Isaac's Homecoming Day

(Don't ask what is up with his eyes...he is a five year old boy, enough said!)

Yesterday we celebrated the day Isaac came home- Feb 6, 2006.

Our tradition with both kids adoption celebrations has always been to get a big cookie cake with a heart in the middle. However, Target calls me the day of and tells me their cookie shipments didn't come in! So I used my savvy skills of persuasion and instead of getting mad we all went in, explained the situation to the manager, Isaac gave his puppy dog face- and she gave us any cake of his choice for half off! Woo hoo! Of course we made him pick a small cake not the giant sheet cake he wanted. :) And we had to get the traditional heart!

We took him and the cake to dinner at Chuck E Cheese- pizza is his tradition. Three out of four years spent at Chuckie's and one year we broke it up by going to Peter Piper Pizza. Maybe next year we will have it at Gattitown.

We gave him a small gift of a Bible Man figurine (found the African American version at Half Price books of all places!) and a villian who Billy called "Koran Man"...what a jokester.

Isaac was less enthused that Bible man came with a small Bible to hold in his hand and more interested in "Koran Man's" sword. Good gracious.

Vivi's favorite part was taking multiple pictures in the photo booth. I think she did this 4 or 5 times! She was so into it. It was cute!!

Four Years Ago Today

I woke up early, I am sure. I laid a brand new tiny toothbrush out on the bathroom counter.
I pulled little blue laundry out of the dryer, folded them and put them in a drawer that had previously been empty. I probably stacked diapers, put new sippy cups in the dishwasher. I know I vacuumed. I unwrapped two little plastic cars and placed them gently on top of an empty toy box. For this was the day that the course of our life would change forever. At around 3:00, a stranger would pull into my driveway and unload a toddler boy I had never seen in my life. I watched anxiously through just one slit in the blinds. I thought "he is a lot smaller than I pictured he would be." She brought him to my door and into my house, his house. He cried. Later, I cried. He needed alot of care. I felt up to the challenge.

On this day, I became his Mom...the only Mom he would ever know from that day on.

And he was my first born son.

He met his Daddy an hour later even though he would only go to me. That night we bathed him, twice. :) We dressed his little 16 month old body in size 9 month blue pajamas. We made phone calls..."he's here!" we cried. He was here. And this one would stay. He would fill up our lives in ways unmeasurable.

And he has.

Happy Homecoming Day, Isaac.

Incidentally...

These have been my best friends this week! Along with lysol wipes. Our toilets and sinks and doorknobs have needed almost hourly disenfecting. I discovered the vanilla spray (3rd one above) and it does not smell like lysol...which is great when you are spraying it all over the house!
But this little beauty is my new favorite product! Vivi's butt was extremely red and she flinched having herself wiped this morning. I found this continuous mist diaper rash spray and after one dose she is back to health. The best part of this is that when you have a toileting child who stands, slathering cream all over their nether regions can be very tricky and quite a bit intrusive! This just sprays like a sunscreen all over her front and back and gave her relief almost immediately. We are calling it our booty spray and I made up a little jingle for it. She now reminds me every time she goes to get the spray ready!

Ok...I am officially done talking about illness.

We have not been well...

Which is why there have been no posts all week! The kids have come down with a stomach bug, starting with Isaac last weekend not eating much and having toilet issues. Then he threw up Tuesday morning and Vivi followed Wed. night. Now we are dealing with Vivi puking once a night and her having major Runs. Too much information...I know. Just be glad I am not posting a photo of them on the pot! Ha!

Even though the kids have not slowed down one bit, they have been given the chance to watch more tv than usual in the hopes of coaxing them to relax and get better. Isaac has been comforted by multiple viewings of A Chipmunk Adventure.
I found this image and couldn't resist posting it!! How cute...the chipmunks are visiting a little boy who is sick, just like they did my little boy via their tape from the library and the toys we got at McDonalds a couple weeks ago. The kids don't have Alvin or Brittney but they have had a good time with the other four. I used to LOVE these little critters when I was little so it is exciting for me to see my own two catch on to the craze. :)

Quiet Time

It has been COLD here this past week and will continue into next week it looks like. So we have had to get creative with our days since the park and backyard are not able to be a part of the day. The girls have been enjoying snuggling in the bean bag chairs and reading books. The blanket always lures Oscar in, which Chloe just loves. During this time they actually did this for 30 minutes without getting out of their chairs. Of course I had to read aloud several of their
selections to keep their attention.

Good Gracious

We have had to begin to cage in our almost 3 year old child. Why... you ask.
Well Vivi has gotten into the habit of coming out of her room early in the morning, clicking on lights and helping herself to anything she wants...food in the fridge, the contents of my purse...you name it. This morning I found her in the dark kitchen (after I had taken down the gate) doing this:

I have to say her resourcefulness in getting a little chair and climbing up to fish marshmallows out of the bread box is pretty impressive. But she has broken glass this week, eaten things she doesn't need to have, drank juice boxes, emptied my wallet...it is out of control. With that hair and disposition, it is like living with a wild animal! :)

So out comes the old trusty baby gate. Billy had the great idea of instead of gating her room which is what we had been doing, resulting in her screaming in the morning and waking the whole house, was to gate the hallway. This allows her into our room and our bathroom but not into the other parts of the house when she can't be supervised. It also keeps Isaac from wandering into our bedroom in the middle of the night to lay on our floor as he has gotten in the habit of doing. This is dangerous with Billy having to get up at 3:30 to go to work. We never know where he is in the room in the dark!

I thought this solution was brilliant until I saw Vivi doing this today:


Yes, that is her costume chest.
All I can say is good grief.
Honey, let's face it. We are outwited.