Category Archives: Second Adoption

Everyday Life, Project 365, Second Adoption

Home and Project 365 Catching Up

February 19, 2012 Molly 2 Comments

We are home. Phew. We got home last night around 8:30.

It is so nice to be home, but I am emotionally fried. R&L seemed to do pretty well with us being gone, but they are understandably a bit more needy than usual.

For Reed, he seemed a bit indifferent that we were back, happy to see us, but kind of eh. Then, today, he was so needy. Constantly needing someone to play with, constantly interrupting conversations, just loud and kind of crazy. My patience was done was him by about 4pm. I told Aaron that I’d do all the dishes for the next 3 days if I didn’t have to have anything to do with bedtime.

Lena’s emotions have been a lot more on the surface. She was so happy she was almost in tears that we were back. Giggling and wanting lots of hugs. She slept for 12 hours straight the night we got back and then I climbed in bed with her for awhile, just to cuddle. I told her how I loved her and missed her. I said “I missed you soooo much.” L: “Too much?” “Yes, too much.” “I miss you too much too.” I love that girl. She has taken to laying on the floor with a grumpy face A LOT. She had been getting away from this for awhile, but it’s back in full force. A quick distraction usually remedies it when I can find the energy.

I am just exhausted myself. Not physically, but emotionally. A lot of emotions and frustration. Yesterday was Helen’s birthday. As happy and excited as we are about “Anderson”, my heart still breaks about Helen and the uncertainty of her future. Be praying for her, okay? Specifically that she gets to be at home with a family soon and that she does not have any medical complications that cannot be handled by doctors in her country, at any time.

Anyways, here is my photo catch-up.

Skyping. Fighting over camera space.

Reading to us from a children’s bible. This went on for ten minutes! “One time…”

Leaving the frigid north.

The little map showing where we are and the flight route. I took this for my mom.

Playing at their grandparents’ house. Please note that L DOES have clip in her hair… I just needed to fix it… again.

I forgot to take any photos today, and then everyone went to bed, but me and the dogs. So, here is Miss Nina, angry that I woke HER up to take her photo. Apparently even my dogs can’t do photos without blinking.

Project 365, Second Adoption

Goodbye, A :( (Day 47)

February 16, 2012 Molly 14 Comments

Before I go into our visit pictures, this is where Aaron sat while we waited for them to bring A in. Didn’t Makiivka have a bear just like this?

I took a video of him dancing. Are you ready for this cute?!?

Aaron and little A seem to be having a harder time connecting. I am guessing because A is a baby and Aaron is a man. Aaron doesn’t have much experience with babies. I doubt A has spent as much time with men as he has women. So, I just sat back and took photos and let the two of them play.

But, don’t get me wrong. I still had to get my smooches in.

The end.

I realized that I haven’t really blog about anything besides our visits during this trip. Honestly, we haven’t ton much else. This is the first trip where I’ve really felt jet-lagged and just kind of exhausted. And, obviously, this trip also has a lot of mixed emotions for us. But, we’ve enjoyed getting to know A and can’t wait to come back for court.

Second Adoption

Day 2 or Day 46?

February 15, 2012 Molly 6 Comments

Today was our second day visiting A. He does not know what to think of all of this.

Watching the snow fall.

I would hold the ball up in the air and drop it. Oh, what fun.

This was probably my favorite part of the visit. I leaned in really close and he laughed.

He’s pretty content just to chew on things. My necklace might have some bite marks on it now.

See? Going for the necklace?

Practicing his walking. He’ll probably be running around by the time we come back.

The last photo, right before he lost it. Can you tell he’s done here?

Second Adoption

From *** with Love (Day 45)

February 14, 2012 Molly 21 Comments

Aaron suggested I title today’s post “From Russia with Love”, but I can’t really put that, since that gives away the country we’re adopting from. But, it seems like an appropriate title, since today is Valentine’s Day, and we have someone lovely to share with you.

Where to begin? We spent a lot of the morning waiting, and driving in the car. We had our visit to the DOE, we waited for quite a long time, pretty much so that they’d give us the paper to go meet A. But, that was okay, since it was worth it! And we found out his birthday, February 1.

Then, we went to the baby house and got all kinds of info on him. His birth weight and length, even saw a photo of birth mom, got all kinds of info, it was great. I feel like we know a lot of details, which is so meaningful in adoption.

He was eating lunch, so we waited, and waited. We found out that he just had the chicken pox, so he still had some scabs. Then he WALKED in.

So, meet Anderson…

(The green stuff is what they put on cuts, so he has it on his chicken pox spots). This is the expression he had on his face for most of our visit.

He was so… calm. He crawled around a bit, but mostly, he didn’t mind just sitting there, watching everything about him, looking around the room. He seems to be very observant. There was a tiny little thread on the floor and he dug his nails into the carpet to pull it over to him.

I almost made him laugh with this, putting it on my own head.

But, Aaron got the first laugh.

These blocks have little holes in them and Aaron squeezed it, so there was a little gust of air.

Crawling around.

Someone is probably going to be mad if I don’t share photos of myself with him, so here you go…

Standing, barely supported by me.

And one last photo!

He seemed a little bit shy today, but I am excited to see his personality come out as we get to know him better.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Project 365, Second Adoption

The Most Boring Day (Day 44)

February 13, 2012 Molly 4 Comments

We didn’t do much today. The temperatures here were in the negative (in Fahrenheit) all day.

We did venture out for some lunch and to explore.

I thought Aaron’s lunch was kind of funny. I love how the sausages are like little claws.

We Skyped with the kids for a little bit today. This scary blur is Reed. He was a bit too busy bouncing around to Skype with us. Lena seemed like she’s a bit mad at us, but that’s not surprising.