The List

When a baby is born with Down syndrome there are several medical specialists they will see over the course of several years. Some kids only see one or two, some will see cardiology but only once, and others - like Angela - have a large team of specialists is put together.

When you adopt a child with Down syndrome, it's necessary to play "catch up" with all those specialists. Given our history with our kids with DS, there are some specialists my kids see even if they don't have any symptoms because my kids are known to hide things. ;-)

The first thing on the agenda is dental work!!! Check out all the teeth squeezed into his mouth! What you can't see is how many are rotten, or the ones that are fused.

It's very common for kids with DS to not loose their teeth without intervention. When this happens the adult teeth come in wherever they can find space, including the roof of the mouth.

We'll get that scheduled as soon as possible. Since we know it needs to be done under general anesthesia we'll schedule and ABR at the same time. I'm pretty sure his hearing is fine but since he'll be out anyway it's better to just get it done. We also know he needs his tonsils and adenoids out but I don't' want our summer totally messed up so we'll wait and get that done when school starts in the fall.

Last week I made a goal to get all of the medical and educational specialists scheduled that Abel needs to see. Here's who we're seeing in May and June:

Dentist
International Adoption clinic
Ophthalmology (he had surgery for strabismus when he was 6, but one eye is still crossed.)
ENT (tonsils and adenoids need to come out!)
School assessment (so he can start school right away in the fall.)

June:

Urology
Craniofacial (Both Abel and Asher will be seen with a question of submucus cleft or VPI)
Gastroenterology (he has really bad reflux and rumination syndrome.)
Cardiology (he has a history of self-resolved ASD and something with the mitral valve.)

The Thank You's

We've been home just a hair over a week now. I've been trying to figure out the best way to say "Thank you!" to all those who helped get Abel home. Everyone deserves some public recognition in their lives, and this is a good time!

The Fundraising: There are no organizations advocating for Serbian orphans who families are trying to adopt. NONE! People who would like to contribute to a family's adoption often prefer to give to an organization rather than a private party so there is accountability. Add in the fact the Serbian adoption process is very fast, it makes the whole business a bit tricky. But Project Hopeful has chosen to stand in that gap for Serbian adoptive families. The staff and leadership of Project Hopeful is a group of people dedicated to His word. Thank you, Project Hopeful, for helping us get Abel home.

The Funds: I don't have the exact numbers, but somewhere around 120 people contributed to helping get Abel home. Each of you put your faith in Dean and I, believing that we would be good stewards of the money you so generously contributed. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for sacrificing for us, for our son. Weather you contributed $5 or $1000, every penny was important. Thank you. Every one of you.

Being Gone: We had three kids here who can be quite a handful. Not only that, but it is a crazy schedule to follow here. Even though I eliminated a few things, it's still a lot to keep up with. God absolutely blessed us with a group of people who, like a coach directing the play of a champion team, took amazing care of our kids! We could NOT have brought Abel home without knowing we had people here we could trust and who our kids adored. Not only did our kids get great care, but we came home to a spotless house!!! The pantry had been cleaned and organized, the refrigerator cleaned, not a single dish in the sink, and every stitch of laundry done and put away, the laundry room and bathrooms immaculate, and the list goes on! I cannot thank all of you enough. Just that alone made our first week home far less stressful than it could have been.

The Prayers: So many of you prayed. I'm sure I don't even know who all of you are. I do know that this was the most stressful trip to Serbia I have ever taken. It was the easiest trip in some ways, and in others it was the most difficult.  I have to tell you that one night, I think it was the 3rd or 4th night in Serbia, I woke at 1:30 in the morning having a full-blown panic attack. I couldn't breath, and I was scared to death...about something I couldn't even name. All I knew was my kids were on one side of the world and Dean and I on the other, and in that very moment it was just all too much!!! I went outside on the balcony, taking in gulps of the night air. "God, this is NOT of you. Please take it from me now because I can't stay here otherwise. I can't DO THIS without you." Suddenly I felt it. A gust of wind that blew my hair away from my face, and although the night was cool this breeze was warm. God clearly showed me all your prayers washing over me, taking away my fears and insecurities. No, we couldn't do this alone. We didn't do it alone. Every one of you prayed us home. 

Reflecting

This is going to be a very "real" post. The hard things that we saw and thought during Abel's adoption process.

Somehow before we left I knew this trip was going to be different. I had been adamant that Dean come along on this trip when really he just wanted to stay home. Money was going to be tight but I didn't care. I didn't want to be alone this time. I also knew that if Dean didn't go through this whole process, instead just meeting Abel for the first time at the airport, that his ability to bond with this child was going to be difficult.

Back in December we received this picture of "B" - Bogdan.

We saw an awesome smile. We saw amazing eye contact. We saw lots of teeth. We saw a glowing spirit. We also saw "trouble". What we didn't know was this particular smile is his "Watch out!" smile! LOL

The day finally came, April 12th, when we met our son for the first time. When we first saw him he was sitting in a chair in the staff break room. He was dressed up nice in jeans and a denim shirt. I tried not to cry when I saw him sitting there as I tugged on the sleeve of Dean's shirt. "There he is honey!" Poor Dean, he was still trying to take in the environment, but I was on familiar territory.

We got a couple of quick hugs from him, then were ushered into a motor room. Unfortunately this was a room with equipment designed for infants and toddlers, and Abel was a big boy. Strong and burly, an absolute ball of energy. Oh the energy! We were astounded at his ability to communicate with us, gesturing and miming his orders to us. In the first 5 minutes he bit me in the knee. He hit us. He kicked us. He laughed in our faces. He exhausted us. He never stopped moving, evidenced by the fact we couldn't get a picture with him still.

The best word to describe him was "wild". He was extremely agitated. What we didn't know is he was missing his security item. They didn't let him have his block during this time, and we now know he was spending most of that visit asking for his trusty block. He was a whirlwind. He was naughty. He was what I expected and yet somehow worse. Keep in mind right outside the door, watching the entire visit,  were several social workers and psychologists. They would be writing a report of their impressions from this visit and sending it back to the ministry (like the state level) to let them know how it went. No pressure. No pressure at all.

Dean and I left that visit saying yes. Yes we would accept this child and continue with the process. We went home to our apartment and slept for several hours. The next day we returned for our second visit. This time we came armed with food and drink, planning to take him outside. We watched him interact with the caregivers, making demands upon them, and them giving him nearly everything he wanted. When it was time to go outside he pointed back to his room. That's when his caregiver handed us the block.

Our wild little boy. So hungry. So thirsty. I'll never understand the hunger. These facilities have money for food, but the nutritional value of what the children are fed is nearly nonexistent. The stealing of food  from one another, with nobody to defend the weaker ones. The "speed feeding", where the food is shoved into the mouths of children faster than they can swallow, causing them to sputter and choke because they don't even have time to breath, while most of the food falls back to the bowl being held under their chins. Abel was so thirsty that he tried to lap water from the puddles on the ground, including the puddle of bubble solution when he knocked it out of my hand. He tested everything to see if it was edible, including spots of bird poop on the ground.

Out on the playground the toys flew. Big, giant ride-on toys that he picked up and threw at us as if they were mere feathers. He bit. He hit. He scratched. He kicked. I wanted to start off on the right foot, making it clear to him from the very first moment that we wouldn't put up with this behavior. All while being watched from the sidelines; our ability to manage him judged, reports being written.

Dean and I were both afraid. Was this child too much for us? How could we get him home to the US? How could we even bring this feral child into an airport, much less spend hours upon hours in a plane?

On the third day Dean and I finally talked about our fears. We put it all on the table, and prayed, asking God to help us. The answer was immediate. The only way for us to do this was to get him out of the institutional environment as soon as possible.

The day we were allowed to take him to our apartment for the weekend we were very nervous. It's hard to take a child like this to someone else's home. We knew he had serious issues with food and worried that watching food be prepared would be too much for him. The very last thing were were told was, "He sleeps very well." That felt ominous to me. The institution sent us with a few diapers - which were way too small - so Dean and our friend ran to the store for bigger ones. They got the biggest size there, which barely fit around his waist.

At the apartment he wanted to touch e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. So many things were instantly put up high. He obsessed about drinking. We weren't in the door 10 minutes when he got hold of the crayons and colored on a table. That first night trying to get him to sleep was a miserable fail. We were told he was used to going to bed at 8:00. I think he finally fell asleep around 11:30 and he was awake at 4:30. After 10 years in the institution, how would he ever learn to sleep somewhere else?

This seems like it was all about OUR stress. I can only begin to imagine the fear this little boy felt. He'd been in the institution since he was born, and this was his very first night in a very strange environment with people he couldn't understand, foods he'd never tasted, a strange bed....alone. There wasn't another child an arms length away. It was dark. It smelled different. It sounded different. Anyone who thinks that adoption is all rainbows is naive. It is TRAUMA. While we were very excited about taking Abel out of the institution, there was nothing "good" about that day. It was scary, for all of us.

The next morning I was going to make a run to the mall for something similar to pull-ups. Dean was going to stay home with Abel but at the last minute he asked to come along. He wasn't ready to be home alone with him just yet, and really, neither was I. I also didn't think Abel was ready to be in the mall but we NEEDED those diapers. Dean and I each took a hand and I told our driver this would be the fastest trip to the mall he'd ever made. And that it was! In 15 minutes we were in 4 stores and had purchased diapers, socks, shoes and groceries.

We spent the next week taking many walks, learning to stay with Mom and Papa and, in preparation for airports, that holding a hand is not up for discussion. He learned to sit at the table and watch while food was prepared. He learned to eat at a normal rate of speed. He learned that when he goes to sleep at night we would still be there in the morning. At the one week mark we made a trip to the mall again andAbel was already much improved.

And here we are. Two weeks later on the other side of the world. Abel is a completely different child. I would have never guessed he would come so far so fast!!!! I think I could take him nearly anywhere at this point, as long as there are no large crowds. He is quick to take my hand when he's feeling nervous. He has bonded most with Asher and wants to be wherever Asher is.

If I want to introduce something new that I think might cause him to be afraid, I just let him watch Asher do it first.

He loves to have his teeth brushed now (I just had to have Asher go first.)

He goes to bed without crying, he is wearing underwear during the day, and although there are a lot of accidents, today was only the third day and already we see improvement. He has very little anxiety about food anymore, and can sit and watch us prepare a meal without all the worried noises.

He may not know the order of each day, but he knows the routine for each event. He knows where he sits at the table, he knows that after breakfast we get dressed, he knows the routine for brushing teeth, he get get himself on/off the toilet managing his clothing on his own. He knows where he sits in the car and he knows when the other kids go to school that they will come home later in the day. (he frequently checks for the bus out the front window. LOL) He is letting go of his block a bit. Today we went for a hike and he left his block in the car without worrying or asking about it even once.

We are so glad we decided to add Abel to our family. He fits in so perfectly here! When God told us "adopt!", he didn't say it would be easy, he only said that it would be right.

One Week Home

One week. I can't believe we've been home a whole week, and yet we've been so busy it feels like we've been home a month. This time of year is crazy busy for us, with Angela in Adaptive softball that has two weeks left, and then she and Axel both started Special Olympics softball that just started. The overlap complicates the schedule, plus add in Special Olympics track two nights a week for Angela, Axel and Asher. The only night we don't have anything going on is Weds and every other Friday! Mixed in with our busy schedule is one new little boy who himself is quite busy.

So how is everyone adjusting?

Angela: She's an old hat at this "new brother" business now. She has taken everything in stride. And, just as when we brought home first Axel then Asher, she hasn't altered her routine very much. Originally we thought we would keep the kids home from school a couple days so everyone could adjust, but upon arriving home both Dean and I felt the need to get back to our normal routine. Angela was anxious to go back to school and tell her friends that her new brother was home! When she left for school that morning she made sure I knew Abel should meet her at the bus when she came home in the afternoon. We did just that, and she was thrilled to see him. The first morning at breakfast she wanted to sit right next to Abel, but she soon discovered it wasn't really a good idea since she had food while he was still waiting for his. She has been politely reminding him to keep his hands to himself and "Abel don't touch my juice." Even when he's sitting nicely. LOL Mostly, Angela was glad to have us back, attending her ball games and tucking her in at night.

Axel: When I was gone to complete Asher's adoption, Axel's behavior went downhill, particularly once he realized what was happening. This time Axel was, for the most part, able to keep himself in check. Thankfully those who were keeping the ship afloat at home were really good about not letting him get away with much. This time Axel understood what we were doing, and there would soon be a new brother named Abel sharing their bedroom. He had fun talking with us on Facetime whenever we could manage it with the time difference. Since we've come home he is a bit on the quiet side. We're making a point of giving him a lot of praise and Dean is taking Axel along on guy trips to the store, having Axel help him in the kitchen and things like that. Once we find our groove he will be just fine. He went through this same quiet period when we brought Asher home.

Asher: Ok, Asher was a little turkey while we were gone! He had our caregiver convinced that he he wasn't able to do much by himself. By the time we got home he had "forgotten" how to put his shoes on, how to get dressed/undressed, how to take off his jacket or put it away. He's such a stinker, and an excellent con man. That first morning we were home he layed handed me his shoe and his foot. Ummm...yeah right. We expected some regression while we were gone so no worries. He has relearned most of his skills this week. ;-) Probably the most frustrating thing has been the night-time bedwetting that started while we were gone. I may have to break out that bed alarm. Again, regression that was expected. But adding Abel to the mix has been very interesting too! Suddenly we have virtual twins! These two boys together are trying really hard to communicate with one another. They have both been in the "parallel play" stage, but ready to move into associative play. They have moments where they get some game going (usually involving Abel's block or whatever Asher happens to be dangling) and then move back to times of using one another as objects. When Abel goes along to get Asher off the bus he ALWAYS takes Asher's hand as they walk up the driveway together. Yesterday I took the two boys to Target, each holding one side of the cart. It was kind of fun having these two little guys so developmentally close to one another, each trying to help me put things in the cart (I'm sure this will get old by next week). Asher has also started doing some fun things at the table, like CHEWING!!! I'm not sure which part of having Abel at the table is pushing him to chew, but...WOW!!! Today he ate popcorn! BOTH boys are chewing. It's not great yet, but for Asher we just made about 1 year of progress in a matter of days. I'll take it!

And then there is Abel, who gets his own post. ;-)

The World is His

Two weeks ago he sat, locked in an institution on the other side of the world. 

Now the world is his. 

Growth

We're growing in lot of different ways around here.

Asher, January 2012

Asher and Abel, May 2013

Today is DDD

Ditch the Diaper Day

Yes, today is THE day. It is the day I get brave and put underwear on the new guy. I was going to wait until he'd been home a couple of weeks, or even a month, but he is SO ready! He's even peeing standing up because he's a great one for imitation. It was hilarious last night when Asher was standing at the toilet and Abel whipped down his pants to join him. 

He knows what to do on the toilet, now he has to learn the "when" part and the "when not to" part. 

Pray for me. 

Men

That's an awful lot of men laying around my living room. And just think...there are five more. We're missing Rob, Noah, Tyler, Bryon and Aaron!

Abel and Dudley

The first time Abel pet Dudley.

Settling In

We've been home with Abel three full days now. It feels like we've been home a month and yet I've gotten nothing done!

Today I was doing some reflecting on our past adoptions. I remembered when we brought Asher home, he was a HUGE shock to our family system. In our heads we were adopting a 7 year old. In reality we brought home a 6 month old who could walk. He needed SO MUCH from us. He needed everything to be done for him. We thought we would have to childproof the house only to discover just the opposite! We had to teach him to reach out and touch things. That he could explore his world. That life is meant to be experienced, not passively observed from the shadows. We had to teach Asher how to LIVE. I would say the first two months were really tough while Asher learned the routines of our home and family. It took me two months to re-learn the logistics of having a kid in diapers. And a car seat. Who couldn't walk very far or eat anything that wasn't pureed to applesauce consistency. Eventually we all found our groove and we found our new normal.

Enter Abel.

I am keeping my eyes on the future. I'm remind myself that when I look back on Axel and Asher's pictures I realize they are no longer the same children. I can't imagine where Abel will be one year from now, just like I couldn't with Axel or Asher.

We were miraculously able to avoid jet lag coming home this time. This is an absolute gift from HIM because HE knew we wouldn't have time for it. No, between the extra curricular calendar, getting kids out the door for school, getting kids off the bus, taking Abel to the bathroom on a regular schedule, and never ever ever taking our eyes off him, there really isn't time for sleeping.

Abel is a very busy little boy. He has been VERY GOOD, he is just busy. He is becoming more creative in the games he plays with his block, going through developmental stages with his trusty friend. Today he played with Papa and a truck for nearly an hour! He also played with a hammer/ball toy, but took the balls out and tried to make his block work in their place. Today I took him into the bedroom and showed him how every one of the toddler toys work. He would try everything then shake his head and push it away. Later I went into the bedroom to find every toy had been taken off the shelves and explored (evidenced by the pieces all over the floor.) The other kids were at school so as long as I could hear him and I knew he was in the boy bedroom, I knew he was safe playing without me being in the same room.

We were going to wait until this weekend to introduce Abel to the dogs. Two big dogs and one small wiggly one is a lot for a kid who has been severely sensory deprived. Well, the first three mornings home he got up before Dean and I, and was found wandering the house. (that will change today!) Yesterday morning, after sending Abel back to bed, I crawled back into ours and told Dean, "Well, no need to wonder about the dogs. He's already met them and isn't thrilled."

The most difficult part of the day is morning, getting everyone breakfast and ready for school. It's been really difficult for Abel to sit and wait for his food, especially when Angela needs to get eating first because she's has to get out the door. Every morning has been lots of worry and fretting noises while he wonders if he's really going to get food. But he's learning the routine, and this morning he sat relatively quiet, making mostly happy noises while he waited. This was a HUGE and welcomed improvement! Today he had pancakes for the first time too, and he ate them without complaining. I can't say the same for the chicken strips and french fries we had last night.

Our first breakfast! Angela was already gone for school.

Abel LOVES to ride in the car! Before we traveled to Serbia, and knowing he was very close in size to Asher, I bought him the same car seat Asher sits in. Well, they may be close to the same size, but Abel has the more typical long torso/short legs that is more common among kids with DS. His torso is longer than Asher's so the harness on the car seat was too small for him. He is big enough to use it as a booster seat, but he is not ready to be in just a lap/shoulder belt. A couple days ago I brought him along to Target for some much-needed supplies. In a flash he was out of his car seat and had pushed the button for the sliding side door of the van. Yep! A new car seat was added to the Target list! Later in the day he figured out how to loosen the harness straps. UGH!

Have I mentioned that Abel doesn't sleep very well? While we were still in Serbia he was waking up between 5-5:30 a.m.. Now that we're home he's still waking up at the same time. Because he's been getting up so early and he's used to taking a nap, he's usually crabby and ready for a nap by 10:00 a.m. The first few nights, when it was time for evening bedtime, there were lots of tears and a bit of panic. Last night, for the first time, he climbed into his bed without prompting, laid down and pulled the blanket up over himself, just like Axel and Asher do. This is kind of funny since he hates having a blanket on! He fell right to sleep without any tears or worry. When I checked on them later he had thrown his blanket and pillow up onto Asher's bed. LOL

Later I'll try to get a blog post up about how everyone else is doing with their adjustment to having a new brother. 

Brothers

We're home now. I think its time to move back to blogging over here since this is our family blog and we're now a family!

Here is some video from this morning. As you probably already know, Abel came to us complete with his block (and a spare we have in hiding!) NOBODY touches the block. We have gotten us to play a back and forth game with us. I sign "please", he hands it to me, I sign/say "Thank you!" then he signs "please" and I hand it back to him, he signs "thank you." He's getting better and better at letting me hold onto his block. When he goes to the bathroom I would set it on the counter. Now he prefers to set it there himself.

This morning Abel was playing with his block on one of the dining room chairs. Asher decided to join him.

A bit of history: Asher loves to get people into headlocks, and is very creative about getting people into proper position to grab them, including baiting them into position if necessary. But Abel had a game in mind and he wanted Asher to play with him. I love how he taps Asher on the head with his foot and points to tell him to come back to the game. LOL

Crickets

I know, I can hear the crickets chirping here too. I'm around, but only blogging on my adoption blog right now as we're currently in Serbia adopting our newest son! You can find me HERE. 

Mish Mash

This is where I go through pictures from the past month or so to create something entertaining for you.

It is pretty obvious that Asher loves having a daddy to call  his own. Mom? Yeah, she's ok but the daddy belongs to him! 

When we got Axel two years ago we had his heart checked out. He had an enlarged aortic root, and we should come back in 2 years for a re-check. A couple months ago we noticed his color changing, particularly in his hands and feet. Since we're at that two year mark we had his follow-up echo this week. Everything looks perfect  now, so we don't have to go back for 5 years. The color changing? It's a DS thing. Angela does it too, only her hands turn reddish purple, not gray like Axel's. Mostly I think I just needed a diversion from worrying about adoption related stuff. 

Axel and Angela both have blocked tear ducts. Angela had stents put in years ago but she pulled them out after about two weeks. Anyway, they both needs stents now. He often comes home from school with his eye all read and swollen. By the next morning it's gone. I was hoping to get it done this month before we leave, but I couldn't get it scheduled. We'll get it scheduled when we get home, after we've checked to see if B needs it done too.

Asher at the therapy center.

Angela, who hates to color, decided she would teach Asher how it's done. 

Soon B will have someone to put him to sleep just like this!

Hi There!

I have a few new readers recently. If you're new hear, I am currently dividing my time between this blog and my adoption blog. If you haven't yet added it to your reader, well I sure wouldn't want you to miss anything! You can find my adoption blog here. 

Cooking with Axel

Tonight was waffle night here, and I love to help! I love to help with pretty much anything, but if it's in the kitchen, I'm in heaven!

First I washed the strawberries.

Then cut the tops off. I was careful with the sharp knife!

Put them in the grinder to make sauce. Asher gets really excited when the grinder comes out because he knows his food goes in here. 

I poured it into the bowl.

Mom had the waffles ready. First I dished up Angela's

Then I dished up Asher's. See his face? He's not happy because he thought he was going to get ground up waffles. Nope, tonight he got waffle bites he had to chew. He ate it all gone.

Then it was my turn, but I was starving! I ate four waffles, 6 strawberries, and 6 sausage links. Then, just a little bit later I had a big bowl if ice-cream! I'm going to be a teenager in August and I'm getting ready! 

Urgent Need

Please, please please go read the Kacirek family blog. There is an urgent need to change their flight status to bring their new child home. When they got to where their child is currently located, they were shocked to find her current condition.

The problem? She cannot sit in an airline seat. If she is upright she is not able to breath well. She can handle a few minutes at a time, but certainly not 24+ hours of travel time to get home. She and one parent need to fly first class in one of the seats that will lie down nearly flat.  Please, if you can, go CLICK HERE to contribute to the Kacirek family fund so they can upgrade their seats. While there are other avenues to getting them the seats they need, paying for it outright is the fastest and easiest way.

Please help if you can!

Hearing Loss

When Angela was 11 months old she was diagnosed with a high frequency hearing loss. This is the most common type of hearing loss among people who have Down syndrome.

Here's a look at the speech banana that will help you understand what that means. Please keep in mind I am NOT an audiologist. Although I understand how this all works, I'm not so great at explaining it! LOL

The numbers at the top of the chart that run from left to right measure frequency (Hz) of sounds. The numbers that run down the left side, from top to bottom are decibels (dB) - or volume - at which those sounds are produced. Looking at the chart you can see that high frequency speech sounds, at conversational volume, are produced at 25-40db, with low frequency sounds being produced in the low 50's.

High frequency sounds are those to the far right of the picture. They are sounds produced at high frequency - or pitch- these include p, h, g, k, t, f, s, th, ch, sh.

Angela's hearing loss is high frequency loss. When she was first diagnosed she tested at 45 dB for anything over 1000 Hz. That means that those speech sounds normally produced at 20 dB she couldn't hear without amplification. She couldn't hear any high frequency sounds produced at less than 45dB. That put her into the mild/moderate range of hearing loss.

Lets take a sample sentence and see what Angela can hear. How about a common direction? "Hang up your coat then put your backpack away."

Now lets remove the sounds we know Angela can't hear:

"ang u your oa en u your a a away."

This is why hearing aids for kids with even a mild hearing loss are so important. A child cannot learn to say sounds they cannot hear.

Angela has been wearing hearing aids since she was first diagnosed. Although she can be difficult to understand, she would be MUCH worse if she'd never worn them. In fact, she would not have intelligible speech at all! Well, when I went to Serbia to adopt Asher, one of Angela's hearing aids disappeared. She won't wear just one because it's very disorienting to having your hearing distorted on one side, so she's been without hearing aids while at home since then. She wears hearing aids at school, along with using an FM system, so she could at least hear in school. But over the summer, when she was without amplification at all, hear speech really regressed badly!

Insurance will only pay for hearing aids once every 5 years, and the insurance available on them is very limited so we had to wait until this month to get new aids ordered. Part of ordering new hearing aids is retesting her hearing. Oh my...Angela's hearing has gotten significantly worse. Take a look at that speech banana again. Angela's bad ear is down to 75dB, and her good ear is down to 55dB. Thankfully, with hearing aids, we can bring her hearing into normal range. We have one more week until we can pick them up!

Boyz room, take TWO!

Last fall I redid the boys' bedroom, giving them some cool beds and creating more space. Then we decided to adopt again, and have been trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements. We have an empty spare bedroom so space wasn't a problem.

The real issue is not knowing the boy who's coming, and the fact he has spent his whole life sharing a room with 15 other kids. When we adopted Axel, he was 2 years out of the institution and had gotten used to sleeping alone. He had no problem having a room tho himself. Asher has never been on his own so I don't know how he'd do if he had a room all to himself.

Thinking maybe Axel would feel left out of the party if we moved him to the empty bedroom, we finally decided to put all three boys in one room. We looked at plans for triple bunk beds, and...well we looked at lots of different options. We ended up getting a second IKEA Kura bed.

Asher LOVES Axel's top bunk, so he's very happy to have his own now. Unfortunately his ladder is covered up so I'm going to add a set of steps for him to get up/down without climbing over his brother. ;-)

There is a fun little hiding place under Asher's bed. All the "younger" toys are in there.

 I'm still trying to decide if I'm moving some of the toys downstairs. Not all of our kids play well without direct supervision so if I  move it all downstairs, that means I'm spending more time down there as well.

 This will work for now. When we have had some time to get to know our new son we'll decide weather or not to make some changes. Angela is now bugging me for bedroom make over. She's about due, but I hate to cover up the pirates!!!

Repost: Naked in My Robe

I posted this 5 years ago today after a run-in with ice on our driveway.
.................................................

C'mon. You've all done it. Throw a robe on to make a trash run, or to grab something out of your car. I, for one, will never again be caught naked in my robe. Surely if I'd been fully clothed I wouldn't be typing this entry one handed!

Let us take a walk back in time to...say...Wednesday, March 12th. At 9:00 a.m I was helping Angela get out the door...naked in my robe. You know, the kind you have to re-tie every 8 seconds? We have this horrible patch of ice right on the front step that is quite large and is head injury waiting to happen. I held her up and skated her across the ice sheet, then watched to make sure she made it down the rest of the driveway ok.

Quick, before the bus came, I turned to go back into the house. I approached the ice carefully, but as you all know, once the fall begins, you're S.O.L. I could see that my head was aimed straight for the cement step, and my immediate instantaneous thought was, "ooohh Don't hit your head! You'll be out here awhile..naked in your robe!" It must have been in that second that I stuck my arm out to...I don't know, push away from the step maybe?

The next thing I knew, 3 body parts hit the ice at once. My left hip (it's a lovely shade of green now) my left cheek (cracked one tooth that now needs to be repaired) and my left hand/wrist/elbow-all-at-once as I heard a horrible C-R-A-C-K sound. The pain told me what happened. I screamed "oh my GOD I broke my ARM!!! Oh my GOD!!! Oh God Oh God!" and then I looked up at my arm (and my hand that was where it shouldn't have been)....and passed out. I'm sure it was only for a few seconds. What woke me up was the feeling of wanting to vomit. That and the cold ice against my now-bare front side.

I tried to just breathe. From where I was laying I could see Angela standing at the bus. Good..she's safe...she didn't hear me screaming. Breathe...the pain was like nothing I'd ever felt before. Breathe...

Getting up and off the ice. Well, I'm not exactly sure how I did it. I was tangled in my robe, and my knees and good hand were slipping on the ice. Makes for a great visual, doesn't it? I managed to get into the house, but by then the world was spinning badly. I found my cell phone but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to open the darned thing. When I finally did I couldn't remember Dean's number. Oh yeah...speed dial.

(your difficulty reading this is the same trouble Dean had understanding me screaming in the phone.)

Dean: Hello?

Me: OHMYGODIBROKEMYARMGETHOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dean: What? Who is this? Leah? What's wrong? What happened?

Me: GETHOMEIBROKEMYARMOHMYGODITHURTSGETHOME!!!!!

Dean: You broke your arm? Honey, I'm THREE HOURS AWAY! I can't get home. Is the neighbor home?

I heard "cant get home" and "neighbor" and hung up the phone. I remembered that speed dial thing and found my neighbor's cell phone on it.

Cindy: Hello?

Me: CANYOUTAKEMETOTHEHOSPITALIBROKEMYARM

Cindy: Huh? Who is this?

Me: Leah can youtakeme tothe hospitalI brokemyarm

Cindy: Oh..oh..I'll be right there! Right THERE!

I got off the phone and realized all 3 big dogs are running around outside, and the neighbor isn't exactly fond of dogs. The puppy was dancing around my feet trying to trip me. I hollered for them all to come in, and got them downstairs into their kennels, carrying the wiggling puppy who hasn't yet mastered stairs in my good arm.

I climbed back upstairs and went to the front window to see Angela just stepping onto the bus, and my neighor Cindy down there as well. That's when I looked down and realized somewhere along the way I'd lost my robe. Now I was just naked, with my hand hanging at a sickening angle. I headed for the bedroom and grabbed my "comfy clothes" which would be jeans and a sweatshirt. Obviously I wasn't thinking too clearly, huh? I managed to button the jeans with one hand (making any OT proud, I'm sure!) and figured out how to get the now tricky sweatshirt on. While hollering "ow...ow...ow" I pushed my broken arm through the sleeve, then pulled the rest over my head. The thought of the pain when I did this still makes me nauseous.

I looked for my shoes, but realized one was still laying out on the ice. I slipped my toes into one shoe and tiptoed outside. There sat my shoe, in the middle of the patch of ice...well out of reach. Grabbing a nearby shovel I dragged the shoe to the safety of the cement and stuck my toes in.

About this time Cindy arrived at the top of the drive with her van, but I couldn't get to her because I had to cross that darned ice, and I told her don't even try it or there won't be anyone to get us to the hospital! Somehow she coaxed me over the death patch, and got me hoisted into her huge 15 passenger van, then asked, "Which hospital should we go to?"

We arrived at one of the area hospitals, got my arm in a sling and some drugs into my system, only to be told it would be a 4-5 hour wait before I'd be seen!!! Cindy had a light bulb moment, "One of my kids had hand surgery at this orthopedic center a couple years ago, and I remember seeing an "acute care center" sign in the building. I wonder if they do stuff like this?" A couple phone calls later (quick, before I was too loopy to sign anything) we were on our way. At least the drugs were kicking in so I wasn't in excruciating pain anymore!

This place is amazing! It's called "Tria Orthopedic Center" It's been there a couple years but since this is the only area of specialty Angela has never needed, I didn't even know it existed!

To give you and idea of the type of care a person gets there, when we pulled in in front of the doors, the concierge came to get me from the van! I was wheeled up to the intake area, and within just a few minutes was taken to X-ray. I have horrible memories from when I was 15 and broke my elbow, and having the techs force my arm into a position it didn't want to go. This tech was so very gentle, and instead of making me turn my arm all over the place, instead slanted the table and made the necessary adjustments that way. I was then brought back out to Cindy, and almost immediately brought back to an exam room.

A couple minutes later the Dr. stuck his head in. "Oh..oops..wrong room. I'll be seeing you next. But, just to let you know, you have a really bad break and are going to be needing surgery." The he disappeared.

GASP

He was back just a minute later and pulled up my xray. I had 3 breaks, a small one on the end of the ulna (the small bone on the outside of your arm) and two breaks on the end of the radious (the larger one on the inside of your arm) and would need a plate or two and some screws installed to put it back together. He asked when I had last eaten and was very excited to hear I hadn't eaten since the night before. It was now 11:00 (I broke my arm at 9:00) and they could get me in for a 1:00 surgery. Had I eaten I would've had to wait until the next morning!

But Dean wasn't there yet, and I really wanted him there before I went in for surgery! He ended up arriving at 12:40. Cindy said a quick prayer for me before leaving us, and we were so very thankful she was able and willing to help me that morning! Without her knowlege of Tria I probably would have gone up to 2 days before having surgery.

Eventually we were brought back and I was seated in a surgical chair. I had an IV placed, and was given some more drugs, and met with the surgeon. (and Dean got to see the xray for the first time. He turned white.) Then the anesthesiologist came in to give me a nerve block in arm. They did this by putting my arm up over my head sticking a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g needle into my arm pit. I felt electrical shock-like sensations zipping through my arm, and Dean said, "Oh cool!" as my fingers jumped around. That's the last memory I have prior to surgery. Dean later told me that after the electrical zingers in my fingers they took a bigger needle and shot stuff right into the bones of my arm. BLECH! Glad I don't remember that!

The next thing I remember is waking up in the recovery room, my head hanging on my chest, and wiping the drool off my chin. I asked for Dean and he appeared from some far away fog. We sure didn't sit there very long! I know I was in surgery for about an hour and a half, and we were home by 5:30!

That night was all about heavy drugs and lots of sleep. Well, really the next two days were. By Saturday I was off everything but Tylenol, which of course I had to overdo a bit, putting me back on drugs for Sunday. If you called during those first couple of days, it's likely I don't remember it, and cannot be held responsible for any promises of "I'll call you back"!

It's a Birthday!

If there's one thing our kids love, it's a birthday!

Angela knows the date of every birthday in our family, and possibly your family too. Today is Dean's birthday and Angela has been counting down for several weeks. She doesn't even keep her motive secret though. The whole purpose of knowing everyone else's birthday is so she can measure how close we are to her birthday!

The kids made cards for Dad.

It's been awhile, but Dean and I are going to try something we haven't done in ages. That's right, we're going OUT. With "grown ups". We're meeting up with Dean's twin brother Dave and wife Sandy. Dean made something from scratch for his brother.

A very happy birthday to the best friend a girl could ever ask for. Love you Babe!