What has been going on this week

Well, it is Friday, and we were suppose to close on our house today, but there was a delay. Grrr...we were very excited to have that over with! We are scheduled to move next week, and I hope they will get this done so we can. Things have been super busy, but going well.

We met with a new Sensory Therapist on Monday for Z. I loved her! She was awesome, and listened to me, encouraged me with what I was already doing, and gave me some good tips to help with our biggest issues right now. I was nervous going...starting a new therapist you never know how it will go. One of the things we talked about was Z's sleep issues. His lack of sleep is the core of most of his problems. It is very common for chidren with FASD to not be able to sleep. Every person awakens at night, and goes through their sleep cycles, but are able to go back to sleep, often times not even knowing they awakened. There is something with FASD brains that when they awaken, they are not able to go back to sleep. Some nights, Z may wake up, and stay awake for 2 + hours at a time. Do you know how that affects a small child the next day? Not well. He has temper tantrums over everything, lots of hitting, won't talk, into EVERYTHING with mega ADHD behaviors...it is rough. If he sleeps, he does so much better. Is happy, talkative, such a delight. There are medications that he can take to help him sleep, but there are other side affects to those that I don't want to take on, and also, he isn't even 2 yet, and that is too young in my opinion for sleep medication. I know we may get there someday, but I am not ready yet. Anyway, his therapist suggested melat*onin . I had tried it with him already, but was unsure of the doseage...and what I gave him didn't phase him at all. She recommened a much higher dose, b/c that is what it may take for his brain. It is all natural, so it won't hurt him. I am not going to jinx myself on this blog, but I will just say I have been very pleased with the results!

On another good note with the babies....I had them both on a waiting list for a theraputic daycare. They had said Z could start in August, but didn't know if there would be a spot for C, and I just found out this week that she has space for both, and they can start soon! I have mixed feelings about this. Everyone involved with Z's care agrees he needs to be in that structured environment everyday. I want to do what is best for him. C, is my baby...and it is very hard thinking about him going full-time...I kept my own babies home with me, and it is hard sending them both off to daycare everyday. Lots of guilt there. I just feel that I need to let C get his spot there too, b/c once Z reached a year old, we started noticing a lot of delays, and it took a long time to get his services started. I have to continually remind myself that their situation is different than my own babies, and I have to have a different approach with them. We are looking at children whose brains formed differently...and everything I do is going to have to be centered around getting them the very best b/c we have a future to look to for them that can turn out very differently than our own bio kids. I hope that if they are in this structure environment all the time, they will do much better when they become school age. I sure will miss them though.

I took the kids to check out their new school yesterday, and we all 4 walked away not very excited. I don't know what it was. Everyone was really nice, it seemed like a quiet, laid-back school...but I think we are all just a little sad about leaving our awesome school right now. It is such a good school. We are honestly thinking about going back to homeschooling. With the babies both gone everyday....I think it would go great for us. I would like to be able to have that extra time with my kids, and then they won't need so much of my attention in the evenings, when the babies get home. I have missed it greatly, and after leaving yesterday, all 3 agreed that they are ready to go back to homeschooling. I am going to really think and pray about it this summer, and see how I feel come August :)