well...

Hmmm...hard to know even where to begin. The days are better (sunshine helps!) and overall things are good to very good. We still haven't found any place with spots open for speech therapy. That's still frustrating, for sure. We still don't have the new back door we ordered nearly 3 weeks ago, and haven't heard anything about it, either. That's frustrating! Making me nuts, in fact. But life goes on...

Logan had his physical therapy assessment yesterday. It went well, but Logan didn't qualify for PT. They evaluate the kids on a scale, with kids scoring in the 1st to 85th percentiles qualifying for therapy. Logan scored in the 87th percentile, so he just missed needing PT. The PT recommended that we have him evaluated by an occupational therapist for sensory processing issues, so we scheduled an appointment for this afternoon. The OT agrees that he has some issues that affect his movement and coordination, but like PT, he scored just a point or two higher than would qualify him for therapy. She gave me several exercises to do at home, some resources available at the library, and her card, so I can call her with questions. She suggested that if we don't see a significant improvement by the time he has ear tubes put in, then we should call her and she'll see him for a few months of therapy. And so we're back where we started.

Over all, though, today was an amazing day. I had an opportunity to visit a friend whose baby has been in the hospital for 8 of the last 11 weeks. This mom is a young mom at our church, one we met many years ago when she was a teen, Brent was a baby, and she was his babysitter. Then, she was Emily's favorite Sunday School teacher. Now she's a mom to many children, including her darling newborn with health issues. Amy and I had a wonderful time chatting. She's been down this special needs adoption road before. She has a house full of children. She understands the joys and heartaches of little ones who struggle to believe that they are loved and are never going to be left again. It was SO ENCOURAGING to just sit and talk. I'm sorry I've been so busy and haven't been able to do this before, but I think our time together was just what both of us needed today. I know I was refreshed, and I thoroughly enjoyed a morning without children! Then, this evening we had our annual camping trip planning night. Every summer since 1994, we have gone camping with the same group of families. We have a ball together, swimming and boating and relaxing in the sun. The group has changed a bit--the children are mostly teenagers now, the babies belong to the married children, and the parents are a bit wiser. :) But the ladies sure have fun planning the meals! We took 2 1/2 hours to complete a 15 minute task, talking and giggling and laughing about all sorts of things, and enjoying wonderfully delicious ice cream pie.

And for those who wonder how close the boys are to the same size, I have this funny picture. Today when I hung the clean laundry out to dry, I hung Ryan's clothes next to Logan's clothes. Keep in mind that they are only about 3/4" difference in their height. Logan's just way bigger than Ryan. He's such a dinky little thing, and it's very apparent in this pic, because Logan's just a bit smaller than the "average" 3 year old in the US!


Ryan's clothes are on the left. The shirt is a 2T, the shorts (which are way too big around the waist!) are an 18 months. Logan's shirt and shorts, on the right, are a 3T.