Recovering Noah

NOTE: If you came across this page by googling "Shirt Chewing", please click here for the most recent post on Noah's shirt chewing. Thanks! Sugar. Who knew that five little letters could wreck such havoc? As I've mentioned before, Noah has a terrible shirt chewing habit. I can't quite remember when it all started, but we all noticed that it STOPPED completely when we were in Austin. The only thing that was really different was his diet - since we were living out of a hotel for a week. When we got home, we racked our brains to figure out what it was.... what food triggered Noah' s shirt chewing. We were home about 2 days when Noah started chewing again. Agave Nectar. Sim had put agave nectar on Noah's waffles. We took the agave nectar out of his diet and the next day, the chewing decreased. A few days later, I gave him a peanut butter and jelly rice cake. He started shirt chewing. It had to have been the jelly.. which goes to show that just because it's...

Okay, so this is not going to become a blog about vaccines, but with all the buzz being created by my new favorite person - Jenny McCarthy - people are starting to pay attention. This is a post that refutes the CDC study that vaccines play no part in autism. Wow. I had no idea that the people in the original thimerosal test study in the 1930's were all dead by the end of the study. Wouldn't that make you go... hmmmmmm?? But somehow it's okay to put it in our vaccines? Oh, and isn't it odd that the person in charge of the study is a vaccine patent holder himself and on the advisory committee for childhood vaccines? Like I said, I am PRO-vaccination. Vaccines are good. They're life-saving. I am all for wiping out serious disease. But please take the junk out of them. Please acknowledge that not all kids can handle them. Like Dr. Kartzinel said on Larry King last night.. if you give every child in the world a cat, some will be fine and some will be allergic. All kids ...

Okay, I'm not a confrontational or even a controversial person. Now, I can stand my ground, and I do turn into a Mama Bear when it comes to my kids - but I'm not some hot-head who likes to stir the pot. So, having said that, I think it's worth looking at the full-page ad that Generation Rescue put in USA Today this morning. http://www.generationrescue.org/pdf/070626.pdf It shows you just how many vaccines children under the age of 6 were receiving in 1983 versus how many they are receiving today. In 1983, by the time a child reached 6 years of age, s/he would have received 10 vaccinations. Today, in 2007, that number increases to 36. What gives? I am NOT anti-vaccine. Please understand that. But I am for a delayed vaccine schedule. I think doctors should give one vaccine at a time and monitor individual response. I'm also against what the manufactures put in vaccines. Even though thimerosal is "supposedly" no longer in vaccines (except for the flu shot - it is...

Yea! We're back! Wow, what a week. I know there's no way I can do this post justice. I wish I could just videotape myself talking and put it on here. There's no way my fingers can type as fast as my brain is thinking. I'll get all the frou-frou stuff out of the way first. Eli was NOT impressed with Sea World. Hmmm... aren't we glad we didn't splurge on going to Disney? He was scared of the rides, did not want to get wet, and had a fit when we tried to get him to see the sharks. Apparantely, he didn't like that it was dark in the shark exhibit. Okay, so this is a child who has gone to either the zoo or the aquarium nearly every single WEEK for the last two years.... and he's scared of the sharks?? Oh, and we missed Shamu because I wanted to save it for it last and then got the time wrong... even though it clearly said 4:00 in the guide that I had in the stroller. The poor guard guy or whoever he was was kind enought to let us watch the whales swim in th...

It is 11:45pm and the alarm is set to go off at 4:00 o'clock. And what am I doing? Sitting here blogging. But I can always sleep in the car, so it's okay. We are headed to Austin tomorrow via Sea World. Eli turns 4 on Monday and he's been begging us to go to Sea World for the last 9 months. I think he saw a commercial about it or something and that's all it took. At least we got him to quit talking about Disney World. Honestly, I think he just wants to go somewhere that ends in "World". I once told him that we were going to Wally World (Walmart) and he got SO excited. And he didn't even care when we pulled into the Walmart parking lot. It had the word "World" at the end of it - so that's all that mattered. He is terribly excited. I have a feeling we will be hearing about his excitement for the entire 5 hours it takes to get down there. Sim and I will be half-dead and Eli will be a ball of energy. But it'll be cool. It's always cool to...

I am not that hard to please. Just give me a wad of cash and point me in the direction of the nearest SuperTarget and I will remain on a marvelous high for at least 2 weeks. But today, I discovered something even better. I went into Mardel Christian Bookstore for the very first time. I am majorly in love. I LOVE IT! It weren't for the fact that the kids were getting antsy and I did not (in fact, never) have a fat wad of cash on me, I would have happily stayed there until they kicked me out at closing. What an awesome place. A homeschoolin' mom's place of paradise. If you could see me typing this, you would witness firsthand the goofy grin I have on my face as I'm remembering my journey into the wonderful world that is Mardel. (Insert big, fat, happy sigh). A friend suggested that I buy "The Power of the Praying Parent", so when we had a few hours to kill between therapy appts today, I stopped off in Mesquite, pushed my buggy through the door and instantly beca...

Noah is STILL sick. It's been going on for over a week now. Low grade fever. Bad tummy. I have no idea what it is. He seems to be feeling okay - wants to watch videos and swing. But he wasn't too interested in jumping on the trampoline last night. And he's been up since waayyyy before dawn. He's drinking a lot, but not eating too much (unless, of course, I give him a bunch of potato chips. Then, all of a sudden, he's made a miraculous recovery. Sneaky little thing). He also has a TON of fire ants bites. Poor kid. We decided to go for a wagon ride the other day and he didn't want to get in the wagon. He just stood there whining. We kept saying, "Just get in. It's okay, get in." But he wouldn't. He just kept whining. Finally, Sim picked him up to put him in the wagon and we noticed that his poor little shoes, his leg, and his pants were COVERED in fire ants. That's when he let loose with the screaming. And the thing with Noah is that a bite...

I am so sad right now. I can't explain it. My heart just aches. I had mentioned a few posts ago that my brother and SIL were trying to adopt a baby, who is the biological sister of the little girl they adopted a year ago. The birth mother has been on heroin for 9 solid months, so this baby would definitely be born addicted. For 5 months, they've been getting the run around. Well, the baby is due any day now and we found out today that she already had the baby earlier this week and the hospital let her take it home!! Are they insane??? For pete's sake, what were they thinking? She had her last 5 kids all at the same hospital, so they tested Alaina (my niece) right off the bat for drugs. This is a new hospital and all I can think is that they didn't test her. I don't know. Is drug testing routine for all newborns? I just cannot understand how they let that baby go home with the birthparents. Let me give you a bit of background though, so you'll understand why I...

So, we're laying in Noah's bed last night reading a book. Eli picked out "MONSTERS: The World's Most Incredible Animals", which, amazingly enough, did not give him nightmares (although I had visions of the absolutely terrifying hatchet fish all night long - go figure). Anyway, Eli suddenly says: "Mom, did you know I'm a vegetarian?" "You are?" "Yeah, I don't eat Whataburger. I eat WhataBOOGERS!" heeeheeheeeeheeee He totally cracked himself up. And I cracked up. And Sim cracked up. Even Noah started laughing. Ahhh, the world of a 3 year-old. Never a dull moment. Noah's Mom

Weird title, right? Where do I begin? Well, first of all maybe I should explain what I'm doing writing about church on a Sunday at 10:25 in the morning. Shouldn't I be at church? Yeah, I should. But Noah's sick and Sim is working, so I'm here... sitting at my computer.... writing about church on a Sunday morning. For a long time, we didn't go to church. It was just too difficult with Noah. In the beginning, when he was little, it was just too hard for me to see other kids his age and watch them progress, while Noah was regressing before my eyes. Then... he went through the Shrieking-Screaming-15 Hours-A-Day phase and we didn't really leave the house for a long time. Then we went a few times to a few good churches but we always stopped going. I would be afraid that Noah would have a BM in Sunday school and I didn't want anyone changing him. Or what if they whipped out the goldfish crackers and he grabbed a few? Would the other kids make fun of him? Would he...

We finally have some new pictures to share. We haven't had a studio (i.e. Walmart) picture done in two years. Hmmm... now I remember why. It's the most stressful thing ever! It is impossible to get both of those boys to look at the camera and smile at the same time. Noah was really chewing the top of his shirt that day. We had to keep running over and yanking it out of his mouth. By the time we got out of the way, he was chomping on it again. And Eli decided it would be fun to make faces at the camera... and then when he saw how it riled me up, he thought it'd be fun to continue doing it. I think he enjoyed seeing my face turn all shades of red. By the end, I think I could've used a good dose of some strong prescription medication. So, we've learned that the way to go is to do separate photos. We can get them each to smile and look at the camera separately, but having to coordinate it together takes the skills and agility of an Olympic athlete. We also have a new p...

Yesterday was our first day of homeschooling. Well, it was actually our second b/c I had a trial run on Saturday - just in case, I failed, you know. There's nothing like the pressure of having to educate a 3 and 5 year old. lol. Seriously, though, I couldn't sleep. I kept having heart palpitations. I spent hours getting ready and getting prepared. It was all over in 35 minutes. How did that happen??? The readings, the songs, the crafts.... all over in 35 minutes. So, the kids may not have learned a thing, but I learned a lot. Here's a list of things I learned during my first day of homeschooling... 1. Toddlers have the attention span of a flea. There is no point spending an hour and a half designing a game for a 3 year old (or should I say... MY 3 year old) when his attention span doesn't span for more than a minute. 2. Some kids (i.e. MY kids) are unable to tell the difference between shaving cream and whip cream. Before you decide to get all crafty and have your ki...

So, Dreama and Buddy both tagged me. I'll play along. The rules of Tag are: Each person posts the rules before their list, then list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post that person tags and links to 8 other people and visits those people's spaces and comments letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come and read the post, so they know what they have to do. Eight things about me: 1. I have a twin brother 2. I have always dreamed of being in the Peace Corps 3. When I was growing up, I wanted to be an Ear Doctor 4. I chose my major by flipping a coin during my junior year of college 5. Nothing tastes better than my mom's chicken and dumplings 6. I was vegan for many, many years. ( #5 shows that that's no longer the case) 7. My favorite band is u2 - and has been for the last 20 years 8. I eat all the popcorn jelly beans out of a mixed back of Jelly Bellys 9. My mom still cuts my hair in the middle of her kitchen floor 10. I still eat R...

Okay, before I start... I'm a bit embarrassed about my emotional blogging meltdown from the other day. It's just a subject that's waaaaaaaaaay too close to my heart - and it gets me every time. I can't help it. I also found out that Logan's mother signed over complete 100% custody to the State of Texas. In other words, she officially gave him up. She and the family are not entitled to any visitation rights and he is not able to come home for weekends or over Christmas. It wouldn't have happened anyway, but this cements it all. He's 11. I just cannot imagine signing your 11 year old to the State. Anyway, I can't think about it.... because in the midst of all of this, there has been some good news. First of all.... Nandini's Scrutiny Report was passed!!!! Yea! Thank you ALL so much for your prayers. The judge passed it and has scheduled our final court hearing for next Tuesday, August 28th. That's the night of our August 27th, so the decision will ...

I can barely see the keyboard because my eyes are so welled up tears. Today is the day that Logan, a nonverbal 11 year old child with autism, gets sent to a State School in East Texas. I am beside myself with grief. He was a normal, typical developing child until the age of 3 - when he regressed into full-blown autism. His family life is a mess. No one wants him, and I honestly think they've all waited for this day to arrive. I haven't seen him in ages, but his grandmother (who is my mom's best friend) says that he gets so excited when they come over. He strokes her face and smiles. He knows what's going on. And today, they are going to restrain him, put him in a white van, and take him away from the only home he's ever known. They can't see him for 3 months - but it's not like they would anyway. Today, that sweet little boy is going to leave and never see his family again - never see anyone that he knows ever again - and it kills me. He's not going t...

I know I haven't updated in about 10 days now, and trust me, I've got some really amazing things to do share (Noah said "I Love You" if that gives you a hint!), but we're getting ready to go into Dallas this morning for a doctor's appointment and I wanted to catch the "Prayer Warriors" bright and early. :-) Our Scrutiny Case (for Nandini) goes before the judge in Pune tomorrow. Basically, it's a preliminary hearing where a social worker reviews our file and recommends our adoption (or not) to the judge. If the judge approves, then he sets a future date to review and (hopefully) award guardianship to us. This is the deal, though: 1. The social work job is a poor-paid, entry-level job for recent college grads. There's a high turnover rate, so a lot of the time the report isn't ready for the court date. If not, it has to be rescheduled. 2. Even if the report is ready, most of the time, the judge calls in sick or takes a vacation day. I'm...

It's occurred to me that I haven't formally introduced Nandini to anyone. Those of you who see me in person know about her, but there are some of you who are reading this that have no idea that we're in the process of our third adoption. If you know me in real life, you know that 5 minutes can't pass by without me dropping her name in to the conversation. It's kind of like when you were younger and had a crush on someone and you managed to sneak their name into every conversation just because the mere sound of the name was so thrilling - even if it had absolutely nothing to do with the subject being talked about. Do you know what I mean? Nuclear Physics? Well, did you know so-and-so took physics last semester? The Greenhouse Effect? So-and-so's favorite color is green. Slight lull in conversation at the dinner table? What a perfect opportunity to bring up so-and-so's name! Do you remember those days? Well, that's what I'm doing with Nandini. I h...

These are some new pictures of the boys. The first is a family shot of my mom (Nonna) and my dad (Papa) with Noah, Eli, and Alaina. Isn't she cute! My brother and sister-in-law adopted her domestically a year ago in May. They tried for 10 years to conceive and had 2 miscarriages. She is such a little blessing. A definite prayer request, though. Alaina's biological mom is pregnant again and due next month. It's a little girl. This is the b-mom's 6th pregnancy. She's also an addict. She's been using heroin for the last 9 months, so the baby will definitely have to go on methadone when she's born. We've heard the withdrawal is awful. Fortunately, although, Alaina had drugs (meth) in her system at birth, she's fine and didn't go through withdrawal. But this little baby... We still don't know if the b-mom will let my brother and SIL adopt. She says she wants them to adopt her, but it all depends on if they get a phone call from the hospital in ti...

For some reason, I just haven't been motivated to blog lately. At night, when I'm having trouble sleeping, I end up constructing all sorts of wonderful blog entries in my head. Then, when I wake up, I have no desire to type them up. I have become incredibly lazy. I. Am. Lazy.... which might horrify some people, then, when I announce that we have decided to homeschool . That's right. We are now homeschoolers . If I had posted this last Monday when we came to the decision, my blog would have been punctuated with all sorts of exclamation marks and "yea! whoo hoo !". But, honestly, all I've wanted to do this past week is just throw up. See... now we've made a decision. The decision is over. I notified his teacher. I'm ready to send the district our "Intent to Homeschool " letter. The hard part - so I thought - is done. Now, though, I'm faced with the fact that it is my sole responsibility to educate my children. Their brain is officially i...

Well, I know this isn't the main purpose of my blog, but I know that a lot of people from church check in now and then to see how things are going, so I figured I'd post on here why we're not at church today. Our air conditioning is out, so we're at my parents' house.. .again. I think we spend more time here than we do at home. Fortunately, they've bought land in Mabank, so if they ever sell their house (major prayers needed in that area) then they'll only be up the road. Right now, though, they're 1 1/2 hours away. Anyway, Sim thinks the house is still under warranty or something like that but he's still working all the overtime, so hasn't had a chance to check. And, of course, reading warranty paperwork is the same as reading Greek to me. Funny how I can make it through articles on neuroanatomy and gene deletions, but anything from State Farm causes my eyes to glaze over. The important thing is that it should be covered and hopefully we'll ...