Saying goodbye to good friends/last WPB Saturday post

Well, these last two days have been full of goodbyes, and that is always hard. As fun as it was to get together for playdates, dinners, and parties, it is hard at the end of the night to say goodbye to the people who mean a lot to you and your family. We laughed and had a great time, but as I looked around the room tonight at our last party - at the people who mean so much to us - I had a hard time not tearing up. I looked at our friends Julie and Mike and their kids and realized just how much we are going to miss them. We have fit as friends since day one, and our eldest girls have "grown up" together. They are the ones who threw us the party tonight, and I just can't believe we aren't going to be seeing them on a weekly basis anymore. That our eldest daughters won't be having day long playdates anymore. I believe that those two girls would have been friends for life, and I truly hope that they find each other again someday. As far as friends go - those two are sole mates.

Yesterday (Friday) was our last playdate with Tracy and her little girl they adopted from China. That was also really sad. Tracy and I met in August when fate brought us together with the trip to China for our children. I am still amazed that someone who lives less than 3 miles away traveled to China with our family at the same time! We have enjoyed our playdates every week for months now, and with our kids so close in age, it was nice for the babies to have someone to play with besides each other. And it gave Tracy and I a chance to chat, swap mom stories, adoption stories, worries, laughs, etc. She is a great person and a great friend and I am really going to miss her. I hope that we see her again. I know they love to travel, so hopefully some day they will visit us in Connecticut.

Also yesterday (Friday) was my dinner out with my co-workers. I loved my last job and was sad to leave in January of this year to start on my new adventure as a stay at home mom. But I wanted to see the ladies I love the most one last time before I went. So we went out to dinner last night at Chili's and had a fabulous time. It was great to catch up and hear what is going on in their lives, and what was happening at the center with the kids. I am so glad I had a chance to see them one more time.

So it has been a hard end to the week. Like I have said before, this is our 8th move, but our 4th state we are going on to. But each time we go, it is hard to say goodbye to the people we have grown closest too. But I also think about all of the friendships I have maintained around the country! I still have childhood friends in Pennsylvania, friends from when we lived in Baltimore (who we are seeing soon - whoo hoo!), and friends from living in San Diego. Pretty soon we will truly be able to say "anywhere we go, we have a friend". :)

So to Julie, Mike, Gina, Kevin, Brandon, Jennifer, Scott, Peggy, Erika, Loyda, Melissa, Ana, Tracy, and countless others - know how much we love you and we are going to miss you. We will treasure your friendships forever, and know that you will always be a part of our lives, no matter where we are. Thank you for making these last couple of days -and YEARS - memorable for our whole family. We are better people for knowing you.

Okay -that's all. I can't say any more and hold it together! On with the recap of the week.

Wednesday was Cainan's eye appointment. He didn't have his eyes dilated while we were at his appointment in March because the visit lasted too long, so we had to go back. We were pretty certain that this was going to be to get a prescription for his glasses. Well, we were very pleasantly surprised. He has been doing so well that at this time, he doesn't need glasses! The eye doctor showed me on the chart where he was last September on his first check and where he is now - what an improvement! It was really great. With good nutrition and just general stimulation for his eyes, he has actually gotten BETTER sight. We were so happy! Cainan doesn't really have a bridge to his nose right now, so it would have been hard to keep glasses on his face. So I am glad we went to the visit!

Thursday was his last speech therapy here in West Palm Beach (WPB). His speech therapist has been really great, and she gave us a list of therapist and craniofacial teams near us in Connecticut. That will come in very handy! He did great on his last day, so it was a good end. He will probably not be in therapy for most of the summer until we settle and Arlington gets back to school. It would be too hard to take three kids to therapy each week. So I will wait until the fall. He has come very far on his own. I know we can handle keeping him moving forward over the summer.

Friday was our playdate with Tracy and her little girl. We had a great, fun morning with them and I took a few pictures below. We tried to get the kids all together but they were much more interested in being silly - which made for some cute pictures! Tracy brought us a beautiful picture frame that says "Friends" and has a picture of all 4 kids in it from Chinese New Year. I added a picture below!

Friday when Arlington came home from school, she brought me a flower for mother's day and a card she had made. I took a picture of that as well. My favorite presents - homemade things from Arlington. She was so excited about giving it to me.

Friday night was the dinner with my friends from work. I was gone from 6:30-9:30. It was a nice break! We had a great time. I love eating out!

This morning was "family fun yard day". We wanted the yard to look nice for the new owners, so we all spent the morning outside. We were all hot and sticky and ready to come in for showers around 11am! It was over 90 degrees and humid today in WPB, and that was not fun! But the yard is done and looks great! That is the last time for that too! I can't say I am sad about that. Although we will have a new yard to take care of, at least it won't be a year round project like it is down here.

This afternoon was the party at Mike and Julies from 2-6. That was a lot of fun. Mat and Arlington went first, and when the babies got up from their nap, we went up. We laughed and carried on and ended up not leaving until around 7pm! We brought Mike and Julie's eldest daughter back (Arlington's best friend) for a sleep over tonight. The girls had a great time. After I bathed the babies, we put them to bed, then I bathed the girls and they watched a movie. Then we read some books, and they spent some time chatting before falling asleep. They had a great day together. Tomorrow, we will take them out to breakfast and lunch and then take her home.

So here are some funny things that Arlington said this week:

Arlington - when I grow up, I want to be a doctor
Me - that sounds great!
Arlington - well, I think what I want to be is a shotter"
Me - a what?
Arlington - a shotter. A person who gives the shots
Me - nice

Arlington - let's play "I spy" (in the car)
Me - okay - you go first
Arlington - I spy with my little eye something.....reddish/purplish
Me - seriously??????

Arlington - today at school a little girl brought in a chicka-wa-wa
Me - a what?
Arlington - a chicka-wa-wa. You know mom - the DOG
Me - you mean a chihuahua?
Arlington - yes mom. The dog


Finley also had a milestone this week. She learned to count to TEN! I was so impressed! She is a smarty. And she has basically the whole alphabet song down. She loves to sing that song.
Also, Finley did something funny. I was sitting at our dining room table, and she came out to see me. She said "up". So I picked her up. She started to pull on my shirt and said "up". She wanted me to hold her while I was standing up. Fine. So I stood up and stood near the table. Then she pulled on me again and said, "go". She wanted me to walk around with her while I was holding her! What a princess! She is a nut.

Cainan is doing well. He can count to three. He will say "one, two," and at three will tickle himself. (we made one, two, three a game). It is really cute.

Here are some pictures - enjoy!