Swings

Its *almost* summer here in Manchester! We love it. The boys are enjoying being outside and swinging! They love to sit on the porch and watch the kids play in the yard. Our yard is always full of exciting kids for them to watch. And its even better when they join in the action! Swinging is so fun! We may have a little old house in the middle of the city, but we love our yard! Its small but so much fun:) We are very excited that at the end of the month, we will celebrate the boys 1 year adoption anniversary in our yard (barring any rain.)

We are excited to have Travis, a college student interning at church, arrive this Monday! Hopefully Rich can get the upstairs almost done! Kaden, liked to throw a little wrench in our plans and decided to visit Elliot hospital for a couple days. He's doing much better though.

My poor garden is pretty neglected this year. I'm doing the haybales again, but having some issues with bugs. I knew with the addition of Tot things would be busy, but then add in home renovations and this little illness, I think the CSA will be our biggest source of veggies this year instead of my garden. I do hope to get some pumpkins in again though:)

Here's to happy summering. And healthy kids!

update to challenges

Kaden is much better! In combination with some patience training, signing NO and WAIT a lot, we think that a lot of his problem seems to be related to his GI system. He is having some motility issues which is weird as for the past almost 3 years his tummy has been very stable. His tube was due to dysphagia (inability to swallow properly) So we are working on getting things moving, but in the mean time, treating it like reflux with some meds. He was like a new boy overnight. Praise God. I dont like giving my kids non-homeopathic meds BUT when I trialed him on it for two days, his attitude changed quickly. I took one day off and he was a crab monster. So he's back on it until we can get his tummy moving better! Hopefully after he gets more regular, we can back off the zantac and also the miralax, but keep him on a probiotic and keep up with flax, chia, and some coconut oil. Isaiah went through this last summer too, but then seemed to correct himself, so I'm hoping the same for Kaden:) We met with GI and decided to keep his tubie in just a bit longer just.in.case as his momma is nervous and seeing that right now, things are a bit, uh, stuck. What I really hope is that Kaden will just pull the thing out one day, me not notice, and that he makes the decision for us :0) I'm silly.

Challenges

This little man. Kaden. He is tough cookie these days. He is OH SO VERY opinionated. He likes to get his way. (Who doesn't?!?) But its tough because he is not verbal. And we don't know what he wants. And he completely lacks all patience. I know. He's three. Three year olds do that. So we are stumped on how to discipline and direct him. He can let us know "Yes" or "No" on the iPad. Do you want a drink? "YES" Do you want to go to bed: "NO". But then we wonder if something hurts him and I do not think he has that concept down. So I tried Advil and Zantac this week to see if perhaps its pain. And he wants to be on the go during all waking hours. And while I love doing things, its just not feasible to be always going somewhere. I did find at lunch today as he whined between bites because he wanted the food faster than I was feeding him, that doing some deep pressure touches on his arm and speaking quietly but firmly did stop the whining. "No Kaden. Its Isaiah's turn. You need to wait." I'm open to suggestions on how to help Kaden not be such a whiner...and screamer. Because when he's not getting his way he's screaming. Everyone says how good he is when we are out - its true. He's super happy when we are on the go. But our biggest challenge is at home. We want him to have a happy heart when its time to just play on the mat. Because mama has to shower sometimes, ya know:) Got any ideas? I'm all ears.

New Normal

Over in this Hokie household, we are working on learning American Sign Language. Though the boys, only can, sign a few signs, they seem to be understanding more and more signs. I can sign "Boys, lets go play in your bedroom." And they get very excited and look towards their room and put their arms up to be picked up. So I definitely think they get it! When I sign "Lets put our shoes on for school." They get excited and clap their hands. And more importantly, don't take OFF their shoes because they have learned they NEED to keep their shoes on to go to school. Morgann is becoming a great signer. She signs all the time like second nature. Me, on the otherhand, I have to think about it to remember to sign. I am getting a bit better. So to our friends and family, I encourage you to start learning some basic signs to start to be able to communicate with the boys.

My favorite website thus far to learn signs is: I also like the iPad/iPod app - Smart Hands. Worth the $1-2 for the full app.

Playing together

The boys are working on gaining a new skill - interactive play. Most of the time, they are super content to just watch others play. But lately, they have been engaging in play - especially with Morgann. On the way home from the beach the other day, Isaiah made up a game of grabbing Morgann and giggling. Then Morgann would grab his hands and they would both laugh.

Tonight, Morgann, Kaden and Isaiah sat and played ball together. They took turns rolling the ball to each other. It was beautiful to watch. Isaiah especially struggles with being engaged with toys and playing but he was SO into it. Kaden (who loves his picture taken) mostly smiled at me while I was taking pictures, but he was very into playing ball before I pulled out the camera.

It made my momma heart so happy to watch my three kids play together. It also gave me lots of hope for their future. If they can learn to play ball, they can learn other things. Its a good reminder for when I get down about their slow progress. It may be slow, but its progress and I will take that and rejoice in every little "inchstone" they accomplish.

(PS forgive the piles of laundry in the background. It is all neatly folded and almost all put away;-)

Happy Easter

"Up from the grave he arose
With a mighty triumph o'er his foes.
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And he lives for ever with his saints to reign.
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!"

What a beautiful, blessed day we had. The victory over death, sin, sickness, and sadness we celebrate with friends and family. A beautiful church service followed by a wonderful lunch and a long nap.

Though we are plagued here on earth with sickness, sin, and other not so pretty things, we rest in assurance that Jesus rose conquering these things.

Even as I type, I watch a sickish girl sleep. One day, upset tummies will cease. Ear infections will be conquered. Those of course are the little things. But the God I serve cares about the little things and the big things. All because Jesus died in our place on the cross and arose from the dead. His gift to us is unfathomable, beautiful, and perfect.

Random

Its 12:18 a.m. I am waiting for Kaden to fall back asleep so I can stick his cannula up his nose (again). Zay woke up around 11 with a fever so getting him up out of bed to give him a nebulizer woke up Kaden who then became a little punk. Seriously that boy has quiet the attitude. He's also a cup thief. If they dont fall back asleep soon I will give up.

I can't remember what I was going to blog about. So here's some randomness.

Life is good.

Warm weather is almost here. I love "Spring Forward" even though it means missing an hour of sleep - it also means that at 7 p.m., it was still light out. Love love love that. Started running again. My first motivation is that the boys are getting heavier and I need to be fit. My back hasn't hurt since I started running. I see this as a necessity.

Speaking of love, I love our church. Grace Haven South Main blended church which soon will have a new name - they are awesome. I love my new friends from South Main. I am going with a mom there to another special needs group - Joni and Friends - on Thursday. I am becoming a special needs group, groupie, I think.

The boys have been so healthy up until Friday. They have snotty noses. Which is typical of 3 year olds, I know. I haven't given a neb in so long it took me 15 minutes to find the stinking nebulizer tonight (Buried under some toys.) I feel that is a good problem to have.

Morgann has the a fore mentioned cold as well. She also has a Teddy Bear Tea Pajama party at school tomorrow. Pajama day! What fun. She is such a cool kid. I know I have said that before, but seriously, she just rocks. She is about 4 chapters away from finishing reading her Children's Bible all on her own. I should learn from her example. She reads her Bible EVERY night before bed.

The boys room just got quiet. Dare I go in there? Kaden probably could use oxygen with that stuffy nose....Isaiah's oxygen sats are also not remarkable. Bleh. He really seems to have some minimal congestion and a fever. His ear drums look perfect. Probably a virus I guess. Alright, gonna sneak in and see if I can settle them down then settle myself down to sleep as well.