Home one week

Mama is sooooo tired! Sorry for no update sooner, but dear Lord this is hard! Gail left on Wednesday, so I have been on my own for a few days now. Caroline and Chase are starting to settle in better and better each day. They are now sleeping in their own beds, at first they slept together in Caroline's and screamed for about an hour or so; then last night Caroline slept in Chase's and Chase slept in Caroline's and screamed for about 30 minutes. I don't really care if they sleep in the bathtub, as long as they sleep. Tonight, they are finally sleeping in their own beds alone! Yeah! And not one scream! Small milestones, but I'll take what I can get. We've mostly been hanging out at home with some small excursions to the store and also a haircut for Chase, I swear, he looked like some rock star with his hair, it was so long; I like little boys to look like little boys. Caroline's hair is such a curly mop, but I love it and couldn't stand to cut it, so we will wait a while longer to see what might suit her best.

We've had some moments though. We had some time to kill before Chase's hair appointment on Thursday, so we stopped at TJ Maxx to see if they had anything that I needed; well, Chase was an absolute terror. I had him in the cart and was holding Caroline's hand and her head is on a swivel: "Mama, look, look, look", "Mama, look, look, look", "Mama, look, look, look" and Chase was screaming peesit and cacit at the top on his lungs and calling anyone who came within 20 feet of us the "B*^tch" word in Russian. Hopefully no one at TJ Maxx in North Dallas spoke Russian and understood what he was saying. He was hitting and pinching me and pulling his sister's hair, it was an absolute disaster and we could not get out of there quick enough. What was I smoking when I decided that going there would be a good idea? Chase was great though at the hair salon, it's one that caters to children, so he sat in his "marchina" and watched Cars on the video and was a very good boy.

The kids are also loving the pool! They are little water babies. It's amazing, I'm not sure if they have ever been in a pool, but they took to it right away.

The Dogs. Well, that's another story. They are slowly getting used to them. Today, my neighbor came over and since the kids love the pool, her and I got in the pool with them and played for a while and then she went and got the dogs and put them on leashes and brought them out. No blood curdling screams, but still weary of them. We did manage to get them out of the pool with the dogs loose and sit at the table outside and feed the dogs snacks. This was major progress. They still freaked a little when all of us, dogs included, went inside, so I ended up locking the dogs up again for most of the rest of the day. I think if we do this everyday, we will get to a point where we can all live in the same house together without closed doors! That would be awesome in my book!

I've decided to go ahead and try Caroline in Kindergarten, she will hopefully start a week from Monday. I really think that by doing this will acclimate her to our lifestyle better and she seems a little bored. She seems to understand she will be going to school and making new friends and meeting her teacher. She about flipped when she saw the playground, lots of slides and monkey bars and swings, it probably looked like Disney world compared to what they had in the orphanage.

Chase will stay home with me for some "Mama boot camp". They would kick him out of preschool in a New York minute with his current behavior. He kicks, hits, bites, screams, pinches, pulls hair and has a horrible "potty mouth"; all this at three, almost four years old! Unbelievable! It has gotten better since we've been home and he's away from that orphanage, but when he gets angry, a lot of it starts to come out again. I look like I've been to war with all the bruises and bite marks!

Earlier in the week, they got to meet their other Aunt and Uncle, we met for dinner at a restaurant, (they are very good when they are around food) and we had so much fun. They all got along great, and they were so funny. At one point, Aunt Mary asked how to say something in Russian and Caroline hands her Gail's little Russian translation book! Chase and his Uncle got along so well, they were doing "boy stuff" like making sand castles by spilling the entire salt jar into a glass of water, thank goodness Chase didn't try and drink it!

They are starting to pick up English more and more each day. Here's a list of some of their favorite words, many learned from "Troyta" Gail:

Kissy, Kissy, Smoochie, Smoochie
Yummy in the Tummy
Mmmmm, mmmmm, mm, mmmm, mmmm, m, m, m
Mama Mia!!
Baby
Stop it!!!
Dog

Here are some pictures from this past week:





I'll try and be a better blogger now that things may be settling down a little. I really need to put a post together of Gail and my experiences in Russia; there were so many funny moments I don't want to forget any. I will try that one tomorrow.

Love to all,
Jane