Keeping things "normal"???

Since coming home in November with Sadie, we were inpatient in December, January, February, March...not April or May...back in June and July.  Each stay was a minimum of 2 nights, but most were 3-7 nights.

We have the most AMAZING (truly) team of doctors involved in her care.  When Sadie came home, she had one diagnosis of Hydrocephalus.

The diagnosis she now has is;

Hydrocephalus
Epilepsy
Dysphagia
Legally Blind (she has cortical blindness and with stimulation and therapy, can regain sight and we have seen this)
Sensory Hearing Loss (for which she sports very cool purple sparkly hearing aids)
Cerebral Palsy
Global Developmental Delays
Endochondral Ossification  (I will save you time of asking...because of how malnourished she was and how fast she was now growing...her body thought it was time to go into "puberty".  True story.  Poor girl was getting little "boobies". This has now slowed down.  Thankfully!  My husband said he can handle just about anything...but not a hormonal 2 year old going thru puberty...I love him).

One of our biggest struggle was wanting to keep things "normal" for the older three kids.  I believe I referenced that in an earlier blog.  Never did we want any of "this" to affect them in a negative way, have them resent us...or worse, Sadie.

However, if you ever think adopting a special needs child wouldn't "be fare" to the rest of your kids, let me tell you...I think every child should have a special needs sibling!

At 10 years old, my daughter was begging to learn how to feed her sister.  What 10 year old asks to tube feed her sister?  I was scared when I had to do it, she jumps right in and does it like it's natural!  Now at 11 years old, she is asking me to show her how to dose all of her medications and give those too.  I am very careful never to ask her to do to much.  She would do it all if I let her. 

Kobe....oh Kobe.  He has always been my child with the biggest and most compassionate heart.  He loves hard and deeply.  The first thing he does every single morning is kisses her and the last thing he does each night is kisses her goodnight.  He holds her and talks to her and reads to her.  His love for her amazes me.  Now at 10 years old, he is also asking me to teach him how to feed her.  However....sometimes he has the attention span of a squirrel and I am not ready to tackle that yet.

And Nathan.  I think he is just now starting to "get" the extent of her disabilities...but still speaks very optimistically and I love him for that...."Mom, I think you will be as old as Grandma when Sadie starts college".  Instead of immediately defending my age and that I am not that old...my first thought was "OH!  He thinks she will go to college!"

Where we were warned that having a child would not be fare to our other kids and that they will have to sacrifice so much and they will have nothing but resentment towards us....I can tell that person that the exact opposite is happening in the Beute household.  Sadie has not only blessed and enriched our lives, but the kids' lives too!  They have more compassion and passion for kids with disabilities.  They ALL are actually begging us to adopt more kids....like Sadie!  I can't wait to see what each of them does with all of this as they get older and how this will help form and shape them into adults.

I can't tell why I find it so funny that Kobe always says when he grows up he is going to adopt some kids...from Ghana.  Maybe because he is Korean...but regardless, he makes my heart smile!