It's Been 2 Months Since Larkyn Day!!!!

Under Construction

I AM TRYING TO GET A DIFFERENT BLOG TEMPLATE... THIS IS NOT PROVING TO BE AN EASY TASK... SO PLEASE BARE WITH THE CHANGES ....

IF ANYONE OUT THERE KNOWS OF A GOOD SITE TO GET EASY TO INSTALL BLOGGER TEMPLATES PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

A Visit with Shaelyn and Kaili

Out of the twelve couples that travel with us to China, there are only two who live in Calgary. This week we had a play date with Stephanie and her little girl Shaelyn http://www.shaelynsstory.blogspot.com/ . This was the second time I had met up with them since our return from China. I am just amazed at the difference in this little girl. From the sparkle in her eyes to the smile on her face, Shaelyn is blossoming each time I see her. Unfortunately the battery on my camera was dead so I didn't take any pictures.

Then Today Louisa and her Kaili came over to visit us http://www.kailijensen.blogspot.com . Kaili is closer to Larkyn's age so it was wonderful to watch these little girls interact. Kaili was adopted from a different province then Larkyn, so we met up with them the second week of our trip. Honestly she is a sweety and what a smile on her when she smiles.

It's a bummer the rest of our group live in different cities and provinces all over Canada.. We Miss all of you guys!!!!!

These Pictures Make Me Miss Ontario

My sister took these pictures a month ago in Ontario close to Perry Sound.

I just look at them and I can smell that wonderful Ontario Autumn air. If these pictures had been taken right now there would be splashes of red from the maple trees.. brilliant oranges and yellow intermixed among the pine trees. Sounds of water lapping against the shore with a distance call of a loon or two.

As much as I love Alberta, pictures like these make me crave the province I grew up in.

So it's taken me this long to finally be able to move enough from eating all that food over the weekend to finally put up a new post. The turkey, the pies need I say more... Oh yes and time spent with family and friends... Let's not forget that...

Miss Larkyn is eating left right and centre. She now eats at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today she had cream of chicken soup with her sister. What a relief for me that she has finally decided to eat. Larkyn still doesn't feed herself finger foods... but I am sure it will come.

Once again my dear sister sent the kids some great clothing. It's gotten so bad that as soon as Reegan sees the Fedex man come she starts to giggle with delight knowing that her Aunt has most likely gotten her a new outfit. She got Larkyn these great camo pants the exact one's that I tried to convince Reegan to get the other day as they were on sale. Reegan refused.. declaring they were to much like her brother's pants. So as soon as she opened up the fedex box and saw that her aunt had purchased Larkyn a pair... her views on this pant changed instantly. But the story does not end there... As soon as my dear sister heard this she was down to the store and the very last pair happened to be Reegans size.. so once again the fedex man will be ringing our doorbell. Honestly if her husband only know how often she was buying stuff for my kids ...Your the best sister dear!!!

On a more serious note. I have had a few days of late were I defiantly feel that the Honeymoon stage of this journey is over. Since our referral picture in June I have been on such a high with very few down days... There's the excitement of finally getting to see your daughter.. Then your busy making calls telling everyone,, having people congratulate you.. Then when that finally starts to die down your busy making sure you have everything for the trip. Before you now it there's farewell dinners.. Good luck emails etc., etc., Then the day finally comes your flying to China... The excitement is almost to much to bare. Finally the day you get your daughter.. and from that day forward you are in warm fuzzy for the rest of the trip. Homecoming is next.. people calling again wishing you congrats.. asking questions.. sending gifts... You are adjusting to life with your new member. Then one morning you wake up and realize that everyone has met her. When your are walking down the street the average Joe doesn't look at you and think Hay that's there new baby from China that they waited two and a half years for. That rush of energy that you have had for the past 4 months is starting to disappear and you realize that your excitement for the day will be choosing to do the laundry first or clean the bathrooms. Don't get me wrong I am not complaining I love my life... it's just a shock to the system after having so much happen in a short period of time and then it all settles down.

Is there anyone out there who can relate to this?

Bad Spelling!!!

For those of you who have been following my blog... you will have no doubt noticed that my spelling can be off sometimes... Even after I use the spell check provided on this blog misspelled words still sneak through. I have never been a Strong speller so please bare with me...

But if you see a word or two that I have missed and the spell check has missed. Please feel free to let me Know. I will not take offence.

Tell Me Is This a Sign of Peri-Menopause!!!!

To all you ladies out there that are either my age or a bit older. Tell me do you have days like these.

I am approaching forty this winter "January 26th to be exact" Over the past year I have had days were I feel like I can't move... I have asked my Doctor and she just says "your not as young as you used to be my dear" After years of University this is the answer I get!!!! So I have done some reading about our bodies and things that start to change as early as 35... From what I have read this could be the start of the end.

Here is my biggest complaint.. Over the past year there are days when I am driving around then out of the blue I am so tired I have to go home for fear of falling asleep at the wheel.. Then there are the days when I wake up and feel like my legs have cement attached to them.. I can goes days feeling like this. Lets not forget the fuzzy brain syndrome.. those are days when as hard as I try I can't focus or pay attention to anything. Then just as suddenly as it appeared I am back to my energetic.. focus minded self.. with out warning without having changed a thing.. Poof I back being ME!!!!

It's really starting to get me very frustrated. I am pretty useless to David some days when he needs me to multi task.

Please tell me I am not the only one out there having days like this, and if I am not does anything help????

Now before the fog brain sets in while write this post. I just want to wish everyone A HAPPY CANADIAN THANKS GIVING!!!!!!

Well It's Done!!!

One orange garbage bag and half her toys gone and I can see the floor, the top of her dresser, and she can actually colour on her table now.

Reegan didn't freak out too badly.. Yes there were tears and she did accuse me of being a BIG MEANY!!! But in the end I hope she realized that something had to be done and when Mom says she going to do it I mean IT!!! She can earn her toys back only if she proves to me that she can keep her room tidy with the toys that I did leave in her room.

I Am Ashamed To Be A Canadain When I Read Stuff Like This

P.E.I. building obstacles to international adoption, families say
Last Updated: Monday, October 1, 2007 7:15 AM AT
CBC News
New policies on P.E.I. are blocking international adoption, some families complain, and they've formed a group to lobby for change.
'This is our life. We have no other way of having children.'— Vicky Shipman
They're urging the premier to step in and change his government's policies. They fear without a change, they will lose their chance to adopt.
"All of us feel that the province does not support international adoption. That's why we're coming forward," Tammy MacKinnon, spokeswoman for the P.E.I. Adoption Coalition, told CBC News Friday.
"We want to know why it's being made so difficult."
The issue is with China's Waiting Child Program, which places children with medical problems, sometimes very minor ones. Because of the difficulty of successfully placing these children, the Chinese program uses agencies in Canada to help select families. Four P.E.I. children were adopted under China's Waiting Child Program.
But in 2005, China became part of the Hague Convention on Inter country Adoption. The P.E.I. government believes this requires the province to take a more direct role in the adoptions, and it has cut the Canadian agencies from the process, causing lengthy delays.


The agencies are accredited provincially in Ontario and Quebec. P.E.I. is the only province in Canada that has stopped using the agencies for the Waiting Child Program, because it believes it is illegal to use them.
Tammy MacKinnon wants the P.E.I. government to remove barriers to international adoption.(CBC)
The P.E.I. Adoption Coalition disagrees with this opinion.
Vicky and Alan Shipman say the government's position has put their application to the Waiting Child Program in jeopardy.
They want the government to immediately reverse its position so their adoption can go ahead. The couple accuse provincial officials of being insensitive in their handling of the issue.
"This is not just a legal piece of paper," said Vicky Shipman.
"This is my husband and I, this is our life. We have no other way of having children. And they seem to be just putting so many obstacles in our way."
The P.E.I. Adoption Coalition is scheduled to meet with government officials Tuesday. It is also wants the government to create clear guidelines for international adoption and an appeal process.

Finally Debbie Can Swim

So here's my sister http://debinasdiary.blogspot.com finally in her new swimming pool. Everything looks great the water clear and warm.. But what you don't know is this pool was suppose to take two weeks to finish and it took over 7 weeks and many .. many hassles. To put this into perspective we closed our pool the same weekend my sister opened hers... Luckily she lives in Ontario so the weather is warmer then here.

Happy Swimming Sister Dear!!!!

What's a Mother To Do ????

Some of you guys might remember the post I did back in the spring time showing you Reegan's new room. Just look at these pictures.. I want to sleep in this room.

WARNING WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS NOT FOR THE FAINT AT HEART!!!

For many.. many months now I have had to deal with this: I am at my Wit's end... I have been telling her for weeks that if she didn't start to pick up after herself I would come in with the BIG orange garbage bag and toss the junk then take away the toys she's not looking after. She cries does the usual I will keep it clean mommy etc., etc., I now fear it's time that I follow through with my promise. The only problem with this is finding the time to do this while she not in the house... If we try and do it together she proclaims everything is special even a scrape of paper that she found on the floor is special. Making it worst is when I question her about this scarp of paper she can tell me were she found it when she found who was with her when she found it and why it's soooo special. On top of changing diapers doing all my other stuff having to clean her room up only makes more work for me.. In the end I know it's the right thing to do... But honestly she's five shouldn't she be tidier????? ha ha

OK OK... wishful thinking on my part!!!

Busy Day's Good and Not So Good!!

Well my weekend started off on a very good note.. First off I treated myself to some time away from the house and got a new due. Cutting your hair off is such a refreshing change.










Ryker had friends over all day Saturday so I didn't need to worry that he was playing on his computer. There is nothing like friends to keep you away from a screen.



Reegan had her friends running through the house all day on Saturday as well. It's so nice to have kids of all ages running around having a good old fashion time just playing games and laughing at the silliest things.

Then we had a turn in the weather. Our littlest decided to get a very high fever. Nothing seemed to get it to go down not meds or a bath so we decided to take Larkyn to the Children's Hospital were she was sick many times. After a very long wait the Doctor assured us it was nothing to worry about just the flu. I know that if this had been Ryker or Reegan at that age I would have just waited it out until the next day... But with Larkyn I felt I couldn't take any chance so to the Emergency we went. She's doing much better today.. drinking her bottles and no fever but she's still very fussy. In this picture you will see our cat Shadow sitting on my knee right up against Larkyn. As soon as Larkyn started to feel sick Shadow was there right beside her...

Sunday we were draining the pool getting it ready for closure tomorrow. We had another wonderful summer with this pool the kids had a blast, I can't wait until next summer.

I wanted to give everyone a BIG Thank-you for leaving all your wonderful comments. To the comment left by Anonymous you are entitled to your option that's what freedom of speech is all about. I have no issues with asking for attention!!!

OK What Gives???

I have noticed since our return from China the amount of comments on my blog has drastically declined... What's with THAT!!!! It's like everyone wants to be apart of the party but once the party is over no one wants to hang around to clean up the mess. Maybe my posts are just not that interesting anymore. If that's the case then I am very sorry and will do my best to make them worth your reading. I realize I don't have the fan base like some blogs and I certainly don't want to name names http://jazzieandtahlia.typepad.com/ http://hannahinchina.blogspot.com/ just to NOT name a few!!!

My counter tells me that lots of people have taken a sneak peak but yet no comments... You don't have to right anything poetic, or inspirational.. A simple hello would suffice..

Please remember as much as I love being a stay at home mom I am just that a STAY AT HOME MOM... isolated from the real world away from adult conversation I don't get a regular coffee break or lunch break and when I do get those odd moments of time to myself my computer is my only escape when escape seems impossible...

So I implore all of my fellow blogger's to really think twice the next time you visit mine or anyones blogs to simply say hello or bye to let us know that you were here.