Category: Updates

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Elia March 2019

Being behind all the time in blogging is evidence of how little brain space there is to do very much. Laundry is always behind, the house is not cleaned, and we work day-to-day to get the kids fed, homework done and the kids to sleep. We parent by screen time a lot just to keep the kids busy, but recently we have noticed, that if we ask the kids not to watch, after an initial whining, they will play and prefer to play. We have a lot of toys, and really could do with a purge of older and lesser toys, but Elia is of the age right now that it would break her heart to give them away. Continue reading “Elia March 2019”

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Curie February 2019

In February, Erin had her birthday and her parents and her sister and her sister’s husband and us all pitched in to buy Erin Mario Kart 8, of course the fact that we had nothing to play it on meant that we had to buy a Nintendo Switch and all the relevant accessories too. What we didn’t know is that Curie could play Mario Kart almost immediately. Perhaps she had played it with Isabella, but we were amazed because when we were visiting the Yischons we are fairly certain that Chen Jing couldn’t or wouldn’t play at a similar age. In any case, Curie is fairly competitive, as is Elia, and so what we thought would be the adults playing and the kids watching, turned into the kids playing and the adults participating. As expected Steve and Julie wanted to play, but in a pleasant surprise Jim wanted to learn and played as well! Continue reading “Curie February 2019”

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Elia February 2019

In January, Albert had a work trip that meant that Erin would have the kids for two days. Unfortunately Erin also had a trip immediately following which meant trouble if it wasn’t for the fact that Julie was able to step in and take care of the kids during the overlap. The reality was that they only needed care for dinner and bedtime since Albert’s flight got in just after bed time, but there was the possibility that his flight could get canceled or delayed. So it was fortunate that Julie was there and prepared to stay with the kids just in case. Continue reading “Elia February 2019”

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Curie January 2019

For New Year’s Eve we did not go over to the Hoaglands for the first time in years because they were away diving in South Africa. We instead had the Tamanahas over for New Year’s Eve. As a Christmas gift, they brought over a game where you had to try not to step into the poo, which was a great hit. The kids stayed up for New Years and we took our first picture of the year.  Albert opened his Solo Stove Bonfire and we found out how hard it was to actually light a good fire without some practice, but Curie loved the marshmallows. Continue reading “Curie January 2019”

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Elia January 2019

So Elia’s birthday party was in the beginning of January instead of December mostly because of scheduling around that time. Elia originally wanted her birthday to be at Busy Bees again because she has had her birthday there a couple of times before, but even though Curie was at the minimum cut off at 46 inches, none of Curie’s friends would be able to make it if we held it there. We had a few discussions about where to have the party, but Elia was pretty adamant. Then one day after going to Jumpin’ Joeys for a friend’s party. Elia came to us and said that she wanted to have her party at Jumpin’ Joey’s because otherwise Curie’s friends couldn’t come. What an amazing little girl! Continue reading “Elia January 2019”

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Curie December 2018

So it is remarkable how life can envelope your time especially during the holidays and beyond, which is to say, we are behind in blogging again. For the record, it has been a month since this blog was supposed to be written, and so now we are relying on memory and pictures to recount what happened. The winter holidays are not as carefree as they might be when you work at a non-profit. It is the end of the year and it is an important time to solicit donors who are also thinking about charitable giving in relation to their taxes and tax brackets; so Erin especially has a lot of work at the end of a year.  Continue reading “Curie December 2018”

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Elia December 2018

Even though Elia’s birthday is in December, because we write hers from the 15th to the 15th, the events of her birthday will fall in the next blog post. Strangely, we will write about Thanksgiving now and her birthday and Christmas then. We could have made Elia’s posts on the month but that would have meant writing two at the same time, which would be quite onerous. In any case, Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving, Christmas schedule is largely decided upon by Albert’s family and since they met up in October for Columbus day, we found ourselves not having any Thanksgiving plans. We did need to take the kids out to another country this year, but since our house had not yet rented and we were paying both rent and mortgage, we felt hesitant to do anything more than to drive to Canada again. Continue reading “Elia December 2018”

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Curie November 2018

We made a decision before Chicago not to get the flu shot because we were worried that we would feel sick on the trip. That was a bad decision because Curie got sick after and ended up with pneumonia. This was October. We planned on getting flu shots after but one by one each of us were sick, even though we knew we needed to get the flu shot. Then Curie came down with a fever again, and was out from school for another week. Getting the flu without the flu shot is a 5 day affair, with the flu shot is only 3. After she was over the flu we immediately went to go get it, but the pediatrician didn’t have any availability. We went to CVS, but they were closing so we went to Giant where it was a terrible ordeal. Elia was not allowed to get a shot at Giant because she was not 5 yet, so she got hers later at an urgent care. 

Continue reading “Curie November 2018”

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Elia November 2018

When times are challenging, even when they are not anxiety producing or dire, there is a sense that life is a constant uphill battle. This is an attitude that is easy to fall into as much as it a choice of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Much of life is about choices, and the stress comes when you are not choosing and not in control. Choose to be content, and happiness will follow – note, I did not say choose to be happy, as more often than not, when there are challenges, and happiness is not achieved, you won’t be content. You have but to look at a four-year old’s life to see truth in how to live life. Continue reading “Elia November 2018”

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Curie October 2018

So, Curie got sick this month with 8 straight days of fever, three of which were on antibiotics. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and needed to do blood work which was acutely traumatic since she doesn’t even like getting shots. We traded days taking care of her, and Albert took her to the doctor and the lab and had to hold her down while they took her blood. Luckily she is recovering and is almost 100% with just a residual cough. She missed a week and a day of school, days that she really couldn’t afford to miss to begin with. She did get a 3 out of 4 on her science test with only half of the unit in class.  Continue reading “Curie October 2018”