Bubbles.........

Isaac at the Foster Parent Picnic

September 16, 2006

Sheesh...........what a week!

It started last weekend on Saturday and we haven't stopped yet! Dance class, foster parent picnic and Marching Band Competition on Saturday, picking kids up and dropping kids off all day. Sunday, family reunion in Terre Haute, eveybody was exhausted! The little boys played and played.

The week was full of drs. appts, therapy, counseling sessions and working three days this week. Today was 1/2 day of work, followed by dropping off Elijah at respite, shopping with Jonny for 2 hours because none of his clothes are fitting, yikes! What a joy that was, NOT! Let's just say he is not easy to shop for, then we attempted the high school football game, but got rained out. Oh and I forgot to mention that the dryer went out, $109.20 later, I find out that yellow marking crayon was stuck in the heating element. The same kind of crayon that one might use during marching band practice. 3 days without a dryer has put me behind in laundry for the whole week. Yep it was quite a week.

Impulse control

Last night, while in bed thinking about an earlier incident at the dinner table, Jared quietly snuck out of his bed and into my room. He then found and proceeded to put at least half a tube of A&D diaper rash ointment into his hair. I could actually smell it downstairs. I went to investigate and found the evidence. He claims he was "just puttin' hair grease on Mommy". After I told him he put butt cream on is hair, a look of horror came across his face.
This is him in the shower, looking pretty disgusted because it tooks three shampooing attempts to get some of the ointment out.
However, his hair this morning is as soft as a babies bottom, hehe! Poor thing!

Marching band season for Josh has been a series of emotional ups and downs. Starting with feelings of doubt and poor self confidence, he has now become a marching band professional. He absolutley loves it and is doing well! He has made friends! yeah The practices and competitions are intense, something he usually backs away from, as it seems unachievable for him, but marching has been put in a different light. He is striving to do well.

Gwin Gang

The whole gang minus Mom. Six boys in less than 4 years, WOW! I must be crazy.

The many faces of autism.....

Elijah......
escaped on Sunday morning, out of two locked and "child proofed" doors, opened the garage door, went through another door and outside. He was found running up and down the street by my neighbor. I didn't hear any of it, not the phone, door bell or Elijah (obviously)!!! I was awakened by Josh knocking on my door, frantically. I couldn't believe it! This nonverbal, autistic child, stunned us all. Almost like he had been planning his escape for months and this was finally his chance. Of course, it all seems funny now, but yesterday I was shaking. Anything could've happened and I would have been devastated.

Being silly

DUH-OH

Spaghetti Face

CHEESY GRIN

Superman

Today my parents came over and we celebrated mine and Jared's birthday. Isaac played sooo hard, mostly being Superman, as Grandma made all the little boys capes. We spent some time at the park so that Jared could play with his new scooter, a Superman one of course. Isaac then pooped out on the couch about 7pm, with a death grip on his cape. He had told us all day "dis i my ape!" We know Isaac, we know!

The little guys played outside most of the afternoon.
It was breezy and cool, just a great day all around.
Alot of fun for 3 little boys.

Josh and Isaac......Isaac and Josh

Once a Mama's boy, Isaac now seems attached to the hip of big brother Josh.

At 14, Josh is wise beyond his years. Extremely smart and articulate, he struggles with the everyday common sense things. He hates social situations and has difficulty making friends.

However, when it comes to his brother's.........

Josh is a hero

Alarm clocks

I am trying a new strategy in helping Jonny get up in the mornings. We have had ongoing issues with alarm clocks, waking up, getting ready for school; basically the whole morning schedule before the bus comes. He is right now the only one with this problem and it is getting really frustrating. Josh is completely over it, as they share a room and Josh gets up on his own every morning without a ounce of help for good ole Mom. Jonny, on the other hand, needs me to walk him through the whole morning routine.

As of Friday, 9/8/06, I will start making notes of when he gets up, how long it takes him to get ready and so forth. We will then discuss it at his next therapy session. David (therapist) is hoping that cold, hard facts will help him understand this type of behavior in the morning does not help anybody and it only makes for a poor start of the day.

Jonny's struggles could be blog in itself; everyday is trying and hard. For myself, it is picking the battles and sticking to appropriate consequences. For Jonny, it seems to be how can I make this day about "ME". Completely self-absorbed, he spent way too many years in survival mode to really be able to think about anyone else. Turning 13 this year has NOT helped! Having spent 14 days at Valle Vista (acute psych. facility) seemed to only strengthen his need for control. I really spend most days with Jonny in management mode, keeping him in sync with the real world, as best possible and showing him that family does matter.

Happy Birthday

I share my birthday with Jared, my third adopted son. We are definately a match made in heaven. Today is our birthday and I got to go to Chuck E Cheeses. YEAH! Chucke E Cheese is the optimal birthday bash for any 4 year old. Isaiah and Isaac had equally good times. Actually, everyone was pleasantly well behaved. Large, chaotic places are usually difficult for my kiddos, as much as they want to have fun, it can sometimes be too over-stimulating, but everybody managed to hold it together and we had fun!!!

Jared ended up eating 2 pieces of pizza, 2 cupcakes, 3 or 4 pieces of candy and about 2 8oz. cups of Sprite and I'm wondering why he is having a hard time falling asleep. LOL

He was sooo sweet and well mannered while opening his gifts, saying thank you and "I LOVE IT" to everything. He especially liked the Bob the Builder tool set.

Birthdays came frequently around this house and we seem to be celebrating something every month; I think it's fun. The boys are really growing up and I'm proud of how they are acting. Even Isaiah used his words and told me "I am sad Mommy, it's not my birthday". Usually reacting to jealousy with a tantrum or acting out, today was fairily calm in his world.

Another successful birthday!

Three days off from school

Having had three days to play video games......

they both started acting a little

CUCKOO

2 peas in a pod

Quiesha and Elijah

Labor Day

Introducing Mr. Stevie Wonder

hehehehe

A boy and his dog

Elijah loves Hayden, really loves him. Loving on him all the time, poor dog. It is so sweet to watch. Elijah has such a hard time with touch and feelings, rarely initiating either, but this dog is everything a person is not. Hayden, a little over a year old is a really good dog, having never growled or snipped at anyone or anything. The boys love him and he loves them, playing for hours, if that is what they want to do. Supposedly a minature dachsund, he weighs over 20lbs. LOL! big boned like the rest of us. What a great dog.

Boys and Tents

Three little boys under a tent. Why is this so fun? They spend hours in the playroom with 2 blankets, playing various games under their "tent".

Quiesha

My respite regular, she is here for the week while foster mom recovers from surgery. She is sitting in the doorway blowing spit on the door. Quiesha, autistic and brain injured is quite the character. Nonverbal, yet very verbal. Can throw one heck of a tantrum. We love her for all her quirks, as we affectionatley call them. Quirks, ya right!

Starting........ a blog

I love to read blogs! Actually, I feel a bit addicted. There are a host of adoption related blogs that I read frequently. I love the ones about large families. It makes everything in my life seem real, ya know, like I'm the sane one for only having 6! My kids! Wow Six boys!

Here are three of them

Jared, Isaac and Isaiah, 3, 2, and 4.

I love this life, as crazy and chaotic as it can seem, I love it.