Germs, Germs, Go Away!

Warning: If you don’t want to read about ickiness, I would skip this post and wait for the ones with the cute vacation pictures that will be posted later in the week.

Well, I started this new blog, and then I kind of disappeared for about half a month. Hopefully, things will get better. I knew I would be away Thanksgiving week, as we had a much needed family vacation, but in the midst of our trip preparations, K developed a horrendous cough that just wasn’t getting any better. She acted fine, and had no fever, but the cough wouldn’t go away. I finally decided to take her to the doctor, and as it turns out, she had bronchitis and an ear infection. Nice... So she started antibiotics, a steroid, and nebulizer treatments, all of which we had to haul with us on our vacation.

So, off we went to Georgia for our vacation (more on that in another post), and she was doing fine. The cough was still around, but it was getting better.

Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, I was relaxing at my mother-in-law’s house while the kids were napping. I dozed off in the recliner, and when I woke up, I was feeling yucky. Initially I thought it was that kind of yucky you get when you nap in the afternoon, but don’t really get enough of a nap. But within the hour, I realized it was much, much more. The dreaded 24 hour stomach bug. Ick. Needless to say, I missed supper, and went straight to bed, leaving hubby and MIL to deal with the kids.

And, in case you thought you were done reading about our holiday yuckiness...K woke up sick in the middle of the night that same evening, not once, but twice. When she gets a bug like that, her body fights it by sleeping. She slept pretty much all of Thanksgiving Day. I’m not sure she even realized there was a celebration going on in the house. I was semi-functional on Thanksgiving Day, and M was clingy and whiny, but we thought it was lack of sleep due to being awakened by his sister’s illness during the night. But, no, he got sick sometime during the night the next night. It really didn’t bother him, though. Didn’t even wake him up.

We did make it back home on Saturday, and it looked like everything was getting back to normal. And then, on Monday, our house was filled with Christmas decorations in various phases of unpacking, so my husband suggested going out to supper. We got everyone loaded up and into the restaurant, ordered, and just as our food arrives, M let us know in very definite fashion that he was relapsing with the stomach bug. I’ll leave it at that. It makes me ill thinking about it. I’m just glad we were in a relatively uncrowded section, but I feel for our poor server who had only been on the job about 3 days or so. So we asked for lots of to-go boxes, and headed home.

M has been better today, and even ate some lunch. He was supposed to get a flu-booster this afternoon, but that turned into a sick visit. As it turns out, the poor baby has a horrible sore throat and some congestion, so now he is on antibiotics. One of those moments that makes you feel like “Mom of the Year,” although I did notice him pulling his ears, which is why Dr. A checked his throat at all.

I’m ready for all of these germs to go away and let us enjoy the craziness that is December in our family.

And if you made it to the end of this post of yuckiness, thank you, and any prayers for well children (and parents) would be greatly appreciated.

Wordless Wednesday: Box Full of Cuteness

Oatmeal Cookies

I love reading other people’s blogs and seeing all of the fun things they do, along with the routine things. I’m always impressed by the photos of moms and their kids baking something yummy in a happily messy kitchen. Because, you see, I am not that mom...at all...

My wonderful husband does most of the cooking in our house because he enjoys it. I, on the other hand, can cook, and when I do it, it is because we need to eat. It is a matter of necessity, rather than fun. I do occasionally enjoy baking, but baking with kids is another matter entirely.

Today, the girls are home from preschool because it is Veteran’s Day, and I needed to make use of some oatmeal, as the girls need empty oatmeal canisters for a school activity, so I decided it would be fun for us to make oatmeal cookies together. Miracle of miracles, we actually had all of the necessary ingredients in the house, so “Operation Oatmeal Cookies” was good to go.

And then the stress-filled (for Mama) cookie baking session began. First, there was the argument over who was going to stand on the step ladder and who was going to stand on the stool. Then, there was the baby who didn’t get in his little mini nap that he usually takes on the ride to preschool every day, so he was exceptionally fussy. He was either hanging on my legs or getting into the kitchen cabinets constantly. Finally, I put him in his high chair where he could watch, and that settled him down. And then there was my statement of the hour, “Don’t hang your head over the bowl. You’re going to get hair in the cookies!” The actual measuring, pouring, and stirring parts went fairly smoothly, I’m glad to report.

The girls and I have sampled the first cookies, and they were very yummy. Now, they are settled in for nap time, and I have some time to relax and de-stress from our whole baking experience.

I think I’ll have a cookie...

Wordless Wednesday: Chocolate!

30 Days of Giveaways

Stefanie at Ni Hao, Y'all is hosting 30 Days of Giveaways leading up to Christmas. Follow the link to see how you can win. This should be a lot of fun!



(And watch, and you just might see something from Adoption Voyages sometime during those 30 days...)

A Visit from Murphy

I’m having one of those days. You know the kind...the ones Murphy wrote all of those laws about. Let’s see...it started with a breakfast of a couple of pieces of leftover Halloween candy because I didn’t even have time to fix a bowl of cereal. Then I got in the van to find the gas gauge down in that red area that screams, “Fill this tank now!” Never mind that the digital read-out told me I could go 60 miles with that amount of gas, that red area makes me nervous. But, I forged ahead and took the girls to preschool so we could get there on time.

So then, M and I pull in at the gas station, and I reached in my purse for the debit card...no debit card. All I had was a credit card that we really aren’t using right now. However, since I needed to get back home, I used the card and filled my tank. (I kept telling myself that even Dave Ramsey would have used the credit card in that situation, but no...he would have had the cash on him. It made me feel better for a minute, anyway.) Of course, I still had errands to run, which meant making a trip all the way back home to get the missing debit card and then heading back to the store. From there, things were pretty uneventful for awhile. Except for when M decided to write on the side of the refrigerator with a pencil. (That reminds me that I need to find my Magic Eraser...)

Fast forward to nap time (As an aside, all of my kids still take naps. I’ll take it while I can get it, especially since I’m going to have to wean MJ off of them this summer before she starts kindergarten.)...I was getting the girls settled in for their naps, and I bent over to kiss the top of MJ’s head. At the same time, she jerked her head upward. Now I have a busted lip. I was seeing stars for a little while now. Thanks to one of the kids’ teddy bear ice packs and some ibuprofen, the throbbing is less intense now than it was.

Now, let’s just hope Murphy and his laws leave us alone for the rest of the day!

Absolute Randomness...

Is it bad that I’m already feeling stuck with my blogging? I mean, I haven’t had this one set up for very long. Life just hasn’t been hugely eventful around our household lately, and the things that do qualify as “events” are usually chronicled in the Sunday Snapshot posts. Otherwise, everything is pretty normal. Normal is good, of course, but not necessarily blog-worthy.

Does it count as a blog-worthy event that while my hubby was cooking chili for supper, he discovered that I forgot to buy the beans? He was nice enough to run to the store himself instead of making me do it, which I thoroughly appreciate.

Funny, but I don’t find the Wonderpets nearly as annoying as I did when my kids first discovered the show. I can even hear it and not constantly have the songs running through my head now. That’s a positive. :-)

M has this irritating habit of coming and pushing the keyboard tray in while I am typing. He does this to hubby, too. Good thing he’s cute. Those dimples get him out of a lot...

Okay, now I’m even having trouble coming up with random thoughts...talk about writer’s block. Ironically, though, I’ve thought of several blog post ideas while typing this one. I should probably make a list. So why don’t I wind up this pointlessness and do that...

Sunday Snapshot: {Jacket Weather in Florida...Finally}

When you've grown accustomed to seeing sites like this outside...



You also grow accustomed to the fact that fall takes a lot longer to arrive than it does in other places.



But this week, fall finally came to Florida...



So we were able to break out the jackets...



And to get in a little cool weather outdoor time...



Including making ourselves taller than daddy...



And posing for a picture on the slide...



Wherever you are, enjoy your fall!


And we'll see you later...

What She Knows...

A couple of weeks ago, my husband was asked the following question about our oldest daughter: “Does she know she’s adopted?” He went against his initial thought, to make some kind of a sarcastic comment, and just said, “Yes, she knows.” We find this question pretty humorous…for one thing, our daughter is Asian, and we are not, so it is pretty obvious that she is adopted. For another, the act of shielding children from the knowledge that they are adopted is not nearly as common as it once was.

A better question would probably be, “How much does she know/understand about adoption?” And, since I am not my daughter, I cannot fully speak to her level of understanding. She is 4 1/2, almost 5, and understands things in a childlike way. That said, here is what she knows...

*She knows that she was born in China.

*She knows that she grew in her birth mother’s tummy, although she still confuses birth mother and foster mother at times.

*She knows that she lived with her foster mother when she was a baby in China, and that her foster mother took care of other babies, too. (MJ told me this about the other babies. I don’t know if she is generalizing information from books like Shaoey and Dot and I Love You Like Crazy Cakes, or if this is a genuine memory. I do know she had a foster sister who was adopted by a family in Spain.)

*She recently has come to understand that she lived with her foster mother in China when she was a really little baby. For awhile, she thought she was never a tiny baby because we don’t have newborn pictures of her. Now she understands the reason.

*She knows that Mama and Daddy really wanted to be a Mama and Daddy and prayed to God, and that we came to China and “adoptioned” her. (You have to love 4 year old terminology.)

*She knows that we went to China to get her and bring her home, and that we flew on a big airplane.

*She knows that China is very, very far away (and will tell you this on a regular basis).

All-in-all, I would say she has a decent grasp on things for a child her age. We make it a point to answer her questions when she asks and to be honest with her. When she asked me her birth mother’s name, I had to tell her that we don’t know. That was tough, but it was truth, and tough truths are something that must be faced. And for these precious children, those tough truths are a part of their stories...

Wordless Wednesday: Lighthouse

Wild Olive Give-Away

Have you seen Wild Olive tees? I've admired them from afar for awhile, but haven't ordered one yet. (Sounds like a good idea for spending Christmas money to me... hmmm...) Anyway, they are sponsoring a Give-Away, and part of my entry is to post here on my blog. They are giving away 2 Women of Faith packages, which include t-shirts and tickets to the WOF event in Hartford, CT. And for those of us who don't live in New England, they are doing a second t-shirt give-away. Here is the information straight from the Wild Olive blog...

"We will be giving away TWO Women of Faith Packages. Each package contains two Wild Olive tees of your choosing, and two Women of Faith tickets for their Over The Top Event in Hartford, CT on November 19th and 20th. Amie and Stefanie will be attending this conference, and we would love for you to join us there, representing Wild Olive!

AND, for those of you who don’t live close enough to attend the conference, we love you, too! So we are giving two more prize packages, each contains TWO Wild Olive tees, winner’s choice!

So there will be FOUR winners, announced Wednesday, November 10th. Entries close at midnight EST on Tuesday, November 9th, so get crackin’!

There are three ways to enter:

1. BLOG it. 5 entries. Write up a post about our Wild Olive/Women of Faith giveaway, share a link to this post, and also a bit about Wild Olive tees. Link up below and/or post a comment on our blog with a link to your blog letting us know you entered.

2. FACEBOOK it. 5 entries. Friend us on Facebook at Wild Olive, and become a fan of our Wild Olive Tees page, and do a post on your wall mentioning our Wild Olive/Women of Faith giveaway. Leave a comment here AND on our FB page letting us know you have entered.

3. TWEET it. 1 entry/tweet. Follow us on Twitter, and link to our giveaway post, and mention the WO/WOF giveaway. Only one tweet/day will counted as an entry.

When you leave your comment, PLEASE let us know which prize package you’d prefer: the WO/WOF package or Wild Olive package."

And click here to visit the Wild Olive blog: Wild Olive