"Catch-Up" #1

OK, I'm getting there... Time is moving a little too fast for me :0)

JOSHY'S FIRST HAIRCUT - MAY 2010

He looks like such a big boy, and SO stinkin' cute!

MAY 2010 - HAILEY'S FIRST DANCE RECITAL The recital theme was "Holidays"

(hence the Christmas trees and Snowgirls in May)

Such a very cute little snowgirl!

(FYI..don't panic, I paid for the copyright release for the professional photos :0)

APRIL 2010 - Zach's 9th Birthday Zach doesn't really like cake or ice cream, he always asks for a "doughnut tower" for his birthday

The boys! Zachy asked to have a "crab boil" for his birthday dinner. Yummy, If any of you have never had one, we highly recommend it. You boil corn on the cob, potatoes, big sausages, crab legs and shrimp all together then dump it on the table and "dig in"... It's fabulous!

EASTER 2010

I have no idea why I don't have any pictures of the boys on Easter Sunday... I honestly can't remember

(I really am getting old, Easter wasn't THAT long ago :0)

On Saturday, after our Easter egg hunt

New York Pictures

Wow, when I said that it would take me some time to get the pictures organized I really didn't mean 2 whole months :0).

Trying to move has been crazy! I am waaay behind...

Our first day in NYC! Our hotel's courtyard had this giant watering can and these huge pillows to sit on, it was cool! We went to play in Central Park. After our overnight flight we were very tired, the boys are so cute napping on the bed. They had a nice long nap while I met with a journalist from New Yorker Magazine for an interview about adoption. She is not sure yet if she is going to do a feature article in the magazine or a book (I think I gave her WAY more information than she knew what to do with :0). The writer (Larissa) was so cool, if we ever moved to NYC (which I would love, but can't afford), we would totally be "buddies".

TIMES SQUARE

It was very warm in NY (they had to "de-ice" the plane here in Utah before we could take off). I checked the weather report and was prepared for the nice weather, the boys on the other hand did not believe me and packed long sleeves and sweaters. We did what any self respecting NYC tourists would do... we bought I love NY shirts from a street vendor :0) My kids walked around definitely looking like tourists, it was very funny. Whenever I go to NYC I ride the subway almost everywhere, I only grab a cab when I am to lazy to walk to the next subway station :0). The people at the agency in NY were so impressed that we rode the subway everywhere, I thought that was funny. I guess visitors usually take taxis everywhere, if you ever visit NY take the subway! It is cheap, simple, and goes almost everywhere (we rode it from the Upper East Side all the way to Brooklyn). It really isn't scary at all, the picture of the boys in front of the Alice in Wonderland tile mural is on one of the platforms... how scary can it be? :0)No trip to the big apple would not be complete without a hot dog from a street vendor, a trip to Bloomingdales, Dylan's Candy Bar and Serendipity 3 for the famous frozen hot chocolate... yummy! We went to the adoption agency for a visit with Josh's birth mom. The lady in the picture holding Josh is the social worker at Spence Chapin that placed both Hailey and Josh with us, we LOVE Gretchen! We took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, best deal ever! You go right past the Statue of Liberty (which by the way is very cool, but if you don't like stairs, I would just ride by it on a boat :0). The Circle Line boats do tours but the Staten Island Ferry is FREE! You just go to Staten Island, get off, walk around to the other side, get back on and ride back. When the ferry boat drivers are not running the boats into the building :0) it is great fun! We went to Grand Central Station, FAO Schwarz, The Upper West side (my absolute favorite part of Manhattan!), Zabar's, Chinatown and Rockefeller Center. Cody Joe just HAD to go to the NBA store on 5th Ave. It is like his "mother ship" :0). This is the day that we went down to Brooklyn to visit Josh's birth mom, her sisters, and her mom. It was funny to walk through the area of Brooklyn that she lives, we were THE ONLY white people, I am not exaggerating! I was raised in a much more diverse environment so I actually have been the only white person in a room before :0) but I think that it was REALLY good for Andrew and Cody Joe to look around and see what it feels like to be the minority for once. It gave them a slight taste of what it must be like to live in Utah County and be black :0). When we got home, Krista and Hailey had to go through all of our suitcases to make sure that we brought back plenty of souveniers, we did. I had to buy a suitcase in New York to get everything home and this did not include the giant FedEx box that I sent home all of our dirty laundry in :0) We had a very fun trip!

Back from NY

We are back from "The Big Apple" and we had a wonderful time! I will get to putting pictures on ASAP. Since we took about 200 pictures, it may some time to get them on the computer and organized :0)

Krista's 6th and Josh's 18 month Birthday

March 23, 2010

6 years old!!

Who knew that a comb and mirror would be so exciting? :0)Hailey and Josh are always ready and willing to "help" Krista with her presents. Krista was a really good sport about it this year and didn't "freak out" every time someone touched one of her gifts. Well... one of the unfortunate effects of having a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is not mastering "permanence". So, whenever Hailey got excited about a present, Krista would say "here Hailey, you can have it". Ummm, that phrase means something VERY different to Hailey than it does to Krista. Needless to say, we have had quite a few battles since about "what is who's" - Sigh!

Every year, for one month, we have "consecutive age" kiddos...

Krista is 6, Tia is 7 and Zachy is 8!

"Tia attack!!"

Joshy - 18 months old

Such a sweet boy!! I can't believe how fast time goes...

"Ebenezer Cheeser"

OK, so following any event there is the inevitable "Krista confusion" of what actually happened. I wish that I could spend some time in Krista's head to find out exactly how things are "bouncing around" in there :0)

2 days after her birthday, Andrew went to the school early to pick her up so that I could take her to the Dr. for her "well-check" appointment. When Andrew walked into the classroom, Krista jumped up from her chair, got tangled up in her backpack that was on the floor by her feet, didn't notice, ran toward Andrew, tripped, went flying forward slamming her head into the door frame in the process. Her teacher (and Andrew) gasp, Krista gets up, gives a one syllable "laugh" and goes on like nothing happened (with her teacher rolling her eyes, amazed at yet another instance of Krista's lack of "pain receptors").

3 days after her birthday... Krista and Andrew having a conversation with a lady at Krista's Saturday program:

Krista - "I had a birthday, I am not 7 anymore"

Lady - "Oh, wow so now you are 8 years old?"

Krista - "Yep"

Andrew - "Um, Krista you just turned 6"

Krista (stated VERY "matter of factly") - "That's right, 6... It was Hailey's birthday"

Lady - Confused look on her face, decides to "let it go"

Krista - "I had a birthday cake with Cinderella on it"

Lady - "Cinderella, how fun!"

Andrew - "Umm, Krista it was Snow White"

Krista - "That's right, Snow White and I ate Hailey's name off the cake"

Andrew - "No Krista, you ate your name from the cake"

Krista - "That's right" (again very "matter of factly" as she runs off to play leaving Andrew shaking his head and the lady looking very confused).

I laughed so hard when he told me this story because we have conversations like this with Krista ALL THE TIME, the lady at the Treatment Center does not, so she got a little taste of "Krista's world" :0).

More surgeries...

Tia and Josh both had surgery on Tuesday March 16th

Before... This is Tia's "Marilyn Monroe" look :0)

Tia had tubes put back in her ears and her tonsils taken out. The Dr. said that she had VERY large tonsils and a huge bunch of scar tissue in her right ear (from so may infections) the tube from the last set was embedded in it. I think that she will feel a lot better now... yeah!

We only got "after" pictures of Joshy, it was pretty tricky to get 2 kids in there at the same time. With Josh going home after surgery and Tia staying overnight. Josh had ear tubes placed (after 9 ear infections in 1 year) and his adenoids removed. The Dr. said that his adenoids were completely blocking off his nasal cavity, poor squashy :0( He had RSV last month, he gets croup every time he gets sick and he has had 3 different antibiotics in the past 2 weeks to try to clear up the latest ear infections. When the Dr. put the tubes in, his ears were still full of fluid and super swollen :0(

Tia all set up in her hospital room, they had a regular hospital bed set up for her when we got up there. I tried very hard not to break out in hysterical laughter when I saw it, I managed to explain the need for the fully enclosed bed without laughing. I had this very clear image of Tia jumping out of bed and crawling down the hall dragging her IV behind her in the middle of the night :0). She ended up doing SO well after surgery that we talked the Dr. into letting her come home, we knew that both she and I would be a lot more comfortable at home overnight.

Joshy is trying to stay awake long enough to drink some Pediasure

House Anyone...?

Well, the time has come... we are selling our house and moving to a handicapped accessible house in Mapleton. Spread the word! We are selling it "by owner" to avoid the fees/commissions of a realtor. I have started a separate blog with all of the pertinent info, it is...

BUYOURGREATHOUSE.BLOGSPOT.COM