The Long Thanksgiving weekend

I have so much in my life to be thankful for. My children. My health. My family. My church. My job(s). My life. This past Thanksgiving was about spending time with family. It was so nice!

We started out Thursday traveling to my aunt's house on my dad's side. She has a big woods behind her house that is a nature preserve so after we ate and cleaned up we went for a walk out there. It was a perfect day for it. I took a bunch of pictures with my cell phone (translation=sucky pictures). I debated about bringing my camera but figured we wouldn't have time to do anything outside the house anyway. I was wrong. Sad face.




Later in the afternoon we headed over to my mom's place to feast on a turkey, pork roast, potatoes, yams, cranberries, gravy, pies, etc. It was delicious and I suffered from a food coma the rest of the evening. It was really nice to visit with everyone though. My aunt M. and her family came (my aunt M. is the one who traveled to Vietnam with me). My brother and his family were there too. My niece is getting so big. Again, no camera. I stink!

Friday was a do nothing day. Hollywood's best friend came over to spend the night...I made pho. It was an all day ordeal.

The ingredients:

The fixings to go with it:

And the finished product:

I'll be honest. It was delicious BUT it was way too expensive with all that meat/bones. I also made a big mistake. It said to cook it for a minimum of 6 hours, but I fell asleep on the couch with Lil Bro for an hour (so it cooked for 7 hours) and when I woke up there was hardly any broth left. It had boiled off. To the point that there was not enough left. I was disappointed to say the least. Plus you take out all of the bones and meat it was cooked with - seems like such a waste of all that expensive meat. I would have come out ahead had I just make the couple hour round trip drive to go eat it somewhere. That will be the last time I make it that way. It was fun for all of us though to eat it and the kids all liked it. Except my 100% Vietnamese child. He wouldn't touch it or even try it. LMAO.

I wanted to put up the Christmas tree but we never got around to it. Saturday we went to see a movie and Sunday we went for a walk. Here are some pictures from that. Hollywood's mama cat followed us the whole way (like a dog) and back.

Another random photo:

This pictures cracks me up for 2 reasons...one the kitten just stayed on her shoulder forever and eventually fell asleep there. Secondly - Lil Brother is playing Mario Cart on the Wii. He mastered that skill over the holiday weekend. That boy can drive! With little instruction from Hollywood, he picked it right up.

He amazes me. This evening when I was on the computer he came and sat next to me with his "Angry Birds notebook" and grabbed a pencil and quizzed me on how to spell various things. He can write really well. He asked me to spell words (so he could write them in his notebook) that started with "V" and then "U" and thought it was hilarious when he wrote "underwear". He also asked me to spell the character's names from Veggie Tales. He is so thirsty for knowledge. I just love it. He asks me to look stuff up on the computer for him - like the names I didn't know. He asks me to print Angry Bird coloring pages out for him too. He loves it when we draw the birds for him to color. I SUCK at drawing, but luckily they are pretty easy.

He's 3 1/2. If he already knows how to write...what is he going to know by the time he starts kindergarten?

He's so full of life, love, and personality. He is simply amazing. How could I have gotten so lucky? I think of the path that both of our lives were on before we met...me a single mom from a small town in the Midwest...him an orphan from a poor city in Vietnam...somehow fate brought me to him and him to me. He is the greatest gift I could have ever wished for. He makes my heart happy and I hope I have the same effect on him.

Thoughts....

I've decided to take Lil Brother to another pediatric dentist to get a 2nd opinion. I know he needs major work done, but I just want one more person to tell me exactly what he NEEDS done now. I also want to see what kind of setting they would do it in, what the dentist is like, etc. I didn't really know what to ask or expect last week but now I feel like I want to compare.

I keep thinking about him being put under and them working in his tiny mouth on his tiny teeth and it makes me want to cry. I don't want him to have to go through this. I know he has to, but I just can't stand the image of him in the chair while they work on his teeth for an hour or more. My poor baby. His appointment is early next Wednesday morning.

I will feel better if I have a 2nd ped. dentist look. This place does things differently than the first as well. They will do an exam and the x-rays in office so they can give me a better idea of what will need to be done. The other place was basically going to just put him under, then do the x-rays and do whatever needs to be done all in one shot. I guess I just feel better if he gets this out of the way rather than adding to the time he has to be put under while they do x-rays as well.

What do I know? I'm new at this. My girls never had dental issues. As a matter of fact, Hollywood has never had a filling in her life. And MK only had a couple when she was much older. Lil Bro is so little and I HATE the idea of putting him under. I know it is better for him and them to do it that way, but still. He's my baby.

The week

Short week this week - YAY!!!! I can't wait to have some time off. At the new company I'm with we get a paid holiday for both Thursday and Friday. Love that! We're also having a pot luck lunch on Wednesday...so sounds like a pretty easy week for me!

For Thanksgiving this year we'll be heading to my mom's house. She lives very close by so no travel for us either. Can't wait for turkey! I'm not sure what I'm going to make to bring yet.

Friday the kids and I have planned to dig out the Christmas tree and decorate it while I try my hand at making phở bò (Vietnamese noodle soup served with beef). It takes about 6 hours so we'll have plenty of time to get the Christmas decorating done. I wanted to make the pho this past weekend, but the snow screwed up my schedule. I found all but one of the ingredients in my local Cub Foods, which surprised me. I'm so excited and I hope it turns out - I could live off of the stuff.

Later Friday I think we're heading to my friend's house for a get together. Saturday I'm thinking we'll be heading to my aunt's house for another Thanksgiving celebration, but I have not received confirmation of that yet.

To sum it up, it looks like a great week!!

The Dental Results

Not good. Caps. On most of his teeth. :(  The dentist said that his teeth are all bad. The enamel is bad, most likely due to lack of nutrition during the time he spent in his bio-mother's belly when the baby teeth are formed. I'm so sad for him and for his little teeth. The molars he needs until he is 11 or 12, so they are worth saving. His two front top teeth will get caps too - they will be white on the front so they should look nice. Still sucks though. They obviously have to put him under to do the work since he's so young and would never sit still to have all that done. One of the holes is so deep they're not sure they can save it. He may also need some "root work" (root canals).

I'm angry too. Mostly at my current dentist. I knew that bad teeth were a good possibility given his background so I first brought him to the dentist when he was barely two. Just after his molars came in. They looked funny to me - different colors. The (idiot) dentist said it was nothing to worry about. I brought him back in when he turned 3 this spring. He wasn't very cooperative so they didn't want to push it and didn't do ANYTHING. I wish now that I would have made them give him an exam. Maybe that would have meant his teeth were not so bad now. My poor baby.

Then comes the "How the hell am I going to pay for this???"  I'm waiting for my dental insurance to give their estimate on what they will pay before I totally freak out but the dentist estimated the work to be around $2,250. That doesn't include any of the other charges for putting him under. That would fall under my health insurance...which has a $2,000 deductible. Oh joy. I'm fully expecting that this will cost me about $2500 out of pocket - after the dental insurance pays. We shall see. I'll have to get a loan for it...obviously he needs it done. I can't really afford another payment...and I have my doubts that they will even lend me the money, but I have to try.

Puss in Boots, Jewelry Parties, and (another) Dr. visit.

Ah, the weekened is over. Sad face. I had a nice weekend. Friday night we cleaned house. Saturday morning I bought food for the jewelry party I had later that day...my brother stopped by and changed some lightbulbs for me that I couldn't reach on my 6' ladder in the living room too. While he was over with the ladder, he cleaned my arch window and sill above my entry door. Such a good brother he is.

Hollywood and her friend (and MK helped decorate) made cupcakes for the party. They even put jewelry on them:

The party went well. I have to be honest though, it was a little annoying to me that people don't RSVP. I invited people through a FB event and also through the mail. I would say only about 25% of the people responded at all. Two that RSVP'd yes didn't show up anyway. I found out though that the mailed invites had the wrong phone number on most of them, so that might explain some of those...and some people don't use FaceBook that much.

I guess I don't have parties like that often at all and I like to make it fun...I ended up making way too much food, just in case some came and didn't RSVP. It was a good reason to get the house and yard cleaned up though and it is always fun getting together with the women in my family. I would have liked to see more of my peeps there, but everyone is so busy all the time. MK and Hollywood's old babysitter came - I love her. I wish she still did daycare. She retired long ago. She's the sweetest, kindest lady ever.

Pet update:

The outside cats and kittens are finally using the heated home I made for them. They're all curled up inside there as I type. The house can fit this many in it right now (they are sleeping on top of it in the picture below):

At least I didn't do all that work for nothing. :)

Movie:

Hollywood had a friend stay overnight last night and this morning we all went to church (where we met up with my grandma and aunt M.) and afterward we went to see Puss In Boots. I LOVE that movie. It is soooo cute. I guess you can tell I'm sort of a cat person anyway, but that movie was so great even if you're not. I don't want to give any of it away....so I won't say too much. There's a part in there that shows when he was a baby though - so CUTE! Meow.

Medical stuff:

Little Brother was a little whiney and not himself during the movie. He had told me yesterday that his ear hurt and then he kept making a growling sound like this throat hurt this past week. During the movie he said his throat hurt too. I (stupidly) decided to bring him in to the same day clinic to get his ears checked. A kid at his daycare's sister had strep recently too, so I thought it would be better to catch it early. I guess everyone else and thier grandparents decided today was a good day to visit the same day clinic too. Thank goodness the girls went home with my sister because lil bro and I sat there for 3 freakin hours. It was dark outside when we got out. Oh, and he just has a virus. He's my 3rd kid - I should have known better. Sheesh!!! About an hour and half into it I wanted to leave, but you know after you invested that much time you don't just want to give up. Damn it.

Hollywood is doing great wearing contacts, but she doesn't have a pair of glasses with her current prescription in them. I ordered some today from a place online for CHEAP. I ordered one for each of us since I can't see out of mine well anymore due to scratches. I also found a company to order my contacts through (same brand as I currently wear) for $15 less per box than my eye Dr. charges. Yay me!

Fuzzball

I love this picture...furry little kitten legs and tail.

Lil Bro's teeth

I wish I had been more proactive pushy with Lil Brother's dental care. I have been bringing him to the dentist since he was 2 but they have yet to clean his teeth or do x-rays. I noticed when his 2 year molars came in they looked funny - the enamel was different colors swirled in. That was why I brought him in the first time to see what was up with that. They said it was nothing to worry about. Well, those are the same teeth that I can now visually see holes/cavities in.

I brought him in again Wednesday. They confirmed that he has at least 3 big cavities and referred me to a pediatric dentist. The ped dentist was bothered that the first dentist had never cleaned or done x-rays on him before this. They have to start from scratch and figure out the best treatment. We go in next week with them. I'm scared for him. Depending on what they do, he might have to be sedated to do the work. He's not the best cooperator with the dentist which is part of the reason my first dentist didn't push it. But given his history of (most likely) no prenatal care and poor nutrition in the orphanage, I think they could have done better. The first dentist mentioned something about possibly restraining him. I'm like ya, right - over my dead body. Next dentist please and thankyouverymuch. Sheesh!

I hope I find out good news next week, but I know he'll need something done with them. Poor little guy.

Kittens

Did I tell you about the stray cat (I guess she's ours now) who moved her kittens up on my front steps? Ya, I did. Smart cat. Now we have 4 little fluff balls running around out there. They are so cute I can hardly stand it.

Hollywood is working to raise money to have them all spayed/neutered/shots done so she can keep them. I'm hoping to convince her to let me find them good indoor homes, but she's got other plans. She's allergic to cats so they can't live inside.

This one's name is Jellybean. He's named that because of a story MK told Hollywood about an animal shelter that was having trouble finding homes for black cats. They named one of them Jellybean and posted it's info online. It got adopted right away. So they tried it again with their next black cat that couldn't find a home. It worked again! They started doing that with all of them and there must have been something to it because they found homes way faster than with other names. Here is our black Jellybean:

Next is Bruno - it just fit. He or she is sweet and fluffy and OHMYGOSH I can't stop petting him! It's hard to tell if it is a boy or a girl when they are so young and fluffy.

Here is Jack (with the moustache) and Christopher - named after Christopher Columbus - he's the explorer of the bunch. He was out running around at 2-1/2 weeks, a good week or so ahead of his siblings. Jack is the whiner of the bunch. He's more shy and he cries when he gets too far away from his mama.

They are all very special to Hollywood. I guess they are to me too since I had a nightmare the other night that a giant tom cat came over and killed some of them. I was so upset. So scary - I hate it when I have nightmares. It doesn't happen often, thankfully.