Too tired to care

Apparently, Hannah wasn't enjoying our lunch conversation.

I'm guilty

I admit it, I'm one of those bad, bad mommies that uses TV as a babysitter. But before you call in the child psychologists to repair the damage or put me on the Dr. Phil show, let me explain...

I am not a big TV watcher. My TV is rarely, if ever, on during the day. I have nothing against TV, I just don't watch it much. I can't stand the noise, so unless I'm actually sitting watching something, the TV is off. But I admit I have been actively promoting Sesame Street to Hannah. Not because I have strong feelings towards the show and it's "educational content", but because it is on at a convenient time. It comes on at 8 a.m. which is just a few minutes after Alex and Tara leave for school and usually the perfect time for me to either take a shower or get a few things done around the house. So for the past several weeks when Sesame Street comes on I get all excited and make a big deal of it and dance and sing along with the show. Well, for 2 weeks Hannah has had absolutely no part of it. She looks at the TV, looks at me, and off she goes to find her next potential disaster point. She couldn't care less about Big Bird, the Grouch, or Elmo. But I guess the power of marketing and persuasion finally got the best of her. Today, she actually sat through the entire show!!!! Do you realize that is 60 total minutes of uninterrupted ME time! It was amazing. So amazing that I had to keep walking in the living room every 30 seconds wondering what she was doing. I was sure she was not really watching TV. But for 60 whole minutes she sat there, sucking her thumb, holding her blanket and behaved like American children all over the country. She was glued to the TV. But it was Sesame Street, so don't stone me, ok? And I promptly turned it off at 9:00 and played with her. So have I traumatized her for life? Will she have to go on Oprah someday and talk about her horrible childhood of watching Sesame Street while her mom showered and put on make up? Somehow, I think she will survive.

Scars from the battlefield...i.e. the skatepark

Alex has become quite the skateboarding enthusiast. I'm not overly thrilled with the sport as I know we are likely to spend some time in the E.R. because of some attempt to nail the quarter pike (or something along those lines). Thankfully, Alex's first battlefield scar didn't result in any broken bones, but he did get literally knocked unconscious and had a bump the size of a golf ball on his eye. Now it has turned a rather nice shade of blue, black and purple. Once he regained consciousness and realized he was going to live, he could hardly wait to go back outside (minus the skateboard) to show off his battle scars. Over a week later the bruise remains, all in time for school pictures tomorrow.

Oh, and for the record, Alex wanted me to take these pictures. After all, they serve as great proof for any doubting skaters as to the extent of his injury.

Maybe she is our future Einstein....

Can't you just see the smartness oozing from her?







She really is a smart little girl. Just today, she picked up her dirty diaper and threw it in the trash. See, she knows exactly where it goes. But then again, she attempts to throw everything in the trash!

Why buy toys?

When she prefers to empty out my kitchen utensils at least a bazillion times a day!

Give me a T...give me an A...give me a R...give me another A....

What's that spell?? TARA!!

Tara made the advanced team for cheerleading!

Pump, Pump, Pump it up.

YEAH!! More cheers!!

Maybe she will grow up and be a princess......

or maybe NOT!!!





Mom, can we just stop with the pictures...I'm really getting annoyed.

Hurricane Hannah makes landfall...

In Naples, Italy




I guess a girl needs on shoes to brave the hurricane that hit her room!

Hannah LOVES shoes

I bet I change her shoes at least 10 times a day, per her request...which is something along the lines of her walking up to me holding out a pair of shoes going uuhh, uuhh, uuhh, uuhh, uuhh....then when I sit down to change her shoes she gets sooooo excited!!

You also see that she holds a shoe when she sucks her thumb. Some babies are comforted by blanket or a stuffed animal. Just give Hannah a pair of shoes and her thumb!!!

In one of the pictures Hannah has a scowl on her face and appears to be looking down at something....I had put a band aid on her thumb to see if she would give her poor thumb a break from all the sucking...well, it didn't work. She worked at that band aid until she was able to suck the band aid right off her thumb (and no, she didn't swallow the band aid). Oh well, I thought it might be worth a try. Her poor little thumb is so huge and swollen from her sucking on it with her mouthful of teeth.

What do you hate?

Four year olds have a way of simplifying life...one day as I walked with Mary (my friend Portia's daughter) she just nonchalantly asked me what I hated. I was caught a little off guard until Mary started rattling off the things she hated (wet grass was on the top of her list). So for Mary's sake I have thought of a few things I hate....simplified in 4 year old fashion.
1. Poopy diapers
2. Mosquitoes
3. Reserved officer parking at the commissary
4. The TV show the Bachelor (why, oh why would any woman subject themselves to that...even for 5 minutes of fame)
5. Alarm clocks

Then Mary went on to ask me what I loved. I didn't answer quickly enough so she asked, well you must love marshmallows. Well, I do love marshmallows, but not as much as chocolate!! or WINE!!! And I love 4 year olds and their innocence.

Hannah is our future little Michael Phelps...or not!

She LOVES the water and is so brave. I figure if I start her early enough there will certainly be a gold medal in her future. Just maybe not from the Olympics.... She deserves a medal just for being so darn cute!!!!

How did this happen?

How can it be that my baby, my first born, my son is 13 years old??? How is that possible?

A few weeks ago Alex was giving his best effort at convincing me why I should allow him to go see a rated R movie. He was listing off all the reasons and I looked at him dumbfounded and confused. I thought how in the world is this possible? How can I possibly be having this conversation with my OWN CHILD?? Not because I was shocked that he would want to see a rated R movie, but because I had this flashback of this EXACT same conversation with my own mother when I was trying to convince her to allow ME to go see a rated R movie (Purple Rain staring Prince). Has it really been that long ago that I stood in front of my own mom and begged the same request?

Looking at Alex now I know first hand how quickly time goes by. My "baby" is now 5'8", 120 lbs., size 11 shoe and a TEENAGER!! And so the fun begins.

private vs. public

I originally started this blog specifically for family & friends to follow along on our adoption journey. Many people have told me how much they have enjoyed reading the blog as we traveled to China and brought Hannah home. But I think now I want to shift the focus of the blog and make it more of a place for my family and close friends to see pictures and read about the life and times of the Linton family (which could prove to be some boring reading as we lead fairly uneventful lives). I am going to make the blog open by invitation only (even though I know that nothing is truly private when posted on the internet) so at least I will know who is reading. I'll see how this goes for a few weeks/months. I may just nix the whole blogging idea all together and work on my scrapbook instead.