Noodles, Pools and Tiles

Now you know why Kobi is fed naked. I'll get the hose :)

On Sunday we took full advantage of Aunt Cassie's pool. Her whole fam was away on a mini vacation so we totally broke through the gate, stole some towels, splashed around and soaked up some sun! Thanks Auntie Cassie! (Now if your wondering how you didn't know about this well daddy and mama meticulously put the pool cover back on, pushed all the million tiny pebbles Kobi was playing with back in to the flowerbeds where they belonged and left as soon as we heard sirens. Hehe! We probably should have told those neighbors of yours who we were:)

SO THANKS FOR LETTING US USE THE POOL!!

Next comes the tiles. I am ashamed to even show this picture. LOL! Below is how Kobi's bathroom looked. Now before you say OMG there is spackle all over the walls, why is the toilet and tub beige when the floor is clearly white and blue and could it be any more stark. Well let me tell you I am trying to rectify this problem. This is one of those rooms when we bought our foreclosed home in 2002 that was first on the "To-Do List" but sadly has been overlooked for years (mainly because the rest of the house was this sad on move in day as well). Plus I am attempting this room unassisted. Yep people wish me luck! I am such a HGTV addict that after watching all those design shows I've gone completely nuts and said "Screw it!" I can do this stuff myself just like those people on Design to Sell! LOL! So I went to Home Depot bought a box of Traffic Master Original press on tiles in beige slate, ripped off the quarter round molding, put the toilet in a different room and just started slapping new tiles down on the ugly vinyl floor.Oh my goodness! It was sooooo easy! I can not believe that I waited this long to do this and it really looks like real tiles (until you step on it) but you know what I mean. Plus get this... the box of tiles only cost $30! So Kobi's bathroom has become my Design on a Dime bathroom. Hehe! (***Yes where the cabinet meets the tile still needs moulding***) Next I will be changing the faucet to the "bamboo" inspired one that I found at Overstock.com , changing the knobs to silver and painting the blah, blah cabinet black to match Kobi's furniture. I think on the walls I will try a linen wall paper and I have got to find a cool mirror to replace the builders grade oh so chic humongous one. The 80's light fixture I have already ripped out and replaced with this one pictured below. I must say the Home Depot Expo had beautiful lighting and that's where I snagged this one. (The last picture really doesn't show it to well so go here to see it more clearly)

So noodles, pool, tile all in 2 days time. Been a little busy but in a good way. Now if anyone has any bathroom suggestions I'm all ears. As you can plainly see I've got an ugly room on my hands that needs "beautifying". LOL!

Hangin with Pop-Pop

On Monday we took Kobi to help Pop-Pop (aka Sherry's father) on the farm. Pop-Pop can not do to much these days so Kobi's sole responsibility was to make Pop-Pop laugh. We give Kobi an A+ in this department:) Then Auntie Cassie's friend Steve showed us his tractor moves. I can not believe Steve came all the way from Tennessee to help out on my parents farm. Thank you so much Steve! We appreciate everything you've done!

Kobi's new fork:)Boy daddy needs to shave... hehe!
I think I have two new favorite pictures now!

A Walk In the Park

(Pictures from Sunday)*A Note From Sherry*

Thank you, thank you for all the pant recommendations! You guys are the best and on an extra note the cutie pie Kobi was playing tea party with in my previous post is now Baltimore's Voters Choice (for 2-3 year "Precious Category") as well as 1st Runner-Up for "Judges Choice" in the same category most Photogenic Baby! Rachel also collected the largest amount of donations (for her age group) which benefits John Hopkins Children's Center. Rock On Rachel!!

Product Reviews and Kobi Updates

Oh my goodness! It has been 19 days since my last confession. LOL! We have been busy, busy these last couple days!

Playing in our Zebra tent...

(Thanks Aunt Cassie)

Watching the rain...

Attending Tea Parties...

(yes I'd never thought I'd say that about my son:)

Dodging balls...

Ripping out hideous peach flowered floors and living "plywood chic"...

(Only for a day though...)

and Kobi's new permanent fixture to his left arm... Yoda. As a child I would think this stuffed doll would totally freak you out but apparently not this kiddo?? (Whats funny is he's never even seen Star Wars)

So a recap to the last couple weeks here in our household...

#1 Started phase one of our kitchen remodel.

#2 Phase one of our bathroom(s) remodel.

#3 Now have a stuffed panda bear to which Kobi named Bermisson. (Yeah no idea where that name came from but Kobi sure loves his Bermisson.)

#4 We now have a 2 year old that counts to 29 and is using full "long" sentences. He now tells us what he wants to eat (and if we don't have it to go buy it), dresses himself in the morning (and if he puts on that "frog shirt" one more time I'm going to say the dryer ate it! LOL!), tells mama that he is in love (with Miss Susan aka his teacher) and that he wants a sister to play with.

So these are just a few things happening in Kobi's world and on another note I have a new list of beauty products (well worth the money) for us busy mama's. Topping the list is Smashbox Photo Finish Light . This is a make-up primer worth the $36 bucks that I paid at Sephora. I have noticed that my make-up stays put all day long even when its a 100 degrees outside! (And I thought "primers" were just glorified lotion. LOL!) Next product in the running is GoSmile. My teeth did get whitter and I had no trays, no strips and no gum sensitivity. Personally if you just need to get a couple shades whitter pitch the Crest White Strips and spend a few bucks more for this stuff! Moving on I have learned that the Obagi line I use has changed formula's. Boo!!! Since the change I now have breakouts! Double Boo!! So a new 4-step line I am using is Philosophy "On a Clear Day" and so far I think its working. I have also added DDF "Sulfur Therapeutic Mask" into my routine and this is the first over-the-counter mask that has cleared up a breakout in under 12 hours for me. I'm impressed! Blush wise I still stand by my Nars (Mata Hari) because of its matte, pigment rich color and I have been using Mavala Double-Lash formula on my eyelashes every night which claims to make longer/ fuller lashes. Hmmm... yeah its crazy but I swear my lashes have grown longer??

So moving on I need pant recommendations! My favorite pants are Express's "Editor Fit" pants. I rate them higher then the Victoria's Secret Christie Fit pants and now I have noticed that they have made bigger pockets that now leave the line across your thigh look and I totally hate that! So I need pant recommendations people! Who sells good tight fitting, figure slimming, butt lifting pants? You would think this would not be a huge dilemma but for me to find time to try on 5 million different pants all over Maryland with my work schedule is just not happenin so someone out there in blogworld pleaseeee help! LOL!

***I promise that the next post won't be in another 19 days:)

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Today we hung out with mamas close friends at the neighborhood park.(Here are Kobi's best buds Tyler and Sean... I thought this picture was to cute not to share:)After about an hour at the park we were completely rained out and so the boys took it upon themselves to find creative indoor activities. Hmmm... is it just me or does this not look so "indoors"? LOL! Oh who cares they loved it!Tyler pretending to take my picture.And lastly even the 2, 4, 7 and 30 year old had to show off there Wii moves! We may not have seen fireworks but this view was just as exciting to watch:) Hope everyone had a safe holiday:)

Just Speaking Out Loud

I came across a "Taiwanese-adoptee" blog today and felt compelled to read it. She certainly has brought attention to what I as an adoptive parent may face if I don't raise Kobi baby right. As I read her post she seems to have issues about not having the choice to have been adopted, to not grow up around other Asian/ adopted people and to feel this sense of "why me" or at least that is how I perceived it?? Reading her post makes me wonder "What did her parents do or not do for that matter"? She brought up a line that probably all adoptive children here all throughout their entire life, "It was fate that you were placed with this family". Now I am a person who believes in fate but I gotta say when it comes to my son's story as to why he entered into our family fate will probably never be the answer out of my mouth. To me YES I do believe that it was fate that our agency had one little man left to place before its closure and YES I do think the fact that all our homestudy and dossier paperwork was completed in record speed because deep down I knew my paper-pregnancy would never be easy. However to say that to the person (who will someday be taking care of me) is just not good enough in my eye's and I can see how that can be twisted in Kobi's head as to how he may think "fate made my birth family not good enough"? I can say we are extremely lucky parents to have the court papers we do because when Kobi reaches that stage of "Why" then I can read right off his photo-copied adoption decree that your birthmother wanted you to go to the best schools possible and to be raised in a stable environment thus making you successful in life. That she thought being raised in America Kobi would have little discrimination to face.

So how do we adoptive parents raise our kids to be issue free adults anyway? That should be a book they make us read for all those mandatory twenty hours of parenting classes. Either that or give us list of "adoptee-blogs" to read. Is putting up pictures of Taiwan around our houses, making our kiddo's take Mandarin from age four and up, taking them back to Taiwan for vacations, is that gonna do the trick? Because after reading this girls blog my head is just saying "What happened in her life that she seems to not have any closure"?

I guess I can only hope I incorporate enough Taiwanese culture in this white woman's house but thank goodness I live close enough to DC because maybe then Kobi wont feel like this woman does... like the only Asian person in an all white environment. If anything I feel misplaced because God knows I'll walk blocks before seeing another white folk! LOL!

I am sure many of you adoptive parents out there have heard this statement to, "Why did you want to adopt a child not of your race, Why did you choose Taiwan"? I'd love to hear others response on this. I guess for me I only looked into cultures that I loved, not because I just wanted a baby. After all if I just wanted a baby then I would have adopted the knocked-up next door neighbor kids:) That the fact that my son is clearly different looking from me had no effect on our decision but that the Taiwanese people I have met in my life did. That for me the way their country was created, the way that they handled their adoptions and the fact that deep down I would give up this Marylander life to pick my "a_ _" up and move overseas in a heartbeat is the main reason why this Kobi man entered our family... because I wanted a piece of something greater.

Boy I'm rambling in this post! Anyway... like I'd post without pictures. LOL! Here's from the park on Sunday and NO I don't have the "Kobi Marley" video yet but its coming:)