Journey with the Williams Family

Moving Forward - Update on Timing & A Bedroom

2012-01-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

We have decided to sit back, relax and let the road to becoming licensed to foster wind it's way in front of us. Those of you who know me best, must know how hard this is on me. It's not that I have to have a placement right away, it's just that once I start something, I want to finish it right away. It also makes me crazy to hurry up...and then wait. However, I should be familiar with that concept after Daniel's adoption!!

However, at this point, I'll be heading into tax season at work and then right after (as in the week after it ends) we are headed to Florida for a trip to Disney World, Islands of Adventure and Sea World.

Since initially we thought we would be done and possibly have a placement as early as December or this month, we were preparing to take an additional child to Disney. Since it's not going to happen, we are prepared to tell our workers (should they decide to move forward suddenly) that while we would love to finish the licensing requirements ASAP, that we will not take a placement until after my busiest work season and our trip to Disney.

A new child coming into your care is enough of an uproar without taking said child immediately on a trip. I can't even imagine the setback that could do with forming bonds and a safe and secure environment for them. Plus, we don't want them to think the we go to Disney all the time!!

This means when we return we can settle back down into our regular routine. I won't be working all five days and weekends and will be able to focus better on a new child and on adjusting our family to the new routines that we will undoubtedly have to fall into.

That being said, we are moving forward on fixing our guest/extra storage bedroom and turning it into a child's bedroom.

Since we don't know age (we specified 0-4) and since we don't know how many (we specified up to 2 children), we are keeping the double bed in the room and adding our crib (which can be converted to a toddler bed as well. If we find we don't need the crib, we'll remove it.

We'll be using Daniel's baby bedding and other saved items to finish the room off.

I've been sorting Daniel's toys and keeping some things in bins so I can easily pull them out and use them. We've even picked up some girl toys and sorted them into bins as well. Since my older sister has a 6 month old, she has promised to be on call and to "set me up" should we get an infant within hours of placement with things like bottles, etc. I've already received some cans of formula (not sure how long they last-will have to check on that) and one or two bottles to get started right away should we get an infant.

Here is a "before" picture of the room we'll be working on. Keep in mind, I've been using it to sort toys etc., so I have some work to do!! I'll update with a picture of the finished room soon!

Oh and in case you are wondering, Daniel wants a brother AND a sister! Oh boy!!!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

Our days were Merry & Bright, as I hope yours have been!

We started off the holidays with a trip to see none other than Alvin & the Chipmunks, Chipwrecked! Daniel loved it!

Christmas Eve we had our annual dinner and survivor style auction! We had 21 total people, 7 of them were ages 6 and under and they were all EXCELLENT!!! We cooked a 22 pound turkey for the occasion and had all the trimmings. Good food, great family and lots of fun!

The auction was the highlight as always. I auctioned off my CVS stash from the year, instead of hoarding it like you see on Extreme Couponing!! (If you haven't check out my other blog From Dimes to Dollars - I'm sharing more hot coupons and deals this year in an effort to lower our monthly grocery budget, and maybe yours as well!!) I keep enough of the auction items to get through a few months and the rest goes to my family! You should see them outbid each other for items like toothpaste and shower gel! The funniest thing to happen - my niece's new boyfriend buying her a toothbrush because she said she needed it! The second funniest, my brother-in-law buying my father-in-law (and they are no relation) vitamins for his eye and brain health!! Always a load of fun and laughter!!

Christmas Day Daniel was in heaven. He counted his gifts this year from Santa and then woke us up!! Some of the items he received from everyone including Santa were Leapster games, a personal CD player and his first books on CD, a science lab kit, the Joker House, Star Wars items, including a clock, and a Bop It!! Awesome!!!!

We spent hours mixing colors for a food coloring experiment with his science kit! I have great photos below to share!! I also have great photos of Daniel listening to his book on CD. Santa got him a Magic Tree House Books 1-4 audio book and at first Daniel wasn't interested. Then when I said he couldn't run around with the CD player, that it was for music or books only, he sat down and gave it another try.

Within about 2 minutes he was hooked!! I couldn't have pried it out of his hands if I had wanted!! Since I love audio CD's I was thrilled that he took to it also! He's listened to the stories several times now!! I wasn't sure how he would do without having an actual book to follow since our other short CDs have books and are only one story lasting about 10 minutes. These stories last about half an hour each. I have to say again how thrilled I am that he really likes them!!

We had an awesome holiday and are looking forward to a New Year's dinner at my mom's house with a big game of Tripoly to follow (we bet with pennies) so if you lose, you lose about a buck, but you can win 4 or 5 bucks!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays as well!!

Troy's Medical Appointment

2011-12-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

Troy finally got his medical appointment done and with that the last of our end of the foster-to-adopt paperwork chase!

You may remember how well my medical appointment went and how I left the office in tears. Well, Troy saw the same doctor and said he was perfectly nice to him. Marked all his papers as excellent, never said a word about the fact that we were going to be fostering, and got him in and out in no time at all.

I cried again (I know think BIG baby) when Troy came home and said the doctor said nothing to him and marked everything as excellent.

I guess I'll never know why he chose that particular day to be so ugly towards me.

Moving on - at least it's done!! I'll be sending those in tomorrow, along with a strongly worded email and letter that we are ready to move forward with the process at this time.

In other news, well, there really isn't any. Other than getting ready for Christmas, things are moving along smoothly! Daniel and I are working on handmaking gifts (from Daniel ) to each family member and I rolled and dipped 480 chocolate covered peanut butter balls with my best friend this weekend for family as well!! Looking forward to Christmas!

Wait No More Book Review

2011-12-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

I was chosen to read and review the book Wait No More. Wait No More is written by Kelly and John Rosati and is a true story of a family of six formed by foster care. Since we are beginning our journey through the foster care system in our state, I was so excited to receive this book to read.

I'm going to cut to the chase. I LOVED this book. I thought it was extremely easy to read and I was engrossed in the story as soon as I started.

I particularly like how real the story is. There was no sugar coating. There was heartbreak and worry, but also joy and a never ending faith in God. There was even a placement that did not work out.

In the book I was able to follow four separate and very different adoption stories through the foster care system. Each story was unique. The problems faced included medical issues, birthparent issues, and attachments issues. I felt like I was right beside them sharing in the moments.

There is one particular chapter that really hit home with me. It is a chapter when the family thought that they were being led to adopt from Africa only to find out every door was being slammed shut for them. In the midst of their wondering why this happening, they realized that they were being nudged gently by God to continue with foster care. Troy and I are in much the same position. We feel the urge and calling to return to Russia, but felt like the doors were being slammed on us. It was during this time that we re-discovered our faith in God by finding a new church and that we felt like we were being nudged to pursue adoption through foster care right here.

I feel like this book opened my eyes to what we will soon be facing and I know that with our faith in God, we will be able to withstand the heartaches and come out joyous in the end, no matter how long it may take.

Anyone considering foster care, or adoption through foster care should read this book.

Timing

2011-11-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

It seems like our timing is a bit off for the foster program at this point. Initially it sounded like we could move pretty quickly and Troy and I do best when we jump right in. Give us time to think more and more about something and we inevitably find another way or change our path.

That being said, we're on the same path, but it may take a little longer to go down. Apparently the social services in our area is swamped and they have now told us they can't even schedule us for our first homestudy visit until after the New Year. I realize the New Year isn't that far away. but it's also that far away to us.

I completed my medical examination this past Friday and that went well, even though I shed some tears. I went to my family doctor's office, but my doctor wasn't available so I agreed to see another doctor in the practice (one I haven't seen before). He started off by telling me he had four adopted children and would love to help with the paperwork and so I thought everything would be great. Then he went off on a spirl about how we were in for devastation and that we should go directly to an adoption agency. When I told him we had one adopted son already from Russia he then proceeded to tell us we should not and probably couldn't ever go back to Russia because the window was closing on Russian adoptions.

At that point, I was trying to keep my eyes opened HUGE so I wouldn't cry and I managed to point to the paperwork and ask him if he would please fill it out. He finally did with quite a few more hurtful comments and I left out of there gripping my documents and hurrying home.

The poor doctor doesn't know it, but he's going to be seeing Troy next week and Troy can't wait to meet him. I made him swear to be nice and go with the goal of getting the paperwork and getting out.

The good news is that once his medical is done, we are completely done with the paperwork portion of the program on our end!

I suppose after that we'll wait. Hurry up and wait. Sound familiar fellow adoptive parents?!?!?!

Batman, Spiderman, Thing, Oh My!!

2011-10-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

This year Daniel took dressing up to the extreme! We were lucky to find a box of costumes at a yard sale this summer for a buck! In it were the title costumes as well as several others!

We started the season off right with a trip to the pumpkin patch! We took a hayride, picked out the perfect pumpkins, took a horse ride, and had Daniel's face painted! It was a great day!!

Then we headed to CVS for there kids event Halloween party where we got a free 5x7 photo and a bag with glo-sticks and candy! We had a good time there! Daniel chose his Spiderman costume and then we followed with a great outdoors photo shoot at home!

Next we had Daniel's Halloween party at school. I got to help numerous boys in and out of their costumes! I think I dressed about 10 Spidermans and then other assorted costumes! Daniel chose his Batman costume that day! I just love Daniel's Kindergarten teacher and class and can't say how thankful I am that he got that particular class!

We carved our pumpkin a few days ago and Daniel totally chose the template we used. I think it turned out pretty well!

Finally we trick or treated with my sister, her son, my niece and her two girls. Trying to get a photo of all 4 didn't go as planned but i happen to think they are all pretty adorable! Daniel of course chose to be Thing for the main event!!

Oh and a little surprise came our way this past weekend --- can you believe it -- snow!! I hope we're not in for a tough winter!! Troy tends to shovel the driveway chanting "Florida, Florida, Florida!!"

Happy Fall!

The Process and Progress We've Made

2011-10-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all my friends and family who have showed us so much support and been so happy for us since we shared our latest news. It means so much to us to have each of you in our lives and to know you are praying for us.

We've completed all the initial paperwork (with the exception of our medical reports). We're simply waiting for Troy's new insurance to go into effect November 1st. Daniel's medical form was completed today!! We turned in all of our paperwork last Friday and had our first initial safety visit to our house. This visit doesn't really count towards the homestudy, but it's a way to do a preliminary check on an inquiry family.

We were also able to knock out our fingerprint cards because they were able to bring the fingerprinting equipment to our home and do them right on our kitchen counter!!

The initial visit was a simple walk-through of our house, checking for fire alarms, and other safety issues. We passed the initial phase just fine. We were also given a sample of a foster agreement to hold on to and review because often times a placement happens quickly and when they bring the child they want your signature right away on a form and it can be a bit over-whelming at the time to try to read it. This way we know what it says in advance.

The paperwork was much easier than the international version of adoption paperwork. It was pretty much the standard documents (budget sheet, background check) and then several more localized papers.

We were told the fingerprints and background checks would take approximately 3 weeks to come back. During this time we can set up appointments for the homestudy meetings or we can wait until after they come back. Since Troy is in his training program we are waiting to see how tough the training he is in is before we try to schedule any evening meetings.

We do get to "drive" this time around which is completely different from international adoption. In other words the timing belongs to us. We can go as fast or as slow as we want.

I can't lie - I would love to speed right on through, but I know we have to be patient and let Troy finish the training (and yes - this is serious training involving written tests and all the physical training stuff as well). So while I would love to move forward I'm trusting that God is in control of the situation and we'll become ready when He is ready.

We have at least 3 other meetings and then we'll have to wait until the homestudy is completed. At that point, I'm not sure when we would actually become licensed, but I believe it doesn't take long. There is training involved also, so we will be taking care of that as well in the interim. We do have prior training from Daniel's adoption also and it is comparable to what they teach.

I feel good about what has been completed and we were told we were off to a great start! I know these next few weeks will fly by and with the holidays coming, we'll be very busy!!

I'll be updating soon about our pumpkin patch visit and the costumes Daniel keeps showing up in in all the photos!! I'm helping with his Kindergarten "Fall" Party (they get to dress up!) on Friday so that should be loads of fun!!

A New Journey To Another Child!!

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

CHANGE defined means to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of something different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.

CHANGE is hard. CHANGE is unknown. CHANGE is scary.

But we're getting ready to do just that.

Troy and I have been talking for some time (upwards of two years now) about adding another child to our family. We've considered fertility shots (again), but decided (again) that it wasn't worth it when there are children already out there waiting.

We've wanted to go back to Russia for some time, but it's no secret that international adoption is expensive and we haven't been able to work out the finances without taking out significant loans, something we do not want to do.

We've talked about domestic infant adoption. Again, something we considered before but decided we were open to parenting an older child a child more than a year old.

We talked about foster to adopt. We're terrified of that. The thought of losing a child after caring for him/her for any length of time, whether it be a month or a year is heartbreaking.

We've talked and talked and talked. And talked some more.

Then we went to church. We haven't gone to church in a long time. We've made excuses, we've been busy, we've avoided the commitment of the time it takes out of our weekend. We were both guilty. I'd started asking Troy about church again, but we just couldn't seem to get ourselves together.

Troy went to the rifle range for the day and sat down next to a gentleman who was also sighting in some rifles (here comes hunting season!) They got to talking and guess what? That particular gentleman is the pastor of a church. Not just any church, but a church less than 10 minutes from our house. Here they sit at a rifle range almost an hour away and he preaches at a church almost in our neighborhood.

So we went and we listened and we learned. We loved the church. The people were friendly and a little girl took Daniel by the hand and led him to children's church for me. The pastor remembered Troy by name and was glad to see us. The message was inspiring. He mentioned that life wasn't always fair, but that the rewards in heaven would be. He mentioned that God doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want him to. But God does listen and He does not forsake us.

I needed to hear that. I've been wallowing a bit in my sorrow of not beginning another international adoption.

Then Troy and I realized something. Here we sit with the means to care for another child, the heart to do it, an open home, and we're doing nothing about it.

We realized it was time for a CHANGE. A change not only in our thoughts, but our hearts. Could we, should we? Is this the way God wants us to go?

We contacted our local Department of Social Services a few weeks ago. We've been emailing with the family recruiter and we're getting ready to embark on a pretty amazing and a bit scary (for us) journey.

We're going to get licensed to foster with the intention to adopt through Virginia's foster care system.

Virginia does believe in reunification of the child with their birth parents or a member of the family, so Troy and I have to open our hearts to supporting the reunification, but also loving and forming what may become permanent attachments to the child in our care.

I'm scared. I'm excited. I'm hopeful.

I read that many of children do eventually become available for adoption, but it still scares me that we will get a child that won't. However, since we are willing and prepared to adopt, they will take that into consideration when choosing a child to place with us.

Surprisingly things can happen very quickly. We could be placed with a child within about 6-8 weeks aftercompleting all the requirements. Because we will be specifying a child younger than Daniel, it may take a bit longer.

Troy has started a new job which entails a training session that would make the timeline more like in the New Year for a placement. We're very excited about this change also, because it means he is home much more than he is now, and is part of what made our decision to foster-to-adopt that much more clear.

This weekend we will be working around the house to add a few safety features, ones we haven't had to worry about since Daniel is a bit older. We'll also be discussing changing our furniture and our guest bedroom around a bit to accommodate another child.

I hope you'll follow along, and pray for us and for the children we come in contact with, as we get ready to head on a new Journey right here in Virginia to find our second child, and love any child that may cross through our doorway, even if only for a little while.

First Report Card and Parent/Teacher Conference!

2011-10-19T11:01:00.001-07:00

We're having a great week! Today Troy and I are celebrating 15 years of marriage and we've sort of come full circle - he's at his new job which is actually what he used to be doing early in our marriage and he's home each day now!! After so much time apart, we're so thrilled!!

We received Daniel's first report card last week! He had all "M"'s in his regular classes (reading, writing, math, science). M stands for "Meets Expections" and he had all + signs in his specials (art, music, library). Since you get either a + or -, I was thrilled!!

Troy escorted me to Daniel's first parent/teacher conference last night. I went in a little nervous because, even though Daniel has done extremely well in Kindergarten, it's no secret that I had to move him from one daycare to another and then from that daycare to another. Turns out I was making the right decisions!

His teacher RAVED about him! She said his vocabulary was almost better than hers! She also said that even though he received all "M"'s in his report card, he deserved all "E"'s for "Exceeds Expectations", but that they are not allowed to give "E"'s to any Kindergartners until the end of the year!

Futhermore, she said she had to move him to the HIGHEST reading level (with only two other children)! She said she could tell the difference already in his reading class and that she realizes that Daniel is going to have to be challenged constantly all year!!

We also had another teacher stop by who said she just had to meet the parents of Daniel because "he was so bright, smart and obviously happy"!! She went on to tell us that she sat down beside him one day when he was coloring and he looked over at her and said "Who are you?" So she gave her name and said "Who are you?" Of course he gave her his FULL name - he LOVES to use his middle name! She said "well then I'm going to work with you for a few minutes on…" (whatever the assignment was) and Daniel held up his thumb and first finger (measuring time) and said "You have this much time (about 2 inches) and then we're done here!" Apparently it's now the classroom joke between the teachers!

The funny thing is I never use that - he started that with negotiating bedtime. When I would tell him 10 minutes, he would hold about 3 inches and ask "Is it this much time?" so we would negotiate a span of inches for bedtime!!

I did warn her that I taught Daniel the time out sign the day before when we needed a break from playing or wrestling (with Troy!). I won't be surprised if she gets the time out sign from him next!!

She said he can do every task that is required and more!! She said she would never had known he had no English language or anything until almost two years old.

We left out of the conference just beaming!! Troy even gave me a high five!!

We're so proud of our son!!

Quick Update!

2011-09-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

We have some great news to share - Troy got a new job offer, one that keeps him at home during the week! A certain little somebody and a certain wife are really, really happy! This is the first of several new things coming our way...more on that later!!

Things are busy here! Between Kindergarten, homework and life in general, we're always on the move.

We had a great Labor Day and enjoyed hanging out at home! We were even able to pull out the old Slip 'n Slide and have a little fun!!

The past few days we've been doing more small home repairs including a protective grate over our screen door since, not only animals, but our son, has decided to try to go through it more than once!! We've also been re-screening screens and replacing ceiling fans around the house. Small repairs but they make you feel good!!

I'll be posting more soon, but for now - some fun photos from Labor Day!

Kindergarten Update

2011-08-31T19:20:00.000-07:00

We have survived two weeks of Kindergarten!! Daniel is doing extremely well. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't think he'd adjust all that well, but he has really surprised me and proved me wrong!!

He did get into a spot of trouble on day 3 last week, but nothing major and the teacher wrote me a nice note, to which I sent a nice reply and everything has been great since. This week Daniel did extremely well, even getting a note on his paper stating that he chose the most difficult items to draw and that his teacher was impressed with his work!! I was sooo proud.

We created a "Me Bag" beginning last Monday night and turned it in to class today. Daniel shared his bag today in school and came home animated and it sounds like he really enjoyed telling his class about the items in his bag. He chose a photo of our house, a hunting hat, a diving stick, a train, and Uno cards. They represented his favorite place, doing something with daddy, favorite sport, favorite toy and game time after dinner each night, in that order. He colored his bag and drew a picture of me, Troy and himself.

I also gots lots of papers home this week and they were all perfect. They are working on simple math concepts like over/under, above/below. more/less. We've been working on these skills for so long that it's old hat to Daniel, but he still followed the directions on all the papers and they looked great!!

Here are some photos from week 2 of Kindergarten!!

First Day of Kindergarten (and an Earthquake!)

2011-08-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

Boy, we'll never forget Daniel's first day of school!

EVER!!

We had a 5.9 magnitude earthquake, the epicenter of which was about 50 miles from our home and only 20 from my work office. Around 1:50 pm our office started shaking terribly and I was so scared. We're on the 3rd floor of a building and the floor felt unglued. Thankfully it stopped and I was able to get ahold of Troy and he was able to call Daniel's school. The kids were all fine, but this momma wasn't!!

To backtrack, this morning started out like any other. Daniel knew it was the big day and he still begged for 2 more minutes of sleep complete with covering himself back up over his head!! Once out of bed we served him scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with jelly. Then we got dressed, brushed teeth, washed face and headed out to the big K!!

We arrived at school and he headed right in leaving us in the dust, until we got to where the Kindergartner's meet in the morning. Then he ever so gently attached himself to my side. His teacher, who I really like, greeted him by name, but he wasn't having any of it. Once I got him unglued from me and we showed him which 2 tables were his classes, he went and sat down about 10 seats away from everyone else and put his head down. Broke my heart!! Never fear though, I walked over and re-sat him with some new friends. When we left he was taking his jacket off and loking around.

When we picked him up, he was all smiles and talked up a storm. He made new friends, liked his teacher and he didn't have an accident. Since we're still dealing with his medical condition, this is and continues to be my biggest worry for him. I went in ahead of time and had a conference with his teacher and the school nurse to explain his condition, set his potty schedule up and give them the letter from the urologist using big terms and was very impressive! The teacher followed the instructions to a "T" and Daniel did great!!

If you are wondering, Daniel has to void on a timed schedule which we are slowly trying to draw out. Normal bladders can hold urine for about 4 hours, but Daniel can only hold about an hour and a half. This is because his bladder was so stretched from the obstruction he had for so long and his reflux issue (both have been corrected, but the damage was already done). We still don't know the depth of feeling he has as far as the urge to go goes, and it's something we are still trying to ascertain through medical testing and simply Daniel getting older and being able to tell us. Because his bladder is so large, he doesn't get the "bladder-brain" signal until it's too late and he leaks urine. However, the hour and half schedule works for him and we are "training" his bladder to hold it that long without leaks. Fortunately #2's in the potty are no problem. So, as long as you keep him on schedule, he does great. We'll work up to 4 hours eventually but it could take a few years. Since we were told he would need a permanent cathedar at one point, we think his progress is great!!!

Anywho, he wrote his name for his teacher today and drew a picture of her. Troy picked Daniel up and he said Daniel's teacher said he was "excellent" and that she "really enjoyed him"!! Daniel talked non-stop about his day and his new friends. He said he earned 6 punches on his card for good behavior and earned extra recess time!! When I asked what he got the punches for he rolled his eyes and said "For good listening mom", in a "duh" kind of tone. Seriously! Apparently I need a punch card because he seems to have selective hearing around here!!

Whew!! I feel so much better now about our decision to send him on to Kindergarten! I know we may face some difficulties, but today went really well - minus the earthquake of course!!! Without further ado - Daniel his first day of Kindergarten!!!

My Little Fish, Home Improvements & Kindergarten

2011-08-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe July is over! Daniel finished his swim lessons and passed his jellyfish class. He couldn't pass last year because he wouldn't swim on his back. This year the instructor used him to teach the other children (who were mostly older!!) how to swim on their backs. Daniel was also the only one to propel himself down in 4-5 feet of water to pick up toys from the bottom. He's really gained in strength this year and the instructor said she would like to see him next year on the swim team. He'll fall into the youngest category and she said they needed "strong swimmers" like him in that category!!

A couple of weekends ago we did some minor home improvements that had major impact on my housekeeping skills! First we pulled up Daniel's carpet and laid wood laminate in his room. He LOVES it. It's the same as our room and the morning he woke up he ran to us saying "Thank you for making my floor like yours!" Who knew it would mean that much to him!

Troy also finally cut me a laundry chute after I did much begging!! Our laundry is in our basement and we have this perfect little half closet in our hallway that Troy cut a nice circle in and built up the chute. It drops right down in the basement into a nice laundry basket and since then all laundry is out of our main living level. We were woried that Daniel would throw toys (or himself) down the chute, but instead as I was sorting laundry I found fishing items and realized it was my husband who had "accidentally" dropped a few things down! It hasn't happened since!! I don't have any pictures of the final product, but Troy faced the front and put a nice top on it. This was when it first went through the floor - we couldn't resist trying it out!

In Kindergarten news, we didn't get the school we were hoping for due to student/teacher ratio and we knew up front this was a high possibility in our area. We're allowed to call back August 8th and see if there are any changes, but for now we're preparing for the other school. I have to go in soon to make appointments to talk to the school nurse about Daniel's medical condition and I need to speak to the principal about his teacher and about a certain little boy who is also attending Kindergarten this year and who you may remember from this post a long time ago. I'm afraid if they get put in the same class, similar things may happen to Daniel and it isn't going to fly. As for his teacher - I don't want him to have the teacher he did his assessment with. I have my reasons! I know I'm picky, but I can't help it!!

Daniel's doing great at his summer camp. He's been roller skating, bowling, to Lowe's, to more parks than I can name and he's having a blast. He gets karate lessons as part of his day and while I don't think he's thrilled with them, I do think he's gaining a lot from them. He's learning to pay more attention and when he and his dad wrestle, I've seen Troy look at him in surprise!! He seems stronger, more sure of himself and he likes the interaction with all the boys. He's making friends, which he wasn't really doing (except for a few) at his previous daycare, and he's talking to his counselors like he actually likes them! He even told me he "loved camp" the other morning when I sang him the "Good Morning" song!!

All in all things are well in the Williams household!

July 4th Weekend = Lots of Fun!

2011-07-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

We had a very exciting July 4th Weekend! Our weekend included a local carnival, camping, swimming, waterfalls, tubing, cooking over the fire, family and lots of fun!!

Friday night we headed out to our local carnival and had way more fun than we expected! Daniel chose to go into the funhouse and ride the swings and then play a bunch of games! He won EVERY game he played, except one. We even came home with a goldfish!! Third ping-pong ball he threw went right into a fishbowl! Of course, before we left we bought an icee (Daniel chose lime!) and a caramel apple for Troy and I to split, but which Daniel somehow ended up with most of!

Saturday, Sunday and Monday, my mom got a campsite at a local campground and set up camp! We visited each day and took advantage of the amenities, which included a pool, a pond (in which I TOTALLY outfished the men and children!), a river with a waterfall, an arcade and of course cooking over the fire! We didn't spend the night (too hot) but we had a blast river tubing, and doing all the fun things you do at a campground.

Between summer day camp, the weekend and swim lesson, Daniel is one busy boy! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

P.S. - While Daniel was on the swings, it was the sweetest thing - he swung around and yelled "I love you Mom and Dad!" Still melts our hearts!!

Vacation 2011 and Happy 5th Birthday!! (BIG PICTURE POST!!!!)

2011-06-25T14:16:00.001-07:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve played around with Windows Live Writer, but I thought this combined post deserved a little more than blogger could for it!!

We had a WONDERFUL week of vacation which included Daniel’s birthday and visiting with some bloggy friends as well!

Last Friday we headed down to Westminster, SC and stayed near a river arm of Lake Hartwell in a nice townhouse, which we traded for through our timeshare. While the fishing turned out not so good, so the company and the side trips turned out great!

Saturday Becky, Keith and Andrew headed up for the night and we had fun swimming and the boys played Geo Tracks forever it seemed, and they had the greatest time and played so well together! Check them out!

Then Sunday Becky and family headed home and we chilled at the indoor pool. Of course we did get one cute Father’s Day shot Sunday morning!! Nothing like games on a Ipad to have a little fun with!

Last year Daniel had trouble propelling himself to the bottom of the pool to pick up sticks, but not this year – he could even get the bottom in 4-5 feet of water! He still needs a little more strength to tread water for longer, but our child is a serious fish!!

Monday was much of the same and then Tuesday morning we headed into Atlanta and picked up Andrew for a day at Six Flags White Water!! Andrew and Daniel had so much fun!! Of course they don’t like waiting in line!!

Keith, Becky and Alex hosted us for the night and on Wednesday we celebrated Daniel’s 5th Birthday!!! Troy, Daniel and I took off for the Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Olympic Park where we had lots of fun and Daniel ran through the fountains and had a blast! Daniel’s favorite part of the aquarium was by far the touch tanks and he was determined to touch the shark as much as he could!

We followed up the aquarium and the park with a visit to Chuck E Cheese! Becky and Andrew and Karyn, Norm and Iliya were able to join us!! We had fun playing games, eating pizza, and of course being goofy!

Daniel insisted he could stay awake on the way back to our townhouse to open more presents, which surprisingly he did even though it was after 10 pm!! The funny thing about the Teradactyl outfit (which was from my mom) was that earlier in the week when Daniel asked about eggs we told him he hatched from an egg (we were making up stories, which we had been doing all week) and that he was part Teradactyl and part alligator – a Tera-gator. When he opened the gift, I said “See – even Grandma knows you are a Tera-gator” and he burst out laughing!! My sister-in-law made the pillow – I love it!!

The rest of the week we visited waterfalls, fished, swam and had a good time!! The waterfall was fun because we didn’t know there was a swimming area below it. Of course Daniel wanted to get in so Troy and he started walking towards it. They didn’t realize there was a HUGE dropoff (as in Troy never felt bottom). Suddenly they both went under and all I could do was watch from the side. Troy got Daniel up over his head (even though Daniel was laughing) and got back to solid ground. After that we figured we might as well swim with our clothes on!

We had such a great week with friends and with ourselves just relaxing and being able to swim and fish and explore! Daniel’s signed up to start swimming lessons Monday but I’m starting to wonder if he really needs them! This boy can seriously swim!

I can’t wait for our next vacation!!!!

Nothing Much Better Than Great-Grandparents!

2011-05-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend my mother, Daniel and I drove to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and visited my grandparents!! Daniel had not yet had the honor of meeting them and so we were well overdue!

We arrived Friday to a lovely lunch and some visiting time, before heading our to the VFW and playing slot machines!! Instead of slots Daniel spent the hour play Dominos or "Bomb"ino's as Daniel's Great Grandfather called it since they had fun setting up Domino trails and then "bombing" the first one to make the train start. They did circles and lines, and had a great time. I don't think they knew it but from the penny slot machine I could sneak a peak over to their table and enjoy watching them together!! (In case your wondering, my mom, myself and my grandmother each lost 20 bucks!)

Here are some unforgettable memories from our getaway this weekend!

Next stop, Memorial Day cookout!!

Medical Update

2011-04-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

Monday we had Daniel's fluoroscopy tests to recheck his bladder and kidney and to see if there was anymore reflux. This was a sedated test and I have to admit that Daniel was quite hilarious under the sedation. He never fell completely asleep, but I don't think he remembers a thing, which I am glad.

At one point during the test, he's laying on the table and I'm on one side and a nurse is one the other side of his head and he looks over at her and says all slurred and in slow motion "Are you my grandma?" She says "no, but I do need you to go ahead and go pee-pee now". And no joke he says to her "Then I'm not talking to you." And he slowly looks over to me and says "Mama, you are Elmo and I'm the Cookie Monster." How we went from one to the other is beyond me, but I was glad for the comic relief!

So the results from the test were that there was still a slight amount of reflux, but because Daniel's bladder is so large and it takes so long to fill, the techs tend to overfill and it forces reflux. In essence, they consider it a slight amount of reflux, but they can't be 100% sure, so as it stands right now, no further surgery is required.

His kidney is still functioning well and in the doctor's word he can "See the improvement". This was big for us, because normally they say it may be slightly better, but they can't tell, etc.etc. So for him to actually say that he can see the difference made me really happy!

Finally, we do have further tests in 6-9 months to study Daniel's bladder more. Each time I post that Daniel has stopped having accidents, he starts again. More so it's really just a leakage problem due to the size of his bladder and the fact that we can' tell how much feeling Daniel has when his bladder is full. Couple that with the age factor and that children prioritize differently than adults (as in toys over potty) we have kind of a mixed bag of issues.

I hit the doctor pretty hard this time with questions pertaining to long term and school, so they agreed that the further tests will give us new readings to look at and we can talk then about further care. We really want Daniel to be able to achieve total continence, so we'll do whatever they suggest.

For now we've purchased a Wobl Watch which is a medical watch that vibrates to remind him to go potty to give me a permanent break from constantly watching the clock and reminding him to go potty. This has been a struggle at times, as he started to eventually defy me with not going to the potty and then I had to start time outs for not listening, refusing to go etc. and was making myself and Daniel, I'm sure, miserable.

Since he's starting summer camp with children his own age and older, we thought the vibrating watch would be discreet enough and it looks like a regular old watch. The instructors are aware and know that if he runs for the potty in the middle of an activity to just let him go and encouraeg him, not stop him.

We're hoping being around older children may push him to try a little harder also. We've noticed when he's out in public he tends to not leak, whereas at home, where he is most comfortable, he lets go (no pun intended).

We had really hoped we would be at the end of this by now, but we'll just take it as it comes and be thankful that it's not something life threatening or more serious.

Please continue to pray for healing for the bladder and left kidney.

Pre-school, Kindergarten, Medical, Oh My!

2011-04-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Wow - I'm way overdue to post on this blog and so much has happened in the last month that at this point I'm not even sure where that month went.

Thankfully I've finished tax season at work, with the exception of finalizing all the returns we extended, but at least it's not a mad rush anymore!

During our ever busy tax season, in which I worked so much overtime, including several Saturdays and from home, we had a bit of a pre-school day care issue. Daniel's pre-school is considered skill based and they move the children up based on their reading abilities. Daniel started out in the Beginner Class last April. In order to move to the Advanced class, the children have to pass their letters which are given to them in sets of 5. The class ranges in age from 3-5, but mostly contains 3-4 year olds. Daniel was 3 and 1/2 so we thought this was perfect. A few months later, I contacted the school with concerns that Daniel had not passed the first 5 letters. They assured me everything was fine and a few weeks later he passed. Then about 6 weeks after he passed the second set. Then nothing.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago and I started questioning the pre-school again as to why Daniel had not passed the third set. We'd been working really hard everyday on the letters at home and Daniel was flying through the entire alphabet. To make a long story short, after going round and round for 2 months, including me going in and watching a lesson, I got the director to agree to test him and in one day he passed 10 more letters. On to the last set...no pass. I waited a week to give the benefit of the doubt and still nothing. Finally I asked the director to test him again and she said he mixed up about 5 of the previous lower case letters when they did the entire alphabet review. In toher words, he passed the final set, but when they gave him 52 letters to identify (they split lower and upper case) he confused 5 of them.

5 out of 52. Isn't that like a "B"? Isn't this pre-school? Are we applying to Harvard or Yale at this point? My main concern was getting him into a class where he wasn't bored out of his mind and with children his own age.

Even after emailing them and offering to continue the work at home on those 5 letters, they refused to move him.

After much debate, Troy and I decided to pull him. We realized he just wasn't going to mature in time for Kindergarten if he was forced to hang out with 3 and young 4 year olds day in and day out.

He has 5 days left and then he is sprung! He'll be spending about 6 weeks (3 days a week) with family members, until he starts....

SUMMER DAY CAMP!!

We're really excited about this! It's through a martial arts center and he'll get 2 classes a week on karate! They also go out each day whether to the park or to the local police stations, fire stations, Lowes, you name it!! They get to play dodge ball, kick ball, have water gun fights, arts and crafts, and lots of organized fun. He'll be with children his own age and a bit older. The director assured me he would come home exhausted every day! This boy is the Energizer Bunny so I was happy to hear this - it's just what he needs on the days I work!

As for Kindergarten, I've visited two different schools and we'll be applying for one outside of district but closer to our home. We're praying Daniel gets in there.

Finally we have a large medical appointment for Daniel Monday that I'm dreading. It involves sedation, a cathedar and lots of imaging. I'll get to be with him the whole time weighted down in the heavy lead gowns, but with him nonetheless. Please continue to pray for his bladder and kidney to continue to heal. I dread telling him about the appointment since he understands so much more now.

And finally, finally...we celebrated our 3rd anniversary of our court date on April 15th and our 3rd Gotcha Day on April 16th! Our final PPR read that we "have satisfied both our state and the Russian Federation requirements" for our adoption. I almost cried when I read the last line!!

Life may be extremely busy, but it's good!

Love at First Sight - 3 Years Ago Today!

2011-03-11T05:42:00.000-08:00

Some people say they don't believe in love at first sight. Some people say it's not possible. I think when referring to a child, that you just can't help yourself.

I'm not talking about feeling like a mother at the snap of the fingers, but I am talking about looking at a child, knowing they are going to be yours and just letting yourself love them, even if you don't know them yet.

Three years ago, I felt true love at first sight. I may not have felt like a mother in that exact moment, but I loved the little boy the orphanage worker was holding by the hand, the moment they came through the door and I leaned down and took his hand from her.

For fun...here is the email I sent home the night we met our baby boy (who isn't much of a baby anymore)!!

We met with the ministry at 9 am and it was easy. A lady simply gave us the formal version of our referral and asked if we would like to meet the child. Of course we said YES “Da”. She smiled and gave us the permission to visit the child.

We left straight for Votkinsk, an hour away and went to the baby home. Because Daniel was getting ready to eat and nap they brought him in within minutes of our arrival and he sat right in my lap and we played with the Little Tykes Hammer (makes sounds and lights up) and then we tried to look at books but like I said he turns the pages so fast!! He doesn’t talk yet except to say Wow or whoa or something to that effect. He sat quietly in Troy’s lap while I took notes from the orphanage director. They told us he loves books, music and dancing.

Afterwards we left as Daniel had to eat and take a nap. We went out to lunch with our regional rep and translator and had a nice time. Then they took us to Tchaikovsky’s house (great composer) and we took a few photos and then we shopped. We got some great pieces and souvenirs for 1,675……..rubles – gotcha didn’t I – I think that works out to approx. 71.00!! Like I said we got some beautiful pieces. Wish us luck packing them up!!

We went back to the baby home at 4 and got to visit with Daniel for 2 hours. We played with stacking cups and shape sorter. He loved both. We gave him a soft squishy ball and all he would do is put it in a cup and dump it out. He would smile when we would throw it to each other. He doesn’t seem ticklish and he doesn’t make a lot of eye contact, but that is normal. He is delayed in aspects but physically he is a pretty healthy looking fellow. He has blue clear eyes and likes to cut them to the side to sneak a peek at you!

We were watched with him the entire time except for the last hour when I suppose the director decided we were okay after all. Daniel will certainly need bonding time with us and us with him. It will take time.

He hugged mama and papa bye bye and he waved “pah kah pah kah” (bye bye) to us. He hugged Troy hard and even squeezed his arms when hugging him. I got a hug that was a whatever hug but I snuck a kiss in on his cheek!! Chopped liver already – that’s me!!

I just can't believe it's been three years. It feels like so much longer...in the best possible way. I can't imagine life without Daniel in it and I can barely think about life before Daniel. We were truly blessed three years ago today and the blessings have never stopped since!!

Here is our first family photo taken at our second meeting. We weren't allowed to take any photos the first day, but those memories are ones I'll never forget!!

"Because I Learned it From God"

2011-03-03T17:26:00.001-08:00

Whew!! We've had a busy few weeks. I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted on this blog.

I've switched gears at work from real estate law to tax law and I've been working extra days to get as many tax returns out by the deadline as possible. Some returns can take two to three days to complete!! My head is spinning with numbers right now!

On top of that last week was the busiest week of my life! Not only did I work two extra days, but my older sister had her baby, my newest nephew, on my birthday!!! Yesterday we picked up her two year, brought him to our house and had a fun day raking leaves and then re-raking leaves after Daniel and Eli jumped into them repeatedly!! Then last night we headed to her house armed with dinner, and celebrated 5 birthdays!!!!! Those five inlcude mine and Jacob's (new baby), brother in law Brett, sister who gave birth Cathy, and my mom - all five within exactly 7 days of each other! It was crazy, but we had a great time pampering Cathy and holding the baby!!

Today, I am actually thankful it's pouring outside, just so I can take it easy on the couch. Daniel is watching hunting and fishing curled up in Troy's lap.

Now that I've bored you with our busy life, I have some great news to share about Daniel! I know I've posted about potty training several times, and that I think he's trained. Each time I've posted, with a few days, he's gone backwards. I've been at my wits end many, many times. Daniel is 4 and 3/4 and starts kindergarten in the fall. I've spent a lot of time working with him, making the bathroom fun, being discouraged, sad, mad, understanding, proud, disappointed, frustrated, cheering, dancing, crying. We had even put him back in pull-ups for a while. We've been training since right before he turned 3.

If your new to this blog, Daniel has a medical condition, but thankfully we are coming to the end of it we hope. Time will do the rest. His medical condition has made potty training extremely difficult. In fact, I was told more than once he would need a permanent cathedar. I'm glad I was told that because it made me even more determined to potty train him.

I'd been spending a lot of time praying about potty training in particular this past month. Each night before bad, i found myself praying the God would intervene and help my child understand his bladder.

Then I gave up...not praying, but potty training. I just let Daniel know that I would remind him to go potty, but it was his choice to go potty or not. If he chose not to go, that was fine. If he wet, he was responsible for changing himself and he couldn't come out of his room or the bathroom until he had on clean clothes. Everything he needed was at his diposal.

I noticed within a few days he was changing himself without me saying a word. He was still having accidents, but he was noticing and changing himself. Progress. Then he started going everytime I reminded him. Our "Yes Ma'am" strategy helped with this. Then I realized a week had passed and he had not wet at all.

Then two nights ago, I undressed Daniel for his bath and his pants were totally dry yet again! I hugged him, told him how proud I was and said "Where did you learn to keep your pants so dry?"

Daniel looked straight at me and said "Because I learned it from God".

Well, I sure can't argue with that. I've been thanking God ever since. Daniel has been dry for a little more than a week now, including leakage. I expect a few leaks given his medical condition, but I am such a proud mommy. We go back to the urologist in April for a large test, but it's hopefully the last one. I can't wait to tell them they can cross the permanent cathedar right off their charts, because I believe that with God's help, we have kicked this problem right out of the ball park!!

So, now that I've gone on and on...here's some great pictures from our week!!

Yes Ma'am/Yes Sir

2011-02-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

I sit here typing on the couch with my sweet Daniel sleeping next to me, after falling asleep during a pretty funny episode of Wipeout (I know - so educational). My sweet Daniel has a fever tonight and I worry so much that I'd rather have him on the couch next to me than in his room for as long as I am up. So, I'll write awhile and watch over him.

One thing I've been wanting to write about is some advice I received about a month and a half ago that was a HUGE blessing.

Daniel had had a particularly bad week at school. No 4 year old is perfect, but this particular week he was quite the trouble maker. He had talked back to the teacher and laughed at her, among other things. After 3 days of this, I called my Aunt Sarah. Aunt Sarah had been a pre-school director for a long time and she raised a boy (my family is full of girls), so at my mother's suggestion, I called her. Aunt Sarah was WONDERFUL and she gave me the following advice:

Re-learn respect by using "Yes Ma'am and Yes Sir". and praise him by using the words "I like the way you said that" or "I like the way you are playing right now"

We always expected Daniel to say "Yes Ma'am/Yes Sir" when he was being corrected for a behavior, but we weren't sticklers about it in general every day use. We should have been.

I spent the next day, re-explaining to Daniel that we were adults and he was not. More imporatantly that his teacher was an adult and he had to respect her also. So we played a game, a sort of Simon Says game, but where he needed to say "Yes Ma'am" after every command. I would say "Sit Down", he would say "Yes Ma'am" and do it. Then I would say "Stand Up" and he would say "Yes Ma'am" and do it. You can only imagine how funny it got when we started going a mach speed!!

Then purposely for a few days I would ask him to do something simple. "Daniel, Please go potty." or "Daniel, Please pick up your trains." After each direction, I would remind him to say "Yes Ma'am". When he did, I would say, "I like the way you said that." He caught on quick!

Within two days, the teachers were commenting to me about how well Daniel was behaving. He was saying "Yes Ma'am" and doing what he was told. Of course I armed the teacher with a sticker book and ever day Daniel came home wearing a sticker he got a Hershey Kiss before dinner!

Now, Daniel is saying "Yes Ma'am" consistantly and to all adults, not just his teacher. We haven't had a single problem in school (knock on wood) and I love hearing him say "Yes Ma'am, I can!" and behaving so well!!

I wanted to share this because I just can't get over how well such a simple change worked. We could have tried so many things, but just getting back to a basic made a huge difference!! It makes sense though - him saying "Yes Ma'am" made it hard for him to not do what he had just said Yes to! I would have never thought about that! So thank you Aunt Sarah!

And lastly - pictures from our big snow!

What Do We Do On Snow Days?

2011-01-26T14:43:00.001-08:00

We make bookmarks!! I found this fun project a long time ago and was waiting for the perfect time to make these.

We simply painted popsicle sticks, then cut out circles for faces, added ears, eyes, or whatever worked for that particular animal we were making and Ta Da...Animal Bookmarks. I think they turned out great!!

Then we braved the store and started shoveling!! Since our weather people always seem off, we were shoveling about 6 inches of snow, not the 3 to 5 they keep insisting that we are going to get even though the storm has not slowed down yet!

Daniel thinks that body sledding is fun...apparently!! I had a great picture but you can see some identifying info so I don't want to post it. It looks like we may have another day together tomorrow too. I doubt we'll get plowed tonight!

Looking Ahead to a Big Year!

2011-01-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

As we start out 2011, I think of all the exciting changes and fun things to come this year:

I'm going to have a new nephew in just a couple of months! His birthday will probably be days from mine, my sister's, my brother-in-law and my mother's. Our combined party keeps getting bigger and bigger! What is it about late February and early March?!?! Wait, don't answer that!!

Daniel is going to turn 5 AND start Kindergarten this fall! I know, I can't believe it either!

We're going to finish our last post placement report in April for Daniel's adoption. I can't wait for that day for many reasons!! For me it means an end to the journey and a beginning of a new journey without the paperwork!!

Troy and I are planning our family vacation! We're sticking within driving distance of our home again this year, but going somewhere we've never been! We're planning lots of fishing, swimming and a great time!

I'm co-hosting an Information Meeting for our adoption agency in our area which I'm really looking forward to!

I have to get my driver's license renewed this year and I'm terrified because I have to take the dreaded eye exam and will probably fail, so I'm guessing I might be getting glasses this year!

Daniel has a big appointment in April coming for his medical condition and if it turns out the way they expect, then we'll be released from the care of the urologist (finally!) and this Mama can finally relax!!

I can't wait to see how this year turns out! I'm sure we'll have plenty more to add to this list as the days go by, but just these things have me looking forward to what will come!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T19:38:00.001-08:00

We had a very Merry Christmas and hope all you all did too! We even had a bit of a white one this year!! We started Christmas Eve with our annual dinner. We had 15 people this year, which is actually less than normal but we still had a great time!! We exchanged gifts, ate, ate some more, and then I held our Survivor style auction where I auction off all the goodies I pick up for free all year at CVS off to the highest bidder. I can’t even tell you who came out with the most this year, but I can tell you my ever so quiet mother-in-law Barbara was quite voracious in finding the extra hidden auction money around the house giving her quite the edge on the bidding!! It’s a lot of fun to sit back and watch family try to outbid each other over toothpaste and body wash!!

Daniel had a great Christmas!! This year was full of Thomas trains (no surprise there), a new bike, and Imaginext (my new favorite toys!). He also got a way cool art caddy bag filled with crafting supplies and most importantly a painter’s pallette (“Just Like Grandpa’s” he exclaimed when he saw it). We carefully filled it and he painted a beautiful rainbow for me. I did the first two colors and he finished the rest. Finally he got a Thomas Uno game and we had a good time teaching him. He won his very first hand (no cheating allowed) and Troy and I are calling it beginner’s luck!

Enjoy some photos from our holiday!

That’s my silly sister in the background! (NOT ME!!!)

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

2010-12-11T19:08:00.001-08:00

Today was a BIG day for Daniel!! We went to our local library for (a free!!) lunch with Santa and Mrs. Claus! They limited the number of children and it really turned out wonderful. They fed the kids pizza, applesauce and juice boxes and Santa walked around and said “hello”. Then they called the children up by table and they got to sit in Santa’s lap and allow the parents plenty of photo opportunities!

This year, Daniel pushed my hand away and went right up to Santa by himself. This is a huge change from the last couple of years where we had to be right next to him and he would repeatedly tell Santa that I was his mom or Troy was his dad. The first thing out of his mouth this year was “Where are your reindeer?” Santa replied “On the roof!” Then Daniel asked for Molly and Mavis (Thomas trains) and we got a couple of good pictures!!

This evening we finally got our tree out and decorated it. Daniel was very content on the floor hanging ornaments. He knew the ones he wanted to hang and had us hang the rest! He’s pretty excited about Christmas this year and we’re excited that he’s so excited!!

We’re looking forward to hosting our annual Christmas Eve dinner and I can’t wait to auction off all my leftover CVS goodies from the year (more than 30 items) to my family with the fake money we hand out just for showing up!! We did it last year and it was so much fun. The surprise was my quiet father-in-law who outbid everybody on tons of stuff and racked up the items!!

This year has really found me in the Christmas spirit, more so than any other year! I think Daniel’s excitement is really contagious!!

Need a Haircut?

2010-12-06T10:17:00.001-08:00

Daniel is majorly into scissors. Safety scissors of course, but if they cut, he wants them. So imagine his awe when Troy brought out the buzzers to shave his own head. Daniel wasn’t having any of it and Troy decided to be a good sport and let Daniel take charge. I’m thinking future barber….

I tried to talk Troy into leaving his hair as it was. You know, to help boost Daniel’s self confidence in himself as a future barber, but Troy wasn’t game for that! Guess I can’t blame him!!

In other news, we introduced Daniel to his very own lamp by the bed that he can turn on and off by himself. Every night after we read him books, he will generally “read” to himself for a while before falling asleep. We’ve always been in control of the cutoff time, otherwise he would read all night. This lamp was a big step for Daniel and we’re pleased to tell you that he always turns his lamp off after about 10 minutes or so without being asked and falls asleep. Of course, these two pictures below are the exception. I walked in around 11 one night to check on him and at some point after I initially checked on him, he had turned his light back on and started reading again. He was sound asleep, light blasting. Just look at the pile of books he was sleeping on – and you can’t even see them all!! I had to roll him and pull books out from under him and the covers!

Lastly, Daniel has finally gotten into crafting more than he used to!! I love this, especially with winter here now, so we’ve been getting the crafts out and creating some fun things. The below reindeer Troy actually did with Daniel. Daniel said I was the one with the red pretty antlers, he (Daniel was Rudolph with the red nose) and Troy was the middle small one! Troy wasn’t too happy about that, but he went with it!!

These fun glasses Daniel and I made from an egg carton. I saw this in a parenting magazine recently and since it’s all stuff we had around the house, I thought why not?! We just cut the egg carton, cut eye holes, decorated with markers and punched holes in the side for the pipe cleaners and Ta Da! Silly glasses!

We’re getting very excited about Christmas and Daniel already knows what he wants from Santa. We’ll be putting up our tree next weekend and today Daniel and I put garland and lights up outside. This year I’m feeling more Christmas spirit than ever! Happy Holidays!

A Not-So-Silent Ninja!

2010-11-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween weekend! We started off at the pumpkin patch Saturday afternoon and had our pick of the leftover pumpkins! Troy is great friends with a guy whose family owns the patch so after the big festivities, they let us come over and wander through and grab up what we like! We got about 15 beautiful pumpkins of all sizes and had a blast making it through the vines!

This year we carved a cool spider pumpkin! Daniel picked out the pattern!

For Halloween Daniel was a Ninja with 4 swords on his back! He made sure to tell everyone he had 4 swords, two short and two long! We trick or treated until Daniel finally told Troy he couldn't walk anymore and then he handed me his pumpkin.

Enjoy the pics!

The Wedding – October 16, 2010

2010-10-19T19:10:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe that my little sister who is 13 years younger than me got married his past weekend!! She was always the baby (which she’s always hated, but has always managed to use to her advantage) and it seems hard to believe how grown up she is now.

I thought today I would just share some photos from the wedding.

(On a side note – today Troy and I celebrated 14 years of marriage – WOW!)

Just Pronounced Man and Wife!

Troy gave her away. They’ve been like brother and sister for 14 years, and fought like it too, but you know Troy would do anything for her!! (And he did give Brett “the speech”. The same one my father delivered to him, the day he married me!

Cassandra is holding a photo of my dad! He was there is spirit!

Daniel was sure to dance with the Bride!

We were doing the Mocarena and Daniel charged up and down the line checking us all out. He had everyone in stitches!

For fun – here is one of me on my wedding day, October 19, 1996, with my little sister as the flower girl – my how things have changed!

Medical Update

2010-10-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had some follow ups for Daniel's ongoing medical condition. The news is pretty much status quo. Perfect right kidney, swollen left kidney, and over-sized bladder. I'm coming to the realization that that is what they expect to see and that is about as good as it will get. Since his left kidney can never actually take a few days, weeks or months off to heal, like a sick person could, it won't actually have the chance to heal completely.

Personally I thought it looked a tad better than before and the doctor agreed that it might be a smidge better. As for Daniel's bladder, basically we're in the "he just needs to grow" stage. Daniel needs to grow bigger and older and have an understanding of a bladder and the fact that he just can't speed pee to get back to his toys.

I can hear the choruses of "Good luck with that one" now!! Believe me, I know!!

They have one more large sedated test to do, which they have mentioned several times. The doctor finally agreed that we should schedule it in the New Year or early spring "for completeness" in his words. If they don't find anything unusual, which they don't expect to, then we might actually be DONE, as in released from the urologist!!

Are we done with the issue entirely? No way.

We will have to be diligent in continuing to potty train and getting Daniel to understand his issues. He still leaks in between potty breaks (unless highly motivated) and we are trying to curtail that without so much bribery now. We will have to watch him for urinary tract infections and teach him to recognize the signs as he begins to want privacy from us (which we see starting already). Daniel will have to have regular blood pressure check ups and we'll have to monitor his kidney on some level, maybe once a year.

Thanks for all the prayers and support!! I'll update about the next test when we get dates.

Busy Two Weeks

2010-10-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to ask for prayers for our family as we embark on a very, very busy two weeks. First of all, next week is Daniel's medical appointment. While it is just a follow up and what I call an "easy appointment" being an ultrasound and visit with the doctor, it is still stressful as it changes my work schedule, Daniel's school schedule and I still worry every time we go.

This weekend is very busy because my best friend and her husband are coming for the weekend for her high school reunion and at the same time I have a thousand things to do Friday for my little sister's wedding next week. Saturday she'll be with me most of the day as we do a mini bachelorette party at my house (just hanging out).

Then the following weekend is the BIG DAY! On the 16th, my little sister will marry the man of her dreams and Brett will become part of our family. We're ALL in the wedding. I'm a bridesmaid, Daniel the ring bearer, and Troy gets to give her away! My dad will be sorely missed on this occasion. This has been a tough month for all of us as we just passed his birthday about a week ago, and this month he will have been gone 3 years.

However, Troy is prepared to give Brett the same speech my father gave him. It goes something like this:

"All sales are final. No returns or exchanges allowed."

That was so my dad!!

That weekend proves to be crazy busy. I have several out of town guests at the house. Friday is rehearsal, decorating the church, etc. and Saturday the big day. I'm leaving Daniel entrusted to the care of my best friend and his grandparents to get him ready and to the church on time so I can spend some time with my little and big sisters before the wedding.

Thank you for your prayers.

Road Trip!

2010-09-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Daniel and I took a road trip to Pennsylvania and visited my college room mate from more years ago than I like to mention. You might remember her from one of our baby showers, but we had not had the opportunity to visit together since.

Since she lives so close to Herhsey Park and was able to score free tickets for everyone, including her 3 children and a free parking pass we made a day of it on Saturday!

Daniel had such a wonderful time. We had never taken him anywhere like this before so I wasn’t 100% sure how he would do on the rides.

The verdict: 50/50

He seemed to enjoy the rides that went in circles, but the up down rides he didn’t care for - in particular the pirate ship and the Frog Hopper – which he actually started crying on and they had to stop the ride. However in his defense, on the Frog Hopper, the kids were screaming and Daniel plays into that and he got very upset once the screaming began. I’ve noticed that behavior before with him. If there had been no screaming, I think he would have been fine!

He loved the Chocolate World ride and he must have told me a hundred times that he wanted to swim in the vats of chocolate! Can you blame him?!?!

Once the kids settled into bed, Sarah and I did what we used to do in college at night – we played cards!!! Rummy in particular! She beat me – but only by 5 points in the first game!!

We had a great visit and were sad to leave, but we’ll be heading back up there again soon we hope!

So without further ado…

New Fears

2010-09-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Daniel has been fearless as long as I can remember, but as of late he seems to be recognizing that he is not indestructible and some new fears have been coming to the surface.

First off, suddenly he is terrified of the bath tub filling up too high. It can be an inch deep now and he suddenly stands up and cries for me to turn the water off. This is the same boy who LOVES to be tossed into a pool at rates of speed and turning radiuses that make my head spin. I've explained that the water can only go so high (if we let it, which we don't) before it would spill out anyway and that he is bigger than the tub, but he's not having any of it. If I distract him enough, and sit right at the edge, he'll let me fill it so there is at least more than an inch of water. However, last night I gave up and re-introduced him to the fun of showering. He seemed much happier…this from a child who HATED a shower just a month ago.

Second, we went to the park this past Monday and I was pushing him on a swing. I gave him the usual treatment, meaning I pushed him higher and higher and all the sudden it was mayhem. "I did not ask you to push me that high." "Stop pushing me Momma." "Too high." Those were some of the high pitched sentences I could understand coming out of his mouth. He did want to stay on the swing, but only be pushed to a moderate-slow level.

Third, I took Daniel to a Karate lesson. It was a private lesson I won through a competition at our local mall. I thought it would be a neat thing to try and since it was a one-on-one lesson, I just knew we couldn't go wrong. We walked in and some black belts were practicing and making all the appropriate karate noises. Daniel was fascinated, but he clung to me like glue and hid behind me while I filled out the paperwork. This from the child who wrestles non-stop with his daddy. We went to a private room with a male instructor who was great. He was loud, authoritative, knew his stuff and he was fun. I liked him right away. Daniel, on the other hand, was shy, kept looking at me, couldn't focus on the instructor long enough because he had to check to make sure I hadn't disappeared on him (as in every 5-10 seconds) and just stood there like we were all crazy. Needless to say, we'll be foregoing karate this year and may try to reintroduce it next year, if he's interested.

It's an interesting mix of new fears and I'm guessing it's just a stage which will pass!

A Giveaway - But Hurry!

2010-09-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

On My Other Blog I'm giving away a $5.00 CVS gift card to one lucky reader! Hop on over and leave me a comment and you just might win! But hurry - the Giveaway ends tomorrow night and I'll be announcing the winner on Friday on the blog! Good luck!

Vacation and Meet Up with Friends – 2010

2010-08-28T19:15:00.001-07:00

Our much needed vacation came and went quickly and started off with a BANG – literally.

We drove 7 hours to Crossville, TN to stay at Mariner’s Pointe Resort on Lake Holiday. Once we arrived, we launched our boat, took our belongings in to our condo and then headed straight to Wal-Mart to buy our out of state fishing licenses. On the way back to the condo we were rear-ended by a young driver. Fortunately, no damage was done to our truck, since he landed on our hitch and the fellow only scuffed his vehicle up a little, so Troy shook hands with him and we left.

The rest of the week went much better! We spent it fishing and swimming, fishing and swimming!

Saturday several families were able to drive out and meet up including Carey and Norman and their 3 children (private blog), Jenny and Randy and their two boys (private blog), Becky and Andrew, and Karen and Ilya. We hung out at the resort pool, had lunch in the condo together, played mini-golf and then went out for pizza afterwards. Eight children, 6 of which were Russian born, and we had no major incidents. In fact, all the children were fantastically well behaved!

The following Monday we were able to spend more time with Jenny’s family at the zoo in Nashville, followed by a visit to my grandmother.

At my grandmother’s place we were able to meet a lady who works there in the office named Asya (Ah-sha). She was born and raised in Russia and then lived in the Ukraine before coming to America. She wanted so badly to meet us and Daniel. Unfortunately, Daniel was sound asleep after the zoo visit, but we got to enjoy talking with her for quite a while. Daniel finally woke up but was not the least bit interested in talking to her. She understood and she just hugged and hugged Troy and I and kissed me and kept saying “thank you” over and over again. I tried arguing with her, telling her we were the ones who were lucky and we were the ones who were thankful, but she wouldn’t have any of it. Finally Troy and I just said “your welcome”. She was a really interesting lady and I appreciated her tact with Daniel and the fact that she never tried to speak Russian to him or force anything on him. We did say “pa-ka” to her when she left, which she loved! I hope we meet her again.

Wednesday evening we were also able to spend more time with Carey’s family at the resort eating pizza and swimming. We had a great time!

Daniel woke up every morning asking “Where are my friends?”

It really made our vacation to see so many of our friends!!

Other events we enjoyed were a tour around the lake on the “big boat” as Daniel called it (the resort’s pontoon boat), an ice cream social with other vacationers, a fishing competition (which Troy got 2nd place in and a $10.00 gift certificate to a local bait store – he had a nice large mouth bass, but got beat out by a catfish!), a visit to an 8,000 square foot tree house (which we climbed ten stories up to the bell tower), a few shopping trips, and some air hockey!

We really had a great time. I can’t believe it’s over and we’ll be headed back to work this week.

Enjoy some photos from our week! The first set of photos is what I like to call the call the “good, obligatory photos” – and the second set are what I call our “reality photos” – You’ll see why!

And here is the reality!

Tongue Out!

Not one, not one is looking at the camera!

Apparently Pumba was hungry

The buoy was more fun than fishing.

Anything was more fun than fishing.

At least he caught a fish that time. He reminded me when I told him both he and daddy caught fish, that “you (meaning me) only caught seaweed!”

No need to say anything!

4 Year Old Well Check-Up Results

2010-08-14T18:36:00.001-07:00

Friday we (finally) had Daniel’s 4 year old check up. I called two months before his 4th birthday and they still couldn’t get us in until just this past Friday, nearly two months after he turned 4!

Anyway…

I was surprised and pleased by how in depth they were – to spare you the reading, I’ll just summarize.

Height & Weight: 41 inches and 38 1/4 pounds. He fluctuates between 38 and 40 pounds. Just can’t quite get him over the 40 pound mark, but that’s okay because…

On the Charts: Daniel is in the 50th percentile for weight and in the doctors words “a smidge over 75th percentile for height”! She was excited by his height growth!

Blood Pressure: Normal

Hemoglobin and Lead Reading: (Didn’t know they planned to prick his finger. Good thing Troy was able to go, because I hate that! I digress…Normal

Urine Sample: Normal (Yay – due to his ongoing medical condition)

Hearing Screening: Perfect – We have now confirmed he truly does have selective hearing.

Eye Sight Screening: The doctor suggested possibly having a true exam done sometime in the next six months as he was reading at 20/40. HOWEVER, 2 of the shapes on the 40/40 level I don’t think he even knew, because I sure didn’t until I was 2 feet in front of the chart (Note to self: Maybe I need an eye exam?) The doctor did assure us, it was a screening, and sometimes they don’t get a true reading until they are a bit older.

Questions we asked:

Daniel is still using both hands to write/eat/etc.: Doctor said this was still okay even though by Daniel’s age most children have “declared” themselves as to which hand they want to use. We believe almost 100% Daniel is truly a lefty, however the doctor mentioned the possibility of him being ambidextrous because he did use both hands to draw for her and did well with both hands. My grandmother is am/…another sign God chose him for our family!

Daniel suffers from nosebleeds. Sometimes rare, sometime 3 in a week.: It’s okay, more common with little boys than girls and not unusual. She checked his nose out and the right side does have close capillaries. Saline spray was recommended when he has trouble.

He has a small mole on his arm. Is it okay?: Looks perfectly normal. (I think she thought we were being a little picky at that point because, well, it’s tiny, but I’m a paranoid parent!)

The ending: TWO updated vaccinations. I didn’t realize it but anything after the age of 4 counts towards Kindergarten shots. Since we plan to start Daniel next fall, the shots would count. However (because once again I’m paranoid and picky), I only allow Daniel to be given two shots at a time in one visit. I refuse to do all 4 or 5 in one sitting. So after being questioned by the doctor why they can’t do all of them, we decided on a mix of two we had done together before. DPT booster and Polio booster.

This time they did them in Daniel’s arms and when the stuck him he said very loudly…

“Mommy, I did not ask them to do that”.

Everyone laughed.

Daniel ran a small fever last night, and his arm (tetanus side) swelled up and turned pretty red all over. He woke me up 3 times during the night (even with Tylenol). Poor thing. The first time he woke me up he came in the room crying a bit and said “Mommy, someone broke my arm”. Talk about a mild heart attack. I had one!

We called the doctor and they assured us this was okay, but we may have them look at it tomorrow if it’s not better. Apparently the 4th or 5th booster (this was his 5th) causes this type of reaction more often. Since this was the first one in the arm, we had not seen this reaction before.

So far tonight he is sleeping soundly.

All in all, a good check up!

Another Friend Adopting!!

2010-08-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

We have yet another wonderful friend adopting again. They have two biological children and one son adopted from Russia (December, 2008). They are adopting from Russia yet again!

Check out their page (by clicking the picture in this post) and if you can, make a tax free donation to them.

Swim Lessons – Round Two

2010-08-07T17:31:00.001-07:00

The past two weeks, Daniel has been in Round Two Swimming Lessons. This class was a step up from his last class. I was a little disappointed because I thought they went through the strokes and kicks two quickly and covered WAY too much for a class with a 4 year old (Daniel) and 5 other 6 year olds.

They taught a stroke a day, which meant only half an hour on each stroke. None of the kids got it.

The only thing I think Daniel really got out of this particular class (besides lots of great exercise and fun swimming with mommy before and after class) was that he did learn to tread water in the deed end. He can’t keep himself up forever but he can for a good 10 seconds before he starts to go under. He’s also a “slicer” (arms moving side to side) versus a doggie paddler (that would be me!).
Of course on the last day he got to jump off the diving board, his favorite thing!

While we’re done with swimming lessons this year, I think we’ll repeat this class next year before moving up to a different class regardless of what they say.

Enjoy some photos from Round Two – The Jellyfish Class!

What Will Daniel Be When He Grows Up?

2010-07-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

Well, we have a few ideas!

Negotiator – At bedtime when I give him a 2 minute warning, he looks up innocently and says “5 minutes Mommy”.

Comedian – Troy started a joke with Daniel whenever he would ask where we were going (which was often about a year ago) so Troy would say “Summers” or “Summersville”. Fast forward to last week on our beach getaway and Troy asks Daniel “Where’s your hat?” In all seriousness Daniel looks at Troy and says “It’s in Summersville.”

Swimmer Extraordinaire – You’ve seen the photos!

Professional Boogie Boarder – Again, you’ve seen the photos!

Drama Teacher or Play Director - “Mommy you be Lady, I’ll be Diesel, and Daddy can be Diesel 10". When I say do this, you do it, and when I do this, you do that.” Really, those exact words. I’m not sure what ‘this’ or ‘that’ is, but we go along anyway!

Songwriter – Daniel can make up some serious songs. They don’t make a lot of sense, but they generally have a tune. And somehow they work.

Carpenter – I mean look at that concentration!

Your guess is as good as mine!

Help Out a Friend!

2010-07-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

Go check out Melissa and Nathan's exciting news about adopting a second child, this time from right here in the USA! They are hosting their second Great Big Giveaway with some great prizes! $5.00 gets you one chance and $10.00 gets you three chances! Help bring a child home to a wonderful family and possibly win a great prize. Go ahead and congratulate them on their new journey while you are there!!

Weekend Beach Holiday!

2010-07-18T19:02:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we were able to enjoy a quick trip to the beach! We packed up some food, lots of sand toys, boogie boards, and ourselves and headed out early Friday morning.

Friday afternoon we decided we really needed to go fishing. We spent about 4 hours fishing – Daniel was a trooper and loved it! He especially liked touching the fish. I actually felt sorry for the poor flounder we caught because Daniel was especially enamored of it and kept squishing it between his fingers because he liked the way it felt! Don’t worry – it survived and we released it!

Saturday we headed to Virginia Beach and hit the waves. It was pretty rough out there, but we braved it anyway. Daniel who couldn’t stop talking about playing in the sand, never really played in the sand at all once he got the first wave! He just kept charging back into the water!! He rode the boogie board forwards, backwards, sitting up forwards, sitting up backwards, on his back lying down, you name it! And he giggled and giggled and giggled. He had several people around us giggling too!! We even let him get nailed once or twice by a big wave (with close supervision AND we were right in front of a lifeguard stand). He came up the first time after “rolling” to shore sputtering and looking at his arms and then he just shrugged it off and ran back in for more!

Afterwards we found a nice playground along the boardwalk and played a bit, the headed home.

You can see the aftermath of a day at the beach, some play time and a blue snow cone! We had a great weekend!!

Final Swim Lessons Verdict and Birthday Party Fun!

2010-07-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well, these days, I'm so far behind that I'm going to do two posts in one. I'm even typing this post in one place and uploading the photos in another place! Summer is definitely here!!

Swim lessons were WONDERFUL!! Daniel thoroughly enjoyed it and so did I. We got there about 20 minutes early each day so Daniel could swim a little in the pool first. And let me tell you...he is a fish!! He loves to be under the water, as in all the time. He'll come up long enough for air and go right back under. Sometimes he stays under so long I start to panick, but then his head pops up. He can even do flat rolls under water without blinking. I can't do the rolls without getting water up my nose!

The next to last class the instructor approached me and said that Daniel really needed to move up a class even though he was barely 4. The next class starts at ages 5 and up. When I questioned her, she said she had already spoken to the instructor and he agreed to take Daniel on, so we start again in the new class at the end of July!! I'm looking forward to it! BTW, only one other girl got moved up and she 6 years old. The other two children (a 6 and a 4 and 1/2 year old) were not moved forward. I'm so proud of my fish!

The last day of class they got to jump off the diving board!! They started on the small one, then progresssed to the medium board. Daniel did great. The instructor let him go way under the water and only pushed him partway to the side of the pool before letting him go. And no I'm not exaggerating - Troy, myself, Daniel's Grandma and his Aunt Cassandra were all there to witness the historic event and cheer him on!!

In other news, last Sunday we had Daniel's official birthday party. We had family only and had a great time. We chose a pirate theme and cooked out lots of great food. Daniel gots lots of great presents including a "responsibility chart" (which by the way works great - thanks Aunt Cathy, Uncle Joe and Eli), a pirate ships that really shoots cannons (I've been shot at a thousand times by Daniel AND by Troy - thanks Granny and Grandpa and Ian), a Glow Station (which keeps Daniel shut up in the bathroom for half an hour at a time (a BIG thanks to Grandma!! :)), two sets of PJs which we desparetly needed (thanks Aunt Cassandra and soon to be Uncle Brett), a new Thomas motorized toothbrush and Toy Story Flossers (which Daniel wanted to take to bed with him (thanks Aunt Amber, Unlce Stephen, Parker and Ava), among a few other great things! Thanks to everyone!!

Day Care/School Update

2010-06-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

I am so glad we made the switch to Daniel's new school. I can't even begin to tell you the good changes we've seen in just over 2 weeks.

Daniel has not had a single potty accident at the new school, compared to about 1 a day and even going as far as peeing on his own cot the last 3 weeks at his other school.

Our happy little man in the evenings has now returned. He's talkative again, and so, so sweet and so much fun! Not that he wasn't any of those things before, but all those things were really starting to fade the last few weeks at the other school, but who can blame him.

He's started learning his letters and last night he told me all about the letter "C" and what sounds it makes. For some reason Daniel has really been fighting learning letters with me, but apparently the new school is making them stick!!

This morning he told me needed to take a toy to school for "Show and Tell". He was proud of the train he chose and I was thrilled he felt confident enough to be a part of "Show and Tell". He hadn't mentioned wanting to do this before and I didn't push it.

All in all I think he's really learning and the best part - he's not being bitten, pushed, hit or told nasty things!!

In other news, Daniel is still in swim lessons (I'll post a final review on those after this week) but I have to say that he's doing great and I think we have a future swim champion on the horizon. :)

We celebrated Daniel's birthday yesterday with cupcakes at his school and a small cake just for the three of us after dinner last night. We're having a family BBQ this weekend to celebrate a little bigger and will post some pictures of it after the fact.

It's hard to belive Daniel is 4. But I gotta tell you - I'm loving this age already!!!

1st Day of Swim Lessons

2010-06-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today Daniel had his first swim lesson. His class had 4 budding olympic swimmers of which Daniel was the youngest by 2 years! At first he was so excited about being in the pool that he had a hard time listening but he got the gist finally and today they learned about kicking properly and blowing bubbles.

Of course, my cutie surprised the instructor when he was the only one to dunk himself right under and blow bubbles. He was by far the cutest kid there, if I say so myself!!

P.S. I'll update on his day school soon!

Blog Address Update (Rob & Dede) & Call for Updates

2010-06-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Many of you who followed my blog from the beginning also followed Rob & Dede's journey to sweet Liam around the same time. They've changed their blog address and I wanted to get it out there, because I almost missed the switch, but I'm glad I didn't! It's so much fun to watch all our Russian born children grow.

You can re-subscribe to their blog here, plus see a couple of photos of their cutie!! In case you missed it, the post about the change in their subscription is here.

At the same time, if anyone has any changes to their blog address, doesn't want their blog listed on my sidebar anymore, or DOES want their blog listed on my sidebar - leave me a comment or drop me an email - it's been awhile since I've updated it and it's probably out of date - so that includes any lurkers out there - let me know who you are and your blog so I can follow yours too. I love, love, love to read everyone's journey and leave comments too because well, frankly, comments are the best!! (and it's doesn't have to just be Russian adoptions!)

Daycare - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2010-06-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

A lot of you know that of late, I was suffering from the "daycare woes". In reality it was Daniel who was the one I believe was really going to suffer if I didn't change his situation. I thought I would share a little more in depth about what was going on and what lead to our decision to change his daycare situation.

First off the facility where Daniel was located is super nice. There are two buildings, one of which houses a great big "Jumpy House" as Daniel calls it. In the winter and on bad weather days when the kids can't play on the playground, they would bundle up and go to the jumpy house. His room was nice and they also did a lot of extra activities like going on field trips, having a bike day, a sprinkler day, lots of parties and the like. The best part is that they provided breakfast, lunch and two snacks a day. For Daniel this was terrific because he is not really a morning person (it takes him a while to wake up) so he was never ready for breakfast first thing, but by the time he got to school they were just sitting down to eat.

You may remember that back in October I had to have Daniel removed from his current classroom because of one particular little boy continually biting Daniel.

Things went very well until a few months later. Guess who got moved back into Daniel's room? The one and only biter - although he no longer bit. However I was noticing some new behaviors in Daniel. He was becoming quite mouthy, sticking his face in ours when we would say no, saying no back to us and the like. I realize some of this is normal behavior, but really if you know Daniel he's very laid back, very well adjusted and very, very good. (We're really lucky!)

We really didn't connect the behavior with daycare, until I was able to watch the one little boy yank another child out of a chair by the back of his shirt...and guess what? I was the only one to see it. Things happen right? Well about a month ago, we walk in and Daniel runs over to said little boy and he spits right in Daniel's face...and guess what? I was the only one to see it. A few days later he grabs Daniel when we walk in and puts him in a kiddie headlock. This time the teacher saw it but simply told the other little boy to keep his hands to himself.

Fast forward to the last three weeks. One of Daniel's little friends that he talks about all the time starts running up to us every day saying "I don't like you Daniel" or "I'm not your friend" as soon as we walk in the door. I even went as far one day to lean down and say (in a very nice, quiet voice) "That's not very nice, We shouldn't say things like that." To which he responds, "I don't like you Daniel" even louder. Then I noticed he was running off and playing with said other little boy.

Two weeks ago Daniel came home from school saying that the two little boys are mean to him and that one hit him in the head. The next day Daniel tells me sand was "shoved" into his mouth. Before you panic (because I sure did) it was not "shoved" into his mouth, however, it was thrown into his face. And yes - I did confirm with the teacher that it wasn't made up as Daniel had even described the blue bucket the sand was in.

Fast forward to last Thursday. I pick Daniel up and he's a grumpy bear. As in mean face, mean attitude and wild as can be. So not my normal "I missed you Mama" son. We get to the car and he just starts to bawl and then buck his car seat. I couldn't get him to bend at the waist. How does someone so little do that?!?! I gave up trying to fight, pulled him out of the car and just held him. Finally I set him down and asked him if he could tell me what's wrong.

His response "Boy #1 hit my head into the wall, and Boy #2 hit me in the face".

I was LIVID.

I immediately marched right back in. No one knew anything of what happened (of course) and they tried to remind me that it was Daniel who was grumpy that day.

I was even more livid at that point, went out front and told the supervisor it was us or the other little boy who was the initial cause of everything (aka the biter).

Then I slept on it.

I decided they could keep the biter and we were leaving. What good was it getting rid of the child if they weren't going watch the kids anyway?

As if that wasn't enough, he called his school the "mean school" on the way there the last day and the his room the "bad classroom".

I called the director, who didn't sound at all surprised by the goings on (which is a red flag for me) and asked for immediate release. She granted it. Even if she hadn't, she knew we were gone.

Daniel is now enrolled at a great Christian daycare and school. He could actually continue there once he starts Kindergarten through 8th grade if we so decide. His class will be a preschool based class and he will immediately begin learning the alphabet and have specialized reading circles. The teachers are actual teachers and the classes are skill driven. They do worksheets everyday and they appear much more organized!

The children are seated a lot so we may have to adjust our evening schedule to include more active activities vs. playing games at the table or building legos etc. We may add an evening walk into our routine to get rid of any excess energy before bedtime.

I also have to start packing his meals and snacks and try to get breakfast into him before we leave in the mornings. The latter I am mostly worried about since Daniel sometimes doesn't wake up until a few minutes before we have to leave. I think I'm going to start making lots more noise in the mornings!

He seems excited about the change. He has one great friend already there and I know she won't be beating up my son anytime soon!!! He was so happy when I told him we were all done with his school and he could go to another school.

In the end I wish I would have had the guts to switch him back in October but I truly felt like the director was working with us and that Daniel was doing well. It's so hard to determine when it's better to let some things go provided there are changes in place to improve things and when it's okay to say forget it and move on and then have to worry about the adjustment your child will have to go through if you make the change.

At this point I'm not worried about the adjustment since I think Daniel will adjust well without all the meaness he was receiving by those two little boys. I do hope the director thinks long and hard about why she allows the one child to stay and hurt other children. I believe the second child would be much better off without the first child's bad influence.

Maybe she'll figure that out...but in the meantime, I know I'm doing the right thing and I can't wait to update you all with Daniel's progress!!

Picture Post

2010-05-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, between Facebook and my other blog, I seem to let this one go a bit by the wayside. So I'll go ahead and post a few pictures of our little man!

This past weekend Daniel and I went to visit my best friend of 18 years! We had a great time!

I found a game called Tip It for 50 cents at a yard sale (shocker right?!)- this game is fun. You use a spatula to move round disks onto pegs and try to keep it balanced. Daniel go the hang of it quick and had a blast!

In other exciting news my baby sister (yes she's 13 years younger than me!) got engaged!!!!!!! We're all so excited for her! An October 16th wedding is planned, just 3 days before Troy and my anniversary! We're all in the wedding - Daniel's ringbearer, I'm a bridesmaid, and Troy is walking Cassandra down the aisle. I wish my dad was here to see this, but I know he will be in spirit!

This weekend is wedding dress/bridesmaid dress shopping. I can't wait!

Water World

2010-05-11T10:03:00.000-07:00

This summer looks like it's going to be a busy one - that is if we ever get summer time weather to stay around here. It's been in the 40's at night with occasional frost and today the high is only in the 50's. Please, please bring on summer!!

I signed Daniel up for swimming lessons starting in June. It's a two week course with 1/2 an hour swim time each day. I'm really looking forward to it! I don't have to be in the water which I think will be fun for Daniel! He loves to assert his independance! The class may be a little below him as he already goes underwater and swims with floaties, but the next class up jumped straight into jumping into the deed end, which I would have a heart attack over at this point. Next year, I promise I'll be able to handle it!

We also signed up for tickets to a mobile aquarium at our local library. We're really excited that. It's completely free and a large aquarium brings an aquarium truck to the library. They have several large tanks with different habitats in each. They also have a movie and lots of "touch tanks". Daniel is so into the water world right now. He wants to see dolphins so bad, I think he can taste it. The only issue is that the closest aquarium with dolphins is in Baltimore and almost 4 hours away. If anyone knows where we can go see some, let me know.

Check out my Mother's Day gifts! The plant Daniel planted at daycare and took care of it until he gave it to me!! I LOVE it!! The other flowers are beautiful too and I was so surprised to receive these also! I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

A Friend's Great Big Giveaway Fundraiser/Opportunity!

2010-05-05T08:23:00.000-07:00

Go check out Melissa and Nathan's exciting news about adopting a second child, this time from right here in the USA! They are hosting a Great Big Giveaway with some great prizes! $5.00 gets you one chance and $10.00 gets you three chances! Help bring a child home to a wonderful family and possibly win a great prize. Go ahead and congratulate them on their new journey while you are there!!

The Calendar Project

2010-04-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Daniel's known the days of the week for a while. He can say his months. He's always asking if today is a school day or if he can stay home with me. So I thought it was high time to invest in a calendar!

After getting some great advice from Facebook friends, I settled on a homemade calendar. Well, the advice and the fact that neither of two stores on my way home from work had blank desk calendars available.

So I drew the grid, added in the month (May), the days of the week and all of the numbers. I gave Daniel a little bin filled with scrapbooking extras and he proceeded to decorate the edges, then he put the stars on the days he goes to "pre pre-school". We hung it up and voila...

One beautiful calendar! Hopefully this will help him determine the days of the week and the months as well as work on his numbers.

Tinkering Around with Creepy Crawlies

2010-04-25T18:37:00.001-07:00

Last night I told Daniel if he 'cleaned' his room up real nice that I had a new, special toy for him to play with. He was excited and so the cleaning began. We put on some music and he put his toys away while I pulled out his winter clothes that I know he won't be able to wear next year.

When we were both done I pulled out a box of TinkerToys. Not just any tinker toys, but the set where you can make all kinds of creepy crawlies, which is right up Daniel's alley these days, much to my dismay.

I need to insert here that I bought this $19.99 box of tinkertoys for $0.50 at a yard sale!! So while many think Daniel is spoiled with all his toys, in reality we have paid little for each of them!

For my well spent $0.50 we had two good HOURS of entertainment. I helped him build a cool spider (YES - ME!) and then I snuck out to do some other chores checking back every so often and of course snapping pictures. Daniel played by himself the rest of the time! Heavenly!

In other news - Daniel smashed his first bug with his bare hand - that was exciting to say the least and then today we cut a worm in half accidentally. It was still moving, so therefore I assume it is fine - both halves.

This is not a stage I'm looking forward to, but I'm trying...honestly!

I Call You "Mother"

2010-04-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

I used to be Mama. Then Mommy. I loved both equally. It seems we have entered a new phase.

Daniel has been watching Peter Pan and in the movie the children, especially Wendy, talk of their 'Mother'.

About a week ago I picked Daniel up after work and he ran to me saying "Mother". I was surprised, but nothing connected.

Then it continued. Daniel now constantly calls me Mother. I asked him why last night, and he said it's because I'm a mother like Wendy in Peter Pan and because I sing and read to him like she does (the part where she talks about their Mother and then sings and reads to the lost boys).

And that was it...I'm hooked - I now LOVE being called "Mother"!!

2 YEAR COURT DATE ANNIVERSARY!

2010-04-15T06:33:00.001-07:00

Today is most importantly our anniversary for Daniel's adoption. We spent four hours in a courtroom asking to be Daniel's parents. While the length of the court process seems really long, it was relatively painless and every one was so nice to us. We had an unusual situation in that Daniel had been placed in a hospital to await our return due to a chicken pox outbreak so we had to wait for arrival of a doctor from that hospital to sign over guardianship.

All in all we were exhausted when it was over a bit disappointed that we couldn't pick him up the same day, (because it was so late), but we celebrated with peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches and barely slept, awaiting the arrival of the next morning!!

Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to my closest family and friends TWO years ago today!! I am sharing the email and not the post from my blog as this was much more detailed of the events and also because I wanted every one to see how kind the judge was to us. Read on...

"We are proud to announce that after 4 hours of speeches (by us, the social worker, orphanage director, children's hospital doctor) and being questioned by the judge and prosecutor that we are the parents of a very active, 21 and a half month old little boy named Daniel McQuin Williams!!

Today has been very emotional and we are exhausted. We tried not to cry when the judge finally announced her decision that we had satisfied the Russian courts and we were to be Daniel's parents. She also approved our motion to waive the 10 days as I (Rachel) gave a speech and then the social worker and the orphanage director supported my motion. This means we can return to the US on the 22nd as planned.

After the judge read her decision she came down to stand before us and said she wanted to talk to us not as a judge but as a mother and grandmother. She said to love Daniel well and let him be the light of our lives. She said he would certainly bring us much joy. She said she hoped when we were older he would return the favor and care for us as we care for him. Then she congratulated us and it was done.

We were then rushed to the vital statistics office and we have a new birth certificate listing us as his parents and a formal adoption certificate. Unfortunately we are not able to pick up Daniel today as it is after 5 pm. Troy and I will be celebrating with peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches as we ate out a big lunch during a break with everyone and we are just plain exhausted.We will pick Daniel up tomorrow in Votkinsk and then come back to Izhevsk to fly to Moscow. Wish us luck on the almost 2 hour flight. Love to all..."

I can't even begin to explain what that day meant to us and still means to us. That we were entrusted with this precious child to call our own. Did we think it would be easy? No. Were we prepared to work at it? Yes.

A lot of people didn't know at the time (except our family) that Daniel had a medical condition that had already required two previous surgeries in Russia. He was not considered special needs but we knew most likely he would have to have another surgery upon arrival in the US.

I want to point out in light of the news lately that the orphanage director was extremely honest with us about Daniel's medical condition. We received a ton of information and they answered all the questions we had.

Daniel's condition which you can read about in a previous post here may have given a few families pause about his adoption, but we truly believe Daniel was a gift from God, sent straight to our family.

Finally, Daniel is everything we ever wanted in a son and more. We are so thankful to be able to call him ours.

We Are The Truth Petition

2010-04-13T09:56:00.001-07:00

The Joint Council has released a Petition entitled We Are The Truth. Please, please, please stop by and sign the Petition.

Here is the information about the petition from the Joint Council Blog.

"The letter asks both Presidents to ensure that intercountry adoption continues uninterrupted and to aggressively investigate and prosecute anyone involved in the abuse of children. You can sign anytime, but doing so before Tuesday night would help us get the letters to both Presidents before President Medvedev leaves the U.S."

Here is the actual Petition for signature:

"Recognizing that the tragic abandonment of Artyem Saviliev is an isolated incident and is not at all indicative of the thousands of successful adoptions between Russia and the United States, we, the undersigned:- Respectfully call on President Medvedev and President Obama to lead an effort to ensure that the rights of children are protected and that every child’s right to a permanent and safe family is not interrupted due to the suspension intercountry adoption services. - Respectfully call on President Medvedev and President Obama to ensure that their governments aggressively prosecute any individual involved in child abuse to the fullest extent of the law."

So Sad...

2010-04-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

By now many adopive Russian parents have posted about and I believe ALL have heard about the outrageous act of an adoptive mother putting her son ALONE on a plane and sending him back to Russia with a letter stating she no longer wanted him.

I can't even find the words to express my sorrow and thoughts on this subject. I spent some time last night praying for the child involved and all the children and families that will be affected should Russia halt all adoptions. My understanding at this point is that only the agency that was involved has been suspended, but it could change at any moment.

If you haven't heard, and even if you have, I'd like to point you to Amy's post. I read it tonight and she had so many good points that since I can't seem to get anything coherant out without getting very upset about it, I think her post among others, says the things I would say.

Easter Update and Dairy Farm Field Trip

2010-04-06T10:53:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We started celebrating a little early on Friday with an Easter egg hunt at my sister-in-law's house with Granny and Grandpa too. Daniel quickly got the hang of the hunt and ended up with lots of great treats and sweets! Then Sunday we had a beautiful spring day and spent most of it outdoors. In the afternoon Troy, Daniel and I headed out to the park to try Daniel's new bubble blaster, courtesy of the Easter bunny. We had so much fun!

Then today I chaperoned Daniel's daycare field trip to a local dairy farm. It had been cleaned spotless and while I was sad we didn't get to see a cow being milked, we did get to see all equipment. The best part was the calf barn where we got to pet all the calves. They loved licking our hands and arms and sucking on our fingers. They are a little skittish so you have to be gentle but boy are they cute!!

Without further ado - photos from our weekend and the field trip.

Met Two Years Ago and ReAdoption Complete!

2010-03-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

Wow - I missed some important dates this year. Of course it didn't help that this week both Daniel and I got the stomach flu within about 4 hours of each other. And so ends my debate on whether or not to keep the monitor on in his bedroom. I'm glad I did. Even though the sounds weren't pleasant, I was woken from sleep and managed to lunge into his room and rescue the floor from disaster. Only the bed had to be stripped. Then 4 hours later I was up and sick as a dog. We made it - hopefully safe for a couple of years!!

I digress - On February 22, 2008, we received the call that would change our lives forever for the better. On March 8, 2008, we left, giddy with excitement, on a pretty amazing trip and on March 11, 2008, we met our son!! I can't believe it's been two years since we first laid eyes on him. It's also important to point out that he's been home longer now than anywhere else!! It feels like forever at this point and at times I almost feel like the process never took place.

I been thinking a lot about that.

Of course we'll never forget his roots and certainly he will grow up understanding where he is from and how he came to us - he'll tell you he was born in Russia if you ask him - but we're at the point where it just isn't something we spend a lot of time on now. I don't introduce as being adopted, I don't tell everyone we meet he is adopted and sometimes if someone comments how much he looks like Troy (that we don't know) we just smile and nod and don't bother explaining how impossible that is. It feels good to move beyond all that because for a while I felt a bit stuck, almost like I had to correct everyone. We do have a sweet adoption book that we read occasionally, and we work on Russia words and if we hear the word Russia we cheer, but as a family we're moving beyond and just enjoying life.

And life has been busy! I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated! We're actively invloved in our Playgroup and this month we're supporting Soles 4 Souls. We can specify where we want the shoes we collect to go so the warm weather shoes are heading to Ethiopia where Daniel's friend Mari is from and the winter shoes will be heading to Russia! We've also recently joined a new orphan ministry at a local church and we are excited to see where it leads us!

We did petition the courts last year (as in October, I think) for Daniel's Re-adoption and finally in December after a mild panic when I called to check on the final order and the secretary told me there was an issue with the paperwork - there wasn't - it just wasn't signed yet and instead of telling me that she said there was an issue that she couldn't tell me about and then 5 days later the order was signed, sealed and delivered to our door - the re-adoption was complete - we did it all on our own for less than $75.00! And the best part - we just finally received Daniel's Virginia Certificate of Foreign Birth! YAY!

That being done I filed a form to USCIS for the return of original documents from the embassy packet we handed in to the airport officials, in the hopes of possibly receiving a piece of anything that we didn't already have, but we only received an extra original of the court decree. I was hoping for more information, but I've heard it's spotty what you get back at best, but I figured it was worth a try!

At this point we have our 2 year post placement visit on the 26th of this month and then one more next year and we can finally put the crate of paperwork away. I told Troy we're going to have to rent a small warehouse space for the crate. I'll be glad when the paperwork chase is completely over.

That being said, while we had and still have every intention to adopt again, for now it is on the back burner. We have decided just to sit back and enjoy Daniel for a while. We're clearing his medical slowly (still with follow ups and we still have another large test to do) but the doctor has hopes of releasing him within a year or two to regular checkups. We feel as if we need to fully walk this road before looking toward another especially since we've realized that we may be open to the same type of issue in the future (although we're hazy on the degree at the moment).

The best news - DANIEL IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!! We've gone 6 days with no accidents - not even a spot in his underwear. Remember we were initially told he would most likely have to have a permanent catheter so we're just amazed, relieved and so thankful to God for this miracle!! And my washing machine thanks Daniel too!

Daniel's doing great. He changes every day. Each day it's something new. Some new funny phrase, some new word, some new question. He's been questioning me a lot lately about whether or not I have to go to work and if I can take days off (I only work 3!) He also expressed a fear that I may not pick him up one day and I believe this was not related to his past but his age so we quickly squelched that fear.

He's a loving child, a kind child, a sharing child, he's stubborn, hard headed, silly, a little crazy (he gets that from us) and a genuine joy.

We're so thankful for him and we're so happy he's ours forever!!

I think that's where we are right now!

What Do You Do When You've Weathered a Ton of Snow and Have a Bored Toddler? (Picture Post)

2010-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Why you pretend it's spring and replant the 9 baby aloe plants that have appeared in your 1 aloe plan pot.

You build things with Legos.

You grab a silly sleeping bag and cuddle on the couch for a movie.

You go to Playgroup (it was PJ day) and watch as your parents try to get all three of you to smile at once knowing full well it just isn't going to happen...and don't you just love the boots? They are about 3 sizes too big for him and he INSISTS on wearing them everywhere!! Whatever makes him happy!!

Lastly, you make balloon swords and proceed to battle with the swords even when you know no one could possibly win! (Thanks Granny for the balloon making stuff for Valentine's Day - Great Idea!)

Bath or Shower Debate (and Another Question to Debate)

2010-02-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

Bath time used to be so much fun! I'll never forget repeating over and over "Scoop and Dump" in Russia using a little fish to scoop water and dump it back into the bathtub. And I'll definantly never forget when Daniel scooped water himself and quietly said "Scoop", "Dump". I was so stinkin' excited I probably called my mom, Tro's mom, my sisters, you get the point!

But lately, bath time hasn't been as much fun. We're constantly battling the water outside the tub - (and yes we've tried a clear curtain - Daniel won't have anything to do with a curtain in the bathtub). We've also dealt with him drinking bath water right in front of us even though I've told him a thousand times it's dirty, it's yucky, it has soap in it, etc. I've lost 2 full bottles of body shampoo to Daniel and the tub and then two days ago I left the bathroom to grab his PJs and by the time I got back in (as in 5 seconds later) he was hanging on the outside of the tub with just his feet.

At Christmas we asked for several new bath toys and received several including great markers for the tub and that curtailed things for about a month, but we're back to square one.

Well, after a particularly soaking bath time last week. I declared the bath tub off limits. No more baths, only showers. We've tried showers before, but they never went over well.

Well, three days ago I put Daniel in a shower after a minor meltdown and guess what? He liked it.

And guess what? The bathroom floor and walls stayed dry.

And guess what? I was more soaked than ever, but it's easier to change clothes than clean up a soaked bathroom.

And tonight - I only got a sleeve wet!

Daniel wasn't happy when I turned the shower off, but he'll learn. We'll be saving baths for special occassions - like when Granny's here!!

Lastly - here's a silly question - at what age did you remove the baby monitor from your child's bedroom? Daniel gets up on his own in the morning and comes directly to our room. He doesn't wake up in the middle of the night and cry out (knock on wood) and the last time he was sick he ran in my room and got me immediately.

While I certainly don't mind sleeping with the monitor on in our room, I was just curious. I fell asleep a few nights ago and forgot to turn it on and I was horrified with myself. I ran into his room only to find him sleeping away angelically and it got me thinking.

Oh and by the way the location of his room is across the living area off a small hallway, so our rooms aren't side by side.

Thoughts??

So much snow....

2010-02-07T10:01:00.000-08:00

Yikes - and here I am feeling bad for the mailman!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow & Small Medical Update

2010-02-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

What a terrible winter we're having. I'm not a big snow person so on top of the 2 plus feet we had a few weeks ago, two nights ago we had 7 inches and this weekend we're expecting more than a foot, and in some places they are saying between 2 and 4 feet. Oh help me.

We've all been sick lately too. I had Daniel to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and we ended up having chest xrays done again since he had pneumonia last year. Thankfully it hadn't gone that far this time and an antibiotic and neb treatments cleared him right up. Then I got sick and so did Troy. We've done rounds of antibiotics but are both still struggling.

I NEED summer!! Darn groundhog!

Other than that not much has been happening, thanks to the weather. Daniel and I continue to go to the library once or twice a week. He's become quite the little helper with cooking lately too. He helped me "decorate" homemade pizza's the other night and he loves to help shred potatoes, use the mixer, put cookies on the cookie sheet and stir anything on the stove. I gave up trying to keep him away from the stove because he wanted to help so much. Instead we had a long talk about how not to hurt yourself and so far so good. Of course he can nly be up to the stove when I am standing right there and we use about five oven mitts to block any burns!

Wednesday we had a follow up ultrasound and visit with the urologist. Things remain consistant and for now that is good. Everything looks about the same and they are still putting off any invasive procedures since Daniel is still potty training and they don't want to set him back. We speak a little more long term and the doctor did think that down the line he would be able to discharge Daniel at which point we would continue to see his pediatrician for blood pressure check ups and urine samples to monitor the kidney etc. I liked talking about Daniel being discharged!! It appears we will go back again in 3 months for another ultrasound.

I'll try to post some pictures later. Haven't taken too many lately (shocker!) since weve been dealing with the weather and the sickness. Hopefully we'll be back on track soon!!

Crib and Stroller Recalls

2010-01-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

Recently there have been 2 recalls - 1 for cribs and 1 for strollers.

Guess what - we had BOTH.

The first is for the Graco strollers - Alano, Spree and Passage style. It has to do with the canopy. You can read more about it on Classy Mommy's blog here. I simply had to call and request a repair kit. While we don't use the canopy, we may in the future at some point, or at least I would feel more comfortable selling it/donating it down the road when we decide we no longer need it.

The second is for Dorel cribs. You can read more information about this on Classy Mommy's blog here. We bought the crib with no moving parts, but apparently there can still be problems.

Please check both your cribs and strollers. Let's keep our precious children safe.

Ramblings of a Mother

2010-01-14T10:51:00.001-08:00

Oh my, Oh my. It seems lately that while I have so many things to say about Daniel that I just can't seem to get them down into any kind of readable format. So today, if you don't mind, I'm going to ramble.

Daniel is growing. Fast. I mean super fast, as in his 3T's are going to barely make it through winter and I only have 3T summer clothes. I think the shorts will fit since he has the tiny waist, but the shirts are going to be way too short. His shoes are the same story. One pair every couple of months. At this rate, I'm afraid he's going to tower over me at the ripe old age of 8.

Speaking of ripe old age, Daniel told Troy and I that he was going to go to the store "by myself". I asked him how he was going to get there and I got the response of "I'm going to drive the truck". When I asked how he would reach the pedals he said "I'm just going to drive the truck." Well that settles it. I'm making a grocery list for him now (LOL!)

Are your 3 year olds back seat drivers? Mine sure is! As in constant "Green light Mommy, GO!" or my personal favorite "Stop sign Mommy...You didn't stop Mommy". I rolled people, I rolled and no one was coming, I swear!

"I can do it myself" is the newest phrase of the house. And let me tell you he can do just about anything if he puts his mind to it. I can't believe some of the things he can do! Did you know when he's in his "I can do it myself" mode that he CAN actually brush his teeth nicely or wash his hands properly on his own?! (I use the term properly loosely. I don't expect him to scrub his fingernails with a brush or anything – just overall cleanliness.)

Did you know that buying a child 14 new pairs of underwear to try to combat doing laundry every day or two motivates them to stop peeing in their underwear? We do still have an accident every couple of days, but suddenly Daniel is starting to stay dry ALL DAY!!!! But really, after we bought him 14 new pairs of underwear? I'm out of pants before I'm out of underwear now!!

We have follow ups on the 3rd of February to look at his kidney and bladder again. Please keep praying they keep healing. We're amazed by his healing already! Thank you Lord and all our prayer warriors!

Daniel is getting much better at playing actual games now like Whack A Mole, Matching games, etc. He used to be terrible at Whack A Mole and we would spend more time laughing than playing. Then two nights ago I sat on the floor for a round with Daniel and he clicked 2 moles and I took 2 moles and suddenly I found myself IN COMPETITION with a 3 year old. I'm not even sure I won. When did that happen?

Oh, he's starting to eat us out of house and home. He ate more than I did last weekend. As in 2 fried eggs with grits, bacon, toast with jelly, and a drink. When he asked for a second egg we happily obliged, but boy we were surprised when he cleaned his plate! Last night he ate salad. Really? Do 3 year olds like salad? He begged for lettuce so I chopped it into fine little squares, put ranch on it, mixed it up and he asked for thirds. I just never imagined!

Speaking of imagining things, Daniel imagination has taken off. You might have read on Facebook the other day that Daniel had Troy and I really laughing because he ran in our room and said "Mommy, there's a dragon in the house. I have to get it with my sword." Then looks from me to Troy and back and says "Where is my sword?" He also pretend speaks between his trains. It's so cute because he'll say something like '"Please move out of my way Diesel," said Rusty'. He always includes whoever said it in his conversation. I think that comes from reading so much (says Mommy).

As for reading, we picked up a book with CD while we were on the Polar Express. It dings when you turn the page and it took one page turn for Daniel to figure that out. He LOVES listening to a book on CD now! We only have the one, because I still like to read to him, but he's good at telling me when he wants to read with the CD and when he wants me to read, which is still always before bedtime!

Well, I've rambled enough. While I could probably come up with more, that's all I've got time for today! And here's the star of the blog himself...

Papa vs. Daddy

2010-01-06T09:14:00.001-08:00

Daniel has called Troy "Papa" from the day we met...until about a month ago. He came home one day from "school" and suddenly said "I don't call him Papa anymore, I call him Daddy."

Imagine my surprise when all those words came tumbling out. We all talked about it and Troy and I explained to Daniel that they meant the same thing and calling him Papa or Daddy was okay.

Since then he has been calling Troy "Daddy" - although lately it's just "Dad". I'm still Mommy and I'm sort of dreading the day he starts calling me "Mom". It sounds so grown up.

He does revert back to using Papa whne he's really tired or when he is talking about Troy to me. He'll say something like "Papa did this" or "Papa told me I could". Otherwise it's all about "Dad" now.

I have to say that I'm having the most trouble with it. Troy doesn't mind in the least. It's all the same to him, and as he put it, it doesn't change his status with Daniel. He's still the father whether he's called Dad or Papa. I, on the other hand, worked so hard at changing Dad to Papa in the beginning, that I'm having trouble after a year and a half, calling Troy Dad. It's also a bit sentimental to lose the word Papa after all this time.

I'm trying, I really am.

And if I call him Papa - I am quickly corrected and given a look like "Duh Mom..."

Oh well, I guess I'm in for a lot of those looks in the future anyhow!!

Adoption Tax Credit - Set to Expire - 2010 - What You Can Do

2009-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a lot lately on adoptions, researching, thinking about adopting again, etc. While we aren't ready to adopt again just yet, it is on our minds. I had heard the tax credit was going to expire so I did some research. Sure enough the federal adoption tax credit is set to expire December, 2010. This credit is what makes adoption affordable for many families, whether it be domestic or international.

Our local Congressman, in the House of Representative, currently supports The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee of 2009 H.R. 213, which would prevent the "sunset" of the tax credit.

However our two Senators are currently not listed as being supporters or co-sponsors of the bill.

So in an effort to keep this going I wrote 3 letters yesterday which I am mailing today. One to thank our Congressman who currently supports the bill and the other 2 to ask for support from our 2 Senators.

Please I urge you to write your Senators, or call, if that's easier, to ask them to support the bill. I'm sending a copy of our Christmas card with our letter so they can see the family the tax credit helped to create.

You can track the Bill here as well as see who currently supports it.

You can find your US House Representative here.
You can find your US Senate Representatives here.

Here's a copy of my letter - feel free to use it as a template for yours, but be sure to write from your heart about what adoption means to you.

Dear Sentor ________:

My family and I are constituents in 'City, State'. It has come to my attention that the adoption tax credit is set to expire December of 2010. I wanted to write to ask you to support extending or renewing the credit. (The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee of 2009 H.R. 213).

We adopted our son from Russia in April of 2008. With expenses totaling more than $__________ (insert your number here), the adoption tax credit was a big help last year in helping us pay off a small loan we took out to complete the adoption.

Our son is the best thing that has ever happened to us and the best decision that we have made as a married couple in over 13 years.

While in Russia we were able to see other orphans, like our son, living in the orphanages. I will never forget the day we went in to his room and there were about 15 other children playing. Our son, even though we'd only met him for a few short hours the day before, immediately ran for me and started patting my legs. Suddenly I was surrounded by 4 little boys, all patting my legs for my attention. Then suddenly the most heart warming and at the same time heart breaking thing I saw was when I turned to look at my husband, who had squatted down and was rubbing the back of a small little girl who was hugging his neck as if to say "Take me, Pick me". I will never forget the look on his face that day. We would have happily taken every last child in that room if we could have.

Our hope is to one day adopt another child, but without the credit we feel that we would not be able to offset any of the expenses enough to afford another adoption, whether it be domestic or international.

I've included our 2009 Christmas photo card for you to see that adoption makes families and good ones at that!

Our son is three years old and has been home a year and a half now. He has almost passed the mark of spending more time in a family than in an orphanage. All children should have that chance.

Please support the adoption tax credit so that many families will find that adoption can be affordable, and for others like us, give us the chance to adopt again. Most importantly, support the adoption tax credit for the children who have yet to come home.

Sincerely,

Rachel

I hope these letters make a difference.

What a Wonderful Christmas!!

2009-12-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Christmas as we did. We started out Christmas Eve by having a lunch for everyone at our house. 22 guests, 2 tables, 4 new children from the last dinner we did (2007), and lots of homecooked goodies made for a wonderful afternoon!

We ate and ate and afterwards I held a Survivor style auction using items I've collected for free from CVS (mostly) using my Extrabucks (check out my other blog!). I gave everyone 200 bucks of fake money and let the bidding begin. I think just about everyone left with something, but the biggest surprise was my father-in-law who left with the most!

Afterwards we enjoyed more family time and then Troy had to go to work, everyone left and Daniel I had the evening to ourselves. We baked cookies and left them along with his favorite drink, tea and milk, out for Santa. Daniel even chose the dishes with the "reindeer" on them for Santa!

The next morning we opened tons of presents (well Daniel did!)!! He got lots of great stuff! Then later that evening when Troy got off work we met him up at Massanutten (for a free stay check out this post from my other blog). We stayed for 3 days, 2 nights absolutely free. While we already own a timeshare they wanted us to 'upgrade' and we said no way - but for listening to the spiel we earned a $100 gift card AND 3 tickets to the indoor waterpark! Needless to say we had a blast!

Happy Holidays!!

Updated Snow Count!

2009-12-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

Seriously - we took Daniel out threw him in the snow once or twice and then he cried when he realized he couldn't make any headway in the snow and couldn't get himself out and said he wanted to come in. Can you blame him???!!!

Confirmed 24 inches in our city and it's still coming, although tapering off finally!

Blizzard conditions at Our House!

2009-12-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

And we're expecting another 12 inches today!

Last night around 10:30 pm

This morning at 6:30 am

Car? What car?!?!

Mailbox - Not for long!

Chugga, Chugga, Choo, Choo!!

2009-12-18T11:29:00.000-08:00

Breaking news - we're expecting 12-24 inches of snow tonight - and we have at least 6 already. Yikes!!

It's no secret this year that the only thing Daniel wants is a big train (as if he doesn't have any!). So this year we thought it might be fun to take Daniel on a real train ride. We were able to combine a trip to Nashville to visit my grandmother with a ride on the North Pole Express Train with several other adoptive families.

We met Carey and Norm and their two children (private blog), Adrienne and Owen and Carrie and S. to ride the train together. The kids had so much fun listening to the conductor read a story, getting two gifts from the elves and telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Daniel spent the first 1/2 an hour just looking out the window watching the signals as we crossed over roads and talking train talk. He loves talking about the couplings and whether or not we were in a steam engine or a diesal engine - (Thomas the Train talk! - Before long we were assured by Daniel that Bert was our front engine and Arry was our back engine!)

Visiting with my grandmother was nice. They had open house at her place of residence and we were able to visit with some additional family and enjoy meeting lots of my grandmother's friends. Santa came to visit during the open house to and Daniel happened to be sitting in Troy's lap. Well, when Santa came over Daniel kept repeatedly telling Santa that "This is my daddy, This is my daddy." Santa played along and asked if "Daddy had been good." Daniel assured him yes and when Santa asked Daniel what he should bring Daddy, Daniel paused and then said (much to the audiences laughter) "A Great Big Train!"

Daniel loves his great grandmother "CC" and we were glad to visit with her.

Here are a few fun photos from our time!

We never get bored in the car on an 8 plus hour drive!

Big boys on the train!

Presents from the Elves!

A Visit from Santa on the train!

No trip is complete without a visit to Bass Pro in Nashville!

Covered...

2009-12-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

in snow that is!! We woke up to this yesterday morning! It snowed most of the day, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the outside world. Troy worked on scraping off the vehicles while Daniel and I continually pelted him with snowballs! We figured once he had had enough he might want to get in on the action.

I was right!

I nailed him in the back of the head (I didn't know I had such good aim!) and he came after us! He bypassed Daniel and caught me and rolled me around in the snow. Don't worry I had snow flying up at him every chance I got and finally he gave me mercy. Of course then 35 pounds of Daniel landed on top of me!

Troy also took Daniel for a ride on the 4-wheeler and while they were gone I made a pile of snowballs for their return. As they came up the street, I pelted them and I heard Troy yelling "Mama's got a pile of ammunition, duck.....".

Needless to say we had a good time!

Then today we remembered that we had an innertube made for lakes, but we thought we'd blow it up and give it a try. Troy worked really hard making the lane AND the "launcher" as he called it right at the end!! These are the results....

The Turkey's in the Oven

2009-11-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

and the men are off --

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award

2009-11-19T09:51:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Jackie and Phyllis who passed on the Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award to me. I'm not sure I've ever received an award. I know I've been tagged many times, but this is way more fun! And now I'd like to thank.....

Okay so the deal is I get to share 10 random facts about me so here they are:

1. I'm a trip planner. In fact my family calls me their "travel agent". If anyone wants to go anywhere, I'm the one who finds the directions, prints out itineraries, etc. Maybe it's a calling....

2. Speaking of trips, when I'm on one, I love to go, go, go. So much in fact that one morning on a cruise Troy and I went on forever go, about halfway through, he woke up ahead of me and managed to climb over me to shut the heavy curtains to make our room pitch black. I slept until 11:30 am and when I woke up and realized it, I was MAD at him!! He just kept repeating that I must have needed that sleep!

3. I used to hate sour cream and suddenly (within the past year or so) I've realized I love it and don't know how I managed to live without it for so long.

4. I love watching HGTV and House Hunters International. (See number 1 and Number 2) A girl can dream big right?!?!

5. Speaking of TV shows – I'm still hooked on Survivor and now Daniel and I watch it together every Thursday night and share a bowl of popcorn. I used to watch it with my dad every week until he passed away and so I've passed it on to Daniel. Troy knows he is not to interrupt us OR try to eat any of our popcorn! Daniel sortof watches, but it works for me!

6. I am trying really hard to like venison. Troy killed 2 big bucks this past week (more to come on that later) and we have tons of meat in the freezer. Sometimes it's okay, but I didn't grow up around hunting or eating venison and frankly I can't believe I married a hunter. What was I thinking?

7. I love reading. If that's not random enough, let me elaborate. I used to hate anything that was remotely scary, but suddenly I'm finding myself immersed in books like the Twilight series, the Blood Brothers series, Morrigan's Cross series, etc. I find it all fascinating now.

8. I still dream of being a romance writer one day, but maybe with a twist now (see number 7 above). I have about 10 or more pieces of work started, but not finished. One of which is probably 60 pages or more already!

9. I also still dream about being an archaeologist one day. When I was young (because I'm so old now) I wanted nothing more than to travel to Egypt and see the pyramids. It's still on my list, and after watching Transformers II the other night, I'm ready to go!

10. I love being a family. One of the first things we taught Daniel was that Papa, Mama and Daniel were a family. We would all hug together and tell him that. And now I love it when he runs up to us and says "Papa, Mama, Daniel – We're a family!!" Sometimes he includes all the dogs and cats names too!

I think I'm supposed to tag 10 people, so here I go:

Angie - she is waiting for a referral and we all know how hard that is. We're thinking of you!

Clarese - also waiting! They just got their I-171H!

Danica - they have adorable twin girls from Russia

Becky - she's so busy lately that we are missing reading her posts - maybe this will help?

Marie - she has an adorable son and husband who should not be sent out shopping together anymore!

Okay - that's five and while it's not 10 I was hoping to pick people who haven't been picked before. Have fun!

Potty Training Update

2009-11-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a week since our visit with the urologist for Daniel's medical update. I have to say that the suggestions the urologist made were right on the money for Daniel.

Are we trained? Not yet.

Have we seen improvement? YES, YES, YES!!!

We were on a 2 to 2 and half hour potty schedule and on day one we discovered that Daniel needed to be moved to a 1 and a ½ hour to 2 hour schedule – he just can't make it any longer. So we spent until Sunday getting a routine down.

Daniel will go potty unprompted when he wakes up, when he "cleans up" for lunch, after nap, before bath, and anytime he needs to do more than pee. He still will not go unprompted any other the time of the day, so we have to remind him.

Beginning Sunday we had to start keeping a chart showing when he urinated, whether prompted or unprompted, whether or not he was wet, and how much he peed. You read that right – we have had to measure every pee pee for the last 4 days – this is our last day thank goodness! He has to pee into a "hat" that we place in the toilet and then we have to pour it into a cup that measures the cc's. The urologist is trying to get a feel for how much Daniel's bladder can hold now without doing any invasive procedures at this time.

To give you an idea, they like to see a child Daniel's age, empty 90 cc's or 3 ounces. Well, this morning Daniel emptied, 150 cc's or 5 ounces. To say his bladder is enlarged would be right and you can understand why Daniel continues to have small wets in between potty breaks.

Having Daniel pee once and then hang out in the bathroom and play, then go again, as the doctor said, has really been the key. We started out with a pirate punch out book and after he went initially we would sit and play and make scenes with the punch outs, then Daniel would go again. This immediately cut down on the in between wets. And while we still see them a few times a day, they are tiny and not noticeable under regular clothes whereas before they were larger wets that showed through his clothes.

We have graduated from playtime in the bathroom to now just standing in front of the toilet a little longer and singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". While we are singing Daniel lets it all go and we're done. It's such an improvement!!

Also we discovered the great Privilege (or motivator) the doctor said we needed to discover. Two actually. The first – I'll give you 1 guess....

TV.

Yep – TV time is now limited to after a potty pee and no wet pants. It's working. Daniel will do anything for a Thomas video. We limit it to 15-20 minutes of TV after a dry 2 hour spell. He usually does great in the mornings, but the early evenings he sees little TV as he tends to do his little wetting more then.

The other big Privilege? The Library!! Last winter I used to take Daniel to a Chat 'n Play every other Friday and Mother Goose Time on Mondays. Then summer came and we got busy. Well I promised him Chat 'n Play last Friday, if he kept his pants dry after he woke up and let me tell you – dry as a bone. So off we went.

Then Monday rolled around and I promised him Preschooler's Story hour at the library (he's too old for Mother Goose now – and let me tell you this story hour was fantastic with puppets and a craft). Not only did he keep his pants dry after he woke up, but when I told him if they stayed dry during the drive there and the hour of story time, that we would go into the big part of the Library and look for a Thomas book to check out.

Well, let me tell you – for 3 hours he stayed bone dry!!! I was so proud of him!! And yes! He checked out his first book – Thomas of course!

So that's where we are. We're working really hard and Daniel is beginning to see potty time as being more fun and he is relaxing more, hence peeing more.

Hopefully in a couple of months, this will all be history!

Charts we are filling out.

Daniel enjoying some TV time after staying dry.

And just in case you're wondering how to carry your tools to the next job when you don't have on carpenter pants or a tool belt...you just stuff them down the front of your pants (and ignore the chocolate pudding stains on your shirt)!

Gone Huntn'

2009-11-08T19:13:00.003-08:00

I received this photo at work last Thursday and should have known something was up.

When I got home from work, I found this note:

(And yes - his eyes are closed in the photo because when his eyes are closed...you can't see him, of course.)

To top it off, when he got home he informed me they saw six deer and Papa didn't shoot any. Oh and do not forget the favorite line around the house these days. "You don't go hunting with us Mama, because you're a GIRL."

Fine by me!!!!

If your interested in how well a three year old hunts, read on!

Troy said Daniel did great. He took him out behind our house where he has permission to hunt some land so they walked all the way in and out of the woods. They sat by a tree for a while. Then Daniel walked a slow, quiet circle around the tree. And when the deer came in and Troy pointed them out, he said Daniel was glued to the deer. Watched them the whole time. Needless to say the tired little walker...I mean hunter...slept well that night and is looking forward to next time!

Medical Update - November 4th (Long)

2009-11-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Today we had more follow ups for Daniel. We started with an ultrasound when he had a full bladder and then he had to pee in a special potty to measure how much he emptied, followed by another ultrasound to check the bladder again. They also checked his kidneys.

Thankfully his right kidney is still beautiful and again we give thanks to many prayers and to God because his left kidney is looking even better than before. The fluid (from severe reflux) is starting to drain. While it's far from perfect, it is healing and for that we give thanks.

His bladder is still over-enlarged although it appears to be looking slightly better. When I say slightly, I mean it is barely detectable. However, muscles like the bladder can take a very long time to heal and fortunately we have Daniel's age on our side. He can grow into his bladder, and although it may never be completely normal, it will function just fine.

We have follow ups again in January for repeat ultrasounds and sometime after we will have a big nuclear test to test the functioning of his kidneys again, but right now they feel it is not necessary.

We are struggling in one area...potty training. I know I've talked about it before and yes, we have been potty training since forever at this point, and at one point he was doing really well, but for the last 3-4 months he has gone backwards. One good thing to point out is that he never misses a #2. For this we are happy! However, for some time, he has decided that going to the potty is too burdensome.

Before I say more - we have tried it all...cheerios in the potty, sticker charts, a potty prize basket (earn so many stickers, get a reward) - and about a dozen other techniques.

Daniel will not go the bathroom without prompting now and he could generally care less when he's wet and keeps on playing. However, today for the first time, he wet himself and actually went to the bathroom to change himself immediately without even telling me. Progress?? I don't know.

The biggest problem we have is that he'll go the bathroom and 10 minutes later he'll wet the front of his underwear. He doesn't even notice. Some days we go through 5 or more pairs of underwear.

After talking with the doctor today we have a new plan. It didn't go well tonight, due to some serious backtalking from Daniel, but I'm pleading the case of "no nap" to try to excuse the backtalk. (Don't worry - Troy put him directly to bed since he was seriously backtalking me in the bathroom.)

We learned today that we have a mix of issues. First and foremost, we have a child with an abnormal bladder. It was obstructed for so long, that it just needs time to heal. Since it was obstructed, Daniel doesn't empty all the way. Hence the small accidents. He also remains on the bladder relaxer medicine.

We also have a child who is smart enough to figure out that pottying takes too much time, and the stickers and toys aren't worth it anymore because "he knows how to get them". (Doctor's words, not mine.) He also suggested that the motivator needed to be a privilege, not an item. Now to figure out the privilege.

We also have a child who absorbes himself in play and just doesn't want to stop and is in too much of a hurry in the bathroom.

We also are in great big power struggle in our house at this point. This came on rather suddenly and hasn't stopped for about a month now. Getting Daniel to do certain things has become quite hard. We're blaming it on selective hearing, but we are working on this. Just yesterday I asked him to put on his shoes and he wouldn't. Our new technique (which is working, although slowly) is to just walk away and say, "You may not come out of your room/come out of where ever he is at the moment, until you put your shoes on." and then walk away. And although some days it takes 1 minute and some days 10 minutes, it seems to be working, without involving timeouts.

We're also to blame. We spent too long prompting him to go the bathroom (trying to avoid accidents) that now he won't go without the prompting. We also haven't found the right motivator, although at this point I'm lost on motivators - we've tried EVERYTHING.

Also, I'm frustrated. Troy is much calmer about the issue, but after all these months, I'm just plain frustrated.

Frustrated with changing underwear 5 or more times a day and then having to wash every other day or more to keep clean underwear in the house. Frustrated that every time we go out, there is usually an accident and I have to change him in restaurants, at parties (kids), in the grocery, you name the public bathroom - I've probably been there. Frustrated that every trick I've tried just doesn't work.

I want Daniel to potty train, not just for me, but for him. I want him to be able to start school on time. I want him to be able to play on the playground for more than half and hour at a time. I want him to be able to play T ball or soccer or whatever he wants to do.

And considering at one point the doctor's told us he would most likely need a permanent cathedar, I should be thrilled. And I am. I'm just lost.

However, I'm hoping all this will be resolved soon. We had a wonderful talk with the urologist and we have some new ideas.

We have to keep a diary for the doctor for a few weeks and we also have to measure how much he is emptying after what they call a "Full Empty". They want to measure his bladder capacity without doing any invasive procedures. In order to do this and get a full empty, we are on a new schedule.

We have to take Daniel to the bathroom every 2 to 2 and 1/2 hours. At that point we have to let him go to the bathroom and then keep him in the bathroom with an activity. A book, a puzzle, anything that will keep his attention, but won't absorb him. Then after 2-3 minutes pass, have him go the bathroom again.

The goal is multifaceted. First, we get on a regular potty schedule and hopefully Daniel's body will eventually train to have to use the bathroom at those times and the prompting will become extinct. Second, he will fully void by going twice and hopefully eliminate the in between accidents. Third, the bathroom becomes fun again. Where it is a place of stress for us now, it will become an activity center. Lastly, eventually we should be able to draw out the times between potty and hit the normal 3 and 1/2 to 4 hour range with no accidents.

How long will it take - that's the million dollar question.

The doctor tells us most likely months. My brain hurts thinking about that, but we've come so far, and I'm not giving up. We will conquer this. First (according to the doctor) we need to 'win' the power struggle with the bathroom which we can do with the activity. The bathroom needs to no longer feel like something he has to do, but something that he wants to do. Second, his body needs time to adjust to the 2 hour schedule. Third, his bladder needs to continue healing. Fourth he needs to get bigger and older to understand what is going on with his bladder.

The last words from the doctor were that Daniel COULD be trained, which was something they didn't think would happen initially, and that he WOULD train with a regular schedule and a little bit of help.

I am thankful.

Finally one additional tip for those of you that may be out there with hard to train pottiers - have them change their own clothes when wet, take them to the hamper and "help" with the laundry, so that they understand there is a process for cleaning up besides having mommy change them into nice, clean, dry clothes.

Helping Others

2009-11-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a moment and let everyone know that Operation Giggle is going on. Carey and Norman first brought this blog to my attention on their blog. Daniel and I belong to a playgroup known as "Playgroup With A Purpose" and we decided to sponsor two children in the New Day Foster Home in China to send Christmas gifts to for our October meeting. We sent gifts for two little boys, ages 2 and 7. We also gave a small donation for shipping.

Operation Giggle is shipping gifts for 42 children. They need a total of $1,500.00 for shipping. So far even though they placed the 42 New Day children with sponsors for gifts, they have only received a liitle more than $250.00 for shipping costs.

If you can, please check out the blog and give a little. Even $5.00 would make a big difference. Operation Giggle is also sponsoring other children and people, so check them out!

Since coming home from Russia, I've really felt called to do more for the children we left behind (and that includes other countries, not just the children we saw.) This Playgroup is a wonderful outlet for Daniel to learn about the gift of giving and for me to feel like I am doing something more.

If anyone has any groups or ideas for us for future projects, let me know. We've been researching and mostly just stumble on groups like Operation Giggle. We not only do international, but local as well. Our November playgroup is collecting donations for the Ronald McDonald House.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Trick or Treatin'

2009-11-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!! We sure did. We started off the day by carving our pumpkin and then that night Daniel dressed up as a pirate. We've been watching Peter Pan and reading several Peter Pan books and we thought iot would be a great idea. I found a kit for Captain Jack Sparrow and Troy painted an old sweatshirt and ta da! we had a little pirate on our hands.

The first house we went to he yelled "knock, knock, knock" at the door instead of knocking and when the gentleman opened the door, Daniel barged right into the house. Thankfully I was able to grab the back of his shirt and stop him on the second try. The fellow thought it was hysterically funny and then said "Come on in!" They were neighbors of my mom's thankfully!

After that he got the hang of not going inside the houses, but he always wanted to take the candy from the people's hands and not let them drop it into the bucket. A few more houses and he got that down as well. Finally we laughed when at two different houses they held their bowls out and Daniel grabbed huge handfuls. The people were good sports, and let him have all the candy he could grab. Maybe next time they hold the bowl out to a 3 year old, they'll think twice!!

Oh and it's no longer "trick or treat". It's "Trick or Treatin'" as that is what Daniel said at every door, along with "Aargh Matey!". People got a kick out of him!

When we were almost done with our circle, Daniel handed me his bucket and said "I'm too tired to do anymore." So home we went. A good trick or treat night and a nice haul of candy - couldn't ask for more!

Pumpkin Patch Visit 2009

2009-10-26T10:51:00.001-07:00

Sunday we took off to the pumpkin patch and met up with Meghan, Bill and Nick. It was so good to see them this year and be able to actually go to the pumpkin patch. Last year we got rained out and ended up visiting at the Children's Discovery Museum. This year we thought the same would happen but we switched weekends and were able to pick out the perfect pumpkins!

The pumpkin patch had a great "corn box". It was just like a sandbox but with corn and the boys loved it!! We weren't sure we going to get them out there at lunch time!

Let's see - they also rode ponies, pet the animals at the petting zoo, played on the combine turned slides, rode the hayride, picked out pumpkins and gourds, jumped on hale bales and off of them, and then finished the day off with a nice lunch out.

The adults had a nice time too!!

Say As We Say

2009-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, not always - like the other day when Daniel called me a "slapstick" when I put him in time out for something. "Slapstick" is a funny name Troy calls Daniel when he's being silly, but Daniel managed to turn it into a name calling name.

We also hear things like my two personal favorites - "Mommy Monster" and "Papa Monster" (when he's in trouble) - Things I am sure he picked up on in daycare.

Oh and I also love this one when he gets in trouble - imagine him all sad looking hands up by his head "I'm so upset."

Some days I wonder where my little angel went and then just when I least expect it...

This morning Daniel woke up at 6:25 a.m. Yikes! He's usually never up before 7:30 and most of the time it's closer to 8:00 and I'm waking him up to get ready to go. I put him in bed with me since Troy was out of town working the night before. And don't tell Troy, but all 3 dogs were sleeping at the bottom of the bed keeping my feet warm. (They are only allowed to do this when Troy isn't home and they know the moment he's gone!)

About 10 minutes later I hear rustling and then I see Daniel patting Jerry and hear him whispering "It's okay Jerry. No one will ever hurt you."

I almost cried. I always pet Jerry and say that because if you've been following my blog since the beginning them you might remember Jerry's story. Well he's come such a long way. While still leary of Troy and any large male figure, he's really just a big lover boy now. He greets people at the door, lets us reach out and pet him while standing around and when Troy's not home, he can be quite obnoxious with Daniel and I, wanting to play, jumping around us in the kitchen, racing through the house.

Anyway - I just hugged Daniel and told him how proud I was of him being so gentle and loving with our pets.

Mermaids, Dolphins and Sharks, Oh My!

2009-10-18T10:44:00.000-07:00

Daniel learned abut mermaids at school one day this past summer and when he got home I asked him if he might be interested in watching The Little Mermaid. It's a girlie movie but I thought it might be fun to follow up with his mermaid lesson and Troy and I both watched it with him. He was glued to the screen.

Since then, however he has talked non-stop about sharks. You know the shark who chased Ariel and Flounder out of the sunken ship where she found the dinglehopper and the snarfblatt.

That one.

Sometimes sharks are his friends and other times they are most definantly not. We have not watched the movie again, but Daniel is pretty stuck on the shark scene.

Two nights ago he woke in the middle of the night crying out for me - something he hasn't done in a very long time. By the second cry I was already out of the bed, across the living room and in the hallway. His bedroom door flung open and he had his favorite stuffed dog "Harry Dodey" (don't know where that name came from, but it stuck) and he flung himself into me. He kept saying "Sharks were going to get me."

I told him sharks swam in water and there was no water in his room. This to which he informed me his fish tank had water in it. Of course. After a conversation at 4 am about sharks not eating people he fell back asleep. Oh and we put Harry Dodey on shark lookout. Harry Dodey was commanded to bark if sharks got in Daniel's room.

The last two days he has again been concerned when we put him to bed. Last night he mentioned dolphins getting him and since Troy and I were lucky enough to swim with dolphins a few years ago, I showed him the pictures of how nice dolphins are and he was appeased. I then told him that sharks don't eat people, but they can bite, only if we are mean to them. This was what actually settled him down and he has propmised not to be mean to any sharks.

I'm hoping this shark stage will pass. Who knew a lesson on mermaids would start all this!

By the way - has anyone seen my son lately??

Breakdancing??

2009-10-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

Troy and I have never laughed so hard in our lives - we started out on the driveway - too slanted, sent him into the grass for a walking on skates expedition - you can see that went well. Next we tried our little sidewalk - that went well also. Lastly we took him inside - no pics posted of that but let's just say he decided skating was no fun and decided he wanted to jump in the skates - and he even landed one jump! Of course he's a boy so why should I have thought that he might actually like to skate instead of doing tricks already!!

In other news, I had him moved up at his daycare to the big boy 3's class. He was in a 2 Pre-K class, which held the younger 3's and older 2's as a transition room. However, one little boy was targeting Daniel and biting him constantly. Daniel's only there 3 days a week and after being bit twice last week (among previous weeks) I went in with guns blazing and told them either he gets moved, or we're outta there - no notice and no payment. Needless to say they moved him immediately and the 3's teacher said he was the best behaved child there yesterday (his first day) out of the regular class! Of course his 2's teachers hugged him a ton yesterday and this morning when I dropped him off too!

Lastly and this is a little bragging on my part - I got 28 pages of scrapbooking done on my girls night home by myself!! Daniel had a blast doing men's stuff and I had a blast having a quiet weekend at home! Thanks to my honey and Daniel's Granny and Grandpa for that!!!

Ahhhhh...the Sound of.....

2009-10-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Silence!!

That's what I'm listening to today.

Yup - Troy and Daniel headed off to Granny and Grandpa's for the night to put up tree stands for hunting season today and then Troy to hunt tomorrow while Granny and Grandpa spoil Daniel all day!!

As a matter of fact Daniel told me this morning that he would be "doing guy stuff today" and that I "was a girl and could not go".

Gees, I got the point already!!

At any rate - I'm doing just fine. I already watched a movie I bought LAST summer and hadn't had time to watch and am getting ready to spread out all my scrapbooking supplies and try to start on the year 2008! I keep telling myself I'm not that far behind!!

In other news - there isn't any. We have tried to enjoy every last moment of warm weather and are looking forward to fall and all the holidays coming up.

Daniel's growing by leaps and bounds and I'm proud to say that it appears he is officially wearing 3T pants!!! His 2T's are just too short (as you'll see in the photos) and the 3T's while big in the waist still are actually hanging on without falling off.

Nothing else exciting going on!!

Our First Video Blog - Helicopter Madness

2009-09-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

I have so much to post about, but this just couldn't wait! Daniel has been enamored with helicopters for some time. He loves Harold, from the Thomas toys and he loves Herky from the Jet Plane series, so when we found out a local campground was having a Volunteer Appreciation Day and that they were landing a helicopter that we could get up close and personal with we made sure we were there in plenty of time!!

Daniel was so excited! It landed about 50-60 feet away from us and we got dusted with alot of debris. At one point I covered Daniel's eyes and he like to claw my hands off of him so he could see. Check out the video and wait for the big finally. When Daniel first saw the helicopter come over the tree line, he put both fists on the side of his head and just started shaking with excitement. I thought we would die laughing...but it got even better...Without further ado...

After they landed Daniel was able to go in the helicopter and look around. Talk about a thrill!! Check out our newest pilot!!

And of course he checked out the fire truck too. Whew...we all slept after this day!!

Tied Up!

2009-09-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

Wow - where have the last couple of weeks gone? We've been so busy. We have currently been gearing up for some home improvement projects and so far I'm loving it. We've just finished a landscaping project which I'm going to post about in the next week or so on my other blog where we were able to do it all for $25.00 (cost of mulch), just by reusing and replanting what we already had. This was lots of fun for everyone, especially Daniel who was so filthy by the time we went in, that a shower was in order before I could let him sit in the bath tub! Currently we are getting underway with finishing a family room in our basement and also updating our master bathroom. Big projects and we are doing little bits at a time, but I can't wait for completion!

Daniel in the midst of all this has discovered the joys of a bungee cord! He sees Troy use them all the time with the projects he works on and has since come up with his own "projects" which include using the bungee cord as a belt, tying up his toys, tying up his mama's foot to the coffee table and trying to tie up Papa's feet together. It's been quite amusing and hours of entertainment.

We've also been reading a books called The Biggest Bear. Our cover is alot older than the one on the link I provided and it's falling apart at the spine (I need to see about repair), but this book was my father's and it was one of the only books he kept from his childhood, which my mother gave to Daniel and I a few weeks ago. We will treasure this book always and it has quickly become Daniel's favorite. Daniel knows it was his "Grand-daddy's" book and that his Grand-daddy is with the angels. Anyhow (before I tear up) there is a part in the book where the bear sleeps in a cornfield and every day we drive by a great big cornfield to which Daniel yells "There's a bear in there, get the bungee cord!" Little does he know I'm not going to confront a bear with just a bungee cord!! Of course Troy often plays the bear in our house and lets Daniel "tie" him up with a bungee cord to keep us safe from being tickled!

Here are some photos of his new favorite past time. The other items in use are dog leashes and links!