So many things

I can not even remember all the stuff that has happened since the last time I updated. Life around the Lewis house changes so quickly, it is hard to keep up. Most notably I guess is that Jonathan just left tonight to go to Connecticut for an un-determined period of time. We got a phone call on Friday night from his sister telling us that his grandma was found unconcious on the kitchen floor and had suffered a major stroke. They took her off the ventilator today and have moved her to a hospice room, no hope of recovery, the stroke was just too major. I am praying that he makes it there before she passes so he can say good bye to her.

It was obviously a bad week for grandmas because last week my grandma had a heart attack. She is back home now and recouperating, had 2 stents placed and is back to her spunky self...she did get to ride in a helicopter which was neat for her (she lives on the eastern shore so she got flown to the heart hospital here).

Elijah's diabetes has been massively out of control, check out his diabetes blog for an update. I also ened up taking him to the ER this past weekend becasause I noticed on Friday that he had a huge mass on the side of his neck, about the size of a ping pong ball. The doctor said he thought it was a lymphnode that was fighting off some kind of bacterial infection but he could not figure out which one. His strep test was negative, his throat looked normal, his ears were clear and there were no obvious signs of any infection. They put him on antibiotics and he has 2 days left on those. The swelling is still there, although I think it may finally be shrinking. If it is not down significantly by friday I am supposed to take him back to the doctor so hopefully the antibiotics will work. I have started having anxiety over this darn thing. Especially since he has been having horrible sweating at night and has been feeling like crud...constantly telling me he is tired and wants to go to bed...which is highly unusual for him. I just wish he felt better. He is still as sweet as ever and very clingy to me, guess he is going through a mommy phase :) He an Elsie just celebrated their 3rd birthday along with Isabella and her 4th. It was a makeshift last minute party but they enjoyed themselves.

Isabella has started dance and is really enjoying it. Elsie goes to dance too, but that involves dressing up like Isabella and going to the studio with us and clinging on to me, not speaking to anyone in the waiting room. She has soooo much social anxiety. Although I do feel she is improving somewhat, it is painful for me to watch her be tormented by her anxiety in groups and in social situations. It makes me so sad to hear so many people she knows wonder if she can speak at all. Most people never believe me when I tell them what a chatterbox she is at home. I hate to see her struggling in silence. She wants to participate so badly but then becomes paralyzed with fear and it makes me sad :( These girls are my beautiful princesses and Jonathan is already anticipating all the problems he is going to have in the not-so-distant future with them...they have a piece of his heart for sure :)

Nathaniel has been ...well...Nathaniel. His rages have gotten way worse for some reason. He has ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and has been having a really difficult time of things. I am not sure why but he had a rage fir for 4 hours on sunday, probably the longest one he has had. As he getss older and stronger, more things get damaged. He has been having 2 or 3 episodes a day and it has become utterly exhausting. I dont know what else to do. His physchologist helps but its not like they can give them some medication to help, behavior modification takes alot of time to work, but it seems to be making everything worse. He is such a sweet boy when he is in a good mood, sometimes he is like a light swtich I just can not figure out what turns him off and on...I think that is the most frustrating part.

Caity has been plugging away at schoolwork. Her ADD is a constant problem and she still has difficulty with her focus and distractibility as well as impulsivity which makes it very difficult for her to make friends. She is advancing quite well in her gymnastics and cheerleading. Three weeks ago she perfected her back handspring and is now working on her double back handspring. She could be even so much farthur than she is right now if her confidence was higher. She has such a defeatest attitude that it makes me feel bad. She is so good at things she really puts her heart and soul into, I wish she could see it more.

William is doing very well in school...he is so smart! He really is quite advanced for his age and I am afraid he will almost be on the same level as Caity in some subjects by the end of next year. Socially...well...school has not been everything I was hoping it would be for him. I basically sent him to school instead of keeping him home with Caity to help him with his social interactions which were severely lacking. Well he has either been in trouble or been witness too it most of the year. He will be starting school at home with Caity this summer. At his checkup the doctor was pleased with his progress and suggested that he did indeed have autism, but that Jonathan and I had done so much for him early on that we have been able to get him to a point now at 6 years old, that he is only coming up as borderline on the testing. That makes me feel very proud as a parent. That even without some crazy diagnosis we were able to recognize his difficulties early on in life and help him learn to adapt to life with a special brain.

So as usual, to summerize our life...things could always be worse than they are and we are so thankful to the Lord for all of the blessings he bestows on us. He is a great God and I will certainly praise him in the sun and in the storm for always remaining faitful to us even when we are not faithful to him.

My little perfectionist

Well, my 5 year old William had his checkup this past week. Physically he is perfect. He is hardly ever sick. Developmentally...I guess something is just not right. I was told that he probably has some form of autism as well as sensory integration disorder!! Well, I knew something just wasn't right since he was about 2 when he did not have any language development but now that he is older the doctors can see that it may be more than that. The fact that he is deathly afraid of the bathtub, lines up his toys in matching pairs and by color and size, doesn't sleep more than 6 hours a day, can only have a conversation about television, books or legos, memorizes TV commercials, conversations and cartoon episodes, and all the other things I can not think of right now. I was hoping I would only have 1 special needs child to deal with. I am quickly increasing that number. He has his full developmental evaluation in June so I guess we will find out for sure then.

Up until now his odd behavior has been disruptive but manageable. His homeschooling has been going ok...he is highly verbal and memorizes spoken words with autographic perfection. Most of his schooling has been verbal up until now. He desperately wants to write words and do addition, which he does fine with the computer when he has to recognize things. This week we started on writing. He can write his name which took him a very long time to learn and he still writes it backwards. We started practicing how to write numbers and letters this week since he has been driving me crazy about doing math (he is obsessed with numbers...counts EVERYTHING! and he loves spanish...he is the only spanish speaking white kid on the playgrounds..=).

I do not think he is ready to write. I wrote the numbers out and had him practice. He could not do it PERFECT and it lead to a serious meltdown. I look over and he has paper strewn everywhere...he got a new sheet everytime he messed up one number and had worn down 2 erasers in a matter of minutes. I am now getting afraid of what the rest of his schooling may bring. If things are not perfect it is like the world has ended. Well...I will learn. I think alot of his education will have to focus on spoken instruction, but he will have to write at some point.

Slow and steady wins the race...isn't that what the turtle says...William like turtles...he is kind of like a turtle sometimes I guess (last one to get dressed, last one to finish eating, last one in the car, last one to get buckled), except when it comes to writing. I guess we will have to talk about turtles. I know God will help us find a way...just like he always has before.

Thank you God for giving me my extra-special son=)