Guest Post by Daughter

Life sucks! And the thought of moving on to 5th grade isn't helping.  Luckily, I have 4 siblings that help me in different and better ways.  Joey the oldest boy helps me get down and dirty and let my creative side shine. Marysa, the oldest of all the kids, can help me with my girl problems.  Then there's Sonny, the second-to-youngest. He helps me feel responsible ('cause I watch him all the time) and that someone always loves me.  Last but not least, Declan. He teaches me how fun life can be if you just go with the flow.

When I first thought about the 5th grade, I was scared even. But then I realized I have totally Awesome brothers and sisters to help me. I love my family so much, and I hope you people out there have a family just as great as mine.

Bed Wetting

One of my children can not hold their bladder while they sleep. I am going to try as hard as possible not to hint to what child it is.

I suppose the reason I wanted to bring this up is because they have started picking on my four year old who can hold his bladder over night. It's kind of strange to me. We know the reason they can't keep it in is most-likely hereditary. They have started trying to convince us  there is no longer a problem by getting dressed quickly in the morning and making their bed up over the wet spot. For about a week I was so proud until I started to smell their room and I had to inspect.

This mother thing is hard. We have seen a doctor, a nutritionist and a therapist and basically have given up. We changed the diet. We attempted to wake our child in the middle of the night but they are violent hitting and punch and refusing to go and standing behind the door telling us they where done. We have used pull ups and told to stop using them because it makes our child lazy.

The most recent is the most challenging to deal with. Our four year old hardly ever has an accident even over night. Now our older child keeps trying to blame him. Asking us to check him for poop or change his diaper. It's almost an obsession. As a mother who tries to foster independence in her children and encourages her children to be who they be, this one has me floored. My instinct is to protect my four year old from being picked on. How is that possible with out embarrassing my older child?

A mile stone for me

Today I brought my family to met Joey's biological sister Ashley. This was huge for me since I have been so protective of Joey for the last four years. Joey is my nephew that my husband Warren and I adopted shortly after we were married. Ashley is his sister from his mother Darlene.

Joey has had so many questions about his brother and sisters and I had no answers for him. I got in contact with his mothers ex-husband who has always been a good guy to my brother before Joey was born, and Joey's hero since Joey was taken from his mother.

A month or so ago after talking to Joey's therapist I decided to contact Skip to see if Joey's siblings were safe and could be in contact with him. Skip put me in contact with Ashley. She and Joey talked to each other fairly regularly so we decided to get together for Joey's birthday at a park.

When we arrived at the park Joey seemed nervous then he quickly warmed up to Ashley. I had to really hold my tears back. They were so happy to see each other. Ashley looks just like Joey. She was there with her dad Skip, fiance' Arther, their two children Matt and Malea. They had birthday gifts for Joey that were an awesome ice breaker. We spent about two hours with their family. Playing football with the kids. Talking about Joey and some of his hobbies and academic achievements. I told them a little history I knew about Joey and they filled in the blanks of some information I didn't know about Joey as a baby.

Over all I thought it was a good day. We may get together again after she gets back from Disneyland.