ReAdoption Paperwork

I finally started working on doing the re adoption paperwork, which is a little tricky since I had no idea where to start. I should say that I first called around to find out if I should go through an attorney. The first one I called said she charges $2000. WHAT?! I called several other offices and never could find another attorney who does international re adoptions. I finally started checking the Internet to see what I could find and found the forms on courtinfo.ca.org I downloaded the four forms and then took another two weeks to fill them out. Sounds like a crazy amount of time, but it really is hard to get anything done when Sasha is awake and she seems to take her naps while I am driving and is wide awake when we are home. She is fine with me sitting on the floor with her while she plays, but if I sit at the computer she pulls herself up against my leg and cries. Anyway, today I copied all of the adoption paperwork and drove up to Orange and filed the forms to re-adopt. This is also when we change her name legally from her Vietnamese name to the one we are giving her, which incorporates her Vietnamese name. The cost to file the forms? $20. I was told that I will get a letter in the mail stating that my forms were received and letting me know if they needed anything other paperwork. My understanding is that they will issue us a court date and we will go before a judge. It is supposed to be a nice ceremony that you bring a camera for. I don't really know where I got that idea, I guess I must have read it on the internet. It felt like a big deal to me to file the paperwork. I guess I am a little sad to be doing it because I feel a little as if I am taking some part of her history away when I change her name. Hopefully keeping her first and middle names as her middle names will make her feel that we honored her past. I certainly want to honor her being Vietnamese and teach her to be proud of her country. Anyway, that is done. I have to look into getting her a social security number. I don't know whether I have to wait until her name is legally changed or not. I am going to drive to the local office one day next week and find out. I think I am supposed to turn in the Certificate of Citizenship that was mailed to me a few weeks ago. I hope I don't because it has her Vietnamese name as well as a picture of her that was taken on the way home from the orphanage. I would hate to have to give it up since it is one of the few things we have with her Vietnamese name on it.
Sasha is doing great. She is just so cute and so happy! She babbles a lot now (da da da) and makes other cooing or happy sounds. She sits in the second row of our minivan and Brookelyn and Brayden sit in the back. Brayden always watches High School Musical when we are in the car but Brookelyn doesn't watch tv or videos, which is why she doesn't like being in the car for long and Brayden can be in it forever. Anyway, this week Brookelyn and Sasha have started having fun together in the car. Sasha makes her noises and Brookelyn laughs at her or repeats them and laughs. Sasha laughs back and makes more noises. It is very sweet. Brookelyn and Brayden are great with Sasha. Many people have asked us if our kids are jealous of Sasha, but we have never seen it. They both have been great with her and think she is so funny.
We went to Brayden's holiday show for his preschool class a couple of days ago. Sasha and Brookelyn had matching dresses and matching shoes. It was very cute. Brookelyn thought it was great that they matched. Brayden looked very handsome in his dress shirt, vest and dress pants and stood still for the entire performance. He didn't push anyone, pick his nose, cry (things that some of the other children did during the performance). He also didn't sing. Not a word. He stood there and looked around the room and at us from time to time, but when we would mouth the words, "Sing the song," he would just shake his head no. It was pretty funny since he was the only one not singing and he hadn't sung a word at the holiday performance last year. This is a child who says he wants to be a rock star when he grows up, is always singing and dancing in our house, knows all of the words to every song in Hair Spray and High School Musical and many of the songs my teenagers listen to. I guess Christmas songs aren't his thing.
I went to a Holiday chorus program for two of my nieces last week. It was during the day, so only Sasha, my mom and sister went. It was great! The teacher had made up a story line and fit a lot of fun holiday songs into it. Sasha loved it. She stood on my lap and waved her hands around like she was conducting it. She made a lot of happy noises along to the singing. My mom said she noticed several of the children in the show nudging each other and pointing to her. Luckily the singing drowned her noises out. We had a lot of fun and it definitely got me more into the holiday spirit. It has been COLD here. I don't really know how cold, but there has been snow on the mountains nearby. I love the idea of snow for the holidays, but I don't like being cold. I have a new respect for parents who live in the Midwest or east coast. Bundling the kids up in jackets and hats and then squeezing them into car seats is hard. And we don't have the snow and slush on their boots to deal with. I miss the feeling of excitement in the air that there is this time of year in the Midwest and East Coast, but I think I am okay with trading it in for warmth.