Crazy

Life is crazy.  Let's just start with that.  I won't go into everything but my stress level is near an all time high and something's gotta give.

I haven't blogged in two weeks so here are a few things that I jotted down typed in my phone.

We were talking about Brother Silas (that's what the kids call him), chatting about what he might be doing at that moment, and then Griffin asks, "Who is Brother Silas's mama?"  Wow.

Griffin had a week long stomach bug and Kinley had a 10 day virus that led to pneumonia.  They then so conveniently switched illnesses and Kinley ended up losing several pounds with the stomach bug.  And Griffin's virus gave him a double ear infection and an upper respiratory infection.  Good times.  Er, I mean, bless their hearts! ;)

I've been watching Pioneer Woman recently and the kids like to watch with me.  Kinley especially.  As you may or may not know, Pioneer Woman lives on a cattle ranch and in the episode we were watching they were working cattle, herding cattle, doing all kinds of cattle stuff.  This was the conversation while watching.......

Kinley:  I want to ride horses when I get bigger!

Me:  I want to be a cowgirl.

Griffin:  I want to be a white boy!

WHAT???  Oh my goodness!  I laughed so hard!

Speaking of Pioneer Woman.  She made me cook this.  MADE ME, I'll tell you.

Best. breakfast. EVER.

On day ohhhhhhh approximately 21 of the kids' sicknesses I asked the kids if we were going to survive the day and without skipping a beat Griffin says matter of factly, "No."

Long story short, we were supposed to briefly host two Chinese students.  We went to pick them up at the airport today and they ended up not needing to stay with us.  The kids and I had fun at the airport though so whatever.  It was fine.  But tonight when I was tucking Griffin into bed, I asked if he had fun at the airport and what he thought of the Chinese girls we talked to and he says, "They looked like Omma."  Omma is Griffin's foster mom!  He has never used that word without me first pointing to her picture and asking who she is.  He was young enough that he wasn't talking when he came home and he never talks about Omma.  Anyway, it blew me away!  Love that boy.  And we also love Omma.

Happenings of the Week

We always send our baby toddler monitors to my parents' house so they can easily keep on eye on the kids when they're sleeping.  One of the monitors was half dead, and when it came home from my parents it was completely dead.  I had heard good things about a certain monitor and asked Blake to read up on it and see what he thought.  Sounded good to him so we ordered it from Amazon.  It wasn't really a welcome expense, but I do love gadgets. :)  It's a pan and tilt which is knew for us, but now I can see all of the kids rooms instead of just their beds.  And the monitors have two way audio which means I can hear them AND talk to them through the monitors.  It was pretty fun testing that out and watching their reaction.  They thought it was hilarious.  Also, instead of two handheld monitors, I can see both rooms on one screen.  So far we love it.


Both Kinley and Griffin really and truly love sports.  They are always getting out the soccer goal and ball or the t-ball bat, ball, and bases all on their own.  But I've decided if either of my kids excel in sports it will be for different reasons.  Kinley seems to have a natural athletic ability.  She's always been an active kiddo, constantly running and jumping.  And as she's gotten older and started playing sports, we've gotten comments from coaches and other parents about how she seems like a natural and they can tell she's an "athlete."  We shall see.  I'm not getting my hopes up, but I think the potential is there.  Griffin, on the other hand, has fortitude.  Fortitude:  mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously.  Yes, Griffin has fortitude.  And focus.  And when he decides he wants something, he goes after it.  He's also stubborn but I'm not sure how that's going to help him in sports.


Kinley:  Griff, can I play with your Lightning McQueen?

Griffin:  Sure, Kinley.  FIVE MINUTES!  Just five minutes!

Wonder where he heard that? :)


My favorite chicken right now is chicken breast marinated in Italian Roasted Red Pepper dressing and grilled until it has some nice grill marks.  Mmmm mmmm good!


I'm glad my kids have each other.  I'm not one of those moms that can play for hours and hours.  It doesn't come easy to me.  There's only so much forced pretend play I can take before I walk away and turn it over to the professionals, my kids.


I got an email from our church yesterday asking for families to volunteer to host international students.  Five hundred international students will be arriving 1-2 days before the university housing opens so they need a place to stay until then.  I registered to help and requested a Korean student.  Fingers crossed that we get lucky and make a lifelong connection.


My Instagram picture and caption from yesterday...

We worked on reading, handwriting, and some other fun stuff.  Now she's getting a little computer time on abcmouse (dot) com.  Meanwhile, I'm taking some headache medicine and working on my deep breathing. #shesaspaz #imimpatient #idontknowhowhomeschoolersdoit #loveher

And from today....

I wish I could tell his birth mom how incredible and loved he is. #sorryforthemush #sorrynotsorry #lovehim

Mom Fail Continued...

After we left the doctor's office on Thursday, we had to make a decision about Kinley's last (we thought it would be her last) t-ball game.  She wasn't really running a fever and we didn't have the results back from the chest x-ray, but we honestly thought she did not have pneumonia.  The PA had listened to her lungs, said they sounded clear, and really felt it was viral.  She was fever free at that point so we decided to let her play her last game.  And my mom and dad were coming to watch the game and they wanted to take the kids home with them afterwards.  I was sick of Kinley being sick and was ready to get back to our regular routine of going and doing, so we also decided to let them go home with Grandma and Papa.

Griffy wearing Papa's hat.

This girl had a great first season of t-ball.

I'm so proud of how much she improved.

Griffin took this picture of Papa.

After the game with Papa and Grandma.

The kids left with my parents that night (Thursday) and we were going to go pick them up on Saturday.  The kids love my parents and love being at their house so they were way excited.  I was a little nervous to send Kinley, but I knew she was in great hands.  And she had her antibiotics so she was good, right?!  Sure!

The PA called me the next day and said Kinley had a spot on her right lung that indicated pneumonia.

Whoops.

Needless to say, I felt terrible.  For a variety of reasons.

I checked on her by texting mom way more than usual and my mom always said she was fine.

I still felt terrible.

Mom fail.

Anyway, Blake and I enjoyed our day and a half without kids.  We went to a movie, dinner, and to our favorite sporting goods store and bought some workout clothes (one of our favorite things to do).

When we picked up Kinley and Griffin on Saturday, Kinley was fine.  Kids are tough, right?

Sure! ;)

Mom Fail

After golf I realized Kinley still had a fever.  It was fairly low but this was day 8 of her fever and it was time to call the doctor and find out what was going on.  In my defense, EVERY TIME I take one of the kids in for a fever it's "just a virus" and "there's nothing we can do" and I get sent home with nothing but a sick kid and a receipt for my $20 copay.  So, I may have waited too long this time.  Anyway, her cough had gradually been getting worse, and I was worried it was something other than just a virus.  When I called to make the appointment, the receptionist told me our pediatrician was on vacation and we could see the physician's assistant.  I was ok with that.  I prefer our pediatrician, but I didn't really have a choice.  

They got us right in when we got there, and then we waited a bit for the PA.  The kids were driving me nuts while we waited, but they always do at the doctor's office.  Are my kids the only ones that want to surf on the rolling doctor's stool?!  Gracious!  Anyway, in came the PA to check out Kinley.  She asked some questions, listened to her chest, looked at her ears and throat, and declared it was viral and would have to run it's course.  Sigh.  She said she did want to test for strep so she swabbed her and took it to strep test waiting area (whatever it's called!).

The natives were growing restless.

About ten minutes later she popped her head back in and said the test was still working, and she wanted to make sure Kinley had had her cough for 8 days and not her fever for 8 days.  I explained no, she's had both for 8 days.  Well, that seemed to concern her and she decided to do a chest x-ray.  Ok, that was unexpected.

Kinley got so many compliments on her sweet demeanor and cooperation while at the doctor's office.  This nurse said that in her three years at this office she's never had such a big helper.  I was quite proud because she really was so sweet. :)

So then back to the room to wait....and wait...and wait.  Apparently, they were having technical difficulties and we left without the results of the chest x-ray and with a prescription for a 5 day antibiotic.  Not a complete loss, but I was a little worried.  I really didn't want to pay for a chest x-ray so I was hoping our insurance would step up. ;)

Golfing with Daddy

Blake had a moment of insanity and took the kids golfing Thursday.  The kids love swinging their golf clubs and we had talked about him taking them to the golf course.  I meant the driving range.  Blake was thinking a golf cart and 18 holes.  He's a brave soul, that one.

I'm told everyone had a good time and behaved according to golf course code.  But apparently after the first couple of holes the kids would whine because they thought they were going home.  Blake had to explain that just because they were done with the hole, they weren't leaving to go home.  Just moving on to the next hole.  Silly kids.

My favorite story of the day was about an elderly man that came up to the putting green to say hi to Blake and kids.  He made some kind of remark about starting them early, and then nodded towards Griffin and said, "You've got a special one there, huh?"  Blake and I try to be kind when people say things that maybe they shouldn't about Griffin.  Although Griffin is special, both my kids are special and we don't want our adopted son to be pointed out and made to feel different.  He'll feel that way enough as it is.  But we try to be kind and patient with people who say stuff like that.  So Blake says, "Well, they're both pretty special," and the man says, "Yes, but you've done a good thing there," and nodded at Griffin again.  Blake said, "Oh, I don't know.  You'll have to ask them in about 15 years!"  The man then says, "No, you're doing a good thing.  I was a special one.  You're doing a good thing.  You're a good man."

What's Happening

Today was day 7 of Kinley's fever.  It's pretty low today but it's still lingering.  This is how Kinley handles bugs attacking her body.  We call her the fever queen.  She's been acting ok, but I can tell it's wearing on her and she's exhausted.  If she still has it tomorrow, I'll finally call the doctor.

We went to the local water park today.  It's small and a little boring in my opinion, but the kids had fun and we finally got out of the house since we've been staying in quite a bit for Kinley.  I didn't get any pics, because gadgets and the water make me nervous.

We had this and this for dinner tonight.  The refried beans were the bomb!  Is that weird?  I like refried bean and these were pretty delicious and they didn't come from a can.  The Mexican lasagna was really good, but I just couldn't get past the ground turkey.  I couldn't taste it but it was just kind of weird.  That makes no sense...I'll probably use chicken next time.

I hurt my back and wasn't able to go to my Body Pump class this morning.  I love that class and it makes me sad to not be able to get my sweat on.  My back felt a little better today but I knew better than to test my it with a bunch of dead lifts.  I'll rest a few more days and then be ready to go.

An adoptive mom is putting together a picture collage of adopted Korean kids to give to the Holt social worker in Korea.  This is the picture I asked to have added to the collage.

And a few that didn't get used.

I have really cute sons. ;)

Back

It's time to start blogging again.

I have so much rattling around in my head....

And I'm feeling the need to purge.

Daily events

Random thoughts

Links to things that I've read that really challenged me

Recipes I love

Pictures

Things I'm passionate about

Things I want to change

More random thoughts.....

I'm going to make this blog more me.

For instance, here are the words that I've heard over and over in my brain today....

Migraine

Sleep deprived

Sick kid

Back pain

Exhausted

Silas

Blessed

Welcome to my place of honesty.

Birthday Date Night!

Blake turned 33 today!  We had lots of adoption paperwork to round up and fill out and really needed some kids free time to get it all done.  So we sent Kinley and Griffin to my parents' house for the weekend. :)

We slept in this morning and enjoyed some Chick-fil-A breakfast.  Blake worked on the coffee table he's building me.  I picked up around the house.  And then we tackled some adoption paperwork.  Ugh.  Actually it was a certificate of citizenship application for Griff.  So complicated and time consuming.  It's all worth it, though.

Then we got all clean up and headed out for a fun birthday dinner.  It was wonderful to get out, eat some delicious food, and run into some good friends.  It was a great, relaxing day.

Happy 33rd, Blake!

Facebook Status Today

So, I got the classic "Do you have any children of your own?" question today. :) The Kinkos lady was being so nice and was complimenting Griffin on his behavior. Those kinds of questions and comments don't really bother me. Before adoption became a part of my life I was totally that person that was curious and would've asked an innocent question using the wrong phrasing. But, for the record, all three of my kids are my own. ;)

Facebook Status Today

After getting out of bed this morning Griffin asks, "Silas go Oklahoma?" Totally stopped me in my tracks. First of all, we've never talked about Silas coming to Oklahoma. We've just said he's coming home to live with us. Smart little stinker. Second, it's going to be a long year.