Doing our part to support the US healthcare system

Poor Ilya & Bandit Boy

Little man is very sick and came home from daycare yesterday with projectile vomitting, a fever and diarrhea. Norm picked him up in my car, which of course is where most of the projective vomitting occured, so my car smells LOVELY now! Can't quite get that aroma out of Ilya's carseat yet so it might be there for a little while...

Ilya's not allowed to go back to daycare without a dr.'s note so we had that appointment this morning. His CBC came back okay & he tested negative for strep. However, he is going to need nebulizer treatments every 4 hours again and Norm is out right now filling a prescription. He needs to return to the pediatrician's office on Thursday for a follow up appointment. Friday he is scheduled for his 18 month well baby check, and Monday he has a follow up with the urologist who performed his little boy surgery. Ugh!

On top of all of that, Bandit Boy has an appointment at the vet's office at 5pm today to treat this - can you say OUCH and BLECH?!!

Please keep both my boys in your thoughts & prayers. Thanks everyone!

Today's Post Sponsored by the Letter "B"

"B" is for:

Baptism - Ilya was baptized today! I've been waiting for this day since we brought Ilya home. I am the communications assistant for our church (my part time job), and one of my duties includes making baptism certificates. Last Thursday I made Ilya's and call me crazy (or a sap!) but I got a little misty eyed as I created and printed his certificate. Norm & I took vows on Ilya's behalf this morning to raise him in a loving Christian home, to introduce him to Jesus, and to explain what this means when he is old enough to understand. I pray that when Ilya is old enough to take vows on his own to live a Christian life, that he will do so. Here is a very short, 7 picture slide show of the baptism:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Birthday - Today is Norm's birthday! He's 29 (again!). Seems like we've repeated that birthday a few times for him already but that's his story & he's sticking to it. After church we went out to a celebratory lunch with great friends and had a wonderful afternoon. I am so honored to have been with Norm for his last 13 birthday's and I hope we're able to celebrate many, many more together.

Bandit - "Anonymous" asked a few posts back what breed/type of dog my Bandit Boy is. My best guess is a mix between a German Shepherd and a Volkswagon! He's a huge dog, topping the scales at 135 lbs, hence the Volkswagon. There is most definitely Shepherd in there but we're not entirely sure what else. Perhaps Collie - - his nose is long & pointie like a Collie's, and some Collie's are black & tan with white stripes on their chests like Bandit has. We started fostering Bandit in 2001 when he was 2 years old. We didn't know much about his history but I can tell you that he came to us very, very sick and neglected. He also came to the rural shelter he was in with an absolutely BOGUS story that could have led to an automatic death sentence. Thankfully the shelter staff was too smart to believe any of that nonsense and contacted my rescue group instead. Anyway, he had to have surgery and when we nearly lost him, I knew there was no way I could let another family adopt him. After much begging and pleading, Norm finally agreed to adopt Bandit and he has been with us ever since. I LOVE the way Norm decided to let me know we could keep Bandit & stop interviewing potential adopters. I'll save that for another day though.

Bailey - our loving, entertaining, not-so-girly girl. She is such a goof and keeps us laughing all the time. I could write an entire book about her but I'll just leave it at I love her to no end!

BLESSED - for the reasons above and many, many more, we are so very blessed! These are truly days to remember, days to live and to love. I don't know what I did to deserve all that I have but I am eternally grateful for all that God has given me!

Please, go hug your children

And as you do so, lift baby Gavin's family up in prayer. They need your prayers and support right now more than any of us can imagine.

Gavin was born with a genetic disorder that caused his liver to go into failure. He was placed on the organ donation list but sadly lost his battle on Monday, and his parents had to say goodbye to an amazing and beautiful little boy. He was only 11 months old...

I've been following Gavin's blog for a short time, and have been incredibly touched by his story. I logged on today hoping and praying for the best, but worried nonetheless about what the newest post might say. I've cried tears for this little boy I've never met, my heart has ached for his parents whom I do not know but have grown to care about.

Since reading of Gavin's passing, I've continuously thanked God for Ilya's good health, for the many many blessings in my life, and for the incredible adoption journey He led us on. I'd like to encourage you to also thank God for the blessings in your own life, thank Him for the amazing gift of your own children and family.

Deciding to become an organ donor is a very personal choice. However, I will share with you that I added my name to the organ donor registration as soon as I was old enough to do so. I say this not to pat myself on the back but to hopefully encourage others to do the same and consider the gift of life.

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with Gavin and his family.

Hugs to everyone,
Kar

Playing Dressup - blech!

I didn’t have a chance to write a message to Daddy last night. Trust me, I would have MUCH preferred to blog than endure what Mommy forced on me after dinner. Let me explain…for about a week now, Mommy’s been telling nearly EVERYONE (and I do mean everyone) how excited she was/is for me to go to school today…

(Side note: Daddy told me she does something similar when she sees people with dogs - - she’ll go right up to them, complete strangers even, and ask if she can pet their dog(s) and then talks on and on and on and on and on and on about Bailey & Bandit. Daddy & I think it’s some kind of social-butterfly-trying- to-save-the-world disorder or something. Mommy says she’s being friendly and meeting like minded people. Right…!)

…so anyway, she’s been walking around telling people how she couldn’t wait for today to get here because it was my first official school picture day. She said something about Picture This Studios coming to my school and taking photos of all the kids, blah blah blah. I didn’t see what the big deal was and tuned her out after she said “pictures”. I mean, she walks around the house ALL DAY EVERY DAY with our silly camera in her hand, blinding me every 0.5 seconds because she thinks I’ve done something cute. Apparently it hasn’t hit her yet that I don’t just “do” cute, I AM cute therefore, trying to document every instance of cuteness is absolutely impossible! Silly Mommy!

Well, apparently today’s pictures required a "special outfit" for reasons that, as a boy, I will simply NEVER understand. Daddy told me that even with all his years of experience, he doesn’t understand these things so not to worry. Heck, I’d be happy either totally in the buff or in just my skivvies. No special outfit needed here!

Guess my opinion doesn’t matter though because as soon as last night’s dinner was over, Mommy whisked me upstairs, started pulling stuff out of my closet and all my drawers, and made it look like my room had imploded. It was crazy! Solid colors, plaids, stripes, dots, animal characters all flashed before my eyes in a frenzy and I started getting really dizzy. Finally she settled on something but don’t ask me what because by that point everything was starting to get blurry & fuzzy to me and I was feeling a little naueous. I was THRILLED to hear bath time had finally arrived. Thank you Lord!

After all of that, though, wouldn’t you know she changed her mind AGAIN this morning. She dressed me in what she picked out last night, brought me downstairs & handed me to grandma to play with while she got dressed for work. She came out of her bedroom with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth & toothpaste dripping from her chin (niiiiice!!) and said “He’s not wearing that! I’ve got to change him.” Sigh….poor, poor me. So she changed me and THEN, she went crazy again trying to find a back up shirt for me in case I messed up the original shirt before pictures were taken. Sheesh! Aren’t there more important things to worry about like doing puzzles, bubbles and coloring? Seriously!

So Daddy, when are you coming home to rescue me from all this estrogen and fashion hoopla? I’m seriously in need of some manly activities, some male bonding. I tried to enlist Bandit’s help but as you know - - that poor dog is freaked by almost everything so he wasn’t much of a help. Bailey, even though she’s a “she”, is a much better partner in crime. But all she wanted to do was curl up in her cave & ignore me so I was stuck trying to defend myself. Needless to say, I lost last night’s battle and am hoping for reinforcement troops next go ‘round.

Miss & luv you Daddy,
Ilya

I'm 18 months old!

Hi everybody! Guess who's 18 months old today? If you guessed me, you're right! Daddy seemed pretty sad that he would be in Chicago today instead of here, so I hired mommy to take pictures of everything I did today so Daddy could feel like he was here with us.

My morning started at 7am and guess what I woke up to? A brand new table & chairs - - just my size! Can you believe it? Elves must've snuck in last night while I was sleeping or something. So I sat myself at my new table and had a quick snack of cheerios while Grandma made my real breakfast of blueberry pancakes. As I like to say, "Mmmmm...YUMMY!!!"

I was actually still pretty tired this morning - guess the elves working in the basement made more noise than they realized so I didn't get a good night's sleep. I ended up taking a morning nap from 10am - 12:30. When I woke up, Grandma had a delicious lunch waiting for me. I must say, I can get used to this lifestyle! Take a look at my face and see if you can guess what my lunch consisted of:

It was a scrumptious mix of cheese pizza and chili! Interesting combination, I know but it was great!

After lunch I played - HARD!! First, I decided to let Bailey & Bandit sit next to my new table. Bailey says that before I arrived, she used to call all the shots in the house. The look on her face says it all - she's finally realized she's been de-throned.

Bandit, on the other hand, still considers himself my protector. Here he is making sure my toys don't attack me:

Not long after, I learned a very valuable lesson. If I try really, really hard to yank the buckets out of my new toy organizer, the whole thing will fall over on me & I'll get trapped between the rods that hold the buckets in place. Fortunately mommy didn't get a photo to document that VERY embarrassing moment. Instead, she was able to capture my success at pulling buckets out & dumping them everywhere:

I have 2 new fascinations - sitting and climbing. I'll back up to ANYTHING and try to sit on it, and I try to climb everything in sight. Sitting in the more traditional way is getting a little boring, so I tried this method instead, which resulted in a screw falling out and a new entry on Daddy's "Honey Do" list. Mommy couldn't get the screw back in and claims that "for my own safety" (or some other such nonsense) my camping chair is off limits till Daddy comes home. NO FAIR!!

Since I lost my beloved chair, I decided to start climbing again. Granted, this book I'm standing on wasn't anywhere close to the height of other things I've climbed recently, but it did make me feel better. Then, I realized that it is a lot more fun to STAND on books than to READ them. I tried to get mommy to do the same but she wouldn't. She's so...adult...sometimes! Sheesh.

So, after standing on books, it was time to eat again. Mommy left the camera behind this time, but Grandma made spaghetti and I followed that with applesauce. Now it's time for bed since I have to get up early and head off to school again.

After hearing mommy say more than once that I wore her out today, I knew I had made the most possible out of my 18 month birthday.

So there you go, Daddy & cyber friends. Hope you enjoyed reading about my day as much I had living it. Daddy, I miss you & can't wait to see you later this week!

Love, Ilya

Conversations Daddy doesn't want to have

...when he's just landed in Chicago:

Conversation #1 - 11:30am EST / 10:30am CST

N: "Did you get your haircut?"

K: "Yep. Ilya got his cut, too."

N: "What??!!" (sounding quite annoyed and concerned - he has a "thing" about cutting Ilya's hair)

K: "Don't worry - it's not too short. It doesn't make him look any older."

N: "Hmph... We'll see. So what else are you doing today?"

K: "We're going to get lunch now and then we're going shopping."

N: "Shopping? For what?"

K: "Stuff." (My motto is that it's best not to give too much info at times like this)

N: "Hmph..." (not acting very supportive or encouraging)

Conversation #2 - 3:30pm EST / 2:30pm CST (Yeah, it was a long shopping trip)

K: "Hey! So, if you were a Phillips Head Screwdriver, where would you be?"

N: "Huh?"

K: "Sigh....If you were a Phillips Head Screwdriver, where would you be?"

N: "Here at the conference with me."

K: "GREAT! Grrrr...."

N: "Just kidding, I have others in my toolbox. Why do you need it? What are you doing?"

K: "Doesn't matter. Which toolbox and where?"

N: "Should I be worried?"

K: "Just answer the question."

Norm cautiously proceeds to detail where the extra Phillips Screwdrivers are, but he's obviously concerned.

Conversation #3 - 4:00pm EST / 3:00pm CST

K: "So, if you were a tape measure, where would you be?"

N: "WHY??????"

K: "Doesn't matter. Just answer the question."

N: "WHY????"

K: "It' a surprise. So, where would you be?"

N: "WHY???!!!!"

K: "Where would you be??"

Finally get the answer I am looking for & go about my secret mission.

For the record, I stopped short of asking Norm where the Ryobi Cth1802k 18v Center Handle Cordless Drill/Driver Kit was!

Anyhoo, what's with all the secrecy? Well, I may not be a cook but me & grandma can sure assemble some furniture! Check out what Ilya is getting for turning 18 months old tomorrow, 9/21/08:

(Side Note: Norm, you'll have to work on the chair your mom assembled. Mine turned out GREAT!! Your mom's, however, is suffering from some issues. Just to be fair, I'll admit that the first time the table was put together, all 4 legs were facing in different directions (my fault). I didn't think you'd notice, and that it added a little character to the table. Your mom insisted we correct my error though. Go figure...)

Okay, so the new baby gates weren't on Ilya's wish list, but they were on Grandma's! We assembled & installed 2, but one isn't exactly functioning correctly. Long story but guess what? Norm gets to fix it when he comes home from the Windy City! Norm, your "Honey Do" list is getting longer each minute!

And just for the cute factor, here are a few other photos from today:

Where's Ilya???

Hi Daddy! I love you!

False Advertising

Learn by our mistake - - if you go to VA Beach, DO NOT be fooled into thinking the people who rent the "fun family bikes" (like the one below) are actually having FUN...they are not, trust me.

If you hear them laughing as they pass you, it's only because:

- - they're delirious from the pain this evil torture device is inflicting upon them or

- - they're delirious from the sheer terror of their significant other's driving skills (or lack thereof) and the fact that the brakes don't work

So why are we smiling in the picture below? BECAUSE WE REACHED THE END & COULD TURN THE BIKE BACK IN! Woo-hoo!! That was perhaps the best part of the weekend!

Ilya was the only one sorry our little excursion was over. He loved sitting in the front basket and flirted with all the women and girls walking by. He loved having the breeze in his hair, he sang, clapped and had a great time. The adults, on the other hand, spent the next few days recuperating... The bruises on my shin & calf are just now starting to disappear...

Oh the things we do to entertain our kids! (That includes little one's AND husband's!)

VA Beach Pictures

I didn't add all our photos from this past weekend - there are a few that wouldn't fit in the frame very good so I'll post them separately. In the meantime, sit back, relax & enjoy Ilya's first beach trip! (click "play" once you open the slideshow)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

6 months ago today...

...Norm & I woke up for the first time in Moscow, took showers, ate breakfast, and tried our best to mentally prepare to meet the precious little child who would become our son or daughter. Oh, and we also spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to answer the phone that was ringing incessantly. Turns out it was our doorbell that was ringing and not the phone. Yeah, the apartment manager wasn't impressed with us. HA!!!

I digress...

We had no information, didn't know gender, age, which Moscow region orphanage, nothing. With all of these unknowns, there is one thing we DID know with absolute certainity: That day's events and the child we were about to meet had all been perfectly orchestrated way before we set foot on Russian ground. There was no doubt in our minds that God has brought us half way around the world to meet the child that He had chosen for us, and for this child to meet the parents he/she deserved so much.

You've seen these before, but these pictures are of our first meeting with Ilya. It was an amazing, awesome day that I will never forget. We have been tremendously blessed since! If you'd like to relive the entire day, follow this link.

Greetings from VA Beach!

Hi everyone!

We're having a GREAT time in Virginia Beach! I just wanted to drop a quick line to let everyone know we made it here okay. I've been having a BLAST on the beach, the hotel pools and the boardwalk.

I love, love, love the beach and the waves and the sand and the water and the sandpipers and the flowers and the plants and my new bucket and my new shovel and all the doggies I'm seeing on the boardwalk and the horses and just EVERYTHING!

There's lots more to share but it's way past my bedtime and mommy says I need to sleep. Bahumbug!

Anyway, look for more pictures once we're back home.

Luv, Ilya

Much Needed Break

My mommy's had a tuff week so me & daddy are taking her to the beach tomorrow!! Okay, so I have no idea what that means but it's always exciting when the suitcases come out & daddy starts loading stuff into the big van! Oh, and I also saw my bathing suit & floatie thing being packed. YAY!!


Daddy says we'll only be gone till Sunday but I won't turn 18 months old until September 21, so I don't have any concept of time yet. I get to see my Gram & Gramps again and hang out with them. I hope they still think I'm cute!


Seriously though, how can anyone look at me and NOT think I'm cute.

See what I mean? You have no idea how long it took me to get this pose just right for the camera!


So, we're hittin' the road bright & early tomorrow morning. There's not enough time to surgically remove mommy's computer from her lap though, so she might do some posting/stalking after I go to bed at night.

Hope you all have a great weekend - I know I will!


Luv,
Ilya


P.S. Mommy asked me to thank Ms. Susan for her help, support & encouragement this week. She said blogger friends are AWESOME!!

The Great Spaghetti Challenge

Norm had to work late tonight so dinner was on me. How many of you are cringing at this thought??!! Being as far removed from Julia Childs as one could be, I stressed all day over what to prepare for me & little man. Now that I'm a mommy and have to really consider what I feed our son, I realized the ice cream I usually resort to on night's like this wouldn't cut it for Ilya.

I remembered that I've had some success with spaghetti in the past, and figured that would be my safest bet. Open a jar of sauce, poor it in a pan, boil some water for wheat spaghetti, break up the noodles a little bit, pop the garlic bread in the oven, wait 10 minutes and voila! Dinner in a snap. How hard could that be?

It all turned out pretty good but watching Ilya eat his spaghetti & applesauce was the highlight of the evening. He had a very messy blast, the dogs got a few handouts and I got a few snapshots.

Warning: These photos aren't for the faint hearted! Especially if you click to enlarge them! (notice the clump of spaghetti in his lap!)

The Boyz

Well, we didn't make it hiking on Monday - - both Norm & Ilya were sick, and now I'm getting it. Yippee! Not that I want either of my boyz sick, but really, isn't this picture just precious?

They slept like this for hours, and then started to have buckets o' fun!