Matched!

Okay, big news here this weekend…I did warn y’all this was coming, so here goes…

We were officially matched on Friday by our agency with a little girl from Xuzhou with cleft lip/palate. She is currently eight months old. She was born on the only day of the winter this year that it snowed at the ranch, so I am going to refer to her as Snow for now, until I can think of something better.

Xuzhou is in the northern part of Jiangsu province. You may recall that The Bee is also from the northern part of Jiangsu, so the sisters will share a specific regional history with each other, as well as sharing their special need and the fact of their adoption. We hope that will provide them with some additional common ground, above and beyond growing up in the same family together.

Because we are just beginning all the paperwork for our second turn at this, we are thinking it will be late spring or early summer next year before we get over there to meet her. But we are very excited! The Bee has taken to carrying around her sister’s photos and signing “sister” continuously during meals (why this happens most often while she’s eating, I’m not sure…she demands to see photos of her cousins then, too).

I am posting some cropped photos of Snow’s eyes, but I won’t be posting her full photo and her name until we receive pre-approval from the CCAA, and then, only under a password-protected post until we meet her. Same as The Bee. I’ll post informational updates as we get them.

Our hearts are very full, and we are very grateful to…well, to just about the entire universe right now. And we are so thankful that The Bee will grow up having a sister to share joys and fears with, secrets and celebrations. That seems the rightest thing of all….

The Late-to-the-Party-As-Usual Meme

I was tagged a couple weeks ago by Omega Mom to do these two memes.

First, The Middle Name Meme:

Rules: You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have like to have. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

L…is for LuLu (which was The Bee’s orphanage name) and LouLou (which was the nickname my family called me as a child–from my middle name)…cool, huh?

O…is for ornithology. Birds were a big part of my life growing up. My mom is an professional ornithologist, and so I would sometimes get up at 5 AM when I was young and go with mom to count birds in the bird-thirty hour of dawn. And family vacations ALWAYS involved bird walks. It was like learning another language.

U…is for…for…well, this is the one I had trouble with. I don’t play the ukelele. I just resigned from the UCC. So, I’m going to be wacky and go with Ullapool. U…is for Ullapool, which is a cold, rainy, seaport town in northern Scotland, where I had the best single malt scotch pull of my life. And it’s high on the list of places I’d like to go back to, which is saying something, since I’ve been there before. Multiple times. But, clearly, something is calling me back. Maybe a former life. Or something.

I…is for the Internets. Where I spend the grand majority of my time lately. And since I’m having the satellite wi-fied into the main house this coming week, I expect I’ll be spending even more of my time with you soon. Aren’t y’all lucky? Heh.

S…is for sonnets. I wrote my dissertation on the sonnet sequence as political discourse. Don’t ask. But the ‘S’ of the word does allow me to reference writing poetry, which is what I do now. So. S…is for poetry, which is the job du jour.

E…is for education. Because that’s the other thing I devoted way too many years of this little life to. Burn out, anyone?

Meme #2. This meme consists of ten questions to be answered.

1. If you could have super powers what would they be and what would you do with them? (Please feel free to be selfish, you do not have to save the world!)

I can only narrow this down to two, which fascinate me equally: time travel and invisibility. What would I do with them? Visit. Listen. Learn.

2. Were you to find your self stranded on an island with a CD player…it could happen…what would your top 10 blogger island discs be?

I have to say it’s hard these days to choose discs, rather than tracks…can I choose tracks? I think maybe it’s recognition of an ipod culture to say that, but it’s sort of true. There are very few entire discs I can listen to…but it would be some combination of the following current favorites:

Regina Spektor; Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; the Connells; Beethoven’s 6th Symphony (The Pastoral); Iron & Wine; Roseanne Cash; Crowded House; Fountains of Wayne; Hole; Lucinda Williams.

3. If you were a smell what would it be?

Lemon basil. (Isn’t it cool that these two actually come together?)

4. What bird would you most like to be?

A hummingbird. (Unless it’s strictly for the song, and then I’d be a woodthrush.)

5. If you were a bird who’s head would you poo on?

Isn’t that good luck? Hmmmmm. If it’s meant to indicate deep-seeded animosity, then Karl Rove.

6. Are there any foods that your body craves?

Salty ones. I’m rarely a sweets girl. I crave McDonald’s french fries and sour cream and onion potato chips like crazy, though.

7. What’s your favorite time of year?

Autumn. Although here in the desert, I have come to appreciate the winter very much too.

8. What’s your favorite time of day?

Early morning. Not too much has gone wrong yet.

9. If a rest is as good as a change which would you choose?

You know, I don’t really understand what this question is asking. I like to think I like change, if I’m reading that correctly. But, truth be told, I am terrible with it. And, as for rest, I never take naps. They scare me. Go figure.

10. If you could have a dinner party and invite any 5 people from the past or present who would they be? (Living or deceased.)

The Bee’s birth mom. Shakespeare. J.K. Rowling. Ghandi. Toss-up between Princess Diana and Mary Magdalene. Heh.

So, I’m supposed to tag six bloggers. Um, yeah. I have lost track of who did this meme, back in the day. So, if you haven’t done it, and I read you, you’re tagged. You know who you are.

New Plan.

So, The Bee and I trekked down to the Valley of Death yesterday to have our post-op appointment with Dr. Paymealot. Actually, I have to say, he was much more human yesterday. He picked up The Bee, and she wanted to draw with his pen while she was in his arms, and the nurse gave her the pad she’d been taking notes on, and The Bee decided to add her two squiggly cents onto it, and everybody was grinning appropriately at her cuteness. So, the man has a heart.

I had explained to The Bee that we were going to the doctor so that he could “help” her with her mouth, and that she would need to open up real big when he came in the room. We started this line of talking at home, continued it in the long car ride, and then emphasized it again while waiting for him in the exam room. When he came through the door, she immediately dropped open her mouth very wide and greeted him that way. It was hilarious.

He looked at her fistula and said that “it happens” and that this one is in the absolute best position possible to fix. And because she’s having issues with food getting stuck up there, and because it’s right in the advantageous middle place, he’d like to do the repair sooner, rather than later. Usually, he’d wait 6 mos. to a year, but he said he would do this in three or four months, and not wait. AND he wants to do the lip repair (that we were going to wait two more years to do) at the same time, saving her an additional surgery. Hearing that made all the difference to me, as the fistula will not mean an additional surgery. She’ll have the same number of surgeries as we were originally anticipating, just sooner.

So, we’ll be back in the operating room in February probably, and he will close up the fistula and remove her external scars, so there will be no visible sign of her clefting at all.

And then we went out for MickeyD’s french fries. Because she is totally off her dietary restrictions. And her arm splints. And she got all her pokey toys back today, too.

Neither Here…nor There…

Anyone curious about how Homeland Security is taking care of your dams?

Here are the latest developments on the Hoover Dam Bypass-Colorado River Bridge project, slated for completion in 2008. The bypass will allow vehicles to cross the river without getting anywhere near the actual dam (right now, you drive across the top of the dam). It is very high–so high that I don’t expect you will even be able to see the dam once you’re up there, driving across the new bridge.

Last year, there were only large cranes and no actual pilings up yet. This year, there are many pilings up on the Nevada side…

and a few up on the Arizona side…

with a very large gap still to be…well…bridged…

And the dude who waved us through the security “stop”? He ducked back into his booth right as we coasted up to the stop sign and waved us on without looking up from his…er…Slurpee. No, I’m not kidding. It was a Slurpee.

And, just for good measure, here is the bathtub ring on the Colorado River this year–it’s the deepest ring (the lowest water level) I’ve ever seen there…

Holes.

Vegas or bust?…Bust, mostly. Let’s just say the best part of the trip this year was the two hours we spent at the Shark Reef…now that was cool beans. In fact, I think I had what amounts to a spiritual experience–as close as I get anymore to said experience–way down in the “ship wreck” room, in the darkest hole of the reef tank. You walk into this Disneyfied room that’s made to look like a sunken ship, complete with hull-like curved glass walls and glass floors, and the ship prow “sticking out” into the tank itself…and so sharks and fish and sea turtles are swimming over, under, and around you. Oh, and there are sound effects. As if you’re under water. Which you are, of course, but it’s so disorienting that you have the momentary impression that you’re actually swimming with the fishes (so to speak), not just walking through them.

Anyway, so there I was, down in the deep hole, and the sandbar sharks are swimming by inches from my face, and their skin catches the light and is…surreal. Just. So. Beautiful. It’s silver and metallic and shiny soft gray, but with a very slight–slight–hint of pink underneath. It made me draw my breath in very fast. If I could, I would say sharkskin is my favorite color. But then you would think I sounded hungry (in an exotic locale sort-of-way). Or nuts.

The Bee had fun, too. This exhibit had a lot fewer people wandering through than the National Aquarium we visited in July, although it didn’t have dolphins. Just predators. Lionfish, jellyfish…

piranha, barracuda, water monitor, crocodiles. She got to be very close up to the animals for a long time…

Otherwise, the trip was stressful. Drive stress on the way there, involving some wackadoo who hit a utility pole and dragged it into the highway right in front of us. Work stress for R., including a weeping employee at lunch. Palate stress for Mama. It looks like The Bee has a tiny fistula, right in the middle of her palate. Sometimes these re-heal themselves. Sometimes they don’t. At the moment I am desperately trying to keep food from getting stuck in it. Can anyone say Water Pik? Saline drops? Squirting water bottles? Hot liquids?

Some holes are better than others.

The Bee, on the other hand, spent her hotel time lounging in front of her beloved Signing Time DVDs…

The Bee To Buzz Sin City…

So, we’re off this morning, on our annual trek to Vegas for the trade show (sellin’ those palm trees…). You’ll remember if you’re a longtime reader that I spent my 40th there last year…

No shoes like that this year…we spent my birthday yesterday in the big city down south, where it was only 96 degrees. Okay. So, the doctor’s appointment…

The Bee has totally normal hearing!!! Yippee. The tubes are looking great, no infection, no blockage, in place…and the hearing test put her completely in the normal range. One down. One to go (palate surgery follow-up is scheduled for next week…).

The best part of the day was that this was The Bee’s first day back on solid foods (albeit soft solid foods), and, boy, did she make the most of it! Mac and cheese at lunch, followed by chocolate ice cream, and then eggs and cheese and pasta for dinner, followed by coconut-cream pie for dessert (that was my birthday cake…I’m a pie person, rather than a cake person…).

She’s laughing hysterically in a post-pie haze and, also, because we made a little book together last night, cutting out graphic and colorful pictures from magazines–The Bee got to choose the pictures–and then fitting them into the pockets of this little photo book. She loves it.

So, we’re looking forward to some Lazy River sojourning in Vegas. The ENT doc said The Bee “can only go down in the water to a depth of four feet.” Darn. That’s really going to put a crimp in her scuba time. Heh.

*Age, not months since LID…

Happy 41 to me*…

We’re spending the day in the Valley of Death, at the otolaryngologist’s, for The Bee’s follow-up appointment for the ear-tube surgery. I’m not sure if she’ll have another full hearing test or not, or whether he’ll just look in and see if the tubes are still open and in place. I haven’t noticed any difference in The Bee’s reactions to spoken words…the other day, I said the word “shower,” and she signed “flower.” Hard to know what that means. Perhaps she’s a postmodernist.

Oh, and yesterday’s post was spot on. Last night the temperature sunk to 40 degrees. It was darn right cold in them these parts.

‘Tis the Season

In the high desert, the seasons change in less conventional ways. There are no crisp days and changing leaves here (we’re too low for the gilding of the aspens). Our “trees” are scrub oaks, and the leaves of scrub oaks actually turn a dingey yellow and drop to the ground in March every year. The first year I lived here, I thought all my trees were dying one spring. Not so. They just have their seasonal ministrations inverted.

The very first sign of Fall, usually in mid-to-late August, is a cool morning. Not a cool day. Not a cool evening. Just a morning where, when you walk outside for the first time, you aren’t hit by a warm wave of sauna-like conditions. You can actually breathe deeply and glide into it easily. The days are still in the upper 90s. But the morning offers just the slightest suggestion of what is coming. By September, you get a few cool evenings thrown into the mix, too. Still blazing hot during the day, but the air is able to shed the scorch after sundown.

And–just as I often refer to summer here as “snake season”–I often refer to early Fall as “skunk season.” The road to town has been lousy with skunk hides and lingering skunk smell (what The Bee calls “Peeeuwwweeeeee!”) all week. I don’t know why they suddenly appear in early September, but all my epic late-night dog baths of V8 and vinegar have taken place in early September. In fact, the reason I wasn’t up early watching the news on the morning of 9-11 was because I was sleeping off a particularly late dog-and-vinegar bath, post-rendezvous with a skunk.

So, the rains have been declared officially over for the year, after a few sprinkles this weekend. We had more rain here this year than last, but still fairly feeble. To celebrate the End of the Rains and to herald the coming of autumn–my favorite season–(although since I moved to the desert, winter is fast becoming my new favorite. That thing about snakes plays a big role in that determination)–here are a few shots of the clouds that we were visited with this year:

The last is my favorite. That’s Black Mountain. The ranch sits at the foot of it. I think it looks like Scotland more than usual with this hirsute skein of clouds.

Happy Fall!

Interesting Adaptation…

Because The Bee is having to wear the arm splints that immobilize her elbows, it has become much harder for her to sign in a regular way. Many signs require the use of your face and others are signed in the air right in front of the face, rather than at arms’ length.

The Bee has come up with a rather ingenious adaptation, which I thought I’d mention because it’s sort of cool…she is using MY face to sign on as a sort of human chalk board. Yesterday, we went to the Farmer’s Market in town, and I had told her there would be peaches and tomatoes there, so she turned around and signed “peach” (a full-fingers stroke down the cheek) on my face. And she’s signed “girl” and “papa” and “thank you” and so forth, borrowing my face to do it. Way cool.

We are technically done with the arm splints…10 days was up on Friday, but R. and I decided to go for two full weeks on the splints and liquid diet, just to be sure. And then maybe more splint-time just at night, when she’s more likely to suck her fingers, for another week or so. We’re being conservative, but the thought of a fistula (hole) opening up drives me to do it. So, she’ll get the splints off during the day and start eating soft foods on Tuesday–pasta and applesauce, here we come.

Yippee for working elbows.