Tag Archives: Lena

Celebrating a Birthday

January 1, 2011 Molly 7 Comments

We did not do much today. Our beautiful 70 degree yesterday dropped down to an icy morning. Giving us one of those intense Kansas thunderstorms first. Fortunately, it did not wake the kids up. I am not sure how they’ll do with our crazy storms.

We decided to celebrate Lena’s birthday today. Of course, it was 24 days ago, but we did nothing for it then. My family has always done the tradition of a special dinner. I was making potato soup, which she loves, so it was perfect. She ate two bowls of potato soup. And then had her first cupcake.

So, do you think they liked them?

I am going to do a little Q&A post on Sunday, so if you have questions, please ask.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Everyday Life

Beautiful day

December 31, 2010 Molly 8 Comments

Last night, I got a text message from my friend Caryl. Have I told you about her before? She is awesome. She organized an effort to clean, organize and decorate our house while we were away. She stocked our fridge. She planned a bake sale for us. And much, much more. She is a wonderful, solid friend. Anyways, last night, she texted me to see if I wanted to meet up with her today with kids and dogs at the park. Caryl doesn’t even have a dog, but she figured everyone in our household needed to get out… she’s thoughtful like that. Of course, I was eager to hang out with her, to get out of the house with the kids, especially since it was supposed to be 60 here today.

So, that’s what we did this morning. Two kids, 5 kids and 2 moms at the levee, out for a walk. Her kids are almost 2, 3 and 11. Her almost 2 yo was scared of the crazy dogs running around, but the other 4 had a blast together. Her 11yo is great with little kids. Ilya just adores her. It turned out to be such a beautiful day to be out, windy but beautiful. It was OVER 60. At one point, I think it hit 70!

This is Lena out at the levee, taken by her 11yo friend. I won’t show you any of our other photos, since I don’t know how Caryl feels about photos of her kids on the internet.

We came home and had lunch, eating leftovers. I really love how they don’t question what I give them and if I tell them they need to eat what’s on their plate before they can have an apple, they will. That is one thing I totally appreciate, knowing how picky kids can be. We had a little refusal with the broccoli last night, but both kids ate it once we showed them that they could have a clementine when they finished it.

Naptime was hard. It was not so fun. Ha, until they were asleep. That was nice. I love my quiet time and have no guilt about sitting on the couch during it. I just sit and read blogs and catch up on emails. And, when Aaron got home from work, he took the kids to the playground. Seriously awesome.

But now, I think they’re home and I should figure out what in the world is happening with dinner. Aaron asked me if we could have leftovers and if pasta and mashed potatoes “went together.” Maybe at a buffet…

Everyday Life

Just a Little Update

December 29, 2010 Molly 5 Comments

We have always taken our dogs out to the park daily, or almost daily. Hot, cold, rain, snow, whatever, we’re there. I am not kidding. You weimaraner owners know what I mean. Weather is no obstacle; your dogs need exercise. So, yesterday, all four of us humans and all two of the four paws went out to the park. At first the kids were scared, but the dogs stay pretty far from us at the park so that they can just run and run. The kids discovered how fun it is to call the dogs back to them. “Niiiiiiiiiina! Caaaaash! Niiiiiina! Niiiiina!” Ilya can tell them apart already, which I need to tell the next person who asks me “how do you tell them apart?” Quite easily, thanks.

Ilya is still scared of them, but he doesn’t want them to go too far either. He would yell in Russian, “Nina, come over here!” Of course, Nina’s Russian is not that good, so she just ignored him. He would also try to follow them. When we got in the car, Aaron turned to Ilya and said “was that fun?” And Ilya said, “Fun! Fun! Dogs fun! Dogs fun!” He is still totally freaked out by them and started crying today when Nina walked into view from the next room. So totally loving them one minute and terrified the next. He really likes them if the baby gate is between himself and the dogs, but for the most part, the dogs ignore him then and won’t come over to him. They really ignore both kids 95% of the time with or without the baby gate, but Ilya feels more secure with it there.

Life is good. Life is hard. We can only expect so much of them and we can also only expect so much of ourselves. It is a tremendous adjustment for them, but it is also an adjustment for us. While it does not compare to theirs, it is still huge. Trying to keep that in mind right now.

I’m tired, so that’s all for now.

Everyday Life

Target Trip and Visitors

December 27, 2010 Molly 13 Comments

We constantly say it is good that she is so cute (because she can be very naughty)! Actually, she was a very good girl today, apart from naptime.

Aaron’s family came to visit today. Well, actually, they didn’t come until about noon, so let me tell you about our morning.

We got up, went through the usual morning routine and then went to Target. The kids did well. Someone came over and told Lena how pretty she is. We got in the car and were driving down this road which has a 45mph speed limit and no places to turn off– 31st street, for you local friends. Well, Aaron looks down and notices the open door light is on. He pulled off the the shoulder and I hopped out, guessing maybe I had not shut the back all the way after putting the bags in. Nope, Ilya’s door was open just a tiny bit. Weird, Aaron had shut it, but I guess he must not have been paying attention. So, we get home and back into the garage and then I heard Ilya open up his door. My response was “NOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Obviously we realized what happened back at Target and just need to figure out our child safety locks. I didn’t think either kid could reach the door handle from their car seat, but apparently he can. Scary. This is one example of how his “helping” can be dangerous. He also loves to “help” with the stove and oven, obviously things we’re trying to work on. It is not things I think about, because the kids I’ve been around have already been taught that the oven is a no-no or step away when they feel the heat, but yesterday, he reached for it. It is hard to be aware of these sorts of things sometimes, because not only are they unfamiliar with so many things, but they’re also always right at our sides. If we tell them to step away, they get upset and seem to think it is a punishment. In fact, Aaron got slapped today for that reason. Very surprising because it was the child who is not normally violent. I am glad that they want to be with us and consider that a positive step. Yet sometimes we just need a little distance to get something done safely. And of course, violence is a HUGE no-no.

So, anyways, Aaron’s family came to visit today. We had lunch with them, the kids took a nap which took 2 hours start-to-finish and only 20 minutes of sleeping. And then the kids opened up Christmas gifts. A lego train set, a lego firetruck, hungry hungry hippos, don’t break the ice, lincoln logs, two cute snow globes with their photos, and two small stuffed animals from Aaron’s grandma. The kids thought this was just great. They really had a lot of fun playing with everyone and their new toys. Both kids seemed very fond of their Uncle Micah helping them build things. I can see why they would like Micah easily. He is very easy-going and passive with the kids. He just handed Lena Lincoln Logs and when she’d turn her back, fix it so they would not fall over. If he didn’t have one ready for her, she’d throw up her hands like “what are you doing?!” The kids did very well with everyone today… Ilya obviously likes men better. Lena doesn’t seem to care much either way, but like I said, she really liked Micah a lot!

That’s Micah in the green sweatshirt.

When she was playing Lincoln Logs. I think this is cute… she just looks so tiny here. My in-laws were joking with me that finally I finally have another short person in the family. Someone shorter than me! I am not sure I was this tiny when I was 3, though. Mom, want to go check the chart?

After we got the kids done with the evening routine, we put on the movie “Babies”. I was a bit surprised by some of the content (ie. watch it yourself before showing it to your kids), but they loved it. Both of them sat nicely for it until they fell asleep. We’ve tried cartoon children’s movies and they don’t care, but they seem fascinated by documentaries. We are planning to try March of the Penguins and Planet Earth next. Anyone else have kid-friendly suggestions?

I’d like to say that I write this blog to share our experiences with us– first with adoption, now with parenting adopted children. I am being honest with you all about some of the stuff we are dealing with– struggles with the kids and struggles as we try to figure things out– things like child safety locks on the car and that they don’t know that the oven is hot. While this is embarrassing, I think it’s good food-for-thought for other people. I really, really love all of your helpful tips and encouragement. We love sharing this experience with you and it is nice to hear your more objective point-of-view. But, please keep it respectful.

BTW, sign language was not my idea. We first heard about it from our social worker and read about in adoption books and blogs. My friend Amy reminded me a few weeks ago and then when we hung out with Meredith Cornish and her new daughter, Aleksa, she was signing with her. It is very popular and I can see why! If you are adopting, I would recommend learning just a few basic signs, even just “more”, “eat” and “potty”. To help your kids communicate with you. It is way easier than I expected.

Oh, and I also took these photos today. We are hoping to do this weekly. But, next time, I’ll have to do it earlier in the day, when we have natural light and hopefully someone is in a better mood.

First Adoption

Merry Christmas!

December 26, 2010 Molly 15 Comments

It is nice to be home. I managed to go upstairs last night and see the dogs. Lots of licking on my face… I never let them do that, but Nina was just so excited to see me. I was pretty excited to see her too… she is a special dog, very intuitive of how I am feeling. Silly when I need a laugh and calm and cuddly when I am upset or sick. It might sound funny if you aren’t a dog person yourself, but she and I have a bond.

One of the first things we did today was introduce the kids to the dogs. We brought Cache down first. He is a very good dog around kids, will let them pull his ears and jump all over him. He just laid on the couch and let us do what we wanted with him. Both kids were very scared. Aaron and I touched him and showed how calm he was. I put my mouth near his muzzle and made kissing sounds. The kids thought that was so funny and seemed to relax a bit when they realized he would not bite me. They petted him a bit, but they are still very scared. We let both dogs out a bit later. Nina, who has no kid experience to my knowledge, was a natural too. She often acts like a huge puppy, so that surprised me. Both dogs are good about keeping a little distance between themselves and the kids, but it is going to take more time. One minute they are petting them or reaching a hand out to be licked and the next their screaming in fear. Of course, this is normal, but I am ready to be past this and have dogs and humans peacefully co-existing.

We tried to go to Wal-Mart today. We wanted to pick some stuff up, like wipes, which we are totally out of. But, Wal-Mart was closed. Seriously Wal-Mart? I had much lower expectations for you. So, I was a little happy that Wal-Mart closes on Christmas and a little frustrated because we needed a few things. Target opens at 7am tomorrow and I am ready!

The rest of our day was just hanging out at home. We skyped with my family for awhile. We had our second annual gag gift exchange this year. I wanted to see the people who received our gifts open them. It was a lot of fun to see them open their gifts. Then, Ilya and Lena opened the gifts my parents sent them. Books which they just LOVED. Ilya got very excited because one of his books is all about trucks. We skyped for awhile longer, just talking while the kids played. It is great to see all 10 of them. I miss them a lot.

The Christmas tree is absolutely beautiful. My mom sent us my ornaments from when I was a kid. So, I gave Ilya and Lena those ornaments to add to the bottom of the tree. They LOVED that. My mom also got them their own bells, engraved with their names. It is a tradition in our family, a bell with your name engraved on your first Christmas. These bells are beautiful.

I am so grateful for all of these people we have in our lives. I know I’ve said it before, but it comes as a surprise to me constantly, how wonderful everyone is. Our friends and families have blowed us away with support. We still have our loan with family, but the rest of our adoption expenses are taken care of. Any money which we did not need, we are planning to put into the grant of a waiting child, specifically one of the boys at Ilya and Lena’s orphanage. We are not sure which yet, but we hope to soon be sponsoring one of these boys through Project Hopeful‘s Family in the Gap Program. I am grateful to have an opportunity to put something back into the adoption process.

Life here is so different from Ukraine. I want to share more about that later, but my American friends, we have it good. Really, really good. We are blessed. Blessed with things like clean water and building codes and vegetables free from giardia. I just wanted to share that with you.

Merry Christmas!