Friday, January 07, 2011

We interrupt the series of make-up posts for this

Hi there. I want to just update my blog on the little things that don't involve pictures.

A couple of months ago, my brother got a new iphone. His wife got his old phone. I got her old phone. Following me? Good. I thought that the blackberry was a great phone. Now I'm hooked on the iphone. I love all the apps and especially the Words With Friends game (if you play it, leave me a comment or email me your username so we can play!). The one downside to the iphone is that my battery seemed to be drained REALLY quickly. I would have to charge it halfway through the day. Everyday. So, I ordered a battery replacement from China for 10 cents. My engineer husband took my iphone apart and installed the new battery. Everything was fine, except he said he broke one little thing while installing the battery. He said it shouldn't be much of a big deal. Then the home button quit working. Then the ear speaker on the phone quit working - so now I can ONLY talk on speaker phone. Yeah. He's ordered parts. He's opened it up and done iphone surgery. Not working. This has been going on for a month. I've been patient, but now we're going to mail my precious iphone to some genius out in CA to have it fixed. He promises to fix it in ONE DAY and return it to me asap. I hope so. I'm not looking forward to being without a cell phone. If you call me in the next week to week and a half, and I don't answer - that's why. You can always email me or message me on Facebook. (Mom, I'm talking to you)

Observations:

Keith is beginning to play with other children. This is new. He's usually in his own little world while playing, so this is a welcome sight.

Today I was pretend playing with Iryna and her Princess kitchen in the playroom. She gave me a "cupcake" and I nibbled (pretend play) on it. I gave the "cupcake" to Iryna and she nibbled on it. Then I called Keithy over, because I wanted to see what he would do, and gave him the "cupcake." To my surprise and delight, he (pretend play) nibbled on it! How exciting to see Keith catching up on certain phases of learning.

Iryna had a hard day yesterday. She scratched her teacher so bad that it bled. It was at the end of the day, so they called me to come pick her up from school. Iryna hasn't been sleeping well at night. She's taking adderall, which is helping her during the day - but it also keeps her up at night. We are trying to get her into a psychiatrist, so we can get her on the right meds. I feel that when we find that magical drug, that it will work wonders for Iryna. So far, the adderall has made a BIG difference, but I think with the help of a talented psychiatrist that Iryna will become even more focused and accomplish much more.

Today was Anna's day to pray. Every day we switch off, going down the line of each family member. I was very impressed with her prayers today. She wasn't in a rush. She thought about each member of the family and sincerely asked for blessings for each one. I feel so blessed to be her mama.

I've had a SUPER LONG to-do list. My sister, Heather, and her daughter, Iliana were here for 16 glorious days over the holiday break. I enjoyed every moment with them! They left earlier this week, and now I'm trying to catch up on several things. It feels good to get things done, but I can't seem to move fast enough as I'd like!

3 comments:

Brianne said...

It's great to read about how your family is doing =) I am sorry about your phone, and about the struggles Iryna is having. I hope things get better! And that is great news, that Keith is learning these important steps and that Anna is so sensitive to the importance of prayer. You have a beautiful family!

Alabama Apples said...

Ugggh!! About your no-phone problem. Hooray for improvements on how your children are doing. It is wonderfully rewarding to see our children reach milestones. I love it when I see/hear my children understanding and acting on a principal of the gospel. It makes the not-so-great times seem not quite so bad. :)

Diana said...

Grrr on the phone.

YEAH!!!! for Keith. That is monumental!!!

Anna - SWEET! I love my awesome girlie, too. It is so fun to see them learn and grow, especially in the gospel! Hard to believe mine is starting YW in just a couple of weeks.

Psychiatrists...I hope it works out better for you than it did for us. We went to two of them. They were both highly recommended and supposed to be miracle workers. Note: If something sounds to good to be true, it probably is.

Reality is that they were both very over priced arrogant dim-wits. Neither of them had a clue about attachment and one of them was completely hog-swaggled by a three year old. The first one told me to disrupt because it was hard, that children are pretty much disposable, and that DCFS knows more about raising and helping kids than parents do...and they can do a better job of it, too.

The second told me that I was stupid for adopting my kids, they will never amount to anything, they are damaged beyond help, that I should have known better than to pick up someone else's garbage, that I was the crazy one and am making them even more crazy than they already are, and that no medications will help my kids because of FASD.

The meds they put my kids on were TOTALLY off base, too. The first one had him on such a high dose of clonodine that he was a zombie. She decided that all his issues were related to sleep and he needed 20 hours of sleep a day (not exagerating!!) in order to function for the other 4. The second didn't give a rip about me or my kid and just threw out some random meds. (ritalin). He said it didn't really matter what I put him on because nothing would help. They would just make me feel good.

I finally went on a hunt for a pediatrician that specializes in ADHD and had MUCH better luck. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I let my kid jump off the exam table and throw his baby doll right smack into the doc's computer during our first visit. >:-) What can I say...desperate times call for desperate measures!!

Needless to say, we've never been back to a physchiatrist since.