Connections

Someone shared this quote with me today, and I thought it was so true to my personal journey that I wanted to share it with you all. Hai has certainly set me on a "mythic quest" and has also reminded me of how connected we all are.

"Adoption is a metaphor for the human condition, setting us forth on a mythic quest that will prove that we are connected to each other and to all the creatures of this world and in this process, reveal to us who we really are."
Betty Jean Lifton, author of Journey of the Adopted Self

Love all, Melissa + Hai

Happy Hai!

I love this shot. It's seldom that I am able to capture my happy kid. Cute, huh?

Good ears, good teeth, not so good at sleeping...

In the past 2 weeks Hai's gotten a clean bill of health for his ears, and his teeth. On the ears - the audiologist was finally able to actually make the equipment work and get a reading that says he can hear! And the teeth, well, Hai braved his first trip to the dentist yesterday. I don't think it was a great first impression, but at least she said his teeth look fine.

But Hai continues to earn the name "little stinker" with his Tia. I went to a concert last night and when I got to Tia's house around midnight, Hai was asleep, but apparently whenever the word "sleep" was uttered he decided to wail and say no (reference "hearing exam" above!).

I must say, it was nice to get there and just take my time, get ready for bed and have Hai sleep straight through the night and wake up with a smile on his face. Hmmm... wonder if I could make this a habit? :-)

I made my first apple pie for thanksgiving today. Yes, I'm 40 something years old and had never made an apple pie. I learned that I am thankful that the nanny was watching Hai this afternoon, as I would never have been able to cut and peel all those apples with him around. It's an artery-hardening recipe - lots of butter - but it sure smells good!

I hope you all have a great thanksgiving. I'm so thankful for the past year with Hai and many more to come. And I'm thankful for my friends and family that make it possible for me to be the best Mom I can be. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love all - Melissa

Little stinker...

Last night Hai tried the patience of his Tia ... I had a work dinner so I asked Hai's "tia/auntie" if she would watch Hai until about 10pm. Of course she said ok.

She asked me, "so, how do you put him to sleep".

My answer: "oh, he's pretty good about it, I just give him some milk (or not, even), brush his teeth and put him in the bed, read a book and then let him roll around awhile until he goes to sleep (yes, I stay with him until he's asleep). You should be able to put him in bed with your daughter and they should both be asleep by 9."

Yeah, right...

I got to her house at 10:15 and there was Hai, smiling and running to me saying "mommy!! mommy!" His Tia did not look so happy... she was ready to throttle him. I guess he kept the whole house awake for awhile.

Of course, when we got home he was asleep in his bed in 5min.

I've created a monster...I wonder if I'm ever going to be able to leave this kid with someone else at night. Hopefully before he's a teenager...

love all,

Melissa & Hai

Happy Halloween!
I believe Hai was on his 2nd or 3rd Kit Kat at this point. The Elmo hood quickly came off, but the suit stayed on all night. (Note he still has his painted toes leftover from Cabo).

Here is one of my favorite shots from Cabo. Hai went to sleep on the sunset booze cruise... mommy didn't get very much booze... :-)

Let him eat cake!

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Originally uploaded by michelebertolone

A photo from last weekend's reunion. Hai loves cake, but he loves frosting and the chocolate candy ON the cake more. :-)