Reunited and fitting the puzzle pieces together

Sammy is back home and the world feels right again. :) I missed him terribly, but I LOVE that he had such a good time with his grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins. Elijah had a great week at heart camp. He had fun again this year and was able to tell me way more about what he saw and did throughout each day than the past two years. I got to hear all about the owls and chickens and songs and kids. He told jokes again for the talent show, but this year needed my help. I went up on stage with him and helped him through the jokes. Once he saw that people were LOVING him, he was able to tell a few on his own. :) He won the award of "Mastermind" for the week since he pondered so much and thought through every situation.

Elijah since has had a stellar dental visit (no cavities!) and we said good-bye to my parents as they traveled back to North Carolina. Sammy has had a MUCH better attitude since coming back home from northern Minnesota. Everyone there must have been an excellent influence on him! In the past few days I have occasionally looked at him and said, "PLEASE just let your brother do...X.." and he has looked at me as if to say, "Ok, Mom." and he has just chilled a bit. It has helped to alleviate some arguments/disagreements.

Today we found out who the boys' teachers will be this coming school year. I literally cried happy tears while standing at the mailbox when I opened Sammy's envelope. He has Mrs. H! She was one of E's kindergarten teachers and she is incredible. We love her! Once my happy tears hit the ground, I let out an excited scream that I'm certain echoed through the neighborhood. I'm not familiar with Elijah's teacher, but I learned from a trusted source that she is awesome. YAY all around!

I said something to Dan the other day regarding Elijah's struggles, which sparked a visual for me. After the second night in a row of cleaning sheets in the very early morning hours which resulted in NO sleep for any of us from 4:00 on, I just KNEW the main culprit was SUGAR. When E consumes too much sugar, he has huge accidents. Huge accidents occur in the wee hours of the morning for him. When he is awakened in the wee hours of the morning, he does not go back to sleep. When he does not go back to sleep, he is tired and anxious (as are the rest of us). When he is tired and anxious, things are difficult...for him and for his family. When this scenario happens for days in a row, everything is magnified and CRAZY.

As I said all of this to Dan, he said to me, "Elijah is a puzzle! It's not just one or two things that need to happen. A handful of things need to occur in order for him to function properly." Since hearing this, I've been visualizing a six-piece puzzle. If one piece is missing, we can still work. If two pieces are missing, things start to get tough. If three pieces are missing, we all struggle. The pieces? Medication, sleep, sugar intake/diet, proper potty direction (day and night), stimulation (NOT over-doing it) and anxiety management. When and if all of these factors can align favorably, we will all be feeling good!

Heading to bed now! Thanks for reading! More again soon...

Putting out fires

Dan and I burned our dinner to a crisp this evening. We put salmon on the grill, Dan ran out to the store quick and I got dinner ready for the boys. A few minutes later somebody was furiously pounding on our door. I turned around to see flames flying out the back of our grill. Yikes! The kind lady potentially saved our home from burning down, although I wasn't super impressed with the lecture. We've had this grill for a long time, so we are blaming its old age for the random fire. The flames were stretching so far that they warped our siding. Sigh. 

Aside from that, we have had a great past week! Elijah is sleeping later in the mornings, which is so super awesome. His behavior at home has not improved by a whole lot, so we are hoping a slight med dosage increase will help with this. Behavior at school has been mostly great. Today was a "so-so" day, which I'll happily take.

The little boys and I took our second trip to the library tonight. Sammy was VERY upset about having to say good-bye to his library book. He does not like change. He came around, though, and picked out a fun new book about the different seasons. Elijah went the fiction route this week and picked out a silly book that we are looking forward to reading at bedtime tonight.

I wanted to share this photo of Elijah with his kindergarten teacher's sweet, adorable little girl. It was my privilege to take her 1-year photos a couple weeks ago. We love Mrs. B so very much and miss having her as his teacher this year. She will always have a very special place in our hearts. I prayed for her since Elijah was a tiny baby, and I remember meeting her for the first time and just KNOWING she was meant to be E's teacher. We love her and we love her beautiful little girl! Elijah was my photo assistant for this session and did a great job!

I had a work opportunity come up for the next 10ish days, so I'll be super busy with that. Dan will be manning the crazy Porta fort for a while. Thanks for checking in! Have a great week!