SugarHouse Mama

Monday, March 23, 2009

Happy Easter from Hawaii

So Nana is totally on the ball and sent an Easter present for Adjoa.

I have a few Easter things for her already, so I thought it would be best to open Nana and Pa's present right away. {Not wanting to overload Adjoa on Easter was my priority. I promise. It had nothing to do with how excited I was about the present. Really.}

Plus, Adjoa had a little friend coming over, and when there was a knock on the door, I got her all excited. I figured when it was a brown box instead of her friend, I better make up for it.

So thank you Nana and Pa! She loves the cute little things you sent. The Tinkerbell Lip Gloss Wand is a big hit {that's what she identifies as "The Princess" in the vid} and of course she loves the My Little Ponies. She played with them in the bath tub last night and subsequently wouldn't get out.

Here's a couple vids of her opening the presents and saying Thank You. She was so excited! Hope you like them!

I love how excited little kids get over small things. It's so cute and really reminds me that the simple things are often the best!

I took another vid of Adjoa playing with the ponies because she started signing the song. She learned the song from a My Little Pony toothbrush that "sang". Carol, from Robert's work gave it to her and she loved it. She refused to brush her teeth with it - she just wanted to play the song and listen to it. Funny girl.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Opposites Attract

So our totally awesome friends, Gail and Kevin, came up for a visit this weekend. Gail and Kevin are responsible for Robert finally asking me out and consequently marrying me.

If you have a bone to pick, pick it with them.

Their boy is about the same age as Adjoa and it was a riot watching them together. They had a blast running around, and we enjoyed watching - er, chasing - them.

These are the only pics I snapped during the entire weekend. {I sure hope motherhood is not rated on number or quality of pictures}

We ventured out to the Children's Discovery Center at the Gateway. {If you are ever in Utah, and you have kids, it's a MUST}. The American Chemical Society was sponsoring an event there {they are in town for a conference that Robert is attending} and the first 1000 people got in free. It was super fun and Hayden and Adjoa stole the hearts of several local news station cameramen.

Unfortunately, the ACS story about children discovering chemistry and Hayden and Adjoa's 15 minutes {or seconds} of fame got cut for more pressing news stories, like drug busts and car accidents.

The world's loss. They were super cute.

Anyway, thanks for coming Kevin, Gail, and Hayden! We sure hope you can come by again soon!

Hey, at least the only pics we took will be perfect for blackmail when they are older. I may not be a great photographer, but I sure know how to pick the perfect time!

Our big joke the entire weekend was how opposite these two are. Hayden won't eat anything and Adjoa scarfs down everything. Hayden was falling all over the place, but Adjoa has pretty good balance. And, obviously, Hayden is about as white as they get - his hair is even pretty much white. But opposites must attract because they had the best time together. Their little faces would absolutely light up when we would arrive somewhere, get unloaded, and they would see the other one was there too. It was so fun to watch them.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Do You Need to Call Jesus? Because Adjoa's Phone Totally Does That

Throughout the day, Adjoa will bring me my phone and say, "Ma, you call Da-dee on you phone" or Nana, or Lois, or Ah-mee, or Co-bin, or everyone. You get the idea.

So she brings me my phone and says, "Ma. You call Jesus on you phone!"

"Oh sweetie, we don't use phones to talk to Jesus. That's what prayer is for. We pray when we want to talk to Jesus. Do you want to say a prayer?"

Adjoa looks at me like I'm out of my ever-loving mind and smirks,

"Me phone call Jesus!"

"Your phone calls Jesus?"

"Yes." She nods once, and then continues, "I call Jesus on me phone!"

Adjoa scampers off and retrieves her phone - she pushes a few buttons and then starts talking to Jesus, asking him to come home to play and explaining that ma's phone "no call you, me phone call you."

lol.

So if you need to talk to Jesus and, like Adjoa, prayer just doesn't seem to cut it, come borrow her phone because apparently it totally calls Jesus. Unlike my phone. I wonder if Verizon offers an upgrade for that?


Adjoa talking on the phone with Da-dee on ma's lame-o phone that doesn't call Jesus.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Are You a Liar?

Another quick funny. {I'm trying to be better at sharing my little stories, because I keep getting comments from people who are disappointed in my blogging lately. If you are one of them, please take note of my renewed efforts!}

Adjoa comes scampering in, returning from the bathroom

A: Ma! I flush!
Me: Yeah! Good girl! Did you wash?
A: Yes.
Me: Really? {I didn't hear the water running so I'm thinking that's a big negative}
Adjoa nods ever so certainly.
Me: Are you a liar?
A: I go and wash!

And she runs off to the bathroom.

That's the phrasing they use in Ghana - 'you are a liar' - if someone if not being truthful. No hedging or beating around the bush. Call it like it is. It seems to work perfectly with 2-year-olds!

Here's precious picture of my little liar. :)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

If You're Happy And You Know It, Huh-huh-huh

Another quickie:

Here's a fun vid Robert did the other night. Please excuse the mess on the counter - Robert was in the middle of installing some additional shelves in my "pantry" so everything was out on the counter.

I believe I told him I wanted his camera-working skills to naturally edit out the mess, but it looks like that didn't happen.

Obviously our favorite line is "If you're happy and you know it huh-huh-huh" accompanied by a totally awesome ghetto-booty shake.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Quick Reason I Love My Little One So Much: She's Soooooo Funny

This is going to be way short, so enjoy.

Anyway, Adjoa was being a little pill today. She refused to eat lunch. Whatever. She sat there for about 30 minutes and refused to eat. So I reminded her that it was nap time after lunch, and if she didn't eat, she'd just go straight to bed.

She was fine with that. Hopped down from the table and headed to her room.

When she woke up Adjoa ate some yogurt. Then we were off to run some errands.

Just after we arrived at the store, Adjoa proclaimed,

"Ma! Me stomach is ca-ryin."

"You're stomach is crying?" I asked, with a huge grin, while suppressing my laughter.

"Yes. My stomach. It is ca-ryin." Then she pulled up her shirt and stuck her stomach out for me to kiss it.

Obviously, we headed straight toward the food so we could make her stomach stop ca-ryin.
Man she is funny.

Monday, March 9, 2009

We Had Family Photos Taken and They - or Rather - She is Adorable!

So we finally had some pics taken of our little family. I added them to the rotation above, but here is one of the choice pics.

My Uncle Rod was a life-saver. Adjoa was NOT having it. Actually, she's been quite camera shy lately {that's my reason for not pics recently} and he was a regular comedian. We discovered Adjoa has a soft spot, or silly spot, for slap stick. She got a kick out of Uncle Rod's attempts to step up onto the porch {which inevitably turned into him bonking his head on a pillar}. Adjoa kept trying to tell him he needed to go between the posts, but for some reason, he didn't understand. Maybe because we weren't done taking pictures yet.

The small patches of snow provided another comedic outlet when Rod's head started to ache. He put that cold snow in his ear, nose, on his head - just about everywhere. Adjoa thought that was a riot too. So much that when we were done she chased daddy around with a handful of snow. Thanks, Uncle Rod.

After, we had a super-yummy dinner with family. It was so good to see everyone and let Adjoa meet more of the family that loves her so much.

We found out my cousin lives just down the street from two other families we know who have adopted from Ghana. Crazy small world, isn't it? And funny that you have to go half way around the world to meet someone who is so close.

Anyway, watch the slide show above for some new - and totally adorable - pics!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Twilight the Comedy....er, At Least on My Row, Anyway


Remember how excited I was for Twilight to become an historic movie event?

Well I was informed by some friends that its presence was gracing the dollar theater {and by dollar I mean $1.75, because that's how much our dollar theater charges these days}. So the 4 of us packed up and headed out for a night on the town.

As predicted it was deliciously terrible.

Entertaining it was, but for all the wrong reasons. It's been a long time since I've laughed so hard watching a movie. Thank you, Twilight. I think it was worth the $1.75, but I wouldn't have paid a penny more that's for sure.

Of three things I am absolutely certain: a terrible script combined with horrible acting makes for a very poor movie, even worse cinematography and make-up will make you tear up, combine all of them and you have the makings for a movie that will surely bring tears to your eyes - even if it's because you are laughing so hard you think you might pee your pants.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Everything is Amazing, Nobody is Happy

Louis CK was on Conan and here's his interview. It's pretty dang funny, and oh so true. I remember long conversations with my friends and you had no privacy because the phone was attached to the wall in the kitchen. That was awesome. Your legs would fall asleep after a while and you'd be forced to hang up.

We had a rotary phone too, and it's so true. I remember thinking it would take forever to dial because you had to wait for the disk to spin all the way back.... Awesome.

I also remember when we got our first family computer. No Internet. Just a computer that I'm sure was sooooo slow. I remember being so proud of my reports - all typed up and with color cover pages that I designed with clipart. ha ha. I didn't have an email address until college.

Man times have changed. On any given day we have 3 computers in our house and only 2 people who can use them!

Enjoy!


Thursday, February 26, 2009

If You Want Your Life to Fall Apart, Just Promise Yourself You Will Blog More

Ok. My life didn't really fall apart - I just got buried, thus have not blogged like I promised myself I would.

I've had requests for more vids of Adjoa. I will try. She has suddenly become a little camera shy. She'll be looking oh so cute and I reach for the camera and she just won't cooperate. Gotta love the 2-year olds.

So. Back to my excuses.

Robert got sick. I started getting sick {luckily I managed to fight it off early - probably because I slept with Adjoa instead of Robert while he was sick). Adjoa got sick {probably because I slept with Adjoa instead of Robert while he was sick}.

Soon after Adjoa was feeling better, she started complaining about her armpit hurting when I lifted her. I checked it out and didn't really see anything. Same thing the next day. I checked out her armpit again and I noticed these little bumps. She had the remnants of a rash or something when she came home, so I thought maybe it was coming back. I put some Cortizone on it and called it good. The next morning when she woke up she had like 5 1/4 inch bumps on her armpit. They were so swollen and warm to the touch. She was also running a little bit of a fever.

Great. Probably an infection. I called a friend to get the name of the pediatrician she likes {based oh what happened on our last appointment, I wasn't going back to the same doctor}. I set an appointment for that day.

The other, not good, doctor's office called me a little later with the results of Adjoa's stool sample. {I spared all of you the horror and drama of collecting THAT. You are welcome.} She said the results were negative. {I had wanted them to check for worms, parasites, that sort of thing because she just came from Africa, after all, and she's a toddler, so I'm guessing sticking things in her mouth and eating whatever is around was part of her daily habits}. THEY DIDN'T CHECK FOR ONE THING I ASKED THEM TO.

I understand doctors went to medical school and I totally respect that. But when I come to you with a concern and ask you to run a simple test that is valid {she also exhibits some wormy-type symptoms} and I am paying for it, I think it should be done. Needless to say, we are NEVER going back to that doctor again.

Sorry for the tirade.

We went to the appointment. It. Was. Terrible. Everything started out well enough. Adjoa was happy and playing and wasn't concerned at all. Then, during the course of her showing off for the doctor, she bumped her head and started crying. She was inconsolable. They wanted to stick a needle in her armpit and try to get a culture.

It took three of us to hold her down so she stayed still. She tried to bite the doctor and the assistant. Ok, it didn't REALLY try, but she acted like she was going to - to sort of warn them. She kicked. She screamed. You get the picture.

She wouldn't let the doctor look in her mouth or ears. And she screamed bloody murder when it was time for shots.

They gave her 4 shots - 2 in each leg. Gave us a prescription for some antibiotics. And the doctor said she thought Adjoa probably had a staph infection.

So now I'm wondering if her habit of scratching and fingering her armpit while she sleeps needs to stop. She does this thing while she sleeps - or when she's trying to fall asleep where she sticks her right hand in her left armpit and does a little scratchy, massaging thing with her fingers. Her left arm is draped across her face and she sucks on her forearm. It's a little weird. Anyway, I'm thinking now I should probably try to break her of that, but I'm not sure how.

The next day her little legs were so sore she couldn't walk {from the shots}, she wasn't really eating, and she had a higher fever, but the boils were decreasing. She was sick all day, poor little thing.

She's pretty much all healed up now - still a few little bumps, but they are almost gone. She still says it hurts when you push on her armpit, but she doesn't complain about it hurting when I lift her up. She's been sleeping a lot. Which I have mixed feelings about because she won't sleep if I'm not there.

Today she took a 4 hour nap and I had to lay there the whole time. She would cry and grab on to me if I tried to leave. She was obviously so tired I didn't have the heart to just leave anyway. I wanted her to sleep well.

Oh, and throw into that the work drama I dealt with for several days. {Too long and probably to boring/involved for blogging}.

I also tried, in between Adjoa getting sick, to put yarn braids in her hair. It was mildly successful. I was able to attach them, but they just wouldn't really stay. Her hair was too short, and too tightly curled, for me to divide it {if you know yarn braids, you'll understand this} so they would pull out really easily. They were in for about 3 days, and then I just took them out because every day I was having to replace 2 or 3 anyway. I'll just wait until her hair is a bit longer and then do them again. Thanks for the tips, though Laurel!

So that's how the last week or so went down for me.

Sorry I slacked in my blogging. And picture taking.