Four Weeks as a Family of Six

On Tuesday, it was exactly four weeks since we adopted our boys. At the very beginning of the week I was feeling fabulous about being the mother of four children. I kind of didn't want to write a post because I thought it would come across as unrealistically positive. Well it is now Thursday and after a busy week of doctor's appointments, our yearly homeschool portfolio review, PMS, and a cold, I am not feeling so unrealistically rosy about being the mother of four. That is life isn't it, very up and down.

We actually only had one doctor's appointment so far this week and the second one is tomorrow. On Wednesday, Levi had his first appointment with the pediatric neurologist. We believe he has Septo Optic Dysplasia based on a CT scan that was done in China. This is quite a complicated syndrome and you can read more about it here for anyone who is interested. The symptoms vary from patient to patient and there are many things that can be done to deal with issues related to the disorder. Levi will be going to a lot of doctors over the next few months so we can figure out the best ways to help him. The neurologist we saw on Wednesday was very nice and was knowledgeable about SOD. He has a number of patients with the syndrome. He thinks there may possibly be something else going on as well and said Levi has symptoms of spastic diplegia which is a form of cerebral palsy. Levi will be having an MRI done soon and that should give us a few more specific answers.

Tomorrow, we have our appointment with a pediatric endocrinologist. SOD causes issues with the pituitary gland and can affect growth and hormone production. This was the appointment I wanted to get in as soon as possible because Levi may have a limited window for growth and untreated hormone issues can be the most serious. He will be getting lots of tests at the endocrinologist. Poor boy!

In addition to these appointments, we will be visiting our pediatrician to get all those post adoption tests and getting titers to see which vaccinations he needs and doesn't need. After that we will be going to the orthopedist, ophthalmologist, dentist (Levi has a number of cavities), and physical therapist. Yes, this is a lot of appointments and we haven't even started on Jacob yet. Fortunately Jacob's issues are pretty much strictly feet/leg issues and we can wait a while to start on that besides the visits to our pediatrician. I would never rush a four year old just home from China off to have major surgery anyway. So far the hardest thing to deal with is normal active strong willed four year old boy behavior. Is there a specialist for that (ha ha ha)!

We could not be doing all this without my wonderful parents. Grandma and Grandpa came over on Wednesday to watch my other three while I took Levi to the doctor. It was almost like a mini vacation only dealing with one easy going child for four hours. Doctors appointment with Levi might just save my sanity, LOL. My Dad spent the four hours we were gone installing and fixing things and then he put in tomato plants for me and weeded my carrots. My Mom was wrangling a lively four year old who reminds her a lot of another boy in our house who used to be quite the little wild man. Isaiah does not believe for a second that he ever acted like that but we keep assuring him that he did! Thank goodness Isaiah has grown into an incredibly helpful nine year old so there is lots of hope for Jacob. I just yelled out our bedroom window for Isaiah to go and water those tomatoes so they don't die. I would not want to be a plant in our garden this year since gardening has fallen way down on the priority list!!!!

Time to get the kiddos into bed. My very favorite time of the day!


I will continue to add some older pictures of the boys until I get my act together and get the camera out again for some new pictures.