Friday, March 27, 2009

It could have been worse.....

A Lot Worse! Trust me, it was bad, but it could have been worse.

Ryan left Friday night to go to the states for 2 weeks, and Saturday morning I had to drive my sister back to the base so she could return to Iraq. Already Saturday was going to be a sad day for me, but I had no idea how bad this week was going to get. We had to leave the house Saturday morning by 6am to get Brooke back in time (it is about a 45 min drive), so I just took the kids right out of bed and put them straight into the car PJs and all. About 2 minutes before we got to the gate Alayna begins to puke everywhere! Good news is that I had an extra set of clothes in the car so I was able to change her clothes and clean the carseat the best I could. We said a tearful goodbye to Auntie Brooke and then headed back home. At this point I was hopeful that it was just a little car sickness. As you probably guessed, it was not.

Now for the next few days she was pretty sick...not eating much and vomiting whenever her stomach got full. By Monday afternoon I was getting concerned because she had not done anything but sit on the couch all day and sleep A LOT. By Tuesday morning she was really not doing well and very lethargic so I brought her in to our Health Unit at the US Embassy. They tested her blood sugar and urine and said she was getting close to needing to go into the hospital for IV fluids. Since Ryan was not here, I REALLY wanted to avoid the hospital if I could. (Which by the way I don't even know how to get to) They said to take her home and let her eat or drink whatever she wanted in order to get her counts up and come back to see them at 4pm. Alayna wanted a smoothie and the nurse said to let her have it. Lets just say I don't want a strawberry smoothie anytime soon. We went back at 4pm and she was perkier and her counts were slightly up so they said to go home and to come back in the morning for them to check again. Oh, and they put her on an antibiotic. (This becomes important later)

At about 6:30pm things took a turn for the worse. The only way to say it is that the poor little girl literally exploded. Simultaneous - violent, vomiting and diarrhea. It was traumatic. After that she had the whole sunken dark eyes thing happening, and I knew we needed to go to the hospital. Calvin was already in bed sleeping at this point. Lorna and I got Alayna and the mess cleaned up and then I called the Health Unit to let them know I was going to be heading to the hospital with her. They informed me to be prepared to be admitted for an overnight stay since it was late in the day.

Here is where things could have been a lot worse. Now remember, I don't know where the hospital is, it's dark outside, I am in a foreign country and I have another child asleep who will need to get to school in the morning, oh yeah, and my husband isn't here! Why do these things always happen when the husbands are gone? What if I had nobody, no support network, no live-in maid? NIGHTMARE!

But guess what? I do have a support network here! I am so blessed that I even have a live-in maid who can sleep in the house and get Calvin ready for school in the morning. And I have Anita who volunteered to take Calvin to school and pick him up for me the next day. And Marcelle who offered to let me follow her to the hospital and stay with me till we got settled. And Hanneke who was already at the hospital with her little one and who checked on us several times while we were there. And even more friends who were in contact with me all day checking in on us and offering to do anything they could to help. Thank God for friends; it really does take a village. (At least it does when you don't live near your family)

Now did I mention it was BAD...really bad? Yeah Alayna did NOT do well at the hospital. The poor girl was overtired, not feeling well and not happy. By time we got to a hospital bed it was 8:30pm (way passed her bed time).
From 20090327

The good news was they were not going to admit us overnight, but just give her 2hours of IV Fluids and then send us home. They first tried to put the IV in her right hand, but the needle bent and blew her vein. Ouch! Now they had to put the IV in her left hand, and this presents a problem because Alayna sucks her left thumb.
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Alayna was really pretty brave while getting the IV and only screamed when they messed up the first time. But after they got the IV in, she pretty much lost it. I am not exaggerating when I say that for an hour and a half she screamed, "I wanna go home! I wanna go home!" It was her mantra and she was not to be swayed. I tried everything I could to calm her down, but whenever I did she would scream at me "Don't touch me!" and then it would be right back to her mantra. They even gave her a drug in her IV to help her sleep and even that didn't work. It was an awful feeling to see my daughter in such distress and not be able to help her. Eventually she did fall asleep, just in time to be discharged. We got home fine, but she was still up several times during the night with diarrhea. It was a long night and we were both exhausted.

The next day she really turned around and it seemed the antibiotics were kicking in and she was up playing and smiling by the afternoon. Then around bedtime I noticed she had a rash on her face, arms and legs. After conferring with the Embassy nurses I gave her some benadryl and put her to bed. The next morning (Thursday) she woke up in full-blown hives.
From 20090327

Her eyes were even swollen. Poor girl just couldn't catch a break. The picture doesn't really do it justice at all. It was not good. Back to the Health Unit again to discover that she was most likely having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic she was on. We now have her on a new antibiotic and she is doing much better. It actually took till this afternoon for the hives to go away.

How are we now?
Alayna is feeling great and back to being her normal happy self.
Mommy is exhausted, but very thankful for all the help and support from our friends here. Like I said it could have been worse.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Joy of Family

The hardest part of being so far from home is the seperation from your family. Then this week my sister was able to visit us! She is currently deployed to Iraq, but she was able to convice a lot of Colonels and a General to let her come stay with us for a few days! It was so amazing to have family here in our home and to see our life here. The kids were beyond excited to see their Auntie Brooke, and Alayna literally didn't stop talking and bouncing for at least the first 30 minutes that Auntie was here.
From 2009-03-22

Auntie got here on Wednesday morning and we really spent most of that day at home just hanging out. Alayna barely let Auntie out of her sight the whole day.
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We played some baseball.
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I think Auntie should stick to pitching :) (note the ball at the bottom of the pic)
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We also had a blast playing with the Wii. Brooke and I did Dance Dance Revolution one night and some bowling, but the game we all played the most was MarioKart.
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Are you noticing a pattern here with Alayna attached to Auntie??

Calvin did get some Auntie time as well. Playing lightsabers with Auntie was his favorite part of the day. (Aunties too I think!)
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On Thursday we took the kids to school and both kids really enjoyed showing off their schools to Auntie. After we dropped off the kids, Brooke and I met my friend Nena at a Starbucks to have a coffee and a chat.
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After our coffee we did a little shopping and then it was time for lunch. Brooke wanted Sushi so that is what she got!
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Thursday was a really busy day! After we picked up both kids and got them home Brooke was able to take a quick nap while I got a few things together for our playdate that afternoon. I had invited my friends Sarah and Marcelle to come over with their children to hang out and meet my sister. We had such a nice time with them and the kids rode their bikes and scooters outside and had a ball. I was so happy that Brooke was able to meet some of my friends here.
From 2009-03-22


On Friday we went to the pool/beach, and Calvin and Alayna fought over Auntie the whole time! Calvin is at that age now where it is a constant chatter of "Watch me, watch me, are you watching?" He is so proud of his bravery in the water. Brooke and I just laughed remembering how many summers our Mom had to listen to us saying those very words. We had so much fun at the pool that I never even took the camera out, but I did get a picture at the beach.
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What a blessing this week was!
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Is there anything better than hanging out with your sister? It was like a dream having her here and I miss her already. Thanks for coming sis!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

A Day at The Beach

Or make that Two Days at The Beach!
From 20090315

The first was on Thursday. We didn't have school so my friends Nena and Edna and I decided to meet with the families for a picnic at the beach. It was a holiday so their husbands were able to come, but Ryan had to work.

The kids had a blast playing in the sand.
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Here are all the kids with Nena's maid Layla.
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Alayna in her cool glasses!
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Us adults even threw a ball around for a while.
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It was such a nice day spent with wonderful friends! (Me and Nena)
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The second "Day at The Beach" was our Saturday family day. We went to the Radisson SAS where we usually go to the pool and checked out their beach area. It wasn't as nice as we hoped, but the kids had fun. There was a playground to play on so they did that first.
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Then they threw some rocks into the Gulf.
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Then they built some sand castles.
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After they had enough of the sand we went to the pool and swam for quite a while. The camera ran out of batteries long before the kids did so no pictures this time.

Life in Kuwait isn't always a 'day at the beach', but this week we were lucky enough to have two of them!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Busy Week

Sorry I haven't blogged in over a week, things have been very busy over here!

We had a couple more dust storms.
From 20090315

That's actually the sun you are seeing in the sky, not the moon!

A couple of dress up days at school.
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The first was a Cinderella theme, and his teacher was one of the evil stepsisters.
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Here's Prince Charming with his Cinderella, otherwise known as Sabine.
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The second was a "Wear Something Funny Day" to raise money for the Comic Relief charity.
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Then we had a couple of birthday parties.
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This one was for my friend Caroline's daughter Sabrina.
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The 2nd party was at Pizza Express and the kids got to make their own Pizzas.
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We also had a couple of dinner's out. The first was for Lebanese food and it was fantastic! We went with my friend Marcelle and her husband Mazen who is Lebanese so he did all the ordering and we just ate till we burst. The second was Date Night; Ryan and I went and had sushi. Very Yummy!

And then there were a couple of days at the beach, but I will leave that for another post. Stay Tuned!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

One Proud Mama!

PROCEED WITH CAUTION!

If you don't want to hear me brag about my kids then please stop reading now!
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Ok, if you are still with me, you get to hear about my wonderful day today!

First, when I picked up Alayna from school her teacher stopped me and told me that they have been working on their number books at school. It seems Alayna is a very clever girl and can identify all her numbers from 1 - 10 and is "way ahead of her peers"! She said she is the smartest little girl in the class and wanted to let me know that she is going to begin working on More than and Less than with Alayna next. I can not tell you how it warms my heart to hear that about Alayna. I am so proud of her!

Later that evening we had Calvin's Parent Teacher Conference. We were the last appointment for the day and I was teasing the teacher that she would soon be done and be able to get home and relax. She said "Well we saved the best for last, Calvin is my Star pupil." They give the children 3 assesments; one math, one phonics, and one reading. It seems Calvin was the ONLY one in the class to get 100% on ALL THREE assesments! YAY! We have always know Calvin was bright, but it is so affirming for that to be confirmed by his teacher.

So in one day I got to hear that both of my children are at the top of their prospective classes! I am bursting with pride!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Goofing Around

You know when you just look at your kids and think, "Man they look so cute right now, I wish I could bottle them up."?
From Goofing around

And then it occurs to you "Hey, maybe I should get my camera?"

Then the impossible happens...You're actually are able to get some pictures that truely capture exactly who they are at that moment in their little lives.

Like this one...
From Goofing around

Check out that ketchup stain on his sleeve! All boy!

And this one of Alayna, I just love the way her hair is blowing into her face.
From Goofing around


Calvin really is a sweetheart, but don't be fooled into thinking he doesn't have his devilish side as well. Just look at those eyes, they are oozing trouble!
From Goofing around

Alayna is such a little actress right now and is always pretending to be a character from whatever movie we watched last. She pretty much will do whatever it takes to be the center of attention. She is my Drama Queen!
From Goofing around

Can you tell?

I am so glad I got some pictures of them just goofing around and being themselves.
From Goofing around

I may not be able to bottle them up, but a digital camera and a blog will do just fine.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Bribery

So maybe it makes us bad parents, but Bribery works in this house and we are not afraid to use it! We started a star chart to encourage the kids to eat all their food at meal times. When the chart was full they were going to get a "special treat". Calvin filled his chart first and Ryan had the perfect treat in mind: Chocolate Malts!
From Bribery

He even let Calvin help clean up!
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It took Alayna another week to earn her "special treat".
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She LOVED it, every last drop!
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Bribery, its a beautiful thing!

Monday, March 2, 2009

The End of an Era???

Today is day one of NO NAP for Calvin. And yes, my 5 yr old was still napping everyday.

So here's the scoop: For about a month now Calvin has been waking up from his afternoon nap VERY crabby, and I have been thinking that it was probably a sign that the nap was on its way out. Then last week we were off of school all week and I was putting him down for his nap about 1 hour earlier than we do on school days. All week he was napping longer and waking up perfectly happy, then yesterday we went back to school and back to the Crabby afternoon Calvin. So today I am attempting a new plan:

Skip the nap and get to bed around 6pm.

Yes I know that is crazy early, but he was going to bed at 7pm with over an hour nap and we HAVE to be up at 6am sharp in order to get to school on time. Basically the only way to get him that extra hour of sleep he needs is to move his bedtime up. And that logistical nightmare is the reason why I haven't attempted this plan earlier. I have actually been avoiding it like the plague to be perfectly honest. We are also planning on letting him nap on weekends or any time we have an event in the evening that will prevent the early bedtime.

So will this be the End of an Era or a plan gone 'tragically wrong'? Stay tuned to find out!