This little piggie

As states go, New Jersey is definitely at the bottom of my list. Our county held its first swine flu vaccination clinic on monday for children ages 6months to 5 years. No pediatricians' offices could get the shot, so there was no other choice. The clinic was scheduled to start at 4pm. We arrived at 3:45 and got in line two blocks away.

at the start of our wait:

We were done at 6:10. Aaron was great, considering. We were standing in front of some really nice people, who gave us snacks (Aaron had finished his bag of goldfish and his milk in the first 30 minutes) and loaned us a fleece for him to wear when the sun went down and it got cold. I couldn't help but feel that we were participating in something akin to the polio vaccinations of the 1950's. There were so many people! There were health dept officials with bullhorns! When we finally got inside, he got the shot, which took two seconds. Luckily, all was forgotten when he received his lollipop ("lalalop"). Ahhh, candy, the fixer of everything.

A year's time

Tomorrow, November 4, will be the first anniversary of our adoption of Aaron in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Adoption day is sometimes referred to as a family's "gotcha" day- we got Aaron and he got us. Regardless of what you call it, November 4th, 2008, changed all of our lives forever. That morning, Mike and I sat in the reception room of the orphanage, surrounded by half emptied tea glasses, sweating (we were sweating as were the glasses). I realized that my camera battery had died just as a woman brought a skinny little boy dressed in fatigue pajamas into the room. She handed him to us, he stuck his thumb in his mouth, and it was done. Pictures were taken (not by me), gifts were exchanged, and we were whisked off to the DMV of Saigon to adopt our little boy. I don't know that I posted these pictures. They were emailed to me by Chi, the adoption coordinator.





He weighed just 18lbs (5%ile) that day. Now, he is 26lbs (50%ile). I'm also happy to say that his clothing choices have improved dramatically.

Tomorrow is a bittersweet day for me. Our adoption day was the most wonderful day of my life, but it also happens to be my father's birthday. It is so sad that he is not here to celebrate this milestone with us. I miss him every day and he would have gotten such joy from Aaron. It's around this time last year that he got sick again, and although he got to visit with our boy four or five times, it wasn't enough.

On a less tearful note...

Aaron celebrated his first Halloween on saturday! He was dressed as Mr Spock from Star Trek, although he just thought of it as an outfit with matching hat. It was his first experience with candy. He looked really cute even though he couldn't keep his hair on straight.

With mommy, dressed as overtired night doctor:

With captain Daddy Kirk:

With Kirk and clown Grandma Linda: