6 year old girl!

January 7th was Tia's 6th birthday...

I made her a big bow to wear to school,

she liked it because it "crinkles" We had a party for her in the evening, she pretty much screamed throughout the entire event.

It is a good thing that she is (ordinarily) so cute and lovable! Oh No!! Birthday Party!!

(turning 6 is apparently very stressful :)

Oh No!! Not CAKE!!! :)We finally gave Tia a bath, put her to bed

then let the other kids open her gifts. They were more than happy to help :0)

Snow!

The front yard The pile from just half of the driveway! You can see the dark line at the bottom of the snow... that would be the lawn. It's under there somewhere. The snow has been insane! We got about 1 1/2 - 2 feet in 2 or 3 days. I have shoveled more snow than I ever thought possible. I have to keep the whole street in front of our house clear for Tia's bus (so the wheelchair lift can come down). It has been crazy!

Hailey's Sealing

Hailey sleeping on Claire's lap... so cute!

Trying to get everyone to stay still for a picture is very difficult! OK, I was checking my blog for the first time in forever and noticed that for some reason I skipped over Hailey's sealing day. It's official, I have lost my mind... Hailey was sealed to us in the Provo Temple on November 15, 2008. We had her blessing at the church then a lunch afterward. It was a sweet and special day (except for the fact that I was sick as a dog with strep throat). For those of you that wondered where I was most of the luncheon, Tia HATES the church building, we have no idea why. Our friend Thomas was playing the piano for her in the Relief Society room and she stayed happy for a very long time. Hailey then fell asleep in Claire's arms (so sweet!). So, I just kind of parked myself there with Tia and Hailey. (I really felt like crudola from the strep). We are very relieved that Hailey's adoption and sealing are finally done, it took forever. It was a wonderful experience, having all of our children there in the Temple with us, I had a great feeling that my sweet mom was there with us also. (oh crap, I'm crying again!). The feeling and the knowledge that families are eternal and that our loved ones that are no longer on this earth are not as far away from us as it feels. That feeling is such a comfort to me. It was really cool for us to have Andrew standing in the circle as Cody gave Hailey her blessing. This event was bittersweet, knowing that Hailey is our last child. It is a weird, yet comfortable, feeling.

Zachary the Vampire

Zach performed in his class opera on Thursday (Nov. 20th). It was written by the class and so funny! The ghosts, werewolves, bats, witches and vampires are trying to combine their efforts to have a scary party. The highlight of the evening (for me anyway) was when Zach noticed that the little girl next to him was "hiding" (because Zach is so tall). He very tenderly placed his hand on her back and encouraged her in front of him so that her Mommy could see her too. He did it again at the end of the play when a little boy that is disabled was stuck behind the line of kids and is not bold enough to push his way through. Zachy looked around, noticed this little guy and very sweetly helped him up to the front. It was so cute, I love this boy!! He does these things without even thinking about it, it is just his innate personality. Zach has the sweetest, most tender heart!

Miss T

Tia is teasing Andrew when he is trying to kiss her cheek... so cute! Mother's Day 2008 What a sweet face!!!

Tia was eating carrots. When she eats anything it's a big deal, we get the camera. "Eskimo Kisses"

~Tia says Hi!~

I get a lot of inquiries from people about our little "Miss T". Tia was born at 24 weeks weighing 1 lb. 4 oz. She was in the NICU for 8 months to stabilize her before they could send her home. She did go home with her birth parents but was removed from them by the police and child protective services when they stopped taking her to her medical appointments and wouldn't let DCFS in to check on her. When the did get into the home (forcibly) they found that her birth parents were not giving her medication or feeding her properly. She was removed from the home and placed in the hospital for dehydration and failure to thrive. Tia was placed in a specialized medical foster home where she lived until we adopted her 2 years ago. At the time of her removal, her birth mom was already pregnant with Krista (Krista was born at 31 weeks, declared in "imminent danger" and placed in the same foster home as Tia when she was discharged from the hospital at 2 months old). Due to her extreme prematurity, both of Tia's retina's detached so she is completely blind. She also had a severe brain hemorrhage and has been diagnosed as "profoundly mentally retarded (meaning her IQ is less than 40, the jury is still out on that as far as we are concerned). Tia does not eat orally at all, we feed her with a tube that is inserted into her stomach, she "eats" Pediasure. Tia also has Cerebral Palsy so right now, does not walk independently. She will walk if we hold her hands but she makes us do all of the work :). The CP also affects the muscles in her face/mouth which is what makes eating rough. She doesn't have a whole lot of control over her mouth so the slobber flows freely :) The greatest thing about Tia is.... everything!!! She is the sweetest spirit ever born, she has a giggle that is so contagious that we have neighbor kids come over just to try to make Tia laugh so they can hear it. She knows each one of our voices, and can tell who is coming just by the way we walk into the room. "T" loves to listen to music and can be found frequently wearing her winter hat that holds the head phones for her MP3 player in place. We feel so honored to have been chosen to be the family for this angel girl, words cannot begin to express how much we adore her.

Tia the Turkey

Hailey and I went to Tia's Thanksgiving program at school yesterday. I dressed Tia in the famous turkey dress that my sister in law passed down to us. It was perfect because Tia played the part of the turkey! Her teacher read a story and whenever she said the word "turkey" Tia's aide held a communication switch for Tia to push that said "Gobble, Gobble, Gobble". It was so cute! Tia laughed every time she got to gobble. After the program we had a "dinner"; turkey, stuffing and everything. You gotta love a school program that includes a full thanksgiving feast at 11:30 on a Wed. :0)

We spent a couple of hours hanging out in Tia's classroom afterward. There are some very disabled kids in her class that are medically fragile. Hailey was so cute, she stood next to one little girl and talked to her and rubbed her leg, it was so sweet! You would think that a 2 year old would either be scared of the medical equipment or pull on the ventilator tube or something. Hailey spent quite a while with this little girl and got great pleasure in the fact that she would smile when Hailey talked to her, absolutely priceless. I was so engrossed in watching the interaction that I didn't think to take a picture. I did get pictures of Tia the Turkey! It was a very fun day.