Daddy runs a race

Today Daddy ran a race for the first time in over a year. He is planning on running another one in May. We need to try to be better in planning these. I am going to walk the one in May with the kids. It is through Bethany Christian Services, which is the adoption agency we use, so we want to support them. Now, back to daddy. He did great. He ran the 5K in 19min53sec. He was 4th overall. They did not do age divisions, but I am positive he was first in his age. We are very proud of him. He is a really fast runner! Elijah wants to run fast like his daddy.

Celebrations

My superman. My little guy is growing up. On Sunday, he was born again, so now he is a babe in Christ. We are so proud of our young man inviting Jesus into his heart. He has really amazed me the last several weeks with the questions he has been asking about God and salvation. I was so happy that Doug and I were the ones to pray with him as he became a Christian. My heart is overflowing with joy. He is doing great. He shared at AWANA on Sunday night and he shared at school yesterday. I am excited to see how he grows in God. I know God has given him a tender heart and has special plans for him.

Doug and I celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary today. I am so glad I married my best friend. God blessed me with a wonderful husband. We are going to go to a new restaurant on Sat to celebrate. We have heard it is great. I am looking forward to it. We are then going to spend sometime on the riverfront talking and growing closer.

Sellar's Farm Trip

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Spring Break Fun Part 2

On Tuesday the Malone's joined us and Carrington. The kids played, played, and played. We made cupcakes in ice cream cones. They did not turn out pretty, but they were tasty. The kids loved measuring the ingredients and using the mixer. They all got to put icing and sprinkles on their own cupcake. Then they played some more!!!

Spring Break Fun

The kids are on their second week of Spring Break! We have been busy having lots of fun. On Monday we went to Chick-fil-a and played with Carrington, Owen and Evan. The kids had a great time. Carrington decided to come home with us and spend the night. She did not want to go to work with her mom on Tuesday! So, Elijah had his first sleepover with a friend. He has had lots of sleepovers lately. They had a great time and really played well together. I can get so much more done when Elijah has a playmate. Sarah is good and playing alone, Elijah likes to have someone to play with him.

What is Sarah doing.........

Sarah can walk up the stair holding the hand rail!!!!!!! She did most of the flight by herself! She took several steps with just putting one foot on the step and putting the other foot on the next step up. Not the step up and put both feet on the step before going up to the next step. Is that clear as mud? Don't know how to say that, but she walked up the steps...upright, not crawling which is the main hooray. My back is so happy about this. I typically carry her up stairs because I do not like her to crawl up stairs in public. Her hands are always around her face, so I do not want them where people have been walking! She tried to walk down the steps at home last night without holding on and totally freaked me out, since I was at the bottom of the stairs and she was at the top. Got her to sit down and come down that way! Soon, very soon she will have it!

GOING TO GET ELIJAH

YOOHOO!!!! I am so glad it is finally Thursday and we are going to get Elijah. I am missing him so bad. He has had a great time at Nana's. I am sure he is spoiled rotten, but I am so ready to see him. He says he is missing Sarah, but denies missing Doug and I. Although, he called this morning and wanted to know when we where going to be there. This was his first sleepover away from home and it may be his last for a long, long, long time. Yes, he is already asking to do it again this summer. I really did good, I think. I have not cried and I have only talked to him 3-4 times a day(some of those my mom called me or Elijah called). I know this was good for both of us.

Day at Vandy

Well, our short surgery turned into an all day affair. So typical for our family. We arrived on time and was taken right back. When we were asked about what Sarah had eaten, things took a turn for the worse. Apparently, our ENT's office was wrong in that we were told Sarah could have applesauce until noon and the hospital says no applesauce. There was another family there that was told the same thing, so I know it was not just me! So our 3:45 time was put off until 4:30. Then we were worked into the schedule, meaning we were put at the end of our doctor's schedule, so it was 5:30 when they took Sarah back. She was fine. She played and climbed and sang loudly. Then for the last 30 minutes they brought her a car to ride in and she was delighted! She rode the car to the operating room. They were surprised how friendly she was. We were also told that Sarah has some sublaxation to her upper neck area. We will follow up with our pediatrician on this. They put her on neck precautions for the surgery and we were told that she does not need to do any activities that might put her neck in an awkward position. Try that with a 3 yr old who loves to try to flip, stand on her head, climb and jump, and slide down the slide head first. She has made me a nervous wreck today with all of her stunts! I did not realize how rambunctious she was!

Today she decides to talk....

Today Sarah has her ear tube surgery. The stinker is that it is not until 3:45. She can have clear liquids until noon, then nothing. Trying to plan so that we have minimal time around the house, esp the food, we let her stay up late so she would sleep late. That worked out wonderful. She got up at 8am and was ready to eat. I tried to stall her, but it did not work. I put her in the chair, leisurely put in a video, by this time she is screaming to eat. I gave her some jello hoping she would eat it before she realized it was well, jello. She has such a texture aversion to jello and I totally agree. Just too slimy, weird texture. I was hoping she would be so hungry that she would eat it. The first bite was spit out FAST, before I could even react. I had a MAD toddler on my hands. She very clearly and sternly announced that she wanted "nola bar". For those who do not speak Sarahism that means granola bar. Her favorite breakfast food. This was also the first time she has said this, but there is no doubt this is what she was saying, she even pointed to the cabinet that I keep the granola bars in. I explained that we were out of granola bars, but that was wonderful use of words. To which she replied something in Sarahism that I did not understand and do not think I can repeat it on this G rated blog, but my name was in there in let's just say not so nice of a tone. I was then able to get a few bites of the jello in, before she announced that she wanted "fute"--fruit in Sarahism. She always has pineapples with cherries fruit cup in the morning. Again this is the first time she has said "fute", but again she was pointing to the right cabinet when she said it. I went to the refrigerator to get some apple sauce. When she realized I was going the wrong way she stated "apple fute" and signed apple. Hmmm, I might be safe here, although she calls the pineapple cup apple, I have apple sauce. This is going to work, I think. I sat down the bowl and said here is apple sauce. I got a look like I had turned into a green horned creature. She just burst into tears. It was heart wrenching. I was crying by the time I got her calmed down. I told her I was sorry, but this was all she could eat. She did eat some of the jello and some apple sauce. We then got dressed. Glad I did not cancel her speech/feeding therapy for today. We came on to therapy to distract her. She is still not happy. She keeps telling Irene that she wants to eat. She is getting more physical therapy than speech today as Irene tries to keep her distracted. She is going to try jello and apple sauce in the feeding part of therapy, don't know how well that is going to go over. They are in the kitchen now, and Sarah seems to be whining. It will all be worth it once it is over and her ears are clear. I am pretty sure she has an ear infection this morning. She keeps touching her ear and tilting her head. Glad they do ear tubes with infections!!! Elijah is doing good at Nana's. Having lots of fun and getting spoiled. I am doing ok with him being gone, but missing him terribly. I will not state how many times I have talked to him since they left yesterday!! I will update when I can.

Mommy to Royalty

Today Sarah decided to empty the drawer in the bathroom. When I caught her and told her no she immediately put her hands on her hips(don't know where she got that from) and declared, "I's the princess." To which I replied, "I am the princess' mommy and I said no little lady." Ahem, I then noticed that I had picked up her habit of putting my hands on my hips, not sure when that happened! This was one of those aha moments in life. You know the moment when you are struggling with a decision and you finally see God's plan. As I posted yesterday, I have been struggling with the best approach for Sarah's education. Last night, Doug and I talked and talked and talked about it and finally decided that a private preschool was best and we were going to do more play type therapy at home and just enjoy her toddler years as we did Elijah's. We are no longer going to focus on goals and getting the next goal or step. God created her so perfect and we need to enjoy that perfection in the form He intended. Pure love and joy. I was still looking for confirmation that she would be ok. Well, her above response is so typical for a 3 yr old. That assertion of independence and self reliance. Sassy and defiant as it was, I really just wanted to pick her up and doing a happy dance praising God for showing that this sassy three year old princess was going to be ok. In fact, the world is going to be a better place because of Sarah and the love and joy that she brings to others, I know because my world is much better with my little princess. When we dedicated her at church we picked this verse for her:

Psalm 139:14 "I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and my soul knows very well."

This is a commentary I found on this verse when looking for a verse for her dedication:

In the original Hebrew text, the word 'fearfully' means: with great reverence and heart-felt interest and respect. The word 'wonderfully' means: unique, set apart, uniquely marvelous. WOW! No wonder the psalmist bursts out with exuberant praise in this verse. He realized the great love and concern that went into his unique and very individual creation. According to this Scripture, you truly are a Master Piece! The next time you have the temptation to ask the Lord, "Don't you care what is happening to me?" Remember this verse, because the total truth is that He cares and loves you with an acute intensity that cannot ever be measured.

My prayer for Sarah is that she grows to know that God created her fearfully and wonderfully and she is His Master Piece!!!!

Frustrating

Ok, I think I am in one of those moods that everything makes me mad! I am so frustrated with the public school system that I can not see straight! All of the research shows that children with Down syndrome learn much better in a typical school environment with their typical peers. The government even put into law the IDEA. IDEA mandates that a "free and appropriate public education" be available for all children with special needs starting at age 3, regardless of disability. A free and appropriate public education(FAPE) requires that students receive special education and related services that meet their unique needs and prepare them for independent living, employment, or post-secondary education. IDEA mandates that an Individual Education Program(IEP) be developed for each student by a team, including the parents. The IDEA also mandates least restrictive environment(LRE) to assure that to the maximum extent appropriate children with disabilities should be educated with their typical peers. All of this gets complicated in the preschool area, because many districts do not have general education classes for this age. This is the deep dark hole we are currently in. Our school district only offers special education classes for preschool and only offers pre-K to low income families. Sarah needs to have typical peers as role models. We were told there would be typical peers in this class. There is 1 to the 10-12 special needs children. Hmm, don't think that is helping. On top of all of that, the goals that were written for Sarah are ridiculous to put it mildly. I am at fault in this. I went to the first meeting 2 days before my hysterectomy. Not a good time to be writing goals. I was also told that Sarah was "only" developmentally delayed. As if that is not enough! When possible they like to put mental retardation on the file, then they only have to educate to the IQ, not the ability. I WILL FIGHT THAT LABEL! So let's see, I was hormonal, in the middle of a major life change, and my child is for now not mentally retarded, again not a good way to start a meeting. I did not hear a word after that. I just want to take my baby and RUN, RUN, RUN. I really wish at this point that is what I did. I did not. I stayed and put my child in this class. Nothing bad with the class, but not what she needs. Now, I can not get her out of this class. I did call a new IEP meeting and we are rewriting her goals to be more individualized. I spent all day yesterday trying to find a private preschool that will take a child with special needs for Sarah to go to next year. Not as easy as I thought. We are on the waiting list for one, waiting on an application for one, have to go meet with one first and would really like to send her to one, but they are outrageously expensive. To top it off, last week Sarah fell in the mud going into school last week and so now I am mad that they have her in a portable classroom, segregated from the rest of the school and we have to park in the muddy back forty and walk our kids into the trailer. I am trying to get them to work out a solution to the parking for us. There is a drive in front of the building , but it is gated for the safety of the school kids. Is my child not one of these kids? What about her safety? See, I told you I am in one of those moods. I just keep getting mad. Today it is snowing/raining. Sarah also does not regulate her body temp, so with the cold damp day, it is too far to go from the back field to her classroom and her not get chilled, so she is missing school. More frustration. I feel it bubbling up. Don't mess with my baby!

Exercising

Sarah doing push-ups with Daddy. I have a picture of Elijah doing push-ups at this age too. I need to find it to post!