What Was She Thinking?

This post isn't just about Kelsey....Just a whole bunch of random thoughts that have been circling my mind lately....

1) I spent 2 hours at the DMV inspections this afternoon. During that time I encountered....

a) a parent who brought her 2 year old adorable daughter with her without snacks, drinks or toys to play with. The poor kid was acting up because she was bored. When I started talking to the little girl, her mother called her "bad!" Talk about a self-fulfilling prophesy! Luckily for the Mom, I always have a few toys in my purse for Kelsey and let her little one read a book while we waited for our cars. Oh, and Mom of the year's battery went dead during the inspection and asked ME if I could jump her....Sorry I am not prepared for all on the road situations!

b) Another family who brought their 18 month old son clad only in his diaper. Yes, it was hot about 88 degrees. But if it's 110 in the shade, I would never dress Kelsey in only her diaper in public! Why would a family even bring their child to an inspection station? That's one place that if you have the option....take the poor baby someplace else while YOU go. (Kelsey was at daycare while I was at inspection)

2) Kelsey has a temper. I realize that all children do, but apparently, she likes to wail on one little boy in particular. Poor Sweet Garrett! His Crime? Not giving her a ball or a watering can she wanted. 2 weeks ago she bit him on his stomach. No blood was drawn. Today she scratched him and drew blood. I was horrified/mortified when her sitter told me this. Garrett is fine, and we waited for his Mommy so I could apologize to her too. Kelsey did say she was sorry and gave him a hug, but she doesn't understand what this means yet, she only did this because I prompted her and she was the center of attention. This is an important lession I need to teach her, but I need to see it myself so I can catch her in the act. Her sitter says all kids act this way, but Kelsey's targeting one child and one spot on his body...What is she thinking? She can be the sweetest child in the world...just don't cross her... We did have a conversation about this in the bathtub this evening. I need to watch this behavior like a hawk.

3) People go out of their way to be silly for my child's amusement. It's like living with a Rock Star....she has quite the entourage where ever we go. Two men at Applebees were ridiculously silly in their attempts to make her smile. Sweet, but definately not necessary, as we had apple juice, broccoli and ice cream as part of the meal.

4) Kurt's been away in Chicago this week and she's asking for him. Last night she pulled off a photo of us from the bookshelf and said "Dada" and kissed it. So sweet!

5) I've spent every moment since Saturday either shopping, doing home improvement or gardening. I"ve had a few days off from work and am supposed to go back tomorrow, but I haven't finished one project yet, so I'm taking the morning to complete it and working from home. Gotta love flex schedules!

6) Poor Kelsey had a fun, but hazardous weekend. It started Friday with a fall at the sitter's and she had an egg on her forehead and a scrape under her nose. Saturday, she was playing in her beloved water table while Mommy did some gardening and was bitten a few times by mosquitos. Sunday am, the bites were inflamed, angry and raised. I was going to call the dr, but a girlfriend told me her daughter has the same condition...an allergy to mosquitos. Yikes. Hopefully she'll outgrow that. I've put benydrill lotion on it and the bites are definately getting smaller and less red/angry. Finally on Monday, Tana (our white deaf kitty) chomped down on her wrist and delivered 2 puncture wounds. Kelsey didn't really deserve this...but Tana is a little more skittish being deaf, Kelsey does sneak up on her and tick her off. Kelsey just loves petting the cats and doesn't understand the back off signals yet. She was sitting with me on the couch watching TV and Tana came over to me wanted a snuggle, Kelsey wanted to pet her and Tana didn't want her to. Kelsey is fine, the wound was tiny and not a drop of blood was raised...I washed it with antibacterial soap and put a bandaid on it. They are practically invisible now. Things really do come in 3's.

On the plus side, she saw her "beloved" Jake be confirmed and got to jump on a trampoline for the first time. She also doesn't love slip n slides (good!)because she got water in her face.

The photos above are Kelsey and her cousin Marina at Marina's First Holy Communion. Marina looked beautiful and did a great job! I can't believe she's getting so big! (and NO, the woman in the pink shirt is NOT me!)

Kelsey's been fighting going to bed lately. Kurt's decided to extend her bedtime half an hour to 45 minutes. The past few nights have been hard, but tonight at 8:45 she went down like an angel. Whew!

JoAnn

Kelsey's Opinion of Mother's Day

Kelsey is a big fan of Mother's Day. Especially because I told Kurt that I didn't need a gift and wanted to buy her a slide for the backyard. We found a wonderful one at TRU and then picked up a water table. The water table ranks very high in our house...Kelsey loves hers!

We saw my Mom, and my Sister's family on Saturday and spent Sunday with Kurt's Mom and family, because we had a lot to celebrate. I'll post family photos later on in the week....I just want these really cute photos of Kelsey to sit by themselves for a bit.

I took them all, but I'd have to say I'm particularly proud of the one of her on the slide against the trees...I think my Dad would like that one too! :)

BTW, my event was well received and everyone had a great time. And I did get my life back and am enjoying a few days off!

Overworked, Overfed, Over-tired, and Undernourished

Hey All,
The good news is that I should have my life back on Friday. The TWIN award event that I've spent the past 5 months of my career on is over on Thursday evening and so should the late 2am evenings and weekends spent working on this project. I am taking a few days off after this project is over...and I can't wait!

The bad news? I'm a cranky woman. That's saying it nicely. You know the old adage "if Momma ain't happy, no one is?" All too true right now. :(

Kelsey is not sleeping on schedule right now - some nights she goes down happily at 8pm and sleeps til 7am and some days she screams till 10pm and wants to sleep until 9am! Oy! Tonight, however, she told me (in words!) that she's scared of dark and wants the lights on. Interesting, huh? Friday and Saturday were baaaad and Sunday isn't going well either. It's challenging to coordinate visits and family with her sleep patterns. It's unfair any way you look at this.

Honestly? All I want to do is be left alone in peace and quiet to do this work and eat chocolate. Unfortunately life doesn't work like that. And when I try to have a semblance of a normal life? Cranky woman comes roaring out.

Cats are shedding like mad and puking....cleaning woman is wonderful but does not put my stuff back where it should be! My Mother's Helper hasn't been available for a few weeks. I did get a chance to get my hair cut and colored....I like it, but don't love it yet. The guy is coming first week of June to finish repairing our door, but he overcharges like mad (thanks State Farm! GRRRRRR!) I haven't spoken to my brother in over a month, and my sister isn't the happiest with me either.

Guys I know I suck right now....I'm sorry but I am overwhelmed and have been trying my best.

Feel sorry for Kurt right now. He's bearing the brunt of this big time. He takes care of Kelsey and has been doing most of the cooking/shopping, etc. At least he gets to leave next week for 5 days....

Next year I'll know how to do this better...this compressed timeline is for the birds!

What I am fantasizing about....
powerwashing our screen porch and hanging out there
planting spring flowers and rummaging through a nursery or 2
painting the floor of our back porch
getting a full fence for the backyard and cutting down a few "bad" trees
reading a magazine for pleasure.

One of the ways that I feel best about myself is when I am able to be creative. This means writing, crafting, gardening, even organizing and decorating. Lately all my time has been spent working, unloading the dishwasher (I feel chained to the kitchen lately) or trying to satisfy everyone else...I have spent very little time nourishing my inner self and it shows :(

Friday is our 10th wedding anniversary. I wish I could say we have big plans, but Kurt and I do intend to put Kelsey in daycare part of the day and have a nice lunch together...the first time we've had a meal without her since we became a family. I think this is sad...10 years is a big milestone for us...it should be celebrated as such, but we just don't have the time/availability.

Hope your week is shaping up better!
JoAnn

Back to Sunshine and Roses!

Hey All,
One of my Panda Sisters asked if we wanted to participate in a video she was making of all our girls from referral to one year anniversary.

These are families whose documents were all sent to China in April 2005. We all received referrals of our children and traveled within 1-2 months of each other. This amazing group of women (and a few daddies too!) still correspond daily on a variety of topics and I thoroughly enjoy being an April Panda!

Well, here it is and it's wonderful! We love it so much!
Thank you Margie, you are amazing!

Don't forget, Kelsey is from Hunan Province and is in the first half of the video, but watch the whole thing. It will make your day! And the music is fabulous!

Kelsey is much better now, she's back to her wonderfully happy (eating, sleeping and drinking) self! It did her the world of good to stay home with me yesterday. It did me the world of good too. I wish we could make that a permanent situation, but its not in our cards.

Love,

JoAnn

Aw....&$&)*#^)*#^!

One of the bloggers that I love to read (Sandra at The Daily Grind or Jazzie and Tahlia) wrote a posting a few days ago on how many of the bloggers out here write as if their lives are all sunshine and roses. I've probably been guilty as charged because I don't really write this for myself, as much I do for Kelsey in the future.





However, Kelsey got sick on Friday night, first with fever and no sleep for any of us, and then she began to scream everytime she tried to eat and/or drink something.


And Saturday night....no fever, but the screaming was insane! no sleep for any of us...
We all slept on the couches because we were considering rushing her to the emergency room (cue freaked out Mom cursing out the 411 chick for being slow giving me the phone number!)

We did take her to an emergency care clinic and the Dr. said she didn't have cocksackie. Idiot! She was fussy, cranky and ate and drank a little. But she didn't sleep again on Sunday night, so no sleep for any of us again!



So 3 days, 3 different doctors and we finally know what's going on...Coxsackie virus. Insidious bug of a virus causes sores and such pain when a child eats or drinks. I hate that friggin' thing for the pain it has caused my child. Luckily she seems to have a milder case than most, doesn't have it on her hands or feet, and she is eating soft cold foods and drinking some. Some kids absolutely refuse to eat or drink and become dehydrated.



And she's contagious, so no daycare tomorrow. I had to take her daycare today, which means I exposed 5 other kids to this...I"d hate me if I were those kids' Moms. :(



I'm tired and stressed out. So is Kurt. Hopefully this damned virus will be gone in a few days.
Last week was challening at work. I've been putting in almost 50 hour weeks, so I really was looking forward to this past weekend. We had so many fun plans for Kelsey. We had to scrap everything to try to catch up on our sleep. That really sucked wind.

It's really sad to look forward to Monday at work to get some peace while your poor hurting daughter goes to daycare for a few hours.



So no sunshine and roses here tonight. Just the raw pain our baby girl has been feeling. I would trade everything in life to have it be me instead of her. I think she's feeling a little better this evening because she's actually been sleeping since 8:30pm and she played for a bit tonight. Say a prayer that the worst is over and she's on the road to recovery.

The photo above is her on a better day about 2 weeks ago.
JoAnn

Happy Birthday Jimmy!

I'll write a happy birthday post to my DH this weekend. We were crazy busy last weekend, which was his actual birthday.

Today is my baby brother's birthday. This year both Jimmy and now our sister Janet have joined me in our "fabulous"decade. As I've mentioned, Jimmy and his wife Judy live in Maine and love beauty and the slower pace of life there.

We love Maine too, it's just 9 1/2 hours drive so we don't get there very often.

I was 5 and wanted a brother or sister very badly. Finally when my parents told me I was FINALLY going to be a "big sister" everyone asked me if I wanted a brother or a sister. I, in my adorable-ness, said I really wanted a monkey or a gorilla.

I was in Mrs. Patterson's kindergarten class and my Father came in and told me that I had a baby brother. I remember Mrs. Patterson writing on the blackboard that I had a brother and that I was a big sister. I remember feeling so proud that day as I played around the room, I kept stealing looks at the blackboard to see my name and the word "sister!"

Jimmy was named after our grandfather, who unfortunately, passed away a few days after he was born. My Grandpa's name was Vincent and his nickname was Jimmy, so my parents named him James Vincent. I've always thought it was a beautiful name. I was always a little jealous that Jimmy was the only child to get a middle name.

I've always found my brother to be quite interesting....he has some hobbies that are similar to mine (reading) and completely different (scuba diving and boating!). He's a wonderful cook and a home-improvement DYI guy. (The home improvement talent he inherited from our Dad.) Jimmy's very into health and is determined to live a long and healthy life.

Jimmy became a "grandpa" at 35! One of his stepsons had kids early in life so Grandpa Jim was born! :)

I don't have any really good photos of Jimmy, so unfortunately the one I'm posting today is extremely blurry. I have asked him to send me some and maybe this will force him to do so!

So, Happy Birthday Jimmy!

Eat some chocolate for us!

Love,

JoAnn, Kurt and Kelsey