A prayer for Helaina ... and, thank you, Daddy.

Please keep Helaina in your thoughts tomorrow as our Asian princess undergoes the 5th surgery in her short little life, p-flap repair. It's a tricky, nasty surgery that will keep us in the hospital until Friday, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a discharge on Thursday. She's also having a small fistula repaired and her remaining ear tube replaced or removed as necessary, so she'll have a lot of stitches in her mouth and throat causing her quite a bit of pain. She'll be monitored very closely the first 24 hours to make sure the swelling in her throat doesn't restrict her breathing. We'll be able to go home when the swelling is down and the bleeding has stopped, but most importantly when she's drinking enough to stay hydrated - that took 4 days with her palate repair.

May 2008, palate repair and ear tubes just 6 weeks after we brought her home. More than 100 stitches in the roof of her mouth and the surgery took 5 hours.

November 2008, fistula repair and new ear tubes.

April 2009, tonsils & adenoids removed plus ear tube check.

The though of adding yet another surgical photo to Helaina's collection makes me sick to my stomach. Five surgeries and she's barely 4-1/2 years old (that's more than I've had in my entire lifetime). Even so, she still greets her surgeon with a big smile and sometimes even a hug. At an office visit last year Helaina jumped up onto his lap. Our surgeon's response was: "Is this the same child who used to try and rip the moustache off my face when I got near her?" Yup, our little wildcat is a bit tamer now - but we'll see about that after tomorrow. We let Helaina choose the dinner menu tonight - fried rice and wonton soup - then she selected the ice cream joint of her choice - Antonio's for a strawberry flavorburst cone. I wish we could flash forward to Friday at this time and already be home recovering - all 3 of us. Say a prayer for our precious Helaina that she stay strong and feisty over the next few days.

Bye bye 1999 Forester with 121,000 miles on it.

Hello Spark Silver beauty.

Dear Daddy:
Thanks so much for the new wheels. I like it a lot and Mommy says it's just spiffy. I promise to try not to spill my drinks in the new car. I'll also try not to crumble goldfish crackers all over the place, drop my french fries and keep my fruit gummies to myself. You get the best gifts for me and Mommy. When's my pony coming?

Love, Helaina

High Speed Helaina

We decided it was finally time to take the speed safety pin out of Helaina's Barbie Jeep and let her have at it full speed. Yikes, it goes really fast now and Helaina loves it. I was laughing so much watching Jim try to avoid her that I grabbed the video camera and started recording. Check out the end of the clip where Helaina tries to drive over a boulder in the neighbor's yard. If this video is any indication of what her driving ability will be in 12 years, we're screwed.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We headed out this morning for a little miniature golf, first time this year. We tried to show Helaina how to stand and hold the club properly, but anyone who has a 4-year old knows how well that went.

Helaina did a happy dance when she got her pink ball in the hole.

This hole was Helaina's favorite. The ball would swirel down a tube then come out below. She would drop the ball in the hole then run down to watch it roll out. "I do again. I do just one more time." - about 5 times.

On this hole Helaina and I took the safe route and hit around the water but Jim the Golfer said "I can put this across that narrow bridge. Helaina, watch Daddy hit over the bridge."

Then I said "Hey Helaina, help Daddy get his ball out of the water." If you look above Helaina's left hand you'll see her tossing her pink ball in the water too!

Pretty blue water.

Last night we had a pizza party with Anna and the gang. Cousins sharing goldfish crackers.

Day 3 - animals and home.

Sunday, day 3 was departure day from Canada. We had breakfast and went back to the room to pack everything up and head out. We had 2 options left for Canada: go to a nearby indoor waterpark and buy 4-hour passes (another $90!) and splash with Helaina until we're beat, or head to the Clifton Hill area to walk around, shop a little, have lunch then head out. I really wasn't in the mood for either, then Jim and I thought the same thing at the same time: cross the Rainbow Bridge back into NY early to avoid a huge Sunday afternoon backlog then make a stop at the Buffalo Zoo. Sounds like a plan. The Buffalo Zoo is nice, just the right size and has several animals that Helaina has never seen before (polar bears, rhinos & zebras).

The thinker! I lucked out with this picture. Wonder what he was thinking about.

"That rhino not real!" Nope ...

... but these guys are.

She loved this wagon. She was pretending to hold the reigns of a horse and kept saying "giddy-up".

There was a small playground at the zoo. Helaina spotted it and took off running, "I go there!"

Pretty flowers.

The polar bears are always exciting to see.

It was a hot day and lots of the animals were just laying around.

After a quick lunch we headed home. Helaina was asleep in less than 5 minutes.

Funny Helaina:
Tonight before dinner Helaina and Josh were upstairs fiddling around. I called both of them several times to no avail. I called Helaina one more time and told her to come downstairs or she'd lose her beloved Nemo Dolphin for the night. I immediately heard footsteps racing down the stairs as she yells "I'm coming right at the moment!"

The other morning I asked Helaina what she wanted for breakfast and she couldn't make up her mind. I reminded her that we had a new box of cereal I bought at the grocery store. "I'll have that. Thanks, Mommy. Thank you for buying it. I appreciate it." I appreciate it??!!

Lately if you ask Helaina if she wants something and the answer is no, she'll say "No, but thanks for asking." So funny and so sweet.

Canada, Day 2

Helaina took a while to "wake up" Saturday morning - think she was still tired from yesterday's adventures. She watched a cartoon with Nemo before we got her going.

Off to see the Falls for the first time.

Her first glimpse of Horseshoe Falls from the best viewing point, in my opinion. You are so close to the water rushing over the edge, it's an amazing view. All of a sudden Helaina starts yelling something while staring at the water. Jim and I look at each other and laugh when we realize what she's yelling: "Swim, Lassie, swim!!!" Helaina loves the Lassie movies and one of the more recent ones about a sheep herding adventure is her favorite. Lassie gets swept over a waterfall after saving her young owner (of course), while the boy is yelling "Swim, Lassie, swim!!" Too funny that she thought of that.

Horseshoe Falls.

Maid of the Mist, here comes Helaina!

She looked so adorable in her little blue raincoat. "When we gonna get soaked?" she kept asking.

Right now! She loved getting sprayed with the mist. Riding the Maid of the Mist is the best adventure at Niagara Falls.

The American Falls on the way back to the landing.

An afternoon swim in the hotel's outdoor pool.

"When we going to ride that elevator?" She asked this question constantly until we took her.

Helaina had the perfect viewing spot in the elevator - right in front.

Birds-eye view from the observation deck.

We went to a Macaroni Grill restaurant right next to our hotel. We ate a little late and Helaina was ravenous. We ordered her the children's spaghetti. On the menu it said that it came with one giant meatball. They weren't kidding - it was huge - and the plate was piled high with spaghetti. Jim and I watched in astonishment as Helaina was silent and shoveled the food in like she had never eaten before. When I saw that she was nearing the bottom of the plate I told her that she didn't have to finish all the food and to stop eating when she was full. She looked at me, burped like a sailor, and continued to eat. Oy, macaroni is definately her favorite meal but I don't know where she put it all. When she finally pushed the plate away she immediately asked "When we going for ice cream?"

We had a nice balcony in our hotel room. It made me nervous, though, with Helaina Houdini.

Jim and I were in Niagara Falls in 2005 to celebrate our 1-year wedding anniversary and then again in 2007 to ride the Whirlpool Jetboat (now that was a frightening experience). No matter how many times I visit the Falls it's still an amazing sight to see.

Guess where we went?

Yuppie doooo, as Helaina would say. We went to Niagara Falls, Canada to check out Marineland, see the Falls, ride the Maid of the Mist and do whatever else we could cram into 3 days. At the end of it all we were all exhausted - and Jim was broke! If you plan on visiting the Canadian side, just bring your bankbook and turn it over when you cross the border - which we nearly didn't get across. (Note to parents of internationally adopted children - bring your child's ORIGINAL citizenship certificate and avoid the bast**d border guard that we were unfortunate enough to meet that day. More on that another time, if I have the energy to relive the extremely frustrating experience.) Here's a little clip of our car trip with Helaina (the impatient child) and a few Marineland rides that Jim and I took turns on.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The whale that splashed Jim and Helaina during the "splash & meet" session.

A bit wet after the splash. Helaina thought it was great.

The trainers working with the whales made me nervous. I didn't want to be a witness to something similar that happened a few months ago between a whale and it's trainer.

I'm sorry, but the baluga whales are just plain freaky looking to me. I think it's the combination of them being all white and having that strange head shape - just looks to me like they aren't done developing and should be in an alien movie.

The show in the main arena was good. Helaina sat still through the entire show which was nothing short of a miracle.


The underwater viewing areas were neat.

Then there were the rides. We didn't get a chance to take Helaina on all of them because it was very crowded and there were unfortunately 30 minute waits for most of the rides she wanted to go on. Helaina picked the front seat for her ladybug roller coaster ride, much to Jim's delight (not).

Helaina went on this ferris wheel by herself - she wanted to ride alone. I was going to ride with her but she pushed me away and insisted on going herself. Hmmmfff!

They have a deer-feeding area. We entered through the gates (late in the afternoon) and should have known when we weren't stampeded by deer that they weren't hungry. Jim bought Helaina a cone filled with deer food but none of them were interested in eating - most likely full from being fed all day. And I'm sure the Marineland staff are aware of this fact but they keep on selling you the deer food at $2.25 per cone knowing the deer won't eat it. That irked me.

Chinese restaurant on Clifton Hill for dinner. Snacking on crispy noodles dunked in sauce after she had wonton soup, fried rice, stir fry beef and sweet & sour chicken. That's our girl. Josh says that Helaina has the makings of a competitive eater - he may be on to something!

As if we didn't do enough during this very long day, we let Helaina take a quick swim in the hotel's indoor pool before bed.

Sound asleep in her own queen size bed with Siri, Buckle and Nemo the Dolphin from Marineland.

Canada, day 2 to be continued.....