Surprise, Surprise (aka Will the Changes Ever End)

It seems as though international adoptions are full of the unexpected even after the kids are home. We have sure had our share of surprises with all our kiddos, mostly involving birth dates. To recap - Micah was issued a bday of Nov 25, 2007 by the Ethiopian government, but we had knowledge and recordings of his actual bday being February 23, 2008 and thus changed it to that at his re-adoption. Sitota was issued a bday of July 12, 2004 and after several medical and dental tests have a more accurate bday of July 12, 2001. We thought that Delson was our one kiddo that we would have no issue with his bday since they have birth certificates in Haiti and that is where the agency would have gotten the info from...or so we thought. Today we got a translated copy of Delson's birth certificate and it actually lists his birth date as February 15, 2006!! Meaning that he just turned 4 (and was actually home with us for his bday!). This means several changes including that he will NOT be able to attend Kindergarten next year. I spoke with his 4K teacher at Head Start tonight and she said that he can attend their program again next year and that may actually be a Great benefit to him. We also found out that we actually passed IBESR(that is what we were waiting to pass for several years before putting the adoption on hold in June 2008)on July 31, 2009! It is totally a God thing though that we were not made aware because otherwise we would likely not have Sitota home with us since we started her adoption in July 2009!What a week of changes and it is only Monday...Melissa

Upward Climb

I have not posted a real "progress" report for awhile, so here is a little update on how the kiddos (and myself and Scott) are doing:
Sitota got her first report card from school. They no longer do the A,B,C,D,F system any longer it is now a 1,2,3,4 kind of thing with 4 being best and 1 being needing a lot of work. We were very happy that she got some 2s and several 3s. She did have a few 1s, but that is to be expected since she has only been in school about 2 months. Her teachers had nothing but great things to say about her and said that once the language barrier is gone she will SORE. We were very proud. She continues to help around the house to earn her allowance and really enjoys doing it. She has been talking to us a lot about her family in Ethiopia and is very open with us about her feelings. She obviously has a LOVE for them(as do we), but she tells us all the time how much she Loves being here and in our family. Sitota has many friends in the neighborhood now and enjoys getting to go and play with her friends without her brothers tagging along :) Her re-adoption will be coming up soon and we are all excited about that day!
Delson continues to make forward progress. His speech is still pretty poor, but it was recently discovered that he has a Lot of fluid in his ears and this may be affecting his speech and also balance. He is going to see an ear doctor to find out if vents may help. He likes going to school and seems to be picking up on a few new things there, but has a long way to go. His fine motor skills are still very poor as he can not even grasp a pen or crayon. Also can not zip or button, but we are working on it. He is still VERY full of energy, but is sleeping better at night so that is helpful to all of us.
Micah is Micah. He is so funny lately and has been learning SOOOOO much. He recently learned to jump and wants to do that ALL the time. He is also obsessed with going to school and can not wait to join the big kids. He is enjoying going to story time and got to move up to the Big kid class with his other friends. He is eating SOOO much, only problem is that he keeps growing taller while not gaining any weight...tough one when it comes to pants!
Scott and I are doing well. We are preparing to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary next week and even have a baby sitter so we can go for dinner! We are just starting the planning stages to go on a short term mission trip to Africa in 2012. It is in the very early stages, but we are so excited to have been blessed with this calling! We will be opening the camper up this weekend and will see how that goes with our now family of 5 :) That is about all we are up to...Be Blessed - Melissa

Spring Break Fun

This week is spring break for the kids and we have been having a Fun filled week so far. Monday was story time at the library and also lots of outdoor fun at the Caters. Monday night Sitota braided my hair...fun, but I can not pull it off as well as her! Tuesday we went to Monkey Joes with Aunt Heidi and the kids. Unfortunately the camera was not working, so I only got one picture. Then we came home and played hide and seek, Simon says and play dough. Today we took the city bus for the first time. The kids have been asking to take the bus since Delson started taking the school bus, so I gathered some other moms and kids and off we went. We rode downtown and took the kids to the coffee shop for smoothies. They had a blast! Then we played more hide and seek, did a little bike riding, and had a play boona(coffee)ceremony. Fun week so far...who knows what the next few days will bring!!

Fun Times! (and Pics!)

We have been really busy lately.We went to a cultural event at our local library and the kids LOVED it. Micah and Sitota got to wear their Ethiopian outfits and looked so cute. Delson dressed as an American since we have No Haitian outfit :). All the kids loved the food, playing drums and watching the dances. We also got to bring the kiddos down to meet their Great Grandpa for the first time. He was Thrilled to finally meet our latest additions and show them around his nursing home. They loved meeting him and especially seeing the cat and birds they have there. We finally broke down and bought a minivan. Yup...we are one of those people! It is very nice to be able to go as a family of 5 comfortably in one car. Today at church the kiddos got to go upfront and wave their palm branches, they all did a Great job! Here are some pics of the fun times we have been having! Melissa

Luck without a leprechaun

We have had a very busy week. Monday was Delson's first day of pre-school. He did pretty well, but the true test was Tuesday since that was his first day without me there and his first ride on the bus. He did cry for a bit on the bus, but then had a pretty good day. Today he had a Great day at school and came home excited to show me the contents of his backpack which included a pencil and stickers for St Patricks Day.
The kids and I made a leprechaun trap this weekend and put it out last night, but we had no luck catching one. We did get some gold coins and stickers...oh well, better luck next year :)
We have been enjoying this nice weather and LOVE playing outside. I really will post pictures soon...as soon as my laptop is fixed :) Enjoy - Melissa

Ages and Names and School...Oh My!

It is only Wednesday, but already has been a busy week. Between the dentist, doctor, school conference and lots of other little errands and updates, I don't know which way is up :) The first update I would like to give is on Sitota's age. We had the hand x-ray done on Monday and the results were in today.....it appears she is about 9 years old! Since we know her b-day is July 12 (the date is not in question, only the year), the doctor has written a letter that concludes that she is currently 8 years,8 months old currently. We have been talking with her about her age and how the picture of her hands would help us to better know how old she is and she seems to get it. She will still remain in her same grade level at school since she has a lot of catch up to still do.
The next update comes with names. As you may recall, I had written a post a little while back regarding Sitota's middle name. She had not liked the original middle name we had chosen and had decided to use my middle name instead. She would never write her full name out using the middle name and just did not really seem attached to it yet. About 2 weeks ago she brought up that she really wanted Sara to be her middle name and proudly writes her entire name all the time now and also writes LOVE after it :) So there you have it official name will be Sitota Sara Troedel. While we are talking names,let's talk about Jean Delson. Most people will read his name as Jean (Gene) and think expect that he is a girl. We ran into this with school, doctor and dentist so far. He is not real attached to using the Jean part of his name and more listens for Delson. We have asked if he would like to be called Delson and he said Wee (AKA Yes). So his name will be officially Delson Scott Troedel.
Sitota had her first parent teacher conference yesterday and the teachers had nothing but good to say about her. They absolutely LOVE her and she loves them as well. She is doing well catching up with reading levels and is working hard on math as well. She will be able to attend summer school as well, which will help her further advance. Delson will be starting the 4 year old program at Head Start next week. I am excited and nervous at the same time...I really think it will be a great way for him to learn and hope that all goes well.
That is all for tonight! Take care...I will post some pics soon!!! Melissa

Growing like Weeds

Today all 3 kiddos went to the doctor and here is where they are at:
-Micah had his 2 year check-up. He is now 37.5 inches tall(97%), 28lbs.(50%) and his head is still huge :) (97%)! He is doing great and they were really impressed at how much talking he does! They did hear a little mummer on his heart, but may have been caused by his cold but they will keep an eye on it.
-Delson gained 2 pounds this month. He had a HUGE amount of wax in both ears and that may have been affecting his speech and balance issues. They cleaned them out good and we will see if there is a difference. We are going to continue to work on some things with his sleep, but otherwise there are no other changes for him.
-Sitota grew 2.5 inches and gained 10 lbs in 2 months!!! She is now 4'7" and weighs 70 pounds! It has become very evident that we are still off on her age, so to be most accurate we had them do a xray of her hands and that should tell her "true" age. It will be very interesting to find out the results!