Where in the world is...

Well, clearly a lot of these places are more exciting than others, but since I'm working, usually all I get to see is the airport, the hospital and the hotel.

Wow, has it really been since July? I have been buuussssyyyy! Since last I left you, we have moved back to Dallas, the kids are back in their old school, Chase started Kindergarten, Caroline is in the first grade, I think they have both grown a foot (not really, but Chase had some sweat pants on from last year and they look like "manpris" on him) and I have logged almost 25,000 American Airline miles in 3 months! That's not including the SW Airline miles that I fly here in Texas.

Crazy busy, but I am loving it. The kids have really adjusted well to me travelling (knock on wood!), we have a terrific babysitter who spends the night, picks the kids up from school and takes them in the morning, the only downside is she is not much of a cook and they end up eating Mickey D's or Wendy's about 2 nights a week, but I can live with it. I had a commenter that referred me to sittercity and for anyone that is looking for a sitter, it is great! Kind of like an e-harmony for parents and sitters!

Chase turned 6 years old on October 12th and he is doing really well. We found a great doctor in Austin that really worked with us on coming up with the right medication combination for him and I think we have finally found it. It's not perfect, but he really is doing so much better. His delays have become more apparent now that his is in a more formal education setting and we are working so hard to overcome them. He is getting speech therapy, evaled for OT and really working on academics. It makes me so sad that he spent so much time in the PPCD program which really didn't do him any favors; his K teacher is just appalled that so little time was spent on academics, and speech therapist can't believe that there was a full time ST in his class, yet all she did was teach him to point at pictures! We have a lot of catching up to do, but I know he will get there. His pediatrician is amazed at his progress, he is at the 75th for height and 90th for weight. He did 'fess up to telling me that he really thought I "bit off more than I could chew" when I first showed up with Chase two years ago (he was an absolute "wild child") and never thought he would come this far so soon, that was definitely a proud mama moment, but dear Lord, there were a lot of tears shed to get there!

Caroline is loving first grade, she is doing really well, but seems to have become quite the couch potato! The girl could watch TV for hours on end, she is now allocated about 30 minutes a day if that. Caroline has always been really physically slow, but now it is starting to catch up with her academically. The girl who always came home at the end of the week with "Bravos" is now coming home with incompletes, tardies, etc. And it's all because she just cannot move fast enough! She has no sense of urgency and really doesn't care if it gets done today, tomorrow or next year! It has always driven me nuts, but her little shining star is now getting tarnished with this issue. If anyone has a way to "light a fire" under her, I would welcome suggestions. So far she has to have a timer at breakfast or she would take two hours to finish her juice, she has a chart at school just for her to reflect her speediness with things, and her weekly report now has a column for academics, not just behavior. I think she finally "gets it", but it's a constant struggle for her.

It amazes me how I have one child that can not slow down without the help of medication and another that is sooooooo slow, we always say we hope she's never caught in a burning building! I wish I could just get a happy medium between the two of them.

We're looking forward to the holidays and having a little down time and I hope to become a better blogger! And so pics of the kids from the past few months:

First Day of School

Celebrating our Family Day at Six Flags

Halloween 2009

Happy to be back,

Jane

Missing my KiddieKats

It's been one week since my sister whisked my kids away to Chicago and I miss them terribly. I should be rejoicing in all the time I have to myself, instead I'm pining away for them. I started my new job last Monday and so far, I am loving it! Just learning and absorbing lots and ready to take on the new challenges. I have a beautiful view out the window of my office, I am on the 53rd floor of one of the tallest buildings in downtown Dallas. Here's the view from my window: (excuse the bad pic, it was taken from my phone)



I talk to Caroline and Chase at least 2-3 times a day and they are having so much fun with Toycha and their cousins, I'm afraid they won't want to come back! Gail had them at their "Founder's Day" activities this past weekend, here is a pic she sent me:


I'll be picking them up in a few more weeks and they'll come home to a new house with a pool and get to go back to their old school and see their old friends and teachers, I know that will be enough to entice them back!

Hola, Como Esta? Muy Bien, Gracias.

After spending a week in the Dominican Republic, my children now think they are trilingual; English, Russian and now Spanish. Although they look at me like I have two heads when I speak any Russian to them and they know about 10 words of Spanish, they have both pretty much become proficient in English.

We had a great time in Punta Cana, despite getting there one day later than planned; the Punta Cana airport was shut down when we were supposed to land due to the fact they had no runway lights - pretty important if you are landing at night, like we were supposed to do. So anyway, we got there on Wednesday morning. The resort was beautiful and after checking in, we decided our room was too small, so we upgraded to a suite! Yeah, lots of room, a jacuzzi on the balcony and a view of the ocean. We wasted no time in putting on our suits and securing our spot at the pool under a palapa and ordering something alcoholic, fruity and tropical. Ahhhh, life is good. We were a little disappointed with the beach as it was not the clear blue Caribbean waters we were looking forward to; instead, we were located a little too far north and were on the Atlantic ocean, therefore the water was more brown and murky, so we spent the majority of our time at the pool. "Lather, rinse, repeat", that was pretty much our existence for the week we were there, no sightseeing, didn't really care to do it; no late nights, too hard with kids that insist on being in bed by 8:30 pm. Just eat, find our spot at the pool, people watch, chat with other vacationers, eat some more, decide where we were going for dinner while we were eating lunch, lay by the pool, read, time for a snack, pool time, get ready for dinner, eat some more and then to bed! You get the picture! It was a great week and I highly recommend an all inclusive if you have kids, they have a great kids club that keep them busy all day long, the food for kids was just right and the only money you need is for tipping those friendly waiters that keep bringing you something to drink with little umbrella's in it! Here's some pics of our week:

On the plane, we're going to the beach!

Getting closer, on the bus to "Dreams", Caroline is soooo ready!

We are finally here!

Caroline and her beautiful Toycha Gail, celebrating Toycha's birthday

Looking for fish in the pool! Sorry Caroline, wrong place!

The kids having fun in the jacuzzi

The view from our balcony

Mama Peacock and her baby outside our room

The building our room was in and part of the huge pool

Caroline "chilaxing" before dinner

Chase just looking too cute!

Brother and Sisterly love

Chase getting ready to do the mexican hat dance!

Okay, now for the big reveal from my last post; I was offered and accepted a fantabulous job! Yeah! This has been two years in the making, and it finally happened. The only issue is that we have to move back to Dallas. As much as I wanted Austin to be our permanent home, it was just not meant to be. I am so glad I only rented a home here and did not buy one right off the bat. I actually start this coming Monday and will be living in corporate housing until I secure something permanent (the company is paying for my living expenses for 3 months until I find something - this is such a sweet deal). The kids are going to go and stay with my sister Gail for the rest of the summer while I get myself situated in my new job and find somewhere for us to live. They will be going to their old school, so everything is falling into place just beautifully. I am so excited, I work in healthcare, but in a terribly small niche of it, so these jobs are not just falling off trees (as if any are these days!), so I am so fortunate that this happened. I do have a question for anyone of you out there that might know: What are your experiences with Au Pair's? I will be doing some overnight travel and need to secure reliable childcare for when I am not here and thought an Au Pair might be a good solution. If you have any thoughts on that or suggestions for other childcare options I would love to hear about them.

Until later, Adios!

ChChChanges!

Lots of exciting and fantastic changes happening in our household! Not quite ready to share them until everything is signed, sealed and delivered. But these are all for the good and I have been waiting a long, long time for them to happen.

In the meantime, we are getting so excited about our trip to Punta Cana; we leave two weeks from today! It's all I can do to work, what I really want to do is think about beautiful white sand beaches, clear blue water, fun little drinks in coconuts with little umbrellas and lots of sun and fun! Both kids are taking swim lessons and are having a ball. They had their first lesson last week and Caroline came running up to me when I picked her up and told me she was not a "rock sinker" anymore! It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying, but then it dawned on me that she has heard me tell many people that despite her floaties, swim vest and a pool noodle, she still "sinks like a rock" in the water! Some things get lost in translation, but are just too cute to correct.

I can't believe I got the kids passports in one week! I did the expedited service and was fully expecting it to take 3 weeks, but nope, just one week from submission! I am happy to know our government is on top of this!

If you haven't already, take your kids or just yourself to see the movie "Up". It is so good. Even my can't sit still, wiggly, non-stop talking, adHd kid absolutely loved it.

And of course I can't leave out a picture or two of my little beauties, here is one of Caroline on the day she had her talent show at school and her class did the cha cha slide, so I dressed her up kinda of hip hop!


I am so behind in catching up with everyone's blogs, I will be doing this over the next few days.

A very sad loss for our family

On May 30th, my beloved brother in law Larry passed away. Although he had been ill for some time, we are all so very sad about his passing. He was so much more than just a BIL to me, I had known him for over thirty years and he was so much fun, he was one of the kindest people I know and had the most loving spirit. I am so disappointed that my children did not get to know him as the Larry that we all adored. I was out of town all of last week for his funeral and to spend time with my sister and her sons, Caroline and Chase were with me. It's so hard to explain death to them, they don't quite get it. When I told Caroline that her Dja Dja Mischka had died and went to heaven, she went running into Chase's room and told him that Dja Dja Mischka went to "Kevin's house"! Too funny. When we went to the wake, Chase wanted to know why Dja Dja Mischka was sleeping in the box, he wanted to wake him up! Godspeed to the best brother in law; and as my sister always says... Pass on the Larry love.

Child Labor

I promise you, they beg me to do this:

No more whining allowed

Okay, at least for a while!

I finally pulled it together and got some things done so I don't have so much to whine about.

1. I booked a trip for the summer, yeah! We are going to the Dominican Republic for a week in July! I had a ton of airline points that are about to expire so I took advantage of that and we are staying at a beautiful resort in Punta Cana. We stopped there on a cruise a few years ago and really liked it so decided to go back and spend a week there. It has beautiful beaches and the water is just so crystal clear. The resort has tons of activities for kids, so that is a big plus. Now July just can't here quick enough! This will be the kids first time to a beach and they are so excited. I probably should have started with something smaller, after going to the Caribbean, the Texas beaches will look pathetic to them.
2. I found another brand of night time pull ups that don't leak, BIG YEAH! Although thanks Becky for the offer to send me the Kroger brand! I just wish I could get him out of those all together, but dear Lord, he just soaks them, they are so heavy in the morning I swear you could could crack a window with them. His doctor says not to worry about the night time training, that it will come eventually. I get him up to go to the bathroom at least 3 times before I go to bed and I don't give him any liquids after about 6 pm, but he still is wet in the morning. I guess we could always move into Depends after he outgrows these!
3. We have an appointment next week with a new doctor to look at his ADHD meds. I really think he has outgrown his current dosage because the kid is growing like a weed! We've had a really rough month behavior wise, hopefully we can turn that around.
4. I am holding off buying a new house with a pool and will just suffer through the summer going to the public pool and using the sprinkler in the backyard. (I know, a little whiny). We do have season passes to sea world and six flags (both have water parks) so we will probably spend a lot of time there.

That's all I got! If anyone can help me with how to get a U.S. passport for my kids, I would be so grateful. From what I understand, I need to send in their Russian birth certificates and their COC; it just makes me so nervous to send the originals of those documents. Has anyone done this? If so, did you have any problems getting the documents back?