What's going on?

Well, we're finally all better.  None of the kids got the stomach bug, which we're very thankful for.  That would not have been as easy to contain once it starts in on the kids.  The kids got to do lots of cleaning with chlorox wipes which they thought was entertaining.  I figured it was easier than me trying to rush around cleaning the whole house.

Brian and I are both finally starting to clear our colds out too.  Jaemin is MUCH better now.  We could see a huge difference on Sunday.  No more ooze out of his poor nose.  He's in an awesome mood too.  He's back to his usual happy self.  Jaemin's been feeling SO good he's walking around singing and bobbing his head and talking and just smiling and laughing at everything.  He's really an easy going little man, but when he doesn't feel good he's a lot like momma and is pretty grouchy.  It's nice to have us all better and we're hoping it stays that way.

The kids are back at school, or were for a whopping 2 days before snow canceled it.  Now it's too cold and they're canceling between the snow and cold.  They're enjoying it....for now.  They're going to hate making up the days when it warms back up...eventually.

Today, I took my first venture out into the snow with the new van.  It got around a lot better than I thought.  If we had gotten just 1 or 2 more inches though, I don't think I could have made it out since they hadn't plowed our road yet.  I stayed on everyone else's tracks.  It was just as well I went to work since most didn't show up and those that did were late.  I was early, so I got to leave early to pick up the littles.  Jaemin was so funny when I picked him up.  Brian's mom was holding him when I walked in and he just about jumped out of her arms to get down and run to me.  Man that makes me feel good!

Chelsi and Kaelin have spent the night reading to each other.  Kaelin reads her 1st grade level reader to Chelsi then Chelsi reads a 1st grade level reader to Kaelin.  So funny to think she's only 4 and can read at 1st grade level and do math.  She may be small, but that little brain of hers sure does hold a lot!

We all took a trip to Bass Pro on Saturday.  After having sick people in the house for 2 weeks I was dying to get out, cold or not.  So, Brian and the big boys had gift cards to spend.  Jaemin, Chelsi and I just walked around and looked at the fish.  Jaemin really enjoyed it.  Chase spent all of his gift card plus some of his grade money.  Cole actually saved some of his aside so he could get some more later and get something nicer.  Brian spent all of his plus some of his work bonus.  He finally got a new tackle box, which he says he really needed.  He got me a lovely pink Bass Pro ladies tshirt.  I asked him for it.  ;)  We took the kids to pizza buffet afterward.  It wasn't the best, but it was super cheap for all 7 of us.  Jaemin was so good.  He slept during the drive and I put him in the carrier at Bass Pro, so he just enjoyed the ride.

Now, we're all focusing on what activities the kids can do this year.  We don't have funds/time for too many, so they have to start making choices and narrow it down.  Cole will do football...if his grades are good enough.  Chase will do football and is thinking about baseball.  Kaelin is thinking about soccer again, but wants to try out basketball.  Chelsi wants to try gymnastics.  We'll see.  That's a more expensive activity, but since she wants to be a cheerleader it makes a little more sense.  Kaelin has ZERO interest in being a cheerleader, she wants to be in one of the other sports.

We'll see.  But, really, I'm hoping Chase forgoes baseball this year so we can have a little more of a relax summer.  We're not doing Fall soccer because the boys playing football will be enough.  Kaelin will have to play Spring soccer instead.  Just a couple more years and Jaemin will start into activities too.  Oh my is it going to get busy.  His dad swears he's born and built to play football and baseball!

Lisa

Whew! Thought our tv was broke

We just go a little 19" flat screen last year for the bedroom when our 15 year old finally went off and wouldn't come back on.  I was sick in bed Monday all day and the tv shut off on it's own.  Then Brian was sick in bed yesterday and he told me it did the same thing to him.  I was stressin' a bit thinking, great one more thing to break...where's my receipt.  So I googled first and found that there could be a menu option to cause this.  Sure enough there was something for inactivity for 3 hours.  Good to know we've just now discovered this after almost a year.  Shows how much we actually watch tv in there.

Mental note to self.  Always google before stressing and flipping out too much.  I know this, but sometimes forget.

Lisa

Status of the post Christmas illnesses

Real quick before I turn in early....

It's been a rough few days.  Jaemin is getting better, but still feeling a little run down and icky.  His nose is yucky, has 3 teeth coming in, is fighting a sinus infection and hopefully getting over pneumonia associated with influenza B.  I ended up with a BAD stomach virus late Sunday night and was in bed ALL day yesterday.  That is the worse I'd felt in quite a long time.  I couldn't move at all and never did.  I felt a little better today and a lot better tonight.  My stomach is starting to recover.  Chelsi woke up last night crying and I took her into my room.  She had a fever and was moaning within a couple of hours.  So this morning we called in the Tamiflu for influenza B since she'd been coughing and just started the fever.  She's been quite a bit better tonight, but we're afraid it may not necessarily be over since Jaemin's kind of went and then came back hard.

We're usually a little more careful with her than the others when a fever is involved after her seizure last year.  We give her meds and try to keep her completely under control.  So far, so good.  I'm just glad I'm feeling better so I can hold my Jaemin again.  That was pure torture when I was lucid enough to realize.

Lisa

The verdict is in

We went to the doctor this morning and were in the ER by nightfall.

Jae has influenza B.  That's good in that it's not A, which means it's not swine flu, though I still think that's what he had in September when he last had pneumonia.  Bad in that apparently every time he gets the flu he also gets pneumonia.  They said they heard something tonight in the ER and the film is showing a little infiltrate.  Funny thing is he tested negative at the doctor this morning, but was showing positive tonight in the ER.  We went because he just kept getting worse.  Poor Jaemin just couldn't knock his temp down.  We were rotating and everything and within 4 hours of meds he'd be back at 104, under the arm,  no matter what we did.  I called the doctor and she agreed it was just too high.

My poor baby has done nothing but sleep and cry.  I could tell he just was hurting somewhere.  He'd cuddle into me every chance he got.  And, as usual, he oohs and aaahs every staff member he encounters at the hospital with his dashing, good looks.  He is pretty DARN handsome!  So now we're left to finish the zithromax for pneumonia and just wait out the flu.  We'll have to just continue with our rotation and watch him.  He should be just about through it at this point, but we won't know until it's gone, gone.  And hopefully no one else in the house gets it.  Brian hasn't been feeling well today, so the doctor wrote him a script for meds and said if he feels like a train wreck within 24 hours he can take the meds otherwise it's pretty much too late.  He said they no longer treat the family prophylactically for influenza.

So here's to better days for my sweet baby boy!

Lisa

Merry Christmas 2009

It was a good Christmas even though Jaemin remained sick through most of it.  He's still sick today.  He was actually better for Christmas Day and then late last night his temp came back.  I took him to the doctor today and they said it was just a really bad sinus infection ( 103 degree temp).  So he's on round 2 of antibiotics and she gave him a nose spray so he can breath.  He's not struggling with his lungs, so no neb or anything thank goodness!  But, my boy still enjoyed his first Christmas.

Christmas Eve was a little weird.  Since little man was still running a decent temp I insisted Brian and the other 4 go to his grandparents as planned.  They made a short trip there and came back a couple of hours later.  Jaemin and I ran to Wendy's for Christmas Eve dinner and I just held him; which is pretty much all I had done for the past 3 days.  Santa came while we went to Wendy's, so when Brian and the kids got home we had presents to open.

The boys came upstairs and Cole stood there and stared at Santa's gifts he'd left.  See, at our house, Santa doesn't wrap.  He just leaves them in birth order with name tags on each item.  I asked Cole what was wrong and he said he just couldn't believe it.  I asked what.  He said  he couldn't believe Santa really brought Guitar Hero and one for each of them....the two big boys.  The big boys also each got a game; dominoes and a little dice game.  They also each got a watch.  The girls each got an MP3 player, in pink of course.  Kaelin also got a card game and a watch.  Chelsi also got a card game.  The 3 older ones found silly string in their stockings to play with this summer.  Jaemin got 2 books, a stacking toy and a mega block truck.  The kids LOVED their Santa gifts.  Chelsi's MP3 player had Toes and Chicken Fry already loaded.  Her two favorite songs, so she really thought Santa "knows" her.

Mom and dad gave Cole a KU hat and Bass Pro card, Chase got mom's old camera and a football, Kaelin got zubber, Chelsi got a microphone, Little Pony and Little Pony movie and Jaemin got a baby baseball and tee.  The kids were in absolute Heaven with their loot.  Really it was the least expensive Christmas ever since grandma found the Guitar Heroes at Sam's for under $20 including the guitars and games and MP3s were under $20 too.  We may have spent $60 on the most expensive child.  Thank goodness our children are pretty simple.  I realize just how simple after hearing one of the nephews brag, at age 8, about getting a plasma tv in his room for Christmas.

But, this is not where our kids' Christmas ended.  They stayed up until 10:00 just playing with all their new things on Christmas Eve.  Could hardly get them in bed that night.  Then, on Christmas Day Jaemin's fever was gone so we went to the grandparents for breakfast.  All together, everywhere else, Cole got a RC plane, MP3 speakers, Walmart gift card, hoodie, PS2 game, hat, gloves and thermal shirt, Chase got a RC helicopter, 2 sets of magnetix, PS2 game, hat, gloves, thermal shirt, 2 hoodies, a journal and a Bass Pro card, Kaelin got so much cute clothes it was unreal, snow boots, rings and necklace, Chelsi got a RC car, robe, travel aqua doodle, Strawberry Shortcake backpack, puzzle, Barbie, baby pony, I Spy sort of game, monkey rainboots, a wagon and Christmas ornament,  Jaemin got grandpa's handcrafted toybox, fridge farm toys, a wooden puzzle, a play camera, truck, a wagon and money for his savings account.  All 5 kids got Cardinals shirts as requested.  We went to grandmas for dinner on Christmas Day with the whole family.  Yummy food and the kids played hard!  I think they're all pretty worn out, but they all have so much to do now, it almost seems they don't know where to start.

I think our favorite (mom and dad) gifts were the Bass Pro card and Kohls cards.  It's nice to feel like we can spend money on ourselves.  We generally don't.  Brian even saved his aluminum money and bought me a $50 Kohls card just for me.  It was really sweet considering we had put a $20 limit on what we were to buy each other.  He got me some headphones for my new MP3 player (from mother in law) and I got him MP3 speakers for his old MP3 player so he could listen at work.   One of my favorites are the new kitchen rags we got.  I was so tired of looking at the holy rags I had that were unraveling. And my new digital picture frame  LOVE IT!

I'm so thankful for my kids.  We may not have a lot of money to spend, but we have happy healthy kids that love their Christmas's no matter what.  They always think they're the best and I'm glad to have those kinds of kids.

The wagon for the littles, from grandpa



Playstation game, hats, gloves and thermals for the big boys from grandpa.









Chelsi had to use her new doctor's kit on daddy.



Jaemin found his belly, which was very full.



Going through sissy's backpack.



Jaemin and cousin A, eating monster cookies.

Checking off our adoption list/Baby Update for Christmas Illness

Adoption decree....done.....this makes Jaemin a US citizen, officially and legally our son, and changes his name (which we opted to keep his Korean name as his first name)

Birth certificate.....done.....Brian went with the adoption decree and picked up the birth certificate today.

Next, we'll go to SSA and get a new social security card in his new name (with our last name), so it will match on taxes.  And after we get our tax refund in 2010 I'll have the extra $500 to pay for the Certificate of Citizenship.  Yeah, that's a lot of money, but in order for them (the government) to officially change his status from legal resident to US citizen we do this.  It's better to cross all your t's and dot your i's while they're little and it's easy then when they are older and you have regrets for not completing everything possible.  After this we are completely done with every piece of paperwork possible!

I now have 5 little US issued birth certificates which will allow all of my children almost all of the same rights.  I won't even go into the ones our Korean-borns won't have 'cause it's kind of a sore point with most adoptive parents of internationally born children.

And, btw, my little man is still sick.  Not much on Christmas Eve I believe.  He's still got a slight temp and is a little crabby.  He mostly just wants mommy, so I literally sit for hours just holding him.  And he is sleeping in his toddler bed like such a big boys!  Now that he's in there he realized it's not so bad because before he goes to sleep mommy can crawl in with him and lay by him.  He does like that.  He just rubs my face and arm while I lay by him.  So SWEET!

Can you believe this is the same little guy who completely rejected me just a few months ago.  He's trusting us now.  That's a lot.

Lisa

Please give him a good Christmas

My poor baby is sick......again.  Hopefully, nothing major.  He started running a fever this evening and it progressively got higher, to 102.5, when I finally gave him some ibuprofen.  Brian ran to the pharmacy to refill some azithromycin.  He seems to chronically get these little sinus and airway problems like Chase did as a baby.  I swear it was every month with him and it is with Jae too.  I just pray he's not sick for Christmas.  His fever is warm enough to give him the really bright red cheeks since he's flush. He coughed up snot this morning (gross I know), but no fever, so I wasn't sure he was really sick.  He coughs a lot....poor baby.

My poor baby was sick on his first birthday, please don't let him be sick on his first Christmas with us.  I've been looking so forward to Christmas this year because of him.  Please make my baby boy better.

Lisa