Chantelle's Adventures

Thankful Thursday

2013-05-23T21:33:00.000-05:00

Reading with Preacher Man.

Preacher Man playing Patty Cake with E.

Recently, Preacher Man has wanted to do something nice for everyone in his family. He bought a Happy Hour Sonic for his brothers and me. When we went to Target today he bought E some bubbles and he bought Tony his favorite candy bar.

We finally have strawberries - better late than never. I guess the cooler weather has slowed them down, but you can't beat homegrown, organic, FREE strawberries!

Tony enjoying his sweet gift from Preacher Man.

Wordy Wednesday

2013-05-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

We ordered E a riding toy so she could have a more active way to play outside than riding in her stroller while the brothers are all riding bikes and scooters. Yes, we had riding toys for the boys but we didn't save any of them!

So her Giraffe came in today and I, along with the help of the brothers, put it together. E was watching but not too happy about the hammering or the fact that she did not have the attention of any of us!

As we were finishing it up she got fussy and ran off. I went and found her and pretended to ride it and then just picked her up and put her on. She smiled pretty quickly!

So outside we went! It took me several times of showing her how to do it, walking bent over her moving her feet for her with my hands (yes, that is good exercise, by the way!) and she eventually got the hang of it!

We even got a video!
https://vimeo.com/66931921

(Sorry it's sideways! I need to remember to not turn the camera when videoing!)

and of course, swinging!

I was cutting up a cantaloupe and she wanted up onto the counter. She laughed out loud when I split it open and revealed the seeds. I cut up a few small pieces and she tried them...though I guess she didn't like it much because that was the end of her cantaloupe eating. I offered her more at dinner and she only ate one!

Diva?!

2013-05-22T21:34:00.001-05:00

This girl likes shoes!

Notice the necklace?!

And decided again to skip her nap... so about 5:15 this happened!

I let her sleep about 15 minutes and then woke her up to eat dinner.

Eating apple chunks - the toddler ones that are soft!

And playing tea party after bath!

Tuesday Tales

2013-05-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

Edited: I realized all the pictures were taken on Monday but the title of the post still fit, so I'm just leaving it!

How did she get this frog stuffed animal hanging around her neck?

How did her hair grow enough to already have Bed Head?

How has she been home long enough to already have a favorite book?

How did she already learn to smile, act goofy and pose when mommy brings out the camera?

Answers: Love of a family and time! This is the blessing of adoption!

Sunday Silliness

2013-05-20T13:04:00.000-05:00

The many faces you get while swinging this girl!

Family Fun Day

2013-05-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

We had Family Fun Day at church this week. It in included, as all Southern church gatherings must, a potluck lunch. We also had a "Man-Food" contest and a "Bake-off" Challenge. I forgot about the challenge but entered my apple pie that I made when we arrived. I placed 3rd! I think I missed out on points for presentation since I just threw the crust on top. Oh well!

Then all the kids and Kids-at-heart gathered to play on

the "World's longest slip and slide!"

Huge waterslide!

Fun day!

E's Week: 5/17/13

2013-05-17T19:42:00.000-05:00

Walking on the driveway (without holding a hand!)

Very upset when she realized her blankie was trapped inside the washing machine!

Tried to make it better with another blanket but it just wasn't the same.

Eating carrot chunks.

Watching the rain.

Hard decisions

2013-05-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

We have tried to be very open and honest about our entire adoption journey. We want others to see what adoption really is; to experience the ups and downs with us. We hope many more people will step forward to welcome a child into their family, but we don't want to paint a picture that it's all sunshine and roses. There are hard parts, too. The hard parts are worth it because every child deserves the love of a family.

So, we went to see the orthopedic today to talk about E's leg. For those who don't already know, she is missing her fibula in her right leg. If you've seen us around and seen her walking, you aren't surprised by this news. We knew this when we first looked at her file. We even managed to get a few x-rays from China, which we had some doctors here look it. They told us that chances were that she'd need to have her leg amputated.

At our first IAC appointment we had many x-rays taken. These, of course, were better x-rays and more of all the angles the orthopedic doctor needed to get a better picture of her functionality. So this appointment was to meet with the orthopedic doctor to hear what he had to say. Based on what we had been told before we left, we were expecting him to say amputation and main concern was really about when would be the best time. She is walking really well right now, though as she grows, the difference in the length of her legs will continue to get larger making that more difficult. We really wanted to spend the first 6 months working on bonding and eating issues, so we were hoping they would say she wasn't causing any damage by walking and that we could wait awhile.

We were totally shocked with what the doctor told us. First of all, because her foot and ankle are, for the most part, properly developed, we actually have two options available. She could have her leg amputated, be fitted for a prosthetic and expect to lead a very active, very normal childhood with few, if any, limitations to the activities she can participate in. However, we could also choose a surgery route to lengthen her tibia. This would require two limb lengthening surgeries where they would purposely break her bone, insert screws into her leg above and below the break, which would come out through her skin and be attached to a halo around her leg. We would turn the screws each day for around 60 days to pull the bone pieces apart. Then she would continue to wear the halo for an additional four months while the bone grows back together, making it longer. Then she would spend the next six months gradually building up use of her leg until she was functional again. We would repeat this year long surgery process again around age 11 or 12. After these two lengthening procedures she would probably also need a surgery to work on her ACL to get it attached correctly and another on the bones in her ankle.

As far as long term success, with the prosthetic she would be able to do practically anything that she wants to do. With the surgery route, she would still never have her fibula, so she would have some limitations with her strength and possibly her functionality.

The doctor did not lead us in one direction or the other. The pros and cons are probably obvious. If we amputate, we are cutting off her leg. That sounds so....harsh. However, after a short recovery she will be fitted for a prosthetic, learn how to use it through physical therapy and then continue on with life. With the surgery route, she will have 2 years of her childhood with very limited physical activity. She will need two additional surgeries possibly in her teen years. Then she would still have limitations on the physical activities in which she could participate, but she would have her leg.

It's hard to know what she would value the most; she is only three and has very little English at this point. I imagine she may have a twinge of regret with either decision that we make.

We don't plan to make this decision immediately but we do covet your prayers for us in this matter. We want God's will. We want her to have every opportunity that she needs. We want her to be able to fulfill the plan God has laid out for her life. This is her story, but it's also His story and we want to be sure we are allowing God to write it according to His purpose and plan.

Camping Trip

2013-05-13T18:25:00.000-05:00

The boys are off with some very sweet friends for a week of camping!

Happy Mother's Day

2013-05-12T18:23:00.000-05:00

E, me, Meemaw and my Mom

Me - mom of 4!

Tony with his mom and the kids.

Track Meet and Guitar Recital

2013-05-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

Our last meet of the season:

Harmonica Boy running the 1500 meter.

Preacher Man running the 1500 meter.

Guitar Boy running the 1500 meter.

I just want to take a moment and brag. All 3 of my boys ran the 1500 meter (which is almost a mile!) at this meet.
Guitar Boy (12 years old) 5:45
Harmonica Boy (9 years old) 6:16
Preacher Man (6 years old) 6:45

All three of them with sub- 7 minute times for the 1500 meter! I'm one proud Mommy!

Then, Guitar Boy had to head over to his recital.

With his awesome teacher, Chris!

And he made it back just in the nick of time to run the 800 meter event.

which he won by quite a bit! I'm so glad to see him giving his all here even though the closest competitor can't even be seen in this picture. This was his last race to run with Trussville Tracksters, since the program ends at age 12. It was a bittersweet moment for this mom!

All 3 of the boys earned medals today!

Week in review: 5/10/13

2013-05-10T14:35:00.000-05:00

It was a busy week and weekend so this one is a review in pictures.

Preacher Man and E playing trains
and working in her sensory box - noodles this week!

Preacher Man practicing spelling words with magnet letters.

Eating ice cream!

We've been working on perimeter and measuring in RightStart B and one of preacher man's math projects for this week to measure a hallway. He was to plan the project and figure it all out on his own. The teacher's instructions assumed the child would use the 1 inch tiles that we've been using for several lessons for measuring. But not Preacher Man. He said a hallway was too big and he was going to get the meter stick. Harmonica Boy can't stand to be left out of a project so he jumped in to "help."

Kitchen help.

Preacher Man loves homemade pizza and loves to help make it. Thankfully BeeBee keeps us stocked in pizza sauce featuring tomatoes from Granddaddy's garden!

We had a follow up visit to the IAC on Wednesday. We saw the OT and are now working on eating/biting harder foods, such as goldfish. The interesting thing about this, is that we are feeding her on the sides, which is to make her tongue have to work harder. Suddenly we are seeing lots more tongue action, such as sticking it out! and she's make even more sounds! I think she is on the verge of several new English words!

Guitar Boy gets in some preschool playtime!

And, of course, swinging. No day is complete without swinging!

Our little princess in her Disney nightgown.

Harmonica Boy playing "Ride A Little Horsey"

Preacher man reading a book

Simply being cute!

Noodle Sensory Box

The kids completed all their work for the week. They have 2 more weeks of school and then they will be done!

Essie's Week 5/5/13 Part 2

2013-05-05T15:45:00.004-05:00

Wednesday:
Playing guitar after bathtime.

Sensory box this week was cotton balls. Verdict: She doesn't love them.

Too big of a rush getting on her PJs led to this:

Then she tried to fix the problem on her own, which ended up with this:

Silly girl!

I don't know how this happened but I have no pictures from Thursday of Essie!

Friday we took a field trip to Montgomery.

A friend of mine went with us to be available to supervise the boys in case I needed to walk away with Essie during any of the tours. I'm so glad I took her as I did have to leave a few times so we wouldn't be a distraction!

This is Essie and a "friend" from church!

Saturday:
Playdough time!

And no day is complete with swinging!

As with most kids 4-6 pm is just a fussy time of the day. On Saturday, Tony assisted me in dinner preparation. Essie went in the sling while he flipped pancakes!

As with our other kids, we start most morning snuggling in the bed when they first wake up.

Dressed for church!

Essie's Week 5/5/13 Part 1

2013-05-05T15:16:00.003-05:00

Monday: This basket is supposed to hold our Wii games, but as you can see it has become a toy for Essie. She loves to load things into it and then

push it all around the house!

Bathtime is no longer a dreaded experience that brings tears. She actually goes to the stairs when we say "bathtime", gets excited while we're running the water and PLAYS with the toys!

Tuesday:
Climbing up the stairs!

Throwing the ball with Shakey!

Since the azaleas were blooming in our yard we decided to try to get a good picture of her in her Chinese silk dress. She wasn't thrilled about standing in the mulch.

Please pick me up now!

Week in Review: 5/3/2013

2013-05-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

Week 32 complete! Only 3 more weeks to go!

We are still listening to Narnia. Right now we are on Prince Caspian.

Guitar Boy:
Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
Rod and Staff Grammar
Spelling Workout
Literature: Dragon's Gate
Mystery of History III
AIG God's Design For Physical World: Inventions & Technology

Harmonica Boy:
Beast Academy
Rod & Staff Grammar
Spelling Workout
Literture: Holes
Studies Weekly: Alabama History
Apologia Astronomy
Daily Geography

Preacher Man:
First Language Lessons
Spelling Workout
Daily Geography
Daily Reading
RightStart B
Apologia Astronomy

Making Ice Cream in Apologia Astronomy:

Learning perimeter in RightStart math.

We finished off our week with a Field trip!

Montgomery Field Trip

2013-05-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

Harmonica Boy has been studying Alabama history this year. To coordinate with this took a field trip to Montgomery with some other homeschoolers from our cover school.

We visited Old Alabama Town where you can see many historic buildings. Many of these original buildings were moved to this location and a "living" museum has been created. There are actors for some of the locations to give you more information about the buildings and history. Unfortunately, our group did not pay for a guided tour, but I have been here with a guided tour and it is fabulous. It was still quite fascinating, education and FUN even without the guide.

In the blacksmith shop

water pump

log cabin

We also visited the First White House of the Confederacy. We had the privilege of talking to a fascinating lady who was a refuge to America after being imprisoned in Czechoslovakia for a year as an 11 year old! She is proud of her adopted country and values freedom. She experienced first hand the abuse of a government with too much control. She spoke about guarding freedom to the children. While I'm sure they mostly didn't get it, it's such a wise piece of advice. We need to be sure that we are not allowing our government to get too powerful and take away our freedoms.

We visited the Alabama Archives and enjoyed a fascinating tour there.

And we visited the Capitol. It is such a beautiful building.

Floating spiral staircase built over 100 years ago - still standing strong! From Wikipedia: The twin cantilevered spiral staircases are among the building's finest original architectural features.They were designed and built by architect Horace King, a former slave who was freed in 1846. Due to his renown in Alabama and surrounding states as a bridge builder, the Alabama Legislature passed a special law that exempted him from the state's manumission laws, which normally required that freed slaves leave the state within one year of gaining their freedom. During the post-war Reconstruction Era he served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives, in the building that he had helped to design and build

So this amazing staircase was designed by a freed slave who also supervised the building project of in the pre-Civil war period! Simply Amazing!

Viewing the rotunda.

It was a great day of learning about our state history. Essie did well, all things considered. My friend, Diane went with us so I could attend to her if needed during touring so she wouldn't be a distraction and the boys wouldn't have to miss out. It worked out perfectly and she enjoyed the day, as well!

Essie's Week Part 2: 4/28/13

2013-04-28T18:49:00.001-05:00

You can check out the beginning of her week in this separate post.

Thursday:

I hadn't heard her for several minutes (I was working on school with Preacher Man) so I went searching for her. She was reading her book propped up on a beanbag chair!

Then we met Poppa and Granna at Chick-fil-A for lunch and Daddy came, too!

Poppa and Granna brought a sunhat for Essie - so cute!

Friday:

Saturday:
Pushing her doll stroller from BeeBee and Granddaddy!

Posing in her Sunday outfit!

This girl has a fascination with cords of all kinds!

Week in Review: 4/26/13

2013-04-26T22:31:00.002-05:00

Week 31 complete! We only have 4 more weeks of school!

Together work:
We've been listening to A Horse and His Boy this week during lunch.
Meet the Masters - Joan Miro (project next week!)

Preacher Man (1st Grade)
Helped me plant our green beans on Monday!

We have lots of green strawberries and more blooms. He is looking forward to the first red berries!

RightStart Math
Spelling Workout - 100 on his test this week!
Daily Geography
First Language Lessons - Action verbs

Harmonica Boy (4th Grade)
Beast Academy Math
Daily Geography
Studies Weekly Alabama History
Spelling Workout
Rod & Staff Grammar

Guitar Boy (7th Grade)
AIG God's Design For Inventions and Technology
Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
Spelling Workout
Rod & Staff Grammar
Mystery of History III

Also this week Harmonica Boy and Preacher Man had their art displayed from the art classes they have been taking.

And lastly, Harmonica Boy and Preacher Man are working through Apologia Astronomy. Today we made clouds.

Not sure you can tell from the picture, but it worked really well!

And they are wrapping up their day playing some games. As I'm typing this I even hear Guitar Boy in there with them!

Essie's Week Part 1: 4/28/13

2013-04-24T18:49:00.000-05:00

Monday:

Swinging in PJs.

This week I introduced a new item to our "schedule" - the sensory box. This week I put dried beans in the sensory box. We played with it each day this week. I will change out the items regularly in the box to provide different sensory exposure for her. We need to be intentional about exposing her to different senses to allow her to experience things that many kids will experience in everyday living in a family that she has missed out on.

Reading a book

Tuesday:

This is a progression. I was laying in the floor with the camera.

She begin making a stack of items on my belly!

It was pretty funny!

Working a puzzle.

Wednesday:

Sensory Box

Pushing the box

Essie loves to swing. This is her entertainment while she swings:

Noah was helping me while I was running back and forth cooking dinner!

Later in the evening as I was cleaning up the kitchen, she wandered in (squeaking in her squeaky shoes) and found a piece of a Starburst wrapper on the floor. She sat down and was trying to blow it. It was so funny and something I haven't seen her do. I laid in the floor of the kitchen and we took turns blowing this shred of paper. She laughed and giggled!

And afterwards I decided the floor needed to be mopped so after she got bored of the paper, I got out the mop!

Building with blocks with Daddy:

One Month with Essie!

2013-04-22T09:07:00.000-05:00

So on Thursday we had our first Post Placement visit. We received Essie (Gotcha Day) on 3/18/13 and had this meeting on 4/18/13. The Social Worker came to our house, asked us lots of questions, observed Essie. Her basic evaluation is that Essie is either doing really well OR is still in a honeymoon phase. She recommended that we still not let anyone else hold her at this point but feels that we could let grandparents come to our house (her turf) and play with her, be around her, etc. She feels we still need to be cautious in building her bond with us and building her trust in us.

In some ways, things around here have been easy. Essie sleeps well, is fairly laid back and generally happy. The SW feels that perhaps she is just not comfortable yet and so we haven't seen that more "real" side - crying, fussing, etc.

In other ways, things around here have been hard. When we began this process we wanted to consider an older child. I don't enjoy the baby phase - the nursing/bottles, up all night, baby food, diapering, crying, figuring out naps, rocking to sleep, etc. We also knew these types of activities would make homeschooling a little more difficult, hence our request to be matched with a 3-5 year old. Most of our training prepared us for children who have never had enough to eat and don't know how to stop, for children who have been potty trained and cup trained early to make the workload more manageable for the nannies.

Needless to say, we were more than a little surprised to find out Essie was only taking a bottle. And while it does explain why she might be so small, it certainly isn't what we were prepared for. Yet, God knew she was to be our daughter and maybe that is why He didn't let this information be in her file; I shudder to think that could have prevented us from matching with her. We LOVE her so much!

But I'm going to be really honest here.

It's hard.

I don't enjoy spoon feeding a baby for 20 minutes 3 times a day, or bottle feeding a baby for 10-15 minutes 4 times per day. (These are things that other moms perhaps enjoy but being still is hard for me when there are so many things that need to get done!) It's hard to remember the timing of when she needs to eat; due to her orphanage roots she doesn't yet express her needs. It's hard to balance homeschooling 3 kids (who are mostly not interested in book learning) with these unexpected needs, especially with the restriction that only Tony and I should bottle, feed and change diapers at this point. It's hard to make sure you have enough containers of baby food and find a place to keep them in your pantry until you will be returning to the store (6 containers per day! And please don't tell me to make my own - I just don't have time right now!) Plus the formula, bottles, nipples (which she chews and have to constantly be replaced.) It's been a little overwhelming to say the least; and more so because we weren't expecting it.

I want her to hurry and use those 20 teeth that she has to chew food.

I want to just give her the food and have her feed herself.

I want to hand her a sippy cup so she can drink on her own.

All these are things we were expecting her to be doing.

But I know it's actually good for her that we are doing these things for her. It's good for bonding, it's good for building trust. God has actually given to us what is best for her and yet I'm selfishishly wanting something different, something easier for me.

I have a lot to learn.

I need to be the hands and feet to my daughter.

I need to nurture and love this sweet girl in this way because she is from a hard place.

I need to give up of my self and my time to serve her.

Selfishness has always been a vice for me...

So dear friends, I'm asking for your prayers. Pray that I will submit to cheerfully doing what Essie needs, that I will treasure these times of caring for her, that I will praise God while I'm doing it and that He will be glorified!

Essie's week 4/21/13

2013-04-21T18:22:00.001-05:00

Sunday : Going to church

Playing "piano" with Harmonica boy.

Ready for the beach!

First taste of yogurt

Snacktime in the fort!

swinging!

Checking out the washing machine!

Tutu from Meemaw!

Walking on the trampoline

More swinging (in her tutu!)

Week in Review: 4/19/13

2013-04-19T18:18:00.000-05:00

Week 30 Complete!

Together Work:
Meet the Masters: Frida Kahlo

CBS Presentation week!

Harmonica Boy's class did a rap - hence the rapper pose!

Guitar Boy:
Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
AIG God's Design For...Physical World
Rod & Staff Grammar
MOH vol III
Spelling Workout

Harmonica Boy:
Beast Academy Mtah
Rod and Staff Grammar
Daily Geography
Spelling Workout
Apologia Astronomy - He and Preacher Man made all the planets with clay!

Preacher Man
Spelling Workout
Daily Geography
First Language Lessons
RightStart math
Apologia Astronomy

Track 2013 - Meet 1

2013-04-13T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, we're still learning to balance 3 kids running/participating in 9 events, 1 kid in ba-ba's arms, and mom emceeing the entire event. So pictures slipped through the cracks! The kids all did well, each earning 1 medal! So proud of my boys!

Essie's Week

2013-04-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Playtime

We borrowed some pop up tunnels to work on crawling. She can crawl pretty well but her play therapist wants her on her hands and knees more to build gross motor skills, left/right brain development and sensory skills in her hands

Eating - yes, eating! While in China, the IAC doctor told us to expect a long hard road to get her eating since at 3 she was not on solid foods. Well, thanks to the prayers of so many of our friends and family, it took us less than 2 weeks home to get her putting the spoon and baby food in her mouth. She is consuming baby food 3 times a day now!

Lots of outside fun and hanging out at home, too!

Week in Review 4/12/13

2013-04-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

Week 29 complete!

Together Work:

CBS Bible study

Guitar Boy

Teaching Textbooks
Mystery of History III - one of his projects this week to make a useful item using Raphael's cherubs
Rod & Staff Grammar

Spelling Workout

AIG God's Design for Inventions & Technology

Harmonica Boy

3 days of SAT testing
Apologia Astronomy
Rod & Staff Grammar
Beast Academy Math

Preacher Man

First Language Lessons

Working on nouns

Apologia Astronomy
Spelling Workout
RightStart Math

Adding 4 digit numbers!

Even little Essie got in some dictionary reading for schoolwork this week!