The Robins' Nest

Hand No Work

2012-01-31T21:18:00.001-06:00

Shortly after I took and posted the picture to the blog yesterday we turned the corner and William was stopping to pick up some leaves and his little trike tipped over and he landed on his left arm. Her cried a bit and after hugs and kisses he decided he didn't want to ride the bike back home so I carried it and he walked. I wasn't sure if he was a little cranky because he didn't get a nap or if his arm really hurt so when we got home I was manipulating it, and seeing if he flinched or not and if it felt swollen or broken. We ended up leaving a bit early to pick Christian up because I knew William would fall asleep in the car. I called his doctor to see what the nurse thought. When we got to school he was still complaining about his arm and I started worrying maybe he broke something, so I was asking him what was wrong, his hand, his arm, and he was crying, "hand no work."

After picking up Christian we played with some friends on the playground for an hour or more and he seemed ok, although a little weepy. We get home then and he came over to me crying and saying, "hand bwoke, hand no work" I gave him a big hug and made a big deal about it and then asked if he needed ice and he cried yes. So we put the ice pack on his hand for...20 seconds - and then he tells me, "hand fix" Hmmm.

Something tells me some little guy figured out a new way to get some lovin! I was just relieved to see it was actually ok. Today he came over to me a couple times while he was playing with Christian and started to cry about his hand/arm, and I looked at it very carefully then said, "let's see if it works, wiggle wiggle (and then I wiggled his arm - and for some reason saying wiggle wiggle always cracks my boys up) and of course he cracked up and then went off to play again.

Cowboy Will

2012-01-30T13:18:00.002-06:00

He loves these hand me down cowboy boots a friend gave me!

Mr. Kitty's Sister

2012-01-28T10:31:00.004-06:00

Our beloved Mr. Kitty was a feral cat we domesticated. He was just about the best cat anyone could want. When we first moved into our house 9 years ago the crawl space underneath didn't have screens on all the ventilation windows and a feral mommy cat and young cats sometimes lived under the house when it was raining. We screened in all the ventilation windows so the cats wouldn't go under there and slowly won the trust of sweet Mr. Kitty, and he would come and sleep inside and go out during the day. He was always sweet and gentle. We were so sad when he passed away.
We knew he had siblings and very rarely his sister would pop by for a visit. She is still very feral. I think she lives in our next door neighbor's yard or house. Our next door neighbor and her house are a story in themselves. Very sad situation.
In any event, we were upstairs getting dressed and Christian came up and said he had to show me something downstairs. Well wasn't I surprised to see he saw Mr. Kitty's sister by our back door. Poor thing is so bedraggled looking and skinny. Luckily I keep some cans of cat food around for just such an occasion. Also funny how our big dog Missy didn't scare her much although we did keep her inside.
Christian was so sweet and gentle and was very respectful of her being afraid and didn't approach her or frighten her. I told him about why she was afraid, how she was on her own and had to take care of herself and how we had to earn her trust. He has grand plans of making her our cat. I do hope she comes back. I need to check on our neighbor as well and see how she is doing.

Water Works

2012-01-26T22:01:00.001-06:00

2012-01-26T22:00:00.002-06:00

2012-01-26T22:00:00.001-06:00

2012-01-26T21:59:00.002-06:00

2012-01-26T21:59:00.001-06:00

Water Works

2012-01-26T21:58:00.002-06:00

This huge contraption in the courtyard at the Children's Museum is called Water Works. I suppose it teaches kids about flotation and water movement, but mostly it seems like a fun way for kids to get wet! William and Christian had to change their shirts when they got home. Actually Christian took his shirt off right there and put his jacket on. Luckily it was our last stop at the Museum before we headed home.

Where are we going?

2012-01-26T16:43:00.000-06:00

Grandma Gigi's house!

Children's Museum

2012-01-26T16:27:00.001-06:00

William calling Grandma Gigi from the "diner" at the Children's Museum.

Cutting my teeth

2012-01-23T22:18:00.003-06:00

Five years after first becoming a mom, I guess I am finally cutting my teeth, so to speak, on being a momma this year with William's stitches back in June and now Christian's staples.

Christian and William were horsing around this morning instead of getting dressed and these boys can get quite rambunctious. So I went in and told them no jumping on the beds and get dressed, ya da ya da ya da. I go in my bedroom to get dressed and not 30 seconds later I hear them horsing around again then Christian shrieking and running into my room clutching his head. I start looking his head over to see if there was a bump or cut and my hands get all bloody. My heart raced. It was pretty deep and about 3/4 of an inch long. Poor guy had hit his head on one of the edges of the wood bed frame. His Mickey pajama shirt got all bloody.

I quickly put his robe on and got dressed and we headed over to St. Luke's er not 1/2 mile from our house and luckily we only had to wait about 45 minutes before they brought us back. Long story short, Christian was very brave! He ended up having to get two staples in his head above and a little behind his right ear. Considering how worried and scared he gets in new situations, particularly medical situations, he did very well. He asked a million questions! In all we were only there about 2 1/2 hours. It was heart warming to see him let me comfort, calm and support him. He has come so far.

I recall the trauma this poor guy went through 4 1/2 years ago when we had all the blood work and shots involved in his retro virology. And then again with William this summer, and all the attempts (4 different visits, seriously!) they had to make before they actually were able to draw the blood.

Oh my gosh, I realize this is such a minor thing, having stitches--oops as Christian said, "Mom, they're not stitches, they 're staples." , but it is one of many passages in motherhood.

Doctor spaniel

2012-01-22T08:11:00.001-06:00

Christian coloring a picture of a "doctor spaniel".

Kairos Time

2012-01-19T14:05:00.001-06:00

I read this post earlier today HERE , commenting on a post on GLENNON'S BLOG HERE. I wanted to repost bothposts here because they definitely resonate with me. Later I looked up Kairos on, what else, Wikipedia HERE and while a theological discussion on Kairos is over my head, I do appreciate what it stands for.

Sometimes I feel like a crazed person trying to get everything done I want to get done in a day, and add in frustrations with children and I feel like the Chrono time rules my life. But, I do have so many of the Kairos times in my day, and I am grateful to finally give a name to the special little snapshots that occur in an otherwise frenzied day.

I can have a frustrating day with two mischievous boys, and then after they are asleep I look in at their sweet innocent faces and watch them breathing so softly and that is Kairos time. Yesterday at the park Christian wanted to bring some toys to play with with his friends and he brought a bunch of his plastic play animals and seeing the saddness in his face that they weren't as interested in what he brought, but then him playing with them anyway, was a Kairos time for me. Watching my son William exit the car after we have been running errands as we did yesterday and seeing he has had his shoes on the wrong feet all morning and it didn't bother him, that was Kairos time, or looking out the window and seeing him sitting next to the dog Missy, petting her so gently, that was Kairos time. So many little things occur during each day that are Kairos time, but are very often obscured by chrono time. Something to remember...

Football guy

2012-01-19T10:29:00.001-06:00

I love this picture of Mr. Christian wearing an old football helmet his cousin Trey gave him. There is no padding inside the helmet, no chin strap and it's way too big. Then he has the mouth guard in Santa put in his stocking, his legs crossed and of course Mickey in his lap. He wanted to "play football" in it and he actually had to hold it with one hand to keep it from going down over his eyes when he was playing with it, but he didn't care. Something about him being so excited about having this old, oversized helmet just melts my heart!

Happy William

2012-01-19T10:28:00.001-06:00

Here is one if the happiest guys you will meet. He loves to what I call tinker and putter. He can putter around the yard all afternoon, taking toys here and there, burying toys and tools(!) under leaves in the corner of the yard( shhh, don't tell Daddy) and loves to tinker with anything he can reach, knobs, handles, drawers, things in drawers, things on counters. It is actually funny, although usually frustrating at the time, to see how much he can get into in a short amount of time!

My growing boys!

2012-01-19T09:57:00.001-06:00

Wow, it has been some time since I have blogged much more than a cell phone picture with a short blurb underneath. There are so many little things I want to mention or jot down on a daily basis and then just haven't lately. I tell myself we'll remember the cute little things Christian or William did in 20 years, but the truth is, many of those things will be forgotten and the little things speak so much to who these little guys are.

First, Little Guy #1 a/k/a Christian. Looking at him the other day I realized he is not a little guy any more. He isn't even really a little boy anymore, he is a full fledged boy. Was this the same little guy I cradled in my arms so gently as we rode from Pechory to Pskov? He was tiny. We talk all the time about how tiny he was, and it is hard to imagine now a little guy that barely fit into 9 month clothing at 16 months is now such a tall, strong boy! I still love to rock this boy to bed, and baby him and peek in at him sleeping so soundly. I tell him, even when he is all grown up and bigger than Mommy and Daddy, he will still be my baby. But, he is growing up so fast. Still innocent, still sweet and imaginative. He is reading, he is writing so well, he is making so many leaps and bounds in math, with sequencing, patterns, estimation, even adding small numbers. Amazing! He is all sports all the time, but still finds time to play with and hug his stuffed animals. He likes drawing really interesting and detailed pictures, likes playing games and likes playing school. He is an unabashed performer and loves to sing and dance silly dances. I caught him singing "Christmas Time Is Here" the other day with a do wop take on the song. It cracked me up! I wished I'd had time to sureptitiously record him. He loved Jim Carey's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and sometimes quotes Mr. Grinch as though Mr. Grinch were a real person. He loves this E*trade commerical with , as he puts it, the "baby talking like a daddy" and also likes to quote the commercial. http://youtu.be/Fmw23Ad9aLM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmw23Ad9aLM&feature=relmfu

He also loves football and be came a huge Texans fan this year. He will tell you Andre Johnson and TJ Yates are his favorite players. He told me the other night that TJ Yates was actually his cousin, and he wanted to know if we could invite him over to our house. He told me he's going to be a football player when he grows up and he wanted to know if I could drive him to his games. He said his Dad is going to be the coach . . . or the quarterback. He said they are going to play inside a big stadium inside DisneyLand. I can honestly see now how kids idolize sports figures, and am glad although he is starting to do that, he also still thinks his momma and daddy are pretty cool!

Mr. William, a/k/a as Little Guy #2 has grown so much this year. He started wearing 18-24 month clothes and now his 2T pants are nearly high waters and he is starting to lose his toddler like body. He can eat like nobodys business, and regularly comes to me in the afternoon and tells me he is hungry. I am seriously amazed at how much food he can eat!! Definitely going through a growing spurt right now! His language is coming along. Although without having another child with a similar language background to compare him to it's hard to know if he is progressing as expected. I will say though that we finally got the results from the speech testing at our local public school and he did not qualify for services. The speech patholigist said, "it's a good thing" and I don't disagree with her, but I do wish we he could have received services. I can't say I was surprised based on her comments to me right after the testing, but what did surprise me is the incredibly low (or should I say high??) threshold to qualify for services. The 7th percentile! And, according to the several tests the speech patholigist administered he was nearly at the 50th percentile, which shocked me. I told her we must be around some unsually high performing children! I need to go easy on William though from a language standpoint, but I feel like he is such a social guy, and his inability to communicate verbally very well gets in his way a bit, and his shyness I have noticed at times is due inpart to the fact that he can't interact verbally very well. He will most often say uh, uh or un un if he can't say a word or even if he knows the word, but doesn't want to say it, for example "un dis for?" meaning What's this for? And I tell him, not un, what, what's this for. And he says it. He knows to say it, but doesn't. He is still pretty much using one word-two word sentences, sometimes three or more, but it's the exception. He is adorable though, and that and his almost always happy disposition are his best attributes! At some point we will have him retested, and if we are able to financially, try private speech services again if he is still struggling in say 6 months.

These two boys have had a difficult time adjusting to having a brother. Each would, of course, like to have our undivided attention, so that has made for a difficult transition, but they are so happy to have each other and can get into an amazing amount of mischief together.

Off the grid

2012-01-14T14:41:00.000-06:00

I can see how many fellow bloggers fall of the grid from a blogging standpoint. And after you've let it lag for a couple of weeks it's harder to pick back up. When it was just Christian, especially when he was younger, it was easy to quickly chronicle something cute that happened that day. I know, I know, I only have two kids, but you wouldn't know it by the piles of school papers, bills, random paper work and to do lists and other stuff I need to go through, not to mention my e-mail inboxes! I know my mom would be excited to see some pictures, and I do hope to tackle a newsy blog post tonight or tomorrow. One good thing we have to look forward to is a trip to DisneyLand in May. We are all excited for the trip!

No training wheels

2012-01-03T19:26:00.000-06:00

Look who is riding without training wheels now! What a way to start 2012!!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T20:05:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

I love this picture I saw online and wish I could have seen Moscow decorated for the holidays. I've made four trips to Moscow, three to Pskov, three to Arkhangelsk, two to St. Petersburgh, and was never in Russia for the Christmas or NewYear holidays. Doesn't the tree look amazing?

I have been meaning to post about our holidays, but a post about our holidays will have to wait until tomorrow. Despite some hardships this year, it has been a year of wonderful beginnings! A happy 2012!!

Advent Calendar

2011-12-21T09:42:00.000-06:00

I love Advent Calendars and have a couple from previous years that have the windows you open to reveal a little picture behind. I have used the same one the past couple of years. It is secular and has a sweet Old World Holiday Village Scene.

As luck would have it I ran across this religious Advent Calendar at Hobby Lobby last month. It was the last one or I would have bought more. Christian and William have really enjoyed finding the number that corresponds with the day each morning and figuring out which figure goes on the day and placing the sticker there. Then when we are finished we'll have a Nativity Scene. Only three more figures to go, Joseph tomorrow, Mary Friday and Jesus Saturday. Thought I'd share the link to the vendor, Vermont Christmas Company. They have so many different designs and also have the window type Advent Calendars. I think I'll order two for next year.

Some Welcome Growth . . .

2011-12-20T10:02:00.001-06:00

It has been a busy time this past week. William and Christian both had their classroom Christmas parties last Thursday and Friday and now are off school until January 4th! Yikes, that's a long time - makes me appreciate the line in the "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" song that goes, "...and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again."

We had such a fun time at a friend's family party Saturday night. One of Christian's friends who also has a brother William's age had a party and the kids all wore their pj's, and let me tell you there were no less than 30 kids at this party! It was so much fun for everyone. They had a woman who at one point during the party sang Christmas carols with the kids. She was so engaging and had little props for all the kids for many songs like tiny maracas for Feliz Navidad, bells for Jingle Bells, foam red noses for Rudolph. She handed them out to the kids and they thoroughly enjoyed singing along! And, I have to mention how well Christian did. Not a single incident or meltdown!

Sunday was the Children's Candlelight Service at our church. Christian was a wiseman with one of his friends. There were actually 5 wiseman. What a beautiful service to be a part of. At one point while we were waiting in our seats with the other wisemen for Christian's part he started to balk at wearing the wiseman crown and I could see it perhaps becoming a battle, but he managed to recover and not only wear the crown, but be a wonderful wiseman. He and the others had to walk up the aisle following the "star guy" to the front of the church and then lay their gifts down and wait before returning to their seats. He was so proud of himself. On the ride home from church Christian was saying how next year he wants to be "the star guy".

Yesterday was our cookie decorating party! What a fun time! In all there were 20 kids and 10 moms. Christian and William were the perfect hosts. We had fun playing, then decorating cookies, (although it was a little cramped at the tables) and then playing outside until lunch time when we had pizza. I was so proud of how well Christian did. Not to down play how well William did as well, but David and I were talking this evening about how difficult it was to do anything with Christian for a long time because of his almost certain melt downs. Not to say he doesn't still have them, but that it is now more of an exception rather than the rule. He was even proud of how well he has been doing. Tonight before bedtime he said, "Mom, you know what we forgot..." I had no idea. "We forgot to do my chart!" He knew he nailed it and was so proud of it! It is so nice to see his growth over the past several years.

Santa's Elves?

2011-12-17T09:26:00.000-06:00

We have a Christmas party to go to tonight and the kids are supposed to wear their pjs. I dug out Christian's old Christmas pjs from a couple years ago for William to wear and got a matching set for Christian, add two Santa hats and voila - we have two silly elves. Boys will be boys...

Kids' Christmas Tree

2011-12-12T17:41:00.001-06:00

We have our first Kids' Christmas Tree this year. Christian went with me to Michael's to get the tree and we had fun picking out some art projects to work on over the holiday school break. We decorated the tree with ornaments we bought in Russia, a nativity ornament set and some other small ornaments Christian helped pick out at Target.

Five Best Toys of All Time

2011-12-10T10:21:00.004-06:00

My sister sent me this article from her daughter's teacher.

5 Best Toys of All Time

You have to read it! At this time of year when the latest and greatest commercial toys are pounded into us, it's nice to be reminded how simple toys like these can foster a child's imagination for hours. It is totally accurate, maybe more so with boys, although not having girls I cannot say for sure.

The stick is a classic. My boys love a good stick. It is usually used to dig, to load into the back basket on their bike, to carry and to drum on something. Boxes are another favorite, my guys have used a box for all sorts of interesting things, it makes a nifty car, a pick up truck, a club house and was once even used as a time machine. Dirt, mud and sand are also favorites around here.

Some Classic Box Toy Pictures

I would substitute rope for string and add water to make it the 6 best toys of all time. And by rope I mean this jump rope with hard plastic pieces covering it my boys love to play with. It can be used to loop through things, to tie things to their bike, to serve as a starting or divinding line, to pretend it's a snake or an alligator or just to drag behind you. (A small warning about playing with a rope is of course to keep an eye on the kids and let them know never to use it to tie themselves or anyone up with it.) And by water I mean our garden hose, the bathroom sink and even big puddles. I seriously have to tell my boys NOT to turn on the water when they are outside playing if I don't want them to end up a wet muddy mess! It draws them like a magnet! Give them a bucket or some type of container and a garden hose and they're busy playing for an hour.

A Memorable Christmas Tradition

2011-12-10T09:34:00.002-06:00

We had such a fun time last night going out to eat and picking out a Christmas Tree. We started with a little Mex and then hit the Houston Garden Center for our Christmas Tree.

While we were walking around looking at trees the boys had fun running up and down the tree lined aisles. I was disappointed I forgot my camera as it was not very well lit and my phone pictures didn't come out very well. While selecting a tree we'd ask the boys what they thought of the tree. Of course Christian said every tree was, "the best Christmas tree ever" and William said, "no way, too big!" We finally selected one, and actually it turned out perfect. William was amazed we were going to put it on top of the car.

Christian enjoyed helping.

We listened to Christmas songs on the way home and the boys were laughing so hard at the Chipmunk Christmas song. Once we were home the boys pretended they were taking a Christmas tree home up in their clubhouse and they ran around the back and front yard with all the Christmas lights up. It really was a special night.

Getting his first Christmas tree

2011-12-09T17:35:00.000-06:00

He's a little surprised we're not going to cut it down.

Biting off more than I can chew?

2011-12-05T14:03:00.001-06:00

I know I've mentioned before that Christian is doing so well in school this year, and he has shown so much growth socially!
He is finishing up with his play therapy group tomorrow and after going for a year now we have decided he is ready to move on!
We had two friends from his class over Friday after school for a "play date". I picked all three of the boys up and drove them to our house where they played so nicely for nearly two hours! You can see them in the picture above. Christian was so proud of himself for being such a good host, and I was as well!
On the heels of such great improvements I decided to invite the class over for a cookie decorating play date over the Christmas holiday. Not sure if I have bitten off more than I can chew, but we are all excited about it! The plan is to decorate cookies, play in the backyard and then eat pizza for lunch. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Christmas Quilt

2011-11-29T13:16:00.002-06:00

Well my parents left after a nice long two week stay. I know the boys really enjoyed having them here. William enjoyed having Grandma Gigi and Papa read to him. He loves having the same books read to him over and over again. He is such an easy child most of the time, and it didn't have anything to do with my parenting. He just has a glass is half full kind of personality. Christian was so happy they were coming. The day they were to get here he came in our bedroom in the morning and the first thing he excitedly said was, "Grandma Gigi and Papa are coming today!" He is not always the easiet child to be around, but he has such a sweet soft heart despite his sometimes prickly exterior. He was sad they had to leave and although William didn't really understand it when they said they were leaving today, I'm sure he will be sad when he gets home from school and sees they are gone.

For my part I am sad as well. It was nice having them stay with us for so long. And even though I will miss them it makes me wonder why I was sometimes grouchy while they were here. In a way I think it's hard when your family lives out of town and comes to stay in your house for an extended period versus if they lived in town and just came over for dinner or got together in the afternoon throughout the week. Or maybe that's just me. Some of my friends have parents and family that live here in town with them, and they are able to see them quite often. I envy that. I've lived in Houston now for 21 years and visiting family, except for the nice visits from my parents, which they usually make twice a year now that we have kids, usually entails me and my family getting on a plane and heading up to NY. It is what it is. Not sure why I brought that up?

My mom is a very creative person, despite her saying she isn't, and has made me so many beautiful handcrafted things over the years, cross stiches, pillows, table cloths, placemats, a hand quilted quilt, scarves and hats for the kids, quilts for the kids, wall hangings, curtains, unique pillow cases, crocheted throws, etc...Knowing the time and patience that went into each handcrafted item makes me appreciate each even more. She brought a gorgeous Christmas quilt on this trip. I can recall her showing me the fabrics and pieces the summer of 2010 when we were up for a visit. Handmade gifts mean the most to me. They will always remind me of the creative, thoughtful person who gave me the gift, this year or 30 years from now. I only hope that someday I can be half as patient a crafter as my mom.

Mom with the Christmas Quilt

I will have to post more about their visit with pictures later.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:05:00.000-06:00

From these two little turkeys.

Look who likes to watch Dancing With the Stars with his Grandma

2011-11-22T20:32:00.000-06:00

Interesting Today Show Fertility Article

2011-11-15T13:24:00.002-06:00

This ARTICLE (Fertility Math) touches on my recent POST. What surprises me about the article is that while it cites slight increases in fertility rates for women over 40, "At the same time, the rates for women aged 40 to 44 jumped 3 percent and births to women older than 50 climbed 5 percent." it fails to state what percentage of those are from non-donor eggs. I would guess very few, and certainly none for women over 50. I think it does a real disservice for those going through fertility treatments at an older age to hear about pregnancies over age 40 without stating whether they were from donated eggs or not.

The article goes on to state, "After eight unsuccessful cycles, Finn is taking a break from IVF therapy, but she plans to pursue other infertility treatments or different paths to parenthood in the future.
“Giving up hope is almost impossible,” Finn says." Finn is 43.

Now, this is not to suggest that women cannot get pregnant over age 40 with their own eggs, but realistically, if you are going through fertility treaments at that age, you should have the facts. Why is the CDC Assisted Reproductive Technology information not more widely disseminated or discussed?

The CDC website provides a wealth of information HERE. And for purposes of demonstrating my point I have copied the 2009 statistics below for the clinic I used here in Houston back when we were going through fertility treatments in 2005-2006. If you look at the statistics carefully, the percentage of assisted reproductive technology cycles that resulted in a live birth for women aged 43-44 with nondonor eggs is ZERO! For age 41-42 it is 6.6%, and for 38-40 it is 18.6%, but I would be willing to bet the majority of that 18% is in the 38-39 year old range. They do not even give the breakdown by age of live births from donor eggs, probably because the age of the woman giving birth is not relavent at that point.

I am not providing this information to scare anyone considering fertility, but I do want to get information out there so that people can be educated about the success rates. And I question why the Today Show who published this article doesn't have a link to the CDC statistics OR do a show or story on those other "paths to parenthood" in this National Adoption Awareness Month?

2009 ART CYCLE PROFILE

Type of ART ^a
IVF	100%	Procedural Factors
GIFT	0%	With ICSI	84%
ZIFT	0%	Unstimulated	0%
Combination	0%	Used gestational carrier	<1%
		Used PGD	7%
		With eSET	1%

Patient Diagnosis
Tubal factor	8%	Other factor	6%
Ovulatory dysfunction	6%	Unknown factor	3%
Diminished ovarian reserve	12%	Multiple Factors:
Endometriosis	5%	Female_factors	17%
Uterine Factor	1%	Female & Male factors	29%
Male factor	14%

2009 PREGNANCY SUCCESS RATES	Data Verified By George M. Grunert, MD
Type of Cycle	Age of Women
	<35	35-37	38-40	41-42	43-44 ^d
Fresh Embryos From Nondonor Eggs
Number of cycles	315	129	118	61	21
Percentage of embryos transferred resulting in implantation^b	30.6	25.0	13.3	5.3	2.0
Percentage of cycles resulting in pregnancies^b	41.3	33.3	26.3	13.1	9.5
Percentage of cycles resulting in live births^b,c	35.9	25.6	18.6	6.6	0.0
(Confidence Interval)	(30.6–41.4)	(18.3–34.0)	(12.1–26.9)	(1.8–15.9)	(0.0–16.1)
Percentage of retrievals resulting in live births^b,c	40.6	29.5	22.4	7.8	0 / 18
Percentage of transfers resulting in live births^b,c	43.1	32.4	24.2	8.9	0 / 16
Percentage of transfers resulting in singleton live births^b	27.1	18.6	20.9	6.7	0 / 16
Percentage of cancellations^b	11.7	13.2	16.9	16.4	14.3
Average number of embryos transferred	2.1	2.4	2.6	2.9	3.2
Percentage of pregnancies with twins^b	33.1	48.8	12.9	0 / 8	0 / 2
Percentage of pregnancies with triplets or more^b	2.3	0.0	0.0	1 / 8	0 / 2
Percentage of live births having multiple infants^b,c	37.2	42.4	13.6	1 / 4

Frozen Embryos From Nondonor Eggs
Number of transfers	74	45	29	4	10
Percentage of transfers resulting in live births^b,c	27.0	22.2	17.2	1 / 4	3 / 10
Average number of embryos transferred	1.9	2.2	2.3	2.8	2.3
	All Ages Combined ^e
Donor Eggs	Fresh Embryos			Frozen Embryos
Number of transfers	67			40
Percentage of transfers resulting in live births^b,c	62.7			37.5
Average number of embryos transferred	2.0

Sight Words

2011-11-13T21:50:00.002-06:00

Christian is amazing us this year in school. His teachers are wonderful! When I go to pick him up he is happpily writing or coloring with friends in one of the centers in the classroom. It is amazing to me how much his writing has improved in the past two months. And, he is learning sight words. It's funny because even though I was a teacher for seven years, I taught third grade and never really got to witness the tremendous growth that goes on in Kindergarten. His teachers have started sending home four sight words every week or so on index cards and they are all hole punched and on a little ring. So far he is up to about 12 words - I, a, and, it, is, can, to, what, see, the are some. We were reading a simple book last night and I would let him read each word he has learned so far and it was so wonderful to see him put into practice all he has learned.

Tonight after getting ready for bed and putting William to bed Christian stayed up to play games and do some crafts. I had seen this idea of making a Thanksgiving banner and was telling him about it, and he started making his own little sign that he later hung up in the window with some other words he'd written. Then we worked on the banner. I cut out all the little flags and then wrote out Happy Thanksgiving on a piece of paper and he wrote the letters on each flag. After he wrote each letter I would hold it up for his Dad to look at and we'd marvel out loud at how well he was writing. We then strung it on some ribbon. The picture doesn't do it justice. I think it's lovely!

Что Вы думаете? (What do you think?)

2011-11-11T16:07:00.001-06:00

I met a friend for lunch today and William came along. As an aside, William is such a great little companion for lunch, shopping, and other outings. We were sitting outside and my friend went back inside to refill her drink and I overheard several people at a neighboring table talking in Russian. I could understand a word here and there, and then a whole sentence. Я не знаю (I don't know - ya knee znio). Wow I thought, I actually learned something in my Russian lessons. Sadly, I had to stop back in June because I didn't have enough time to study and justify the cost $50/week. I do hope to start back up again though at some point.

When my friend came back I mentioned to her that they were speaking Russian. The man stated, yes, we're speaking Russian. I hope he wasn't offended. He then asked if I spoke Russian and I told him I had taken Russian and he asked why and I told him it was for our sons' adoptions. I asked if they were originally from Russian and they said yes. One of the women told me I looked Slavic and asked if I was. Funny. But I actually do have Eastern European ancestors. When we left one of the women said good by eand we said, до свидания (da svidanya) and пока пока (paka paka). One of the women then told me he (gesturing to my son) should learn Russian. I told her when he gets older he probably will and she said, no, while he is young he should learn so it is easier. What do you think? We're still struggling to learn English here. I'm certainly not ashamed of his or my older son's Russian heritage and most people that know us know they were born in Russia and were adopted. I guess learning the alphabet would be a start, basic greetings, nouns. I have read some other blog where parents have used the Rosetta Stone with their children. Or I could teach to start. Hmm...

It's a personal decision

2011-11-05T10:27:00.001-05:00

I don't watch every episode, but I have followed The Little Couple in part because they are now in Houston, also because I think Jennifer is an amazing person, but mostly because they have been going through infertility not unlike what we went through in planning our family. It has been heartbreaking to watch as they go through much of what we did particularly when the hope of a pregnancy turns to saddness.   I do hope everything works out for them if they chose to go through another cycle, and if not, I hope adoption is as wonderful an experience as it has been for us.

I hate to think my experiences have colored my thoughts about infertility treatments and infertility doctors, but I'll be honest I couldn't look at an ad or a billboard (yes the fertility center we worked with in Houston actually had a billboard along a major thruway) without thinking what a fraud the infertility market was, and thinking the money I spent helped erect that billboard. Afterwards when lamenting about the time and money we spent on infertility treatments my husband reminded me that had it worked we wouldn't have given the time and expense a second thought. True.   But when it doesn't work you can't help but think about what you could have done differently, a different clinic, different lab, different medication dosages, the list goes on. For pete's sake even Neil Patrick Harris had twins with a surrogate! Why couldn't we?

Looking back I can say that even when you've looked at all the statistics on the CDC Website and you tell yourself you're being realistic about the odds (they call them pregnancy success rates), you still think in the back of your mind, we could be that 12% or that 7% that could get pregnant and have that pregnancy result in a live birth. You have small successes, maybe your cycle goes well, you have a good retrieval, your embryos grow well, you have good implantation, maybe you have an initial confirmed pregnancy. It's what keeps you going. For some it works out, but when it doesn't the first time, the second time, the third time...you reach a point where you suddenly see it for what it is and remember the reason you started the process, because you wanted a child.  For me it probably happened quicker than most. I couldn't go on for years and years. But it was heartbreaking reaching that point, and for each couple, each woman, it is a very personal decision as to when to stop.

I say that I hate to think my experience colored how I look at infertility because it can and does result in the birth of a baby, it just didn't for us. I know many who have gone through one type of treament or another where it did work, and others where it didn't. I don't feel it's my place to lecture anyone going through it about when to stop, but I do let them know how positive our adoption experience has been. One friend was going through infertility and at the time we had already adopted Christian and I had a friend that had just completed a local domestic adoption that also went well. In the back of my mind I was worried for her. I talked about the adoption experiences in a casual conversation with her, but never pushed, just let her know there were other options, and you know what, they ended up having a baby last month. So, like I said, it isn't always a sad experience.

Six years later I can honestly say I am thankful for having gone through the experience. It has made me a stronger person, and my husband and I a stronger couple. But most importantly, it allowed everything to fall into place so that Christian could become our first son.

Look who does bathrooms

2011-11-02T17:09:00.000-05:00

He also does windows. Seriously!

A Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T11:31:00.001-05:00

After 46 days of over 100 degree weather this summer and fall (the NORMAL number of days of 100 or 100+ in Houston is 2!!) with an average daily temperature in August of 102 and no rain, who would have thought we would have had such PERFECT weather for Halloween??!! And it was perfect!

First we had to design and carve our pumpkins. Christian designed the pumpkins, I drew the face as he dictated eye shape, size, nose shape, mouth, happy/sad, teeth/no teeth, top/bottom. After carving off the top I thought they might like scooping out the middle.

I quickly realized we were going to need a diversion to get the carving done though . . . candy!

Then came costumes and trick-or-treating, or as William said, "twick a twee". I went with them to a couple of neighbors' houses, and then ran back to hand out candy while David finished the street with them.

At one house the woman answered the door in a scary costume and poor William took off running away crying.

Then it was time to head home to check out their halloween loot!

The boys helped hand out candy at our house afterwards. We went through an enormous amount of candy. I even had to raid the boys' halloween stash! Don't worry there is still enough candy!

Elmo, Cake Pops, Pinatas

2011-10-30T15:02:00.003-05:00

Halloween fun, not necessarily in that order. William and Christian had their Halloween parties in their classes this past week. Despite William being so excited to be Elmo, he was "all done" wearing the costume after about 15 minutes. That's fine. It was ridiculously warm Thursday. Thankfully a cool front came through Thursday evening and we were actually able to wear long sleeve shirts Friday and not pass out from the heat.

Playing pin the legs on the spider

There was another Elmo in William's class - but he had the full Elmo costume.

Hand me downs are a wonderful thing. Here is William in a hand me down shirt and slippers (new pants though!) from Christian. He looks so cute!

At Christian's party Friday one of the moms made cake pops for the class party and thinking they were difficult to make, I asked her how she made them. I was surprised to hear how super easy they are to make (literally a boxed cake, made and crumbled and 2/3-3/4 of a tub of frosting), so I whipped up a batch Saturday, and we ate them today. I think I need to tweak the recipe (what recipe? I just played it by ear) a bit because they seemed a little big for the lollipop sticks and the melting chocolate I used hardened and it made the pop fall off the stick biting into it. But, they are cute and a super easy treat to make for kids.

Look at all those super heros in one room!

My cake pops!

Yesterday afternoon we all went to William's and Christian's friend's Halloween Birthday Party. What a fun time! No exaggeration there were at least 40 kids there running around jumping in the bouncy house, playing on the playground, getting their faces painted, running races and eating delicious tacos and such from a taco truck! Then to end the party they had this enormous Mickey Mouse pinata. I'll be honest I have never actually seen a pinata at a party before, and it was hilarious watching the kids hit it with the stick. They must have gone through 20 kids before it finally broke. A fun time was a had by all!

Oh, and William's Elmo costume? I put it on him when we got out of the car at the party, and he wore it on the 2 minute walk over to the party, then said, "Elmo off mom!" Something tells me he will wear it a little longer tomorrow when we go trick or treating!

Language Development

2011-10-26T14:03:00.000-05:00

We went in for language testing at our local public school last Friday. When setting up the appointment the speech pathologist told me she had decided not to administer the test in Russian and English after she reviewed the home language survey I completed with the application. The testing took about an hour and a half which seemed much more comprehensive than the one we initially had with a private speech pathologist back in April. Afterwards the speech pathologist told me while she hadn't scored the test yet she would be surprised if William qualified for services as his articulation was actually good taking into consideration his age and the length of time he has been exposed to English, and his receptive language was very good.

I was a bit surprised, but to tell the truth we have seen some great improvements in his overall expressive language in the last couple of weeks. I had been diligently working with William on the articulation cards the private speech pathologist we went to had given me. I do think that helped. He has also been getting good at speaking in 2-3 word sentences in the last couple of weeks, something we have really been working on. I also think it took a while for him to "rewire" his brain for the different sounds required in the English language versus the Russian language. I had been keeping a list of words he added to his expressive vocabulary, and I have pretty much stopped listing words because there seem to be so many more added every day or every other day, and frankly, I don't always write the word down right when he says it and then I forget it later. I think he was up to 350 or so words, but it may be closer to 400.

I stumbled upon this language development in internationally adopted children info back when Christian was a toddler. The statistics were good and appropriate for his situation. William however didn't really fit into the ages listed as he came home at an older age. It was nice to have the statistics to refer to with Christian, and I guess I miss having that for William. I have felt a bit adrift wondering if he is developing ok. And, the fact that he had been diagnosed with motor alalia in Russia heightened my concern. I know that a child exposed to English since birth would have over 1000 words in their expressive vocabulary word bank by now, but I think William is doing well and continuing to pick up new words and speak in more and longer sentences, so I think we just continue with what we are doing.

Interesting side note: as I was sitting waiting during the testing I was walking around the school as it is where Christain will go next year. It is known as quite an international school with children from all nationalities going there. I saw a sign hanging by the front door that said Welcome in many different languauges and one stood out to me, добрый пожаловать (spoken in Russian as - doughbray pajzalavat- my best phonetic pronunciation, sorry).

Still summer

2011-10-24T09:43:00.004-05:00

I remember my first Thanksgiving in Houston in 1990 and my room mate and I were running around cooking dinner in shorts, it was that warm. I think it will be much the same this year. We spent the weekend sweating it out again at Christian's soccer game and playing outside in the high 80's/low 90's, and I should add swatting swarms of mosquitos brought on by the heavy rain two weeks ago.

Our "cool" weather lasted about two days and then it was back to the heat and unfortunately also humidity. Poor William is a mosquito magnet and even with spray has mosquito bites galore on his arms, neck and even his face. We are so ready for the cool weather to come and stay.

Pictures from this weekend's game:

From last weeknd's game:

Twins?

2011-10-19T21:20:00.003-05:00

We were playing with one of Christian's friends and his brother who is the same age as William after school Monday. On the way home Christian was commenting on how Will and Cole always dress the same and wanted to know why I don't dress him and William the same. I'll admit I am always impressed by moms that dress their kids the same. I have bought a couple of outfits that match, but William wears a lot of hand me downs, and I pretty much let them chose what they want to wear.
But Christian was really intent on wearing matching outfits so Tuesday morning we found matching outfits for them to wear to school. Big Brother and Little Brother shirts and blue shorts.

Tuesday night was Open House and the Book Fair and they had a local author come read a bedtime story to the kids with cookies and milk and they were all encouraged to wear pajamas. William thought that was a great idea! He said, "PAJAMAS??!! Funny Mom." As luck would have it the cold front brought enough cool weather they were able to wear the only matching pajamas they have which are long pjs. Here they are with Daddy!

Eating cookies and waiting for the author.

This morning we exhausted the last of their matching outfits, and actually Christian has outgrown his jeans from last year - yes, it's been that long since we've worn jeans (I'd say maybe April was the last time we wore them!). Luckily I recently got a pair of light blue cords for him at Naartjie Kids (for $11! - good prices if you care to check it out) that fit perfectly.

Christian said, "We're dressed like twins, Mom." I may be biased, but I think they're adorable!

Running of the Bulls

2011-10-16T14:25:00.001-05:00

The Texans' have an annual Running of the Bulls, 5K and Toro's 1K Kids Run. Toro (a bull) is the Texans' Mascot hence the name of the run. Anyone that knows Christian knows he is a football fanatic. He loves to "play football" and even likes to watch it. I thought this little kids 1K run would be a fun way for him to see the inside of Reliant Stadium. The 1K started outside, ran around one side of the stadium then down the tunnel into the stadium for the finish. We live less than 5 minutes from the stadium so it was close and it was only $10 to enter.

He had so much fun! And I will tell you he can run fast! All the little kids were amazingly fast. My little runner. He has already decided he wants to do it next year and maybe by then William will be old enough to run it as well.

Что?

2011-10-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

After filling all the paper work out for speech testing in early September, I didn't think I would hear from the speech therapist at our local public school for 30-60 days, so imagine my surprise when I got a call last week from the speech therapist saying they were ready to schedule testing...but, they wanted to test in English and Russian. Что(Russian for What)? I didn't even argue with the woman. But, I did grow silent when she said she was trying to locate a Russian interpreter to test him in Russian. If they want to spend the time and money doing that, ok, but I personally do not think he has retained any Russian.

While we were still in Russia, I would use Russian and English phrases with William. After we were home I would use some Russian. And I have tried to use Russian words for colors and animals and foods, but he doesn't repsond to it. we go to a park close to our home where on any given day you will usually hear someone speaking to their child in Russian, also Hebrew, Spanish, French, sometimes German and Japanese, oh and also English. But, when I hear someone using Russian I look to William to see if he responds or reacts to it at all, and he doesn't.

I was watching a Russian video on Keri's blog - click here and actually grew quite nostalgic about Russia as I watched. I do think I will go back to Russia. And, when William and Christian are ready and interested to learn Russian, I am more than hapy to have them take lessons. We do plan to take a heritage trip to Russia as well when they are older. But, right now, I just want to help my son with any speech problems he may have in acquiring language.

P.S. I do encourage you to read Keri's recent post click here, a reposting, about the children at the internat/older child orphanage in Kemerovo.

The indignity!

2011-10-07T11:24:00.000-05:00

Oh the things parents make their kids do for a good picture.

Self-Improvement

2011-10-06T14:31:00.003-05:00

I have been in what I call a "self-improvement" phase of late. I'm happy with my life. I have a great husband, two great boys, but professionally and personally think it could be better. I have a couple of books I have been meaning to discuss for those interested in a thoughtful or self reflective read. One particular blog I have followed this year CLICK HERE has made me realize just how important it is to live in the present, and as my bio says, "be happy for this moment, this moment is your life." But there is also the future, looking forward, self growth. I like what Steve Jobs had to say in his commencement address at Stanford back in 2005 (see link below). Find what you love. I'm still looking. How about you?

Steve Jobs' Commencement Address

Mr. Smiley

2011-10-05T11:38:00.001-05:00

This guy is almost always happy and smiling. He's either going to Grama Gigi's or to get Christian from school. He even has his own key. He loves carrying around a spare key to something we gave him and will put it in a keyhole on a door, or in the little hole on the car where I guess a plastic key used to be, and if he has a pocket, well then it will go in there. Something so simple makes this little guy happy.

Apples of my eye

2011-10-04T20:38:00.001-05:00

Well intentioned people have told us things like, "they look just like you" (okay, if you say so) or "they look like they could be yours" (actually they are ours!) or "they look like they really are brothers" (well, they really are brothers!). Just this weekend at a family outing event people were telling us how they thought William looked like David, Christian looked like me and that they looked like brothers. Like I said, these are well intentioned people, but at a certain point, it is not something that should be said in front of our kids.

For me, I'm over all we went through to have our two sweet boys, it's not about, whether they look like me or act like me or have my personality or genes, it's about them being my beloved children. I adore my sons, they are the apples of my eye, they are beloved and cherished by their mom and dad.

I got together with a good friend over the weekend who is also an adoptive mom, and whose adorable son is the same age as Christian and one of Christian's oldest friends. Christian told me when we were on our way home Saturday night, "Mom, Carter is my cousin." Very cute. I digress. We were talking about talking with our children about their being adopted. I've talked with Christian about it, but I am not sure he completely understands it yet. But, Lisa and I were saying, at what point does it stop being about them being adopted.

Taken after their haircuts earlier this week

We coulda had a new car!

2011-09-30T13:10:00.003-05:00

I've ranted about my anger over our crappy insurance plan this year. Interesting that the news has come out recently to bring up this very issue - for example this on line story that shows how health insurance now costs more than a Ford Fiesta or this one.

Not only are employers paying more but, as in our case, employees are paying more. I'll be honest here. This year we will have paid out of pre-tax dollars $8,184 in medical insurance premiums to Cigna and on top of that we have a $750 per person deductible. That's $11,184 out of pocket, just to be covered. And then after paying all that, we still face coinsurance which means, IF Cigna decides the medical charge is something they will pay, which I will tell you they WILL NOT pay an ambulance charge, and at nearly $1000, that has been a hard pill to swallow this year, oh and they also have not paid any of William's lab work, speech therapy, Christian's social play therapy, dental or vision, then Cigna only pays 80% and we pay the remaining 20%. So you can see how that can all add up. I should add that at least we have insurance. But at this rate, we need to start each year with at least $3000 in the bank just to cover our health insurance deductibles (that doesn't include our per paycheck pre-tax premium deductions, amounts Cigna just won't pay or coinsurance).

Slumber party

2011-09-29T09:57:00.001-05:00

The boys decided to have an impromptu birthday party that turned into a slumber party. It started with them "cooking" some food for their party, and then they disappeared for a couple minutes and returned with pillows, blankets and "customers". See pictures below. I was cooking dinner and was just glad they were playing together so nicely.

2011-09-29T09:53:00.000-05:00

2011-09-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

Obnoxious e-mail posting

2011-09-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

It's probably wrong of me to say this, but I love my iphone. Back when I first quit the paid working world to be home with Christian, David got me the first generation iphone. I recall at the time thinking I didn't want to give up my old cell phone. What was I thinking?

One nifty little thing I recently figured out I can do on my phone is send a picture or text as an e-mail to blogger and it posts directly to my blog. So, you'll have to pardon the obnoxious picture and short text posting of late. It's hard to resist sharing a cute picture...with all 3 1/2 of you who read the blog.

Parenting Lessons

2011-09-27T10:59:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I do things as a parent I am ashamed of. Yesterday Christian was rather cranky after school. If it wasn't one thing it was the other that was sending him into crying and/or complaining fits all afternoon. At dinner he was whining about this and that, and I was telling him he had to finish eating if he wanted dessert. As an aside, we have been working on his being silly and playing at the table instead of eating. We don't normally have dessert, but David just so happened to buy some ice cream so I thought it would be a good incentive to get him to eat.

Well he must have coughed and something came up the wrong pipe and into his nose. And Christian, being more sensitive doesn't just cry or complain about it, he shrieks and screams. I had him blow his nose, and tried to get him to drink some water, but he wouldn't stop shrieking and throwing a fit over it so I finally told him to go to his room if he wasn't going to calm down. I told his dad to tell him he needs to close his door if he is going to contiue to shriek and scream. So David goes up to close the door and I hear him walking around and talking to Christian and then I go up a minute later thinking maybe he got sick, no, instead I walk in and there is blood all over the bed and his face and some of his animals. The poor guy had obviously scratched the inside of his nose with whatever he coughed up and his crying and all just made it worse. Christian said, "The salad dressing was too spicy for me and it hurt my nose." Talk about feeling like a terrible parent. We get him all cleaned up and then I get some Kleenex and tell him to lean back against me and I hold it on his nose. I told him if he is ever bleeding or hurt, even if he is being sent to time out or his room he is to let us know so we can help him. Ugh! He ended up having ice cream for dessert and kept showing his little brother how he had a bloody nose. Lesson learned - sometimes as a parent you have to step outside of your own aggravation zone and evaluate the situation anew rather than as a whole for the day. When Christian wouldn't stop crying and screaming after the nose incident at the table, I was operating from a "this kid has been crying and whining all afternoon, I'm sick of it" perspective rather than a what has just happened, is he ok perspective.

A little football

2011-09-25T14:16:00.000-05:00

Christian running plays with his animals, William napping and David watching the game!

Isn't this cool

2011-09-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

One of the moms has this cool folding bench for Christian's soccer team. Second game of the season yesterday. They have these great new uniforms this year thanks to Reliant Energy, a league sponsor (Gexa is cheaper-sorry Reliant). The boys voted on a name last week and the saber toothed tigers (shortened to tigers) won. Fun way to spend a Saturday morning. Christian is #3.

A is for adorable

2011-09-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

Can you believe...

2011-09-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

...This little guy grew 1/2 inch between early November when we met him in Arkhangelsk last year and April at his first doctor appointment after being home, AND has grown 2 1/2 inches since April.

Russian records indicated he was lactose intolerant. Makes me wonder, because he drinks milk with no problem now, and I think his growth spurt is due in part to his calcium intake, and probably overall better nutrition. A typical American child will grow 3 inches between 3-4 years old and he's practically hit that milestone at 6 months. Rather amazing!

I think we have a winner!

2011-09-22T10:21:00.000-05:00

We were wondering what William should dress up as for Halloween. A trip to Target solved that. He loved the Elmo costume and loved wearing it when we got home. The funny thing is we rarely watch Elmo, but something about him has captured William's heart.

...and Now

2011-09-21T12:03:00.001-05:00

William 6 months later at the same park!

Then...

2011-09-21T12:02:00.001-05:00

William at our neighborhood park at the end of March.

School days, school days...

2011-09-18T13:20:00.003-05:00

Well the boys are doing great in school. Christian is so happy in his Kindergarten at St. Paul's. He rushes to get to class every day and when I come to pick him up he is happily engaged in one of the centers. Of the 16 kids in the class, 4 are girls (can you believe one is a Russian adopted little girl!), and the remaining are boys. Seven are kids that were previously in one of the two pre-k classes at St. Paul's and two of the boys (twins) are on Christian's West U soccer team. I think all this familiarity helps because Christian feels like he "owns" this place. He's come up through the ranks, he knows the school and knows lots of the kids. The teachers are excellent as well! We are planning on going to our local public school next year, still not sure on whether we'll use this year as a "bridge" year and redo Kindergarten or go into first grade.

It's something that is a hot topic in the Houston area, not sure about the rest of the country, although I do recall reading a NYT article about "red shirting" kindergarteners a couple of years ago. I find it interesting how the states vary on Kindergarten entry age and length of day. Kindergarten here in public school is full day 8-3. I think that's a long day for a 5 year old. At St. Paul it's 9-2:30. Where my sister lives in NJ they only go half day for Kindergarten. Growing up in NY I recall only going half day, but they are now full day. In Texas the entry age for public school is 5 by September 1, but many private schools have an age of 5 by July 1. Compare that to Michigan where my cousin lives and it's 5 by November 1-or is it December 1? Regardless, it's a big difference if you ask me. And even here, there were kids that turned 5 in Christian's pre-k class last year in September and others that didn't turn 5 until June. Those 9 months make a big difference at this young age.

We are still undecided what we will do with William as well. It's still so early to tell. He could potentially be in pre-k next year based on his age, but we'll probably keep him in a "pre-school" class and reassess as the year progresses. His language is coming along ( despite my having stoppped going to the speech therapist). We are scheduled to go to our local school this week to fill out the paper work to have him tested for speech and see what services he will qualify for. He is definitely better with articulation, and is putting 2 and 3 words together. We do have to force him though to use his vocabulary which he doesn't always like, but it's definitely made a difference.

As far as school goes though he loves going, loves carrying his lunch box and back pack and walks right in to class ready for a new adventure. He is always so excited to show me any work he did that day and talk about what he did at school. Of course his teachers adore him because he is such a happy easy going guy!

Christian and William enjoy playing together, but also enjoy bugging each other and tattling on each other - typical sibling stuff. And there is never a dull moment around here. Just this morning I was downstairs getting breakfast started and they were upstairs and you'd think there were 10 of them, not so much a pitter patter, as a stampede, but they were having fun, being boys.

I haven't posted many pictures lately and not many over the summer (actually here in Houston it feels like it IS still summer!). So here is a picture update, with more to come:

William, cousin Charlotte and Christian over the summer.

William, Christian and their cousin Tristan. I love this picture of the three of them.

Christian and William on a ride at Hoffman's Playland in the Albany, NY area this summer.

Watching planes at the airport on our way home.

Did I mention how good both of them were on our 2 leg journey home?

Enjoying a freezie pop, a summer time must!

They love their new (actually old and in our garage storage) beds!

Sleeping, er..., playing in their roll out bed at the hotel in New Braunfels for David's family reunion.

Cute first day of school pictures! Look how cute William is looking up at us!

A little artwork.

Hamming it up for the camera in the cool tie dyed t-shirts mom made!

Stopping for a snack at the zoo. My goodness, are my sons' knees really that dirty - and bruised?!

Two silly boys!

Super easy recipe

2011-09-14T09:20:00.003-05:00

I don't know about other moms, but I'm always looking for a different easy dinner recipe. I have always enjoyed cooking, but being a mom has its challenges as far as coming up with something easy, inexpensive and good. Sure I would love to make a ten step meal, or even a 5 step meal, but having that amount of time isn't always a reality.

Sometimes I feel like I stick with the old standards over and over again, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, tacos, fajitas (HEB has this really good preseasoned fajita meat - just cook on the grill for 10 minutes and serve with cut up tomato, lettuce, avacados, cheese), broiled salmon, jenni-o turkey sausage and turkey meatloaf (although all these recent recalls have me a little concerned), some type of chicken dish, pancakes (always a nice treat for dinner), ravioli. I saw this recipe in a coupon mailer for worchestershire sauce and it was easy, inexpensive and delicious so I thought I'd pass it along.

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork
2/3 c Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 c tomato paste
1 med. white onion, chopped (I used yellow)
2 tbsp yellow mustard
2 tbsp white vinegar
3 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder trimmed and cut into 4 pieces ( I bought a cut with the bone in, only $5.97 for a little over 3 1/2 pounds, and cut it off the bone)

In a 6 qt crock pot mix all ingredients except pork. Once combined add pork and turn to cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove pork and shred with 2 forks. Return to crock pot and stir into sauce then serve on sandwhich buns.

It was delicious, the boys liked it and even with seconds we have enough for leftovers tonight, so I would say it serves about 8-10. (After eating leftovers today for dinner I'd revise the servings to closer to 12.)

What's an easy recipe you have tried and like?

Coming into his own

2011-09-08T13:52:00.003-05:00

It was a long summer around here. June seemed to be going well, Christian was in a couple of summer camps, William and I were able to spend some good time together. Summer seemed to be moving along so quickly. Then July with our trip to see my family and we had a nice long visit with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins, aunts, uncles. But I will tell you a trip to Grandma's takes on new meaning when you have not one but two busy active boys. So many things to break, and I even broke a few things. Although my trip home alone with both of them, with a layover went better than I expected. Then back in Texas and the unrelenting heat and no rain that began in late July and continued through the entire month of August. By the last week before school started I think I was ready to run away from home. I think William was also craving some time with out his sometimes larger than life brother. Ah, but then school started. Christian in Kindergarten, William in pre-school. He loves pre-school and I couldn't be happier for the guy. He walks into class without a tear, but comes running out of class at the end of school and wants to be picked up and hugged and kissed. We talk about what he did at school, mostly me saying, "Did you play with puzzles and school? Did you eat your snack at school? Do you like your teachers?..." He also loves having some time alone with mommy MWF while Christian is at school. Lately all I hear from both boys is "Mom, look mom, look, watch this mom..." or "Mommy...Mommy..." These two little guys are both wonderful in their own ways, but both are very different, and both are still adjusting to having a sibling.

Brothers being silly

When he was first home in late March little William had pretty good fine motor skills, which really impressed us since Christian's fine motor skills always lagged a bit behind, but William's gross motor was rather behind. Kinda the reverse of Christian. When Christian first learned to walk after he'd been home with us a month there was no slowing him down, he went from toddling to walking to running and he's still running! William's body had some catching up to do before he could get motoring. Plus the poor guy cannot tolerate the heat very well yet. Seriously, who could this summer?! He had low muscle tone and low energy for any type of physical activity. We would walk over to a park two blocks from our house and the poor little guy was miserable on an easy, slow walk. We'd go for a walk after dinner and he wanted to ride in the stroller. We'd go to the park and he liked to just sit and watch or stand and watch, probably taking everything in, trying to figure out what was going on. He would sit in one of the cozy coupe cars and there was no getting him to move or explore or move the car.

Then something wonderful happened!

Late last week we went for a walk after dinner and this little guy takes off running, and of course I pretended to chase him and he thought it was hilarious and he ran flat out for two blocks, stopping ocassionally to turn around, and giggle. I took him to the park last night after dinner while Christian was at his first soccer practice with Dad and the change in his play was amazing. He was checking out all the toys, going up and down the slides, using his legs to propel the little cozy coupe cars. It made me so happy for him to see him so engaged in what he was doing and see him finally coming into his own.

Overheard this morning...

2011-09-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

I was sitting eating breakfast this morning and William was walking around the house with a long stem play fabric flower I gave him and I heard Christian say to him, "William, you want to get married? William you can get married to Daddy." Wondering if I should have a talk with him about what it means to get married. I thought I already had...

Hmmm...

2011-08-31T21:11:00.001-05:00

Well it seems like a waste of time, but I have been trying out different blog looks for a while - hmmm, not sure what I think of this one. Ugh, wish I knew what the heck I was doing!

Firsts

2011-08-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

Another big day today. William's first day in preschool! He was all business this morning and walked right in without a tear, no doubt in part because preschool is in many ways like being back in the baby home. But, he was excited when I came to pick him up!

He has grown 2 inches since being home, has learned to pedal a bike, has a great receptive vocabulary and about 250+ word working expressive vocabulary. Pretty amazing how far he has come in 5 months!

I used an old camera when taking the back to school pictures and when I downloaded them last night there were a couple of pictures taken back in June. This one below was a pleasant surprise!

Practice makes perfect

2011-08-29T22:55:00.002-05:00

William will go to preschool/mother's day out tomorrow. He'll go Tuesdays and Thursdays. It gives us plenty of time to spend together while Christian is at school M-F from 9-2:30.

Today William carried his back pack and lunch box to school while we dropped Christian off. He tried putting his lunch box in Christan's cubby in his classroom. Poor guy really wants to go to "school". I thought we ought to have a lunch box trial run today and showed him how to get everything out, open everything up and then clean up. He was so cute.

Because he wears mostly hand me downs I thought it would be nice to have something new for school and I got two new back to school outfits and new sneakers for him. I took them out tonight and showed him what he was going to wear tomorrow and he was very excited. He is always very excited to get something new.

Can it be?

2011-08-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

Can it be the same little guy that started mother's day out/preschool three years ago at 2 1/2 is now in Kindergarten?

They said it would happen; you are growing up too quickly!

Future engineer?

2011-08-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

Christian was so proud he built this marble run all by himself this morning!

The latest in backpack fashion

2011-08-28T11:16:00.000-05:00

William modeling his new backpack. He has worn it all morning!

The positives...

2011-08-27T16:10:00.003-05:00

I hate feeling sorry for myself and being depressed when I should be thankful for all I have so here are some positives to add to my previous post.

Washing all our bedding several times in the past two weeks (because of the ticks) has been so much easier than it would have been before last summer when we finally built a laundry room inside our house on the second floor, moving it from its previous location outside in the unattached garage! Every time I do laundry I am thankful of the fact that the laundry room is now only steps away from my bedroom door!

I may be frazzled at the end of a long summer with two active little boys, but we are so thankful that we are a family of four this summer, and have two headed to school this fall!

We may not have gotten to go on a family vacation this summer, but we did make two trips to Russia this past winter/spring in bringing home little William. And, even with those two trips we were still able to spend some quality time visiting with my family in NY and NJ and David's family in central Texas. I should also add I was able to spend a nice weekend earlier this month in Santa Fe with Christian attending a cousin's wedding and seeing family yet again.

End in sight

2011-08-27T09:38:00.002-05:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I am so ready for summer to be over. It's been 100+ in Houston for almost 4 weeks (except for one blessed day, this Thursday, when it actually rained) and I have run out of fun things to do. William woke up Sunday night with bad congestion and wheezing and has had a bad cold all week - most likely caught at one of the indoor play places we had been frequenting, so none of that for us this week. The ticks we discovered nearly two weeks ago have been insidious. We self treated our house, had it professionally treated, had two flea/tick baths for the dog, a visit to the vet for an infection due to the ticks and have been vacuming the house daily, and we are still finding ticks, although now they are for the most part confined to the room where Missy's bed used to be - our bedroom, although initially we did see some in the boys' bedroom where Missy sometimes slept. We had placed the boys' boxsprings and mattresses on the floor thinking it was easier for them to get in and out of bed, but since we discovered ticks we've put them up on the bed frames we've had which are actually very nice beds. The side rails actually make it easy for them to get up and down so that's a relief, and we're not as worried about finding ticks in their beds. The whole thing has been absolutely disgusting to me. We are having the house retreated again this week and I am hoping that will break the life cycle although as I said, these things are insidious so we'll have to see.

We visited class rooms for school yesterday. Christian's Kindergarten class begins Monday and William's preschool/mother's day out starts Tuesday. I think he is going to be sad Monday when we go to drop Christian off and he doesn't get dropped off as well. We got him a cute little back pack and lunch box and he has really enjoyed carrying them around the house.

They are saying next week it will start cooling down into the 90's. That doesn't sound cool, but it's the beginning of the end in sight.

Wondering what to do

2011-08-17T22:30:00.002-05:00

We had speech today and I have really given some thoughts the last several appointments to switching speech therapists. I have a couple of issues. Obviously it is disappointing speech is not covered by our insurance (just as our older son's group/social/play therapy isn't - which has contributed to an expensive year medical/healthwise with my husband's surgery). We are pursuing other free options for speech so hopefully that will happen. The woman charges $90/half hour. And she books her apppointments back to back and they all end up running into the next, well at least I have noticed she usually is with the person before us for the first 3-5 minutes of our time. It really infuriates me! Then the last five minutes is her telling me what they did that day. Honestly, she bills more per hour than some lawyers. And now that she has given me so many receptive, expressive and articulation language tools to do with William at home I feel like the vast majority of the work is done at home. Seriously she is not covering much territory in 20-25 minutes every other week, or even if it was every week.

She had mentioned something about the inside of his mouth muscles being thick and having to massage them which I do, not every day, but a couple times per week. I asked her what she meant about them being thick last time we were in and she said it was like they were being overworked. Ok, the kid does like to eat and we have been working with him on taking small bites, small mouthfuls and chewing and swallowing before he puts more in his mouth, and another more recent development, we have gone away from using those handly plastic cups with a lid and straw. I say handy because you don't have to worry about spills. I think our getting away from those has helped. But we were in to our pediatrician this week for a stye the poor guy has in his eye and I asked her if she had ever heard of anything like the thick overworked muscle issue before and she said no that sounded like an odd explanation. She looked in his mouth and felt and said it seemed fine to her. So now I don't know what to make of the whole mouth muscle issue.

Then at the end of today's session I asked her if we could set up our next appointment and she said if we were going to go every week we could have a regular appointment time, but if we are going every other week I should just call her when I am ready to set up an appointment. That's ridiculous, why can't someone that goes once every two weeks get a regular appointment time?

With William starting school two days a week at the end of the month I am thinking it will help a bit with his language acquisition, plus with Christian being at school five days a week I will have more time to work with William one on one. Decisions, decisions. I hate to not provide William with speech if he needs it just to save some money, but I'm not really sure how much he is actually getting out of the sessions. I suppose it doesn't hurt to shop around.

Look who got a little trim from his brother

2011-08-14T08:38:00.001-05:00

100 degrees no sweat

2011-08-12T13:49:00.004-05:00

I'll be honest it is hard coming up with things to do when it's 100 degrees outside. We've been doing Little Gym on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, swimming at the Y(although the pool is like bath water), swimming in our own little pool in the backyard, slip n slide, and Wonderwild-another indoor play place. Our mornings we are usually ok playing at home, going outside for short periods to ride bikes in the driveway and play in the yard.

I am not one of those McDonald's haters. Honestly if you make smart choices and don't eat there every day it's not a bad option, and I don't understand why some people seem to think Chick fil-A is better. There's something satisfying about a McDonald's cheese burger. We have a couple different McD's with play places close to our house and this is the first time we have been to one in a couple months. A little packed today!

I thought this was such a good picture of William at McD's. He is definitely growing up and out if his chubby cheeks.

Next stop, Kick's indoor soccer for Mommy and Me soccer Friday. With a drop off of Missy at Petsmart for flea and tick bath. Yes, that was our fun morning-trying to figure out what kind of bug-er-bugs it was. I was seriously worried bedbugs, but thankfully not, although ticks are just as disgusting! Thanks Missy!

A special day

2011-08-08T20:08:00.002-05:00

It was four years ago today that Christian joined our family forever. It's hard to believe it has only been four years - he seems to have been with us forever. He likes to hear stories about what he used to do when he was a baby -sigh- the time has just flown by.

His first meal with us was Gerber squash, lamb and apricots.

I told him he got to chose what we had for dinner tonight and of course he chose pizza and can you believe for dessert he passed up ice cream and cupcakes for jello with whipped cream!

Can you also believe he wanted to wash our car today?! He's still young enough to think it's fun and not actually work. He and William had a fun time of it and got all wet which I think was the whole point. It has been unbearably hot here of late.

Only three more week until Christian starts Kindergarten and William goes to Mother's Day Out two days a week. I need to write a post about our busy summer - but haven't had much time - maybe in three weeks!

Hopefully that will be the end of that

2011-08-04T12:59:00.002-05:00

You may recall all the problems we had getting blood from our sweet baby William. The doctor we saw at the IA/Retrovirology Clinic at Texas Children"s Hospital ordered a slew of tests to determine if he was properly immunized, and if he had any diseases, etc...We didn't have the TB skin test done at our initial visit because it was scheduled for a Thursday and we wouldn't have been able to come back to have it checked.

We had about six small vials of blood taken on the date of the doctor visit back in May and were told to come back to have the remaining blood drawn. After going back three times and being stuck in both arms and sometimes the hand on each visit we were finally able to draw the rest of the blood on the fourth visit back. That was in June. I thought we were all done, certainly no one contacted me to tell me there was a problem. Well I dropped off the medical/immunization school forms with our pediatrician back in July and got a call a week later asking about four immunizations they didn't show a record of. I told them we had all the blood work done at TCH and they should have been sent a copy of the records. They certainly billed us for a long list of blood work(I guess my mistake for not cross checking every line item!!). The nice guy calls me back after looking into it and says there is no record of the blood work for varicella(chicken pox), tetnus, diptheria and mumps. At this point I am already so disappointed in TCH and have vowed not to go back there, and have actually ordered, but not received a copy of William's medical records. So I called TCH to basically rant on what was going on, and particularly why hadn't anyone contacted me. Turns out somewhere along the line they lost the blood for those four tests!

As it turns out we recently learned William also has to have a blood test because his tb skin test last month came back positive and they were not able to draw the blood at the pediatrician's office and had written a request to have it done at TCH (ugh!). As an aside, it seems the BCG vaccination given in most foreign countries to prevent tuberculosis can cause a false positive test result on the skin test, but not on the quantiferon blood test, so that is why we have to have the blood test. Our first son never had a false positive, and actually previous skin tests William underwent in Russia came back both positive and negative. The doctor's office showed me the innoculation point on both sons' arms. Each a different arm, up near the shoulder, a small white spot. Interesting.

David took Christian in to the office this morning while I took William back to TCH for all the blood work and hopefully that will be the end of that! Although he could still need immunizations. I will say that after explaining all the trouble we had in previous visits to the lab, the women working with us were excellent and actually got 5 vials of blood from sweet William without him making a peep! So brave. Also, very smart. The poor guy had been in there so much he knew the drill and was showing them where to put the needle. After picking Christian up from david's office I though ice cream was in order since both little guys did so well!

Missy enjoying her favorite spot

2011-08-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

Missy's favorite spot is on the landing half way up the stairs. She can keep an eye on what's going on inside and outside!

How did I miss it

2011-07-30T11:12:00.000-05:00

I can't believe July 26th came and went without my recognizing the day! It's hard to believe 4 years have passed since we sat in the court room in Pskov. I guess I have been thinking about August 8th which is the day Christian joined us forever and completely missed the formality of the court hearing. We simply cannot imagine life without our little guy. Our "paper pregnancy" was quite literally a full term pregnancy - begun with the first meeting for our homestudy in November 2006 and ending with the "special delivery" of our little guy home in August 2007.

You make us laugh, you make us cry, you make our lives more complete!

So very thankful

2011-07-27T10:02:00.001-05:00

Sometimes I need a reminder that life is good. It's easy to feel sorry for yourself, much harder to climb up out of it and tell yourself, you are lucky, you are blessed, you have so much to be thankful for. Be happy. Be thankful.

When I was first out of law school I was lucky enough to get a decent job at a mid sized law firm here in Houston. The partner that hired me was a good man, he had a family, three kids, a wife, and he worked hard to make a good life for them. I had been working with the firm for about 6 weeks when he and his family were involved in a horrific auto accident where he and his three children were killed, and only the wife/mother survived. It was shocking and unbearable to imagine and I thought to myself how terrible for the wife/mother. What could be worse?

Earlier this month I read a story about a Houston family that had been returning from a trip to Colorado. They were on a stretch of highway in west Texas when another car struck theirs killing the parents and leaving behind a daughter and two sons, both now parapalegics. Worse. I can't imagine those children having to grow up now without their parents.

Truth be told, there are hundreds of thousands of children growing up in the foster care system in this country without parents and a family, and more growing up in orphanages around the world.

Take time today to think about the people in your life that are closest to you, the people that have been there with you, by your side, and thank those people, give those people a hug, tell those people you love them, you care about them, they matter to you. Do it not only in words, or gifts, but in actions. Treat those people the way you treat soemone you love, someone you care about, someone you cherish. It is easy to get caught up in our daily lives and find little perceived inconveniences and to wallow in a poor me way of thinking. Perhaps we think some minor inconvenience is caused by someone close to us ( for example: so and so didn't take their shoes off and now there is mud in the house, darn that so and so for making my life more difficult!). Sometimes we treat those people closest to us meanly as a result, but then turn and give a courtesy or welcoming smile to a complete stranger we meet at the check out line in the grocery store.

Stop and think about it today. It could all be gone in a instant. We are so lucky, we are so blessed, we should be thankful for what we have. It takes such little effort to put down your to-do list and open your heart to those in your life. Start with a smile, or a "thank you" or hold back on making a mean, snide or passive aggressive comment (or even thinking it!) about something minor they've done that makes you unhappy. You will feel better for it.

Dis un

2011-07-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

William has been saying dis un almost as much as he used to say uh uh uh. He barely opens his mouth when he says it. It sounds cute, but after awhile it gets tiring and you realize it is almost a lazy way of refering to everything. I constantly say, you mean, this chair, or over there, or over here, or read book, or toy, or go outside or whatever. I know he thinks he's saying this one, but he has to learn to say words, not rely on walking around saying dis un all the time.

Despite having made some strides in his vocabulary development, and sound production, he still has trouble making many sounds or repeating words. We haven't visited the speech therapist for a month due to being out of town, and frankly also not being able to afford to go every week anymore. Our insurance is not covering it, although we are fighting their rejection to try to get coverage. With coverage it would be $40 per 30 minute visit. Without coverage it has been $90 for a 30 minute visit and the last 5 minutes are taken up with the speech therapist telling me what they did and what I should work on for the week. With the speech evaluation and then 2 1/2 months of going every week, we have spent over $1000. We really can't afford to go every week without coverage, so hopefully every two weeks will be ok. I'll have to ramp it up at home. I'm also hoping we get good news when we go for testing with the school district in September. It sure would be nice to qualify for a program through the district that would be free.

Things that make you go huh...

2011-07-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

I was told today by someone that knows me, "You look pretty good for someone with two kids. You could still wear a bikini." I'm sure it was meant as a joke, but given this person knows me and knows everything we have gone through to have a family I found it a misplaced joke or compliment.

I love my two sons dearly, but I would gladly have gone through getting pregnant, gaining weight and childbirth to have a child as well, even if I perhaps wouldn't be able to wear a bikini afterwards, which incidentally, I do not!

Other things that make you go huh or at least make me go huh, guilt trips. I like going on trips, but loath it when others try to put me on a guilt trip! Why would anyone do that to someone they care about?

Mine

2011-07-21T08:13:00.000-05:00

William discovered me and mine a couple of months ago, but this last month he has been using "mine, mine" so much we have joked he sounds like the seagulls from Finding Nemo.

And so it is...

2011-07-15T15:25:00.000-05:00

...we are headed home. Sad to be leaving family, but happy to be going home.

Sign of the times?

2011-07-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

This morning Christian said he wanted to wear this shirt with the steering wheel on it.

Dessert

2011-07-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

My grandma is all about desserts! Here I am making dessert for us to eat after lunch! My mom never has dessert after lunch!

It's amazing to me...

2011-07-14T10:07:00.000-05:00

It's amazing to me how the Torrey Hansen story last year made such big news, but you'd be hard pressed to find much coverage on the bilateral agreement sign yesterday. You'd also be very hard pressed to find any positive US-Russian adoption stories covered by the same media that was all over the Torrey Hanson story. Just goes to show you what sells as far as "news".

Sent from my iPhone

Thacher State Park

2011-07-14T08:27:00.000-05:00

We drove up to the observation area at Thacher State Park after lunch yesterday. I was thinking it would be a good opportunity for William to nap on the 15 minute drive and Christian could try out the binoculars. Of course, when you're five it's more interesting to look through the long vision side of the binoculars at your hand, your shoe and your foot, oh, and the view. William did manage to sleep for about 5 minutes...

Whaambulance

2011-07-12T21:23:00.001-05:00

We were visiting friends with nine year old twins recently and when Christian started whining about something Bill, the dad, said, "Uh-oh, here comes the Waambulance." It caught Christian so off guard he had to laugh. Since then we try to say that when Christian starts his crying/whining. "Whaa, waaaaaa-did you hear that? Sounds like a Whaambulance." It usually helps because it keeps it light. The last couple of days Christian has even said it to me when William is whining, "Mom, William wounds like a Whaambulance." Kinda funny.

Language

2011-07-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

William's language has definitely taken off over the past couple of weeks. He doesn't do the mmmm, hmmm as much and is really trying to use his words to ask for things or express his opinion as in "NO Taco!". He used to like the "taco" I make for lunch which is really just Laughing Cow cheese spread on a tortilla with chicken or ham and then rolled up. Sometimes I add fresh spinach or lettuce. Lately he is drawing the line and asking for a sandwich which he then disassembles and usually just eats the bread. He is three after all...

Growing

2011-07-12T19:29:00.001-05:00

Judging by the clothing size he now wears, William has definitely grown. When he first came home he was in 18-24 month shorts from Gap or 24 month shorts from Target, and although the tummy fit ok, the shorts were long. He is now up to 2T shorts that are fitting tight around the middle, but long in the legs. I joked that he has a 3T tummy and 2T legs.

Letter from Camp Grandma

2011-07-12T07:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Daddy,
Camp Grandma even has horseback riding and s'mores! We miss you and wish you didn't have to work so hard!
Love,
Christian and William

Cousins have the coolest toys!

2011-07-08T16:08:00.000-05:00

Christian was in heaven driving William around in Charlotte's Barbie car!

Calella

2011-07-04T07:02:00.001-05:00

We finally figured out what William was saying when he says, calella, which he has been saying for about a month. At first we thought it was umbrella, but that is actually bralella. Then we thought maybe he was trying to say kitty cat because he would sometimes say it when he saw a kitty, but he can actually say cat rather well. This morning he kept saying calella and we had an animal channel on and guess what animal they were showing--a gorilla!

Christine Robins

Sent from my iPhone

American falls both foreground, Canadian falls background

2011-07-03T19:02:00.000-05:00

My three favorite guys at Niagara Falls

2011-07-03T19:00:00.001-05:00

Always amazing-no matter how many times you see it. I grew up 10 minutes from the falls so I saw them quite a bit. Always awesome to see and hear up close, and now a bit nerve wracking with two little guys running around that close to the edge!

Look who got a haircut!

2011-07-02T13:14:00.000-05:00

Armadillo, NY

2011-07-02T11:22:00.003-05:00

We are driving from Albany to Buffalo today. Christian asked after breakfast, "Are we going to Armadillo now?". I think you mean Buffalo, and yes!

Still trying to figure out how to post pictures from my phone of William's cute haircut.

Kindle App

2011-06-27T13:45:00.002-05:00

I so covet the ipad, but right now it is not a very prudent purchase. At dinner with a friend the other night she was talking about using her kindle account on her new ipad, and that she could sync it with her iphone. How did I not know this already?! Well I went home that night and sure enough you can open a Kindle account on Amazon without actually having a Kindle (you do have to have an Amazon account though- or be a member) and you can download the Kindle App onto your iphone for free and then obtain all the classics and other books in the public domain for free! I haven't tried to download any books I would have to purchase yet, and really why would I at this point, since I can read on my iphone for free. I was pretty excited and had to share! I'm working on Pride & Prejudice and Gogol's, The Overcoat.

Camp Grandma

2011-06-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

We are leaving in three short days for a visit to my parents in NY with side visits to my sister and brother and their families. My mom says a friend of hers calls it "Camp Grandma" when the grand kids come for a visit, so that is what I am calling our visit. We are excited to see them for a nice long visit and to hopefully get to enjoy some cooler weather. We're using miles for our tickets, so we couldn't be too choosey about the times we fly. I'm still wondering if we'll actually make our 6:00 a.m. flight out of Intercontinental in Houston.