Summer in the desert is just NO FUN

Summer is terrible in the desert, the heat wears all of us out and none of us have any energy, except for Amanda, who always seems to be on the move. Every summer we all get a little grumpy too.


This summer it seems like everything is breaking, ever notice that appliances seem to go in three's, rather like movie stars...


Our ceiling fan lost it's light fixture the other day, we looked up and saw it hanging by the electrical wires, it was pretty scary. Tom got some parts to keep the lighting fixture up securely, but the fan motor arced and it could not be fixed, the fan had to be replaced. We got a new fan on-line and then drove by a lighting store later that day and saw that they were having a blow out sale, always happens that way huh, but I think we got a great deal and shipping was free, so we did not have to drive to look for a fan and waste our gas, right?


I cannot post any new pictures because my printer died and it had the card reader in it, the camera's USB cord is missing, and I am stuck, no pictures for now, I am having withdrawals. I also cannot print anything at the moment, and you truly do not realize how much you use something until you no longer can. The printer has a paper feed error, says there is paper stuck in it, we looked and looked, there is nothing there, so it is a computer chip error... I loved this printer and the thought of looking for another makes me sad and stressed, it seems like electronics are made to break after a few years, doesn't it?


Using our home phone is so frustrating, so many buttons are hard to press. Tom and I looked at the new ones, we were not impressed, they cost a lot and have less features than the phone we have now. I want a phone like my old one, did I mention I am not a fan of change. And no, I will not use a cell phone as a home phone, I do not believe they are safe, check out the news on brain tumors and cell phones, having had cancer, I take those reports seriously. If you use a cell phone a lot, please get a Bluetooth, or use it as a speaker phone, or text!!


Amanda has been sick for a couple of days; no cough, rash, tummy or bowels issues, or any other outward sign of why, just a fever. She seems fine now. I am hoping whatever it was, it does not go from person to person, a bad cold is going around right now. Today is the day we came home from Estonia after her adoption. So two years ago today, Amanda became an American citizen!

She lost one of her baby teeth and another is loose, even though she is tiny, and seems like a 2 year old, her body is definitely 5.


Kara is growing fast, I think there will come a time soon that she will pass up Meghan in girth, she wears size 5 in shorts and some 6's. Meghan can still wear both sizes in shorts herself. Kara's shoulders are wider than Meghan's already. She is big-boned. She got her communication device, and after using it a week it seemed like something clicked in her brain and she thought "Gosh, I should communicate my wants and needs" and all of a sudden, the stubborn stinker is signing "more food" over and over again. She is working on please and thank you and want. She also likes to use her device, but it is a struggle, we are all learning to use it more and more.



Kara also has taken to crying loudly and often, almost like a 9 month old baby would when they do not get what they want. I am thinking she is learning what it is like to express sad emotions and get attention and love. She seemed to shut that off in the orphanage, and it took a while for her to let the emotions out, to trust us with her feelings. Though I admit, her crying if she spills food gets tiresome, we cannot figure out why she is doing that again, it has been a year since she acted like that. She is the best cuddler ever, and will rest her little head on my chest while sucking her thumb and looks up with sparkling brown eyes. It melts mommy's heart every time.



I had read so much about adoption, and I thought, well, I have an idea of what to expect but something I rarely see talked about is how slowly the children with Down syndrome actually develop once home. Kara did learn to do things faster than Amanda, but neither of them is close to where Meghan was at their age. Amanda is very much like a infant to toddler, and Kara I would guess is like a 2 year old in many respects, including throwing temper tantrums when she does not get her way. Still, both girls are progressing and will continue to grow and learn, though sometimes I get so sad and frustrated and wonder once in a while who they would have been had their parents kept them, I can imagine two very different little girls, especially Amanda.


Meghan is acting very hormonal lately, I feel badly for her because in many ways she is like a first grader and yet she is also beginning to like tweenie films with love stories, she has always adored romantic comedies. She will skip along happliy and then fall down in a hissy fit, it is perplexing.

We are surviving summer, but it is just HOT HOT HOT here, I am sure most people can relate this year, but there is no way there is such a thing as Global Warming, just no way...right? ask the folks in Estonia and Russia what they think, hmmmmmm.