Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Ready for Dull Moment...

This girl gave us a big scare recently. One night when putting her to bed, she started to cry inconsolably.  Not a normal cry, but a something-is-really-wrong cry. We couldn't figure out what we wrong, even when she was up in the night crying. Finally in the morning, I realized she wasn't using or moving her left arm. It was limp at her side and she pointed to it and said "ow".  It was alarming to see how limp it was, and I felt terrible we didn't notice in the night! I got her into the doctor late morning (canceling her speech appointment for that time, of course).  As we were getting into the car to go to the doc, I realized her arm seemed better.  The doc thinks her elbow had become dislocated the night before and then it must have popped itself back into place before we got to the doc. We had to watch her the rest of the day to make sure she wasn't favoring it anymore, which she wasn't. Thankfully we avoided a trip to the hospital and xrays.  Apparently it's called "nursemaid's elbow" and is somewhat common in kiddos her age.  We're not sure exactly what she did to cause it, but she is always wrestling around and is such a daredevil.  Thankfully it was an easy fix!  

Never a dull moment.
                                            

My big guy needs glasses now. He's not happy about it, but we can't stop giggling at how cute he is! We got him 2 pair, knowing he's gonna need a backup.  In his first week of having them, he has broken them twice and left one pair at school for the long holiday/snow days weekend.   
Ultra active boy + glasses = disaster!

Never a dull moment.
                                                 

Of course these 2 are jealous and wish they had glasses!

Grocery shopping... must stop taking these two with me.

My reward for surviving the grocery with those two.

This is where Little One plops herself down when I need to unload the groceries
.... smack dab in the middle of our tiny kitchen.

Then the dog snags our loaf of bread from the bag and proceeds to knaw on it. 
I got it in time.. we ate it anyway, bite marks and all.

Never a dull moment.

Enjoyed a warm day outside before the Artic Blast arrived.


Grandma Toodie time!

Finding ways to stay busy inside once the cold blast hits.


They do have some clothes on, I promise!


Someone got into my mascara. Waterproof mascara.
Never a dull moment.
                                                

Thankfully the cute moments help to make up for the not-so-dull moments.

Valentine's Day!






Thursday, February 19, 2015

Korean & Chinese New Years

Last weekend we celebrated both the Korean & Chinese New Years holidays!  
We took a day for each holiday.  

The girls got to wear their Chinese silks and Korean hanboks.  


We listened to Chinese and Korean music, read some books about both cultures and made some yummy food. Sesame chicken and rice for Chinese NY and our favorite, Bulgogi, for our Korean meal. The kids gobbled it all up using our kiddy chopsticks.  












We also tried our hand at painting some Korean and Chinese writings.  That was a huge hit with all of them, including Maggie who kept eating the paint. 





The kids also got traditional Chinese red envelopes with money inside.  Clearly their favorite part!



Monday, February 2, 2015

January

Our sickness continued into January with each of the kids getting strep again. 
We must have a carrier in the house who keeps re-spreading it.  
They all just finished up antibiotics and hopefully that nipped it in the bud!!

Maggie continues to go to speech weekly and we're still not seeing huge progress. She does seem a little more willing to imitate what we say, but she is very inconsistent with the way she says each thing. For example, if she copies me saying "hi", sometimes it'll come out "ee", sometimes, "i", sometimes "h", and sometimes "ugh".  It's great that she's trying, but she's not adding words to her vocabulary that she consistently says on her own that is coherent.  So we're upping the anty on the sign-language, trying to learn more so we can teach her more so she can communicate more.  We're very hopeful that her speech will start to "click" at some point.

However, she adds to her song repertoire weekly.  I kid you not, she can hum in tune to so many songs, she just doesn't enunciate anything!

The big kids are doing so well in school, we're so proud of them.  The boys are reading like crazy and Allie is starting to read as well.  Homework time is definitely the most challenging time of the day; trying to help the boys and keep them on track while keeping the girls occupied is insanity.  There is just not enough of me to go around sometimes!

Allie's behavior and emotions are very up and down. Overall, she is better than she was this time last year, but it continues to be a daily struggle.  We're furthering our training on how to best parent children who come from trauma and trying to "un-learn" some of our parenting techniques that worked for the boys but are counterproductive for Allie.  Maggie definitely shows some of the same emotional issues as her sister; she is anxious when she is not near me or in my arms. She gets overwhelmed in loud, crowded, unfamiliar situations. She still cries a lot to be held. But so far the severity of it is not nearly to the degree as Allie.  Our days are exhausting to say the least, but we're plugging away one day at time.

It's really important for each of our kids to get one-on-one time with us and we try to be intentional about giving them this time as often as possible, whether at home, or out on Mommy or Daddy Dates.  Now if we could just get a Mommy & Daddy date everyone once in a while, we'd be good to go!


back at the doc... and not happy about it
     

Mags had an ear infection along with the strep.  
Even more snuggling than usual was in order.
                                                  

snow day

 can you breathe in there Maggie?

applying deodorant to her arms

I have an obsession with children's books... 
most are from my teaching days.



 So we sorted and organized... and even managed to part with some.
 

The end result!

Yes, I'm well aware it won't stay this neat!
                            

Fun with great friends




 This girl is on the grow!

Mommy Dates






This is what happens when I skip a day or 2 of laundry...

Kids did a great job sorting!

Date with Daddy

Best friends.


The cuteness. The hair.

Busy doing her "homework".

Nail party for us girls! We have matching fingernails & toenails.

Grocery store helpers.
 

Harry Potter's castle. A perfect winter activity!

Lunch at school with Sam...

and cousin Izzy...

and Ben.

Meals out to celebrate family birthdays.




Much needed haircut.  
This kid is looking so much older and he's growing by leaps and bounds right now.
It kinda thrills me and kinda scares me to death!

The many faces of Maggie. She is such a clown!