If you need help sleeping...watch this!

After reading Jenni's post about taking pix of Mamush sleeping, I went back through my pix and realized I have an obsession with sleep pictures (maybe because that is the only time Mari is still!). So I put together a collection of my favorites and set it to one of the tunes from Mari's lullaby CD. Enjoy it and try not to fall asleep.

If you like to play games...count how many times you spot "giraffey." She has a green one and a yellow one.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In case you feel that those pix weren't enough, I left 45 in the recycling bin...I can always put them back in!

Okay, back to normal posting.

I'm off my soapbox now. Someone else can borrow it if needed!

New Words: Cheese and trees. Okay, a little stretch because both of them are "eeezz" but it is still cute. I'm trying to teach her to say cheese when the camera is out...she already knows how to pose!

New Foods: Lima Beans--she LOVES them almost as much as peas (and that is a lot!). Grapes--took her a little while to finally eat them (they were a little tart) but now she is hooked. Blueberries--holy cow! Tonight was the first night with blueberries and I'm not really sure she ate them, they disappeared so quickly that I think maybe they just evaporated into thin air.

New Tricks: Drinking out of a straw, a real one (skinny, bendable, white with blue and red stripes kind of straw). She did really good, too bad she can't hold the cup without spilling but it does get her to drink her probiotics since she stopped taking them in the sippy cup. The straw helps with the novelty angle.

Where did she learn that?: Mari is in love with Blue's Clues. She will do the little "jazz hands" when they sing "Blue's Clues." I was playing along the other night doing the motions with Steve (she responds to him more than Joe, maybe she likes green better than purple?--if you don't know what I'm talking about, sorry guess you don't have toddlers or a tv). Anyway, when they got to the part about "put it in a notebook" she pointed with one finger to the palm of her other hand (just like Steve drawing a clue!). I was astounded and then she put her hand on her cheek. No big deal until she switched hands and put the other one on her other cheek (just like Steve think, think, thinking!!!). Whoa! What a smartie!

Not so niceness: Mari bit me, through my shirt and still broke the skin. Not a happy mommy! I don't think it will happen again.

Cutest Thing: Mari's friends at school. All the little girls in her class are so cute (all blonde BTW--Mari definitely is unique but only in her class, the rest of the school is pretty diverse!). Several of them need hugs from me before I can take Mari home. They all tell us bye-bye and give Mari hugs. One even cried when I left with Mari today. So sweet. I'm glad she is making friends, I was worried about moving her away from Cousin Madi (daycare-wise I mean).

Mommy Triumph: Braids! Yes, we are braiding. Mari was sitting so still last night, I started playing with her hair and she let me braid it (see picture in the slideshow). It was so easy with her curls. But then I tried to braid again after bath time (and adding products!) but my hands got too fumbly (Mari sat really still again--wow!).

Okay...pictures. This is a short one. I'll try to get the Blue's Clues dance on video for next time around.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Watch Out - Religious Statement Coming!

I don't use my blog as a platform for much in the way of issues, I very rarely even bring emotions into it. It is mostly a blog to keep my family, friends, and fellow adopters up-to-date with the adoption process and, now of course, our post-adoptive adjustments. I am always checking out other blogs, some more than others and I have found one family that I want to take the time to share. First, they have adopted some HIV+ children; this was something I was too afraid to do, mostly because as a single parent, my resources are limited. They have also rescued a gorgeous little girl (and they would probably not like the term "rescued" but it is true in every sense of the word) from the brink of death to give her a loving home. Take time to scroll back through the last couple of months to read the beautiful story of Selah.

But here is where my statement comes in...I don't talk about religion (ever). There are too many sad and hurtful things in my past that block my desire to be part of an organized religion. Just the term "organized" somehow takes away from the freedom to worship and believe the way I want to. I won't get into my beliefs here other than to say that they are strong and grounded thanks to a good upbringing. Here is my point...read this particular post. If you are a church leader, a church member, or just call yourself a Christian and this fails to stir you...then I'm not the one with the problem. I have read this statistic over and over again so I'm going to spell it out plainly.

If 7% of the people in the world who call themselves Christians would adopt one child, there would be NO orphans!

Hello, did you read that? Read it again. Do you call yourself a Christian? Then why are there still children without families?

Disclaimer: Before you leave a lot of messages (which I welcome) trying to justify your decisions, please realize that I know that adoption is not right for every family and every situation. But if you can't, what are you doing to help those that will?

Bad bugs gone! Ethiopian Flu Returns.

So we finally got rid of the yummy tummy bugs only to be assaulted by the Ethiopian Flu again. Mari had the sniffles for a couple days at the end of last week and by Saturday, I had to fire up the nebulizer again. We added in another allergy med today to try to control the copious sinus drainage and teary eyes. She is very wheezy and breathing fast but it hasn't slowed her down. She had a fever this morning but that has continued to stay down all day, so back to school tomorrow. I was hoping that she was outgrowing her asthma since it had been over 2 months but I guess there are a whole new set of allergies brewing out there as we start heading into a new season.

So I have decided to start a new blogging method. One change will be that I will probably be doing all slideshows instead of individually posting pix...blogger just is not picture friendly sometimes. If anyone has trouble viewing these on their computer and is dying to see them, let me know and I'll compromise. I will also be adding in my own "categories." So here are my new categories:

One of the little "joys" of motherhood: Finding the front seat of your car covered in glitter (thanks to an art project from school).

One of the little "not-so-joys" of motherhood: Poop in the bathtub...again! Ugh!

Best piece of advice (also another little joy): Always clean out your pockets before washing clothes; it is amazing how many tissues, barrettes, socks, goldfish pretzels, etc. you can accumulate over the course of a day.

Mari's newest "cute" thing to do: Telling the dog (doddy!) NO!!! and then putting one finger to her lips and shhhhhing him. Too funny!

Mari's newest words: Ball and book. Both sounded like "bah" last week but ball has become more pronounced with a hint of an "L" at the end. Book is still "bah."

On to a slideshow.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bad bugs!

So we've had a rough couple of weeks here in the Mari household. I think they may need to put a biohazard sticker on our house.

Mari has had diarrhea for 3 weeks, 8-10 times a day. YUM! When she came home, we tested her for everything and it was all negative. So I've been running the gamut of food intolerances, lactose issues, etc. Bananas used to constipate her so bad that I wouldn't even let her look at them. We switched off rice cereal as soon as we were home from Ethiopia for the same reason. Well last weekend, we did three solid days of the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples, toast) and, with the exception that I gave her some real bananas, it was all stage 1 baby food. Can you get any blander than that? I also gave her SILK and made absolutely sure she had no dairy. After three days, she was still exploding green poo everywhere.

She had a diaper rash so bad last week that she wouldn't even walk...she just stood in the middle of the living room sobbing. She would reach for a toy, stop and just cry. I finally put her in a cool tub of water, wrapped her in a towel and we read books the rest of the evening. I then slathered her with the thickest layer of desitin, put some beach towels in the crib and very, very loosely fastened her diaper and no PJs. Several nights of this made a HUGE difference.

We went to the doctor on Wednesday and they wanted a urine sample and a poop sample. We put a little urine bag on her and they were going to send me home with a cup for each to bring back but I asked if we could just wait a few minutes. So I gave Mari a sippy cup (which she sucked down in less than a minute) and a couple minutes later she made the poopy face. She peed and pooped on command! Yea! Anyway, the urine was fine. The poop showed one of those nasty little stomach bugs that you get from drinking yucky water and is very popular in developing countries. She probably came home with it but it was just laying low until now. Why now? My theory is that, because she has been on 7 antibiotic courses in the last 6 months, her poor intestines probably have no "good bugs" left, so now the "bad bugs" can take over.

So she is on medication now (which it took me calling 4 pharmacies after Wal-Mart told me that they couldn't do it before one finally told me that it had to be specially compounded and only a couple pharmacies did that--luckily the one that is a block from Mari's daycare does, that was nice). I am also giving her probiotics to help regrow her "good bugs." Dannon has those little drinkable yogurts and I put those in her sippy cup with a little milk to thin it out and slurp!

So, after a day and a half of medicine, I'm noticing a difference already. Less frequent, a little thicker, but the smell is still hazmat worthy.

So are you still reading? I figure that some of you out there that are getting ready to go should be enlightened as to one of the many fun things you may look forward to dealing with!

Anyway, not much else to report. You would never know she was ill except that episode with the diaper rash.


Well, I guess you probably want pix. And if you have read through all this, you deserve pix!

Mommy, I didn't want Ollie to eat my goldfish pretzel!

Gotta wonder when she's being so quiet....
Mommy, read book!
I'm so big. Don't I look cute in my blouse Auntie Diana got me for my birthday.
Ollie, Sit!

Discovering where everything is.

Okay, so her rhythm is not so great but Dora gets her moving and grooving. Before I grabbed the camera, she was literally dancing in circles.