Okay -- Who's Billy?

I'm sorry it's been a while since my last post.. life just seems to be getting ahead of me!!

Anyway N came home with this turkey she made in school for Thanksgiving. On it it says she's thankful for mommy, daddy, B, Mrs. Blase her teacher, and.......BILLY!

Okay -- so I ask her "Who is Billy?"

"Oh, Billy likes me!" she replies.

I guess it's okay she's thankful that Billy likes her. Especially since she now says she doesn't like Billy-- she says he screams too much.

"No I didn't eat B"!

Oh and here's a funny story for ya.....

Steve the other day was in the kitchen and yelled for me to come and help him understand what she was trying to say.

Steve: "Brandie, do you know what she's talking about... I can't figure it out?"

N turns to me and says "Member mom.... member... you ate B. member"

Me: "Ate B... ah... no.... are you talking about when I blow on his tummy, or eat his toes... is that what you are talking about?"

N: "NO.... you ate B! " she then puts her hands in front of her belly and sticks her belly out. "Member mom when B was in your belly --you ate him!"

Me: Remembering she saw a picture of me when I was preg. (I will spare you the photo!) and asked why my belly was so big. I remember I told her B was in there. At that time the talk ended. But now I'm realizing she had understood it differently than I thought.

Me: "ah.. no honey, I didn't eat him."

N: "if you didn't eat him, how did he get in there?"

Steve: "good question,-- the stork did it!" he says as he walks out of the room.

Me: "God put him there." I said

N: looks at me and asks well how did he get out?

Steve yells from the other room..."again the stork did it!"

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Then a few days later she asks why Sophie our little dog has black eyes. I told her it's because that's the way God made her. She looks at me and what seemed to be in total understanding says... "oh, when you ate her too."---- NO I DIDN'T EAT SOPHIE!! No Sophie was never in my belly!!

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Then at dinner one night she asked me "so, mom, you ate B and B's here, so you ate me and now I'm here right."

I look at her and smiled and said.... "Yes you both are here and mommy and daddy love you both.. and for the last time NO I did not eat anyone!! okay."

She smiled and continued eating her dinner.

The mind of a five year old!!

We Lost One!!!

That's right N lost her first tooth yesterday.!!!

Halloween!!

Halloween was great! Our neighborhood does a "Trunk or Treat" where the kids do a parade and the parents park near the community center. Then the kids walk around to all the parked cars and "trick or treat" out of the trunks of the cars. I was told to decorate the trunk so I did, but this was my first year and I quickly found out that not everyone does. Oh well, the kids liked it.

I like this system better than walking around our neighborhood... we live in the woods -- and we'd have to drive our kids around and it would take a long time. N loved the fact that Walter and Sophie were able to dress up and participate too.

B enjoying a peanut butter cup.

Walter in his skeleton costume.
Sophie dressed up as a angel.

No Sophie isn't smelling Walter's butt, it's just a bad photo angle.

B in his Tigger Customer.

N's class photo.

B at N's Class Party.

And Finally our little Princess!! A true Cinderella.

What worries me is she now knows that Halloween is a time to dress up, and she was commenting on how "nice" the horror masks were!!! I think this may have been the one and only nice and pretty Costume!!

First Snow Day

Yes that's right --- N had her first Snow Day and Day off school. Tuesday morning she woke up to a winter wonderland. Her eyes lit up and she was sooooo excited! We had to tell her there was no school that day. She looked confused but seemed to accept it. What's funny is she ran back into her room and got her photo book that we gave her during our first visit to the orphanage, she ran out and said "Look!!" She showed us the photo of our home, and sure enough it had snow. Makes me wonder how much she thought about the snow and wondered when she'd see it since it was in the photo and we brought her home in the summer. Steve was impressed and commented on what a memory, because neither of us remembered it was a winter photo of the home.!!

Oh and I wanted to say the first photo of N -- she is wearing a white and blue sweater and hat a good friend of mine made her. N just loves it.!!

Life Flies When You're Having FUN!!

We have been very busy over the past month!!! I'm sorry I haven't updated the site, I hope all the pics in this post make up for any hard feelings!!!

Well, lets see, over the past few weeks we went on a trip to South Carolina and North Carolina, N wrote the alphabet for the first time, she started school, we went pumpkin and apple picking and as you can see took lots of photos. I hope you enjoy!




This is a family photo taken at the apple farm.

N picking apples with my dad.

A family photo of my side, my two sisters, mom and my dad being goofy (not uncommon).

B finally happy he caught an apple.

B thinking he can eat the apple... after all he does have six teeth!!

B fighting the urge to throw the apple at someone.

N and Steve after picking the ONE!!

N and her cousin A taking a snack break in the corn maze.

Making mommy happy and posing for the "Kidz photo"

N and A with my mom.

N with her first dozen and a half of roses (yes she got more than me -- I only got 12 red roses!!)... which Steve gave to her on our wedding anniversary. (I didn't realize kids got gifts too... hahaha) I think he just wanted to be the first guy to give her flowers --- and it worked... he made her soooooooo happy! Then she asked "Papa, why you give mama and N flowers?" He looked at her and then at me and said... "Because I love you." How sweet. Meanwhile here I was later that night joking around asking if I would get three dozen next year -- he looked at me and asked why-- I said because you brought home two bouquets this year. He said... no honey they really are her roses not yours!!! Well just burst my bubble!!

This is N's first time writing out the alphabet.

N's first day of school, as we leave to go to the bus stop.

N as she got on the bus.

N in her classroom.

Steve and the two kids relaxing on my grandparent's dock in SC.

N and my grandfather getting ready to fish.

We've got a loose one!!

Both N and B have updates!!

B is now officially crawling. You put him on the floor and he's off. Now I can't let him play on the floor play gym without me hovering overhead. He heads right for cords and things he shouldn't!

N is concerned her tooth is loose. She has a space in the back of her mouth from one that was already pulled (it happened back in Russia-- we don't know when).. and the adult tooth hasn't grown in. So I think she thinks it's going to be a space forever.
Last night she came to me in tears... "MAMA MAMA.... look!!" Now how do you explain the tootfairy? Her English is coming along great. She only speaks English to us with a few words still in Russian.. but it's all English now. And she seems to understand everything Steve and I say. In fact the other day I called one of her girl friends from the children's home.. (I know the family she was adopted into) We put them on the phone together.. and she only spoke English to her. How sad! I've had people who speak Russian try to talk to her.. .she wants nothing to do with it. She only responds in English.

Our school visits are going well. We visited the lunch room and the library on our last visit. She was shy but curious. These were new rooms she hadn't been to yet. She seems okay in the hallways now and likes looking into the classrooms. She seems to enjoy our visits. Since she was shying away from he new rooms we sat down and spoke with the librarian. We even sat in the story reading space and read a book together. I also had her sit at the table in the lunchroom. Next time I'll bring lunch and we'll eat together.

This morning -- out of the blue she asked me if she sleeps at school. After saying a quick.. "NO, no..." I explained how daddy goes to work and sleeps at home, she will go to school and sleep at home. ( I think N thought the school was an orphanage. In Magadan when the orphans turn 7 they go away to school. It's a boarding school. So I think that's why she was asking if she'd sleep there.) She seemed happy with the answer and even told Steve when he called that she wouldn't sleep at school. It makes me wonder what other things she's thinking about. I think this is the first time she was able to communicate her fear.... well this and her fear of being toothless!!

Happy Days

Life with two kids

Life with two kids is great.

Update on "B"

B is seven months old now and he knows his name when you call it. He is getting into position to crawl, he can get up onto all fours and rock, but instead of moving he forms a butt pyramid. I think he might walk before crawl... or maybe crawl and then quickly learn to walk-- either way it's not far around the corner. He has two bottom teeth in and has four more coming in on the top. He loves his Cheerios and sweet potato puffs.... or anything that he can finger and feed himself. He currently is on a five foot barrier zone from strangers... his raspberries are shooting real spit now! Oh fun!!

Update on N

N is excited about school. I took her the other day for the first time. I have an agreement with the school to bring her in when I want until I enroll her. This way she can get used to the environment with me around and feel better about it with each visit. She was excited to see her elementary school has an indoor pool. Unfortunately only first grade on up use it not kindergarten.. but she will have something to look forward to next year. We won't be starting her until October, we are going on a trip in the end of Sept. and didn't want to start her and stop her... plus.. I wanted to give her more time to learn some language and feel better about interacting with other kids. Her interactions so far seem okay in some ways but she gets frustrated and Orphanage behaviors pop out.. possessiveness, nasty yelling, hitting..etc. It seems the more words she learns the happier she is interacting with other kids.

She will be in public school and yes... lucky for us..... she has a uniform policy to follow. And boy was this fun.. I tried every store in our area ( 45 minute radius) and couldn't find approved clothes, luckily I ran into a mother in one of the stores who told me about a website. So I ordered some clothes from there. I also bought her a clear backpack... no we don't live in the hood.. but you'd think we do when kids in kindergarten have to carry clear backpacks!!

Smile Mama Smile!!

It's been one month since court, which is hard to believe. In some ways it's going too fast in others it feels like she's always been here. She keeps growing and surprising us each day. Here are a few short stories.

I was in the car with her the other day and we were listening to music. Then I heard our little N yelling from the back seat.... "Smile mama Smile.... Da..." I looked in the rear view mirror to see her pointing to her smile. Lonestar was playing at the time and I realized in the song they kept saying "Smile" --- It made me laugh and proud to know she was connecting and understanding words she heard.

While we were in Magadan, Steve wore a Key West shirt. It was N's first English words. Steve would point to his shirt and she'd yell Key West and laugh.
Well the other night on the radio Steve and I were driving home and had both kids in the back seat. The DJ was talking about Jimmy Buffet and Key West, next thing we know she's screaming "Key West, Key West" -- we couldn't help but laugh. We agreed we'll have to take her there some day.

Her dentist appt. went okay. She wasn't too happy to see the dentist again, but they both made it through. He filled the three cavities on her front teeth and then bonded them to hide the cavity. It actually doesn't look that bad. She wouldn't let him get too close to the edges so if you look closely you can see the dental work, (it kinda looks like she needs to brush her teeth..) but again you have to look for it. So all and all we are pleased. Our dentist also took x-rays and said her teeth will fall out in about a year, so he didn't want to do anything major.
Now her "pretties" as we call them make her happy. She looks at my teeth and then puts her finger on them and rubs mine to show me how smooth my teeth are and then rubs her finger over her teeth and says "Pretty". So now that we have her happy with her teeth --- we have been gum free for two weeks. I told her she can't have any gum with the new pretties. (While that's not really true-- it was a nice way to break her habit of always asking for gum!)

So far we had her and B baptised, took them to Dorney Park, had fun at the neighborhood community day and Knobels ( an old fashioned amusement park) She is adapting well. Steve and I live a fast paced life, so we talked about putting things on hold or to just let her jump in and take it as it goes.... We chose to take it as it goes and so far she is doing great. If she gets too stimulated we just leave. I'll post pics soon.

Her vocabulary is growing. She says things now like---
"Oh my gosh!!"
"How cool" ( I think her little learning computer is teaching her those)
Her learning computer is also teaching her the alphabet and she keeps surprising us how quickly she is learning the letters.
Now she so confident in counting 1-10 that she's pointing the calender and asking what is 11-20. So we sit with her and go through the numbers.

Her understanding is coming along much faster than her talking. (Which is expected) We, again, were in the car the other day and I had a Russian Learning CD on. It was going through different phrases. She was repeating the Russian I was repeating the English. Then when the CD announcer said.... " I am an American Citizen" She yelled.."MAMA" she said the sentence in Russian and pointed to herself. She makes me so proud!!


She has started to play with baby dolls. One day I walled into the living room to find a china doll, I had sitting in her room in a high chair for decoration, laying in B's swing. The hair had been fully brushed. Next to her was her real baby doll in the exersaucer. I couldn't help but smile. While I would have preferred her not to have brushed all the curls out of the china doll (I got from my Great Aunt... ) what did I expect by leaving it there. I wasn't thinking. It looked cute for a little girl's room, but now it's just part of her play toys. I am happy she is finally playing and loving her dolls. She now has three. The blond china doll doesn't have a name, but the one with the brown hair that looks like her -- she calls N... (not her actual name but her nickname) and the third baby doll is a bald baby.. she calls.. B. So her names aren't too creative but she is learning to love and care for them. She's also having fun telling me that "her" B has ca-ca-ed and she has to change his diaper. My husband came home one day to find a diaper folded up like I do on the floor in the living room . In surprise he asked "what is this?" I said that is "N's little B's diaper.. he ca-ca-ed." My husband then asked the next logical question.. "where did she get the diapers?" I said your mother. She gave N some new born diapers to change her baby. "Great" was his only response as he shook his head and walked away.

My all time favorite story since we've been home is this:

It worked out that the hardwood floors we wanted were scheduled to be installed the week we came home. So we get home.. try to relax and enjoy being home and then boom... move all the furniture out of the living room and master bedroom so the floors can be installed. Meanwhile I'm trying to catch up on laundry from our trip and get her situated into her room. I had asked Steve to watch the kids while I went to get my hair cut. Steve called me and asked me where her clean clothes were. I said in the basket in B's room. I didn't get a chance to fold them yet. When I got back Steve just had this smirk on his face! I asked "What happened?" He said... "Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be smelling little girl's underwear!!" Chuckling I smiled and shook my head. "What happened?" "Well you did the laundry. And put the clean clothes in a basket that looks like her Tinkerbell basket for dirty clothes. So she assumed the clothes were dirty. So when I went in to get her a clean pair of underwear.. she backed away and waved her hand and shook her head no. I said yes, these are clean. She just kept shaking her head. Then she Screamed something in Russian and put her finger over her nose! Then I realized she thought these were dirty. So I said.. no... and smelled them to show her they really were clean. She then smelled them and smiled and started to laugh."
I couldn't help but laugh at this story as he told it to me.

Two Weeks and LOVIN' IT

Our court date was three weeks ago, we've been home two weeks now and we are loving life. Little N is doing great. She is picking up the language so well. Here is a list of sentences/phrases shes saying regularly.
1. Sophie come here. (Sophie and Walter are our dogs)
2. Walter eats.
3. "B" sleeping mom.
4. Good Job!
5. Mom, toilet, mom.
6. All Gone!

Oh and how could I forget... she can count to 10 without us helping her!! The board game Chutes and Ladders helped her to learn her numbers quickly!

We took her to get her lab work done this week. She was great. I was expecting her to scream at the needle. She didn't -- She continues to amaze me. Steve went with me for support. I asked the nurse to pretend to give me the needle first and do blood work on me so she could see what was going to happen. She then sat on Steve's lap, and despite the few pokes it took to get the blood flowing, she was great. No screams, no tears ---- just smiles!!. I couldn't have been prouder. She did better than me-- and I was just faking it!!

She has another dentist apt. next week. I've been working with her on what's going to happen. Now every time we get into the car she points to her teeth -- asking if we are going to get them done now. So I hope she's excited and this next appointment will go well. She was okay at the first one last week, but she was a little scared. So we all agreed to bring her back for X-rays. The dentist says she has had some major dental work done -- he's not sure how much or to what extent but x-rays will help him figure it out. He wants to be friends with her and since he doesn't know how much pain she was in the last time she saw a dentist, he wants to take it slow. We'll let you know how it goes.

Her behavior is getting better. Her meltdowns aren't nearly as bad or as often. In fact Steve's loving the "1.....2.... " by then she's already doing what you want.
While our dentist won't be happy with the following form of rewarding we do it anyway. If N eats all of her dinner and drinks all of her milk she gets to pick out a gumball from Papa's gumball stash. Well the stash was running low (actually only the container was low.. the hidden box of gumballs is filled) So when the gumballs were all gone, she seemed sad to take the last one. However the next morning I showed her it was filled.. and she lit up like a little girl who won the lottery! Then when Steve got home, she ran and gave him a kiss and thanked him for filling the gumball stash!



A friend of ours who adopted her girlfriend "D" and "D's brother" (From the same children's home) called the other day. The two girls got to talk. It was so funny. N just kept laughing and got louder and louder as she spoke. I hope it was all good and she was saying how much she loves her new parents.. but only the two of them know what was said!!!

HERE SHE IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is our little (5 year old) girl saying hi to her little brother.

Enjoying the play ground.

Here we are as a family leaving Magadan.
Her first Breakfast with us.In Moscow looking forward to her new life.