4 months - family

Wow, really just four months since these kiddos entered our lives? 

 Four months since we were in China . . . or four years.  

I can't believe the progress ~ plain and simple we have become a family.

I am most astonished at Cav.  EVERYTHING has changed with him from his appearance to his demeanor.  He is a joy to be around, he cracks jokes in his three year old way, he has most importantly decided to become part of our family.

Little man has finally started finding his role as big brother.  He and Cav play together.  He finds that satisfaction in teaching his brother new things, in sharing SOME of his toys and most importantly he gave Cav a hug good night last night.  This was HUGE.  Remember Cav outweighs him by atleast 10 lbs now, and even on his shortened legs, Cav is almost as big as his brother who is 2 years older than him.  Cav literally spent the first month beating up his big brother.  That hug made me jsut cry - brothers forgiven, brothers formed.

FeiFei has come out of the honeymoon phase.  Now let me begin by saying even on her worst day she is still happier than most kids on their happy days.  We jsut became so used to her incredibly bubbly personality that we made one HUGE mistake.  We gave her everything we could.  Extra helpings, toys whenever we were out everything - because she was so dang charming.  She was very evidently the "favorite" child for a time being.  (I don't disclose this for any other reason than to help those who follow us.)

As Cav has gotten better the gap has closed between them and she is now struggling with her place be threatened.  She is no longer the "golden" child and he the terror.  They are becoming more equal and we are seeing her having some difficulty with this.  In addition, her most beloved teacher left during spring break.  I think the permenance of this loss is finally affecting her.  She is taking her different books out more - but mostly the one her teacher gave to her before she left.

I hate to say it, but I really didn't even correlate her mild change in attitude and her teacher leaving until today.  It's been almsot 3 weeks and I thought the reaction would have been immediate.  Duh, sometimes I jsut wasnt to kick myself.  Ok myself and the world.  i bawled for FeiFei when I found out her teacher was leaving.  REALLY PEOPLE!!  But what was I to do, withdraw from her school which she begs to go to everyday.  Such a horrible situation, for a sweet child who has already lost so much in her life.

Luckily, the Empowered to connect conference is tomorrow in Denver.  I can (at the last minute) go.  Hopefully they are still selling tickets at the door.  And my dear hubby is taking the day off work and staying home with all the kids - oh yeah it's a teacher work day ugh so they are ALL home!

Four Months ~ as a Family!

Disabled

When our little man was born to us, the one thing I swore was that we would NOT make him a chronic child.

AS a nurse we would cringe when these kids would come in - whispering that a parentectomy was the only surgery that would help.

I am afraid though I might have gone to the opposite extreme.  This became very evident this past weekend.

We took the little ones to a Starlight Easter Egg Hunt.  Let me first say we LOVE Starlight foundation.  We are extra blessed because they partner with the Cadets at the Air Force Academy and put on some pretty incredible events for kids with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Anyhow, we enjoyed all of the games, food and inflatables.  As usual I was floored by Cav's incredible ability and strength.

And then I was confronted with the breakdown of the Easter Egg hunts, 0-4 years, 5-9 years or wheelchair / physically challenged.

With the two others I thought no problem we will do the 0-4 year old group.

Very quickly the realization hit me that regardless of what we think of Cav, he is disabled, he CAN'T keep up with the other kids and this poor angel ended up with a whole ZERO eggs.  I had to leave him sitting there while I ran after the other two but my heart just broke for him.

I swallowed my pride (not even sure that is it) and took him to the physically challenged egg hunt.  Although he was far more abled than the other kids, filling his bucket and then his pockets, it's where he belonged atleast this year.

He was so funny, he shook EVERY egg next to his ear and would only place the ones that rattled in his basket!!

A NEW Normal

5 kids - 3 special needs - 2 asian

You know when you have a newborn and you feel like you are exiting the cloud and you CAN think again.  Your normal is different but better.  That's where we are at.  

                    Reality has set in.

                   Things are crazy, 

                   LOUDER,

                   WAY more laundry.

                   Actually clothes are the bane of my existance.

                   From doing laundry

                   to trying to figure out where to put clothes 

                   (especially since we have both winter and summer out right now.)

                   SOCKS ugh socks have always been enough to kill me over.

                   Our kids HATE socks.

                   They are always taking them off WHEREVER they are at.

                   THen of course NO ONE can find socks in the morning.

                   I just bought MORE socks,

                   Little Man has gone to school SEVERAL days with just one sock on ~ WHAT!!

                   I no longer MAKE my kids clothes (although I admit I bought some fabric.)

                   I have completely given up on scrapbooking.

                   Blogging atleast makes me take pictures of my kids.

                   Creative handmade gifts are being replaced by last minute where the heck is a bag gifts!

                   Don't even get me started on dinners.

                   My poor Asian kids' cholesteral has probably tripled,

                   They know the golden arches, and that orthodontist day means Carls' Junior.

                   They cheer for homecooked meals  .  .  .  . at church - they LOVE the church ladies food.

                   The hardest is that people watch us,

                   We haven't been an inconspicious family since little man was a baby

                   But it is SOOOO much more evident now.

                   Watching, judging, commenting.

                   BUT I LOVE our new life,

                   All the firsts, the artwork, sleeping children,

                   Shoes, dishes (ok maybe NOT!)

                   And LAUGHTER!

                   

On our Way!

Another crazy day - the kids had a SNOW day!!  

Gotta LOVE Colorado!  

The kids traded their swimsuits for syrup drenched snow!

But that's not what today was about -

TODAY was about Cav's journey to walking.

You know your reality has changed when you walk into a room where legs and arms 

are stacked like cord wood!

Atleast there was a jungle gym for my naughty boys!

I brought little man because he has had so many questions - 

I was excited to show Cav the pictures and how he would soon walk!

And then we learned a little nugget about Cav- 

He seems excited about getting his new legs!

So HE can have real SHOES!!

OK dude, we will go shoe shopping for you just as soon as you get fitted for your real legs!

Truthfully though, and I am not sure if it is the time of year, or because we are doing the book of Mark for bible study but I realized something.  Although we yearn to walk with Jesus (literally) and touching his cloak so as to heal- THIS is Him still producing His miracles and I stand in awe!

SUnday snapshot - trampoline fun

 I mentioned last week how much my kids LOVE water LOL!

Today they put the sprinkler under the tramp and went to town!!

Pure JOY from this toothless pirate!

The water sprays from below!

And the motion!

And the best part of all - LANDING!!

I could jsut cry with this pic of Cav - sharing, thinking of helping someone else,

BEING a part of our family!

Handsome boy! (BTW LOVE these new shirts from Wally world!)

Pushing is hard work!

That kid has the BEST lips and all he does is chew on them!

And this one - lost in his teen hormones but I was able to snag a pic!

A FABULOUS Sunday with the family plus 1 extra!

Water Slide!

It is the beginning of Spring Break, it is BEAUTIFUL out and my kids LOVE water.  

Nothing involving water opens until labor day -

 soooo, they begged this momma into turning on the water.

Go Fei Go!!

Oops a little fast and a little top heavy!

Let's go again, Lala!!

A little lost with a change in schedule, 

and we have to figure out something for his legs.

Oh and we HATE being cold.

BUT, he likes the water table!

Did I mention I have to figure out something for his legs!

Playing Hookey

SO little man went from being my baby to our exact middle.  We have seen our sweet little angel turn into a very difficult little boy.  My heart aches over this transformation.  In addition, he is a chronic pain kid (he has one of the few types of dwarfism that experience pain).  Although he is super smart he has a difficult time telling those around him that he is in pain.  Instead, we find he jsut doesn't have a reserve to deal with annoying siblings people around him.  Take into account his whole life being turned upside down and you get a monster a very difficult little boy.

I finally had enough.  Wednesday's are the only mornings that I have 2 hours totally to myself.  So I decided that we needed to play hookey today and have some special one on one time.  We mainly jsut went to breakfast but boy did he love it!

Reading from the menu!

Wow chocolate chip waffles and bacon!

Yummy - Hot Chocolate in a mug like daddy!

That's some good food!

Highlights

What do you do when the wind has been terrible this year

AND

we found great windbreakers at GAP that were 50% off'

PLUS and additional 30% off?

We buy THREE even if they are HIGHLIGHTER YELLOW/GREEN!

Atleast I can find them all at the park!

And this must bethe sale color of the year they match my jacket I got for China!

Yesterday started our post daylight savings long days!

At the last minute I realized that we wouldn't get home until 7:30 

so I threw together a heathy planned out peanut butter dinner.

Until we got to the playgrounds and realized that the school ones are peanut free zones UGH

On the go dinner advice would be awesome!