December

December has been a fun busy month for us this year. We have been a family of four for 1 1/2 years and there have been so many changes for all of us. I truly thank God for sticking with us and helping us through the tough times. Now, I see my two children playing and laughing much more often. Our house has become a home again and I do not find myself wanting to find the escape door or turn back time.
Some of our activities this month included Erik's annual work parties ( one for the children with Santa and gifts and one for the adults at the Marietta Country Club for dinner the next weekend), holiday parties in their classrooms, an art class and show at The Art Place for Ellie Grace and her friend, dinner to celebrate with Kristi and Clay at Grandma Sue and Grandpa How's house, a night at Nana and Pop's house for the little ones, a date night to see The Blind Side and dinner at Aspens for us while they were away, a morning of wonderful presents from Santa, and finally having the Ward family and the Kjeldsens over to exchange gifts and eat on Christmas afternoon.

Quick surgery update- we have our post op next week

Niklas' surgery went fine last week. He hung out with me at home all week and was very excited to be back at school yesterday. He was very tired at lunch and took a nap during rest. Today, he went the whole day and to speech without any pain meds or nap. So I am hopeful that he is healing and doing good.
He is on a soft diet so I am sending lunch with him and Ellie Grace each morning. It isn't the most nutritious lunch, but it will do for another week or so. I just hope Ellie Grace eats it tomorrow, she didn't eat her soup today and was crying with a tummy ache on the bus. She was just hungry!

Happy Halloween!

My spider and my horse enjoyed a short night of trick-or-treating on Saturday. Aunt Tina in Texas sent the cute costumes to us , thank you Aunt Tina! In tradition, we met our neighbors to go to a few houses together. We didn't go to any houses on our cul-de-sac due to dark houses and rain but all four children enjoyed the night and got plenty of candy. Ours got to eat quite a bit of candy that night and on Sunday due to Niklas's surgery on Monday morning.

Thankful Thursday

I know it is Wednesday night, but Thursday is coming in a few short hours. I have thought about a lot of things the last few months since I have had a bit more quiet time. I picked up a new devotion book that is short, but very meaningful. God has blessed me and I have many reasons to give thanks each day.

-Erik and I went to my parent's house in North Carolina and enjoyed having the weekend together. The children stayed with their grandparents and got to go to my nephews first birthday.
-Ellie Grace had two full weeks of being on green at school. Her teacher uses green, yellow, and red for the behavior chart. We have had more than enough days of yellow and red for talking. I love her outgoing personality but she does need to learn that sometimes it is time to be quiet and do your work.
-Erik and I met with Niklas' teacher for a short conference. I wished we had done it sooner because she is seeing improvement in many areas. She and a few of our therapists are concerned about his tendancy to be distracted very easily. We are going to meet with the developmental pediatrician soon to talk about this. Overall, it made me feel much more confident that he is learning. Now, we just need to get him excited about learning his letters...
-Ellie Grace and I are in a Daisy troop. I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout so I am excited that we are able to do participate together in this activiity. We enjoyed our first day trip to the Rock Ranch last Saturday with some of the girls and their moms. This will give us a chance to strengthen our mother-daughter bond.
-God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who has supported me through all of my ups and downs. He is so caring and patient with me. He is a great father and a wonderful husband.

September Update

It is hard to believe that my children have been in school for a month! We are keeping busy with Niklas' therapy appointments, Ellie's art class, and soccer in the afternoons. I am trying to get more housework and errands done in the morning so I can spend more time with family. This is a work in progress- it seems we are very busy in the afternoons these days.

Niklas saw a neurologist a few months ago so that we could get an MRI done. The results showed no masses or anything abnormal (Praise God!) but it did reveal that he might have a sinus infection. So, off to the pediatrician for an exam and some antibiotics! We were also sent to an orthopedist who was nice but not very helpful. He isn't allowed to diagnosis but thinks that Niklas could have some sort of cerebral palsy. So, we have put a call into our neurologist and she is supposed to call us on Tuesday.

Some would argue that a diagnosis will not change anything- it won't change who he is but it is something that I need at some point.

Point of Grace has a song that sums up some of my feelings. "I wish I could be more like Jesus and could pick up all the pieces and make life better for my baby girl (boy)". The song also goes on to say that God does hear us, whether it is wishes or prayers- God is listening.

On another note, Ellie Grace and Niklas are healthy and seem to have a strong immune system. Erik has been sick since Wednesday evening. It seems that he has the flu and we are hoping he will feel better soon. We are washing our hands very frequently!

The weather is very rainy this weekend so I picked up a cute new shower curtain for the kids bathroom. It is called "Peek-a boo Monkey" and is quite colorful. Ellie Grace was born in the year of the monkey so they are one of her favorite things.

School Time

Ellie Grace and Niklas started school last Monday. Ellie Grace was very excited to finally be at the big school and ride the bus. She had a great first week! I cannot believe that my "baby" is in kindergarten. She is growing up so quick!
Niklas returned to his PreK class at the same school so he knew his teachers and classmates. He is going all day this year.

Seattle

Erik and I enjoyed a much-needed vacation last week. We went to Seattle for five nights. We enjoyed walking around Pike Place Market, took a ferry to Victoria, rode a bus to Mt. Rainer, and just had a relaxing week. It was beautiful! We are very thankful to Nana and Pop for taking care of Ellie Grace and Niklas for us.

Seattle Pictures

The Birthday Boy!

Niklas celebrated his 4th birthday as well as his Gotcha Day/Family Day in June. He was thrilled to have his friends and relatives come to celebrate. He loved all the presents and his cake! It has been a challenging year but I now have a little boy who asks for hugs and says "I love you mommy" so I think we have turned a brighter corner.

The Birthday Girl

Ellie Grace turned five last week! Her Grandma Sue and Grandpa How came over with lunch and a gift on Monday. They gave her a new set of Lego's. She and I share the same birthday so I made spaghetti for dinner and we had cake and ice cream before she opened her gifts from us on Tuesday night. We invited her class and a few other special friends to PLAY on Saturday. It was a smaller crowd than expected, but all the children seemed to have a great time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE!

Beach Pictures

Pawley's Island

We spent the first week of summer vacation at the beach. It was Niklas and my nephew Gavin's first beach experience. Ellie Grace is in love with the beach and was excited to be there with my parents for the fourth year in a row. Erik didn't get to go last year due to our quick referral and travel to China so he was ready for a bit of R&R this year. It was great to spend time with my brother Brian, Vickie, baby Gavin, and my parents (known as Nana and Pop).
Ellie Grace really wanted her Uncle Brian to dig a big hole like he has done in the past years but she was content to make drip castles with me, fly the kite that Aunt Kristi sent her, and go in the water with daddy and Niklas. Niklas enjoyed sitting in the shallow water or wading out while holding tightly to Erik's hand. He played in the sand a little but his interest was in being in the water.
Erik and I are grateful to Nana(who broke her ankle the first night) and Pop for allowing us to have a "date night" while we were there. We had a wonderful dinner at a historic restaurant that Brian and Vickie had eaten at earlier in the week.

I have a kindergartener!

Our New Ride

I saw a few friends get new mini-vans and wondered if that would be a good vehicle for our family. We had enough room for the four of us in the Highlander but we couldn't fit anyone else in it. I started thinking about how nice it would be to carpool, take a friend to the park, have the grandparents go with us somewhere, etc.
We knew that a new car would probably not fit our budget but we began to consider buying a used one without too many miles.
We drove home in a Sienna van after some discussions, internet research, and a few test drives.
I was a bit sad to say good-bye to the Highlander (it was a great car) and Niklas kept repeating "Mama's car all gone" for a few days. It has taken a week and a half of driving the van to say that I am over the shock of how quickly it all happened and now I like it very much!

Fun Day and Picnic at RPP

Baby Gavin

Where has April gone?

Niklas is still loving school. He is getting good reports and potty training is getting a bit better too. His developmental ped. gave us some answers for his delays. He has Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder. He language skills are between a year and two years behind for his age. We will continue the speech therapy, the music class, and reading to him. We are going to try a new therapy, Myofunctional Therapy, that will really focus on oral motor actions. She also did some lab work and all the tests came back positive or normal so that is good news.
Ellie Grace is registered for kindergarten!! I can't believe that she will be five years old in a few weeks. She is loving soccer, reading simple books, and still full of personality.
We have a busy month as school winds down and we prepare for a trip to the beach. I will be glad for summer but know that we will still be on the go!

As many of you know, Niklas came home from China with other needs besides his CL/CP. We knew as parents to expect some developmental delays but I have thought from the beginning that his delays were different. It has been a stressful ten months because I have had a conflict with myself over my feelings. Mothers are only supposed to think the best about their children and I have felt quite the opposite due to my experience teaching preschool and watching Ellie Grace grow.
We found a developmental pediatrician and we have seen her once a week for the past three weeks. She talked with us, observed Niklas interact with us and Ellie Grace, spent one visit testing Niklas, and then went over the results with us this week. His strength is fine motor and his adaptive skills have improved. However, his language skills are very weak. He is very delayed in expressive speech and somewhat delayed in receptive language so she said he has Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder. He also still has issues with his gross motor skills and hypotonia. We don't really know the reason for these but she is having us do some bloodwork that may or may not give us more answers. She did stress that he is learning and that is a good thing. So we will keep moving forward and providing the best we can for him.

Preschool Easter Party

A Family is Forever

We saw our daughter's picture for the first time on February 2, 2004. I was teaching PreK and knew that the there was a good chance we would be getting a call that day. I left soon after the children went home and was driving when my cell phone started ringing. I answered and pulled over so I could talk and try to write down the details before calling Erik. He was in his office so got to see her picture as we were talking on the phone. We were both so happy to know that Gou Ke Di was waiting in Guangxi, China for us!
We met her on April 4, 2005 in the Lottery Hotel in Nanning. This weekend marked our fourth anniversary of that special day, known as "Gotcha Day" or "Family Day". We celebrated by going out to dinner at the Empress of China II.

March Update

Spring is here and I am so happy that we can go outside and play! Our local park hosts "The Ultimate Play Date" on Wednesday evenings and movie nights on Fridays. I can't wait until these events begin as they make the week much more fun for all of us. Ellie Grace is taking swim lessons at the YMCA and learning how to swim under water. She needs to swim a bit farther and start trying to take breaths, but she is doing great. She loves soccer and will join her neighborhood friend at an art class in April. She was the winner of a huge art basket through a raffle at our preschool dinner last week. She also won a tea set,but they almost gave it away because she was too busy eating her cupcake to go up and claim it! Minnie Mouse was walking around during the game/craft time so she got us to take a picture. However, she later noted to Erik that it wasn't the real one because she saw legs. Niklas started a new preschool and he loves to go to his "new school" everyday. We are in the process of learning the cause of his developmental and physical delays. He loves Elmo so a co-worker sent their life-size one home with Erik. Ellis Grace and Niklas both like playing with their new sand/water table and the larger kitchen (my first big consignment sale purchase).

March Photos

Our Travel Guide in Nanning

This is a picture of Michael and Ellie Grace. Michael was our guide in Guangxi, China. Sadly, we learned that he passed away yesterday from a cerebral hemorrhage. Please keep his wife and eight year old son in your prayers. He will be deeply missed by his CCAI family as well. He was a wonderful guide who was there for us when we held Ellie Grace the first time and he helped us through that first week of parenthood.

First Day of Soccor

It's March and there is SNOW in GA!

We had lots of family time this weekend. We woke up Saturday morning and decided to use one of our Christmas gifts. Uncle Brian, Vickie, and baby Gavin gave us a family pass to the Center for Puppetry Arts. We chose to go see Weather Rocks and it was a great show! Then we ran errands the rest of the day.
We woke up to rain on Sunday but it turned to SNOW by mid-morning and we got a pretty good amount of the white stuff in our yard. Ellie Grace and Niklas kept looking out the window with excitement. We took the children outside after lunch and got the chance to make a quick snowman. Niklas wasn't quite sure what to do but Ellie Grace had a great time outside. Daisy thought the snow was one big ice cube to eat! The afternoon brought rain and then warmer temps so it was good that we got to experience the snow before it went away.

The Circus!

We went to the Big Apple Circus in Stone Mountain last weekend. It was very different from the Ringling Bros Circus but it was probably a good one for our children. The circus tent was very small so we got a very good view from our seats. We even got a little wet during the "Singing in the Rain" song and act. Ellie Grace really enjoyed herself and we think Niklas had a good time even though he just watched quietly. I think a few of the acts had some innuendos that were not appropriate for children.

My Two Cuties!

I was giving Niklas his bath the other night and Ellie Grace kept coming in to see us. Her heels clicked the bathroom floor and made Niklas say "Noise" each time. She finally was all dressed with high heels, three purses, a monkey on her neck, and the frog basket for a hat! Niklas decided to join her after his bath. He pulled out the giraffe costume that was Ellie Grace's first outfit for Halloween. What a pair they make!