Spring Day at the Park

One of my favorite things to do on a warm, spring day is take the kids to the park and just sit there and let the sun soak into my face. We're lucky we had a few warm days this spring break.

I had to whip out the camera when I saw big brother Max helping his new little sis down the steps.  So sweet.
 

Bennett Boy

Look how well Anya took on this 3-story play structure.  What a brave girl!

The Eli-ster

It's spring break and we're off to spend the weekend with our family in the warm part of the state. 

I hear the cousins are excited to meet Anya! 

We're looking forward to some sunshine, swimming, and together time. 

Happy Spring!

One Week Home!

Well, we've been home with Anya over a week now and we're living in the fast lane around here! The three little ones stay busy much of the day.  They are all enjoying having playmates. This is what they did while I worked out in the basement yesterday. I really enjoyed watching them play while I sweat away on the elliptical. It made me so happy!

Anya and Eli are starting to play together a little more.  Sometimes I find them side by side just enjoying each other's company.  It makes my heart melt!  Then there's other times when Eli yells at Anya because he wants to play with something she has...and Anya can hold her own!  Much of my day is spent putting out fires.  But it does seem to be a little less frequent every day.

Anya has discovered the joy of textures!  When we visited her at the orphanage, we brought Play Doh and she wanted nothing to do with it.  Now, she'll sit and play with it for a long time!

Sadie made some cornstarch and water goo after school yesterday. 

Anya thought that she was in heaven!

(Still can't get used to Max's black hair. We dyed it for the play he was in last weekend. It'll be a few weeks before we can buzz it and find his blond color at the bottom.)

Here's what we've noticed about Anya this past week:

She loves going out in the stroller for walks! She just takes it all in and I can tell she enjoys the fresh air and sunshine as much as Eli and I do. I'm one of those people who is happy as long as she gets out for a run or walk every day.  Pushing 65 pounds should whip me right into shape, too. :) I'm so excited! I found a Bob Duallie double running stroller in the classifieds. I've loved my single one and I'm having a hard time wanting to part with it!

The other thing Anya LOVES is baths. She will sit and play in the bathtub for a good 45 minutes. I'm excited to take her swimming this summer. She's going to love that!

Anya is understanding a few key phrases already and responds to them! Namely, "Let's go bye-bye," "Do you need to go pee?" and "Let's brush your teeth."  Each phrase that she grasps takes one less frustration out of our lives, so we celebrate! Word-wise, the only one she has down so far is "Daddy."  She uses it to get his attention, so that's a great start! She still calls me Nena and she says it loudly when she wants my attention. At first it bugged me, now I'm just glad she has some way to communicate when she needs me. She's not ready to say Mom yet, so we'll go with it!

Anya is starting to be more independent. She now wanders into the bathroom herself to take care of things. She even flushes the toilet and washes her hands like a good girl! She has been toilet trained for probably a year now, so I figured she was used to doing that. She just had to get comfortable with things for a few days!

On the health care front, I took Anya to a pediatrician for her first check-up the other day. She's really healthy!  We need to take her in for blood tests to check her Thyroid levels and screen for all the things you normally screen for with DS. 

Next week, we have an appointment with a Pediatric Opthamologist so we can get her some good glasses. I also want to address her blocked tear duct. She has a goopy eye every day.

The doctor also advised me to take her to see an audiologist to make sure she's hearing in the speech range, and a Pediatric Dentist so she can be put under to have her mouth full of cavities taken care of. We can visibly see quite a few in there. Oh, boy! 

A lot of people have asked how things are going with the transition. Here's the scoop:


It's hard much of the time.

BUT it's going so much better than we ever imagined. Anya is so happy despite her life completely changing and the kids are so patient with the changes we've had to make in the family.  They really love her. We can't ask for more than that.

Every time we have our tense moments when Eli is yelling about something he wants and Bennett is complaining about something and Anya is being stubborn (hee hee) we just remind ourselves that this is nothing unexpected! We knew it would be challenging. The next year or two will be some of the most difficult of our lives raising children (at least we hope!) But they will be the most rewarding, too!  This we know. One of the reasons Jeremy and I both believe the Lord lead us to adopt is so that we would stretch out of our comfort zone a little bit (OK...a lot!) so He could help us become what he has in mind for us to be.  We'll take this trial, though.  It's custom-made just for us.

We wouldn't trade Anya for anything in the world! She's already brought so much sunshine into our lives.  We just love her to pieces!



Mmm, Mmm Good!

I can't decide what's more delicious. The homemade strawberry yogurt, or the kids.

Here Comes the Sun

I don't know if you noticed from my last post, but I was feeling a little bluish. The jet lag and reality were getting me down and I really needed some rejuvenation.  I asked Heavenly Father Friday night if He would help me to see Anya with His eyes.  To come out of my slump and truly cherish her the way He does.  It wasn't that I didn't love her or that she wasn't what I had hoped she would be. I was just a little overwhelmed with having a new little person in our family and I was so tired.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6 am (still recovering from jet lag...) and went out to the living room to read my scriptures.  I immediately felt the Holy Ghost whisper peace to my heart. After a few minutes, I heard the creek of one of the bedroom doors and the pitter-patter of feet.  I saw Anya standing there with a huge smile on her face. 

If she could speak English, I think she would have said something like, "Good Morning, Mama.  I love my new life so much, I can't wait to start the day!  What can we do first?"  I motioned for her to climb up on my lap, and she did.  I hugged her closely and told her I loved her.  Since then, I've been just eating up our new sweetheart.

It was so gorgeous yesterday! It was over seventy degrees! We started the day with a little housekeeping.  After breakfast, Bennett taught Anya how to stack the dishes from the dishwasher in big piles and I taught her how to sort the silverware into the right compartments in the silverware drawer. She loved that!

The kids played happily outside much of the day.  We got to sit and watch our church's semi-annual General Conference on T.V, then I did a little shopping. It was the first time I spent by myself in weeks and it was so rejuvenating!  I never thought I would enjoy shopping so much! I bought some new pillowcases and a booster seat so Anya could reach the table easier, then stocked up on groceries.

When I came home, Jeremy told me that Anya was content as can be, all afternoon. One of my concerns before taking her out of her structured life at the orphanage was that she wouldn't know how to just "be."  You know, just hang out. But she has shown us that she sometimes loves to just be.  She'll sit in her room and play with toys for a long time.  She'll even focus on puzzles and books, which amazes me.  She's just happy. Jeremy commented this morning that she seems so content.  Isn't it just incredible how children can sense when they are loved?

So Far So Good!

Well, we've had two and a half days here with our new little one. I'm tired and a little weepy. But things are going much better than I ever imagined.  She has been amazing through all this change.  I really can't believe it.  I have to admit, it's a little overwhelming having three kids under five.  Life isn't as convenient as it was before. But I think we're off to a great start and it's just going to take some time to adjust to our new normal.  Eli (almost 2) and Bennett (5) were the two that I was most worried about this affecting. But they are taking it great and being so sweet with their new sister.  Bennett has been more emotional than usual, but that's so expected.  It's just going to take some time.

Anya and Eli are sharing a room right now, until we're ready to move Eli out of his crib and into Bennett's room.  It's funny. All three nights, Anya has fallen asleep the minute her head hits the pillow.  But Eli has never had someone sleep in his room with him, so it has taken him a while to get to sleep. He keeps saying, ANNA, ANNA, trying to wake her up.  Luckily, she sleeps right through it. :)

Anya really just prefers to play by herself than interact with other little kids. I think that's typical of kids who have been in orphanages. But I'm really gratefully that she's been sweet with Eli. I was worried she would be aggressive. So far, she just lets him join in when she's playing.

The older kids are just eating her up. When they come home from school, I don't even see Anya for a couple of hours. They have been taking her outside so they can show her off to their friends. Sadie LOVES having a little sis.  She does her hair multiple times a day and loves to just sit and play with her. Too bad the honeymoon period doesn't last forever. Hee hee.

This spring weather is a welcome treat after leaving freezing-cold Russia.  We went out in the back yard yesterday for a good hour and soaked in some sunshine. It was just what we all needed!

I think Anya likes Lasagna as much as Eli does. What do you think?

She loves to color!

Work it, baby.

The three littles watching TV.  Don't they look like siblings?  Oh, they are!

OK, that's it for now. Just wanted to let you know we're doing great!  Thank you all for your sweet comments.  It's been so fun reading them. They warm our hearts so much and just make us feel so grateful for our blessings.  Sometimes I get caught up in the day-to-day frustrations and forget about the miracles that the Lord has provided for us. Blogging helps bring gratitude back to my heart. I love it and I'm so thankful for all of you!