made it through another day

we were doing well but the boys are backtracking a bit. the girls are mostly delightful and funny. they dont bite. they dont shriek and scream when they dont get their way. they can follow directions. they can wait. the boys? yeah not so much! Andre is everywhere into everything. Andre does not like being removed from where he is to spend time in his room for biting or hurting. Jaeger howls and cries when he gets natural consequences or if I turn off the tv. Tonight both boys were in bed FIRST before anyone else. Andre was so ticked he threw all his bedding off the top bunk. I didnt bother to pick it up. they keep going in the road. they KNOW they dont belong in the road, Ethan knows this as well as he has been in this house about 6 years, but when I look out there what do I find? boys in the road. bikes in the road. boys on bikes in the road. GRRRR.

Natasha is really understanding english a lot it seems. she speaks what she can but understands loads more than she speaks. Diana usually says about three words, please please mama???? when she wants something. Jaeger doesnt speak hardley any english. I dont think he even understands most the time. Andre understands and is gaining a lot of words quickly. Trying to communicate with him is funny because he makes these faces and does this crazy sign language because talking is hard for him. we always end up laughing when he starts his sign language. Really should get some signing time for him. bet it would help him communicate.

Tomorrow all 4 have a doctor appt in the cities. that is going to be a long day of driving. I guess there isnt too much else going on at casa de enberg. just waiting for school to start!

took natasha diana and jaeger to target today. got them new shoes and lunchboxes. not sure they understand about the lunchboxes but shoes they get and were happy. diana begs me to buy her anything and everything. but she doesnt pout or cry when I say no. The ONLY difficulties I encountered while out with the kids was the STORE'S problems, not at all the kids. they did great. and I found tennis shoes for 7.99. Andre, Ethan, Ben, Jaeger, Natasha, and Diana have shoes now. Maia has her dancerella shoes I bought for Jen's wedding. so maybe at some point a pair for her but otherwise we are about done with shoes and school supply shopping. as long as I can keep them from getting into it all!!

progress happens over time

Andre didnt bite anyone today. Jaeger spent plenty of whiny crying time but I dont think as much as yesterday. they willingly spent some time outside today. I sent them out for 15 minutes and they came back in an hour later. Natasha eats everything and loves it. Diana didnt want to drink her milk but after much coaxing did. and the three girls are camping out in the big bed tonight and Chrysta is banished to the bunks. will see how that goes. I expected someone to come up complaining by now....they are so cute. full of love and affection and thankful for anything and everything. Jaeger took some money and put it in his back pack so I had to try and talk to him about that. he pushes codys buttons a lot so if he goes downstairs and Cody sends him back up I dont let him go down there anymore. of course he cries and whines for not getting his way.

Ethan had a lousy day. loads of lying. destroyed what was left of the trampoline even AFTER I told him to stop it. I found out he stole money from me. not much but he is like a little klepto always taking things. and after some of the things that happened this week.....he is not doing so well. I looked back at my old journal after he came home and 6 months AFTER he came home he still cried all the livelong day. so you can see he has had some issues since he joined our family. it seems things are getting a bit harder of late. I tried to get him in to his adhd doc and he cant get in until a month from now!

one of the boys wet the bed last night. more laundry. this was a surprise as this child doesnt have a history of wetting AND went to the bathroom 50 times before going to sleep and didnt go to sleep until 1030 or later. It is much cooler today and I am making the kids (unwillingly) play OUTSIDE. they have been out nearly an HOUR and its killing them. Jaeger especially keeps wanting to come in and do other things. kids need SUNSHINE. and its a gorgous day!

I took them to the beach last night. Jaeger tried to drown Andre. Not on purpose but I could see what was coming and he didnt LISTEN to me to stop so he had to take some time out on shore to think about what happened. he is like an almost 9 year old BABY. crying wahhh wahhh I want to go to groupoo. he has no idea that by this time if he wasnt with us he would be at boarding school NOT groupoo. NOT mama Luda. I just let him whine and ignored it. He stopped saying groupoo and started saying sorry. I said I knew he was sorry, but that he would have to finish his time (5 minutes)because he didnt listen and his not listening nearly drown Andre.

Andre is coming around and Jaeger is getting a bit better. I can see progress being made. baby steps baby steps. Things like Andre drinking his milk. and taking his meds. Jaeger walking nice all the way home from the beach helping me push the stroller.

the kids wanted a picnic today so I made them sandwiches and chips and put them outside to have a picnic. they are loving it. A sandwich DOES taste better outside! except Andre ate the bologna and cheese in about one bite and wanted to ditch the bread. Mean mama said no chips if you dont eat the bread. he is ticked. the other kids wanted his bread. I nearly gave it away, but he decided last minute to eat the bread.

another day another....day

Andre wakes screaming at night. he cant go longer than 3 hours without peeing. starts his day at 7. ugh. he has already been in the road more than once. Cameo and her fam was coming by with horses so we all went out to see the horses. he was pretty interested in that. Jaeger sat at the table and wrote words practicing his hand writing. he writes very nicely. I dont think he had a clue WHAT he wrote but he did write and enjoy it. The girls all three got showers this morning. Sophie is playing piano, she is the biggest love. everything is lovely to her.

Someone came by the other night to tell us our dogs bark every day at 8am. I have been listening hypervigilant like and our dogs dont bark nonstop. sure they bark now and then. what dog doesnt? I hear other dogs bark. and he also says our dogs bark at night. our dogs are not OUT at night unless they are on the leash with us at the other end. they are IN full time by 7 at night. so any dogs barking at night are NOT OURS. so we cant let the dogs run because people complain. we cant tie them up because people complain. we cant put them out because people complain, we cant bring them in because people complain. what the heck are we supposed to do? we cant do ANYTHING in this town!

Jaeger is downstairs crying because he cant go in the girls room. but he keeps getting into things that dont belong to him. The girls who live in that room arent having a problem keeping their hands off Chrysta's stuff. Jaeger cant seem to do that. Andre either. everything is here for them, all is theirs to do with as they please, at least thats how they see it.

I made laundry soap yesterday and cant wait to try it out!

the little klepto is at it again

a certain member of my family steals everything he can get his hands on. I am at my wits end what to do with him.

now that I am the mother of ten my schedule is filling up with doctor appts and dentist appts and various other things. Chrysta is running cross country and cheering and needs oral surgery. 4 new kids need to see the dentist(and will definitely have subsequent appts there) they also need to go to the doctor as well as the specialist for their special needs. Ethan and Jaeger need to see the eye doctor and have an appt in Duluth. Sophie and Ben have an appt in Philly with the specialist for their condition. School starts Sept 7. I would be lost without My handy dandy date book.

Mom did all the laundry so I need to get some laundry soap cooking so I can keep up with the new expanded amount of laundry around here. I spent about a hundred dollars more than usual when I shopped but I cant figure out what I did differently. I didnt buy all prepackaged foods. I bought the same things I always buy and even some in generic. I didnt think I was buying THAT much more food to make enough for everyone. I had a cart full as usual for two weeks(with menu). I did buy two cans of soup that were teh big big GIANT kind but everything else came from the regular sized section.

So far today the kids have played in the water that was left by the rain. showered had a picnic and andre chased cars. seriously he chased a car! he is so wild. I dont know what to do with him. I didnt let him out again. he keeps wanting to go out and says no street but he is into everything around here I dont think I can believe that he will stay out of the street when he sees something interesting. The girls are happily playing together downstairs. Ethan is stuck by my side because he keeps stealing things. Jaeger and Andre and Ben are playing downstairs and come up now and then for one reason or another.

Having ten kids is infinitely more work than the 6 I had before! they constantly want to eat! like the minute they finish a meal they want another. I have begun making them wait. they do not need to eat ALL DAY LONG. well sophie is napping and Diana is downstairs screaming so I guess there goes the nap. AGAIN. god I can hardly wait until they can understand english!

We've expanded!

we are no longer a family of 8! we are excited that Natasha Jordan, Diana Claire, Andre Jonathon, and Jaeger Vasyliy joined our family! all is going well. they are already blossoming! the biggest challenge I have thus far is how to cook for this many people! now we have 3 8 year olds a 7 year old and 3 6 year olds and a 4 year old as well as the 13 and 15 year olds. The two oldest are off in the world.

I need to learn to make laundry soap now that my mom found me a large pot to cook it in. I didnt want to use my good cooking pots for laundry soap. the amount of laundry we have is incredible so making my own laundry detergent will be be a good way to save money AND never have to worry that I am out of soap and cant buy the right kind in our small town. Weds is traditionally pizza night. This will be our first pizza night with the new kids. we used to make about 4 pizzas. how many do you think it will take to feed 10 kids?

I need to try to get back to this blog. It has been sorely neglected while I blogged about adoption. but alas that is what we were alla bout for awhile there. We are ready to take break from adoption. maybe a permanent break. My husband thinks so. with 10 kids it would be difficult to adopt again internationally. and we arent really interested in a new baby and dont want to deal with SS to adopt. so it is unlikely we will adopt again. but I make it a policy to never say never!

the new kids are thrilled with so many simple things. it is fun watching them blossom and grow and find their own styles and thoughts and likes and dislikes.