Updates Feb 2012

Life is still moving on. Weird how that happens. I mean you know it would, even after you lose someone you love....life goes on. But now you have to adjust...in ways that you never let yourself think of before. Like trying to explain to a three year old boy why his Nana B can't come to his birthday party....like not having a place to stop by in town while the kids are at an activity....not having her face light up when she sees us come in to visit her. I miss her. We all do. Little Brother does too. He tells me that a lot.

Updates on everyone, youngest to oldest....

Little Brother had his dental surgery done 2 weeks ago. I was so scared that something would go wrong...but thank God, it didn't. He had a tough time with everything though. The dentist came to talk to me after he was done and before I saw lil brother. He said lots of stuff - the things that stuck in my head were 1) He has a very small mouth even for his age 2) He had a lot of trouble getting the work done because of the space 3) It was a good thing they didn't attempt to do the work in office because of how hard it was to do.

Then they came and got me so I could go see him in recovery. I was unprepared for what he looked like. He was still out of it but he sat up to search for his Angry Bird pigs that I had given to him before the surgery...his mouth looked disfigured - the swelling was so painfully big that his little lips were at least 4 times the normal size. He was bleeding from his nose, had an abrasion under his left eye and he just looked like hell. I felt so horrible for him. My stomach did a flip and I wanted to cry like a baby. The nurse told me they had trouble with his breathing tube...which was inserted through his nostril since they were working his his mouth. They had to remove it and reinsert a smaller one. I honestly cannot even think of him laying there while they did this stuff to him. It makes me sick. He did much better after they let me hold him in my arms while he came out of it. He was really brave and did great. We got to the hospital around 9 and were home by 3.

He was in rough shape - his lips had ripped in the corners and had sores inside of them from them stretching his poor little mouth out. He also had a low grade fever and of course wouldn't eat a thing. I stayed by his side, reading books, watching TV, singing songs, and getting him to eat bits of food and drink. Wednesday I had to work so MK stayed with him. I kept him home from daycare all week until Friday. That was the only day he went. By Saturday I had my boy back to pretty much normal. He talks a little differently than he did before...harder for him to say his "s" sounds. We have a follow up this week to make sure that things are good inside there. The molars to me seem a little big...like he can't get his front teeth together anymore. He even said that his teeth are big. I suppose they would feel that way though since they no longer have craters in them. Ugh, glad this is behind us.

Hollywood:

She's doing great in school...and by great I mean all A's. She's rejoined swimming and dance so she's busy 3 days a week with that. She seems to really enjoy both. They just got their dance pictures taken this week so I'm looking forward to getting them back. I do have a hard time swallowing the $ they charge for pictures. I could take them myself for a few dollars a print. But I don't have that choice. :)

Her BFF is in both activities with her so they have been hanging out a lot also. Her BFF spent the weekend here. They always have such fun together and I hardly notice she's here really. They went out for a walk together Saturday morning and took some pretty cool pictures from behind our house.



Her kitties followed along behind them as well:

Mary Katherine:

She continues to do awesome in school too. She's in her 2nd year of Spanish in high school and I'm amazed by how much she knows. Sometimes she and I text back and forth in Spanish for fun...except she's going from memory and I have to use google translate for everything. She's still in dance...they had their 1st dance competition of the season last weekend. She's got nerves of steel. I don't know how she does it. I'd hide in the bathroom while my team went out there, but not her! She was flawless. I didn't get to see her in person...a close family friend passed away and I was at the visitation. It was the first competition I've ever missed, but I saw it on tape afterward. She was so sweet about me missing it...she told me it was important for me to be at the visitation and she could go with her friend to the competition. I was relieved she was so understanding about it.

Me:

I'm doing pretty good. I got a nice raise at my new job...puts me back up to where I was (and then some) when I was at my job of 14 years that went under. I think I continue to prove my worth to them. I do a LOT there...they are totally getting their money's worth out of me. :) Seriously...I've never worked so hard in my life...and I love it. I love learning new things...getting things done for them that they had only hoped I would be able to sometime in the future. My boss doesn't seem like one to give you much credit until you prove yourself to him...but I've managed to get a couple compliments out of him and the raise said a lot to me. I'm starting to find my groove there.

I have to say that I'm as fat as ever. Fatter, really. Fat as I have ever been...even heavier than when I was 9 months pregnant - by a LOT. So disappointing to me. I have been gaining weight pretty steadily since about the time my love life fell apart last year. I'd like to think that had nothing to do with it, but who knows. Only one thing I do know- I can't stand it anymore. So last week I joined weight watchers. I have done really well and am sort of looking forward to my weigh in this week. I am trying to follow the plan completely...and I am finding it pretty easy. It's the points plus system. I went overboard a bit today with the Superbowl party food I had, but I had enough "bonus" points to cover it. The scale will tell....

I have not gone out since my class reunion back in October last year. I've been reading a lot. I started playing Farmville again too. Don't laugh. Hahahaha. I already gave it up again though...too time consuming. The reading is too, but I feel like I'm doing something more constructive that way. I read all the books in the Twilight series...yes, I know what happens in Part 2 of Breaking Dawn. But I won't tell. And now I'm on the 2nd book in the Hunger Games series. Those are really good books too.

I have not been doing much with photography since my main computer got a virus and I'm too broke to fix it. But here's a picture of my back yard Saturday morning:

This weekend we went to visit Hollywood's grandma - she made us homemade pho and eggrolls. To die for! Here's a picture - Hollywood, her Ba, my would-be nephew J. (he spent the weekend at my place this weekend too), and Hollywood's aunt (my ex's sister - she's awesome and I love her!):

Since we had 2 extra kids sleeping over, Lil Brother slept in my room last night. He's so sweet - I have a big fluffy down comforter that I sleep with and it was bunched up between us this morning...I heard him stirring so I was awake and I see his little head pop up over the comforter to see me...he said, "Hi mama." I said, "Hi sweetie."  He laid his head down and he said, "I love you." Awwwwww...what an awesome moment. I love him so much it hurts.

My Grandmother

My grandma got out of the hospital just after Christmas and ended up back in there this week. Another medication issue...this time much worse than last. She's not out of the woods yet. I feel so awful for her. Her face and tongue were so swollen she couldn't shut her mouth...she had trouble breathing and everything. Some allergic reaction to some medication. She's on so many. I don't know how my mom and aunt M. find the strength to handle the stress of watching their mother go through that. It's hard for me and I'm not nearly as involved as they are. I feel guilty about that...not being able to share the...what's the word? Responsibility? I work so much and have the 3 kids to take care of. But I think part of me doesn't want to be there either...I want to cry all the time when I see her like that. It sounds so selfish. It's not practical for me to hang out there though...by the time I get home from work and get the kids some supper it's after 7. But still, I feel like I should be doing more.

I went to see her last night...she was pretty good when we were there...the swelling had gone down from when I was there the day before. But today was worse again. She has fluid building up. Please, pray for my sweet grandma Berit. I hate seeing her suffer so much and I just want her to get better. I love her so much it hurts.

I was touched by the crotcheted "prayer shawl" that was on her lap in the hospital. I'm not sure when she received it, but she knew that one of the pastors at church had brought it to her. I had never heard of a prayer shawl. As I sat there with her I looked at that hand made mini-blanket and imaged the hands of the person who made it. I wondered about the prayers that were said as it was made and designated. I felt some comfort with that laying over her as she lay there so frail...almost like it is proof of God's love draped over her. I am grateful to the person who made it and the church for bringing it over.

I hate crying. I have a headache and a lump in my throat when I think about it. MK is having a really hard time with it too. She wrote a very touching poem about her. She speaks on paper what my heart couldn't put into words so well. I'm not ready to lose her and I'm scared. More scared than I ever have been before. There was just something about the look in her eyes. Please pray for her. Thank you.

Zooey Mama!* Longer post...lots going on!

What a weekend! It started early Friday with Hollywood getting braces put on. Unfortunately they hurt her quite a bit and she had a hard time all weekend. They have 2 brackets on the inside of her last molars on top which rubbed a hole in her tongue on each side. :(

Friday evening Little Brother had a Christmas program. It was really cute. He didn't sing at all. He was so funny to watch though. I was worried he would cry, but he didn't. He was too interested in watching everyone else to remember to sing. He also found a couple coins in his pocket and tried to show me and the kids around him. I don't know where they came from. I only took a couple pictures and the rest is on video. Here's one though.

And here we are having cookies and juice afterwards in the fellowship hall.

I may post a video later...too tired right now.

Saturday I got up early, cooked, cleaned and got ready for MK's birthday party. That started at noon. She had family and several friends over for pizza, pop, and a DQ ice cream cake.

She took her friends on a tour...showing them our little barn with her chickens...they were pretty impressed with the egg that one of them laid. She took them on a walk to our pond behind the house...and showed them her gecko and hermit crabs. Then most of us (9 kids & 9 adults) went snow tubing in the afternoon. That was AWESOME! We got a picture before we left, but 3 of our group had left a little early to go to another engagement so they are not in here.

I'm the one in the red jacket...the same height as some of the shorter kids. :D My cousins, brother, sister-in-law, sister, aunt, 5 of MK's friends, MK, Hollywood and her best friend are all here (my SIL is taking the picture - thank goodness she had her camera phone with). Everyone said it was really fun and I think they all had a good time.

Let me tell you about it from my perspective...first off, I'm over-weight. Like the most over-weight I have ever been in my entire life. We're talking 25 pounds more than I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant with my last child. Ya, lard ass type of over weight. I stood looking down at the hill wondering if I had the strength to be able to pull my ass back up the hill. It took a while for me to get the courage to go down the first time.

They have a type of pulley system with a rope to get from the bottom to the top. It's pretty basic. I mean like....there's a tractor that runs the pulley system with it's PTO...hooked up to a tire that spins the rope and I'm pretty sure some of the pulley wheels were rims. Like from tires. The tubes as you can see in the picture are from tires. Not the fancy blow up kind you buy at a sporting goods store. Nope...these were watch-out-for-the-metal-valve-stem kind of tires. Not all of them, just one of the ones I got stuck with for a bit. The others had plastic valve stems.

The rope lays on the ground on the way up the hill...you throw your tube down, grab the rope and then jump on your tube and hang onto that rope for dear life. God forbid you start losing your grip and the icy rope starts slipping through your hands. You're screwed then. You better roll off the side and get the hell out of the way of the person coming up behind you. There's no one to direct you as to when you should get on after the last person. You just wing it. There is a woman standing in a booth at the top watching so she can stop it if anything too terrible happens.

I made it up the hill every time. Do you know why? Because looking up at that hill while you're on the way up and realizing that if you slip, you'll have to WALK all the way up gives you a really good reason to hang on for the whole trip. There was one time when I over-shot my tube so it was basically under just my waist and legs...I had to hold my whole body up and hang on to the rope to get up there. I thought for sure my muscles were going to rip away from the bone. I made it though. I can barely move today...but I did it! It was a really fun time with family and MK's friends. I love her friends. They are all sweet and nice like she is.

We got back to my house around 7:15 pm. I heated up the sloppy joe's I had made that morning and got out the chicken salad I had made too. The girls all had some supper and then most of them went home. A few stayed over night. They all had left by noon today (Sunday).

I went Christmas shopping for a bit with MK's dad after the kids left. He called me and asked me to since he was clueless what to get her. I met him in the town where I live and guided him in his choices for a teen girl. :) It was actually pretty enjoyable. I'm glad he and I can be friends. It's much easier for all involved.

I was home in time to give the kids supper and I brought home some meds for Hollywood's sore mouth. I got more wax for her brackets, some numbing gel that the pharmacist recommended for her tongue and some soft foods & ice cream for her to eat. She was finally then able to eat a whole meal for the first time since Friday. It was a chicken pot pie. I hope her mouth adjusts soon. I feel so bad for her. It's hard for her to see the value in it right now, but I know in the long run it is worth it (from experience). I was thankful we were so busy this weekend to keep her mind off of it.

*Zooey mama is what Hollywood and MK always say from the movie Diary of a Whimpy Kid (I don't know how to spell it). :)

Thankful.

Random updates:

Lil Bro - doing great! It is coming up on the 3rd anniversary of his adoption next week. Three years have seriously flown by. Hard to believe how grown up he's getting! I was dressing him after his bath the other day and I said, "Look how long your legs are!! You're getting so long!" He told me he didn't want to have long legs but then I told him how great it was and the next thing you know he's yelling for Hollywood to come and see how long his legs were. Teeheehee.

Hollywood - I'm so proud of her! She got all A's and an A+ on her report card, along with 2 "pleasure to have in class" and a "terrific!" on the comments line. What an awesome student!! Tomorrow morning she goes in to get spacers put in between her molars - in preparation for her braces which go on in one week. I'm happy for her.

MK - I'm very proud of her report card too! She's in AP English (advanced placement) and had a really heavy work load in all her classes. She managed to get all A's and one B (in geometry)! Way to go MK!! I am so grateful to have such hard working kids - even though MK was totally frustrated many times with both her English class and her Geometry class, she stuck it out and pulled off awesome grades. Way to go!!

I really admire the young lady that MK is and is becoming. She is such a good girl. She tries hard in school and cares about her future. She exercises every single day and watches what she eats. She has good, close friends that I like to see her hang around and she is so responsible. She's a great dancer and can kick the cowboy hat off of a 6' tall man if she wanted to. I totally trust her and am so thankful that she is such a great kid.

Me - I'm sick again. Ya, no surprise. They took blood this time and said everything looked good except for my white count - that was high...so they said it's bacterial and gave me another round of antibiotics. I have the same sinus/ear pain as before so I also got a referral to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. Great. I don't get that. But maybe I need to go to bed earlier. Like now. :)

TTYL.

Weekend recap

My aunt is here visiting from out of state. It has been a great time with her these past few days.

We took in an Elvis show Saturday evening. It was....entertaining. I'm pretty sure I was the youngest one there. There were actually 2 Elvises..or Elvi? One young one (the older one's son) and the older one. The young one sang the songs I like...early Elvis stuff. The older one wore the jumpsuits and sang the 70's Elvis stuff. They did really sound A LOT like him...but the looks...not so much. These are my aunts and mom with both of them.

Here's me with the King.

I had also planned to go to an apple orchard with a group of other adoptive families Saturday morning, but Lil Bro and Hollywood woke up feeling under the weather. Lil Bro's eye was crusted shut and he was coughing a lot. Hollywood had a sore throat and cold symptoms. They didn't want to get moving, so I called it off for our family. :(  I was hoping to buy some apples there for a recipe I was making the next day.

Sunday we had a lot of plans too. I started the day before 7:00 am to get food ready for a dinner at my mom's house with most of the family. We were hoping to go to a movie that afternoon as well. We also had to locate materials and build a shelter for the stray cat who showed up this past summer....and now had kittens on my front steps.

I made homemade scalloped potatoes. The recipe said it took 4-5 hours on high in the crock pot. They lied. It took more like 6-7 so that screwed up our potatoes for the dinner. Hate that. BUT the other dish I made was a huge hit. I bought some apples at the store Saturday to use - it says it's Apple Brown Betty...but it's different than what I've had before. IT WAS DELISH! This is what it looks like while cooking:

Hollywood made some Red Velvet cupcakes to bring along too.

After we all ate like pigs - a big ham dinner with potatoes, yams, corn, broccoli, buns, and who-knows-what-else, plus 5 different desserts we decided we were too full to go to the movies. I took a nap on my mom's love seat and my grandma fell asleep on her couch. I think my aunt slept in my mom's bed too. What a fun bunch we are!

The next thing on the list was making a shelter for the mama cat and her babies. They currently are residing in a cardboard box next to the door. Here's mama cat with her kittens in the background.

I found a shelter to make online...heated and insulated. I don't really have the money for it, but Hollywood agreed to work off half of it by taking over cleaning duties from my sister (my sister cleans to take $ off of rent for me). It is getting cold here and the last thing I want is for these kittens to freeze to death on my watch. Hollywood would be devastated. Bringing them in is not an option since Hollywood is allergic. We already have 4 cats in our basement (2 of ours from before we knew she was allergic and 2 of my sister's) so Hollywood can't go down there without getting sick already. Outside is not so bad for her. She takes an allergy pill and can then get by with being around the outside cat.

Here's the materials - the main thing is a 100+ quart cooler. They are not cheap:

And then you wreck it by making a 6" x 6" door for the cat in it. Hahaha. That gets covered up with a piece of carpet slit up the middle to keep the heat in.

You use a rope of lights for the heat source:

And here is the finished product:

We put the food inside just to lure the mama cat into it...the hope is that she'll like it in there and move her kittens in on her own. We'll see.

Tomorrow is going to be BUSY at work. We just got approval on a big project late Friday, so I'll be busy buying parts for it tomorrow. Yay! I like my job. I like being crazy busy too, so this should be fun.