Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Our vacation did reveal one thing - wow, did Roman's ADHD medicine need some adjusting! I thought a couple times, if he acts close to this at school, no wonder he's having social trouble! The boy has flying thoughts and a mouth that almost keeps up with them. And I have noticed a handful of times that when he does his homework later in the evening, he can't focus worth anything. Like this evening, he spent 10 minutes trying to find the "right" pencil; then the pencil he had didn't have a good eraser, so he had to find another one; then it wasn't sharp enough; then the eraser was too loose so he kept fiddling with it. All while attempting a review math packet that is due tomorrow. He had an appointment with the psychiatrist this evening, not a moment too soon in our opinion. The last week, for a variety of reasons, played emotional havoc with Ro. He was very manic for a few days (grandparents coming to visit, going to see the Titanic exhibit); then he cra...

We have had quite a few adventures the past few days. Monticello was a hit with Roman (except for the garden walk - he'll be quick to tell you that). The next day we stopped at Montpelier, James Madison's home, which was sorta on the way to Richmond. That was also very interesting and I would have liked to spend more time there. We made it to Richmond around 2pm and decided to hit the Civil War museum. As usual, I would have liked to spend more time there - but with 2 kids who have short attention spans, it was best to move along. We discovered at the museum (part of which is run by the National Park Service) that they have a "junior ranger" program; do a certain number of activities and earn a badge. They also have "trading cards" particular to a place, usually 2-3. I think Ro would have preferred just getting candy or something, but both kids liked doing the activities. Wednesday was battlefield day. We started at Fredericksburg and did the short walk ...

Our vacation has been good so far! We are the kind of planners where we have one definite thing we want to do, and then explore the area or wait until we get somewhere to decide what else we might do. With 2 kids, swimming in the pool is mandatory every day! Saturday was our long day in the car, but we got to Berkley, WV about 4:00. The boys loved the suite because they had a tv to themselves, and Cartoon Network (we don't have that at home)!  We swam twice, before and after dinner, to reward the kids for being awesome in the car. The Easter Bunny came to our hotel room, too, both hiding eggs and leaving some candy and little toys for the kids. Sunday we had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and it always pays to chat up the locals. We told a man we were going to do the coal mine tour, which he said was a great idea for the kids. Then he told us about the New River Gorge, which had the longest arch suspension bridge in the US/Western Hemisphere (there's apparently one in Japan a...

A rare shot of the subject doing quiet work... Roman, my heart. Outside of fart/poop jokes, his dry wit has us laughing out loud almost every day. He'll toss off a one liner, like the other day when they were all washing the Jeep. Doug said something about shuffling the brush over the car, or Charlie should shuffle over... Roman stuck his hands in his pocket and said, "you mean shuffle like this?" and proceeded to do a little tap dance number with a big grin on his face. He gets those little word plays that crack us up. In working with his adoption therapy, we found trying to get him to be okay with his story is just too challenging right now. He's got a lot of anger at his birthmom and a lot of feeling worthless that he's just not ready to tackle. So we are continuing on the plan to have him "graduate" from talk therapy for the time being, last appointment at the end of April. He really is controlling his moods & hyperactivity SO much better ...

My little independent son. Loves to be a helper - he wants to cook, do the dishes, and tonight he wanted to help me take the trash & recycling out. He's very proud of himself when he does, too. He loves cars, planes, "guys," & recently decided he needs to collect Pokemon cards like Roman. He also has shown some interest in creating Lego guys. At school his behavior is much improved. No more hitting. Between them and us, we've almost cured him of constant potty-talk, too. Now we're just in the "not following any directions" stage, which drives Doug crazy.  Charlie decided his second swim coach was not as good as his first, Mr. Joe. He told me he wouldn't do a rollover for anyone but Mr. Joe... so we switched his swim class to a new day & time to accommodate his affection. And what do you know, after 2 practices he's doing rollovers for Mr. Joe. Charlie is also excelling at Tiny Tigers tang soo do, earning his "tiger stripe...

I certainly can't call Charlie "Mr. Squishypants" anymore. Little guy turned four today! At times I can't believe how fast it's gone... and there are times when I feel like he's always been a part of our life. He's such a joy-bringer to our family. Watching him figure out the world is so much fun. From being a shocker pregnancy, to a shocker birth, this boy has grown to be quite a light for us. Happy birthday, Charlie-boy!

So, I mentioned in the previous post that I was working on bringing about balance between work and school. This weekend didn't count, though, because I had a ton of work to catch up on from when I was MIA. Otherwise, this week I did pretty good - although when at home and I thought of something from work, I had to consciously push it to the back of my mind. That's hard work! I knew that something was going to give, though, as soon as I signed Charlie up for swim lessons. Roman has therapy on Mondays, neurofeedback on Tuesdays along with tang soo do for Doug and Charlie, and now Charlie with swim on Wednesdays. And with the perspective that comes from being at home with no pressure from anywhere, I knew what had to give. I resigned my position as swim coach on Friday. Every other year we have "late" practice, which means 4:45-6pm. I wouldn't be able to do anything else, and I can't ask Doug to leave work early every day for 6 weeks. My family life comes f...