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.  :)

America "Labi"

I can't explain how happy it is to have these kids. We have waited a very long time and now they are here. These kids are better then what I imagined. The hugs are real. The kiss are real. The random smiles are real.  I sometimes wonder what makes me so special that these three are so happy to be taken away from all they know and are now here with me. It is not all sunshine and roses but it is in the small moments that makes everything worth it. I hold onto those moments and get me through everything else.

We are still adjusting to our schedules. There has been some changing around but we will start to get into a different schedule soon. Jeff and I are now back to work full time. Our jobs have left us plenty of work to come back to. HA. Work is a different kind of stress then watching children.  So currently I don't think one side is draining me from the other. Well maybe the lack of sleep is hurting my work, I am not thinking as quickly as I normally do. I should be getting more sleep soon.  I'm looking forwards to that.

We did take the kids to the dentist.  Hunter is by far the worst. Elliana and Spencer were fine. Those two had no damage and nothing currently needs to be done until adult teeth start to come in. They have weak teeth and spots due to lack of nourishment and high iron in Latvia's water system. Otherwise they are perfect. Then there is Hunter my cuddly little guy. He has 12 teeth in his top half of his mouth. Of these 12, 4 need to be pulled to stop infections. They are dead and nothing but trouble will happen with them. So that leave us with his remaining 8 teeth, 3 need either root canals or have to be pulled. Another one needs to be drilled and filled.  If we pull those 3 baby teeth he will have 5 teeth in his mouth.  That means he can't eat his food. He will have to be on a soft food diet until his adult teeth come in.  We are thinking we should do the root canals.  We are trying to get dental insurance first. We also have to ask Latvia if it is ok to do this type of procedure.  So we are currently on hold. We are brushing his teeth a lot more.

The kids really like to be home. Elliana the other day said America Labi, Latvia neigh. That means American is good and Latvia is not. It made me feel like we were doing something right. We also got the kids to dance! We have been trying for a while and normally Jeff and I look like silly people while our kid stare at us like we are crazy. Ha. But not this last time. They all were jumping around and looking just as silly. They also have a crazy addition to the Disney movie "Mulan."  We have watched that movie over 12 times.  The kids are all speaking more English even our quiet one Elliana who informed us that "It is cold outside" after coming in from the snow.

We still go on walks occasionally but now we bring along a wagon to help save our shoulders and backs if one of the kids get tired.  Spencer is our official wagon puller most of the time.  That is until he tries to run us over with it.  Elliana holds on very tightly if she is riding in the wagon while Spencer is pulling.  

Adjusting all over again

We have been told that we might have to relive some of our earlier adjustment stage. I never wanted to believe it but it is true. If you are adopting be prepared to go almost back to square one when you get home. The only bonus is the kids know you and know what to expect from you.  The stages are shorter but they do mentally go back. The house is new and the people are new. Spencer went back to rocking as his self soothing however, I did not see him do it today. Today he also started giving me smiles again when he would walk in a room. Or just look over at me to make sure I am there. It was good to see those smiles again.  The kids are all sleeping a ton, 12 to 13 hours! Over half the day they are asleep. That was how it started in Latvia as well. What makes it all worth it are all the small things. For example, Spencer wanted me to keep singing him lullaby's tonight. I am not a good signer but he smiles and it calms him.  Elliana when I was sitting on the couch got up from the chair came over and gave me a huge hug with a ear to ear smile.  Hunter just melts your heart when he cuddles with you in the morning. Not sure if we will get that until the weekends but it is my favorite time with him. I stay in bed now waiting to hear for signs that he is awake. Then I wait for him to come into the room and jump in bed with me. He will kiss me and wrap his arms around me half awake. I love it!

I also think that the adjustment was harder because we did not plan as well as we did in Latvia. We are home yes but our normal daily functions are not in place. The schedule will not even be set for another two weeks. We are going to do an educational day care for two days a week. So M-F Jeff and I work. Wednesday and Thursday they will go to day care staring in two weeks. Sunday we have church. We do want to start bible study but think we should wait until they know more English. I did find one really good summer school program but if anyone knows of others please let me know. I am looking for a place to build onto what they know of the ABC and numbers.

Tomorrow will be a traumatic day for them. Jeff and I both go back to work. I am doing a 1/2 day at work and then work when the kids go to bed at night. No sleep for me but the kids might not handle a full day away from us. They only have been away from us both for 2 hours.  Tuesday will be 3/4 of a full work day because we have dentist appointments. We don't have insurance but I am worried about Hunters teeth. If we need to pull some of the teeth or get some surgeries, I want to start before any adult teeth start to fall into place. Not sure how much I have previously written about his teeth but in the front there are some spots where you can see a tooth ring that is gray. There is no tooth just like a nub of one. There is one hole that really bothers me because I think it is a root showing this is the case for the front top four. None of the kids can handle cold or hot food but I really wonder if any of it hurts him.

Life at Home

The kids are doing better then I thought they would be doing. They are back to sleeping over 10 hours a night but I believe that is due to the extra stress of a new place. In Latvia for the first few weeks the kids slept a lot but the last week they were down to 9 hours. So hopefully in a few weeks that will be the case here too.  Also hope in a few weeks the new boundary testing comes to an end. It is like our week one all over again. The only improvement is we just have to count to 1 and they know what happens when we reach 3, "time in."

For three kids who have never been around dogs, they do very well.  They love the dogs. Not sure if the dogs love them, they (the dogs) keep giving us this "what are things things doing here" look HA!

We took them to the local fire department playground, Cleveland's Aquarium, and our backyard. There is a lot of new sights to see and things to learn.  Hunter already did a nice face plant at the park and his face is full of cuts. He also somehow has a nasty looking welt on his butt. It appeared Tuesday. We have no idea where he got it. Looks like he jumped butt first on a match box car.

We had one major language failure this week.  We had the kids outside and we were telling them not to set in the dog's poop.  We were explaining that the dogs go to the bathroom outside.  Well a few moments later Hunter pulls his pants down and poops in the yard.  AAHHHH! He thought he was to go to the bathroom outside.  Bathrooms have been a big change for these kids. When they left the foster we had to teach them to flush after going to the bathroom.  In Latvia toilet paper was not always allowed in the toilet. So now we are home we flush, toilet paper in toilet, and the toilet itself is different. So I can see how he was confused but still I hope my neighbors did not see this.

Today we had our first American Doctor visit.  The kids ended up with 3 shots each. Hunter screamed and cried. Spencer and Elliana did not even move a muscle. We were very proud of them. The doctor wants all three to have their hearts tested. Two of them he feels may have a minor issue.  So they all get a echo gram done in a week. Spencer needs blood work to see if there was any lasting affects from his hard childhood. He would just need medication if there is a lasting deficiency. Elliana is signed up for physical Therapy. That makes me very happy!! We need someone to keep working on her legs. I have been doing some but we need muscle building and I am not sure how to do it. If we put her legs in the correct position she cannot walk because she can't carry her weight on her right leg at all. But if she walks with her feet turned in she can. She just need to build up the correct muscles. I have started working with her and she has no issues doing it until she falls.

They have not had any major issues with the food change. They loved their grandma's chicken noodle soup.  They really like my favorite comfort meal, cream of chicken on rice. Today we gave them green beans and carrots with a dip for lunch. They also had a PBJ sandwich.  The did not eat the sandwich but had thirds and fourths on the veggies. Jeff and I almost made them eat the sandwich by holding back the green beans but thought better of it. Our kids love certain veggies and just about all fruit.

Breaking News:  Elliana this morning kept saying a word to me but I had no idea what it was. Finally at our veggie lunch she pointed to her teeth. I went over and we have our first loose tooth!! She was saying it hurt her. We made a huge deal about it and then she got excited about it. I am tonight working on turning my ring-bearer pillow into a tooth fairy pillow. I got some charms to spell out her name. Tomorrow we will go pick out some fabric to make the pocket. None of our kids have lost a tooth before.  It is not uncommon for orphans to hang onto their baby teeth longer. Since we have been giving her calcium and healthy food her body will start to grow and thrive again.

Travelling Home Part 2

So we fly over to Germany and got onto our next plane with no issues. This was our longest plane ride. The kids did way better then I thought they would.  Don't get me wrong there were times that they had it but overall they did well.  Hunter had the hardest issue being 4 years old.  He screamed for about 30 minuets and cried for another solid hour.  The flight agent gave me a entire stock of gummy bear bags. I think he ate about 8 small bags worth. It kept his quiet and everyone could relax without him crying.  We did do walks about the plane until an flight crew member told me to stop. So we did the stairs up and down to the lower level of the plane.  There was nothing down there besides toilets. At first he thought I would bring him down there to use it so we went about 3 times before he got the idea.

We land in JFK airport and had to go out to grab a taxi or shuttle to LaGuardia airport.  United told us that they have their own shuttle and it will be at no cost. Well that was a lie. They also said our luggage would transfer, another lie.  We ended up taking a shuttle because the taxi lady said 5 people was too many.  We waited for the shuttle for about 30 minutes in low 40ish degree weather. The kids were getting tired at this point and in Latvian time it was there bed time. We get on the shuttle and head to the next airport.  Once at LaGuardia and the guy behind the counter said our flight to Cleveland has been cancelled due to bad weather.  It was low 40s and sunshine in NY.  We called another United agent and our adoption agency.  The only way to get us home that night was for us to go to Newark in NJ.  The kids were laying on the ground around us trying to sleep and a United person came up and said kids can't lay down they have to stand.  Well Momma bear came out.  Our kids should not even be here we should be home or on a plane by now.  I did not say a lot but the guy left me alone and looked back one time and disappeared behind  closed door.

We got a taxi to Newark. We were not following the car safety rules but we did to have a lot of time to catch the 9:25pm plane home.  After a $152 cab ride we get the airport. At this point our kids were done. They could not move. When we got to boarding our plane they started to cling to the chairs. I got Elliana off and she started walking away from us. Now she did look like she was sleep walking.  A person on our same plane offered to carry our bags. I had to take that offer. The kids would not let go of the seat. Jeff carried the boys on and I carried Elliana. We get on the plane and wait.  We waited about 30 minuets for some people to board that had a late connection flight.  We finally start to push away and then we stopped again. apparently the tow bar they use for pushing aircraft away from the gate broke in half and now they have to bring a mechanic out to make sure nothing on the plane broke during the accident.  I was getting upset along with several other people on the plane. Well they did their job and cleared us to take off this set back our flight by 1 hour and 30 minuets. Jeff was going to rip someone apart. This was just too much for the kids.  They needed beds.

Finally we land in Cleveland. I have never been so happy. I used my belt to tie all their backpacks together so we were ready for 3 melt downs.  My father was there to pick us up.  What a beautiful feeling being home after such a terrible trip back home.