New Year....not so new crap and complaining...with a bit of hopefullness chucked in for good measure...

Back from the va-cay...with mixed feelings. Had a good time in the D.R....up until the first part of the second week, when the poo and the puke came to us with a vengeance! Good thing we pack the whole pharmacy...here's a short run-down of what we used....4 different kinds of antibiotics - 1 for an infected foot (caused by a nasty blister), 1 for a urinary tract infection, 1 for the squirts and 1 for pneumonia; lots of gravol (kids and adult - tablet and injectable forms); immodium and Pepto tablets; benedryl and aerius - for a pesky sun rash; and some other random stuff like the usual Advil and Tylenol. Kinda takes the fun out of vacation when the whole fam-damily is holed up in the hotel room for 3 days straight....but we were all better in time to enjoy the last 3 days of sun and sand.

Today, as we are back to the regular scheduled programming (read: kids at school, too much laundry to do, a big, dunpy mess of a house to clean....), I am also waiting in anticipation to hear referral news from friends of ours who have waited entirely too long to see the face of their newest addition. They travelled to China with us in 2004 - our daughters are from the same orpahanage and are only a few days apart in age....did I mention that they are also two of the most gorgeous girls I've ever seen? Biased? Who, me?

I've been lingering online throughout today, checking to see if there is any referral news....so far, nothing...but I know its on the way....
can't wait to see her face :)

Waiting also for nanny news...when she will arrive (read: when my life will be back to a semblance of normal....house cleaned, meals cooked, laundry not piled up waiting for weeks to be put away.....you get the drift). i guess seh really won't be a 'nanny' per se...more of a live-in housekeeper with some child care duties.

Planning to redo our kitchen this summer. I'm gearing up to go searching for kitchen contractors in the next few weeks. I'd like to get a few quotes...and a few suggestions. Our current kitchen is circa-1973....and I will not miss one thing about it when its smashed to smitherines to make way for the new kitchen. We are also planning on finishing up some other reno work at the same time...some flooring changes (to take the last remaining remnants of the 1970's out of this house) and some flooring repairs (to take the last remaining remnants of the damage done to the hardwood by the previous owner's devil of a dog) and some paint changes....not sure I'm digging some of the colour choices I made 2 years ago. In order to let the contractor/workers do their jobs interupted, we've decided that once the work begins, we will take the kids and temporarily move to the cottage...anywhere from 3 weeks to a month. Usually we spend mostly weekends plus a week, maybe two at the cottage...looking forward to a big chunk of time at the lake :)

Gotta go troll the Internet for news of referrals...perhaps a trip to the Rumor Queen is in order.....