Long days

I have been busy lately! I am always a bit busy but the last few weeks seem like a whirlwind.

We had a wonderful Easter. J led worship at church and we enjoyed a wonderful message. Then we went to our friends' house to have a yummy lunch and fun, chaos filled Easter egg hunt. We left there and drove to my parents house to visit and have dessert.

I have been cleaning and organizing the house to get ready for our home visit for our foster care license. It took me a LONG time. Partly because I procrastinated.

We did have the visit on Monday. It went well we think. The licensor will write up the report by the 11th. There is a 90 day deadline by state law to have paperwork completed starting the day we applied. I can't believe it's already been that long! After the office looks over the report we could have our license a week or two later. Wow.

I also got a job on Monday. A friend of a friend needed childcare for her son for two to three days a week. I am on day two of caring for him and so far so good! He is a cute little guy and fits in well with everyone.

Make a Wish volunteers came out this morning to do some site prep. Coast Construction volunteered to come out and pull stumps and level the ground. We ran into some issues...muddy, poor soil and cut electrical lines (yes we did try to locate them first but were misinformed). Thankfully the owner of Coast was a gracious and helpful man and had some good ideas. He brought in some heavy duty road fabric to lay over the muck. Then called in a load of sand to put over the fabric in the low areas. This will be delivered Friday or Saturday. We will have a bunch of wood chips delivered to put over that and then the playground. It is quite a process. J had to come home from work to help with the power line situation and stopped by the hardware store to get supplies to splice the wires. The Coast guy spliced and repaired the cut lines like a pro. He gave up so much time, resources and energy for us and S. Really made me feel good that he did such a great job.

Busy guy update...

Many have asked questions or made suggestions about my post about my two year old explorer. Yes, we have the chains above reach on both exterior doors, but it does not do much good when the older kids leave the house to play (unless I follow them around to relatch them). Sometimes S. figures out when they are not locked and sneaks out. Someone suggested bells on the shoes. A very good idea. The other day S. was playing outside with his sisters. I thought he was being supervised by his 11 year old sister in the front yard while I chatted on the phone with my friend. A few minutes later my neighbor knocked on the door, with S. in her arms. He had gone over to her house, wearing ONE rubber boot and a muddy sock. Talk about embarrassing! As you can see, a bell would not do a lot of good if the child doesn't keep his shoes on for more than a few minutes. AND we have a lot missing shoes around here, I might add.

I gave in and spent J's hard earned money on this. I love it. The trick is to be sure it is on from morning to night and be sure it's attached in a way so the kid can't remove it. I purchased the splash proof wrist bands for him to wear. So far so good, but it is definitely not an alternative to close supervision. It's just something to help a mom out when she is trying to switch the clothes out in the laundry room and her two year old takes off somewhere on the five acres.

A man on the go

I have written before about S. (age two) and his active self. He is always on the go. He is quick and smart too. He has figured out all the childproof doorknob covers and deadbolts. He can slip out the door and run outside in less than one minute. We have alarms and latches out of reach. He still finds an opportunity when the kids forget to lock the door, and takes it. Often we find him on the riding lawnmower, in the studio, or in the car (yikes!). There have been more than a few times where I have had a horrible panicky feeling while searching for S. He won't answer when we call, he thinks it is funny to run off, and he has NO fear. He has even left the house in the dark before! Professionals I have talked to about this seem to think this is a typical behavior or a parenting/discipline issue. My theory is if this were the case wouldn't I have more than one child that likes to wander? I am searching for a solution to teach him that it is dangerous to leave by himself but I honestly do not think he "gets" it. I am also looking for some sort of device that can locate or alert us when/if S. escapes. Unfortunately, they are all costly.

What a week, already!

I got sick on Friday night, it just came on all of a sudden; backache, headache, sinus ache, chills. I went to bed as soon as the kids fell asleep. (they were sent to bed early!) Then I was woken up by two little boys. They usually sleep pretty well, but they chose the night I felt like crap to wake up at 2 am. And of course my husband was working, so I was on my own. I texted him to complain, and see when he would be home. He got home after we fell back asleep, but I heard him tell me he was taking Saturday off! I was so thankful to hear this. I slept in, and laid around most of the day. I missed the homecoming of Isaac and Robert. I went to bed early again. Sunday I still felt bad, but better. J. went to work and I survived. We actually went out to Sarah's house for a little party to welcome Isaac home. It was so fun to see E. and I. together again. They seemed to remember each other, and by the end of our visit were hugging each other!

Yesterday was I was busy catching up on emails. I have had a LOT of people inquire about becoming a host family. I need to figure out a way to get the host family application on the MAT blog. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm not very computer savvy. Sarah suggested maybe scanning it and having it on a jpeg file. I thought that would work, but it's a four page application. We have had a lot of activity with MAT, and a lot of drama with Haitian kids and immigration. Please pray. I took a break from the computer to help E. with a potty accident. He had waited too long to get to the bathroom. As I was changing his pants, I returned to the living room to see S. with a bottle of curry powder (he had climbed in the pantry cupboards). There was yellow powder all over my keyboard and the floor! I was not happy. I felt like I just could not catch a break. I spent last night ordering some childproofing items online at One Step Ahead. And I also bought this... I am sure the boys will love it and it will be great for their occupational therapy! I did have a wonderful chat on facebook with a woman caring for our daughter in Africa. I was so glad to get to know her better and hear a great little story about her personality. (if you want to read my private blog please send me an email- on side)

Today started off poorly too, with both big kids missing the bus, at two separate times! How does that happen? L. forgot to set his alarm, and when he realized he had slept in he didn't want to wake me up. He thought he'd be in trouble! L. is very responsible most of the time, and has never slept in before. I would not have been upset, but now I was, since he didn't let me know he needed me to wake up and drive him to school! J. was working out at the gym and I knew he would be home soon. I waited for him to arrive and he got L. off to school in time. All the other kids were up early, so C. was ready for school in time. Except I noticed she had not changed her clothes! I made her go change, and got her out the door. THEN realized she had come back in to grab another piece of bacon as the bus drove by. Thankfully J. was able to take her to school on the way to work.

I was in a pretty bad mood this morning. I don't like waking up to children fighting, not doing what I ask, or them talking back to me. I don't like feeling overwhelmed and buried in paperwork. I don't like burned toast or bits of burned sausage in my scrambled eggs. And I don't like when my 2 year old won't stay out of things and has knocked three of my pottery dishes on the floor by climbing on the table! I don't like that he doesn't "get" that it's not safe to climb up or into things. (we have still not determined if it's a cognitive delay or just that he's a very active two year old boy) I don't like waiting for papers for our adoption. I don't like that UNICEF is causing hang ups for adopted children from Haiti to come home to their families. I don't like that my house can never stay clean for more than a few minutes. I don't like that this precious little girl lost her life way too soon. I don't like that there was a devastating earthquake in my boys' country of origin effecting millions of people, some whom I know well.

It really helps to blog about my rough times. But the best therapy is reading God's promises. I especially loved reading this verse in the Message translation:

Philippians 2:14-16

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.

Wow! Is that convicting or what?

5 am

S. woke up and walked into my room. It was probably more around 4 am. This sort of thing does not happen often. He was wide awake. J. snuggled him, gave him warm milk and put him back to bed. BUT all the activity woke up E. At 5 am I heard two boys. laughing. talking. carrying on like it was play time. Oh NO!

E. has a very loud laugh (or scream or cry) that can wake every member of the house. I went in to their room (where the door was shut and we could still hear them) and very sternly told them that Mama is sleeping they need to sleep too. NO MORE TALKING OR LAUGHING. It is time to sleep. And guess what? It worked!!!!! They listened to me. I must have sounded VERY ANGRY.

Terrible Twos

S. will be two very soon. Here is a little write up I recently sent my yahoo group for children/adults with his specific medical condition. I have some concerns and many questions about his behavior. But my answers may never come until he ages. Please don't misunderstand my words, S. is pure joy. He's so loveable and happy. Sometimes, now that he's nearly two, he's happy IF he gets his way.

My son S is almost 2 years old. He was born with a frontal encephalocele. He was the sweetest, easy going baby. Now
he either going through some horrible terrible twos or something else is going on. Developmentally he is doing well. He was a bit delayed in speech/communication and cognitive skills. Now he is nearly caught up with his peers.

He is VERY VERY busy, into EVERYTHING and climbs into and out of any situation. He can actually pull himself up just with his arms onto the kitchen counter! He can unbuckle his high chair buckle and climb out. He puts everything in his mouth, and I am getting very concerned about his safety. Certain words (no! stop!) don't even slow him down.

Most of the time pain doesn't deter him. He will fall and not even cry. He has very high muscle tone and often will run or walk on his toes. Our pediatrician isn't too concerned about this.

I am wondering if his behavior is just because of his age, or because he had damage to his frontal lobe. Most of the specialists S. has seen don't really want to say, maybe there is no real way of knowing? I know that in the last few months he's gotten more moody, stubborn and doesn't react to cause/effect. He just does what he wants without slowing down. Our OT is pretty sure he has some sensory processing issues.

Thoughts?
Thanks!

Yesterday my friend so graciously snapped this picture of S. in all his glory. She is great with the action shots. (hope you don't mind that I used your photo Sarah!)