Farewell Summer

One last jaunt at Glen Lake after Morgann's first day of school. The water was still quite warm. She was very tired after her first day. She is very happy to be back at school though. The routine is good for us too.

The boys wait for the bus on their first day back to school. They were thrilled to be going back. In our house we can't "Say/Sign" school unless the bus is almost here lest we get two very mad little boys who want to go right away!

Summer came and went all to fast once again. We enjoyed a wonderful family vacation in the Poconos with our nephews and family. I will try to put up a few pictures sometime. I am so behind in pictures: Blueberry picking. Trips to the Lake.  Splashpad. A waterpark day. A 3-day get-away with just the twins, Morgann, and Amber.

Health wise the boys were pretty good. One virus attempted to take them down but they did well. I was re-reading this blog some and it seems I post a lot about illnesses. I am thankful that they are becoming less frequent and that the boy's immune system is becoming stronger. Our chiropractor definitely works very hard keeping us healthy. I think part of the reason I've blogged less is that we have been so on the go (and not stuck at home with sick kiddos!) that I haven't had time to sit down to write but I have missed it a bit. 

whirlwind

This summer has thus far been a whirlwind of activity! Crazy busy. Crazy fun (most of the time). The boys restarted school this week. They are riding the BUS to school. Um. Not sure how I feel about that. But they love school.

We are spending as much time as possible at the lake. The weather has been beautiful. I know I sound like I broken record, but I love NH summers!

The boys are getting stronger and stronger. There tone is improving. Isaiah is trying oh so hard to form words. He is a chatter box. Yay.

We spent one day this week out on the lake all day as a family. It was wonderful. We all love being on the water. :)

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;-)