Peri Brynn continued

We had delay after dealy and I just couldn't wait so I booked another trip to visit. This time Peri Brynn was 9 months old and a pure delight. She was happy, healthy and the most adorable little pixie I had ever seen. I spent the week holding her, loving on her and just absorbing everything about her that I could. Again, I cried so hard when I had to give her back, but this time i thought I would be coming back to bring her home soon. 

Then, in October of 2007, just before her first birthday, I got a call that changed everything. Peri Brynn was very sick. She was in the hospital. The agency told me I needed to get to Guatemala right away. They didn't know if she would live. I had no idea what was wrong or what I would find when I arrived, but I booked the tickets and headed off all alone to see my girl. 

When I arrived, I caught a ride to the hospital and what I found tore the absolute heart out of my chest. Peri Brynn was in a bed, pinned to the sheets to keep her safe, barely moving and barely responsive. The doctor came in and talked to me. She showed me that Peri's skull had a large fracture in it, that she had swelling of the brain and that she had suffered many,many seizures. It was amazing she was still alive. In addition, she was malnourished, had un-treated parasites and an infection.

I left the hospital and could barely function. The next morning, i returned to the hospital and told the doctor I wanted to nurse her back to health. I paid all the bills and they released her to me. I took her back to my hotel and did what I needed to do. 

She was so small and so pathetic. Even at the age of 1 year old, she had lost all ability to sit up, to control her hands, to do almost anything. She was much like a newborn again. 

She had the most vacant look. Her hands curled into her body, useless. She seemed so lost. 

Her little feet curled up, too, a sign of the damage to her brain. I endlessly massaged her hands, legs, feet, and arms to help relax and un-curl them. 
I gave her injections daily to treat the infection, medicine to treat the seizures, medicine to reduce the pressure on her brain.

She began to improve, almost by the hour. She ate and ate and ate! She began to respond to me. She reached her little fists out to me. Her eyes tracked me as I walked around the hotel room. She would not let me get out of her sight. 

i found a new foster family for her and made arrangements forher to continue seeing her doctors regularly. We paid her foster fees, therapy bills, doctor bills and money to buy her the things she needed (medicine, a walker, clothes, etc)

To be continued.....

Peri Brynn

I have been thinking about Peri Brynn a lot lately. We were matched with her when she was just a few hours old. I already had a trip scheduled to visit Ahren and so I got to meet PBJ when she was just 6 days old. She was so tiny and so perfect. My heart was gone, gone, gone.

She had the most impossibly tiny nose. She was also very alert for a newborn. I sat up all night holding her sleeping in my arms, just breathing in her scent and feeling her skin. That rip in October 2006 went way too fast and I cried so hard when I had to give her back. 

Her case began to fly along. Within a month we had DNA results, 99.9%. Yahoo! I just knew soon she would be home with us, safe and sound in our arms for good.

By March our agency was telling  us she would be out of PGN any day. Considering how our other adoption (of Ahren) was going, this seemed like the miracle we had been waiting for!

Then, we found out we had been kicked out of PGn and there were going to be problems. 

To be continued......

Dear Santa

Our neighborhood hosts a get-together with Santa every year. Mrs. Claus was there at the clubhouse to greet the kids and soon Santa arrived on a fire engine with the sirens blaring.  He sang songs with the kids and read The Night Before Christmas. Then the kiddos lined up and got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. 

Levi has always been nervous around Santa. He will sit on his lap, but he's scared. This year he was pretty excited about it. He made Santa a picture and gave it to him. See the envelope in Santa's hand? See Levi's nervous habit of biting on his nails? 

Face painting. (Doesn't he look like a Who from Who-ville????)
Ahren opted to have his hand painted instead, so he could watch.

Levi sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted (A Jack Sparrow video game)

Ahren sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted (To get the heck outta there!)

They handed out cookies and juice and candy canes. Ahren especially enjoyed the candy canes. 

Life

We made the first ginger bread house. We decided to do one at a time in order to maximize nibbling. Here is the first collaborative effort. Now, it looks pretty bare. Most of the candy is gone and it looks pretty pathetic. Pathetic and much loved. Memories, that's what we are making. Not keepsake ginger bread houses.

Sorry so blurry. Darn kids are too fast for me.
Redneck fun in the country. Tractor rides. Heck, I love a good ride, just like the next girl! 

(Note: I grew up in the city. There are no country roots here....)

PBJ Update

I know it's been a long time since I talked about my sweet little Peri Brynn. My heart has been broken into a million pieces and we just weren't getting any information that gave us hope. We have a new attorney who has been trying to get our file away from the old attorney with no luck. They finally drew up some legal papers and had him served forcing him to hand things over. He has agreed but he is holding out for money (it always comes down to money!) Unfortunately we may have to pay him something to get the files. If it comes down to money or PBJ, well then you all know which side we will take. I hate feeding the corruption but frankly it's such a huge problem down there that I feel hopeless to ever do anything that will make a difference. The only true difference I can make is in the lives of two small children and maybe help with a few more. 

So what we know is that the new attorney says the courts have ordered a new DNA test, one to be conducted by the Guat officials. These have been taking months to complete so they want to get it taken as soon as possible so that by our hearing in March we will have the results. At this point we are still proceeding with the grandfathered case and the hearing is not for an abandonment, but that info could be wrong or it could just change in an instant. This is going to be a much longer road to travel. There are moments that I just feel like I don't have the strength to keep going for another year, another round of documents, another nightmare to face. I just don't know. And then I think what the alternative is and I see her sweet little face as she reaches her tiny little hand out to touch my face, a smile barely touching the corners of her mouth as I nursed her back to health in a hotel room. Who else does she have? We have to keep fighting, keep paying, keep praying, keep doing everything and anything to save her. 

Our precious little angel girl Peri Brynn. 

What am I up to?

I am officially up to my neck in Christmas preparations! On Sunday I made  9 batches of holiday candies, then tonight I made 4 more. I have quite a few more to finish by the end of this coming weekend so we can distribute home made goodies to all our friends and co-workers. i also knit my very first sock today! Socks have intimidated me for a long time (I have only been knitting 18 months) but I found some lovely yarn for $1.99 a skein big enough to knit 2 kids socks for charity. So today I took the plunge and it wasn't that bad! Once I finish the pair I will post pictures (although I live in fear that all the wonderful knitters out there will collectively gasp and wonder what the heck???) 

And it occurred to me that you all must be wondering what I fixed for dinner tonight. (OK, you may not be wondering at all but please leave me to my delusions. This is after 4 batches of fudge and many screaming fits, some of which involved the kids) What I made is so simple, so quick, so easy that is should be illegal!

I made.......Chili, cheese cornbread bake!

Pour 2 cans of steak chili into a 9" square pan and spread out. Add a layer of shredded cheddar cheese. Top off with one batch of white corn bread (makes an 8" skillet size) Throw in the oven at 425 for 20-30 minutes or until cornbread browns. Prep time: 3 minutes! My kind of meal. 

And now I provide you with evidence that children do not need expensive Rainbow play sets to have a good time. 

Ahren had a bad day

Poor little guy. He is cutting his last 2 year molar and it is a tough one. Plus he is coming down with a cold. His response to not feeling well was to growl at everyone yesterday. He also learned a lovely new trick, spitting (like razzberries kind of spitting) and he did this over and over to everyone. He heard the word No more yesterday than he has in the last 3 months. Then, to top it all off, he started biting, but not in anger. he thought it was funny! He even bit Mina's Mommy in the leg while hugging her. He didn't eat much dinner (Not like him) and he fought his Daddy hard over getting his jammies on. He seemed to fall asleep easily but then woke up crying several times during the night. I spent time in the rocking chair with him and he seemed to like that and fall back asleep. Like I said, he had a bad day yesterday. After I got home yesterday, he tried to bite me and I got down at his level face-to-face and told him very firmly 'No Biting' which made him start crying. I let him cry a few seconds (letting it sink in) then I picked him up to comfort him. I repeated quietly that there was no biting and that I loved him. At this point nanny interrupted and told me I was spoiling him and ruining him. If I comfort him then I am un-doing telling him no. My Mama Bear hackles went up! I told her things are different when  you are working on a secure attachment and then I gave her the 'eyes burning into your very soul' look. She shut up. I love her, but these are MY kids and I will screw them up any way I see fit!

I need to give a shout out to my sister-in-law Shannon. She lost her mother this weekend. My heart is breaking for you guys! Dear Judy, God Bless you! Rest in peace.

Can you say 'Moron'

I was reading the local news on-line today and came across an article that deeply disturbed me on many levels. It was a new article talking about the latest issue the Houston school district is facing. You see, since October there have been 7 teachers arrested for possession of drugs on school campuses. Almost all of the arrests came about after someone called the tip hotline and the police investigated. The latest arrest occurred today. 

Although that is bad, very BAD, that is not the moronic part. They interviewed the HISD superintendent and here is what he said.

"Honestly, I didn't realize we had this type of problem. But I'm kind of convinced now that we have some level of problem with some of our adults."

Then he goes on to say, "I think the majority of our staff members are clean, law-abiding citizens and we need to weed out those that are not." 

So after the 7th arrest ON a school campus he is 'kind of convinced' that there is 'some level of problem'. And what an idiot to say 'we need to weed out' the bad people, when it is WEED that most of them had in their possession. 

I swear, if my kids were in the HISD I would have yanked them out today and started home schooling. 

UPDATE: They arrested 2 more teachers yesterday afternoon, bringing the total to 9 since October. Gee, aren't the Houston schools just stellar......

Ahren and adjustment/attachment

If you can see, he has a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other and he absolutely shoveled the food in. Even thought the food was all new to him, he absolutely LOVED it!!!

On the advice of Ellie, I bought a small indoor jump house. It was a blessing during the day on Thanksgiving. They jumped and jumped and I cooked and cooked!

There is a check list of things to look for in the adjustment/attachment area when  you bring home a child through adoption. Depending on the age of the child, the history of the child and the inherant personality of the child things can be smooth or disastrous. When you bring a child into your family you hope and pray that your new child has an easy time of it. That they realize how much you love them, they feel safe and trusting, and that the bond forms quickly and deeply between all of you. Unfortunately, this is normally not the case. Trusting and bonding are hard. Really hard. And then sometimes, a miracle happens. A child just seems to know where they belong. They attach and bond quickly, as though they had always been there. That's the way it has been with Ahren. Someone once told me that the angels whispered in his ear and he knew where he was supposed to be. It started the very first time we met him. At 8 months old, he took one look at me and fell into my arms. He laughed and cuddled and snuggled like he had been mine forever. I lost my heart on that trip and I cried so hard when I had to give him back that I made myself sick. He was so certainly mine. In my heart and soul, mine. 

Even though it took 2 years and 8 months to bring him officially into our family, he has long been a part of it. The last time I visited, when his foster mom brought him into the hotel lobby, he immediately held out his chubby little arms for me to hold him. Oh yes, I cried. This child of mine wanted ME! I barely let go of him that trip and he smiled and laughed the whole time. He was a joyous child, the best I could have hoped for, the son I loved so much. 

When we arrived to bring him home I was so worried. He had spent so long with his wonderful foster family and he was about to say good-bye to them for ever. The last thing I wanted was to cause him pain. When they left (and they did it so beautifully, saying good-bye and suddenly disappearing) he whined only a moment and then fell into my arms for good. He never seemed to grieve or be upset. They had worked so hard to show him our photos, tell him who his family was, re-assure him where he belonged. And it worked. He just knew. Or maybe it really was angels. I definitely believe that God had a hand in it. The process to bring him home was horrible but his homecoming was delightful. 

Since he has been home he has absolutely AMAZED us. He is learning at an astronomical rate. He speaks in full sentences in english. He understand complex directions. He is potty training himself! But the best thing? He hugs us, he kisses us, he wants US! He shows every sign of attaching in a healthy and strong way. It's amazing!!!!

I keep waiting for the honeymoon period to end and the hard part to begin, but it just gets better. How can that be? Why aren't we dealing with terrible things???? I can only say that we are extremely blessed to have the best kid EVER!!! He is funny, and goofy, and loving and the true JOY of our lives. He has added to all of our lives in a way I cannot explain. He is truly very special. Muy especial!!!!!

Where does the time go?

I love this time of year. I hate this time of year. I run around like an idiot with my head cut off, never get everything done, try and have as much fun with the kids as possible and try not to lose my mind in the process. Sound familiar? So far I have all of the indoor decorations up. This weekend I plan on getting the outdoor decorations up, weather permitting. I need to start wrapping gifts, finish buying gifts, and start my holiday baking. Last year I bought truffles and caramels from Sweet Hope, but this year I am on a tighter budget. I am going to try and make my own (hopefully edible) holiday goodies. 

A friend gave us a bucket of Crayola air-drying craft clay. I rolled out some of it and Levi helped me use cookie cutters to cut out bear shapes. We let them dry and today we used non-toxic craft paints to decorate them. (OK, decorate is used very loosely here. They mostly buried the bears under layers of paint all mixed together. Hopefully it will dry before too many weeks....)Once the paint is dry I have glitter glue to add accents and then I will seal them with clear sealer. I will add hanging cords and the kids (my two plus the two little ones who our nanny also watches) will have some keepsake ornaments to decorate their trees.

I got shirts for all 4 little ones and some red washable fabric paint, googly eyes and big round bells. We used the red paint to dip their foot in to make the face of a Reindeer and their hand prints as the antlers. Once the paint dried I glued googly eyes (using washable fabric glue) on and added a bell for the nose. Voila, holiday keepsake shirts! 

I bought 2 ginger bread house kits. One for Levi and one for Ahren. Once we make them the boys will be allowed to nibble, nibble, nibble on their respective houses until Christmas. Each time I notice they have been nibbled, I use my best witchy voice and ask aloud, 'Nibble, nibble, nibble, who has been nibbling at my house' just like in hansel and gretel. This is sure to elicit much giggling and even more nibbling. 

This year we are doing something different. The economic crisis has us worried and doing our best to cut back. I usually go overboard with gifts for the kids. I shop the sales, get free shipping and score great deals, but I still do a lot. So this year, Chris is in charge of all the buying for the kids and me. I get to buy for my folks, the kids' gifts for Chris, the mail person, newspaper delivery, etc. He has the rest. Oh, and I will do the stockings. At first this seemed like a brilliant idea to me. It freed me up to just enjoy the season. But here it is, 3 weeks from the big day and he hasn't bought one single thing (or so he says) I am totally freaking out. I would be almost done by now. I would have lists of each child's gifts, a tally of the money spent, the exact same number of packages to open for the two boys, the exact same number of packages for the two girls (less than the boys because their gifts are more expensive) stockings figured out, wrapping begun, etc etc. The magic of the holidays means so much to me. I work extra hard to keep it alive in our kids. I stress the 'reason for the season', the joy of giving, but also the pure magical aspect of it. I am scared. Really scared. And yet I can't take over or it seems like I don't trust my husband. I should have never given up control of the holiday. I have clearly lost my mind. I think I have control issues.....Lord help me!!!

And some more on thankfulness.....

I am ultimately thankful for those that I love, that love me and that mean the whole world to me. My in-laws, who are awesome. My parents, who mean everything to me. My sister, who I never really knew until we were adults, and my brother, who I don't talk to often but think about all the time. Their families, too. And my Aunt Judy and Uncle bill, some really special people in my life. 

Looking Sexy

More Looking Sexy

All together now, Look Sexy!

Pure joy. My joy.

I have al ot more to be thankful for. So many, many things. My co-workers, my boss, my friends, so many many people who mean so much to me. Just let it be known, I am thankful for each and every one of you, whether mentioned by name or not. 

I know that only Americans celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. Supposedly it originated when the Pilgrims sat down to dinner with the Native Americans to celebrate the bountiful harvests of the year and the fact that they had once again managed to survive in the new land. I have my doubts as to the origins. It may have actually been the first Hallmark ancestors who started the holiday, but I have no proof. What I am trying to say is that even if it is a made-up holiday only celebrated by one nation it is a concept that should be celebrated by every human being every day. I have to admit that I am guilty of not counting my blessings often enough. I take for granted that I live in a place so blessed. Hurricane Ike taught me some lessons. Visiting Guatemala, the countryside of Guatemala, taught me more. I still have a lot to learn, and even more to be thankful for. So for everyone who doesn't have a State mandated holiday that tells you to be thankful....be ahead of the curve and figure it out yourselves. Being thankful is not an American trait. We are usually so selfish and self-absorbed we have to have a HOLIDAY to remind us of our blessing. Geeshh.

Thankful cont.

This may take me several days and several posts....but only because I have so many things to be thankful for that run around my house and demand things like being FED. Hah!

Opportunity. It was my great opportunity to be able to pursue adoption, to achieve parenthood, to have the true LUXURY of choice in my life. The opportunity to pursue many things. 

Education. And I don't just mean degrees, although those were very important to me and I worked hard to finish while also working full time. But education in the every day sense of the word. People constantly amaze me and I have learned so much about how truly good some people are and how truly bad some people are. I have learned way too much about the ugly side of people. Greed, self-importance, lying, cheating, stealing, and downright nastiness. Why in the world would someone be mean just because they can be? I am stymied by that one. 

Health. Good health. Energy to keep up with small boys who seem to run on energizer batteries. Energy to keep up with teenage girls who can shop for 10 hours straight and still want to visit one more store, pleeeeeeze. Energy to attempt to keep a house clean when it seems like the best idea would have been to have cement floors with a drain in the middle and a giant flush lever. 

Home. I have moved a lot in my adult life. I've lived in Iowa, Phoenix, Dallas, and now Houston. I have lived in several houses in each state, too. Most of them felt somewhat homey, but not the same sense of a safe HOME that this house feels like now. Maybe it's because I know we are here for good, or maybe because we designed it to fit us, or some other intangible. I don't know. I do know the girls say they like this house a lot better than our last one. We have 3.5 acres, a pond, a barn, space. It's very quiet. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac at the top of a small hill. Candy- we can have 1 horse per acre and there are plenty of lots left and some horse properties already built that are for sale.  Some right around the corner from us! (hint, hint)

More later. I have a date with a turkey now. 

Thankful

I will start listing all the things I am thankful for today, and hopefully finish tomorrow. It's a long list, one I think about often. A long time ago, a lesson my hubby and I taught to a Sunday school class stuck in my head. The lesson was about how God was all around us, even in the littlest ant crawling across the ground. How God existed in the smallest of kind acts, just offering a thirsty person a glass of water. It's not the big, grandiose things that should have meaning, it's the little every-day miracles that we tend to not notice that should be celebrated. That lesson has really stuck with me.

So, here are some of the things I am thankful for in my life:

Hope. There have been so many times when hope seemed lost, and yet, it still blossomed in my heart. Maybe it was foolish and maybe it was a lost cause, but i still HAD hope.

Faith. Not faith in the religious sense of the word, but faith at a deeper soul-based level. I do not have faith in the church-going, offering-plate, wearing my Sunday best kind of way. I have faith that is there as my companion at the darkest of moments, the bleakest of times, the most painful days. The kind of faith that reassures me that in the end, all will be right. However it works out, it will be OK and I can be Ok about that. 

Just in time for the holidays

Guess what I got for the holidays? A big pimple! Right on my cheekbone. Come on! I am too old for this!!! Thank goodness no one is coming over to celebrate with us. They might run screaming into the night.....

Today was Levi's Thanksgiving celebration at school. Being the Mom that is Mostest, I realized last night that I was supposed to send food with him today. Thanksgiving style food. Not donuts. Panic mode set in. Wait, I cooked a free turkey this weekend and have the meat safely packaged away in the freezer. Pull meat out and thaw. Score! But what else.....I dug around in my pantry and found a bag of seasoned bread cubes for stuffing. Hey, when did I get these? I can't remember but dried bread can't go bad, can it? i poured melted butter and chicken stock over it, placed in a dish and threw it in the fridge. Voila - stuffing! Ashley went to the party as Levi's family and Nanny warmed up the food for her. I got a call 30 minutes before the party. Nanny said, 'Your stuffing is awfully, awfully dry. What should I do?' My answer, pour some more chicken broth over it, warm it up and send it off. Some of  it came back after the party and nanny threw it away. She explained that it really wasn't very good. Gee, and I tried so hard...... NOT.

Ashley is 13 years old but very tall. She must be 5'9" now. And gorgeous. As I mentioned, she went to Levi's Thanksgiving feast at school. Now, I look at her and see my little girl, but apparently that is not what other people see. Levi's teacher told her it was so nice that she came home from college just to be with her little brother. Then a couple of mom's were overheard discussing whether she was Levi's Mom or sister! Ash was 8 years old when Levi was born. Eight!!!! Then on top of it, the other Mom's acted like stepford wives and totally made arses of themselves. So bad that a ,13 going on 30 year old, noticed. Nice!

So Thanksgiving dinner at our  house is all me. I cook it all. This year it will be just us. The 6 of us. Everyone has their favorites so I will be making more dishes than you can count. Katie wants corn casserole. Ashley wants sweet potatoes. Chris wants homemade noodles cooked  in turkey stock. Levi wants rolls. Ahren, well Ahren eats anything so he wants it all. Or so I am guessing. Me? My favorite is stuffing. Stuffing with gravy. Yum yum yum. And cranberry jelly. So I will have both ovens going full force on Thursday and both refrigerators full. Life is good!!!! (Has anyone else noticed that Thanksgiving is a carb-fest???) 

Good night to all. Tomorrow I hope to post about what I am thankful for...but then again I think you all know what I am thankful for. I love them all so much.......

Ashley is my favorite child.

i love her more than all of the rest of them.

:)

Note" my blog was bogarted by my second child. But I agree, she is my favorite Ashley of all time!!!!!!

Pix of our QUIET week

You heard right! Quiet. No blood clots, no thieving, no lawsuit threats, nothing. What a let down.....NOT! So instead, I give you how we boringly spent this week at Chez Chaos.

Ahren is in LOVE with his Poppi. If he can be outside with daddy then he is a happy camper. Last weekend, when Chris was mowing the back 40, poor Ahren was miserable. he could see him but not get to him. Little Houdini tried everything. He was caught undoing the chain locking the gate shut, dismantling the door knob cover on the back door, and trying to scale the fence surrounding the kid-safe play area. After he was done mowing, Chris took the boys for a ride around on the tractor. I didn't get a picture but i will next time. 

Saturday morning snuggling on the couch. My boys. I love saying that. My boys.
Beware, this picture is sure to melt your heart and bring a lump to your throat. It is truly miraculous how well these two adjusted. Oh, there are fights and lots of wrestling, but way more laughs and hugs than anything. We see almost no signs of jealousy, either, between these two. 
All I wanted was a picture of how cute Levi looked in his school outfit this day. Unfortunately the girls have taught Levi how to 'pose sexy' and I can never get just normal pix anymore.
Ahren copies absolutely everything Levi does, so here is his interpretation of 'posing sexy'. This kid cracks me UP!
Ahren has his own little buddy, too. One with super powers and all. You should hear him say Superman. It's too cute.
More super buddies.
We worried about levi feeling left out and misplaced when Ahren came home, so we have made the effort to have some special things to do just with Levi. He and I have what he calls our 'tradition'. We play Pirates of the Carribean on-line together. We started doing it the day Ahren came home, during his naps. Each day we got a couple of hours, just us. We are still doing it and it seems to be working. We also make efforts to take one or the other alone on errands, etc. Katie will come home from school and take Levi to get gas or something for a school project. It seems to be working. Levi shows no signs of jealousy against Ahren. Instead, he is more loving and his buddy than anything. Maybe it's because he had been waiting 'his whole life for a brother' in his words!
Is it any wonder posts have been few and far between with my little button pusher around to help?
Dressed for church. Handsome boy!!! (And no 'sexy pose!)

A few pix and I call it a post

The other night Ahren was absolutely coated with sand and dirt from playing outside. My first thought was to just rinse him off in the sink (too cold outside to use the hose) but when I figured out that he still (barely) fit in the sink, I scrubbed him up there. This is an over-sized extra deep sink and he fills it completely!

I bought some cool underwear for Ahren since he is doing so well with potty training. Any time anything new shows up the gang has to investigate and thoroughly try out the new stuff. Here, sweet little Holly shows off the new undies in a way only Holly could carry off!
I am forever amazed at the bond my older girls have with their littles. It's not something i push or demand, just something they do naturally. It makes my big ol' mama's heart swell with pride and love!
This is a Pirate Ship playhouse that I bought the designs to build. It ends up about the size of my mini-van. Soon, it will be going up in our backyard. Watch out, Mama Bear has Power Tools!!!!

Has the whole world gone crazy?

We had another uber-fun filled week around Chez Chaos. Our beloved nanny developed a blood clot in her leg and ended up in the hospital on Thursday. She had been having some problems with it and they finally diagnosed a blood clot and started her on blood thinners. Unfortunately, it seems to have been a case of too little, too late, and by the time I arrived home on Thursday her lower leg looked like a sausage about to burst it's casing and was turning ugly shades of purple and black. This earned her a trip to the ER, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Of course, being the super stubborn woman she is, it took everything her daughter had to keep her there long enough to get looked at and admitted. Her daughter actually resorted to threatening to move her car and hide all the keys! 

Then, the exact same night a delivery man at our neighbor's house got seriously injured. It just so happened that adorable little Holly's parents were driving past when the wife came running into the road looking for help. Her husband is a big name brand tool distributor and the delivery guy had attempted to unload an 1100 pound tool box on wheels all by himself. It got crooked on the ramp and tipped over crushing his leg. When they moved him onto the gurney his whole leg was like a piece of over cooked spaghetti. He was holding the end of his thighbone where it poked out of his thigh. I think the only thing that helped save him a little was the heavy duty work boots he wore. The tool chest was propped up on his shoe giving just a little bit of clearance and possibly saving his foot from being crushed. Poor guy had only been on the job one week. I am thinking that his training might have been a bit lax.

Levi was riding his 4-wheeler the other night when the battery died. Chris pulled the battery and brought it into the house to recharge. When he then went to put it back into the 4-wheeler, it was gone. Someone stole our Little Tykes 4-wheeler right out of our yard. 

And for the coup de gras, the piece de resistance, the icing on the cake....I bring you a story of insanity. A little background first..... We live in an area that is really a bedroom community to the nearest Houston suburb. It's small, it's fairly rural with lots of horse properties, and it's full of the nicest folk you ever could meet. Our football team has made it to the playoffs for the first time, well, ever! This is huge! Most years we have been lucky to have a win or two, but since they opened a second high school we have dropped down to 4A and are now winning. The whole school has been supporting the football team, cheering them on, etc etc. 

So the Friday before last, a large number of students (including the cheerleaders, the mascot, the booster club and the trainers) all reported to the parking lot immediately after school and used window markers to write things on the football teams car windows. Apparently they wrote really awful stuff like Go Bulldogs, We Love You, Win Win Win. You know, really hateful stuff. Katie, as usual, was right in the middle of this horrific display of support. 

One of the boys on the team has a father who apparently is a bit, ahem, different. When he learned of this carnage he closely inspected his son's truck, only to discover a small dent on the side. Aha! Vandalism! Criminal mischief! Someone must pay!!! And who, you might ask, signed their name to said truck's artwork? Why yes, none other than Katie and 2 other girls. This resulted in a nasty phone call to the criminal's mother (me) along with a full fledged tantrum at the school, resulting in a police investigation. He wanted to press charges, he wanted the girl's charged with criminal mischief, he wanted them taken into custody right then and there! 

Now I asked Katie if she wrote on his truck and she said yes and told me what she wrote. I asked her if she climbed on the truck and she said No. I asked her why they wrote on that particular vehicle and she said 'Because no one else would write on it because they are scared of his psycho dad'. (Wow, we need to work on her reasoning skills!!!) The police investigated, even pulling the surveillance tapes for the parking lot. Final determination? There is no evidence to suggest that these girls ever damaged the truck. End of investigation. In fact, the police said it is highly unlikely that the itty-bitty dent on the side of the truck was caused by someone leaning on or climbing on the vehicle. it looks suspiciously like a door ding. 

Is the 'Different Dad' satisfied? Nope. But you expected that, didn't you? He says he will sue. I say, go ahead! I have a lot of unresolved anger and anxiety that I need to take out on someone!!!

The Case of the Knackerly Knitters

All weekend long I had been excited about lunchtime on Monday. Several of us from work were going to take our knitting to the park and meet up with a local knitting guru for some knitterly advice. I know, rather lame to be excited about, but welcome to my life! The idea of sitting outside in the recent beautiful weather, knitting, laughing and relaxing sounded heavenly.

The first sign that things were going to go very wrong was when the skies turned dark and rain began to pour mid-morning. Thinking quickly, we decided on a Plan B. We would have the guru come to our work and we could sit in the lovely lobby and get our lesson. But, wait, would we end up disturbing people (knowing that we would probably be doing a lot of laughing and probably more than a bit of knitting humor)? So we thought, A-Hah! There are meeting rooms in the lobby to meet with people who are not allowed into the secure research areas. We had seen these used often for things like baby showers, birthday parties and the like. Being the midwestern girls we are, forever bound to 'do the right thing', we asked if we could use the room. We received a 'conditional' yes, but had to wait for the Head of Security (HoS) for the final say. 

Right on time, the knitting guru arrived and proceeded to wait in her vehicle for us, while binding off a shawl (exactly the sort of thing you would expect any knitting guru worth her weight would do in a few spare moments). About then, my phone rang. Great timing! It was the 

HoS. I asked if we could use the room and she replied, 'Absolutely not'. I beg your pardon, did you say what I think you said? She went on to explain that those rooms are reserved for business purposes and we were NOT allowed to use them. Then she demanded to know why I waited until the last minute to request to use one. I tried to tell her our story, but she cut me off. No, no, no, not permitted. At this point I said, 'This is ridiculous'. Apparently this is exactly NOT what to say to HoS because she went off on me. Her exact words were, 'Did you just call the HoS ridiculous?' to which I resp0nded, 'No, I said the situation is ridiculous. All we want to do is use it for a few minutes'. She continued to yell at me. The gal in the adjoining office could HEAR her she was yelling so loud. She then asked me, 'Who are you?' so I began to tell her and she yelled, 'I know who you are!'. (WTF? If she knew why did she ask?) She continued to accuse me of calling her ridiculous and I told her 'never mind, we will go elsewhere' and I ended the call. 

In the meantime, our sweet little knitting guru got shooed out of the parking lot because she had no business being there. Want to know the best part? The knitting guru is a 72 year old woman who babysits for the President/CEO's daughter. Nice. And our company is trying it's best to be the Best Company Ever. With co-workers like that, who needs enemies?

You flatter me so!

The recipe for the detergent is one I got off the web. Don't credit me with being this ingenious! Although I have been known to mix up quite the reagents in the laboratory....bwah hah hah. Hey, just because it could dissolve a body so that no trace was ever found. Oh I jest....or do I???

OK, here is how I made my detergent. I made the recipe for powdered detergent because other people said the liquid version tends to gel up and be hard to use. Also note that I made a HUGE batch. Why? Um, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time...until I saw how much I ended up with!

2  32 oz. boxes Borax

3  20 oz boxes Washing Soda (not baking soda)

2 cups baking Soda 

8 Bars Fels Naptha soap grated

Essential oils to scent, if desired (I didn't use any, I like the clean scent it has naturally)

Mix well, use 1/8 cup per load

This sounded easier than it turned out to be. I bought a plastic tub to make and store it in for about $5. The powdered ingredients were easy but the bars of soap were harder. The notes said that you could use a Salad Shooter (darn, I have one but it is still in a box from our move and I don't know which one) ((OK, make fun of me for having a salad shooter but I could have used it now and you don't have one!!!)) or a blender. So the Salad shooter is out and I go to get the blender. Only I can't find the glass container for it. Base - check. Lid - check. Blades - check. Glass container- NOWHERE. Well that's not going to work. I started out with a grater but that got old about 1/3 of the way through the first bar. So I bit the bullet and we headed to Tar:Get and invested in a new blender. I rough cut the bars (they are crumbly) and threw them in the blender. Let me just say - OMG! The soap dust was awful! Do this step in a well ventilated spot. Or get a Salad Shooter!!!!! Or possibly find some convicts who are in need of a work release program.....

So there you have it. Cheap home-made detergent and it only cost me a few bucks and one lobe of my lung! (Hey, lungs are entirely over rated!)

Tomorrow I will write about my run in with the 'policia' at my company, all over knitting. Who knew knitting was so dangerous! (OK, well, I might have been knitting a bomb. Or a baby blanket. You decide)

Slacker!

Yes, I have been a total blogging slacker this week. Want to hear all my excuses? No? Oh well. I rally don't have any anyway! I always hate it when I follow a blog through a long adoption process and then once the child is home we hear nothing. Yeah, the finger is pointing to me. 

So, let's catch up,  shall we? Ahren's physical progress is coming along. We took him back to the orthopedist and he was happy with the muscle development. He is still much less stable than other kids his age and about as limber as a dish rag, but he is progressing. At this point the doctor wants to keep up doing what we are doing (lots of physical activity, no shoes most of the time) and see him again in a few months. It's so hard to tell what is just muscle weakness from inactivity versus some cerebral palsy issues when he is so young. Poor little guy, though, he falls so much. He has so many bruises and skinned knees and elbows. 

Ahren is speaking almost entirely in english now. It has become a struggle to get him to use spanish and he absolutely refuses to answer me if I speak to him in spanish. I have friends who are fluent and try and talk to him and he just sticks out his chin and says NO! The other day he said 'chocolate milk' plain as day. He is doing very well peeing in the potty, not so much with the poo poo. We aren't pushing. He eats everything now, and a lot of it! If we make scrambled eggs he will eat 3-4 of them. He can down 2 bananas and 2 cups of yogurt for a snack. He eats a lot of healthy food, so I am not worried. He is also on the go constantly so he is burning off a lot of calories. He lost a little weight at first, probably because we weaned him off of the bottles every 4 hours. Those calories have been replaced with fruit, yogurt, whole grains etc. 

Today I am cleaning out our big chest freezer. Even though we had a generator during Hurricane Ike, it didn't run everything all the time. The freezer partially defrosted and then refroze in one giant blob. A lot of what was in there is probably freezer burned now. I am thawing all the meat and cooking it down with rice for dog food. I just HATE to waste it and jackson does best on a hypoallergenic diet of fresh meats and rice anyway. At least I won't be throwing it away.

Lately I have had this urge to stock up, cut back on spending, prepare to tighten the belts, etc. The way the economy is going and the unrest that comes from the change in presidents has me unsettled. I made the mistake of looking at my 401K and the kid's college funds and about wet myself. I will NOT do that again anytime soon. I just keep telling myself that every dollar going in right now is buying many more shares than normal, so that is a good thing. 

I made my own laundry detergent as part of my 'back to basics' savings kick. For about $20 I have enough laundry detergent for the next 6 months for a family of 6. The best part? It works! I had a towel that was originally cream colored but somehow had gotten washed with something and turned pink. I used the home-made detergent on a load of towels and the pink towel came out cream colored again! (That makes me wonder how it will work in the long run on colored clothes....I'll have to let you know) You only use 1/8th of a cup per load. 

Today I am also making cookie dough, adding in the leftover Halloween M&M candies instead of chips and freezing it in single cookie portions. (Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with waxed paper, freeze, transfer to ziploc bags) They are then ready to pop in the oven a few or a lot at a time! 

Right now the boys are all out in the barn working on a project. They are building the new bed frame with storage for Levi and Ahren's room. My heart about bursts when I look out there and see them. All three have on safety glasses and are intently bent over the wood. All together now....awwwwwww. 

We went to a birthday party at the next-door neighbors house for their 3 year old. There were lots of kids all between the ages of infant to about 6 yrs old. There was a group of girls about Levi's age that were absolutely wild. They took over the bounce house and attacked anyone who went in. Levi got tackled several times and decided to get out. One little guy, 3 yrs old, ended up crying and trying to get out but they kept knocking him down and calling him a baby. I was watching and said they needed to be nice to the smaller kids. One little girl looked at me and said, 'I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear'. I think Chris pulled me out of the entrance as I went in to give her the smackdown! (Just kidding) I did find the Mom, who happened to be 2 steps from the bounce house and paying NO attention whatsoever, and told her what her lovely little puke had done. She made the girl apologize, but just a little bit later she and her posse were back in the bounce house reigning terror. Ahren went to go in, got halfway thru the door, and backed out as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him. Good choice son!

Later I will work on uploading some new pix. 

Boys, boys, boys

The Terror Tots have invented a new game. It involves pulling all the covers and pillows off the bed in the guest room and them rolling or jumping off the bed onto them. It's so sweet watching Levi help Ahren up onto the bed and seeing them cracking each other up. The sound of laughter ringing thru the house makes it more than worth the effort to have to pick it up when they are done. 

Cracking up over the 'game'. I did have to move one of the night stands, though, because Ahren decided to climb on top and try and leap from it. I caught him just before he could jump, with the stand wobbling under him. Ugh! Boy was he mad at me for ruining his fun!
Is this just the most perfect Halloween costume for my little nut? He looked ADORABLE, but I'm not biased or anything!
For Trick or Treat we hooked the big garden wagon up to the riding mower, filled the wagon with blankets and hung glow sticks all over it. Mina and her Mommy came along and we drove all over the neighborhood in our RedNeck Transportation! (The houses are far apart because everyone is on acreage here. The people sit at the end of their driveways and hand out candy. They also create spooky scenes and decorate to the max) Ahren wasn't too sure about it all at first, until they handed him candy and then he was gung-ho! 

Here is Mina as Princess Jasmine. She's not even mine and I still think she is absolutely adorable. Is there anything as sweet to a toddler as a bag full of free candy?

One day last week Ahren didn't take a nap and by 6pm he was so tired and crabby. He climbed into the baby swing and fell asleep! He doesn't hardly fit, but that didn't matter.

Look at this sweet angelic face. Who would have thought that just a little earlier he was a screaming, snotty nosed mess? Poor little sweetheart, he really needs those naps!

Levi is giving us his 'sexy pose' here. Why he thinks this is sexy I have no idea. I'm assuming his sisters taught it to him and convinced him he was sexy.  He doesn't even know what the word sexy means. (I asked and he said he didn't know.) 
Potty training update: We left the house in underwear yesterday. Spent 2 hours running errands with no accidents! He really has the pee-pee thing down. Poo-poo, not so much. This morning he pooped in his pull-up and I didn't know it. He went to the potty and pulled his pants down and several little balls of poopiness went rolling across the floor. He looked down and plain as day said, 'Yuck'! His timing was a little off, but his language is spot-on!