Autumn

I think these got missed in being posted, but they were just too cute to be forgotten.  

 Okay, I don't know what was going on with that face, but ha ha, I had to post it.

 This redeems the previous one.  She went through a week long phase of being terrified of water, but I think it's over.  She learned to make her voice heard in the last few weeks, but she is still for the most part a calm little angel.

I Love You Even, And Especially When, You're Crazy

Sometimes my kiddos are a little crazy, but I always say, better than boring dolts for kids right? 

One day Leah asked if we could make a fruit hat and dance the Samba.  So . . . we did.  She was also Cinderella that day.

One day when I had my back turned Oliver squired lotion all over the carpet.  The next day he stamped all over the dining room floor and the next day (after I'd cleaned up the mess) he got the cleanser spray bottle and sprayed tons of all over the floor.  Yikes! He was keeping me busy!  He volunteered quickly to clean up the lotion and hid his face when I walked into the room.  He knew he'd done a naughty thing.

 Also, last weekend, Elder Neunschwander, and emeritus member of the Seventy (you got to be a Mormon to know what that means) came to visit to give Patriarchal Blessings in other parts of Russia without patriarchs and stopped here to give some in English for some members of our ward.  We got to be lucky and entertain him.  The kids were pretty well behaved.  One fun incident was when Levin asked Oliver to say the prayer before dinner and he said, grumpily, "No Heavenly Father!  And I won't fold my arms!"  It was cute I suppose even if it was naughty.

All About Oliver

Seeing how it was just his birthday, I thought I should write a little note about Oliver.  I find myself saying very often, I just love that boy so much!

When Leah couldn't play as much he turned to Autumn for a playmate and he now has a good relationship with both his sisters.  He's proud to be their "best brother."

Sometimes when Leah goes downstairs or something and he doesn't realize it he will get really sad and start crying.  When I ask him what's wrong he'll say, I can't find Leah!  There was a time when he never wanted to leave the house unless Leah came too.  He's very much aware of where she is and even if he's not RIGHT WITH HER, he definitely doesn't want her lost.

When people make jokes about taking Autumn home with them, he is not happy about it at all!

He is VERY into being a boy right now.  I can't tell you how many times a day he says, "but I'm a boy, Daddy's a boy too!  But you're not a boy, Leah's not a boy, Autumn's not a boy.  I'm a boy!  He also only wants boy colors.  Pink dishes are now Leah's and he WILL NOT use them.  Sometimes he'll ask, is yellow a boy color?  

I lay with him for a few minutes at bed time and he's loves to name all the parts of my face.  Recently he's obsessed with my eyes (it used to be my eye brows) and he will ask every night, multiple times, if he can touch the blue part of my eye. I tell him no and that in the morning he can wash his hands and touch his own blue part of his eye.  Tonight he said, "I can't, this part always closes!"

He likes me to lay with him every night, for 3 minutes, not two, not four, 3.  He used to suddenly dismiss me and say, okay, you can go.  You laid with me for 3 minutes YEA!!  The last few weeks though he begs me not to go no matter how long I stay.

As obsessed as he is with his Daddy and that they're both boys, when it comes to laying with him at night, he only wants Mommy.  I need that sometimes. :)  It balances out the times when we're on the Metro and Levin takes the stroller so I need Oliver to hold my hand and sit by me, and then he looks up at me and says, "NOT YOU!"  I'll never be as cool as Daddy.

When people come needing to talk to the bishop or any visitors I guess, Oliver is Daddy's partner to walk them to the gate.

He has NO interest in potty training.  He used to so that he could go to the preschool camp that Leah is going to, but now not even that works.  He says, I want to be a baby and wear diapers.  He really does still want to be a baby sometimes.  We tried to strike a deal of big kid during the day with underwear, baby at night with a diaper, but no luck.

The last few months he's really grown up with much less crying and carrying on, but sometimes he does the cutest thing where if something happens (like a strange man pushes the button in the elevator when I promised that Oliver could do it) he will look super sad at me like he's holding in his sadness and then he will just open his mouth as wide as can be and tilt his head back and let it alllll out!

Almost all the time if you kiss his owie all better he marches right back to play.

At the end of his prayer when he says, "Amen!" he always lifts his arms up and says it really loud like he just accomplished some great feat.

If Leah starts to take too long or pause in her prayers her starts saying, In the name, In the name . .  trying to encourage her to finish.

He is starting to out grow this, but he has become my good little napper.  Even if he says he's not tired he will lay down once you get him downstairs and almost always stays in his bed even if it takes him a long time to fall asleep.  He does that at night too.  Sometimes you'll realize an hour later he's still asleep just laying in the being quiet and good.  To think he was such a bad sleeper as a baby this brings me great joy and now that Autumn is a bad sleeper I have hope for her to become like him.  The transition to a big boy bed months ago was super easy.  Although his crib is still set up as a threat so  maybe that's why.  He seems to have forgotten he knows how to get out of the crib.

He can be so sweet and loving and feisty and I just love this little guy sooooooo much!

Oliver's Birthday

Oliver has two little best buddies.  One, Jacob lives here at the Embassy, and one, Thomas, does not, but used to come in a lot for his sister Miriam to go to ballet class with Leah.  Because of that he's a little bit better friends with Jacob, but has been warming up to Thomas more and more.  We tried to have a 3-boy birthday party, but it just wasn't working out.  Our family went to Jacob's for dinner on his birthday June 2nd and then we at least got to see Thomas at a ward activity that week, and then the next Sunday we had Jacob's family over for dinner.

Here is Oliver with Thomas.  I love how cute they are!

 This is the almost cake wreck I made for Oliver.  I bought him Thomas the Train decorations all so that I could make a train cake, but then with trying to work out if we were doing something with other families I kind of forgot that and didn't get the supplies for it, so we kind of had to wing it.  But luckily, I'd ordered that sweet Thomas candle at the front.  Levin had to salvage my smoke stack by frosting a paper cup.  It wasn't beautiful to my wishing everything was perfect self, but Oliver loved it!  I mean he LOVED it!  When people asked what he got for his birthday, he didn't talk about his toys, he talked about his CAKE!

 He got a lasso (Levin's idea, actually all the presents were Levin's idea so maybe I should get a heavier hand in picking the Christmas gifts this year.)  A little calf to rope with his lasso, and this Buzz Lightyear laptop.  Even though we'd already picked it out it worked out perfectly that the whole week before his birthday he was obsessed with Leah's toy laptop.  I wish I could type the way that Oliver says computer because it's pretty darn cute.

 My mom sent Oliver some money for his birthday and we bought a blow up pool.  We have to drain it after we use it because Levin is scared some kid will stumble upon it and drown and we'll be sued.  We also have to fill it up by hauling trash cans or coolers full of water from our bath tub since we have no hose hook up.  Won't it be nice to go back to living in our own house not an apartment?  This is outside mine and Levin's bedroom.  The little "patio" you see in the back is the neighbors.

 I can't remember what made Oliver sad becaue he was having fun - did he got squirt gunned in the head or had I mentioned something about going in?  I said, say cheese, and he made this sad pathetic face and said, "no cheese!"

 We had to do his party a few days early so that his friend Jacob could come before he left to Germany to get his tonsils out.  So on his actual birthday we just had a little cup cake.

 I don't know how this ended up down here, but that's his best buddy Jacob - it's a little blurry.  Maybe that's because Jacob is in motion A LOT.  Ha ha!  He is a cute bubbly little boy!

One Mobile and One Immobile

Something interesting happened in May.  One child become mobile - Autumn (see first picture below where she crawled over and stole Oliver's sandwich) and Leah became immobile.  She wrecked on her scooter and hurt her leg.

Leah is my brave girl.  On Victory Day she wiped out trying to run and catch up with her Dad.  She skinned her knees pretty badly, but just said her very common "I'm okay" and she slowed down a bit for a while and then went back to normal.  Well, on Wed May 22nd it had been a rainy for a few days so I told the kids they could go ride scooters for a little while even though it was a little wet still.  Levin then called and wanted me to meet him for lunch.  So I went out and told the kids okay, only a few minutes.  Leah was riding soo fast.  I mean soo fast.  I was like, dang she's not scared (she can be a bit timid about some things) anymore and she's good!  But I also though, she's going a little too fast.  Just when I was about to tell her she really needed to slow down, she wiped out.  Later I realized I made a mistake letting the do it while it was kind of wet out still when I saw the top of her scooter had muddy water on it.

Anyway, there was no, I'm okay! I wanted her to ride again so she wouldn't be scared in the future, but she was CRYING and would not move and would not even consider anything, but me carrying her inside.  So finally I did.  Oliver then did a beautifully faked crash for me.  He loves to pretend to get hurt in the same way someone else just did.  He even slowly lowered and banged his head on the ground and his hand.  Note: neither of my kids had helmets on which is a big no no around here.  

Levin told her to walk it off - but there was NOO walking.  Levin carried her to bed and kind of tossed her down and learned that this girl isn't faking the pain.  She cried and never wanted him to carry her again, just me.  The next day . . nothing.  So finally I said, let's go to the doctor.  The doctor referred us to European Medical Center for an x-ray.  But the x-ray machine was broken at the one close by so I had to wait until Friday to get a ride there.  I couldn't exactly take all 3 kids on the Metro when Leah can't walk.

Levin actually took her since I didn't want to worry about language.  They took the x-ray, you could only see a faint line if that, looked at her, and sent her home just saying to stay off of it.  As soon as Levin left to go back to work, I got a call saying, after consultation we decided she needs a splint bring her back.  UGH!  I tried to talk the med unit at the Embassy into doing it, but they said, since she's a child she should really have a pediatric orthopedics doctor do it.  So . . . . I take Leah back. I guess I got a babysitter.  

The doctor and facility were nice enough.  They said she needed a cast.  All the way above her knee to keep it straight.  It didn't look like she did any "special fitting" for a child so I was a little upset that I had to go there to get it done.  Taking Leah to the bathroom was even more difficult now that she couldn't bend her knee.  Oh, and she was in a lot of pain still.  We had to be so careful.  Right after this we had to always have a pillow under her calf so there was no pressure on the ankle.  We found out more why that was later.  She would wake up in the night crying in pain and discomfort.  Everyone was so worried she'd try to walk on it, but I had no fear of that since she wouldn't even try.

Did I mention this happened pretty much the worst week possible?  It was the week of her ballet recital.  SO here is Leah getting ready to watch the recital.  She was so quiet during it.  She later told me that the recital is the only part of ballet she likes anyway.  She was all set to be finished with ballet forever after the recital.

 Below: The teachers always give the girls a chocolate bar and since Leah got hers first she was already chowing down by this picture.  Gotta love that!  The broken leg had seriously effected her appetite so she didn't even eat much - just enough to show her pigging out in this picture.

Maybe the silver lining was that since she was sad to miss this recital (although she won't admit it) she now wants to do ballet next year whereas before she told me to throw away her ballet clothes after the recital.  So . . maybe it could be good.  We'll see this fall.  Here she is at church.  The Escobars had had heard about her and brought her some candy and she got a lot of attention.  She'd been pretty somber since she got her cast on, but once she got to primary she had lots of fun!  People suggested I have people write on it, but she was so sensitive about it I knew she'd never let anyone get near it.  She'd freak out if Oliver or Autumn got near her.  

Wednesday we went back to the Russian doctor for a follow up visit.  Leah's toes had slid inside the cast some and the doctor was like, "where are her fingers!"  If I'd known then what I knew later I would have snapped back that they are called toes, not fingers.  But at this point we're still on good enough terms with her.  She cut open Leah's cast and was not gentle as she was lifting Leah's leg.  Leah was so brave when the initial cast got put on and would just whisper to me if it hurt.  This time she was a lot less calm about it. . I don't know, but it hurt!  The doctor kept looking at me disgusted like what's her problem.  I finally said, she says it hurts!!  The doctor didn't soften up and made me push on Leah's thigh to get her to put her leg down straight into the cast.  Then she wrapped tape all around it to tighten it back up where she'd cut it, but extra tight so we didn't lose her toes again.  We got half-way home and in the car ride home Leah starts freaking out!  Did I mention it was hard to get her into the car with a leg that can't bend?  I tried every position to elevate it, to try and squeeze my fingers in at the top in case it's just too tight.  Nothing works, but she is MISERABLE!  I called the Embassy doctors who tried to talk me into going back to the Russian doctor, but I said, heck no!  My baby was in pain and that Russian doctor did this to her.

We went in (they could hear her screaming in pain) and they cut off the cast.  And look what they found!  Not only had the doctor done a bad job of the cast so that this sore developed, she didn't even notice it when she took Leah's leg out of the cast and forced it back in.

 Actually, this is more than a week after the cast came off.  It actually is getting "better" but gets uglier.  It looked like a red sore with some purple when we first saw it.  It's a pressure ulcer, aka bed sore.  A doctor who specialized in them just happened to be here (the husband of the one who sent us to the Russians in the first place) and he looked at it and said it could have gotten a lot worse really fast so we're lucky we went to the follow up and had the incident so that Leah started screaming.
At one point the whole thing was seriously blistered out.  It looks like a topical thing, but the sore goes really deep under the skin.
Oh, 3 days after the cast came off the doctors cleared her to walk.  The Russian doctor said 4 weeks she needed it.  Turns out a little girl that age with a stress fracture it only takes 9 days probably and it seemed healed with her.  Three days later, did you catch that 3 days later after they said she could walk! Levin and I finally convinced her she could walk.  There were some tears involved.  The next day she walked a ton and that's when it blistered out.  This is after the blister has shrunk down a lot.  You can't see it in this picture, but in the center there is a dark black spot.  Then she eased up on the walking again.
As I write this on June 25th it is just a few days short of a month after the cast came off, her sore is still there, it is "drying up some" is a little smaller, but looks blacker like a big underground nasty scab - which it kind of is.  The doctor who specializes in this left Saturday for good, but supposedly we just have to be patient.  She wears flip flops all the time so no shoes rub on it.  She limps/walks on her toes on that foot so she won't walk on it although by now she admits that it doesn't hurt, but she just doesn't want to step on it.  Once for a few days they told us not to get it wet, so she is terrified to get it wet even though they now say we can.
We go to the doctor twice a week which in and of itself is a pain in the neck.  Leah actually loves the attention though, except the one appointment where we caught her up on her immunizations.
Oh, I forgot something interesting.  The Embassy has one Russian doctor and so they had him call and explain what had happened with Leah.  They said we could have our  money back from any visit with her (we still paid for the x-ray) and they fired her.  I felt really guilty at first, but that was when I thought Leah's heal would heal in a week or 2.  This could be all summer!  I mean this seriously effected Leah's life for a long time!  Not being able to keep up with your friends is a real bummer too!
It is starting to crack off the dead skin so now we have to be more diligent as it gets to more of the "open wound" that it doesn't get infected.  Oh joys!  And band-aid stuff they give us only stays on about 2 hours and then I find Autumn with a nasty little piece of scrunched up see through plastic wrap type stuff . . Leah's band-aid in her hand.  Sick.  We will see on Thursday what they say now.
So anyway, a major part of our lives here!
And since this post was supposed to be about the one daughter becoming immobile - she still is slow and can't walk forever in her awkward way - and the one becoming mobile, here is a video of Autumn crawling.  Just when Leah couldn't be my helper, Autumn started to be into EVERYTHING, and got 4 new teeth so she was just a "joy" to be around. :)  The teeth have been here for a week or so and she's better in her grumpiness at least.

Stake Youth Activity

In church I teach the young women (12-18 yr old girls) but we only have 2, well I should say, HAD 2.  Now we're down to one.  Anyway, in May the Stake had an activity where kids from an orphanage came and played games and made some food.  The food was a "cake" made from cookies, sour cream with tons of sugar, fruit, dried fruit and nuts, and a whole lot of sprinkles - I mean an obscene amount.  I didn't get that many good pictures.  Not speaking Russian and all I kind of just felt in the way.

They gave these kids from the orphanage some knives to chop the fruit.  They just threw them on the table and the kids all leaped for them and I kind of freaked out.  Luckily, I know the word for be careful.  I have no idea how to spell it though - something like austarozhna.

 Here is our young women that has since left.  She was here studying at the Bolshoi Academy, only 13 when she came and all alone in Russia going to ballet school.  She's got serious courage.  I am sad we never even got to see her dance, but she was so mature and awesome.  She is definitely missed.  Her friend couldn't come this day, but her American friend came with her from the school and was equally awesome.  Miss them!

 Here is our young woman that stayed! Kind of not the best picture of her - it's a little blurry and she's looking away, but she is sweet and fun and also amazing.  I look back and realize what a loser I was at that age compared to these girls.  They were so brave to participate in all the games that were done in Russian.

 Playing the pop the balloon game.

Autumn

 I just love this little outfit that Autumn is wearing.  Leah wore it when she was younger, but it wasn't warm enough for Autumn to wear it much sooner.  It was a little small on her, but I've been making her wear it because I just love it!  One of my favorite pictures of Leah was with her wearing this outfit so I tried to recreate it, but could somehow never get her to smile on camera like Leah was.  All the same, she's cute!