Play date

I hooked up with my friend Linda and her daughter, Li En, a week ago. We decided to meet at the Long Beach Aquarium which was a good midpoint destination since we live about an hour and a half from each other. In usual fashion (although you wouldn't know it from the picture) we decided to meet on a Friday. I swear I have no grey cells left in that cavernous brain of mine. Every day camp in the greater Los Angeles area had decided to have a field trip there that day. It was insane. The place was crammed like a can of sardines. I squid you not. When you purchased a ticket they gave you an appointment time for later on in the day to try and pace the ebb and flow out of the aquarium.


Of course, we disregarded the appointment time and dove right in and, once there, Makena wanted to go left and Li En wanted to go right. One wanted to see the jelly fish inside, the other, the sharks outside. I had brought along, Daisy, one of Makena's older friends because it just wasn't going to be a challenge to lose one child in a crowd. Why not go for two? Heck, three! Thankfully, seasoned from my Asia trip, I didn't lose too much sleep when I momentarily lost sight of my girls. Linda was more stressed about it so I knew she would make up for my slack. I also took out my pen and tattooed the three girls with my cell phone number on their forearms... just in case.

Li En and Makena were both from the Qianjiang SWI, both born a week apart. They were the same height, had the same skin tone and hair coloring and the same energy level - although Li En was a better listener by far and had not learned how to do a fake smile. Other than that, the girls hit it off famously and had a great day together. Linda did mention at the end that we should meet in a park next time.

A relaxed play date. What a concept.

Is - a - considering it.

Alaska

Jack's come a long way since he first cast and (promptly lost) his Scoobydoo reel in Big Bear Lake when he was two. EM took his eleven year-old on a five day salmon fishing adventure to Prince of Wales Island in Southeastern Alaska. Jack did his own casting and reeled in his own fish and loved loved every minute of his time spent there. Even though Jack and EM were fishing the waters ten hours a day, Jack still couldn't get enough. The boat would come in and Jack would hop off, grab another reel, and fish off the dock until the mosquitos became too bloodthirsty.


For those in the know, fishing is more than catching fish. Fishing is mostly waiting (without getting bored). It requires patience and that, in turn, fuels meditation or introspection and leaves you open for profound conversations. Jack never once complained about the time he spent waiting for his hook to lure a catch.


Jack became a true fisherman on this vacation. Mostly though, he spent amazing quality time with his dad that the two won't soon forget.

Isabelle

Here we go again

I got woken up by Makena's crying around six thirty in the morning. I went into her room to check on her and she was boiling hot - the kind of heat coming off her body that sent me into a quiet panic. I knew at this point that she was a ticking time bomb. She wasn't even warm when I put her to bed the night before. How could this happen? I quickly rushed to the kitchen and poured her a glass of juice. I scrambled to get a dose of tylenol and then returned to the room to try and coax her to drink either to bring her temperature down. Every attempt was met with screeching and tears.

(EM and Jack had taken off the day before for Alaska and my nephews were asleep at the other end of the house. I would be taking them to the airport for their flight home in a couple of hours.)

Before I could strip her down to cool her off, the nightmare I had lived through two years ago replayed itself. She suddenly jerked back stiffly in my arms and started to shake violently. Her eyes rolled back. She was having a febrile seizure. I watched this happen with surprising detachment. I think that my heart rate probably dropped to thirty beats per minute as I went into robo-mom mode. I remember hesitating between walking into the shower in the master or heading for the bathtub in her bathroom.
I opted for the latter.

I carried her jerking body and sat us both in her tub. I turned the cold water on and proceeded to splash her feet and then I let the water run up her legs and stomach. I drenched her as she jerked away. I was fully clothed and soaking wet holding her for I don't know how long. Probably only a minute which seemed like an eternity. I kept replaying the mantra my pediatrician had told me the last time this happened which was if the seizure lasts less than two minutes: Don't call 911.

The seizure stopped. I wiped the foam off her mouth and then I crawled out of the bath and laid her on the floor and proceeded to soak a bath towel and covered her with it. I then grabbed a hand towel, soaked it with cold water and placed it over her head and forehead. It was hard. Her eyes were staring straight ahead, nonreactive. I knew she was breathing. Her lips weren't blue. I called the pediatrician's office and left word with the operator that I was having an emergency.
I called,Wendy, my neighbor - who told me to call 911. By the time Wendy was in my house, Makena's doctor had called me back and was telling me to bring her into the office to check her out.

I handed Makena - still unresponsive and soaking wet - to Wendy and rushed to get dressed and grab clothes for Makena, when I realized that my two nephews were still here and asleep and supposed to leave for the airport in a couple of hours.

I grabbed their passports and ran into their room to wake them up and tell them as matter-of-factly as I could what had happened. Poor guys. What a way to end their stay with me. I handed them their passports, told them to make sure all their bags were packed and that I would let them know in an hour or so if they would have to take a taxi to the airport or if I could get a friend to drive them.

They walked me out and said goodbye to Makena and then Wendy drove me to the office. We didn't bother putting her in the car seat. I just held her in the back of the car as she slowly came to. On the way there, I called my other good friend, Debby, and asked her if she had the time to drive my nephews to the airport. She didn't hesitate and quickly told me that she could.

When we arrived at the pediatrician's, the staff was waiting for us and quickly directed us to a room and measured her vital signs. By then, Makena was cognisant, annoyed she was wet, fever less and seriously unhappy. Hurray, her fighting spirit was back.

Our doctor reassured me that she was going to be fine. Strep, ear infections and swine flu were ruled out. I was instructed to alternate between overlapping doses of Motrin and Tylenol for the next 48 hours to stop the fever from reoccurring. I was reminded that her febrile seizure did not cause her any brain damage and to call the office if I had any concerns or if she started to vomit. Nice.

On the way home, I called Debby who was driving the boys to catch their flight and told them that their cousin was okay and to have a safe trip home.

I debated whether to e-mail EM and Jack what had happened and decided to do so on the way home when I knew that we were in the clear. There was virtually no cell reception where they were staying at the fishing lodge - except for one spot by the end of the dock. I texted them to tell them what had happened, figuring that they had left to fish for the day and would get the message in the evening when they returned. And, of course, EM go the message within minutes of me sending it, because they hadn't left when I thought they would. He was naturally freaked out and ready to come home so I had to reassure him that his daughter was okay, that I could handle it and not to hop on three planes to get home and to go out and catch lots of fish.

I spent the weekend in pajamas with Makena letting her drink "spicy apple juice" - which is what she calls Sprite. We played with puzzles, read books, took our medicine, napped and recuperated. It was a very mellow 48 hours for a change.

My friends have all asked me how I stayed so calm through all this. I don't know. Since it was obviously different this time because it had happened once before and I knew what was in store, I went through the motions. As it was happening, I did keep telling myself to remain positive. It was stressful, sure but I didn't cry.

I have had several conversations with Makena's doctor over the lat two years about the reoccurrence of a fever induced seizure and he has coached me to resist sending her to the ER because of all the invasive procedures they do. The first time it happened we spent a day in the ER - as they botched her i.v., ran cat scans and drew blood and urine - mostly to rule out abuse. It was a horrible and traumatic experience for Makena, much more so than the seizure itself. They took one look at the Mongolian spots (birthmark) she has on her back and assumed that the seizure had happened because we were abusing her somehow. Not fun to be put on the defensive when you don't know what has happened to your child.

Now I do, but were this to happen again (which it most likely will as she won't be free of these until she is about five or six) and I wasn't around and the sitter or my friends freaked out, then obviously I would expect them to call 911.



I need a vacation. Wait. I just came back from one.

Is - hanging in there.

Testosterone

Although my children slept most of the return flight home and we sailed through customs and our bag was not lost, I was exhausted. (I give myself a golf clap for traveling to Asia and packing three people's worth of clothes for fourteen days into one suitcase that did not exceed fifty pounds!) Nevertheless, my little adventure justifiably left me drained from jet lag and, prior to that, pounding the pavement visiting four countries with temperamental companions. All this tempered by the constant fear that I might lose one of them along the way.

So, yeah, reentry was brutal. The coup de grace being the synchronised arrival of my teenage nephews for their annual two week visit with me ON THE SAME DAY I RETURNED HOME. Masochistic, is the word that comes to mind. The only thing I did right (other than opening the door to let them in) was to have a car pick them up at the airport because there was no way in hell that I was going to return to LAX to pick them up six hours after setting foot in my house. Thank God they were now too old to be "Unaccompanied Minors." And since El Mysterioso was already at the lake house, I was still technically single-parenting and now I had two more individuals to add to the mix.

Two cute, tall, skinny teens greeted me with a grunt and a slap on the shoulder and proceeded to raid the pantry for something to eat. I returned to bed.


I vaguely remember the fourth of July. When the fog lifted and I regained my bearings, we had joined EM in the mountains and Jack and my nephews had their posteriors embedded in the couch with the remote control fused to their hands. Makena used them as her personal jungle gym and they were happy to entertain her which was quite gratifying to see. I went back to bed.

What is it with teens? Is it the advent of facial hair or the adjustment to testosterone that turns once sweet, curious little boys into mini cavemen with monosyllabic responses to questions making conversations a thing of the past? EM thought two aliens had descended upon us and kidnapped Jack who was so happy to surrender himself to them for their teenager boot camp.


Trying to get them to pose for a picture was impossible. Their radar was on full alert and anytime I pulled the camera out, they would bolt or hide. I seriously had to pretend to be looking at something on my phone to capture their images surreptitiously. A yeti would be easier to photograph.


Seriously, their two week visit with us is always the highlight of Jack's summer, he loves them so much.

Regardless of our minor communication issues we love having them around and for all their quirks, they are always happy to play with their youngest cousin or attempt to beat me at ping pong. (Never going to happen!)

Is - ugh - belle

Food for thought

One of the highlights of our Asian adventure was when we stumbled upon a fish spa outside the zoo. Jack had essentially spent the last three years since our adoption trip fantasizing about the hour and a half foot massage he had been privy to in Beijing, pre Makena (seen here, below) and I believe that part of his eagerness to visit Singapore was colored by the thought of getting his feet massaged.



But nothing could really prepare him for this new aquatic sensory experience: dunking his feet in a tub filled with "doctor fish" who took it upon themselves to eat the dead skin off his feet! We all tried it. And once we got over the tickling and surrendered to the pulsing sensation a hundred-plus fish created while nibbling at us, it was actually quite soothing and relaxing - even though it was weird and wild. It didn't hurt. No blood was drawn and no fish were harmed (that I know of). Jack would have stayed a whole hour - had the session not only lasted ten minutes. The dunk was immediately followed by a half hour foot massage which eventually sated his appetite but my boy was hooked on fish spas.


And thus every outing we set upon after that, for the remainder of our stay in Singapore, was always colored with his longing (okay, whining) about finding another fish spa to go to.

Jack was near tears when this field trip did not materialize and I promised that we would try and locate one in Hong Kong and go there, time permitting. I did eventually locate one in Kowloon but it was much too far away from where we were to go hunt it down. It wasn't until we started talking about his obsession with Kenwyn and Doug that we discovered that they had been to one in Macau. This revelation cemented our resolve to visit the country. I really did not want to return home to the U.S. without making this happen and they were kind enough to watch Makena for me while I took Jack and Esme to have our feet doctored.

I swear, if this had not happened, he would still be talking about it and airing his disappointment. I eventually found out that there is a fish spa in Las Vegas and one somewhere in Ohio but I have kept this information to myself.

Food for thought.

Isabelle

Fake smiles

Imagine my delight when I was able to get Makena and Amelie to look in my direction and smile.

I quickly realized that they were both fake smiling.

They dropped all artifice once we handed them the candy.


Nevertheless, the girls still have a thing or two to learn from the master fake smiler. (Pictured here as we waited to board the flight home to Los Angeles.)

Is - onto them.

Macau

What can I say about the Las Vegas of Asia? Not too much other than "Have children, will travel." We decided to hop over to Macau with Kenwyn and the girls (Doug joined us in the evening) to spend the night at the Westin Hotel which was away from the gambling and had a lovely pool. The expedition involved taking a one hour ferry ride over, getting our passports stamped and hopping on a shuttle to the resort. It was a bit of surreal deja vu driving past the strip of Casinos vying for our attention. Of course, I didn't take any pictures of said establishments. You will just have to take my word for it.


Makena napped the whole way over which made for a relaxing trip and some quality time with Jack.


Moms on the go.


The shuttle was exciting because there were no seat belts.


The kids probably spent about four to six hours at the pool. What a surprise.


I snapped this street corner scene after we left restaurant Litoral - touted the best culinary experience in all of Macau. Delicious Portuguese cuisine.

Exploring...


This was a bus stop outside another great restaurant Doug uncovered for us. It was called Fernando's and the wait to get in was worth it. We dined on sea food and stuffed ourselves silly in hundred degree weather.

Then we ran back to the hotel, grabbed a shuttle and returned to the port to hop on the ferry back to Hong Kong. All went well until Makena had a tantrum of seismic proportions upon arrival which led me to hail our own taxi back to the apartment. Jack, in classic form, rode in Amelie's cab to avoid being associated with me. His sense of preservation is quite well tuned. Frankly, I would have done the same.

What an adventure.

Is- still standing.

Hong Kong

I can't tell you how exciting it is to ride an Airbus 330 through typhoon weather on our way to Hong Kong. I'll just say that it was a bumpy ride. Makena cooperated and kept her seatbelt on and held my hand throughout the turbulence. The plane was full of people wearing masks - a constant reminder about the spread of swine flu across Asia. Not fun. Regardless, we landed safely and were greeted by sweltering humidity and more stormy weather to which my hair responded accordingly.


The second part of this adventure was to reunite with our Seattle friends who were now living in HK for the next two years. They were part of our adoption group and we met and befriended them when they were in China adopting their daughter Amelie (Esme's little sister).


Amelie and Jack hit it off right away which meant that Makena had to keep a close eye on the two as her sense of proprietorship kicked into full gear. Poor Amelie became a little frazzled observing Makena claim all of her toys as hers. We kept telling Amelie to ignore what Makena was saying and that worked for a bit. I also came to a very expensive realization while we were in Hong Kong which was that my children don't travel the world with the intent of actually seeing it (okay, Mak is three and has no say.)They put up with the travel to swim in new pools.


The kids were wiped out from the time spent in Singapore and by the time we landed in the apartment and getting them to leave this toy-filled sanctuary was quite trying. The constant rains and the allure of the Wii didn't help matters either. Esme and Jack bonded over some serious Wii tennis matches. Heaven.

So, Alas, I did not see much of the city but in all reality, I was wiped out too and glad to catch up on my reading. I did read a few tour guides therefore I knew what I was missing and I did escape with Doug and Kenwyn at night to have grownup dinners and walk around in the rain. I was taken to a few extraordinary restaurants and tried Manchurian and Nepalese food for the first time. Both cuisines made deliciously delectable use of potatoes. I still think about the potato and eggplant dish I had that will lure me back to that Manchurian restaurant when I set foot in Hong Kong again. Yum!


I did end up having to take Jack to the doctor a couple of days after we arrived because he was complaining of stomach ailments (and to rule out Swine flu at his insistence.) We tried to figure out if it was the sushi dinner our last night in Singapore or the malaysian curry lunch the day before that did it. His culinary curiosity may have gotten to him after all.

We found our way to a very large practice full of ailing foreigners. We were seen very quickly and Jack was given something for the cramps and told to eat white rice for the next few days, which did not go over very well. He was also told that he did not have Swine flu, which did go over well.

Although we took a cab to the doctor's office, we walked home and rode the longest escalator in the world, up the the hill, to the mid-levels where our friends lived. Jack experienced a feel for the city without walking too much. There were store fronts, cross streets and alley ways crisscrossing under the escalator that were bustling with businesses, shops and restaurants full of people. I was dying to explore them but knew I was pushing my luck so I could only study them from afar. Jack only tolerated the field trip home because I promised to get him back to the pool while the sun was still out.

I snapped this sign along the way. Hilarious.


Is - in Hong Kong

Sealed with a kiss

I had to embarrass myself by volunteering to throw a frisbee at a sea lion and have him catch it. I raised my hand and promised the MC that this was my sport. I stood up in front of a large audience, told everyone my name and where I was from and then was handed the plastic disc. For a brief moment I flashed on my friend J (this is actually how you spell his name) who is an extreme frisbee player and tried to channel him as I took aim and failed, over and over and over. I could hear Jack groaning as the sea lion made every attempt to reach it and missed. Ugh. He finally caught it and splashed me as he belly flopped into the tank. Whatever. My failure still won me first place in line to get my picture taken with the animal so I quickly grabbed Makena and led her up to the podium as Jack took off in the opposite direction distancing himself from me. I hate lines so bruising my ego was definitely worth it.


The zoo offered elephant rides so we had to try that. We also fed giraffes. Ran twenty miles chasing after Makena...

Singapore was all about close encounters with animals as well as hand sanitizer. I went through an entire bottle the week as I was there. I would pop the bottle out and squirt away. Makena and Jack never turned it down.

The snake charmer's business was dead until we paid him to have Jack's picture taken with his boas. A crowd gathered around us as I snapped my pictures and then a few other tourists did the same. I sent Jack to the bathrooms to wash up after that. I didn't have enough antibacterial on me and snake pee is really smelly.

We really enjoyed ourselves in Singapore.

Is - sad to be leaving

Singapore

The last straw was walking past the health monitors positioned at passport control who had pointed temperature readers at us to get our body heat readings. Thankfully, we were just hot looking. Swine flu was as big deal here and they weren't messing around since most of the recent cases had been brought courtesy of visitors from the United States and Mexico.

Anyway, by the time we crawled out of the baggage terminal and were greeted by Dominique, it had taken us twenty-nine hours to get to Singapore. The kids were well behaved if not a wee bit smelly and sticky.


Mak and Jack passed out the minute we reached the condo so Do and I caught up and created an attack plan to entertain them for the next seven days. Although I was disappointed that Do's husband was stuck working in Australia, it was probably for the best. He wouldn't have to suffer our jet-lagged three AM awakenings and Dominique wouldn't have to feel torn about giving us all of her attention. He wasn't there! We had her al to ourselves.


Sunday was spent by the pool getting used to the 100 degree weather and ridiculous humidity and then walking through an Indian neighborhood and checking out Mustafa's: The most insane six story shopping plaza/fire trap that sold everything from Reebok shoes in the basement to electronics, medicine and freshly slaughtered goat meat on the third floor. The aisles were narrow. The place was overcrowded. You had to turn sideways to get passed people and the stroller didn't fit down most aisles. The only saving grace was that Makena had fallen asleep so I didn't have to worry about losing her. That would come later. I made it out of there with rice milk and a box of frosted flakes cereal.


Day two was spent at the Singapore zoo. The most grand, clean and beautiful zoo I have ever set foot in. The white tiger exhibit was something to behold. All the animals were active and not pacing like I often see in most other zoos. Do and I lost five pounds chasing after Makena all day because she wouldn't wait for us and kept running ahead. If that wasn't enough, after a full day at the zoo, we decided to cap it off with a visit to the night zoo to see nocturnal animals in action and to eat an amazing (zoo purchased) dinner of Laksa (a spicy coconut, noodle, seafood dish). The day was repleet with stops at spotless restrooms where I would cool Makena off by pouring water on her. Seriously, Singaporeans know how to keep public facilities clean.


Of course, none of my photographs correspond to any of the places I have mentioned because I forgot the battery to my camera. Do has promised to send me the ones she took and I am still trying to figure out how to get the ones Jack took with his phone onto this blog. These will have to do for now.

More adventures to come.

Is-loving Singapore.

Far and away

Ok, so Jack graduated from fifth grade and I decided that I would mark the occasion by going away on a special trip to Singapore because Dominique now lived there and because we had an open invitation to go visit her. The trip was meant to be for just Jack and me and to last ten days but... as the planning began and after talking to EM about his schedule, and to Makena's teachers, everyone recommended that I not leave her for that long. It was better to go away for a bit longer and take her and deal with jet lag than leave her at home without me.

So the planning shifted to two weeks and we added a stop-over in Hong Kong because friends from our adoption group had recently moved there and had also extended an invitation to us to visit.

Our savvy travel agent booked tickets to Singapore via a layover in Taiwan and then flew us from Singapore to Hong Kong. The most difficult part of the trip for me was going to be the ten hour layover in Taipei after a fifteen hour flight. I've done some daring travel in my life but schlepping my volatile daughter halfway across the world with her brother BY MYSELF takes the cake. I did lose a few nights sleep in anticipation but then calmed a bit when I decided to hire a guide to pick us up at the airport, show us around, and return us in time for our flight. Mostly to make sure that I didn't lose my children because I passed out in the back of his car.

EM and I decided to have a party for Jack's class on Thursday the day before we were to leave. My flight was at one on Friday and I figured that I would pack after the party. I sent e-vites out to thirty students, other friends and their parents. I ordered the Margarita and snow cone machines and pizza. I cleaned the house and then I got a call from my travel agent to go over the details of the layover in Taiwan.

Thank God she called because if she hadn't I would have missed the flight. I was right in thinking that I was leaving at one on Friday. But wrong in thinking that it was 1PM. The flight was at 1AM!!! This meant that I actually had to leave for the airport on Thursday. So in classic Isabelle fashion, I decided to leave for the airport from our own party (and have EM clean up on his own). The party was held. Everyone came to celebrate and to laugh at me and ask me if I was packed. (I wasn't.) The party was supposed to be from 1 to 6 (giving me four hours to get my act together before having to leave). Of course nothing ever goes as planned and our guests partied until the last ones left around 8:30PM. I dashed around the house gathering the list of items I needed to bring... making sure I had the Benadryl and the DVD player... grabbing cameras bathing suits and Advil.

I surveyed my haul: One rolling suitcase (for the three of us for two weeks). One rolling carry-on. One stroller. One backpack and one tote. EM was impressed by my packing. My goal was to do laundry at my friends' and be able to move around the airport without Jack's help in case he was too exhausted.

The first seven hours of the flight went well because Makena slept. Then she woke up and tolerated the flight for another two hours until she decided that she wanted off the plane. The rest is a blurr. I do remember her screaming and crying so hard and for so long that she didn't want to wear the seatbelt as the plane began its descent into Taiwan and also that a flight attendant finally came up to me a minute before we landed and told me that they would not "see" me if I chose to hold her on my lap. So I did and Makena stopped her tantrum. Those Margaritas were beating drums inside my head.

Thankfully our guide was waiting for us when we cleared customs and took us around town for some sightseeing.


A stop at a Buddhist temple (to pray for a smooth layover and for a smooth flight to Singapore).


Chiang Kai-shek memorial park.


Makena phoning home.


The panda exhibit at the Taiwan zoo...


Making the best of it in 105 - high humidity heat.

Lunch at Taiwan 101 - currently the world's tallest building and then off to the airport for the flight to Singapore...

(To be continued)

Is-far and away

PS: All these pictures were taken with my Iphone because in my rush to get out of the house I took my camera but forgot to take the battery that was left in the charger.

The million dollar question

A writing contest was held by our town's Women's League for all the fifth graders from every school.

The question they asked was "What would you do with a million dollars if you couldn't keep it for yourself?"

This is what Jack wrote:

If I had a million dollars but I couldn't keep it, I would give it to the orphanage in China where my sister is from.

You see in 2005, my family had all made the decision to adopt a baby girl from China. So in August of 2006, my family including me went to go get her. When we finally got to the orphanage, there were at least twenty babies, but most of them had unsatisfying pasts.

When we found one of the foster moms, we had asked her "Is there anything we need to know about her?"

I remember she had said some pretty thoughtful things about her. But what I truly remember her saying was... "Your daughter was left at a gas station."

Those words broke all of our hearts and it shouldn't break anyone else's. That's why I would give my million dollars to the orphanage. Half of the million they could use to track and pay the families to repay them for giving up one of their kids.

Also with the other half of the money they can use it to buy products because another thing that I remember was that most of the kids didn't have any toys. They were either sitting down or held by one of their foster moms. So in conclusion, If I had a million dollars there could be a change in China. Making all children and parents happy.


Jack won first place for his class and a check for $150 to go along with it. I never saw what he wrote until the ceremony when he was invited to lunch and to read his essay. Needless to say I was a blubbering tearful fool when he was done.

I was also struck by what he remembered of the day we got Makena when he was newly eight and how it left such an emotional impression on him and not just because he was being asked to open his heart into welcoming a new sister. Jack is and remains a very emotional and empathetic child who really feels things deeply. This essay contest was a great opportunity for him to channel some of his thoughts and for us to talk about it further.

I asked him what he would do with the money and after careful deliberation he decided to donate it to help Makena's orphanage. Either by way of a tuition to help a child with his or her studies or to buy milk for the babies.

EM and the family and I are so proud of him.

We love you, Jack.

Isabelle
PS: For clarification, we never made it to the orphanage. We received Makena in a government office and the foster moms were in fact the SWI nannies. When I asked him about paying the parents, what he really meant was that he would give them the money so that they wouldn't have to give up their children for not being able to afford to keep them.

RIP

I'd like to think that Jerry had a good life. He was loving and patient and got along famously with Tiger. He let Makena hold him whenever she caught him. He followed me around and would lie on my lap when I wrote. He slept with Jack and he even had EM wrapped around his finger. He was a prolific hunter and brought us offerings of lizards and birds...

We loved Jerry and we miss him.

Isabelle

Okay

Yeah, it's been a while. I won't start to post about where I actually am right now, only to tell you that it's far away.


Makena did get potty trained. It took two good weeks and a lot of sanitizer but she got on with the program and cooperated even though she wasn't happy about it. During this time I discovered that she hates the flushing sound most public bathrooms make so I have her block her ears or have her leave the bathroom before I flush and that seems to work. I noticed that around the time this training started that she curiously began to line things up around the house and especially in her room. Pillows and her toy ponies seem to be the favorite thing to order.


But the most monumental change for us has been having her sleep through the night most of the week.

I had Makena re-tested for allergies and food intolerances. Seafood is to be avoided at all times but we also found out that she is intolerant of wheat, dairy, citrus, chocolate and tomatoes. Within three days of cutting dairy and wheat out, her perpetual runny nose stopped flowing and the waking up in the middle of the night ceased.

The doctor suspected that because she had a high tolerance for pain that she could manage any indigestion she had during the day but when night came, and she slept, her guard went down so the indigestion might have caused her to cry out and wake her up.

Pizza occasionally slips by us and chocolate is also difficult to avoid but for the most part we try to keep her off the no-no foods and she is good. Uninterrupted sleep for the first time in almost three years has done wonders for my sense of humor too.

The final count of bunnies I had to find homes for was sixteen. The last four were given away the day before we left.

Is- okay