Sibling Love

So sweet, so tender, so gentle...

And then there's the rest of the story!

And then I stopped taking pictures because Clara was about to hurtle herself off the edge of the couch in an attempt to escape the loving embrace of her big brother. It really was a sweet moment, even if fleeting!

What We've Been Up To

I figure it's about time for a little update about our life since our latest big changes (another move, another new job, another sweet baby!). We've been here a little over 6 months now and I must say that we are liking it. We have been able to plug into our new community in so many ways. We are enjoying our new church very much and have found many different ways to be involved and volunteer. The kids have found activities to fill nearly every day, from dance to homeschool co-op to AWANA to choir to Chinese school to free craft time at several local stores. We have wonderful next-door neighbors who also have four children, although opposite of us - 3 boys and a girl.

Larry and I are really pleased with the medical care we've been able to get for the girls here. We struggled with that in our previous location and it is such a relief and blessing to find quality care so quickly and easily. Since we've been here, Julie has gotten her first-ever hearing aid and it is amazing! We've decided to set aside any surgical options for correcting her hearing loss since the hearing aid is working so well. Melody had another palate surgery a few months ago, the third attempt to close her palate completely. The good, no great, news is that it worked! She also has a wonderful speech therapist who is connected to our team of doctors and knows just what to do to help Melody progress. Both girls go back for a team evaluation in January, at which point we'll be moving forward with orthodontia for Julie and plans for another surgery for Melody.

Julie started 2nd grade and Melody started Kindergarten this August in our homeschool. Both girls are doing so well. Melody is learning to read and I am having such fun tagging along with her :). We switched math programs in hopes of avoiding all the tears and stress that last year brought and I am so pleased with the result. We're using RightStart Math and I can't say enough about it. Math time has been transformed in our home. Yet again, I find myself so thankful that I have the privilege of schooling our children, teaching them one-on-one, making adjustments to help them meet their potential.

Joseph will be 3 in just two short months, wow! He has finally arrived at the point of being okay with separating from us in order to go to Sunday School class. He still has so much to say, still loves his Blue Bear, and is still my cuddly, stubborn, funny, strong-willed, sweet boy. Clara is 8 months now and she is changing all the time. She started crawling at 6 months and is now pulling up on everything she can grab. Today she cruised down the length of the couch for the first time. I can see we're going to have another young walker on our hands in a few months! She has two teeth on the bottom (so cute!) and just yesterday I noticed that two on the top have broken through. They are the ones next to the center ones, so she's going to look a bit like Dracula soon! Not to fear though, since I can see the center top ones just below the gums. How is my baby becoming a toddler so fast? I want to treasure every single moment and not miss a single chance to cuddle/squeeze/exchange raspberries with this amazing little girl. She is nearly always smiling and can light up a room just by being there.

Here are a few pictures before I go. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

New Beginnings

Hello! Is anyone still out there? Life has been a whirlwind lately, but we're finally starting to get our feet back on the ground. In a nutshell...

Baby Blessing #4 was born on February 13th. For the first time on this blog, please welcome our newest little girl, Clara Faith! She has blessed us all so much in her now 11 weeks of life. I adore everything about her and I already feel like she is growing up too quickly. Her smiles and coos melt my heart, and I marvel as I watch her learn new things each day. Maybe it's hormones, but I just want to hug all my kids close and never let go, ever. Here are a few pictures of our precious girl:



And the family...

Our other big news is that we have moved again. It happened very quickly. When Clara was less than 2 weeks old, Larry got a call on a Thursday, had an offer the next Monday, flew out to check it out that Wednesday and came back Sunday having accepted the offer and made an offer on a house! We had to wait about a week for his temporary security clearance to go through, and after that we had two weeks to pack up and move again. This time we hired movers to take our packed boxes away, phew! After driving for two days and spending 4 weeks in a hotel (with 3 adults, 4 kids and a cat), we finally closed on our new house and moved in. We are still living in boxes, but we're getting unpacked slowly. Moving is challenging for me in a lot of ways, but I learned a few things last time. I know I have to give things a chance and that it will take at least a year for me to really start getting connected. I've also learned not to judge too quickly because there are good things everywhere. I'm a mathematician by training and my brain over-analyzes and disects everything with a critical lens. I am trying to make a conscious effort not to do that right now, although the traffic around here tempts me daily!!! I will say that I adore our new house, all except the paint color in our bedroom (dark gold-ish hue, blah). I can hardly believe we live in a home like this, after all our years in 2 bedroom places. Hopefully it will feel like home in no time.

Off to get my chattering baby from her bed :) :) :). Thanks for reading!

2 and 4 Year Old Photos

We have always taken our children's annual photos ourselves, even though we are not at all "photographers" and we only have a point-and-shoot camera. The results are not professional, but we still manage to get poses that (I think) capture our kids at the time. Here's what we have for Melody's 4 year-old and Joseph's 2 year-old pictures (note: Melody is hard to photograph because she doesn't like being put on the spot. Her genuine smile is not easy to capture, and I will probably try again.)




(I haven't decided if I should edit out the spinning wheel in the middle picture. All 3 of these were taken in my mom's living room!)

Merry Christmas!

Are you surprised that I still exist? As I was telling a friend today, it is not intentional that I set out to neglect this blog. It's just that, well, life has changed since we moved and my blogging has changed with it. The transition here has been challenging, and in the process I have lost nearly all in-person friendship and interaction. My lack of blogging reflects that same process. I have literally fallen out of practice in sharing life with others. I don't want to stay in this isolated place though, so I'm going to try to start blogging again. I started this blog to be a record of our lives, primarily for our children, and so far they aren't going to learn very much about our time in this place from reading here. So, where to begin?

Julie had ear surgery again in November. It had been 4 months since her last surgery, and the growth had already come back and was even trying to get into her inner ear. That is scary because if it does, she will lose all chances of hearing on that side. The doctor really cleaned it out and then modified the anatomy of her ear to try to dissuade the growth from returning. We had one post-op visit and we go back again in January. The healing process is slow, but so far everything is on track. If all looks well in January, we will start pursuing the hearing implant (BAHA) that I wrote about once before. We tried to get approval for it to go in during this surgery, but our insurance denied it and we're changing insurance Jan 1 anyway. I am so grateful that we found this wonderful doctor who is so skilled at what he is doing. These surgeries are scary because they can permanantly affect hearing, balance and facial paralysis (Julie's facial nerve is exposed in there because the growth ate away at the nerve covering). It's also so not fun to see her in such discomfort after the surgery. She is usually sick to her stomach for a good 6-8 hours, and this time was no exception. She had to stay 1 night in the hospital but was ready to go by morning. Physically, the recovery is kind of bloody, but the pain seems managable. We're past all that stuff now, yay! Julie is such a brave girl, really. She hates the mask they use to put her to sleep, but she held herself together up until the last minute when it was time fot the mask. Larry went back with her and helped until she was out, which is such a nice thing they do at this hospital. The surgery itself was about 4.5 hours. Again, my girl is SO brave, and I am so thankful to God for watching over her.

We have had several family celebrations recently too. December 5th marked the 5th anniversary of Julie's adoption! We celebrated in our usual fashion, with a ring-shaped chocolate chip cookie and the singing of "happy anniversary to our family." I can't believe it's been 5 years. Then on the 9th, Joseph turned 2!! That is also utterly amazing. He is not at all baby anymore. In fact, he blows us away with all is doing these days. Mostly, I am thinking about his language skills. He speaks in full 10-word sentences and has all kinds of more "advanced" language structures. I know this not just from listening to him (because I could be biased, I know), but also because both girls' speech therapists come into our home and marvel at Joseph's language abilities. He loves to call after me when I'm leaving him at naptime, "Mommy! Come back here! I have to tell you something! I have a question for you! What does the cow say?" Then we go back and forth with me giving wrong answers and him cracking up until I finally tell him "Mommy says good night!" This morning I got him out of bed and brought him to our bed, where he looked at my body pillow and told me "That's a pillow babies use. When the baby pops out, it lay on the pillow like this." Huh? I have no idea where he gets this stuff, but it sure is fun to listen to his brain work! He also loves to make up rhymes. For example, he'll ask "whatch doin' Daddy waddy?" At the risk of sounding presumptuous, we got a book out of the library about raising gifted children, and so far a lot of it fits Joseph. For example, if I give him a picture and some crayons, he quickly gets frustrated that he can't color in the lines like he wants to, and he asks me to "clean up" the parts he went over, then he asks me to color for him, pointing to the parts he wants me to color. Now I give him blank paper instead. He also knows all his colors and many letters, both upper and lower case. I don't mention the gifted thing in order to brag, really. I had a friend before we moved who had a gifted child, confirmed by testing, and she got a lot of flack if she told people. It shouldn't be that way, though, because gifted children have unique needs too, and parents/teachers need to know that. I've been all over the map with my kids' unique abilities, and this is no different. I don't know if Joseph is technically gifted, but I do know that I need to try to nurture him the best way I can, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and every other way. Right now he's a bright, verbal, loving, silly, willful, capable, fun, affectionate, goofy, creative, helpful little boy whom I love with all my heart! There is nothing like a little boy hug followed by "I love you, Mommy." Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of my son!

Melody hasn't had any birthdays or anniversaries recently, but she is growing so much in so many ways. Spiritually, exciting things are happening. Just yesterday she prayed about Jesus being her savior, something she's been saying she wanted to do for many months. It was so sweet to hear. I can't wait to watch her faith deepen and grow over time. This has been one of the big benefits of homeschooling. And speaking of which, Melody has been speeding right along in her studies. We've been doing preschool since we moved here, and she excels at nearly everything! Just in the last 2 months, she has learned to form all her letters and she writes amazingly neatly. Just today we started the Kindergarten handwriting book I had been saving for next year because she is ready now. She's excited to learn to read and I'm excited to start working with her on it. I am so blessed by this child...she is precious beyond words. She has such a sweet heart and helpful spirit. Tonight she covered me up with a blanket and then played with my hair for a good 10 minutes. I am so grateful to be Melody's Mommy!

And since this seems to be turning into a summary of our children, I suppose it is long past-due that I share our newest news. As many of you already know, we are expecting blessing #4! Since I have neglected this blog for so long, the baby's arrival is pretty much right around the corner at this point. I am due mid-February, somewhere around the 15th or 17th. We chose not to find out the gender this time, so it's going to be a big surprise. I have plenty more to say about this whole topic, but this is already getting really long and I have other things to do tonight. Also, I have pictures to post and job/life news to relate. So, I will have to come back and finish up. Thanks for reading and I hope you had a meaningful Christmas!

Milestones Cont'd

Speaking of birthdays, this special little girl turned 4 at the end of September.

I am constantly amazed at who she is and what incredible talents God has given her. Our Melody is one smart, caring, funny, sweet, responsible, helpful, loving girl. There is no holding her back. We do preschool together at home, but she also participates in all of the 1st grade goings-on too. And I don't mean that she observes. No, she listens to the stories and answers questions, she makes up math scenarios and does her best to write down the addition/subtraction statements that go with them, she points out all kinds of patterns all throughout our day, and more. I have come to believe that she and I are a lot alike in the way our brains work. We are both mathematical, detailed types. Also, I seriously have never met a young child who is so responsible. We have been told by more than one person that she is "3 going on 30," or I guess now "4 going on 40?!" Melody is also an extremely loving child who still wants to rub her brother's soft hair every morning, even though he protests. She is just an amazing person and I cannot imagine life without her. She is a shining star that lights up our family in such a beautiful way. Happy 4th birthday, sweet girl!

To complete the birthdays, we celebrated one more today:


Happy 44th, Larry! Melody, of course, loves the fact that she is 4 and Daddy is 44. As for where we went out to eat...it was the kids' choice...any guesses? We try to encourage the kids to think of other people on their birthdays and give something special, so they decided that Daddy needed to go to McD's for a kids' meal, the epitome of special things! The girls were thrilled to discover that they were the ones who ended up with the kids' meals. Joseph was happy just to eat several little paper tubs of ketchup, as usual, which accounts for most of the mess on his face. Tomorrow we will eat at home and sing Happy Birthday to Daddy over some freshly baked brownies. Here's to a great year ahead!

Milestones

There have been numerous milestones around here lately. Let me share a few...

My grandmother turned 100 in July! We all enjoyed a special birthday celebration for her at a great little restaurant near her home. Happy Birthday, Oma!

My Aunt, My Grandmother, My Mother:

Oma with her only Grandchild (Me) and Great-grandchildren:

Joseph is 1 and she is 100. Wow. Can you imagine the changes she has seen in her lifetime? Add to that the fact that she came to this country from Europe by herself when she was only 16, not speaking a word of English, and you get one pretty amazing story. I am sad to think that we probably don't have many more birthdays together, but I am so glad we could be there for this one.

Okay, I know I said I'd share a few milestones, but I am realizing that I need to get pictures off of the camera first. I will aim to finish this up tomorrow night!