Happily Ever After...

Remember THIS little humdinger from Gianna? Well tonight, as calmly as could be, she announces at dinner: "Mommy..... I've decided I love you more than guacamole." I mean.....I do make a crazy-good broccoli rice casserole, but s eriously ??? I beat out guacamole, ya'll. That's the highest award Gianna gives, and I WON IT!!! (for now at least.) And in other news: ~We are all sick with a cold-like virusy thing. Fun times= Sick x 6 people +fever x 2 + runny noses x 5. ~The weather is a balmy 71 degrees and we don't feel well enough to enjoy it. ~Someone finally went pee-pee in the potty, albeit for spite purposes, after throwing the mother of all temper fits for being forced to sit on there. Any guesses who? ~I am reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is SOOO wonderfully convicting. One excerpt: Take 1 Cor 13 and insert your name: "Cristy is patient, Cristy is kind..." Yeah, makes you realize even more your need for a Saviour, because I am NONE of tho...

My daughters are Chinese, and we are not. Shocking revelation, huh? Sometimes it is to me. You see, I just see four wonderfully amazing little girls that God has entrusted to our care. I don't see scoliosis, I don't see CP and I don't see attachment issues and most of the time, I don't see chinese children. I see MY girls, who are joyful, spunky and adorable. I see my thoughtful, sweet as sugar, Mommy-in-training in precious Aria. I see my HERO in my spunky Gianna. She faces every surgery with such grace. I see compassion and bravery in my darling Sofia. And honestly, I see GOD's heart in my joyful Celia. And when I do gaze into their beautiful asian eyes, I am jealous. I wish that God had seen fit to make me so beautiful. Although I know racism is real, and ugly and in their future unfortunately,as their Mama, I forget. Until the person in the mall sees twins in the stroller and smiles, until she sees Celia with fists tightly clenched. And a look of disgust/sympat...

Sofia is very nurturing to Celia. She loves to feed her and if I set their seats close enough, she will gladly offer her twin anything she has on her tray.   "Open wide!" "Here you go Sissy."  "OUCH!!!!" "She BIT me!!!" Someone thinks that's funny. Someone else does not however....  "Please don't make me feed her ever again!"

Aria is my "gifted" child academically. Believe me when I say, that I am simply stating a fact and am not bragging in any way, shape or form. I honestly wish she wasn't most of the time. Parenting and schooling a child like her is difficult. Especially for moms like me who are SOOOO NOT gifted. Or crafty. Or math-minded. To give you an idea of how her brain works- she taught herself to tie her shoes. When I asked her about it, she said, "I just watched you tie your shoes, and my brain recorded a video. Then I replayed the video and now I can do it myself!" Yeah.....I guess my brain's video recorder broke years ago. HA! Anyhoo..... So many decisions to be made about her future, and academics is only one part of the picture. Sometimes I wish we had a crystal ball to see into the future what her maturity level will be in relation to her academic ability. Right now, she is six and a half and has finished second grade and I had planned to be...

Celia had her MRI yesterday. The results are good , but it really complicates things. You see, her brain, (which should show damage due to CP) is... ....perfectly normal. Can I get a Hallelujah? I cried big, ugly, happy tears when we got the news! However, now we are in limbo.  Does she have CP but no structural brain damage?  (She could have functional damage that would not show on a normal MRI and she is too young for a functional MRI because she would have to respond to commands.) Does she have another neuromuscular disease that mimics CP? Does she have a "syndrome"? We are left with so many unknowns. As the Neurologist said, we need to start looking under every rock to see what we find. Disconcerting and very scary- there are some big bad yucky things that it could be, and we must begin the arduous process of testing, waiting for results, trying not to worry, and eliminating diseases. And all that may lead us right back to CP. (11.2% of CP kids have a normal MRI) An...

I  just deleted my Face- Book. (GASP!) I know, heavy, heavy stuff. And because I have SO MUCH more free time, I thought I'd give you my thoughts on the matter, in random order. I'm sure you're thrilled. 1) It is mostly a waste of time. Who cares that you just got back from the grocery store? That your cat barfed on the floor? That your sports team just won/lost? I mean really . But like a trashy TV show, I feel compelled to read those statuses and then wonder why the heck I wasted the time. 2) The geo-tracking thingy is a little scary. You can state where you are, OR your friend can state where you all are and tag you, and someone can click "Get directions" and come find you. Now that is not one of my reasons for deleting, but it is a little disconcerting. 3) And to add to #2, who the heck cares that you are at Costco? But my feed was wasted with stuff like that ALL.THE. TIME. It seems a little arrogant to me to think anyone cares where I am. 4) Whi...

Because of ALL the areas we need to work with Celia, every single situation can be a therapy session. ALL.DAY. LONG. Occupational therapy in teaching her how to play with toys with her hands. Physical therapy in strengthening her core, her neck muscles while in her walker, and in our lap or on the ball. Teaching her to roll properly, to scoot to get where she needs to go. Speech therapy by requiring her to say the words she has mastered. Feeding therapy by making her help hold her cup, chew food properly, and hold her fork. It can be exhausting for us both. However, our happy little Celia works hard at therapy and is cheerful working during playtime. She rarely minds if we switch her from feet playing to hand play. She is just fine with the whole "eye patch wearing" thing. Doesn't flinch when we have to rip it off. She will cooperate with using her fork (for a few bites) even when she's REALLY hungry and just wants you to shovel it in. SHe is very happy on...

To the man who wakes up every single day and brings me coffee in bed, the honor was mine to bring YOU (bad) coffee and breakfast in bed with four giggly girls. Aria and Gianna made him a birthday banner. (more on that later..) Gianna, knowing her Dad shares her love of all things avocado, made her daddy a guacamole puzzle. How sweet. In a foodie sort of way. The girls also got their sweet Daddy a sweet jar for his desk filled to the brim with gummy bears. Sweets for the sweet. He was joined in his birthday breakfast-in-bed by this cute little pirate. And a toast-eating potty-trainer. And a guacamole making puzzle girl. And the banner making princess. And bad coffee. Sorry Babe, I try, I really, really do. And like all Dads, he spent his birthday helping me shuttle the girls to their first day back to school. And then came home to his favorite dinner, and espresso chocolate cheesecake. A typical day, for an extraordinary man. Who loves his wife (and spoils her rotten), who loves hi...

And We couldn't be happier!!  After a week with Celia all to myself, I quickly reverted back to chopped liver when she saw Daddy.  He left last Saturday for Luxembourgh and he has had little girls mauling   ahem, loving on him ever since he walked in the door yesterday. Celia has developed a serious case of "elevation disease" as in, she is ONLY happy when Daddy is holding her. HA! We missed our sweet Daddy and are thrilled to have him home!!

I need one, I earned it. You see, what I forgot to mention to ye ole' bloggy friends, is... I was IN MY HOUSE, ALONE with FOUR KIDS from last Saturday until today. Six looooonnnnggggg days, snowed and iced in. And when I mean "alone" I don't really mean totally alone. What I mean is: "Almost totally alone for the majority of the week with a few bright spots of other adults company for a few brief periods ." My sweet son spent the first day with us, which is the only reason the girls went out for their redneck snow day. You see, the THOUGHT of dragging four little girly girls outside to play in the snow makes me hyperventilate. Thank GOD for sons. But then he had to leave. But he came back a few days later for pizza and scrabble. Nothing saves you like a rousing scrabble game. I lost however. My brain was mush and words like "pee-pee, potty, and no-no" do nothing for your scrabble score. Go figure. Then yesterday, two swe...

I am just SURE that everyone in Georgia wants to see more pictures of children in the snow. Right? I mean, they are all over FB, on every blog, and we have ALL seen the pictures, the SNOW  and the cute kiddies with rosy cheeks. I was proud of my self for at least being original enough to have a collapsed canopy too. HA! Well, I just HAVE to join the "cute snow pictures" club too. I am such a follower.  Aria is a perfect depiction of a Georgia girl. She has no real winter coat that wicks away moisture, is water repellant, and will keep her warm in sub-zero temperatures. Nope. No snow pants. No slushy pants to at least help keep her dry.  She is wearing her church coat, mommy's hat, and ziploc bags over her socks and in her crocs. Poor girl doesn't even own boots!  Gianna fared a bit better due to a generous friend in VA who passed down a few things. Thanks Diane! At least one of my daughters won't freeze!  I had to MAKE this girl come in. She was happy to pla...

We may or may not need a new canopy. Oh well.... At least we have 7 inches of SNOW to play in.

Aria brought Celia a keyboard to see what she would do. Who knew such an innocuous gesture would lead to the formation of a band?? The other band members quickly grabbed their instruments and began the jam session. However, they quickly realized that a recorder and drums played with hands, is sooo... yesterday . The made the necessary adjustments to be cool like the keyboard player. Sofia decided she'd be their  first groupie. With such a humble beginning, a band was formed. Please join me in welcoming the "Feet Band!!" When word spreads, their venues will be sold out! Better get your tickets now. Feel free to mail your checks c/o Mommy a.k.a the Manager :) Well, since Mommy sees every fun activity as a lesson for a therapy session, she made the girls sit up and do it the BORING way. Sheesh! Mommy always ruins the fun. "Hey wait a minute! This way is pretty fun too!" They reserve the right to play their concerts with hands or feet. So who w...

Monday : Cardiology for both twins in the morning for 3 long hours. (Both of them have healthy little hearts) A very short time to grab lunch, and speech therapy evaluation in the afternoon. Left the house at 9 AM and got home with 4 tired little girls and one exhausted mommy at 5PM. Tuesday: Made plans with my sister to FINALLY meet my new niece from China.  Got up early to clean up the clutter and make muffins (and shower:)Unfortunately, I didn't look at my calendar, so I totally forgot that we had an 11:30 AM appointment to set up therapy at home services in addition to our 5 therapy appointments we do at Childrens. I saw it on the calendar when my sister was heading over for coffee, and she graciously offered to keep my girls so I could just take the twins. Went to OT after therapy and picked up big girls at 3:30PM. Home by 4 PM- exhausted again. Wednesday: Went to the Neurologist with twins for Celia. She was very nice, but won't know anything until the MRI which has ...

We decided it was time to let Celia try to use a fork for the first time. Daddy helped her get the hang of the idea. We then offered her support at her elbow, and encouraged her to get that pasta in her mouth. She REALLY likes to be a big girl! Instead of singing for her supper, she had to do therapy for a bite. Daddy does NOT like her to struggle so he jumped in to help her out. (Did I mention Daddy got asked fired from coming to PT because she won't work as well?? All she wants is him to hold her. HA! Yeah... sad but true.) Mommy INSISTS she try to do it herself. Mean Mommy. She likes to cheat and have her head meet the fork half way. "Work with me would ya' Mr. Fork? " "Umm, Daddy? I'm batting my eyes at you... Help a girl out here?" Her Knight and Shining Armor to the rescue! Is she smiling because she liked the fork so much? OR  Perhaps , just perhaps , It's because she just realized how tightly she has that D...