More soccer

Assistant coach Daddy in action

Soccer finals

Soccer is over for another season. I am so proud of my daughter, she played her heart out and never gave up. The majority of her team gave up (they are only 5 and 6 after all), but Avery and one other girl kept on going (and the other girl had strep throat).
They lost badly, but that didn't matter to Avery. She does love her soccer! She is counting down the days until indoor starts in November.

Someone is keeping the tooth fairy very busy

The local infant, youth development team contacted us this week. They must have pushed B up the line (you age out of this program at 6) because we were originally told there was a 6 month to a year waiting list.
The worker has already been to our house to meet B (and the rest of our crazy household).
I am happy to say that we are going ahead with a full assessment. It's hard to explain how much of a relief this is.

Again, it is going to be difficult to assess whether B's development is a result of 2 years in an orphanage or if there is something more going on.
The psychologist believes (as do we) that most of B's behaviours are partly due institutional care.
She may also have some sensory issues going on. I really don't know how I missed the sensory issues, feel like we should have started all of this years ago.

I guess what I also don't understand is how the other children adopted from her orphanage don't seem to be having any of these issues. I've done a search on the orphanage yahoo group and nothing comes up about behavoural/developmental concerns. It's not a small orphanage either, very well known.
Is it just that no-one feels comfortable talking about the not so rosey part of adoption?

As I've mentioned before, we love our daughter so very much. She is the kindest, sweetest most loving child. She is so concerned about everyone, and loves to make us laugh.
We think she is awesome! We also realize that if she doesn't get some help now, she may not be as happy when she gets older and she will not do well in school or socially.

Trailer life

Shh, don't tell Grandpa that we borrowed his binoculars. Had some fun trying to find an animal or two in the field.

Took the girls on a long hike on the beach. It was such a beautiful weekend.

Hmm, there is actually a picture of me in here. You can tell that I'm the picture taker in the family since I'm rarely in them.

Fun at a different beach

Took some time away from Grandma and Grandpa's beach and tried out Wasaga Beach. My Uncle rents a cottage there with his kids and usually the whole family tries to make it out for one day. This is the first time I've been able to take both girls (Avery went with me once years ago).

Wasaga is a hit for the kids since the water is so shallow and there are sand bars every 5 feet.

Not sure why we don't head to Wasaga more often, we only live an hour away? Guess we are spoiled by our almost private beach at the trailer!

Some good news

Spent a long day at Sick Kids with Brennyn yesterday. Avery was able to hang out with her favourite Aunt, which involved a trip to McD's and movies.

Brennyn was so great, she played with toys for hours while we waited and did not complain once. Although she did tell the intern (yes, I know they aren't really interns but I always forget the correct title, is it fellow??? All I know is they are already doctors but come from other hospitals to do their specialized training at Sick Kids) that Dr. C should be much faster because she had to wait too long. The intern laughted and said she certainly could not tell this to Dr. C because she wanted to keep her job, ha ha.

As a side note, the doctor and the physiotherapist both suggested to me that Brennyn should take acting classes, hmm, wonder why??

Anyway, after some debating with the team, we decided (okay so it was mostly the good doctor) that Brennyn will not be having more surgery.
She functions so well with her right hand and at this point it looks like the surgery would be for cosmetic reasons since her index finger will not be functional on it's own.
I really don't want to start messing with her dominant hand if it's purely for cosmetic reasons. He also did not feel that the surgery would be a success anyway.

Now, if Brennyn wants to do the surgery when she is older, it will be an option.

I had a great chat with the physiotherapist. Have I mentioned how awesome she is?? We just love her.
She said that you can't second guess yourself. B may be upset when she is older that we didn't do the surgery. Some kids are very self conscious and there isn't a crystal ball to see the future. She doubts that Brennyn will have this issue, but one never knows. You have to make the best decision based on the facts at hand!

It's been busy

Have not had any time to blog, and not because it's summer. Poor husband was in the hospital last week for an extended 4 night stay. He came home from work early on Tues. saying he had really bad pain. I, of course, being the sympathetic person I am, said "can you turn out the light, I'm trying to sleep". In my defense, my husband is known to cry sick often (you know the commercial for the man cold, that's my darling hubby).
Anyway, an hour into him being in agony I suggest he call for the ambulance (he is a paramedic after all). Of course he won't let me, and calls his Dad to drive him in. Thank goodness my in-laws live around the corner.

Anyway, long story short, he was this close to having surgery but things worked themselves out. Very scary situation, but he is home now and feeling so much better. Crazy man gets out of the hospital on a Saturday and returns to work on the Monday.

Beach life

Perhaps a future Olympian (except according to Miss A, it will only be in Soccer)

Off to the trailer again with the girls while my poor husband has to work on the long weekend. At least he will have some quiet nights at home with the dogs.

There is so much that has happened over the last week, very emotional for me. Which is saying a lot because my husband has lovingly nicknamed me Mr Data (if anyone who actually reads this blog hasn't clued in, my husband is a bit of a star trek fan). Oh, and if that doesn't make sense, basically he is calling me unemotional (in a loving way of course, cough cough).

I need some time to let some things soak in and the trailer is the perfect place for that.
Of course, we are going to miss a few days of Olympics, which almost made me want to stay home. I love the Olympics. GO CANADA GO!