Cool commercial

Hi all,

I just saw this on another blog site I check out every now and then. Regardless of where you stand on the whole pro-life/pro-choice debate, I think you will appreciate this from an adoption perspective...



Oh yeah, in case you noticed something is different... I thought it was time for a change. Hence the new look to the blog.

K..

Wet Weekend

This weekend was the last weekend of the Tulip Festival, so we decided to get out and take in the tulips. Of course, Saturday morning was the best opportunity for us, and therefore it poured rain at that time. But we went all the same. The kids were all set in their rain suits, so the rain didn't bother them one bit. (And I can't tell you how many people commented to us that they wished they had suits like that too.) DoT and I don't have raincoats, so we got plenty wet. (I actually went out and bought a raincoat since this happened.)

Here are a few pics... (it's funny that the pictures don't show how hard it was raining)







Mmmm.. popcorn. It didn't get too soggy.









After checking out the tulips, we went to the small midway just next door. The kids had spotted it on the way in, and I don't think there was any way we were going to get out of there without a trip to the merry-go-round.

All the kids enjoyed the little train ride...



But only A was brave enough for the merry-go-round...



Have a great week!

K...

Rants

Okay, enough is enough. What is wrong with retailers these days? Was it always like this and I was blissfully unaware? Or has the race to be the first out with the new season or holiday gotten out of hand? You know, every year, just after Thanksgiving, I would hear people starting to complain about how the stores were setting up their Christmas displays and it was only October. But I didn't care... I love Christmas and the sooner I start seeing the decorations the better.

But, apparently consistency in my views is not something I strive for. Because this week when I was shopping for sandals for the girls, I found out the I've missed sandal season. Yes, believe it or not, on May 11th when I was looking for sandals, thinking we may need them in the next couple of weeks, I was told that "sandal season is over". Okay, maybe in the hot, sunny climates of the southern States, but for heaven's sake, we live in Canada! We have had maybe one or two days when my kids could have worn sandals so far this year... and I think I'm being generous here. I don't really think there have been any days yet where we could have been in sandals. (Because, as everyone knows... you don't wear socks with sandals!) But, alas, apparently I have missed sandal season.

And it's not just about the sandals. A couple of months ago, when I finally surrendered to the fact that my children's stomachs were hanging out of the bottom of their shirts and I really needed to get them some larger clothes, guess what I found in the stores then (in February/March!). That's right. Sun dresses, tank tops, Capri's and shorts, hats, sunglasses and bathing suits. Okay, so I know some people may be lucky enough to be heading south for a vacation in the sun at that time of the year, but surely not the majority of us. Where were the long sleeved shirts and pants? Apparently, we were into the summer season then.

And don't even get me started about the limited choice I already have in clothing because I am not willing to dress the girls in pink or purple all the time. When I went into Kiddie Kobbler on Monday I saw a display of about 40 different pairs of sandals for girls. About 37 of them were pink. Same thing everywhere else. I got to the point where I was walking into stores asking the sales clerk to bring me any sandal (boys or girls) that wasn't pink and was available in a 7.5 or 8.0. And as of today the girls are still going to be wearing running shoes, or going barefoot, all summer long.

Of course pink shoes would probably match their ensembles of choice these days...

Oh yeah, they like it...

Update

I should have known better. I used to know better. There was a time when I never would have pronounced us to be 'out of the water' or 'past the worst of it' or anything remotely like that, which would have required fate, or the cosmos, or whatever, to decide to knock that stool out from under us and put me 'back in my place'. But obviously, I forgot that lesson somewhere along the line. "Surfacing from sick week"... what was I thinking?

So, less than 12 hours after posting that blog entry, we were back to being a sick house. E's flu which had been gone (so we thought) for two days, was back. It only lasted a bit more than 24 more hours and, if I hadn't learned anything from the retribution to my last post, I would say that she's healthy now. But I'm not making that mistake again.

Of course, as soon as E's flu symptoms went away, A started with a fever. Great. So, that means that I'm running on very little sleep since then, since I'm up constantly through the night checking her temperature and, whenever it is high, spending hours with a damp cloth on her head trying to bring her temperature down. We were successful with that and the alternating Advil/Tylenol cocktails... for about a day. And then, yup, she had another seizure - yesterday afternoon. It was a mild one, or so our caregiver tells me. It happened at the daycare, and of course by the time DoT and I got there, it was long over. On the one hand, it's good it happened at the daycare, since I didn't see it, and I'm definitely less freaked out this time than I was the last time. (Although still a bit freaked out.) But, on the other hand, our caregiver assures us that this time she didn't stop breathing and so it might have been good if I had seen it, so I could quit worrying about the not breathing part. Anyhow, she hasn't had any fever medication for about 6 hours now and seems fine, so hopefully we're done with this fever and we're good to go for about another six weeks. Of course, I would never say that we're over it, or even suggest that I was thinking we're over it... at least not without knocking on every piece of wood furniture in our house. :-)

The playhouse that was ordered at the baby shower I went to last weekend has arrived and is being delivered to us (by our lovely friends who hosted the shower) tonight. Hopefully DoT and I will be able to put it together tomorrow. I'm sure all the kids will be anxious to have it set up, so we'll see what we can do. Neither one of us is the handiest though, so we may need to wait until Grandpa G comes for his next visit. :-)

Sorry, no pictures with this blog entry. Maybe if we get the playhouse set up soon we'll put a picture of that on the blog.

Also, for anyone who would like to have pictures from us that they can download and print (yes, I'm thinking of you, Cheryl M), send me an email and I'll add you to the list of people who can access our Flickr photos. We're starting to upload pics to Flickr (but we're not going back in time, so don't even bother sending us a request for a pic you saw in the past) so others can access them too. But I'm far too paranoid to make our Flickr account open to just anyone, so it's by invitation only. Send me a note and I'll add you.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend everyone!

K..

Surfacing from sick week

So, after almost three years of being home with the girls from China, we finally had a sick kid this week. Aside from the frequent fevers that both E and A get (during which they don't seem sick as long as we keep the fever in check with Advil or Tylenol), neither one had ever been sick. At least not sick as in vomiting.. they've had colds in the past.

Well, this week E caught some type of stomach bug that involved abdominal pain (cramps probably, but it's hard to say since she just laid around whining and saying her "tummy hurts") and vomiting. She had it for about 4 days, so I consider myself lucky that she only threw up four times. The first time she threw up was kind of funny... it was a huge surprise to her (having never thrown up before in her almost four years) and she actually laughed after it happened. The novelty wore off though.. for both of us. After the first time though, she was pretty good about alerting us to the fact that she was about to be sick, and so we didn't have a lot of clean-up to deal with. I know, I know, this is more information that you wanted, right? Okay, moving on from this lovely topic...

Yesterday, A, B and I went to a shower for a friend who recently adopted a baby from Ethiopia. (Dot stayed home with E, to avoid passing sicko germs to everyone else). Well, it turns out that the shower was a surprise joint-shower for my friend and for us (actually B). What a nice surprise. We had a really great time - there was lots of food and I actually had a chance to visit a bit with friends, even given that I was on my own with two kids in tow. And, in a few weeks, we will be getting a play house that has been ordered as a shower gift. The girls are going to love it every bit as much as B will, I think. I showed them a picture of it and they are pretty psyched. :-) Of course, I didn't have a camera along with me at the shower, so I don't have any pictures to show you.

Yesterday was also B's second birthday. So we sang 'happy birthday' and blew out candles on a cake at the shower, and then did it all over again at home (so E and DoT could participate). I got a few pictures at the home rendition. Here they are...

(All three kids helped blow out the candles.)

While E was home sick, I pulled out my knitting thinking I could get back to it. (It's probably been at least a year since I last did any knitting.) E decided she wanted to knit too. Here she is with her work...

I'm thinking she did better than I did...

Notice the dropped stitch and the broken needle. *Sigh* Clearly I have some remedial work to do.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you are enjoying this spring and everything around you is coming alive. If you have any tips for effort-free-gardening (particularly for a garden that has been neglected for years) please, please leave me a comment. :-) (Comments on other topics are also welcome!)

K...

Welcome Spring!

So, the weather is now starting to warm up and we've been trying to get outside and enjoy it. A few days ago, DoT took the kids to one of the parks near our house and they amused themselves by running up and down the hill. Well the girls ran up and down (oh yeah, and screamed, they're into that these days), B mostly just amused himself by watching them. :-)



Oh yes, and as evidenced by this video, my absence meant no one was thinking about how impossible grass stains are to get out of pants. :-) Fortunately, the grass hasn't yet started turning green so it was mostly just mud... that I'm hoping will come out easier than grass stains would ...

Finally, on Wednesday DoT and I took B and A to the Children's Hospital for the morning. B had three appointments (at 9:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. so we figured we throw in a trip to a clinic and some bloodwork for A while we were there. What a fun morning. While in the past A has handled blood draws amazingly well, Wednesday was an exception. Talk about screaming. I felt sorry for all the parents with kids in the waiting room while A was in having her blood taken. Try telling a kid it isn't going to hurt while they're listening to a screaming, sobbing, almost hysterical kid going through it right at that moment just on the other side of what must be a paper-thin door. Anyhow, we all survived it. The blood A had taken is going to the USA for some genetic testing, which we won't have the results of for 6 to 8 weeks.

B had his first speech therapy appointment. He's doing really well. The doctor was quite impressed with him, and especially happy at what a little parrot he is. It makes it really easy when he happily tries to say whatever you say to him. According to the findings of this visit, B currently uses b, p, t, d, m, n, w, s, k, g, and is starting to use h. He also is using simple words and some combinations he's learned (e.g., thank you; bye bye; how are you? (which sounds more like howyoo); and double, double (OK, he's not saying that yet, but he's heard it enough I'm sure he'll be ordering for us soon). Then after his appointment with the speech pathologist, he had a hearing test (where he finally 'aced' a test), and a visit to the Ear, Nose and Throat doc. There is some fluid in his ears, but given his good hearing test, they don't think tubes in his ears are needed - at least not at this point. He'll be followed every six months by both the Ear, Nose and Throat doc, and the speech pathologist.

No fevers for either girl right now, but I'm just waiting now for the next one for A. We have been given the option of putting A on anti-seizure meds to keep her from having another seizure; but we're not sure whether or not we'll do it. Dot and I are of different opinions on this, and while we all know that my opinion is the one that truly matters, the fact that DoT doesn't agree has me second-guessing myself somewhat. We'll probably wait until after at least the next fever has come and gone before we make a decision.

Finally, I'll end this post with a couple of pics. The first one shows how we travel the neighbourhood in style. (The hands are over the eyes because they all thought it was too sunny. Huh. No such thing, in my opinion.) The second one was taken the evening of Easter, following our egg hunt (we were too busy all day to get to it!)