Home 5 Months, Thank You For Clicking and 10,000 Visitors!

Five months ago today, we touched down at the Houston Airport with our Russian Sweet Baby! She was 12 months old and didn't sleep more than 2 winks on the whole trip over here. She was still happy though! :) We are so grateful and thankful for her and how well she is doing.

Also, our Google Ads have now made $105 this month! Thank you all for clicking on the Google Ads, just below each post. We appreciate your help! Cassi has been clicking, too, on her baby computer. ;) Also, the blog has had almost 10,000 visitors! Wow, I never imagined so many people and so many views.

100th Post!

Wow, I can't believe this is the 100th post! I thought I would celebrate by listing the top 100 things I love about my kids. I will try to limit it to only 100. Okay, okay, that might not be the most interesting thing to everyone, so I will post pictures from our recent trip to see relatives in SE Missouri. This was Cassi's first long car trip. She and Kai were great, as long as we kept them going with snacks, movies, toys and Vaudeville acts.

There were 10 cousin's there from the age of 16 months to 13 years old to play with! Mostly boys, too! They all had a blast. The big fun was to ride the big wheels down the hill, going what they thought was surely 100 m.p.h.

Preparing for take off...

Cassi watching the kids go down the big hill

Gettin' the heck outta there!

We also got them some giant balloons and they loved those (well, until they popped and they didn't love that so much).

Kai and his cousin's in their best action poses, at least that's what I told them to do...

There were also (at a very slow rate of speed) four wheeler rides and pick up truck rides (in the 70's and 80's those were considered safe, remember the good ole' days? They were all seated and supervised, unlike in olden times).

Kai, my brother's boys and my brother. My uncle is driving.

On the last night, we had a cookout and the kids made s'mores. Yum!!! Cassi was safely inside in a highchair with my Mom during this segment.

Cassi eating her first s'more, inside like a civilized person

Checkin' out my brother's shoe--wow!

Cassi in her new pink hippo crocs that my sister-in-law got her---she LOVES these shoes! :)

Kai and his cousin's hangin' in the garage

She looks like she should be wearing high heels, like she's going some where important--lol!

On the loose! :)

Milestone and Measurements

Well, we had our first post placement report this morning! Cassi will have been home for 5 months on the 29th. So hard to believe! Our SW agrees with us that she is on target or advanced in all developmental areas. I was thinking maybe we should call the early intervention specialist anyway because that's what most people do, even if they don't have concerns, but it seems pretty silly, so we are forgoing that. The SW wanted to know how she is doing with bonding, developmentally, her schedule as far as napping, eating, etc. Also, how Kai is adapting and how the extended family accepted her. We are also sending 12 pictures in with the report. Anyway, our SW will have the report ready next week so that Lighthouse can send it to Russia.

For those of you new to the process, there are four post placement reports that Russia requires. These are due at 6 mos., 1 yr., 2 yrs. and 3 yrs. home. They satisfy Russia and allow the adoption agencies to continue to process Russian adoptions, so it keeps Russia open for families that follow in our footsteps.

Also, I measured Cassi today because she just seems to be growing like a weed. Good thing I mainly bought her dresses for the Spring and Summer! Here are her stats when we met compared to today:

Oct. 2008, age 10.5 months:

Height: 27", 10% on the charts

Weight: 19 pounds (guesstimation), 40% on the charts

April 2009, age 16.5 months:

Height: 32", 75% on the charts

Weight: 25 pounds, 60% on the charts

I forgot to measure her head today, so I may come back and edit this later. I love to see how other children are growing by leaps and bounds, once home. It was very comforting when I was waiting to meet our Russian sweet baby to see that there are healthy children coming home! :) We are so grateful and thankful that Cassi is thriving in our family!

We went to a family reunion over the past weekend. I will get some pictures up in the coming days. The kids had a blast!

Lastly, I have added a subscribe button in the right column if anyone would like to subscribe to posts and comments. You can also become a follower and our blog will show up on yours so that you can see when we post a new post, rather than having to check every day. And, thank you to everyone who's been clicking on the Google Ads! Keep clickin'! :)

Feelin' Good and First PPR Appointment (already?)

Thank you to everyone for your concerns about Kai! He is waaaay better today! :) He is eating normally and pretty much back to his normal energy level (which is HIGH! LOL!). His ears no longer hurt and no more, yuck, vomiting. Janine, a new poster, pointed out, why do these things have to happen in the middle of a night (and on a holiday!) and I have no idea! :P I think we decided that Kai is allergic to codeine. He only had one dose and, man, he was sick from it for a good 12 hours. Things have to be on the upswing at the Patterson household now, right?

Anyway, thank God Cassi didn't get sick because I think that would have sent me over the motherhood threshold of tolerance. It's really hard when they are babies and can't tell you what's wrong. She has only had one cold since being home. I just can't believe how resilient babies are, considering all that she's been through.

Also, on a side note, we have our first post placement report appointment set up! I was nervous because our SW agency was on "the list," but apparently that is now only applying to home studies and not PPR's, but don't quote me on that. Cassi has been home for 4 1/2 months!!! That's so hard to believe! Our PPR appt. is next week and needs to be to Lighthouse Adoptions by the end of the month so it can make it to Russia next month.

Again, thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers! Now, let's all get together and help me get a job! :)

Easter and Ear Aches

Well, our Easter didn't go as I had envisioned. Here's what I thought would happen. We would get up for the early service at church (early is not by choice, but this works the best with Cassi's napping schedule) and dress Cassi in her first Easter dress. It would be a beautiful, sunny day. After church, we would drive to my Dad and step mom's for Easter lunch. Then, the mayhem would ensue with the egg hunt.

This is what actually happened. Kai woke up at 2 a.m. Easter morning with an ear ache. He's only had one or two his whole life, so this was out of the blue. I gave him some Tylenol and he slept until 4 a.m. I gave him the heating pad and he slept until 6 a.m. He woke up in horrible pain. He was crying and it was awful! I gave him more Tylenol, which seemed to help for a little bit. Then I put in some swimmer's ear drops out of desperation. In the mean time, I called my Dad to break the news that we wouldn't be making it to his house. We had already missed church and I was thinking I'd have to dress Cassi in her first Easter dress just to get some pictures. Well, Kai started to feel better, from the drops, I guess, and said he wanted to go to Grandma and Grandpa's. So, we scurried around and made the trip in cold and rain. We took some photos before we left.

Cassi and her first Easter basket

The Easter Bunny brought her some Little People Easter People

Cassi in her first Easter dress

Cassi and her friend Abbey Caddabby

Kai and his Easter basket

Kai seemed fine during the day, a little peeked, but okay. It was cruddy weather, but it did manage to stop raining for the 20 or so minutes of the egg hunt. Cassi had her own separate indoor baby "egg hunt for beginners" and Kai had the "intermediate level egg hunt" by himself on the porch since most of the kids are older and bigger.

Cassi at Grandma and Grandpa's, ready to eat!

The Egg Hunt post-mayhem mayhem

Easter haul

Dad and Cassi preparing for "the hunt."

Baby egg hunt

Checkin' out what the Easter bunny left at Grandma and Grandpa's

One the way home, they both slept some. Then, allllllll last night, I was up with Kai. He was in agony by 4 a.m. and I was in tears, too, because I couldn't do anything to help him, so I took him to the ER. He felt like he was going to throw up, so we took "the bucket." We were in and out of the ER in 35 minutes! It was amazing! He had two ear infections, one ear drum may have burst, but they couldn't tell. I think it probably did, because that ear didn't hurt any more. We went to a 24 hour pharmacy and got a pain rx and antibiotic rx filled. They gave him a dose of Motrin at the hospital (hospital strength?) and that started to kick in at the pharmacy, so he wasn't saying "ouch!" all the time.




So, today, he is doing better as far as the ears go, but has been vomiting. He can't keep any food down. He sipped some Gatorade, which seemed to stay down until just recently. It may because I couldn't get him to eat enough before taking his meds., but that was about 8 hours ago, so I'm guessing virus. Anyway, I've cleaned up more barf than I cared to. He didn't make it to the bathroom twice and just froze in the hallway. He had a bucket in his room by the bed, but I think panic ensued and then he froze in the hallway. Some day we will get new carpet, but not until these kids are raised! LOL! I feel so bad for him! I don't like to see my babies suffer. He tried to eat dinner just now and didn't keep it down, so I can't give him any of the pain medicine they prescribed. So far the pain isn't bad, he says. I'm sooooo hoping he feels better and we can sleep tonight. Well, that was our Easter!!!

The Blog Has A Job!

Well, I don't have a new job yet, but the blog has one! I heard on Oprah that a lady who has the most popular blog on blogger is now making $40K (yes, you read that right) a MONTH from bloggers clicking on the Google ads on her blog!!! It was on Oprah's recent "Secret Lives of Moms" show---which I totally couldn't relate to, could you? LOLOLOLOL!!!

Needless to say, the lady's blog is the family business now. Her husband quit his job---can you imagine? Anyway, it looks like we get $1 per click, so please click away on the google ads to the right and below the blog entry after you have visited! (EDIT: Looks like it starts out at $1 and then decreases every click there after, but heck, it's free money!)

Everyone should add this to their blog. It's under the "monetize" tab. We spend so much time on our blogs that they should be earning their keep instead of laying on the cyberspace sofa all day!

Waiting and "Wauffers"

Kai's loose tooth has been driving him nuts! This is his second one to loose, so I think knowing how it feels to lose one was holding him back from wanting it out of his mouth. It's been loose for about a month. I'm not sure how he was still eating all that he was. Last night, he panicked because it was practically laying on it's side and he was worried he'd swallow it during the night. I assured him that the Tooth Fairy was used to these kind of situations and that she would still know to do her fairy duty. She leaves a dollar, which is also what she apparently leaves the other kids in his class.

So, Kai woke up during the night (will I have a night without a child or dog or whatever waking me some day?) with a headache and said his tooth was bothering him. I'm thinking the tooth was causing the headache, mentally and physically. I gave him some Tylenol and that was that. Today, he came home from school, over the moon with happiness! His tooth just fell out during free time, while sitting at the orange table. So, off to the office for the tooth necklace he went, happy as a lark! He was so happy to be able to eat dinner normally tonight!

He is trying to pose in a way that shows off his absent tooth. His shirt is funny, considering the situation. It says, "If you're weak, take a seat!" LOL!

Last night, he came into the living room at around bedtime and asked if he could have some wauffers. I said, "Do you mean waffles? No, the kitchen is closed. We'll have waffles this weekend." He said, "No, those nilla wauffers you got at the store." I was really perplexed and then busted out laughing so hard! He has been reading since he was 4 1/2 and I can totally see how you would read "wafers" (with a long "a") as "wauffers" (with a short "a")! I told him from now on, they are officially "wauffers" in our house, which he thought was totally funny! Also, since the poor kid didn't recognize the Nilla Wafers box without reading it, you know we need to increase the junk food around here or branch out a bit more! LOL! Anyway, I gave him a big ole bowl of wauffers.

Patty Cake, Patty Cake

Cassi blowing kisses

Cassi loves her baby doll. I found her one at Christmas with brown eyes---very hard to do! She makes her play patty cake and then does ride a little pony on her lap and makes her fall down. Usually she will sing her version of the whole thing and it's too cute. I got her to sing some of it. She also puts the baby to bed in a basket/crib, so I will have to get video of that, too.

Notice she is back in winter wear--ugh!!! This weather is driving me nuts! Warm one day, cold the next.

Her favorite activities lately are to run from one end of the couch to the other on the cushions (yikes!) and to climb up on the brick fireplace hearth (double yikes!!!). I do NOT have video of that! She's a climber!

Cassi with baby doll

Blowing kisses

Patty Cake

Ride A Little Pony