Looking For A Way....

to say Tetyana is adopted when talking with strangers without saying "she's adopted". When we are out in public it is obvious she speaks a different language and she is learning English. Sometimes, because of her accent and the way she speaks, I think some people think she is a special needs child. She could pass as our biological child and most of the time people just assume she is until she speaks.

Let me give you an example....we are at a water park and there are some little girls standing in line in front of us. I can tell they are trying to figure out what is going on with us and they strike up a conversation about the ride. They are simply curious. Saying "we just adopted her" makes me feel like she is an outsider to our family. Like she is separate. So I am trying to find another way to say it. The only thing I came up with was "she just joined our family". But I am not thrilled with that either. Any thoughts?

Teeth and Eyes

This past week we have been working through our to do list for Tetyana. She had an eye appointment and did very well. She did not like having her eyes dilated but she handled the drops much better than Luke did. Afterward, she tried on several frames but we could not find the frames we had seen earlier in the store. Here she is getting her eyes checked and trying on all of the frames. The picture to the right are the glasses she had when we first met her. After we walked out of the orphanage she wouldn't put them back on. She needs them for reading so we updated the frames and told her when she gets the new glasses she will have to wear them all the time. She is okay with it since we found the frames she really wanted. When they are ready, I will upload some pictures of her and her new glasses.

Now the teeth...between getting her here and the dentist we will have spent her college tuition before she even turns 8!!! The bill is nearly $10,000 because they want to do it in the hospital all in one shot. Every tooth in her mouth needs work. She needs like 4 root canals, 4 stainless crowns over her 6 year permanent molars because they are basically crumbling, nearly every tooth has a cavity, she needs 2 extractions and the list goes on. What really gets us is what they did to her teeth in the orphanage AFTER the court date! They pulled 4 molars and come to find out she does not have any permanent teeth waiting to come in. It is congenital the dentist said. Get this, they even left some of the root!! So she will need a permanent spacer that will hold the 6 year molars from falling forward. I am not sure how she chews anything that needs to be chewed with 4 bottom molars missing. The good news is, the 6 permanent front teeth are in good shape and they will just file them a bit to even them out.

The dentist asked that we trust him to get her mouth to where it needs to be and healthy, even if it means he has to do more than what we anticipate. He assured us he is very conservative and will do his best to keep teeth if he thinks they have a chance.

So we are praying that our health insurance will cover part of the hospital costs. In Florida they have to up until age 7...she just missed by a year. The hospital coordinator for the dentist tells me she is very good at writing letters to appeal. Since she has been treated like a newborn by the health insurance we have a pretty good chance.

I was hoping to do the work over a school holiday or a Friday so she wouldn't miss school but they assured me she would be up and around in 4 hours and back to school the next day! How could she have all of this work done and be fine the next day?!! WOW! She is such a strong girl, I know she will be fine!

He Said, She Said....

And there are 3 sides to every story...his, hers and the truth! We are having a little problem with story telling. Since we have been parents to a singleton, we have always known who the culprit was. Now when I say "who broke this?" or "who left the door open?" I am always told the same thing "it wasn't me".

Luke likes to walk the line and really could careless about being in trouble. I often see him weigh the consequence before deciding if he should continue with the behavior. As an adult, we would call this a "risk taker" and commend him for it. As a child, it gets him in trouble.

So one day last week Tetyana made up a story to get Luke into trouble. I think to myself "why would she just make up something that didn't really happen" and continued with punishing him. The truth did finally come out and she did lie. We explained to her about telling the truth and that if she told the truth the punishment may not happen or it would be less than if she lied. She completely understood. She had to spend the evening in her room.

The same scenario happened again on Saturday. She said she was sleeping and Luke poured water in her eyes. I could see Luke doing this but he firmly denied it. What is so strange about this is we weren't talking about sleeping or putting water in any one's eye's. She just told us this story over dinner with Luke sitting right next to her. She did admit to not telling the truth. I thought no TV for 5 days was appropriate but Drew thought talking to her again would be sufficient. That is after I told her we would be suspending her TV privileges and she burst out into tears. I think she is working him big time!

So last night we had another "situation" and I heard most of what happened and then walked in on Luke pushing Tetyana. I am so against boys hitting girls so I came unglued. I grounded him to his room. Meanwhile, Tetyana was telling Drew her side of the story. A little later on, Luke was allowed to tell his side calmly. They were completely different! I mean, it was like they were in two different rooms with other people. He said she punched him (which she has before) in the face and he was pushing her off of him when I came in. Who do you believe? I don't have a history with her.

So again we explained to her about telling the truth and I firmly laid out the consequences...no TV and dessert for 5 days. She started crying and asked me if when she was in trouble did we not love her anymore. I explained to her she would always live with us and we would always love her. Even if she did the worst thing that could ever be done. My heart broke for her. In the 3 months that we have been home, I think this is the first time she has ever expressed fear in her loosing us as a family also.

Any advice out there on this?? I know so much that we are experiencing is part of siblings and over time we will get used to it. I just don't want lying to become a habit for her.

Birth Parent Search

After some discussion and a few conversations with Tetyana we have decided we want to search for her birth parents. She says she wants to tell her mom that she is "okay and happy". We want to tell her parents that we have her here in America, love her to death and promise to always take care of her.

I am hoping someone out there in blog land will have a referral for us. At first I didn't think it would be possible considering the circumstances but Tetyana has given us quite a bit of information that I think could help us find her. Please email me if you know someone that could help...

4th of July

And the fun continues....Tetyana got to experience America's "Happy Birthday". We tried to explain to her what we were going to do and what she would see. We went to a neighboring community where they close down their main street and have bounce houses, music, food and great fireworks!

After eating a yummy dinner at our favorite Colombian restaurant we made our way to the grass where we would watch the fireworks.

There was a fire truck and the firemen were allowing the kids to climb aboard and take pictures. Both kids thought it was so cool!

We all loved the fireworks and it was so awesome having them right over our heads. I think Tetyana said "wow, mommy" a thousand times!

On our way home there was tons of traffic, which we expected. We sat in the car for a few minutes waiting for it to thin out some. Once we got in it, things were moving pretty good but Drew missed the turn off for the freeway. We thought no problem, we will just go through Disney. BAD IDEA!! It took us 2 and half hours to get home when it should have taken us only 25 minutes! We were all so tired and the kids watched an entire movie. I think being so tired just made Drew and I giddy! We spent the entire time laughing our heads off. I think the kids thought we lost our minds! Despite the long night in traffic, Tetyana's first 4th of July was excellent!

Typhoon Lagoon Birthday Party

Told you we have been busy!!!

So Thursday was the birthday party at Typhoon Lagoon. It is such a cool water park. We had been there before but it was before we moved here to Orlando. We forgot how cool it really was. The slides are so much bigger than Aquatica.

Luke brought 3 of his friends and one of his friends sister with us. We found our "spot" and set up camp. Drew and I thought the kids would be tearing off for the slides but they spent most of the day building in the sand. We did get to a few slides, the wave pool, the lazy river and snorkeling with the sharks!

As usual, Tetyana was not afraid to try any of it despite not being able to swim real well. She and Haleigh hung out together and Haleigh (who is 13) was so great with Tetyana. The kids wanted to snorkel with the sharks and Haleigh said she would go with Tetyana. I wasn't sure how Tetyana would do because she doesn't really get that you can float with a life vest on and she won't sink. She freaked out a bit and they got 1/4th of the way and stopped at the reef. I was on the side trying to coax her along and Haleigh was trying to get her to the other end but she was scared. She didn't like the salt water taste. The life guard helped her to the side and she was fine. She said she saw some fish and liked that part but didn't like the salt water in her eyes or mouth. She did use the snorkel pretty good for her first time!

The kids wanted some ice cream so we found this little ice cream shack that sold ice cream in sand pails...OMG!!! It was huge and filled with ice cream, every topping you can imagine and whip cream. The kids loved it! I was afraid they were going to throw up!

The boys had a great time and I think the party was a success!

Luke's Birthday Continues...

Ok, how do kids manage to stretch their birthdays out for a week? Luke started celebrating with his God father and Tetyana on Monday with a movie. Tuesday was his actual birthday and the day was all about him. I think we actually took Wednesday off from celebrating only to continue bright and early Thursday morning with Luke and his friends at Typhoon Lagoon (Disney water park) followed by pizza, cupcakes, swimming and a sleepover. I think we had all of the kids for a total of 27 hours! Boys, no less!!!

We ate at Cheesecake Factory for dinner on Tuesday night and let the kids have dessert first then dinner. Tetyana thought she died and went to heaven! Luke was such a good sport and allowed the staff to sing him Happy Birthday. He hates it but I told him it would be fun for Tetyana to see how we do it in America on your birthday in a restaurant. She was really excited! They ate dinner and then ate another cheesecake!! Here are the pictures from dinner....

How do you like the chocolate faces and braces?!!!

Pictures From Disney

I ran out of space for the picturs with Goofy, Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Although it was great to see these guys at Animal Kingdom, I think Tetyana will really love the Magic Kingdom when we take her in the fall. I can't wait for her to see the princesses!

Pantea Family Visit

Wow! Where did the last month go? We have been so busy and I have so much to catch up on. After our sweet friends, the Conkle's, left we had some more house guests. My best friend and her family finally came to Florida! I have been begging them to come out for 4 years. The visit was worth all of the wait. We had such a great time. They were only supposed to stay for 3 days but they were having such a great time they stayed for an extra 2!

In true Aimee fashion, she came bearing gifts which included Target gift cards. Gift cards...another new concept for Tetyana. They could hardly contain themselves through dinner...all they could think about was buying toys! With the help of dad, Luke picked up Guitar Hero and Tetyana got a baby stroller, baby and carrier. They both were in heaven! The adults ended up playing Guitar Hero until late in the night! What a fun game!!

Their only request was they get a chance to take their 3 year old son Zach to Disney's Animal Kingdom to see the musical Nemo. They didn't think Zach would last an entire day at Disney and honestly, with the heat and billions of summer tourists, I was sure I wouldn't last an entire day at Disney! We ended up going only for a few hours and it was perfect. The afternoon cooled off with a small rain shower and there were hardly any lines in the park.

We all went to the Nemo show and thought it was great. Disney can really do it right! Tetyana had never seen anything like it before and was mesmerized the entire show. Afterward, we took Tetyana on her first roller coaster! She had absolutely no idea what was going on but was all for it. Here are some pictures.....

She was scared to death! The ride takes off and it looks like the rails are broken and the ride comes to a complete stop. Then it goes backward and takes you into a dark tunnel. She screamed the entire time "ME SCARED!!!". I felt so bad. She was so happy the ride was over. I think she was mostly scared of the dark and not the ride itself. She has gone on every ride in the water parks and loves them. Luke loved the ride. I think he has finally grown into roller coasters! I loved the ride and couldn't wait to go again.

While the Pantea's were here we visited Aquatica again for another 8 hours! We had another rain storm which forced us to go home. I think the kids would have stayed there until the place closed! Again, Tetyana took advantage of the all you can eat for a day. She loves that place!

Romy, Aimee, Drew and I actually got to go out to dinner without the kids twice! Paula and Clay were so great and watched the kids for us. We had way too much fun!

On their last night here Drew told Aimee and I to go out and do what it is Aimee and I do best together, SHOP, and the men would take care of the kids. It was great for us to hang out together. We only get to see each other once or twice a year. I miss them already so much!

Thank you Pantea's for a great week and everything else! Can't wait to see you for the birthday celebrations in September!

Happy 9th Birthday Luke!

Wow! Where has 9 years gone!!! I can't believe my sweet little boy is 9 today! His day began with his favorite breakfast...blueberry pancakes and presents. As you can see by the pictures he was very excited about getting Rock Band for his Wii.



Most of his gifts weren't too much of a surprise because Tetyana told him. I took her shopping with me and told her it was a surprise, which she understands, but still wanted to spill the beans. He actually told her to stop telling him! He is growing up!

Tetyana said in the orphanage she got one present for her birthday and it was pencils or books...no toys. She has had a bit of a hard time today with Luke getting so much attention but we have tried to assure her her turn is in just 33 short days! We have started her list and this somehow made it all better! She can't believe she gets more than one present.

We are taking Luke and 4 of his friends to Typhoon Lagoon, one of Disney's water parks, on Thursday. Then the boys are sleeping over. I must be out of my mind to do this....chase kids around all day at a water park. Two kids was busy enough. I am praying for an early afternoon rain shower to get us out of the park by 4:00. Whatever happened to a great game of 'pin the tail on the donkey'?

We are headed out for dinner and I am going to tell the restaurant that it is Luke's birthday so they will sing to him. He hates it and gets totally embarrassed but hey, I am his mom and he embarrasses me all the time! I think Tetyana will think it is so cool (which by the way is her new favorite word).

So much has been going on here in the Paras household and I haven't had a minute to post. Hopefully tonight I will get time. We have had a great couple of weeks!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!!!