Donation station

I want to tell you about my amazing cousin Staci Hopkin. She lives in Massachusetts with husband Andrew and two kids. Their blog http://ashopkin.blogspot.com/

They decided to adopt a child from Ethiopia and then found out they were pregnant. The adoption went through and they are getting a little boy Jesse age 6 months very soon and she is expecting baby #4 in the fall. When I asked her if I could do anything to help she said,

"I want to say to folks who want to help us out "we have everything we need. But the orphanage where Jesse is staying doesn't." We are hoping to give some donations for the orphanage, clothes, diapers, formula, pencils and pens and soccerballs for the older kids, etc. These children without parents and the shorthanded nannies are those who really have needs. When we arrive there we will ask the pediatrician and orphanage director what they need, and then go on a shopping spree for them. We can't wait. If you would like to contribute anything to that cause, it would be wonderful! Even $15 goes SO far in Ethiopia. If it is helpful for your girls, you guys can even pick out what you'd like to donate. school supplies, or toys, or formula, clothes, etc, and I will make sure we take pics of the process for those who donate so they know what they were able to contribute."

When I heard this I got really excited! I love the idea of giving to charities and helping people in other parts of the world who don't have a lot and could really use some help. I don't love the idea of paying a middle man to do the delivering and don't always know if the program is really helping. My cousin's offer fulfills a desire in my heart to give through a trusted giver. I just thought I'd pass on the news in case anyone else is interested too.

Surgery News

Welcome to my life after stress regarding Aaron's surgery.
Yesterday was the big day for Aaron's eye surgery. He has/had esotropia we were trying to correct (only uses one eye at a time) and so both eyes had one muscle cut and then reattached further back on the eye ball.

The hardest part of the day pre-surgery was being hungry. He couldn't have anything to eat all day. Formula until 7:45 am, then juice until 12:45 pm and then nothing until surgery at 3:45 p.m.

We reported to Primary Children's Hospital at 2:15 and were a herded to registration (a totally fun playroom which put us all at ease). Then we headed to check out his vitals and get him changed into baby hospital scrubs. Aaron was totally happy playing and checking out stuff at the hospital. Here he is up close and personal with Nana from Peter Pan.

The hardest part of his day in all was coming out of anesthesia. He was tired and confused and getting checked by another nurse and was screaming so much I didn't recognize his cry from down the hall. When I got to hold him I sang to him until he fell asleep. What this picture doesn't show is my tears of gratitude that I knew he was going to be okay. His oxygen got a little low occasionally but that was the only concern and it corrected by itself fairly quickly.

We left the hospital at 6:40 p.m. and were home by 7 p.m. The girls stayed at my friend Char's house. They had a blast playing with her yorkie dog, painting nails, mac and cheese dinner, and pink ice cream. They were mad when I got them because they didn't get to finish their movie.

The hardest parts of my day- 1) Aaron waking up 2) me stressing out 3) the girls whining on the drive home. Of all the things I can complain about- these are the ones I would chose.

We won't know for 4-6 weeks if the surgery was successful. We go back to the Dr. in a month to check. Aaron kept his fake sunglasses on for a full 3 minutes before ripping them off.

Before and After

Aaron's first haircut was on Friday April 16th. Ashley decided that since she was there, she wanted to get a haircut too. She got a trim and her first bangs. I think the bangs look so good on her and it reminds me of Carlie (my sister) when she was little.

If you notice the green rectangle on our mantel, it contains our new pet ants. Bryan bought the kit at Toys R' Us for Christmas and they just shipped us our ants since the weather warmed up. There about 30 new red females and they are very entertaining to watch, although I think Bryan loves them the most of any of us. They eat and live in the green gel. They will die out in a couple months since it's against the law to ship queen ants.

In the spirit of warmer weather and haircuts, Bryan went today and got a bunch cut off. The girls both voted they like it better now than before.

My Big Boy

This is Aaron with his first two teeth- both on bottom middle. The first tooth came in Easter and the second a week later. Here he's using his left eye to see so his right turns in.

And today Aaron took his first steps! Ashley first noticed him in the piano room. Then we staged it; Ash was the photographer as he walked to get my watch (in my mouth). This isn't the best quality, but it's what we got and I'm lovin' it.

Spring Time

I absolutely love our front yard in the spring time. The lady who lived here before me planted most of our bulbs so thanks Erin. But last year Bryan got the excited and we planted the red ones. We have 3 colors of tulips, 4 colors of crocus, 2 hyicinth, daffodils, yellow and red roses, strawberries, 2 pink tulip trees, 4 different beautiful bushes, the red are a type of tulip, etc. We also have a plethera of weeds so we try and get out every so often.

Chicken Little

This was our happy Easter. Hope yours was fun too!

Ashley is 4

Ashley had 6 neighbors and 3 cousins come to her party yesterday. We went to Kangaroo Zoo for a couple hours (an indoor bounce-house place) and then home for presents, cake and ice cream. We all had a great time. Saturday we had Fosters over for treats & presents and Monday we had a celebration at Montessori school. Tuesday we also had treats at Joyschool, breakfast-in-bed, sponge bob macaroni for lunch, and a friend came over and played with her new toys for a couple hours.

Her beautiful pony and unicorn land cake was done by Bryan. He used 3 boxes of cake mix, 3 colors of frosting, a home made wooden stand, and about 20 ponies. Ash loved it!

Ashley definitely felt celebrated- too much in fact. But we toned it down and it worked out all good. She had so much hype yesterday that she decided not to go to school today. Usually I wouldn't allow that, but today I did.

Thanks for all our birthday love. We're feeling it.