Life Goes On

How can a person feel busy all of the time yet never get much done? Is that typical motherhood?

Our summer was full of doctor's appointments for Rocio trying to get her ready for the cochlear implant surgery. She's had audiologist visits, speech therapy, genetecists, MRI - which showed and underdeveloped pituitary and missing posterior pituitary, leading us to a battery of tests with an endocrinologist. They still don't know why she's deaf, but we know now why she drinks and pees constantly. Because she is missing the post. pit. she is not producing a hormone that helps her retain water in her body (diabetes insipidus), hence peeing a LOT, becoming dehydrated and wanting to drink A LOT. They have started her on hormone therapy to help. She will eventually probably need growth hormone and several other hormones throughout her life. We were hoping to have her surgery in October or November, but our insurance isn't on board yet, so it will probably be closer to November.

Maria will turn three this month. Although she seems like she's turning 6. She is such a little mother. Whenever Ariana does something that Maria views as wrong, she will tell Ari, "Never, never, never" or "Malo, malo, malo" which both have become Ariana's favorite phrases (although she pronounces it "neber, neber"). I've used those phrases ONCE with Maria when she plugged in the clothes iron and started ironing the carpet. I didn't notice until I started smelling smoke. But apparently the phrases stuck with her. I'm glad I didn't say anything stronger.

I went to Ethiopia last month for two weeks and it ended up being really hard on Maria. I guess she felt like she had to take on my role to play referee between Ariana and Chio. She started yelling, hitting, whining, peeing the bed. We are still trying to work through the fall out it created. I was going to try to go back soon (I am helping reorganize a clinic there), but I've decided the price is too high to pay right now. I think my kids are still a little too insecure and too young to understand.

Ariana's vocabulary has exploded recently. She'll pretty much repeat anything Maria says and she calles Chio - Glio, Maria - Mari, Hot - Cali, Nose - Nari, Dora - Dori. Almost everythings seems to end in an "i". She asks for the potty all the time but just plays once she gets there, but I guess it is a start.

They are all a joy. My house is always a disaster. That's life now I guess.

P.S. Morrell Family Updates: Cherish and Kelly will be leaving in two weeks for Ethiopia to pick up their SEVEN new children, along with my Dad and Jana to get their THREE adopted pre-teens. Amy and Travis got remarried on Saturday. Heidi and Mark will be moving to Ethiopia soon. Lots of big changes!!

Cherish meeting her kids for the first time in Ethiopia last month.

My Dad with 5 of the 10 new Morrell additions

What Do Other People Do With Their Kids?

Last month Isaac and I were invited to speak in sacrament meeting. Isaac's brothers were here visiting from Panama and the night before our talks was their last night in Utah. We hosted a little family party here until about one a.m. and put all of the girls on temporary beds in our room since we had a lot of visitors spending the night here. None of them slept well, which ment Isaac and I didn't either. I decided at 2am to write all of my talk down incase I was brain dead for lack of sleep in the morning. At 5 am Isaac got up to take his brother's to the airport and when he got back, all of the girls woke up, so we started getting ready for church extra early.

I knew it would be hard to maintain all three girls reverent while the other was speaking, so I packed the diaper bag with everything I could think of to keep them occupied. Tons of books, toys, sippy cups and treats. I even packed individual cookie and chip bags for each one since they usually fight over who gets to hold it.

As the sacrament was ending, I got out all of the treats and books and passed them out, then tried to sneak up to the podium. Ariana freaked out right of the bat. She started screaming and tried to run after me, so Isaac carried her out into the hall. Of course that made Maria and Rocio cry because now they were alone in the bench. I hadn't even said good morning yet.

There was a wonderful sister behind our pew that moved up to sit with the girls, but because they didn't know her, it didn't really calm them down. I had started my talk, praying they would be okay with the situation, but their cries were just escalating. I probably could have ignored it and kept going, but everyone in the congregation was looking at the girls, so if there was anything inspired in my talk, it was falling on deaf ears. So I stopped the talk and asked the sister to let them come up to the front with me, they usually play very quietly and I figured they would be calmer once they felt a little more secure. I couldn't remember the sister's name though, and she was totally absorbed with the girls, so I was trying to get her attention from the microphone, until I finally asked someone else to tap her and ask her to let the girls come up to me.

Rocio came running up with a big smile and relief all over her face. Maria started up the stairs then turned around to go get her cookies. I continued with my talk. Then Maria and Rocio started fighting behind me over the cookie bag. I decided I would just ignore it and keep going. I saw the bishop trying to referee. The sister that had been sitting with them in the pew came up on the stand and tried to help them share. And then Maria just started yelling, which is so uncharacteristic for her, and I couldn't ignore it anymore. I turned and took the cookie bag, which if I would have been thinking clearly I would have just asked Maria to go down to the diaper bag and get another bag of cookies, which I'm sure she would have done and the problem would be solved. Of course when I took the cookies and told them they needed to sit quietly, they both had meltdowns, so I asked the sister to take them out of the room. She tried to take them both but they were kicking and screaming, so she waived her daughter up to get one, while she took the other one. I've been on the stand about 5 minutes by this point. I was so mortified, but I guess it was a good introduction to the whole family.

I was able to finish my talk in peace, SOOO thankful that I had written it all down, I was pretty scatterbrained after the war over the cookies. I felt like I ended well, and even saw a few weepy people. The funny thing is that my talk was on Faith and Perseverence and the bishop said it would be appropriate to share our personal experiences about our trials, the biggest of which of course was the infertility and adoption experiences. So it was kind of funny at the end saying what a blessing my children were as I was still flushed from embarrassment.

This was the first time Isaac had spoken in sacrament in an English ward, so I wanted to hear it, but I ended up staying with the kids in the nursery room while he spoke. At one point I snuck across the hall and stood in the back of the Gym to listen to him, and suddenly Ariana runs in the chapel door screaming down the aisle towards him. I had to dash through the gym, with my heels clicking the whole way, to grab her before she went up the stairs. I took her back to the nursery and stayed there the rest of the time.

Several people approached me aftewards and said that Isaac did great and our girls are adorable and not to worry about the "scene". Most people said it was either endearing or brought back memories of their own sacrament talk horror stories. I guess it could have been worse, at least none of them started banging on the piano.

Family Picture

After about 150 shots, this is our finalist. We didn't have one, out of all of those, where all three girls were looking forward and/or smiling. Next time we'll pay for someone who has photoshop.

Lake Powell yay!

All of the girls would actually ride on the tube behind the boat with us. They all loved it at first, Maria decided she didn't like it after she saw mom and dad each get dumped (she was in the boat). Rocio actually fell once too. She cried for a while but then got right back on the next time we went out on it. She loved it. She's a good sport. She also spent as much time on the waverunners as possible, with anyone who was willing to take her.

We spent a week in Lake Powell with the Morrell Fam. On our fullest night, we had 26 people on the boat, not including some extended family that were there for dinner and games but didn't stay the night. Half of the number were kids, so it wasn't as relaxing as it used to be. As my sister put it, "vacation for a mom is just a lot more work in a different environment". And that it was. Especially with that much water and that many water loving kids. But we had a great time and are looking forward for the next one. Thanks Grampa and Grama Morrell!

"La Chio"

Rocio, my eldest, after undergoing several tests at Primary Children's Hospital has been pronounced "profoundly deaf in both ears". This news didn't really come as a surprise, just a confirmation of what we already suspected. Although we thought some sounds were getting through, it seems that is not really the case, she is just very smart and adaptive. We are working on Signing Time videos, which all of the kids enjoy and it helps our communcation with Chio so much better. She loves being able to communicate her needs. It also helps a ton with Ariana, instead of her screaming at me for everything she wants, I have her make the sign instead, it is working out great. Maria is quickly becoming tri-lingual. She asks for just about everything in English, Spanish and sign all at once. Candy mom, pastilla (and a finger in her dimple, which is the sign for candy). That is the favorite sign for all three of them, of course.

We are hoping for Cochlear implants for Rocio. So far, she seems to be a good candidate. She had an MRI done at PC on Thursday to make sure she has all of the appropriate ear anatomy, we are still waiting to talk to an audiologist about those results. Hopefully within the next 6 months she can have the surgery, I have heard great things about the implants and there is a good chance she will be able to "hear" and speak normally. If not, well, we are okay with being a tri-lingual family.

New Haircut

Is the fact that my hair gets shorter everytime I cut it indicative that I am getting older? Oh well, I like it (the haircut, not getting older).

WE'RE HOME!! - KINDA

They all LOVE the piano

Temple Square Eva, Maria, Rocio, Ariana

La manzana de Templo

Ari insists on feeding herself these days

Easter dresses, Ari was still in Panama

Bath time at our house in Panama

Bath time at Grandpa and Grandma's house

As many of you already know, we're back! We were finally able to get the necesary paperwork for Ariana to be able to leave Panama. The timing was perfect because the visa that Maria and Rocio had from Ecuador only gave them 30 days to enter the states. I came ahead with them and Isaac and Ariana followed us 2 weeks later. It is such a relief, although bitter-sweet, to close that chapter of our lives. We miss our friends and family from Panama, but thankfully through skype, IM and video-conferencing, we can keep in touch.

We are not in our own home yet, we still have renters there, but we should be able to move back in by mid-June. In the meantime, we have been living at Grandma's house, Cherish's house and my Dad's house in Logan. We stay somewhere for a week or so, then rotate. It's so nice of them to let us invade their spaces, but it will be great when we can have a little more stability for the girls.

All of the girls are thriving. They love having so much interaction with their cousins and other family members. Maria is very quickly becoming bilingual. Alot of her sentences are now a spanglish mix, "donde estan mis shoes, hot afuera, eso es mine", etc. The funny thing is, she has so much interaction with her 2 year old cousin Eva that Eva responds to spanish now too. All of Cherish kids are learning lots of spanish with my girls.

Rocio is eating great! She is like a totally different kid than we picked up back in January. She actually really LIKES to eat now, as long as it is fruit, pasta or drenched in ranch. She actually ate a TON of spinach the other day totally bathed in Ranch dressing. Whatever works and gets the calories in (she had alot of nutritional issues when we first got her). She is also a lot more social than before. She used to have issues with anyone her age, other than Maria, getting near her, touching her or playing in the same area. Now she takes it all in stride. The only person she really has issues with now is Ariana. We are still working on that one.

Ariana is doing great. She is very social, loves playing with her cousins and sisters and is starting to talk a bit. She loves to bug Rocio, I don't think she understands that Rocio hates it, I think she just knows she gets a big reaction out of her, so she does it all the time. She doesnt bug anyone else that persistently. She is a delight, as always, though.

Overall, we are happy, healthy and home!!