In other news...

Maxim has been the focus of my attention for months, but he's not the only thing happenin'.

Chipper is planning to take a mission trip to Mexico in March. Oh dear, the plane tickets! You can fly to Ukraine for what it takes to fly to San Diego!!

Chip needs a passport but we've been so busy that there has been no time to drive over to the main post office for this. I did get his passport photo done the other night, though. It was funny. The lady at the photo place said his shirt wasn't good enough for the photo...something about the collar.

We were in huge time crunch, but he didn't have anything on underneath his half-zip shirt. The clerk tossed him a t-shirt from a display of shirts...he took his half-zip shirt off in the middle of the busy store...put on the new shirt...got the photo...changed shirts again and we split! No, I didn't buy the shirt he tried on!

Zhen has been mean and angry at school for a few days. His teacher has called me a few times to say that she thinks he may be constipated...he was straining on the toilet, but not producing any results. When she called again today (my poor mom took the call as I'm 3 hours away with Max) I asked dad to get him to the doctor quickly.

Zhen has a history of eating non-food items. What if he ate the wrong thing and had an obstruction? Goodness! Poor dad is so tired of me being gone and hauling kids to the doctor and trying to hold down a job to support our tribe. Well, he did one more doctor visit...and then took Zhen for x-rays. Not fun, I guess. Zhen is a real fighter, so I imagine it was not a picnic.

Shortly after they got home, Zhen exploded on his little potty...remnants of balloons, one of his favorite snacks. Two potties full. I just want to thank dad for messaging the photo-proof of this. Sheesh! Hope Zhen feels better...and nicer now.

Ralph wanted to know where Maxim was when he woke this morning. He's already completely accepted his new brother.

Ruby has totally accepted him, too. She does her best to say his name like I do, but she has been calling him "magazine!" Really good try!