Hanging Around

Summer is officially here and the kids are out of school.  Sleeping in is on the agenda for some of them, while waking up early and crashing later in the day also works. 

May is a huge help and great at entertaining the little ones.  Buddy can keep BB distracted, but it is usually by winding him up with lots of physical activity, noise, and horseplay!

Vacation is coming soon, so I'm not worrying don't have time to worry about a summer activity schedule yet.  I have no idea when Sweets will be with us.  Her dad changes his mind daily hourly as to whether she will be allowed to come to our house.  She is thoroughly frustrated, as am I.  Her text last night included that she would "rather rot in jail" than stay at her house another day.  Ugh!
My schedule is packed full with barely a minute to relax, and if I do, I feel guilty because I've probably forgotten something.  I keep thinking I see the light at the end of the tunnel when I will have time to catch up.  I think that positive attitude is my fantasy land which lets me keep going instead of melting down. 
Right now I'm surviving one day at a time, trying to tie up loose ends and planning ahead for while we are gone.  Hopefully nothing major will slip through the cracks!

Watching Her

Big brother watching little sister...

She is sound asleep.

He is making sure she doesn't go anywhere

while entertaining himself!

Concerts

This weekend was concert weekend for the Children's Chorus.  May, Sweets, and Buddy performed magnificently!  They practiced three hours Saturday morning, performed at 7pm Saturday night, practiced two hours before Sunday's performance at another venue, and performed again at 4pm Sunday.  In addition, May and Buddy sang with the church choir for their year end presentation in church Sunday morning.  Whew!

It is amazing how much these three have improved.  May has really come out of her shell and is comfortable singing and doing the choreography.  Her facial expressions are fantastic!  Sweets has always sung beautifully.  She is quite relaxed when performing, but scans the audience to see who she can find!  Buddy was very into the songs this time.  He has been fairly frozen in past performances, but he participated fully and did a wonderful job singing!

May's birth father and his sister came to Saturday's performance.  I believe they thoroughly enjoyed it.  I received some very nice text messages afterwards.  May was excited to talk with them after the show, and her dad congratulated not only her, but the other two kids as well.  I'm so glad that we have him in our lives.

Three of Sweets' teachers came to the concert Saturday.  She was ecstatic and bubbled over when she met them afterwards!  Unfortunately, her dad did not come.  Sweets no longer expects him to, even though I must have reminded him a dozen or so times.

My parents and good friend came with me Saturday, and two friends from church came Sunday.  I know the kids really appreciate all the support.  The concerts are a lot of fun for them, especially after so much work all year long!

Saturday's performance had extra excitement when a child from another theater in the performing arts complex pulled the fire alarm and the entire facility had to be evacuated in the middle of the first half of the concert.  Luckily there was no real emergency, but our 300 chorus kids all got kuddos for behaving so well during the evacuation!

Weady!

he says, after BB was told to get his shoes and get ready to go!

BB was quite prepared for anything,

especially considering the trip was to pick up his brother from school.

Mother's Day

Thank you, God, for my five blessings!

Priorities

I had a wake-up call the other night while volunteering with the Children's Chorus in which the three older kids sing.  I was helping with uniforms and met an extremely polite, respectful, and gracious person.  It turns out he is the father of two teenagers in the group who happen to have major issues.  At the concert in April, neither teen had his/her uniform ready for inspection, and when they showed up for concert, the girl's dress was way too short and the boy's pants had never been hemmed.  The uniforms weren't exactly clean and pressed either.  Apparently these kids are known for lack of responsibility and little respect.  I was floored when I found out this was their father.

I inquired of another member of the uniform committee and found out that the father is a prominent doctor and the mother is too.  These are their biological kids.  The theory is that they have basically been raised in daycare and have never been taught much directly by their parents who basically continue to bail them out of bad situations.

Wow!  I know I need to set aside special time for each of my kids and to be very involved in their lives.  I also know that I rely heavily on Miss M and others to help me.  This wake-up call really got me thinking....

Huge Step Forward

At court for Precious today, the judge ordered termination of parental rights on mom.  Testimony was also taken as to alleged dad(s).  We have to wait until July for a publication hearing to complete TPR.  There has been no contact with any parent since mid February, and there are no known addresses. 

The GAL made an issue of the fact Precious was placed with family (sibling).  I guess Precious will be staying right where she it.  Amen!

Dinner

Tonight was my opportunity to take May out for her birthday dinner, to celebrate her becoming a teenager.  It was just the two of us. 

I selected a steakhouse which serves skewered meats sliced table-side.  It was all you can eat with a large salad bar as well.  The restaurant was a bit pricey, but for special occasions, it is nice to splurge.  May likes to eat, so this was perfect.  She even found room for dessert at the end!

May really enjoyed the evening.  I think she has thanked me at least five times, and that's since we left, not counting the times during dinner!

Reunited

Sweets is here.  She didn't come last weekend.  Her dad declared she was in time out and wasn't allowed to come to my house.  She was so glad to be picked up today!

Upon arrival home, Buddy and Sweets were basically inseparable.  Initially it was fine and they were having fun.  Then it turned to horse play and eventually to full out wrestling.  Yep, someone got upset. 

All evening it has gone from one extreme to the other, loving on each other to trying to strangle each other. 

I'm so glad Sweets is here.  Buddy and Sweets are so glad to be together. 

But it gets tiring sometimes!

Talking

BB is finally starting to talk.  Literally, until March, I think he had about six words.  Other than "please" and "bye", they weren't used much.  He didn't say "no" or "mom" or "more" but sometimes out of the blue he would surprise you.  He said "football" last year - ONCE.  He repeated "astronaut" while looking at a book - yes, really - ONCE.  He "talked' all the time, but no one could understand anything.  It was his own language.

He has been in speech therapy since last summer.  In March, they changed the format of the therapy, deciding he was old enough and had a long enough attention span to progress to a new level.  It seems to really be making a difference.  Within a couple of weeks, he was finally starting to mimic.  Can you imagine a two year old that doesn't repeat things?  Well, that's where we were.

But, now he is trying to repeat, even on demand, which is huge!  Although he has signed "all done" for a while (the only way he was generally let out of the high chair), he didn't want much to do with other signs.  Did I mention he has a mind of his own and really only wants to do the things he wants to do when he wants to do them?

Well, now he may be up to a couple dozen words that those of us around him can mostly understand.  In context they make perfect sense, even though few are clear or even complete.  But they are repeatable.  He is also saying short phrases.  Sometimes they are even clear enough for others to understand, but not frequently.

The good news is that he is now steadily progressing, after two years of little progress communicating.  He understands everything.  No issues there.  Hopefully soon his expressive communication with catch up with the rest of his talents!

Three Months

Precious is over three months old.  She is getting so big.  I'm sure she must be over twelve pounds and has outgrown almost all of her 0-3 month clothes, especially in length. 

She is a really easy and happy baby.  She rarely cries unless she needs something.  I think she has had two, maybe three, fussy days.  She wakes up happy and goes to sleep peacefully. 

Precious can be quite vocal, cooing and laughing.  Boy, can Buddy get her giggling! 

She eats really well and hardly ever spits up, although she does get hiccups frequently.  If she is hungry, though, she wants food NOW!  She is trying to start holding her bottle. 

Precious supports her head pretty well, but still tends to fling herself backwards when held upright.  She is starting to slap or grab at things dangling in front of her while in a bouncy seat.

We are dealing with a rash on the side of her face.  She also has a strange habit of turning her face back and forth against you when you hold her upright facing you.  It is like she is scraping her cheeks against your shoulder area. 

We are so blessed that Precious has joined our family.  Three months has gone by so quickly, but yet it feels like she has been here much longer.  It's amazing the plans God has for us!