Jaime and Me

I pretty much prefer Netscape over Internet Explorer Maybe it's because I really don't like the way Bill Gates does business or maybe it's because I've always used Netscape and it's prettier, faster and has more features. But sometimes, you just have to use IE, unfortunately. Back in the "old days" when computers were used by someone who had some sort of idea what they were doing, we all used DOS. This was before the 16 bit Windows program even came out. But if you wanted an office suite, there was a little company called Lotus that had a beautiful suite of products. It's rumored that there was a saying among the Microsoft programmers that went, "DOS ain't done 'til Lotus won't run." By the time Lotus worked out all the DOS bugs, Microsoft Office had taken over the lead spot.

Oh, and BTW, I still use Lotus before Office. Ever the rebel :)

So, why am I rambling about Netscape and IE? Well, IE makes it very easy to upload files to an ftp site which is where I keep the pictures of Jaime I publish here. Unfortunately, for some reason my IE won't allow me to log into my ftp site. So, I bring out the Netscape and they have nothing comparable. I can log into the site just fine but I can't seem to upload anything easily. So, no more photos until I either download an ftp client or get back to work where my IE actually will log onto the site. Got some goodies, though :)

Not a bad day as Jaime and Mommy days go. Jaime was a bit crankous this morning but had a lot of fun swinging on the lawn furniture displays at Walmart. There was also a guy washing the sidewalks with a pressure washer and she was fascinated by that.

But she learned a hard lesson today. Until now, everything that came into the apartment was either hers or mine (and by association, hers.) I picked up some toys at MacFrugal's (I refuse to call it Big!Lots) to send to the babyhouse in Uralsk with the folks that are building the playground there. I've kind of been buying a little here, a little there, mostly clothes. Today MacFrugal's had just gotten a shipment of reasonably priced developmental toys. Shape sorters, stacking cups, that sort of thing. Alphabet toys are worthless, of course, unless they're the Russian alphabet :) So we brought some of those home in a big bag. Of course, Jaime thought they were hers.

After about a million, "Those aren't for you"s, I finally sat her down and told her that they were for kids who didn't have mommies and didn't have very many toys. She quietly went back and put all the toys back into the bag. What a kid!

Next week we're going to our first ever birthday party. Now THAT should be interesting :)

After the afternoon nap, the weather cleared up and we went to the park! Yeah! Someone was having a birthday party there, though, and had taken all the shady spots, including the picnic table. So Jaime got a little bit of sunburn on her arms but it seems to have turned brown right away so it should be okay. Got to remember that sunblock. Also, Jaime wanted the balloons and helped herself to a small piece of the bunny cake. I figure it was an attractive nuisance :)

Then we had our weekly dinner out. This serves two purposes. One, I get to actually sit down and have a meal and Jaime gets to learn how to behave in a restaurant. She does very well, usually. She loves the blooming onions at the Outback. After dinner, I paid the check in cash and was getting ready to leave when the waiter came back and asked, "Did you mean to give me this?" I looked and it was a hundred dollar bill! Whoa! It was supposed to be a twenty :) Thank goodness he was so honest, he could have had his best tip night ever! I did give him a good tip for it, though. Nice guy.

Then home for bathtime and a book and bedtime. This week's favorite book is "Boom Boom" which is Chica Chica Boom Boom. She got it from Auntie Sharon for Christmas and she loves it. Especially when they all fall down. Well, we were reading the book and I noticed it was a bit stuffy in the apartment. I went to check the thermostat and it was blank...and the fan was running constantly. Argh!

Fortunately, the maintenance man was close by and he came right away and replaced the thermostat so we're cool (literally) again.

So far I've had about 8 or 9 calls on the Caddy. Haven't seen any money yet but it's encouraging. One guy was quite excited about it being a two door. He didn't even seem to mind the coolant leak. Hopefully, I'll hear from him again soon :)

Okay, this is weird. There are two links to this site. There's http://www.homefromkaz.blogspot.com and http://homefromkaz.blogspot.com and both should work fine. But it appears that the www one isn't updating as quickly as the other one. So, if you have a bookmark to it, you might want to change to the other one. Or, maybe it was just a fluke and it's all better now :)

No pictures today so if you want to just stop now, go ahead. Otherwise, I'll ramble on...

First, I'd like to say "welcome" to Mason Palmer (aka Baby Dumbo) and a big congratulations to his family. Mason's less than a week old and sounds like all is going well. I'm not saying what his last name is because I'm not sure who all knows about this or who's supposed to. But you all know who you are...give yourselves a big cheer and thanks tons for the photos! Still not sure what I'm supposed to do with this bunch of blue balloons .

Poor Jaime had a kind of a bad day today. It started out that way and spiraled downward from there. She didn't want to wake up or eat her breakfast or get dressed or go to school or even watch JoJo's Circus! But, we finally got out the door and off to school where she cried when I left (another rare occurrence.)

Then the afternoon teacher said she'd had some timeouts this afternoon. And she was still a little crankous at home. But now she's sleeping and I'm hoping she's just having a bad day. Funny how when your child has a bad day, it kind of rubs off on you :)

Had two calls on the Cadillac so far. The ad went in The Statesman yesterday. One guy was going to come look at it but I didn't see him. Probably he got lost. He made me call his aunt who's "really smart" but there was so much noise in the background I don't know if she heard me or not. He wanted me to give her directions. I tried.

Another guy called today and sounded pretty excited about it. I've got my finger's crossed! Two cars is just one too many and I don't want to pay insurance and everything on both of them. The Caddy's been a good car and it doesn't owe me anything. I hope it goes to a good home.

Tomorrow, like every Saturday, is Jaime and Mommy Day. We call it that because it's the one day of the week that Jaime and I get to spend together. I try to make it a fun day. If it's nice, we go to the park. If it's not, we go shopping. Jaime loves Petsmart. She could spend the whole day there, I think, just looking at all the animals and petting the "bowwows" (she's learning to be "gentle" but she gets excited when they start to move away and grabs their tails to hang onto them.) And she always has to have some money to put in the homeless pet box.

I know I'm bragging but I couldn't have asked for a more perfect child. She's so beautiful, smart, funny and kind. Everything is exciting for her and that makes it a lot of fun to be around her. Don't get me wrong, some days are better than others, but all in all she's a very good girl who's made astounding progress in the last 5 months (Wow! Has it been that long?!?)

And the word for today is...."Sticker!" :)

// posted by Jaime's Mommy @ 5:50 PM

Shame on those folks at Walmart. You know the ones. You take your beautiful child into their portrait studio for the $4.88 special (with never a sitting fee!), which comes with about a zillion copies and different sizes of the first pose you accepted, but there are cuter ones that come later in the session. That's where they get you.

I took Jaime in to have a portrait taken since it's spring and I hadn't had it taken since Christmas and, well gosh, it's only $4.88. I turned down the "extras" which are basically the zillion copies of each other pose because it cost a fortune. I did, however, buy the diskette with the images because every shot was so darned cute!f

I got the diskette home, plopped it into the computer and found out that the images were such a low resolution they weren't even good for screen savers (although they were supposed to be) much less printing out on my new photo printer. After reading the disclaimer (which can't possibly be read in the store by a mom with a wriggling 2 year old), I found out it was by design. Drat the luck! They do remind you, though, you can buy "extras" online after you pick up the photos.

Yesterday we went to Walmart to pick up the photos. I did, indeed, get about a zillion different sizes of the first pose for the promised $4.88. And yes, aside from the little "off the shoulder" thing, it's adorable.



But, included in the envelope were two of each of the other poses, just in case I wanted to buy them. How could I possibly walk away from this?



Or this?



Or this (with the new spring backdrop)?



Or this (I love the butterfly on the shoulder thing)?



Then there's the closeup



And the obligatory "baby on her tummy" pose



So yes, I bought them. So sue me. I think my child is the most beautiful girl in the world and if you want to argue with me, we'll just meet out in the parking lot and I'll teach you the definition of a Texas Butt Kicking :)

Of course, none of them were wallet size and we all need wallet size, right? So online I went and spent another small bundle to get a 5x7 and a few wallet size copies of each. I'm going to have to move into a bigger house,not to make room for Jaime's toys and clothes, but to have enough wall space to hang all these photos on. We've only been home a month and I've already got too many pictures!! :)

Last night, when I went to pick Jaime up at school, she was sitting in the office in her shirt, diaper and socks. I don't think she started crying until she saw me. Seems she'd taken off her shoes and her pants and refused to put them back on. She wouldn't put them on for the teacher or the director or the assistant director but Mommy came in, said, "Put your pants on" and that's all it took. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but we have a family motto. It's "Mommy always wins" and she's very familiar with it :)

Then it was off to Wally World in the MomMobile to pick up the photos. We got to chat with Marco (the photographer) for a couple of minutes. Jaime adores Marco and thinks he's her buddy. Marco gets a kick out of that. He's very good at his job, as the photos show, and I hope he makes a few pennies off the bundle I spent to buy the extras.

Back home we went where we promptly were tied up in Austin's version of Rush Hour. Rush Hour in Austin (at least on 183) pretty much consists of people trying to get as far ahead as everyone else before the right lane ends. So, of course, this holds up everyone who's in an actual driving lane because dufus in his little, red convertible thought he could get an extra 2 car lengths ahead.

By the time we got home, Jaime was tired and hungry and wanted to be carried up the stairs. When we got into the apartment, she went looking ofr Grandpa again, though not as diligently as before. I think she thought maybe she was wrong and he'd show up again. No such luck.

Uneventful evening, dinner, bath, story, milk, rock to sleep and carried to bed. This week she only wants to read Chica Chica Boom Boom. "A told B and B told C, I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree...." It's an okay story and I don't mind reading it but she gets all excited about the midway point where it's pretty obvious the coconut tree isn't going to withstand the weight of the whole alphabet. Then, after they all fall out, she pretty much loses interest until the end where she can find the moon on the page and A sneaks out to climb the tree again.

I think Jaime has some pretty vivid dreams. She often talks, laughs, squeals, etc. in her sleep. Sometimes she whimpers and I'd really love to wake her up and get her out of whichever dream is making her feel that way. Last night, I went to move her off my side of the bed, and she started her little smooching thing that means she wants kisses. Fast asleep and smooching away. It was so cute...really. Maybe you had to be there :)

This morning they're having more pictures taken, this time at school. So Jaime went off in one of her new, never before worn, never photographed dresses. She was very proud and it also had a hat which she wore for about 5 minutes, until Nathan (did I mention she has a boyfriend? He's 5!) told her how nice it was, then she didn't want to take it off :) Nathan looked pretty sharp, too. I'll try not to worry unless I go to pick her up and she's taking her clothes off again :)

Quick added detail. While I was in Uralsk, Leatha and her daughter, Melanie cleaned my apartment and rearranged the "spare" bedroom to make room for both Jaime and my computer stuff (not an easy task!) They did a beautiful job, although I'm still looking for my lightbulbs :)

I showed the new arrangement to Grandpa when he was here and he said it's "just like that TV show." A great compliment to the both of you and he's right, it is just like that TV show.

I think I've figured this thing out. Blogspot appears to be having some trouble with their billing for their paid accounts, so I'm going to just link to my Road Runner account and publish pictures that way. I'm paying for it, might as well use it, right?

It's been a busy and hectic 4, almost 5, months. Jaime is an amazing child and I think I'd say that even if she weren't my daughter (how good it feels to call her my daughter!) Her preschool (not supposed to call it daycare) teacher and her pediatrician agree that she's made amazing progress in the time she's been home.

She's learning new words and phrases every day. She sings, she dances, she says "More!" when she wants more food, she's almost an all American girl. She's gained a ton of weight and grown 3 inches. She loves "school", animals, mac and cheese, the park and, of course, Mommy.

We had our first post placement (4 of these are required by Kazakhstan - one at 6 months, one at 1 year, 2 years and 3 years) and she's still with me so I guess we're doing okay. Special thanks to Linda Kelly who, if you're in the Austin, Texas area and need a social worker to do your post placements, is highly recommended by me.

I took my massive income tax refund and bought a "mom-mobile" from my sister, Pam. It's a 2000 Windstar van with all sorts of bells and whistles that I'm still figuring out. It's a nice van, as vans go, but something I never thought I'd be driving. It's not for me, though. It's for Jaime. The Caddy was "Mommy's car", the van is "our car" and Jaime can "magically" open the side doors with just a wave of her hand. She's still trying to figure that one out :)

Grandpa delivered the new car, stayed a few days to help celebrate Easter and just to spend some time with Jaime, I would guess, and hopefully me, too. He delivered a beautiful, hand-made (by him) rocking horse which Jaime thinks is the greatest thing in the world.



After about 5 minutes of false starts, she now runs the rockers to the max both ways! Grandpa got video of her riding it and it's pretty hilarious. I plan on using it as a weapon when she's a little older and going out on her first date - or maybe I'll show it to her fiance just before she gets married :)

Anyone who hasn't seen the little ankle biter since the blog from Uralsk will notice a surprising change in Jaime's appearance. She's literally gone from a baby to a toddler and is well on her way to preschool level.

Grandma sent a new Easter outfit down but it was surprisingly cool and rainy in Austin this Easter and she couldn't wear the shorts or t-shirt. She'll be wearing it this week, though, it's already 73 and warming up the rest of the week.

So, Jaime and Grandpa decided she needed to wear a "special" outfit to ride the rocking horse. Grandpa helped her get dressed









This is probably the first, last and only time you'll see a giraffe riding a rocking horse. The giraffe suit is from Auntie Lynn :)



Jaime and Grandpa thought it was pretty hilarious!




Easter morning Jaime found a ton of candy in baskets and plastic eggs "hidden" (and I use the term loosely) around the apartment. I'm sure she had no idea what was going on but she'll learn as she goes. This time it was just fun to find everything and pig out on candy.

Grandpa had to explain about the white chocolate bunny.




But she figured out the little chick pretty fast! Yes, we beheaded him and removed the jelly bean brains :)





Yesterday, Grandpa left to go back to Denver where Grandma was staying with Auntie Pam. I tried explaining to Jaime that Grandpa had to go back to his house and we'd be seeing him again really soon. But when we got home from school and Grandpa wasn't there, Jaime was very disappointed. I explained again that he had to go back and he was just visiting.

But this morning, she woke up and ran into the bedroom where Grandpa had been sleeping while he was visiting. When she found out Grandpa wasn't there, she threw herself on the bed saying, "Gotcha!" and just cried and cried. I think she misses you, Grandpa! We'll be seeing you soon, though!

Now that everyone's updated to date (okay, so it was just a little sparse but I'm trying), I should be blogging on an irregular, regular basis. Probably not every day but maybe a few times a week or at least once a week.

Stay tuned!