First Day of School

Wednesday the 22nd Camden started his first day back at school he will be going to school 4 days a week 5 hours a day.  Dasha started Thursday the 23rd and she will be going 2 days a week 5 hours a day.  Let me just tell you, I can get so much done when they are gone it is amazing!  Yesterday I got the next two weeks of homework done for my anatomy class.  So nice!  Here are some pictures of their first days back.  Have to say I have some of the cutest kiddos!

School Starts Tomorrow

For Camden, Dasha starts on Thursday.  While I am excited about getting some time to get some stuff done around the house, and all the moms know it goes much faster without the kids, I will miss the kiddos.

Dasha had her 6 month follow-up at the Nephrologist last week, and her results went well, but unfortunately there were some comments made by the doctor that just didn't set well with me.  I shared the comments on a new Russian Moms group, which by the way if you are on FB JOIN!  Look up Russian Adoptive Moms and ask to join.  So I posted the conversation on the page to see if I was overreacting and thankfully the moms there confirmed to me that I was not, in fact my favorite comment back was "did you punch him in the face?"  So today after thinking about it a lot, I called the patient advocacy line at the hospital where we go and I didn't do it to complain per say, I called to explain the situation and asking if maybe the doctors need some training in dealing with children with international adoption backgrounds and sensitivity training.  Needless to say the woman I spoke to was APPALLED at what was said, and said she would get on top of that right away.

Dasha also went to the dentist yesterday.  Randy took her and Camden and I stayed home.  Randy told the lady about Dasha's latex glove fear and it did rear it's ugly head but the woman handled it extremely well, she gave Dasha her own glove to wear, and they played together with the gloves and they were able to polish her teeth, floss and give her a fluoride treatment.

Camden is doing very well with his new treatment that we are doing for his GI issues, his appetite has increased IMMENSELY!  Which who wouldn't be more hungry if you belly isn't full of yucky stuff?

School started yesterday for both Randy and I also, so we are going to be busy.

Hopefully Thursday after both kids have had their back to school photos I can get them posted!

Now this is the child who two months ago ran screaming from any animal who even looked at her. She loves her Aspen now!

Update

Here we are, another Wednesday!  We have had company in the past few weeks so life has been very busy.  Randy's friend from California came to visit on their way through to visit family, and Randy's mom and her husband are here right now while they are on their way back to Florida from California. 

Camden finally had an appt. with a G.I. yesterday and we have a plan in process, it is going to be a long process, but I feel positive about this.  The kids start school in 2 weeks!  Oh my goodness I am so excited that I am going to get a few hours to myself twice a week.  Now don't take that the wrong way, I love my kids, but I literally haven't been away from Camden for more than 5 hours in a day since we got home in December and Dasha 2 hours.  I need a break!!!  Camden is going to go to school 4 days a week, 5 hours a day, and Dasha is going to go 2 days a week, 5 hours a day.

I am taking 2 classes this fall, one was supposed to be online but there wasn't enough people in the class so it got canceled and all that was left was an on campus class, so once a week, I will truck myself down to the college for class.  Randy is taking 3 classes, working on his Bachelors of Nursing.

Though the big news of the day is Dasha is potty-trained during the day!  We can't make it at night, but during the day she is completely potty trained.  I am so stoked about this!  Now I don't trust her to tell other people, so during church, and gymnastics we wear a pull-up, but no accidents at all.  Also when school starts up she is going to wear pull-ups until she is comfortable telling her teacher that she needs to potty.  She doesn't talk to people that she doesn't know, so I think it will take a few weeks until she is comfortable telling her teacher. 

We also changed gyms, the gym that we were in only offered a dance/gymnastics combo class.  Dasha HATED the dance portion and cried the whole 30 minutes, but loved the gymnastics portion.  So I found a gym that only offered gymnastics, and she LOVES it!  Also took a while to find one that took 2 year olds.  Most wanted them to be 3 and fully potty trained.  Though it is further away, we like it much better.

Have you all been enjoying the Olympics?  I have been a true Olympic Junkie, love it.  Plus we have 2 countries to cheer for!

Hearing Test Fail Again...

Tuesday we went back up to Children's Mercy for another hearing test.  Last Feb. we went and had Dasha's hearing tested, while she passed all the basic tests, where they put the probes in and see if the drum moves, etc, she fail the ear specific tests in her right ear.  They didn't know if it was because of her age and she was bored, or if it was a problem.

Again yesterday she passed all the drum movement tests, and again she failed her right ear specific tests.  This time though they were doing more difficult thing like, find the ice cream on a picture board, and to me with her language delay and while she understands what we say, I haven't really worked with her on, "find" skills.  So again, they don't know if it is age, language barrier, or if there really is a problem.  So we will go back one final time in November, if she fails again then they will proceed with hearing assistance for her right ear.  Hopefully it is just language, and being a toddler!

Up next, the nephrologist, and then the dentist, followed closely by the oncologist! 

On a side note, initially we were going to go back to Minneapolis for our 6 month follow-up with Dr. Howard, but after discussing with Randy with ALL the Dr. Appts. that she has already, we feel that she is being taken care of, and they wouldn't get any more information that they have not gotten at the oncologist and the nephrologist, and with all the drama that we have put her through with Dr.'s and future drama, surgery next summer, we opted that one less Dr. appt. would be just fine in our eyes.

Sentiments

How sentimental are you going to be?  There are certain things of Camden's that I saved, like first outfit, first birthday outfit. But with Dasha I was curious what you have saved.  I have her Family Day outfit, but not sure what else keep.  I am purging, trying to declutter our house!  Your input would be greatly appreciated!

Finally got the Question

When we are out an about we always pass the hospital where Camden was born since it sits right next to the highway.  Yesterday we were driving by and Camden yells, "That's were I was born where I came out of mom's tummy!"  I said, "yep."  Then he was quiet for a few minutes, and if you know Camden, quiet means that he is really thinking about something, the kid is ALWAYS talking.  Then he said, "Mom, Dasha wasn't in your tummy was she?"  I said, "No."  Then waited to see where he would go.

He then thought some more, "Well, who's tummy was Dasha in?"
Me: "Her birth mom's tummy."
C: "Well why didn't her birth mom keep her?"
Me: "Well Dasha was sick when she was born and her birth mom couldn't take care of her, so she decided to let us take care of her."
C: "So that's why we went to Russia?"
Me: "yep."
C: "OK!, Can we go back to Russia?  I want to stay in our apartment!"

Not too shabby for our first adoption related conversation!  Now don't get me wrong we talk about Russia all the time, but this is the first time that Camden really understood that something was really different about how Dasha joined us.

Hope you all are enjoying your Olympics, we now have two teams to cheer for!

Bad blogger! Shame on Me!

No we did not drop off the face of the planet, though at times it feels like the earth is burning up it is SOOO hot outside right now!  We have kept busy and we are trying to survive this summer and praying for rain and fall so soon! 

So on to the updates!  Camden is in soccer and he loves it!  He enjoys going every week and has a blast.  The teachers are so good with all the kids and he just loves getting out there and playing!

Dasha started dance/gymnastics at the beginning of the month.  The class is divided into two parts 30 minutes dance, 30 minutes gymnastics.  The dance part is not so great, Dasha just stands there and stares, she is not a dancer, but she LOVES the gymnastics part.  She jumps into the foam pits, climbs, does her somersaults, jumping on the trampoline!  We were also able to escape down to the lake for 5 days and meet up with our adoption small group at the lake for a fun weekend together!

Also the biggest news is that last Saturday Randy finished his 1 year contract with the hospital and he was able to go per-diem and how he only works 4 days a week instead of 5!  Wahoo!!!  1 more day at home is going to be awesome!

Also I finished my first college class in almost 10 years, Algebra and I got an A!  Next semester it is Anatomy and then I can apply for my program next February!  Camden has been enjoying summer school and he got moved up to the older class as he is all caught up.  He loves his new class.  I also had a conference with Dasha's teacher for her in the fall and we got a plan laid out for her. 

Also we are starting our 6 month follow-ups on almost all our appts.  So we will be visiting the audiologist, the nephrologist, the oncologist, the dentist.  So the next month is going to be busy!

Below are the pictures from our retreat weekend with our small group.