Checking in with LOTS of pictures

One of several summer episodes playing in our backyard pool: Caleb, Abby and Steven. This particular picture was taken on August 11.

Here is the very sweet heart that Abby (and Scheri) made for ME! (I alluded to it in a previous post. It has a special place on the freezer door.





Above are two pictures of Abby at her initial dental exam on August 9. She was so cooperative that they were able to take xrays, clean, polish and apply fluoride.

Below is our new dining room table--we didn't have enough space at our old table (which now has graduated to being a resting place for our school computers and lots of school "stuff")
8/12--Here are our 3 Reece's Rainbow treasures in concert!! This was just too cute. Steven is at the piano, Caleb on the xylophone, and Abby on the guitar.



Now Caleb has taken over the ivories.
A duet.
Here's Steven astride a pony at the Jerome County Fair on August 12.

Caleb's turn
Abby and the pony being led around the petting zoo area at the fair.

Abby, Caleb and Steven outside the Merchant's Building in their Smokey the Bear hats. We had such a terrible time keeping hold of these balloons.
8/15-Scheri and Abby "artisting" in the girls' bedroom. This also shows the new beds we got for the girls' room. Billy also got a new twin-size bed, though of course it is in a separate room :)


8/16-The Mighty Warriors: Caleb, James and Steven

Scheri and Abby looking pretty on Aug 16.
Kevin and I went on a hot date to the Canyon Crest restaurant on Aug 19
August 21--This picture was taken at lunchtime at Arctic Circle right after church and right before we started our school-clothes-shopping marathon. I think it was after 11 pm when we finally staggered home. Good grief! It really should be illegal to have that much fun in one day.

August 29--Abby getting fitted for her brace. The technician applied this cast material to her right leg, let it harden and then cut it off. He used this mold to form the actual brace which we received a couple weeks later.
8/16--James tried out for the junior high football team and made it!! He was so psyched.

Here's James in uniform with Scheri in her cheerleader attire on 8/26
Scheri showing some of her moves.


My Dad's belated birthday party at our house on 8/26 AFTER the football game. (It was Scheri's first game to cheer.) He is 75!!

8/26--This was so precious. Abby actually fell asleep in Kevin's arms--a very special 'first.'

Our pooch Roxy truly believes she is a lap dog.

9/3--Caleb and Abby on the teeter-totters at Eden Park at our family reunion. Steven was paired up with Caleb while I was on the other end of Abby's board.
9/4--Labor Day camping trip in the South Hills. Caleb and Abby in the foreground; Kevin and Steven closer to the motor home.

Scheri and Teresa. This water is COLD (though actually warmer than it is in spring when it feels like liquid ice)

James and stick holding a dead fish. EWWW!
9/5--Billy the mighty explorer.
Queen Scheri up a tree.
Sitting around the family table at our campsite.
9/5--Scheri has figured out what she's wearing for the first day of school tomorrow. She's a sophomore.

9/6--Caleb and Steven on their first day of 1st grade.
9/12--Here are Teresa, James and Abby working away on schoolwork at home.
9/15--Back to the ortho place to try on Abby's new brace. She had chosen purple butterflies for the design on the molded plastic.These shoes which we took with us to Bulgaria were significantly too big for Abby; however, with the brace, they seem to be just right. PTL!! They have butterflies, too.


Isn't she beautiful!!
9/17--Abby, Caleb, Steven, Billy and Scheri all worked on surprise posters for Pastor Appreciation Sunday.







Here's Abby with an alphabet game
9/30--The McClain boys--James, Caleb, Billy and Steven

Here is the whole crew. Teresa, James, Billy, Abby, Scheri on the couch; Steven and Caleb in front. Unfortunately the sad occasion for our black attire was the death of one of our elementary teachers after a 2-year battle with cancer.





Abby and Scheri in front of the school.

Just in case anyone is worried--yes, we are all still alive and well. Yes, I have LOTS of pictures. Yes, I do seriously wonder whether I will ever really get this blog caught up. The organized part of me (stop that hysterical laughing! there IS an organized portion, however minuscule it may be!) is really bothered by the idea of not posting things in order. The more realistic part is arguing that if I wait to post things in order, well . . . our children will be great-grandparents before I get it done. I will settle for just putting the pictures in order.

More Blithering

Yesterday, Sept 8, I received a call from Shriners stating that after consulting Abby's MRI, Dr.Hennessey is going with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy for Abby rather than an orthopedic diagnosis and wanted to refer her to a neurologist. I was able to assure Shriners that we had already seen a neurologist. Our son James also has very mild CP.

Tonight we ordered a program for Abby called Total Immersion to help her in English acquisition. According to the ads it's just as good as Rosetta Stone but a fraction of the price. Well, I can't vouch for the "just as good" yet--but it only cost $49 for levels 1, 2 and 3 while Rosetta Stone was $179 for Level 1 alone. I have been having Abby work on A,B,C's, writing her name, names of colors, counting, adding and subtraction. Today she sat on my lap while I read 4 stories. I think she got the most enjoyment out of "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop On Pop" by Dr. Seuss. I can put a lot of action and fun vocal intonation into those.

For anyone adopting who might be following our timeline: I forgot to mention that we received Abby's Certificate of Citizenship 3 1/2 to 4 weeks after arriving on U.S. soil. We applied for her Social Security number on Aug 17 and received the card just a few days later. (I can't believe I didn't write either the date for the COC or the SS card on my calendar.)

This has been a pretty hectic week. Last Sunday after church we loaded up our motor home and drove up into the South Hills where to my surprise we found a nice, private spot where the kids could wade and play. Abby was all excited when she saw me loading her swimming suit. I tried to explain that we were not going to actually swim but just get our feet wet. Once she stuck her piggies in that COLD shallow creek, however, she quickly figured out what mommy was talking about. I was quite a sight there in my slippery-bottomed sandals with Caleb, Steven and Abby all clinging to ME for balance as we slid and tripped our way along over the slippery-topped rocks. My sweetie served up some yummy hamburgers and hot dogs which we ate by lamplight. Sunday night was actually rather chilly and we all appreciated the campfire over which Knight James so gallantly roasted marshmallows for his lovely mother. Monday morning several of the kids were out playing that Scheri was the Queen and Billy and James were bodyguards. I'm not sure what Caleb and Steven's actual titles were--but they performed their duties quite rambunctiously. Of course, when I got out there with my camera, everyone started fighting. A little later all of us headed up the stream "to the Promised Land." I had Abby's hand; Kevin had Steven; and Teresa/Scheri traded off holding on to Caleb part of the time. I think everyone had a great time. Several were collecting pretty rocks from the bottom of the creek bed; I think all the boys were holding on to sticks. Even I had a stick for awhile but it was too wimpy to be of much help in keeping me upright. Hey, I never did actually fall but came pretty close a couple times. Everyone was being a pretty good sport. And Abby--who can trip walking on flat ground--just trekked right along over all those river-bottom rocks and even some sticks and a tree trunk or two. Back at camp we dried off, had popsicles and before long it was time to make lunch. Scheri and Abby were big helps--Scheri spread mayo; Abby unwrapped sliced cheese; my official task was to place the meat slices on the bread and fairly apportion the mac and cheese.

We got home and let everyone put their school clothes away in their dressers. I think pretty much everyone had to hit the tub or shower. I had the fun job of writing names on all of Caleb and Steven's individual crayons, pencils, boxes, etc prior to returning them to the appropriate back pack. Kevin's equally fun task was trying to get the 3rd computer hooked up for school tomorrow. (IDVA supplies computers, books, science equipment, etc for their students--so that goes for both James and Teresa)

Tuesday morning I took Caleb and Steven to the elementary for their 1st day of 1st grade. Wouldn't you know it--we were late. Elementary school starts at 8:15 this year rather than 8:30 and high school starts at 8:04. Then I took Billy on over to Twin for STRIVE, a special ed program designed to give older students more hands-on living skills. YEP, late there, too. Bah humbug! Then I headed for Walmart and was so glad I had purchased 99% of our school supplies way earlier. Good grief! Those aisles looked like fields after a grasshopper infestation--right nigh stripped bare. And no, there were not any fine-tipped dry-erase markers either in the school section or the home/business section--that was my only missing item on Abby's school supply list. I'd left James, Teresa and Abby at home each working on a computer doing school work. Scheri who had cheerleader practice before school got herself up and out of the house. When I got home poor Teresa said she'd had to re-start her computer about 20 times, James was watching Abby's screen rather than his own and Abby wasn't too happy when I told her she needed to do the ABC's again.

James had football practice Tuesday and his first football game on Wednesday and was so majorly stressed about both of them that he could hardly keep his mind on his studies. I am not exaggerating. However, when he found himself still alive and in one piece both after the game and after practice on Thursday, he seemed much more relaxed.

Today, Sept 9 was difficult as I'd imagined it would be. James and Teresa and Billy had school. Scheri and Abby and Caleb and Steven did not. Billy was no problem because he seems to really like Strive and has been motivated to get up and around. James and Teresa, however, were confined to their assigned computer chairs. Teresa found some assignments she had over-looked and worked on them. James, was working and working, trying to get caught up and was getting so frustrated with the whole thing. I truly considered just packing the equipment and books back into their respective boxes and returning them to IDVA. It doesn't help that I really didn't want to homeschool this year in the first place. It doesn't help that it takes so much effort to keep the little kids occupied at least somewhat positively while also having to push so hard to keep James on task.

Random Stuff

So many things have happened since I posted last. Some are fairly major. Some aren't--I just want to remember them.

I hope you see the humor in this and don't think it is terrible. Several days ago Abby had picked up a book and was pretending to read it in English. As I recall this one was just a regular book with no pictures. She was going through a list of words she knows--ending with these 2 lines: "Abby, shut the door" and "Shut up, Abby." Sorry, that just cracks me up.

She is truly a lovely little girl and wants to be helpful to Mom. She really likes to help with cooking, asks to rinse the dishes, likes to boss the little boys (smile) The funniest thing she's done is to sweep the gravel off our gravel drive-way!! Bless her heart! she was out there working so hard and with such obvious goodwill that for several days I just didn't have the heart to tell her that all those little rocks were in our driveway on purpose.

Last night when she went to bed, she was able to tell me "Abby little sad--Villi." I said, "I'm sorry" and was stroking her face and hair. She said, "It's OK" It really touched me that she was able to share her feelings--and that she WANTED to tell me how she felt. And this morning she put 6 English words together!

Important appointments:
*August 3 EEG
*August 5 Abby had an appointment with Shriner's hospital in SLC. The orthopedicdoc there doesn't feel that Club Foot is the correct diagnosis. She wonders if there is a neurological reason for her right leg being smaller and weaker.
*August 9, Dentist
*August 25, Met with pediatric neurologist in Boise to discuss diagnosis of epilepsy. His feeling is that since Abby has been seizure-free for such a long time (and is also on a relatively-low dose of her medicine) that we can probably discontinue the Trileptal. Her EEG does show some abnormal brain activity like is seen in a person who has seizures but apparently not everyone who has these abnormalities actually has seizures. However, he wants to see the results of the MRI tomorrow first. We will plan to see him again when he has clinic down in our area in a couple months. Mom went with Abby and I to Boise and we had a fun time at the Discovery Center in the afternoon. Abby and I went swimming at the motel salt-water pool. Grandma and Abby both enjoyed some ice cream. And then somewhat early to bed in anticipation of the sedated MRI scheduled for 7 am. Abby did great. The nurses were so sweet and tried to show her what was going on. I was so touched that they went the extra mile and actually got a Bulgarian interpreter on the speaker phone!! Abby went through the procedure fine, woke up fine but a little grouchy, got more ice cream for lunch (which of course she had no complaint about) and we were home by 1:30 pm.
*August 29 Abby went to Rehab systems and was fitted for a brace. They actually put a cast on her right lower leg, let it dry and then cut it off. The brace will be made from this form. She chose purple butterflies for the material her brace will be made of. We are supposed to get it in about 2 weeks.
*August 30 James and Teresa started their schooling with IDVA. Also that night James decided to try out for our football team--and he made it
*Sept 2--tonight--is Scheri's first night to cheer for the football game.

Mostly STRIVE

Today I was teasing Abby about being "Missy No-Kissy." She was laughing--and this afternoon she let me kiss her!! She also helped me straighten out Caleb's and Steven's drawers--and wanted me with her.

This afternoon I had a meeting at the school--for an addendum to Billy's IEP. He is starting a program called STRIVE this year and is very excited about "going to college" :) :) So we had to work on goals specific to that program rather than the classroom. I am hopeful that STRIVE will be a great fit for Billy because it deals so much with real life--food planning and preparation, shopping, money skills, cleaning, transportation, acquaintance with our local junior college, etc.
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Oops! I never finished this post! One of our issues is that our local school has changed to a 4-day week while STRIVE is a 5-day program. One option was that he just attend 4 days a week; the STRIVE people weren't too thrilled with that choice because it would cheat Billy out of 20% of his program. But apparently our school isn't required to provide transportation on the Fridays. Also apparently the public bus transportation available previously has lost funding and a taxi would cost about $5 each way. $10 per Friday would add up over the course of a school year. Thankfully, my parents have volunteered to transport Billy on Friday mornings on their way to the gym and possibly Billy's DT will pick him up. Sounds good anyway.

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Addendum: The school ended up providing transportation on Friday mornings since they already are transporting another student to the same place. PTL!!

Bonding

Sorry, sometimes it is just so difficult to blog . . . for lots of reasons--like multiple children who believe they deserve a 'turn' at using the computer; like multiple other things I need to do to keep our house from being totally submerged in scattered toys, scattered papers, dirty clothes, dirty dishes, etc.; like right now when I am seated right here in front of the computer and just am not sure I have the emotional energy to type.

I need to write about bonding. Well, I honestly think attachment with Abby is going as well as can be expected right now. It certainly could not be described as a seamless transition; neither, however could it be described as horribly chaotic.

Abby's age and our language barrier have to be recognized as significant factors. Obviously with a mommy and her newborn, there's lots of healthy skin-to-skin contact, there's physical and emotional nourishment, there's cradling, there's looking into each other's eyes, copying each other's expressions. Mommy is right there to feed, burp, hold, change, bathe, tend to any ailments, etc. But Abby is not a newborn. She's heavy--I can't just pick her up and tote her around all day like an infant or toddler. She's not comfortable with a lot of physical closeness and she definitely does not like being like a "baby"--so I haven't tried having her sit in a rocking chair beside me, little alone sitting on my lap. So far, I'd say the best bonding thing we've done is having fun together--looking at books, working on puzzles, spinning around in the kitchen, just generally being silly. Also kissing (and applying medicine and band-aids to) her owies, applying lotion to her dry arms and legs, and tucking her in at night--seem to be positive "mommy" tasks.

Silliness also really helps deal with her whining--it makes her laugh and it helps my attitude (because I truly HATE whining.) So a couple days ago she was whining about something and I started copying what she was saying in a big, dramatic opera-type voice with huge arm movements. She thought it was funny so it helped us both. I even grabbed her in my arms and spun around in circles in the kitchen. She liked it. (Then I had to spin the other way to try to unwind myself. I was majorly dizzy.) Other times I just have to tell her to STOP. Like today I told her "no" about something and she started going down the whine-list of all the things she couldn't do--like she was the most picked-on and deprived child on the planet. I was grumpy to day and just had to tell her to knock it off.

I try to make comfortable contact with her throughout the day--put my hand on her shoulder, pat her head, kiss the top of her head-- when I'm around her. Today she decided to comb MY hair, apply deodorant to my armpits, lotion to my arms and powder to my legs. I think that counts--it's still safe skin-to-skin physical contact.

Abby truly seems to enjoy teasing and she is generally a good sport. She can also play rather rough--which is a good thing since she has 4 brothers now. However, a couple things she's done to me have actually caused mild pain. One things is when she grabs my cheeks and pulls my lips into a smile--that's fine except she squeezes too hard and it hurts my cheeks. Another thing she did several times was spin around in her chair and kick me in the shins. I was going to ignore these but since she knows these things hurt, I need to have enough respect for myself to not let them continue.

Since the night I posted about where Abby crawled clear across her bed to give me a night-night hug, she has not wanted a bedtime kiss at all :) :) :) Sometimes I comply by not kissing her at all; other times I just give her a light kiss on the forehead or cheek anyway. Sometimes she wipes my kisses off. It's funny because sometimes she grabs Caleb and kisses him until he is just squirming and wiping his face and saying "No kiss" very loudly. I'm thinking as I'm typing that if I'm going to insist that she listen to Caleb and stop kissing him when he says, 'no kiss' then maybe I need to give her the same dignity. Or perhaps at bedtime I could just let her choose which cheek I kiss. I'll have to think about this.

School Chat

Oh, I spent some time this morning talking to Mrs. Price, lead teacher at our elementary school. She said Abby can't join in on the English-learning program during summer school because it is funded by the Migrant Council (we have quite a population of children from Mexico whose parents travel working with agriculture) The ESL program during the school year is a whole different matter and she would, of course, be eligible for that. I told her that my issue is bonding/attaching with our family. That is even more vital than formal schooling right now. So we're looking into purchasing the Rosetta Stone program so she can work on English here. And Mrs. Price will check into some legal issues--thinking about possibly doing an hour or two in the classroom