T.G.I.M.....Weekend Woes

Weekends are so rough for me. James works the night shift EVERY weekend & sleeps days. So....the kids & I are pretty much trapped in our house for 2 days with nothing to do. I could attempt to take all 3 kids out but it's too much work to make anything fun. I get exhausted & the kids get frustrated because they either have to help with Autumn or mad that I am distracted by taking care of Autumn so it's best to not even attempt leaving the house. This means for 2 days I am on complete Autumn care except when my night nurses comes in the evening, I have a 12 year old girl whose mood can change with each breath, & then I have a hyper-active 7 year old boy chatting to me all day (while trying to be quiet so daddy can sleep). I use the weekend to start my house cleaning, work on couponing and making my grocery list, & meal planning for the week. I try to spend more time with the kids but also try to make myself relax a little bit & focus on me some. I then torture myself by getting on facebook & seeing all the fun things everyone is doing over the weekend. Some weekends it actually makes me cry because I do miss the days when we could just get up & go. I miss hanging with friends or being able to take the kids to do something fun or even drive them to a friends house to play. The weekend is not all bad though, we get to attend church on Saturday evenings & I do get to spend more time hanging out with my kids (even though it can drive me crazy some days). I hate only getting to see my husband for about 4 hours each day & getting to go on date nights or getting with other couples/families. It's been the hardest part of our move & by Sunday evening I am so ready for Monday. The week brings help so I can leave the house, the kids can go to school & see their friends, & I get to see my SIL & have an actual adult to talk to. James is off so he gets to spend the entire evening with us & then I can have someone to talk to after the kids go to bed. It's sacrifices we made to give Autumn more of the care she deserves. even though it gets tough for me the minute I walk in her room & see her HUGE smile I realize we all do it because God has called us for more in this life. We may miss out on fun weekend gatherings/activities but it does not compare to the lessons God is showing us in being selfless, obedient, & faithful. Each week I start to get wrapped up in the "I wants" or "me" attitude & the weekends give me the reality check for how He wants me to live my life. He wants me to slow down, disconnect from the worldly ways to refocus, spend quality time with my children (not just carting them from place to place), have family worship time, cherish my husband more, and to care for that child who depends on me for her every little need just like I depend on Him. I get frustrated how He chooses to speak to my heart at times but so thankful He loves and cares for me enough to speak to me the way He does. Love my God.

Adoption Training

This week James & I attended our required adoption training.  We really did not know what to expect and I think we thought it would be 3 days of useless information.  We were so wrong!  We first learned about children in foster care.  A little facts for you...Did you know there are 32,474 children in the Texas foster care system? There are over 4,000 children who are free to be adopted in Texas each year and about 3,000 finalized adoptions each year.  All of these children have been abused & neglected & their parents have had their rights taken away.  These are very hurting, lonely, and confused children.  It's not their fault they have been thrown into the system and each and every one of them deserves to belong to a loving home.  We also learned about the adoption process & what to expect and all the steps & paperwork.  The most important things we were taught is how to love & discipline these children.  It takes LOTS of time & patience (which are 2 things I lack most).  We learned about attachment, how a brain works when it's been abused & neglected, and how we are going to have to parent differently.  A child who has been loved & nurtured from day one from their parents grow, attach, socialize, love, & function normally but a child who did not receive the same treatment from birth has to be parented in an entirely different way.  We were taught how to take these children and reprogram their brains to trust, attach, & love again.  It was a very eye-opening lesson for us and taught James and I so much.  We learned about development & different approach to handle acting out and really understanding the why behind the behaviour instead of just focusing on the behaviour. We both agree that EVERY parent needs to take a class like this because it really made us look at our kids differently & realize some things about them.  We already do a lot of the parenting tips they suggest but there was so much more we were missing.  It was worth taking 3 days out of our lives to be educated about these children & I truely believe we will be better parents and a better team from what we learned these past 3 days.  We also got our CPR/first aid certification done which was a good refresher for us since it had been 3 years since our last class.  I also liked the fact I got to spend 3 days alone with my husband which NEVER happens. 

I am so thankful for my team of "helpers" that made these 3 days possible.  My mom came into town to help with the 2 older kids and it's a good thing she did because Gage started running fever the morning of our first training so mom took him to the doctor and he has strep throat...again.  Sheesh! So, he was home Thursday & Friday.  My nurse working overtime to help with Autumn and my sister-in-law gave up her Saturday to take care of Autumn.  There is no way we could do what God has called us to do without the people we have in our lives to help us.  THANK YOU ALL!!!  The training made me super excited about this new journey God has called us on.  You know it's God when you can sit through 3 days of hearing about all the horrible trauma these children have been through & all the hardwork & effort it's going to take on our part to accept another child into our home but all you feel is peace about it all.  I have no doubt that the son God has planned for us is going to give us more than we can ever give to him.

Birthday, Seizure, School, Dr. appts, Paperwork....

September has been a VERY busy month! Autumn turned 3!!! This blows my mind that she is growing up and new things are happening in her life.  For her birthday I decided to invite family to join us in taking Autumn to the aquarium.  She LOVES looking at fish tanks and since she really does not interact much with people I figured this would be better than a party.  It was great! She was engaged the entire time.

 Afterwards, we all came back to my house for pizza, cupcakes, and presents.  Autumn had fallen asleep after the aquarium so she was not too thrilled to be woken up for pictures so we could all enjoy her cupcakes. She had a great birthday party though and we were so blessed that we had family with us to celebrate.

 Gage has been doing awesome in school this year and has not had any issues with attention span or too much goofy off...he actually has all E's and A's so far!  Madison has been extremely busy in middle school.  She's taking 3 out of 4 AP classes so it's been a lot to keep up with.  She has been doing great in Art and Theater as well and got a 100 on her first monologue...wish she would perform it for me but she won't. :(  She's also been busy performing at the 7th grade home football games and walked in the RHS homecoming parade.  She absolutely LOVES middle school and I've been so proud of the young woman she is becoming.

 Autumn aged out of ECI so we had the options of started her in the public school program called PPCD. I was extrememly nervous about it but after all the meetings and evaluations I knew it would be best for her.  She goes on Mon, Wed, & Fridays from 8am-11am with her nurse by her side the entire time.  They work on learning but she also receives OT, PT, and speech services as well.  She's only been twice so far but seems to be doing well with the adjustment.  Her teacher (pictures below) is so sweet and keeps in close contact with me.  Actually, all of Rockwall ISD teachers e-mail parents each week their lesson plans and makes it so easy to communicate & see what your child is learning. 

 We have also been busy getting evaluations done for additional therapy for Autumn.  I thought I was busy before but it's about to get worse.  She will most likely be receiving OT, PT, speech, and feeding therapy twice a week as well as school so our days look like they will be booked.  It's going to be hard on us but we can always cut back if it becomes too much for Autumn.  This week proved to be the hardest for her.  We weaned Autumn off her seizure meds last week in hopes we would never see another seizure or need meds.  Well, Sunday night Autumn had a seizure.  I was crushed because we had seen her personality come back after getting off phenobarb and I really did not want her to go back there.  Thankfully, her neuro does not care for phenobarb and suggested we start her on a different medication.  So, Monday morning she had her 3 year check-up and received her Hep B shot she had missed at birth and her flu vaccine.  Tuesday was a easy day at home but we did get her out for a morning stroll outside.  Wednesday was the first day of school.  Thursday we were in clinics for 6 hours..she had a CT scan, bloodwork, saw her neurosurgeon & neurologist.  Her CT scan looked fine and her neuro decided to start her on a seizure medicine called Keppra.  Friday she had her 2nd day of school but when she returned home she had a 101 fever.  So, now she's sick.  I am pretty sure it's the flu.  She runs fever & has the chills and once the fever goes down she's ok; then it all comes back 3 hours later.  Lungs sound good, no coughing or running nose.  This picture says it all....just think there is no sound followed with that screaming face.  ;)

So, this is where I left off writing my blog when I went to check on Autumn.  Her temp went from 102 to 105.6 in 15 minutes so off to the ER we went.  After IV, fluids, dispository, bloodwork, urinalysis, and chest x-rays they discovered she has an urinary tract infection.  She received IV antibiotics and we were discharged with an antibiotic (but not without having to plea our case first that we will be fine at home & did not want to be admitted & promise to take her to Children's if her temp went high again).  So, we are home sweet home again. 

Okay, back to how busy this month has been....in addition to ALL of that I signed up to be the volunteer coordinator for Gage's class (why I feel the need to add more to my plate is beyond me).  I've also been working on that 54 page application for adoption.  SO MUCH was to be done but all that is left to complete the application is TB tests for all 3 kids & a good health statement from Madison's dr(already got the other 2 kids done).  James & I need to get our fingerprinting done and then the application should be complete. Yay!  We go to training on Thurs, Fri, and Saturday ALL day so my mom is coming into town to help with driving kids around.  My kids are also off Wednesday for fair day so she will be able to join us for a fun day at the Texas State Fair.  ;)  Should be another busy, productive week.