Back to reality...

Well, it's late on Sunday evening...we're back from our short jaunt to St. Louis and I'm trying to get revved up about starting a new job tomorrow. I'm kind of excited, but very nervous too. You always fear that after your first day, the guy who hired you is scratching his head and going "what was I thinking?!" I'm one of those people who veers back and forth between total confidence in my abilities and total despair that someday someone is going to see that I have no redeeming skills whatsoever. But we'll see how it goes tomorrow. I suspect I'll spend most of the day filling out paperwork and trying to get used to a new computer.

Anyway, we had a fabulous time on our little vacation. The weather in St. Louis was very hot - near 100 every day - but we managed. We spent a day at Six Flags Over St. Louis (huge theme park) and stayed pretty much on the water park side most of the day. Here's Emma...ready to jump into the wave pool...


Then we spent a day at the world-famous St. Louis Zoo...I've been there many times, but this was the first time with Emma. For some bizarre reason, Emma has decided that snakes and reptiles are her favorite attractions, so we visited the Reptile House twice. I loved the penguins the best and the big cats. Here's Emma trying to catch some cool in the shade...


Unfortunately for my wallet, the zoo has a special Build-A-Bear Workshop on the premises. That place is like a crack house for Emma. But we were on vacation, so I caved in. Meet the newest member of our family...Pam the Panda!


Our last day, we went to a children's museum called The Magic House. By this time, we were dragging a little, but Emma still enjoyed it...


I have to say, we didn't go all that far from home and didn't spend a ton of money, but it was still a nice vacation. I think at this age, your kids just want to spend time with you and don't care all that much where it is, which is nice. I'm sure that might change when I try to drag Emma to Colonial Williamsburg a few years down the line (a painful rite of passage many children have had to endure, including me!)

Anyway, have a fantastic week...hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

De-stress

First of all, thanks for all your posts and emails regarding my last blog entry. I'm relieved to report that the test I had on Monday was negative. I burst into tears when the doctor came in with the good news. I have to have another test in a couple of weeks, but I'm not as wigged out about that one. Even if it turns out to be something, it wouldn't have been as dire a situation as the one I was facing earlier this week. So enough about that...

The kitchen is coming along...I have a couple more doors to hang on it and then I'll be done. I feel like I could build a house after this!

The other big change in our lives is that Emma has started at a new school. We live in a large metropolitan area that unfortunately has one of the country's worst public school systems. The downside of living in an urban area, I guess. I have always loved living in the city, but knew I would be facing some major decisions when Emma went into kindergarten. I just can't believe that happened so fast!

Anyway, attending public school here was out of the question. I firmly believe in public education, but I'm not letting my child lag behind in a sub-par learning environment. So my choices were (1) joining the thousands who flee to the suburbs; (2) enrolling Emma in a private school or (3) enrolling her in one of the dozens of charter schools here. I didn't really want to move. She was accepted in a couple of private schools, but the financial aid fell short of what I could afford. So I turned to charter schools. There really was only one I was interested in...a French immersion school that has an outstanding academic reputation. She was accepted earlier this year and started summer school there this week.

The whole foreign language immersion thing is really interesting. I mean, these kids walk in and pretty much all the teachers speak is French. But after just two days of class, when I dropped Emma off this morning, she turned to me and said "Au revoir, Mami!" Can you believe it?! So my little girl is on her way to fluency in French.

Anyway, here's a photo I took of her this morning on the way to school...


Tomorrow we leave for a four-day vacation to St. Louis...I wanted to get in a short trip before I start the new job on Monday. À tout à l'heure!

Stress

Emma has outgrown the little Fisher-Price kitchen I got her when she was three, so I decided to surprise her with a new one. I found an incredible deal on this Melissa and Doug wooden kitchen that I knew she would love. At right is a photo of how the kitchen is supposed to look...

Of course, the description of the kitchen said "easy assembly." I'm convinced if you could order a nuclear power plant over the internet, it would say the same thing. But I've developed some talent over the past several years in putting stuff together, so I threw caution to the wind and ordered the kitchen.

My first clue that there was trouble ahead was that the kitchen came in three huge boxes. After I unloaded the 39 pieces and huge bag with 12 different kinds of screws, my confidence began to flag. Nevertheless, I charged up my power screwdriver and me and my little "helper" got to work.

After three hours of work, here is what we have...


AARGH! I've never been so frustrated in my life. It's not that I can't understand the instructions...although they are a bit obtuse at times. It's just there is so much to do...the assembly manual is 30 pages long! Plus, like most kids things, this comes with really cheap screws and if you make a mistake and try to remove a screw, they get totally stripped in no time. I'm actually going to go to the hardware store and get some better quality screws tomorrow and hope I can get them to work. I think Emma was hoping I'd get this thing assembled in like 20 minutes. At this rate, it might be closer to 20 hours.

All kidding aside, this is a weekend I could have done without stress. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for a few weeks and went to see my doctor (I was due for a physical anyway.) When she heard my symptoms, she ordered a couple of tests "just to rule some things out." Some extremely serious things that have me totally totally freaked out. I have been to some really dark places in the past week...I'm not afraid of death really, but I'm so terrified of leaving my daughter alone. I get nearly hysterical even thinking about it. My first test is tomorrow morning...this is as scared as I've been in my entire life. Hopefully it will all work out, but your prayers and positive thoughts are appreciated...

Walk for Hope

Every June, our local FCC chapter holds a charity walk to benefit Chinese orphans. We've raised thousands of dollars over the years and, obviously, it's a cause close to my heart. It's always a fun event, so I was relieved that Emma's pneumonia is in retreat and we could go.

It was a beautiful morning and we had so much fun walking around the park and catching up with all our friends who have adopted from China. There are three friends of mine who I met during the long wait...we hooked up at an adoption seminar back in 2000. We have been to every Walk for Hope together since then...we even went the year we were waiting for referrals. It's been a tradition that we take the girls' photo every year sitting together on this wall. Well, we didn't do it when they were one because they were too little to sit on a wall...but every year since they were two.

Anyway, here are Emma, Jenna, Kimmie and Christina at the WFH when they were two years old...


And here are Jenna, Emma, Kimmie and Christina today at age five...


We always try to get them in the same order on the wall, but no one ever seems to remember what that is! It is so amazing how much they have all grown.

Here are a couple more photos of Emma with her friends Amy and little Ella, who Emma considers a little sister...




Well, we're resting a bit now, but it's getting warm, so we may hit the pool this afternoon...have a wonderful weekend!

Dr. Mommy blows it

Well, Emma APPEARED to be well on the way to recovery from her weekend under-the-weather spell. She went to school on Monday and we went to swimming lessons...no big deal.

Tuesday morning about 9 am, I get a call from the school nurse telling me Emma was running a fever and wasn't feeling well. So I hopped in the car and went to get her. Although she was a bit lethargic, I wasn't overly worried. I was giving her Zyrtec for her allergies, which is what I assumed this was. Fast forward to Tuesday night...Emma pretty much coughed from the moment I put her to bed until we got up at 7. It was a sleepless night for both of us. Needless to say, at this point I thought this might be something more than allergies.

So yesterday morning, we got up early and went to walk-in hours at our pediatrician's office. The doctor looked at her ears, listened to her heart and lungs and then pronounced "Emma has pneumonia." CRICKEY!!! PNEUMONIA!!! How could I have missed that? I felt like the worst mother in the world.

He prescribed a Z-PAK antibiotic, which I have to say, is miraculous. Emma barely coughed last night. We're still home today because she's pretty tired. But hopefully she'll be fine by the weekend.

So for the first time in years, I feel like a stay-at-home mom. We've actually been having a nice time, despite Emma's condition. She's been resting and I've been reading and we've played together a lot. We made a trip to Target earlier today and I caved in and bought her a new Barbie (no doubt because of my guilt over misjudging the seriousness of her illness!)

Anyway, here's a picture of my sick little girl...still cute and cheerful, despite her mom's incompetence!

Swimming lessons

Emma was still a bit under the weather today...she's still coughing a little and isn't eating a whole lot. But she went to school and we started swimming lessons right after school/work. She really wasn't looking forward to it...as a matter of fact, she burst into tears a few weeks ago when I told her I had signed her up for them. But she really needs to learn how to swim, not just splash around in the pool. So we're taking lessons every weeknight for the next two weeks. It's a major pain, but I figured she'll learn more taking them over a period of two weeks, rather than every Saturday over a period of two months.

So here's my girl trying to get psyched up for her first swimming lesson...


Fortunately, Emma's friend Jia is taking lessons with us, so I think that helps bolster Emma's courage a little. Here are the two girls picking up some last minute pointers from the instructors...


I was a little freaked because the lessons were being taught in the lap pool at the local swim complex...the pool is four feet deep everywhere and Emma is about seven inches shorter than that. But she climbed into the pool and hung onto the side like all the other kids...


I think what made things go smoothly was that Emma's teacher was a really cute lifeguard named Adam, who looked a lot like Emma's big celebrity crush...Zac Efron from the movie High School Musical. Emma was in heaven as Adam guided her around the pool...


Things didn't go totally swimmingly (ouch!) Emma wouldn't put her head under water, no matter how much cute Adam tried to persuade her. I think the main thing I want her to accomplish from these lessons is getting comfortable putting her head under water. Hopefully, that will happen sometime this week...I'll keep you posted!

Puny weekend

Emma is sick today. She starting coughing last night and began running a fever, which I swear, she hasn't done since she was like two. It broke overnight, thank goodness. But she's really puny today...no energy and no appetite.

I'm not sure which is worse...having your kid sick during the week, when you have to miss work and school. Or having her sick on the weekend, when you're housebound during the days when you need to be out going to the grocery store, mowing the yard and doing all that weekend stuff.

Anyway, I hope she starts to feel a little better and we can get out and about tomorrow...for both of our sakes!

Here's a photo I took last weekend when my girl was the picture of health...here's hoping she looks like this again soon.

Blah...update

Well, I guess I spoke too soon...I got the job!

Actually, it was pretty funny. Since summer is almost here, I decided to throw all caution to the wind and try to find a swimsuit during my lunch hour yesterday. Even though I've lost nearly 30 lbs. since January, it was not an adventure I was looking forward to. So I zipped over to Macy's, perused the swimsuit section and picked out a couple suits that I hoped would not cause small children to run in terror when I entered the pool. I had just pulled on this swimsuit that COULD NOT HAVE LOOKED MORE HIDEOUS ON ME. I was standing there looking in the three-way mirror, with my mouth agape at how bad I looked, when my cell rang. It was one of the people who interviewed me and she offered me the job!

So anyway, in a few weeks, I'll be a senior editor for publications at a major medical school. And I'll be making about $15,000 more than I am now, which will make our lives so much easier. Lately I've been feeling like I am one major expense away from disaster...this will help so much.

So even though it did rain all weekend, we ended up getting a little sunshine later in the week!

Blah...

I've been a little down in the dumps this week...hence, the lack of blogging. I haven't felt well, plus I have come to the realization that I'm not going to be offered a job I interviewed for about a month ago. I really felt confident about how the interview went and my references were all glowing. But I haven't heard anything and they haven't returned my call about where things were. So now it's just waiting for the rejection letter from human resources. I really wanted this job a lot...it would be a new challenge and more money. But I guess I just wasn't what they were looking for...

To add to my glumness, we've got the long Memorial Day weekend ahead of us and it's supposed to rain all three days! Thank you, Mr. Meteorologist! I think we might go see Shrek III this afternoon if the rain doesn't let up. What we'll do the rest of the weekend is anyone's guess.

Emma had her friend Lola over for a sleepover last night and they had so much fun...they played Barbies for like three hours this morning!


I think Emma's a little sad now that Lola has left. Looks like there's only one thing to do to brighten our spirits...GO TO TARGET!

Hope all of you are having a nice holiday weekend...keep your fingers crossed for a little sunshine for me and my gal!

Our new church

I had belonged to the same church since I moved here ten years ago...I loved the minister and it had a great singles ministry program. I was really happy there. Then two things happened...I adopted Emma and the minister I felt such a connection with left to go teach at seminary.

When I began taking Emma to church, it really hit me that there was zero diversity at my church. There are a lot of wonderful people there, but they are all white, middle-to-upper class folks. Emma was the sum total of diversity at my church, and that bothered me. So between that, and the fact that I really didn't like the new minister at all, I decided in January of this year to start looking for a new church.

It's not easy finding a new church, especially when you're dragging a young child with you every Sunday to a different place. But after a month or so, I was happy to find a nearby Methodist church that clicked. I absolutely love the minister (it's the first church I've attended where the senior minister is a woman - she is just fantastic.) Plus, it is that rare liberal Protestant church that isn't filled every Sunday with just white people. There are several African-American members, a family of Indian origin and, best of all, a significant number of Chinese adults and children.

We have been very happy there and this morning we formally joined the church. I am so pleased that Emma and I now have a church home that we can call our own. It really fills me with peace.

Anyway, on a totally different subject...after church, we met up with several friends at the zoo. It was a brilliant spring day and we had a wonderful time strolling around. Emma spent the majority of her time hanging out with the two 10-year-old girls in our little group...here she is with (big) Emma and Elena...


I swear, sometimes my 5-year-old daughter is conviniced she's a tween already. There were several girls in our group her age, but she adores Elena, and walked around with her and her friend all afternoon. Anyway, here's my gal after a long, but fulfilling day...


Hope your weekend was just as nice!

Bye-bye, Barney!

Another rite of passage at our house...I have given away Emma's last Barney DVD.

I know a lot of new parents bemoan the very existence of the annoying purple dinosaur, but I have to say, I really LIKED Barney - and so did Emma (actually, from the time she could talk, Emma called Barney "Bobbin.")

At one point, I think we had like 15 Barney DVDs. But as she has slowly lost interest and moved on to other things, I've sold them off one by one. I had hung on to her very favorite Barney DVD, "Rhyme Time Rhythm", for awhile, in case she still wanted to watch it. But the last couple times I've mentioned it to her, she hasn't wanted to see it. This week, I finally asked her if she still liked Barney and she replied "Mom, Barney is for BABIES!" So goodbye, Barney. I took the last DVD to the used bookstore today and hocked it.

Now all I have are my memories of my little baby and her favorite purple dinosaur...sigh!

Belated Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday. We made a last-minute trip to go see my mom and dad and spent the weekend there. I've been able to spend the last couple of Mother's Days with my mom and it's so important to me and to Emma. We had a fantastic time.

We all went to church together on Sunday...I know I'm a totally biased mom, but I was so proud Emma looked so beautiful and happy on this special day...




It's funny...I still think of Mother's Day as a day I honor my mom. I have a hard time believing it's a day for me too! I guess I see it as a day to reflect on how fortunate I am to have my wonderful mother and how lucky I am to have such a wonderful daughter.

Again, I hope all you moms had a great day...especially you first-timers! And for those of you still waiting, it will be your day to celebrate too...very soon, I hope.

What we're reading now

Emma and I have recently discovered a series of books called The Tiara Club. They're written by an author from the UK named Vivian French. I can't even remembered how stumbled upon the first one...it was probably a recommendation from Amazon.com or something. The books (of which there are like 12 or so) recount the adventures of a group of six young girls who have been accepted at the prestigious Princess Academy. Each book centers around one of the six girls - Charlotte, Sophia, Daisy, Alice, Katie and Emily (I love all of those names!)

Yeah, I know...it's SHOCKING that Emma would go for a series of books about girls learning to become "proper princesses" (one of her favorite phrases these days.) But as soon as we finish one book, she wants to start on the next one.

Anyway, highly recommended if you have a princess-crazy girl!

Mixed bag

Well, this was a typical Midwestern spring weekend. Saturday was absolutely fabulous...sunny and in the low 80s. Today was miserable with near-torrential rains all day and temps that barely made it into the 60s. Other than making a quick trip to the grocery store when the rain let up to a mere steady downpour, we've been housebound all day.

Yesterday was a totally different story...we were pretty much gone all day. The highlight being a few hours at a local art fair in our neighborhood. They have tons of stuff for kids to do and lots of interesting (and unaffordable, for me) art to gawk at. We saw tons of people we know there and Emma had fun with some of her little friends. Here's Emma hard at work at some art project...


As you can see, we visited the face-painting booth first thing...they really did a great job! And here's Emma showing off her groovy new shades from The Children's Place...


I swear, at 2 for $5, The Children's Place pretty much keeps my kid in sunglasses and flip-flops all summer!

Bangs or no bangs

I noticed the other night that, once again, Emma's bangs were falling into her eyes and needed trimming. I have been toying with the thought of letting her bangs grow out, but I've hesitated for several reasons. One...you have to go through that long period where the hair just hangs in her face unless you constantly pin it up with a barrette or something. Two...I've always liked the way that Emma's hair framed her cute face (hey, totally biased mom here!) And three...I think it's kind off a big step in a way. It's one more sign that your little girl is growing up...and part of me doesn't want her to do that just yet.

But despite all that, I've decided to give it a try. I'm sure there's a chance that at some point, I'll get frustrated with the hair-in-the-eyes thing and trim them again. But in the meantime, here's my sort-of bangless girl. Feel free to let me know what you think...positive or negative!

Checking in...

...mainly because I haven't blogged in week now. I guess I shouldn't feel obligated to post something, even when nothing of interest happens to us. But I do feel kind of neglectful if I go too long.

Anyway, an insanely busy week at work had left me pretty depleted by the weekend. So other than the usual laundry and grocery store chores, I was extremely lazy the past two days.

Yesterday, it was a lovely spring day so we met up with some friends at the local farmstead. The girls could ride horses, look at the animals, pan for "gold" and do a lot of other fun things. Emma wanted to go to the fishing hole, but UNFORTUNATELY, they ran out of worms just as we got there (WHEW!) It's funny...I used to fish all the time with my dad as a girl. But for some reason, at this age, I'm not keen on threading a wiggly worm onto a sharp hook.

Anyway, here's a picture I took of Emma and her friends Jia and Laura while we were taking a nature hike out at the farmstead...


And here's my little glamour gal vamping for the camera (and anyone else who happened by)


Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend...I'm hoping for a less frantic work week ahead!

Emma of Arabia

We headed to the zoo today with our friends Mary and Helen. Much to our surprise, the girls begged to ride the camels...a first for both of them. They rode together and absolutely LOVED it!

Emma's got SKILLS!

So in the past 24 hours, I've discovered that Emma has developed two new skills...one minor and one major.

After school yesterday, it was so nice out that I took Emma to the park for a little while. Of course, she headed straight for the swings. So I'm pushing her on the swing when I notice she is pumping herself! I have been trying to teach her how to pump on a swing since last summer, with no success. It seems so intuitive, but just try explaining to a child how to do it...it's HARD! I was so excited to see her pumping back and forth. Believe me, I've practically developed carpel tunnel from pushing that child for hours on the swings. She can finally help out a little!

Now for the major skill. Last night, I was reading a bedtime story to Emma when she stopped me and said "I know that word." I said "what is it?" and she answered "in" (which it was.) I asked her if she knew any other words in the book and she pointed out several other short words like "the", "I", and "get."

This morning at school, I asked her teacher if Emma had been working on reading and she said "Oh yeah, Emma's been reading for several weeks now!" I couldn't believe it! The teacher had Emma go pick out one of her school books and Emma sat down and read me the entire book without missing a word. I actually teared up a little...your child taking her first steps toward reading is so wonderful, especially when you love reading as much as I do.

One kind of funny thing...when Emma was reading to me, everytime she got to the word "you", she would say "not me, but YOU." Her teacher said Emma had been having some trouble with that word and the teacher would give her the hint "not me, but..." Her teacher assured me that eventually she would drop the "not me, but..." part! Funny!

Anyway, no photos of Emma's new skills...but I do have a picture of Emma when she was one...already into reading! It's always been one of my favorite pictures of her...

A day at the park

After a couple of weeks of truly wretched spring weather (cloudy, cold, rainy and even snowy), things took a turn for the better today, with sunny skies and temps in the 60s. When you have a five-year-old who's been cooped up inside for two weeks, it's mandatory that you head to the park on a day like today.

As any child can tell you, the park is full of fun. You can swing...


You can hang on the monkey bars...


You can play in the sand box...


You can ride your soon-to-be-too-small scooter...


And after all this fun, you can still be whiny when mommy tells you that you have to go home to eat dinner!

Belated happy Easter!

I'm sure everyone has moved on from Easter, but I've been away from the computer and haven't had a chance to post anything from the weekend. So bear with me if you're already over "Happy Easter" posts...

We spent the Easter holiday with my parents and had a fabulous time, despite winter-like weather. We went to an Easter egg hunt at my aunt's church and it was 25 degrees out with a wind chill of 10! But frigid weather is no deterrent when a five-year-old is searching for eggs filled with treats!




Here's a nice picture of Emma with my Aunt Hazel and my mom (or Biggie, as Emma calls her!) They are both so crazy about Emma and had fun helping her look for eggs.


Back at my parents' house, we colored Easter eggs, despite the fact that none of us likes hard-boiled eggs. I think we admired them for like 10 minutes and then threw them in the trash!

Easter morning, the Easter bunny was very kind to Emma...she got all kinds of fun little toys (and a little bit of candy.) The big prize were these Disney Princess eggs...


Each egg was filled with some kind of activity. Unfortunately, it was pretty much a bunch of crappy activities that didn't work. Oh well...

And here is MY little princess in all her Easter finery...


All in all, a wonderful Easter that I was thrilled to spend with my girl and my parents. Hope you all had a great holiday as well!