Catch up

Things have been going on, but instead of being a good girl and posting them as they happen I have been saving it all for this post. Not on purpose, yet here we are...

I had an IEP meeting with Iryna's teacher, OT, Speech, and Vice Principal this afternoon. We went over Iryna's goals for the school year. I have two goals for her: to learn to read and to be able to think before she acts. Those are pretty difficult things to achieve, but we need goals to have something to work on. I was informed at this meeting that there was a competition for the 1st grade to see which child could do the most pull-ups. My Iryna won first place. Isn't that awesome? She is SO incredibly strong. Wow.

Iryna's teacher lent us a Body Sox to see how Iryna does with it. It helped her to calm down and is a great tool for children who become overstimulated. Here are some pictures:

We put the girls back in gymnastics. They started last week. Both girls did well and loved it. And Keith was a real trooper playing with his airplane in the lobby for the hour long class.

Tyler took a work trip up to ID and was able to go to the Idaho Falls Temple. It was a special place for Tyler as that is where his parents traveled to become sealed for time and all eternity. Isn't it a beautiful temple?:

Anna is still in piano and doing well. She passed off 3 songs today that she just got last week! I am proud of her and the progress she is making. She has also been putting together some fun forts in the house with Iryna and Keith assisting her:

I took Keith to a GI specialist yesterday. Something on my mama radar had been going off about his bowels. He's on miralax (laxative) once a day and has been for the past 3 years. Because of his hypotonic cerebral palsy, he has low tone in his muscles, including his intestines. The past 3 or 4 months I have been giving Keith the miralax AND suppositories to get him to go poop. One day I realized that this was not a pleasant thing and that I didn't want to be doing this when Keith was 15 years old...so I got a referral and off we went to see him yesterday. The doctor was fabulous. I was super impressed with his bedside manner and his manner of explaining things to me. He felt Keith's abdomen and said that his bowels were completely full. Yikes. He doubled - yes doubled! - Keith's miralax prescription for the next week. He said that we need to clean him out completely and then proceed with a barium enema. He also said we should have some blood drawn to see if he has a food allergy, such as celiac's disease. I told him that he is a good eater and was gaining weight, but he replied that I also told him that Keith doesn't stop eating when he is full and that perhaps he is trying to get the nutrients he needs by eating more. Interesting stuff. He was also complimentary of my getting Keith checked out. Don't you love it when people compliment you on the things you do right with your kids? I do.

Off to the lab on base we went. Did I mention that I had all three kids with me? Always a pleasure. I gave my iPhone to the girls for their entertainment (they LOVE the yahtzee app) while they whisked Keith & I back to the lab. Poor Keith. He has only had his blood drawn once since we adopted him and that was RIGHT AFTER we adopted him - 3. years. ago. Oh my, how he cried out in pain and fear. There was one tech drawing the blood, one tech holding his arm straight, and me holding his other arm and trying desperately to calm him down. They took two vials from one arm before that vein collapsed, so they had to go to his other arm for the rest. Weeping and wailing commenced. Poor guy. After they were done, I turned him around and he clamped on to my like no tomorrow. I held him for a few minutes before giving him some chocolate they offered at the desk. It's hard being a mama when you want to comfort a child who's going through such an ordeal. :(

I have been sewing up a storm! I am working on quilts for my kids and hope to finish them up prior to going back to Russia. I also finished up Valerie's Ukrainian quilt which she won on the first adoption fundraising auction I did back in June. It is all white and from material I bought in Ukraine when I adopted my twins. The patriotic quilt is for Keith & Calvin's bed. Isn't it lovely? I just finished Iryna's quilt top - but still need to take a picture of it. It's pink and purple. :)