The Story Behind the Craziness!

I wanted to take a moment to explain how Ryan and I came to our decision to adopt again.....

While we were going through the adoption of Anna and Gee we very much considered that "it" for us.  5 was a good number and we agreed on that.  About month or so after Gee came home I mentioned to Ryan that I thought it would be cool to do it again.  You should have seen the look he shot me.  As amazing as our adoption experience was, the previous 3 or 4 years had been pretty rough on us.  We had to work harder than the norm to build our family and we were both exhausted.  So, after bringing it up a few times over a few months, we decided to pray about it.

We prayed about the possibility for 7 or 8 months before any decision was even made.  It seemed like every time Ryan and I would discuss it, we'd hit a brick wall in some way or another.  After a while I started to think that it just wasn't going to happen.  Adoption is obviously a major decision and I 100% believe that Ryan and I both needed to feel God move us that way or we ought not do it.  Well, pretty much "ought not doing it" became where we were at and I just decided we needed to be done with it and accept it was not going to happen.  Well, about a week after that conclusion was made, Ryan came up to me and said "he was really considering adopting again."  I tried not to get my hopes up, but that was really cool.  From then on out it just seemed our conversations led more toward another adoption than away.

We have had some big issues to consider, but we finally got to the spot where we were ready to dive in.  To be honest, I sit here amazed we are even at this point.  It is a beautiful thing to arrive in this spot, where I feel like both Ryan and I 100% want this.  We are just so excited!

Julie 

Out of the mouth of babes........

Ok, this is totally unrelated to our big adoption news, and I will post about that later, but.....

The three little ones were watching some cartoons this morning and it was on Nogin (pretty much the only cartoon station we watch).  Well, Nogin does this little blip about Barack Obama All.  The.  Time.  About how he is the first AA President and how historic that is and then it goes in to what kind of music, food, etc. he likes.  Well, this morning our dish reception got briefly interrupted and it "paused" the T.V. during the Obama blip.  I walked in and Madeline said "Brock Bama Broken."  Hmmmmm, I think I have a wise 3 year.......

Julie 

Big Announcement.........

Well, Ryan and I have some exciting news to share for those who actually still check in on us here ............

We are adopting again!  I don't have the time to go into all the details right now, but we are excited!  We are headed to Ethiopia this time.  Right now we are pulling together our massive piles of paperwork and we hope to have all that done in the next 6 to 8 weeks.

In the near future I will add some more details about how we got to this point and what kid of process we are looking at.  

For now though, you know more than most of the people we know in real life.  :)

Keep us in your prayers!

Julie

Gideon update

We took Gee to the Dr. today for  a well child visit and I was pretty happy with his stats.  His weight (fully clothed) was 26.6 lbs.  That's not too bad and it put him right at the 10th percentile for weight.  I can take that.  I was happy with his weight, but I was very pleasantly surprised with his height.  I know he has gotten taller, but he is in the 60th percentile for height.  It was a pretty accurate height check also.  He had very low profile shoes on and I even thought the nurse was measuring him a little short when she was actually doing it.  Our Dr. agrees that Gee probably has some sort of food intolerance/sensitivity due to his frequent, nasty smelling poop, but that is a very hard thing to figure out and sense he seems to be growing well, I think we are just going to continue watching it.

Ahhh, my little man Gee.  He really is growing up.  He was so good for the Dr. today.  I remember when he use to whine when he even saw a Dr.  He let the Dr. check all he needed to check and even almost smiled a few times.  Which reminds me.....  Gee does the cutest little "I am not going to smile," smile.  He can be so stubborn, but you can just tell he wants to smile sometimes, but won't for whatever reason.  That is what he was doing today.  So cute!

Julie

Madeline is bilingual!!!

Actually, she is trilingual (is that a word) if you count the dozen or so words she knows in Spanish.  Anyways, she speak English and Annerish.  Anna talks A LOT.  I can understand probably 80% of what she says, but that other 20% has me baffled.  That poor girl, I will have to ask her over and over again to repeat herself and then I still usually can't get it.  Well, it seems now that Madeline has become her interpreter of sorts.  Now Madeline will chime in and say "no mommy she wants X."  This is happening more and more and it is just funny to watch.  It is also very sweet to see my girls so close!

A potty update.......  Gee is doing not too bad.  To be honest, I have had to run lots of errands the last couple days, so we haven't been all that focused on it.  While when been home he's only had one big accident and he has pee'd on the potty a few different times.  So, all in all he is doing good.   It is way to early to tell if he knows he needs to sit on the potty BEFORE he actually goes, but at least he's not afraid of the potty.  And, he is learning how being a big boy works.

Julie 

Potty time????

So Gee is my only one not potty trained yet.  I feel pretty fortunate that my other 4 were pretty "easy."  I hate to use that word because I all too quickly remember the times when I unknowingly stepped in a puddle of pee or had to clean up poop smear.  I have had my share of messes (i.e. see last post).  In hindsight though, things went pretty good.  Right now Gideon is the only one draining our budget of diaper/pull up money.  :)

At one time I would have stressed about having a 2 1/2 yr old that cared nothing about using the potty.  I stressed a lot when Leah was small, I stressed a little with Logan but then I came to realize that I was working way too hard at it.  I think I had gotten caught up in the whole idea that people are just lazy if their 2 yr old cannot completely go diaper free.  A little judgemental, I know.  Now I am more laid back about it.  I really do try and look for signs that the kids are ready first.  Fortunately all the kids have done really well and have all been trained (through the night and all) by 2 1/2 ish.  I guess Gee is the exception to that rule.

I am still not seeing the "signs" I would like to see with Gee to get him started.  Although, he is seeming to know when he poo's better.  I am just sooooo tired of the poop.  No exaggeration, Ryan and I have probably changed 3 to 4 poopie diapers a day for the last week and a half.  That is NOT normal (but I will not go there).  That fact and the fact that he is "old enough" to be using a potty, has prompted me to get our little potty chair out and give it a try.  We now have a potty station for him, all prepped with reading material and a jar of M & M's.  I took his diaper off about an hour ago and I am going to sit him on it every 20 minutes or so.  We will see how it goes.  I hope he is more ready than I am thinking.  I am going to give it a few days and if at the end of that time I have cleaned up more poo and pee than I care to mention, back to diapers it is.  I will try to not feel like a failure and move on with life.  

Wish us luck!

Julie  

OH. MY. GOODNESS..........

So the kids have not been sleeping all that great.  Fevers are gone, but the coughs and runny noses are still there.  Well, by 12:30 this afternoon I was ready to put the little ones to bed.  They were ready also.  Or so I thought.  Madeline and Gee went right to sleep (which is not normal, so they had to be tired).  

Anna has been a little testy these last few days.  She's been feeling pretty good, but she has just been kind of a spitfire.  Being purposely naughty and doing the opposite of what I tell her to do.  She has been in time out a lot.  So, I put all the kids down and tuck them in and kind of forget about them.  Leah, Logan and I were doing some cleaning and we had music going.  At about 2:30 or so I hear a loud "thud" from upstairs.  Immediately I think "Anna."  She has been known to goof around in her room a little before nap time, to which she always gets punished.  But my goodness, it was over 2 hours since I laid her down.  So I get to the top of the stairs and I immediately see that her door is shut.  She hates her door shut when she is sleeping, she only closes it when she is playing and doesn't want to be seen.  So, I open my door and the first thing I notice is that the room smells terrible.  Then I see Anna, standing on her bed with no pants or underwear on (she went to bed with them).  Upon closer inspection, I see poop smeared all over her sheets.  It was very clear that she had not napped.  She has torn out every single toy in the room and had arranged them all around her bed.  Apparently she decided to play and didn't know what to do with herself when she had to go potty because she was suppose to be asleep.  Anna has been very successfully potty trained for over 6 months now (nights too).  She rarely has an accident.  Also, which is probably the only humor I found in all this (and only now as I am reflecting) was that Anna tried to hide the evidence.  Her very poopy underwear were hidden in the bottom over her doll crib with all their dress up clothes thrown on top and a bunch of toys.  I guess she thought I'd  miss the poop smeared everywhere, the stinch and a half naked Anna.

What a mess.  My disinfectants got a workout and the poop infested clothes/sheets/blankets are awaiting their turn at the washer.  Anna, well, Anna is kind of a sad little girl right now because she is lying on a bare mattress supposidly "taking a nap."  To top it all off, I have been upstairs twice this writing this post to take toys away from her that she has gotten out of bed to get.  What is her deal?  Oiy.

Well, I am off to go and see if she is actually obeying yet and staying in her bed.  Wish me luck!

Julie

Just a little update....

So life has pretty much gotten back to normal, which I like.  Saturday we celebrated my Grandma's 8oth birthday.  We had a big party for her and she was so surprised (a tuckered) by all the family and friends that travelled in.  It was a good time.  The kids seemed to have fun.  Most of the afternoon was spent running around like hooligans.  What kid wouldn't have fun doing that?  Leah did Gideon's hair and he ended up with a fauxhawk.  It was so stinking cute!  We may have to do that again.

We have had some sort of bug going through the kids.  Leah was sick a couple weeks ago, with a very high fever and just lying around and sleeping.  Then it seems Maddie got it a few days ago and then Annie came down with it on Monday.  It seems like it is all a little different for them.  Leah didn't really have much of a cold, just the headache, high fever and achiness.  Madeline said her legs hurt, plus she had a fever (not near as high as Leah's), along with sneezing and some coughing.  I thought Madeline was over it over the weekend, but she had a fever again yesterday and was complaining about her legs again.  She is also being a bear, oh my, she is  a whiney mess.  Anna had a high fever Monday and just kind of laid around.  She was quite pathetic, but now she is doing much better and it eating and acting pretty normal.

I have got to say, Anna is the best little sick thing ever.  Even when her fever was 103.5, she was smiling at us and trying to be silly.  Anna has kind of become my breath of fresh air.  She is still the queen of drama (the girl should seriously be an actress), but she is just such an easy person to be around.  She is full of energy and happiness and I can always count on her for a smile or a silly dance.  Anna is still extremely perceptive of everything.  Directions, a hard to see star, her sister from across the church foyer.  I call her my little eagle eye.  

Anna is starting to say some of the funniest/cutest stuff.  Like right now her and Gideon are eating breakfast right behind me.  They are carrying on and Anna's new phrase is "ha ha."  I am sorry to say, but it is from the "Simpson's".  No, we do not watch the "Simpson's" nor do we let the kids watch it.  However, back in the high school days, we were know to watch an episode or two and I guess some of the phrases have lingered.  So, now my 2 yr old runs around telling the other kids "ha ha" in the appropriate voice.  While I am a little appalled that she does it, I more so find it totally hilarious.  Let's see, Anna also says prayers with us, which is just precious.  Right now she is really into wearing little sleeveless undershirts under her clothes.  After her bath the other day I stuck one on her and she said "perfect!"  :) :)  So cute!  Oh yeah, this morning I told her and Madeline to go upstairs and wake up their sleepy head brothers.  Anna goes upstairs into their room and says "wake up, wake up, buenos dias, wake up."  It was soooo cute.  I love that she uses a little bit of Spanish.  Yes, thank you Dora the Explorer.  The only Spanish that I actively work with them on is counting from 1 to 10.  But I encourage them to use any new words they pick up or any of the few words they already know.

As for Gideon, he is doing pretty good.  He has avoided being sick, he just has a cough.  He has yet to start gaining much weight, but at this point I guess that is just going to be his way.  He is growing, just not all that fast.  He acts healthy, so that is the important thing.  He still has poo issues.  Like over the weekend Ryan and I probably changed a dozen poopie diapers (no exaggeration).  They were all stinky and nasty also.  Ugh.....  I am so tired of poop!  At some point we are going to potty train him.  He just seems to not care at all about whether he or poopie or wet, or about using the potty.  I guess I am just dreading the battle.  I usually like to get a feel from the kids first that they are ready to start learning.  I don't get that from Gee, but maybe I'd be surprised if I started trying. 

Gideon is developing into the quirkiest little guys.  Not in a bad way at all, but in a funny way.  He has this laugh/cackle that will make even the most somber person smile.  Something will tickle him and he will just break out cackling.  It is very loud and extremely funny.  It usually comes in fits also.  He could be cackling about something for minutes at a time.  All Ryan and I can do it look at each other and laugh.  Gee is a very scrappy little dude and he is FAST.  Oh my, I never going to be able to keep up with him.  The other day, the three little ones were walking around like crabs, I swear Gee could walk like a crab as fast as he could walk normally.   Gee talks a lot and I really haven't noticed much delay in either of our two Guatlings at this point when it comes to speech.  Gee is a little more selective with his words than Anna, but they are both doing so well.

All in all, life is good, normal.  Our days are spent homeschooling, running around a bit, and just doing all the things you'd expect us to be doing.  

Until later.....

Julie