Just Complaining

Wednesdays are the hardest day of the week for me. They are just really busy. There is homework, dinner, scouts, and mutual. Wednesdays used to be Kenny's day off. They were still busy, but much easier. He has had to work the last 3 Wednesday evenings. It is up to me to get homework done, dinner cooked, and the kids driven back and forth to church. Today the older kids were doing a service project and had to be at the church at 5:00 and they were going to be done at 7:30. Then Matthew has scouts from 6-7 at the church. I was planning on picking Matthew up at 7:00 and just waiting at the church for the older kids to be done. I was dreading having to wait 30 minutes at the church with the 3 younger boys. It would be past the little ones bed time and Lucas gets pretty wound up.
Nathan called me from school today to tell me he hurt his arm and asked me to pick him up. He was unable to move it and it was pretty swollen. I called Kaiser and they had no appointments. Urgent care opened at 6:00 and the appointment center made us an appointment in Pediatric Urgent Care at 6:00. We got there at 5:30 hoping to get in first at 6:00. We were called in at 6:00. Then the nurse told us that the doctor was running late and would not be there until 6:20. When the doctor showed up she said that they cannot see injuries in "pediatric" urgent care and that they should not have made us an appointment there. She said that we would have to go to the regular urgent care. (Now, I forgot to say that I had all 4 boys with me. I dropped the girls off at the church on our way.) So we went down to the regular urgent care. The wait to see the doctor was not too long. She looked at his arm and sent us for a x-ray. Then we had to wait a while there. Lucas is starting to be a bugger and Jackson is getting tired. After the x-ray we were supposed to go back to the urgent care and drop a paper in the box by the door so they know we are back. I did that and saw a nurse pick it up. We waited and waited. Lucas screamed loud and a lady moved away from us. I notice people who did x-rays after us get called in. Then we get called. The doctor asked if we put the paper in the box- YES. She said that she knew we were done because to x-rays were there but they could not find the paper. They later found it on a desk. Well, he does not have a fracture. He has a contusion of the elbow, which I think is just a bad bruise. We then had to go to the cast room so they could make him a splint. We were out of there at 8:30. I feel bad for Nathan because he can not do any physical activity or get his splint wet for 2 weeks. We are going to Baja Friday. He will be unable to swim and ride motorcylces. With 4 boys this was bound to happen sometime. I'm thinking of buying some bubble wrap to wrap the boys in before they go outside. I wonder if they sell it in bulk at Costco? I think that after today normal Wednesdays won't be so bad.

Father & Sons Campout

Jackson's Head & Crazy Hair

Since Jackson was a newborn the right side of his head has been flat. The doctor just keeps saying that it will round out as he gets older and that we should keep him up as much as possible. We have been trying to keep him up and worked on getting him to sleep with his head turned to his left side. For the last 2 months he has actually been sleeping on his left side. He has also started rolling over and spending more "happy" time on his tummy. He can sit up for the most part too, he is still a little wobbly. But his head looks the same. I took him back to the doctor a few weeks ago and she referred Jackson to a plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon said that his flat head was mild. I don't think it's mild. It looks bad to me. Then he looked at Jackson a little closer and noticed that he tilted his head to one side just a little. The doctor then moved Jackson's neck around and Jackson was not happy. The doctor said that Jackson's neck muscles were really tight and this can cause the flat head. Jackson will begin occupational therapy and hopefully the neck and head will improve. If his head does not then the next step would be a helmet. The doctor said that if Jackson's neck stays tight and he tilts his head to one side, that when he starts to walk he will have no balance. I am so glad the doctor noticed this because I did not. What makes Jackson's head look worse is that he has very little hair in the back. He has some really long hair in the front that looks like a bad comb over. One hot day he was sitting under the ceiling fan and his hair was flopping in the breeze. It was so funny that I had to take a video. Lucas gets a little jealous and wants to be in too. Enjoy!:)

Matthew Lee

I wanted a little boy around the age of 5 to complete our family. I knew that Nathan had a 5 year old brother that was in the process of being adopted. I secretly hoped that it would not work out. Well, one day in March 2004 we got a call asking if we would be interested in fostering Matthew. He had been in a home with a gay couple that were interested in adopting him but Matthew insisted that he wanted a mommy. Of course we said yes. We met Matthew before he came to our home. He is the only one that we met before joining our family. The social workers wanted us to do a few visits with him before he was placed with us because he had already been to so many foster homes. He had been in at least 10 and he was only 5 years old. We felt so right about it that we asked if we could just place him immediately and they agreed. Nathan's adoption was not yet final so Matthew was added to our file. Before the adoption could proceed the court had to terminate the birth parents rights. Their mother showed up to court and asked for a visit. The judge agreed to a visit before proceding with the termination of parental rights. A visit was set up. She didn't show, so another visit was scheduled. Before the visit we reminded Matthew that his birth mom would be calling Nathan his given name. He looked confused and said, "Oh ya, I have a brother named so and so." Not thinking that they were the same person. The boys had 3 other siblings that they visit with every so often. Matthew and Nathan had not lived together for quite a while. The visit went okay. It was awkward for Kenny and me. In the middle of the visit Matthew said, "Oh ya, I used to live with you." We had to do a couple more visits before her rights were terminated. At the last visit she told me that she was glad that the boys were in a good home and gave us her blessing. The boys' adoption seemed to go a lot better than the girls. We had social workers that knew what they were doing. We did have one snag at the end. Before a court date to finalize, some paperwork had to be sent to Sacramento for approval. Well, the clerk that was supposed to send it left it in a pile on her desk. I called a few times asking if things were ready to go and I was told that they had not heard yet from Sacramento. It took a while to realize that the paperwork had not been sent. After that things went quick. I found out I was pregnant a few months before the adoption was final and was worried that it would be a problem but it was not. Everyone was happy for us. The adoption was final on October 25, 2005. The boys were given a name and a blessing at Nathan's baptism. We were sealed in the Redlands Temple on December 3, 2005. It was an awesome experience. The girls got to be there too.

Matthew is a fun loving kid. He enjoys to play and he plays hard. I think that he must roll around in the dirt at school because he comes home filthy. He likes to do a lot of the same things as his big brother Nathan. Right now I can see him outside rollerblading backward. Matthew is a bright kid. He would do better in school if he didn't want to rush through everything so that he can play. Matthew enjoys primary and cub scouts, especially if treats are involved. He is also an excellent big brother. He likes to make Lucas and Jackson laugh. Matthew is a great addition to our family.

Nathan Lee

Soon after the girls' adoption was final, we told the foster agency that we were interested in a boy around the age of 5. We were always told that it was best to bring in a child that was younger than the children you already had. When we started doing foster care I was teaching, so we asked for children between the ages of 5 and 9. I did not want to place the child in day care. Well, one day in while teaching I got a call on my cell phone. The foster agency was calling to let us know that they needed to place a 9 year old boy that day. Myranda and Susie were 7 and 8 at the time so I was not sure if I wanted a 9 year old. I called Kenny and we talked about it for a while and decided that we both felt right about it. I called that foster agency and told them we were interested. After school I drove right to the foster agency to pick Nathan up. (Nathan was not his name at the time.) Kenny met me there. Nathan was very upset about being moved to a new home. He had been in at least 10 foster homes before ours. Nathan joined our family in November 2003. It was a hard transition but things have worked out. After Nathan had been in our home a little while we decided to adopt him also. Our boys were out of a different county than the girls so things were a little different and went much more smoothly.

Nathan is in 7th grade and is only 4 months older than Myranda. He enjoys riding his skateboard and playing basketball. He is becoming more into his image than my pocketbook can allow. He wants just the right skate shoes or nothing at all. He is an excellent older brother to Lucas and Jackson. Lucas just loves his brother Na Na(long A). Nathan rushes every Sunday to be the one that picks up Lucas from nursery. He is currently doing well in school and has significantly brought up his grades. Nathan is a hard worker around the house and does not complain. Girls are begining to take interest and I don't think I am ready for this. It's hard to see him grow up.

Susan Marie

After Myranda had been with us for a little more than a year we decided to add to our family. I called our adoption social worker and told her we were ready for another placement. (I had already told the foster agency but that day I felt like I should call our county worker.) She said that she had a girl named Susan that she needed to move that week. Once again with limited information we agreed to foster Susie. We picked Susie up in August 2002 at a McDonald's in Hesperia. She was there having a sibling visit with 4 of her siblings. Susie was 6 at the time. Her transition to our family was a little harder than Myranda's. She had been in a few different foster homes so it took a while for her to feel secure with us. But we knew right away that we wanted to adopt Susie also. Since Myranda's adoption was not final yet, Susie was added to our file. Susie's birth parent's parental rights had already been terminated, so we did not have to wait for that to happen. She had been in a family prior that was planning to adopt her, but she had to be removed. When Susie first arrived I was a little worried about her education. She was in first grade and the year had already started when she came. Her teacher said that on her first day Susie just leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on her desk. She was not able to read yet and was not at all serious about school. Boy has that changed. She is very intelligent. We still had to wait a while for the adoptions to be final. When it looked like things were getting close our case was assingend to a new social worker. This social worker was an intern and did not know what she was doing. It took many phone calls and calls to supervisors to try to get things moving. The social worker are supposed to visit the children in their home once a month. Well one time this intern social worker made an appointment to visit at 3:30. She did not show, so we went on with our normal evening activties. We had dinner and the girls took a shower. Then after 7:00 the doorbell rang and there was the social worker. She said nothing about being late. The county was often very frustrating to work with. Finally everything was in order for us to go to court and finalize the adoption. The adoption was final on June 12, 2003. The girls were given blessings and Myranda was baptized. Then we were sealed together as a forever family in the Los Angeles Temple on June 28, 2003.

Susie is now 12 years old and is in 6th grade. Susie is very intelligent. She is part of the GATE program at her middle school. She takes her time to do her school work because she wants it to be right. Sometimes this is not such a good thing because she often does homework until bedtime. She gets good grades and always scores high on any testing. She has a very curious mind and has many interesting questions and ideas. Susie is my number one helper with the little boys. I don't think I could do it without her. She is very nurturing and loving with them. She will be an excellent mother someday.

Happy "Half" Birthday Jackson James

Jackson is 6 months old today. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Soon he will be running around and getting into things. He went to the doctor today for his check-up and all is well. He did great with getting his shots. He is in the 25th percentile in height and weight. I don't know why people always comment on him being so big for his age. He is smaller than Lucas was at this age. Happy "half" birthday Jackson James, aka J.J.