Macey will understand

I had planned to go to the Chinese Consulate in the city on Thursday morning but I had a little setback.  I was just about to get into the shower when I hit the button on my phone simply to do a time check.  That's when I saw that I had a missed call and voicemail from a good friend.  I knew something was up just by the fact that she had called so early.  After listening to her voicemail, my heart started to race. I called her back immediately.  A dear friend of ours was in the hospital and the diagnosis was devastating.   I am heartbroken that one of the loveliest people I know is so sick.  It caught me off guard and took me off track for a few days, but I do not want to make this about me because that would be selfish and disrespectful.  This friend is the one person I know who will just soldier right through this.  She is beyond strong. She is brave and courageous.  She's positive and encouraging.  She has made all of the right decisions in life and has impenetrable faith.

When I visited her this morning she asked if I had written anything new, and I told her I hadn't and she told me I have to keep writing even after Macey comes home.  We'll see. I'm sure she, like all of you, will long be sick of my cynical, emotional, irrational and sappy tirades and tributes by then.  You may even block me on facebook, or at least hide my updates.  It's okay, I don't blame you. I even get sick of myself. Like every morning at about 8:40 a.m.  By that time, at least 4 days a week, okay 5, I'm already sick of hearing my own voice. Seriously!  Because it just gets louder and Louder and LOUDER by the minute.  And there's a direct correlation among the tick tock of the clock, the repetition of the words "we're going to be late" and the increase in the volume of my voice.  Over it!  If I could just mime from about 9am on, I'd be a whole lot happier, as would my kids. And maybe my husband. Okay, maybe my husband would enjoy it more than anyone.  I kid. Sort of.

For now I'll tell you what I did to get back on track and share some fun news with you as well.  I went to Kinko's (I know that's not what it's called, but I'm getting set in my ways and once a Kinko's, always a Kinko's... I also don't want to admit that I cheated on my friend Doug over at the UPS store.  But he closes at 6 and I didn't get out until 7 and it had to get done tonight so I had no choice. It's my problem, Doug, not yours, you did nothing wrong, I promise you!)  tonight and made a bajillion copies.  Now I have the full set of copies the Chinese Consulate requires, along with a full set of originals, when requesting authentication.  The little guy and I will head into the city tomorrow morning after we drop the big guy at school. Hopefully it will go as smoothly and easily as the I-800A fingerprint (biometrics for you adoption geeks) appointment did and the little guy will be so overwhelmed by everything around him that he'll be stone silent.  Fingers crossed.  This time it'll be man to man coverage so hopefully he'll be on his best behavior.  Even at his worst, however, he's totally fine.  He just may crack some highly inappropriate jokes or yell the question "Mommy, why aren't you wearing underwear?" and get us kicked out. Hopefully we'll get there early enough to get the authentications done and back before the consulate closes for lunch. If that isn't the case, they'll give us a receipt and we'll have to go back later in the afternoon.  I'm not making a back-up plan for that because it ain't happenin! I will have those 500 pages back in my hot little hand as I walk out the door.  I will!  We'll drive home, pick up the big kid then go see my buddy Doug, yes, that Doug, to get the entire Dossier sent overnight to our coordinator.  Then next stop DTC.  Wow.

And in fun Macey news - we finally got a little update!  It may read a little funny to you all, but to us it's great news and just the pick me up I needed!  Tidbits like her crying with strangers and being close to her caregivers are very encouraging.  If she can have close human connections, we fear attachment disorder a little less.  She's riding a tricycle which tells us her hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills are coming along very well, and in some cases better than others her age.  She only has 8 teeth, but she was a few months premature so that makes sense.  We aren't concerned with the lack of language skills as that's standard for institutionalized kids. We have plenty of time to work on that when she gets home!  We should be getting new photos and an updated head CT soon. We didn't know the CT had been ordered, but because her file is over 10 months old, they were planning to update it anyway.  We assume there will not be any surprises, but if there are, it will just better prepare us for her future at home.  The update follows:

Feng Yu Ning

Current measurement: weight: 10.5kg, height: 74cm, head size: 47cm, chest size: 49cm, length of her feet: 10.5cm. She has four teeth on top and four teeth at the bottom. Her current development is good. She eats mostly children’s meal with supplement of fruit and snacks. She has good appetite. The quantity of food she consumes is normal. She has normal urinating and normal bowel movement. She has regular routine. She has three meals a day. She can stand up holding onto something and can walk. She can sit comfortably on her own. She can crawl on her fours. She likes to be quiet and often plays on her own. She cries sometimes when she is with strangers. She likes stuff animals and riding on the small tricycle. She has good movement of her hands. She can pick up and hold onto things. She can feed herself crackers. She is close to her caregivers. Now we are training her language abilities. She understands her own name and can say MaMa and other single syllable words but do not always remember them. Her development level is close to her peers.