Kwanzaa

Last year we added Kwanzaa to our holiday celebrations.  Like with Hanukkah we only celebrate one day and just talk about the entire celebration and its traditions.  Kwanzaa is probably my favorite of the two because each day has a "principal" that is celebrated.  Last year we celebrated Kuumba (Creativity) and made crayon art on a canvas.  This year we wanted to celebrate another principal and decied on Ujamaa which means cooperative economics.  (To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together)  We decided that we would have the girls round up all the pennies from their own banks and we would use all of the money from our family bank.  We had a total of $56 to use.  We explained the importance of shopping locally and supporting small businesses.  We thought it would be great to go to eat at the Greenery in Ogden with our money.  Its not what I would call a small business but it isn't chain restaraunt and so to me it is small and local.  Here are the girls with their pennies:

 Dinner was fantastic and we really enjoyed the time sitting and chatting as a family.  We learned that Shelby loves 'Mormon Muffins' which shocked me.  They had live music which kept making David and I chuckle because it was an electric keyboard and as hard as the lady tried it just didn't sound as classy as we knew she thought it sounded.  We of course gave her a few dollars for her efforts but it wasn't something we would hope to ever hear again.  :)  We went to shop at Rainbow Gardens and Planet Rainbow (The connecting stores) with our left over money.  Considering they are small businesses too we figured it was fitting.  We settled on buying Kinder eggs from Planet Rainbow.  This is something that David has had ever since he was little.  His Uncle Brian would bring them home from his work trips in Germany and he was excited to get to buy them for the girls. 

 Here is a kinder egg:  It is milk chocolate and white chocolate that breaks open to reveal a prize:

Shelby got a little girl figure, Kadence got a plastic seal, I got a toy you throw with streamers and David got a kitty bracelet.  :)  We had an amazing night and I am looking forward to Kwanzaa next year.  I'm not sure if we will do all of the principles, but the two we've done have been amazing so we will eventually be repeating them.

 

 

I can't avoid mentioning something that totally made our night.  As we sat at dinner we were looking at all of the paintings from a local artist that were displayed around the tables.  We talked about what we liked and disliked and finally agreed on one that we would buy....if we ever had the money.  Art is something that David and I both enjoy and we want to be able to buy a few pieces of art when we are older.  While we were eating the artist was coming around taking down her paintings.  When she walked past with "our favorite"  I couldn't avoid telling her that it was our favorite and that we liked it.  She seemed taken back because everyone else just ignored her.  We thought nothing of it until we were leaving.  The girls and I ran to the car and thought daddy was right behind us.  When we got in and got buckled I realized he wasn't and figured he had stopped to help someone. When he eventually arrived at the car he came to my door instead of his own so I figured we would be waiting a while for him to finish helping.  I sure was wrong.  He opened the door and handed me the painting we agreed we would buy.  I was shocked!  I was even more shocked to know that the artist gave it to him for free.  Here is how the conversation went:

 

Artist: Wait Wait! Was it your wife who was nice enough to say she liked one of my paintings?

David: Yes

Artist: Here (handed him the painting) Merry Late Christmas!

David: I can't possibly take this without paying you

Artist: Don't be silly, its yours

David: Gratefully thanked her about a million times

 

Because I happened to be nice we are now the owners of a piece of art.  We will always be reminded of her kindness when we look at it and remember how nice it was to sit around the table a a family looking at all of the paintings.  Here is the piece of art.  It is not as vibrant in the picture but you get the point.  It is also supposed to have the blue on the left, purple on the right and hang horizontally but this is the way it hung in the restaraunt so this is how it will always hang in our home.



Well Care Visits

Bad mom confession:  We are terrible at making sure the girls are seen every year for their well care appointments.  Don't get me wrong, they go to the dr when they are sick and are up to date on all shots including the flu shot but I just don't do the well checks.  This year I made both girls a well check appointment on the same day during Christmas break.  We had a concern with Kadence so I figured we would just chat about it then and if we were doing one we may as well do both. 

 

Shelby: She was 42.5 inches (60%) and 38.1 pounds (30%)

We had a concern about her sinuses.  She always seems to be snotty.  I mean she has constant huge boogers ALL of the time.  Winter or summer, sick or not sick.  It does seem worse some times but my theory is that she basically always has a sinus infection.  She gets them diagnosed when we are there for something else, but it doesn't ever seem to fully go away.  The dr said that sinus infections are really hard to diagnose in kids but that he thinks Shelby for sure had one.  He said that he wanted her on an antibiotic and if it seemed to be going better than to refill it and continue for another 10 days.  He also prescribed a nose spray to try to help long term.  His theory is that the steroid in the nasal spray will keep the inflammation in her sinuses under control and she won't get as many sinus infections.  We're going to try it out and see how it goes.  If it doesn't go well then we might have to talk to an ENT because it isn't super common for kids to get repetitive sinus infections.  Other than that he was very pleased with Shelbys development.  He told her that she needs to eat meat....we'll see how that works out.  I can usually force her to take 2-3 bites which I consider improvement. 

 

 

Kadence: She was 42.5 inches (<5 34.5="34.5" and="and" p="p" pounds="pounds">

The doctor wasn't very happy with Kadences percentages.  She didn't have a brace on which meant she doesn't stand as tall as usual. When I measured her in her brace when we got home she was 43.5 inches which puts her about the 8%.  Last year she was about 20% on height so although she has always been little, she now is not being consistently little.  She has gone down drastically in %.  Her weight has also been the exact same since March of 2011.  She literally weighed 34.4 pounds at her visit almost 2 entire years ago.  So basically she is gaining height yet not enough to stay consistent on the charts and she hasn't gained any weight.  He said that normally he would tell parents that this is the age to stop eating everything and anything and start implementing good eating habits but not with Kadence.  He said let her eat what she wants when she wants.  Then we started to talk about our concerns.  David and I have noticed that she is forgetful.  She always has been and we've thought it was frustratingly funny.  We have recently stopped laughing because it seems to be getting worse.  Our biggest wake up call was when she got an xray in traction before getting fitted for her new brace a few months ago.  We were talking about it at home and how they strapped her and stretched her and she had no clue what we were talking about.  We tried to describe it a little better and she still couldn't remember it ever happening.  I mean they literally strap her chin and her feet and pull her in opposite directions.  It wasn't her usual xray.  Even if she couldn't tell you about it, I thought it odd that she couldn't recall it after being reminded.  The dr was very concerned after this and a few other examples were shared.  We asked if it was ADHD related or if it was normal for her age and he said it was more severe than he felt was normal and he wanted us to get in to a neurologist and a neuropsychologist.  He is nervous that there might be an underlying problem and wants to make sure we don't miss anything.  He said it could all be ADHD related but that he wasn't positive.  Primary Childrens neurologist couldn't get us in until mid May so the dr office called another neurologist who was able to get us in for today.  We have to wait until June to see the neuropsychologist though.

 

 

Neurologist appointment:  Kadence went without oxygen a birth which caused some white matter lesions on her brain.  This we already knew.  When they did CPR and intubated her the tube fell out during the compressions at some point.  They didn't notice until they were done so it could have been the full 20 mins or 20 seconds.  There is no way to know.  The neurologist thought Kadence was very smart and just couldn't get enough of her.  He wants to do an MRI to see where her brain is at.  This is the only way he can get information.  Especially since a 6 year old doesn't express their problems very well.  Her pediatrician wanted an MRI to compare it to the one at birth and get a good idea where we are now.  So it is all around a great thing.  Another great thing is that they were able to schedule the MRI for Friday when we will already be in Salt Lake for a Shriners appointment.  (Kadences new brace is causing two different sores so she has been without a brace for almost two weeks. They just need to adjust it a bit)  That means we only have one trip to Salt Lake instead of two and David only as to take one day off of work instead of two.  I was also thrilled that they were able to get her in so quick.  It means the results will be back that much sooner and this momma can stop her constant worrying.  I was also thrilled to know that they don't have to sedate her for this one.  She gets to bring a CD to listen to while they do it, but they don't have to sedate her.  This means no pokes for her which she HATES and no stress for me about my baby being put under.  I will post again when we find the results but for now we are just hoping that it is nothing or is ADHD related.  Whatever it is we will deal with it.  She is happy and thats what matters most. 

 

 

***Side Note: Kadence also got her first pair of reading glasses over Christmas break.  She looks absolutely adorable in them and picked out a great looking, expensive, pair.  She wore them at school for the first time today and they weren't broken....YAY!!  I'm not holding my breath I know it will happen sooner or later.  It seems like it made a difference in her writing but that could just be a coincedence.***

Hanukkah

For the past few years we have celebrated one of the days of Hanukkah.  David and I want our girls to know about other religions and to be aware of other celebrations.  We only celebrate one day, but we talk about the holiday as a whole.  The girls look forward to playing dreidel.  In fact, they sing the song any time they have a normal top.  We get gold coins to gamble with and in the end we split them no matter who wins.  Kadence has been out first the past two years and Shelby has won overall the past 2 years. 

 Then we light our menorah

 David found a recipe last year that was too yummy not to add to the tradition.  He makes amazing latkes which are a traditional Hanukkah dish.  They are basically potato pancakes.

 Then its time for Hanukkah presents! When the girls hear that people who actually celebrate Hanukkah get presents for 8 days they are amazed.  This year they got their own presents and then each got to open a present for the family.

I'm hoping that one year we can really delve into Hanukkah and learn more about it and its traditions but for now I am just happy to share what we do know with our girls.