We are clearly outnumbered

Yes, we are certainly outnumbered here by our kiddos. But so far, I don't think they realize they could take advantage of it. Wednesday we had our post-adoption assessment appointments at Cincinnati Children's Hospital for all three of our new additions. Since each appointment is about 3-4 hours, and we had staggered appointment we knew the ratio of adults to children meant we didn't have enough to shuffle kids around. So we invited Grandma Jean to go with us. That was a huge help as each child saw the occupational therapist, the nurse for shots/TB test, had bloodwork drawn and had the medical evaluation done by Dr. Staat. Our first appointment was at 7:45 and with it being a 5 hour drive for us, we decided to drive down the night before - good idea, and we had good intentions of leaving at a decent time but Andrew decided to throw a little wrench into things.

Our poor little guy fell at school and busted open his chin. So on top of everything else, we squeezed in a trip to the emergency room. Thought he needed stitches but luckily it wasn't as deep as they thought so they were able to glue it. Yay for Andrew as he was panicked about them having to sew him back together. He was a trooper and never shed a tear. We had asked Grandma Ruth to come stay with Andrew while we headed to Cincinnati. I guess Andrew was feeling left out of all the doctor stuff and needed to add to our excitement for the day. Made for a late start to Cincinnati but we're flexible, right?

The boys handled being in the car seats for that long trip pretty well. Only a few times Ethan was screaming. Mainly when he was sleeping and wanted to roll over. Darn those car seats that just don't accommodate his sleeping routine :)

The day was long. Started at 7:45, and we left the hospital just before 4:00. Ella also saw a genetic team of doctors to make sure there is nothing causing her short stature that we need to be worried about. That involved a few more blood tests and a bone age test which added to our day.

Everyone did great, and Dr. Staat was very pleased with everyone's progress so far. We'll schedule to meet with their cranial/facial team in about a month for William to start the process for his cleft palate repair. And we'll schedule at the same time for Ethan to meet with their neurosurgeon to see if he may need an additional surgery for the cyst on his forehead. All in all- great appointments but long day.

I guess I was feeling more confident about being outnumbered as I ventured to the grocery store - just me and 4 kiddos. I'm sure we were quite the site - 1 mama, 2 carts with a baby in each and two more kids pushing the carts. If I wasn't so busy directing cart traffic, I would have snapped a picture of our crew.
And another milestone - Ella had her first day of school. She was so nervous - made herself sick on the drive to school. But she still wanted to go, and seemed to take on anything we threw at her. She gave me a big thumbs up when she came home and was very excited to show me her papers and get her homework done. So I would say a huge success so far. I think the kids in her class did a great job making her feel welcome. Great job Ella!

Now if we can just get the boys on a more synchronized nap schedule so I can have some mama time, I will be a happier person. Oh well, can't have it all, huh?