Thursday, September 9, 2010
1st Day of School for '10-'11
Emma's first day of KINDERGARTEN was on August 16th! I did not snap as many pictures as I would have liked to. As I recall we were running a little late. Man O' man....I really can't believe that my baby is NOT a baby anymore! :( Emma is ending her 4th week of school already. So far she has held her own in a "typical" classroom setting with support from her Para as opposed to being in a Special Needs classroom full time. She still has pull out time to visit her SN class...but, not really much so far. I know that it is challenging for Emma and it has not been with out bumps this year....but, we are finding our way. I am very proud of you Emma!
Double Cuteness....
Double Luckiness....Double Naughtiness....Double Trouble.....Double fun.....Double Blessed!
We Scored Bigtime!!!
This particular Friday was a very, very good one for Emma and Sophie! After running our ritual morning errands of the summer I surprised them with Mc Crap...I mean Mc Donald's for lunch. when we arrived home we had multiple boxes on our front stoop!
Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh had sent a letter & pictures of the girl's attic pals The Grinch & Santa (long story....). ;) AND, Auntie Molly mailed them souvenirs from her trip to Peru. (Greg and I got stuff too)! Lastly they received toys that their Daddy had ordered for them....simply because they asked....a baby doll for Sophie & a Grinch for Emma. (Do you see a Grinch pattern here)?
Lao Lao & Yeh Yeh had sent a letter & pictures of the girl's attic pals The Grinch & Santa (long story....). ;) AND, Auntie Molly mailed them souvenirs from her trip to Peru. (Greg and I got stuff too)! Lastly they received toys that their Daddy had ordered for them....simply because they asked....a baby doll for Sophie & a Grinch for Emma. (Do you see a Grinch pattern here)?
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hmmmmm.......
I found some pictures on my (new) laptop that I *thought* had been lost. Thankfully they were not! I took these pictures of the girls at the beach while visiting family in Michigan....
Are they adorable beach beauties or what?!
Things have been....hmmmm...."busy" around here. I don't have the energy to go into specific details. And, to put it plainly I really don't care to relive our experience last week! To sum it all up; Emma was put on a new medication. It did not work. It actually had a paradoxical effect. She got pretty upset. She smacked her beloved little sister Sophie in the head with a wooden name plaque. Did you know that head wounds bleed lot? They do! Greg came home from work to clean up the scene of the crime and calm Emma down. I took Sophie to the ER. I consoled her. She understands a lot for a 3 year old. Three staples later along with a popsicle and hospital toy...she was as good as new. It took Emma longer. She is has a lot of physical strength for a 6 year old...I bet that she could have lifted up my mini van over her head. ;) She started to calm down-the next day. Not fun times around here. We have a lot of professionals trying to help Emma. We ditched THAT medicine (DUH) in lieu of a NEW one. This one seems to be helping-thank goodness! The girls are doing pretty good. I am STILL exhausted and it is 5 days later. So is Greg- guess that is what happens when you are 36?
Are they adorable beach beauties or what?!
Things have been....hmmmm...."busy" around here. I don't have the energy to go into specific details. And, to put it plainly I really don't care to relive our experience last week! To sum it all up; Emma was put on a new medication. It did not work. It actually had a paradoxical effect. She got pretty upset. She smacked her beloved little sister Sophie in the head with a wooden name plaque. Did you know that head wounds bleed lot? They do! Greg came home from work to clean up the scene of the crime and calm Emma down. I took Sophie to the ER. I consoled her. She understands a lot for a 3 year old. Three staples later along with a popsicle and hospital toy...she was as good as new. It took Emma longer. She is has a lot of physical strength for a 6 year old...I bet that she could have lifted up my mini van over her head. ;) She started to calm down-the next day. Not fun times around here. We have a lot of professionals trying to help Emma. We ditched THAT medicine (DUH) in lieu of a NEW one. This one seems to be helping-thank goodness! The girls are doing pretty good. I am STILL exhausted and it is 5 days later. So is Greg- guess that is what happens when you are 36? Thursday, July 29, 2010
Where Are My Peeps?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
"Blog Blurbs"
I could not think of a title for today's post. There is a lot swimming around in my brain. "Blurbs" kept coming to mind, so there you have it.
We went out to the Zoo today...and it was Emma's idea!! Oh joy. Being that I have so many thoughts taking laps in my cranium however I forgot my camera. (I also drove home with my phone and drivers license on the bumper of my van, but that is another story). The girls and I enjoyed our hour at the zoo. It was a MUCH NEEDED outing!! They ate a sack lunch in the double stroller and we ventured out to different areas of the zoo that we have not been to in a while. It was hot, man alive I was sweating pushing my two dollies around. Emma asked to walk after she ate, but Sophie preferred to ride. ;)
I have been observing Emma and Sophie interacting more closely over the past week. I marvel at God's orchestration of putting our family together. We all just fit together. My Mom and I shared a laugh over the way that Sophie has immersed herself into our family. As my Mom put it; it is as if she assessed the situation and figured out what she needed to do. Sophie truly LOVES her sister and looks out for her, she is a little mother hen. She guides Emma when needed and Emma takes to Sophie's self appointed role...most of the time. :) In turn Emma is fiercely protective of her little sister and always looks out for her. I never had doubts about Sophie's adoption, in my heart I just knew that it would all be okay. We are so lucky to have Sophie with us. She adds a lot to our little family. I can not believe how freakin' smart this little one is...she is a sponge. It is going to be fun to watch her grow and learn this year. She will be attending "school" with me one day per week and continuing her speech therapy with our dear Ms. Sara. When Sophie turns 4 we are going to enroll her in an activity...maybe soccer? She is SO ready. :)
My sweet Emma. She grows more beautiful each day. Inside and out. Lately she has been pretending to be a baby. She asks to be held and sang to-of course I am all too happy to do it! She even crawled around one day. She has also taken to carrying around a blankie. My gut just tells me to go with it. It might sound weird...but it really is not. She is regressing and bonding...she was not taken care of the way that any baby DESERVES to be...if she needs those needs to be met at age 6-so be it!
We had that appointment with Emma's ARNP on Monday. Her ARNP...we'll call her "KJ" is just fabulous. She is very intelligent....yet so easy to talk to. It almost feels like we are just meeting at Starbucks for a skinny latte when we see her. KJ called me this afternoon to discuss what the consensus is about Emma. You see, when we met on Monday Greg and I basically said "ACKKKK! HELP!!! We NEED to do something MORE to help Emma....enough is enough". So, KJ met with the head of the psychiatry & behavioral department at KU. He apparently is a guy who knows a lot of stuff. KJ also contacted "Pat" who is the psychologist who conducted testing on Emma last August-September. She also spoke to "Trevor" who is Pat's co-worker and the Neuropsychologist who worked with us when nobody else would. Seriously I love this man. He told us how to potty train Emma at age 5...but, I digress. This team of professionals (yes, apparently we have an actually TEAM...lol) has come up with a game plan. First we are doing some things pharmaceutically. I will spare you all of the medications...basically we are taking some away....keeping one to help her sleep at night...adding vitamin E and omega 3 as preventatives. We will try others, but not until next week. Secondly we are resuming therapy with "Pat". We might throw an OT into the mix. We are doing a full blood panel (oh yeah... are you not so jealous of ME, this will not be fun). Emma has not had a standard test since coming home back in 2006....medically we need to rule anything out. We are also going to do Genetic Testing. Tomorrow I will call a Genetic Counselor (yup, there is such a thing) who is located right here are KU. This is in order to rule out anything genetically based that could be causing Emma distress.
Tomorrow I will post pictures....I promise! :)
We went out to the Zoo today...and it was Emma's idea!! Oh joy. Being that I have so many thoughts taking laps in my cranium however I forgot my camera. (I also drove home with my phone and drivers license on the bumper of my van, but that is another story). The girls and I enjoyed our hour at the zoo. It was a MUCH NEEDED outing!! They ate a sack lunch in the double stroller and we ventured out to different areas of the zoo that we have not been to in a while. It was hot, man alive I was sweating pushing my two dollies around. Emma asked to walk after she ate, but Sophie preferred to ride. ;)
I have been observing Emma and Sophie interacting more closely over the past week. I marvel at God's orchestration of putting our family together. We all just fit together. My Mom and I shared a laugh over the way that Sophie has immersed herself into our family. As my Mom put it; it is as if she assessed the situation and figured out what she needed to do. Sophie truly LOVES her sister and looks out for her, she is a little mother hen. She guides Emma when needed and Emma takes to Sophie's self appointed role...most of the time. :) In turn Emma is fiercely protective of her little sister and always looks out for her. I never had doubts about Sophie's adoption, in my heart I just knew that it would all be okay. We are so lucky to have Sophie with us. She adds a lot to our little family. I can not believe how freakin' smart this little one is...she is a sponge. It is going to be fun to watch her grow and learn this year. She will be attending "school" with me one day per week and continuing her speech therapy with our dear Ms. Sara. When Sophie turns 4 we are going to enroll her in an activity...maybe soccer? She is SO ready. :)
My sweet Emma. She grows more beautiful each day. Inside and out. Lately she has been pretending to be a baby. She asks to be held and sang to-of course I am all too happy to do it! She even crawled around one day. She has also taken to carrying around a blankie. My gut just tells me to go with it. It might sound weird...but it really is not. She is regressing and bonding...she was not taken care of the way that any baby DESERVES to be...if she needs those needs to be met at age 6-so be it!
We had that appointment with Emma's ARNP on Monday. Her ARNP...we'll call her "KJ" is just fabulous. She is very intelligent....yet so easy to talk to. It almost feels like we are just meeting at Starbucks for a skinny latte when we see her. KJ called me this afternoon to discuss what the consensus is about Emma. You see, when we met on Monday Greg and I basically said "ACKKKK! HELP!!! We NEED to do something MORE to help Emma....enough is enough". So, KJ met with the head of the psychiatry & behavioral department at KU. He apparently is a guy who knows a lot of stuff. KJ also contacted "Pat" who is the psychologist who conducted testing on Emma last August-September. She also spoke to "Trevor" who is Pat's co-worker and the Neuropsychologist who worked with us when nobody else would. Seriously I love this man. He told us how to potty train Emma at age 5...but, I digress. This team of professionals (yes, apparently we have an actually TEAM...lol) has come up with a game plan. First we are doing some things pharmaceutically. I will spare you all of the medications...basically we are taking some away....keeping one to help her sleep at night...adding vitamin E and omega 3 as preventatives. We will try others, but not until next week. Secondly we are resuming therapy with "Pat". We might throw an OT into the mix. We are doing a full blood panel (oh yeah... are you not so jealous of ME, this will not be fun). Emma has not had a standard test since coming home back in 2006....medically we need to rule anything out. We are also going to do Genetic Testing. Tomorrow I will call a Genetic Counselor (yup, there is such a thing) who is located right here are KU. This is in order to rule out anything genetically based that could be causing Emma distress.
Tomorrow I will post pictures....I promise! :)
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