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.
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Okay, back to normal posting.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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?
Monday, August 11, 2008
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.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
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!
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!
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.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Miss Us?
Our trip to St. Louis went great. We had so much fun meeting everyone. The only glitch was sitting for over an hour on the runway in Cincinnati waiting for weather somewhere over Virginia to clear. They actually boarded us and taxied out to the runway knowing that we were delayed. Mari was good, considering. She was restless and fidgety but we managed. I ate about 300 "hand-me-down" soggy cheerios and she drank all of my 16-ounce water bottle (it had a squirt top--SO COOL!). Somewhere in America there are 15 National guardsmen who will probably shoot themselves if they hear "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Sorry!
But we had a great time with all our new friends. I got a couple more tidbits of info from some of the families that met Mari in Ethiopia before I went. I found out that, during tummy-time, my daughter would roll over the other babies...sounds about right! I also got a couple of pictures from one mom this week (after she did some digging in her trip pix) that absolutely touched me to the very core of my being. I can't really share about them, but I got a glimpse into the future and Mari has a treasure that I can't wait to show her one day. Thanks C.H.!!!! It's amazing how random picture-taking can mean so much to someone!
So now that we are home, it is back to the old routine. Mari is having a blast at daycare. They had sprinkler day on Friday and Mari was the only one that would get in the water--big surprise! They are also doing art every day and it is hilarious to see some of the things she is doing, I'll have to take pix and post them. Can you imagine doing art with a roomful of toddlers? Brave souls! She is learning sign language at daycare and I was very surprised by the signing she does, I wasn't even aware they were teaching her. Needless to say, the furious signing for milk took me a little bit to pick up on (I had a baby sign book and looked it up after I finally thought "I wonder if they are teaching her sign?"). So her sippy cup of milk was very appreciated, if not timely. She discovered that her finger fits nicely in her nose...I just hope she doesn't figure out that other things fit in her nose.
So, on to some pix.
Mari's new hairstyle. I got some great advice on haircare while in St. Louis. Just being able to get my hands on a great head of hair helped (thanks S!). The moral of the story--product and lots of it. I was being too skimpy. So now her hair is healthy and curly and soft. Yea!!! It is getting very long but the curls are so tight that you can't really tell and we are not doing relaxers yet.
Here is what $9 will buy you at the dollar store. I don't think we will need barrettes or rubber bands for years to come!
Just a little messy. I finally learned to just take the shirt off.
My backpack that Kaili got me. Don't I look so grown-up.
This picture was taken a little over six months ago. The first meeting of the cousins.
And here they are last week. Haven't they gotten so big? Soon there will be three!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Fun Times...coming soon!
Okay, I promise a run-down of our St. Louis trip with lots of pictures but I'm still trying to catch up on everything. It was exhausting but unbelieveable. To tide you over until more pix of all the kids, I thought I'd give you one picture. The look on Mari's face sums up the entire weekend. She LOVED it! This picture also sums up her general personality. I fall in love with her more every minute of every day.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Am I going to regret this?
We will be picked up at the airport by Mari's younger boyfriend, Mamush. We are all staying at the same hotel and Jenni and Jim are being lifesavers and playing chauffeur for the weekend. That way, I did not have to worry about renting a car and carseat or lugging a carseat around the airport. Thanks guys! On Saturday, we are going to the CHI Reunion Picnic where we will meet up with lots of close friends we've never met (kind of weird how the adoption/blogging friendships work!). We will get to spend lots of time with some familiar faces...Mari's older boyfriend Micah, J & S & E, Spud (who I met in Ethiopia and can't wait to see how he's grown), Anna, Ash, and Nataly. It will be interesting to see who else shows up and who I recognize from their blogs.
We will fly home on Sunday, leaving St. Louis at 12:00 (1:00 here) and should land in Richmond at 4:45. Again, only a 50 minute layover in Cincinnati so let's hope everything goes smoothly. I won't have bedtime to help me out but maybe naptime will kick in. Or maybe Mari will just be super good and content to fly, she certainly was a stellar flyer coming home from Ethiopia. But that was before she could wiggle and scream and throw fits and run away from Mommy and need constant Cheerios, etc.
So I hope to have lots of pix to share when we get home but I have to be at work bright and early Monday, so it may take me a few days to post.
Monday, July 7, 2008
6 Months Home!
Wow, it is so hard to believe that we've been home for 6 months. So much has happened, Mari is growing so quickly. She has just come alive lately. Or maybe I should say she has become "lively." She is full-throttle now. She is very spirited and mostly a happy baby. Her tantrums are short but very loud! She is talking all the time now and getting more intelligible. If you tell her it is bath time, she will walk to the bathroom and stand next to the tub to watch the water. She has finally really taken to reading and will sit and look at a book on her own (in one of the very brief minutes that she sits still) and she now will carry a book over to me and wiggle her little butt until she is sitting on my lap, pushing away anything I may be working on or petting (in the case of a certain dog). She has started to use a spoon and gets it right about 1 out of every 4-5 bites...messy, but she is getting more resistent to Mommy feeding her.
I bought a sippy sup with a straw to try; it took her about 20 minutes to figure it out, she got the sucking part down but kept wanting to flip it up so the other end of the straw wasn't in the milk. She finally got it but then I noticed that the combination of soft plastic and sharp teeth was not so good...so it got trashed right before she bit the straw in half. We also tried crayons, Crayola Tadoodles. Again, the teeth thing was an issue so those will be tried again later.
So life is moving forward in the fast lane. She was supposed to stay in the infant room at daycare until sometime in August but they called today and want to move her now. They said that she is so lively (I think she is running over all the babies) and they feel she will be happier with the toddlers. She apparently stands at the gate that separated the two rooms and watches them all day.
I put Mari down for a nap the other day and kept checking on her. All I could see from the door was her head as she sat in the crib playing. After about 30 minutes of wondering why she hadn't gone to sleep, I went all the way in the room and found her sound asleep. Looks comfy, huh?
Great picture...falling, falling, boom.
Sippy cup with a straw. Too bad I bit right through it!
