Still Very Busy

Life is getting more normal for us.  It has definitely settled into a type of routine for us on the days we are home.  Or should I say, when we are home, as we seem to have to be somewhere, for some portion of every day lately.

Boy, do we stay busy.  I keep waiting for the appointments to end for us.  For us to have more days at home than days we need to be somewhere.  It just hasn't happened yet at all.  We seem to have something on the calendar for every day of the month of May already!  Here's hopping June will be slower.  (I am not planning a big garden this year or anything extra outside that will need a lot of my attention.  I just don't have the time this year.)

I have not had much time to write or even sit for a moment till today... I fall into bed tired every night and hit the ground running every morning.  Here is what we have been up to this past week or so.

The foster toddlers are still here and doing very well.  They will most likely be here for the duration of their parents case plan.  So at least for a year.  They are learning and growing every day.  They are becoming better behaved and maturing more all the time.  This is helping us all tremendously.  They still have some bad and hard times and days but over all, for the most part, they are doing much, much better.  I know they are on a hard learning curve and I know what they have been thru and where they came from.  So I always try to keep that in the back of my mind as we go thru each tantrum, learning experience and outburst.  As an update on them...

"B" the 2 1/2 year old has come so far.  It really is such a miracle to see.  When he came he knew only about 20 words.  He could not answer simple yes or no questions.  He had no understanding and could not put two words together.  When we talked to him he just stared at us blankly.  I could tell from the second day he was here, he is very smart.  He just had not been exposed to anything.  No one had ever talked to him and his brother or let them experience life.   "B" was like a sponge from the begining.  He started learning words and things quickly.  I had him tested when he was here in our home for three weeks and he had already learned so much.  He tested as a 1yr 9 month old.   About a  year behind where he should be.  He loves to learn and so I have been doing flash cards with him and his brother.   He now knows his body parts, animals and their sounds, colors and so many words I can not count them all.  But most impressively he knows most of his alphabet and the letter sounds that go with them.  He really is just a very brilliant kid.  He has learned all this in the 9 weeks we have had him.  See...to me... that is a miracle straight from God.  He now speaks in three to four word sentenses and has understanding.  I can ask him to do something and he does it.  (Go get your shoes..give dad the block...put  your socks on...type stuff)  I can reason with him and explain things to him which diverts many melt downs and tantrums, Praise God!  He wants to do educational type things and learn all he can, so I am doing non-structured home schooling with him.  He loves it.

When the boys came they were both only fed milk bottles their whole life, chips and cookies.  Getting them to eat food, let alone healthy foods, has been a huge messy challenge.  The younger toddler "T" is 1 1/2.  He is much more willing to try new foods and he wants to eat everything off my plate of food, so he is now eating healthy.  "T" is built like a little tank and likes to eat about anything I give him now.  He is a cutie with just two bottom teeth when he smiles.  But "B" has been very picky.  He gagged a lot when he first came, while eating.  The textures were hard for him as they drank most of their nutrition from a bottle.  He was not used to many types of foods and the way they felt in his mouth.  "B" is now eating with out gagging much at all.  He has a wider variety of foods he will eat but will only eat about five or six bites a meal and is done.  "B" is built very fine boned and petite.  So maybe he just does not need as much food to keep his body in good condition.  I am giving them three meals a day and a snack at 10 and another after their afternoon naps.  I do have them on sippy cups now during the day. I have let them keep their bed time bottle, as they have no self calming skills to fall asleep with.  They either need the bottle or to be rocked for a while.  We are working on these things.  They also need their bottles for bonding and so I don't want to change everything on them all at once.

"T" tested as a 10 month old so he is also about a year behind.  But he is learning a lot as well.  When he came he knew about 5 words.  I do flash cards with him as well.  He knows all his body parts now and his animals and their sounds.  He knows a few functional phrases like "All done." "Up please."  and "More please."  When "T" came I could hardly put him down.  He is very attached to me.  He will now play in the same room I am in nicely, coming over to get a hug or up in my lap for a few moments and then down to play.  I can also go into the kitchen where he can see me and make lunch.  He will call to me and I will talk to him and he won't cry, as long as I don't get out of his line of sight.  He does not let anyone else sit on my lap, sit by me to long or hug me for very long without a fit.  Bless his heart.  They are both very clingy to me.  I can not step out of the room with them knowing it or they will cry for me.  Also if left by them selves they will still hurt each other or break things. 

Their case is pretty sad.  I keep praying for the salvation of their biological parents.

Elizabeth had her cast put on last Thursday.

She picked dark blue and has had many people sign it.   She has gotten very good at using her crutches around the house and does not get winded like she did.  She must be feeling alot better as she is getting into troulbe more and more again like she used to before she broke her foot!  She is not going to be well by the time of her ballet recital but the teacher said she is going to work her into the closing or opening number somehow.  So that pleased Elizabeth very much.

Zeke has finally gotten used to the toddlers.

He sits and plays with them a few times thru-out the day.  He also likes to play with them outside on the play ground.  He likes to push them in their swing, help them on the slide and play trucks with them.  Zeke is really such a help with the toddlers and can sit and engage them in play, distracting them, while I run to fold laundry or do a quick little task.

Carolyn, what can I say...totally a little mama.

She runs diapers to the trash and washes sippy cups.  She brings me PJ's and puts up their cloths in the closet for me.  She helps with the barn milking so it will take less time.  She occasionally makes a meal and is doing kitchen duty because Elizabeth can't right now with her broke foot.  God bless Carolyn!  She is my right hand girl and does all she does happily and in the right spirit of wanting to be of help to me and make things easier for everyone.

William, again, what can I say...my right hand man.  He does so much around here to make life easier as well.  He has for years.   He likes to help and he likes to work.   The toddlers love him.

He sits and plays with them several times thru out the day...he will occupy them for a moment here or there if I need it and on nice afternoons he, Zeke and Carolyn, will take the toddlers out to play on the playground for a while while I sweep and mop the floors.

Yes, it takes all three to watch just two!  William has been struggling in his health for the last many years.  His dad, Tim, has Addisons so he was tested for that and praise God it came back negative.  He has had many other test done over the last many years.  Monday, Tim had to have William to the clinic for a test done fasting at 7:00 am.  It was a five hour test.  The Endocrinologist ordered it.  I can't remember the name of it.  We got the test results back yesterday and William is hypoglycemic.  It was so bad they said he will need to be medicated for it.   I have an appointment with his pediatrition on Wedneday to see if we can try controling this with diet before starting the medication.  I did not like the side effects that could happen from this med.  One was hepititis.  So we are praying we can control it all with a strict diet.

Antonio is doing well over all.

We are still having a hard time getting his toe to heal and were to the doctors yesterday to have it cauterized.  It will need to be done several more times over the course of the month.  We have been trying to get this toe to heal and stay healed for several years.  So I pray we have a game plan and are coming to the end of it being an issue for him.  Antonio, loves watching the toddlers play and talks to them a lot during the course of the day.  A huge thing that has happened for us is we remodeled his bathroom.  It was set up to be a handicap bathroom but not functional for his care.  We saved up and gutted his whole bathroom and had them tile the whole bathroom making it one huge shower type room.  Lots of room in there for washing and a long hose for rinsing!  It turned out so well!  Thank you God for providing once again and making our life so much easier!

Tim and I are doing well but more tired than we used to be. 

I think we are making headway, by the grace of God, toward having more and better quality sleep, as time goes by and these boys mature a bit.  God is so good.  Tim did let me have last Wednesday off.  Bless him really well oh Lord for being such a good hubby.  He took the kids to therapy, took "T" in for a set of shots, and the kids had a friend over to play.  He did my schedule so I could get away for a day alone with my dad and go antiquing with him.  It was really nice and a great break.

Spring has sprung here and the flowers and trees are in bloom all over the countryside.  I feel in a way I am missing it all this year.  As I am not able to go outside day after day and work in the gardens enjoying the blooms.  But here are a few pictures.

May the Lord God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth and all that is there in, pour out His mercy and grace upon you, lead and guide you and bless you as you live and grow in Him.

Jeremiah 31:3  The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.

blessings,
susan