Week 1 in review

What a week! it is crazy to think we have only been home for a week! WOW! Seems like the 4th was forever ago!

The week has had it's ups and downs, but all in all, everyone is adjusting to being a family of 4! It is amazing to me how tired I am at the end of the day with 2 kiddos! I'm thankful it is summer and we can have no real agenda!

This week we celebrated our first 4th of July as a family of 4 with family. We didn't see fireworks this year due to jet lag and yucky weather. Maybe next year we will be up for some fireworks! We took Hannah to PT therapy (which went horribly! Hopefully next week will be better!) and took Mila to the IAC (International Adoption Clinic). We saw friends, and they got a chance to meet and spend some time with the girls. Doug and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on the 6th of July. We purchased a better feeding chair and stroller for Mila. We walked trails and played at the local park. We have had movie night, and had a wonderful week being a family that consists of a Mama, a Papa, a Hannah, and a Mila!

Here are some pictures from the week:

On the trip home- sitting in Munich airport
Loving the swing! She giggled so much!
First pool experience! She was cold within 10 minutes and ready to get out!
Movie Night! They were too excited to hold still for a picture!
The girls in the "truck car". Hannah was so happy to have a rider!

Adjusting

We have been staying close to home for the most part this week, so we can adjust as a family. I didn't expect it to happen for either girls (or Doug and I for that matter) overnight, but overall things have been good.

Mila is doing wonderful. She is making lots of noise and constantly vying for Papa's attention by calling his name! She is allowing Hannah to smother her with her kisses and hugs. She has had some minor issues when napping or going to bed for the night. She tends to "fake cry" (no tears, just sounds pathetic) when we put her in her crib. We have stood and rubbed her back and rocked her, but she still tends to wail. We have put the "wait it out" tactic in effect. She typically finds that no one is going to rescue her and that it's time to sleep, so ends up putting her thumb in her mouth and falling asleep. Mila's other issue is food anxiety. I think the girl would eat until she exploded! We feed her plenty! She starts to whimper as soon as we finish feeding her. As soon as we distract her with anything else (book, toys, etc) the whining stops.

Hannah is adjusting. We have had many tearful episodes, but they quickly fade. She adores Mila and wants to help do EVERYTHING (hence why we have to talk to her more often and why we have had more tears lately). I don't think she is sleeping as well as she did when she had her own room, but she doesn't typically complain about sharing a room. Today she is in a funk. I took her to PT and she refused to try anything for longer than a few minutes when asked. Her therapy session is typically 60 minutes, but today we quit at 40 because of her refusal. She "didn't want to do any-shing" today, yet when we told her we were going home because she wouldn't work for Lindsey, she screamed and cried all the way out of the hospital because she didn't want to go home!! (AUGH!!!)

These are the days I struggle as a parent. There isn't much that truly motivates Hannah, especially when she has decided that she isn't going to do something. It doesn't matter what you say to her, reward her with, or privileges you take away from her, she typically could care less. I don't like to raise my voice with my children in public places, nor do I like to loose my cool. Swatting her bottom, she could care less, so we don't do that. Hannah enjoys many things (Dora, her baby dolls and baby stroller, her truck-car, etc), but could easily live without any of them and not be overly upset about it.

As I'm sure many of you parents know, every day I am reminded that parenting is trial and error and what works for one kiddo doesn't work for another. We continue to wake up each morning and start fresh, determined that each day will be a good day, and we roll with the punches when they come our way. We have two wonderful children. We don't expect every day to be perfect. Thankfully the good days outweigh the bad. Hopefully with some more adjusting on every one's part, we'll tip the scales and the good days will become more frequent than the challenging days!

Home- Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to everyone! This year has a entirely different meaning to Independence Day! We feel truly blessed to live in a country that welcomes all families--those biological and adopted. We have traveled to some wonderful countries and cities within those countries, but no place beats home! We are thankful to those who fought for our freedom and for those who continue to protect our rights.

Yesterday our flights went well and we made it home safely to Columbus Ohio. When we arrived some of our family was at the airport to greet us.

Hannah was happy to have us home, but really was mostly excited to meet her sister Mila! I think she was a little disappointed that her sister wasn't smaller!

The girls slept good last night. Hannah has some adjusting to do, since she is use to being the only one in her room and if she decides to make noise/sing/talk before going to sleep, in the past she hasn't bothered anyone but herself. Now there is someone else in the room to think about. On the flip side, there is also someone new in her room that has to get use to a room and has a different internal clock! Mila was awake and ready to start her day this morning at 3:45am. Doug went in and rocked her for about 30 minute and she went back to sleep and slept until a little after 7:00am.

Today consisted of a lot of trial and error. Can I carry both of the down the stairs at the same time? (Safer to hold Hannah's hand as she bumps down on her bottom while carrying Mila.) Can Mila sit in the Bumbo? (Can, but she is tall enough she tends to slump over to the side and could end up on her head.) Will the booster chair work at meal time? (Nope! Mila doesn't have enough trunk support to sit in the seat. We have made our first trip to Walmart and bought a high chair seat that has a 5 point harness. Dinner was much better than lunch.) Can she feed herself? (She probably can with some more practice. Her fine motor skills need help and since she likes to swallow things whole, it is hard to put larger things on her tray, but the smaller items like puffs are harder to pick up.)

Mila is so easy going! Car seat, no problem! When we first brought Hannah home the car seat was very traumatic for her. Mila even broke her new car seat that Aunt Kim got us in right today by giving us a big ole' poop in it today! Thank goodness for washable inserts!

We layed in the living room tonight and watched Dora. Mila fell asleep while watching, so Doug took her upstairs and put her to bed. No tears going to bed tonight! Hannah is now in bed too, so I am going to go get ready for bed myself.

Last Day (day 21)

It must be time to head home.....

Doug finished off the Jif peanut butter we brought this morning! Perfect timing!

We folded laundry and packed it neatly into our suitcases. It is amazing how much "stuff" one brings when traveling for an adoption. We came with 3 loaded suitcases. On our trip home, the smallest suitcase is inside the largest one.

Tonight Vlado came over to the apartment to go over final travel plans for tomorrow morning. He will pick us up here at the apartment tomorrow morning at 4:20am. It will take us 25-30 minutes to get to the airport, and we'll have plenty of time to get checked in and settled for our first leg of the trip home, which departs Belgrade at 6:45am. We land in Munich at 8:15am, then have a layover before leaving at 11:40am for Washington DC. We arrive in DC tomorrow at 2:45pm. Once we arrive in DC, we will have to go through immigration with Mila. We have a sealed packet to hand over to immigration control, then head on to our next flight, which leaves DC at 5:05, headed for Home--O-HI-O! We arrive in Columbus at 6:30pm.

We are very ready to travel home and begin our life as a family of four, yet there is a bit of me that is sad. I am taking my new daughter from the land of her heritage and all the sights and sounds she has known for 3 years. This country is beautiful, full of history, and many kind people. I hope one day to bring both our daughters back to their birth country to show each of them where their lives began.

As soon as Doug returns from the police station (he is de-registering--something you need to do in the country upon exiting), I think we are headed to bed. It is still quite early, but I doubt any of us will get much sleep on the flight tomorrow, so better get some tonight!

Please pray that Mila does well on the plane tomorrow, that our flights are smooth and uneventful, and that we get through immigration control easily and quickly in order to make our next flight. We thank you for all your prayers, comments, and well wishes during our trip to our daughter. We feel blessed that each of you chose to follow us on our journey, finding that things may not always be easy, but sometimes, "That's the way LOVE goes......"

Doug had a good time today giving Mila an 80's look!

2 days to go (day 20)

Today was laundry day! We did two loads, which took close to 6 hours to do (and that's not hang dry time!) We decided to dry some things outside and wouldn't you know after we got everything on the two lines on the balcony, the heavens opened up and it started to pour! So all the clothes came indoors to the drying rack.

I made lunch (fried salami and onions, corn, and mashed potatoes) and Mila loved it! I put lots mashed potatoes in the bowl with the other things and she ate lots! She still wallows the food around in her mouth before swallowing, but she hasn't choked yet, so we'll count our blessings. Dinner consisted of spaghetti and garlic bread.

We took a short walk today to Saint Sava. Saint Sava has been our compass, our light house during our trip. It is a large, beautiful church that is right up the street from our apartment. You can see it from far away. On our first walk home from the pedestrian zone, Vlado said we could walk home, and we knew as long as we were headed towards and could see Saint Sava, we were headed in the right direction. When we walked home the first time from the orphanage, again, we looked for Saint Sava, and knew which direction to head for home. Saint Sava has a lot of history and is beautiful outside. The inside is incomplete because of lack of funding.


I called United Airlines today and talked to them about options for food for Mila on the flight home. When we brought Hannah home, the flight attendant asked us if we had ordered a child's meal. I didn't know there was an option...but I do now! I am still not sure if there will be anything Mila to eat in the child's meal option, but figured the chances were better with the child's meal. I'll plan to take some baby food with me too just in case. We also upgraded our tickets to economy plus for our long flight from Munich to DC. A few extra dollars for extra leg room and not being packed like a pickled fish in an tin can with other stinky fish. (There were plenty of stinky fish packed into the "tin can" flight to Frankfurt on our way over.)

Tonight Doug sat on the couch with our little Lazy Daisy. They were so comfortable together, I just had to take a picture of the two of them together. It is so nice that Mila loves her Papa!

Tomorrow is packing day, cleaning day, eat the contents of the fridge day. Have I mentioned that I am so ready to be home! (But not really looking forward to the flight home!)