Happy 4th Family Day!

Some adopted kids talk about adoption.  They ask questions, they express previous loss, they have memories.   Oliver isn't one of those kids.  He knows he's adopted. He knows he lived in an orphanage and that orphanages are not as good as families.  He knows he hasn't always been with us.  He knows that Lydia's story is different than his. 

Right now, at this moment in his life all that just doesn't matter all that much.  It doesn't matter to him who is adopted and who isn't, it doesn't matter that his start wasn't ideal, and it doesn't matter that he didn't grow in my belly.  Oliver is too busy with a whole host of other things like; kindergarten, wiggly teeth, riding his bike, eating three helpings of pasta for dinner, avoiding chores, negotiating for more ipad or TV time, trying to find kids at the park that will play tag with him, gymnastics, sitting by the fire, reading, snacking, building train layouts, keeping Lydia away from his toys, drawing, homework, wondering when the next time we will be flying Southwest is, running, cheering on the Patriots, checking out 20 books about military equipment from the library, and demanding I read them all. He loves life, he's all in, and we are so lucky he's ours. 

Our favorite boy has been out of his orphanage for 4 years, and we can hardly believe it's been that long or that we've been parents that long...crazy. 

To celebrate his 4th Family Day he requested to..

-Go to the childcare center at the community center while I exercise (his exact words)
-Go to the indoor pool at the same place
-Have dinner at Chili's (last year he requested a fancy italian place, he's diverse)

He also used his Family Day leverage at Whole Food to get me to buy him some chocolate milk, "you say we can get it for special occasions."

Now a few adorable photos.  You've seen them before, but whatever.

referral photo
I wish I got to snuggle this little thing

first visit

waiting for Russia to let us come get him

 

February 7, 2011
Peace out orphanage

February 17, 2011

Oliver is awesome.  All the people that came around us before, during, and after our adoption...they are awesome.  Thanks for being wonderf

gene checking

My grandmother died from untreated breast cancer when she was in her 60s, and I was three.  My mother fought through breast cancer when she was in her 40s.  My odds seem high and that's super scary.  I'm young with two young kids, and breast cancer, or really any cancer, is pretty high on the list of "crap I'd rather not have to deal with."

This morning I'm going in for a blood draw.  A blood draw that will be used for genetic testing to see if I have the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 genes which deal with breast and ovarian cancers.  Neither my mother of grandmother had this test so we are unsure if our family breast cancer is inherited or just a mutation that my mother and grandmother both happened to get. 

Basically, there are a few possible outcomes...

1. I have neither gene
2. I have one
3. I have both

One gene increases the risk of breast cancer and the other the risk of ovarian cancer.  There are a number of possible courses of action after the results of this test are discovered, but I'm not 100% capable of explaining them and plan on meeting with a genetic counselor to wrap my head around all the options...unless of course I don't have this gene then I'll skip off into the sunset and pray my normal genes don't start mutating and turning against me.   

So today's awesome schedule

blood draw
lydia's speech therapy
dentist appointment to fix my chipped tooth (randomly lost part of my front tooth while driving yesterday morning)

jealous much?