Overdue update, but no pics tonight

WOW, so much has gone on since my last update. The girls are doing fantastic and they are keeping me busy with all of their activities.

Emily:
Emily is just an amazing big sister. She is caring, protective, and patient with Madison. She loves to take her under her wing and "teach" her different things. She participated in our district wide Science fair again this year and her experiment was to compare the evaporation of liquid when placed under different wattage light bulbs. She is quite the scientist and enjoyed coming up with the hypothesis, procedure and conclusion. She is doing fantastic in school, which is no surprise. She has matured so much in the last several months and I love just being with her. On March 23rd, we celebrated 9 years of being a family. She made my dreams come true the day she was placed in my arms and she is everything I could have asked for (and more) in a little girl. We celebrated by going to the circus!! It was a lot of fun and the first time for Madi.

Alyssa:
The tooth fairy has earned a lot of travel time during the past couple of months with this little lady. She lost her bottom two teeth and her top two teeth and she is just adorable with that toothless grin of hers. She turned 7 years old on March 17th. WOW. SEVEN. How could that be? My brave girl, still quiet and shy, has overcome so many obstacles in her life. She has grown into a healthy and loving little girl who has a best friend, loves fiercely, and is the best sister and daughter anyone could ask for. She has eased into her role as the "medium" sister as she calls herself. She has handled herself well with all of the adjustments she has had to make since Madi joined our family. She excels in school, LOVES being a Daisy in Girl Scouts and is beside herself with joy that the soccer season started this week!!

Madison:
This little fire cracker continues to keep us all hopping. She continues to adjust. She is settling in bit by bit. Still quite active and "into" everything, like a toddler experiencing the world for the first time. This has nothing to do with development, rather a real lack of exposure and experience. She is a happy girl with a bit of a stubborn streak. She is learning the rules of school. Let's just say some days are better than others. She has a full time aide in kindergarten as well as OT and PT. The school has been amazing with making accommodations for her to be successful and her teachers (classroom and esl) are simply amazing. We meet in June to plan for next year, but I suspect that we will just repeat what we did this year...repeating kindergarten with her aide and OT and PT. She needs to develop more English, learn more phonics for reading, and higher level math skills. I would rather her get a strong foundation by repeating kindergarten now rather than struggling to keep up with a 1st grade curriculum that she is not prepared for.

She got AFOs a couple of weeks ago. They are braces that support her from the tips of her toes up to just below her knees. She walks really well with them and she loves them!! She is scheduled for her first round of Botox (which is used for children with cerebral palsy to decrease spasticity) on April 18th. I am very nervous but have been assured she is an excellent candidate for it and it has a high success rate for kids with her type of CP.

I continue to be HAPPY and EXHAUSTED. Some days I wish I had a clone. Some days I am not as patient as I would like to be. Some days I feel like I just can't keep up. EVERY day, I thank God for my three amazing girls. They complete me!! Along with my amazing support system (Mom and Uncle Tommy) as well as my BFFs and trusted MNO posse.

I promise to post some pictures this weekend. They are on all different cameras, including my cell. I need to upload them all in one place!!

Love to you all!!! Happy Spring!!