Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Tuesday good news

Hi all! Today's post will be kind of short because Mat and I need to spend the evening discussing Christmas presents for the kids. Lots of shopping in our future!!!

Everything is going well. Cainan is back to his old self. Being a good boy and a lot of fun. He is really getting lively. Babbling a ton, and we said goodbye to the bibs for good! (except for meals, of course) He is no longer drooling, and that surgery was worth every bit just for that alone! Yeah! It is nice to go out without a bib. Slowly he will get rid of his "gear".

Cainan had his doctor appointment today with the surgeon. Today was follow up from his surgery 2 weeks ago. The surgeon was VERY pleased with his palate. Looks like the little hole we thought he had closed itself, and now his palate is completely in tact. It looks great, and we were cleared for him to return to daycare and to eat whatever he wants! Yeah! He had chicken nuggets for dinner to celebrate and I never saw him eat so fast! We don't need to see the surgeon again until February and at that time they will start injecting his lip to soften to tissue to get him ready for his lip and nose revision he will have next summer. So that was a huge success. He also had a helmet appointment today and the helmet person thought that another month/month and a half and he will be done with the helmet as well. Another victory! She hasn't see much change since the last appointment which probably means that his head is reaching the end of the growth it is going to do, so that is when she decides the helmet is done. We don't have to see her for another 3 weeks and then we will know more about when we will be done with that.

The girls are doing great. Both were at school today while Cainan had his appointments and we did some Christmas shopping. Finley now says the word "no". Fun fun! She says it A LOT. No to everything. Great. She is saying "cracker" better and is working on saying "brother". That is a hard one. I know what she is saying, and she points to Cainan or Cainan's picture, but it is still kind of garbled. And "snowman" is getting clearer".

Arlington is the same! A little chatter box. I asked her before bed tonight about her day (we got in REALLY late from the doctor's appointment) and she went into a 10 minute, non stop, non breathing rendition of every detail of her day. But - in no particular order. She was all over the place, and it was quite funny. I really had to pay attention.

I didn't take many pictures. After taking over 200 to get the right pictures for our Christmas photos this year, I wasn't in the mood! But here are three to enjoy!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Week in review

We had a very fun and eventful week since Tuesday. Here is a small recap:

Wednesday: No school today for the kids. They were all home with me during the day and we had a nice day. I even ran errands with all three of them! Very proud of myself. We didn't do much. I needed to make some returns and pick up some diapers, so that is all we did, but it felt like a victory. The kids had a good time. The babies love to ride in the stroller and Arlington is old enough to walk so I thought - we can do this! And everyone behaved. Especially with the stores being decorated for Christmas, they had a chance to look at all the decorations. Then I spent some time trying to get a picture of all three kids for our Christmas cards this year. We wanted to do several different shots for a collage, but I knew attempting it by myself might prove to be challenging. I was right! After taking 48 pictures, only two came out half decent, and they will have to do! I was SWEATING! Mostly it was our little rascal, Finley, who was causing the trouble. She wasn't interested in sitting still. Cainan is happy sitting in one place (but I couldn't get him to smile) and Arlington is a big girl, but Finley - too much to do! Pull the grass, look at the sky, explore the yard. Sit still - no fun!!

Thursday - Thanksgiving! We had a nice day together as a family. We don't have any family that lives near us, so our Thanksgivings are always very quiet. In the 10 years Mat and I have been married, we haven't lived close enough to family to have Thanksgiving with them, so our tradition has become.......to go OUT to eat! HA! Why not? Neither of us like turkey, and to make a big meal for just us (and now Arlington which doesn't eat much), never made much sense. When the kids are older, and eat more, we will eat HAM at home. But for now, we have always looked for a place that serves pie, and go out for dinner. It is fun, and we are NEVER alone! You wouldn't believe the people that go out to eat on Thanksgiving. As we were leaving the restaurant this year, a party of 18 was coming in to eat. But we had a nice meal, and all the kids behaved, and we didn't eat turkey. Actually, our waitress commented that we were the only ones she had all day that hadn't ordered turkey. But remember, the pilgrims didn't eat turkey either! Actually, they were thinking about making it the national bird. So we are sticking with that story. :)
But before dinner, we started the day by watching the parade, which Arlington loves. Then after lunch Arlington and I went to the movies to see "Enchanted" while the babies slept. It is nice to have a kid to go to these movies with! We had a good time eating popcorn.

Friday - today is usually one of my FAVORITE days of the year! I love to go shopping on Black Friday! AND, I am one of the early birds. I get up to be at the stores at 6am and get all of my shopping done and am home by 9am. Now, I am not hard core. I do skim the ads the night before, and cut the coupons, and have a plan, BUT I don't go to toy stores or electronic stores. I have never done a toy store, but I did go to an electronic store one year, and I thought I was going to be murdered by the hurd of people, so NEVER AGAIN. :)
Anyway, I just usually do some shopping for the grandparents and the kids on this day, clothes wise, and maybe hit like Michaels and Joann Fabrics. But this year, I didn't go. I had a terrible headache and didn't feel well Thursday night so I went to bed late, so the 6am thing didn't sound so good, and really, I couldn't justify going this year. We brought gifts back from China for the grandparents for Christmas, and I wasn't successful last year with clothes shopping for the kids. So I decided to pass. Sigh. But it IS fun. :)

So Arlington and I decorated for Christmas today. Mat went to work for a few hours, so we got all of the Christmas stuff out, and put on some Christmas movies and had a great time. Cainan had no idea what was happening except the house exploded with santas and snowmen. He was having a blast! We have some singing items, and he really liked those. Finley was into it as well. She kept diving into the boxes and pulling this out to look at. I showed her a santa and I said, look Finley! And she said, "Elmo!". She was close. He WAS in red. I am teaching her to say Santa and Snowman. We will see if she picks it up. Cainan likes the jingle bells the best, and was dancing all around with all the stuff. It was great! That was our big event for the day.

Saturday - Today was our busiest morning yet. This morning we got everyone up and dressed in their Christmas clothes so that we could take the kids Christmas picture. With Mat's help, I knew it would be easier! Well, it was more INTERESTING! It went pretty well, but again, I think that it is just very hard to get two little ones under two to cooperate when taking pictures. We took many, many, many, and we have a few that will work. The looked so cute in their Christmas clothes, but it didn't make them better behaved! Mat and I were tired after that work out! After that, we got everyone dressed in their Chinese outfits and headed for the beach. Now, for all of you that live up north, this is going to make you jealous. Yes, we were at the beach, in our bathing suits, on November 24th. It was in the 80's today. We have lived in warm weather for about 6 years, and I STILL can't get used to listening to Christmas music and wearing shorts.

Anyway, we headed for the beach. We wanted a picture at the beach and in their Chinese outfits, so to save sanity, we combined the two. On the walk from the parking lot to the actual sand, Cainan got fearful. The sound of the ocean scared him pretty badly. He fussed quite a bit. He didn't like the loud roar of the waves. AND, even thought we have a sand box, he didn't like the sand at first, either. He was very scared and cried until he realized that all was going to be okay. But it took awhile. So the look on his face in some of the pictures - well - explains it all. BUT, once he got his bearings, and realized that the sand here was the same as the sand at home, and he got used to the ocean noise, he calmed down. I took him down and put his feet in the water. He didn't like that one bit, but he did it anyway. That is as close that any of us got to the water today. There was a warning for dangerous marine life - a little girl got stung while we were there, so no ocean time today. Bummer.
Finley and Arlington loved the beach. Finley is a little dare devil, so she kept trying to run into the water. She rolled in the sand, which you will see from several of the pictures, and had a great time. And Arlington has always been a lover of the ocean and sand. She hasn't ever known any different. We have lived next to the ocean since she was born, so it is part of her. We were there for about 2 hours, and the kids all took REALLY good naps today!

AFter nap, we all headed outside and put up our Christmas lights. That went pretty well. We need a few more extension cords, then we can light up our palm trees! HA!

A few new things:
Finley - new things: roars like a bear, says "moo", "cup", "book"
Cainan - talking more - finally! Since Thursday he has felt so much better, and many of his words are back. AND he learned to say "more" - or is VERY close. He says it and does the sign at the same time - we were so happy! He isn't drooling as much, almost doesn't need the bib any more. He learned to come down the stairs by himself. He learned where his eyes and nose were. So progress for our little man!

Here are some pictures to enjoy! Sorry - there are a good bit, but I just couldn't chose! And family, the rest will be on shutterfly within the next couple of days. Except the Christmas pictures! :)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Tuesday in our Humble Aboad

Well, the best thing about the time from our last post - we AREN'T in the hospital! Cainan is doing very well, and getting a little better every day. We are over 1 week post surgery now, and his mouth is healing nicely. There does not seem to be any problems so far. Yes, he still has a hole in his palate and food still gets into his nose, but it isn't as bad as it used to be. We know that he will have that fixed in the future, so for now, it just is what it is! (Sorry Carrie, I know you hate that sentence!)

Anyway, he is healing nicely. His tongue is almost down to normal size. It is still swollen in places, but getting better. And his palate swelling is down as well. He is looking pretty handsome! He is still drooling a ton, but it gets a little less each day. Instead of changing his bib 6-7 times a day, we are down to two or three times.

He is also not eating great. He eats okay, but seems to have a bit of an upset stomach. He contracted a virus while in the hospital, so I think it has made its way to his stomach. He is gagging a bit, but it is lessening as well. He isn't unpleasant - just doesn't want to eat much. We aren't pusing it at this point. We also think his jaw is still really sore. He doesn't like to chew much. He is better with thin liquids and things like yogurt. But each day I see him use it a little more. I think he is afriad it will hurt, so he doesn't want to move his mouth! Poor guy. I don't want his jaw to get stiff, so we continue to work at it each day.

The most disappointing thing (besides the hole in his palate) is that he has really stopped talking again. Now, I know that it will pick back up once he is feeling better, but I have a good feeling we are going to have to reteach him a lot of things. He won't say much. None of the words he knew before the surgery. All he does is "uh, uh" when he wants something, and signs "please". But we are working on it. He has to use his jaw to close his lips and he just isn't into doing that right now. Sigh. Baby steps.....

Other happenings:
Arlington and Finley had their Thanksgiving feast at school today. Today was the last day of school for them this week. Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten doesn't run the rest of the week, so everyone is just staying home. I am home anyway, so no biggie! Mat is off on Thursday, so that will be fun. But the girls seemed to have fun at the feast at school. They had a lot of good fun and fun projects.

Arlington had fun tonight deciding on her dress for Christmas. I had gone to the stores and brought home a few for her to pick from. We had her model each one and let her decide on the one she wanted. She is growing up so fast! She loved doing a little fashion show. I have moved from the "infant/preschool" section of the stores to the "big girl" section! She isn't a baby any more! :( I can' believe our baby is going to be 5 soon. She is such a big helper to us with everything - including the babies. I don't know what I would do without her. She is wild and loves to have fun and gets carried away, but she is also smart and generous and loves everyone with her whole heart. We couldn't ask for a better daughter.

Then there is Finley....just kidding! She is a pistol, that one. She is the little boss of our house, that is for sure. She is funny and loves being a comedian. But I REALLY wanted a girly girl, and she is so far from that. As you will see from the pictures below that I can dress her up, but she finds a way to become disheveled. Neither of my girls are "girly" and that is okay. I didn't think it is possible, but I think she is wilder than Arlington was. She knows what she wants and she will get it no matter what! She is trouble, that one! This week, I caught her throwing rocks against our garage door because she liked the noise.

Anyway, she has learned some new words. She now can say Elmo, leaf, stop. She will also make a little sentence. She sees a dog/bird and if it leaves, she wants to know where it went, so she will say, "woof, woof go?" or "tweet, tweet, go?" and will put her arms up in wonder. Too cute.

Cainan - well, he is trying to say "tweet, tweet". Today he went "ee, ee" and started flapping his arms like crazy when he saw a bird. It was really cute! A breakthrough!
And yesterday he had his first experience in a toy store. He was on overload! He wanted to touch everything. He was bouncing in the cart - he was so excited! It was a lot of fun.
Today we were in Target, and there was a large tree in the entrance way. He wanted to check it out, so we went over to look at it, and he proceeded to try and pull it into the cart! He about pulled it over! We got too close! But he started clapping and kicking - he loved it! The store was playing Christmas music, and he was bopping his head to the music. This is going to be a fun Christmas - I can't wait to see what happens when we decorate and get our own tree. He is going to be so excited!

Anyway, that has been our last couple of days. As we come upon our first Thanksgiving as a family of 5, we are thankful for our health, and that Cainan is here with us. We are greatful that we can give our kids a good home and a good life and glad that we are all together. Too all of our family and Friends, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Here are some pictures

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Saturday report

Well, we are home from the hospital! Cainan was released yesterday late morning and we were home by 1pm. It is nice to be home. Cainan was happy to see his toys and even see his sisters! He didn't have fever since Wednesday evening, so we got to leave. Yeah! After 4 nights and 5 days in the hospital, we couldn't get out of there fast enough. I know it isn't that long, but it is hard to entertain a toddler that long. He was so bored - we all were. Cainan didn't do as well this surgery as he has in he past. It seemed to take him longer to recover from the anesthesia, and just had generalized grumpiness. He got a little better each day, but he doesn't want to eat much. He will take Pediasure, and is on a liquid diet until Monday, but doesn't want much else. He doesn't want to move his jaw much - I think it is sore from the holding his mouth open during surgery. I am trying to work it during meal times so it doesn't get more stiff, but he resists. He just wants the food to slide down his throat like it always has, but now with the palate in place, he is gagging more. It is weird! He never did that before, and it is new for him.

He still has a terrible cough. It is all in his throat from the tube from surgery, but it is annoying him as well. He coughs a lot when he eats and that doesn't help either! Poor guy. The cough is the one thing that hasn't really improved.

So the palate is done for now. He does have a small hole from his nose down into his mouth, so thin liquids still come through his nose if he coughs hard or sneezes while he eats. The doctor said that is the hardest part to close, and since Cainan's surgery was challenging, he couldn't get it all the way closed. So we will have to have a revision in the future. I am sure we will talk about that when we see the surgeon for his follow up appointment in a few weeks. I am sure it will be a year from now - from what I understand they like to have the palate heal for a year before messing with it again. He will still have the nose and lip revision in the spring, though. We aren't out of the woods, but still have a break for awhile. Now we can just let him heal and enjoy his first Thanksgiving and Christmas with us!

He is doing well. Getting back to himself and playing. He doesn't seem to mind the arm restraints, and since this surgery is on the inside of his mouth, we can take them off for bigger intervals because we aren't worried about him touching the sutures. He isn't allowed to put toys or his hands in his mouth, so if he is out of sight, he has to wear them. But the little breaks make him very happy. He is easy going about them anyway, so it isn't a big deal. I am not sure how long he has to wear them. At least two weeks. Beyond that, I won't know until his appointment on the 27th. He is taking the pediasure well, and we are working through getting some baby food, cream of wheat and other liquids in him until Monday.

In other news, here are some updates:
Arlington - said something funny. You know the "Bee Movie" that is out? Mat took her to see it, as I have posted before. Anyway, we were talking about some things she wants for Christmas and she said, "hey, I know something I want - the NUMBER ONE Bee Movie!" Advertising works for Arlington!

Arlington had also made a get well Card for Cainan. It was really cute. She wanted to make one because she said she missed him while he was away and sick. Very cute. She also made one for Finley because she didn't want Finley to feel left out. It was a card that said "I love you" since she wasn't sick, she told me.

Arlington is also learning to tell DIGITAL time. She is figuring out numbers - she can count to 100, but doesn't always recognize the numbers out of sequence. Today she finally got it, and could read the clock correctly. She was so proud of herself and we were proud of her too!

Finley - has some new words. She says "sticker", "mommy", "diaper", "Finley". She can count to three, kind of. If I say "one", she will say "two, three". It is cute. I remember Arlington started the same way. I could never get her to say one. I would say one, and she automatically would say "two". Finley is the same!

And our bad baby got into some chocolate this morning. Thank goodness for her big sister Arlington always keeping an extra eye on her! Mat was making breakfast while I was getting Cainan up, and Finley was walking around. All of the sudden, Arlington said, "Finley has chocolate on her face". Mat went around the corner, and she had gotten into my purse and was sucking the chocolate off some milkduds I had from the movies the previous night! She was covered - her face, hands, clothes. She went running when she saw Mat had caught her, laughing all the way! That one is trouble!

Cainan - he has learned to point to things he has noticed. It is cool to see. He is becoming more aware of his environment. He is also doing a lot of dancing. He marches around and will shake his head back and forth. He even spins in a circle! It is really cute. He loves music and singing.

Here are a few pictures from our last days at the hospital and today at home. ENjoy!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Quick update

I know it isn't Saturday yet, but I wanted to update everyone on Cainan. I don't have any more pictures, but we are still at the hospital. We thought we would get to go home today, but he ended up getting a fever this morning. The doctor doesn't want to take any chances, so he wants to keep us here until he is fever free for at least 24 hours. He drew blood cultures, urine cultures, some other blood, nose culture, ear culture, chest xray and CT scan. Fun huh? Cainan got 45 minutes of sleep the whole day! He was miserable. The highest his fever went was 103.5. We didn't get the CT scan done because of that high fever, so we will get that done tomorrow. They have to sedate him for that, so they weren't comfortable doing that with the fever.

Anyway, he is a mess! Poor baby. So miserable. Mat is going to come and stay with him tonight because we don't have any clothes left. We will return tomorrow morning and then Mat can go to work. The doctor thinks we will go home either tomorrow evening, but more likely Friday. We have to wait and see what the cultures grow and they take anywhere from 24-48 hours to do so. Fun, fun! We just want to go home and get some rest. I think that in the end it is going to just be a virus because he is one a strong antibiotic and that really would take care of anything big. But the doctor thinks he could have a bad cold, the flu, or RSV. So we will see. Sigh.

Okay - that is the update. I will let you know more on Saturday!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Surgery!

Well, Monday was the surgery and it was a success. We got to the hospital at 6:15 am, and we hoped we would go to surgery soon after that, yet it was 9:50 am before Cainan was taken to the OR. He was a good boy and just played while we waited. The surgery lasted until 11:30 - much quicker than we thought. Dr. Stelnicki said everything went really well and that it was a little bit of a challenge because the cleft was large, but he was able to close it. We were taken to the recovery room around 12pm, and stayed there until 2pm when his room was ready. He was in the PICU on Monday until today because he needed to be on the monitor and be monitored closely. His tongue is REALLY swollen, which you will see from the pictures, and because of that, they had to put a stitch in it to keep it from slipping back and blocking his airway. I am sure that was the most uncomfortable thing, to have such a swollen tongue. He was pretty miserable all day Monday - just not himself and didn't want to stay awake. He was very irritable and the nurses told us that the more surgeries kids have, the longer it takes for them to recover from anesthesia. It is showing because he just doesn't have any pep. He had a good night and slept all night and had pain medicine just to keep him comfortable. He went to bed around 7pm, and got up around 6:30pm. He was disturbed a few times over night by the nurse, but he barely woke up for that.
Today he is a little more himself, but still doesn't want to do much. We did get released from the PICU and are on a regular floor. We even went to the playroom for a little while which he enjoyed. We were hoping to go home today, but Dr. Stelnicki wants him to stay one more night. His tongue is still really swollen so he wants to wait until tomorrow morning. That is fine - we figured we were staying two nights. Since my mom is with me this time, the days don't seem as long.
So that is our story. We are waiting to have a CT scan so that the doctor can make sure all is well with his palate repair. Then we will have a peaceful evening. We have our own room and it is HUGE and wonderful! We love not having to share. My mom is going to stay with Cainan overnight tonight and I am going to stay at the clubhouse. Even though Cainan slept all night, I slept about 2 hours because our roommate's little girl crieds from 8pm-4am because her mom had let her sleep all day. It was miserable. Thank goodness Cainan was able to sleep through it!
Here are a few pictures.


Sunday before surgery

I took some pictures of the kids this day, and just wanted to post them separately. They were all playing around acting goofy and we had a nice day. We all went out to dinner to let Cainan have his "last meal" before surgery, and he scarfed down chicken nuggets and french fries! Good thing because he won't be seeing those again for a few days! Here are some pictures


Saturday, November 10, 2007

Saturday before surgery

This is Cainan's last weekend before his surgery. We are stuffing him full of finger foods because he won't get to enjoy them for awhile! Poor baby. Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner for one last good meal before he has to go on a liquid diet for about 2 weeks.

Not much going on the last several days. I had to work Wed, Thursday, Friday, so not much to report! Cainan had his clearance for surgery on Friday at the pediatrician's office. He is all clear. He was still 19 pounds - hasn't gained anything in the last two weeks since he had a shots visit. Sigh. The doctor wasn't concerned, though. He is 31 1/2 inches tall. We also got a call from the hospital that said that we had to be at the hospital at 6:15 Monday morning. No idea what the actual surgery time is, though. We never do. They usually go from youngest to oldest. Let's hope we are one of the first cases. Doctor Stelnicki does multiple surgeries a day, so we don't know where we fit in yet.

Friday we went to a little get together at one of friend's houses. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of our friend's there with their kids so all the little ones got to play together and the adults had a little chance for some conversation! Not much, though, since we were constantly making sure all the kids were accounted for. But it was fun. We always enjoy our time with these families.

Today Mat took Arlington to see "The Bee Movie" She has wanted to see it, and has been looking forward to it all week. She really loved it, and Mat said it was a good movie. They went to lunch first, and then to the movie and I stayed here and cleaned and played with the babies. They went with one of Arlington's best little friends and her dad, and had a great time.

I will try to post from the hospital on Tuesday (I know there is internet access) to let you know how Cainan is doing. But if not, I will post as soon as we get home which will be anywhere from Tuesday night to Thursday.

A few cute things:
Finley - learned to say "ta-da!!" and throw her hands in the air. And when she does it, Cainan throws his hands in the air! She also said "feet" today as well. Her vocabulary is growing by the day

Cainan - babbling more. He also learned to stand up from where he is to get up! He was using furniture, etc. that he would have to crawl to, to pull to a stand before he could walk around, but a day or so ago, he just started standing up from his spot in the middle of the floor. Yeah!

Arlington - so funny. I wish I could bottle her 4 year old innocence and throw it on her when she becomes a mean teenager. :) Yesterday, we were riding in the car, and she was admiring the stars. She said, "mommy, the stars are following us". We talked about how it definitely looks that way, and she said, "no, really mommy. I know they are following us because I speak starish and that is what they told me." Apparently there is a star language!
Then, that gave me the opportunity to talk with her about how the Wise men followed the star that led them to Jesus (since I knew she knew the story), and she started asking questions about it and wanted to know if they walked there. We talked about it, and she said, "well, I guess they could walk, but that would be boring. You know, they could also leapfrog there". See, the Wisemen didn't know what they were missing!
Last, we have a gate at the top of our stairs to keep the babies from tumbling down when we play upstairs. The gate is not bolted to our wall, we can completely take it down and use it other places. Anyway, Arlington wanted to go downstairs to get a drink before bed. Mat said to her, "take the gate down and you can go". She said okay, and we didn't hear from her for a very long time. I asked what she was doing downstairs, and she said she would be right up. When she came up she said, "I did what daddy told me, I took the gate downstairs". Sure enough, she had carried the gate down all of our stairs! When asked why, she said, "well, daddy said to take the gate down". Oops! Poor baby.

Enjoy a few pictures from the last couple of days! Sorry today I didn't have time to edit them first! :)

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Tuesday fun at the Pletcher house

Well, I know it has only been a few days since I last posted, but I wanted to get back on schedule. Not much new going on. Here is the recap!

Monday - Cainan's readoption day!! As many of you know, since I didn't travel to China, Cainan wasn't an offical United States citizen. He was a permanent resident with a green card. Well that all changed on this day. We went before a judge and swore that we would treat him as a biological child and he would have all the rights and privileges that the girls do (which at their age they have NONE - ha!). It took about 10 minutes, but the judge was really nice. He said he loved doing things like this - that in family court, most of the time it is battles and bad stuff. So he was very excited to do an adoption hearing. Our lawyer was there with us, who was also really great. Everything went smoothly, and the judge signed on the dotted line and that was that. Now we can apply for his certificate of citizenship, and once that comes, he will get a social security number. So I would say by the spring we should have all that stuff. Oh, and his birth certificate as well! The judge gave Cainan a toy - he had them hiding behind his bench, and Cainan was allowed to go up and pick one. We had our picture taken with him and he said he wanted us to send him a copy. Great experience!

Tuesday - not much today. Cainan had speech therapy this morning and I took Finley with us. That was a circus! But Cainan made a lot more noise because Finley was there! Mostly screeching due to not wanting to share, but noise none the same! Finley had a doctor's appointment, so I didn't want to drop her off at school for just an hour and then go and get her! So she just came along. Cainan joined Arlington at school after his therapy and they came home later in the day.

New stuff - not much! Arlington is really into Christmas and what she wants this year. As the toy magazines come in the mail we give them to her to go through and have fun with. She got out a pen and started circling everything on every page! Sigh. She didn't get it. Or maybe she did! Ha! She is so goofy.

Finley - saying more words. Today she said "Cainy". It was really cute. She knows who her brother is, and looks for him when I say his name. And this morning at speech therapy, every time the speech therapist said something, she would repeat it. That wasn't helpful! She is really rambunctious. She loves to wrestle. And she is becoming a little daredevil. She will climb on anything! Throw caution to the wind! that is Finley's motto. Ah, just like her sister - aren't I lucky?

Cainan - talking more. today he said "up" or something like it, and "out". And his sign for "please" has gotten really good. We are going to teach him a few more signs to get him through until he gets to talking more. And he seems to be getting a few new teeth. He has just a few more days before his big palate surgery, so we are stuffing him full of finger foods. After the surgery, he won't be seeing those again for about a month!

I don't have many pictures since it has only been a day and a half since my last post! Enjoy!

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Weekend recap

Well here we are at the end of a fun week and weekend! Let me start from where we left off!

Wednesday - Halloween! We had a nice day. Arlington and the babies all had parties at the school for Halloween. They did a little parade and had a nice party afterwards in each room. Arlington and the babies all came home with many treats from the day and a definite sugar high! Arlington was Supergirl this year for Halloween. The babies didn't have costumes. We decided to wait one more year for that. Besides, Mat had to get the kids ready this morning for school all by himself since I had to be at work early, and I think that would have been a bit much! So they wore little Halloween shirts instead. They are too young for trick or treat anyway - next year they are definitely dressing!
Then Wednesday night was our Halloween party. We had a few of our friends with their kids over for trick or treat. Everyone had a great time. We had pizza and then got the kids dressed to go. We got to do about 5-6 houses before the downpour of rain began and chased us indoors. But that was plenty of trick or treat for these little ones! The got a lot of candy just at those houses, so they were very happy with the loot. When they came back in we had dessert and let the kids play a little longer before everyone went home and our kids crashed. It was a fun day.

Thursday - our 10th wedding anniversary! Neither Mat or myself can believe that we have been married for 10 years. Where has the time gone? We celebrated with presents, but are planning on taking a nice trip together some time in the spring once Cainan gets past all of his surgeries. But it was a nice day. It is always nice to remember the day I got married to the most wonderful man in the world.

Friday - not much exciting this day. Finley had a doctor's appointment, so she got to stay home from school. Cainan and Arlington went, though. In the evening we just packed for our weekend at Jacksonville. Cainan turns 17 months old today! Where is the time going? We have had him home for almost 3 months already - amazing.

Saturday - Cainan's first road trip with the family! We left midmorning for Jacksonville to visit our new nephew! We were excited to see him and our niece (and of course their parents!) Mat's sister, Carrie and her husband Jonathan are the new parents. Carrie's twin, Teen, and her husband Frank also live in Jacksonville, so we had a nice day visiting with all of them. Our nephew is REALLY sweet and cute and it was nice to hold a little baby. And our kids had a great time playing with our niece who is 2. They ran all over the place! 5 kids - what a full house! It was fun. We spent the whole day with Carrie and her family and then spent the night at Teen's house, since there isn't room for all 5 of us at Carrie's. That way we had a chance to visit with both families. It was nice. Everyone is doing well.

Sunday - spent the morning with the new baby and kids and then headed home around 12:30pm. We live 4 1/2 hours away from them, so we wanted to get on the road around the time the babies were going to take their naps, so they could rest in the car. We got home around 6:00pm (after a few pit stops!) and had dinner, and put everyone to bed early. Everyone is still a little messed up from the time change (although we did get lucky and everyone slept until 7am - yes!!!) so all wanted to go to sleep. We unpacked and got ready for the week ahead, and now we are ready to go to sleep ourselves. It has been a nice weekend, and it went by fast!

Tomorrow is Cainan's re-adoption hearing, and he will be an official citizen and we can then apply for his Florida birth certificate. Yeah! I am going to work, and will leave for the hearing and then return. (don't ask - I am a sucker) But I will post again on Tuesday with more pictures and updates!

Here are some pictures from last week and the weekend. Enjoy!


Saturday, November 3, 2007

Sunday post instead

Okay my faithful friends! I will post tomorrow (Sunday) instead of today. We are getting ready to leave for Jacksonville to see our new nephew/cousin for the first time! So we will be back Sunday evening and I will post Halloween and weekend pictures then! Don't forget to turn your clocks back!