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

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!

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

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!

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!

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"

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!!