How Could It Be 6 Months Already?

We have been home for 6 months! The time has flown by. It was just a year ago today that we got our travel date. We had absolutely no idea what was going to happen when we went to Ukraine. We were so lucky and found the perfect child for our family. I remember being in Ukraine just wishing to get home to start our lives. Here is a little recap of what Tetyana has experienced since becoming an American citizen and what she is like and a picture of when we first met.

• Tetyana has learned to swim.
• Tetyana has learned to ride a bike.
• She is learning to read and spell and has great strengthened her math skills.
• She has celebrated her first American birthday, 4th of July, Mother's and Father's Day and is anxiously awaiting to get dressed up for Halloween.
• She only speaks English and has forgotten almost all of her naitive language.
• She loves Hanna Montana and High School Musical.
• She is still very hungry and wants to eat 24/7. We haven't found anything she won't eat.
• She has only gained 2 pounds but has gained 2 inches.
• Her table manners are so much better.
• She is very obedient and very easy to parent. She is anxious to please us.
• She is very emotional and can turn on the tears at the drop of a hat.
• Tetyana loves school and is happy to do extra homework to get caught up.She has started ballet but I think she would prefer jazz.
• She is a Girl Scout.
• She loves TV and would stand right in front of it all day if we let her.
• Tetyana has learned to use a computer and mouse. Her favorite websites are Club Penguin and Webkinz.
• She is already boy crazy!
• She has no sense of style and needs a lot of help matching her clothes each day.
• She is very friendly and will walk into any situation and make friends.
• She is cavity free!

Here is how we are adjusting as a family:

• Luke often wishes he were the only child again but is happy when he wants someone to play with. They fight all the time over the stupidest things!
• Drew is worried about the cost of feeding her but is still smitten with her. She is thrilled to see him at the end of each day.
• I am still working on bonding with Tetyana. I have come to realize that it is okay that it is taking time. I am trying to let go of the pressure I was putting on myself.

We can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings her and our family!

I Admit It. I Did It....

I broke into the Halloween candy stash! I purposely put the Halloween candy in the utility closet...a place I hate to go...just so none of us have to look at it. The candy would not be calling out to any of us, begging us to eat it. But despite being locked away in a nearly safe place I heard it calling my name. I couldn't help myself! I picked out 2 Snicker bars and ate them in 4 bites! Oh, they were soooo good! Now what will I do if the kids ask for some? Say "No, we are saving that for Halloween?". What will I do if I want more tomorrow?

Sometimes it is good to be the grown up and make the decisions!

Daytona Beach

A couple of Sundays ago we needed something to do so we drove to the closest beach which is a toss up between Daytona and Cocoa. We had been to Cocoa before and wasn't that impressed so we decided on Daytona. I can't say that we were impressed with Daytona either but there was some pretty spectacular people watching out there! I will be nice and keep those photos to myself but I wanted to share the pictures of the kids enjoying the beach and water.















Here is Luke working hard on a sand masterpiece. He worked so hard on this and then the tide came up and took it back out to sea!


Can you see how tired it made him? And the water inching up in the background....

No problem, just have your sister bury you in your masterpiece and act like you are hating it!
Ok, secretly you loved it except when it was time to get the sand out of your pants!

















A fun day was had by all and we even saw Elvis (completely dressed in costume) walking on the boardwalk!!

"I So Lucky"

These are the words Tetyana told me last night while she was watching and questioning me about washing my face. Here is our conversation:



Tetyana: "Mommeeeee, I so lucky I live in Amerrrica now." (Rolling the r's in America)

Me: "Yea, what makes you so lucky?"

Tetyana: "I always want 2 dogs and here I have 2 dogs."

Me: "Did you know anyone in Ukraine that had dogs at their house?"

Tetyana: "No. I so lucky be-cause (a new word for her) I want mom and dad and I have you. I so lucky be-cause I want big house and I live here. I love, love, love Amerrrica"

Me: "We are so lucky because we found you!"

They tell adoptive parents to never expect your child to say "Hey, thanks for adopting me and taking me from the conditions I was in." But this was pretty damn close!

Halloween

Ok, I am quickly finding that you can take a girl out of Ukraine, but you cannot take Ukraine out of a girl!!!

Tetyana has been scouring the Halloween costume catalogs trying to decide what she wants to be. Just about everything she want to be has very high heals and is very skimpy! We went to Party City to look at the costumes and she found a costume that looked just like the one to the left. She wanted to be it so bad and really wanted the boots!

We finally compromised on the Genie. I know she wants to be the Genie because it shows some skin. I would be interested to see if other girls who have been adopted at an older age want to dress like many of the Ukrainian women.


We have a little problem with the costume and nearly all clothing for that matter. She is so thin that everything is so big on her because she needs the length because she is so tall. She has only gained 2 pounds since we have been home. I was concerned about this because everything I have read about orphans coming home said they gain an unbelievable amount of weight in a very short time. I asked her doctor about it when we went in for her pre-op physical and he assured me she is fine. Her parasite testing came back normal. I am still controlling the eating because if we let her, she would eat 24/7. We are pretty sure she does not know what it is like to feel full. I make sure everything she eats is healthy and balanced and I am supplementing with Instant Breakfast in her milk for breakfast and dinner. The doctor confirmed I am doing everything correctly and that we should not just let her eat herself sick. However, if in another 6 months she has not gained at least another 3-4 pounds I think we will retest her for parasites (poor Drew!). There is always something to worry about!

Anyway, it should be interesting when she is a teenager! I have to help her get some style now!!

Spirit Week At School

This week is Spirit Week at school and I just had to share these pictures of multicolor day. Luke always has to do dress up to the extreme. He usually wants to go out and buy the entire costume store but I told him he would have to find stuff at home and we could get the colored hair spray. Tetyana often comes out dressed in multi colors and I have to send her back in and help her pick what to wear. This day she still thought she matched! There was purple in the scarf she had on around her waist! LOL

Today Luke was supposed to dress like a nerd. I wish I would have been more on the ball and taken his picture when he got home. He looked like such a classic nerd! Tomorrow is sports day and we are going to put Tetyana in one of Luke's baseball jersey's. I think it will be really cute because it says our last name on the back. It would be super cute if she could wear a pair of Luke's baseball pants but she is just too skinny and she would spend the day pulling them up!

Surgery Today

These are some pictures before surgery....

Today was the day we had Tetyana's teeth surgery. Last night we got Luke settled over at the Guernier's (thank you so much Guernier Family!!) and all went to bed early. We had to be at the hospital at 7:30 and it is about 45 minutes away without traffic. The thing that made Tetyana most anxious was not being able to eat breakfast. I think she thought she was going to melt away. Poor thing!

We got up and on our way. They make you get to the hospital 2 hours early! It just makes everyone so much more anxious. Tetyana was pretty calm and the nurses and doctors were excellent. They explained everything to her so she could understand. They told her they would not be using any needles while she was awake This made her feel very happy and relieved. We waited around for what seemed like forever. I tried to keep her busy by playing some games and reading (she is beginning to read English!) so we could keep her mind off things.

When the doctor came in to discuss the anesthesia, he told us there would be a nurse named Elaina and Tetyana piped right up. Her BM's name is Olena. We found out Elaina, the nurse is from Russia. I asked Tetyana to tell the doctor where she was from and she said "Russia"! This is the second time in a week she has said she is from Russia. It is the craziest thing. She couldn't remember which city she was from. We discuss Ukraine all the time. Maybe it is a mental block?

Anyway, they came for her and she went off without a problem. The doctor anticipated it would take him between 2-3 hours and he came out after 2 hours and 40 minutes. He told me that he changed much of his original plan once he got in there. He was planning on only extracting one tooth but once he saw the condition of the molars and top canines, he decided to extract 5 teeth, put stainless caps on 2 of the molars in hopes of keeping them until it was time for them to fall out, fill in all of the cavities and file down the front bottom teeth (they were very jagged). He told me I could go back in a few minutes when she was waking up.

On my way back there was another family there that had just come from the patient area and the mom asked me if I was the mother of the little girl in the back. I told her I was and she said "she looks just like you". I smiled at her and told her "that's funny because I just met her 6 months ago". She looked at me like I was totally loosing it and then I gave her a quick version of our story. We hear very often that Tetyana looks like me....I think it is so cool that so many adopted children look like their adopted families.

When I got to the back, Tetyana was crying and the nurse was trying to console her. The nurse told me she kept saying "Where's my mommy? I want my mommy!" When she saw me she nearly jumped into my lap. She looked pretty bad because her face was bright red from the tape they used for the nose tube. She had a little reaction to the tape but by the time we went home she already was looking better.

She had some apple juice, got out her IV and we were on our way after about 45 minutes. She couldn't wait to get in the car so she could eat. She wanted us to stop at Panda Express so she could get some "cheeken". I told her she had to start off slow and gave her a banana.

About an hour after we got home and Luke was home, she asked if she could go swimming! The doctor was right when he said she would be up and bouncing around by the afternoon! Here she is with her teeth. Just the filing of the bottom teeth has improved her smile. I think once the swelling goes down, it will look a little toothless but better. You can see the condition of the teeth in her hand. The were so brown with cavities. We have to go back to get the spacers put in but after that she will be done with the dentist for awhile!

She was very excited to get to bed so the Tooth Fairy could come. What could the Tooth Fairy possibly bring such a brave little girl? For sure an extra dose of magic fairy dust!