Summer!

Summer is almost over!  I had so many things that I wanted to do this summer.  I had a long list starting the last week of school to fill up two whole months, but hardly any of that is done.  As usual, my plans were quickly interrupted by everything else going on.  Mainly, Keragan getting her tonsils out.  She has snored since she was a baby, and is very restless at night.  She often got up 3-4 times per night.  This winter and spring I had the pleasure of sleeping in the same room as her a few times and quickly realized that we needed to be more concerned about her sleep quality.  We made an appointment and sure enough, she needed her tonsils out as they were so big that it was obstructing almost all air flow to the nose.  

The surgery itself was harder on me than her.  She usually has a lot of anxiety and fear for this kind of thing, but this time she was completely relaxed and in a good mood.  Even after the surgery coming home she was in a great mood.  That didn't last however, and she did have a rough couple of weeks.  The difference in her though is astounding! She is sleeping better, only getting up maybe once a night.  She is eating way better, which is good because she's still not back up to her pre-surgery weight.  I will always remember the day (about a week after her surgery) that she said, "mom, watch this!" and proceeded to take a deep breath through her nose with her mouth closed.  She had never been able to do that before!  It made me sad that we had never realized how badly she needed this. 

Keragan also started swimming lessons. Last year she was terrified and wouldn't go anywhere near the pool, but this year she wanted to take lessons.  She did pretty well but was really hesitant until after the surgery.  Again we realized that she always had to have her mouth open to breathe, which made it hard to swim.  after her surgery she as a different swimmer and has been doing great! 

 

So that took up the majority of July.  We were able to spend some time with family, and also took a mini-vacation in June to Idlewild (a little kid amusement and water park) and a vacation at Lake Erie at the end of July.  

We still have baby P, who isn't a baby anymore.  It still seems like he's here long term.  He's doing better in a lot of ways but still has some pretty major trust issues.  It's been difficult to leave him with a babysitter or even in childcare.  

Jia is also still here.  She brings lots of laughs to our house, and others.  She's a sassy one and it's had to discipline her sometimes.  She started gymnastics this summer and she has loved it.  

We have court for both kids in September, but it seems like nothing will change.  We've been so disheartened with the system.  People ask us about fostering all the time, and I always tell people that the kids aren't an issue, it's the system and how it affects the kids.  It's frustrating that they give these parents 3 years to get their acts together and in the meantime the kids get pushed around, told all kinds of things, promised things by birth parents who can't follow through and subjected to things they shouldn't see or hear.  Ugh.

Our next big adventure is moving.  We're currently working to put our house on the market and find a new one in a better school district.  It's daunting thinking about all the cleaning and showings and then possibly having to scramble to settle for a house because of timing.  Hopefully it'll be perfect timing and everything will go smoothly!