Water park fun!

Yesterday afternoon was Scott's County picnic at the new water park. The kids had a blast as you can see from the pictures. Couldn't seem to catch Jennifer this time, but was glad to finally get Logan in there. He's a very proud big brother, and cared less about hanging out in the kiddie pool when he could've been doing the slides instead.
Off the subject, but cute, went shopping tonight with the girls, all of a sudden Meigan breaks into her loudest rendition of Barney's "I love you" song.

Yikes, Another week has snuck by!

This is what a day of school, a 2hr. speech eval., and potty-training will do to you! She literally crashed last night!





We have had our usual busy week this week. Meigan has been doing better with potty training, though I would like to just take the word potty out of my vocabulary. I have lost track how many times I must say it in one day!
Everyone has been well so far, too, which is a blessing! It was nice to have a day when we didn't have to be anywhere. Course, I used it to clean up the house. No fun!

National Champions!

Proud of her medal!
Hard to see, but this is when they announced the 1st place team and Jenn's team receiving their medals.
Took this one just to show how big the stadium looked and how little they look!
Jenn is the one at the top of the pyramid, yes my heart stops every time!




Yesterday was Jennifer's last cheerleading competition for the season. It was in Tampa, Fl. at the Sundome. The place was huge! I really thought the her team would be overwhelmed by the size and all the people, but they did great and took 1st place out of 8 other teams in their division (4-6 yrs. old)! There were teams from all over Florida and out of state. I was holding my breath and squeezing the heck out of Scott's hand as they announced the places. Scott is nearly deaf from my screaming:) Can't help it, those little ones worked their tails off !
We also enjoyed watching the bigger teams as the stunts get more difficult. I would be a nervous wreck with some of the things those kids do!

Update on today's transition meeting

Well it's good news and bad news. Good news is Meigan will almost definitely qualify for speech through the public schools when she is 3. Bad news, my hopes of her going full time to school next year in the public school pre-k are diminishing. Since her only real deficit is speech and nothing else she would not qualify. She does have a full eval. coming up in June that will determine for sure what services she will receive. Believe me I'm happy she is a smart little cookie. Now I just need new options for the fall. One of which is going back to work somewhere full-time so we can afford pre-school tuition, which is very pricey here and wait listed years ahead! She is doing so well where she is now, but once they turn 3, it becomes everyday from 8:30 to 1 pm and expensive. Would be hard to find something with those hours as far as working. So now I don't know. There's also the possibility that the positions Scott applied for in Atlanta ( I know I didn't mention that!)may come through. Ugh, who ever said life is easy!

Update on insurance

I did get the insurance issue with Meigan's speech therapy resolved, finally. I actually got through to someone who understood and she put a note through to medical review to put a rush on it since Meigan has missed over 2 weeks of therapy.
We also have a meeting tomorrow with the school system regarding Meigan transitioning into the public schools pre-school in the fall. Her speech therapy would then be done through them. Hoping all goes well:)

Happy Easter 2007

Spring Break Fun!

We have had a busy week enjoying Disney World and Seaworld in Orlando. The girls and I went with my parents and everyone had a great time. I have more pics than this that my mom took so hope to get them up soon. The guys are due back tonight from their trip to Tn. They spent the week at my parents'place in Gatlinburg. They even got snow which made them very happy! Hard to believe the week is gone! I'm ready for summer! Have a wonderful Easter!

Girls Day at the Beach

Today I took the girls down to the beach for the day, since Scott and Logan are away for a week on a camping trip in Georgia.
The weather and water was perfect! Lots of sun and fun! Wish I could've taken more pics, but it was nearly impossible to take pics and keep Meigan from wondering too far out like her sister! Even out of the water she was too busy to look at me, so I gave up!

Who's a Big, Brave Girl?

I am!


Yesterday was Meigan's follow-up appt. with Dr. Stelnicki, her craniofacial surgeon, that has repaired her palate and lip. After waiting in the room for seemed like an hr, (which ain't pretty with a tired and hungry 2 year old!) He finally came in the room to see the progress on her lip. He still saw more thick scar tissue than should be, so even though I have been diligent with massaging her lip, she needed a steroid injection to help break up the tissue. Not what I wanted to hear. She was SO good laying on the table opening her mouth cause that's just become habit for her.
Only the injection was to go straight into the lip. You can only imagine how I felt at the end of the table holding her legs cause I knew what was to come. The PA was quick, but darn I know it hurt. Meigan didn't get as upset as I thought she would and she insisted she hold the gauze on her lip. After drying her tears, we walked out with a pretty pony sticker and she even blew a kiss to the shot lady. Only long enough to quickly put the guaze back on her lip. Unfortunately, she goes back for another injection the end of April. As far as further surgeries, the Dr. wants to wait another year before doing her nose. Fine with me. I wouldn't want to do something too soon only to possibly have to do it again when she is older.
We are also having issues with our insurance regarding her speech therapy. Our insurance will not cover developmental delays but does cover CL/CP issues. They have denied payment on a month's worth of therapies because it is being coded under DD, no mention of cleft lip/palate. Seems like a pretty resolvable issue, right?
Wrong. I have been on the phone with so many people and all I can say is incompetence! I have faxed her medical records with the correct wording so hopefully it will be resolved. We've been going 2 months and we are well over 2 grand already, so until we get the matter fixed, we've had to cancel. She loves going and I won't go down without a fight!

Oh Happy Day!

Meigan sleeping in her big girl bed. Sweet dreams little one~


Today was a very big first for Meigan. It was the first time since she had started nursery school, over a month ago, that she didn't cry when I left her! She has had a new teacher for about 2 weeks and this morning when Meigan walked into the classroom, her teacher held her arms out and Meigan went right to her. She then proceeded to tell me bye and wanted a kiss! So, guess who was all teary eyed leaving the school this morning? It was a moment I had been waiting for and then when it happened, I was happy and sad at the same time, if that makes sense. When I went to pick her up, she threw a fit because she didn't want to leave, go figure!
I truly am happy she feels secure enough to let me leave her. It is a big achievement for her as she is still quite attached to her mommy!
Tonight I actually got the chance to rock her sleep, too. I absolutely loved rocking Logan and Jennifer and feel guilty I haven't done it much with Meigan. She has always been so good about going to bed and I just haven't had the ole rocker out.
As I was rocking her, and staring into those beautiful sleepy brown eyes, I couldn't help but think about her birthmother and how indescribably hard it had to have been to know it would be the very last time she would would ever look into her baby daughter's eyes again. Were those eyes curiously staring back at her mother or were they heavy with sleep? With that thought, I gently kissed her forehead and quietly thanked a woman on the other side of the world for giving us the opportunity to raise such a special little girl. We are humbled to have such a chance.

Happy 6 months, Meigan!

From this:
to this!


Hard to believe it has been 6 months since Meigan joined our family. Funny because it is now hard to remember what it what like before we had her. She just fits our family perfectly. She has been through so much in this time period also. Three surgeries, speech therapy, nursery school and just learning what it like to have a forever family. Everyday is a new learning experience for her and she soaks everything up like a sponge. It really has been amazing to watch her transform! I can't wait to see what the next 6 months holds for her.
We love you Meiggie, to the stars and back!

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2007

Can I Breathe Now?

Jennifer was discharged from the hospital yesterday before noon. She is doing much better but tires easily. Yesterday she slept all afternoon. I was even able to catch a nap myself thanks to a very dear friend who kept Meigan Sunday night and all day Monday. I guess the exhaustion is finally starting to hit me. When Jennifer was really sick I was too worried to be tired. Thank you all for your encouraging words and prayers. There is nothing worse than the helpless feeling you have when your child is so sick and you don't know if things will get better or worse.
Looking forward to happy and healthier month:)

411 on Jennifer

Just a quick blog for anyone who doesn't know about Jennifer yet. She was hospitalized yesterday with a bad kidney infection. She is still running fevers and they will not send her home until she is fever free for at least 24 hours. She was also very dehydrated so she is getting fluids and her antibiotic by IV. Before I left the hospital this afternoon to trade off with Scott, she was eating Fruit Loops and drinking water. Better than yesterday. She was pretty out of it. Please continue to keep her and this whole family in your prayers. I feel like I'm losing it at times.

Cheerleading pics

I've been meaning to post some pics since Sat., but with me being sick, but better, and now Jennifer very sick I can't win! Three out of five people in this family are on an antibiotic. Scott and Meigan thankfully are ok. Please keep Jenn in your prayers, though. She has a very bad infection and running high fevers. The dr is hoping the medicine she is on will do the trick so she will not have to be hospitalized and need IV medication.

Jesus Painting

Truly Awesome

Be Back Soon

I've not been in the blogging mood this week due to me being under the weather. All week I've been fighting sore throat,hard coughing which has been keeping me up, and laryngitis since Thurs. After coughing so much that I thought my head would explode, I drug myself to the Dr. today and found out it's bronchitis. Here we are about to start a new week and it's back to the running here and there and everywhere, unfortunately. I just don't have time to get sick!
I do have pics to share of Jennifer's cheer competition she had in Ft. Myers on Sat. and Logan is very proud of his autographed basketball he got at the Harlem Globetrotters game last Fri.
I've basically been a couch potato when I can sqeeze it in. Scott's been a big help, but most of the time it's easier to do things myself.

Meigan's school picnic and Logan's Cub Scout Picnic Pics!

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Bummer:(

Today when I walked Meigan into her classroom, I sensed something must be wrong because her teacher was not there and the asst. director was. The first dreaded words out of her mouth were, " I need to tell you something that has happened". She then proceeded to tell me Meigan's teacher turned in her resignation yesterday and she wanted it effective immediately.
Of course, no details as to why she left so abruptly. They are working on filling her position. Having done pre-school for many years, I know that finding a suitable teacher for 2 year olds is easier said than done. Needless to say, I was sad she left. I thought she was great and Meigan was really starting to take to her. Today, I had to leave her screaming and crying while they were walking to chapel. She is familiar with the Asst. Director, though because she was always in the room to help with Meigan when I would leave.
Made me feel better when I came to pick her up. She was sitting eating her lunch, happy as a clam. When we left, she was blowing kisses and hugging her friends goodbye.

Happy Chinese New Year!