Thursday, April 30, 2009

Cloth diapers and Donations

I received this email from the adoption coordinator for COTP:

Hey everyone. Below is an email from an agency we work closely with. I use cloth diapers on my daughter and just love it. This looks like a great deal to help orphans around the world and even in Haiti! (their agency even supports COTP). If you don't know anyone to buy cloth diapers for, we at COTP could always use them. ;) Have fun looking. Just wanted to at least pass this on. 
 
Blessings 

Adoption Coordinator 
Children of the Promise, Haiti 

 

OK, friends, don’t delete this email just because you hear ‘cloth diapers’.  Hear me out!

As you know, my 3 children are all almost grown, Eric is 16, Julie turns 19 soon and Tim is 20.  Even back then when they were babies, I used cloth diapers for my daily life and only used disposibles when I traveled.  I really really liked cloth diapers.  Why?  I felt that they were better for the babies bottoms.. less diaper rash!  I felt that they were better for the environment.  And, they saved me a lot of money.  They were really easy to take care of.  Back then, 20 years ago, people started using ‘diaper wraps’ instead of pins and plastic pants.  Back then there was just one brand… Biobottoms.  They are Velcro diaper covers which make cloth diapering a real breeze!  I loved them!  These days, there are many many choices of different kinds and fabrics of diaper wraps and even different kinds of cloth diapers!

For the months of May and June, an online cloth diaper company will be donating all proceeds to CCI for our adoption agency!  SO, this is your chance to try out cloth diapers and the benefit will go to orphans!  Please visit the company site:  www.LilDiaperDepot.com     They were planning on closing their site (you will see that on their site) but now, instead, they will stay open for a few months as a benefit to CCI. 

Please share this site with anyone and everyone you know!  Don’t start shopping until May 1, but you can explore the site now!  I truly believe in cloth diapers and I am so excited to see how this turns out!  Please let your family, friends and church members know about this so that they can purchase items and help this cause!  Any questions about cloth diapers can be directed to me or to Sara who owns LilDiaperDepot!

 

Our book basket

The Happy Housewife has a fun post about books and is challenging readers to share what they are reading this week.  Since the week is nearly over, here's what we are going to be reading next week.  I pulled all these books from our home library, a mix of books for ages 1 to 33!
Here's what we are reading next week...
Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney  A cute book about a llama and mama going shopping.

My People by Langston Hughes and Charles R. Smith Jr.  a beautiful book of sepia toned photography that interprets the poem by Langston Hughes celebrating African Americans.

Toot and Puddle by Holly Hobbie about two piggy friends...one who likes to travel, the other who likes to stay home.  A story about being yourself and being a good friend.  No swine flu in this story!

When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach  Stores are giving away a dinosaur with any purchase!

Meet Molly American Girl series  Book one of the Molly series taking place in 1944.

Spring is Here by Joan Holub  An easy to read book about seeds and the ants who plant and care for them.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes  A Newberry Prize winner about a young apprentice silversmith and the excitement of Boston in the 1770's, just before the Revolutionary War.

God thought of Everything Strange and Slimy by Bonnie Bruno  A book with animal tales, devotional thoughts, bible verses and links to cool websites.

Different Children, Different Needs by Charles F. Boyd  A parenting book to help us realize how God has designed each of our children.   I picked this up at a Family Life Marriage Conference but have not had the chance to read it yet.

Scholastic Weekly Readers, Puppies, Sea Turtles, Goldfish, Kittens, Guinea Pigs, Koalas 
Easy to read books about fun animals. 

One more day!

The hubby is flying home today! I have just one more day and will have relief, well a little...he has to go to work tomorrow for 11 hours.  But then he will be off for four days!  Hurray!  

I am sick now, thankfully no snot like the little boys, but a yucky cough that makes me wheezy and feel yucky.  E. decided to wake up at 5:30 am and did not go back to sleep.  Eventually I turned on Sesame Street and tried to snooze a bit more but I am super grouchy now.  I hope to take a nap today.  I did yesterday and it felt great.  E. will be taking a nap for sure!

No news from the nurse or doctor on the rash.  We have been leaving it alone and not putting anything on it. It looks like it may be getting better!  We will see what happens.  Maybe all the creams have been making it worse?

Still late.

More news to come...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Wiped

E. has been home for nearly two months.  He's still doing remarkably well.  Today, my tired and weary bones have had enough of the single mom life (hubby is still out of town until late Thursday night).  

Elijah shoved baby S. at the Burger King playground today, just because.  When I told him to say he's sorry (I know he can) he refused, and chose a long time out on the bench next to me. Then he said "I be right back" and I allowed him to go apologize, but he ran off to play (my mistake).  When I called him, he came to me, refused again to say "sorry" and slowly and deliberately stuck out his tongue at me.  He sat on my lap for another 5 minutes, then finally said "sorry".  

He's been putting things in his mouth quite a bit lately.  Just a few minutes ago I took these pics.  He mouths his toys, hands, furniture, etc.  I have noticed this a lot these past few days, but am not quite sure if it's a new habit, or one I just haven't paid attention to until now.

As I was taking his pics he started crying for no reason, unless he had bitten his fingers?  Or he didn't want me to post embarrassing photos on my blog for all to see?

He's been doing so well at the potty training.  He stays dry most of the day with big boy underwear on.  He told me while he and S. were in the baby corral (Sarah talked me into getting one!) that he had to go pee pee.  While I rushed to help him I noticed the seat to his potty chair had a mess that needed to wiped down.  I was cleaning it up and he kept saying "go pee pee in toilet!" and I said, "yes, just a minute".  He did not have a minute to wait and held his poor knees together while he peed in his underwear, running down his legs.  Poor kiddo.  Totally my fault.  Speaking of toilet issues, we are awaiting the stool test results to see if he has any parasites.  


Now onto the mysterious rash on his sweet cheek.  We've talked with the doctor twice about it. First we thought it was ringworm.  We treated it for a full month topically.  It did not get better.  It changed shapes and spread.  The second time we treated it with a cortizone type prescription ointment.  It improved a lot over the next several days, but now is getting bad again.  I called the doctor and spoke to the nurse today.  I haven't heard back but hopefully tomorrow I will know what they think the next course of action should be.

Three of the five children have a cold.  Yucky snot, cough, sneezing.  Elijah sneezes and snot shoots onto the floor.  S. wipes the snot ALL over his face.  C. says her cough hurts her throat so bad she wishes she was dead.  

To top off the list on the medical mysteries.  I am late.  I am not quite sure how late since I do not keep track of the monthly visit.  I had several surgeries in the past that would make pregnancy nearly impossible.  I hope all is ok, and am giving my body until Friday. Then I will call my doctor to check things out.

I could not do this alone for a long period of time, or you may find me in the nut house.  Oh, by the way, the neighbor girl invited herself over to enjoy a wonderfully healthy dinner of corn dogs and carrot sticks.  Love it.  Also love that while playing at her house for all of five minutes, the neighbor girl and 3 of my kids all ran over here to tattle on K. about something very trivial.  Her parents couldn't be bothered I guess.  By the way, the neighbor girl is an only child.  Do you think a neighbor could help a girl out?

Sorry if I come across negatively.  I am wiped.  When is bedtime?
P.S. I'm also sorry for the poor picture quality.  I've been daydreaming of getting a nice camera lately.  Maybe Mother's Day, Christmas and next year's birthday gift combined?  Probably getting a new dishwasher or clothes washer should be a priority. They are both on their last leg.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Spring is here!

Loren, Corinn, Kylie, Elijah and Samuel with cousins Jordan and Connor
Samuel getting into trouble at Grandpa and Grandma's house
At church on Easter Sunday (visiting Grandpa and Grandma's church)
Samuel's doing well, although he has a cold again.  He is sick a lot.  I'm not sure why.  Possibly because he's so little and it's cold and flu season?  
He is walking all the time now and it getting really good at it!  His other thing that he loves to do now is dance.  The kids have a name for his little dance he does by moving his arms up and down alternatively.  It's called the "Pammy dance" They have started calling him Pammy on occasion because that's what Elijah calls him.  He can't say the s sound well.  The "Pammy dance" is very cute!  He also wiggles back and forth and bounces up and down with the music.  
We visited family for Easter and he had a great time showing off his walking skills to his grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles and cousins.  He didn't seem to mind sharing the spotlight a little with his brother Elijah.  It was the first time everyone has met Elijah.
We are so happy the weather is warming up and we are able to be outside a bit more.  Soon we will be able to enjoy the swimming pool if it warms up enough.  Samuel loves to swim, but only in warm water!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Tagged, please play along!

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. A lovely summer with fun activities and lots to do.
2. Sending L. to public school this fall (Jr. High!)
3. Having Elijah's buddy Isaac come home soon.
4. Going to the COTP reunion in July.
5. Watching my children grow, while enjoying every minute I have with them (it's hard sometimes!)
6. Someday building our dream home on our property.
7. Spending more time with friends and family.  Life was so busy this school year,and believe it or not, I think things will begin to slow down a bit now that E. is home and L. will be in school.  Am I delirious?
8. Someday going back to school or starting my own business.

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. prayed with my children
2. visited my parents and watched my 16 month old break things in their non-toddler proof beautiful house
3. was delighted to see how well behaved E. was at my parent's non-toddler proof beautiful home
4. stayed in my pajamas until 11 am.
5. was visited by Jehovah's Witnesses (Elijah opened the door for them while I was still in my pajamas)
6. missed my husband while he's out of town but slept in the middle of the bed
7. watched my son's team lose yet another soccer game, it's getting so discouraging for him!
8. took care of a sick 16 month old boy

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. save more money and get totally out of debt
2. have more time in the day, and more energy to do what needs to be done
3. have more time, money, and space to adopt more children in the future 
4. be more creative, it seems the older I've gotten the less creative I've become
5. get fit and more healthy
6. become a missionary in Haiti or Africa
7. be totally self relient and live off the land
8. travel around the world

8 Shows I Watch: (when I have the time!)
1. Amazing Race
2. Biggest Loser
3. Dancing with the Stars
4. many shows on The Food Network (Iron Chef, Ace of Cakes)
5. Top Model
6. Whatever Martha!
7. Jon and Kate plus 8 (and other large family reality shows)
8. Mark and Olly (on the Travel Channel)

8 People I Tag: 
1. http://5frozenchamorros.blogspot.com/
2. Kimberly
3. Stephanie
4. Rebekah
5. Wife to the Rockstar 
6. Laurel
7. Ducks In a Row
8. Angela

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Potty Training


This picture is of E. at the orphanage.  Thankfully they had introduced him to the potty!
Now that we are back to our routine after our trip, we've been working on potty training E.  He is doing pretty well, with a few messes here and there.  He is also learning quite the potty vocabulary...it's hilarious!  He now says "got pee pee" or "poo poo butt".  It's amazing how kids learn things from hearing others (like 3 children) say them.  We've been using cloth training pants and have found that this is the best way (although messier) since he will still go in Pullups and the like.  And since it's Earth day, I must add that this is the more "earth friendly" way to go.  It's not too bad to toss the undies in the wash with the cloth diapers from S.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Easter pics


We had a happy Easter. We were visiting family on the eastern side of the state and had a busy four days. We went to church, then the kids had to hunt for their baskets (a tradition on J's side) and we ate a yummy meal. It was good to see family and spend the day celebrating our Lord's resurrection.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Adoption language


I found this post very interesting and informative. I did not write this type of letter to friends and family before we brought home Elijah and wish I had done so to some degree. I have learned to take things in stride. I let comments roll off my back, I think you have to with adoption, especially international/transracial adoption. One thing I have been thinking a lot about lately is about Elijah's birth family. How are we going to answer the questions that he will have for us someday? Many of those questions are ones that we don't know the answers to ourselves. But after visiting with people who were eager to meet Elijah and who felt bold enough to ask us some of those questions, I think it's time we had a talk about this issue with family and friends. Some, but not many, know E's history. We don't want the whole world to know about it. Yes, he is a miracle. Yes, he is a joy and a blessing. I would love to share with everyone about the awesome thing that God did to bring this child to our family. However, I must think of E. and how I would feel if I were in his size 8 shoes. If I were him I don't think I would want everyone to know every detail of my hurtful past.  I must be careful with my words, and ask those who know his story to do the same.

This n That

We've had a busy week.
*Our paypal, iTunes account and hotmail were all tampered with by a hacker. $100 was charged by our paypal, withdrawing funds from our bank account. Thankfully the bank took care of things and we were refunded. Also, a bunch of people on our email contact list were sent out a spam message from us. And we were blocked from using our account for the rest of the day. Lovely.

*We have been working a lot around our house. We decided to take out a huge flower bed in our front yard. It was not looking very nice and was just too hard to keep up. We also wanted more lawn and space for the kids to play since they tend to stay in the front yard most of the time (even though we have nearly 5 acres). J. had been working hard digging dirt, raking, and planting grass seed. I can't wait until it grows in and we can use our reclaimed space!

*We have been visiting family on the other side of the state. It's been good to see people we haven't seen in a while, and introduce them to E. He's been doing great with the traveling, and is taking to his new extended family quite well. He had everyone laughing hysterically with his funny sense of humor. He fits in so well!

*Baby S. is walking now! He can get across the room with small, wobbly steps. He is also getting into EVERYTHING at Grandma's house!

*We had a blessed Easter and were surprised with an announcement at the church we were visiting. They had been praying for E's adoption and were all excited to see the answer to their prayers sitting in service yesterday. E did not really appreciate the extra attention, but took it all in stride.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Long time coming




Sorry it's been so long since I've updated.  Samuel is doing fantastic.  He's a joy, as usual.  He's growing so fast!

Elijah, his older brother from Haiti, is home now.  I've been writing about it on another blog, www.berriesnhoney.blogspot.com.  There are some pictures of Samuel on there too.  
Sammy's been adjusting to sharing his room, and mom and dad's attention pretty well.  He learned how to say "no" and "don't" very quickly.  He also is hitting and biting.  Ugh.  Time for toddler hood.  
Speaking of toddlers, he is starting to walk!  He has taken several steps in a row.  Soon he will be a walking champ! 
I finally heard from the doctors at Children's and they made an appointment to go over MRI results on May 11!  It took several persistent calls, and eventually I had to call the social worker.  What do you know, I got a call from the nurse a few hours later!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Birthdays

I celebrated my birthday the other day. I had a great day, but an even better weekend. My husband was home and the weather was beautiful! My bestest friend Sarah arranged for a girlfriends' overnight trip to a hot springs resort. We stayed one night and it was lovely. She wrote about on her blog. I came home very relaxed and refreshed. Thanks for a fun break!

Elijah is now 3 years old. We went to the beach and had a picnic. He was not too sure about it, the water was COLD, it was windy and the terrain was pretty rough...







S. says, "Mmm, salty!"







I think he had a good time.
We had cake and presents at home. Elijah liked the cake!



I love this picture of Elijah opening his gifts. Who looks more excited, E. or baby S?


E. loves the Donut Man. He got two new CD's.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

When did I become "ma'am"?

When did I become "ma'am" at the McDonald's drive thru? I felt so old last night when I drove through with my two babies to get some ice creams. We dropped off the older three kids at AWANA and I drove through to get some needed goodies before my serious dieting begins on Tuesday. I was given the "Thanks Ma'am, have a good night" by the McD's employee. Ugh, bad timing. Why does it bother me so? My birthday is coming up. I am turning 33. I am starting to feel old. Where does the time go?