Update for the Week

This past weekend, we visited the kids in Phoenix and went to the Phoenix Zoo. It was fun and everyone had a good time, except for Nuva, who was unable to make it... However, actually seeing the kids and spending time with them was a great relief from the madness and bureaucracy of getting them here. Nikishna asked the boys what they wanted for Christmas, but they couldn't think of anything. They said "Nothing, really. We just take whatever people give us." It made me sad.... They also said some other boy or boys in the home killed their Beta fish by pouring mouthwash in their water. Argh! We have talked to the social workers about checking them out for Christmas and have started the process. The Hopi Guidance Center needs to fax over a copy of our homestudy to the Arizona State Social Worker, which makes me nervous, because Hopi's follow-through hasn't been consistent. In August, they told us they could have the kids with us "within a week" then it turned into "by the end of September" and now we really do not know. We may do a state to state transfer from Arizona to California, which would take about 60 days once Arizona files the paperwork.

Here's some pictures (hopefully the link works):
http://picasaweb.google.com/nikishna/PhoenixZoo

This week was interesting, because we had to move offices (due to the budget cuts) as we will now be on the main campus. It was a little difficult trying to do regular work and pack up everything at the same time, but we should be settled in the next two weeks or so.

Today we went to Disneyland in the evening time. It's all decorated for Christmas - wee! Nahui liked the carousel, of course, as well as the Casey Jr. Circus Train.  She is starting to understand that we are having a baby (she rubs my belly with her little hand and says "baby"). I think it will work out well. She definitely needs sister and she's very loving towards small babies - despite her violent tendencies towards other toddlers, whom she sees as direct competition (although the violent tendencies are kind of fading, I think!)

Total digression:
I am worried about our tangerines... Our tangerine tree is in full bloom, but we forgot to pick them today before it got dark. Last year, we were freaked out by rustling outside our window late at night. We turned on our bedroom light only to discover two little old neighbor ladies stealing our tangerines! I was okay with it at first, since we can't eat all the tangerines ourselves, but when they were finished, I saw that they had 5 bags packed with tangerines!!! Yeesh! I didn't mind them taking some, but I did  mind them creeping around in the middle of the night and stripping the whole tree... The next morning, there were none left on the tree - luckily I'm having a bit of insomnia right now, so I can protect the tangerines this year...

Lastly:
I was all sad, because I discovered an identical blog "Yolie's World" with an "e" at the end, which is actually waaaay better than mine. However, it was destiny - the other Yolie was adopted as a child, but is now about my age and has a nice family. She has some very useful insight into the feelings on the side of the children who get adopted, so I'm learning a great deal from her.

Early Morning Writing

Good morning/evening everyone! No, I am not up late, I'm actually up early, because I went to bed with a huuuuuge headache around 7:30pm, maybe before... It's sad when I fall asleep sooner than Nahui! I keep  having these awful recurring headaches and I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy or stress - although I'm really not THAT stressed lately. Maybe it's a migraine... What's a migraine???

I'm having difficulty writing because 1. Nikishna set this blog up for me kind of out of the blue - even though I did want to blog and 2. I feel that everything going on in my life was preceded my some other event and to talk about it would mean having to back-track and tell some of that history. Ah well, this blog will be a small attempt to do so.

Nikishna and I are still both working at UCI, running the American Indian Resource Program - although my position/pay actually requires me to also work on two other programs: SIAP and Community College. Most of the time I enjoy these other two programs, except when there's a lot of work for all three programs at the same time and then it can get chaotic! Little Nahui is doing excellent - she's starting to speak in sentences and has lots of energy! Well, developmentally, she's doing excellent. Socially, she's not doing so well. She hits and bites, but the toddler book says it's just a phase.... It makes me feel bad, because then I think people don't love my Nahui-pops. Would you believe me if I said she only hits the people she truly loves?!?!?!?!

We're also in the process of potentially taking in our niece and nephews who are in foster care out in Arizona. It's complicated, because we're in California and they are wards of the Hopi Tribe, but currently under the jurisdiction of the State of Arizona. I feel bad because we haven't really been to many local Native events recently, due to the issues with getting the kiddies.... but trust me, we're still involved in the Native community! This weekend we will be visiting them on Sunday. We're hoping to have them here by Christmas, but who knows? The process keeps getting dragged on and on. The boys are in a boy's home and Nikishna says it sucks to be in a Home during the Holidays, so even if they aren't with us by then, we're going to see if we can pick them up and have them stay with us for a few days - although I'm not sure if overnight visits are allowed... we'll see...

Ooh! Next Monday we have our main ultrasound and we'll find out if Little Huitzil is a girl or boy!

Okay, that is all for now...