He's full term.

Yesterday marked the completion of our 9th month of waiting for Camden to come home.  If only adoption mimicked pregnancy and we could induce and get our little guy home sooner rather than later.  Don't think it works that way.

At this point we are hopeful that our wait will be over with in the next 6 months...which would put us traveling to Korea to pick up our very handsome then-to-be 2 yr old this fall. 

Who knows, maybe we will be pleasantly surprised and he will come home earlier than expected (our hopes are not up). 

Nurse, Football Player, or Magician

Parker has always contended that he wants to be a football player when he grows up.  I have made sure he understands that not many people are able to play professional football so a backup plan may be in order.  That must have sunk in because when I recently asked him want he wants to be when he stuck to his guns and said football player, but he also clued me on his desire to be a nurse. 

I am sure there are plenty of kids out there that want to be a nurse.
I am sure there are plenty of kids out there that want to be a football player.
I'm not so sure there are many like Parker that want to be one or the other.

Everything regarding Parker's career aspirations changed this past Saturday morning in the cafeteria of the elementary school near my office.  That's where he met Magical Dan. 

Who is Magical Dan you might ask...

Magical Dan is a magician/balloon artist that came to entertain the crowd at the annual Kiwanis Pancake Day breakfast that Parker was helping me work.  While I was working my fingers to the bone making my locally renowned sausage gravy back in the kitchen, Parker was joined at the hip with his new idol.  Taking in anything and everything that Dan was doing.  I knew he was enjoying himself, which was really nice to see, but I didn't know quite the extent of his enjoyment until we were on our way home after our shift and he proclaimed that he wants to be a magician when he grows up.

Parker spent much of Saturday afternoon on Grandma Monica's iPad looking for magic tricks that he could perfect. He's still a little rough around the edges with his magic, but he's got time to perfect his tricks...at least a year.  I am hoping we can reunite Magical Dan with Magical Parker at next year's Pancake Day.  Imagine the crowds that combination would draw in.

Back in the saddle.

Things in Korea have been frustratingly quiet for the last few months, but I am very happy to report that as of today that's no longer the case and the processing of adoptions has restarted.  What caused this months long delay remains to be seen, but that is neither here nor there now that we are moving forward again.  Our original wait time estimate was up to 14 months from the time our paperwork was sent to Korea until the time we travel to go get our little guy.  Conceivably, that time frame has now grown to possibly 16 months, and if that is the case we could travel sometime this fall. 

In a nutshell, we are excited that things seem to be moving again in Seoul and we can't wait to board that plane bound for Camden's homeland. 

One thing that will be boarding a plane bound for South Korea before too long is a care package for our little guy.  We are very hopeful that Camden is getting the packages we have sent and that his foster mom is sharing all of the pictures and other package contents with Camden.  My favorite part of the care package that we are sending to him very shortly is the Korean version of one of our kids' favorite books, Goodnight Moon. 

Camden doesn't know it yet, but he has three very excited siblings waiting on him here who can't wait to welcome him home (and in Addy's case, probably show him the ropes...remember, she thinks she runs the show around here).  

The King and his Court

Be it that today is the eve of Fat Tuesday, we thought we would treat  the kids to a little break from the norm after dinner and introduce them to the traditional Mardi Gras King Cake.  Can you guess which our no-so-little ones found the baby in the cake...

Can you see the baby's feet?

Parker feverishly ate his cake in search of the baby, and more importantly the title "King of the House."  But it was the much more meticulous Lleyton who slowly worked his way through the delicious cake and found the baby.  Addy, who I would have pegged as one that would have loved the idea of eating cake and possibly being called Queen didn't seem too interested.  My guess is that no matter whether or not she found the baby, she considers herself the queen of the house. 

Think Lleyton was excited to be crowned our King?

As the tradition outlines, the King or Queen is responsible for the following year's cake.  So we'll have to see if King Lleyton can hone his baking skills over the next 12 months.  I am guessing he will be recruiting the help of his jesters come next Mardi Gras eve.

Happy Valentine's Day...Lleyton style

Cute or Scary?

I would probably side with scary. 

This is what Lleyton woke up to this morning...
 

That's one unique wake-up call.

Said wake-up call must have left a pretty big impression on our very impressionable young man, as tonight he decided to sleep in his doorway for the first time ever.  Maybe he thought that Batman wouldn't be able to get in if he blocked the door.  Can't wait to hear the reasoning behind the move from his bed to the floor tomorrow morning when he wakes up.

Camden lives where?

A) Seoul, South Korea

B) My sister Emily's belly

If you have been reading this blog for any period of time you would know the correct answer is A.  You might also think that Camden's future brothers and sister would know the same, but we aren't sure that is the case after the other night when Lleyton told Sara that he thought that Camden lived in Emily's belly. 

No matter where he lives, there's no doubt he is a very handsome young man, which is quite evident from the pictures we received of young Camden this afternoon....

Working our way through a difficult time.

My lack of blogging hasn’t been because nothing is happening around our house, after all since I last posted we have celebrated Christmas with both sides of the family, Santa and Grandfather Frost paid us a visit and a new year has been rung in.

My lack of blogging is because nothing that is very much fun to talk about is going on in our household as of late.

Adoption can be hard.

Adopting older children can be hard.

We have lived through it, especially during the first few months after Parker came home with us. Those were tough times, and during those times I wrote about it. So I figure there are some families out there that may be going through or have gone through what we are now, so why not share.

Parker has hit a rough patch (which is an understatement at times). To those outside of our house, Park couldn’t be much more thoughtful, polite, caring, intelligent, and sweet than he is.  Parker is each of those, but sadly for him and us, we see a different side of him on occasion. Those occasions used to be pretty infrequent, but to our chagrin they have become much more prevalent over the past couple of months.

I don’t feel like getting into everything that is going on with him at this moment, but it would suffice to say that the last couple of months have been downright upsetting, frustrating, scary, unsettling, and confusing.

Way back when we were first experiencing all of our difficulties with Parker we could kind of rationalize what might be causing them, as we couldn’t communicate with him very well since we spoke different languages, he wasn’t used to living an environment like the one we provided for him, he was probably scared, and he probably missed everything that felt comfortable that he left behind in Ethiopia. As his language progressed and he got into school, his behavior improved and his outbursts became less frequent. Things from that point on have never been perfect, but we had gotten to a point where we hoped that any issues we had with him were just those common issues that any parent runs into with a 6, 7, or 8 year old boy.

Those feelings changed recently. Changed to the point where we realized that we can’t address this situation alone and we reached out for professional help. This past Tuesday evening Sara and I headed south to Lexington to meet with a family therapist that came highly recommended to us. It was something we knew we needed to do, but neither of us wanted to have to do (I hope that makes sense). We don’t want to be a position to seek counseling for one of our children, but we know it’s only fair to him, us, and Lleyton and Addy to do so. We needed help and hopefully this therapist will be able to provide that for us.

Over the past couple of months, whether it be during one of his outbursts or during a quiet moment, we have tried many times to gain and understanding regarding what is ailing our big guy and why he feels it’s necessary to react and behave the way he has. We have gotten a few different reasons, some troubling, some of which we doubt, and some of which break our hearts.

We didn’t go into adopting any of our children under the false pretense that is was going to be easy or perfect, but at the same time we didn’t go into any of the adoptions thinking it would be this hard.

We wouldn’t change anything about how we formed our family.

We love Parker.

We love Lleyton.

We love Addy.

That’s not going to change. The fact is that many times when kids grow up in hard places, they deal with difficult things and those things don’t go away when they are welcomed into loving homes. Sometimes they linger and present themselves at the strangest of times. To one extent we are happy that Parker has only acted out around us to this point.  Yet, on the other hand that can make trying to explain what is going on at home more difficult b/c no one else has seen this side of our young man.

So if you’re reading this and have made it this far, that’s the explanation behind the blog absence. But now we’re back and hopefully very soon we can get back on track with fun stories about the kids…like the other day when Lleyton and his sidekick/shadow/best friend/cling-on/biggest fan joined forces and fended off bad guys while dressed in Batman masks.

20 minutes + 180 pictures + 1 potty training accident + 4 antlers = Christmas Card

Last Monday night we set out to make our annual Christmas card.  Not unlike last year's card, we got off to late start on putting together our annual mailing, but we were hopeful that the kids would come through with at least a few good pictures that we could send out to family and friends. 

They didn't disappoint.

As the title of post would indicate, we took alot of pictures in a little bit of time.  The majority of them were more comical than frame-worthy, but I was pleasantly surprised to see we did have a handful of gems. 

Below are a few of the non-card worthy outtakes. 

What the title might also indicate is that Addy is now potty training.  Monday was her first full day of no diapers, and she had done remarkably well...that is until just after the picture taking was wrapped up and a major clean-up was called for.  We were thankful that she at least waited until we got a few great pictures taken before rendering her Christmas card outfit unwearable.

Here's the finished product...

Parker questions the man himself...Santa Claus.

Parker's inquisitive nature (aka obsession with asking questions) has been well documented on this blog.  From the moment he could speak understandable English he has been busy asking questions. 

Endless questions. 

Some good, some bad, some funny, some hilarious. 

With that being true I shouldn't have been too surprised when I got the chance to see the letter that he recently sent to Santa.  To our delight, jolly old St. Nick responsded to Parker's letter and sent back Park's original letter so that he can hang onto it .  In his letter to Parker, Santa even noted how many questions our ever-inquisitive son asked. 

The following letter made my week. 

As you will see, he had plenty of questions on his mind when he wrote this.

Some good, some bad, some funny, some hilarious.

Enjoy!

(For those not as adept at reading the handwriting of an 8 year old, I have provided an abridged version below the pictures)

Dear Santa,

Hi Santa.  I have a ton of questions.

Is Rudolph real?

Are you real?

What's your reindeers' favorite food?

Do you ever die?

Is there an elf named Alison?  If I know, do not fire her.

When I grow up can I be an elf?

Are you magic?

Can your reindeer fly?

How many elves do you have?

How do you make toys?

Did anybody shoot you before?

Has anybody seen you before?

How old are you?

Did you ever fall off a roof?

Is the North Pole cool?

Is it fun?

What's the elves favorite food?

How old is Mrs. Claus?

Is the workshop cool or fun?

How old do you have to be an elf?

Is there a guard at the North Pole?

Do you eat steak?

There you have it...22 thought provoking questions for Santa.  I personally can't help but laugh each time I read them, especially the last one. 

Hope you enjoyed!

6 months down.

How many more to go? 

Hopefully we are nearing the half way point of our wait. 

Lleyton's day at the office.

Last week our little guy had his annual check-up with his cardiologist, which meant he had to lay very still during the tests they run.  If you have spent any time with Lleyton or just know him through this blog, you probably already know that sitting still isn't his strong suit.  With that being true, Sara came up with the fantastic idea of promising him a very nice reward if he hung in there and made the doctors job easy during his appointment. 

What was the reward you might ask?

A trip to the office to hang with me.  The idea stemmed from Lleyton unearthing a suit in his closet that was handed down to him by his cousin Tanner.  So after successfully completed the tasks required of him at the Children's Hospital, Sara and her mom brought the little man over so he could "work" with daddy.  And work he did...

He closed a deal or two by wowing imaginary customers with his over the phone sales skills.

He helped out around the office, including making sure the copier made clear copies of hand.

He even got a chance to head upstairs and join Pop in his office.

He impressed everyone with his boyish good looks and sweet disposition.  Thus, I'm pretty sure he's welcome back at the office anytime.

An afternoon to remember!

Yesterday afternoon Parker and my dad and I had a very unique opportunity to get up close and personal with the Cincinnati Bengals...and we took full advantage of it.  With the Bengals being my all-time favorite team in any sport, it would suffice to say I was like a kid in a candy store. 

We arrived at the stadium and were invited out to the practice field to watch the guys go through a practice preparing for what Marvin Lewis told us later in the day will be the biggest game he has coached in his 9 years as Bengals coach.    We spent about an hour watching practice before heading into the stadium for lunch in the visitors locker room followed by a trip onto the field.

Here is Parker with Bengals running back Cedrick Benson.  Right after this picture was taken, Parker looked down at Ced's arm in amazement and said to him, "Are those tattoos?!"  Ced politely responded that yes, they are in fact tattoos. 

Here's Park with his favorite player AJ Green in the background. 

Parker spent much of the time we were on the practice field playing with a couple of boys that were also there and with one Bengal was took quite a bit of time to toss the ball around with them. 

#46 on your roster, #1 in our hearts, Clark Harris.

Clark even gave Parker his gloves as we were leaving practice.

Here's Parker checking to make sure Rey is going to be good-to-go this Sunday.
 

Parker and Domata Peko.

Parker and Nate Clements.

Although we didn't get Parker's picture with him, Andy Dalton came in to talk with us as well. 

Twas an unbelievable experience. 

Who Dey!





Interview with Lleyton

Yesterday afternoon I sat our little man down (after pausing Transformers, of course) for an interview...here's a look into Lleyton's world.


How old are you today? 5







What is your favorite food? Ummm…..(distracted by Transformers) Ummm…(distracted by golf) I can’t remember.






What is your favorite thing to do? Play with the choo choo train track (which happens to be exactly what he was doing when I called him over for the interview)






Who is your best friend? Landon Walker






If you could pick where we went on vacation, where would it be? The new museum (speaking of the museum we went to last week to see the train display)






What do you like most about Parker? I like playing with him.






What do you like most about Addy? I like to…play with her.






What is the first thing you would like to teach Camden? I would like to teach him how to go down the steps on the playhouse.






Where does Camden live right now? In Korea!






If you could meet one person in the whole world who would it be? Daddy and mommy.






If you could have one superpower what would it be? Optimus Prime.






Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible? I wish I could fly. Because it’s cool…you will land on the ground and fly forever and you can sleep in trees.






What is your favorite subject at school? I like playing with Legos.






Who is your hero? Superman and Batman and Spiderman






Where were you born? In Russia!






How old am I (meaning me, Dad)? 10 bucks






How old is mommy? 7, because 7 is older than 5.






What is your favorite color? Red and black and white.






What is one thing you would like everyone to know about you? I want them to know I am Lleyton George Ritzmann.






What is your favorite restaurant? Walmart.






What is your favorite place to eat? Beef O’Brady’s

Batman (Lleyton) turned 5!

Lleyton is convinced he is Batman, which I have a difficult time disagreeing with sometimes, especially when he is donning the Batman cape that Sara made him for his birthday and flying through the house.  Today was Batman's big day, that is unless you believed what he was telling everyone leading up to today, that he was already 5.  I have a Russian birth certificate that says otherwise. 

Our little guy woke up this morning and came down the stairs to find a new tradition, balloons hanging in his honor, each hiding a surprise inside. 

After popping each balloon and feeding his piggy bank with what was inside, it was time to belly up the table for Sara's soon-to-be-famous birthday cake pancakes covered in a sugary glaze.

Along with the delicous pancakes, Sara also stepped up her game when it came to the little man's birthday cake(s).   Being that Lleyton loves trucks of all kinds, we figured he would love nothing more than a birthday cake in a dumptruck, hence Sara put together this gem...



Although Lleyton was very excited to see the cake, to our surprise he said he didn't want to eat it because it was dirty.  I guess the "dirt" cake came together a little too well. 

Onto Plan B, I threw Lleyton and Addy into the car and headed off to the grocery store to pick up the makings for another fantastic cake.  Lleyton's favorite candy cake...

That's a cake wrapped in Kit Kats and topped with M&Ms.  Could there be anything better?  Lleyton didn't think so.

Grandma Susie and Grammy and Pop joined us for dinner at Lleyton's favorite restaurant before we came back home for the cake and ice cream. 

All-in-all, I think our little Batman had a great day, and his brother and sister seemed just as thrilled to celebrate it with him.