Enjoying vacation

The girls have school vacation this week. Last week I was trying to think of things for them to do to keep them busy and entertained while they had time off from school. It is already half way through their vacation and I have realized that they don't need me to entertain them. They have both been happy to just stay home and relax. They have been staying in their pajamas a lot. On Monday I let them put their rain gear over their pajamas so we could take Watson out for a walk. They thought that was pretty funny.

We have had a few things to do this week though. We took Watson to the vet on Monday becuase he has been limping for a few weeks now. The had to give Watson medicince to make him sleep so they could take an xray of his leg. That meant we had to kill an hour of time so I walked the girls to Hornbach. Hornbach is the Home Depot of Czech Republic. It is so similar that if you were standing in a Hornback or a home depot and didn't look at the spelling of things you would not know which store you were in! I was amazed...I wonder which came first? In any event, the nursery section of Hornback also had a lot of decorations (which I know is not in Home Depot). The girls and I chose some fall decorations and then we browsed the Christmas decorations. We decided we would need to go back with Jason to pick up some new decorations for this Christmas. We headed back to the vet to find out that Watson has a chipped bone in his shoulder joint. He is on pain meds this week and we have to bring him back next week. If he is still limping then he will need to have arthroscopic surgery to remove the chip.

Yesterday was the National Holiday as I already posted and we spent time walking around and just hanging out in our apartment. Today we had friends over for a visit. The kids had a really fun time playing and just running around crazy in the apartment. I had fun talking with my friend, Wendy. Our schedules have been so busy lately that we haven't had a lot of time to talk at pickup from school so it was nice to finally have time to talk. I was happy to learn that her husband's contract has been extended so they will be here for at least another year and a half. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the girls playing.

Public Holiday

Today is The Day of Establishment of the Independent Czechoslovak Republic and is a National Holiday. Holidays are always nice since it means that Jason has the day off from work. Yesterday our street was cleared of parked cars and huge tents were set up. The huge tents have restaurants in them where you can sit and be served food. Also along our street are vendors of beer, wine, hotdogs, sausages, ham, trdlo, potato pancakes etc. There was also the roast pig which seems to be at every holiday event we have been to in Prague. The weather today is not great but we ventured out anyway. We had our fill of food and then walked to the end of the road to watch the parade. Since it was so chilly Ali and I decided to get hot chocolate. It is so nice that she is old enough to share a hot chocolate eith me. By the time we got there it was packed. I could barely see anything and we had the kids on our shoulders. It was an interesting parade and very different than parades I have seen in the States. The parade was essentially a military parade so we saw a lot of trucks, tanks and missle launchers. Ali was tired and cold so we headed home before Jason and Sofia but that was fine with me since I couldn't really see anything anyway. It is always fun to be out in the festive atmosphere and it is always nice that the festivities are right out our front door. There is a stage set up about 50 yards from our front door so I am looking forward to hearing the music later today. Until then I will relax and digest all the yummy food I ate earlier.

Out to Lunch

Today we had a lazy day after a busy week. The morning had gone by before we new it and it was time for lunch. We felt that we should get out of the house so we decided to head out for lunch. We thought about heading into town to a pizza place that has a pizza buffet and the kids eat free but by the time we were ready to go it was already after noon and we didn't want to miss Ali's nap. We decided to try out the Lebanese restaurant around the corner from our apartment. When we head out to restaurants with the kids it always strikes me how much our children are experiencing from living overseas. I don't think I knew there was Lebanese food when I was little nevermind trying it but our girls were excited to head to the Lebanese restaurant. The both really love hummus which they ate with gusto. I ordered a puff pastry filled with spinach which ended up coming loaded with onion too so I didn't eat it but it didn't go to waste since Ali loved it! I'm happy that we can expose them to all different cultures and I'm happy that we have children who love to try new foods.

Reading and Cooking

This week has been very busy. That seems to be the theme lately..busy, busy, busy. I had intentionally made this week busy becuase this was the week Jason was suppose to go to the States. Since I was planning on bringing the kids to school everyday I decided this would be a good week to sign up for reading with Sofia's class and cooking with Ali's class. Yesterday I spent some time in the morning reading with the kids in Sofia's class. I read stories to about 2 kids at a time. It was fun to read to them and interesting to see the difference in sounding out words as well as attention span. The girls were excited to read with me and the boys really just wanted to play. Sofia's teacher gave me a list of kids to read with but there were other girls who also wanted to read with me. I was happy to read to whomever wanted to listen. The boys on my list needed some coaxing to sit with me to read. It is interesting to see the difference between all the kids.

This morning I cooked with Ali's class. I thought about what I could cook that would involve 12 kids. The thought was a little daunting since it is enough work to bake with my own two kids never mind 12 kids. I decided to make cookies but I made the cookie dough in advance. This worked out perfectly. I gave each child a piece of dough to roll out with a rolling pin and then I had cookie cutters so they could choose what shape they wanted. This took just the right amount of time for the attention span of a 3 year old. It was nice to see Ali interacting with her classmates. The kids came to the table to make the cookies in groups. Since I was the mom doing the cooking, Ali's teacher let Ali go first and to pick 3 friends to start with her. It was interesting to see who Ali chose. Two of her choices were not surprising as she always talks about Clark and Nils but her third choice of Cianna was surprising as I never hear her talk about Cianna. It was nice to have a little insight into Ali's life at school.

The Pumpkin Patch

Last week, on Ali's only good day, the girls and I went on their class trip to the Pumpkin Patch. The nursery kids are required to have a parent present but the reception kids are not so I sat with Ali on the bus while Sofia sat way in the back. It was strange to be there but not to have to parent Sofia. She had a great time playing with her friends. She took her turn walking with the goat and feeding him apples. She picked out the pumpkin she wanted by herself and ate up all of her pumpkin soup. It is nice to see the change in her from last year to this year. Last year I had to constantly be with her and checking on her and this year she was just off by herself. When we arrived Ali went to go check out the rabbits. I guess she remembered them from last year. She spent most of her time with the rabbits last year but this year it was just a quick peak at the rabbits and then onto the pumpkins. She couldn't decide which pumpkin she wanted. I also enjoyed my time at the pumpkin patch and took the opportunity to stock up on squash. You can't buy squash in the store here so this is my opportunity to buy some. Last year I didn't know you could buy it until we were there and I ended up carrying a plastic bag of squash home that kept ripping. This year I came prepared with my cloth bag!

Today we finally had time to enjoy our spoils from the pumpkin patch. The girls and I carved pumpkins today. Well, the girls drew the face they wanted on the pumpkins and I cut them out. They were very excited to make jack-o-lanterns. Sofia helped scoop the seeds and goop out of the center of the pumpkin but Ali decided it was too messy and wasn't going to stick her hand in the pumpkin. After making the jack-o-lanterns, I decided to make some pumpkin soup. Sofia really enjoyed the pumpkin soup we had at the pumpkin patch and has been asking for it since. It is actually quite easy to make pumpkin soup. Next up I will be making acorn squash and butternut squash.

When it rains it pours

This is not a weather forecast but rather what happens when Jason leaves town. It seems when Jason heads out of the country the kids are sick or watson gets sick or both. This time was no different. As I have already blogged about, Ali had hives when Jason was heading out of town. We thought we were on the mend the day he flew out but no such luck and we ended up with Ali getting a cortisone shot. I thought everything was in the clear after that and I had our days planned out for the week. The girls had a class trip to the pumpkin patch (which I will post about later), we had our swim lesson and they were both in school and happy. Then things really came to a screeching halt on Wednesday afternoon. The school nurse called me and told me that Ali had woken up from her nap and was screaming and crying uncontrollably saying her leg hurt and she couldn't walk on it. Now, Ali had been complaining about her leg during her bought with hives but I just assumed it was because she had hives on the back of her knee. Apparently it wasn't the hives that was hurting her knee so I immediately brought her to the doctor. We went to one hospital and had it checked. They checked it and wrote out a slip for us to go to the children's emergency room at another hospital (Luckily the two hospitals are right next to each other). We go to the hospital and very quickly we find out that Ali is going to have to stay overnight. They originally thought it was inflammation of the knee caused by the bacteria from her ear infection. They put a needle in Ali's knee to withdraw some of the fluid. This was very painful for Ali and they weren't able to take out any fluid. They admitted her into the pediatric unit and we waited for other doctors to come. The staff was very nice and there was at least one doctor around who spoke English. The nurses were nice and since they couldn't tell me things in English they would just bring me to wherever I had to go. It was unexpected to have such help but very nice. We shared a room with another mom and daughter. The mother was very nice and also spoke English and she often translated for me with the nurses. She had been in the hospital for 7 days with her daughter. In our room there were two cribs, one bed and a chair. I slept in the chair. It was not very comfortable but I wasn't going to sleep away from Ali. Anyway, as it turns out, Ali didn't have fluid in her knee she just has swelling around her knee. They believe the swelling is caused by the allergic reaction to the augmentin. We will keep her on antihistamine and motrin for the next week. We were released from the hospital tonight which I am very grateful for. I'm happy that there is not major problem with Ali and I'm also happy that I don't have to sleep in the chair again. It was a pretty stressful time for me, especially with Jason away but we managed to get through it. I'm not sure how I would have done it with out some pretty great friends. Our friends Emily and Radek watched Sofia for me last night and took her to school this morning. They brought clothes for Ali and me as well as food and drinks and books and toiletries. Our friends Phil and Shanna are taking care of Sofia tonight (since we didn't get home until late and we weren't sure if we would even be home tonight) and they also brought us books and food and a much needed phone charger so I could stay in contact with everyone. Our babysitter picked up keys from our landlord so that she could come to our apartment and pick up Watson and take care of him. In addition to that there were so many friends who texted me to make sure I was doing ok and to see if they could help in any way. Even friends who are traveling have unknowingly helped us by letting us borrow their car while they are away. I had no idea how much mayhem would ensue with a stay in a hospital. Now I know and I'm so grateful to all of our friends who love us and take care of us. It has been a whirlwind week and I can't wait for Jason to get home.

Hives Update

Ali's hives flared up again this afternoon so I brought her to the doctor. The doctor said it was probably a reaction to the Augmentin she was on for her ear infection. They gave Ali a cortisone shot. This was the first shot Ali has had in her rear end and it was not pleasant. She screamed for the entire injection which seemed like forever to me so I can only imagine how long it seemed to take for Ali. She cried and cried which is unheard of for Ali. I do not think she has ever cried for any shot. Now, of course, her bottom is sore from the shot but her her hives seem to be getting better. I have other medicine to give her and a cream to put on her so hopefully this will fix the problem and she can get a good nights sleep tonight.

Hives

On Friday afterschool I noiced Ali had about 10 mosquito bites on her legs. I thought this was odd and couldn't figure out when she would have gotten them. I chalked up to her sitting outside during recess. Jason and I went out to dinner and when we got home Ali was making noise in her bed so I went in to check on her. I felt her belly since she said it was itchy and there were welts all over it. I got the flashlight out (her room was dark and Sofia was sleeping) to check her and sure enough she had hives. What I thought had been a few mosquito bites turned out to be hives and had drastically increased in size and number. I gave her some claratin since we didn't have any children's benadryl. This seemed to help some but was still not great. In the morning I picked up some benadryl from a friend and gave that to her. That also helped a little but not as much as I would have expected. We have kept her on the antihistamines all weekend. Last night was defintely the worst. Her belly was one giant hive. She as so itchy and the antihistamine didn't seem to be doing anything. I finally decided that I would bring her to the doctor this morning but when I got back from my run and she was awake her hives were alredy going away. We sent her to schoool and told her teacher to call if the hives flared up again. I hope that they just go away. I have no idea why she got them since she hasn't had anything different to eat and her schedule has been the same so she hasn't been exposed to new bushes/leaves. I will just hope that this was a one time event.

Harvest Assembly and Bake Sale

Friday was the kid's school harvest assembly in the morning and the bake sale in the afternoon. The harvest assembly is a great time for the kids to learn more about giving and what it takes to grow food...kind of like the U.S. thanksgiving. The school collects food donations and gives it to a local charity. The kids get to sing songs about the harvest and the older kids get to have little skits acting out the harvest. It was fun to watch the assembly. Sofia was very excited about it and kept asking me if I was going to be there. It is the first time that she has really talked up any event. In the afternoon the PTA put on a bake sale. I got there early so I could help set up for the bake sale. Of course in my rush to get out the door I forgot to bring the cookies I had made for the bake sale. Oh well, Jason is happy there are plenty of cookies here for him to eat now. The school bake sales are really more than bake sales. There are games for the kids and face painting and coloring and a little stall selling little trinkets for the kids as well as fruit stalls and card stalls etc. It is a lot of fun to attend. The kids love eating the sweets but they also love having their faces painted. Here are a pictures of the girls during the harvest assembly as well as them with their friends after face painting.

Busy, Busy

This week has been very busy. I can't believe it is already the end of the day on Thursday!

Week in Reveiw:

I brought the girls to the doctor again to have their ears checked. As I've mentioned before, when you bring a sick child into the doctor here and they prescribe medicine they want to see the child again for a "control" check so they can ensure the child is better. This is a good thing since that way I know if the ear infections are gone but it is also a pain in the rear end. The girls control appointment was on Monday morning at 8am which means leaving our apartment by 7:30am. This was a bit of a struggle but we made it and I got the girls to school by 9:30. The girls still had ear infections on Monday so we just kept them on the antibiotics. Hopefully the infections are gone by the end of the week.

Since I am class representative for both of the girls classes I have been quite busy with school things. I have had to gather data and compile spreadsheets with parent contact information as well as organize birthday presents for teachers. This week I organized a coffee morning for each class. This is a time for the parents to get together in the parent room at school and have coffee/tea cookies etc and chat and get to know each other better. Sofia's class has 7 new kids in it so it was a great opportunity to get to chat with them, although not all of them came to the coffee morning. Ali's class has some moms that already have kids at the school but there are a lot of new faces. Since some kids get picked up at noon and some at three you don't always get to see everyone nevermind have time to talk so it was great to see everyone. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone over the course of the year. Two of the other moms and I are going to run together after drop off next week. I'm excited to find other moms who can run with me. It will be nice to make new friends and it will be a new expereince for me to run with others since I always run by myself.

On Wednesday I met friends at my italian restaurant to celebrate my birthday. It was nice to have friends to celebrate my birthday with as well as have lunch at my favorite restaurant. It has made my birthday into quite a celebration this year.

This morning I was finally able to get together with a friend that I haven't seen in a while. She has been busy building a new house and I have been so busy with the girls that our schedules just haven't matched up. Well, we finally made it happen this morning. It was nice to just hangout and have tea and cake with a friend. Since everything has been so busy this week I completely forgot Sofia had Czech lessons today until I picked her up from school and she reminded me. It's a good thing she remembers her schedule otherwise we would have completely missed her lesson. We rushed home to get her Czech book and I dropped her off at her lesson. I came home and baked some chocolate chip cookies for the school bakesale tomorrow. Now I have to prep my running stuff for tomorrow so I can get up early and run before bringing the girls to school. Jason usually brings the girls to school but I am going in tomorrow as well since the girls will be singing in the Harvest Assembly. Sofia is very excited about singing and keeps checking with me to make sure I'm going to be there so I can't miss it.

A nice birthday weekend

My birthday weekend was great. Jason brought home pad thai and spring rolls for dinner on Friday as well as cake and my birthday present. I had been saying that I wanted the new iphone but assumed I would not get it. Jason surprised me though when I opened my present and found an iphone. I was very excited. I'm not generally a gadget person but the iphone was so attractive to me. I would have my phone, music and calendar all in one place. I was only listening to my ipod when I ran and just never thought of bringing it with me else where. I often forget my calendar on my desk at home so I never know if I'm available to do things while I'm out. I did always have my phone with me so if I could have everything on my phone then I would always have it with me. On top of all that I liked the odea of having my phone as part of my music so that when I am running I have a phone with me. When I was only runing 3 miles it didn't feel like I needed it but now that I am running 9.5 miles I just feel better knowing that I could call someone if something happened. It also has maps on it so if I'm running and get lost I can check the map rather than stopping a farmer from tilling his field! Anway, it was a great present. Then I opened a present from Jason's parents which was two shirts which I desperatly need. Sofia was funny though. She said, "Why does mommy only have three things on her birthday and I get a lot?" I had to laugh.

Anway, on Saturday we decided to check out a creperie that we had just heard about. I called one of my friends to see if they wanted to come over in the afternoon to hang out and let the kids play. She said yes and that they could come to the creperie with us too. It was lot of fun and the kids (and I) really enjoyed the chocolate and whip cream crepes. We came back and just hung out at our apartment and filled ourselves with junk food. . . cheese and crackers, nachos, buffalo tenders and cake. It was a fun day.

After getting lost on my run on Friday I was itching to try it again. This morning I decided I would run the route in reverse so that it would be less likely to get lost. It was a great run! I will definitely keep that route in my running schedule. It was tough since there are some steep uphills but it is worth it to run through city, woods, farm and village.

All in all, a great weekend.

Birthday

Today is my birthday! For those who have already sent me birthday wishes, Thankyou! I love when people remember my birthday. I have a had a nice day so far. Jason took the girls to school this morning and I had a lesidurely morning mapping out my run. Then I headed out for my run. Since I had nothing to do I decided to try a new route today. I planned on running 9.5 miles but sometimes the best laid plans go awry. The thing with running is that you have to look at a map before you go and then remember the route. That can sometimes be tricky. I've fairly comfident in my ability to get home though so I just go for it. My run started out fine. the second to 6.5 miles were all up hill which was a bit difficult but it was an interesting run. I then somehow missed my turn and ended up lost. I asked a couple people and they would point me in a direction and would keep running. My last stop was a farmer. There was a farmer in a HUGE tractor like this one. He was tilling the land I guess...the tractor had something attached to it that looked like a giant rake. Anyway, he was on the edge of the field and I put my pointer finger up in they "you got a minute" sign. He gave me the nod and I jumped over the ditch between the road and the farm and asked him for directions. He gave a slight chuckle and gave me directions. It got me where I needed to be so I was happy. I continued on my run and found the park I was looking for but unfortunately I took the wrong path in the park. I ended up walking/hiking down a pretty steep rocky path and at that point decided to walk the rest of the way back to the tram. The park was peaceful and beautiful. Watson loved exploring and going in the stream next to the path. It was a nice run and being lost just added to the adventure.

More ear problems

This cold that Sofia and I have is a very strange cold. It has impacted us differently and I am pretty much all better. Sofia is still not better and is on antibiotics for her ear infections. Last night the cold struck again. Ali was up crying last night and saying her ear hurt. After dosing her with decongestant, motrin, tylenol and ear drops she was still crying and saying it hurt. She did finally fall asleep but it made for a very long night. This morning I packed the girls up and headed back to the doctor to have Ali's ears checked. Sure enough, Ali has ear infections as well. This is another oddity of this cold. Ali has never been susceptible to ear infections the way Sofia has. I think this might be her third ear infection in her life. I will happy when this cold leaves our home.