Do Me...Do Me!!

I know the title sounds funny, but that is what the boys were saying over and over to Daddy as he was taking turns picking the boys up over his head and spinning them around and then tossing them into the couch. The boys couldn't wait until Robert picked them up again and flipped and spun them around over his head just to toss them into the couch. Too funny. Robert go his work out today.

Dedicating our children to the Lord

Today was a special day for our family since we dedicated our son's Evan and Steven to the Lord. They had all of our family members that were in the service including Mom mom and Pop Pop come up on stage along with the other families with their children while Pastors Gary and Faye Whetstone prayed over the boys/children and families. During that time the Ukrainian couple that we met last month ran up on stage to translate what the pastors were praying to Steven and Evan.

It was emotional to think back at all that God has brought us through to bring our children into our families. God is so good! Thanks be to God.

Children's Hospital Check up & Testing

Well, we finally had our check up at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia with an International Adoption's Pediatrician along with an Occupational Therapist to test them on their developmental fine and motor skills along with their speech as well as their overall health and get some bloodwork done.

It was a long 5 hour appointment. They brought a Russian/Ukrainian translator into our examination room to help with translating the doctors and therapists questions, however, we only used her service for explaining to the boys to prepare them about getting bloodwork drawn, which was at the end of our appointment.

Both the therapist and the pediatrician were floored that they didn't need the translator and at how healthy Evan and Steven are and that they are right at where they should be developmentally, since many kids that have come from an orphanage are developmentally behind at least by a year or two.

When Evan was being tested on his gross motor skills by running up and down the hallway he was so funny how he would run at top speed toward me with a huge smile on his face and would run into my arms and give me a huge hug each time. Then, Steven and Andrew started doing it as well. Evan was just too funny, that we all had a chuckle from it.

When it came time for the bloodwork, the translator explained to them what was about to happen in Russian/Ukrainian to prepare them. They did a full work up on them both and put Mommy through a work out holding them down. I felt so bad for them and was about to cry myself. Glad that's over.

Andrew's 5th Birthday

We just celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday...can you believe it...he's 5 years old. WOW! Time flies. We had his party out at a tumbling place where they had trampolines and gymnastic equipment for kids their ages. WE all had a ball and Robert and I even got into the fun and was bouncing around on the trampoline and I got stuck in the foam pit and had difficulty trying to push myself up to get out......I know I'm starting to show my age.

Robert getting in on the fun.

Steven I knew would love the trampoline especially since he is our acrobat. He loved it so much we had difficulty getting him off of it when it came time to go into the party room for food and cake. He kept trying to escape back into the play area and jump around some more therefore we had to have someone stand guard at the door so he or any other kid wouldn't escape.

Evan with his amazing strength had fun playing on the rings. To our surprise he held on for a bit while Robert pushed him until he flopped to the mat. Then up he went and wanted to go again.



Andrew had a ball jumping on the trampoline as well as jumping off of the platform into the foam pit. Check him out in action in the picture below.



The party was a success and everyone had fun.

Steven and Evan weren't too keen about watching Andrew open up all of his presents since they are used to taking over his toys and were like vultures lurking over Andrew's shoulders waiting for him to step away from them so they could dive into the toys. I tried to explain to them that it was Andrew's birthday and these were his toys. I told them that if they wanted to play with them they would have to ask Andrew if it was okay to play with them. Well they didn't like that one bit and Steven kept coming up to me and asking to play with them, I kept trying to explain that it was Andrew's birthday and these are his toys so he will have to ask Andrew to play with them. Steven didn't like that answer and started whimpering at the table. Andrew started to be bratty about it and then I proceeded to explain to him that one day it will be Steven and Evan's birthday and they will get a lot of toys and you won't. I explained that if he shares his toys that he will teach them to share their toys when it's their birthdays.

Well that seemed to go in one ear and out the other until about a half hour later Andrew came into the kitchen and GAVE Steven one of his toys and GAVE Evan one of his other new toys. It floored us all and I even asked Robert if he prompted him into giving his toys away. Robert said that no it was all Andrew's doing. I am so proud of Andrew for giving up 2 of his new toys to give to his brothers. I then made Steven say thank you and give Andrew a hug. How cute it was to see the boys hugging for once. Steven was thankful and so was Evan.

Dentist Check up for Steven

Well, Praise the Lord that we made it through our first dentist appointment with Steven. Unfortunatly we found out that Steven has 8 cavities. Yes, I said 8 cavities. The amazing thing is though that 6 of the cavities have temporary fillings with decay still underneath the temporary fillings. Why would a dentist go to the trouble of filling a tooth without getting the decay out of it?

Steven did really well in the appointment and when I found out that the other cavities have already been filled, I realized that this wasn't the first time he has been to the dentist. I know that the orphanage would have a dentist come into the orphanage to offer his service to the children, but with the 2 obvious cavities in Steven's front 2 teeth I figured he never visited the dentist in the orphanage.

We scheduled his next appointment for filling his front 2 cavity we made in 2 weeks. I hope that goes as well as this one did.