Saturday, October 25, 2014

And the Very Next Week





            Some of the cats came back.  Needless to say there was a very happy girl. She was waiting for her special "Fur-Ball" to show up but she is still not here. In the meantime she will play with the cats that are here. We had located the owner. This mother cat had brought her babies across a creek, a meadow, and a wooded area to our wood pile. The owner came and took them home. How many times are we going to do this?

The bad thing about the cats being back....her mysterious foot ache is back too.
Think it has anything to do with crouching for hours on the porch playing with kittens?
A little over 2 weeks ago she started complaining about her feet/foot hurting. After the first night we examined her foot and found a splinter that we had thought was just a cut. She allowed us to take it out. We thought maybe she had been walking on the side of her foot thus causing the pain. But the next night we started alll over again. It only hurt at nap time or at bedtime. The pain ONLY started when the story book was half finished OR as I was about to leave her room in the evening. One night she screamed for about an hour.Other nights we allowed her to fall asleep on the sofa and she was fine. One afternoon she screamed the whole way to school and half the way back home. The others quickly jumped in the van and asked me if I can't do anything about her. I told them to grab tissues to stick in their ears---that's what I did. Another afternoon was spent listening to screaming, instead of napping.  I was about to make an appointment with her doctor until one afternoon when she wanted to go out to the cats I asked if her feet hurt "here", "here" and "here" and all the spots her "yes" (with a small grin)  I went up her leg to her knees and hips and "yes" everything hurt.  I got a real concerned look on my face and told her that if she is that sick she needs to be laying on the sofa and I will need to talk to the doctor to see if there is a shot for that.  "My feet don't hurt mama."

My husband had noted after the first night spent with us praying over her "this is her anniversary you know." So I held out, trying to be the adult and not get too pulled into the "trauma-versary".  We are now at about 5 days with no screaming, she even had a few naps. I am still laying on the floor beside her at bedtime (we had just graduated away from that), but she isn't contributing to my hearing loss on a daily basis.  I did talk to her about her anniversary and told her that maybe it is her heart hurting and maybe when she is outside with the cats she is actually missing me. ( I really don't know). Now, every so often during the day she will say "mama I'm missing you, my feet are hurting".  I will hold her for awhile and she soon is off and playing again.
SO?? are we done with screaming for another year? I HOPE SO!
What were we doing last year? I seem to remember that we were having screaming fits on a fairly regular schedule throughout the week, so I probably didn't even think about it if there were some extra traumatic nights.

Adoption is wonderful, but it is born of loss and weeks like this make me remember that.

Time for our yearly funky whole family picture, the one where we have to show a certain country that we are all still alive and can be in the same room together. 
This is for our 2 year post placement report.
We had to catch Ben when he was home AND arrange the social worker visit for a time that he 
actually was home. He is a busy man these days.

Shekinah and Parker understand the wonders of an I-phone.
Parker's mama allowed them to use it for a little bit---brave lady.

                     Tried out the cinnamon play dough. Shekinah made piles of cookies and bars.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

We Are Blessed

                                   and tired...some days you really should take a nap when mom tells you.
      A mama cat decided to give birth on the top of our wood pile, we were surprised this week when we heard kittens and found out that there are six of them plus a mama, plus a "teenage" cat.
needless to say Shekinah is very busy keeping track of everything.
We CAN'T keep this many cats!

                But a few pictures from earlier in the week. The weather is great for matching hats!

                                       and someone must have grown an inch or two, he can reach!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

That Swing!

 As you can see there was great pleasure in this house on Thursday and ever since... Thursday we were able to stay at home and I was working on the computer for most of the day, Shekinah was in the swing most of the day. Every now and again she would stagger off "I'm dizzy, I need to go to the bathroom"  Then she was back on it. I did manage to get her to eat lunch and take a nap.  The  "fun" started when her siblings came home from school!
 We had screaming (ahem firm words)and frustration (me) ...screaming and tears  (her). Well, actually we had to put the timer on for 12 minutes for Shekinah and then 12 minutes for Faith. My evening was split up into 12 minute increments. Every 24 minutes I had to come and dump an unwilling child out of the swing. Faith knew how to manage her time, she read a book until it was her turn, but little missy just stood and complained until it was her turn to swing again.

Surely Friday would be better!

Friday we went to grandma's house and Shekinah got very little swinging time before the troops came home from school PLUS she had no nap!
After having my ears pierced...well actually my eardrums, I put in pieces of a tissue so that I can hear my grandchildren speak to me one day. I sat and rocked her until the phone rang...got my head screwed back on straight (thanks K).

Finally, I told her that she will have NO MORE turns until after supper, four hours away, and she can stand on the porch to scream until she can be nice.   The sorta funny thing is that when she screams the turkeys gobble at her and it sounds like they are laughing.
Dear neighbors: I was not hurting my child, she was just angry.

Finally she accepted a spoonful of peanut butter, a drink and her consequence.

She did keep checking periodically if it was "after supper yet".

Saturday went much better, tho I had to take down the swing until the cleaning was finished because too many people got distracted.
                   Saturday looked more like this......


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Our New Swing!


I've had this pinned on my task bar for days/ weeks. We finally attached this to the ceiling tonight.
  Some big people sat in it and it didn't pull out of the ceiling, so I think it is safe for the little people.
    Those big people think we need to make a row of these in the basement...if we attach them to the steel beams they should hold even me.