Thursday to Sunday in review

I can't for the life of me even remember what we did on Thursday during the day! I do know that at 6:00 pm, we dropped the kids off to respite care and Bill and I headed to Clark University to meet with our Marriage Check Up therapist. That was the last appointment. We have been participating for over two years. For two years we answered questionnaires and then we had to have two appointments. I am happy to report that we have a great marriage. Not without it's quirks, but we have some very major core strengths. It was a great thing to participate in. I thought it was interesting. I did it just because I am interested in anything sociology/psychology related.

On Friday, the two youngest had a visit with Dad after Yamira had therapy. She had a great day at school and then a great therapy session. We are trying to get her to identify feelings. She has come a long way. I dropped the kids off at 1:00 pm, so they could see their Dad. They had a great visit. Yamira was a little sad after, but she was fine by the time we got home. I went to Target and did a little birthday shopping for Yamira since I had no kids in tow. Later that night I was going to go country line dancing, but Bill had a bunch of things to do after work. I told him to do what he needed to do. I had things to do at home, so I was okay with not going. I do hope to go next week though. I need the exercise!!!!

On Saturday, Ping was supposed to have her first soccer game, but we had plans. I hope they did well. We went to Buffumville Lake in Oxford for an adoption party. It was poorly attended, but we all had fun. I don't know why these events are always so poorly attended. It's a shame.

Once we left the lake, we came home and proceeded to start cleaning out some of the bedrooms. We are changing all of the bedrooms alone, so we are trying to get all of our stuff out of them. It is a ton of work. I would rather have gone to the Sterling Fair!

Talk about a deadbeat today. I got up at 1:45 pm. Yeah, you read that right. Bill let me sleep. I could have continued too. Sad, but so true. Just really tired. I got up and hit the ground running though. I showered and checked my emails and then I started cleaning out my walk in closet. That was a pain in the butt. It's not completely done, but we got a lot of stuff put away and a lot thrown away. We were using the two extra bedrooms that we had for storage. However, now we have two more children and they need the closet space, so our stuff needed to be moved. Can't move our stuff without moving some of our other stuff to make room. We have filled up 6 or so bins today. Boring job, but oh so necessary.

I am supposed to go back to swimming tomorrow. I am beyond thrilled. I just hope I can drop the girls off and then drop Manny off and get to swimming before the class starts. I will know tomorrow.

Well I should post a few photos before signing off.

Mama Out!!!!!

The giraffe and the spotted pig.

Sister love.

Ready for school.

Must sleep with Daddy.

Cozy.

So sweet and she never sleeps downstairs.

Our family.

Ready for school.

Having a yellow and blue day.

So grown up.

Soccer anyone?

Manny is ready to play.

Ready to dig in the sand.

Silly.

Loving her pail.

Cupcake time.

Pail on her head?

Here I go.

Such a silly kid.

Here I go.

Squishing my brother.

Sleeping with Daddy.

Yawn.

She looks mean here, but she is the sweetest. She was yawning.

Blogging

I am trying to decide if I like it or hate it. I hate the time it takes, but love sharing pictures of the kids and writing down what I do on a regular basis so that I may some day look back and remember all of these precious moments. I am not sure that anyone but me even looks at the blog anymore. I know they can be quite boring. I was a lot wittier when I returned from China. I have now become a boring mom of three. I don't remember the funny tales as much as when I had one and was struggling with first time motherhood. Mind you, there are still many funny tales to tell. It's usually Ping that is spitting them out or playing them out. Just last night she said for the second time "Is it a deal? Great, glad that it's a deal, just want to be on the same page as you." It's hysterical because she says it all at once and doesn't let us speak at all when she is saying this. She has this conversation with us, but it's truly by herself. Is it funny to anyone but us though? I often wonder if I should print this blog up and start a fresh one for the three of them or if I should just stop blogging all together now that Facebook is so active for me and for my friends?

It's hard for me to believe that I haven't checked in since last Thursday, but there have been so many things going on. Last Friday the kids went to school and I took Yamira to therapy. Other than that, it was a standard day in our household.

On Saturday, we went to Donna's to swim. Donna and I ended up doing errands, so I never got in the pool. It wasn't hot enough for me anyway. It was for the kids though. They could care less if it's 50 below both outside the pool and inside the pool. The don't care if their lips are blue and they are shaking. Yamira will much more so than Ping. Ping would freeze up like a block of ice before getting out.

On Sunday, we put the three kids into respite while we went to Melissa and Aric's wedding in Hampstead, NH. We had a nice time. I got gussied up for the first time in forever. I found myself talking about the kids a lot at the wedding. I never wanted to be one of those people. UGH. What has become of me? Lol. I guess when you are home with three kids, all you can do is talk about them. We danced a little, I barely ate and we left at 7:00 pm to head home to get the kids. The kids were decently behaved. Ping was excellent I was told. Yamira got out of control a little and Manny was okay. I was a little disappointed in their care. They were well taken care of, but they were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do and that is not good for Yamira or Manny. Yamira lost Ping's hair bow and thought it was funny. The respite worker didn't nothing to help me look for it. I was very disappointed in that. It's only a hair bow, but it's the point of it and it's Ping's not Yamira's. I can get another hair bow, but why wasn't this woman watching what my children were doing? Oh, because she had another three there for respite and should not have. That is my opinion anyway.

Monday came and was not a great day. The kids were all exhausted and Manny and Yamira were out of control. It's like the first time they came to us. I could not believe how unraveled they become from one afternoon. Yamira was being a smart ass again and thinking she owned the show and was going to run it. Not at my house. Not today or any day for that matter. It was a tough, tough day. We got a lot of things done at the house, but not as much as I wanted to. We are trying to move around three bedrooms! Not an easy task without having a lot of extra storage space!

Tuesday came and the kids were back in school. All of the kids seemed really tired. Manny and I headed out to do errands. We then picked up Yamira and did another two errands. After getting Ping at three, we did a few errands for Meri who is immobile right now due to breaking her ankle. So we went to her doctors to get some pain medicine and then I took it to CVS to fill it. They were backed up, so we were there quite awhile. I then delivered the meds to Meri. Once home, the kids colored and I worked at my desk. Bill thought he had the Fire Department, but he didn't. I was thrilled. The prospect of caring for the kids alone didn't thrill me, it had been such a long day already!!! We made the kids dinner and put them to bed by 8:00 pm. I then proceeded to clean my desk off and watch two movies. I had to stay up late to watch them and I am so exhausted now, but they were great movies. "The Blind Side" and "Up in the Air" were the two I watched. The night before I watched "Motherhood." That was a fantastic movie!

Today I haven't done much except to drop the kids off. I have to go back and get Yamira soon. I need to get going as I have a few things to do.

I hope you had a fabulous Labor Day weekend!

Mama Out!!!!!!


My ladybug.

Striking a pose.

My other ladybug.

Sassy girls.

Yay for school.

Hugs.

Ready for the wedding.

My hair down.

Me in the wind.

Us at the wedding.

The train.

Bridesmaids.

The happy couple.

Married.

Cake.

The groom and Bill.

Bill's coworkers.

Us.

Coworkers.

Hot, Hot, Hot

God is it hot out there. I am very lucky that I have a wonderful a/c unit pumping away outside.

Monday we were supposed to see our friends Trisha, Thomas and Julia. Julia woke up with a cold and didn't feel so hot, so we decided to postpone our plans to another day. That and I didn't want the kids to catch a cold since they were starting school this week. Who wants to be sick a few days into the school year? So we ended up staying home and laying low. I pulled out the backpacks and packed a lunch and snack for Ping and a snack for Yamira. We didn't do much because I wanted them to be well rested. Just as well as it was so hot outside! Got the kids into bed by 8:00 pm after they had a nice bath.

Tuesday morning came and we all got up at 7:00 am. Not my favorite time, that is for sure. Bill showered as did I. The kids got dressed and I fed them breakfast. We piled into the car for 8:00 am. Bill went off to work and I dropped the kids off at school. Ping is in kindergarten this year and Yamira is in preschool. I messed up the morning drop off pretty well. Everyone was parking and walking their child to school. I couldn't figure out why. So I did as I always did and pulled into the school. Well the buses were parked there and you are not allowed to pull into the school when there are buses in the driveway. Oops. The thing is that I was thrown off by the time. I was there earlier than normal. I jumped out and got the girls out and then headed off to home. Ping accidentally stepped on Yamira's backpack, so Yamira was bawling her eyes out. So I delivered a crying baby. I felt awful. Mrs. Milton thought she was afraid, but it wasn't that, it was due to Ping stepping on the backpack. You would think she broke it!!!!! Meanwhile, Ping got whisked away and I didn't even get to give her a kiss goodbye. I felt awful about that. So I drove home upset.

At 11:00, I went back and picked up Yamira. She had a great day per her teacher. We spent the rest of the day at home. After lunch, I put Manny in for a nap and Yamira colored. We left at 2:45 pm to pick up Ping. Finally by 3:15 pm, Ping came to the car. The dismissal process is long at this school. Probably at most schools, but I don't know.

We came back to the house and the girls colored and watched movies. They needed to unwind from their day.

On Wednesday, I dropped off both girls and it went much better. Manny and I headed out to do a few errands. Before we knew it, we had to pick up Yamira. Yamira came out crying. Apparantely, she had laid on the floor in front of the door in the school because she was so tired. She was unhappy when she was spoken to. She actually said she was sad that she misbehaved. She told me this at home. I was impressed with her for sharing her feelings and for feeling bad about misbehaving. After a quick lunch, I took Manny to therapy. I brought along some crayons and a coloring book for Yamira. She never used it. The oddest thing happened. A little 8 year old said "Is that such and such name?" So the woman with her asked if Yamira was _____? I said no. She said "My niece is convinced that the little girl and boy with you are cousins of hers. She then said "I am ________ cousin." Well that is their Mom's name. So I told her that Yamira was the name. Sure enough, we were meeting Yamira and Manny's second cousins! I ended up talking with the Aunt of the two girls. She is their guardian. They were taken from their mom. Yamira ended up playing with her 8 year old second cousin. I gave my name and my email and told her that I would send photos and would be happy to maintain contact. She cried. She said she could tell I was a good person the last time she saw me at the therapy place. I had no clue. I didn't remember her. She kept thanking me for taking them in and for loving them. She said she could tell they were really loved. It was really sweet. Hopefully we can keep in contact. I want the kids to know their biological family if at all possible.

Once home, Manny napped and Yamira laid down. She was exhausted. We picked up Ping at 3:00 pm and came home. Yamira went back to the couch and Ping colored. Yamira stayed on the couch for the rest of the night. I felt her forehead. She seemed warm. I gave her some Motrin. She said her legs bugged her. Not sure why. She wasn't really even hungry for dinner. That was a first. We popped them into bed after reading a book. The little ones were asleep by 8:15 pm, but Ping cried for a little longer. She is now sleeping in her own bedroom and it's taking awhile to get used to it. It breaks my heart, but needs to be done.

Yamira had a great day at school today. She is watching Snow White. Manny has been very difficult today. Not sure why. He is doing stuff he knows he shouldn't, but he is two! We have to get Ping at 3:00 pm, so I am off to do a few things before that.

Mama out!!!!

Ready to go!

Sweet baby ready to go to school.

Little chicken ready for school.

The girls.

Have to get them all in the photo, even if Manny is in pajamas.

So sweet.

My giraffe.
Loving her shoes.