I think Binh may be able to go back tomorrow, though he has a cough and a somewhat runny nose, but Ava took a little nap this afternoon and seemed pretty warm when I woke her up. She’s also really pale, which is so sad because she has her daddy’s fair skin anyway. So now she’s more like translucent! tee-hee.

I hate missing school. I feel like I’m playing hooky or something, but I also don’t want to send my kids back to school too soon and possibly infect others. What do the rest of you in the working (outside the home) world do?

I will still post the majority of photo posting and things of that nature on this blog, but if you’d like to be my friend on fb, just let me know. I warn you now, it’s no more exciting over there than it is here!

Guess someone else thought so too. Thanks, Ash.

Ava was diagnosed with a dairy protein intolerance at 6 months old. The poor thing was having terrible diarrhea, but no one (read=doctors) really wanted to listen to me because they thought I was some overly anxious new mom. If you know me, you know I’m not a person that has these types of issues. I’m pretty even, never getting overly worried or excited, in good or bad times. Finally, I showed up at the doctor one morning for open hour and told them I wasn’t going anywhere until they told me what was wrong with my baby. They refered me to a pediatric GI specialist and that’s where we got our diagnosis.

Fast forward 5 years. Ava is better than she used to be, but far from what I would consider normal. She often has stomach cramps and loose stool. Some weeks are better than others. I know dairy still has an effect on her, but I’m not sure to what extent or whether is the dairy protein or lactose. She now has a complete aversion to most dairy.

What was starting to concern me is that I feel like her growth has slowed in the last year. I know that kids’ growth does slow as they get older. I don’t expect her to be growing at the rate she was when she was 2. Ava was always in the 95% or higher for height and weight when she was younger. She’s been falling on that scale since she was about 3.5 years. Again, I don’t expect she would stay in the 95-98% her whole life, but I know some of our friends kids’ have pretty much stayed at the same level as they’ve gotten older. Even someone like Binh, who isn’t even on the scale has his own trajectory that he’s stayed on. Ava has fallen over time to the 50% for weight, and her height is only slightly higher. She seems thin and she’s not exactly the most active kid where she would be burning all these calories.

I took her to a GI specialist here on Wednesday. She confirmed that Ava is thinner than she likes to see for her height. She did an x-ray and ordered blood work and a test for Celiac disease the next day at the hospital. So that’s what we’ve been up to. So far, the x-ray showed she has a lot of stool that isn’t moving (I almost don’t even see how that’s possible, but I saw it for myself), and the test yesterday confirmed that she doesn’t have Celiac. Now, we’re waiting on the blood work and to see what to do next.

So that’s where we are with Ava. She’s happy, smart, and funny as anything, but she has tummy troubles. Pray that we are able to find some resolution for that.

I said I’d try to post some Christmas pictures while I’m off of work. Well, Ava had a Dr’s appointment that morphed into a long string of events that left me with less free time than I expected this week. The doctors had us do some labs at the hospital all day yesterday and today. So far, I know nothing more than when we started this whole thing, except that she does not have Celiac disease. Thank goodness, since pasta and pb&j sandwhiches are some of the only things I can get her to eat! Her blood work should be back in the next few days. Hopefully we’ll know more then.

In the mean time, here are some very quick pictures I took before church on Christmas. There were about 20 other families who also wanted to take pictures at our church’s Christmas tree, so these were literally a few quick snaps.

Hope your family had a Merry Christmas!

I am in the process of giving finals for first semester. My kids had their last day of school before Christmas break yesterday. Ash went to their little Christmas program at school and then to their class parties. He was busy running back and forth between the kids’ classrooms. I had to give finals until 11:25, so we were able to meet for lunch at Cracker Barrel. This first semester of school has been tough for me- lots of planning, paperwork, and all the other regular day-to-day stuff that has to be done. I can’t decide if it will actually be easier next year or if that’s a foolish hope I’m holding on to.

I hope to be able to do some posts while I’m off for Christmas break, which starts Wednesday for me. I also hope I’ll be able to take some pictures. If I’m that blessed, I’ll be sure to post them!

Here are some that I took:

Enjoy, Tutu.

I tried to get Ava to dress in her Ao Dai, but she’s never one to do things the easy way. She told me from the beginning that she wanted to be an “Indian Princess”. I knew there was no fighting her on this one, so I went off to try to find material that might pass for a sari. Here’s what we came up with:

I snapped that one in the car at a stop light on the way to school. We didn’t have time for pictures outside our house before school!

The next one was taken after the chapel stuff, so her clothes we starting to slip off a little:).

I think she’s ready to take Bollywood by storm!

The kids have to go to before-care at school. That has not been a big hit. There were tears from Ava for many many days. Now she just mostly slumps in there and gives me a sad look before I leave. I have to get up at 5:00 am to get the kids to school and me to work by 7:10 am. Once a week (at least), the kids go to after school care. They like that much more because they get to play at the play ground for about and hour and half after school ends.

We also don’t have a lot of time after school or even on the weekends. I have to make lesson plans every weekend, though I’ve become a little more efficient. And, we eat out more than we used to during the week. It seems like we one of us (me or Ash) has some sort of meeting etc. every evening. We have gotten a house cleaner since I went back to work. It was Ash’s idea because he didn’t want me to feel so stressed about all the things I had to get done in my “down time”. He may have been getting fed up with our house in disarray, too! (There really is not down time, it’s just the time I’m not at my school!) It has been a wonderful investment so far. How great is it to come home to a clean house- one that I didn’t invest any time into doing? Ah, yes. A silver lining.

So, it’s been hard. Everyone tells me the first year is the hardest and that it will get better. I’m not sure that makes me feel a lot better! A year is a long time. There have been a few upsides. I have a pool of babysitters now! We’re going to go out to the movies tonight for the first time since I don’t know when. Another plus? Kids at school are starting to come by my room just to say hi or to tell me about something that happened to them during the day. One kid yesterday stopped by after school just to show me his art project he’d worked so hard doing. I bragged on it though I actually know nothing about art. It made me feel good to know he took the time to share it with me, though.

Also yesterday my students filled my board with messages of “I love Mrs. F____” in different languages (They know I love languages). That definitely helps make it worth it…

I started my new teaching job. The kids are great, the other staff is great, but the getting up at 5 in the morning? Not so great. I also have to get the kids up and take them to before care because I have to be there at 7:10am. This whole routine is going to take some getting used to. Also, I have to make spankin’ new lesson plans every week which is really time-consuming. I told one of my co-workers, who is the other new teacher at the school, that I wish it was next year. That way, I would already have all this up front work finished.

Now the part you really care about. The kids had their first day. So far, they are both loving school and doing great. Ava cried the other day when she had to go to before care, which broke my heart, but she really likes kindergarten and her teacher. I was a little worried about how Binh would do around adults he wasn’t used to, but the staff at the school had been “working on him” since last January. The principle and other preschool teachers always made a point to speak to him when I picked up Ava, so he already knew them a little bit on the first day. His teacher told me he is a regular social butterfly, that he talks to her and the other kids. What a huge victory! I had prepared them that Binh may not talk for 6 months since that’s what he did in Mom’s Day Out, but I guess he was just ready to get to school.

Both of my kids seem to be teacher’s “helpers”. Since Ava will not nap at school, she has been the “nap monitor”. The teacher leaves the room during nap time to go make copies, use the restroom, etc. and Ava makes sure no one gets rowdy while the teacher is gone. This little job is right up Ava’s alley since she loves to boss and tell on people! I’m joking (mostly) Binh has helped his teacher with teaching the rest of the kids what vowels are and what they “say”. He apparently also taught the other kids their shapes. I hope he continues to enjoy himself. So far, so good.

Here are a couple of pics I quickly took before heading off to school on the first day.

I know Binh looks a little apprehensive in this photo, but I think he was totally fine. He just hates picture time.

Here’s Ava at her desk on the first day. I went to Ava’s room first and Ash accompanied Binh. Then, we each took a little time at the other’s classroom. I did a really quick job of blurring that kid’s face in the background and erasing our last name. But isn’t my little gal a sweetie?