Monday, July 30, 2007
It's been tough!
Olena riding Shadow
This is Brandy
I just love this picture, not sure why. It just seems so simple.
My little farm girl!Just as the title states....it has been tough. These past few weeks my little darling has officially made her transition into the terrible twos :( We are back to throwing tantrums when we don't get our way. It is nowhere near as bad as when we come home, but nonetheless they happen. It is somewhat comical to watch because she dramatically runs and lunges forward throwing herself onto the floor. The second she hits the floor she jumps back up and does it again in another direction - oh and with no regard to what is in the way. She has met several pieces of furniture up close and personal the past two weeks. I have also resorting to sending her to bed when she is bad or out of hand. We were using the corner but the new fits have including slamming her head on the wall while in the corner. Today she caught the corner of the door jam and ended up with a big egg on her head so the safest place for her to be is in the bed. I don't let her get off the bed and she has to lay there until her mood changes.
We have also put the potty training on hold. There is no training involved anymore. She knows what to do and when to do it, she just doesn't want to. She did great for about two weeks, then she just started going down hill. It got to the point where she didn't even try to go, she would just pee her pants and wait until we noticed. I am not going to waste money on pull ups either because she does the same exact thing. I even tried the cool touch and those just irritated her because they were cold, so she would just take it off and run around naked. I figured she obviously is not ready so we will just wait.
We have had many good days though and have been very busy. We went to my aunt and uncle's house, and went horse back riding. Olena did great. She wasn't scared one bit, and rode the horse like it was something she has done her whole life. It was crazy. She got right on, grabbed the saddle, and away she went. My aunt was very proud of her horse...I felt bad because she was so nervous having Olena up there. It was hot and the flies were biting the horse so he was a little jumpy. And as you will see in the pictures, this horse Shadow, was pretty big. We also went to the Cherry Festival and seen some beautiful chalk drawings. It reminded me of Mary Poppins. Many of these artist were high school students too, unbelievable. Then this past Sunday we had a ladies day and me, Olena and my mom spent the day at the beach. My little fish had a blast. She has no fear of the water, which is pretty scary. But she is trying to make herself swim so I would say next summer she will have the hang of it. No life preservers or floaties were allowed so she would walk out (of course I stayed right next to her) all the way until the water was at her mouth and she was on her very tippy toes. Then she would just "run" back and forth in the water, kicking and lifting herself out of the water and laughing her butt off. It was so funny! Another thing she loves about the beach is trashing the sand castles...even the ones that we didn't make. I felt so bad because all these little kids were working so diligently on their masterpieces and then here comes Olena. She would stake out the shore....find a victim....take off and just run right through the middle....then the run of victory -she would make a full circle around back to our chairs, hide out for a minute and just laugh!!! and yes, you could see the horns :) It kills me just how smart and clever she truly is. I know she is just laughing inside about how clueless we all are. She plays us for fools, I just know it :O)
Anyhow, enjoy the pics and I will update in a few weeks. We have a lot of plans coming up and we are getting ready to do some painting in the house, so things will be busy.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
I have gotten a few comments and emails about her hair being so blond...in reality, yes it has lighten quite a bit but you can tell that it is 'sun bleached' ! I am sure that it will darken back up this fall. But the main reason it looks so light is because her skin has gotten so dark. I edit and brighten the photos, but to see her in person you can really see the change. We were talking to Gene about it and he said that B.M. has 'gypsy/Romanian' decent so that is why she is starting to show the 'olive' completion. 
my little twerp was actually able to pattle this boat all around the pool. It was little a pattle boat but instead of using your feet, it has handles to use your arms. It took her some time to realize that she needed to use both arms at the same time instead of one at a time. She loved it.
All Yogi'ed out....she has on her Yogi tee shirt and camping hat.
The cooler was in the back of the truck and it sits high. We were too lazy to climb back there to get the drinks out so when we needed something we just lifted Olena over the side and had her get it!! Hey isn't that why we all have kids??? :)))Monday, July 23, 2007
More pictures to come...
We just returned from another weekend of camping and Little Miss Olena was beside herself in joy! Actually me and daddy cheated a little and only camped one night, she spent Friday/Saturday with my parents, then Saturday/Sunday Jason and I joined the party. Overall she had a great time. It was Jellystone Camp Ground so she got to meet Yogi Bear and BooBoo which was probably the "best moment of her life" (at least up until this point) she thought that they were hysterical and she talked about them all weekend!!! She had lunch with Yogi and he sat on Dadu's (gpa) lap, of course that was funny!!!! Then she went on a wagon ride and Yogi kept getting off at camp sites and stealing their food and picnic baskets, this brought the girl to her knees in laughter especially when Yogi started to chase Dadu around the tree to get his sandwich. After dinner we got to boogie with Yogi at the dance party, and to top off the night we went on a glow stick walk with BooBoo! OMG!! can't you just feel the excitement! LOL! this extremely excited little girl was even talking about BooBoo in her sleep on Saturday night....good lord what will Disney World bring??? I did get a few pictures so I will post in a day or too, at this moment I am feeling too lazy to walk upstairs and get my camera.
I want to share some exciting news about another "Forever Family" the Abella Family have adopted 3 beautiful children from Ukraine and they will be home soon!!!! Keep them coming :) I don't want to give much more info than that for privacy reasons, but please know that there are still children there waiting for thier mommy's and daddy's! It is so great knowing that this is 3 more lives that will forever be changed for the better!! God Bless them and all of the others who are touched by these precious children.
I want to share some exciting news about another "Forever Family" the Abella Family have adopted 3 beautiful children from Ukraine and they will be home soon!!!! Keep them coming :) I don't want to give much more info than that for privacy reasons, but please know that there are still children there waiting for thier mommy's and daddy's! It is so great knowing that this is 3 more lives that will forever be changed for the better!! God Bless them and all of the others who are touched by these precious children.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
I've been tagged...
Tonya (Kissack blog) tagged me! Just great :) Now I am supposed to say 4 new things I've experienced in the last 4 years and 4 new things I hope to experience in the next 4 years. This is actually making me kinda nervous....let me think a minute
o.k. my experiences are ~ I have become a mommy (to the cutest little girl on the planet).
I travelled to Europe.
I fell in love with my husband all over again when he became a daddy (ooohhh isn't that sweet?).
and finally and most important I started to believe in the power of God! I don't want to say that I "found" God, because He was there all along, I just wasn't listening.
Things I would like to experience ~ moving into a bigger home so that we can expand our family.
I hope one day to feel satisfied and proud of my parenting and know that I truly did my best and gave it 110%
To adopt again or give birth (doesn't matter, as long as one or the other happens within the next 4 years)!
Take a "family" vacation with just the three of us - I would LOVE to go to Alaska!
Well there you have it!! Now you all know me just a little bit better.
There is one problem now though, I am not sure if there are any "rules" to this game. If I need to tag another "blogger", I'm screwed...because besides Tonya and the White's (who don't blog much) I don't know of anyone else who has a blog. So if you see your name, I guess you can just send out an email and carry on the game :)
Jennifer * Jodilynn B. * Uncle John * Kaitlyn
o.k. my experiences are ~ I have become a mommy (to the cutest little girl on the planet).
I travelled to Europe.
I fell in love with my husband all over again when he became a daddy (ooohhh isn't that sweet?).
and finally and most important I started to believe in the power of God! I don't want to say that I "found" God, because He was there all along, I just wasn't listening.
Things I would like to experience ~ moving into a bigger home so that we can expand our family.
I hope one day to feel satisfied and proud of my parenting and know that I truly did my best and gave it 110%
To adopt again or give birth (doesn't matter, as long as one or the other happens within the next 4 years)!
Take a "family" vacation with just the three of us - I would LOVE to go to Alaska!
Well there you have it!! Now you all know me just a little bit better.
There is one problem now though, I am not sure if there are any "rules" to this game. If I need to tag another "blogger", I'm screwed...because besides Tonya and the White's (who don't blog much) I don't know of anyone else who has a blog. So if you see your name, I guess you can just send out an email and carry on the game :)
Jennifer * Jodilynn B. * Uncle John * Kaitlyn
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Lazy days of summer...
Sorry for the lack of written posts but I honestly don't have much to say about anything interesting. We have been enjoying the warm days and doing the bare minimum. The house could really use a good dusting, and I can only imagine what is growing in my toilet bowl, but I figure what the heck, Olena will only be 2 once, I might as well enjoy her :) **sounds like a good excuse anyway?!?! **
I hurt my back last Friday and spent this past weekend doing nothing but sitting in the recliner. I never felt so much pain in my life!! It hurt to move, it hurt to be still, it was ridiculous. Today has been the best day so far - I am moving around with a dull achy pain verses the sharp stabbing pain :)
We are also working on potty training. We started about a week and a half ago. It is going well but I was really expecting it to be easier. She only has about 1 accident every other day, but she won't go by herself. She waits for us to "remind" her or make her go, and when she does we have to help with the removing of the pants and getting her on the potty. She won't use the potty chair so we got one of the those insert able seats with a stool next to the toilet but she is just so darn small it is a lot of work for her. She wears a pull up at night and if we are leaving the house, but in panties the rest of the time. She is too comfortable in the pull up and will just let it flow. With panties on, she can feel it and will come running to me when she realizes what happened. Which usually results in a pee trail across my house and an empty bladder by the time we make it to the potty, while tearing off clothes and trying to maneuver the toilet seat. I took for granted the fact that she was potty trained in the orphanage so I figured it would be a piece of cake, but I failed to remember how strict they were with the potty schedule, and they remained sitting there until they went.
She goes to nina and dadu's house on Thursdays and Fridays. (Nina was Nana - my mom - but one day she just starting calling her Nina?? and Dadu is my dad. When we introduced him as her daduska - grandpa in Russian - she started calling him dadu.) It gives us a break to get a few things done and have some alone time, and my mom takes her to a gymnastics class on Thursday night. We had her in daycare 3 days a week but I quickly changed my mind about that and took her out after 3 weeks. I am sure that there are plenty of good day care centers out there but I am just too neurotic to have them care for my daughter. She now stays home and my best friend cares for her. They have a "preschool" schedule that they follow, and she is much happier when I come home :)
She is now talking is sentences most of the time. Though she needs reminding every once in awhile. She has a habit of being impatient and starts to whine and babble...which of course drives me crazy! So we are working on this. If any of you read the Kissack blog, Tonya recommends Raising Godly Tomatoes. A guide to raising your children to be obedient. I ready the entire website, and we are currently trying to follow the recommendations. We need a little more work because unfortunately it requires you to have 100% control over your children which is impossible for us because we do both work. I have a better advantage at that I only miss out on 4 hours of her day, but that is 4 hours that I loose. She understands the consequence that come with her actions, because the second she misbehaves she either stomps herself to the corner or grabs her tush and sits down and starts to say "no cry mommy - good girl mommy" . I am strong and I don't let it pass without correction regardless of the fact that she is so darn cute. The biggest problem is the fact that she knows it is wrong, but she is determined to try and get her way! so we spend a lot of time trying to correct one thing, over and over, and over again.
I was positive she could count yet I haven't heard her do it alone, unprompted. That is until today, she counted all the way to 10 without hesitation. I was very proud, yet crazy out of my mind because she is sooo smart, but also stubborn beyond belief. She does it when she wants and how she wants - period the end. The ABCs too, she hears them 900 times a day, but yet she will NOT repeat a single letter. What do you do??
I hurt my back last Friday and spent this past weekend doing nothing but sitting in the recliner. I never felt so much pain in my life!! It hurt to move, it hurt to be still, it was ridiculous. Today has been the best day so far - I am moving around with a dull achy pain verses the sharp stabbing pain :)
We are also working on potty training. We started about a week and a half ago. It is going well but I was really expecting it to be easier. She only has about 1 accident every other day, but she won't go by herself. She waits for us to "remind" her or make her go, and when she does we have to help with the removing of the pants and getting her on the potty. She won't use the potty chair so we got one of the those insert able seats with a stool next to the toilet but she is just so darn small it is a lot of work for her. She wears a pull up at night and if we are leaving the house, but in panties the rest of the time. She is too comfortable in the pull up and will just let it flow. With panties on, she can feel it and will come running to me when she realizes what happened. Which usually results in a pee trail across my house and an empty bladder by the time we make it to the potty, while tearing off clothes and trying to maneuver the toilet seat. I took for granted the fact that she was potty trained in the orphanage so I figured it would be a piece of cake, but I failed to remember how strict they were with the potty schedule, and they remained sitting there until they went.
She goes to nina and dadu's house on Thursdays and Fridays. (Nina was Nana - my mom - but one day she just starting calling her Nina?? and Dadu is my dad. When we introduced him as her daduska - grandpa in Russian - she started calling him dadu.) It gives us a break to get a few things done and have some alone time, and my mom takes her to a gymnastics class on Thursday night. We had her in daycare 3 days a week but I quickly changed my mind about that and took her out after 3 weeks. I am sure that there are plenty of good day care centers out there but I am just too neurotic to have them care for my daughter. She now stays home and my best friend cares for her. They have a "preschool" schedule that they follow, and she is much happier when I come home :)
She is now talking is sentences most of the time. Though she needs reminding every once in awhile. She has a habit of being impatient and starts to whine and babble...which of course drives me crazy! So we are working on this. If any of you read the Kissack blog, Tonya recommends Raising Godly Tomatoes. A guide to raising your children to be obedient. I ready the entire website, and we are currently trying to follow the recommendations. We need a little more work because unfortunately it requires you to have 100% control over your children which is impossible for us because we do both work. I have a better advantage at that I only miss out on 4 hours of her day, but that is 4 hours that I loose. She understands the consequence that come with her actions, because the second she misbehaves she either stomps herself to the corner or grabs her tush and sits down and starts to say "no cry mommy - good girl mommy" . I am strong and I don't let it pass without correction regardless of the fact that she is so darn cute. The biggest problem is the fact that she knows it is wrong, but she is determined to try and get her way! so we spend a lot of time trying to correct one thing, over and over, and over again.
I was positive she could count yet I haven't heard her do it alone, unprompted. That is until today, she counted all the way to 10 without hesitation. I was very proud, yet crazy out of my mind because she is sooo smart, but also stubborn beyond belief. She does it when she wants and how she wants - period the end. The ABCs too, she hears them 900 times a day, but yet she will NOT repeat a single letter. What do you do??
Monday, July 02, 2007
Detroit Fireworks....from Canada!
oh boy!! cotton candy :)o.k. I am guilty. I tried to keep her awake by loading her with sugar.
It worked too, she stayed wired right up until the point we put her in her car seat to go home. It was lights out immediately! The sugar hangover caused quite a crabby little girl the next day, so I don't recommend this method :(
Detroit skyline
We decided to take Olena to see her first fireworks display at the Detroit Target Fireworks Display. She was in complete awe and did great! she did spend the majority of the grand finale hanging from my neck, but she had a wonderful time. I have to admit we cheated though, and watched them from the Canadian side. My best friend lives in Windsor so we had dinner with them, then sat Riverside with a great view. On a positive note, we got to watch the show against the Detroit skyline, not a view we normally get.
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