I keep waiting to post on my blog when I have some inspiration and/or time and since neither has come, here are some pictures. :)

Kaylee's favorite thing is still food, although playing outside, going in the car(which she thinks involves food) and shoes rank up there with food. We got a new stove a couple months ago and she loves to watch the food cook. 

 If she hears the timer go off, she always screams (happily) and starts walking towards the kitchen. About a month ago, I tried to work on potty training with her and set a timer, even then she never figured out the timer was for her to go potty. We have given potty training a break for a little while, but she still used it in the morning and after naps and is doing well with that, so we may try starting up again soon.

 The kids LOVE to play in the sand and mud. I affectionately call Kaylee "the dirt magnet", because she will find dirt and smear it all over her clothes and face. I have started to get a little smarter and dress her in all black. On this day, we had friends come over and they got dirtier than ever before (or ever again :)

 My handsome husband. 

 Our sweet little man is 6 months old now. Oh, the time is going way too fast.

 Justus is "officially" potty trained. At least he is not wearing a diaper anymore and stays dry 90% of the time. He does forget to tell me he has to go potty though and will wait until I either notice or just take him. Is this potty trained? Well, either way, I'm sure by the time he is 16, it will be a thing of the past. The other day, after nap, I did not take him potty and he wanted to go back upstairs to get his dolphin book (he has this thing for dolphins now ever since going to the aquarium, this book is really a library book, he loves it so much he even sleeps with it. He is going to be so sad when he finds out we have to take it back) Anyway, he went upstairs to get his book and must have started to pee and panic, so he ran out of his room, trailing pee the whole way, to the stairs and then back to the bathroom. To say I was mad, is really and understatement. I had so much pee to clean up. If only I knew at that moment, that one day I'd probably laugh about it, maybe I wouldn't have been so mad. I was so mad I had to sit in the garage. oh yeah, so then after I cleaned it all up, guess what? Yep, he peed again.

 Malika loves to find empty jars, socks, even her clothes to stuff things into. One week she even had blankets stuffed in her clothes, pretending she was pregnant. So, for three days she was "pregnant". Finally, I had to say no more.

 Kaylee working on holding her paintbrush correctly.

 I read somewhere that painting on coffee filters was better, because they don't soak up the water as much. I don't know that they were much better than paper, but the kids had so much fun. We made butterflies with our painted coffee filters.

 Malika has started to take dance class and loves it so much all she wants to do is where her dance clothes and dance. Isn't she graceful? Ok, really she is just looking to see if there are ants on her foot.

 Kaylee still loves the baby. She wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. He loves her too, I think they will be great friends.

 Seth eating his first bites of food.

What? I'm supposed to eat this stuff?

 How's that? 

  

 Am I supposed to eat that too?

 Yes, I know I am so cute.

 This is my good side, did you get it?

 Here, try this angle too.

 What do you mean I can't be a baby model?

 Poor sick babies. Malika loves Seth so much. First thing she does when she wakes up is ask to hold and play with the baby.

Kaylee is doing so good. I think she takes 3 steps forward for a few weeks, then takes 2 steps back. I really should be used to it by now, but it still surprises me every time. The latest was being around friends. She was doing so well, but then started to climb all over people when they came over or when we would go places. Made me not want to go anywhere or have anyone over.  She usually leaves strangers alone now, most of the time anyway, or at least will ask if she can go up to them.

Anyway, when we would be around friends, she would climb all over them or beg them to hold her constantly. This may not seem like such a big deal, except that we are still trying to form attachments with her. She also, would start doing all the things she knows she isn't supposed to be doing.

After talking with some other adoptive moms, I think I realized I have allowed her to get away with things when other people are around, rather than disciplining her for things she isn't allowed to do. It has been more out of fear of what others will think of me. I have learned that with Kaylee I have to be completely firm in what I say and I never want to come across as mean. I also have this fear that people will think I'm treating her differently because she is adopted.

I have taken the advice and am consistent with her whether we are at home or out. The other day at some friends house, she was sitting on our friends lap and started to take his glasses off. She isnt allowed to do that and already knows that. He said it was no big deal and was trying to get his glasses out of her death grip ( whoever said kids with DS have low muscle tone hasn't met Kaylee :)Anyway, I snatched her up so quickly, she was probably frightened into obeying. I told her we don't do that, and she knows it and put her in time out for a few minutes. We had no problems after that. So, I think I have found the secret.

Kaylee is making such huge improvements in so many areas. She can say "up" now, sometimes I'm not sure she really understands what it means as she says it when it isn't appropriate to say it. But, at least she is trying. She is also saying so many new sounds. And she is signing a lot more and perfecting the signs she already knows. She has about 40+ signs that she uses frequently.

She is so smart. Even though she doesn't talk, she communicates very well.

So grateful

As hard as life is right now, with all the craziness and chaos at times, I am so grateful. I love having four children. This morning, I may or may not have said that. I was trying to make lunch, while holding the baby. Justus pooped in his pants, so I laid the baby down. I took Justus to the potty, heard the baby cry. Told Justus to stay on the potty, ran to the baby. Kaylee had fallen on the baby with a huge hard plastic toy. So, I consoled the baby, took the chicken out of the oven before it burned. Then went back to Justus, who WAS still on the potty, but had scooted all around the potty and smeared poop everywhere. So, yeah, I may not have said that this morning, ha ha. BUT, I am grateful that God must have seen way more in me than I see to trust me with each of these little ones. I love them all so much. I love to watch them run around playing with each other. 

Here are a few pictures from the last month.

The kids with their cards from my Grandma. They were so happy to have them. Justus carried his around for two days and called it his "book".

 Malika decorating her gingerbread house. It has been our tradition since Malika was a baby to invite our friends over to make gingerbread houses with us. 

 Our family with our gingerbread houses. They had so much fun making them, but mostly eating all the candy.

All the kids that made gingerbread houses.

 Kaylee LOVES the bird. When she hears the him she goes crazy, and recently has started requesting to hold the him. She looks so happy to hold him here, although, I'm not sure she really likes it. Yet, she always holds her arm out for us to put him on it.

 So excited! Kaylee actually loves any animal and when she sees one, she starts screaming.

 It was so nice to have Kaylee here this Christmas. I went back and read what I wrote last Christmas and it seems like a lifetime ago. It's hard to believe that was just a year ago. So much has happened in just a year.

This was Christmas Eve, the kids got to open their stockings. I found this little container to put snacks in for Kaylee while we are in the car. It was too funny at first, she knew there was food in it, but couldn't figure out how to get it out.

 But, then Big Sister showed her.

 Our other little one celebrating his first Christmas. Oh how blessed we are to have two new little people this year.

 Justus got some new soap in his stocking. I took this picture for daddy, because he thinks it is so funny when Justus smells something. Yes, he is smelling it and no, he doesn't think it smells bad.

 The kids got new pencils and paper. They went right to work coloring on all the papers. They loved it. Oh the simplicity of life with children. This was Christmas Eve though, so, after the next day, no more simplicity. Two days after Christmas, Justus said he wanted to open more presents. We didn't go crazy getting gifts for them either, but after grandparents, they had quite a bit.

 Kaylee at the counter getting ready to help make the birthday cake for Jesus.

 Our birthday cake for Jesus. Malika asked again this year if Jesus was going to be there and eat the cake. 

 I thought I took a lot of pictures on Christmas day, but this was the only one of the kids opening presents, oops!

 Kaylee's first Christmas pictures. Well, at least her first Christmas with a family. The orphanage gave us some pictures of her in front of a Christmas tree, so they must have celebrated Christmas with the kids.

I came out one night to this...

 Justus and Kaylee. Justus has been potty training for a week now. It was so rough at first, but going so much better now. So glad I didn't give up.

 Justus and Seth. This is how they were this morning when I walked back into the bedroom. Justus decided he needed to wake Seth up, then he somehow propped him up on this pillow.

Malika loves Seth so much, she is always asking to hold him, she would prefer it if I let her hold him standing up, but he is just getting so big now.

The perfect gift

Last year for Christmas one adoptive mom started a new tradition by putting money in an envelope and putting it in their stockings. The money was for each person to pick a child off the angel tree from Reeces Rainbow and send the money to go into that child's account. So, on Christmas morning when they found their envelope, they would go to the computer and pick out their child, put that child's name on it and then put it in the mailbox.

I love this idea so much, that we will also be doing it this year.

It seems others liked it as well, and they have started a new thing called Angel Tree dollars.

Please go check out Julia's blog post about this and consider doing this with your family as well. The more money in each child's account, the easier it will be for that child to be adopted. So many people want to adopt or have thought about it, but don't go through with it because of the cost. If we can raise the money for them, then so many more children will have homes and can celebrate their first Christmas next year!

Go check it out for yourself. These aren't just faces, they are children. Children who are waiting for a Mommy and a Daddy, waiting for someone to care, someone to love. Some are suffering as they wait.

Don't turn your head the other way





They need someone to care. These are just a few of the many children that are still waiting.

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act" Proverbs 24:12

Kaylee's eyes

When we took Kaylee to the Eye Doctor, we realized how bad her eyes really were. We knew that she couldn't see well, we just weren't sure how bad they were.

She has several things wrong with her eyes, and from what I have read about them, they are all connected. She has nystagmus, albinism, and severe astigmatism. The nystagmus causes her eyes to vibrate back and forth. She tips her head back to look at something, at first I thought it was muscle control. The Eye Doctor said it has to do with the nystagmus and it is a good thing, because she has found her null point. My understanding is that this is where her eyes stay still so she can see. The albinism, we believe is just in her eyes, though we haven't tested to know for sure. Ocular albinism is when there isn't enough pigment in the eyes.

The Eye Doctor prescribed glasses to see if they will help.

So, we set out to find the most attractive and stylish glasses least destructible glasses. And here they are (see the baby on the floor in the background? It is a real baby :), I put him down for a minute to do something and he slept for an hour!)

I'm not sure if she really can see better out of them though. From what I've been reading, glasses may not help her condition. The Doctor wasn't entirely sure, either. So, we will try them for awhile.

In this picture, do you see how Kaylee is tilting her head back? She is looking at the cookie. (Justus looks like he might jump across the table to get to the cookie). This is how Kaylee usually tips her head back.

But, with the glasses, she tips her head even further. It looks as though she is trying to look under them, but I don't think so. The strangest thing, she also opens her mouth very wide while wearing them.

In this one, to get her to not tilt her head down, I snapped my fingers near the ground. See, she isn't looking at the camera.

Oh, there you are.

Ok, so I wanted to see if she still did it with the glasses off. No, she doesn't. This is probably one of the cutest pictures I have of her. Look at her poor face, she has been falling so much lately. That is another thing that is worrying me.