More Ca Ca

Well I left off on Sunday with a feeling of celebration regarding ca ca. I guess that means we will start on Monday. Oh and by the way, don't get too spoiled, these daily updates are going to eventually go away because most of the time our life is really not this exciting. You would have been so bored had a posted a lot before the kids because Karl, myself, and the dogs were pretty tame. In fact, half the time I think we all forgot about each other. I was at Walmart and was for some reason standing by the fish department (?) and was thinking to myself, "I should get the boys some fish so they can have a pet." Ummm duh, we have two dogs. The dogs are just so wonderful and meld into our lives so much that they aren't seen as pets. The boys absolutely love them and Ajura will try out more English on Kinde than he will with either Karl or myself. But again I digressed...

Monday: Yep still sick. Called MY doctor this time and scheduled an appointment for tomorrow because this simply cannot go on. I had a HUGE list of things to do today. 1. Call Dr. Anderson's office to schedule Ahmi's TB test. 2. Drop the ca ca off at the clinic (which may I just state was improperly labeled, all vials had Ajura's name and none for Ahmi, and since I work in health care I knew that my scribbling Ahmi's name on the other vial wouldn't suffice so I had to call into the clinic and get the labels all redone before I dropped them off) 3. Call the school and talk to Ajura's teacher to see when he can start. 4. Call Burleigh County Public Health (BCPH) to schedule their immunization appointments. Completed all tasks. Ajura's teacher is wanting him to stop by next Wednesday to see his classroom and see his desk. I tried to talk to Ajura about school but all I get is "Ay Ay Ay" a.k.a. "No No No." This may be a tough transition but he will make it. We have been blessed by very few meltdowns since last week. Karl and I realized that Ajura has literally no pants so I get to go shopping again this week sometime. Joy. Anyway, we have been following our same routine and things are going pretty well. We had the boys blood drawn today which was icky. Mom doesn't like it in the least. Ahmi was kicking so hard his shoes flew across the room. The ladies really did do a nice job though. It is amazing how powerful stickers are. It was as if nothing had happened. Prior to drawing labs, Karl and I plus the boys all visited the surgicenter where I work sometimes and showed off the boys. Of course, my co-workers did what they do best and sugared the kids up as much as possible. Their glucose levels on their blood tests will probably be sky high. The boys did really well with meeting quite a group of people. I was proud of them. After labs we went home and played. Karl and I decided I needed a mini break and so I met some friends out for a margarita in the afternoon. As I am leaving, I give each boy a kiss and say, "See ya later, I love you." To Karl I say, "See ya later babe." As I walk away Ajura calls out to me, "See ya later babe." Bonus. While out for margaritas and complaining about our poop scooping weekend, I get a phone call from the lab. They didn't give us the correct vials for the tests that we need done so they destroyed (?!) our samples and at our convenience we can come and pick up a whole new bag of supplies to start over. I almost started to sob. My one friend suggested I demand my poop back and pour the ca ca into the "new" vials on their desks with a TaDAAA! His hopes were crushed when I said our ca ca had been destroyed already. Alas. I called and left a nasty message on our pediatrician's voicemail for her to return my call the next day. Other than that life was pretty dandy.

Tuesday: Still sick. Thankfully my doctor's appointment is today so I get to get drugs. Yippee. Also the cleaning lady comes today so I can pretend I keep a tight ship running! It is about time too, the boys hair picks up dog hair which is pretty embarrassing. When people stop over we rapidly wipe boogers and practically Furrminate the boys. We all head out to my parent's to let the cleaning lady work. I would live in a van before I would give up my cleaning lady, I know, very spoiled. The boys play with bubbles and jump on the trampoline. I leave for my appointment. Shockingly (sarcastic), I have a sinus infection. So I drive to our pharmacy to get my antibiotics and want to pick up the boys anti fungal meds. The pharmacist is saying that the insurance company is denying that we have children. Dear Insurance company, you are welcome to come to my house and see that we indeed have children, we will even allow you to get a stool sample of your own if you like. Because, believe me, I would not do this for any random children. Oh well, we will get that straightened out. Our adoption coordinator helped us with that and hopefully all will be straightened out by Friday or Monday. Ajura has been worried about one of his teeth so I also scheduled a dentist appointment for Wednesday. I know, we are nuts right! I guess I am just looking forward to getting all of this out of the way. My aunt and uncle bought the boys a wagon and it was delivered today. We are going to open it tomorrow and set it up as we are all tired after the day.

Wednesday: Still sick. We get up and get ready to go to the dentist at 8:30. Wow, totally did a horrible job guessing how long it takes to get ready to go anywhere. We were 5 minutes late so not too bad and I called them and gave them a heads up. Another lesson learned. I am beyond amazed at how well the boys did at the dentist. Granted, we took them to a pediatric dentist who I have worked with for years and adore. He and his staff were so incredible. The boys both tolerated a brushing lesson and a cleaning and polishing. Ahmi wasn't too keen on the flossing. Ahmi's teeth got a perfect bill of health. Ajura's also looked good and our dentist believes his age (according to his teeth) looks spot on. Interestingly though, the dentist pointed out how amazed he was at how calm Ajura was with the exam and cleaning due to his "previous trauma." I was kinda perplexed and although I work with him occasionally I know absolutely nothing about teeth. I thought that Ajura had lost all his front primary teeth already due to the fact he was missing all four incisors. Not so, says the dentist. He has lost only one primary tooth on the bottom (another is loose) but his four incisors were removed at a young age (apparently it is a cultural thing he has seen from other children from Ethiopia). Interesting, poor kiddo. Karl had to run Ahmi to his TB test appointment so our friend Bill picked Ajura and I up from the dentist to meet at home. As Ajura and I were waiting, Ajura looks out the window and says, "Bill's makina (sp?)." I was like, yeah sure kid, like you can remember what Bill's car looks like. To appease him we go outside and sure enough it was Bill. Ajura never ceases to amaze me with how much he retains. He is a sponge. We had a very busy morning but the afternoon was very relaxed. I was solo with the kids all afternoon as Karl went back to work for the last half of the day. Wow have we all made progress. Oh and the wagon is a HUGE hit. I have even taught Ahmi how to pull mom in the wagon :)

Thursday: Still sick. Dreading today, because it is immunization day. Trying to start the day out better my mother and I went shopping for school supplies and clothes for the boys that have more substance. It is getting colder and athletic shorts aren't going to make it much longer. Found some great stuff at Old Navy. Got home around noon and Karl headed to work while I entertained the boys for some time before we went to the dreaded shots appointment. Anne came over to help and Ahmi did what any normal child would do by farting at her. Nice moves kid. Two of the three ca ca tests are back and they do have some friends growing in there so we will be starting some meds as soon as the insurance company believes we have kids. Until then, go bleach! We leave a bit early to the appointment so I can drop off our final ca ca sample. As we are leaving the clinic, somewhat in a rush, I am buckling Ahmi in and apparently, while Ajura is trying to get in the car and buckling up, our car door hit the neighboring car. This old man (mind you, he is wearing a three piece suit on a Thursday to the clinic) gets out and starts giving me the business about my son hitting his shnazy Chevy Impala with our car door. I apologize and examine the Impala to see if he indeed made a door ding and cannot find anything, while this old man continues to give me the business about he is old enough to know not to be slamming car doors into other people's cars. I finally turn to him and say, "Again, sir (like vinegar in my mouth trying to be polite), I am very sorry, I can give you my insurance information." He continues to complain and again I apologize but add, "my son has been in the country for less than 2 weeks, he has doesn't even speak English yet and currently I am just working on teaching him not to run into the street in front of a car, do you want my insurance information or not." He grumbles no and I get into the car, just fuming. We get to the appointment barely on time due to my altercation with Impala guy. Then I get to sit and hold my screaming Ahmi while they poke him with multiple needles. Poor guy, however, couldn't have been too bad because again they throw some stickers in and tears are immediately gone. Kinda like me with ice cream. Ajura has a tougher time with it and is pretty angry with us after it is all done. We go home and they both nap and mom has a beer with Anne. Ahmi wakes up and comes downstairs and cries. Don't quite get why but he does this sometimes after his nap. Just whimpers and cries for about 20 minutes. We play outside and then have dinner. Karl and I both received spontaneous kiss from Ajura today. He was a happy boy until bedtime when I was setting him up to brush his teeth and he was angry because I didn't use his new toothpaste from the dentist. I explained that we were going to use that when we went on vacation. He then pouted, wouldn't move (which made brushing his hair much easier) and then Karl just put him in bed and he was mad and cried. He quickly came around though. Now off to bed for us all.

Till the next time...