Under the Weather

We were home today because Ava contracted the "hand, foot, mouth" disease for the second time again. I got perturbed yesterday because I thought the daycare was calling me too much at work. Ava wasn't "acting" unusual at breakfast so I thought the daycare was jumping the gun when they said Ava was cranky at the daycare. The last time she was "cranky", I took her to the doctor and she ended up just teething. However, when I picked her up yesterday afternoon, sue enough, she was showing all the signs of the hand, foot, mouth disease. Sores in her mouth, spots on her body and excessive drooling (not to mention the trench mouth odor). Fortunately, she didn't have any fevers like the first time. I'm contributing to the fact that she's had it before so this time it wasn't as severe. Ava was still very uncomfortable and you could tell by her constant clinging and whining. I felt so bad for her because there's NOTHING you can give her to help ease the pain and discomfort. Antibiotics and children's tyelnol won't help. It's not easy keeping a toddler entertained all day and it was so hot and humid to be outside today. We got out in spurts throughout the day. Here is my sad little cupcake.











































I LOVE the tippy toe stance!

Laundry Assistant

Ava is always curious about everything in the laundry room. She sees Mommy putting things in the machine and taking things out of the machine. She points and grunts as if to say "let me help Mommy!". So I let her help! Who thought chores could be so much fun (to a toddler that is).

Corn is the reason

One of the best things about July and August is the corn season. I don't have any video clips of Sebastian eating his first corn because he still avoids vegetables whenever possible. Ava on the other hand, discovered the joys of eating corn on the cob this past week. I don't know who was entertained the most, Ava or the dinner guest.

Ava's First Corn Experience


Ava's Second Corn Experience (the sequel)

A serving of Ava please!

Ava likes to sit on top of the metal tray. The tray is really Sebastian's but Ava likes the sound of metal hitting the kitchen floor. It becomes a nightly ritual, along with the dumping of the dry cat food from the plastic storage container that use to sit on the floor. It gets to a point that I have to put everything on the kitchen island so it's out of reach of little hands. The problem with that is the island is starting to get really crowded and I can't find a spot to do all my chopping. ;-P This just proves I need a bigger kitchen or another house all to myself! ;-)

It ain't over until it's over

I thought I made it through another birthday without any incidence or "detection". But I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who mailed me something this week to remind me that I turned another decade old. We won't discuss which decade either. In fact, the mailman/mail-lady had to drop off the envelope at my front doorstep because it was too big to put in the mailbox. Isn't there a saying that goes something like this, "with friends like that, who needs .......?" Well, at least the choice of music had class and it's something my son recognizes from the annual holiday t.v. special that comes on every December. Thank you for remembering me and remembering what's it's like to be 30 all over again! :-P


Well at least someone else got a kick out of it...at Mommy's expense of course ;-) But you are talking about an 18 mth old (yes...Ava!)

Experiments

This past weekend Sebastian and Ava tried something new while they were in Boston. Sebastian tried using chopsticks when we dined at the Vietnamese restaurant and was very successful. Ava wanted to try a lemon and produced this funny reaction which I was able to capture ;-)

Reflections

I came across these photographs and had to post them. It's funny how I see my life again through my children and through their eyes (hence the blog site theme - Full Circle). ;-)

DAD & ME (circa 1970)


AVA & DADDY (June 2008)





















MOMMY (circa 1973)





















SEBASTIAN (July 2008)

Adoption Day Anniversary & Reunion

We just celebrated Ava's first year with us on July 9th. We also had our first annual reunion with the babies and their families this past weekend in Boston. We had been looking forward to the reunion since December when we first started planning it. I think all the families thought the same thing...we couldn't believe it's been a full year already. It feels like Ava, Max, Allison and Logan have always been here. It was great to see all the personalities come out and share the sibling and parent relationships. Sebastian really had a great time with Allison's older brothers and could relate since he was also the older brother to Ava.

I truly hope that we will continue the reunions because it will be neat to see the children grow up "together" and have that special bond. I know one thing, they will always feel like they are part of our "extended" family. Here are some "then" and "now" photos.

AVA, MAX, ALLISON & LOGAN [THEN] - JULY 2007 [sitting with Sandy and Paul, our facilitators in Vietnam]


*Sandy and Paul have been running their foundation in Vietnam since 2007. Check out the link to Paul's Kids on the right hand side under "charitable links" on my main blog page.

AVA, LOGAN, MAX & ALLISON - JULY 2007 [THEN]








AVA, ALLISON, MAX & LOGAN - JULY 2008 [NOW]






AVA & MAX - JULY 2007 [THEN]








AVA & MAX - JULY 2008 [NOW]





















ALLISON - JULY 2007 [THEN]





















ALLISON & AVA - JULY 2008 [NOW]








LOGAN - JULY 2007 [THEN]








LOGAN - JULY 2008 [NOW]

Another Tooth Fairy story

Well, we were finally visited by the Tooth Fairy last week. Sebastian finally lost his first two baby teeth but in the unconventional way. The two bottom front teeth were hanging on for the past month so we took Sebastian to the family dentist to have them "coerced" out. This was based on the dentist's recommendation because if the baby teeth weren't removed soon, they would calcify and would it be harder to remove later as the adult teeth were growing in. We knew about the dentist visit but kept that information from Sebastian over the weekend because he would have just obsessed about it all weekend. He doesn't handle the thought of pain very well.

So, like the wimp I am, I made Michael go with Sebastian to the dentist because he wouldn't give his Daddy such a hard time. Sebastian did remarkably well in the office and he was in and out in less than 10 minutes. He came home with a big grin on his face and showed off his new trophy....a plastic tooth necklace. It was a plastic container in the shape of a tooth dangling off a dental floss string. Inside the plastic tooth was Sebastian's two baby teeth neatly tucked inside and the container rattled when you shook it. It was so cute!

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry because at that moment, I felt like I had lost my "baby" who wanted to be so much a BIG man. Sebastian wanted to show off his prize to Mom Mom, Pop Pop and his friend, Elizabeth, who lives on our street. I just wanted to hug him and hold on to him and tell him not to grow up so fast! But I let him go and run down the street ;-)

That night, Sebastian was so excited about putting his plastic tooth under his pillow. Again, my heart just melted because he's still such a little boy. Of course I'm new to this Tooth Fairy thing and I was sweating when I had to feel under his pillow for that darn plastic tooth! I thought for sure he'd bust the Tooth Fairy! The next morning, he came running into our room to show us what the Tooth Fairy left him. He even said it was in an envelope ;-P

New Smile

Even though Ava has had her back molars for a month now, I still crack up when she displays a full blown smile. You can see all her teeth and I think she has cotton balls or tic tacs in her mouth. It will be equally strange to see Sebastian lose his baby teeth and will have those gaps in his mouth.

I think if you click over the picture, you can zoom in on her mouth to see her teeth better.

Split personality?

One minute Ava is sitting in the back seat, looking cute and playing with her cell phone...














I turn away for a minute and turn around to find this.....













I think Sebastian knows what happened......













Uh oh....I think I've been caught red handed.....













What do you mean I would look cute if I fluttered my wings?

A childhood memory crushed

Tonight we wanted to go out and get an ice cream cone after dinner. We missed the ice cream truck the past few days and thought it would be nice to take a drive down to one of my favorite ice cream places for a change. We haven't been to the ice cream place since last summer. Well, this is what we saw when we pulled up. I couldn't believe my eyes. Like a bad dream...poof...then it was gone!

That ice cream parlor had been there for as long as I can remember (before I was born). I remember visiting when I was a child and I was glad to share the same memories with Michael and Sebastian for the past few years. But now I won't be able to carry on the tradition with Ava. It's going to take me the entire summer to realize my childhood memories have been plucked from me. My heart is crushed. :-(

The sweet treats of summer

I wonder if Daddy will let me hold the cone?














Waiting for the ice cream truck paid off!















Ava discovering that she doesn't like to hold her popsicle. She looks like she's getting a cheek "freeze" ;-)

The first sound of summer

Everyone can recognize the melody from an ice cream truck. Even if the ice cream truck is a few blocks away. I think Ava has heard the ice cream truck one time too many this summer.

The return of The Incredible Hulk Baby

I don't think Ava could scare an ant or hurt a fly. But her roar is pretty impressive ;-)

The Tooth Fairy is playing a mean trick

Wednesday has been quite an eventful day. This will probably be the longest post I've entered so far. Ava woke up kinda grumpy this morning. It's that parent intuition when you know your child isn't feeling quite herself. We resumed with our morning routine, Daddy gets the kids dressed and fed and Mommy drops them off to the daycare and we both head to work. By 9:30 a.m. I recognize the phone number displayed on the screen panel, it's the daycare.

Ms. Denise is reporting that Ava has been crying all morning and is inconsolable no matter what they do to pre-occupy her. Ava is also running a body temperature of 99.5. I don't have a logical reason why Ava is acting differently. I proceed to tell Ms. Denise that Ava did wake up in a "funk" this morning and I hope she's not coming down with something. I try not to alarm the teacher but I did tell her that I was sick last week and tested positive for strep throat but have been on antibiotics since Thursday. Of course all these crazy things are running wildly through my head like what if Ava has strep, hand, foot, mouth disease or the fifth disease? We received notification that the daycare has been hit with all three illnesses this week. That's probably where I contracted my strep throat!

Meanwhile Ava is hanging on Ms. Denise's leg and sobbing. I can hear her over the phone. I asked Ms. Denise if she could please keep an eye out for Ava and if "it" worsens or if her temperature goes up, to please give me another call. I hate putting it like that because the daycare has this silly policy. The teachers are instructed to notify the child's parents for EVERY little slight thing that happens to their child. For example, The caller starts out by saying over the phone, "Hi, this is so and so. Ava is all right but we have to call you because another child bit her while she was trying to take a toy from the other child." or "Hi, we just have to let you know, Ava bit another child because the other child's hand got in the way of Ava's mouth." Or, "Hi, we just wanted to report that Ava is acting unusual today and you might want to have her checked out with the doctor."

I have one little complaint about this notification "rule". Okay, so my child gets bitten a lot. What toddler DOESN'T bite? They are at the prime biting age. Heck, I remember when Sebastian went through a biting stage himself. In fact, he was at the very same daycare facility that they are both in right now. Except back then, they didn't implement the new rule of notifying parents. I would just pick up Sebastian every day and he would have a new fresh set of teeth marks on his arm or I would have to sign an "incident report" because he bit another child. Now, the parents complain if their child is bitten by another child. They actually COMPLAIN to the teachers. It's a liability now. I mean come on....get real! Of course, if it was my first child and I'm the inexperienced parent, I may "over react" a little. But now that I have my second child, and already went through the biting phase, I don't even blink twice. They DO outgrown the biting stage and they DO survive the toddler years unscathed and mentally intact.

Lately, it seems like I've been getting a weekly call from the daycare. Every time I see the daycare's number flashing on my phone, I think "okay, now what?" It gets to a point that I'm so paranoid. I mean, what if Ava is REALLY hurt, or sick? Am I a bad mother because I missed all the signs in the morning? So when I told Ms. Denise to watch her temperature, they do just that. They will take her temperature every hour, on the hour. If her temperature reaches 99.9, they call me to have Ava picked up and she cannot return to the daycare until she is fever free for 24 hours. I also asked Ms. Denise to give me a call after Ava's nap to see if she went down quickly and how long she slept. She was fine with my request.

By 11:45, I receive another call from Ms. Denise. She was reporting that Ava hardly ate anything for lunch and she went right down for nap. Also, Ava's temperature was now 99.8. I try not to hit the panic button because I don't want to think the worse....what if I gave Ava my strep??? I ask for Ms. Denise to give me a call after her nap and if her temperature goes up, I'll call the pediatrician to get an appointment. You know Ava is NOT feeling well when she doesn't eat! I worry some more. I feel guilty that I left her there in such misery.

At 2:25, I get the third call from Ms. Denise. She said that Ava woke herself because she was crying and wouldn't go back to sleep. Her temperature is now 105! I said I'd be there within the hour. I call Michael. I call the doctor. Michael says he's going to meet me at the doctor's office because he would like to know what's going on with Ava.

I arrive at the daycare. Ava's eyes are all red and my heart sinks because she really doesn't look well. But as I go to pick her up in my arms, I notice that she doesn't feel like she has a fever of 105. But no matter, I have to find out what's going on at the doctor's. This is a short work week and I don't want my kids to be sick over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The kids are in the car. Sebastian asks for a snack. I hand him a bottle of Gatorade and a bag of pretzels. Ava starts whining because she wants what Sebastian has. I tell Sebastian to put some pretzels in a cup because I don't want Ava to pass her "germs" on to him in case she does have strep. But I'm thinking, there's no way she'll eat those pretzels. I'm just giving her some so she will calm down. She's CHOMPING on the pretzels! This I find VERY peculiar. Last week when I had strep, my throat was on fire and my neck felt so swollen that I could barely drink water or swallow any pills. Of course at the time, I didn't know I had strep. I just thought I had really bad allergies. Except for the body aches...I knew something was up.

We arrive at the doctor's office. The doctor examines her. No red throat, lungs sound okay, ear's are clear except for the ball of wax the doctor removed from her right ear, no white bumps on her tongue, no rashes and no fever. Diagnosis: she must be TEETHING. She's breaking in two more teeth, that is cause for the low grade fever and irritability! We're so glad it was a "false alarm". But after three phone calls...all my common sense and maternal instincts went out the window. Then I realized in my panic mode to call the doctor and leave work, I totally misunderstood Ms. Denise's statement about Ava's temperature. I thought she said her temperature was 105, not 100.5! She said 100 and 5. I took it for 105!! Okay, so I'm a typical, hyper, over reactive, panic stricken Mommy.

On the way home, I call the daycare to let them know the diagnosis and that Ava WILL be returning in the morning with a doctor's note saying she may return. I pull in the driveway with a hugh sigh of relief. So, to explain my post heading, "Tooth Fairyis playing a mean trick", in the month of June, Ava has sprouted six teeth and my seven year old boy cannot seem to lose a single baby tooth. I know that each child loses their teeth at different paces. But most of Sebastian's friends have lost at least four or five teeth already. Sebastian had two front teeth on the bottom that have been loose for the past three weeks. They won't budge because he's afraid to wiggle them to loosen them up more. The other day I was flossing his teeth when I noticed that one of his adult teeth has broken through and is growing behind his front baby teeth. I have a feeling that once Sebastian loses his tooth, he will have a bunch that will start loosening up and the Tooth Fairy will have a field day with him! She's already given Ava a run for her money ;-)


Say "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"














Another smiley face

The "Hulk" Clan

What do you get when Mommy marries the Incredible Hulk? Offsprings with very large hands ;-)