and the early intervention ball is rolling...

This morning, our Early Intervention Service Coordinator came for a visit. Zoe will be evaluated this coming Tuesday to determine what her present level of functioning is and what services (like physical therapy) she could use. We'll end up having an IFSP - an Individualized Family Service Plan - which, for those of you in the world o' education, is similar to an IEP, just for the younger (birth to age three) crowd.

Anyway, back to the visit...

I don't have the mental or physical energy to get into all the details (not just because I cleaned furiously this morning, stayed up late two nights ago redesigning my other blog, or parented three little ones all day... but also because I've succumbed to the 30 Day Shred workout. And developed a love/hate relationship with Jillian Michaels), so here are the highs and lows:

• I am now certain that the influx of service providers in our home (since most early intervention services are done in the child's natural setting) will improve my housecleaning skills.
• I am also certain that I'll be reserving special movies or borrowing ones from friends to distract the big kids during those services.
• I kept my composure as I calmly told Robbie, "We have company, so please put your underwear and pants back on."
• I realized too late that my words implied that nakedness is a-okay in the absence of company. (Okay, maybe that's true sometimes.)
• I wish I had taken a picture when Jocelyn climbed up on a barstool next to the coordinator with a pink legal pad and began copying the notes from A's page onto her own.
• I loved getting to chat adoption with A, as they are partway through their homestudy to adopt a baby domestically.
• I am pretty sure that A didn't catch much of what Jocelyn or Robbie told her, because they are so thrilled to interact with humans outside of our family that they spoke in their high-pitched, fast-speed, excited voices, which require me as a translator.
• (We need to get out more. Friends, consider this your official notice that we ARE now up for playdates and whatnot again, but I don't have the mental energy to set them up, so please reach out to me!)
• I opted not to translate for him when Robbie started talking to her about guns.
• Robbie climbed in her lap twice. And walked over and squeezed her thigh once. I need to watch that boy, especially as he gets older. Sheesh!
• I love that we've had Zoe with us long enough that I was able to answer some questions from our shared experiences and not just based on what I read from her experiences before us.

On that note, here's one of the sweetest pictures from our beach trip last weekend. I love: that Zoe is eating from a bottle easily now, after the labor of feedings through a syringe in our first days with her. that Jocelyn is smiling in classic perky fashion. that Robbie is distracted, in classic three-year-old boy fashion. and that my four favorite people are just hanging out in an ordinary moment outside of a gas station.

Life is good. 

Even when I have to remind Robbie to put his clothes back on.