9.22.2010

HGTV











If you ever wondered why you don't ever see pictures of the boys together, the top 4 pictures pretty much answers that question. By the way, Kai usually wins as you can see, he finally escaped!
The next picture is of Bei going to the state fair with one of his cousins Gina who we call Saint Gina because she is the sweetest nicest person you would ever meet. I gave each of the kids money to spend at the fair, so what does Gina do with hers? She buys a bunch of gifts for Bei and Kai. She is a very sweet girl!


Dan came home about two weeks ago and said he wanted to move...what? where? when?...now? Good Lord Dan don't you think we have had enough changes in our lives in the past two years??? We built our house as newly weds so we have been here a very long time! To get our house ready for sale, I went into Project Management mode and came up with a three-pronged strategy; fold the unending piles and piles of wash that refuse to fold themselves, second - throw as much junk into the dark recesses of the nearest closests and then clean the house like it has never been cleaned before. It seemed like a reasonable approach to me, however since I was feeling overwhelmed I called my super-organized, workhorse, friend Terrie and asked her if she would spend a day with me getting my house ready for sale. So Terrie comes in and she starts pulling everything out of my kitchen cupboards and I mean everything! Uh...Terrie, there is alot of work to do, let's get folding and hiding the junk. Nope, she said that we need to declutter, organize and clean the kitchen, starting with the cabinets. Uh...isn't that where we are going to be hiding everything??? Wrong again! She informed me that people will be looking in my cabinets to see the amount of storage space. I call my agent and she confirms Terrie's message to me!!! For a non Type-A person like myself I think this is crazy-talk! I'm starting to hate the TV network HGTV, which I believe is the culprit of all this "showroom house" madness. Why can't people all accept that we all live in our houses and there is clutter, dust and unscrubbed toilets? Oh how I am missing the old days right about now. I can see how the first call from my agent is going to go; I will be putting the final touches on my Broccoli, Cauliflower, Onion and Cabbage soup, when I get a call from the agent saying they will be here in 10 minutes to show the house. It may look like a "showroom" house but it definitely won't smell like a "showroom" house!

9.09.2010

Preschool Trauma

Bei and his "villianous" teacher! Actually, we feel very blessed to have her as a teacher she has a passion for children and it just exudes from her.


Perhaps this blog should be titled "Preschool Melodrama." I took Bei to his first day of preschool on Tuesday of this week and it was all going well until it was time for me to leave. Bei started crying and didn't want me to go. Somehow I dug down really deep and was able to walk out of that school and leave my crying son in the hands of his teacher. I have to admit that I didn't cry...I SOBBED all the way home! It was the most awful thing that I had to do. As I drove home I decided that I was going to form an organization with the Acryonym MAP and it stands for Mothers Against Preschools! It was going to be a revolution that will sweep the country, rallies would be held everywhere! This whole concept of children being taken from their mothers by these villianous preschool teachers at the age of 4 was just ridiculous in my mind! However, I got home and I spent the next 2 hours cleaning the house and having one on one time with Kai Kai Sweetie Pie..hmmm...maybe, just maybe, this 2.5 hours, twice a week thing where those really NICE ladies watch your kid is a good thing??? Well Bei did not like school at all and spent the night in near tears telling me how he did not want to go back. It broke my heart and I told him not to worry about it that we would figure out something. In the meantime I receive an email from Bei's teacher that says Bei settled down within 10 minutes, enjoyed painting with marbles, made a new friend named Easton and was very verbal asking lots of questions throughout the 2.5 hours that he was there. I question Bei and he told me all the things that he liked about school...so there is hope! We went back today and there were tears by him, not me, and lots of smiles when I picked him up! So you may wonder what made a wimpy mom like me able to walk out the door when my baby was crying??? I am trying to avoid the scenario of Bei attending his prom when he is 17 years old and someone saying; "So who is that old lady with Bei and his date?" "Oh her?" "That's just his mom, she goes everywhere with him". As much as I would like to attend Bei's prom, I think I owe him a normal childhood. Therefore, I will do my part of starting to tear at the apron strings a tiny bit.

9.02.2010

Little Miss Large and in Charge!





"Large and in Charge" is what I called little Miss Anna who came to visit this past week. She is a 15 month old pint size dynamo who wanted to dominant Kai! She came in on Monday afternoon and she swatted Kai, she tried to bite Kai, she kick Kai and then next she would kiss Kai and then hug Kai and then back to the agression again. By the way, she did this all with a smile on her face like it was the most natural thing in the world. What did Kai do? He swatted his hand at her like she was a fly, and wasn't fazed by her at all. This cute little dumpling is Kai's youngest cousin, my brother and his wife's "oops" baby. But there is nothing "oops" about her, she is pure JOY and LOVE. As you can tell I was smitten with her and wished we all lived closer because she made me laugh alot.


We are all seeing a big difference in Kai since he has been put on his anti-seizure medicine. This week alone the neurologist increased his dose and in that I can see even more improvement. The way I say it is he seems more "bright eyed and bushy tailed". Tonight he and Dan played with a ball and we both saw a side of Kai that neither one of us has seen. He belly laughed for a half an hour straight, Dan would throw the ball softly into Kai's stomach and Kai would throw his head back and laugh really hard. If you have not met Kai it is hard to explain except to say you can tell things are connecting better for him. Another great update recently was that Kai is truly starting to crawl. I was so grateful that Dan's parents and brother Mark and Gina were able to witness his first crawl because they have been so incredibly supportive of Kai. I am also grateful for my sister Nanette because she came and helped with the kids during some difficult doctor appointments and then gave me a much needed reprieve by letting me run errands and even getting a pedicure! Both of our families, along with our friends have been so supportive and we really appreciate it! I get the sense that everybody is rooting for this little boy. I also have to Praise God because I promised Him if he would help get Kai diagnosed quickly I would give Him all the Glory. I believe that prayer is really powerful especially when it comes to children. God hears us!


On to our other little man and what a little man Bei is developing into...confident, loving, kind, funny and just the most well adjusted kid. Next week he starts school! Yikes! I already warned him that I'm going to cry. And we all know that is because I'm NOT well adjusted! The good news is that I really think he is so ready for school and he is very excited!


Lastly, I need to share some great news with all you prayer warriors out there. At Nick Nick's last doctor appointment they flew out to New York fully expecting that he would need Chemo treatments again, but the doctor had good news. He said "the tumor was all but gone". Yeah! Please keep him in your prayers!