Not Your Typical Friday

This morning I was awoken by Glen yelling that Norah was having a seizure. He had heard her make a really guttural sound and went to check on her only to find her face down in our bed in the middle of a tonic clonic seizure. It only lasted about 2 minutes but was the scariest thing that I have ever seen. Seeing people rolling into the OR with their chest cut open and someone massaging the heart isn't scary to me. Seeing Norah have a seizure scared me to death. Glen and I are both still, even late tonight a little shaky. We called EMS, they were here in under 2 minutes (; . By the time they got here Norah was breathing again but was exhausted and not very responsive at all. They checked her out said that they could take her to children's hospital or we could stay home or take her to children's in the car. We opted for us taking her in the car. There was no way, with her other issues, either one of us was going to be happy at all until a doctor checked her out. We put a sweater on her, grabbed some extra clothes and took off for the hospital. They got us right in and gave her the once over. You could actually see her coming back around out of the seizure. At first she was really groggy and not super responsive. She just layed there in my lap and stared at the TV. By the time they discharged her she was climbing up over my shoulders, pulling on my hair and doing her usual constant level of vocalization. She continued to improve all day, ate lunch like she was a farm hand, and played hard till bedtime. She has no idea what happened because she started seizing in her sleep and didn't wake up till we were on our way to the hospital. They aren't sure if the seizure was brought on by fever since she has not had any cold symptoms recently but she still got a dose of Tylenol before sending her off to bed (which is now pushed up against our bed, just in case) for the first of what looks like will be the usual 102 times before she actually goes to sleep. Follow up will be in about 3 to 4 weeks probably.
We can't even fathom what life without Norah with us would be like but today sure did bring up a lot of "what ifs". We are very fortunate that it turned out as good as it did. I hope to NEVER see that again.
Big thank you to Melissa! You are always the calm voice of reason and experience. Love you.

Lori

Roman

Did someone say tuna?

April first - headlights, doughnuts and mermaids

Two posts in two days! Wow! I'm impressed.

Norah loves wearing this headlight around the house. She goes around blinding everyone. Its like being under interogation by an incredibly cute investigator.

 Since Norah is going to be on spring break this week we made a trip to the craft store and bought supplies to make several things this week to help keep her entertained. Yesterdays craft was clothes pin mermaids.

 This morning Glen went out and got doughnuts for breakfast. He found these super cute bunny doughnuts.

 In other news... we found another house to go look at. We will not know for sure if it meets our needs till we can get inside and snoop around. The lots here are so small and mostly on hills, which makes them seem even smaller. It is however close to Norah's school and my work so we may have to make some concessions on lot size, especially since with gas prices the way they are it costs 100.00 to fill up the truck.  Lori

Grandparents/Special Person Day

Friday was Grandparents/Special person day at Norah's school. Since Norah's Nana and Popi are back in Arkansas, Glen and I stood in for them to represent our girl. Nana and Popi did send Norah the beautiful blue shirt that she has on (sorry Nana it is still to cold here for the flip flops) and they also sent some money for Norah to buy something at the schools bake sale. We made Norah a lanyard with a picture of Nana and Popi on one side and Boo on the other. She loved it. She had to show everyone and talk about her Nana, Popi and Boo.

 We made milk jugs into catchers to play ball with.

 Now we are on spring break for the next week. Yeah!

By the way squirrels like Bugles! FYI

Also we did not get the bid on the house. ); So we are still looking. Glen is driving me nutty about not getting that house. If I had known what the aftermath would be I would have offered whatever it took to buy it. Pray for me to retain what little sanity I have left. Don't worry about Glen's he lost all of his long ago.

Lori

Waiting.....sort of patiently

Still no word on the house offer. We were supposed to hear one way or the other today. Hopefully tomorrow.

Lori

Tooth Drama

Norah has lost another tooth! Well....Norah pulled her loose tooth out at midnight last Wednesday while she was up roaming the apartment as usual (see any of the many posts about Norah's sleeping habits) and proceeded to scream bloody murder for an hour (Sorry neighbors ): ) until we could get her calmed down and convinced that she was actually ok. She has already lost two teeth so I am not quite sure why this one tiny little tooth created such drama as to rival the Kardashian wedding fiasco. By morning she was fine, even wanting to show everyone at school her newly missing tooth. Her parents on the other hand were exhausted as usual (once again see any post about Norah's sleeping habits).

In other exciting news. We have put in an offer on a house here. We will not know until after Tuesday if it will be accepted by the bank (the home is a forclosure) but we made what we feel is a good solid offer. The location is perfect for Norah. It is the last house on a dead end road and can eventually be completely fenced in so that Norah can have the freedom to roam the grounds at will, without having traffic nearby to worry about. There also seems to be enough square footage so that we can all spread out. This apartment is really a pain in the butt. We are constantly bumping into each other and I can not remember the last time that I have showered or used the facilities without an audience. I don't know how goldfish do it. Being constantly on display sucks rotten eggs.

Wish us luck.

Lori

Trips

We have been traveling here lately. We all went back to Arkansas to see family and friends and take care of some business. We still have not found people and services here to replace all of those back home. Those relationships took us 20 years to cultivate and we came to rely on them heavily as it turns out.
It was so nice to see my parents, my brother and his wife and Boo and Jess. Norah was so happy to see everyone and even forgot her usual sibling rivalry with Boo for the time we were there and just wanted to hang out and play with him.
We also got to visit with my friends from work. I REALLY miss them.
The trip, although short, really took its toll on both Glen and I. We have been fighting fatigue and almost mono type symptoms since we got back to Seattle. Apparently we caught some kind of bug at some point. Hopefully it will pass soon. Norah was not affected, thank goodness. Although the day after we returned home Norah came running out of the bathroom and tripped smacking her face on the door frame of the bedroom. She ended up with a bump on her forehead, a bruise on her nose and a nose bleed. She also slightly sprained her wrist while trying to catch herself. Luckily none of her injuries were serious and she is just fine now.
We are still looking at houses in our area. Just starting to get an idea of what is available. We are still working on saving our down payment and should be ready to get pre-approval by June or July. Glen and I always try to be cautious when it comes to financial matters or big decisions ad buying a house out here is a major one.

 Norah, Me and Mom

 Boo and Norah

 Norah and Aiden (friends from Arkansas)

 Boo and Norah watching TV together.

Another one of Norah's many do-it-herself outfits. To Funny!  Lori

Lazy Saturday

Not really much going on today. We walked a couple blocks over to look at a house that has recently come up for sale. Then over to Starbucks to get some crack, also known as the Venti Chi Tea Latte with 2 pumps of pumpkin spice. Norah has been playing with her toys, Glen made fajitas for linner (lunch and dinner) and we both managed to get a short nap. Seems like it is turning out to be a pretty good day. Here are some random photos from recently around here.

 "Fashion Disaster" day at school. Norah was not real sure about leaving the house dressed like this.

 Norah showing off her outfit she picked out and that she did her own hair. I think she used a half a bottle of conditioner to slick it back.

Lori

Blue Skys

The computer has been giving us fits lately. So instead of blogging we did what everyone else in Seattle did over the last week and spent a whole lot of time outside. We took some cheap kites and snacks and went down to the beach. I think every dog in Seattle was out with their owners. We also started an eight week Sign Exact English class and cleaned the carpets. Which reminded us both why we do not like carpet. Wood floors are high on our priority list when we start looking seriously for a house.
I found out that there are some words that I can not say at work because the southern accent does not translate well here. For example Fluoroscan (x-ray) sounds like fore skin when said with the accent to a bunch of northerners. You should have seen all the heads whip around when I said it and true to OR form I have been teased daily about it since the incident.
Norah got her first report card and I went to her first teacher conference. She is amazing ya'll! We just know that once she gets all the basics down that there will be no stopping her. In our signing class we met another deaf, adopted child/young man that was adopted at age 4 and is now 19. He went to the same school that Norah is at and is incredibly well spoken and articulate. Just one more thing to let us know that we have Norah in the right place.

Lori

Gung hay fat choy

Happy Year of the Dragon!

We celebrated Chinese New Year with other families in the FCC (Families with Children from China). There were games, crafts, vendors, dancers, face painting and a lunch of noodles. Norah had a great time for over 3 hours at the celebration. We will definitely be going again next year.

The year of the dragon is supposed to be very lucky. We are hoping that some of that luck rubs off on us as we look for a house this year and keep our fingers crossed that Norah's speech and schooling continue to move forward at the same amazing pace. The only thing that could have made the day better is if the rest of our family had been here to celebrate with us.


Lori

SNOW!

Well, there were rumors going around this past week that we would be getting some snow this weekend. About 10:00 this morning Norah came running to tell us that it was snowing outside. Really snowing! So we did what any other sane people in a tiny apartment would do. We suited up and went for a long walk to the grocery store in the snow. It was beautiful! The best part is that we were all home to enjoy it then it stopped after about 2 hours and started melting off. The grocery store was PACKED with people. Just like when it would snow back home. We picked up a fire starter log at the store because we thought that it would be fun to have a fire. This log was apparently dipped in somekind of stinky chemical. As it stands right now there is a smoking fire log laying in the snow out back and all the windows and doors are open and the fans are going. Do you think that the neighbors are wondering what is going on?

 This is my first project on my new sewing machine that I got for Chirstmas. I am not a sewer so I picked something that I didn't need a pattern for or instructions. I think my next thing will be two big pillows for Norah's room.

Lori

Photo Friday: Disturbingly Funny

Woke up to this in Norah's room.Wow!Glen says he didn't do it and I know that I didn't do it. That only leaves one more person.

Lori

More Zoo and New Year

More pictures from the zoo and from New Year's Eve. We are not in any way big partiers. The only way that I was even awake to watch the fireworks being shot off the top of Space Needle was because Norah was crackin" out and would not settle down and go to sleep. Glen had a really bad day with his back and spent most of the day in bed or laying on the floor with his legs propped up. We did manage to get together with Mike, Melissa and Eli to let the kids play, the adults visit and to beat the snot out of a pinata with a rolling pin (cause we are flexible like that, no baseball bat, no problem just use the rolling pin.) On the New Year special from Seattle there was a deaf man that asked his girl friend to marry him. I know it sounds dorky but it totally made me start crying.

 Norah isn't picking her nose (although she does plenty of that) she is thinking about how to put the puzzle together. She has gotten to where when she is "thinking" she taps her cheek with her finger.

 Can't you just hear the theme from the Lion King?

 When we couldn't get the pinata to crack open hanging in the tree we just put it on the ground and beat on it there.

 Yeah! Candy!

After the beating of the pinata we all went out for mexican food. I think it may be a favorite for all of us. Then we had to say goodbye to our friends because they were leaving out the next morning and we were in no shape to keep going that night.
Glen and I did our best to try and talk them into moving here so that we can see each other much more and get to see Eli grow up. If not we are going to end up spending quite a bit of money on plane tickets over the years.

Happy New Year!

Lori

The Zoo

We had a rare sunny (but cold) day, so we took the kids to the zoo. They ran all over for about 3 or 4 hours and we still didn't even scratch the surface on all the things and animals to see there. It was our 7th or 8th time to the zoo and we saw things that we had not seen before. We got there at a perfect time and were able to see the poison dart frogs and the gorillas get fed. Then we went to the penguins and the kids both got to feed them some fish.

We sure are missing Mike and Melissa and I think that Norah is actually going through Eli withdrawls.

Lori

Norah feeds the Penguins at Seattles Zoo.

Seattle Aquarium

We are having lots of fun running around with Mike, Melissa and Eli this week. Norah and Eli have really taken to each other and are enjoying having someone to play with each day. Having them all here has made our first Christmas in Seattle a special one.

Lori