All I Want..

Two months ago... with a my brokenc clavicle,,,,

They were still there and now.....

All I want for Christmas

Are my Two Front Teeth

I know cliche but it is sooo true!!!

Making Thanksgiving Memories

As a child, I remember the excitement and atmosphere that Thanksgiving held for me. We would travel to my Aunt’s or Grandmother’s houses. The cousins and my brothers/sister would play oblivious to the hard work being done in the kitchen. We would dress in our Sunday best and eat at the kids table laughing and having a blast.

These are the memories I want for my children.

Unfortunately, relatives have passed or moved away and getting together is not as easy as driving an hour or two.

As the years passed, I would tell my cousins, we have got to watch them make the potatoes or gravy or turkey. What will we do without these recipes!!

Sadly there are no more Grandmother’s to cook for the kids. Aunts, cousins, brothers, sister and even my dad are either far away or have other family responsibilities to attend to.

I have now taken the role of the Matriarch for Larry's dad and sister for Holiday functions. I have learned to cook a turkey. I am still not the best with the gravy, and forget a pie crust if I can buy it!

Larry wonders why I even bother, but I know why.

I want my children to look back in awe and excitement of Thanksgiving memories and the wonderment of a day to be thankful for what you have and the family God has given you.

Pics by Kids. Org

Have you ever downloaded pictures to find that your children have used their own artistic talent to complete the set...

I will start with pictures that I took...

Oksana rooting for her brothers at football finals before her surgery


Recovering from her surgery day four

Leaving Shriner's (she looks so skinny she must have lost ten pounds)



Nikolai locating mom's hose on the back of a washed rug and walked up asking what is THIS???

((They look like a smashed cow patty! GROSS))

((( oh and if you double click they max size therefore my smashed panty's grow even bigger.
OH JOY!!!)))

And now presenting anonymous photos by family members under the age of ten:

Suspect photographer number 1 probably photographed himself due to posture of arms and due to evidence of close up number two below..(and others not posted)



Suspect photographer is again number one again due to other suspicious people in the following pictures..of children taking pictures of "rule breaking"; which means jumping on the bed and also throwing a ball in the house.
Busted number one Nikolai..


Busted number Two , Oksana(with busted number 1)

and finally the joy of jumping seen here...


Verdict::: Guilty of breaking the rules and taking pictures!
Now the following only speak for themselves either taken by boy 1 and or 2 due to room where objects inhabit...


Obvious football theme



Trophy theme again (disclaimer not responsible for dust or unorganization due to full time motherhood)


And last I think this shows some artistic talent!

Challenge:::: Now to all of my blogger friends/ familyfriends and anyone else that wants to play just because!-- time to show your children's hidden photo talents
Be sure and post your link so everyone else can enjoy :)

Post Op Appointment

One hour and fifteen minutes drive in minivan
Thirty minutes sitting in the waiting area
Five minutes with the Surgeon for post op check-in
One hour and fifteen minutes return by minivan
One half a tank of gas

Spending the day with my favorite little girl :

Worth every second!

GH Testing

My poor Nikolai is getting tested today for Growth Hormone Stimulation Testing. Yesterday, I talked to him about it and tried to explain they were going to see if how big of a football player he was going to get!!!

He began to cry. I think they are all still a little traumatized from Oksana's hospital stay.

I did not tell him what the procedure would be, but this is what they are doing:

"Growth hormone stimulation: This test requires intravenous administration of medications and the withdrawal of frequent blood samples, which are obtained at 0, 60, and 90 minutes after injection of arginine and/or insulin. The patient should have nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before the test."

We all know having blood drawn is no fun!

So, I didn't tell him.

The good thing about this test is it will determine, if he is small because genetics or if he is small because there are other factors involved. If so, he may qualify for growth hormones. At his last Endocrinology appointment, his growth had slowed even more then the year before. He is in the negative five percentile on the growth chart.

This morning as he prepared to leave with his dad, he came into the bathroom to say good-bye.

He looked at me and said, "Mommy I am going to be brave."

I gave him a hug and kiss and he left.

He is a brave little boy!

Mommy Only Day

Yesterday, I had a “mommy only” day!

It was a federal holiday for me, but the kids still had school (so, I did not feel like I was neglecting them).

Larry dropped the kids off at the sitter’s to catch the bus, and I went back to sleep.

I slept until 9:00 am, without interruption, which was wonderful!

Then, I had a nice long bath and went to the salon to get my hair done.

I decided to treat myself to lunch and some shopping at the mall. I even bought a couple of new tops for myself.
I had hoped to maybe catch a movie, that only I wanted to see and wasn’t rated G, but I ran out of time.

When I got to the sitter’s she said you are early. Then, she said wait you didn’t work it was a holiday and you got your hair done!

I just smiled.

It was definitely a well-deserved treat and completely refreshing!

Check IN WW

Those that have followed our blogs, know I am still doing Weight Watchers, but not at true as I hoped to be..
Anyway, after four days doing fried food at the hospital (their fresh salads and fruit were scary)
and overall bad eating..

Well, in two weeks I am still where I last checked in..
I am still losing and heading for my twenty pounds (close).
By the new year... We will see

Home

Well we came home Sunday (without the teams' 100% support). They wanted to keep her another day and thank goodness we prevailed and were able to leave.

What a strong little girl she has been.

She cried and had bad dreams everynight. I woke up every hour to her crying on saturday night.
How can a parent not cry when your child says:

Dont leave me here (when I was rebooting the computer downstairs)(she was rarely left alone)
I want to go home
I want my yaya (daddy)
I dont want any medicine (crying)
I dont want to eat (crying)
I dont want to drink (crying)
My throat hurts

Well, we are home now. We still have eating/drinking and medicine issues, but they are slowly getting better.

Seeing the other children recovering at the hospital, was very heartbreaking.

Some of the children will be there for weeks, and months.

Oksana's surgery, although not easy will put her one more step on the road to her final cleft repair. She will need more surgeries, but she will recover. Her scars will be few, and in time, almost non-exsistent.

We met many families and Oksana was the only one there for cleft issues, recovering at that time. This particular Shriner's does burns, cleft repair and pinning of the ears!

The other families we met were all dealing with burn issues.

Burn babies/children are not so lucky. There recovery is slow and painful.

Please support your Shriners as they do amazing things for these children

Thank you Shriner's.

Shriner's Day Two and Three

It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in Cincinnati. It is crazy to think it is November and it is around sixty in Ohio!

Oksana's day improved about 5% yesterday. She actually was forced to eat a popsicle by the staff nurses after I left to take a small walk and get a salad. Without me there, they flexed their nursing muscles and somehow she caved in. They even had her eating applesauce but the second she saw me it was all over. She began to cry and wanted nothing else to eat. She did eat a french fry and a bite of cottage cheese, when Larry and the boys came down for dinner. The boys loved the hospital of course and all of the gadgets and toys!!!

Today has started off rougher, then I had hoped. She had refused to eat or drink anything! Then it happened for the eighth time, she got sick. So she began to really refuse to eat/drink, because she said it would make her ill.

Around noon, her breakfast came and I bribed her into a toy for eating some food. She took two bites of a pancake, a piece of egg, one spoonful of yogurt and a sip of milk. At least, it was a small step. Then I asked her what she would eat if I bought it, like her favorite chicken nuggets from McDonalds. She agreed to this, so I put on my sneakers and headed a couple of blocks to McD's. She actually ate one nugget, two french fries and three sips of my diet pepsi! Success is slowly coming. Unfortunately, today we will not be our day to go home. She must eat an entire portion of a meal and drink, before being released.

We got to meet about five different Shriner's clowns this morning. What special individuals they are. They each take time out on a Saturday, to put a smile on the faces of little children, all in need of some fun!