morning. Of course on a day we can sleep in he is up at the crack of dawn, which is the norm for such occassions similar to weekends.

At first Everest was somewhat disappointed that show and tell at school that day would not be going on until it was explained that everybody got to stay home.

We made breakfast and leisurely made our way outside to where the snowdrifts covered Everest's head. I had to lift him over drifts to take pictures of the magnitude of what we were dealing with. We actually took his sled and had him slide down drifts in our yard. It was completely crazy and fun. BUT COLD!!!! More than mommy could handle.

I got to take a nap. I slept so good that I drooled. The cat was even kicked out of the room.

We went out for dinner at a local pub - probably the only one open and it was packed. Gotta love Wisconsin.

On our way home we were talking about how Everest joined our family. I think, based on some comments he's made, that he has some skewed views of his being, his place in our family and how he came to be. It's tricky navigation. Anyway, he said, "You came to China and asked to if you could take home the cutest baby they had." WHAT?!?!?!? Ryan thinks perhaps our son is a bit egotistical. Unreal. I know that I've told him that he is the cutest boy in the entire world (because he is) but his brain works in such a way that we have no idea how he internalizes things. Apparently he thinks that we went to China and asked for the cutest boy in the world. We didn't.

But we got him regardless.

View from Backdoor

On Top of our Fence

Sledding Down the Alley

Trying to Walk with Mom

Hanging Out

And Away We Go

On Thursday we got notification that we had PA (Pre-Approval). This simply means that our preliminary paperwork has been reviewed overseas and we are cleared thus far. It means that our Letter of Intent (LOI) has been received and reviewed favorably. We are officially matched up with Kingston. The big approval comes much further down the line, the LOA (Letter of Acceptence). We also got our homestudy approved. Our paperwork will be headed out to our government next week and a big chunk of our wait will officially start. Fun.

Tonight we headed out to the Irish Pub to check out the scene of our fundraiser. They are doing some renovations and it looks great. I'm a little worried about size but I think that we can spill out into the downstairs area. I am feeling a little more relieved now that we've seen it but we still have a lot to do to prepare. To be honest, I only feel stressed out about it when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night. That's the only time my mind is free to digest everything that is going on.

I am tired.

Goodnight, time to think.

Let the Frustration Begin

We are waiting for our home study approval.

It is taking its sweet time.

No, that's being too diplomatic.

IT IS TAKING BLOODY FOREVER!!!!

It was approved by our branch office almost two weeks ago.

It is held up somewhere, on someone's desk in Michigan.

And so we wait as is the case on every step of every adoption.

I
am
no
different

than anyone else.

I just didn't think the frustration would start this soon.

Motherhood

You become more than yourself when you become a mother. I have struggled because I am no longer....

Melissa Armstrong....

or

Melissa Lentz.

I am no longer just a University of Wisconsin grad.

I am no longer just Ryan's wife.

I am Everest's mom.

I have an appreciation like never before for what my mother gave me and gave up by simply or un-simply becoming my mom. She will always be Melissa's mom although I am now grown and no longer just a University of Wisconsin grad and no longer just Ryan's wife. She is still my mom even though I am now Everest's mom.

My identity revolves around my son. I do not choose this. It chooses me. It's something a mother cannot escape. We are our children's accomplishments and failures. We are their sadness and celebration.

I now sit here and think about the future and about becoming Everest and Kingston's mom and about what that means to me....

and to

Everest.

Raise a Glass (of beer or chocolate milk) for Kingston!

So our fundraiser is in its beginning planning phase. All I know for certain is that it is March 5th at 6:00 at The Irish Pub (upstairs) in Milwaukee's Third Ward on Water Street. It's a great little space. Kid friendly, good food, good drink, good company! We are planning on having a silent auction so if anyone has any donations for it, please let me know. I'm not sure how to do it but I will try to put an entry form to the event on this blog. However, if you plan on attending, please e-mail me at mlentz04@yahoo.com and I can send you one. I also have sponsorship forms if you happen to know of any businesses that would sponsor the event. I hope to see you, your friends and family there!!