Makana's Gotcha Day 2009

October 10th marks the 4th anniversary of the day I became a mom. We were handed a beautiful baby girl in a conference room in Jiangxi, China and I was finally a mom. She was fascinated by my necklace and content to be in my arms, until Dad decided he wanted to hold her and grabbed her from behind. She began to scream and cry and was so loud we had to take her down to our room to calm her down so that the other families could meet their daughters. I fed her Cheerios and she stopped crying, bonds and trust began to form. Every year on this day I am amazed that another year has passed. We try to do something special to celebrate and to help her understand her early life. I offered her the choice of a manicure and pedicure at her favorite girl's place, Sweet and Sassy, or a trip to Build A Bear. She chose the latter, so Aleigh did her hair, I painted her nails and we all took off for lunch and Build A Bear. Of course Noa could not be left out, he got a bear too. I was happy she did not choose the Hannah Montana outfits, but truly she does not know much about her, just what she has heard at school. A few weeks ago she announced that she did not want to be a teacher, she wants to be a rock star by 16. She only watches playhouse Disney and Ni Hao Kai Lan, so she doesn't actually know HM and I like it that way, she is just too young for all of that! Or maybe her mamma is just too old! I do wonder if I will be headed to graduations and such in a walker!

We have decided to pull the kids out of daycare. It is not that there is anything wrong there, just my mamma guilt that they will be in school the rest of their lives, they need time at home now. Cody has had a hard time finding a decent job and she is in school again, it works out that she can take the light rail out here and watch the kids 3 days a week and if I pay her what I have paid day care she can quit the job at a really bad bar. So it helps her, helps my guilt and I think it will be good for the littlies. Not to mention that I will get to see Cody more often and Aleigh will enjoy getting to see her big sister too! I think Cody will be able to work with Noa on his language more than they could at day care and the speech therapist will come and work with Cody every other week and me every other week. He should thrive with the one on one attention and we will come up with lessons for Makana as well. The internet is great for ideas, and my degree was in K-6 education to begin with so I should be able to do this. We are all really excited for November when this will begin.

Aleigh is doing well in school, she looked beautiful for her homecoming last week, though we had quite the adventure getting everything ready at the last moment! She skipped her first class, I am trying to be very Dr. Phil and allow the logical consequences. She had a detention from the school, so I guess that worked out. She seems to have a very good head on her shoulders and is really interested in the academics so far, so I am trying to let her handle it. It goes against my nature though, I tend to want to control things. A shock, I know.

We have had our first snows of the season early this year. It is beautiful, snow on the ground, the grass is still green and the leaves are still bright red and yellow. I love fall and I love the snow until about Christmas and then I am just ready for summer again and start to really miss Hawaii. I've also been missing travel, especially travel for me, like my trips to Japan and Korea. Probably because I have gone throught he pictures and seen my old friends and the beautiful places and people. This is the first summer that I did not leave the state, and I think that adds to it as well, but I am defintely longing for some travel and the trip to DC with students this Spring may be fun, but not really what I am talking about! I wonder if I dare to apply for a trip somewhere this summer? I'd love to go to China as a voluteer some day or to Korea or China as an English teacher, but would need to be able to take my kids with me. I think it would be good for them! Enough rambling!

Paperwork HOORAY!

Makana started "kindergarten" at her Montessori school Monday. She is thrilled beyond belief. Now she doesn't have to go with the "Nappas" (nappers) any more and instead gets to learn to read and write. The very first day she had homework, which she calls paperwork to do. She had to look at the moon and then draw what it looked like and trace some words on a paper. You would have thought they were letting her fly to the moon! She simply could not wait to get home and do her paperwork! She will still need to attend state kindergarten next year, but this one makes her happy now! Her best friends from school last year are all older than she is and started public school this year, but as kindergarten here is still half day they come back for the last half of the day and Makana is thrilled

Noa was sick all last week, Cody rescued us and came to watch them so I could go to the first day of school to meet my students. Gil ended up staying home Tuesday until we could come home and let him go to work. We had care arranged for Wed- Friday as the school was closed those days. He had a sore throat and a fever that has now developed into a cough. And lucky me this week I have it. Gil kept saying don't let him kiss you, but how could I resist? Besides, he was sick and needed mommy kisses. Unfortunately that made for a rough week for me this week because I have no voice. Last night was Back to School and I had to talk to 4 different groups of parents, so today it is even worse.

Noa has speech therapy beginning again on Saturday. He needs it and we need it, he is not really trying to add new words anymore and just grunts most of the time. I don't know how to help him learn to make the sounds and he gets frustrated so easily when he wants something. I am beginning to worry about it all. We talk to him a lot, so he hears and knows a lot of words in English, he just can't or won't try to say them.

Aleigh is here and has started school. She is fun to have around to talk with, the kids love her and she helps me out so much. She seems to be making a lot of friends and enjoying the school, though she is not used to the amount of homework, she actually doesn't seem to mind that either! Tonight is the first football game of the season, she will probably go with a girl she met in her "dance" class. The quotes are Aleigh's because she says it is more exercise than dance.

Zoo with Tuninks

We went to the zoo with our friends Kirsten, Cassidy, and Taryn. I posted a link to the pictures in the sidebar. We had a great day there and I took WAY too many pictures as you can see! We go back to school next week so we are trying to visit the pool as many time as possible before then!

July in Colorado

We are enjoying ourselves this summer! I love having the summer off to spend with my kids. The house isn't super clean, but we are having fun. The kids had swim lessons the first two weeks we were off and we have spent time with Kathy and Zach, gone downtown, run through water fountains at the local mall and been swimming a lot. Gil and I have worked on the backyard a lot, it is looking good, though Kona still gets a wild hair and decides to dig up a tree just for fun some mornings. Our niece Aleigh has been staying with us. She is a wonderful kid and I love having her around. I wish I could find her more people her age so that she was less bored and stuck with old me. The 4th of July was so much fun. The association had pony rides and a petting zoo for kids. They loved it! Aleigh got to go home with Kathy and meet some girls in Parker, she had a good time. Noa's surgery was the 7th of July. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am, and the surgery began at 7:30. He was finished by 10:30 and then we were in recovery and then his room. Presbyterian St. Lukes had opened a new pediatric wing the day before, so we had a beautiful new room, great nurses, and all in all a great stay. The anesthesiologist sang to Noa while I held him until he fell asleep. What wonderful people. The nurses were so young I felt especially old, but they were caring and knowledgeable. We have spent the last week close to home, trying to ensure that Noa gets enough rest, is close to meds and that he doesn't put anything in his mouth. We were supposed to have him wear splint like things on his arms that keep him from bending them and putting things in his mouth. He has a hard enough time staying on two feet with the dogs running around, toys and things on the ground, not to mention that they made him darn miserable. I left them off except for when he slept as he is a thumb sucker. I watched him closely and he never put anything in his mouth except Makana's tooth brush (disgusting, I know) and he just sort of chews on those to try to get any "yummy" tooth paste off. Tonight was the first night he got to sleep without the "no-nos", he had a big grin on his face when I did not put them on at bed time. Thursday we will have a docs appointment to follow up on his progress. He is a little whiny at times, but really considering all that was done to him, he has been quite a little trooper. His speech sounds improved immediately after surgery and I have to say, he is as cute and as sweet as ever. Makana has done a good job of helping him feel better and has been conscious of how he must feel, oh don't get me wrong, there are days when the screaming at each other, one with words, the other with just sounds, makes me long for school to be in session, but all in all, they are doing great.