Biking




Since Sean learned to ride on two wheels his world has opened up. Don started riding around the neighborhood with him and he made new friends. They are all a year older than him, starting first grade at Jenny P. in the fall. They are in the Chinese program too. He's having a great time with his new friends Tay, Xander and Carson.

 

Don, Sean and I took a five mile bike ride along the Legacy bike path. Fun times:)

Boating on the 24th

There were a couple of years when Sean did not like boating. Those days are past and he really loves it. He's a good little driver.

Catherine and Jaclyn came up for the day. Don, Sean and I spent the night on the 23rd. It was my consolation night away since we didn't go to Canada. All the kids had a good time.

Maren, gotta love this girl. The attitude in this picture is all Maren. She told her mom she was going to have a baby and name it Lucifer but call her Lucy for short. She also told her primary teacher her mom was having triplets.



This cute picture took a lot of screaming to get them all together. You'd never know it, they all look so happy. Laila had just had a melt down. She didn't like her pump site and kept telling her mom she wanted to take it off. (It was starting to pull loose). Jaclyn kept telling her no eventually in a video perfect elevated sugar move Laila ripped it off, threw it down and screamed "I DON'T NEED INSULIN!" Hm, probably not a good time to reiterate the importance of insulin. Silly girl. Jaclyn said "I need to check her sugar" which was true but dang I feel like saying that with kids who aren't diabetic and are acting out. If there was an obnoxious meter we'd be poking kids left and right.

Field trips and birthdays

Sean's last field trip was to the museum of natural history. Don, Alika and Sean had been there but I had never been. It's new and has only been open a couple of years. On every floor they have hands on things the kids can do.

Fossil puzzles.

How water affects the landscape.

When I was driving home from the museum I stopped at a stop light right next to Rose Laundry. So many places downtown give me a little PTSD in regards to Jenny and Ryan, Rose Laundry holds a special place in my heart because it is where Jenny and Ryan signed over custody of Sean when he 23 months old. It was shortly after Ryder was born and they were living in an apartment across the street. Kyle met us at the Laundromat and went over the legal documents. That was a good day. Not as good as when his adoption was final but a really good day.
I've been following quite a few blogs of people who have adopted children from Eastern Europe. Not sure what my fascination is. I think it's because I wish I could be one of those people who could do that but I know I'm not. I am not that patient. This one family adopted a nine year old who weighed ten pounds. they have a picture of her next to there 17 month old and the 17 month old looks like she could eat her. This month they brought home another boy. They have a picture of their teenager holding the boy who looks like a baby but he's actually two weeks older than the boy holding him. My point: Hm. not sure what my point is. I guess that there are lots of kids in the world who suffer more than Kylie, Brie, Sean and Ryder would have if they had stayed with their original family. Not sure how you rate suffering. Though laying in a crib, never loved, hardly fed, never going outside of one room for your entire life certainly scores high marks. These kids look like they are in concentration camps. After they get adopted they gain weight. have surgery, learn to walk. I think the crisis for Kylie, Brie, Sean and Ryder would be that they would have been cheated out of the opportunity to succeed in life. They would have dropped out of school, had teen pregnancies and drugs, alcohol and jail would be a normal part of life for them. I don't even know what role Sean's health would have had in that environment but I'm sure it wouldn't be good. In the U.S. kids aren't being kept in cribs and starved they are just emotionally and academically starved. Everyone should have the opportunity to reach their potential.

Don turned 54 yesterday. Sean had a dyslexic moment when he put the candles on the cake but we thought it was cute and left it. We went out to dinner. Mom didn't want to come. That's a new level of feeling bad. Usually she likes to go out to dinner.

David having a little Khloe time. David is doing really well. He's in school and working. He's really proud of how well he's doing at work. His girlfriend, Erin is back from Korea. They are living together and she's going to start at SLCC too. It's nice to see him looking so good and being happy. He's had a really dark year and I was beginning to wonder if he was going to pull out of it.

Trying to stay cool

Keeping Khloe cool by laying her on the table and surrounding her with newspapers and fast food. When Khloe gets mad she cries real tears and gets cold and clammy. A baby with attitude! She's even cute when she's screaming.

Sean's had two sessions of swim lessons this summer. He's not a natural swimmer but is doing better. He can't swim across the pool but can turn from back to front, look for the side of the pool and make his way to it. I'm not sure if we are going to do a third session or not.

Sean's had a couple of fun visits with Ethan.

We've seen Monster's' University, morale of which is: cheat, get kicked out of college and you can still be successful. Sean really liked the minions in Despicable Me 2. My favorite was Turbo. I loved the line "What's the plan taco man?" and "snailed it." Sean didn't like movies until he was almost four but now he loves them.

Khloe came to visit me at classroom so I had to do a retake of a picture I did when  Sean was a baby. "Surrounded by dummies."

Mom has a little variety in how she feels these days. She has bad days, awful days and really awful days. She's either constipated or has diarrhea. She hurts somewhere or everywhere but she still ask "how long am I going to have to use these pain patches?" I keep telling her forever. The last time she asked, I told her she could take it off and see how she felt. I'm guessing it wouldn't be good since she's still in pain on Fentanyl and taking oral meds for breakthrough pain. She keeps messing with her meds, she decides to stop taking one and then starts it again. She's driving me nuts! The past couple of days she's been having nose bleeds. She doesn't want to go see her doctor. She wants an ENT. Like that's going to happen in a day. Well, it could happen in a day. If you have a really bad bleed sometimes the ENT comes into the ER to see you. I got her Afrin and a nose clamp. Marjie sent me a picture of some over the counter stuff that stops bleeding. I thinks it the same stuff we use in the ER for avulsions. I went to Walgreens and got some. Her nose started bleeding again a few minutes ago and I could see where it was bleeding from so I put the powder on it. Hopefully that takes care of that for awhile. Today while I was washing her sheets she said "maybe I'll just lie in bed and bleed out." I told her she'd have to bleed more than she is bleeding now to accomplish that. I feel guilty for being so impatient then I spend some time doing clinical at nursing homes and think she'd hate life even more there. But dealing with this 24/7 is making me CRAZY! She really is looking frail and she's not eating much other than ice cream and cookies. Ah, life is short, eat desert first or when your old and dying  eat nothing but desert. It's funny her and Teresa (who lives in the basement sit around and try to out do each other with how bad they feel. Have at it you two!)



No Canada

We were supposed to be in Seattle about now. We were going to fly into Seattle spend the night then take the ferry to Canada tomorrow. Unfortunately, Sean is sick with a fever so we had to cancel. I'm bummed that Sean is sick, I am bummed we didn't get to go on our trip and I am bummed that one of the hotel nights and the ferry is non refundable. We had to make the decision this morning before the plane was scheduled to leave so we aired on the conservative side. We've travelled with Sean sick before and it's not fun for anyone. He has a fever but no respiratory symptoms so we really debated if we should go or not. Would we rather be at home wishing we'd gone or in another state or country wishing we'd stay home. Sean's feeling OK when he's on Tylenol and Advil. He has to have something every four hours or his temperature shoots back up. He threw up last night which he does whenever he has a fever. I was looking forward to the cool temperatures.

I got ink

Yep, I got ink. To be precise I got pigment, I'm tattooed, a marked woman.



Here's a picture of my naked eyes. I ran out of eye liner last week and I decided I wasn't going to buy anymore. Instead I was going to get permanent eye liner. I started the quest to find someone who I could trust to tattoo my face. I talked to a couple of friends who have had their eyes doen. When I went to meet with the woman and see her portfolio she was surprised. She said most women just come over and get tattooed without asking any questions. Nice, let a woman you don't know, whose work you haven't seen have her way with your face.



If anyone ask if it hurts to have your eyelids tattooed I would have to say it sure as heck doesn't feel good. I took two Lortab before I went but it was still pretty gross. It wasn't excruciating pain it was more like an unbearable itch in my brain. It actually hurt worse after it was done. I went home and slept the rest of the day. The other bummer is permanent eye make up is not really permanent. I have to go back in a month to have it "touched up" in case there are any spots that "don't take." Then I have to get it touched up every couple of years. Something to look forward to. After a week part of the pigment sluff's off and it will be about 30% lighter than it is now.

My eyes itch and I can't scratch. When the pigment starts to flake off I'm supposed to just leave it in my eyelashes because it might be attached to the pigment in my skin and if I pulled it, it would disrupt the eyeliner. I think this gives all new meaning to pain for vanity. Sean asked why my eyes were so swollen and I told him I had new make up. He told me I should have had Miranda do my makeup. (Ethan's mom who does face painting.) "Miranda doesnt' hurt you and you could be anyone you want except Iron Man because she doesn't have any gold paint." Too bad I didn't think of that before I got tattooed.

I think I will like it when it's all said and done. I had pretty much quit wearing eye make up because I have such a hard time seeing to put it on. Now I need to do something about that big wrinkle in the middle of my forehead.

Happy 4th of July

We went spent the night at the lake on the 4th. Catherine and her boys came for dinner and to watch the fireworks. They went home and spent the night and came back on the 5th to go boating.  My cousin, John, his wife Julie and kids came and spent the night.

We watched the fireworks over the lake. They were not nearly as impressive as they have been in years past. I do love being able to watch the fireworks, walk back to the condo and go to bed.  The kids (with the exception of Harrison) were running around in the grass playing tag. They didn't even watch the fireworks. They were having so much fun. Having my cousin there reminded me of when we were kids. We used to play "mother may I" (which John hated), red light green light and freeze tag. I hope the kids have fond memories of playing with their cousins when they grow up. I used to love when my cousins came to play. I am grateful that Sean has "cousins" his own age. Granted they are all really second cousins, or first cousins once removed. All the little kids call the adults aunt and uncle even though some of us are really their cousins. It's easier to define the relationship by age then technicality.

Our trusty little yellow boat. The reservoir is LOW this year.  No big surprise but I do enjoy when the water is high. The kids didn't care. They had a blast. I remember when Sean used to be scared of the wind in the boat. He got over that last year and now loves to drive the boat.

Don and Hailey. Hailey and Larissa hadn't been boating before so they had a great time. Larissa was a little nervous but Hailey had no fear. She drove the boat and swam in the lake. She developed a particular fondness for Uncle Art and his metal detector.

Sean and Larissa had a great time together.

Jackson bleached his hair blond a couple of weeks ago. Made me think of when my boys used to do that. Every time I see Jackson it takes me a minute to realize it's him.

Sean and Larissa really enjoyed each others company. I'm not sure what the connection was but they definitely had one. I think Sean finally figured out which one is Larissa and which one is Hailey.

I bought an awning when we went to Lake Powell but we didn't use it. It was great at the lake. Easy to put up and take down and lots of shade for lots of people.

Julie and five month old Caleb. He is such a happy baby. I never heard him cry. He just kicks and smiles.

Surrounding Uncle Art and his metal detector. Hailey was excited because they uncovered a little metal pop gun. She thought that was the best treasure ever. Sean had to poop really bad and there was no way he was going to make it to the condo. We went behind some bushes. Char asked it I put the poop in a doggie bag. I told her no I just buried it. I told them I buried it along with a metal fork and some coins so Art could dig up some real treasure. That would be a real surprise!

Catherine, ever the organizer. She had the meals planned down to which sandwiches got mustard, which got mayo and which got both.