Lost our first Tooth!

Today Elliana lost her first tooth! She has been saying it is loose for a while  Today after church she came home and ripped it out.  Jeff and I were both shocked at the fact she was ripping it out. She did not even freak out with the blood.  I will spare everyone the bloody pictures, in truth I don't really like the blood.  Weeks ago I took Elliana to JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby to get supplies to make her tooth fairy pillow.  I took our ring bearer pillow from our wedding and made it into Elliana's pillow.  We put her name on it and she picked out a patch and fabric for the pocket.  It was really cute. Once she had the tooth out she put it right into the pillow. Well Jeff washed it first.  She keeps showing me another one in her mouth that is loose. I told her that one tooth needs some time.  I just hope no one tells her about attaching a string to her tooth and slamming the door.  I know she will try it.

We are working more and more with the boys on toys.  Tonight they were very interested in the hot wheels car holder which is a car loading semi.  They kept putting them in and out of the holder. It is a start.  However, they still find our dog Mia the most entertaining thing in our house.  Not sure really if Mia is enjoying the attention or not.  She never leaves so I think she does not mind. The boys keep dressing her up.  She is finally starting to understand that no matter what you do they will not stop. She finally threw up the white flag one day and let the boy dress her without moving.  

Tomorrow is a big day for us. It is the first American social worker visit.  I have no idea what to expect. There is only one possible issue that may come up.  One of our kid is labeled special needs.  It is an extremely mild case but the label is there.  Our original paperwork we submitted says  2 - 3 kids with mild or minor correctable needs.  Our one child will never be corrected. Yes we can do lots of things to make them have a better life and not have so many issues but it will never be 100% cured.  I did not keep a copy of another form we filled out, which now I wish I had. This form listed several potential issues. I mean over 300 different potential issues. That form freaked me out.  We had to say yes or no to each issue. There was no maybe at all.  I really think we said no to the special needs label we have.  Only the US government has that form. We filled it out and sent it directly to them.  We asked our agency if we needed to file a addendum to our paperwork and they said no however I think they might be wrong.  We will see what comes out of it. Worse case we have to file the addendum and pay some money. It will prolong our adoption process but I have no idea how long. Hopefully not too long or their vista will expire.  So we will find out tomorrow what exactly will happen.

Bruises

So during bath time I was noticing how many bruises all the kids have.  They are covered.  Then I took a shower that night and realized I had 5 bruises too. I have no idea where they came from. Maybe the toys I trip over or crawling on the floor with the kids. I do not plan on wearing any skirts for a while. HA.

So there are several different kinds of adjustments going on here.  Here is a list of some of the small ones that make me smile or laugh.

-       .   1. When I go to the grocery store I no longer read the expiration date for milk. Expiring in 3 days… no problem, I will take two.

-           2. Check Jeff for sparkles on his shirts before he leaves for work.

-          3. Folding laundry and finding Spiderman or cars underwear. Boy’s underwear is too cute.

-          4. Checking the toilet seat before you sit down, no matter what bathroom you go to. (ok I may not laugh or smile when it happens to me but it is hilarious when it happens to JeffJ)

        5. You are never alone. Going to the bathroom..."Mom can I have cheerios?"  Taking a shower... "Mom I want my stuff dinosaur." Cooking dinner... "Mom can you carry me upstairs."

We have learned a lot more about the kid’s likes and interest over the past few weeks. Hunter loves dinosaurs. He would like to wear only dinosaur’s shirts. He will enter the room sometimes roaring like a dinosaur. It is so funny.  Kohls had their stuff dinosaurs on sale for $3.50/ea so I grab one for Hunter. It is the same one Spencer has but neither seemed to mind.  Spencer loves being outside. I swear he would live outside if possible. It does not matter what you are doing as long as he can be outside. Every time we go inside he asks when he can go back out again. He also really likes dinosaurs and cars, however he is not as picky as Hunter when it comes to what is on the shirt, thankfully. Elliana still is holding some things back. She is a fashion queen.  We got the kids all sunglasses and she only wears her on top of her head. She also has to place her hair with a little swoosh in the front. She would only wear dresses every day if we let her.  We save the dresses for church so that has become her favorite thing currently.  She also has me paint her toe nails and finger nails every few days. Personally I hardly remember to paint mine until I have one toe with the color left. She does like Barbies and bubbles. There really is not one thing yet that she always wants to play with. I need to spend some more time with her.

I know people talk about how Mom's are tuned into their kids and Dads are hardly aware of the small people in the house. Well... this past weekend Elliana comes in the room at 2am and crawls into bed.  She moves a lot when she sleeps. I have no idea how she slept in a tiny pull out bed before and did not fall off. I couldn't fall asleep with the flailing, so I crawl over Jeff and went into her bedroom to sleep. Mia our dog wakes up around 3am for some reason and needs to go outside. She is wining in the bedroom where Jeff and Elliana are sleeping. I go and take her out cause neither of them heard her.  Then the alarm goes off at 5am. I wait thinking Jeff will turn it off. I wait and wait. Finally I hear Jeff move.  Then I hear "What are you doing in our bed?  KRISTEN!"  I just started laughing so hard.  Next night when anyone furry or not furry moved I woke Jeff up and said your turn. HA. 

We had our Both Hands Event this past Saturday.  The event was spectacular.  We were very bless at the amount of folks who showed up to help (66 people, we were expecting 35).  Those 66 people don't include all the behind the scenes who were watching kids, or preparing the food. In a nut shell we cleared enough brush for 2 ½ chipped up dump trucks, we painted 2/3 of the inside of the house and had a wonderful time.  The generosity of folks helping us was beyond expectations.  We had enough donated to us to almost pay for our last two trips.  Any ways towards the end of the event we brought the kids to say “hi” to everyone.  Spencer saw Jeff carrying his chain saw and he completely lit up and started making chain saw sounds.  I have no idea where he learned about chain saws.  He then asked daddy if it was his and his smile grew when Jeff said “Yes.”  That is one tool that will be well hid from now on.  Well a family from our church gave Spencer and Hunter a toy chainsaws and weed-wacker about 20 minutes later.  He absolutely flipped out.  They both love the toys and now Spencer gets mad…I mean really mad when he can’t go outside to play with them.

I have really wanted to decorate the kid’s rooms to make them look like a kid’s room. Currently there is nothing on the walls really and nothing that says, three kids sleep here.  I feel like I need to hold off more for Elliana since I can’t figure her out as easily.  The boys will be a dinosaur theme, which was a no brainer. I am not going to paint the rooms yet but maybe hang a poster or find some wall decals. 

What a week

I know it has not been too long since my last post but so many things have happened. There was some good and some ugly. The ugly part was we had our first ER visit.  We were getting the house ready for Spencer's birthday with the family and we heard lots of banging and then an all out screaming cry. Elliana fell down our stairs. We knew it was bad when we saw a 4" diameter hole in our drywall.  She kept saying that her foot hurt. However there was no way a foot could make that hole. So we kept asking about her head and elbows, she only replied with her foot.  So as people arriving we were leaving to the ER. She had a fracture in her left foot. So it will be several weeks until it heals. We are not walking with her as much and we are making sure we protect it as much as possible.  Every time we had to ice the foot she would say "No ouchy".  

This week also had a lot of good too.  We had a lot of funny moments.  I normally put the kids to bed by singing about 7 lullabies. I take request from the kids too. One night I had to go to work early the next day so Jeff was on duty while I showered. I finished with my shower, and came out to check on everyone. My husband was sulking and the boys were giggling and talking.  I guess when Jeff tried to sing them to sleep the boys thought his singing was hilarious.

Today we took the kids to Target to get more shoes. On the way to the shoe section we past the sleepwear section. The kids are doing so much better at communicated with us. They are say they like something or when they don't.  Well there was a sexy black teddy with some white flowers on it. Elliana goes up to it and points, looks at Daddy and says "I like it".  I wish I had a camera to capture Jeff's look at that moment. In the end Elliana did not get that but ended up with a pair of church shoes.

Doctors and Doctors and more doctors.  In one week we have gone three times to different doctor visits. Elliana to the ER.  Elliana to the doctor for bumps. Lastly all three kids had eye exams.  We are still not finished yet!  Coming up is Elliana exam for her foot. Hunter needs to get his heart checked out in two weeks. I have learned that you call the insurance company before booking appointments. I like our kids' doctor but he keeps referring us to out of network people, so I have to watch that.

For dinner tonight we had some fortune cookies in our house. Elliana's read "Fear is knocking at the door. Faith answers. No one is there."  I really liked that one. This entire process has been a leap of faith. We did not know how this would have all turned out.  We are still learning too. I am learning that you never get too comfortable when you sit down because you will be getting up within a minute or two. Dinner time... I sit down Elliana needs a spoon for applesauce. I come back sit down. Hunter dropped his fork and needs a new one. I come back sit down. Spencer finished his milk and wants more. I come back sit down. Someone needs a "Mommy do" for cutting up food. I sit back down, some one is done and wants 2 pieces of candy.  I sit back down.  If the kids decide that they don't like a particular food that day I find that if I come over and spoon feed them a couple bites they eventually realized that they do like it.  I know they can do it but no one has ever served them before, so I'm doing it now for the sake of saving time.  My kids will be independent but they also need to know someone is there too.

I put some fun Easter pictures below.  These kids are awesome!

Big Toilets

I was just getting used to saying I have a 6 year old, 5 year old, and a 4 year old. Ok well honestly I am just getting used to saying I have kids.  :)  Before today I was saying I have a 7 year old, 5 year old, and 4 year old. Today I am saying I have a 7 year old, 6 year old, and 4 year old.  People were not joking when they say kids grow up fast.  Spencer turned 6 years old today.  It was his first celebrated birthday.  We are having some immediate family over tomorrow but today we did a small ice-cream cake.  Well Spencer and Elliana were not too sure about it since it was so cold. They like the taste just not the temperature.  It was half melted before they both gave up on it. More ice-cream for me.

We were trying to get the point across that they were getting older. We counted up to their age. Well Elliana wanted to know how old Mommy was. So I started at one and counted to my age. When I was around 16 all three stood wide eyed and gasping. I guess I am officially old. Jeff was laughing until I counted how hold Daddy was.  :)

The kids are getting better and understanding what we are saying. That is wonderful. I can't wait until I can actually communicate with them. We drop them off at preschool and we pick them up. I have no idea what they do all day. I want to ask them so badly. For example two days ago I picked them up and Hunter had his change of clothes on. I was carrying a bag with soaking wet clothes. I have no idea how that happened. I had to wait until the next day to call and ask. I guess they were playing with water and Hunter thought he was in a bath tub and kept dumping water on himself. He has never played with water before we got him. We taught him how to play with water in a bath tub so he played like that. Hunter has a nickname of Minion. He gets into trouble but he never means to do anything wrong.

The kids know how to say "I like it".  Elliana was telling me that she likes America because we have big parks, big cars, and big toilets. I started to laugh it was so funny. I thought they were around the same size in our apartment but maybe not where she was before. She also added that she liked Mia and Asics, our two dogs.

We were having a hard time getting the kids to drink milk. In Latvia they sold milk but in small containers so I don't believe most Latvians really drink milk. I do not think our kids really had milk either. One night I had them touch my arm muscle and then I drink a glass of milk flexed and had them touch it again.  They got that point really quickly. So milk equals big muscles. Every time they drink a glass of milk they make us touch their muscles. It cracks me up.  Elliana is one we have to watch because she will not drink very much fluids. I was trying to find ways to get her to drink a glass of water. She was not having it so I took a really large glass out and chugged the entire thing in front of her. I was just trying to say Mommy drinks too and in large quantities.  The point that she got was not what I intended. Now she chugs her drinks, smacks her lips, and say aahh.  At least she is drinking again.  :)