Another Monday update

Andrei still isn't walking, and really he doesn't have much interest in trying to launch out from the couch on his own. He still prefers crawling and "cruising" around the furniture as his means of travel, but I know it won't be long. Both my girls were late walkers, and quite frankly, once they start walking, there's a whole lot more baby proofing that has to be done, so I'm OK with him being on the floor for now!

He's starting to talk a bit. He gets in trouble pretty regularly for hitting on the face, and we always repeat "Be soft" to him, so he now says "off" whenever he touches my face--whether he's being "soft" or not. He says "duck" whenever we read this touch and feel book to him although he consequently calls the hen, sheep, and goat "duck" as well, but it's a start. Doug just knows he says "Daddy" and "Doug", but I have my serious doubts about that. He's drinking his milk cold now. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't do the warming up thing forever. I think warm milk is gross anyway. He's not a big fan of green beans, and he's still not too sure about ice cream, but I have no doubt that his sisters will be teaching him about the joys of the frozen confection. He's not too sure about grass yet. We put him on the ground in the back yard, and he sits with his feet off the ground. It's hilarious. He doesn't crawl; he just sits balancing himself on his rear. He does have a strong attraction to dead leaves and bits of grass around him, so he's getting his "greens" you might say. This boy has gone from putting absolutely NOTHING in his own mouth to eating rocks and anything he can get his little fingers on. I was so hoping he was just one of those kids who didn't eat paper and such, but it was all wishful thinking.

He's starting the phase of throwing things off the high chair or out of his crib. I tell him that I didn't pay extra money for him to have a SuperMan blanket, and it's not coming back to him, but so far he hasn't caught on. I watched him yesterday take every one of his Puffs and one by one drop each one on the floor--all 25 of them. He'll be rationed to 5 at a time from now on. I've always wondered just how long it takes them to figure out that gravity works EVERY TIME!! His volume of poop has drastically reduced from 6-8 times a day to maybe twice a day. That's so good to someone who doesn't like changing diapers. Maybe all those toxins are finally getting out of his little body--or maybe he's getting used to American food. I don't really care as to why, but less poop is always a good thing in my book, so I won't ask questions. Andrei is finally starting to protest when someone besides Doug or me wants to hold him, so I guess in the adoptin world that is a good thing!

Nobody has thrown up in my house for 9 days now, so we're on the downhill run for that--praise the Lord! Andrei is still on breathing treatments 3 times a day, and the coughing is down to maybe once a day or not at all, so I know we'll be able to ditch the breathing machine soon!

Moving on the other world shattering events, I cleaned my coffee pot for the first time since we got back from Russia. I wish I could say it was a black one, and I couldn't tell just how nasty it really was, but sadly it is white. My bed has actually gotten made twice this month, and I set my alarm this morning for 6:00 and didn't turn it off and go back to sleep. Perhaps a somewhat normal life can be seen returning one of these days!

And for the most exciting news of the week...Annsley decided she wanted to be baptized, and so Doug baptized her at our church's Good Friday service this weekend. I was so proud of her wanting to make a public profession of her faith. Yeah Annsley!

The Boy from Baby House 10

Just this weekend I finally got around to watching Dateline's episode on The Boy from Baby House 10. Incredible! If you haven't watched it, click on the link and watch at least the first segment. There are 6 total. Each one is about 5-6 minutes http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-boy-from-baby-house-10-part-1/6u0gp1d?q=date+line+boy+from+baby+house+10

It is about a boy who was diagnosed with cerabal palsy and his journey of adoption by an American. I think I was particularly moved for several reasons. One being the recent developments of some families from the Poskv region who are attempting to adopt some special needs children. One family was denied at court with the judge ruling that the child would be better off in an institution than a family. I am floored that this sentiment still exists. Secondly, Dateline shows the fence around the mental institution. I literally got cold chills looking at it as Andrei's orphanage had the same type of fence surrounding his baby house. In fact, nearly all "government institutions"--orphanages, schools, hospitals, etc. have the same type of fence. It is rather eery. Thirdly, we didn't know until the afternoon before we picked up Andrei that his baby house was half special needs. That would explain the strange Stalinistic high chair with about 10 different straps attached to it to belt a child in that where Andrei was fed. I had thought it strange when we were allowed to go into the room where he spent his days that only a 1 or 2 children were out and then they were quickly whisked away to another room as soon as we walked in.

Fourthly, I had a flashback to college (when it's been over 20 years, is it still considered a flash back???) my last semester. A teacher's last semester is spent doing 10 or so weeks of student teaching after you have about 4-6 weeks of classes. One of those classes was Gifted and Talented. Our class took a field trip to a nearby mental institution. To this day, I have NO idea what that had to do with our class, but the van ride back to college was strangely quiet after spending 3-4 hours in an Oklahoma severely mentally handicapped institution. And this was in the good ole USA. I can only imagine what life would be like in countries like Russia for the mentally/physically disabled. We did not visit any place in Krasnoyarsk that was handicap accessible. There were very very few in Moscow, it what we saw were pretty primitive. Truly, this is just ONE of the many reasons why Doug and I now think everyone who lives in this awesome country of ours should go and spend a month in a foreign country--and not in the Marriott. We all should be kicking ourselves for not doing more with the blessings we have here. It made a profound impression on us.

There's puke, and then there's puke...

Again, I apologize for the few and far between posts since we've gotten home. I set up this blog to document our adoption journey, and I'm not sure at what point I need to bring it to a close. I do have one topic I want to discuss before I venture on, but I'm not ready to go there just yet. So, until then, you'll have to labor through my what has become once a week updates!:)

I'm not sure what all the hitting is about with these orphanage kids, but Andrei is doing plenty of it himself. Did he get away with it in the orphanage because he does it too often and laughs too much to think he was ever "repriminded." It is definitely one of the irritating moments we're having at our house lately.

My family has always been so well and healthy. Since we've been home from Russia, Annsley threw up first; a few days later, Kennedi blessed us with it. By the way, it was the first time in her entire life that she has EVER thrown up. I got the 24 hour stomach virus the next day--threw up no less than 20 times. And Doug, not to be left out, came up with it the day after me with the (and I quote) 'high trots and thin scatters...' Andrei voted no way and never caught it--thank the Lord! Kennedi currently is taking antibiotics for her sore throat, and Annsley is taking the same for her severe sinus infection. It is the first time in 3 years that she has been to our pediatrician for being sick. She has thrown up three times in the last four days as well. Andrei has seen our pediatrician 3 times in less than a month. He is also on his second round of antibiotics for this severe lung infection that our pediatrician feels certain he had while in Russia. One week after we got home, he developed this cough that sounded like some 90 year old man that had spent his entire life smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day. He could hardly catch his breath and was laboring to breath. It was so severe that the receptionist at our pediatrician got our doctor out of another exam room to look at him immediately. Round #1 of antibiotics and the sacred breathing treatment machine--always fun for the one year old in your life. Our pediatrician thought that he'd had this "problem" quite a bit in his little life as he was "too comfortable" with his rapid breathing she said. This past Saturday, he was back to the old man coughing and the breathing treatments weren't making a bit of difference, so Doug took him in Saturday morning. Round #2 on major high powered antibiotics now and we have an agressive plan of action to get rid of this thing once and for all. He was coughing so much Saturday night that he threw up all over his bed. He never cried. We wouldn't have even known about it but we went into his room to give him a breathing treatment. He's better now, but I am so tired of cleaning up vomit. Annsley threw up just this morning all over the bathroom rug. I should buy stock in Tide. Don't come to my house these days. It stinks here--literally and figuratively.

On a positive though, Andrei has gained nearly 2 pounds in a month--and that is despite being sick. Go Big Boy! His favorite game in to crawl back and forth over your legs when you are sitting on the ground. He loves to play "tickle" with his daddy. And he loves baths. His father lets him splash, but I don't. In fact, we get out as soon as that starts. I'm sure he thinks I'm not the "fun" one, but it's just a tiny detail I'll have to live with. He's still not walking, but he is so proud of himself when he uses his "walker". He still clucks his tongue when he sees someone eating although it has slowed down tremendously from what he used to do. He grinds his little teeth though, and I still can't figure out what makes him do that...stress...tired....scared....just because....

Getting some Texas sun. (I think he's going to be putting his part Indian daddy under the bus with the suntans!)

Checking out the cat...he's still not too sure about this furry thing...

And More Paperwork! Does it ever end? Ever???

I think Andrei has gained 50 pounds this last week! Not really, but he's sporting himself a little buddha belly these days, and many of his size 12 month clothes are starting to look a bit snug. It's amazing what good nutrition will do!

Our agency gave us the option of doing our Russian Consulate registration at home rather than stay in Moscow for another day, and we gladly opted for that! By the way, I am so incredibly glad that we chose our agency, Wyoming Children's Society. I don't think I had mentioned this before, but while in Krasnoyarsk, we met up with another couple adopting from another agency. Their 2nd trip was 6 days longer than ours! They were spending 29 out of their 30 day tourist visas! Can I have a big shout for our agency's efficiency???!!! So, anyway, we have 3 months to get Andrei registered at the Russian Consulate. I think I have everything ready for poor Loritta to notarize. We have to send in Andrei's Russian passport, and they will put a stamp in it and then send it back to us. So that will be added to the "make sure this file folder goes with you in the event of a natural catastophe." When we left the American Embassy, we were given all the original notarized Russian documents (birth certificate, court decree, adoption certificate, etc.) If we lose them, the only way to get another copy is to travel back to Russia.

We still need to get his American passport...one of these days (sigh...). We got Andrei's certificate of citizenship from the Department of Homeland Security today. We plan to readopt him in Texas one of these days. I'm thinking that it will be much easier to get copies of birth certificates and such as he gets older and will need them rather than using the Russian one with the translation stapled to it. I did find it interesting that he already has a social security card and we didn't fill out any paperwork for that one. Big Brother is watching! :(

Adjusting

I apologize for being absolutely terrible about posting updates. Andrei finally got moved into his own room last night, and I think it was the first time in nearly a month that I slept more than 3 hours at a time. Maybe I can do better now. The girls are now sharing a room. The bunk beds are not going so well with Kennedi. She is having a hard time settling down and not bugging her sister. It's just too tempting not to keep kicking the upper bunk, ya know??? And from what her sister told me this afternoon, she was up at 5:00 throwing Annsley's doll house furniture all over the room. That would explain why my 6 year old was snoring on the couch this afternoon... Maybe I'm the only one sleeping now... Andrei loves to play peek-a-boo. He is now eating his Puffs using his pincher grasp and hitting his mouth with 90% accuracy. I was having the hardest time getting him to drink all his milk before the end of the day, so in a brainchild move, I put it in a straw sippy cup (I love Zoli Bot straw cups!!!) and it has become a non-issue now. He no longer screams when breakfast/lunch/dinner is over; he no longer screams when he gets his diaper changed. He now will let me rock him for long periods of time. At first, anything over 2 minutes and he was arching his back and throwing one heck of a fit. I'm a big advocate of putting my babies down before they are completely asleep, but he is actually relaxing enough to close his eyes and nearly go to sleep in my arms. Yeah! Now, the napping is another issue. He's been hit or miss on the naps. I've been changing his schedule a little by making sure he is up and adam by 7:30AM, and it seems if I have him in bed by 9:45AM for his morning nap, he will generally sleep an hour then. I've been rereading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child again, and I so I started today with a longer "soothing" time before his naps, and it seemed to help. Both my girls were such awesome sleepers, and I owe so much of it to that book. I've finally decided not to even turn on the video monitor until an hour has passed, so that I don't get frustrated watching him not take his naps. It is certainly helping me with my attitude if nothing else. He has taken to Kennedi's old taggie blanket I had made for her. As soon as I pick it up, he pops his thumb in his mouth; it is so automatic it is frightening. I'm so excited that he has picked that up as a comfort object, as in Russia he was always "fingering" the bed sheet and holding it to his nose. I was afraid I was was going to have to cut up one of my bed sheets and have him tote that around. That was pretty sad watching that whole thing. His sisters love him dearly although Annsley is starting to realize that he is taking alot of my time. Kennedi thinks he is her doll and tries to drag him all over the house. When she takes a toy that he's been playing with, he starts babbling loudly like a mad Chinese man. I know he'd be cussing if he knew how to cuss. Annsley keeps asking if he's going to talk Russian when he starts saying words. He has learned his new name, Andrei. He will pat his chest when we ask him, "Who is Andrei?" He pats and pats his chest and just smiles. I think he is trying to say "Ball." It comes out "ga"...close enough if all you've heard is Russian all your life! (EDIT: I apologize for the lack of paragraphing. Blogger kept taking them out. I promise I had them in there!!)

The Andrei Slide Show

So, since I've been too tired to write anything remotely witty, here's a slide show of Andrei in Russia and since he's been home.

10 Days Home with Andrei

It has certainly been an adjustment around here with Andrei. He's probably doing better than the rest of us though! The return jet lag kept us all three up at 3:00AM, but thanks to Tylenol PM, I'm doing better.

Andrei is a great sleeper at night. He's off and on with his naps--not sure what's going on there. We have him in bed by 7:30, and he usually sleeps until 7:30 the next morning. I'm so thankful for the video monitor (thank you Momma Carol!) because he will be awake---and not make a sound in his crib--just waiting for someone to come get him. It makes it nice in one way, but it is so terribly sad that this behavior is a product of his environment.

He loves baths. We're still dealing with the "funk", but it is so much better. He actually smells like a baby every once in a while, so I know we're getting there. :) He still hates his diaper being changed, but it has gone from being upset and frightened to downright throwing a temper tantrum. Mom is having a hard time dealing with that little fit...

We're on operation "Get Good Nutrition" right now. We're throwing down the avocados, flax seed, beans, broccoli, yogurt and anything else that could be deemed nutritional in an effort to "catch him up." He's a pretty good eater--and he's finally stopped throwing a fit when we quit feeding him. His stomach would literally be ready to burst open, but you'd think you were starving him by the way he acted. We've ditched the bottle; he drinks his luke warm milk from a sippy cup flat on his back or in our arms. He refuses to drink it cold.

We've made an appointment with Cranial Tech in Dallas for next week. He's got some serious head shape issues from being a preemie and not being rotated, and we're hoping they think they will be able to help. It will be quite a commitment on our part as it's a 6 hour drive one way for appointments every 2-3 weeks for several months. Stay tuned for that update.

He crawls all over the house. He's pulling himself up and walking along the couch, so it won't be long before he's walking. His fine motor skills are lacking to say the least though. We've seen him use the pincher grasp a few times, but he still doesn't know how to feed himself. He never puts anything in his mouth. We're working on putting the Puffs in his hand and bringing his hand to his mouth to feed himself. He's starting to do it sometimes by grabbing the Puff in his fist, sticking his whole hand in his mouth, and using his teeth to scrape the Puff off his hand. It's very interesting to see the skills that were so abundant in our girls to be non existent in his repertoire.

His attachment to us is going well I think. He maintains great eye contact with us, he "melds" his body to ours when we carry him, and he has started crawling to us for us to pick him up when he is upset. His sisters are great with him; he prefers Annsley by far simply because she is not constantly in his face. Kennedi is dealing with some jealousy issues. I'll be reading a story to her while she's sitting in my lap, and if Andrei pulls himself up and stands by us, she will ever so slowly take her foot and try to push him away. However, she is right there with me when I change his diaper! :)