Jonathan's First Day of School

Yes, today was Jonathan's first day of school. Why so late? Well, since 7 out of 8 of our children are homeschooled, we took a six-day adventure "field trip" around the state of WI the first week of September. All 10 of us living in a rented motor home. We just returned yesterday. Hopefully I'll blog about that soon! (Don't hold your breath though.)

Anyway, Jonathan started Early Childhood Class today. He went two mornings a week last year and will attend all four days offered this year. He does well there (from what I'm told) and enjoys himself. His speech continues to explode, so that is really fun as well! I'm so very thankful for the awesome professional staff that supports him and his individual needs.

And lest you think all picture ops are perfect around here, this will show you that is not the case.  He was mad because I actually made him walk out the door...ya know, use his legs and feet. I know, I'm such a mean mom!  

He had a good day though. We are all looking forward to getting back into a routine.

3 Years.....6 Months....

Three years ago today (June 25th), a Ukrainian judge named Jonathan as our 7th Blessing from God!  One less orphan!

I had forgotten what a Chunky Monkey he was! Sportin' lovely orphanage head wear.

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AND 6 months ago today, our first Ukrainian Princess arrived HOME on US soil!  She has changed so much in six months. It is a privilege and blessing to see her blossom!

Four months home
 (Yes, all that snow is the end of April!)

At graduation parties the last two weekends

6 months home!
Due to her "unique" hairline, she had her first necessary bang trim! Her hair is growing so fast. Fun!

We love you Jonathan and Grace! So glad you are part of our family!

Celebrating WDSD!

Last night we went to Monkey Joe's (bouncy house place) to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day with our local Down syndrome support group.

We all had fun, and even took some pictures! :)

Miss Grace wasn't too sure about the loud, crazy, and brightly colored place at first, but our sensory seeker quickly figured out how much fun she could have.

Elijah remembered going last year and had no fear!

Yeah, she really was this red. Playing too hard! lol

Anna and Jonathan

I (Sarah) was looking at my blog the other day and realized that the only picture I have of Grace and myself was from the orphanage and she was bald. So we took a new one. :)

Our Monkey Man is doing pretty well recovering from his surgery (a week today!). He has been drinking well, and was doing really well pain wise till the scabs came off. The past few days have been a little rough, but we'll get there.

"You mean I allowed to dive over this thing and land on my head??"

This is how all pictures of Grace going down the slide turned out. She LOVED it, and would not stop laughing, but always turned to the side coming down. lol

Just in the nick of time...

We were all set to stay overnight at the hospital. Jonathan had eaten quite a bit of his baby food throughout the day, but he would not drink anything.  Pat brought the all of the kids to see him after supper and then had to run over to his mom's house for a bit with some of the kids. In the short time he was gone, Jonathan drank about 15 oz of fluid! Way to go Little Man! We (us, nurse, doc) decided it would be fine to bring him home.

By this time it was about 7:30pm.  The night nurse hadn't done discharges very often. :-)  It all went fine and we are HOME!!!  Jonathan was glad to be home and made a bee-line for the couch to bounce/bang to get his "vestibular stimulation" for the day, and then off to bed!  He fell asleep right away.

Thanks for the prayers!  Praying tomorrow goes well too.  G'nite!

Pray for Ukraine and Jonathan Medical/Surgery Update

Please pray fervently for Ukraine! Tomorrow (Sunday) Crimea is voting on whether or not to become part of Russia.The ramifications of this are huge of course...Mama Tanya and Papa Igor are on my heart...praying for them...praying for Kostya S, our friend and Summer's son-in-law that we met a few months ago in Ukraine - he still lives in Crimea....and of course for the orphans in Crimea - remember Russia has banned adoptions to the USA - what could this mean for the babes that are still in Elijah's old orphanage or in the institutions??? American missionaries in Crimea? The world-wide political ramifications are huge as well of course.

Please pray for the unity and peace of Ukraine!!!!



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For quite awhile I've been meaning to do a medical update on each of our adopted children. I just haven't taken the time. Elijah and Grace are both doing well. Elijah recovered well from his surgery <2 :-="" absent="" ago="" an="" and="" certain="" chubbin="" cure="" doing="" foods.="" gagging="" great="" have="" he="" hear="" his="" i="" is="" men="" months="" most="" nbsp="" nicely.="" of="" on="" p="" puking="" quite="" race="" s="" seemed="" to="" tonsils="" up="">
Sometimes when you adopt, you think the babies will be the easy ones. Ha!  Jonathan came home a week before his 1st birthday.  While his attachment issues seem to have been a non-issue, his oral sensory/feeding issues have not been.  I know it could be SO much worse, but feeding issues can be all-consuming at times and very frustrating.  Both of the boys started seeing an AWESOME feeding/speech therapist, Sally, last fall.  I learned more from her in their 2 hour eval than I did in 2 years of Birth-3 therapy. It's a 70 mile round trip drive but SOOO worth it.  Grace has started seeing her now too, and I was amazed at how well she got Grace to cooperate and try to mimic sounds.

Anyway, back to Jonathan.  The "Chunky Monkey" is no longer "chunky". He has lost 7+ pounds since late last fall.  Thankfully, he had extra to lose but it is just so wrong to see his ribs and skinny thighs. :-( (His cheeks still look chubby due to his low muscle tone in his face.) He also has increased his "poking" he does on his throat. His teachers at school have seen the increase as well. He's been doing this for almost 2 years, but it is now always on his left side of his neck in the same place.  He had a video swallow study done a few weeks ago, and it was normal. Sally thought it was his tonsils and adenoids as he also does this weird thing with his mouth too.  So, off to the ENT we went. (Oh yes, we are very frequent visitors to our local ENT...)  Jonathan even "cooperated" and did his throat-poking thing in front of the ENT. He thought it was tonsils too. The Dr even managed a look at his throat and his tonsils were stage 3+ out of 4. (The weight loss can be from tonsils/adenoids issues.)

Soooo, Monday, our dear little "Skinny Monkey" will follow his big brother in having his tonsils/adenoids removed, and maybe an ear tube or two just for fun. (The ENT, Dr. P, will look at his ears while under sedation and see what he needs. His left ear canal has always been too narrow to place a tube, so we'll see if he's grown at all.)  Do you think the surgery center will give us a discount for frequent visits?  LOL

So, please pray for Jonathan on Monday if you think of him.  Specifically, please pray for his desire to drink after surgery. He often resists drinking anyway, and can be so so so stubborn when he doesn't want to.  Also, please pray for his weight to come back on after surgery as well. He really is just too thin right now.  I'm also hoping and praying this will lead to a breakthrough in his desire to eat, try new, textured foods and self-feed.  Oh, that would be miraculous! It'd be nice to not stay in the night in the hospital too.

Thank you so much!

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So, when is Round 3 coming???  Oh yes, our dear little Grace. I've heard her pauses while sleeping. I've only seen her tonsils a few times - mostly when she is upside down being tickled. While that may not be the most accurate way to assess tonsils, the fact they were touching, yes touching, was a bit concerning. It's also a bit concerning to think about going through this all with her. She might need the "sleepy juice" when we walk in the door. (She flipped out at the chiropractor yesterday. I know, he's so scary.) Poor girl though....I can't help but think what her medical experiences were like at the institution...I know she had a ton of chest x-rays as they gave them to us. Beyond that...no idea. So sad...

Surgery Tomorrow for Elijah!

Well, I never got around to posting the results of the boys' sleep studies. Jonathan's was relatively fine, Elijah's not so much. He has mild-moderate sleep apnea.  So, tomorrow morning he is getting his tonsils and adenoids removed to help make sure he is getting enough oxygen at night. In addition, he will most likely have ear tubes placed (3rd set). The ENT wants to examine his ears more closely while he's sedated. And finally, he is having a frenectomy. Don't know what that is? :-)  I didn't either until a few days ago. The labial frenum is the little tag of tissue in the center of the upper (and lower) lip that attaches the lip to the gum. So, a frenectomy is the clipping of the labial frenum. His top one will be done. His awesome speech/feeding therapist recommended it to help him with speech. I had forgotten about until I was thumbing through my new book from Talk Tools about feeding.

The ENT wants to keep him overnight for observation due to his Down syndrome. I believe it is usually an out-patient procedure.

We would really appreciate your prayers for a smooth and uncomplicated surgery and quick healing for Elijah.  I'm praying he will be able and willing to take fluids will over the next week.

This will be our first overnight at a hospital besides childbirth.  I know this isn't heart surgery like the Warrior Princess Lyla just had, but its still something new for us. Lyla helps me keep things in perspective. :-) Hopefully Elijah will recover as quickly as she did!!! She's a walking miracle!

On a side note, I sat next to Grace last night and listened to her breathing...I believe a sleep study is definitely in her future too. :-( Oh boy...the thought of that makes me shudder. Yes, I know I thought Jonathan's would be awful getting all those things stuck to his head, but wow...Grace can be a lot feistier than him, and she is very strong too. Maybe she'll surprise me like he did.

Speaking of Jonathan's sleep study, I never posted these pictures of him the next morning as they were taking all of the wires off him as proof of the miracle of him not fussing at all.  Sorry, they are so incredibly blurry. The iPad camera and I don't get along, plus he wouldn't stop moving!

Tears...(Sleep Study Update)

(Don't worry. Blogging 3 times in one day will not become a regular occurrence. Just an update from the sleep study lab. Here's a copy of the email I sent home.)

No, not the tears you are expecting. My tears...tears of the goodness of our Lord for answered prayers.

I am still shaking my head in disbelief. Jonathan did not fuss one single time. We watched Signing Time while they did the setup. He maybe moved his head three times. No noise. No nothing. Even when they taped the cannula under his nose. Nothing. No no-nos either. This is from a child that doesn't like it when I straighten his colic out at the back of his head. It took him probably 30-45 min to fall asleep, but he just laid there on his tummy breathing deeply and sounding like he's asleep but with his eyes open. He fell asleep about 9:15. I think I got the easier bedtime tonight! :-)

Thank you Jesus!!! GOD IS GOOD!  Amen and amen. Thanks for praying. God answers prayers!!

Sleep Study Update and Round 2 Tonight!

Sorry for the delayed update, but Elijah's sleep study went very well - amazingly well - miraculously well!  Thank you Jesus!  And thank you all for praying! He only fussed a bit while they stuck all the wires on his head.  We put the no-nos (arm boards) on his arms right away so he didn't think he could start yanking off playing with the wires. Just 2 things really bothered him. It wasn't the canula up his nose or even his mesh "hat" holding all the wires.  It was his hospital wristband and the thing on his toe to measure his oxygen levels (I think).  I took his wristband off. I figured it was the least I could do. :) I'm not surprised about his toe either. He HATES, I mean HATES to have his toe nails trimmed. Very sensitive feet. Anyway, as he was falling asleep, I took his no-nos off and he was asleep in 5 minutes. I was shocked!! He did GREAT! He didn't even fuss at the finger poke the next morning. Frankly, I was shocked - that was a good thing!

He set the bar pretty high for his little brother. Jonathan is much, much more sensory "defensive" than his brother. I joked with someone I was going to have to pray and fast for a long time before Jonathan's test for it to go as well.  J's was scheduled for October 4th in Milwaukee, but after being at the New Berlin sleep lab, I wanted to go back there. It was very nice w/ a private bathroom.(Plus it was the night before our DS walk.) So, I rescheduled it for Oct. 30th and put him on the cancellation list.

They called this AM with a cancellation for TONIGHT! So, Jonathan and I are off this afternoon for sleep study #2.  Please pray his nose stays clear. (Both boys have sniffley noses but Jonathan's was fine this morning when he woke up.) Please pray he tolerates this well and can fall asleep. I would keep the no-nos on him but he always always falls asleep with his right two fingers in his mouth. I'm not sure how this is going to work. Prayers I can sleep too would be appreciated. 

Thanks so much everyone! I appreciate you all so much!

(Here's the link I posted last time about sleep studies in case you missed it. http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/986521/sleep-studies-for-children-with-down-syndrome)

Sleep study x 2 - Comin' right up!

Yep, both Elijah and Jonathan will be having the notorious sleep studies.  I'm heading off in a few minutes for Elijah's and Jonathan's will be in a couple weeks. I'd appreciate prayers tonight for all to go smoothly for both of us. :)  I'll try to update tomorrow, which happens to be Elijah's 6th birthday! Fun way to start a birthday I'd say.

Sorry it's been so long since I've update here. We've been too busy livin' life to blog about it I guess. I'll try to update more soon!

Thanks everyone!

TWO YEARS HOME!!!

 Jonathan two years ago...

Two years ago today, I took this scared, floppy, and actually quite mellow little boy with chronically red eyes out of the orphanage FOREVER!!!

Jonathan, my dear son, I can't believe it has been two whole years already. What fun we had trouncing around Kyiv!  And mommy was so blessed by the "angels" God sent her on the way home.

You have grown and changed SO much in just two years.
You have transitioned from size 12 mo to 2T/3T clothes

- from not putting any weight at all on your legs to now climbing onto the table AND the high stools

- from no communication at all to the many speech sounds, words, expressions and signs you have now

- from having no opinion about life whatsoever to having an opinion about everything

- from having seemingly no interest in your surroundings or toys to being "curious" about everything

- from drinking out of the bottle to the straw cup

- from stage 1 baby foods to thick and chunky purees (ya, we're still working on that one)

(You have no idea what a miracle this is!)

- from having zero interest in books to sitting for 30+ minutes looking at books all by yourself

- from not knowing the love of a family to eating up every hug, kiss and snuggle you can get.

You have become one of us.  You have melted our hearts. We all love you SO much!!!  I can't imagine life without you!

Sarah made this video last year for Jonathan.  I thought I would share it again. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

Sarah here... as you can guess because this is a picture post. ;)

We're with family this weekend, and yesterday we had the egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's. Elijah and Jonathan quickly got the hang of it if they didn't remember from last year, but I don't think either of them realized that there was candy inside!

Jonathan

Elijah

Rachel

Rebekah

Isaac

Anna

And... this would be where my camera stopped working so no pictures of me. Not that I would have posted them anyways. :)

And some pictures from this morning (from grandma's camera)...

Best picture we got of Rachel in her dress... she wasn't in the picture taking mood. This beautiful Ukrainian sparkle dress was Little Miss Ruby's dress. She generously donated it to a blog auction to help her new big brother, Maxim, come home from Ukraine. Rachel loved wearing it today, even if she didn't want to pose for a picture.

Elijah was all dressed up too.

Happy Easter from our family to yours!