It's SPRING! :)

This past week we had a great time with friends visiting!  They have kids around the same age as our kids, and a little one with Ds to boot :).  We spent a day at our Down syndrome picnic, went to the zoo, I took care of a few doctor's appointments for kids, we drove out to the beaches and to see the old shuttle pads, and they took in a few sights of their own!

This Friday Wesley, Emma, and Micah all went to the ophthalmologist and they each got new scripts.  Micah's script is going to be a little LESS than his previous, but Emma's and Wesley's have both increased.  We'll be headed to WalMart next week some time to order new frames for all the kids that need them.  Our warranties are up on the old frames, and Micah broke his second pair a week ago at school... So it's time!

We are now on Spring Break!  After a wonderful week with friends, now we have an additional week with just the family :).

I'm thinking another trip to the zoo might be in store, and of course that long trip to WalMart optical.  Today has started out with horse therapy, a quick trip through McDonald's for lunch, and a fun afternoon of RELAXING and PLAYING!

Believe it or not, our house has been SUPER quiet today.  Maybe it's a relative quiet... after having 18 people in the house and today there are 9 of us (Michael's working)?  :)

We had such a great time with our busy house and all the kids this past week, and my children's GOOD behavior on the tails of them leaving is a huge testament to how great our friends were with helping us stay in routine a bit and keep the rules going for our own kids even though our numbers almost doubled.

Looking forward to another great week... What kind of fun things do you do with family during your spring break from school??

Well, isn't that sweet? Hmm...

It appears we have a new route of traffic to this blog... It's from a blog that I won't be linking over to, but which listed this post: http://cornishadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2012/02/brand-new-adventure.html as a "blog gag me" post.  A listing of 10 blogs (this time... it's an ongoing series to my understanding) that they say they list because "readers have sent us (and we have happened upon) so many adoption blogs and blog entries that are offensive, dangerous set-ups for the children, unethical, illegal and/or crazy.".

It's interesting to me that they point out that we're 30, are about to be parents of 9 and some of our kids have special needs, and we are homeschooling.  They also point out an association with an organization we're no longer associated with, but I guess they have most of their facts straight anyway.

What strikes me as comical is that that's all they have to say about our family.  Maybe by reading that people would assume it "shouldn't work" and because of those things we're to be criticized?

Regardless, I went to the site, read what they had to say about us (leaving most of the rest of the site untouched...) and posted this comment on their post:

Someone sent me this link saying I should be outraged that my blog is being 'smacked' on. Quite honestly, I don't care :). My blog, Cornish Adoption Journey, tells about our life for friends. Yes, we're expecting a new baby, yep, we have a big family, and yes, we're young :). We do homeschool some of our children who have no 'place' in the school system... (which we did try, and I wish it worked because, well, wouldn't that make life easier?). Unfortunately, some of your facts are wrong because I'm no longer associated at all with the organization you have attached to my blog. And I'd say there's one other thing missing, which by the way this blog is intended to be rude and "bashing" people I think is probably another strike against us in this type of blog, however for us it's a big positive in our lives. We follow God's calling in everything we do, and He is faithful. That doesn't mean that we go blindly in to things or adopt with the expectation that "God will do it even when we can't." However it means that we don't jump on to a bandwagon as we have seen many times without not only a lot of thought and prayer but also time considering exactly how it would work. Our children are all healthy, happy, are doing well physically and are developing at a good pace considering their challenges. They are well socialized, are cared for medically, and most importantly of all, they are well loved, have plenty of attention and have the love of a family and the support of a church, community, and extended family! We are so blessed to be able to be 30 year old parents of 9 children, many with special needs! Oh, and that bachelor's degree I have in education certainly helps out in the way of homeschooling my children :). I haven't checked out this blog past this post that was emailed to me by "concerned friends" that were so upset we were listed, however I thought I'd at least give you the rest of the story! I'm sure the rest of our family story is most likely just more to be 'cracked' on, but one of the parts of doing something that's outside of the social norms because you feel called to do it (and if I may say.. do it well!), we expect to have people question our ability to do what we do. If we weren't doing it every day, we might question someone else in their ability to do it as well! Thankfully, we also know other families that are successfully raising large special needs adoptive families and when we continue to trust and lean on God, we really can do it! Phil 4:13... James 1:27... Jer 29:11... those are all pretty good places to start in understanding us. But if those don't mean anything to you, then it's likely our family and our lives and our reasons for doing what we do will be taken in the same way. I hope you'll soon see the Blessings of adoption, rather than passing judgment on those of us that are living it all :)  


If you're here linked over from the other post, welcome :).  I hope you had a chance to read my comment on the other blog, however wanted to repost it here in case it may have been missed.

Blogging is our way of sharing our family with our friends (and strangers LOL) that want updates on what's going on with all of us.  It's also been a wonderful resource to us because we can ask questions here and often have a wide array of answers from people who have experience in areas we don't!  We expect people not to 'get' us until they know us.  But that doesn't change who we are, what we do, or why we do it!  :)

Phenol?

At our neuro appointment today the neurologist suggested we try phenol nerve blocks on conjunction with botox.  This would be a sedated procedure at the hospital instead of botox injections in the office.

Anyone know much about this or experienced it with a child?  We haven't scheduled anything yet... I'm going to call when we decide whether to do just botox again or add the phenol this time...

Thanks!

The agenda

The agenda yesterday:
7:30-3pm   Field Trip with Kristopher's class to the Orlando Science Center
3-4pm     Babysitter hung out so I could make peace in our laundry/closet room and get some other things together in the house
4-5:30pm   Speech therapy for 3 kids (thankfully at our home!), gas company in and out to remove a propane tank and re-hook the second one so we can start construction... hopefully SOON!, and babysitter stuck around because of the craziness of everything going on :) (thanks Katie!)
5:30-6:00   Dinner with Mike's parents (thanks for picking up the pizza!)
6:00-7:30   Hanging with grandma reading stories and grandpa and Mike moved Wesley's adaptive bunk bed to his new room with Micah and Kristopher (Wes was in the room that will be turned in to a bathroom... soon..!).
7:30-9:30   Our attempts at bedtime including moving Lynae (who didn't want to sleep alone after Wes was moved!) out to the girls' room on the porch in Micah's old bed and then trying to calm a GIGGLING room of little girls for an hour and a half after that!


The agenda today:
11am   Meet other moms at Target
5:30   Buy mattresses at Sam's Club


Thankful for a restful Friday!!! :) :)

"I sued my OB for millions because I would have rather aborted you."

I realize that sounds harsh, but that is the REALITY for one child in Oregon. Her parents sued their OB, and WON 2.9 million dollars because the OB didn't offer to abort their baby. They weren't told ahead of time that their baby may have Down syndrome, and the parents then filed a wrongful birth lawsuit.

How would you like to grow up knowing that your parents said in a court of law that if they'd have known you would be who you are... They would have never allowed you to be born? That if they'd have suspected that you wouldn't be their image of perfect, that they would have aborted you?

How about the older brothers, since the parents claim that their daughter is "too retarded to know what's going on"? Are the brothers going to just not take notice to the idea that their parents would rather have killed their sister than have her be born? Will they, too, grow up with the idea that she is of lesser value as a person? That's ctainly the message these parents are sending...

Every year in the United States over 90% of the parents that receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to abort their baby. There isn't any statistical data to show what percentage of all the babies withDown syndrome (those diagnosed prenatally and those not) this represents, but it is a significant number.

What message does a wrongful birth lawsuit send to a generation of people striving for perfection, and feeling like taking the life of a child is better than going through another few months of pregnancy and either raising the baby or choosing another family to raise him or her?

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/03/13/couple-wins-suit-doc-didnt-suggest-aborting-down-syndrome-baby/

Our bathroom sanity saver

So of course I shared already tonight about our hair cut experience and my thought was... Now an hour of quiet and being nonproductive!  Well, that almost worked.  For about 20 minutes I sat and had a mint chocolate chip and caffeine free coke float...  Then I remembered the project that I bought pieces for that was on the dining room table.

This is a half height shower curtain with two cups that hold it up (though it also pressure mounts but that makes it easier!).  Not a big project, but a huge help!

When showering Wesley, as I experienced just a couple hours ago, we get soaked.  Water comes together in a stream under his shower seat then hits the floor with a resoundong splash on the tile.  If we are planning to go out again that day its difficult to get Wes washed without first changing our clothes to something we can get wet in.

This rod and curtain will be able to stay up most of the time except when Kris is taking a shower.  My reason for the cups for the rod is so that Kris can rehang it on his own without us being concerned that if one of the kids touches it it may fall on them.

One more project DONE!  I will post our bedroom and closet transformations eventually... It's been a busy 3 days of house projects!

Why I believe I would be an excellent sheep shearer

If I ever needed to find work outside the home, I'm pretty sure that I've found a line of work where my experience would really pay off.

Of course most of you realize that this must mean that I cut someone's hair today, and likely are wondering who... and whether this is a plural remark or not.  Let me assure you that I only had the stamina to handle one today, which is the only reason why this blog post will not be filed in the 'resume material' along with the ability to clean up poop off of all surfaces in a bedroom, the ability to get microscopic sticks out of shoes, and my innate sense of smell which can not only tell from three rooms away that someone is dirty, but can tell exactly who it is that the scent arose from.

I'm hoping that it being 7pm when I began this project, me being 19 weeks pregnant, the fact that I did a full day and a half of homeschooling with four kids and a cranky 2 year old, picked up the house, did dishes, and somehow managed to make dinner (never mind the small kitchen fire... Yes I realize now that you shouldn't put the foam meat packaging on the other burner while putting said meat in to the pan... then turn on the wrong burner... but that didn't occur to me until after the flames or I wouldn't have turned on the wrong burner in the first place...), and the ensuing headache after that fiasco... followed by dinner for 10, pj's, medicines, and THEN the start of our hair cutting escapades.

I'm also not sure why it was that Wesley (the victim of the evening) decided it was such an awful thing for HIM to get his hair cut.  I'm pretty sure all of the work and pain were mine, however he was the one screaming through it all!  After all, I managed to hold him up with one hand (he doesn't sit at all and has on and off head control, so I held him at an angle over my towel which miraculously did catch 99% of the hair that came off of his head...), then hold the buzzer with the other hand, and keep his flying fists from hitting me with a third... wait.  Well, not sure where that hand came from since I was doing this by myself (while Michael was cutting branches down in the last of daylight-- another much needed job that had to be done!).  But those of you who are moms know that sometimes an arm just grows out of nowhere when you really need it :).

Wesley is pretty aware of things and understands largely what is going on around him.  He's great at helping with tasks that he can and cooperating with those which he doesn't have the physical ability to help with.  This, however, is not a task which he will either help or cooperate with!  I know he was angry and not scared due to his body's response to my cutting his hair (he did NOT attempt to shake his head like a cornered animal... which I'm sure he learned from somewhere... nor did he attempt to bite me even a single time), but it was obvious that he was very angry with me for messing with him in this way.  Who knows, maybe he LIKES long hair?

Unfortunately for him, as long as he rubs his head on every surface it comes in contact with (mattress, rugs, tile, or even his wheelchair and other supportive seating) and continues to have the spot of "almost bald" across the back of his noggin, he will continue to get short cuts.

I was able to successfully shear, er... buzz... his head leaving a remarkably 'good looking' child after all of the trauma caused by not only the cutting... but then the trimming around the ears and neck and of course the necessary shower following the escapade.

(yes, he easily forgives and sat giggling and tickling with me after his evening's torture.  He's photosensitive (light bothers his eyes) so it's hard to get a good shot of him in the evening with his eyes open!)

Now, if only I had the energy to tackle the other 4 boys whose hair needs some attention, I would feel like this post was real 'resume material'.  Unfortunately, I turned down my husband's question of whether he was next to get his cut tonight after taking an inch worm off his shirt and suggesting he shower first (remember, he was outside cutting down branches...) and he decided to go for a long bike ride before he used up extra water.  The other three boys are thankfully already in bed, therefore giving me a 'pass' at having to contemplate having any of them be next :).

Isn't God Amazing??

From an orphanage in Bulgaria, Annikah became a Bedford in December 2011.  In February 2012 her family learned that she had a progressive disease called Moyamoya, which restricts blood flow to the brain.  A diagnostic angiogram and two brain surgeries were her expected future to reroute the arterial flow in the brain.

Today was Annikah's angiogram, and the results are nothing less than... AMAZING...

http://www.only1mom.com/2012/03/annikahs-angiogram.html

Ultrasound was today and it's a...

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SURPRISE! :)

Apparently he or she was being shy, so we weren't able to tell the baby's gender.  We'll likely have a level 2 u/s done in about a month and hopefully will learn the baby's gender at that time.  In other news, the baby's measurements were all right on or a little ahead of schedule, but within about 4 days for the most part.  I'm back up to my pre-pregnancy weight, which is a good thing too :).  We go back to the doctor on Wednesday for a 19 week checkup and will schedule the next ultrasound somewhere around 20-22 weeks.

Well, here we are!

Our day one of homeschooling has come and gone for Aleksa, Emma, and Wesley!  It actually went REALLY well.  I was amazed at how much Aleksa and Emma both participated.  Brianna and Lynae were both excited which is a VERY good thing, since I was a little concerned that they'd feel like there was something wrong with the other kids being home when they aren't usually.  I'm thinking that may rear its head in a few weeks when they realize it's permanent, but... it was inevitable :).  We worked on leveled readers and comprehension questions, word wall words and the kids' own names.  Most of it was aimed where Aleksa, Wes, and Emma are... so going to have to adapt or find another time to work on more things with Brianna (and Lynae...).  Regardless, it was a great day with other activities, Bible time, etc.  A good start.

When I was planning out lessons I planned on field trips with the other kids, doctor's appointments for the kids as well as OB appointments for me... what I totally overlooked was Lynae and Brianna going to the church the two mornings that they go! LOL!  So, I am going to rework some things so that Tues/Thurs I work more on things that are on level for the three kids that are home those days and Monday/Friday focus more on what the other two girls are doing, with Wednesday being a mix (since this week and next there are field trips/ appointments for kids or myself...).

Tomorrow is Micah and James' trip to the zoo for the Very Special Arts Festival!  They'll be doing art projects that are set up at stations all over the zoo!  This is our fourth year attending and it's always a lot of fun!  Thursday Michael and I will head over to the obstetrician and take a peek at baby #9.  Maybe... just maybe... we'll learn whether our next little person is a boy or a girl.  Any guesses? :)  50/50 chances... LOL