Happy Birthday Eli!

Happy Birthday to Eli, our silly, solemn, six year old, Happy Birthday to you!


Mayhem reigned while 10 kids ran screaming through the house to celebrate with Eli. After two exhausting hours the kid count dropped by half and the decibels dropped drastically. We were left with chocolate cake littering the carpet, four empty pizza boxes, a smashed pinata, and one very happy six year old.

Our big boy shed some tears this morning upon realizing that he is indeed still shorter than Ella (by barely an inch!). They are both six now (for two more months, then Ella trumps him again and turns seven) and for obvious reasons should be the same height. Discussions of growth, gender, and genetics followed but nothing seemed to stop the tears. I finally just told him to get a grip and enjoy his birthday.

His "wow" gift was my old camera. I'll go into hiding after typing that, because I have several friends who may hunt me down and strangle me since I gave a camera that they envied to my six year old. It's really a sad story. Last year we went to a water park for his birthday (January partiesare so hard). It was just the family, we all brought him gifts to enjoy there. He was thrilled with the disposable underwater camera until we had to drop it off to develop the pictures. Ever tell your kid the tale of how they get the film out of a disposable camera? Just expect tears.

So, we owed him big time. We bought a new charger on ebay (recall the 'oops, I just blew up the battery charger' in Ethiopia?) for $10 and have a very pleased little guy on our hands. Here's some of his handiwork...

There's definitely loads more where that came from (approximately 100 more pictures I think).

By Request

"What does this guy look like?" Here you go.... My urine drinking knight in shining work garb busy tiling the bathroom.

Once I took that picture I realized that many of you probably think my house is normal. Not so. Here's the proof. Our toilet doesn't usually sit in the hallway. Neither do the power tools and garbage. It's getting better though. Really.

This is what was going on shortly before I typed this post. Seth (you can see his face in this photo) takes a well deserved break after dinner. Honestly, a break doesn't mean that the kids just run wild. Right?

Josiah's latest feat is climbing. It takes him some maneuvering to lift his chunkiness onto a surface. Once the mountain has been defeated he starts yelling because he's stuck. It actually works out pretty well to keep him busy. As evidenced by the photo.

He was licking the tops of paint tubes and then chucking them around the room. I can't let you believe that I wasn't standing by watching this happen. He was well supervised during this dangerous activity (except for the millisecond it took for me to grab the camera). This is the table that the ceiling landed on a few months ago. Still in use, trashed, but still stable enough to allow 7 people to feast on it three times daily (and then support an overweight toddler).

I'm not kissing that mouth

I've known Seth for nearly 14 years and he still surprises me. You might think I'm about to get mushy on you, but I'm not. I guess I could tell you about the wonderful dad that he is and how he went out on Christmas Eve (after picking up on my ridiculous hints) to get the gift I wanted. Nah, I'm going to give you a glimpse of the real Seth. He doesn't get much airtime on the blog and this is too good to pass up.

This morning I came downstairs and found his travel mug full of yummy coffee. Score for me, but too bad for him. He usually doesn't notice that he left it until he reaches over to grab a sip and gets nothing but air. This morning was a little different. He was rushing to work yesterday and needed to make a pit stop. But he didn't have time. What's a guy to do? Duh, use the now empty travel mug, of course.

This, by the way, is not an activity condoned by me. Or my mom. Or any gal I know. We are far too proper to do any sort of disgusting thing like that.

So he does his business and LEAVES THE MUG IN THE CAR. I don't know if he usually brings me mugs that he's urinated in, but using a travel mug is news to me. I'm looking at the travel mugs in the cupboard in a new light after today. Thinking that we should buy some disposable ones...

This fateful morning, my warnings of, "You really shouldn't do that" finally come to fruition. He reached over to find his coffee and only after taking a big 'ol sip realizes that it's his urine from yesterday. Gag.

Chalk one up for the big momma who knows it all!

Merry Christmas!

If you have been eagerly anticipating a Christmas greeting from us...wait no more. I decided that I would send out cards after Sally's cast came off. It would be a great way to show her post-cast and give me a little more time before undertaking the huge mailing. History dictates that I'm lying to myself and the rest of you. Lets not kid ourselves into thinking I will make time to collate and mail cards next month. So prepare yourselves...this is our Christmas greeting.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope that you read this after a wonderful day spent with family and friends. We have been blessed beyond belief in the past year. God has answered our prayers in ways we never would have imagined. It has been awe inspiring for me to remember what I was hoping for last year. Anticipating the arrival of two more children and wondering what our family would be like once we became seven. From the outside it would seem that our lives have unravelled in the past six months, but don't be fooled. What seems like turmoil is nothing when we have the understanding that God is working in our lives to make us stronger. Perhaps we can help others through our adversity. Please revisit our Christmas greeting from last year to get a better understanding of having real hope.

Here's the best we could do as far as a Christmas photo. This was an impromptu picture taken on our way to church. I think they did pretty well, considering there are five kids (one of them a squirmy toddler) and an impossible number of things that could happen to ruin a picture.

Blue?

Sally told the doctor before she conked out that she wanted a blue cast. I double and triple checked with her that she really wants a blue cast. This is the first one that won't be "white until the first accident then dingy brown". I love that color, though blue sounds promising too.

In the recovery room Sally was eating an orange Popsicle and said, "I like this blue Popsicle. It's so good."

My first thought: Oh my, did you say blue? Does this mean you wanted an orange cast? At least you can't move your head to see that your cast is what everyone else calls blue.

What she heard: "Yeah, that's a good lookin' Popsicle. That's what we call orange, honey."

Aside from the color issues, she's doing well. The sore on her back looked like it was healing nicely and should be completely gone by the time the cast comes off.

Casting for a Third Time

I'm sitting in a familiar chair. Early this morning Sally and I braved the cold (4 degrees) and wind to come to the hospital. She was tired, cold, and hungry. I spent the time in the car trying to melt my body into the heated car seat. And, thanking God that I home school the kids so we leave the house on a voluntary basis. I wish I could just curl up and sleep right through winter. Alas, I find myself at the hospital at 6 am so Sally can get a new cast.

After all of the turmoil from last week, her doctor wants her in another cast for a few more weeks. She's just not strong enough to be in the brace, and the old cast is...disgusting. A few more weeks in a cast is a fine alternative to a serious injury caused by jumping into the brace too soon. That whole bed-sore-from-the-metal-objects-in-her-back thing is a worry also. Though Sally's doc assures us that she will be fine once the pressure has been relieved from her back. So here I sit, again, waiting to meet Sally in post-op. Thankful that this could possibly be our last time in this situation.

Curse the Medications

The impossible has happened, Seth and I are alone. We. Are. Without. Children. For five more days we will be alone. It wasn’t supposed to work out like this. I arranged for Josiah to come with us. My Mom offered to watch him and I haven’t had peace since. Better to keep him with me, but have a late flight across the country only to deal with time changes, flights of stairs, and dogs upon our arrival at my sisters’? Or should we trust that he will be fine and leave him safely with my Mom? Back and forth for the past two weeks.

I lay in bed yesterday morning, wondering if I should really leave Josiah. I wasn’t out of bed and I was praying for some clarity when I finally got up. As I stumbled past the girls’ room, I smelled something…yucky. Nah, putrid...fetid, rotten…you get the idea. Something reeked and I feared that it was coming from the sweet girls’ room.

Sally’s gained a little weight, as a result her TB meds have been upped. Last night was her first dose, eight teaspoons of medication. I guess it made her sick. From both ends. The story gets even worse, she not only vomited and had diarrhea, but she didn’t wake up to call out for help. A domino effect could get started here on what her life was like before we got her that she managed to sleep in such disgusting filth for a few hours. Nevertheless, we’ve got a revolting story to tell so I will press on.

I was at a complete loss. I’ve seen and managed some nasty things, even blogged about a few buggers. This one took the cake. Sally woke up, climbed down from her bunk and excrement trickled out onto the floor. Not knowing whether her meds made her sick, or she had a stomach bug, I immediately sent everyone else upstairs and shut them into the boys’ bedroom. Then, I shut Sally into the bathroom and got a BIG black garbage bag. I wadded up her pillow, jammies, sheet saver (which did an amazing job of saving the sheets) and threw them away. I heard the garbage men outside and ran, in my jammies, to stop them with my vomit covered junk in the bag.

Then, I called the doctor’s office. In a frantic tone, trying to keep from totally freaking out I explained that Sally had puke down the neck of her cast, feces up the back of her cast. I wasn’t speaking with a familiar voice, but tried to relay my urgency without screaming into the phone. She, matter-of-factly (as if she deals with this all of the time) told me to get a warm washcloth and clean her up as best I could. Then, take that washcloth and using my hand try to clean inside the cast, as best I could. Then, lay Sally on the counter and wash her hair (which was crusted with vomit). I’m thinking laying a diarrhea laden child on the KITCHEN COUNTER is probably not a good idea. Especially when you have four more kids who may be susceptible to whatever caused the...bodily explosion. So I started with the de-pooping of Sally’s legs and cast, with a lame wet washcloth. I promptly threw every washcloth into a new trash bag. My next job was to remove feces from floors and the exterior of the cast. I’ll share a little secret here, I used bleach. Lots of it. I know, it’s bad for you, but did you miss out on what I was up against? Possible infection of 4 more children, then fleeing the scene to visit my sister in Colorado? Horrible. So I bleached the floor, the bunk stairs… and the cast. I tried to bleach the cast, but was sadly unsuccessful.

Then, I let the four maniacs out of their prison upstairs and put Sally onto the counter for the vomit removal. Much easier than the other end, I still proved myself a flop in the ‘Can you remove filth from inside a cast?’ motherhood test.

I slathered Sally in smelly lotion, coated her hair in smelly goo, and put tights on her. The smell was still there. Really strong. I called the office again and got a voice mail, but warned them that I would continue calling until I spoke with them.

I looked at the clock and two hours had passed since the charade began. I’m frantically doing laundry, trying to get everyone packed, and calling the doctor’s office again. Calling the cell phone of the doctor’s assistant, until, finally, she calls me back. In an oh-so-nonchalant manner, “Apryl, what’s going on?”

“It’s bad!! It’s very, very bad!! I’ve done all I could and I can’t even sit next to her on the sofa, I just tried to and I felt sick from the smell. I’m leaving tomorrow for Denver, can you help us?”
She said we needed to come in right away. Like ‘right away’ is in my power.

It was 2:00, I had JUST SHOWERED and no one had eaten lunch. We were setting records. I threw together sandwiches, dropped the Bigs off at art lessons and raced to the office. Then we had to sit, in the waiting area, smelling up the whole place with pukey poop smell. It was wretched. They took one look at Sally and got out the big saw (after donning gloves and spraying the room with Lysol). She screamed, Josiah screamed, and we gagged. It came off and revealed a dime embedded in her chest (interesting) and just a wee bit ‘o mess around her bottom (surprisingly did a better job than I thought). They x-rayed—good results, new bone has grown and the rib is grafted in. The tore the old cast apart to just the shell then re-padded it and covered it to hold us out a little longer. Upon getting a look at her back, I was dismayed. She still looks lumpy, but has healed well, the pressure from the rods against the cast has caused a bed sore-like wound at the site of one hook.

Right now, Sally’s in her cast. An ace bandage is holding it together. She has a hole cut in the back exposing her tender spot (though I’ve been assured this is perfectly safe) to allow it to heal.
The foul odor? You’ll have to ask my mother-in-law about it, since I masked it heavily before I left. I have a sneaking suspension that Sally’s cast is still suffering from the episode. Only a few weeks left with it, then just a brace. Time won’t pass quickly enough.

Decorating Madness

This will be known as the Christmas that Daddy hurt his foot. Seth was working in the bathroom today and slipped in the tub while holding a piece of drywall. Something is protruding from his foot, but we are just trying to ignore that and enjoy the day. Except, his injury means that he's stuck on the sofa with his foot raised and I'm dragging the boxes out of the attic. I huffed my way out of the attic then down the stairs with 5 or 6 boxes and the artificial tree. I wondered the entire time WHY I've made my husband do this for 10 years. I'm also incredibly impressed with his stamina and the fact that he has never complained about decorating the tree. When we have to decorate the tree for a second and third time after it's fallen, he complains. The initial decoration is always welcome.

I toyed with the idea of leaving everything in the attic and just pretending that fall decorations would be nice until January. Since my house may be almost normal by then. Sadly, I had an attack of mother guilt. Seeing as two of my children haven't celebrated Christmas I knew that I couldn't leave the tree alone this year. It was grand when I thought Seth would be in charge. I'm usually on the sofa sipping warm beverages and passing out ornaments. He does the grueling work.

The foot thing was only the start of a ridiculous evening. We have a dining room table in our living room. If I haven't mentioned that before, it's because that doesn't hold a candle to the toilet that's hanging out in the hallway. We decided to put the tree ON the table, thus killing two birds with one stone. Josiah can't tip the tree over and we don't have to move anything to put the tree up. The only problem is that I couldn't reach the top of the tree to put in the branches. The kids couldn't reach the tree at ALL. Seth in his pained stupor, came up with the idea to...move the tree to the floor and decorate it there. Wonderful!

I hauled the tree (now fully put together) to the floor and we commence with decorating traditions. Hot chocolate and brownies, hanging ornaments. Josiah's screaming, Seth's worried about spills, and Sally can't seem to keep an ornament on the tree. They all fall off when she walks away. I'm snapping pictures like a madwoman and too soon it's over. Now the real fun begins...It's time for me to PICK UP THE DECORATED TREE and place it gingerly on the table. Right, since I'm secretly the hulk. I managed lift off with a little aid from Seth but then...whoa to the right, then left, then some shattering, and finally I slam it onto the table.

Sigh.

The top of the tree won't fit. Seth and I look at each other and Eli speaks for us all when he says, "It doesn't look like a real Christmas tree." That's true, dear one, it looks like a Christmas bush. I laid the top of the tree horizontally and mounded some lights on it and called it a night. When I plugged in the lights all of the kids cheered, so I would say we've had success.

Some photos from the evening...Seth and the kiddos, Josiah finally stops crying so he can make a phone call on my lens cap, and the girls dropping hanging ornaments on the Christmas bush.

Good Gifts

After spending one hour in Toys-R-Us today, I'm done. I stood next to a woman who had some 'line rage'. It freaked. Me. Out. People lose their minds during this time of year. It's the shopping equivalent of road rage. She watched the cashier interact with other costumers and saw errors being made and price checks radioed to the back. I watched her as the heat started rising in her face and pretty soon she's squawking at the next person who asks, "Are you in line?" It's unpleasant to watch.

I think I'm done with leaving the house. Make a guess on what I spent for five kids, I double dare you to hit it on the nose. It's a little tricky because I had two coupons and the insurance company gave us some cash to replace toys ruined in the flood. Also, bought Eli two presents for his birthday. My biggest hint: I really pared down from our normal madness. Guess away, but there's nothing in it for you except for satisfaction.

Last year, I posted a list of families who were fundraising as gift ideas for those of you who are clueless. Jill posted a comprehensive list of links to organizations that will use your money wisely. I'm not about to duplicate perfection, so if you are in search of a gift for the person who already has everything (we live in America, who doesn't have everything?) go visit her blog and find something wonderful there.

Along those lines...I have a great friend who is adopting. She's the kind of friend that I have yet to meet, but we've had many long talks over the phone about her amazing adoption. She can't mention her fundraising efforts on her blog, but I can! So, how about you leave me a comment with your email and I'll send it along to her so you can order something. She had their website printed on the products, but has since disabled it (just do what the agency says...) I personally find humor in wearing a t-shirt with a website listed that no longer exists. It's a conversation starter, not that I need more of those. Sheesh, my family is a conversation starter.

Here are a few pictures...

Start thinking...

Jill showed this video to me at her house a few weeks ago. I can't help but feel convicted for going overboard during the holidays. Having kids helps ease the guilt because I use them as my excuse for going bonkers. We don't want to disappoint, do we? Certainly the children will be utterly destroyed if there aren't mounds of gifts under the tree. Today, Everett was giving Sally the lowdown on Christmas rituals around our house. He said, "Mommy and Daddy usually just give us like 3 presents, we get lots more from the grandparents." Oh, really? If he thinks we only give them three presents, why bother giving him more? So, this Christmas, why don't you join me in being radical?

I'm Back

How do I follow up on a post from a month ago? I lost contact with the outside world the day I left our house a month ago. My parent's house is grand and comfy, but without internet or phone lines. We enjoyed the respite, but I felt bad that I left everyone hanging while we waited for our house to become livable. Then we waited some more, then we went on vacation. When we came home my modem had blown up so I managed another week without internet.

I hate trying to play catch up and I'm still surrounded by chaos. So, I'll do the easy thing and just post some pictures. You just checked in here to see the cuties, anyway, right?

First, and posted on everyone else's blogs, was a fun time meeting families from NC who have adopted or are adopting with AWAA's Ethiopian program. These guys we've 'known' since the beginning. It was wonderful to meet our friends. We got the blessing of converging on the Coen's for the weekend. Silas and Josiah were roomies in Ethiopia. Silas turned one last week, Happy Birthday! We also got to visit with Team D for an evening. My boys envied after their Star Wars collection and I envied Shari's bookshelves. Then off to the beach for a week!

Sally and Josiah's first visit to the 'real' ocean, not just the big lake. Sally asked my mil, "Where does all this water go?" She had a great time, but will enjoy it all the more next time when it's warmer and SHE can get into the pool instead of watching from the side. Only 6 more weeks until she's without a cast!! We had a few casualties, Ella and Josiah ended up soaking wet. Both of them even went back for more after their near death experience.

We left the beach while it was snowing and headed up to Jamestown for the day. We had a delightful, yet freezing, time. We have been working our way through the 1600's this year so the visit was timely as far as school goes. Kudos to the grandparents for being brave enough to invite us to join them for the week. Thanks!

Upon arriving home, the house is still a disaster. We have a ceiling, hot water, and electricity. The bathroom is demolished, but slowly coming together. I wouldn't have expected living with one toilet to be a trial. Everyone has to 'go' at the same time, causing running, screaming, and jostling on a regular basis.

This is what I woke up to...

...and I still voted. What's your excuse? I guess I did have a little extra time; we were awakened by Everett at 3:45 am exclaiming "EMERGENCY"!!! We hopped out of bed to find that a valve had blown off under the sink in the bathroom (an undetermined number of hours ago) and was spraying water everywhere. Seth ran down to the basement and turned off the water; in doing so he realized the impact was slightly more than just the upstairs bathroom or even hallway. There was a torrential downpour in the dining room and the basement below. About fifteen minutes later, as we're frantically trying to "mitigate the water damage" I heard a creaking sound and a rushing of water, this was followed by losing about a quarter of our ceiling as it plummeted to the floor with a loud crash (see left). Several hours later, after our best attempts to handle the situation "at the lowest level" and some arm twisting from the insurance company they brought in the big guns. We now have a sampling of state of the art drying apparatus positioned strategically around the house (see right). The kids and I were ordered to leave, so we're on "vacation" to beautiful Mom and Dad's house for at least five days. It looks like we'll be getting a new bathroom, several refinished floors, some new carpet and a new ceiling. Not to mention some "stuff" to replace the "stuff" that was destroyed. I emphasize stuff, because that's really all it is; this is not a tragedy, simply an inconvenience. By the way, Chuck Baldwin won right?! Maybe this flood destroying a TV and a computer isn't such a bad thing after all, this way I can just write history as I imagine it to be.

Families in Ethiopia and Waiting Children

The families who were in Ethiopia last week arrived home safely this weekend and five more families are meeting their children today. Exciting times! Visit them at their blogs: the Nunez family, the Terwillegers, the Hammonds, the Brittons, and the Laughners.

I got an email yesterday about the Rainbow Kids website. There's a lot on the site, but the most important, by far, is the listing of waiting children. If you are early in the process of adopting, or thinking about adoption, please go check out their list! There are many children in Ethiopia (sibling groups too!) listed as waiting for families. These kids are ready for adoption, but need a family who is ready with their dossier (or paperchasing) to get matched. Take a few minutes and visit the site! Pass it on to those you know who may be interested in adopting!

Fall...

Rarely do I get a picture of all five kids that is *just* what I want. We had an exceptionally (70 degrees, people! I thought we had slid down the country and stopped in Florida) warm day on Friday. I took my camera, kids, and candy to the park. The pictures I took were all flops and on our way back to the playground (to eat the bribery candy, of course) I took this picture. What is remarkable to me is the order that the five kiddos lined up--from oldest to youngest. It's the absolute best picture of our day and completely candid.

Uhhhhh...

Twice today I had parental fumbles. Fumbling is not unusual, but it steams me when it could have been prevented. The kids are old enough to catch me bumbling with "Errrr, uhhhh, umm" and then they have the audacity to laugh. Laughing at wise mommy...the nerve!

When I picked the guys up from art class, I was informed that a 'big kid' had made some nasty comments about Ella's hand. I then got some details on exactly what happened from Eli. He is the informant of the family, but confuses his details and Everett generally ends up talking over Eli with the truth. I was buckling everyone into the van when Eli said, "This big kid, he's like 10 or something, said Holy Cow to Ella's hand. Then he said it was a freaky hand and Ms. T had to get him in trouble."

Sigh. I could have filed away a perfect speech for this. In my free time I should start coming up with answers to questions that I can't shouldn't respond to on the fly. The following is the perfect example of what happens when I try to think while buckling...

"WHAT IN THE WORLD? Well...hmmm, that wasn't very nice of him, was it?" Ella was welling up with tears looking at me during Eli's rehearsal of the dialogue.

"Okay, you know what I think...I think that kid is a...big dumb dumb. I mean it. I think...well, I think he's stupid. Yeah, he's stupid." Now, I'm holding Ella's chin and looking in her eyes (and I've forgotten what a tried and true 'good' mom would do). "You listen to me, when some nasty kid says something ugly like that to you, if I'm not around to remind you, you just think, 'My mom tells me you are stupid.' Say it with me. He's stupid. He's stupid. He's a stupid boy to say something so mean. Honestly, God made all of us different, just look around our van! It's sad that that boy isn't bright enough to see that God made each of us special and it's wonderful that he made you different than everyone else. He has a reason for each of us to be the way we are. So I'm telling you to think it to yourself, 'Well, my mom thinks you are stupid.' "

Yeah, the only thing is...I don't let my kids says things like stupid and dumb. I'm also thinking there might be some fist fights later on when my little girl VERBALLY passes on my "stupid" comment. Good thing she has three brothers.

Then in the van that night, Eli asked how babies got out of their mommy's bellies. Always trying to put off the inevitable, Seth told him that it was just a little too late at night to start that discussion. That prompted a line of questioning until Seth told him that women have an invisible zipper inside their stomachs that only babies can operate.

I'm thinking that this is probably not a good solution. I leaned over and said that maybe he should give them a better answer--like the truth. He gawked. Then Everett said, "No, really, how do they get out of there? Do they burst out, what happens?" We just realized (we are really slow) that Everett hears everything we say when we are in the van.

So I told them. I told them the absolute truth. Ella and Sally were stuck on udders and milk and cows so the conversation quickly turned to 'why don't horses have udders'. Thankfully. Since I was getting a little...ahem...flustered. They now have heard the truth. Not the whole truth. I will try to remember to tell them that they cannot share this new found knowledge with the general populace at church. I'll probably forget though, so if my kids hang out with your kids, you might just want to go ahead and have 'that discussion'. Not the whole discussion! Please, spare me those questions! I need another 10 years to think about what to say. Or I can hand it over to Seth, "There's this stork..."

This post is just to let you all know that our house isn't all emotional chaos and medical novelties.

The big boys taught encouraged the littlest boy to take on a new challenge. You can only imagine what it may be. I'll just say that they told me my mom tried her hardest to keep Josiah from exhibiting his skills at the table. She was unsuccessful in deterring him. Why would he quit doing something that brings gales of laughter from his biggest fans?

I took pictures of him DURING LUNCH. I thought I would post a few, but Seth laughed so hard when he saw them he told me to put them into a slide show complete with soundtrack. This video will reveal that my dear husband is indeed a HUGE nerd, because he came up with the "perfect" music all on his own. I'm proud to say that I've never actually seen a 2001 space odyssey anything.

Travelers

This week families from our agency left to pick up their kids. Some of these kids we met while in Ethiopia. It's so exciting to watch them 'come home'. Here are the sites: Redferns, Schmidts, Lusse, and VanWettens.

There are going to be a flood of families traveling in the next month. Courts in Ethiopia closed from August to October. Once they re-opened, families could pass court and travel about two weeks later.

Sally's Update

We had Sally's first visit with her doctor last night. We brought all of the kiddos because the local paper wants to do an article on Sally's surgery, our family, etc--since we are so interesting (read-crazy). I'm more than happy to talk about how the Lord has blessed us and provided for our family, especially Sally's miraculous surgery and recovery. We met the journalist and had a wonderful conversation with her before seeing Sally's x-rays. She got rave reviews from her doctor. Everything is still in place and looks fantastic. The second best bit of news was that we won't need to see him again until she's re-casted. Not that we don't like her doctor, but hauling five children to the office is cumbersome.


I'm about to show you the coolest thing--her old MRIs. I guess that sentence just gave me away as a huge nerd (you have to say that in robot voice to really savor it). It's too bad I didn't have these copies earlier, as maybe it would help you to see what was going on in her back. I should have tried to get a copy of the x-rays they did last night, being able to see the rods and rib in place would probably help too. I'm a visual learner (and a huge nerd).


Well, there's a cliff hanger if I ever left one. My scanner is off and I'm too lazy or tired or both to clear off the stack of children's artwork from the top to turn it on. I'll scan the copies in the morning. I will be well rested and chipper. Since that happens one day out of seven.

Okay, I'm a little late, but here are the scans:

The first is my fav, you can see basically her brain to her bottom. It's from June. The light gray area in front of her bump is the infection. You can see the deteriorated bones between the abcess and her spinal cord.

This one is from September, right before surgery. It's a closer view, shows the same as above, just more damage done. Again, the gray area is the infection, you can see it's eaten up her bones and is right up against her spinal cord.

The Saga Continues

At 3:30 in the morning Seth and I woke up. Errr, we were already awake because Josiah had been fussing for a long time. He was finally quiet and perhaps (though at the time I dared not think it) even asleep when we heard thumping coming from downstairs. Thumping never exudes comfort, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Seth, in his courageous state, went to investigate. I tried to keep my eyes open in the off chance that he needed some aid in throwing out whomever was thumping their way into our house.

It took a while for him to return to bed, but at some point I heard a toilet flush and knew all must be well. Intruders won't usually take the time to use the facilities while breaking in, right?

He was laughing. The thump, thump, thump was Ella hopping on one leg (remember, she's got a prosthesis that she doesn't sleep in) to the bathroom. He heard the toilet running and glanced into her room. She was wide awake staring at him. When he got up to her bed he asked if she was okay. She just stared. Can't imagine why, except...maybe...she still had food in her mouth?

He said, "Can you talk to me?" She shook her head in the negative.

My friend told me we should contact Guiness about this. I'm inclined to agree. I can see the title: World's most stubborn little girl manages to hold food in her mouth for a record breaking nine hours.

The morning went well, Ella woke up eager to eat. Unfortunately, during breakfast I noticed vomit all over the back of her jammies. Upon removing them, I noticed it in her hair. She politely informed me that she did throw up in her bed. Like its no big deal to puke and then lay in it. Dear me.

After two showers--TWO showers since the first one didn't remove all of the unconsumed pasta--life seems back to status quo until lunch.

What's a Mom to do?

I just put my daughter to bed. Her cheeks were filled with lasagna. And her epilepsy medication. It gets even better. She had eaten that lasagna almost 2 hours ago. I think I smelled vomit, but it was just her and the lasagna...digesting in her mouth. I couldn't bear to kiss her cheek so I did something I would never picture myself doing. I blew her a kiss and waved goodnight...from a pretty good distance.

What is this madness?

This is Ella four years after leaving a Ukrainian orphanage. Still dealing with 'food issues'. When we brought that cute two year old home we never expected to hear the doctor tell us that she was "failing to thrive" after three months with us. I expected more obvious behaviors--hoarding, rocking, night terrors, but got none of those. I suppose we should have been happy that our daughter wasn't struggling with other things. Instead, she was voluntarily starving herself to have control over some facet of her seemingly out of control life. We pleaded, coerced, and tried to force her to eat. We tried all kinds of foods to no avail. We couldn't tempt her with anything. I finally started feeding her half and half mixed with pediasure powder. She drank constantly and this was one way to give her some calories.

I don't remember when Ella started eating, but it happened. It's never been quite 'right' though. I always thought that at some point everything would just click for our daughter. One day, she would wake up and shake off the orphanage dust. Sadly, the survival skills that she learned as a toddler have stuck. As time passes, the behaviors don't rear their heads too often--nothing like those first few months at home. But every once in a while, subliminally, Ella reverts back. And watch out, because life is about to get pretty ugly.

Last week, Ella wouldn't eat her lunch. It was the usual fare, stuff she always eats. I put it away and told her she could have it for dinner. Then, I sent her to her room for a while. That seemed to be what she needed and she happily ate her dinner. A few days later the same thing happened. But, all was still well...until Sunday. She decided to pull out the big guns, by refusing lunch and dinner. Then this morning, she didn't eat breakfast. She didn't eat lunch. She finally ate dinner (it was passable to us--three bites of lasanga). Our policy is to just ignore her. We let her know that if she doesn't eat, she can miss out on the fun thing we will be doing after the meal. Very nonchantly and calm. Always calm, always cool, always scoring a point for the parents. Sometimes, Seth and I even meet for little sessions in the bathroom to figure out our next game plan. I'm serious.

Yeah, didn't work so well this time. Sunday, we figured out that we needed to turn up the heat a bit. I turned a MOVIE on after lunch yesterday and she still wouldn't eat. She lives for TV time. This was a serious anty upping on our part. She wouldn't budge. Seth popped popcorn. Still no dice. Fine, just sit on your bed and be hungry. It got a little more serious today when she started holding food in her mouth. She took one bite at breakfast and just refused to swallow. This may sound bizarre to you, but we've been seeing it around here for, oh, about four years. The I'll-take-a-bite-but-you-can't-make-me-swallow routine. She's obviously got some skills since she ate lasagna for dinner and managed to hold it in her mouth until bedtime. Seth thought that was a record breaker, but I can't wait to call him in the morning and let him know that she woke up with a mouthful of lasagna.

Why is she doing this? Great question, if you have the answer please contact me immediately. My first response is that she wants attention. She doesn't care what kind of attention she gets (we learned this early on), so even negative attention will do if she feels like she's missing out. My second guess is because we were gone at the hospital, life is out of control, yada, yada. That doesn't jive with her waiting two weeks before starting this nonsense. So, I'm thinking it's got to be attention. Which is why Seth and I have to pump ourselves up not to give her attention for this mess. And we chastise ourselves for not seeing sooner that maybe she was feeling left out. She gives us no warnings that she's about to burst. It would have been nice for her to pull me aside last week and say, "Mommy, I'm feeling a little weird about Sally being hurt. I want some special attention like she's getting."

Too bad I don't let her watch Dr. Phil or maybe that would have happened. Except I've never heard her string together that many words at one time. Sigh. Tomorrow is a new day. I have high aspirations for that bowl of cheerios.