We may or may not ever be able to make an announcement that "we're pregnant"...but we have come to understand that the blessing is the fact that however parenthood happens, it is a miracle! ....... Now we have been home with our precious blessing from Russia since August 2007. Join us on our fun and crazy ride that we call "life with this child of mine."
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Random Ramblings
It’s a bullet post sort of night. After almost 2 weeks of sleeping in his own bed, my child woke up last night & just couldn’t go back to sleep. He has become a 3-to-4-a-day pooper, and if he hasn’t had the 4th poop in a day, then I wonder…but if he hasn’t had a 3rd poop, then I’m pretty sure that he’ll wake up with a dirty diaper in the morning. Well, yesterday was a 2-poop-day. And along about midnight is when his digestive system decided to come calling. It wasn’t a blowout, but enough for him to be uncomfortable & wake up. Which he did. And it woke us up. No big deal. Change him, lay back down & go to sleep, right? Not that easy. He lay in his bed for 15 minutes at a time before crying…and then we decided to just stick him in bed with us. Which was also okay, except that he was awake & tossed & turned. I think my kid is the cutest in the world, but in the middle of the night…I have issues. Anyway, all that to say that we didn’t get much sleep last night. We were all ill this morning & tired all day, it was a busy day at work, and I'm exhausted right now...Hence the bullet post.
And with that, I bid you a fond adieu. Good night.
- Days 3 & 4 of school have gone well. Iliya cries a little harder when we drop him off (“we,” meaning Nathan is working @ the Guard base & yesterday & today are his off days, so he’s been part of the dropping off) but his teacher says he calms down pretty quickly. He seems to be getting more comfortable as the days pass; I hope this continues. I mentioned that it was a busy day at work…I didn’t even have time to think about going down to check on him. But if his teacher says he was fine, then I’m quite sure he’s doing just fine. Tomorrow is the last “half day” for us; we’re going to try naptime on Thursday & Friday to see how it goes. He’s been napping (at home) on his cool military-camo napmat…so hopefully having that familiarity will help the transition go a bit smoother.
- And a passing thought…even though Iliya has been doing fine at school, I wonder if the sleep issues last night were part of the stress of school. Maybe he needed to be close to us last night. If that is the case…especially if that is the case…I should’ve been more nurturing. Unfortunately, I am a bit singleminded (embarrassingly selfish, it seems) when it comes to sleep and I just need to get over it & be a better middle-of-the-night mom!
- In other news, we had our first burn today. It was a result of my straightening iron (turned off, but still hot) being placed a bit too low…and little hands being a bit too curious. I typically leave my iron in the sink to cool off, while I finish getting ready in the mornings. This morning, though Nathan had to brush his teeth & set the iron down on the toilet lid. I was in our bedroom, and I heard Iliya start screaming. I figured he pinched his finger in something, but Nathan informed me that he had actually burned it. So we did the drill – running it under cold water (which he did NOT like) for a few minutes, and then pulling out the Neosporin & a bandaid. I second guessed myself on that, and pulled out our handydandy “Your Child’s Health” book and realized that it seemed like we did the right thing. Of course, the bandaid wouldn’t stay on for those same curious hands pulling it off. But he hasn’t complained about it much. He’s got a small blister – and we’re just keeping an eye on it, making sure it stays clean and doesn’t get infected. But how terrible, knowing that he has an injury that could’ve been completely prevented. I guess these things happen, though, and we might as well get used to being really careful…knowing that no matter how careful we will be, we always have the chance of not being quite careful enough.
- If we didn’t know it before, we know it now. Iliya is an official United States citizen. We were happy to receive his citizenship certificate in the mail today…hard to believe this is actually so real!!
- And last on the agenda for the night is Iliya’s first experience with a cupcake. We went to eat with our friends, Josh & Leslie (who are also adopting from Vlad), and we took cupcakes for dessert. We are not big dessert eaters – so Iliya has never HAD dessert (I know, we’re weird). And if I’m remembering the past 2 months correctly, he has not tasted chocolate yet (at least at home - Oh wait, he had a couple bites of chocolate ice cream while we were in Vlad. But that was so long ago, it doesn't really count). So for whatever reason, I had decided to make & take yellow cupcakes w/ chocolate icing. I forgot my camera, but Leslie saved the day with hers. At first, Iliya didn’t know what was in front of him…he pinched up a tiny bit of icing and tasted it. Without further ado, as soon as he had that taste, he leaned down – face first (no hands) – and bit straight into the top of the cupcake. It was absolutely hilarious. Too bad we didn’t have our video camera ! But I believe I will close tonight, and let these pictures just speak for themselves.
And with that, I bid you a fond adieu. Good night.
9 Comments:
Video Archives
For your viewing pleasure, click on the title to go to the video
*The Road Home*
*Eating (in Russia)*
*"More"*
*a Video for my sister's class*
*on a Friday afternoon*
*The Dog*
*Selecting a Book*
*Doing Dishes*
*Elfin' Great Moves*
*Christmas 2007*
*Family Fun*
*January 8, 2008*
*Dinner Time Fun*
*Spring Break 2008*
*Trip to the Zoo*
*123’s*
*Leap Day Fun*
*Comparison – 1st Trip*
*Comparison – 2nd Trip*
*One Year Later*
*At the Beach*
*The Wheels on the Bus*
*Canoeing 1*
*Canoeing 2*
*Canoeing Story*
*Ring Around the Rosie*
*The Road Home*
*Eating (in Russia)*
*"More"*
*a Video for my sister's class*
*on a Friday afternoon*
*The Dog*
*Selecting a Book*
*Doing Dishes*
*Elfin' Great Moves*
*Christmas 2007*
*Family Fun*
*January 8, 2008*
*Dinner Time Fun*
*Spring Break 2008*
*Trip to the Zoo*
*123’s*
*Leap Day Fun*
*Comparison – 1st Trip*
*Comparison – 2nd Trip*
*One Year Later*
*At the Beach*
*The Wheels on the Bus*
*Canoeing 1*
*Canoeing 2*
*Canoeing Story*
*Ring Around the Rosie*
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From Dad
Olive You
Kate
Come Undone
Adrienne & Jim
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Sira
Ana & Russ
Suz
Lauren & Marco
Lauren & Marco - Life w/ Cupcake
The Next Step
Carey & Norman
The Ginsbergs
Shane & Kathy
Nancy & Brian
Unexpected Miracles
Joy & Gerard
Leslie & Bryan
Jane & Jim
Chris, Danica, & the twins
Jane-Jane
Sean & Robin
Jaime & Suzanne
3 Journeys of the Heart...
Lea & Paul Pisarik
SAHM at last
Katie
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A Growing Boy!
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Trip One - March 2007
Database Pic #2
Trip Two - July 2007
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Quotes
"When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me."
~Fred Rogers
"I'll love you forever I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living My baby you'll be." ~Robert Munsch
"Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but its the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning" ~Hope Floats "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle"
~Fleur Conkling Heylinger
"The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some have few and give everything away."
~Fred Rogers
"When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me."
~Fred Rogers
"I'll love you forever I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living My baby you'll be." ~Robert Munsch
"Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but its the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning" ~Hope Floats "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle"
~Fleur Conkling Heylinger
"The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have, but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some have few and give everything away."
~Fred Rogers
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Love,
Andrea
Hello from Vlad!
I met Kerry and Norman, they said that you said to say Hi. I am a little short on internet time, so I haven't been reading blogs this week, but I wanted to just drop in and say Hi!
Things are going great on our end!
Glad to hear things are going well with the school transition. Don;t beat yourself up about the sleep thing. I was that way with both our girls and they are both perfectly secure individuals. I think it is important to know your personal boudaries and be honest about what you need to be the best mommy you can!
So cute and funny!
You may have missed my email - send my your address so I can ship the cute clothes I picked up.
Ronda
I can totally empathize with the sleep issues! Owen had been doing so well sleeping from 7:30 to around 6 a.m. this past week, and then last night he woke up at 3:50 and did not go back to sleep until 5:20, yes, an hour and a half later. I held him and rocked him the entire time. If I take him to our room, he thinks it's time to play, and if I put him back in the crib he cries and cries. I'm not sure what was wrong with him. Sometimes his leg goes to sleep in the cast (the one that isn't broken and is half-casted) if he slips it off of the pillow prop, and also he hadn't had his 2nd poopie yesterday so I don't know. He just kept signing OPEN (the door) and ALL DONE at 4 in the morning! I ignored him and kept shhhing and cuddling and rocking him until he finally fell asleep again. Thankfully we got 2 more hours of sleep before he woke up again--I really needed it!
I LOVE to sleep so this has been a major adjustment for me too!! It's hard not to get upset when they wake up sometimes isn't it? I find myself taking a deep breath and praying he goes back to sleep quickly.
Anyway, it's comforting to know other mommies are up in the middle of the night too! I absolutely LOVE the cupcake pictures! Owen hasn't had sweets either (just low sugar vanilla ice cream a few times) so it's fun for me to see what Iliya did! Owen won't eat breadlike textures so I don't know how a cupcake would go. Makes me want one though!!
:) Thanks for sharing!
From a seasoned mom, I'll remind you that to have that kind of sleepless night is far better than the ones you may have one day to not look forward to -- the ones where your boyfriend's car is in the shop, so you take him home at a late hour & sit in his driveway for a lo-o-o-o-ong time talking ( pre-cell phone days) and it's getting later & later & later & it's a foggy night in the middle of summer & your mom is so worried that you ran in a ditch that she awakens your dad & he comes to look for you...yeh, that kind :o) Fortunately, that was not a frequent occurrence, but it does give you a perspective that these times when children are little are so precious and they do pass so quickly, and you can really find a blessing in sleepless nights if you look for it. Next time, call me & I'll sing him John Denver songs -- that'll put him back to sleep :o)
love, mom
p.s....it was..."Mommy, please get up."