rant & randomness

So, it looks like I am not going to be able to pull of going part-time after all :(
I am having a really hard time finding a solution to my health insurance quandary. Right now, Nora & I are on my plan and Ryan has insurance through his job. We looked into hopping on his plan but it would be $600 a month (faint) So, I applied to a couple of insurance companies on my own.....errrr....very frustrating. The 1st company (Blue Cross) denied me because of my fertility problems. Can you believe that? I am not receiving any treatment for my endometriosis and I don't have any symptoms of endo. (other than infertility) and I certainly will not be receiving any fertility treatments...argh!
The 2nd company said they would cover me but would not cover anything related to my asthma. Well, that doesn't do me any good! So, we are back at square 1...with me working full-time unless I can come up with another scheme......

In better news, we are going to court on Monday afternoon for Nora's re adoption! I am so excited!! But I am feeling an unexpected twinge of sadness now that Nora's name will legally be changed. It's silly I know, because she will always know the name that her mother gave her and we are incorporating it into her full name AND we call her by it more than we call her Nora but I still feel a little guilty. I guess it's just another part of my grieving process...I grieve for her loss of her mother (and her mother's loss of her) and the loss of her country and culture.....and now her name.
Jeez, I am in a mood today! I took my happy court news and made it all depressing!

I promise I will be a bundle of cheer for the IEKC Holiday party!!!!

Although, I do feel better after this rant!

Ho Ho Ho

Boy. Santa sure is expensive!

We trekked out to Woodfield today to meet the Big Man himself....I myself was a little nervous...maybe I was having flashbacks of my childhood, sitting on Santa's lap, screaming my head off. I don't know. Nora did remarkably well, she just stared at him with this "Who the hell are you and why am I sitting on your lap?" look on her face.

2 minutes and $29 later we had this lovely keepsake

Yeah, this photo looks like crap because they don't let you bring your own camera so I had to take a picture of the picture to be able to post it:)

It was fun and it made me excited about Christmas this year....maybe I won't be such a Grinch about the holidays any more....

Melkin Yelidet Beaal!

Sometimes you just have to laugh

As we were leaving the grocery store today we decided to drop some cash into the Salvation Army bucket.
The woman ringing the bell smiled at Nora and said "She's so beautiful...." I said thank you and started to walk away when she said "She's dark. Is she dark?" I paused and said "Yes, she's Black" (I assumed when she said dark she meant black). "She's Ethiopian"

Bell-ringer lady then whispers "Ethiopian....." looong pause "Are you Ethiopian?"

Strange friends

Nora likes the vacuum. I mean, she really likes the vacuum. She'll sit in front of it and babble away.

Today I actually turned it on and she chased it around the room! It was hilarious to see her dragging herself around super fast just to catch up with her "friend".

We really should get out more.

love is in the air

It seems that Nora has a not-so-secret admirer!

Dadadadada

Yesterday afternoon Nora woke up from her nap and started saying "Dada"!!
She hasn't stopped saying it since...no, really....she goes on and on and on and on with her "Dada story" She holds her hand up in the air to express the important parts of her little tale.
Her little voice is so sweet, it melts my heart (even though she is saying dada and not mama)
and her little lips do this funny Brando-esque thing as she talks.


I'll try to get a video of her-she stops talking as soon as she sees the camera!

Reunion!

We had a great time at our little travel reunion on Saturday. The kids all look fabulous-I can't believe how much everyone has grown! Wow! We really did have the best travel group...whatta great group of people :)

The group rented a conference room at a hotel and we set up shop there. The hotel had a pool so the older kids could go swimming-I really wanted to take Nora but we ran out of time.
We pretty much hung around there most of the day so the kids could run wild (plus, it was cold & crappy outside) and in the late afternoon we went out to dinner at a local East African restaurant. It was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Here are some of the dads....

Nora with a friend who happens to be a huge UW AND Packer fan (boo-hiss!) but we love her anyway!

Here is an attempt at getting a bunch of babies to sit still