6 years ago two little Estonians became the hill brothers

Update pics

James Markus 

Dallas Aleksander 

They have both grown so much and have brought so much love and happiness to our lives ..

Been a long time..

Well we have started our 2014-2015 school year.. So far we been using preschool prep to get both our young sons to recognize letters , numbers , shapes and colors.. 

James Markus has been doing really well.. Dallas Aleksander has begun to have a fee nervous tics.. We go see a neurologist as soon as we get referred .. Makes for sitting still a bit more complicated for now.

 

Spring 2014

Well spring is here and my sons are doing great .. Here is some pics 

They are both growing so much 

Since our last post....

Where to begin...

Dallas Aleks went to kindergarten last year and had a terrible experience. His teacher I truly believed hated him because he was adopted. We struggled all with FSA issuses that the school didn't understand.. This school year we are homeschooling .. He has made great strides with education.. We have started a new book and he is beginning to read a little as well.. He got tubes in his ears and adenoids removed but other then that he is pretty healthy..

James Markus had went to first grade at public school had an awesome teacher and done well. But the school puts sports over education and let his amazing teacher go ... So this year he is home with mommy as well. Last April he finally had the cyst removed from his lower back went was greatly needed.. We battle Cdiff all summer after his hospital stay. We changed all his doctors except our great family doctor. So no more Columbus trips now we go to cincinnati . Every doctor we've met in cincinnati has been concerned with his size but thankfully we met a very nice genetics doctor who informed us that Markus has a rapid metabolism and not to worry about his size. 

In Feburary of last year (2013) we traveled to meet the family on daddy's (Steve's) side. We flew to England  with most of my family and celebrated Steve's 50 birthday in England with his family. The boys got to meet Steve's family in Scotland and as well as in England. We also went to Wales .. The last days of our trip we spent in London taking in sights.. Sue (Steve's sister) even joined us which was great for our boys since we don't see them much they got to spend some time with her and make memories . Here is some. Of my favorite pics from England.

The boys with Phil and Sue walking in Scotland..

Phil and Sue walking with markus in Scotland on the beach.. Love it ..

Steve and his nephew Mark with markus in black pool..

Aleks and his cousin Alex in Phil's bar..

Us with my mom at blackpool..

Wales ..

Markus and Mark on the pier in blackpool.

My brother and his family with Sue and our kids..

This post is getting long I will post more soon.. To catch up 2013... Gonna try to keep up better In 2014..

school is ending and let the summer begin.....

well james markus has been out of school a week already and loves not getting up early...Dallas A will finish up school the 17th when he graduates from k-4....today he is playing hookie he called my brother and uncle and told them it is a good day to play hookie and go fishing...so being the good mommy i was all for it..he has reall taken an interest in fishing...my niece jessie got him a rod and reel and now he is big stuff.,,,although he tells me he is letting the worms swim not fishing ..lol .. steve had his hip surgery and is doing well..my diet is going well i am down 31 pounds in 28 days .. plus the 21 i was down from not drinking soda anymore....so for a grand total of 52 pounds down im doing good...

Catching up.........

Well I know it has been along time since my last post so I thought it is time for an update on the boys and the family. To start markus is loving school. He is getting taller and gaining a little weight. He is 3'2" tall now and a huge 27 pounds..he just turned 7 last month .who would ever believe he is seven. Aleks has started upward soccer again this spring and did a great job this morning..he is attending a private Christian school this year and he is doing well on most things but still struggles at times with some things. As for our family we adopted Arly in December so she finally feels like she belongs to someone who loves her.she is a great big sister to the boys. Steve is having another hip replacement done this month and that will give him a few weeks off to spend lots of time with the boys. I am starting a new diet . It is time to make some serious life changes starting with myself and getting healthier for my family. If all goes well by this time next week I will be losing already. We gave up soda at the beginning of the year and that has been fairly easier then I thought it would be.so for now that's a quick summary of us all .

Markus has become a school boy.....

well markus is in his second week of school. his teacher thinks he is a bright child .. he has begun to recognize colors and body parts.. still no idea of why he wont talk but praying someday he will decide to talk to us..

Another Genetics appointment

well today Aleks had his appointment with the UK genetics clinic ..they told us he has grown a bit and looks like he is doing really well.. Markus was with us and they ask if they could look at him.We didn't mind so they looked over young Markus. the doctor showed us a spot on his chest where you can actually watch his heart pump. they called it a defect but nothing that would require medical attention. they want to see if the other doctor did a chromosome test to see if there might be some answer to him there. that kinda of stuff puzzle me so if they can learn something from it then that fine with us...
tomorrow is our Second gotcha day ....two years ago we were in estonia waiting to get our sons on the 11th ...they have both changed some much ..

YAY!!! markus has grown

well we had more doctor appointments this week. Genetics and endocrinology both went well.the gentetic doctor told me well he has Fetal alcohol syndrome.....i felt like saying Duh!!! i knew that since i saw his picture a year before he came home ....also he has a midline disorder another Duh!!!what does he think ACC is?????but the good thing is no more appointments to that doctor.
the endocrinologist was much smarter with my boy..Markus has grown 7cm since his last visit a year ago and put on almost 3 pounds..so although he isnt growing alot he is growing , so for the time being no worry about growth hormones...we talked about the fact he doesnt chew yet, he isnt potty trained and he isnt communicating much...she said if you was in an orphanage with no loving bond to a mother or father . you would be behind as well.. she can see a huge improvement in him and says whatever we are doing it is helping so keep it up...

kinda good news....

well the doctor said the MRI showed there is no change in the lipomas in the spine. so this is a good thing, but he is concerned that Markus is still in diapers. he said he could go into the spine and that the lipomas out at the base of the spine and see if it will help with nerves and potty training. but i got lots of problems with the thought of another surgery on my baby. first off if he is only at about 8 months to 18 months on developmental stages then would potty training fall into a stage somewhere which might explain the delay. second there it allot of people who have C-ACC who never learn to use the toilet. might that be why we struggle with this issue. i understand he is almost 6 and still in diapers but lets face it i am the one changing him so whats the problem .

Tubes seem to be helping .......well maybe ...

well last Wednesday Markus got tubes in both ears..they hope it will help keep ear infections down and also help with his speech but to soon to tell..tomorrow we go back for a MRI and visit with the neurosurgeon. praying there is no change in the spine and they will just tell us they will keep an eye on it. on the speech front Markus has begun to say mama alot more. he also babbles constantly.Steve actually got him to copy him counting to 3...very cute might i add.

Markus never fails to make my day

well my poor baby boy has been sick since the new year began. he has been cooped up at home for 10 days not even getting to go to his therapies. but today we finally got him out and he was so rotten at therapy... he was listening to what they had ask him to do then he would turn his head and ignore them totally and laugh at them...he has decided to that standing and yelling for mom- mom is something he enjoys doing today as well... he also told me to "go away".. i was trying to bandage his poor little hands so they will finally get better.

over due post...

well it has been a while.. but to catch up on our wonderful sons. Aleks has grown about 5 inches in the last 2 years , putting on some weight so he looks really good..he attends preschool 3 days a week and is doing great. he continues to pick up on everything...loves to sing and play. We see the genetics doctor again in feb. then we will see how well he is actually growing ..other then a few ear aches he is doing awesome...(thanks be to God).
now on to Markus ... he will be having tubes put in his ears this month and the dentist hopes to do some dental work the same days if it works out..he will be going for an MRI at the end of the month to see how the lipomas in his spine is doing. the genetics doctor still says he is in the 50 percentile of 1 year olds on weight, 50 percentile of 2 year olds on height...and well his head has only grown about a cm in two years... he is not going to school yet momma cant let him go just yet...potty trainning aint happening ....
we went last month and met up with Young O. the boys best buddy from Estonia . it was great seeing them together again..O's family are wonderful people.it was great to actually meet face to face and be able to talk to someone who understands what you went through to bring the boys home and where they came from.

Grrr.. i need more hours in the day....

well we have had markus back to the childrens hospital and now he has several more appointments coming up in 2011... He is getting tubes in his ears in jan. the neuro doctor has set up a MRI on his spine to make sure it isnt getting worse.. and the cleft pallate we continue to wait and see..

more to learn about

well when we was at dollywood on saturday it was so hot everyone was sweating, well not markus but his skin was hot enough to burn you . we noticed that he was sweating so we had to cool him off. when we was home on sunday he did nothing but sleep and cool off.. he stayed hot til Sunday night, i thought he was getting sick again. but it was still where he had gotten so hot on Saturday.. apparently unlike aleks who has adjusted and started to sweat in our climate ..markus with his ACC may never figure out to sweat to cool down...his brain may not regulate his tempeture...this explains last year every time he got in the sand box his fever would spike at over 104....

its been a while

well i know it has been a while since i blogged. but finally a moment of rest to blog.We are happy that Arly has finally graduated and still doing good. for graduation she wanted a trip to Dollywood , so we went on saturday the boys loved everything....Markus maybe be small but he loves to ride the rides... Aleks enjoyed all the water rides , getting wet makes him happy...i think he is a fish at heart..

in other news. we got to the Doctor tomorrow to talk about Markus possibly have Pica( i think it is). His OT and ST think it might be a reason he will pick up anything non food and eat it.he wont chew food but he is learning..but if you give him some grass or even fuzz he will chew it up and eat it. He has even start picking up coins so now we have to watch him like a hawk..... Markus has been talking a bit more. babbling on and on at times...

recovering from surgery

well yesterday markus underwent surgery .. it ended up taking a bit longer then thought .. the doctor had to remove scare tissue and fix the previous surgeon's attempt to bring down the testicle .. (the first surgery was pre- adoption) .. our journey home was a long trip..our poor baby couldn't stop throwing up...i believe it was the pain medicine.. no more tylenol 3 for my boy..we are managing the pain with regular tylenol and motrin....today he has managed to eat applesauce and some yogurt...so we are on the road to recovery...

we did however now get a name for the lipomas throughout his nervous system.. PAI syndrome....he has a cleft palate , the massive lipoma from his nostril and the lipomas in the spine...although he doesnt have the lipoma in the corpus callosum ...he has agenesis of the corpus callosum...he also has a lipoma about the size of a quarter in his brain.. all these things make our son very special ..

more markus

Markus has really gotten rotten this week.. when we tell him to get his fingers out of his mouth he throws his glasses off. and laughs at you... He has started babbling like a a baby would if they were just learning to make sounds...He said Da-da although he had said daddy already but just as if it was his first word we praised him....tonight he was saying mom-mom as if he has just figured out how to say it....He is such a precious gift from God. sometimes i wonder what did i do to deserve such a gem...i know in my heart i couldnt love him anymore if he had our blood running through his veins...

markus

today we made a trip to the ENT and found out that markus nostril is healing great and there should be no other problems with it. it was nothing more then a lipoma , that was a big relief to hear. both boys did really well today on the trip since it takes around 3 hours one way. markus did however eat turkey , mashed potatoes and carrots.... did i mention he chewed a few times......yay markus you are momma's big boy...