Today I am not feeling the greatest. I was up in the middle of the night with some nausea. It is probably due to me stressing over Cameron's adoption. I really wish it was just all over with. I was up crying a little last night just thinking about it. I know everything is in God's hands but honestly sometimes I really worry. I just can't imagine being without my Cameron.
On another note we are having a blast in school. The kids are learning so much. They are having so much fun. I am already looking into what we are going to be doing next year. I can't wait to order my stuff for next year. We homeschool year round. One of the reasons we homeschool year round is that Emma has FAS and if you take to long of a break she will forget everything she has been taught and we would have to re-teach her. Although in the summer it won't be as intense. It will be more laid back because we really like to be outdoors during the summer. I use the A Beka curriculum. I love it. It is working for my so we feel we should stick with it if it working. No need to find something new if it is working out. Most everyone I know etiher puts their own things together or uses sort of a Chorlotte Mason approach to schooling. Although I really like these types of approaches I am not sure it would work well for me as the teacher. I am just to nervous to try it. So for now we will stick to what we have been doing.
This eveinng I took my girls out to play in the snow. The fresh air felt wonderful. They really had a good time. They both tried to ride their bikes through the snow which was pretty funny. The just couldn't figure out why their bikes would not move. They made snow angles and we have a couple of hills in our yard so I pushed the girls down the hills. They got a thrill out of that. Unfortuantley my boys could not join myself and the girls, due to some obedience issues. Maybe tomorrow the can have a chance to make it out side. I will post the pics of the girls playing outside when I get a chance to upload to my computer.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Nicholas (Isaiah James), Adyline Elizabeth, Cameron Michael
I will start with Nicholas. He has down syndrome and he is the sweetest little guy. He and I are so much in love with each other :) He is such an easy guy to care for and he is so laid back. He hardly cries and is just full of joy. Having him makes me want to adopt ten more down syndrome children. What joy he brings to me everyday. Our whole family just adores him. It truly is a blessing to have him in our lives. I will be honest at first I was very scared to take him. I had never really been around a child with down syndrome and I really didn't know how to care for him. But we believe that every child is a gift and I could not turn my face nor my heart away form him just because he has down syndrome. I felt this way before he came into our care. We found out we were getiing him about 4 days before he actully came home. He was in the hospital when we got the call to take him. We were able to go visit him at the hospital and I was the first person that he made eye contact with. I literally cried when I held him. He was so very precious. All of my fears seemed to disappear when I held him for the first time. What a joyful little guy.
Now it's Adyline's turn. Adyline is a very affectionate littel girl. She is also a very fearful girl. I believe that comes from her past. However she is improving with each new day. She feels secure here with us and I htink she realizes tha she is safe so she is making tremendous progress. She is a very intelligent little girl. Very quiet in her speech, with many people not knowing she really can talk. She is very shy. Very frightened in new places or with unknown faces. However within a few minutes she calms down. Ady has Fetal Alcohol and Cerebal Palsey in her legs. Thakfully this has not interfered with her mind. We are hoping with physical therapy and time she can possible outgrow this since it is not really severe. She is such a cutie and we are so happy to have her in our family.
Cameron...He is a super, SUPER busy guy. Into everything he can possibly get into. He gets into everything EXCEPT his toys. He is so very cute. I should have known he was going to be this way. When he was a baby, he was the most diffucult baby. He cried or should I say SCREAMED ALL the time. Did not sleep through the night until he was 6 months old. Even now he really doesn't sleep much but he does sleep through the night thank goodness :). He is such a funny guy. Very funny. He has us laughing all of the time. Even though he is busy guy he is so much fun. I have to know where he is at ALL the time. You never know what he has found or what he might be getting into. He used to scream at us if we didn't give him his food fast enough. He still tries to scream at us once in a while but I think he has figured out that he doesn't get his food until he stops screaming. LOL. We quit going to restaurants for fear that he might scream everyone out of the restaurant. But the other day I took all of the kids to lunch with my mom and her good friends and he did excellent. So now I think we can start making trips to out to eat now :)
After all of theses kiddos are adopted I will give you their story. Since I don't have biological children I can't give you a birth story so I will give you an adoption story :)
Also the first pic is Nicholas, then of course Ady and then Cameron
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Emma Grace
Today I introduce you to Emma Grace. Oh my, my Emma Grace! How I could say so much about her. She is the cutest, tiniest little girl you may have seen at 4 yrs. old. My 2 yr. old weighs more than her. She weighs in at 27 lbs. Such a cutie!
I will start by saying this little girl even though she is not biologically my daughter could really pass as my biological daughter. Not in her looks but in her personality. She is so much like me. My mom really likes to remind me of that :) So much like me in good ways and in bad ways, lol :) My little peanut was brought into our lives when she was 12 hours old. Her biological mother left almost immediatly after she birthed her and never returned. So we were called by our local DHS and were so thrilled to have her in our family. She only weighed 4 lbs 12 oz. at birth. She was so tiny. She could wear doll clothing (and yes we put her in doll clothing :) ) Premie clothes were huge on her. I remember when we brought her home 4 days later that I creid because I was afraid. Afraid of what, I reallt don't know. Maybe because she was so small? Not really sure. It wasn't fear of not being able to care for her, I really think it was because she was so tiny.
Our adventure with Emma has been a whirlwind. Many ups and downs with her. Many, many days of tears because of not knowing what I could do for her. She was born addicted to cocaine and has fetal alcohol syndrome. At the age of 2 she was so destructive to herself that I was extremely concerned and had to take her to the doctor. She would bang her head off of objects or literally fall down right where she was at with so much force that it didn't matter what was in her way. So many times she had bruises all over her face because of her meltdowns. She really could not help it. Her mind was just overloaded. We had to take her to a specialist who told me that both sides of her brain did not funtion at the same time which causes her meltdowns (due to prenatal exposure to alcohol). I remember on one of those very bad days counting every 30 seconds a major, MAJOR meltdown. That is not an exageration at all. No words can express how serious these meltdowns were. They were not just a 2 year old meltdown, they were very serious! We were finally able to get her on some medication because the seriousness of her issues were very extreme. I am not one to medicate, but my husband and I both agree it is best. Although it does not completly take away her meltdowns or other issues it does help alot. I do hope one day that we can take her off the medication. I just feel so bad for her.
Emma is also such a sweet, sweet little girl who can melt your heart in an instant. Her laugh is so contagious. And her smile goes on forever. She is very effectionate and so lovable. Our days with her are always unknown. We have no idea what the day will bring with Emma. But one thing is for sure, I know that I will continue to love her through every struggle each and every day. Even though we don't know her mood from one minute to the next I know we will always love her. She is such a blessing. I
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