Poor Little Kenyon

He is still throwing up! It started Monday night and it is now Thursday afternoon. Last night he got really dehydrated. It was super scary so we finally took him to the E.R. this morning. By the time we got there, we had given him enough shots of pedialyte with a medicine dropper so he didn't have to get fluid IVs or anything. He is so sad!

Hanging on... by a thread!

We are still here - barely! My babies have the stomach flu - throwing up countless times, Jeremy and I have ear infections that resulted from the colds Jeremy, Maya and I had last week, and we are an all around SICK home.

So I need to post about our fun-filled Thanksgiving in St. George, Utah, but I better go clean up this pig sty instead!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Have you ever read this book? This was my day.

It started out with the passing of Oscar. Jeremy found him belly-up this morning. Maya didn't realize until later in the day. She cried and said she wants another fish. She keeps saying, "Oscar went to live with Jesus."

Next, Maya still has her cold. She was up off and on all night with a fever. When I don't get sleep I am grouchy.

Because Maya is sick, we couldn't go to gymnastics. When I am stuck in my house, I am not happy.

Kenyon is still fussy about that tooth that is coming in.

Maya only napped for 1/2 hour - usually she does 2-3.

Jeremy worked late.

And the final straw - I received an invoice via email from our adoption attorney. Now you have to know that their service has been awful. I have to call and email and call and email and call and email for several weeks to get a return call or email. I have always said that I can't complain until the adoption is final because they weren't charging us above and beyond our initial fees. I was wrong - dead wrong - $6,000.00 wrong! Yes, that is what they are charging for their #$%^^&*@#$% service.

And that my friends, is why we are headed to get Maya a new fish and treat ourselves to some yummy, delicious, fat-filled ice cream. Oh and tomorrow I will talk about everything I am grateful for, but today I needed to vent :).

Today

Remember Oscar the fish that Maya got for her birthday last February? He is still alive! That in itself is a miracle - a beta fish that survived for 9 months! Well this morning Maya and Jeremy were downstairs making breakfast. Maya said she wanted to see her Oscar. So Jer looked in his vase (his bowl broke so he is now in a vase) and he wasn't there. Jeremy got a little freaked out and started looking around. He found him lying lifeless on the cold, hard tile floor. He quickly put Maya on the couch to distract her and picked up Oscar. Oscar started moving a little, but he was all dried out and discolored. Once he put him back in the water, he came to life a little more, but he has not looked good all day. Can you believe he jumped out and landed on the ground??!! Below is a picture of how far of a fall it is. Please keep Oscar in your thoughts!! :)

Kenyon is crawling. It isn't quite an official crawl yet, but he can get across the room by pulling up on his hands and knees and doing some scooting/army crawling. I tried to get some video of it, but of course he was camera shy. I will get more video later. He is also getting his 3rd tooth. It is one on top. He is not a happy guy!

Maya has a cold so she has one runny nose, but it doesn't even phase her. That girls just keeps going! She woke up at 6:30 am this morning. Now let me tell you about my Sunday mornings - it is the one morning that Jeremy is home (he either golfs or works on Saturday mornings) so I take full advantage of it. I sleep in and Jeremy and Maya bring me breakfast in bed. So this morning when Jeremy went into Maya's room at the crack of dawn, he said, "Do you want to go watch a movie in our bed?" She replied, "No - I want to make breakfast for my mommy." First of all she is smart to remember that one day a week when daddy is home that is what happens. Second, what a sweetheart!

One more story - yesterday I was feeding Kenyon some squash baby food. The doorbell rang so I went to get it. He was very happy and content while I visited with a friend. When I came back over and this is what I found:

He had pulled the container of baby food off of the table and made a mess of himself, his high chair and the floor. Never a dull moment!

National Adoption Day

Today is National Adoption Day. Actually, the entire month of November is Adoption Awareness month. Here is a little history on it:

National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 114,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care.

National Adoption Day is celebrated every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For the first time in 2006, National Adoption Day was celebrated in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In total, more than 250 events were held throughout the country to finalize the adoptions of more than 3,300 children in foster care, and to celebrate all families who adopt.

So there you have it - Happy Adoption Day! We are celebrating by going to an open house celebration this evening for a friend that finalized their son's adoption this morning. Congratulations Kiara and family!

Here is a great article about adoption that I saw on MSN today:

http://lifestyle.msn.com/familyandparenting/raisingkids/articlerb.aspx?cp-documentid=5686537&GT1=10619

I survived!

I made it! Some of you knew that my friend Kyle was going out of town and I was asked to watch her 3 kids during the days yesterday and today while her hubby worked. So there I was, with 5 kids, ages 5 and under. Overall it went very smooth.

Here we are headed to the bus stop:

The big kids

The babies

The experience couldn't have gone off without any "incidents" so let me share it:


We had just picked the 2 older kids up from the bus stop. We were headed inside the house to have lunch and then put the younger 3 down for naps. I unloaded the minivan (yes, I was driving a minivan). The kids were all walking into the house through the garage. Where Jer's truck is usually parked sits an oil pan. His "classic" truck (he has a new and an old truck - we refer to the old truck as his "classic" truck) leaks transmission fluid so the pan is full of it. As Nathan (age 2) walked through the garage, he went and stepped right in the pan, slipped, and fell on his bum with transmission fluid splashing all over him. I mean ALL OVER HIM! His pants were dripping with greasy, red fluid.


Up until that point, I was feeling like I could easily have a couple more kids. I mean, things were going really well. I was feeling like super mom. And then it all fell apart. I was trying to bathe Nathan, rinse out his clothes that were stinky and stained, change my clothes that were now stinky and stained, make lunch for the older 2 kids, pick Kenyon up so he would stop crying, put the younger 3 down for naps, and gain some sort of order in the house.


Jeremy has to work tomorrow (Saturday). I was telling this to a friend tonight and she said, "That sucks for you." You know what, my 2 kids feel like a reward now. To go back to 2 kids is my treat for enduring 2 loooooong days as a mother of 5.


(Don't worry Kyle, I would do it again in a heartbeat - I love your kids! Although next time I think I will join you on your girls' trip!)

Good Friends!

Tonight our friends from Park City (where we used to live) came to visit. Heidi, Jason and their cute little girls - McKinley and Ireland were here in AZ visiting her sister so they tore away from family for a night to hang out with us. The kids had SO much fun playing together (Maya and McKinley actually got along and played upstairs for a long time by themselves without fighting!!) and the adults had a great time reminiscing and catching up. Thanks guys for fitting us into your vacation! (Oh and I didn't get any pictures of the parents - next time! :)

The babies loved to grab at each other!

Bath time!

"I will catch you!"

"Please come back soon!"

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken for our Christmas cards last week by the fabulous Auburn. They were so fun! (If you want her contact info - email me: britanyut@yahoo.com)

WARNING: I'm on my soapbox about hair!

You will notice from the picture above that Maya's hair is not braided. Can you believe it??!! There are few pictures out there where her hair is not in braids. Here is the deal. We (Jeremy and I) took out her braids this morning for over an hour and then we ran out of time so she got to sport puffs to church today. Doesn't she look adorable in that get up??

I knew that at church I would get bombarded with comments and questions about her hair. You see, all they ever see is her braided hair. People ask why her hair is always braided in fancy styles. Let me educate a little here...

Hair is a BIG deal in the African American culture. I didn't completely realize until Maya was here. Then I started researching more into AA hair. I read books, joined an online group and started talking to other moms.

I work for an adoption agency answering phone calls from prospective birthmoms. When a birthmom says that she is Black, I explain to her that most of our adoptive families are White. There is always an awkward silence following. I then go on to further explain that I am a White mom of Black kids and I have learned how to take care of their skin and hair. I am able to cornrow my daughter's hair now. Many then express that hair would be their number one concern about placing their baby with a White family. After hearing that I was able to learn, they feel more comfortable going forward. I remember Maya's birthmom saying when Maya was very young that her and her sister were going to have to fly out and teach me how to do her hair. Am I getting my point across - it is a HUGE deal!

One of my books, "It's all Good Hair," does an excellent job of explaining the importance of hair:

"For centuries, Africans have been recognized for their intricate braiding styles. And African-American women have vivid memories of sitting between their mothers' or grandmothers' knees as they put Dixie Peach or Blue Beaugamont [oil] in our hair."

This book goes on to explain that more important than all of the new hip hairstyles that I have learned to create with Maya's hair is to create loving experiences - memories of Maya sitting for 2-3 hours having her hair combed, oiled, braided and unbraided. We watch a movie, eat treats, and enjoy this time we have together. It is precious time and I am so happy to have Maya's beautiful hair to bring us together for these moments. I love it when we are out and about and people of all ages and ethnicities stop us to ask who does her hair. When Maya says, "My mommy does," it makes my day.

Along with leaving lasting memories, I hope to convey to Maya that I love her hair. I never want her to think that I dread doing it, but rather look forward to working with her hair. I want to help her develop pride in wearing her hair however she chooses, instilling in her a grateful heart that her Heavenly Father made her special body just for her. When I am done with a style, she loves to go look in the mirror and marvel at how beautiful she is - that I love!

So why do I always braid it? It is more convenient (2-3 hours every couple of weeks rather than 20-30 minutes each day), it is quality time with my daughter, and it is a way to show everyone (Maya included) how much I love her hair - just the way it is.

Oh and I had to share a picture of Kenyon the stud all ready for church! :)

I was Tagged

The Rules: Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags six people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Have fun!

1) I love organization! I get great satisfaction from finishing an organizational project. If you have been to my house you will see that I have all of my toys in bins labeled with pictures and words. Could be viewed as neurotic, but I love it!

2) I can't stay home - you have probably figured this out by now. Yesterday was one of the first days in a long time that we didn't have a planned outing so I had to make up a reason to go to the store. We couldn't just stay home all day!

3) I hate scary or mysterious movies. They freak me out! So when I rent a movie, it is a drama or comedy. I love a chick flick! Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen The Ultimate Gift - rent it tonight! We watched it last night (thanks to the recommendation by fellow blogger Melissa) and I cried my little eyes out - it was SOOOO fabulous!

4) My friend Jill tagged me to do this and I am copying this one word for word from hers: "I need my sleep. I really don't mean I just like it. I REQUIRE eight solid hours a night to function. Being able to sleep-in is my continual conquest." Jill and I were roommates in college and we scheduled all of our classes late morning or early afternoon because we HAD to sleep in. Then we would come home, eat lunch and take a nap. Oh the good ol' days!

5) I am infertile. People might wonder why we adopted. It is not Jeremy - I have the "issues" :).

6) I had decided this was going to be all about me and not my family, but how could I not list as #6 that I am the luckiest girl in the world to have the greatest hubby and the smartest kids around. Jeremy came home from work yesterday and said, "Let's go out to dinner" - great! Maya read us a LONG bedtime story last night called. "It's Okay to be Different." She has it memorized - even lines like, "It's okay to talk about your feelings" and "It's okay to be adopted." It brought tears to my eyes. Kenyon has figured out how to army crawl across the room. They are both so smart!

I tag: Oh I hate picking specific people so if you are a regular reader of my blog and have a blog of your own - DO IT! :)

Catch Up

Wow - I haven't posted for a whole week. We have been so busy. Last weekend my brother, sister-in-law and their 4 kids came into town. Maya had such a great time playing with her cousins. She was completely entertained. They picked a great weekend to come because there were plenty of Halloween festivities.

Then it was Halloween. We went to Maya's music class dressed up during the day and that night we went to a friend's house and went trick or treating with them.

Since then we have just been running. Yesterday I went to the zoo with our local adoption group. Last night we had a picnic at the park with some friends and then went to our local high school's football game. Maya went with Jer and I last year to the Insight Bowl and has been asking to go to another football game ever since. She had a great time!

Tonight we have a babysitter and I am looking forward to a quiet night out with just my hubby and I.

Here are some recent pics:

Only kids from Utah swim in an unheated pool in October :)

Our church Halloween party

Showing off in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard

Roasting marshmallows

Trip to the pumpkin patch

Music class - one mom didn't know the rest of the kids were dressing in their costumes so Maya shared her witch hat