Hi,
This last weekend was full of excitement. 4 of us caught the flu. In the summer!!--who ever heard of that. We typically only get the flu in the winter. Go figure. I am always thankful the flu only lasts about 24 hrs. I'm also grateful that all the younger, non-making it to the bathroom children in time before making a big mess, children didn't get it.
As usual, I finished recording the children's school hours, and gathering their sample work pages for the 2007-2008 school year today. It seems like it always takes July 1st (the new school year) to prompt me to finish last years. I had it all recorded; just not put into my computer program and printed off. Well, I'm glad that's done. Most of the curriculum for this year is ordered with a few exceptions. Zarah still needs a few readers and decisions have to be made about Danijela's program. We are really interested in a few neurodevelopmental programs in our area. The only draw back is the cost. They seem to produce real good results, but now it is about coming up with the money. I'm sure if it is the Lord's will, all will work out.
We still haven't heard back from the job Matt applied to at the beginning of the month. Hopefully, we will hear soon; and it will be positive. We thought we would have a new job and be moved this winter, but that wasn't the case. We just need to continue to be patient and watch God's plan unfold. This afternoon did make me long to be out of the city a bit though. Call me crazy, but I'm not real fond of having to pull the children inside from playing in the back yard due to the police helicopter and police officers searching our area for the fleeing bank robber suspect today. Our area is not real bad,but crime does happen sometimes, unfortunately. Such is life.
Danijela(Daniella) has an eye appointment and an occupational therapy session this week. I am curious to see what the opthamologist has to say. It may just be a developmental neurological thing, but her eyes wander a bit.
Dejan (Dan) must be the mosquito magnet. I sprayed him with the bug repellant before they went outside yesterday, but then the children decided to play in the sprinkler. I guess his repellent washed off. Uugghh. Now he has nice bites that he won't stop itching. Of course, a couple have to be big, red, and right on his face. That's always nice. Oh well, they should be gone in a few days; and all will be well again.
I finished the adoption scrapbook last week. It turned out real nice, except I need to get some more photos of our arrival back to the airport/home. The rest is real nice. It has only been 4 1/2 months, but it seems like quite awhile ago now. I love to read the blogs of other families traveling to get their children.
I guess that better be it for this time.
talk to you soon,
blessings,
Vickie
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
O.K., so much for posting once a week. I didn't figure I would be able to keep up with that; so we will settle for posting whenever I can. :) Our household was excited to see that Dejan and Danijela's pictures made it onto the adoption website. untilallhavehomes.org Proud mama moment!!
I have decided we are going to start eating healthy again. There was a 2 month period of white, processed sugar mania!!! Mom was the main instigator. This resulted in all but 1 family member getting sick. flu, chest cold, flu. Not good. It takes us about 2 weeks to spread it to all the household. Now those of us with the weaker immune systems (mom,dad, baby, and 2 --3 yr. olds) are struggling to be well again. I am not one who likes to visit the doctor's office, so tea tree oil, essential oils in the humidifier, and immune boosters are being used. It usually works, but takes a little bit longer than antibiotics. While pregnant, I consume no processed white or brown sugar. This , along with God's help, lots of protein/pregnancy tea/and some herbs, seems to help my blood pressure stay down and prevent being put on couch rest at the end. As soon as the pregnancy is over, I typically go on a sugar binge; since I felt so deprived for those 9 months. Before this pregnancy, we were not even eating white or brown sugar, but for some reason I still felt like I was being deprived. Oh brother !! Now my reward for poor eating is to be sick. Serves me right, sometimes I just need a stern wake up call. Now, I'm awake and choosing to make healthier choices.
The 4th of July was a big hit. Dejan and Danijela loved the fireworks and parade. This was a bit surprising because anything loud produces a reaction of sheer horror(lawn mower, chain saw, weed eater,etc.) Time was spent with 2 sets of grandparents and 1 set of great grandparents. The family game of woofle ball was fun. After a couple of innings, grandpa had to have someone run for him. It worked out just fine.
We are still working on how to act in public. I have seen some improvements, but D & D need a lot of training in this area. Dejan will go up to everyone, lift his arms up to be picked up, and do his cute little smile/giggle face. Danijela will do some of that, but also stand really close and walk off with anyone. This ,of course, happens in the 1 second that you turn your head to do something else. When the children are nicely corrected and you ask the adult to put him down or move Danijela away, it results in the adult totally disagreeing with you and saying , "oh they are o.k." No, no they are not. At church especially, there has to be as much retraining of the adults as their is D &D. If the adults would just be on the same page as Matt and I, redirect D & D when they are acting inappropriately; it would result in the children getting in a lot less trouble. I'm sure it will all work out in time though.
Besides patience, the Lord has really been growing Matt and I in the topic of weight. Dejan and Danijela came home with chubby, very minimal muscle, soft bodies. We have been able to help get Danijela's (7 y/o) body into shape. She can do so many more things now. It is wonderful. She just didn't have the body strength or coordination to do much of anything. Dejan (3 y/o , mentally about 1 1/2 ) on the other hand has been very resistant to his physical therapy training. He is just now starting to crawl a little bit when asked to. He can do a lot more physical activities despite his resistance; but he weighs more now that when we first got him. How can that be!!! He is only allowed to eat as much as our other 3 yr. old. Well, we have finally decided to stop focusing so much on Dejan's weight. That is a big step for us. Our family is quite active and mostly in shape. I'm sure when Dejan gets a bit older, he will be more in shape. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he is not really 3 developmentally. We wouldn't ask another 1 1/2 yr. old to be more physically active than they are ready for, so for now Dejan gets a break.
Our biological children are all finally starting to accept and include D & D. Most of them/us did real good from the start, but there were a couple particular personalities that had a harder time accepting that they are delayed (not textbook normal) and come to us with some baggage. I am very proud of all the family for working through the difficulties. Prayer has made a big difference.
Well, we will keep on working through this journey together and find as much as possible to enjoy about each day. Our lines of communication need to stay open. We must remember how far we have come and be patient with the rest.
have a great weekend,
until next time,
Vickie
I have decided we are going to start eating healthy again. There was a 2 month period of white, processed sugar mania!!! Mom was the main instigator. This resulted in all but 1 family member getting sick. flu, chest cold, flu. Not good. It takes us about 2 weeks to spread it to all the household. Now those of us with the weaker immune systems (mom,dad, baby, and 2 --3 yr. olds) are struggling to be well again. I am not one who likes to visit the doctor's office, so tea tree oil, essential oils in the humidifier, and immune boosters are being used. It usually works, but takes a little bit longer than antibiotics. While pregnant, I consume no processed white or brown sugar. This , along with God's help, lots of protein/pregnancy tea/and some herbs, seems to help my blood pressure stay down and prevent being put on couch rest at the end. As soon as the pregnancy is over, I typically go on a sugar binge; since I felt so deprived for those 9 months. Before this pregnancy, we were not even eating white or brown sugar, but for some reason I still felt like I was being deprived. Oh brother !! Now my reward for poor eating is to be sick. Serves me right, sometimes I just need a stern wake up call. Now, I'm awake and choosing to make healthier choices.
The 4th of July was a big hit. Dejan and Danijela loved the fireworks and parade. This was a bit surprising because anything loud produces a reaction of sheer horror(lawn mower, chain saw, weed eater,etc.) Time was spent with 2 sets of grandparents and 1 set of great grandparents. The family game of woofle ball was fun. After a couple of innings, grandpa had to have someone run for him. It worked out just fine.
We are still working on how to act in public. I have seen some improvements, but D & D need a lot of training in this area. Dejan will go up to everyone, lift his arms up to be picked up, and do his cute little smile/giggle face. Danijela will do some of that, but also stand really close and walk off with anyone. This ,of course, happens in the 1 second that you turn your head to do something else. When the children are nicely corrected and you ask the adult to put him down or move Danijela away, it results in the adult totally disagreeing with you and saying , "oh they are o.k." No, no they are not. At church especially, there has to be as much retraining of the adults as their is D &D. If the adults would just be on the same page as Matt and I, redirect D & D when they are acting inappropriately; it would result in the children getting in a lot less trouble. I'm sure it will all work out in time though.
Besides patience, the Lord has really been growing Matt and I in the topic of weight. Dejan and Danijela came home with chubby, very minimal muscle, soft bodies. We have been able to help get Danijela's (7 y/o) body into shape. She can do so many more things now. It is wonderful. She just didn't have the body strength or coordination to do much of anything. Dejan (3 y/o , mentally about 1 1/2 ) on the other hand has been very resistant to his physical therapy training. He is just now starting to crawl a little bit when asked to. He can do a lot more physical activities despite his resistance; but he weighs more now that when we first got him. How can that be!!! He is only allowed to eat as much as our other 3 yr. old. Well, we have finally decided to stop focusing so much on Dejan's weight. That is a big step for us. Our family is quite active and mostly in shape. I'm sure when Dejan gets a bit older, he will be more in shape. We have to keep reminding ourselves that he is not really 3 developmentally. We wouldn't ask another 1 1/2 yr. old to be more physically active than they are ready for, so for now Dejan gets a break.
Our biological children are all finally starting to accept and include D & D. Most of them/us did real good from the start, but there were a couple particular personalities that had a harder time accepting that they are delayed (not textbook normal) and come to us with some baggage. I am very proud of all the family for working through the difficulties. Prayer has made a big difference.
Well, we will keep on working through this journey together and find as much as possible to enjoy about each day. Our lines of communication need to stay open. We must remember how far we have come and be patient with the rest.
have a great weekend,
until next time,
Vickie
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
the squirts
Hi,
I've decided to give blogging a try. My goal is to post once a week. Let me start with an introduction. I am a stay at home mom of 7 wonderful children (11,8,7, almost 6,3,almost 3, and 6 weeks). I stopped working outside of the home in 2000. Although I miss the challenge and joy of being an ICU nurse, I do not regret our decision for me to quite work. The days and years go by quite quickly, and I love all the time I am able to spend with our children. 3 new children have been added to our family this year. Our 2 Serbian blessings came home March 1st and our home grown, secret, world traveler joined us May 8th. Needless to say, we are still all adjusting to the changes. We have been very blessed this year.
It has been interesting to see/hear how others respond to our family out in public now. Last year with 4 children, we would get a few glances. Now with 7, we tend to draw more attention. There have been those that feel the need to make rude comments. Others seem to ask questions just out of curiosity. Last Sunday at church, one of the ladies expressed her disapproval of our number of blessings. She told our oldest daughter she is way too young to be a mother, and asked if she is ever allowed to have any fun. I'm not sure why people think that the oldest child would be given all the tasks, chores, and responsibilities. They have not been to our house to see how things work. For many years now, all of our children who are over the age of 1 have had chores they do. All help out, and yes they all have plenty of fun too. In my opinion, it is not a bad thing to teach children how to be age-appropriate independent and not have everything done for them. One of our main goals is to teach the children to be responsible, independent adults. That training slowly starts from a young age and grows with the child. I'm sure it is hard for some people to accept families that do things against the grain of society (larger families, homeschooling, ,etc). All we can do is be a good example and do the best we can.
Here are a few of the events that color our day. Yesterday, I thought I was quite clever coming up with the title for this blog. It brought a smile to my face. The reason for the title is this:
The morning started off by me coming into the bathroom to find lotion spilled. You know how when you throw a bottle down, the contents splatter out blobs on the floor. Well one of our talented children was able to make the splatters go along the floor and all the way up the wall to the ceiling. Nice.
After cleaning up the lotion mess, we proceeded on to breakfast. A bit chaotic, as usual, but nothing really out of the ordinary. Then comes time to brush teeth. I began by plopping Dan (the 30 lb. almost 3 year old) onto the counter. The problem is , I plopped him right onto the brand new toothpaste tube with it's lid partially open. Yes, a large amount of toothpaste squirted out onto the counter and onto Dan's shorts. That took a bit of time to clean up.
Then we proceed on to today. Unfortunately, my clever little title became reality. I smelled the awful smell upon leaving my bedroom. I assumed it was Dan. His digestive system had finally gotten used to our food, until we went to church camp. He was down to about 3 or 4 stools a day. Since all the junk food with camp, he is right back to his many (7 ish) stools a day. No, it wasn't Dan this time. Next I checked Danijela. She has had a couple of accidents since coming home, if we do not get her up early enough. No, not her. Then Truman (our other 3 year old) came out of bed. Thankfully, I am still putting diapers on him at night time; just in case of an accident. Well, let's just say it was a horrible mess that required a bath and their bedding to be washed. Uugghh. After that upon rising, we proceeded on to our scheduled swimming lessons.
We went for a family walk tonight. I felt joy in my heart as the day ended. During the walk, most of the children were up ahead of Matt and I. Some were on bikes, others on foot. As I watched our children, I especially noticed Danijela. She was running to catch up with the other children, swinging her little orange flag. Her face shown with a great big smile, and she periodically looked back to see if momma and daddy where still behind her. I told my husband, "she has come a long ways in just 3 months". He shook his head in agreement. This is the little 7 year old girl who just 3 months ago couldn't run. Thank you Lord for our many blessings.
guess I better stop for today,
wishing you all a great week,
Vickie
I've decided to give blogging a try. My goal is to post once a week. Let me start with an introduction. I am a stay at home mom of 7 wonderful children (11,8,7, almost 6,3,almost 3, and 6 weeks). I stopped working outside of the home in 2000. Although I miss the challenge and joy of being an ICU nurse, I do not regret our decision for me to quite work. The days and years go by quite quickly, and I love all the time I am able to spend with our children. 3 new children have been added to our family this year. Our 2 Serbian blessings came home March 1st and our home grown, secret, world traveler joined us May 8th. Needless to say, we are still all adjusting to the changes. We have been very blessed this year.
It has been interesting to see/hear how others respond to our family out in public now. Last year with 4 children, we would get a few glances. Now with 7, we tend to draw more attention. There have been those that feel the need to make rude comments. Others seem to ask questions just out of curiosity. Last Sunday at church, one of the ladies expressed her disapproval of our number of blessings. She told our oldest daughter she is way too young to be a mother, and asked if she is ever allowed to have any fun. I'm not sure why people think that the oldest child would be given all the tasks, chores, and responsibilities. They have not been to our house to see how things work. For many years now, all of our children who are over the age of 1 have had chores they do. All help out, and yes they all have plenty of fun too. In my opinion, it is not a bad thing to teach children how to be age-appropriate independent and not have everything done for them. One of our main goals is to teach the children to be responsible, independent adults. That training slowly starts from a young age and grows with the child. I'm sure it is hard for some people to accept families that do things against the grain of society (larger families, homeschooling, ,etc). All we can do is be a good example and do the best we can.
Here are a few of the events that color our day. Yesterday, I thought I was quite clever coming up with the title for this blog. It brought a smile to my face. The reason for the title is this:
The morning started off by me coming into the bathroom to find lotion spilled. You know how when you throw a bottle down, the contents splatter out blobs on the floor. Well one of our talented children was able to make the splatters go along the floor and all the way up the wall to the ceiling. Nice.
After cleaning up the lotion mess, we proceeded on to breakfast. A bit chaotic, as usual, but nothing really out of the ordinary. Then comes time to brush teeth. I began by plopping Dan (the 30 lb. almost 3 year old) onto the counter. The problem is , I plopped him right onto the brand new toothpaste tube with it's lid partially open. Yes, a large amount of toothpaste squirted out onto the counter and onto Dan's shorts. That took a bit of time to clean up.
Then we proceed on to today. Unfortunately, my clever little title became reality. I smelled the awful smell upon leaving my bedroom. I assumed it was Dan. His digestive system had finally gotten used to our food, until we went to church camp. He was down to about 3 or 4 stools a day. Since all the junk food with camp, he is right back to his many (7 ish) stools a day. No, it wasn't Dan this time. Next I checked Danijela. She has had a couple of accidents since coming home, if we do not get her up early enough. No, not her. Then Truman (our other 3 year old) came out of bed. Thankfully, I am still putting diapers on him at night time; just in case of an accident. Well, let's just say it was a horrible mess that required a bath and their bedding to be washed. Uugghh. After that upon rising, we proceeded on to our scheduled swimming lessons.
We went for a family walk tonight. I felt joy in my heart as the day ended. During the walk, most of the children were up ahead of Matt and I. Some were on bikes, others on foot. As I watched our children, I especially noticed Danijela. She was running to catch up with the other children, swinging her little orange flag. Her face shown with a great big smile, and she periodically looked back to see if momma and daddy where still behind her. I told my husband, "she has come a long ways in just 3 months". He shook his head in agreement. This is the little 7 year old girl who just 3 months ago couldn't run. Thank you Lord for our many blessings.
guess I better stop for today,
wishing you all a great week,
Vickie
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