I decided to change

the 'about me' section.  I don't want to talk about adoption right there and I decided to call myself a special mom for two reasons.  A) I technically have 5 special needs kids as determined in the adoption world (if all had been) and B) I'm special because of them.  I'm just a mom trying to get through life while working and doing everything I can for my kids and my husband...and of course, he reciprocates. 

Tonight we had a little intake visit for a state program to evaluate children's needs under 3.  I can't really say Jaemin's developmentally delayed, and really that's what it will take to get into the program, but he has some tendencies that are on the ASD side (Aspergers).  They're going to at least do intake and then they can watch him in case we have more needs as time goes on...at least until he ages out next year.  We know it could just be a quirk, but we need to try to figure it out.  We'll figure that out if and when we need it. 

Chelsi is still having her issues that require specialists, but we're trying some new things per one office and then we'll decide where to go next.

Cole has his cardiologist appointment tomorrow and, for the first time, it's with a new PC.  Ours has quit after our 13 years with him, so we'll see if we like this new guy we selected.  He has a good rep, so we'll try him out.

I'm also trying to research and find a way to safely get Cole and Jaemin an omega-3 supplement (I would love it to include DHA benefits).  I read that this could help Cole with what's left of his ADHD tendences and Jaemin's allergies.  His eczema has increased in the past couple of weeks.  We ruled out his food allergies that they can test for at this age and it's not helping as much as it seemed to in the beginning.  We also got him some lotion they wanted us to try and it doesn't seem to be helping either.  So, omega-3 is supposed to help with allergies sometimes, so I'd like to try it since it's a pretty healthy supplement.

We'll see what we can figure out.  I feel like that's all I do at night when the lights go down.  I just research and research all the health things I can for the kids.  There's too many and after awhile it does get confusing....at least when it gets late.

That don't impress me much

Sorry, just wanted to quote Shania Twain.  :)

http://financiallyfit.yahoo.com/finance/article-110102-5999-1-secrets-of-extreme-savers?ywaad=ad0035

This article is about some folks that were able and are able to save pretty well.  But, what I mean by "that don't impress me much" is that if you read about them they have pretty high paying careers and/or few kids.  The only thing that is impressive to me about this article is the fact that there still remain people in the US that value saving and don't live beyond their means or make a lot of money and spend every single dime and penny.

We would actually have a pretty good savings if we had stopped at our older two.  We were talking about that the other day.  What if we didn't have 13 years worth of daycare (sometimes x 2)?  What if we didn't have 3 adoptions to pay for?  Short answer we probably would have saved most of it.  I'm a saver by nature and love to see it grown.  Can we save anywhere what these people are saving?  Ah, that's a big fat nada.  The couple that has an income listed makes more than 3.5 more than we make between the two of us and then you add in that we're supporting 5 children, it's pretty easy to figure it out.

We still do well considering what we do make though.  We put everything into our account to pay ahead of time.  If there's a way to lower a bill I try to find it and we do it.  We can't pay for our house outright...which would be nice.  But, how many people on our income and family size have $150,000 in their pockets?

Back to looking back and if we had just stopped at the older two.  I wouldn't, in a million, trillion years trade having the money these other families have and their vacations for my last 3 kids.  No way, no how!  They're so much better than money.

One of the 'savers' was quoted, and a paraphrase, 'I won't ever have to want for anything'.  Well, the one thing we knew we could regret one day and never take or get back is having kids.  So happy with that decision!

To sleep and dream in 5 minutes

What a record!

Chelsi went to bed and within 5 minutes was in the hall crying a little.  Cole went to go check on her and she told him that she had had a bad dream.  She really didn't want to go to bed in the first place, so I guess she thought this would get her out of it.  She was really tired.  Swimming lessons is taking it out of her.

I think I may have already said that the kids chose to do one last round of swim lessons for the summer.  The big boys needed to build up their stamina, so we thought doing back to back since no one's playing ball might be a good idea.  I do think it's helping them.  I'm not sure if they're going to pass because it gets really hard at this level, though.  Kaelin will more than likely pass....at least I think so.  Chelsi will not.  She is already well aware though.  She is water up to her chin, but she gives it more than the tall kids.  She really tries hard and keeps on going no matter how much water she swallows and how many times she can't stop coughing after swallowing it all.

Put the remote DOWN!

I found out there is a rule by DishNetwork on VODs (Video on Demand).  Apparently, no matter how the video gets rented you pay.  No excuses.  Makes me wonder how many times people falsely call in and tell them a movie got rented. 

How did I find out this tidbit?

I had to call after scrolling through the guide and seeing "rented" next to a VOD.  I actually thought about renting one, my last freebie I had, and came across it.  So I called them because it wasn't playing or anything, so I wasn't sure if something had really been rented.  Well, they informed me this is the 2nd video we got this week.  Apparently, "Alice in Wonderland" had also been rented.  I remember Chelsi mentioning that movie, but I thought she was talking about the cartoon being on Disney.  Nope...she figured out how to rent it.  But what gets me is the 4 year old knows how to read, so she had to read that it was going to cost mommy $4.99.  AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN FINISH IT!  Jaemin (yes the 1 year old) hit enough buttons to manage to rent "The Bounty Hunter".  I cannot believe how long we've had satellite and never had this happen until now!  Luckily since VOD is all day we just made sure we watched it and got something out of these dang videos.

So, make sure to use the lock PPV!  I didn't even know that existed since we never do PPV.  And Dish, well they don't even slightly feel sorry for you.  Nothing.  Just a polite and sometimes not so polite "per our agreement" yada yada yada.  If there were a cable provider here I would switch in a second.  We get so little for $63/month and we need this just to see locals!

I was mad, but it's a tad funny now.  They're definitely the two that can give you a run for the money.

안녕히가세요

This is what my 4 yo said to me as I walked out of her room last night.  So proud of her.  A lady at a local Chinese restaurant, who was born in Korea, taught the girls how to say goodbye.  Chelsi asked me if Ok would know, so I told her to ask her.  And, of course, Ok obliged.  The girls and I always tell each other saranghaeyo (사랑해요) at bedtime.  Last night she said goodbye to me in perfect Korean.  

Slide!

Chelsi has been asking me to get another waterslide for a couple of years.  Last year we just didn't have time with baseball and Jaemin just coming home and the whole adjustment to that.  So, I finally got one the other night.  Last night after Cole got home from his birthday party we went out and put it on the hill.  We did stop when it finally got too muddy.  But, we'll probably go back out today and put it back down.  The kids really didn't get enough and Jaemin absolutely loved it!  Water is one of his favorites.  He's going to totally love that the big kids are going back to swimming lessons for the rest of the summer which means him and mommy can splash in the baby pool.

We couldn't keep Jaemin off the slide, so even if he looks terrified in these pictures he was having an absolute blast!  He laughed and squealed so much.  I sprayed them with the water hose after we picked up and Cole taught him to tell me to spray him, so he would yell "spray" at me.  :)  He's really starting to talk a lot. As a side subject he finally put together a real sentence and it was in the middle of my great aunt's funeral in church.  He yelled "I want book!".  :)

One of my favorites with all 3 of my boys.

This is Kaelin, but you can't really see her in the water.  :)

Tired kids and it's only the 2nd day

of the 3 day weekend.

Of course, we had the game Friday night.  We got home so late we all kind of laid around and didn't do too much yesterday.  But, we had promised Miss Chelsi, since last year, that we would go to the parade again.  So we all went to the parade and then Walmart for groceries and my flag supplies.  By the time we got home we had a message for an invite to go watch fireworks.  So, we got my new flag hung up and we were off again.

It was nice just to sit back and watch them and sit with friends.  The kids just ran around an played with each other and the little ones sang and danced while C played guitar.  It's so relaxing to just sit by a fire and do nothing, but chit chat and have fun.

The kids have played outside with the dog all day today and are tired already, so it was time to come in.  We had to give the house a good cleaning since we'd been running for the past two weeks with swim lessons and I worked up a major sweat trying to clean and wash all the sheets in the house.  I haven't done glass yet, but will be tonight or tomorrow....yeah!  Got our zucchini bread in the oven that Chelsi and I made though, so we're going to have some yummy burgers, steaks and zucchini bread tonight.  Really wished I would have bought the strawberries and ice cream last night for shakes.  I totally wasn't thinking clear.  Missed my ingredients for chapjae too.  I was going to make that tomorrow.

Here are pics of my flag and the 3 little kiddos at the parade.

Chelsi and her best friend Miss A watching the parade together.