MORE things that have Made me Happy this Week

A tender exchange of Cheerios between siblings

silly socks on the last day EVER of elementary school 

a preschool graduation

of one adorable kid

...and some very important papers that arrived in a mailbox

for one very, very important person.

Things that have Made me HAPPY this Week

A daddy who puts the little ones to bed at the end of a tiring day

without being asked

a cute girl who actually LOVES doing the dishes

 (I know!!)

movie time on everyone's favorite landing pad 

a.k.a Mom & Dad's bed

(actually this one is up for debate... should we have a TV

in our bedroom in our new house, or should we not?? )


A big sister and her friend who love to teach

and 

watching our eldest graduate from 9th Grade.

Man, I love this kid. Can't believe he'll be in HIGH SCHOOL this fall.

What has made you happy this week?  Please share!

A Shower for Anya

Every May, all the ladies (aunts, female cousins and nieces) in Jeremy's mom's family get together to celebrate sisterhood with a luncheon.  

This year, we not only celebrated sisterhood, but a new little sister.

The luncheon turned into a shower of love and gifts for Anya!

Isn't that so sweet?

Anya experienced the joy of opening lots of gifts for the first time in her life.

They showered her will all kinds of pretty things.

clothes

hair bows

a dolly complete with her own clothes, diapers and food (yes, she even poops!)

some magnetic wood dress up dolls

 a talking, singing alphabet toy

some nice flashcards

 and a Disney Princess book complete with a magic wand.

Our princess was treated royally.

I wish I had taken pictures of everyone who was there! 

I missed Jeremy's sisters and mother in the snapshots. 

Hello.... I am not a good event photographer. 

Here's Jeremy's cousin Nicole (the hostess) and Aunt Lynette

and his three other aunts: DeAnn, Susan and Alaine.

Jeremy's sister, Lorrie and his mom made these adorable favors, filled with candy.  

I love the saying.  It's our sentiments, exactly. 

 Right on the nose.

I don't know if any of you wonderful ladies will read this, but I want to thank you all.

Truly, from our hearts. 

Anya loves her new toys and pretties.

We'll think of all of you whenever we see them.  

Anya's Homecoming Video

She Calls me Mama

Ever since we first met Anya, we've been trying to get her to pronounce "Mama."  She tries as hard as she can, as slow as she can, and all that can come out is, "Baba." She can say "Daddy," "Eli," "Sadie" and different variations of the other kids' names. But not the one she needs to say the most!

Since the day I took her out of the orphanage, she has been calling me "Nenah."  Every time she calls out that name, I say, "Mmmammmma" or "Mmmommm" and try to get her to squeeze that "M" sound out. (My speech therapy school days are coming back to me...)

Well, after six weeks of persistence, our practice has finally paid off!  Last week she started saying "Baba" when she wanted my attention, and on Mother's Day, she finally produced the magic word.

Mama. 

It was her gift to me.  She's been calling me Mama ever since.

Getting to Know Her

Ever since I wrote my last blog post about The King and I play, I have had the song "Getting to Know You"  dancing around in my head.

Anya has been home with us for 5 weeks now, and little by little, day by day, we're getting to know her.

Ahem...(Start track now...)

Getting to know you.  Getting to know all about you.

Getting like you, getting to hope you'll like us.  

Getting to know you, putting it our way, but nicely

You are precisely our cup of tea.

Getting to know you, getting to feel free and easy

When we are with you, getting to know what to say

Haven't you noticed suddenly we're bright and breezy?

Because of all the beautiful and new

things we're learning about you

Day

 by

day!

To paint a picture, I want you to imagine two people who fall in love after meeting on the Internet. (Bear with me here...) 

First, they fall in love with a picture and feel like it may be fate. When they meet, they feel the sparks flying they and decide they really like each other.

They have to spend months apart and miss each other terribly.  The wait is torture.

Finally, they get to be together again and they get married!  It's beautiful and miraculous and everything they always dreamed of.

After their wonderful honeymoon, reality sets in and it starts getting a little hard. They have to go through some things while they discover what really makes each other tick. They realize how human they are, and that the relationship takes work. So they dig in their heels and start working at it.

Before long, they learn to love each other for the flaws as well as the good stuff.

Then, something magical happens. Without even noticing, they feel like they are a part of one another.  Like they've always been together.

Even though the hard times still happen, they're comfortable and content together and they can't imagine life any other way.

That's what it's kind of like when you adopt, especially when the child is older.  Of course, the "hard" period is longer for some than it is for others, depending on the circumstances, and like it is raising any child, the ups and downs continue your whole life. But that's it in a nutshell.

When I compare today with a month ago, I feel like we know Anya so well!
At the same time, we've only spent six weeks out of her nearly six years of her life with her. There's still so much to learn!  It's so gratifying figuring out what makes her tick, discovering what works best and noticing how much easier things become in the process.  We're noticing that the annoyances are turning into things we hardly notice. 

And we're learning to love her as our own.

I think she could probably say the same about us.

To help YOU get to know Anya, I thought I'd share some of the things we're learning about her: 

• She loves food.  The only thing she doesn't clean off her plate is raw vegetables.  She eats nearly everything I make.  She is usually the last one at the table, patiently eating every last bite of food on her plate.  When she's done, she points to whatever she wants more of, hoping for seconds.
• Like most toddlers, (and most people who have that extra somethin') she does NOT like to change activities, especially when she's doing something fun!  We usually have to carry her to the new place while she kicks and cries. Then, as soon as we're there, she's happy again.  It's just the transition that makes her mad!!  For the first few weeks, this nearly drove me crazy.  Now, I just sing a little song while I carry her, and before we know it, we're done with the transition and life is chipper again. :)
• Her favorite DVDs to watch are the Disney ones.  Forget the Signing Times and Baby Einstein. She wants the real stories, and she'll sit through the entire thing if there's nothing better to do.
• She is one smart cookie!  She only has to see a sign once, and she remembers it!  We need to learn some more signs! She's also starting to say a few words.  I think she's going to learn at lightning speed in school.  She's very perceptive and her brain is like a sponge.
• She LOVES organized activities of any kind and thrives in groups of children. I brought her along on Bennett's preschool field trip to a nursery the other day. She did everything the other children did and followed directions, even though she couldn't understand much of what the worker was saying! 
• Like all kids, she gets cranky when she's tired. She complains like crazy when we get jammies on at night. But we've figured out that if we lie down and read a book with her and Eli at bedtime and if they both go to bed at the same time, she'll go right to sleep. It took us 3 weeks to figure this out!  (They may be sharing a room for a while. :)
• She loves playing outside and has some pretty impressive gross motor skills for a child with DS who has not had early intervention.  I didn't expect her to be able to climb across horizontal ladders or slide down steep slides by herself at playgrounds. She's brave and she loves adventure!
• She gets so excited whenever her big brothers and sister come home from school, and when Daddy comes home from work.  She makes her signature "surprised" face and gasps, then runs up for a hug. 
• When she gets hurt, or if something hurts, she says, "boobah" and points to what hurts.  A kiss will usually fix it right away.

I hope to get some video of her progress with English soon.  She is doing so great!  Stay tuned for updates on everything she's learning and doing. I think you'll be amazed.

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!