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We had a great time this past weekend.  We celebrated Korean Children’s Day with Benjamin at the Korean Presbyterian Church.  Each year the church sponsors this celebration.  It is really nice because we are able to mingle with other families who have adopted children from Korea.  The Korean members of the church do such a nice job hosting this event.  There’s always some sort of cultural presentation at the beginning of the day.  This year, a Korean Children’s Choir sang several children’s song in Korean.  It was so cute.  Next, there was a mask dance demonstration followed by a Tae Kwon Do demonstration.  Benjamin was fascinated by that!  I can’t wait for him to be old enough to try that.  -  After the opening, there are several activities for the kids ranging from calligraphy, to playing Korean drums, to creating paperdolls wearing traditional Korean dress.  After the activities, the church members treat us to a AWESOME lunch of traditional Korean food.  (Brad and I LOVE this part of the day!!)

Everything was going well until…Brad was holding Benjamin’s hand as they were walking.  Ben decided he was going to sit, and Brad’s immediate reaction was to pull him up.  Well, he heard a little pop, and that’s when Benjamin started to complain his arm hurt.

So a few hours late…We took Benjamin to the emergency room Saturday after lunch.  He kept holding onto his arm and complaining it was hurting.  We wanted to be sure it wasn’t broken.  - They ended up taking x-rays of his wrist because they thought it looked a little swollen.  (I thought it was just baby fat, but what do I know.)  Apparently I knew a little something because it wasn’t broken.  When the doc came in to see him, he and Ally were “fighting” over a chair.  Benjamin used both arms to pull himself up onto the chair.  At that point, the doc was broken (x-rays confirmed that as well).  He diagnosed him with Nurse Maid’s Elbow.  Apparently tendons and ligaments are stronger than bones in younger children.  The bones in his elbow did separate (the reason Brad heard a little pop) and the tendon got caught between the bones.  That was causing the pain.  (This is not an uncommon “injury” in children this age.) Usually the doc pops the elbow to get the tendon to go back where it belongs, but that wasn’t necessary.  Benjamin probably did that himself by pulling himself up onto the chair.  After he’d done that, he was fine.  After an hour visit in the ER (honestly, we were surprised we were in and out that fast) he was happy as a clam, and so were we!

We had a very busy, long week.  Ally is doing well.  She got another IVIG (antibody infusion) yesterday.  The nurses have been taking it slow with the infusion because she had that reaction several weeks ago.  They’ve been keeping her at a rate of 20, but they turned it up to 25 today.  She did just fine, thankfully.  Ms. Tasha was there again, so Ally was able to work on another art project.

Benjamin got a haircut yesterday.  He does really well and sits still, most of the time!  Big news on the Benjamin front…He went poo-poo in the potty.  He’s been telling us when he has to go, so we’ve been putting him on the potty.  He won’t go until we get him off and put his diaper back on.  Well, Brad got him to go in the potty Friday evening!!!  He’ll go tinkle on the potty if we put him on it, but he doesn’t let us know when he has to do that.  Baby steps…maybe he won’t be as difficult to potty train as I thought.  We’ll see!

Well, Ally is officially registered for kindergarten next year.  I can’t believe it!  It was actually kind of weird to do that.  It doesn’t seem like she should be old enough for that, but she is.

We had a great weekend!  Ally had her chemo appointment Saturday morning.  We all went and played while we waited.  They were not busy, so it was nice.  Benjamin got to play with anything he wanted to.  Ms. Tasha, the art therapist, was there.  Ally was sooo excited about that because she LOVES working with Ms. Tasha.  Tahsa took her back to the art room (she went all by herself…such a big girl!) while we waited for her counts to come back.  All was well, so she got her dose of chemo and we were off.

The weather was sooo nice.  We decided before we left for Ally’s appointment that we’d go right to the zoo after we were finished at the docs if Ally was up to it.  The kids were so excited to go!  We brought the wagon and pushed them around (too cute).  We saw all the bears as well as the monkeys.  By that time, both kids were hungry, so we stopped and had lunch outside by the sea lions.   Ally hit a wall after lunch, and Benjamin was getting tired.  We decided to not press our luck and went home.

Later that afternoon, we all went outside to play our our swing set - the first time all year!  Gerry was out with the dogs, so both kids hopped the fence and played with Mac and Maddie.  Benjamin is absolutely adorable with the dogs.  He throws their ball and then chases them around the yard.  They really love him too!  We got lots of cute pics, so be sure to check them out.

Today, we woke up and decided to try to get to the castle playground (a very huge, very nice playground by our house - one of Ally’s favorite places to go).  The kids were so excited to go.  Once we got everyone and everything in the car, it started to sprinkle.  By the time we got to the end of our subdivision, it was pouring down rain.  So, we had to go to plan B.  There is place just a few minutes from our house called Monkey Joe’s.  It is a giant room full of bounce houses and slides.   Trevor and Julia came with us too, thankfully.  We were afraid Ally wouldn’t like it at all.  We knew she’d like the bounce houses, but the noise was another story.  We’re not usually very successful when it comes to bringing Ally to places like this.  We keep trying though.- We got there right as they opened, so they weren’t too crowded.  We were able to let Ally walk around a bit to see if she’d like it.  She wavered a little, but then turned around with the biggest smile on her face and said, “Let’s go, Mommy!  Come on!”  She was raring to go!  Let me just say, the girl had a blast!  What a break-through!  The noise didn’t bother her at all.  She ran around and did ALL the bounce houses!  She even climed the twenty foot slide, several times.  Julia and Trevor were old enough to watch her and help her.  (Adults aren’t allowed in the bounce houses, so we needed them to help us.  We were so glad they were there, and they had a blast too!)  — Benjamin LOVED it.  He ran round and jumped in the smaller houses for the kids three and under.  He he was done, he was done.  He just came and sat with me for a while as we watched Ally run up and down one of the bounce houses.  He was fascinated by the circles sewn into one of the houses.  He kept telling me, “Mommy, look…a circle!”  Ally was worn out, and was getting bounced around bit because it was getting crowded.  She had a mini-meltdown when it was time to go…partly because she was sooo tired, and partly because she didn’t want to go.

It was a weekend full of family fun.  The kids had a blast, and so did we.

Happy Birthday, Brendan!  As I write this, I am thinking of where I was four years ago at this very moment.  I had just given birth to Brendan about an hour and a half ago.  He had just passed away in my arms as he was born with a condition “not compatible with life”.  We loved him and lost him all within an hour and a half.  You can’t begin to imagine what it is like to bury one of your children unless you have actually done it.  The sadness never really goes away; it’s just not all-consuming.

You can’t know how great it feels when someone remembers his birthday.  Yes, on this day four years ago, we suffered the terrible loss of our son, but knowing others still remember means so much to us.  Thanks to all those who wished us well.

We made our annual graveside visit today.  We put the traditional bunch of white tulips on Brendan’s grave, and then walked over to mom’s grave as well.  Ally did the honors this year.  She put the bunch of pink roses right on top of mom’s name.  It was very sweet..and cold.  Ahh, what our world would be if they both were here…

Ally is doing well.  She getting more involved at school.  I know, for those of you who know her, you are probably surprised to read she a bit shy at school.   Well, I think she’s finally beginning to come out of her shell.  She loves Show ‘N Tell.  Last week she brought in some Mardi Gras beads to share with the class.  She was so excited to tell everyone about them; she went around and showed each child the beads “with a big smile on her face” (so said the note from the teacher).  Later that same day, she “got her groove on” during music too!  Let me tell you, the girl can spin in a circle for soooo long without getting dizzy.  It’s crazy!

Benjamin is doing well too.  He talks in full sentences now.  One of his favorite things to do is tattle on Allyson.  He’s always saying, “Mommy, look at Ally!”  He says that when he knows she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing.  - He loves to sing.  Whenever we have on music, he shakea his little hips and sings - even if he doesn’t know the words!  It’s very funny.  - He’s also getting in his two year molars.  His top gums now have bumps on them too.  It usually takes a while for his teeth to come on once them start to appear.  I wish, for his sake, that they would come in quickly.  They really seem to bother him at night. He’s woken up a few times the past week.  Poor baby…

I register Ally for kindergarten this week.  I can’t believe she’s going to be old enough to be in kindergarten next year, but she is.  She’s such a tiny little thing…you’d never guess it.

A stroll down memory lane…(I cut and pasted text from the blog from exactly one year ago. It was interesting to see what was happening back then…and how far we’ve come.)

February 12, 2008

Today was a kind of difficult for us…Allyson absolutely knows when we are headed to the hospital for treatment. She cried this morning when we put on her coat. She knows…

Once we got there, she was all out of sorts. She didn’t want them to do anything to her. She was upset, more so than usual. She let the docs and nurses do what they needed to do, but she was not at all happy about it (can you blame her?) It is always hard for Brad and I to leave her in the hospital room when she’s all drugged up. We have every confidence in everyone there, but there is just something about leaving your baby in such a vulnerable position. - Once she woke up from her procedures, she ate LOTS of spaghetti, and we were on our way home. –(Some things never change…We were in the hospital February 12, 2009. Spaghetti was the request of the day after her treatment!! Imagine that! One thing that has changed…no fear! She is not afraid when we take her into the hospital for her spinal taps.)

February 13, 2008 Ok, at some point we would just like to have no luck at all. Why do I say this? Well, because of all things to have happen…Benjamin has RSV. — (No comment on 2009…I don’t want to jinx anything!)