Thursday

Tonight as Naomi was giving her ge ge's goodnight kisses Thanie said "mom, make sure to hold onto her cast, so she does not whack me with it" she has already figured it out. This cast has not slowed her down, I walked in on her standing on her head (just about gave me a heart attack)

Brotherly love. Thanie was so excited to give his big brother a birthday gift. And of course Zach always loves a new lego set. So sweat!!!

Yes folks this is the end of February and it is snowing.

A little momma torture. Think I did a good job??

Happy 9th Birthday Zachy

It has been a crazy couple of days. But I wanted to take a moment to honor my now 9 year old. He is a great kid, great big brother. I love watching him grow, there is always something new around the corner to great him. I love you Zachy and I am so proud to be your mom. Happy 9th Birthday!!!!

Yes

Yes, you read it correct. It was a long, agonizing, horrible day. I have absolutely no energy left. I will tell the story later.

Broken arm????

Naomi and I had a lovely day on Saturday, we went on a nice walk the kind were the baby walks you know you look at every passing car, dog, leaf, person, bug . . . everything. The kind that takes an hour to go 6 blocks. I love this and she seemed to also. I really enjoy her. Now that I have 3 little people to take care of when I am with only 1 it seems so care free. Maybe a little too care free. You see Saturday afternoon we went out on the deck and there is a single step, I thought oh she can handle that, and not like she going to die or something if she falls. Well she fell and did not die (of course) but now I am eating my words. So . . . Saturday night we were at a girlfriends birthday party and Naomi was super fussy, then Sunday she was fussy not horrible but a little out of sorts. So this morning putting her in her car seat she cried when I put the strap over her right arm. Oh and last night when daddy was giving her a bottle she cried when he touch her right arm. So I called the nurse and she asked if she could twist her wrist so I tried and she screamed. We are going in at 1PM. I will let you all know how it goes.

P.S. my gut was telling me something was up on Saturday night but I was not quite sure what it was ( I know Duh!) Lesson learned always listen to your gut especially when it comes to your kids.

Ski day

Thanie walkin out the door at 8am, they were supposed to be out the door at 7:30, but you all know how that goes. He sure does look cool!!

All geared up ready to go. Zach is an old pro, he got to skate ski for the first time this Saturday. He liked it . . . way faster.

This was Nathaniel's first time for ski class, Pete says he broke down in tears and just would NOT go to the class (why force something that is supposed to be fun) So he and dad skied a for a while. When they called me I thought Pete might go jump off a cliff (not so much fun). Of course once they got home Thanie was telling me how fun skiing was and that he was pretty good at it. We will see how next week goes. This is Grandma and Grandpa's thing they have been taking Zach skiing since he was 3, so Pete is off the hook for next weekend (he was just filling in because G&G had a party to go to this weekend)

Just me and my girl today

Daddy took his little men up skiing today. It is girl day at our house. I hate to say it but I am looking forward to it. No swords, wrestling or Wii. Just 1 day . . . that should be perfect.

Just Because

What a kid . . . helping dad clean the kitchen floor

Weekend Tid-Bits

Poor bunny . . . But look how stinkin cute Naomi is. I just love her to bits and pieces.

I got these pretty flowers from my Honey on Valentines day along with a cup of coffee in bed (red mug). . . isn't he sweet. We spent our valentine dinner with some friends, our boys have so much fun together, and so do us grown-ups.

Sunday we had some family time at the park with some longtime friends it was cold but fun. We had a nice easy going weekend. Just enough to keep us busy, but not too much.

We ended our weekend with banana splits. Check out the great hair. I love the curls, though I am thinking of shaving Zach's head while he is sleeping some night. No . . I would not do that but I am ready for a new doo. Now I better hope he does not read this, you know if he does he will never change the hair.

Happy Valentines Day

6 months ago this morning

we got the call we had been waiting for for a year and a half. We had a "Rao" baby girl who was 11months old with a cleft lip and palate (so we thought, turns out she only has a cleft lip).

Myriam you will never know how grateful we are that you woke up at 3am and found this sweet little girl and now she is ours and we are hers. THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

This is a picture we got from Love Without Boundaries just before her surgery. Priceless!!

This picture is about 2 hours after I received Naomi in Nanchang, she had finally stopped crying

2 months home

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Thanks to my sister-in-law this was our Yummy dessert tonight. Thanks for the email.

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

a small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and The most dangerous cake recipe

mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

You are going to print this out straight away, aren't you ?

Cute little bugger

Cute littler bugger has a booger. This is a fairly common occurrence with cleft kids. Naomi has a fistula right behind her top teeth and food sneaks right up there and out the nose. Doesn't seem to bother her much, in fact she is pretty good at regulating it herself. This won't be repaired until she is 5 or 6 though she will probably get to a point where she can keep food out of the hole.

Just a little cleft talk

Oprah Time!!??

Naomi is sleeping and look what my 2 little fellows are doing . . . Today is my last day of maternity leave and I have yet to watch Oprah. I think I will go do it now, at least part of it.

Weekend

This is what I came home to after my Sunday morning walk. Boys!!! Oh My!! daddy is not pictured but he was part of the mix. I don't get it, but I sure do love them.

The princess and her pal are locked up, who will escape first?

Someday I will slow down on taking pictures of Naomi, but for now just bare with me . . . She has so many cute little outfits that I want to get a picture of her in all of them. Plus she is just so stinkin cute.

I Just Can't Get Enough of This GIRL

I Just want to eat her up!!!

Bandana

This is how Naomi's hair looks after a meal . . . I swear she uses her hair as a napkin

So we tried this. . . Seems to work

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's off to Work I go

My time as a stay at home mom is coming to an end. I have been off for 12 weeks, Naomi has been home for 2 months and with me for about 11 weeks. It has been a privilege to be home with my kids, the consistency has been so wonderful. I love to be the one who gets to drop them off and pick them up from school, help with homework, snuggle up in the afternoon and read them books . . . It just feels so good/right for us. That being said, don't think there aren't days when I think I might go crazy. I have only worked 20/wk since Zachy was born. I work with great people and they are more than flexible. Grandma and one of my best of friends (we met in 1st grade) will be with the kids. I keep telling myself it will be O.K. and It will. In the mean time my tummy is in knots. Keep us in your thoughts for next Tuesday . . . thanks.

Aspen looks how I feel