Project rainbow

It's a small world and this was definitely a God moment ! I had put some Halloween costumes on Craigslist for sale.( 5 kids, past couple of years, I have way too many !)(costumes that is LOL) This lady calls me and comes over for one of the costumes and we get to chatting, she was also a mother of 5, etc, etc.

When she heard I am a foster mom and have adopted, she asked me if I knew about "project Rainbow"..................???????????? Noooooooooooooooooo..........
Long story short, she was the director of an agency that provides respite for families with children with special needs. Once a month they have a drop off night and every family gets 4 hrs respite a month in home............How come I didn't know about this ???
I pride myself on knowing pretty much everything around here, therapy wise, schoolboard, intervention services, etc, etc
This is not just for the special needs child, but also for the siblings, although she assured me that all 4 of mine qualify.

They happened to have their monthly drop off this past Friday from 5-9 pm, Halloween theme, so I got all kids dressed up and took 'm over. When we came in there was a spec ed teacher that i have known for years, it was great seeing her. Max found an old friend right away, a little boy that was in his class last year, and a little boy that's in his and Sebastian's class now. I settled them in and left ! Didn't feel bad about it, they were having a great time ! They had pizza, decorated pumpkins, watched Alvin the Chipmunk and had their faces painted. They were so, so excited when I came to pick them up ! They had a great time !

PTSD monster

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.......................it's a monster that's very hard to tame........it leaves for a while, but is always there, lurking...........

I don't know what set Max off today, he came home and told me he had been crying at school "because he missed me" The rest of the afternoon he was on top of me, constantly telling me he loved me, he misses me, etc.
At bedtime he started crying and even though I went in there a 100 times, holding him, rubbing his back, he would not calm down. Crying hysterically, until he finally fell asleep.

It is so unfair.......................and I feel so powerless.........if only I could make it all better.

IEP's and teacher conferences

Yesterday was the teacher conference for the girls. Sofia is doing very well, all A's and B's, little too "social" at times LOL
Liliana is struggling, and I feel so bad that I didn't go with my gut instinct last school year. I really thought she would be better off repeating 1st grade, but her teacher assured me she was doing fine.......................Turns out she is really struggling now and hanging on..........barely. We spend a lot of hours on homework and spelling words that she gets tested on each Friday. Way too many hours for a 7 year old. So her teacher and I agreed we are not giving up but it's almost sure she is going to repeat 2nd grade. It will give her a good basis and I think it's better to repeat now than when she is older. Sofia had to repeat 1st grade ( her birthday is August 15th, so she is a very young student) and it was amazing how a couple of months into 1st grade (the 2nd time around) all of a sudden it clicked for her and she has been doing very, very well ever since.

The funny thing was that thier teacher has read them perfectly, Sofia tends to be so confident that she gets a little sloppy and Lili is very stubborn. Their AR reading has them on the same score !! Sofia scored low, becasue of going through the questions too fast and getting sloppy, Liliana scored high by just not giving up and determination.

For Max I had an IEP meeting this morning. His OT said he seems to have lost a lot of skills he had mastered late last school year and his motor planning and balance have been way off. Now we have been having problems with his medications ( trying to find the right ones for him and also getting the approval from Medicaid) so we're all hoping that as soon as we have the right thing going for him, things will improve again. His teacher basically said the same thing, Max just can't keep it together......................I felt so bad for him.

But we talked about a lot of his strengths as well, his sense of humor, willingness to help, how he loves on the people that are important to him. It was very obvious that he is LOVED, there is just something about Max that touches people.........

Sebastian is doing awesome, he is counting and get this................he spells his name !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe that !!!!!! They said he is very high in some area's !!!!!! Ofcourse there are other area's that are still lower, but he'll have another year before starting Kindergarten, so we have time ! He loves to sing and can often be found singing to himself when playing with puzzles, etc.
They are trying to get him to interact with the other kids more.

All in all, not bad. I am very proud of all my kids !!

Great time at the zoo !!!!

This past Monday the kids had a day off and I decided to take 'm to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, it's definitely cooling off a bit !!!


The pics are of the kids playing in the fountains at the zoo. Lili was trying to do the limbo, she's so funny. Sebastian ofcourse was trying to "drink" the water. He would fill up his mouth and spit it out, thank God, but still not a good thing for a child that aspirates................I must have looked like a mad woman; "Sebastian, back away from the turtle !" LOL

Max' picture cracks me up.He has gained 10 lbs !!! since August. Finally he is eating !!!!! He has a tummy now !!

Sofia wanted to pose everywhere, my little model !

My handsome almost 16 year old

This picture is one of those that just amazes me............he is getting so grown up and handsome !! He was being interviewed for PBS about the Reefrakers, a group of teen volunteer scuba divers, who go out and clean the local reefs. My baby boy is going to be 16 in December !!

Long weekend

Some old Halloween pics.....................................

I can see where this is going to be a bit addictive ! I have tried to add some pics, but I'm sure y'all can tell I am learning !!
Next week I will do the story of Sebastian, with pics, my little bubba !

I am thinking of going to the cheap movies tonight with the kids, to see Kung Fu Panda, and Monday we'll go to Lowry Park Zoo. They have the day off because of an in service day at school.

Yesterday I ordered the girls' costumes for Halloween and this morning I went to Goodwill to see if I could find a pair of shoes for Sofie, she is going to be a flamenco girl and needed black shoes with heels. Ofcourse I was lucky enough to find exactly what she needed, WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

part 4

There was not a dry eye in the building ! I took his shirt off and there was this huge bruise on his side, with a very clear outline of 4 fingers, bugbites everywhere, a horrendous diaper rash and in the 6 mos he was gone he actually lost 6 oz................................what a mess.

The next 6 mos we spend getting him back in OT/PT, putting some weight on him, loving him up and ignoring the cusswords he had learned ( like a sailor !!)
Mom had dropped off the face of the earth, dad showed up in January 06 and asked for a chance, but the judge basically told him he had had 2 years and enough was enough.

Stuff was dragging on. I had started to do visits with the great aunt whenever she was in town ( she lives in another state) and at one of these visits we had a heart to heart. She understood that I was his mommy in his eyes and he already had been through so much. Bless this woman for being courageous enough and to know love, like a mother. She called the caseworker and withdrew her petition to get relative custody, so he could be adopted by us. I know she was hurt, but she loved him enough and cared enough to not want to cause him anymore harm.
The paternal grandmother was still fighting, but a child psychologist testified in court that he was very concerned about her denying to this day that M was ever abused. (She lived with them and she still says nothing ever happened) And that Max was so bonded to us that he would have severe attachment issues if taken away from us again. He made a very strong point that the attachment was not just to me but also to papa and his brother and sisters.

Finally, after 3 1/2 years, Max was adopted right before his 4th birtday, 2 years after he came back to us, on September 17th, 2007.

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