Father's Day

We spent Father's Day on the lake. I don't know if it was our great sense of adventure or plain ol' lack of common sense that possessed us to take 5 kid out on a boat to attempt fishing and tubing.

The driver....


The navigator.....


The entertainer....


The kids had fun jumping off this rock into the water...


John and Liesel watching.....


....these crazy people jumping off cliffs.


Does this face have "sensory overload" written all over it (Not Ava's! Mine!)


The kids loved riding on "Big Bertha"



As we rode under a bridge, this baby bird fell into our boat. Hope and Liesel wanted to be his mommy and take him home. We weren't sure what to do with it. The kids didn't like John's suggestion of putting him in the lake to see if he could swim. We drove him over to a rock and left him there hoping that his mommy would be able to find him there. :(


Ava REALLY missed her crib, but this was as good as we could do for naptime.

Happy Birthday Evi

Last night at your party I didn't get a turn to tell you what I like about you. So now is my chance. I hope you read this. I like you because you're a lot of fun to be around, you have a great sense of humor, you are sweet, and you make a really great playmate for my kids. I'm so glad you're my niece. I love you Evi!

I witnessed the sweetest thing yesterday. I was laying down on my bed with Ava. It was her naptime and I was trying to get some cuddles in before she went down. Well just then Jude was dropped back home from a play date that he had had with a friend. Jude came in and laid down on the bed with us and he was crying. He was crying, because he had been having so much fun with his friend and wasn't quite ready to come home yet. 

Well while I was trying to console him, Ava left my side, CRAWLED over to the opposite side of the bed where Jude was laying and crying, and she climbed on top of him and began to stroke his hair and lick him, she was just licking all over his face, his cheeks, his eyes. It was so deliberate and so purposeful, I just know she knew he was hurting and was trying to console him. Isn't that amazing? How did she learn that?

Squeaker Sneakers

I feel like I'm learning something new every day. Apparently kids with Down Syndrome (most of them anyway) have flat feet. These shoe inserts are supposed to give Ava some arch support as she is learning to bear weight on her feet. Now notice, the insert on the left is slightly bigger than the one on the right. That is because her left foot is 1/4" bigger than her right. Who knew? She also happens to have only one dimple on her right cheek, and bald patches only on the left side of her head. She even has, according to the dentist, an extra tooth (although I can't find it) to go along with her extra chromosome. How I love my assymetrical girl.


These shoes are called Wee Squeaks (or "Squeaker Sneakers" as Ava's therapist called them). Remember I blogged a few days ago about the special walking shoes I got at the children's boutique? Well they have a built-in squeaker, and they squeak when she takes a step. I am hoping this will be a motivator to get her up on her feet and walking!!!


And here is a video of her trying out her new sneakers. You'll even get to hear my sweet kids arguing in the background. More proof that they are not ALWAYS all that sweet.

Sitting to crawling

I am NOT supposed to be encouraging this, but it is so cute I had to video and post it JUST THIS ONCE. Ava has learned how to get from sitting to crawling (Watch the legs do the splits, she is supposed to go down from the side using her hands). I couldn't find the hip helpers yesterday, so this is how she does it. Shhh. Don't tell the therapists.

Use Abortion To Eliminate Problems

That is the title of the article I read yesterday. The article states that pregnant women should avoid alcohol and get prenatal care in order to avoid health issues in their children. Those who know their child will have a disability should use abortion to eliminate burdening their families and society.
"Nature already causes many such babies to be miscarried. We need only supplement this natural process to avoid the problems of autistic children, Down syndrome babies, etc. Such children may otherwise result in extreme hardship for both parent and child and even tear families apart."

I also saw this video on YouTube yesterday. How ironic. I have a feeling the families of these two individuals would disagree with the previous article.

To read the article, CLICK HERE.

Ava's first friendship

Someone asked in a comment what became of the Naum that was mentioned in my last post. Well he was adopted by and thriving in the Bedford family in Virginia and his name is now Xander. Being that the Bedfords are a military family and move around quite a bit, I am hoping that one day we will be able to reunite these two. And I do think it is beautiful, as someone mentioned, how God instills this love in these kids and that even in an institutionalized setting, they care for and comfort one another until their families can finally get to them.

Here a couple of the photos we have of them together. I never thought about it until just now, but I have always found it fascinating that Ava loves to be hugged and cuddled so much. I thought that was unusual for a child who spent so much time in an orphanage, I always attributed it to her Down Syndrome, but perhaps it was all the love and affection Naum gave her. THANK YOU Xander for taking care of our little girl's need to be loved for 4 years. I will forever be indebted to you....

By the way, Ava is the one in the red Reebok suit. Orphans don't always get dressed  gender-appropriate. :)

I love this, look at their hands......

And here is Xander now....As you can see he is happy to be loved!

Another date to remember

Have you ever noticed that the older you get, the more kids you have, etc., there are more special occasions to celebrate and remember? For example we always celebrate our anniversary AND the day we met. The kids' birthdays are special, but I always feel sentimental on their due dates too. After having a miscarriage, April 8 will always be a day that we remember with sadness. Heck, we even celebrate the dog's birthday. With adoption, there are different moments to remember, the day we met her, the day she became ours. Her "birth" date is not so special to us, we weren't even there.

Well June 11 will always be special to me, and here is why.....A year ago today is the first day we saw this face:

And the day we received an email from Kelly, who had just returned from a humanitarian aide mission in Ukraine, saying this:

While I was there this time, I was able to visit Naum and also
another little girl from his orphanage who also has DS. She is an
angel, with blond hair and big blue eyes and very fair skin. At
first she was not too responsive - she mostly lays still in her crib
during her days, but once I picked her up and started to kiss,
tickle and stroke her little head, she smiled such a sweet smile and
really responded, reaching out for more and more. She loved the
attention and tenderness..... She really needs more stimulation and in a family

she would just blossom. She blossomed in one minute in my arms. What a 

sweet child.

The most amazing thing was the relationship she has with Naum, who
has taken on the role of her brother with no one showing him to do
so. The special needs kids also go outside each day with all the
children, though the mostly stay in the shade in their big giant
playpen together. This little girl lays in the playpen along with
some other children who are not mobile, and Naum lays right next to
her. While he could easily do the same for any other child, it is
ONLY this girl he lays by, strokes her cheek, holds and strokes her
hands and kisses them. He kisses her face. He 'talks' to her and
obviously feels that this little girl is HIS! Again, although he is
social with many other children, he does this only with her - she is
very special to him obviously.

If any of you are thinking of adoption of a DS child, please please
please consider her. When her Naum leaves, I don't know what will
happen to her - she loves his tenderness. She will soon age out and
have to be moved to the institution in that area. When I asked (with
my usual American optimism) if the conditions in that institution
are improving, as they are in the baby orphanage, the staff
replied, "We don't know. All the kids we've sent there have died.
Maybe the older ones steal food from the younger and weaker ones, we
don't know. Or maybe it is because they were sick children when we
sent them, but we kept each of them for four years none of them died
here. Only there." It was enough to make me want to be sick, hearing
this. May GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU who are adopting or considering
adopting one of these children. You are giving them the one thing no
one else will - a chance to live, to be loved. This little girl has
such potential, she is so beautiful. We just pray that God will send
her a family before it is too late.

Now can't you see why we loved her so much?

Determination

I have wanted to blog about this for quite a while, and I haven't because I wanted to understand it first, and quite frankly, I still don't. Human growth and development. This subject that I found extremely boring my sophomore year of college has become an obsession to me. I wish I understood it better. What I don't understand is......HOW....does a child lay in a crib for 4 years and not "accidentally" roll over one time, or at some point think to herself, "If I reached up and grabbed that bar, maybe I could pull myself up." To just lay there for four years and still be like a little tiny infant, I don't understand. And then suddenly, a man and a lady come and pick you up, give you a ride in a taxi cab, then take you on a long airplane ride to a house with a bunch of kids who hold you a bunch, kiss you a bunch, roll on the floor with you, cuddle you, feed you whenever you want to eat, and do a bunch of silly things to make you smile. And then suddenly you figure out how to roll over, and after a while you find the strength to sit up, and eventually you see that there are these things called toys that are fun to play with and you start pushing buttons to see them light up and the music play. And you find that it's even fun to pick that toy up and put it in your mouth! Then you realize that if that toy is far away you can put yourself on your belly and move your arms and legs and they take you to wherever you want to go, and that is called "crawling". Then it dawns on you that if you are in a swing, and you move your arms up and down, somebody will swing you, or if you tap your lips, somebody will feed you. I don't understand how these things have "magically" happened, just in the 4 months we have been home.

In the time that I have been sitting here typing, Ava has gone from sitting beside me playing with her toy, to crawling three rooms over where she heard her brothers and sisters laughing. I guess she wanted to see what the excitement was. Before I knew Ava I took all these things for granted. I don't remember being so excited when my other kids first pushed their legs through their pantlegs while dressing them, or REACHED their arms out and flung themselves into another person's arms, like Ava did last night to her Daddy.

I remember doing the initial evaluation for school services a few months ago. The checklist of questions that I was asked was overwhelming to me:
-Does she respond to her name? (No)
-Does she seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no'? (Well, she can't do anything to say 'no' TO)
-Does she put objects in her mouth? (No)
-Does she seem aware of what is going on around her? (Not really)
-What does she do when you put an object in front of her? (Nothing)
-Can she roll over? (No)
-Can she sit up? (No)
-If you put a blanket over an object will she look for it? (No).....And she's FOUR years old???!!!

It was very difficult to even evaluate her, because she really wasn't doing ANYTHING to evaluate. She was so much like a newborn baby. I remember feeling so awkward and discouraged during that initial meeting because I realized all the milestones that we had yet to accomplish. I think I went home and cried that day.

Well last night as I watched Ava play, I remembered being asked about her pulling a string to get an object (of course the answer had been 'no' at the time), and I watched her bending over again and again in her little chair to PICK up the object, and it dawned on me, This girl has determination!!! Look at how she works to get this puppy. I really think she is something special, don't you?

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Rainy Day Fun

This was such a fun craft for a rainy day! Paper dolls. We took 5x7 photos of ourselves in our swimsuits, cut and laminated them (the great thing about this craft is you can cut yourself as skinny as you want to be!) Then we cut outfits out of scrapbooking paper and stuck them on with magnets. As you can see, we now have new decorations for our refrigerator too. (I made a wise decision NOT to post myself in a bathing suit).

I realize Ava looks like a giant here, and it probably looks like she was standing too. We could really freak some people out at the orphanage with that photo. I'll let you use your imagination how we used some trick photography to make that work....

As we were cutting and sticking I said, "Girls, WE ARE SO CREATIVE!" To which Liesel responded, "Mom, actually it wasn't even your idea, you got it out of that book." HA Don't you love it when your kids put you right in your place...The book, in case you are wondering, is What To Do After You Turn Off The TV. I found it at my favorite bookstore.....The GoodWill. Is it sad that the "shopping bag" Liesel made for herself says Walmart on it?



And Simeon bought himself a couple of model airplanes, with his own money, to put together with his brother. However.........

Mr. Party Pooper felt like being a couch potato instead.

Nothing says "I love you, Mom" like a vase full of freshly picked weeds flowers....

Shopping spree

I thought about these "outfits"....




......as I took Ava on a shopping spree today. You see, a few months ago we received a gift certificate to an upscale children's boutique in town. A lady had read Ava's story in the newspaper and was touched. Her daughter happens to own a very nice children's boutique, and she and a couple of employees pitched in and bought a gift certificate for us to buy Ava some new clothes with. I was overwhelmed.

So today was the day. I wore a skirt and high heels, pushed a stroller and hummed "Pretty Woman". (Monica, does that bring back memories of our Name Brand Clothing days?) Of course I went straight to the sale rack, and found some very cute buys. Here she is modeling one of the outfits. I even got some headbands to match. And some walking shoes. Stay tuned for the post about the walking shoes.....I can't wait to see her walking in them!!

Life through a 3 year-old's eyes

When I went to download the two, just TWO photos I had taken, there were 37 on my camera instead. Someone got ahold of my camera. Thank goodness for digital cameras, or I might have been real mad.

Here are just a few of the photos that came out.

A drawing of 2 roses (drawn for Mommy of course)


Simeon wrestling with Ava


A sideways view of my living room


Simeon's legs


I think I know who the culprit is....

Confession

I have a confession to make. I snapped this photo today at the pool with the intent of using it at my daughter's wedding reception party someday. This is Ashton. He is 4. He is cute, charming, funny, caring, sensitive, comes from a great family. He and my daughter are the best of friends. His parents are our close friends, an added benefit as far as I'm concerned.

So I'm secretly planning an arranged marriage. Is that so wrong?

We went to the library yesterday and signed up for the summer reading program. The kids insisted that Ava needed to be signed up too. I really did not feel like committing to read TWENTY books to her, but I agreed, yes, Ava should sign up too (even though she can't read, eat Sonic tater tots or go bowling).

Look at the book we happened to stumble across, and look how mesmerized she is.









Needless to say, I'm glad we signed her up. :)

The sight of my husband making this snack last night made me laugh out loud (Yes, LOL).

Perhaps because of the combination of ingredients he was using....lowfat low carb whole grain wraps, butter, and cheese.

Then again maybe it was only funny because it was midnight!

The Lazy Gardener's Method of Pulling Weeds

This method works wonders for getting ANYTHING done around here. All I have to do is say something like, "You know I really wish I could take you kids to the swimming pool today but I'm afraid I'll be too worn out after pulling all those weeds in the backyard." 

VOILA! Instant helpers!

And yes, I did have enough energy left to go to the pool, and took one extra weed-puller as well, our neighbor girl. The picture above especially cracked me up. He is all ready to go wearing his swimming trunks!

A totally heartwarming, totally true conversation with Hope this morning

Hope: Mommy, do we get to keep Ava forever?

Me: Yes.

Hope: Do we get to take her to the zoo with us?

Me: Yes.

Hope: Do we get to take her to the aquarium with us?

Me: Yes.

Hope: Do we even get to take her to heaven with us?

Me: (Tears) Well, yes, I guess we do. :)

Crawling....slightly improved.

...Thanks to the ongoing teaching efforts of big brother Simeon.

This is Parker. He needs our help. He has the following health issues:

1.Pulmonary Hypertension
2. Severely Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
3. Tracheotomy.
4.Ventilator
5. Tethered Spinal Cord
6. Failure to Thrive
7. G-tube
8. Bowel Obstruction
9. Colostomy
10. Down syndrome.

My friend Michelle at Downbloggers is trying to help his family raise money for the multiple medications, surgeries, hospitalizations, and treatments he is undergoing. How many times have you said, "I'm thankful that my children are healthy." And what about those who can't say that? If you are crafty, that is one way you can help. If you are not, like me, you can make a small donation, like I just did. Please take a look HERE if you are able to help with this wonderful project...For Parker's sake.

Ava has learned a new consonant. The "M" sound. I just have to share, it is absolutely melting my heart, because when she is practicing her new sound, it comes out "mama mama mama". I am quite sure she is not calling for me, but just the sound coming out of her mouth is breathtaking! Now if I can just capture the moment on video, I'll be sure to post it. Of course when she is practicing her "b" sound, the boys think she is saying "Bubba". And Daddy thinks she is saying "Papa". I bet we are all wrong!

The results are in......

I got a call from the developmental specialist this morning, bearing the results of the lab results for Ava. Are you ready for this? He said....Ava has......Trisomy 21. DOWN SYNDROME. Gasp!
Awkward pause.....
"Uh......OK? Thank you?"

Mmmmmm.....

All that fishing finally paid off!

"No"

Ava shakes her head when we ask her questions. I don't know if she really knows she is saying "no"or if she just enjoys all the laughter she gets out of it. The kids were on the front porch watching the thunderstorm with the door open while I was filming this, that was the screaming in the background. What timing, huh?