Just put a sign on our door, keep out

The sick germs seem to have finally found us here at our house. Oh we tried to outrun them and hide but to no avail.
I have a cold, went to bed at 7:30 last night thinking I'd watch a little tv. However, by the time Blair had put Brennyn to bed at 7:45 I was out cold.
Brennyn has the same cold, plus a nasty infection internally. She is on antibiotics again (poor girl). I will say that it seems all of Brennyn's infections/ailments seem to be orphanage living related. What can you expect when 100s of kids live in one area??

Now on to Avery. Poor Avery seems to have developed a lovely case of pink eye. Her eye was glued shut this morning! We first noticed the goo last night, but it is much worse today. Lucky for us, our doctor prescribed some pink eye drops for Brennyn when she first came home but we never needed them. We do now!

We were thinking of heading to Toronto to watch the Santa Claus Parade (and visit with our China travel mates more importantly) but that's out now. Guess the girls will have to settle for the big Orangeville parade. I mean it's almost the same as the Toronto one (NOT).

Going to put that warning sign up now.

This picture says it all

"Honestly mom, I don't know why she is crying". Okay, so Avery wasn't about to attack her sister in this picture, she usually waits until my back is turned. Guess she hasn't learned that I have eyes in the back of my head!

Decided to cut my hair off the other day while at the salon. Talk about spur of the moment. Made Blair take a picture before we headed out to the wedding (I seem to usually be the person taking the pictures so there really aren't that many of me. Would have had the girls in the photo but Brennyn was having a slight meltdown at the time.
I was goofing around so it looks like I was trying to strike a pose.
Oh, and it's also proof that I do wear a dress the odd time. It probably happens once or twice a year!

I suggested some sort of Chinese food dish for Avery's day. Did anyone listen to me?
What can you do, it was Avery's day and she lives for PIZZA. I was outvoted (see, she is just like her father).
We discussed the day we met Avery and became a family (just like my parents did with me).
That evening I asked Avery why we celebrate her day. Her profound answer "cause I really like cake".
We did make a cake for her day, it's become a bit of a tradition around here. Avery added all the candy, which was great because we used up some of her giant bag of halloween candy. Even with her dad dipping into her stash, because her mother would never dream of stealing candy from her child (heh heh heh) it's just not going away. I've never seen so much candy.

Happy Avery Day

It's your day today Avery. Hard to believe it has been 3 years since the day we met. I will never forget a single minute of that day. I was scared, excited, nervous, and happy. As soon as you were placed in my arms I cried. Yes, they (the experts) say not to cry as you may frighten the already terrified child but I was just so overwhelmed. I could not believe that I was finally a mom and that you were my daughter!
You love to hear the story of that day and how you cried and screamed for 3 hours straight. You love to hear about the man who handed you to us (Mr. Tu), and we love to talk about it. Okay, you don't love it as much as the stinky poop story (when you filled your diaper and shirt at a restaurant in China and the ladies were running out of the bathroom because of the stink and poor mommy had to try and change you while daddy laughed from the hallway).

I love your beautiful smile, inquisitive nature, how you love to dance and sing, your shyness (just like mommy), the sound of your laughter, your love of books (again just like mommy), your humour (even if it is usually related to potty jokes). I even love that you like star trek and Dr. Who just like you Daddy. I love that you would rather play cars than dolls, colour or read books instead of playing with toys.

I know you are going through some big changes right now and as you say "it's hard being a big sister". I just want you to know how much we love you and how happy we are that you are our daughter.
Somehow I became the mother to this child, it amazes me every day.

EDIT:posting this the night before, no time tomorrow. We have special food to make, cake to eat. It's a tradition in my family to let the child choose what meal they want for their special day (my parent's still like to celebrate my day, even though they adopted me 35 years ago and we don't even live in the same town anymore).

Also, the baby picture is of Avery on her first night with us in China.

Poor kid, sick of Doctors already

Saw the pediatrician today. Brennyn started screaming as soon as the secretary/nurse tried to measure her. It brought back bad memories! Last week Brennyn had to have a sore drained, it took me, the doctor and a nurse to hold her legs down. I don't think Brennyn is going to forget that experience for a long time.

The good news is that she doesn't need to see the ped. again. He feels confident that Brennyn is healthy enough to stick with our family doctor (except for the plastic surgery, but he has nothing to do with that anyway). Speaking of family doctor, I am very impressed with mine. She just called me at 8:30 pm from her clinic. I was surprised to say the least.

Anyway, Brennyn does score high for height on the North American charts. Don't know why I was surprised, she is almost as tall as Avery (of course, Avery is barely on the charts for height, but I digress).

Speaking of Avery, let's just say that I am happy we don't have to see that Dr. again because I was a tad embarrassed by my eldest daughter's behaviour today. Wow, it was like she was possessed by another child. Usually, she is shy around other people which works in our favour (people think she is really well behaved). Nope, not today, unless running around the room while the doctor is trying to speak to us is your idea of well behaved. Oh, and she also played the bongos with his chair, while he was sitting on it. There may have been a few moments of crying and screaming thrown in as well. Good times!!
Seriously, I think she was jealous that the doctor was only paying attention to Brennyn (just another hunch).

Halloween take two

Avery and Daddy were out for almost 2 hours, and it was freezing! She had the best time and has the biggest bag of candy I have ever seen. I've sampled a few treats just to make sure they were safe.

Also, because I have nothing better to do, I decided to make Halloween sandwiches for lunch. Bat, ghost and pumpkin shapes just make the egg salad taste so much better.

Avery designed her own pumpkin this year (with a little help from Dad). She even scooped out the guts herself and Daddy carved, while I entertained Miss Brennyn.

Yes, I did dress up in a star trek uniform this year. My usual creative Halloween skills seem to have taken a dive this year and 30 minutes before the kids started ringing the door bell this was all I had. It was Blair's idea (I think he wants to blackmail me, so I am beating him to the punch) since it is his star trek stuff. This only makes sense to people who know us, Blair being the rabid fan and me not so much (as in not at all).
I do love this picture though, Brennyn looks like she has some serious 'tude!

We are off to get the H1N1 shots tomorrow, or at least we are going to try. Apparently, there is a shortage right now. I think the whole town may be lining up for their shots tomorrow (it's the first day the vaccination is available here).