Anxiously waiting for daddy to come home!
her and teddy taking their naps!
Don't get me wrong, my daughter is ALWAYS beautiful to me!! even when she is a complete brat...but this is the 'beautiful' that I love best!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Mommy's definition of Beautiful!
Don't get me wrong, my daughter is ALWAYS beautiful to me!! even when she is a complete brat...but this is the 'beautiful' that I love best!
Olena's definition of beautiful!
Today I really wanted to get the perfect picture of her in this little dress. It kills me how cute it is, I just want to eat her up :) Jason was calling her PeggySue all day, he said it looks like she walked right out of the 50s! Anyhow, whenever I pulled my camera out to try and snap a picture, she gave me this "pose" and said "Buful baby momma!". Good grief....
BTW, this dress is 24 months! and I bought her a pair of 24 month pjs and they fit her great! She is growing like a bean. Some stuff is still big but I would say this fall she should fit comfortably in an 18 months! The sweater I got on clearance in Canada for 1.99 :) at the Children's Place.
Pat-a-cake
FINALLY I have gotten one of my videos to post. I have been trying this for weeks.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy. She is hard to understand in this video because this was about the tenth time she had me tape her....she kept saying "again momma....again" The first time she did it, it was perfect and clear throughout the whole song, but I cannot get it too post, too long I think?! AARRGG! anyhow I think this one is just as great (and cuter), it even shows a bit of her stuttering :)
In case you are lost in translation....
*pat a cake, pat a cake bakers man
*roooolllll it, pat it, ma ma ma ma ma mark a "B"
*put it, me and momma.
Seems she missed a few notes :)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Regarding Kissack Post
Tonya was talking about things that related to Lyra's adoption and asked for other parents' stories. Here are a few of mine.
- I had a dream in August of 2006 that Jay and I were camping with the family. I had a toddler in my arms with dark, very short hair, huge dark eyes and pudgy cheeks. She kept telling me that she was 2. My aunt also walked into our tent and she was pregnant, which really surprised me, and surprised the whole family. I called my grandma that morning and told her about the dream. I personally kept visualizing a blond hair blue eyed, 3 or 4 year old when I thought about our future daughter. Also nobody was expecting this particular aunt to get pregnant or have any more kids. Well while in Ukraine, we found our dark haired dark eyed 2 year old, and found out my aunt, the same one, was 2 months pregnant. Surprise!
- We have a friend who is clairvoyant. While at a bbq one night we were talking about the adoption and she told me that my future daughter was currently 9 months old. This was on the night of October 31, 2005. (Olena's bday is 1/20/2005) I laughed at her because at this time I was expecting to travel by December/January 2005- this was before the big shut down. I knew that my awaiting child would not be any younger than 15 months. If it was October and I would be travelling in a few months, than there is NO WAY my daughter is only 9 months old. Who would have thought at that time it would be well over a year before I actually did get to travel. And what do you know...Olena was exactly 9 months old in October of 2005.
- I starting keeping a journal when we began our adoption. On January 18, 2005 I wrote my "daughter" a letter. Expressed my excitement and how happy I was to be coming for her. We were in the process of waiting for the agency to send us the final home study. It is hard to imagine she hadn't even been born yet.
- We started the adoption process in May of 2004. That would be around the time that Olena's birth mother finds out she is pregnant.
- January 20, 2006 (Olena's first birthday) I received the "letter" via snail mail from the NAC that we will be considered for an appointment in 2006. Jason and I discuss backing out of the process because of the shut down.
I am sure that there are more but it doesn't matter, we were obviously meant for each other. There is no doubt in my mind. My dreams and heart have always been set on adopting a girl from Eastern Europe. It is like I always knew. The second Jason and I started talking family, I was determined to get this adoption completed. It is hard to explain and it is sort of Corny, but my heart has always been pulled in that direction. No matter how many times I considered backing out and no matter how mad I got, I knew that I would NEVER really quit. And now, even though I would love nothing more than to return, that pull is gone. I feel a great connection, but I truly think that chapter is closed. I am still waiting for the next "calling" but right now, it is time to focus on me and my health and then we'll see where our hearts lead us.
End of summer is here!
I have a lot to do yet tonight, but I thought I would check in and bring you up to date. Here are a few things that have happened lately...
We went to Northern Michigan and visited my great aunt and uncle who had not met Olena yet. We had a very restful and peaceful time. It was the refresher we needed. She was very well behaved and loved the idea that pretty much every waking moment of her days were spent outside.
I cut my hair off short, and I LOVE it. I had it short back when Jason and I started dating but I have let it grow out since then. I cut it on a whim and couldn't be happier. It is much easier and it is much prettier. I curl it in the morning, which only takes a few minutes, run my fingers through it and I am done. The best part is that it stays that way all day :) I love long hair but all I was doing was wearing it in a pony tail every day and I couldn't stand leaving it down.
Potty training was tried again and failed :( I am not getting frustrated because I can see that she is just not ready, but I am tired of paying for diapers. She just has no interest and has accidents all day long, and it doesn't phase her. I am getting pretty tired of cleaning up pee pee on my furniture. The pull ups feel just like diapers to her, she doesn't even flinch with the cold touch ones - and I can't find rubber pants small enough for her that actually hold the fluid in! It always runs out the legs. We'll try again in a few weeks.
Fall is around the corner! My favorite time of the year. And I am very excited about Olena experiencing Halloween. We have so many great orchards here in Michigan, my parents have a huge Halloween party which is always a lot of fun for the kids, we will be going to Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, and of course the fun of making her costume - well, my mom making the costume. She made everyone one of mine growing up and now she will continue the tradition and make Olena's. She is going to be a fairy - with a Halloween twist!! I am so excited!!! She loves wearing her wings around the house and loves the little fairy stickers that I put on the wall by her school desk so it seemed like the best idea. She is going to look so cool.
Not much progress in her learning since the last post. The pronunciation of her words is greatly improving however she has developed a pretty prominent stutter. It came out of no where. One day she started it and it was happening a lot. We had a feeling it was being done on purpose so we just ignored it. When it continued the next day, we started paying attention and would ask her to slow down when she was having trouble. It has now been about a week , and it is pretty frequent. You can even see her trying to "push" the word out. If you have ever seen the movie Paulie, about the talking parrot...her speech and actions are exactly like the little girl who stuttered. (No, Olena has never seen it.) I am assuming that her little mind is working a lot faster than her mouth can keep up. So I will wait it out. Strangely enough, I myself stuttered when I was a toddler, I out grew it before going into kindergarden and I am fine now. I will admit, every once in a while I will catch myself doing it. Seems she has "inherited" this from me! If anyone has any specific ideas as to what I can do to help her deal with it better please let me know.
That just about covers everything. I posted a few pictures below. Enjoy!
Doing school work praticing letters. This table is the best thing in the world. A family friend gave it to me, it was her girl's table. The top was marked up so I used chalk board paint - now she has a place to color for fun and to practice writing letters and drawing shapes. It is great when we are doing school work.
We went to Northern Michigan and visited my great aunt and uncle who had not met Olena yet. We had a very restful and peaceful time. It was the refresher we needed. She was very well behaved and loved the idea that pretty much every waking moment of her days were spent outside.
I cut my hair off short, and I LOVE it. I had it short back when Jason and I started dating but I have let it grow out since then. I cut it on a whim and couldn't be happier. It is much easier and it is much prettier. I curl it in the morning, which only takes a few minutes, run my fingers through it and I am done. The best part is that it stays that way all day :) I love long hair but all I was doing was wearing it in a pony tail every day and I couldn't stand leaving it down.
Potty training was tried again and failed :( I am not getting frustrated because I can see that she is just not ready, but I am tired of paying for diapers. She just has no interest and has accidents all day long, and it doesn't phase her. I am getting pretty tired of cleaning up pee pee on my furniture. The pull ups feel just like diapers to her, she doesn't even flinch with the cold touch ones - and I can't find rubber pants small enough for her that actually hold the fluid in! It always runs out the legs. We'll try again in a few weeks.
Fall is around the corner! My favorite time of the year. And I am very excited about Olena experiencing Halloween. We have so many great orchards here in Michigan, my parents have a huge Halloween party which is always a lot of fun for the kids, we will be going to Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, and of course the fun of making her costume - well, my mom making the costume. She made everyone one of mine growing up and now she will continue the tradition and make Olena's. She is going to be a fairy - with a Halloween twist!! I am so excited!!! She loves wearing her wings around the house and loves the little fairy stickers that I put on the wall by her school desk so it seemed like the best idea. She is going to look so cool.
Not much progress in her learning since the last post. The pronunciation of her words is greatly improving however she has developed a pretty prominent stutter. It came out of no where. One day she started it and it was happening a lot. We had a feeling it was being done on purpose so we just ignored it. When it continued the next day, we started paying attention and would ask her to slow down when she was having trouble. It has now been about a week , and it is pretty frequent. You can even see her trying to "push" the word out. If you have ever seen the movie Paulie, about the talking parrot...her speech and actions are exactly like the little girl who stuttered. (No, Olena has never seen it.) I am assuming that her little mind is working a lot faster than her mouth can keep up. So I will wait it out. Strangely enough, I myself stuttered when I was a toddler, I out grew it before going into kindergarden and I am fine now. I will admit, every once in a while I will catch myself doing it. Seems she has "inherited" this from me! If anyone has any specific ideas as to what I can do to help her deal with it better please let me know.
That just about covers everything. I posted a few pictures below. Enjoy!
Is she Polish? or Ukrainian? In this outfit, I'm begining to wonder?
Can you at least crack a smile for me? Not a single one out of about 25 pictures would she smile for me. I was trying to capture the moment....she is 'wearing' her first set of side ponytails. Her hair is just long enough.
Doing school work praticing letters. This table is the best thing in the world. A family friend gave it to me, it was her girl's table. The top was marked up so I used chalk board paint - now she has a place to color for fun and to practice writing letters and drawing shapes. It is great when we are doing school work.
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