Happy 4th of July

Every year we try and spend the 4th of July up at the lake house. We watch fireworks from the boat and hang out with friends and family. It is always a lot of fun and this year we let Kiya stay up to watch the fireworks. Some of the pictures are blurry but she just moves to darn fast :)

Kiya loves to be tickled. She just loves to laugh so she would run to me and I would tickle her and scoop her up. Below is one of my most favorite pictures with Kiya.

 Watching papa get the boat ready for our evening ride :)

Loving the boat ride. Hating the life jacket. She kept asking for the boat to be bouncy. She loved it when we went through choppy water from another boats wake.

 And well, we can't forget Badger....he was just doing his thing. Sebastian was probably under a bed somewhere sleeping or maybe behind the couch. He has lots of hiding places.

Kiya loved the boat. Loved the fireworks and she really liked Uncle Andy's girlfriend. The red beads might have had something to do with that and then the seeming endless spinning of ropes but she keeps talking about her.

The best parts of the weekend for me were playing tickle monster with Kiya, watching fireworks on the boat, spending time with family and my most favorite part came on the boat ride home after fireworks when Kiya came over to me and said, "I sleep on mommy now." I picked her up and we snuggled the rest of the way home. It was a perfect mommy/daughter moment.

We had one unfortunate experience just before we left. Kiya was running in the house which is a no-no. She had sandals on which is a no-no as she isn't as stable on her feet (my bad but it was hot) and well she and the coffee table met face to face. Literally. She tripped and smacked her face on the table leg. Her eye is super swollen. She has a cut above her eye and on the side if her nose. Her top lip is swollen and she had her very first bloody nose followed by a second one today. She looks terrible but her mood now that we are out of the moment is fine. She was pretty hysterical and way over tired after it happened and the sight of that much blood kind of freaked her out even more. No stitches necessary...do love having a doctor in the family...and time will heal her wounds. Just hope they heal before we head to Shriners and have to explain to one very opinionated and not so friendly nurse why my toddler has scratches and bruises.

So hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. We did minus the coffee table experience. So glad Kiya is old enough to share in the fun of this holiday and that she loves the boat and the fireworks.

Bad blogger.....still

So I had hoped that having the laptop back in action would mean I would blog more again but such is not the case apparently :(

Here is what is going on in no particular order.

1) We refinanced our house. Pretty painless but super happy with our new low interest 15 year mortgage.

2) We got our fingerprint appointment for the Department of homeland security. It is July 22nd....3 days after cast day.....could be interesting trying to get time off work that week.

3) Kiya's cast cut off date is in less than 2 weeks. Yeah for summer fun for a week.

4) Cast number 4 goes on July 19th. Pink is said to be the color but she said that last time and we left with blue. I am more than ready to see this cast go. It is GROSS.

5) Kiya is doing GREAT in her preschool class. Drop offs are getting better and she is having a blast. She can tell some of the days of the week and is getting really good at using scissors. Water days have been no issue and she is starting to make progress in the potty training department again. Amazing what spending her days with kids her age and older can do. She is even going poop on the potty again.

6) The pugs are well lazy. Sebastian loves to be outside in the mornings when it is cool and Badger has taken up digging in the front yard again.

7) We are rapidly approaching our 12 year wedding anniversary

8) We are getting closer to realizing our second child. It has been almost 2 months and by my estimation we are #2 or #3 on the wait list for a son. OMG.....crazy that my phone is about to ring with amazing news.

So that about sums it up.

Preschool Update

Kiya had a GREAT first week in preschool. She can't stop talking about her friends and her classroom, "La Playa." Her new teachers reveled in just how well she adjusted.

We faced one old and one new issue during this transition. The old issue being her over dramatic clingyness at drop off. I mean she grabs on to our legs and doesn't want to let go. Sure enough a teacher comes to get her and she walks a way to go play or do art or read and is just fine. It is an academy award winning performance. I would be worried about it but her daily reports all say that she had a great day and when we pick her up she is super happy and silly.

The new issues was splash day. In her old room splash day was Thursday and Kiya is with nana and papa on Thursdays so there was no issue. Now her new class has splash day on Tuesday. Due to her cast, Kiya can't run in sprinklers. Well she can once in July after cast cut off. I called her teachers to talk about options and they are going to bring out a water table so she can splash around and play. She will wear a bib and it will be fine. I was so excited that they came up with a way for Kiya to play with her friends and not miss all the summertime fun.

Week one down. I am excited to see what week 2 brings. She will encounter her first splash day.....so that could be interesting. She hasn't had to deal with sprinklers ever before as she wasn't walking last summer and now this summer she has a cast. For the most part she is a reasonable kid for a 2 1/2 year old anyway so I am hoping it works out.

Preschool

My baby girl is officially starting the transition to preschool this week. I can hardly believe it.

We are super excited for her. She is going into the classroom that we wanted her in back when they tried to transition her before and it went horribly wrong.

This time we are hoping things go much better. She has multiple friends in this room that she asks to play with by name. She has spent some time with the teachers in that room and seems to enjoy them.

She is going to start learning to write her letters, count to 20 which she kind of does anyway but skips a few numbers sometimes, learn to use scissors and so much more. She is so ready for this.

She was the second oldest kid in her old class and only one of 3 girls. Most of the boys were 18 months old or slightly older and 1 of the girls was barely 13 months old and still drinking out of a bottle. Once this very young toddler entered the room Kiya seemed to regress a little. None of the boys were using the potty all that well and obviously the little one wasn't so Kiya hasn't been doing so great in that department lately either.

She totally knows when she is going to go and will announce it while sitting on the potty. She says "I go potty now. Yay!" and then she goes. So she completely gets it but is being stubborn. I really need to find the pull ups that let the kids feel that they are wet so that recognition starts. We have the kind that the pattern fades when wet but that does nothing for Kiya. I can't seem to find the other kind. Will have to keep looking.

So Kiya was going to spend a few hours in there this morning and then a few more on Tuesday and by Friday she will be fully transitioned into that classroom.

Fingers crossed that my long note to her new teachers is understood. We just have certain rules with her cast. No sand, limited water play, limited time outside when super hot and please don't let the cast stand in her way. She doesn't. I put it all in writing for them.

Sebastian is 11!

In honor of my first baby turning 11, I am posting a bunch of my favorite pictures of him. I know there are more out there and I wish I had his puppy pictures but can't find them. Sebastian is slowly starting to act his age. He has good days and bad. His hearing is not the best though sometimes I think that is by choice. Other days he is running around like a total goof ball. This dog has gotten me through some dark days. He always seems to know when I need a little extra snuggling. He is the best pug. He was so easy and never caused a lot of trouble. Other than the time we caught him peeing on the couch or when he used to climb on our coffee table when we lived in CA. He never chewed/destroyed anything other than a dog toy and a dish towel. He was house trained in 2 weeks. He loves to sleep in clean or dirty laundry he isn't picky. He doesn't snore too loudly for a pug anyway and he loves to go to the vet's office. I even secretly think he likes snuggling with Badger on the couch.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEBASTIAN! My biggie P and Kiya's Bassie.

Wordless Wednesday

35 and life

I have my laptop back so hoping blogging will become more frequent but no guarantees.

I recently turned 35. Yup I am 5 years away from the big 40. How did this happen? Where did the time go? I am not completely sure. What I am sure of is a few things. My life is not anything I thought it would be and yet I wouldn't change a thing.

First off I knew I wanted to get married. I just had to find the right guy. Lucky for me I met him when I was almost 20. I knew pretty early on that this was the guy I wanted to spend my life with. I am pretty lucky. I dreamed of our wedding, our future, our family and so much more.

My wedding was nothing shy of perfect. There were a few little behind the scenes things but all in all it was everything I wanted and more.

I had a job that I loved, a new husband and I lived in sunny CA oh and we got our first little one, our pug Sebastian. He was my baby for so many years and he still is. If you had asked me then that 11 years later I would be living in WI, working at a bank, having just one child and another pug I would have told you all you were CRAZY. If you then told me that I would never get pregnant, travel to Ethiopia and Korea before I stepped foot in more than just an airport in Europe, I would have deemed you certifiably NUTS.

Me not live in CA? No way. Me quit my Student Affairs career, nope not going to happen. Have only one child at age 35, uh no. I wanted to be done having kids by the time I was 30. I was finally blessed with the gift of motherhood just weeks shy of my 33rd birthday while traveling in Ethiopia. My next little isn't yet known to me(hopefully soon) and they won't be joining us here in lovely WI until I am 36.

I am a planner and I had my life planned out in my head anyway. I got married at 23, wanted to have 2 maybe 3 kids by my early 30's at the latest. I dreamed of advancing in my career in higher education and of traveling. When things started to not go my way it was tough. I am a complete control freak and when I couldn't control or fix our infertility it was beyond frustrating but it did teach me a lot.  I learned that when my plans don't work out I may be devastated but a door is opening some place else I just need to be willing to look for it.

I have found many doors. The doors that led me to adoption. To international adoption. The doors that led me to my amazing cast mom friends and Shriner's hospital. I am very blessed.

My life may not be what I pictured it would be a t 35 but as I look back I wouldn't change a thing. There were some tough times in there and all of those made me a stronger person. I had to fight through. I was forced to set my plans aside and really dig deep. Really dig to the depths of my soul. Did I want to be pregnant or be a Mom? I wanted to be a Mom. I didn't need to be pregnant. In fact I laugh with friends that I have this amazing daughter and soon to be little one and didn't have the weight gain, back aches or labor. Did I really want to be a career driven Mom or a stay at home Mom? I really really want to be a stay at home mom and we are getting closer to that being a reality. Nothing against working moms but it just isn't for me. I want to enjoy as much of my kids when they are little as I can.

No one wants anything to be wrong with their kids but life happens and as such doors were opened to the world of scoliosis.  I wish I didn't have to deal with it yet with it came this amazing group of women that I am honored to call my friends. From each of them I have learned so much. I pray our next child will not have any unexpected medical issues but I know that with life and international adoption there are no guarantees and because I was thrown a curve back the first time I know that I can handle whatever is thrown at me this time.

As I look back at life, I have left some of the planner behind. I cringe when I hear younger people talk about all the plans they have and when they want to have kids, etc. I hope for their sake it all comes true but if it doesn't the disappoint can be a lot to handle. It was for me anyway and took me a little while to get my head back on straight.

I tend to roll with life a little better now which is good. I struggled as a new mom when Kiya wasn't doing things other kids her age did but I just let that go. Kiya is amazing and perfect in her own way. She may not jump and she can't swim or run as fast but I want her to learn from my self inflicted pressure that it is perfectly okay to do things at your own pace.

If my plans had come true I wouldn't have Kiya. I wouldn't be anxiously awaiting for the phone to ring with news of our next little one. I wouldn't be still picking out baby names or looking at flight options to Korea.

I am a very blessed individual. I have this amazing family, great friends and better yet one and soon to be 2 amazing kids. So while life isn't what I thought it would be I am so beyond grateful that life is what it is. I am a very lucky girl.