Back to School

We are settling back in to our routine with school and all that we do. I have practice two nights a week for our easter presentation at church. Dad has been helping cook on those nights. Or, usually Tuesday night is Taco Cabana night.

Friday we went to the doctor for the recheck on the kids medicine. The doctor felt that Jaryd needed to be moved up to 10mg. He seems to have become comfortable with the 5mg. So we changed the dosage and he is doing beautifully. No side effects at all. There was also a new medicine available for Kailyn. We were having a hard time with the dosage of Kailyn's med. The new one started today and we will see how it works. It is liquid and I can control the dosage a lot easier. The only bad thing is that it is not time released. So I will have to give her a dose at noon each day. For now that is not a problem because she is with me at that time every day. And as she grows we can go back to a time released medicine. Jacob stayed the same on his dosage. The med seems to help him to focus better.

Here are a few pictures of the kids cleaning up grass in the yard on Saturday. We had a nice day on Saturday.

We heated the pool at our other house last week and went swimming on Sunday. The kids had a great time. Hopefully we will get to swim in it a few more times before it is rented.

Enjoy the pictures and have a great week.

God Bless

Tammy

Train ride

We left Sunday afternoon and drove to Belen, NM. They have a new train that is called the Railrunner Express. This train runs between Belen and Santa Fe. We spent the night in Belen in the motorhome and left early Monday morning to travel on the train to Santa Fe. We had a two hour lay over in Albuquerque so we walked around downtown and ate some breakfast at a great cafe. After breakfast we returned to the train station and prepared to load the train again to go on to Santa Fe. All of the kids were very excited over the train ride. We got to Santa Fe around 12:00.

We started walking and Kailyn was cold. Everyone had a hood except her. We stopped at a store and bought her a little hat. The lady said 1.08. I nearly fainted. Wow just one dollar and she was a happy camper. It looked pretty cute too. It even matched the outfit. It was definately worth the money for my sanity.

We went on to the plaza downtown. We saw the indians selling their jewelry around the square. We did a little more shopping and then went to lunch. Kevin and I had an awesome green chile cheeseburger at the Plaza cafe. Jaryd had nachos and the little ones had chicken. They were all happy. We returned to the street vendors and purchased some bracelets for all us girls. Jacob had found an astronaut toy that he wanted and we were still in search of Jaryd's big prize.

Jaryd finally found a kit at Border books that makes all kinds of flying airplanes and rockets. Now they are all happy we caught the train and headed back to Belen. Jaryd told me he wanted to live in Santa Fe. He loved the town. Kevin bought a huge dinosaur book and they all spent the train ride back to Belen reading and looking at the dinosuars. All except for Kailyn. She was busy playing with animals that we brought with us.

The picture of Alyssa sleeping is while we were shopping. Someone walked past us and said look at the flowers in her hand while she is sound asleep. We didn't know she had gone to sleep.

This was a great trip. We had a wonderful time with all the kids.

Tammy

What a week

Well let's see Monday morning started out with Kailyn throwing up and a fever. By, noon you would never know that she was sick.

Tuesday, Alysa throwing up and a fever. Tuesday night Alyssa's fever is so high she is delirious. I gave Tylenol and Motrin just to get it broken. Wednesday off and on she ran fever. Wednesday night she is delirious again. More meds. Thursday morning off to the doctor. She had a little sore throat but nothing else. They said it is just a flu bug that is going around. They did give her an antibiotic.

Friday, everyone seems okay. We are waiting to go eat lunch and in comes Kailyn holding her head and crying. Alyssa said she ran into the end of the piano. They were running through the house of course. I grab her and rush her to the sink to see how bad it is. We are off to the emergency room. Two hours later we have two interior stitches and six exterior ones. She took it well. They used lidocaine gel and no shots. That was her biggest worry the shot. This all happened about noon so we finish up at two just in time to pick the boys up at 2:25. We pick them up and Jaryd says he got a green face, but ummm he had detention. After a long discussion we discovered he didn't have detention, he as STUDENT OF THE WEEK. Wow from 9 out of 12 days disciplinary action to student of the week. Praise God for the medicine. We are very proud of him. He has shown remarkable progress this week. All of the kids have. Jacob is so much more focused and Kailyn has not been out of control at all. She takes life so much more calmly now.

This is the beginning of our spring break and we have a few things planned. I will show you pictures as we go along.

Have a blessed week.

Tammy

We have been growing caterpillars I guess you would say. We have nine cocoons. Here is a picture of the cocoons and then one of the butterflies that has already hatched

The swimming picture is Jaryd. He kept being gone when I was taking the pictures at swimming lessons. He always had a dentist appointment.

Then there is a picture of shirts that Nana brought all the kids from Cancun. I took them before school this morning so that they would still be white when I got a picture.

Tammy

Four green faces in a row. Wow what a change from the last two weeks. We haven't had four green faces in more than a month. It is so much more calm at our house. Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!

Forgot to say that Alyssa is sick and we had to go to the doctor today. It is just the flu bug. She should be better in a day or two.

Two green faces in a row for Jaryd.

Above is Alyssa and Jacob at swimming lessons. Below, is Kailyn at swimming lessons. She can't keep her float on. As you can see it is down around her butt. Sisters outside on the wall. You can't see but they both had their backpacks and they were out for a day on the town (around the yard). Jacob and Jaryd are playing legos on Saturday morning. This is the first time I have caught just the two of them together. They are growing closer all the time.

Alyssa was one cool dude princess.

We finally met the Payne's. It was as though we had known each other forever. We had lunch with them on Saturday at Peter Piper pizza. It was great to get together and discuss things that are only known by adoptive parents. I loved putting real faces with people that you have only seen on the computer.

We saw our pediatrician on Friday and she prescirbed medicine for all three kids for their ADHD and ADD. We started the medicine on Saturday. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a difference with all three kids. Jaryd was able to sit and play legos without getting frustrated. He had a wonderful day at school today. The teacher said he was a different kid. Thank you God for sending us to the right person. Jacob is much more focused and not so much out in left field. Kailyn has slowed. I am not sure they have found the right medication for her, but at least this is a start.

Kailyn and Alyssa have both been sick today. Kailyn has the stomach flu and I think that Alyssa has a cold that is getting worse. It has been a good day just to lay around in your pajamas. I never do that, but both girls are still in their pjs and it is 3:48 in the afternoon. Oh well.

More later.

Good morning

Life around our house is beginning to move into more of a normal mode. We are watching each child change and grow as God begins to mold them into a new creature.

Jaryd is having a really tough time at school right now. He has had 7 out of 9 days red or yellow faces. We feel that right now he is testing to see how far he can push. We are trying to be patient. The ADHD doctor says he doesn't have ADHD. What a crock! We have talked to several educators and friends whose children have ADHD and they all say he does. We also took a Taylor's ADHD checklist. He was in the high category. We have talked to the pediatrician and she is sending us to another doctor. She doesn't agree with the diagnosis either. Jaryd seems to be so tortured by the hyperactivity. He really wants to be good. He doesn't really want to act out, we just think he can't help it. We have started some private tutoring to try to get him caught up before the end of the year. Pray for us and him as we work through these tough times.

Jacob is improving with his attachment problems. I think he will work through all of this too. He was also seen by the same doctor as Jaryd. Jacob seems to be doing very well at school and moving along with his speech. He is still the one who sounds like a little Ukranian. He doesn't seem to be moving out of the accent quit as easy. Jacob is a charmer for everyone away from us. But, he is also beginning to work with us on his behavior. His lying has slowed and he hasn't had an episode in the last week. Praise God. Continue to pray for him also. God will prevail, I am sure.

Kailyn is still Kailyn. She is always on the hyper side. We are still working on some behavior issues, but she just needs to feel loved. We are continuing to give her that assurance. Her teacher said yesterday that she had a good day. At least, she didn't run off. That is good. We are making strides every day.

Alyssa is still testing all the limits also. I am sure that this is totally normal. She has such a good heart and wants to have perfect behavior. But, sometimes that other little person just has to surface.

We started swimming lessons this week. Kailyn we decided very quickly was not ready for the structure at this point. So we will just let her play in the shallow part while everyone else takes lessons. Maybe by summer she might be ready. Alyssa and Jacob are in the same class. They are both very eager to learn. Jaryd is in an older beginner class. He think with one lessons he can already swim. We really want him to still have the fear of the water. He will miss his lesson today for behavior and he has a dentist appt. We will start soccer at the end of the month.

Thanks for everyones support and prayers. We feel them every day.

Tammy