Larissa is 14

Larissa turned 14. It is hard to believe how fast she is growing up and up! She is over 5'9" and towers over me. She is a delight to be around and has a very loving heart. She has good relationships with most of her siblings.

She is currently taking karate, keyboard and singing lessons, has two agents in Atlanta and volunteers at church. We continue to homeschool.

We are still struggling with her seizures. We are currently struggling to find a good neurologist. Her doctor wanted to send her to one in Charlotte but they wouldn't accept our Tricare insurance. Then she tried one in Florence and Tricare did approve it but they lost their pediatric neurologist. So we went to the office where the neurologist went and he had retired.I am trying to see if her medicaid would be accepted out of state to go to Charlotte. MUSC is an option but they are 2 1/2 hours away and they really did nothing for us last time. Yes, we are frustrated. Yes, she still has nightly seizures. And I am getting off subject, Larissa had a great birthday!

Can you tell what she is currently into?

She was delighted with her gifts although there weren't many and they didn't cost much, they were specifically bought with her in mind.

Emma is 13

We celebrated Emma turning 13. It is hard to believe that she is already 13, the time really does fly. She is in the 6th grade so she is beginning middle school here and has three years and then she will be in high school!

Now this is where is gets hard, I read all the birthday posts and they are all overflowing with how much a child has grown and all sorts of positive things and that is hard for me.

The positive, she loves the dogs. She will get up early in the morning and let them out and feed them. She has a very strong attraction to them. She also loves all things horse. She says that she is going to have a horse farm when she grows up.

Her hair is starting to grow a bit and looks healthier. She would prefer to eat a diet of junk food and bread and I have simply started buying a lot less and she no longer has my moms stash to go to, this is forcing her to eat more food that is prepared for her. She even noted that her hair looks better.

Her lying has decreased. Partially because I work hard to not ask her questions which she can lie to. I think she is learning better ways than lying to get around things. She is also great at playing with Benjamin so that she can use him.

She was happy with her gifts, all things horse, candy and money.

We are still working on things. Relationships are not as hostile right now although she can show quite a bit of disrespect to Sarah and is quite mouthy. It hasn't really worked for her so I am not sure why she doesn't change that behavior. She is very immature for her age, she is more at a 9 or 10 year old stage emotionally and academics are a challenge for her. She has lost all free computer time because of grades and hasn't yet decided that extra work will be beneficial.

So overall things are improving. I wonder if we have a little chance of more growth because although she is now a teenager, emotionally she is much younger. Anyone else with that experience?

So....Happy 13th Birthday to Emma! May you have a great year.