I wish I had something exciting to post but unfortunately that is not the case and I don't even have any new pictures - :( but I do have a little story I thought I would share...
I woke up last Sunday morning and looked outside, it was chilly, damp and gloomy - all I could think to myself and how much the day reminded me of Ukraine. All week, strangely, I had been having several thoughts of Ukraine, our time there and how much I would love to go back. I was just telling Jason about it a few days earlier.
so I was sitting at the kitchen table looking through the paper when the sleeping beauty decided to wake up. She stumbled into the kitchen, gave me hug and looked up at me - all of a sudden it hit me - there I was looking into those huge brown eyes, the ones that melted my heart exactly 3 years ago. Yep, it was our "family day". I had completely forgotten about it. November 15th. The day that I walked into the room of the desky dom and was blessed with the most perfect little girl. Though born to another, I know she was meant for our family. I am forever grateful for her, her birthparents and for God giving me to strength to follow my heart and find her. How lucky am I??
Happy Family Day!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I am highly considering milling my own flour. Tonya gave me this idea back on our trip to GA, and I recently have done some research on it and I am thrilled at what I learned. Anyone else do this? I would love to hear some ideas and comments about what kind of mills you use. I don't have the money to spend on something fancy and I am perfectly fine with using a hand mill - but do they do the job?
The wheat from which most bread is made has proven to be one of nature's most perfect foods, full of vitamins, minerals, and many trace elements.
The seed of wheat is made up of many parts consisting of three basic categories:
The bran, made up of many layers of vitamins, minerals, and rich proteins, forms the tough outer covering. This part of the wheat also provides valuable roughage which acts like a sponge to absorb and remove unwanted poisons and toxins from our digestive sytem.
The germ is the life-giving part of the seed. It's packed with vitamins B and E, but once milled, it can only last 72 hours at room temperature before going rancid.
The endosperm, (or the white centre) is mostly starch with very few vitamins. This is the part of the wheat that most of todays store bought milled flour is made from.
For centuries wheat was milled into flour with large milling stones which crushed the seed grain into whole wheat flour. There were no supermarkets for selling flour, and so people made their flour as and when they needed it, ensuring minimal time difference between making flour and eating the results.
To ensure today's milled white flour lasts long enough to sit in warehouses and on shop shelves for months on end, todays millers have had to remove all trace of the bran and the germ - losing at least 22 of the 26 known vitamins and minerals in the process, and all of the valuable roughage our bodies need to absorb and remove unwanted toxins and poisons within our digestive system.
You get whiter, fluffier bread, cakes or pastries but you get them at a price. Health problems such as Obesity, Diabetes, Hypoglycaemia, Heart Disease, Bowel Cancer and Tooth Decay are just some of the major diseases on the upswing since the introduction of white flour in the 1900's. Many nutritionalists agree that that white flour and other refined foods are largely responsible.
The wheat from which most bread is made has proven to be one of nature's most perfect foods, full of vitamins, minerals, and many trace elements.
The seed of wheat is made up of many parts consisting of three basic categories:
The bran, made up of many layers of vitamins, minerals, and rich proteins, forms the tough outer covering. This part of the wheat also provides valuable roughage which acts like a sponge to absorb and remove unwanted poisons and toxins from our digestive sytem.
The germ is the life-giving part of the seed. It's packed with vitamins B and E, but once milled, it can only last 72 hours at room temperature before going rancid.
The endosperm, (or the white centre) is mostly starch with very few vitamins. This is the part of the wheat that most of todays store bought milled flour is made from.
For centuries wheat was milled into flour with large milling stones which crushed the seed grain into whole wheat flour. There were no supermarkets for selling flour, and so people made their flour as and when they needed it, ensuring minimal time difference between making flour and eating the results.
To ensure today's milled white flour lasts long enough to sit in warehouses and on shop shelves for months on end, todays millers have had to remove all trace of the bran and the germ - losing at least 22 of the 26 known vitamins and minerals in the process, and all of the valuable roughage our bodies need to absorb and remove unwanted toxins and poisons within our digestive system.
You get whiter, fluffier bread, cakes or pastries but you get them at a price. Health problems such as Obesity, Diabetes, Hypoglycaemia, Heart Disease, Bowel Cancer and Tooth Decay are just some of the major diseases on the upswing since the introduction of white flour in the 1900's. Many nutritionalists agree that that white flour and other refined foods are largely responsible.
Friday, November 6, 2009
I'm BACK! Sorry but no Internet connection for a few weeks :( but I have a few things to post and of course a few pictures.
We had a trip up North with my cousin and his family. It was beautiful, relaxing and a great time. We took a River Boat ride, had the perfect bonfire and the kids had a ton of fun.
Olena is doing great. We couldn't be happier with the way things are going. We struggle a bit with behavior and attitude issues but we are trying different parenting techniques - trial and error, and trying find what works best. We have been pretty successful and you can see that she is now trying too and putting in a bit more effort to behave and do what we ask the first time and doing it happily. It makes for a great home life and all of us are really enjoying each other right now. She is getting much more confident on the bike. She finally has the brakes figured out and doesn't have much trouble at all if any. She has had a few spills but handles herself great, gets up and gets back on. It will be a while before we will be able to take the training wheels off but oh well...she is having fun and that's what matters.
She had a great Halloween and she was very excited about being a Witch - and not just any witch, a BAD WITCH! My mom makes her amazing costumes and when we all went to look at patterns she was devastated because all we could fine where Good Witches. But finally, in one of the last books, there is was - the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard Of Oz. We changed up the fabric a bit and made her a bit cuter - but she looked great! and she loved being a Witch for the night!
We had a trip up North with my cousin and his family. It was beautiful, relaxing and a great time. We took a River Boat ride, had the perfect bonfire and the kids had a ton of fun.
Olena is doing great. We couldn't be happier with the way things are going. We struggle a bit with behavior and attitude issues but we are trying different parenting techniques - trial and error, and trying find what works best. We have been pretty successful and you can see that she is now trying too and putting in a bit more effort to behave and do what we ask the first time and doing it happily. It makes for a great home life and all of us are really enjoying each other right now. She is getting much more confident on the bike. She finally has the brakes figured out and doesn't have much trouble at all if any. She has had a few spills but handles herself great, gets up and gets back on. It will be a while before we will be able to take the training wheels off but oh well...she is having fun and that's what matters.
She had a great Halloween and she was very excited about being a Witch - and not just any witch, a BAD WITCH! My mom makes her amazing costumes and when we all went to look at patterns she was devastated because all we could fine where Good Witches. But finally, in one of the last books, there is was - the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard Of Oz. We changed up the fabric a bit and made her a bit cuter - but she looked great! and she loved being a Witch for the night!
Up North -
Oh I forgot to mention that I chopped her hair - hey it all grows back.I get a TON of compliments on it. It is a bit messy in these pics but when done nicely the short cut is adorable on her :)
Milking a cow on the Farm!
Feeding the sheep.
Our River Boat ride, which was so much fun! and Jason enjoyed the $3 mixed drinks that grandma was making at the bar. A glass of Jack with a splash of Coke. (keep in mind this was a 2 hour trip)
The leaves looked like Gold.
We went to this great petting farm in Gladwin. The kids got a bucket full of stuff and a check list of chores that they had to do on the farm. They had a baby bottle that they feed the goats and sheep with. She milked a cow. Sorted the baby chicks. Feed the billy goats and big sheep corn.
Feed the horse and donkeys hay. Fed some ducks and chickens. They had to collect eggs from the hen house and take them to the "general store" where the clerk bought the eggs from and paid with candy. Feed carrots to the Bunny's. and they had to pick pumpkins, which where turned in for prizes. We then got to go on a horse drawn wagon ride around the fields. It was a 300 acre farm with over 600 different animals.
Lots of fun! and it was only $5 a person (kids were Free!)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sorry for the lack of posts
unfortunately I have been in this weird funk lately and just haven't felt like posting - or doing much of anything for that matter. Poor Jason has been dealing with a very emotional and downright wacko wife lately. I am assuming that hormones and my medication have a lot to do with it but today was a bit better so I figured I would take a minute to update.
FINALLY after 2 years, our darling daughter is riding her bike like a champ. When we got home from GA, she kept insisting she wanted to ride her bike like Leela (aka Lyra) so we practiced for a few days and then she got on and just took off. She is so darn cute. We have taking a family walk every evening after dinner and let her ride it so she is getting lots of practice. She is in her own little world, just pedals along and is constantly singing. Too funny. I don't foresee us taking the training wheels off anytime soon because she is truly a "cruiser" and likes to site see too much. She has ran off of the side walk and wiped off a few times and has come inches from smacking into a utility pole. She is too busy singing and taking in the sites and doesn't pay attention to where she is going. I will have to take a picture to post because she is just so tiny and looks so cute riding along. It is great therapy for her too. With the weather getting chilly she doesn't get outside as much and in the evening she is really aggressive and has lots of energy so the long bike rides really mellow her out. I love it!
Her speech is really improving. She takes the time and tries to pronounce words properly and she can conversate without an issue now. Most sentences are complete, not always grammatically correct but a huge improvement from where we were. I have learned that it will all come in due time.
We have discovered that she has mild RAD in addition to her sensory processing disorder so we have been experimenting with some various parenting techniques and I am happy to say that we are seeing some positive results. She is allowing us to hug her more and her eye contact is so much better! I was really worried and a bit anxious about having to tackle this issue but J and I put our heads together and really buckled down. The changes we have made, make a huge impact on her daily behavior so I am much more confident that we can handle this now. We all still have a lot to learn so we just take it day by day.
Sorry no new pictures to post but hopefully I will have the desire to post and chit chat in a few more days!
FINALLY after 2 years, our darling daughter is riding her bike like a champ. When we got home from GA, she kept insisting she wanted to ride her bike like Leela (aka Lyra) so we practiced for a few days and then she got on and just took off. She is so darn cute. We have taking a family walk every evening after dinner and let her ride it so she is getting lots of practice. She is in her own little world, just pedals along and is constantly singing. Too funny. I don't foresee us taking the training wheels off anytime soon because she is truly a "cruiser" and likes to site see too much. She has ran off of the side walk and wiped off a few times and has come inches from smacking into a utility pole. She is too busy singing and taking in the sites and doesn't pay attention to where she is going. I will have to take a picture to post because she is just so tiny and looks so cute riding along. It is great therapy for her too. With the weather getting chilly she doesn't get outside as much and in the evening she is really aggressive and has lots of energy so the long bike rides really mellow her out. I love it!
Her speech is really improving. She takes the time and tries to pronounce words properly and she can conversate without an issue now. Most sentences are complete, not always grammatically correct but a huge improvement from where we were. I have learned that it will all come in due time.
We have discovered that she has mild RAD in addition to her sensory processing disorder so we have been experimenting with some various parenting techniques and I am happy to say that we are seeing some positive results. She is allowing us to hug her more and her eye contact is so much better! I was really worried and a bit anxious about having to tackle this issue but J and I put our heads together and really buckled down. The changes we have made, make a huge impact on her daily behavior so I am much more confident that we can handle this now. We all still have a lot to learn so we just take it day by day.
Sorry no new pictures to post but hopefully I will have the desire to post and chit chat in a few more days!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
We drove over 1300 miles for a total of almost 27 hours, drove up some pretty darn big mountains, had fun racing back down them on the winding road, visited with 10 different friends, seen some spectacular scenery, and walked over 1200 steps into a big waterfall ravine (that I almost did not make it out of.) :) sounds like we had lots of fun, huh? We DID!!
Home from Cloudland Canyon State Park where we camped with the Kissack's and had a wonderful and memorable trip. Then on our 13 hour journey back we split the trip into two days and stayed with some family in Corbin. Sadly it all had to come to an end and we are now back home and getting things back to normal.
A few fun vacation facts...
1. It took Jason about 30 minutes to eat a 24oz cheeseburger. Yes I said 24oz!! it was huge and personally I thought it was pretty gross! The funniest part of it all is that he was determined to finish it so that he could get his picture on the wall of fame, only to find out once he was done that they didn't have the camera! OH!!! Tonya and Landon did get progression pictures which were hilarious so as soon as I can pull them from her blog I will!
2. Perhaps before you let a clan of children be the tour guide on your hike, you should be fully prepared for the worst! Not only did we hike in the soaking rain, but the twelve year old thought it would be fun to guide us down a 40 degree incline of over 600 steps to see some more waterfalls. Think into the future next time...what goes down must come up! UP THE 40 DEGREE INCLINE AND OVER 600 STEPS!!! I swore that they were going to have to call the Medic team to come and drag me out of this ravine. On top of all that, we had no water - no cell phone - 6 children ages 4-12, we were soaking wet and Jason and I didn't really eat anything that morning. We left the camper with the full intentions of just visiting an Look Out Point in the park. Then 2.5 hours later Jason and I crawled out from the trail soaked with rain water and sweat, and probably close to cardiac arrest! On the bright side of the things, we seen some beautiful sites! and pain aside- it was great fun spending that time with the kiddos and watching them have fun.
3. With an Ukrainian reunion comes Ukrainian weather. It rained the whole weekend, just like it did last year and just like it did a majority of the 6 weeks we all lived in Ukraine! We still had fun!
4. They feed their spiders and bugs miracle grow in GA. This is a fact! because it should be impossible for a spider to grow THAT BIG anywhere in the US! I am not normally afraid of arachnids but when I have to share a bathroom with one that I am not even sure would die from me stepping on it, I am a bit uncomfortable with that. My poor child spent the first night having nightmares about spiders and kept waking up flailing out and screaming "there are spiders everywhere!"
5. The original KFC in Corbin KY is the BEST! by far! I am sure they have a reputation to uphold and boy do they do a great job. If you ever have the chance to stop you should. Right off of I75 in Corbin! it is a little museum too.
6. We have some the best friends anyone could ask for! Tonya and Landon and the kids were awesome camping buddies! and Jason and I loved the fact that we got to spend time and get to know the kids much better on this trip. They are all super sweet and funny! Lyra and Olena worked on becoming better friends this time around too!
7. If the Tonya and Landon would have allowed it, we would now have 2 children because Jason was determined to bring Solomon home. He is the funniest little guy you'll ever meet!
Playing in the creek down from the falls
Olena and Lyra at the Aquaraim.
Our tourguides.
Half way through the hike. As you can see we are all soaked.
At the Aquarium.
Home from Cloudland Canyon State Park where we camped with the Kissack's and had a wonderful and memorable trip. Then on our 13 hour journey back we split the trip into two days and stayed with some family in Corbin. Sadly it all had to come to an end and we are now back home and getting things back to normal.
A few fun vacation facts...
1. It took Jason about 30 minutes to eat a 24oz cheeseburger. Yes I said 24oz!! it was huge and personally I thought it was pretty gross! The funniest part of it all is that he was determined to finish it so that he could get his picture on the wall of fame, only to find out once he was done that they didn't have the camera! OH!!! Tonya and Landon did get progression pictures which were hilarious so as soon as I can pull them from her blog I will!
2. Perhaps before you let a clan of children be the tour guide on your hike, you should be fully prepared for the worst! Not only did we hike in the soaking rain, but the twelve year old thought it would be fun to guide us down a 40 degree incline of over 600 steps to see some more waterfalls. Think into the future next time...what goes down must come up! UP THE 40 DEGREE INCLINE AND OVER 600 STEPS!!! I swore that they were going to have to call the Medic team to come and drag me out of this ravine. On top of all that, we had no water - no cell phone - 6 children ages 4-12, we were soaking wet and Jason and I didn't really eat anything that morning. We left the camper with the full intentions of just visiting an Look Out Point in the park. Then 2.5 hours later Jason and I crawled out from the trail soaked with rain water and sweat, and probably close to cardiac arrest! On the bright side of the things, we seen some beautiful sites! and pain aside- it was great fun spending that time with the kiddos and watching them have fun.
3. With an Ukrainian reunion comes Ukrainian weather. It rained the whole weekend, just like it did last year and just like it did a majority of the 6 weeks we all lived in Ukraine! We still had fun!
4. They feed their spiders and bugs miracle grow in GA. This is a fact! because it should be impossible for a spider to grow THAT BIG anywhere in the US! I am not normally afraid of arachnids but when I have to share a bathroom with one that I am not even sure would die from me stepping on it, I am a bit uncomfortable with that. My poor child spent the first night having nightmares about spiders and kept waking up flailing out and screaming "there are spiders everywhere!"
5. The original KFC in Corbin KY is the BEST! by far! I am sure they have a reputation to uphold and boy do they do a great job. If you ever have the chance to stop you should. Right off of I75 in Corbin! it is a little museum too.
6. We have some the best friends anyone could ask for! Tonya and Landon and the kids were awesome camping buddies! and Jason and I loved the fact that we got to spend time and get to know the kids much better on this trip. They are all super sweet and funny! Lyra and Olena worked on becoming better friends this time around too!
7. If the Tonya and Landon would have allowed it, we would now have 2 children because Jason was determined to bring Solomon home. He is the funniest little guy you'll ever meet!
Playing in the creek down from the falls
Olena and Lyra at the Aquaraim.
Our tourguides.This is the Look Out Point
Half way through the hike. As you can see we are all soaked.
At the Aquarium.Lyra, Silas, Solomon(front), Noah(back), Olena, Micah and little Karys!
Monday, September 14, 2009
So last night I was watching the news and seen this big broadcast about Elton John. He announced he would be adopting from Ukraine! WHAT?? Jason and I just sat there laughing - though I love his intentions and think his charity work is amazing, all I could think was how the heck can they let him release this announcement when he had all odds against him. I don't care who you are and I know that money does buy you a lot in Ukraine, but by law no singles can adopt. In addition to that is he 62 years old and this little boy he was supposedly pursuing is only 14 months. That surely goes against their age limitations/laws. And what about preselection? Traveling to a orphange for a concert and finding a child certainly sounds like preselection to me. Though my heart goes out to him and his partner and if they truly want to adopt I hope that they can help a child especially if they are willing to take on one with HIV but please do your research before you announce worldwide what you "are going to do".
Then this morning, another announcement...from Ukraine this time - saying exactly what I expected...NO WAY! While I am sad that at this time this little boy will not get the family he deserves, on the other hand I am happy. The law is the law and that is how it should be for everyone. The fact that certain families feel that they are above the law and that money will get them everything is what has caused all of the issue in Ukrainian adoption. On the sunny side, lets hope that this has many enlighten a few to consider adopting, particularly special needs.
KIEV, Ukraine – Elton John will not be able to adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian child because the pop star is too old and isn't traditionally married, Ukraine's minister for family affairs said Monday.
The pop signer toured a hospital for HIV-infected children in eastern Ukraine on Saturday as part of a charity project and said that he and his male partner David Furnish wanted to adopt an HIV-infected boy named Lev.
But the country's Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage.
John and Furnish, his longtime partner, tied the knot in 2005 in one of the first legalized civil unions in the United Kingdom.
Pavlenko also said John was too old. The singer is 62 and Ukrainian law requires a parent to be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child.
"Foreign citizens who are single have no right to adopt children ... and the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years," Pavlenko said. "The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John."
John gave Lev a big kiss at the orphanage in Makiyivka.
"I don't know how we do that, but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David's heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home," John said.
Pavlenko said Ukraine was grateful for the singer's charity work and expressed hope that his desire to adopt Lev would spur the domestic adoption of more children with health problems, which is still rare in Ukraine.
Then this morning, another announcement...from Ukraine this time - saying exactly what I expected...NO WAY! While I am sad that at this time this little boy will not get the family he deserves, on the other hand I am happy. The law is the law and that is how it should be for everyone. The fact that certain families feel that they are above the law and that money will get them everything is what has caused all of the issue in Ukrainian adoption. On the sunny side, lets hope that this has many enlighten a few to consider adopting, particularly special needs.
KIEV, Ukraine – Elton John will not be able to adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian child because the pop star is too old and isn't traditionally married, Ukraine's minister for family affairs said Monday.
The pop signer toured a hospital for HIV-infected children in eastern Ukraine on Saturday as part of a charity project and said that he and his male partner David Furnish wanted to adopt an HIV-infected boy named Lev.
But the country's Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press that adoptive parents must be married and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage.
John and Furnish, his longtime partner, tied the knot in 2005 in one of the first legalized civil unions in the United Kingdom.
Pavlenko also said John was too old. The singer is 62 and Ukrainian law requires a parent to be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child.
"Foreign citizens who are single have no right to adopt children ... and the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years," Pavlenko said. "The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John."
John gave Lev a big kiss at the orphanage in Makiyivka.
"I don't know how we do that, but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David's heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home," John said.
Pavlenko said Ukraine was grateful for the singer's charity work and expressed hope that his desire to adopt Lev would spur the domestic adoption of more children with health problems, which is still rare in Ukraine.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Today's marks a memory in history...Olena told me for the first time that I was mean and that she didn't like me anymore. It was a complete shock and though I know all kids go through this and I know she didn't really mean it, it kinda hurt my feelings. She has had this bad habit of dumping water on the bathroom floor while taking a bath. She has now done it so many times that it is has now started seeping between the tub and tiles causing it to practically rain in the basement. She knows not to do it and we discuss it every time before she gets in the tub and sure enough I walked in there this afternoon to check on her and soaked my sock the second I stepped through the door. The entire floor was covered and the towel was in a ball and absolutely saturated. I was so mad!! I told her to clean up, and she was getting out. She didn't like this idea and started to scream at me, and said "I don't like you anymore - your mean and I only love my dad!" After we got through the discipline I had a talk with her and tried to explain that she can express when she is mad or upset but it is very hurtful to say something like that to those we love. It has been quite a week...I hope she decides to start behaving herself soon because we have a trip coming up and I really don't want to spend the week dealing with a snotty preschooler. :)
She started karate and had her first class on Saturday. Surprisingly she did exceptionally well. Jason joined us for the class too and he was so happy to see her following directions. I could here him under his breath cheering her on...it was cute :) The instructor had a few of his students do a demonstration and that did scare the bejesus out of her and caused her to cry but other than that she did really well. As usual she is the smallest kid in the class. It ranges from 4-12 year olds and she is probably half the size of the other smallest 4 year old. I forgot just how tiny she is until I see her with other kids her age. I hope she enjoys the class! She loves gymnastics but the class offered at the community center bores her because all they do is set up obstacle courses and have the kids go through them for an hour and it is the same thing every week. The gymnastics center is so darn expensive and they charge per month. With Christmas coming and a few other things we need we are trying to watch the budget. The karate is only $40 for 3 months and it is for 1 hour every Saturday, I couldn't pass up that up. It gives her an opportunity to burn some energy and hopefully she will improve her listening skills and respect!
Some baby news...no babies! at least not right now. Since I "passed" all my tests on the fertility side and there was no real reason for me not getting pregnant the doctor thought it would be good idea to test Jason and sure enough, it seems I am not the sole issue for not conceiving. To save my hubby the embarrassment of discussing his issues in detail on the worldwide Internet I will just say that he is lacking some of the necessary soldiers. The fertility specialist said that artificial insemination would be a good place to start, and if that didn't work she would recommend invitro. Problem is...we are not really keen on the idea. Call me old fashion, (and I am not criticizing those who do) but we like the idea of how babies are suppose to be made. I am not very comfortable with a doctor and lab assisting me. At least not right now. Maybe the desire for a baby will overwhelm the feelings I have about AI or IVF in the future but right now, it just isn't that strong. I believe that if we are suppose to have biological children it is in Gods hands. I often get discourage and even worried about how the human race has taken over many "Godly" actions with science. So here we are again, back at square one...adoption? foster care? or just wait? who knows! Right now we are just both trying to process everything and find some answers in our prayers.
She started karate and had her first class on Saturday. Surprisingly she did exceptionally well. Jason joined us for the class too and he was so happy to see her following directions. I could here him under his breath cheering her on...it was cute :) The instructor had a few of his students do a demonstration and that did scare the bejesus out of her and caused her to cry but other than that she did really well. As usual she is the smallest kid in the class. It ranges from 4-12 year olds and she is probably half the size of the other smallest 4 year old. I forgot just how tiny she is until I see her with other kids her age. I hope she enjoys the class! She loves gymnastics but the class offered at the community center bores her because all they do is set up obstacle courses and have the kids go through them for an hour and it is the same thing every week. The gymnastics center is so darn expensive and they charge per month. With Christmas coming and a few other things we need we are trying to watch the budget. The karate is only $40 for 3 months and it is for 1 hour every Saturday, I couldn't pass up that up. It gives her an opportunity to burn some energy and hopefully she will improve her listening skills and respect!
Some baby news...no babies! at least not right now. Since I "passed" all my tests on the fertility side and there was no real reason for me not getting pregnant the doctor thought it would be good idea to test Jason and sure enough, it seems I am not the sole issue for not conceiving. To save my hubby the embarrassment of discussing his issues in detail on the worldwide Internet I will just say that he is lacking some of the necessary soldiers. The fertility specialist said that artificial insemination would be a good place to start, and if that didn't work she would recommend invitro. Problem is...we are not really keen on the idea. Call me old fashion, (and I am not criticizing those who do) but we like the idea of how babies are suppose to be made. I am not very comfortable with a doctor and lab assisting me. At least not right now. Maybe the desire for a baby will overwhelm the feelings I have about AI or IVF in the future but right now, it just isn't that strong. I believe that if we are suppose to have biological children it is in Gods hands. I often get discourage and even worried about how the human race has taken over many "Godly" actions with science. So here we are again, back at square one...adoption? foster care? or just wait? who knows! Right now we are just both trying to process everything and find some answers in our prayers.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
I am exhausted so I am not sure how long with post will be or even how much sense it will make but I have had this on my list of things to do for way too long now.
Today was my day off and we decided to put our yearly pass to use and headed over the Detroit Zoo. We had a picnic lunch and skipped around to some of our favorite exhibits. It was a beautiful day weather wise and it was an extremely wonder family time. Olena was in a great mood and we had fun. Tonight at the dinner table, she wanted to say Grace..."tank you Lord por my pamily, bless my pood and tank you for no crying today - amen - lets eat" (thank you Lord for my family, bless my food and thank you for no crying today) Though I would never think to say it during our meal time Grace I have to admit I am thankful for no crying today too :) It has been a pretty yucky couple of weeks. Olena has had a bit of an attitude problem, lots of crying fits, and potty accidents - which is absolutely out of her norm. She has been potty trained without incident for over a year now. Thankfully J and I sat down agreed to a set schedule and we both have been following it with great success these past few days. It may have also helped out lovely demon in disguise because her behavior has been a lot more positive these days.
She said at dinner tonight, "hey guess what guys? I love you and I am a good girl!" it is heartwarming to see your children when they are so genuinely happy. It brings peace to your heart knowing you are on the right path as a parent!
We had a garage sale over the weekend. It turned out amazing! Thank you to my wonderful momma and dad! Dad donated a ton of tools which was a huge hit for the men and Mom worked it for my on Thur and Fri while I was at the office. We pulled in nearly $500, which was great. We will be headed out for our reunion with the Kissacks and Whites this fall so this makes a nice vacation fund! It also cleared out a ton of clutter from my house! what more could a mom want?
I have started my research on home schooling and all I can say is OVERWHELMING! good grief there is such an overload of information I am beside myself. I have decided to stop in my tracks and go back to square one. I put together a binder and I am working on some organization that can help me to condense and break down what I have . I ordered a bunch of catalogs too so those have been flooding my mail box this past week and my eyes are now crossed from reading all of this. I have worked preschool time into our current schedule though I am not following any curriculum at this time. I am working on some basics...letters, counting, colors, phonics, etc. She is not much of a sit down and do worksheets kid so I have to be a bit more creative by playing games and using hands on projects they also can't last too long. She can work on one thing for about 20-25 minutes before I start to lose her interest. I just stop at this point because I know she is not retaining any of the learning points in what we are doing. It is a ton of work and lots of information to process but the more we research and learn the more satisfied and pleased we are with our decision to home school. It is not something that neither of us had ever considered before we adopted. We don't come from a home schooling family, in fact I don't think there is a single person in our combined families that even agrees with our decision. There are many factors that have lead us to this choice and I know it is not something that everyone believes in but it is what we want for our family and our children and we feel very blessed to be doing so.
I will be honest and say I hate dealing with people's reactions when they find out you are home schooling. It gets so quiet...and then they say some of the most ridulous things. The strangest and most common comments that we get is "Oh OK, so you will home school her for now, and then put her in public school a little later?" and the good ole standby "how will you socialize her" I love when this comes from the parents who kids are running around the party acting like animals, not listening to their mother, and don't have a single manner in their body. When did home school involve locking my kid in the house and never letting them out. And how does your kid socialize? He/she sits in a classroom with 20 other peers of the same age, for hours with little "every day interaction". ggggrrrr....
I remember hearing other families vent about adoption comments they would hear from others, thankfully I have never encountered any of those so I guess this just comes with the territory!
Like I said earlier, I am tired and seemly a bit cranky too. So on a good note, good night and I am now off my soapbox!
Today was my day off and we decided to put our yearly pass to use and headed over the Detroit Zoo. We had a picnic lunch and skipped around to some of our favorite exhibits. It was a beautiful day weather wise and it was an extremely wonder family time. Olena was in a great mood and we had fun. Tonight at the dinner table, she wanted to say Grace..."tank you Lord por my pamily, bless my pood and tank you for no crying today - amen - lets eat" (thank you Lord for my family, bless my food and thank you for no crying today) Though I would never think to say it during our meal time Grace I have to admit I am thankful for no crying today too :) It has been a pretty yucky couple of weeks. Olena has had a bit of an attitude problem, lots of crying fits, and potty accidents - which is absolutely out of her norm. She has been potty trained without incident for over a year now. Thankfully J and I sat down agreed to a set schedule and we both have been following it with great success these past few days. It may have also helped out lovely demon in disguise because her behavior has been a lot more positive these days.
She said at dinner tonight, "hey guess what guys? I love you and I am a good girl!" it is heartwarming to see your children when they are so genuinely happy. It brings peace to your heart knowing you are on the right path as a parent!
We had a garage sale over the weekend. It turned out amazing! Thank you to my wonderful momma and dad! Dad donated a ton of tools which was a huge hit for the men and Mom worked it for my on Thur and Fri while I was at the office. We pulled in nearly $500, which was great. We will be headed out for our reunion with the Kissacks and Whites this fall so this makes a nice vacation fund! It also cleared out a ton of clutter from my house! what more could a mom want?
I have started my research on home schooling and all I can say is OVERWHELMING! good grief there is such an overload of information I am beside myself. I have decided to stop in my tracks and go back to square one. I put together a binder and I am working on some organization that can help me to condense and break down what I have . I ordered a bunch of catalogs too so those have been flooding my mail box this past week and my eyes are now crossed from reading all of this. I have worked preschool time into our current schedule though I am not following any curriculum at this time. I am working on some basics...letters, counting, colors, phonics, etc. She is not much of a sit down and do worksheets kid so I have to be a bit more creative by playing games and using hands on projects they also can't last too long. She can work on one thing for about 20-25 minutes before I start to lose her interest. I just stop at this point because I know she is not retaining any of the learning points in what we are doing. It is a ton of work and lots of information to process but the more we research and learn the more satisfied and pleased we are with our decision to home school. It is not something that neither of us had ever considered before we adopted. We don't come from a home schooling family, in fact I don't think there is a single person in our combined families that even agrees with our decision. There are many factors that have lead us to this choice and I know it is not something that everyone believes in but it is what we want for our family and our children and we feel very blessed to be doing so.
I will be honest and say I hate dealing with people's reactions when they find out you are home schooling. It gets so quiet...and then they say some of the most ridulous things. The strangest and most common comments that we get is "Oh OK, so you will home school her for now, and then put her in public school a little later?" and the good ole standby "how will you socialize her" I love when this comes from the parents who kids are running around the party acting like animals, not listening to their mother, and don't have a single manner in their body. When did home school involve locking my kid in the house and never letting them out. And how does your kid socialize? He/she sits in a classroom with 20 other peers of the same age, for hours with little "every day interaction". ggggrrrr....
I remember hearing other families vent about adoption comments they would hear from others, thankfully I have never encountered any of those so I guess this just comes with the territory!
Like I said earlier, I am tired and seemly a bit cranky too. So on a good note, good night and I am now off my soapbox!
Riding the train after a great afternoon of some family fun.
The entrance of the Arctic Ring of Life - this is our favorite exhibit! Sadly to say the Polar Bears were not swimming today. We did get to see them up close grazing the hill side which was kinda neat because you get a much better sense of thier size when they are out of the water. We did get to watch the seals though which is always just as fun.
What a cool zoo...we even have a few dinosaurs.Thursday, August 20, 2009
Brief Post
I ordered 2 pair of FuzziBunz cloth "diapers" for Olena and I LOVE THEM! She is still constantly needs a pull up for bedtime and I am sick and tired of wasting money on pull ups and I figured I'd do my part to help the environment. I am really ticked at myself for not buying them earlier. They were $15 each but well worth the investment. We have been using them at night, they don't leak, they don't smell, and they are super easy to clean. Not to mention that they are very soft :) I snapped them in place and O just pulls them on and off like the pull up and they are not any bulkier than a pull up either. I told J that I am so excited to use them that we need to have some babies so I can pad their little bums with these cute things :)
Speaking of babies, yes we are still trying! My OB is not willing to hand over any fertility meds until I get my blood pressure down a little bit more so I am working on that. On the other hand I was able to go back on medication for my PCOS so that in itself will make me better in many ways and increase the chances of getting pregnant. I figure when my body is ready, it will happen. I don't stress about it. We would love more kids and I think Olena is ready for siblings but we are content right now too! so either way is fine by us.
Speaking of babies, yes we are still trying! My OB is not willing to hand over any fertility meds until I get my blood pressure down a little bit more so I am working on that. On the other hand I was able to go back on medication for my PCOS so that in itself will make me better in many ways and increase the chances of getting pregnant. I figure when my body is ready, it will happen. I don't stress about it. We would love more kids and I think Olena is ready for siblings but we are content right now too! so either way is fine by us.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Summer Daze!
Yes I meant summer daze...that is the funk I feel like I am in right now. We have had some very hot and humid weather the last couple of weeks and I am sick and tired of sitting in the central air. My nose is stuffy, I am sneezing like crazy and I feel like I have been living in a cave! Please weatherman bring some relief!
Home life is a bit off the beaten path. Our so called "schedule" was lost many weeks ago. Not sure where it went but it seems that the daddy/husband of the house doesn't like to follow the schedule so that leaves mommy with too many things to do in too little time! Since I have had to come home from work and straighten the house, and prep/cook dinner I haven' t had any time to work with Olena on preschool work. She has started getting up over an hour earlier than usual (a change from 7:30 to 6:30a) which means she is extra tired at night which makes for a very crabby and uncooperative preschooler. So we had to bite the bullet and make her bed time 7:00/7:30. Being that we don't eat until about 6:15 this has made the evenings a bit chaotic. I had a talk with Jason tonight and he agreed that a new schedule needs to be put in place soon and followed by EVERYONE! Wish me luck.
I had my birthday last week, the big 31! and Jason's is tomorrow...35 I think ;) no, he will be 33. Since Wednesday is my day off, we have a few errands to run and then we are going to spend the afternoon at Dave and Busters. Have some good food and play a few games. We haven't had much time to spend together, just the three of us, so I am looking forward to it.
To celebrate life...our birthdays and hopefully many more to come, I cleared the house of all processed foods over the weekend ! and my usual shopping trip was strictly done around the perimeter of the grocery store :) Jason is still in fresh food shock but I know he will be thankful in the long run. We weren't bad eaters to begin with but there was definitely room for improvement. We lacked in the breakfast area, either we don't eat or grab something on the run and we never eat together. So that all changed starting Monday morning. We now eat a breakfast of fruit and either oatmeal or poached eggs. Lunch is fresh fruit and veggies/salad and dinner is protein with veggies and fruit again. snacks are nuts/yogurt/granola/dried fruit. Drinks are only water, milk and OJ in the morning. I do still drink ice tea in the early afternoon but I have managed to switch to unsweetened. Which I don't mind at all. This has helped with the budget too. No junk food or unneeded food is much cheaper. And I can only shop for 1 week since produce doesn't last much longer than that. That also limits how much I buy. When I know it going to sit in the cupboard I tend to buy it "just in case" or because it is on sale.
I am happy with the change and Olena doesn't care because it is not far off from her normal diet anyway and J...well, he'll love it soon :) LOL!
Home life is a bit off the beaten path. Our so called "schedule" was lost many weeks ago. Not sure where it went but it seems that the daddy/husband of the house doesn't like to follow the schedule so that leaves mommy with too many things to do in too little time! Since I have had to come home from work and straighten the house, and prep/cook dinner I haven' t had any time to work with Olena on preschool work. She has started getting up over an hour earlier than usual (a change from 7:30 to 6:30a) which means she is extra tired at night which makes for a very crabby and uncooperative preschooler. So we had to bite the bullet and make her bed time 7:00/7:30. Being that we don't eat until about 6:15 this has made the evenings a bit chaotic. I had a talk with Jason tonight and he agreed that a new schedule needs to be put in place soon and followed by EVERYONE! Wish me luck.
I had my birthday last week, the big 31! and Jason's is tomorrow...35 I think ;) no, he will be 33. Since Wednesday is my day off, we have a few errands to run and then we are going to spend the afternoon at Dave and Busters. Have some good food and play a few games. We haven't had much time to spend together, just the three of us, so I am looking forward to it.
To celebrate life...our birthdays and hopefully many more to come, I cleared the house of all processed foods over the weekend ! and my usual shopping trip was strictly done around the perimeter of the grocery store :) Jason is still in fresh food shock but I know he will be thankful in the long run. We weren't bad eaters to begin with but there was definitely room for improvement. We lacked in the breakfast area, either we don't eat or grab something on the run and we never eat together. So that all changed starting Monday morning. We now eat a breakfast of fruit and either oatmeal or poached eggs. Lunch is fresh fruit and veggies/salad and dinner is protein with veggies and fruit again. snacks are nuts/yogurt/granola/dried fruit. Drinks are only water, milk and OJ in the morning. I do still drink ice tea in the early afternoon but I have managed to switch to unsweetened. Which I don't mind at all. This has helped with the budget too. No junk food or unneeded food is much cheaper. And I can only shop for 1 week since produce doesn't last much longer than that. That also limits how much I buy. When I know it going to sit in the cupboard I tend to buy it "just in case" or because it is on sale.
I am happy with the change and Olena doesn't care because it is not far off from her normal diet anyway and J...well, he'll love it soon :) LOL!
How the time flys!!!
August 2007
August 2008
August 2009Look at this girl's skin. You would swear I have been baking her in the oven! LOL! I have never seen anyone change so drastically and so quickly the way her skin does. And this is WITH SPF70 sun screen lubed from head to toe! BF is a toe head and very Russian looking. BM is very Gypsy/Romanian looking with dark olive skin and huge dark eyes and dark hair. I tend to "forget" she is adopted and I think watching her make these changes and start to resemble them is a "reminder" of who she is - it is bitter sweet I suppose.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Jason came into the kitchen to check on her while she was eating her lunch this afternoon -
this is how he found her!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Mackinac/Port Huron Boat Races were a few weeks ago. We spent the day camping with my parents and watched the sailboats launch from the Port Huron Yacht Club to the starting point. It was a rainy day but a great experience. It was really neat standing there watching them all parade by while bag pipers play music. Olena loved it !
The Earth Voyager is a massive beautiful site. I believe it took a crew of 16 to sail this race!
Nana and Olena aboard the 'FoxSea' our cousin's boat.
The Earth Voyager is a massive beautiful site. I believe it took a crew of 16 to sail this race!
Nana and Olena aboard the 'FoxSea' our cousin's boat.
This and That
Not too much to report. I have been happy the last few days with the fact that Olena has decided to be cooperative, kind, loving, and polite...what else could a mother ask for? I have tacked down a schedule that hasn't been followed as closely as I'd like but we are slowly getting into the routine. We have stopped giving Olena naps which means it is necessary to get her in bed by 8:00. It is great when we do manage to accomplish this because I love having the few extra hours to myself to relax and get a few things done.
I have also decided to add 30 minutes of "preschool" in the evening, 4 days a week. I want her to start getting into the habit of sitting and working on something since we plan to home school. She is such a busy body so this will take some time and patience from the both of us to get her to focus. She does really well and is very eager for the first 15 minutes, after that she starts to get frustrated and gets mad before she even tries. We got some time, so for now it is all about practice!
I gave in and cut her hair. I know I promised to let it grow out and honestly I had all intentions of doing so. I took her to the salon with me to get it trimmed and I cut kept telling her "a little more...a little more!" I thought Jason would be so upset but surprisingly he was in agreement that it looks a lot better. Her hair is so frizzy and wild all we could do was pull it up in a pony tail. I thought since most of her baby hair grew in it would lay better when down, but that was not the case. Her birth mother comes from a Romanian decent so I have a feeling that she is going to be blessed with some pretty coarse and wild hair. I have a few pictures from this evening so I will post them.
in the pictures you will see our new "friend" Mr Slug. Jason found it in the yard today and thought it was the grossest thing ever . So Olena and I decided to put him in the cookie jar (which Jay found even more disgusting) and watched him slide around. These pictures do him no justice, this is seriously the biggest slug I have ever seen when he is stretched out. And he has a black, leopard like pattern on him.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday blues
Normally I do not dread Mondays, but today was an exception. If I could have crawled into bed at 9am, put the covers over my head and wait until Tuesday to come back out I would have!
I can always tell first thing in the morning what mood my little angel will be in and sure enough the second she came into my room at 7am and started barking orders at me about what she wanted, I knew it was going to be a rough day. She sassed and whined all morning while I tried to get her and I ready for the day.
Then when it was time to get dressed for work, I realized that I had no clean work pants! URG!!! So I frantically started yelling at the hubby and he proceeded to tell me that no laundry was done over the weekend because we ran out of laundry soap and no one bothered to make anymore. I was fuming...who was too lazy to make it? and now I know that means I have to wait at least until tomorrow to do a load because it takes a good 24 hours for the soap to solidify!! who's bright idea was it to make our own laundry soap anyway?? sigh! I wore a pair of Capri's and got over it and figured the day must go on.
Work wasn't too bad but I was very disappointed about coming home to a messy house, and a husband who was running out the door as I came in. This frustrated me because just yesterday we formulated a new desperately needed schedule and that was washed down the tubes already on the first day! Oh and did I forget to mention that my darling daughter was still acting like the spawn of Chuckie!
I figured to buy me some time to get the house straightened up and dinner started I would give her a bath. I added bubbles since that is the norm, and to my surprise I came back into the bathroom as she was screaming she hates bubbles and there were bubbles and water EVERYWHERE all over my bathroom. She was taking a toy pan scooping out the bubbles, of course getting water in the process, and FLINGING it out of the tub. I could have died!! It took 3 beach towels and the mop to soak up the mess. Did I mention I hate Mondays!!
Amazingly dinner and bed time took place without a glitch and I am now I am thankful that the day is coming to an end.
Funny little story. Yesterday I decided to try the soap in the Olena's mouth for when she back talks. I had a bar of soap from the earth day expo that I knew was nontoxic so sure enough she was sassy in the evening so I had her bring her stool into the middle of the living room, stand on it and put the bar of soap in her mouth. After a brief lecture I turned my back to get my water and when I walked back into the living room she was eating the darn soap, and with a SMILE on her face!! Good Lord! only my daughter. So now I need to find a less tasty version of this punishment.
I can always tell first thing in the morning what mood my little angel will be in and sure enough the second she came into my room at 7am and started barking orders at me about what she wanted, I knew it was going to be a rough day. She sassed and whined all morning while I tried to get her and I ready for the day.
Then when it was time to get dressed for work, I realized that I had no clean work pants! URG!!! So I frantically started yelling at the hubby and he proceeded to tell me that no laundry was done over the weekend because we ran out of laundry soap and no one bothered to make anymore. I was fuming...who was too lazy to make it? and now I know that means I have to wait at least until tomorrow to do a load because it takes a good 24 hours for the soap to solidify!! who's bright idea was it to make our own laundry soap anyway?? sigh! I wore a pair of Capri's and got over it and figured the day must go on.
Work wasn't too bad but I was very disappointed about coming home to a messy house, and a husband who was running out the door as I came in. This frustrated me because just yesterday we formulated a new desperately needed schedule and that was washed down the tubes already on the first day! Oh and did I forget to mention that my darling daughter was still acting like the spawn of Chuckie!
I figured to buy me some time to get the house straightened up and dinner started I would give her a bath. I added bubbles since that is the norm, and to my surprise I came back into the bathroom as she was screaming she hates bubbles and there were bubbles and water EVERYWHERE all over my bathroom. She was taking a toy pan scooping out the bubbles, of course getting water in the process, and FLINGING it out of the tub. I could have died!! It took 3 beach towels and the mop to soak up the mess. Did I mention I hate Mondays!!
Amazingly dinner and bed time took place without a glitch and I am now I am thankful that the day is coming to an end.
Funny little story. Yesterday I decided to try the soap in the Olena's mouth for when she back talks. I had a bar of soap from the earth day expo that I knew was nontoxic so sure enough she was sassy in the evening so I had her bring her stool into the middle of the living room, stand on it and put the bar of soap in her mouth. After a brief lecture I turned my back to get my water and when I walked back into the living room she was eating the darn soap, and with a SMILE on her face!! Good Lord! only my daughter. So now I need to find a less tasty version of this punishment.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
oh my...where have we been?
I cannot believe it has been so long since I last posted. I wish I could say it was because we have been so busy with lots of wonderful things but that's not the case. It is true we have been pretty busy but just with living life! Jason was out of town for 10 days, leaving mommy with all household duties...including cutting our grass with a push mower (we have 3.5 lots). I HATE cutting grass. My parents use to make me do it as a kid and I vowed to never have to do it when I lived in my own house! and bygolly I have held true to that commitment for the most part. Occasionally when J is gone or has been really busy I pull ranks and do it but he is the full time lawn maintenance crew. He plants a beautiful garden, keeps great grass, and he grows a lot of plants himself from seeds. He enjoys it so we are both happy :) Anyway, O and I had 10 days of girl time which was a lot of fun.
My lovely daughter has been quite a handful lately. Now that communication doesn't seem to be much of problem anymore, she has started talking up a storm. Pretty much within a matter a few weeks, she had great improvement to pretty much a nonexistent stutter. I know it seems impossible but she still has a very strong Russian accent, and her sentences are choppy so she can still be hard to understand if you are not use to her. A lot of her pronunciation is so similar to the Cyrillic alphabet. Everyone seems to get a kick out of her hard throaty Ks and rolled Rs.
Since the talking has taken off like a rocket we now have been dealing with a terribly sassy mouthed preschooler.
Her new favorite sayings are "that's not fair" and "I think you are too bossy!"
She asks "why?" every time we talk to her - and at first I was very supportive and understanding to it. I know every preschooler goes through it so I lovingly explained why to the inquiring mind...now, 3 weeks later, it is starting to get on my nerves! Yes I said it! I just know my daughter all to well and I have a strong inkling that a majority of the time that she does it now, it just to be annoying. I told her it was time to come upstairs and get ready for bed the other day. Of course as expected I hear her little voice...WHY? I just gave her my mom look and she stood up put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes..."I know, I know...stop asking you why. Just do as you say and do it quietly." as she storms up the stairs. I could have fell over with laughter at that moment.
We are kinda at wits end trying various forms of discipline for her sassy words but nothing seems to be fixing the problem. She knows she is wrong, we don't ignore it, and we make her correct herself, but I have a feeling we will need to wade this storm out.
Other than this challenge she is doing very well. Not growing too much, height wise she is still about the same and we are slowly closing in on 30lbs. I weighted her about 3 weeks ago and she was at 28, and it doesn't really seem like she has put on anything since then. She is a great eater, it just takes her forever to eat a meal! She loves her fruit and veggies. Jay and I don't really feed her any processed food, she eats fruit for snacks, and all meals include veggies and fruit as well as a protein. She is not much of a pasta eater and we are just now getting her back into eating bread. Ever since coming home, she has really shunned bread. I guess after being fed those delicious hot sweet rolls from the desky dom for 2 years spoiled her. She only drinks milk and water, we cut out all juices about 6 months ago and I am very happy that we did. I thought it would be impossible but know she has no problem with the water and likes it with lemons. Juice is only given as a treat or on special occasions. This was also a big help with our budget grocery shopping. A decent 100% juice cost about $4-$5 and would only last 2 days. Anything cheap was flavored sugar water. And though I know there are good choices out there, there is nothing healthier for a growing kid than just plain ole milk and water!
On to other news. Since J and I have decided to pursuing a pregnancy I have been studying about different birthing options. This is another reason why you have not seen any new posts - every spare minute I have has been spent with my nose buried in a book. After several documentaries and lots of books, we are highly considering a home birth and have 100% decided on a midwife. This has been truly amazing to learn about and has really opened my eyes to things that I never seen. It is crazy how society plays such a HUGE part in your thinking of your everyday experiences. Home birth was absolutely out of question and a disgusting idea to me, just little over 2 months ago. A friend recommended the documentary "Business of Being Born" and after watching that I was so flabbergasted I started reading everything I could get my hands on. Not only are we pursuing this as a birthing option but I have started researching schools to becoming a midwife. If you are cringing right now at the idea of midwifery - keep this in mind, the US is the ONLY country in the entire world that does not utilize midwifes as the standard care among their pregnant population HOWEVER we rank #7 in the death toll of our mothers/infants. Why? because we think technology is the answer to everything and Doctors love excitement. If a woman can give birth without the help of a doctor and his/her invention - what would they have to do?? Why have we forgot that the woman was built to give birth? Every 3 out of 4 woman in the US today deliver by a scheduled cesarean - these are woman who could have given birth naturally. Lets try and figure out one of the reasons why our county has a huge health care problem and costs - these millions of woman who decide to schedule their surgical deliveries EACH cost the insurance company an average of $14,000. and that's just for the surgery. Lets not forget to add all of the prenatal visits, unnecessary ultrasounds and tests...just to be sure! We are now talking to have a baby in the US cost almost $20,000 per person. They have made it a business. A midwife cost $3000-$4000 - this includes personalized pregnancy, birthing and postnatal care. I could rant and rave forever and there are so many health and bonding issues as towhy it is so amazing but if you are pregnant or thinking about it, don't be so bias - considering learning about it before passing judgment.
My lovely daughter has been quite a handful lately. Now that communication doesn't seem to be much of problem anymore, she has started talking up a storm. Pretty much within a matter a few weeks, she had great improvement to pretty much a nonexistent stutter. I know it seems impossible but she still has a very strong Russian accent, and her sentences are choppy so she can still be hard to understand if you are not use to her. A lot of her pronunciation is so similar to the Cyrillic alphabet. Everyone seems to get a kick out of her hard throaty Ks and rolled Rs.
Since the talking has taken off like a rocket we now have been dealing with a terribly sassy mouthed preschooler.
Her new favorite sayings are "that's not fair" and "I think you are too bossy!"
She asks "why?" every time we talk to her - and at first I was very supportive and understanding to it. I know every preschooler goes through it so I lovingly explained why to the inquiring mind...now, 3 weeks later, it is starting to get on my nerves! Yes I said it! I just know my daughter all to well and I have a strong inkling that a majority of the time that she does it now, it just to be annoying. I told her it was time to come upstairs and get ready for bed the other day. Of course as expected I hear her little voice...WHY? I just gave her my mom look and she stood up put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes..."I know, I know...stop asking you why. Just do as you say and do it quietly." as she storms up the stairs. I could have fell over with laughter at that moment.
We are kinda at wits end trying various forms of discipline for her sassy words but nothing seems to be fixing the problem. She knows she is wrong, we don't ignore it, and we make her correct herself, but I have a feeling we will need to wade this storm out.
Other than this challenge she is doing very well. Not growing too much, height wise she is still about the same and we are slowly closing in on 30lbs. I weighted her about 3 weeks ago and she was at 28, and it doesn't really seem like she has put on anything since then. She is a great eater, it just takes her forever to eat a meal! She loves her fruit and veggies. Jay and I don't really feed her any processed food, she eats fruit for snacks, and all meals include veggies and fruit as well as a protein. She is not much of a pasta eater and we are just now getting her back into eating bread. Ever since coming home, she has really shunned bread. I guess after being fed those delicious hot sweet rolls from the desky dom for 2 years spoiled her. She only drinks milk and water, we cut out all juices about 6 months ago and I am very happy that we did. I thought it would be impossible but know she has no problem with the water and likes it with lemons. Juice is only given as a treat or on special occasions. This was also a big help with our budget grocery shopping. A decent 100% juice cost about $4-$5 and would only last 2 days. Anything cheap was flavored sugar water. And though I know there are good choices out there, there is nothing healthier for a growing kid than just plain ole milk and water!
On to other news. Since J and I have decided to pursuing a pregnancy I have been studying about different birthing options. This is another reason why you have not seen any new posts - every spare minute I have has been spent with my nose buried in a book. After several documentaries and lots of books, we are highly considering a home birth and have 100% decided on a midwife. This has been truly amazing to learn about and has really opened my eyes to things that I never seen. It is crazy how society plays such a HUGE part in your thinking of your everyday experiences. Home birth was absolutely out of question and a disgusting idea to me, just little over 2 months ago. A friend recommended the documentary "Business of Being Born" and after watching that I was so flabbergasted I started reading everything I could get my hands on. Not only are we pursuing this as a birthing option but I have started researching schools to becoming a midwife. If you are cringing right now at the idea of midwifery - keep this in mind, the US is the ONLY country in the entire world that does not utilize midwifes as the standard care among their pregnant population HOWEVER we rank #7 in the death toll of our mothers/infants. Why? because we think technology is the answer to everything and Doctors love excitement. If a woman can give birth without the help of a doctor and his/her invention - what would they have to do?? Why have we forgot that the woman was built to give birth? Every 3 out of 4 woman in the US today deliver by a scheduled cesarean - these are woman who could have given birth naturally. Lets try and figure out one of the reasons why our county has a huge health care problem and costs - these millions of woman who decide to schedule their surgical deliveries EACH cost the insurance company an average of $14,000. and that's just for the surgery. Lets not forget to add all of the prenatal visits, unnecessary ultrasounds and tests...just to be sure! We are now talking to have a baby in the US cost almost $20,000 per person. They have made it a business. A midwife cost $3000-$4000 - this includes personalized pregnancy, birthing and postnatal care. I could rant and rave forever and there are so many health and bonding issues as towhy it is so amazing but if you are pregnant or thinking about it, don't be so bias - considering learning about it before passing judgment.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Some boating fun.
We spent a Saturday afternoon on Lake St. Clair in the new pontoon. It was a very rough start and being it was the first time we launch this huge thing into the water it was a learing experience we will never forget. Lets see, first we argued about how close to he needed to be to the dock, then the wind blew it in the wrong direction and we were facing the wrong end of the canal, we backed into some rocks and chewed up the prop a little bit, some very rude and unGodly man in a wheel chair decided to sit on the side of the ramp and procede to scream profanity at us and harass us, my mom got left on the dock....etc etc etc. But we all lived, we all got to spend some good quality time together and now we can laugh at the whole experience :)
Us girls (Rickie, Olena and I) did some tubing, which she loved - until the 3 of us went airborn and she decided she had enough.
Us girls (Rickie, Olena and I) did some tubing, which she loved - until the 3 of us went airborn and she decided she had enough.
Welcome to Detroit.
Last weekend we were blessed with some beautiful weather so we headed downtown for some sites and some good ole' girls day of fun! Rickie's sister Addie was in town from KY and we only get to see her about 2 times a year. We decided to spend the afternoon walking along the river walk and having some lunch. It as a great day!
some of the sky line from the people mover.
Comerica Park - where the Detroit Tigers play.
Across the river looking at Windsor.
The GM building! this picture will be one of the last :(
Princess! River boat tour. You can rent this for parties, weddings, etc. Or they run river tours with dinner and dancing certain days of the week.
some of the sky line from the people mover.
Comerica Park - where the Detroit Tigers play.
Across the river looking at Windsor.
The GM building! this picture will be one of the last :( 
Princess! River boat tour. You can rent this for parties, weddings, etc. Or they run river tours with dinner and dancing certain days of the week.Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thank you for sharing Tonya.
This was amazing, everyone should take a few minutes to watch it. What a talented and beautiful choir! Enjoy.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
They say the darnest things
This is more for memory sake but I thought I would share one of the many crazy things that come out of my daughters mouth.
Over the weekend she was pretending to get married. She put on her dress up clothes, and had Rickie sing "Here comes the bride" about 100 times.
I asked her who she was marrying? and she so surely replied "MY SELP!" (myself)
I explained to her that when she gets married she will need to marry a boy. A boy that she loves.
She asks me if I am married?
I said "Yes I am - I married your daddy"
she got this completely puzzled look on her face, pointed her finger at her dad and blurted out...
"WHO??? YOU MARRIED THIS GUY?"
Rickie and I busted out laughing so hard, poor Jason just sat there with a complete look of shock. If I could have only had that one tape!!!
Over the weekend she was pretending to get married. She put on her dress up clothes, and had Rickie sing "Here comes the bride" about 100 times.
I asked her who she was marrying? and she so surely replied "MY SELP!" (myself)
I explained to her that when she gets married she will need to marry a boy. A boy that she loves.
She asks me if I am married?
I said "Yes I am - I married your daddy"
she got this completely puzzled look on her face, pointed her finger at her dad and blurted out...
"WHO??? YOU MARRIED THIS GUY?"
Rickie and I busted out laughing so hard, poor Jason just sat there with a complete look of shock. If I could have only had that one tape!!!
Monday, June 22, 2009
My dance Queen!
Finally, after 9 months of ballet class Olena preformed in her very first dance recital. We were very proud, and she proved to be the prefect ballerina! The song they danced to was Fly from the Tinkerbell movie, and all of the little fairies were absolutely adorable. Sorry but no pictures from the show, it is not permitted, but here are a few from my moms house right before. She had me in tears, she looked stunning and "wore" the ballerina look very well...very natural!
practicing her pirouettes
She is so over me taking pictures of her. It is a battle of the wills just to get her to look at my camera.
I was very proud of this bun! The traditional ballerina hairstyle is parted on the left, all hair pulled back, and pinned up high on the head in a ballet bun (I called it a doughnut). oh and don't forget the whole bottle of hair spray that it takes to get it to stay that way!!
practicing her pirouettes
She is so over me taking pictures of her. It is a battle of the wills just to get her to look at my camera.
I was very proud of this bun! The traditional ballerina hairstyle is parted on the left, all hair pulled back, and pinned up high on the head in a ballet bun (I called it a doughnut). oh and don't forget the whole bottle of hair spray that it takes to get it to stay that way!!
CONGRATULATIONS Kissack Family!
Welcome little Karys (sounds like Paris but with a K)!!
btw Tonya...I did have to Goggle that! LOL~
Tonya delivered the most precious baby girl last Friday. The 6th amazing addition to their wonderful family. If you haven't already...go to my sidebar and check out their blog, she is stunning!!!!
We send our loves, hugs, and good wishes to you all. We can't wait to meet her in the Fall.
Tonya delivered the most precious baby girl last Friday. The 6th amazing addition to their wonderful family. If you haven't already...go to my sidebar and check out their blog, she is stunning!!!!
We send our loves, hugs, and good wishes to you all. We can't wait to meet her in the Fall.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I had a DREAM!
Last night I had THE dream! Jason and I found out that I was pregnant. I guess we'll see what happens in the near future :)
Friday, June 12, 2009
I received this in my email today and thought it was worthy of sharing. Not sure how many of you are aware of how the orphanage system works over in Ukraine. Once the child is 15/16 years old they "age out". This means they are now "free" from the walls of the only place they know as home. They are released into the world on their own with nothing the clothing on their back. If they are lucky, they may be given a toothbrush on their way out the door. Too many of the girls get scoped up by men who traffic in human beings for sex. The boys can be used for forced labor.
About 10% of them will commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their 18th birthday.
60% of the girls will end up in prostitution. Those who run prostitution rings target orphaned girls, who are especially vulnerable due to their lack of options and lack of people who care what happens to them.
Though promised good jobs, they end up on the streets and brothels of cities across Europe. 70% of the boys will enter a life of crime. Many of these will die young of violence or end up in prison. Most inmates contract TB in prison.
___________________________________
Hello Friends!
We know it is a very hard time for everyone, and be assured that presenteconomic conditions in Ukraine are WAY harder. For a Ukrainian orphan,graduating and aging out of an internat (orphanage/boarding school) with avery weak 9th grade education, prospects range are dismal and may result inearly death. Their only chance is to go to vocational educational trainingfor 2 years and learn a skill. After the very successful pilot project ofsponsorship of 2008 grads, we now have 10 new hopeful grads who trust us tohelp them. *On the website, scroll all the way down below the 2008 teens’photos* to see the appeal we made last year. Information is still as itwas, EXCEPT that the program is a PROVEN SUCCESS after the 2008 graduateshave gone through this first year. Their sponsors have gotten letters andphotos all year!
http://www.orphansb rightstar. org/projects/ 2008/green_ forest_internat_ vocational_ education. htm<http://www.orphansb rightstar. org/projects/ 2008/green_ forest_internat_ vocational_ education. htm>
Please say you will send $50 per month for full supportor
$25 per month for ½ support (you can team up.)
These 10 grads already believe that they will have sponsors. If we do nothelp, *there will be no one* that these kids can turn to! You can literallygive a teen A LIFE!*WE MUST NOT LET THEM DOWN! *
Thanks, Natalie, Beatriz, and Anna
Contact: Natalie - natalie.dragstedt@ gmail.com
About 10% of them will commit suicide after leaving the orphanage before their 18th birthday.
60% of the girls will end up in prostitution. Those who run prostitution rings target orphaned girls, who are especially vulnerable due to their lack of options and lack of people who care what happens to them.
Though promised good jobs, they end up on the streets and brothels of cities across Europe. 70% of the boys will enter a life of crime. Many of these will die young of violence or end up in prison. Most inmates contract TB in prison.
___________________________________
Hello Friends!
We know it is a very hard time for everyone, and be assured that presenteconomic conditions in Ukraine are WAY harder. For a Ukrainian orphan,graduating and aging out of an internat (orphanage/boarding school) with avery weak 9th grade education, prospects range are dismal and may result inearly death. Their only chance is to go to vocational educational trainingfor 2 years and learn a skill. After the very successful pilot project ofsponsorship of 2008 grads, we now have 10 new hopeful grads who trust us tohelp them. *On the website, scroll all the way down below the 2008 teens’photos* to see the appeal we made last year. Information is still as itwas, EXCEPT that the program is a PROVEN SUCCESS after the 2008 graduateshave gone through this first year. Their sponsors have gotten letters andphotos all year!
http://www.orphansb rightstar. org/projects/ 2008/green_ forest_internat_ vocational_ education. htm<http://www.orphansb rightstar. org/projects/ 2008/green_ forest_internat_ vocational_ education. htm>
Please say you will send $50 per month for full supportor
$25 per month for ½ support (you can team up.)
These 10 grads already believe that they will have sponsors. If we do nothelp, *there will be no one* that these kids can turn to! You can literallygive a teen A LIFE!*WE MUST NOT LET THEM DOWN! *
Thanks, Natalie, Beatriz, and Anna
Contact: Natalie - natalie.dragstedt@ gmail.com
Niagara Information
I had a few inquires about where we stayed while in Niagara, and I thought I would make a post because we truly had a great experience. We stayed at a campground about 7 miles from the Niagara "parkway". It was called Niagara RV. I recommend them 100% PERFECT park. We stayed in a fully furnished 32ft RV camper. It had a built on deck, rocking chairs on the porch, and it was stocked with everything except food, toiletries and linens. Very clean! built in stereo system, A/C - the works! anyhow there are 2 campers, Rickie and Dan stayed in the other one. There's had 2 bedrooms, one with a queen bed and one with 2 sets of bunks. Ours had 1 bedroom with a queen bed and a pull out couch. Of course the tables turn into beds too. The 2 bedroom was a bit spacer in the "living area" but they were both fabulous. We stayed 3 nights for $200 CA. What a bargain. The camp ground was very clean, extremely friendly - lots of "permanent" campers there. It was family owned and ran - and they are some of the greatest people I ever met...please just go and take your families. You'll love. OH they also have a huge pool with "beach" style entry and there are fountains - dumping buckets - spraying thingies that the kids like. unfortunately it was too early in the season when we went and it was not open yet :( not the greatest park for the kids but lots of different stuff but it is all pretty old. Our kids didn't mind and still had fun.
Kids 5 and under are free for everything and we bought a pass for us that was $40CA it got us into 7 different attractions and we got half off of the others that were not included in the pass. We got the additional tickets for the butterfly house. We also got 2 days passes for the people mover. We parked at the furthest attraction and rode the bus down the parkway. It stops at every location, and they round every 15 minutes! Believe me this was plenty to do. We spent two days in the park and we still didn't get to everything. Also all passes are good until October!
If anyone else has any other questions...just let me know.
Word of warning for those of you who are considering the trip...we heard that August is very BUSY.
Kids 5 and under are free for everything and we bought a pass for us that was $40CA it got us into 7 different attractions and we got half off of the others that were not included in the pass. We got the additional tickets for the butterfly house. We also got 2 days passes for the people mover. We parked at the furthest attraction and rode the bus down the parkway. It stops at every location, and they round every 15 minutes! Believe me this was plenty to do. We spent two days in the park and we still didn't get to everything. Also all passes are good until October!
If anyone else has any other questions...just let me know.
Word of warning for those of you who are considering the trip...we heard that August is very BUSY.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
This is a view from the look out at the bottom west side of the Horseshoe Falls. You can see this from the Journey Under the Falls. 
This shows the erosion of the Falls since they have been formed. It has eroded back over 7 miles.
View of the American Falls and the bridge between the two countries.
Another amazing picture of the Horseshoe Falls.
A view from the top.There is a story about an involuntary, but successful, trip over the falls by a seven year old boy in 1960. The boy and his 17 year old sister were out on the river with a neighbor in his boat. The outboard motor failed, the boat overturned and they were carried towards the falls. The boy and the man were swept over the falls but the girl managed to hang on to the boat and miraculously was grabbed at the very brink of the falls by two onlookers. The man joined the list of people for whom the the falls was the last trip of their life but the young boy survived, the only person ever to go over the falls without a barrel and live to tell the tale. He was retrieved out of the water by the crew of the Maid of the Mist with nothing but a bathing suit and a life preserver.
Maid of the Mist ; Horseshoe Falls
This was every one's favorite. I personal don't think that anything else we did on this trip really gives you a true understanding of the power of these Falls like this boat trip did. You are so close and the sound is astounding. The rainbows were everywhere and they are so brilliant and right in front of your face. Almost surreal. Once you are emerged into the furthest part of the Horseshoe Falls all you can see is sky and water fall. It was amazing!!
Less than 10% of the water flows over the American Falls, with the balance flowing over the Horseshoe Falls. It is the massive volume of water that flows over the Horseshoe Falls that gives it its green color
This is the view of the Horseshoe Falls from the top. You can see a couple of the boats too.The Maid of the Mist.
These are pictures from the front of the American Falls.
American Falls
The average depth of the water below Niagara Falls is 170 feet (52 meters), which is as deep as the Niagara Gorge banks are high.The American Falls is 180 feet (55 meters) high. Its brink is 1,100 feet (330 meters) long. From the Falls, the water travels down the Niagara River to Lake Ontario, then to the St. Lawrence Seaway and finally to the Atlantic Ocean.The Canadian Horseshoe Falls is 170 feet (52 meters) high. Its brink measures 2,500 feet (750 meters).
American FallsThe average depth of the water below Niagara Falls is 170 feet (52 meters), which is as deep as the Niagara Gorge banks are high.The American Falls is 180 feet (55 meters) high. Its brink is 1,100 feet (330 meters) long. From the Falls, the water travels down the Niagara River to Lake Ontario, then to the St. Lawrence Seaway and finally to the Atlantic Ocean.The Canadian Horseshoe Falls is 170 feet (52 meters) high. Its brink measures 2,500 feet (750 meters).
The water that flows over Niagara Falls comes from four of the five Great Lakes.Originally, 202,000 cubic feet per second (6060 cubic meters) or 5.5 billion gallons (2.09 trillion liters) per hour of water flowed over Niagara Falls; now, however, half of this water is diverted for power by the United States and Canada.Niagara Falls is the largest producer of electric power in the world.
From the Spanish Aero Car
These were taken at the whirpool while on the Spanish Aero Car (aka cable car!)
The Aero car was designed by a Spanish engineer, Leonardo Torres Quevedo and has been in operation since 1916. The cable car is suspended from six sturdy cables and it is a wonderful view of the Niagara Whirlpool which is formed at the end of the rapids where the gorge turns abruptly counterclockwise and the river escapes through the narrowest channel in the gorge.
Because of the winds and the time of day, unfortunatley we didn't get to view the usually whirpool action, instead there were several small ones going in various directions. The view was still amazing.
Olena and I loved it, Jason on the other hand...well he is afraid of heights so this wasn't one of his favorite events :)
Monday, June 8, 2009
Lots of family fun!
We have returned tonight from 4 days in Niagara Falls, Canada! I am dead tired and promise to post some amazing pictures later this week and tell you all about it. We had a fabulous time and were in complete awe of the magnificence of the Falls. Can't wait to share :)
Cavern in the Journey Under the Falls. We are behind the Horseshoe Falls.
Cavern in the Journey Under the Falls. We are behind the Horseshoe Falls.
Just a few of my favorites...
She looked so simple and sweet I couldn't help but to start going camera crazy. She was sitting in the warm sun that was streaming through the front door and playing with her new spin tops.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
Though a day late...
HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY
to our good friends Ben and Adriana.
We love you both!!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
This was taken by daddy...proof to me can make his daughter look cute. This was his very first pony tail. I gave him and instructional lesson the night before. 
She got her first MP3 player. She doesn't wear it too often but she likes to relax to Beethoven while reading her books.
Here is her growth chart since being home. Where has my baby gone??
Summer is here and though we haven't really experienced any HOT weather yet, the summer activities are in full swing. We are getting ready for our trip to Niagara Falls - exciting!!! and the best news, my parents just got a pontoon so we thoroughly enjoyed a day out on the lake today! it started off a bit cold and rainy but just like good ole' Michigan we were warm and sunny after only a couple hours. Olena was beside herself with excitement. She is definitely a boater, oh and a fisherman too. My dad and Jason threw in the poles a couple times but Olena ended up being the only one to catch a fish with her little pink pole! sorry guys :( it was very relaxing and peaceful...downfall is the fact that I am sitting here on the computer with a nauseated stomach because I feel like my whole computer desk is rocking with the waves...yuck! :(
Family news...we are still hoping to get pregnant by fall. My doctors appointment went well. The only concern is that she would like me to spend the next few months working on lowering my blood pressure a bit. It runs about 130/90 which is a bit high. We are giving it until August - during which time I hope to lose some more weight and have a regular excise program in place. Currently we are way to sporadic about our exercise because there is always so much going on each day.
I don't know why but I have a sense of "future" and feel like we will be pregnant by August. I have had a few small "signs" here and there that seem to be playing tricks with my mind. Then Jason had a dream last night that we adopted a baby girl from Ukraine. I know we are not adopting from Ukraine again, (that probably came from the fact that we were talking about some other people adopting from Ukraine earlier that day) BUT he did see a new born baby and it was girl. From the start of all this I have been confident in the fact that I will deliver a baby girl, (and perhaps even twin baby girls) and to make the dream seem more significant..For those of you who have followed our blog from the beginning maybe you will remember that in August of 2006 (3 months before we left for Ukraine) I had a dream where we had a toddler girl with dark hair and huge dark eyes, my aunt was also in this dream and she was pregnant (not something we would be expecting) That October...we got our appointment letter to travel in November and 3 weeks after that we found out my Aunt was expecting! That was the first and only time I had have dreamt of my expanding family. Now it's Jason, and this is the first time he has ever had this type of dream, and what do you know...it has happened about 3 months before I think we will get pregnant. Curious to see what will happen!
A little something cute to share. Tonight Olena was sitting at the table finishing her dinner and Jason and I embraced for a moment and shared a little kiss, out of no where Olena say "aaawwwwweeeeee your kisssyyy!!!" it was so darn cute. She has never acknowledged us or anyone else when kissing before so it was very unexpected.
Family news...we are still hoping to get pregnant by fall. My doctors appointment went well. The only concern is that she would like me to spend the next few months working on lowering my blood pressure a bit. It runs about 130/90 which is a bit high. We are giving it until August - during which time I hope to lose some more weight and have a regular excise program in place. Currently we are way to sporadic about our exercise because there is always so much going on each day.
I don't know why but I have a sense of "future" and feel like we will be pregnant by August. I have had a few small "signs" here and there that seem to be playing tricks with my mind. Then Jason had a dream last night that we adopted a baby girl from Ukraine. I know we are not adopting from Ukraine again, (that probably came from the fact that we were talking about some other people adopting from Ukraine earlier that day) BUT he did see a new born baby and it was girl. From the start of all this I have been confident in the fact that I will deliver a baby girl, (and perhaps even twin baby girls) and to make the dream seem more significant..For those of you who have followed our blog from the beginning maybe you will remember that in August of 2006 (3 months before we left for Ukraine) I had a dream where we had a toddler girl with dark hair and huge dark eyes, my aunt was also in this dream and she was pregnant (not something we would be expecting) That October...we got our appointment letter to travel in November and 3 weeks after that we found out my Aunt was expecting! That was the first and only time I had have dreamt of my expanding family. Now it's Jason, and this is the first time he has ever had this type of dream, and what do you know...it has happened about 3 months before I think we will get pregnant. Curious to see what will happen!
A little something cute to share. Tonight Olena was sitting at the table finishing her dinner and Jason and I embraced for a moment and shared a little kiss, out of no where Olena say "aaawwwwweeeeee your kisssyyy!!!" it was so darn cute. She has never acknowledged us or anyone else when kissing before so it was very unexpected.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Life is moving along, nothing too important to report tonight but I thought I would post something short.
I had my first appointment today with the fertility doctor but it ended up being cancelled due to an emergency at the hospital. I was pretty disappointment but was able to reschedule for next week. I have gotten over my pity party and have accepted our decision to try conceiving. Adoption will always be possible and I know for a fact that I will take that journey again sometime in the future... but just not today!
Mother's Day we went to the Fisher Theatre and seen Annie on stage. It was my mom, me and Olena. It was a great day! Olena was beside herself with excitement and the poor little thing started crying tears of joy when it started. It was almost 3 hours long, so she had a hard time making it through the whole thing without fidgeting all over the place but she did great and was very well behaved. It is so pleasing to see her passion for music and theatre. For such a small girl to have such a strong love of something is wonderful.
To bring you up to date about O she is still growing like a weed. I have not measured her against the door since Feb. but Jason and I have both noticed that she has grown taller. I pulled the summer clothes out of the basement and what do you know...for the 3rd summer in a row her 12/18 months shorts and skirts still fit her perfectly. This is going to the woman who in her 40s can still put on her prom dress and look good. She is very skinny but she is not awkward or bone skinny. She is now about 28 lbs and she has a very athletic build. Her arms and legs have lots of muscle. Shirts, I prefer the 4/5T because her torso is long and I don't like her belly hanging out but I have to be careful because the arm holes are usually gaping huge. Needless to say it is quite interesting shopping for her. My loving mother took us shopping at the mall and we got quite a few really cut outfits and then I hit WalMart over the weekend and they had $1 clearance on a ton of girls shirts. I got 8 organic cotton tee shirts, all with cute "earthy" pictures on the front, for $1 each. What a bargain for PERFECT play clothes!
Her speech is slowly getting better. Her stuttering has decreased a bit but her articulation hasn't been as good as I'd like it to be. I figured I would give her the summer, and then in the fall I will see what I can do about lining up a ESL therapist. I don't worry too much about it but it bothers her that other people don't understand her and I can sometimes see her getting frustrated because she knows that they are not listening or understanding her. They usually just try to play it off and give generic answers like "oh yeah! that's nice" but it is funny because she knows and will usually shoot them a dirty look and "gggrrr" under her breath. She tends to be a bit a drama queen. Wonder who she gets that from?? :)
She hasn't been into writing much lately. I have been trying to practice with her but she loses interest pretty quick. She has been obsessed with puzzles. I buy the 45-75 piece ones from the dollar store and she will sit down and faithfully work on it until she can master it. She will do it over a hundred times, if that is what it takes. She definitely has focus. Since Easter I have bought 6 puzzles and she can now complete each of them within a few minutes and almost with her eyes closed. She can count to twenty and can get through the twenties but it usually takes some coaching.
Well I am going to sit with the rest of family and watch CARS! This is daddy and O's favorite movie...they both love race cars! :)
I had my first appointment today with the fertility doctor but it ended up being cancelled due to an emergency at the hospital. I was pretty disappointment but was able to reschedule for next week. I have gotten over my pity party and have accepted our decision to try conceiving. Adoption will always be possible and I know for a fact that I will take that journey again sometime in the future... but just not today!
Mother's Day we went to the Fisher Theatre and seen Annie on stage. It was my mom, me and Olena. It was a great day! Olena was beside herself with excitement and the poor little thing started crying tears of joy when it started. It was almost 3 hours long, so she had a hard time making it through the whole thing without fidgeting all over the place but she did great and was very well behaved. It is so pleasing to see her passion for music and theatre. For such a small girl to have such a strong love of something is wonderful.
To bring you up to date about O she is still growing like a weed. I have not measured her against the door since Feb. but Jason and I have both noticed that she has grown taller. I pulled the summer clothes out of the basement and what do you know...for the 3rd summer in a row her 12/18 months shorts and skirts still fit her perfectly. This is going to the woman who in her 40s can still put on her prom dress and look good. She is very skinny but she is not awkward or bone skinny. She is now about 28 lbs and she has a very athletic build. Her arms and legs have lots of muscle. Shirts, I prefer the 4/5T because her torso is long and I don't like her belly hanging out but I have to be careful because the arm holes are usually gaping huge. Needless to say it is quite interesting shopping for her. My loving mother took us shopping at the mall and we got quite a few really cut outfits and then I hit WalMart over the weekend and they had $1 clearance on a ton of girls shirts. I got 8 organic cotton tee shirts, all with cute "earthy" pictures on the front, for $1 each. What a bargain for PERFECT play clothes!
Her speech is slowly getting better. Her stuttering has decreased a bit but her articulation hasn't been as good as I'd like it to be. I figured I would give her the summer, and then in the fall I will see what I can do about lining up a ESL therapist. I don't worry too much about it but it bothers her that other people don't understand her and I can sometimes see her getting frustrated because she knows that they are not listening or understanding her. They usually just try to play it off and give generic answers like "oh yeah! that's nice" but it is funny because she knows and will usually shoot them a dirty look and "gggrrr" under her breath. She tends to be a bit a drama queen. Wonder who she gets that from?? :)
She hasn't been into writing much lately. I have been trying to practice with her but she loses interest pretty quick. She has been obsessed with puzzles. I buy the 45-75 piece ones from the dollar store and she will sit down and faithfully work on it until she can master it. She will do it over a hundred times, if that is what it takes. She definitely has focus. Since Easter I have bought 6 puzzles and she can now complete each of them within a few minutes and almost with her eyes closed. She can count to twenty and can get through the twenties but it usually takes some coaching.
Well I am going to sit with the rest of family and watch CARS! This is daddy and O's favorite movie...they both love race cars! :)
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
I feel sad...
I got a call this evening from a local foster mother. She was following up with me about my inquiry and had invited us to the orientation that was taking place this week. I had tell her we had decided against pursuing foster care at this time because we were going to focus on having a baby. We spoke for a few minutes more and she ended with something that really hit me in the chest -
"please Christina, if you and your husband change your mind at any time in the future please call me...we are really desperate for families right now."
AAHHH MAN! that totally not only caught me off guard but really hit me emotionally. Did we make the right choice? should the pregnancy thing wait? by saying no am I letting more children suffer without a safe place to go? I know for a fact that we will one day be foster parents...but is that enough? I have a lot of praying to do!
I got a call this evening from a local foster mother. She was following up with me about my inquiry and had invited us to the orientation that was taking place this week. I had tell her we had decided against pursuing foster care at this time because we were going to focus on having a baby. We spoke for a few minutes more and she ended with something that really hit me in the chest -
"please Christina, if you and your husband change your mind at any time in the future please call me...we are really desperate for families right now."
AAHHH MAN! that totally not only caught me off guard but really hit me emotionally. Did we make the right choice? should the pregnancy thing wait? by saying no am I letting more children suffer without a safe place to go? I know for a fact that we will one day be foster parents...but is that enough? I have a lot of praying to do!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Looks like babies...
After some short deliberation the final decision (at least at this point) ;) is that we are going to move forward with attempting to extend our family with "homegrown" children. When Jason agreed to adopting our first child, he made me promise that the second goal would be biological. This made my argument of adoption and foster care very short lived. I suppose it would be very kind of me to stay true to my promise ! and besides I am going to be 31 this year so I suppose it would be wise to get started. Now I have never technically been deemed as "infertile"but I haven't gotten pregnant in the 6 years Jason and I have been married. On the other hand we have never "tried" to get pregnant either. I do have PCOS, and know that due the hormonal imbalance that makes it difficult to get pregnant but the drug Clomid is a fertility med that is extremely successful in PCOS patients and that is where I plan to start. Healthwise there is nothing else limiting me at this point. I have an appointment with the OB in a few weeks at which time I will see what she has to say. As crazy as it seems we are hoping to be pregnant by August - and HOPEFULLY with twins!
I suppose now I will have a lot more to talk about and this blog will again start to take on the diary effect that is hard during our adoption process. ta ta for now.
I suppose now I will have a lot more to talk about and this blog will again start to take on the diary effect that is hard during our adoption process. ta ta for now.
Friday, May 1, 2009
You gotta love Michigan weather. Last week it was 50 degrees when we left the house in the morning. But by 12noon it was above 80! What the heck?? To honor our outstanding weather forecast my lovely daughter decided to show you how us Northerners have to dress for a day out on the town. She had on her bathing suit with a tank top and jean skirt, then she added the sweat coat, leg warmers and to top it off perfectly....the crocs!!
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Jason and I got off to head start this year and tackled a lot of yard chores this past weekend. Because of the wacky weather everyone usually waits until after Mother's Day, but the day was warm and we are trying to enjoy the idea of relaxing this summer!! We still have a few projects to finish but nothing major. All of the "beds" have been cleaned, turned, fertilized, and debugged!! The flowers and the herb garden have been planted...and much to our surprise are already sprouting after only 1 week :) I washed down our aluminum siding. Sprayed for weeds and bugs around the yard. Cleaned what was salvageable of Olena's toys and through out the rest. Cut the manicured the grass and last but not least I added a "water station" to her play ground. I have a platform that is covered in outdoor "carpet" and I have 2 different water tables up there. She loves to stand there with her crocs off and rubs her feet on the "carpet" For a sensory integration child, this is Heaven. This is great OT for her and she just loves it. I am not to fond of the fact that we constantly have a wet preschooler running around but she loves it! PLUS the Easter bunny left her some sand for her sand box :( it took me 2.5years but I have finally caved and let her have sand. I absolutely hate the clean up of sand but I figured I better just get over it and learn to deal with it!
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Anyone notice the changes to the blog site?? We have 2 big envelopes sitting on the kitchen counter. One holds the information about domestic adoption, and the other about Foster Care; but I also have an appointment in May to meet with the fertility doctor.... Wonder what we'll decide??
______________________________________________Jason and I got off to head start this year and tackled a lot of yard chores this past weekend. Because of the wacky weather everyone usually waits until after Mother's Day, but the day was warm and we are trying to enjoy the idea of relaxing this summer!! We still have a few projects to finish but nothing major. All of the "beds" have been cleaned, turned, fertilized, and debugged!! The flowers and the herb garden have been planted...and much to our surprise are already sprouting after only 1 week :) I washed down our aluminum siding. Sprayed for weeds and bugs around the yard. Cleaned what was salvageable of Olena's toys and through out the rest. Cut the manicured the grass and last but not least I added a "water station" to her play ground. I have a platform that is covered in outdoor "carpet" and I have 2 different water tables up there. She loves to stand there with her crocs off and rubs her feet on the "carpet" For a sensory integration child, this is Heaven. This is great OT for her and she just loves it. I am not to fond of the fact that we constantly have a wet preschooler running around but she loves it! PLUS the Easter bunny left her some sand for her sand box :( it took me 2.5years but I have finally caved and let her have sand. I absolutely hate the clean up of sand but I figured I better just get over it and learn to deal with it!
____________________________________________________
Anyone notice the changes to the blog site?? We have 2 big envelopes sitting on the kitchen counter. One holds the information about domestic adoption, and the other about Foster Care; but I also have an appointment in May to meet with the fertility doctor.... Wonder what we'll decide??
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
We are happy to announce that Aunt Jen (and U. Dave) welcomed thier baby girl into the family this weekend (3 weeks before anticipated) but baby Elizabeth Ann is healthy at a good 7lbs. She decided to make her entry on Sunday - the day of the babyshower. No they did not get to attend :( It was very different not having the mommy-to-be there with us, but the family did a great job pulling it together.
Congrats to them all! and I can't wait until the girls can play together.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Happy Easter to everyone! Hopefully everyone enjoyed a beautiful day with family and friends. We finally some good weather so we couldn't have asked for a better day. The morning started with a basket from the Easter Bunny with some books, bubbles and puzzles as well as a 1 year pass to the Detroit Zoo! What a great gift!! Jason hadn't been there since he was a young boy, and I have never been lucky enough to go during the spring so we decided to put that pass to work and headed over for a day of lots of walking and some pretty cool animals. Olena was beside herself with excitement. We got to take the new wagon that Grampie bought her for xmas and we packed a picnic lunch. Since the weather was so perfect lots of the animals were out and active which is a far change from the usual scene we get during the dead of summer :( You'll see pics of our favorite part below...the Artic Circle where you get to watch the Polar Bears swim around the tube you are standing in. They are so amazingly graceful for such a huge animal. After 5 hours and tired feet from walking up hill every where we called it a day and spent the rest of the evening with family and friends ~ all in all we had a great Easter.
Daddy and Olena being Praire Dogs!
HELLO Mr. Peacock....this is my little Bindi Erwin. Strange - she is scared to death of a loud car that drives by the house, but she was ready to meet every single animal face to face.
The butterfly house drove her crazy, she kept seeing butterflies and shadows everywhere.
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum~!Saturday, April 4, 2009
Happy April!
Welcome back! sorry for the lengthy absence. I wish I could blame it on something wonderful such as being away backpacking through Europe...but the real truth is that I had been preoccupied with Vampires and Warewolves (aka Shape shifters) - YES; the TWILIGHT series sucked me in. I have spent the last 2 weeks filling every free moment with reading those 4 books! and as silly as it may be OMG that was the best story I have read in a very long time. I loved Anne Rice as a teenager and read many of her books but I haven't picked up a Vampire book, or even any fictional book for that matter, since college. It was nice to use the good ole' imagination again and feel like a kid excited about what was going to happen next. I finished last night and now I am sitting here alone wondering what the heck I should be doing?? Jason is gone for the evening, Olena is in bed and I have piece and quite! AAAHHHH.
Olena is doing really well. She starting swim class with the Red Cross 2 weeks ago, and she loves it. She is such a fish anyway, and would live at the pool if I let her. This is the first of 4 levels and teachs them to the basics such as putting thier face in the water, lifting themselves in and out via the side of the pool, "walking" the wall with thier hands while in the pool, floating, jumping in, getting use to splashing etc. I probably could have started her in step 2 but figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
We stopped going to speech therapy at the end of March. It was extremly time consuming, her speech was getting worse, she has started to stutter again and it is pretty moderate this time. The therapist was beyond frustrated. She said Olena is a very inconsistant and a "strange" case; she was not really sure how to treat her. That starts to get frustrating from our end too because here we are, dedicating so much time and energy into it and she wasn't improving and was actually getting worse and the one person who is suppose to be helping was tearing her hair out. So at this point we are going to let things settle down, see where she ends up in a few weeks, and if there is no improvement I am considering seeking out an ESL therapist.
Behavior wise she is awesome. Jason is still out of work so he is home with her all week which is a big help. "Raising Godly Tomatoes" (can be found on Tonya's sidebar) is our "parenting bible"! Jason loves the concept and has found it to be extremely effective! I started with it last summer, but since she was in daycare for 6 hours a day, we were not getting the best results we should have. Once Jason started staying home and started to follow the same thing I was doing at night, it was a complete 360. Don't get me wrong we still have our moments, especially when it comes to meal time but daily life is far more enjoyable now. I don't miss the yelling and the crying and all the commotion! and there is nothing better than only having to tell your child something once, it is so pleasing! She is also extremly polite which makes us so proud...not to brag or anything...but we get so many compliments from strangers about how good her manners are :)
She is getting ready to have another growth spurt. Over the winter she didn't really grow much, maybe just under an inch since last fall. But I have noticed that the winter pants have started to get too short this last month or so. I also had about 4 pair of pants that she got for xmas that were to big, she can wear them now. Her hair is also getting pretty long. I have finally gave in and have decided to let it grow out. This has been very though I have to admit. All that hair hanging everywhere, in her eyes all the time, always knotted, and it never fails we always find something dried in it while brushing it before bed...eeww what a mess. She is just to crazy and wild all day to have long pretty hair. But everyone is complaining that it is time. Hopefully I can last. I will have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. I will have to look back at some old pictures but I think it is the longest it has ever been. I am attempting the bangs too, but I am not confident with that idea. We will see how it goes.
Olena is doing really well. She starting swim class with the Red Cross 2 weeks ago, and she loves it. She is such a fish anyway, and would live at the pool if I let her. This is the first of 4 levels and teachs them to the basics such as putting thier face in the water, lifting themselves in and out via the side of the pool, "walking" the wall with thier hands while in the pool, floating, jumping in, getting use to splashing etc. I probably could have started her in step 2 but figured it was better to be safe than sorry.
We stopped going to speech therapy at the end of March. It was extremly time consuming, her speech was getting worse, she has started to stutter again and it is pretty moderate this time. The therapist was beyond frustrated. She said Olena is a very inconsistant and a "strange" case; she was not really sure how to treat her. That starts to get frustrating from our end too because here we are, dedicating so much time and energy into it and she wasn't improving and was actually getting worse and the one person who is suppose to be helping was tearing her hair out. So at this point we are going to let things settle down, see where she ends up in a few weeks, and if there is no improvement I am considering seeking out an ESL therapist.
Behavior wise she is awesome. Jason is still out of work so he is home with her all week which is a big help. "Raising Godly Tomatoes" (can be found on Tonya's sidebar) is our "parenting bible"! Jason loves the concept and has found it to be extremely effective! I started with it last summer, but since she was in daycare for 6 hours a day, we were not getting the best results we should have. Once Jason started staying home and started to follow the same thing I was doing at night, it was a complete 360. Don't get me wrong we still have our moments, especially when it comes to meal time but daily life is far more enjoyable now. I don't miss the yelling and the crying and all the commotion! and there is nothing better than only having to tell your child something once, it is so pleasing! She is also extremly polite which makes us so proud...not to brag or anything...but we get so many compliments from strangers about how good her manners are :)
She is getting ready to have another growth spurt. Over the winter she didn't really grow much, maybe just under an inch since last fall. But I have noticed that the winter pants have started to get too short this last month or so. I also had about 4 pair of pants that she got for xmas that were to big, she can wear them now. Her hair is also getting pretty long. I have finally gave in and have decided to let it grow out. This has been very though I have to admit. All that hair hanging everywhere, in her eyes all the time, always knotted, and it never fails we always find something dried in it while brushing it before bed...eeww what a mess. She is just to crazy and wild all day to have long pretty hair. But everyone is complaining that it is time. Hopefully I can last. I will have to take a picture tomorrow and post it. I will have to look back at some old pictures but I think it is the longest it has ever been. I am attempting the bangs too, but I am not confident with that idea. We will see how it goes.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Our Ukrainian Family! The Sagins
Introducing Karina with her papa, Gene!Gene emailed us last night and said that he was fully enjoying life as a papa.
"I became a father of the most beautiful treasure in my world! We have a daughter, named her Karina. So, now just sleeplessnights and oceans of Pampers! And, the main, the happiness!"
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