Wordless Wednesday *Now with more words*

My brother kicks your brother's ass!*

Look what he made for me! It's a sampler platter of Pie!! Look at all her tiny parts...I can't believe she was ever that little. She looks so different to me now.Here are some close-ups...

Little foot Little hands Sweet face

And the absolute best...a little wrinkly bumper

* If you do not have a brother, feel free to substitute any other family member for ass kicking purposes. Statements made do not guarantee actual ass kicking superiority of my brother.

I got tagged

I was tagged by Leah at Lovely Life of Leah with "3 things about me." You've got to check out her site. There are lots of gorg pics of her and her little Gavin from a recent photo shoot...so cute!

3 names I go by:
* Sarie (family in general)
* Pea (Husband)
* Bup (my dad)

3 places i have been:
* London (loved it)
* Paris (not so much)
* Lucerne (felt like I was in a fairy tale, so beautiful)

3 favorite drinks:
* Middle Sister's homemade lemonade
* margarita
* ice cold beer on a hot day...mmmm
(I felt like listing alcohol for all three was a little too boozy so I classed up the list with some wholesome lemonade)

3 jobs i have had:
* daycare/dayschool teacher
* party host at Discovery Zone
* currently - Senior Project Manager/Client Relations Manager for a software company (gag)

3 tv shows i watch:
* Top Chef (and any number of other reality shows)
* Family Guy
* The Simpsons

3 places i would like to visit:
* Fiji (I'm stealing this one from Leah...who wouldn't want to go there?!)
* Ireland
* Greece
(Sadly I've become a freak about flying. We were all set to go to Cape Cod to visit family a few years ago, got so far as boarding the plane and they said, "We're closing the door." I said, "Oh hell no you're not." And ran for the gate. Not sure what caused that, some combo of being trapped and who knows what else. I haven't tried again since)

3 favorite retro tv shows:
* Facts of Life
* Family Ties
* Golden Girls

3 places i have lived:
* Royal Oak, MI (outside of Detroit...was born here)
* Boston, MA (the folks are from here)
* Atlanta, GA (currently)

3 favorite dishes:
* veggie burger on the grill
* pizza...yum
* cheese and crackers (not technically a dish, but one of my fav things to eat)

3 things I am looking forward to:
* VACATION! I leave on Friday!!!
* Pie's first word
* Having a life that does not include my current job (having one I actually like instead would be beyond fantastic)

3 people I'm tagging
* Cindy - This Adventure, Our Life
* Kayla – and Potato Makes Three
* Jenni – jenni from the blog

Pie has become fascinated with the laptop and wanted to add her two cents...take it away lovie

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Perhaps she'll be a mathematician. She showed no interest at all in the letters, only the numbers....

Hooray...Award!

I received an award from the fantastic BH at The Very Best Housewife a few days ago. Things have been a little crazy, so I'm just getting around to thanking her properly. Thank you, thank you! Check it...

As with all good things, it comes with rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!
4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

OK, so I just recently did a list of things about me...it was hard to come up with. So I decided I'd go with an all embarrassment version for your entertainment. Oh the dignity I'm willing to sacrifice for you guys...

1. When I go to sleep I have to have all body parts on the bed. I have a lingering childhood fear that if I don't whatever lives under my bed with its dustbunny minions will be able to get me.
2. My middle name, until I got married and took my maiden name instead, was Maureen. I was about 10 before I could spell it. My own name. I could not spell it. Morene just made so much more sense to me.
3. Not that long ago, Husband and I were checking out at the grocery store. He said, "Oh, you have an eyebrow hair or something on your neck. Let me get it." It was not an eyebrow hair. It was attached. The cashier had the good sense not to make eye contact after that.
4. A million years ago in college I was walking across campus where lots of construction was going on. I got to the top of a ditch/hill thing. I tripped. And I don't mean a dainty little stumble. I mean I went down flat on my face. And as I started to get back up the momentum caught up to my backpack which proceeded to smack me in the back of the head and knock me back down. Lots of people saw. LOTS of people.
5. A million and a half years ago at a different college, Middle Sister and her now husband came to celebrate my birthday. We went out and things got rowdy. I ended up on hands and knees behind the big front of the campus college sign puking for all I was worth. Middle Sister decided that was a good time to show me how she could still do the running man. And that's when the vom came out my nose. Good times.
6. When Husband and I were newly dating he came home with me for the weekend. We were staying in separate rooms at my parents' house. At some point during the weekend, Husband, my mom, my dad and I were in my room rearranging the furniture. As the bed was being dragged across the room a pair of pants popped out from underneath. We all paused to look and someone said, "Those must belong to Big Sister's boyfriend." That's when my mom picked them up. They did not belong to Big Sister's boyfriend, they belonged to Husband which we all discovered quickly because husband was a mechanic at the time and his name was inside the waistband of said pants.
7. I'm going old school with this one. Growing up we had a trampoline. When I was about 12-13 a boy I liked was over. I dressed up, inexplicably I decide a tube top would be a good choice. I think you all know where this one ended up. Trampoline + tube top = first boobs that kid saw.

And the 15 lovlies I'm passing it onto...

Pamela at 2 much testosterone
Sharon at A Flock of Fitzgeralds
Lindsey at A little Kloep
C’s Mommy at A Mommy’s Dream About Diapers and More
Amber at Amber’s Life
Untypically Jia at Color Me UnTypical
Alexis at Depressions and Confessions
Lady Hill at From Lazy to Lady
Hrtsmakefamily at Hearts Make Families
Danielle at Humes, Party of Three
Brittany Ciara at Life According to Amanda
Tiffany at Mom-Nom.Com
Mommy’s Sippy Cup at Mommy’s Sippy Cup
Nikki at My Fantabulous Wonderful Life
Brandi at My Three Bubs

Congrats one and all...it's well deserved!!

24 hours until it's Saturday

1. Friday Follow and Blog Hop...

This week Friday Follow is hosted by Kmama from The Daily Dribble, Elizabeth from The Crafty Charlestonian, and Brittany Ciara from Not Your Average Teen.

Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!

2. My In-laws are visiting...send your good thoughts my way. Deep breath. Deep breath. And hypothetically if I hear that anyone doesn't like Pie's outfit, or it's too small, or we need to buy her clothes that fit, or that what ever I'm doing be it feeding, playing with, or trying to put to bed is not what she wants, and/or doesn't she love daddy, follow daddy, want to be with daddy, daddydaddydaddydaddydaddydaddydaddy...oh and you too Sara one more time I'm going to shank someone. And I don't mean the homemade kind, I mean the smuggled in through the prison laundry and traded for a carton of cigs and naked pictures of Tooty from Facts of Life kind.

Man, it's possible I watch too many prison shows. I need some sort of shanking 12 step program...

3. And to end any Friday on a good note...some Pie. She's being a cheeky little monkey...but always a lady with her rolly ankles crossed.

Hope you all have a great weekend. If I can not feel like such a pile of poo with this strep, I'm going to try and get some crafty-ness accomplished!

TA-DA!!!!

Check it peeps! Welcome to Unofficial Mom 2.0!!

As I'm sure you'll notice, the site is COMPLETELY different. It's all because of the lovely and talented Laura Jane at Call Me Laura Jane. She's brilliant!

LJ (yeah I call her LJ cause we're besties now) has packages starting with just a header and button all the way to the mac-daddy deluxe. All are insanely worth ever penny...obviously.

In addition to the amazing design shop, LJ also has a great blog. It's funny and full of adorable picture of her BEYOND GORGEOUS son Mason. And just so all of you know, I'm lobbying hard for an arranged marriage between Pie and Mason. I think they'd make the cutest, chunkiest pair ever!

So what do you think? Good, no?

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

These are just some random shots from the last week or so...
DJ Pie - Is available for parties, weddings, bar mitzvahs
Some new beach shoes...

One of Husband's Father's Day presents...
Fat legs...

Sleepy girl....

I need your advice

So I've heard recently that Pie's birthmother is spiraling out of control a bit. We've known as long as we've known her, that there are mental health issues. She has, however, attempted with medical help to keep them under control. Apparently not so much anymore.

I have known that there have been problems since Pie's birth, a dismissal of meds, self-medicating, etc. But she has never been anything but even-keeled with Pie. So I have felt like it wasn't my place to say anything. Obviously Pie is my first priority, but how much of birthmother's issues are my responsibility?

Given our unique relationship, I feel like maternal towards Pie's birthparents as well. Like I need to take care of them...make sure they are eating, paying their bills, taking care of each other...

At this point I don't really need to worry about her relationship with Pie, maybe when she gets older, but right now it's cool. But I feel like in the mean time I need to take care of her birthmother. Am I crazy?

A pox on my house

All manner of germs have decided to descend upon my house. Husband has a cold and a sinus infection. He's all kinds of sniffy and cough-y. And I inexplicably have managed to pick up strep throat.

Holy craptastic does it hurt. I can't swallow without cringing. And I lost my voice to boot. We've been keeping Pie at arms length, I haven't been near her at all since I'm still contagious. It is insanely hard. Poor love probably thinks she's being punished. We are normally all over her, and she hasn't had a kiss in days!

My family has been awesome, parachuting in to watch her and get her out of the house of germs. We thought being without Pie for a few hours would be relaxing. And while it was nice to nap and melt into the couch without any responsibility, the house felt empty. Without Pie something was missing.

Just typing this I realized I finally had my moment. The moment I've been waiting for when it all felt real. Feeling like my house was incomplete without her, feeling like I couldn't get settled without her near me...excuse me while I go cry a little bit....

Friday, Friday, Bo-Biday

1. Friday Follow and Blog Hop...

This week Friday Follow is hosted by Stephanie from Goober Grape Monkeyman, Meg from Just Another Manic Mommy, and Traci from Traci66.

Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!

2. The lovely and talented The Mommy at Twenty Little Toes has awarded me the Outstanding Blogger Award. I am honored. Truly. If you aren't familiar with The Momma and her blog you should go check it out. It's full of great pictures and ADORABLE twins! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I am passing this one on to:
Chelsea Rebecca at Triumphs and Blunders of a Kooky Girl
Molly at The Snyder 5
Salt at Salt Says
Lacey at Our Life: Narrated by Lacey
Sara at Everyday Life With The Nevilles

These are all blogs that I love. Clever, funny, thought-provoking. They are at the top of my to read list everyday. You should go chek them out. Do it, do it.

3. And to lighten up after my heavy week (and for my wonderful husband) here's a classic LOLZ. It gets Husband every time. Sadly it usually makes me laugh too. Ahh...good times...

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'm hoping to get some Pie in the pool pictures for next week!

Surrender or be terminated

I'm not sure what hormonal imbalance has led to my week of angst-y adoption posts. I feel like I should have on heavy, black eyeliner, at least one piece of clothing with a safety pin in it, and The Cure or maybe The Smith playing mournfully in the background. I swear this will be the last one for a bit...

All of these post made me think about the language of adoption. And the power our word choices have, not just in adoption, but all the time. All of the paperwork that Pie's birthparents had to sign was filled with words like relinquish, terminate, and surrender. Her birthfather said he felt like he was signing up for a war. We joked about it, but it made me think about how harsh that language is. I understand that the legal documents have to be air-tight, and unquestionable, but do they have to marginalize the birthparents so much?

Birthparents/mom/dad/family is another source of language confusion. We had a brief conversation with Pie's birthparents and that's the terminology they prefer. But I've heard biological parents, first parents, initial parents...I don't know which is the most appropriate. Anybody who falls into that category, please feel free to teach me the etiquette. Because of our previous relationship with Pie's birthparents there has been an ease to that piece of it. They have also jokingly referred to themselves as our baby mama, baby daddy, incubator and unintentional surrogate. I'm not sure that what they are called is all that important to them, but we try to be as respectful about it as we can.

But above and beyond all of that is the word "real" used in reference to adoption. This one makes me want to shank somebody. And believe me, I've watched enough prison escape/life in prison/crazy shit prisoners can make shows with Husband to know all I need is a toothbrush and a lighter, or a Bic pen and some duct tape, and I could do some damage. What I mean is when people ask what Pie's "real" parents are like, or if we intend to have "real" children. As if anyone in this situation is imaginary. WE are Pie's REAL parents. So are her birthparents. Each of us is equally important in the equation. And Pie is our REAL daughter. If we win the lottery some day and have endless amounts of money to throw at fertility treatments and end up with a biological child, that will be our REAL child too. I'm not sure what it is about adoption that makes people lose their sense of decorum. I have no problem talking about the adoption, or the fact that Pie is adopted, but it makes me crazy when people assume that her brthparents are felons or drug addicts or that there would be some struggle to bond with Pie because she's not our biological child.

Several of you have mentioned that you love reading the adoption stories and I get the sense that you may be curious. Honestly, I am an open book about it. If you have questions feel free to ask, just be aware of your language...otherwise I'll have to get my stabbin' knife.

Here's my REAL daughter kicking back in her swing. "What up my peeps?"

All in the family

Some of you clever, and no doubt attractive people may have noticed that one of my more frequent commenters is a gentleman named Marc. He's my big brother. Hi Marcy! That's Marc-ee, not Mar-see for anyone wondering. I'm not generally in the habit of calling my brother by a girls' name. Surely you can't be serious. I am serious. And stop calling me Shirley!

But I digress...my brother has two children. They are adopted. Both are Vietnamese. He opened our family up to adoption. Before I even knew there were fertility issues, I was interested in adoption after seeing my brother's experience. His path through adoption has been both similar and really different than mine.

With both children he was aware of them for several months prior to taking custody of them. He had pictures, and if I remember correctly a video of my niece playing with some toys. He had to wait, and wait, and wait, and jump through unbelievable legal hoops to complete both of his international adoptions. All the while having only a picture or two to look at of these children that would become his.

My niece and nephew are the first grandchildren for my parents. They are the first children among the siblings. Period. They have never been the adopted children, followed by the biological children. They simply ARE my brother's children. That paved the way for my little Pie. She is the sixth grandchild for my parents and the sixth child among the siblings. Period.

My brother's children have always known they were adopted. It has always been an open part of their lives. No big deal, just part of their path. Obviously this was slightly more necessary with them since these two smartie pies would probably have started to wonder why they appeared to be Asian and my brother is a good Irish/English boy. We intend to have the same approach with Pie. We already talk to her about being adopted. The baby version anyway. And we will continue to add info to that story as she gets older. She is adopted. Period. She has brown hair. Period. It is a fact of her life.

Another point of difference with my brother's adoptions is the family contact. They have some information about my niece's birthmother, but nothing about her birthfather. They know nothing at all about my nephew's birthfamily. We know, and have known, Pie's birthparents for a bit. They will be a part of her life. It is an odd course to navigate.

I'm not sure there is any point here...just some things on my mind...

UPDATED: Had to double check with my brother first about putting the pics up...but wanted to share with you my gorgeous niece and nephew.

Adoption schsmoption

Adoption has been on my mind a lot lately. I've been reading about it, worrying about it, dreaming about it, and thinking about it sort of incessantly.

I've been reading about it on all kinds of new adoption blogs I've come across. One that I fell in love with is Production, Not Reproduction. It's funny, well written, and full of resources. I'm a little overwhelmed by it. And suddenly feel like I need to use my evil blogging power for good.

I've been worrying about it because we are still waiting for our finalization date. Right now it's scheduled for about a month from now, but we've already been bumped from the docket once, so I'm just crossing my fingers. The whole situation still feels like a dream to me. I know that I am Pie's mom, but it doesn't feel concrete. It doesn't feel unshakable.

I've been dreaming about it in the last week or so. I had a lovely dream that Pie's birthparents came to visit her and told us that they were expecting again. That they were still in the same situation and wanted us to take that baby as well. Of course we were thrilled. Having a sibling for Pie would be beyond fantastic.

Ever since the dream I've been thinking about it non stop. I don't know that it will happen. It's greatly unlikely from Pie's birthparents. After her birth, her birthmother took long-term birthcontrol steps. Pie fell into our lap and was beyond a surprise. I can't see lightening like that striking twice.

It's such an odd and amazing situation to be in. Even after 5 months (plus the 7 weeks we knew beforehand) I still haven't found my footing.

Perfection

Yesterday was absolute perfection.

I had some morning snuggles with Husband and Pie. Then I took the longest shower in recorded history. I used every single fancy-pantsy shower product I have...scrubs, conditioners, masks, polishers, etc. It was heaven. Then we just hung out all day. We got Pie an inflatable pool this weekend and had the inaugural splash yesterday. She loved it! It's big enough for husband and I to sit in too, so the three of us hung out and splashed and kicked. You know those moments that just overwhelm you...with happiness, with love, with a sense that you are in the exact right place at the exact right time? Being in the pool with Husband and Pie was one of those. Just thinking about it makes my stomach drop a little.

And I got some awesome presents to boot! I got some clothes, movies and Amazon gift cards (woo hoo!). And I also got:

This print which I LOVE. It from Etsy (of course)...a shop called Tiny Showcase. This artist is giving half of the proceeds to the Gulf Restoration Network, so it was a double gift.And I got this necklace with my little family's initials on it. AMAZING. And what a shock, another Etsy purchase. This is from a shop called Soul Peaces.
And best of all, I got lots and lots of gummy smiles, and drool-y kisses from this little love.

Hooray for Friday

1. Friday Follow and Blog Hop...welcome new and old! Wow that has the Brownies/Girl Scout song in my head now. Anybody know that one? Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. Great Now that's going to be stuck in my head...

Friday Follow is hosted by Tami from Hearts Make Families, Ian from The Daily Dose of Reality, and Harriet from Harriet and Friends. It’s Friday Follow with a twist and I'm loving it!!

Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms!

2. Tomorrow my little Pie will be 5 months old. Holy crap.

3. Sunday I will be 33 years old. Holy crap-er.

I don't really have much today. I hope you all have a great weekend and find some wonderful new blogs. I always do!!

I'm impressed

Continuing the theme of Pie and her giant eyes....the other night she was looking around, taking everything in and we caught eyes. Jokingly Husband said you should have a staring contest with her.

I laughingly agreed, thinking "I've so got this in the bag. I'm going to beat the pants of this baby." Apparently my confidence was misplaced. Pie won. And won big. We spent the rest of the night in staring contests. Surprisingly she seemed to know what was going on. She paused her normal surveillance of the world to put me in my place. Pie won every. single. time. I need to make her a onsie that says "Staring Contest Champion".

In other news, here's a saucy little picture of Pie from the other day. Don't be scandalized by the thigh she's trying to show you by pulling her shorts up. She can't help her appeal.

Wordless Wednesday

The {eyes} have it...

PS - Ignore the copious amounts of drool...poor teething baby.

Worst. Mommy. Ever.

OK, I have to tell you all this, but may cry thinking about it again.

Last night I was cutting Pie's finger nails...always a fun activity...and on the last nail, the very last nail, she jerked and I...I....cut her finger instead. There was a moment of absolute silence. We were both so stunned. Then her little mouth opened and no sound came out. Then the shrieking. I thought I was going to die.

Her little thumb was bleeding and I had caused it. Bad mommy. She spent the rest of the night holding her thumb inside her little, chunky fist. She was protecting it. I'm not sure it's possible for me to feel any worse.

She seemed to have forgiven me this morning, but just barely....

I can't end on that though, so here's another shot of the chunk in her bikini, hat and float having an awesome time at the pool.