Wordless Wednesday :)

A taste of Summer

We spent time with some furry friends.



Too cute!



Made our first S'mores of the season



Spent lots of time in the sun



Did a little splashin'



Played in the water table for the very first time. Gotta love that face!

 Had some fun family time

We spent the weekend grillin' and laughin' and playin' outside........
Summer's around the corner and we can hardly wait!

Awwwww....:)

Sillies

I love the way these two giggle together. It's contagious! As soon as one starts giggling, the other one does. Last night was one of those nights. The sillies came out.:)

And what was Liam doing while all this silliness was going on? :)

This little guy can get pretty silly himself. But he always konks out early. One day, he will be giggling away into the night with his brothers, I'm sure.:)

UH OH! :(

Let's just say, they aren't Liam proof! And oh yea, this is the second pair that he has broken in one week. Same break in the exact same place.:( When I bought Liam's glasses, I bought a second pair just in case anything happened. (I didn't want him going without glasses while waiting for them to get fixed.) But right after the first pair came back fixed, Liam snapped the second pair in half. :(

   So we have decided to try Miraflex frames now, and hopefully they will be in next week. :)

A little more about Liam

Liam came home with  a lot of sounds, but no real words. Having spent his entire life in an institutional setting, with no one to teach him, it's understandable that he would not learn to speak. How sad! It's one of the things we as parents enjoy hearing...is our child saying his or her first word. Wouldn't someone in the 7 years he spent in an institution want to hear my precious boy's first word? Not one person tried to teach Liam how to speak? I have one word for you: NEGLECT.
Liam has some high pitched sounds, some grunting noises, some throat sounds, loud snorts, and humming. He does them at different times depending on his mood. The humming  always comes when he is upset or annoyed. This is the sound that bothers me the most. Not because it is annoying (it is), but because I know that something is upsetting Liam and he cannot express what it is. I always scoop him up and hold him close to me. Most of the time that helps. Sometimes, all he wants is a drink of juice. We are working daily on the "drink" and "eat" signs. I believe he is very close to doing them by himself. He is also babbling now. I have hope for my sweet little boy.

His school is using a picture communication system with Liam and I have one at home also. But mostly I use sign language and verbalize the word at the same time. Liam understands when I say things like, "Do you want to eat?",  "Come here", "Let's go bye-bye", "Let's go night-night", "Time for a bath" (his favorite)......and several more words and phrases. He signs "bath" and has attempted to vocalize it too. He does say "Mama" (my favorite) but does not call me Mama yet. He is making progress. His noises have quieted down a lot and I am hopeful that one day he will talk. :)

Every day is a new day for Liam. A new day to learn and a new day to experience life as a little boy, and being a part of our family. Adopting Liam has been a learning experience for me too. I've learned that there's no need to be sad for what we've lost (7 years) but to rejoice in every precious moment that we have now. I have one word for you: BLESSED.

Smiles everywhere

This weekend was beautiful. Blue skies, sunny and 85 degrees both days. I got the kiddie pools out for the first time this year. The little guys were more than excited, especially Caleb. I don't know how he is able to jump like he does, but as soon as he leaves the ground, his feet go straight out in front of him and he lands in the water! Did I mention it's a kiddie pool? He has always jumped into the water like this no matter where he's swimming. He'd probably try and jump like this in the tub if I'd let him. LOL!



"When you're happy and you know it, shout..........!" Elijah was waiting to shout hooray! :)



Liam LOVES the water. He doesn't just put his face in to blow bubbles, he puts his whole head under!



 Check out that tummy! Liam is putting on a little weight.:)



Jimmy does not like the heat. He would much rather stay in the air conditioning.:) He went to some garage sales on Friday and look what he bought me. He is so giving and is always so thoughtful. He couldn't wait to show me what he got for me. Thank you Jimmy, I love you to the moon and back!

The Broken Toe

Jimmy fractured his toe about 2 weeks ago. Trigger had been sleeping in Jimmy's room in a little dog kennel every night. Jimmy had a fan sitting on top of the dog kennel. I have bumped the kennel a couple of times during the day and the small metal fan has fallen off and scared the c--- out of me. And because of that, I suggested to Jimmy that he put the fan somewhere else. But he didn't want to. Once something has it's place, Jimmy is not going for any kind of change. Well,.......... it happened. Jimmy bumped the kennel one day and the fan fell off and landed on his toe. I heard the noise and went in to find Jimmy standing there and the fan on the floor. Then....... I saw the blood on the floor and Jimmy's toe. :( I quickly ran to get some kleenex and clean up Jimmy's toe. Once I got it cleaned up, I realized that the nail was pushed forward and out of the toe. I told Jimmy that we needed to go the emergency room, but Jimmy was like "no way!" I talked him into it and off we went, but not before he hiked his pajama pant leg all the way up to his hip. He said it needed to be that high. LOL!

*A big hug to my son Ben who watched all three little guys while Jimmy and I went to the ER.
At the ER, despite the pain, Jimmy was very cheery with everyone. However, he did remind me that he had NOT had his dinner yet and that he could hear his stomach talking! To make a long story short, his toe was fractured. They decided to leave the nail as is, since there wasn't any pressure built up and because it would cause more pain to have it removed. So we left with an antibiotic, bacitracin and a walking boot (which Jimmy hated BTW).

Well, after a couple days Jimmy decided that the walking boot was not too bad. When I suggested that we buy some sandals for him and he could wear them instead of his tennis shoe and walking boot, he told me that he preferred to wear the "cool black sandal." (Okay, maybe I tried a little too hard to get him to like the thing.) I wonder if the ER will give us another one so he has a pair. LOL!

Because of this little mishap, Trigger was given a new doggie bed. It was the only way to get Jimmy to agree to let me take the kennel out. Trigger is happy, even though Jimmy said that the fan falling on his toe was all Trigger's fault! LOL! Don't worry.....he loves that puppy something awful!:)

I have to say, Jimmy was very brave. He's such a trooper. He never complained of any pain, never cried. If, only I could be more like him. He is my hero for more reasons than I can count.

Caleb, my Olympic Champion!

Today was Caleb's first Special Olympics Track meet. He did an awesome job! I'm so proud of my little guy!!

Mother's Day

Being a mother is something I always wanted to be. God has blessed me five pretty special boys. Two, I gave birth to, and three who I flew thousands of miles away, to make mine. Don't ask me which ones are biological and which ones are adopted.......I forget.
They have my heart, all of them, for they bring such joy and love to my life.



Liam wouldn't hold his gift for me. But that's okay.....



Elijah held it....with his chin. LOL!



Lovin' on my peanut!



A very special Mother's Day it is to be holding my little treasure!



Caleb made this flower pin for me. LOVE!



Jimmy, you are the meaning of LOVE.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there. We are blessed!


And Ben aka my shy one, is here but prefers to be behind the camera.:)

It's a Beautiful Life

Where do I start? Life with 5 sons and 4 sons with Ds is very busy. There is always something going on....a doctor appointment, afterschool activity, school schedules that don't mesh with mine and daily life in general. Being a single working mom to all of my boys keeps me very busy from the moment I wake up until I go to bed each night. I do all of the shopping, laundry, house cleaning, meals,  bills, baths, lawn mowing, doctor appointments, getting them where they need to go..... But I can tell you that at least several times a day, I thank Jesus for my life and my precious children. I would be lost without them. I've always wanted lots of kids and I got them! They are such a gift, so sweet and funny. Inside our home, it can get quite comical, let me tell you! This is the life I signed up for, and this is the life I wouldn't trade for the world. I personally think my boys are the best! And I pray daily, and always strive to be the Mom that they deserve.

My memory card broke (have no clue) so I didn't get a picture of Jimmy for this post but I promise I will have one on the next post. :)

Elijah counting his cookies:)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Silly boy again!

This is what I saw after Elijah dressed himself this morning. Yes......that is underwear on his head! LOVE this silly boy of mine!:)

More pics from last weekend:)

Jimmy loved spending time with my Dad. He talked his ear off!:)



My silly boy!



Loving Mikey!



Elijah singing 5 Little Monkeys:)