Happy Easter!

I've got the Easter Bunny on speed dial

If it wasn't for all the characters associated with holidays, my kids would probably be in a permanent time out. It is pouring down rain, we've already gotten over 6 inches today, so we are stranded at home, we had planed to go bowling, but with street flooding and high water rescues happening all around us, that is out of the question. It is spring break and we are staying local. I think I have already played 6 hours of Sesame Street for them, played games, colored and now we are waiting for the eggs to be done, so we can color them in anticipation of the Big Bunny coming this Sunday. I have threatened calling the Easter Bunny at least 10 times today alone, he is programed on my cell and home phone, as well as a direct link to him via e-mail! Rain, Rain go away!

Another good week

Chase had another record breaking week with no time outs in school! I am almost afraid to write about it and jinx this streak. He just seems to have turned a corner and I'm trying to figure it out. I should probably just accept it and be grateful (which I am) but I just wish I knew what the magic answer was to this. He is so excited to tell me and any one else who will listen that he had no time outs, he is just so proud of himself and so am I. I know it's too early to breathe a sigh of relief as it could turn back around tomorrow; but for now I will take it. Here's a picture of my little man, he is really into pretend play right now and loves to pretend that he is Jose, our yard guy:

Great, Terrific, Awesome, Fantabulous Week!

Both my kids had a great week at school. Caroline came home with a "Bravo" which is I guess equivalent to having a good and productive week at school. There are not many weeks that she doesn't get them, but it's just recently that she appreciates the specialness of it. Before, she could of cared less, probably because she really didn't understand it, but now, she comes running up to me on Fridays and is screaming "I got a bravo, I got a bravo"! Her teacher allows them to do something special on Mondays if they got a bravo, they can either bring a stuffed animal to school, take their shoes off and wear just socks in the classroom or bring something for show and tell. Caroline got a new stuffed animal for her birthday, so she already has that in her backpack ready to go for Monday.

Chase had a fantastic, record making week; he only had one time out on Monday!!!!! We are so used to measuring his days by how many time outs he gets per day, that this is incredible news! No one can figure out what is going on with him, he is just doing so much better. His doctor, his therapist, his teachers and myself are just confused as just a couple weeks ago it seemed like his behavior was just getting worse, but now he is listening, obeying, being incredibly helpful and is just a joy to be around. I don't know if I'm feeding him something different, if its the Omega 3 fatty acids or being home for 6 months is a magic mark for him, but I'll take it and be thankful for every moment of it. It may start up again and this coming week could be a disaster, but for now I'm totally enjoying it! Yeah for Chase!

My little girl is six years old!

"Mama, I'm not five years old anymore" is the first thing she said when I woke her up this morning. She is having a great birthday celebration. Yesterday was the party that almost wasn't. Caroline was sick on Saturday and I really wasn't sure if she would be well enough for the party on Sunday, but after pumping her full of emetrol and pedialyte, she made a good enough recovery for Sunday. The party was a great success and best of all, Caroline had a blast! It was so much fun for me and all the other mom's to watch. Everyone is just amazed at the progress she has made in the past six months. We had a good turnout, about 10 kids came, even her Kindergarten teacher came, which was the perfect amount and she received such wonderful gifts, she kept saying "thank you, spasiba" (trying to keep a little of the Russian language alive!) Here's some pics of the day:





That's Chase in the red striped shirt who is doing amazingly well this past week and did fantastic at the party! Yeah, we may have turned a corner!

Tonight I am taking them out to dinner and then more presents and cake at home. Wednesday is my birthday, so we have a lot of celebrating to do this week.

Jane

"You're not my friend"

We have been battling the Kindergarten "mean girls"! Lately, Caroline has been saying "You're not my friend" when she gets angry with me. She also says, "I don't love you today, but I'll love you tomorrow"! I knew this was coming from school as this is not something I have ever taught her to say. I've tried to explain to her that everyone is her friend and sometimes people make you angry, but it is usually just a mistake and that they are still your friend. Well come to find out she has been saying this to just about all the kids in her class as well as at home. I finally got so sick of it, I told her she would get a time out if she said it again. They other day, she almost said it, but caught herself at the last second and instead said "I don't like... your sweater"! She also had to apologize to everyone in her class that she has said this to. Her teachers say this is so common, especially with the girls in the second semester of school. I knew this was something that she would encounter probably in the 3rd and 4th grade, but dear Lord, it now starts in Kindergarten?! She is so excited about her birthday party this weekend, but with what's been going on at school, I'll be surprised if any of her friends show up!

6 months!

Six months ago, my sister Gail and I were sweating it out in the hitherlands of far east Russia counting the days, hours and minutes until we could leave that God forsaken place. Birobidzhan had two great things going for it: My children and a local beer called "T". Not too much else. The people who were involved in the adoption process there are all wonderful, but if I never see it again, that would be just fine. It amazes me sometimes how people who speak of the wonderful care their children received while in the orphanages in Russia; my children were well cared for physically, but when I see the difficulty my son has with his behavior, I know that is a direct result of being in the orphanage system. He is on the extreme end of "attention seeking behavior". His behavior is stemmed in the fact that he never received any positive attention, the only way he knows to get someone to notice him is to behave badly. He figures any attention, even if it is negative is better than none. Could it have been so difficult for those caregivers to say "good boy" once in a while? To praise him for achievements rather than shower him with attention when he misbehaved? I realize that the system works on a shoestring budget, but it does not cost money to encourage a kid and build up his self esteem; and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure that out either! Yes the orphanages are spotless, we saw them ironing the draperies when we were there! but I think their time would be much better spent interacting with these children and giving them some positive emotional reinforcements. Granted an orphanage is not an ideal situation for any child to be in, but when they say they do the best they can with what they have, I don't buy it! I know I'm getting off on a tangent here because of my frustration with Chase, but really, if you are a person involved with adoptions in Russia and reading this; please take this to heart and work on the emotional well being of these kids as well.

Okay, enough about my frustrations. Six months is milestone and sometimes it feels like we have been together for 6 years and other times it feels like about 6 minutes! Our SW was amazed at the progress my kids have made in the time they have been home. She was here about a month after we got home and then again for our 6 month post placement visit. It's nice to hear someone notices the positive changes that have taken place, albeit small, sometimes we don't notice when we are around them all the time.

Caroline is doing very well. She is learning to read! I don't remember learning to read that early in Kindergarten, but that was a loooooooong time ago. I was surprised though that she is farther behind then her peers than I thought. I sometimes feel like I am pushing her through two years of preschool and 6 months of Kindergarten all in the past 6 months just to get her to catch up. What I did find out after speaking with her teachers (both K and ESL) is that it takes an ESL student 2 years to speak "social" language and 7 years to speak "educational" language. Caroline is having a hard time deciphering between letters, words and numbers. She can count to 100, but if you ask her to find "the number 76" on a board, she doesn't have a clue what you are taking about and would not be able to find it. She also doesn't understand words are made up of letters, when you ask her to read a word aloud, if it is not one of her "sight" words, she spells it for you rather than reading, or sounding it out. We've got some work to do but now that I have identified what the problems are, it's much easier to work on it. The good thing is, is that Chase is picking up on this and learning right along with Caroline and what a great preparation for Kindergarten for him in another year.

We have a big birthday celebration coming up next weekend; Caroline is going to be six years old! She is so excited and so am I. We are having a "Hip Hop Dancing Party" Caroline loves to dance and I really wanted a party that would include the boys she is close to in her class, so Hip Hop is what I came up with.
She is having her party at the dance training center for the Dallas Maverick (Pro Basketball Team) Cheerleaders and one of the dancers is teaching the class to them! I think it's gonna be so much fun! We're having pizza and Caroline wants a cupcake birthday cake so I've ordered one from Sprinkles. I've made up little favor bags for the girls with these cute, cute, cute hats that I got at a store called Justice - just for girls, and for the boys, I got visors with the emblem of their school on it, they will also both get sunglasses and friendship bracelets; all very "Hip Hoppy". I hope they like them! I think they turned out just adorable. It amazes me how these kids parties have gotten so big, I remember just coming over to someones house and playing musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey! It shows you how old I am! And getting older, my birthday is two days after Carolines!

I'm sure there is a lot more that has been going on around here, I just can't think of all of it. I'm nursing a sore hip right now, I've had significant pain in my left upper leg for 6 months now and have been diagnosed with bursitis - isn't that an old person's issue? (can you tell I'm sensitive about my upcoming birthday?) Well the celebrex didn't work, so the ortho gave me a shot of cortisone in my hip today and ordered 6 weeks of physical therapy, I think the soreness of the shot hurts more than my leg now!

Jane

I know, I know, I know... Long time no blog!

Just because I have been such a slacker, I have gone ahead and given the site a new look, do you like it? I think it's still a work in progress, so I may make some changes to it. The pictures on my header are of Caroline and Chase shortly after we got home and I used them for their adoption announcements; I think they are such beautiful pictures, I thought I would share them with everyone. By the way, I got the idea from another blogger friend who is way more creative than me, Rachael.

Life has been a little, I don't know what you would call it? Chaotic??? Funky???Difficult??? Probably a little of all that and more. This motherhood stuff is hard, hard, hard! And I have really been struggling lately

Chase has been having a difficult time of late and I'm am having a difficult time handling it. He is such a sweet and precious little boy and it breaks my heart to see him have such difficulty adjusting to different situations. He is in the school district's PPCD program Monday thru Friday from 8am to 11am; he is doing okay, although most days lately are measured by how many time outs he gets. He is incredibly smart and his language skills are just exploding weekly; he is speaking in full sentences, and for the most part you can understand him although there are a few words that I have to interpret for people. Not too bad for a 4 year old that's only been here for 6 months. It's his behavior that is such an issue. He is not violent or aggressive, he is just constantly "busy". He doesn't like to listen, and will just take off running just to see what your reaction will be, most times I try and ignore it, but if he's in a dangerous position, I have to react strongly which is exactly what he wants. I tried to put him in a daycare/preschool after his PPCD class ended at 11am and that was a total disaster; every day there was more and more drama with him, he reverted back to behaviors that had all but disappeared, hitting, biting, kicking and swearing! I finally had enough and pulled him out after 2.5 weeks, now I feel like we're working all over again to correct those habits. He is now home with me again and I am now going to resort to finding a nanny for him. His teacher at school is making a referral to a behavior specialist at my request; I also signed up for "Love and Logic" parenting classes, and I called his pediatrician and got the names of physicians that deal with behavior issues with young kids, his first appointment is not until July! Hopefully his pedi can pull some strings and get us in quicker. From what I understand with the school district and his pediatrician, it is unlikely that anyone will diagnose him with ADHD at this young age, they want to wait until he is at least 7 years old to do that, I don't know if I can hold on that long! Someone is going on meds and if not him, it's gonna be me! I did start him on Omega 3 fatty acids and "Attentive Child" mineral supplement; I have no idea if it works or not, the only change I have noticed is that his language skills have increased tremendously since I started giving it to him; whether that is from the supplements or a natural cause to his school, I don't know. Everyone that works with him says he is such a "puzzle", and underneath all of these issues everybody can see such a great kid with so much potential.

On a brighter note, Chase's favorite book is "Goodnight Moon". The Dallas Children's Theater was presenting the musical version of the story, so I took both Caroline and Chase to today's matinee. I was terrified of how Chase would do for 1.5 hours having to sit still and boy was I surprised! He sat on the edge of his seat for the entire show and loved every bit of it! He got a little antsy about the last ten minutes but so did half the theater. I was so proud of him! There is hope!!

Okay, I don't want to overwhelm you with everything all at once! So I will post again tomorrow (promise!) with the rest of the news.

Jane

I've created a monster!

Ever since Caroline has been home, I have always told her that she is pretty, beautiful, gorgeous, etc. It didn't take her long to start standing in front of her mirror saying: "Mama, I so pretty", "Mama, I gorgeous", which at first I thought was oh so cute, but now I tell her that we really don't say those things about ourselves but we say them about other people, that they are compliments and you should say "thank you" when someone says that to you. That went over like a lead balloon as she is still saying it. Yesterday was Caroline's first birthday party she has ever been invited to and it was held at Libby Lu. If you click on the link it will tell you all about it. OMG, she is now a certifiably self loving, narcissistic 5 year old! And I am going to pull my hair out! Here are some pictures from yesterday:










It really was a treat for both Caroline and myself. I got to stay and watch all the fun, and really see Caroline in an evironment other than at home and with just me. She still needs some social skills training, i.e. eating her ice cream with her hands when she couldn't find her spoon (not very princess like!) and picking her nose with wet, blue, glittery nail polish! but she is doing great!

In other news: Daisy's tumor came back benign! Yeah!! She is doing fantastic and healing up very nicely.

Daisy's doing well!

Daisy did well with her surgery yesterday and is at home resting comfortably. The vet called about 11 am yesterday and told me the tumor had doubled in size since he first found it only 10 days ago. He removed it successfully and it has been sent to pathology for examination and we will get the results back tomorrow. Please pray it is benign as the vet thinks it is. Daisy was put in "puppy icu" for the rest of the day and was heavily sedated. We went to pick her up about 5 pm and Chase and Caroline went with me. They got a tour of the vets office, got to see the sick pets along with Daisy and also the boarded ones. They took Sasha, a boarded Golden Retriever out to play with them in their back playard while I spoke with the vet about Daisy's post op care. I think Chase now wants to be a veterinarian, he was just fascinated with all of it, Chase and Caroline have come a long way since the blood curdling screams at the sight of my dogs when we first arrived home.

Daisy did well her first night home, I think I slept with one eye open on her all night. I've been dosing her with pain meds q 8 hours to keep a constant level in her system so she hopefully won't have any breakthrough pain. So far it's working. The vet could not stress enough to me how painful this recovery is and I think he said it about 10 times, I cried every time he talked about it!. My poor baby, I pray everything is smooth sailing for her now.

So much going on

Whew, it's only Wednesday and I feel like it should be Friday of next week. Chase started his preschool on Monday. This is the preschool thru the school district for kids with delayed learning issues, although there is some controversy with putting children in this, I felt like this was the best place for Chase to learn to behave in a group setting, if he doesn't grasp this concept now, he's going to be a holy terror once he reaches elementary school. He went thru a battery of tests back in November and although the school district psychologist felt like he is a "puzzle" they agreed to place him in the program and focus on not only his behavior and attention issues, but also his speech. He is going 5 days a week for 3 hours a day in the morning; the great thing about this is that he cannot get kicked out! I don't know if I blogged about it, but Chase lasted a whopping 45 minutes in the last private preschool before they called me to come and remove him! I am literally at my wits end with him; he can be so sweet and loving and then the next he is tearing something apart! We so far have been asked to leave stores, he's been asked to leave his first preschool and we got asked to leave church at the Christmas eve children's service. I do know he is better than he was 4 months ago when we first came home, but we have a long way to go. He still goes to occupational therapy twice a week for sensory issues and I honestly don't know if it's working or not, his attention span is about 30 seconds! and does not seem to be improving. He still does ridiculous things like eating dog food. Yesterday I caught him eating it twice and both times he landed in time out, then when I caught him the third time, I swatted him on his backside. I'm not an advocate of spanking, but nothing seems to get thru to him. I don't know if this is just a 4 year old being a rambunctious 4 year old, or is it related to attachment issues or what?? I do hope that a year from now we will be able to laugh about this, but dear Lord he is one rascally kid!

Thank goodness Caroline is doing great. Caroline got invited to her first birthday party for this weekend, she is so excited. The problem that Caroline is having is that she is into "everything is mine" right now. I'm sure this is related to the fact that before me, she never had anything to call her own and now she seems to think "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine"! She became very upset yesterday when I explained to her that the party this weekend is for her friend, it is not "her" party. She gets over it, but not without a LOT of drama.

We are also having dog issues. The dogs boarded at the vets office while we were on vacation and they all got their physicals and shots while they were there. The vet called me in Chicago to let me know the finding of their physicals. Daisy my golden/Shepard has a tumor on her bottom that may or may not be malignant, she is in surgery today for removal and apparently this will be a very painful recovery and she will be on a fentanyl patch, and oral pain meds as well as anti-inflammatory pills and antibiotics. I am waiting on the vets call right now to let me know how she did in surgery. The path report on the tumor will not be back until Friday, we'll know at that time if it's benign or malignant and what the best treatment plan for her will be. I am so worried about her, she is my "baby" who survived hurricane Katrina and was my first adoption. If you can spare some prayers for her, I would appreciate it. Here is one of my favorite pictures of her:


The other dogs are having issues as well, Rosie my Scottish terrier has elevated liver enzymes and will need to watched for the next few months to see if this is a fluke or if there is indeed a problem. Violet, the Boston terrier has giardia! She probably got it from the kids as they were treated for it shortly after we returned from Russia, so she is on flagyl.

Oy, I need an assistant to keep up with all this!

Jane

Happy New Year from Chase and Caroline

We're still here in Chicago and it is coooooold and snowy! As Caroline says, "It's Russia Cold". Caroline and Chase are having a ball. Here's some pictures from the week:
Gail making my kids work for their supper:




The "Royal Plunge"



Happy New Year!



We'll be back in Dallas tomorrow night.
Love,
Jane

Christmas 2007

Caroline and Chase are so lucky to have so many people who love and care about them, they have had a fantastic Christmas so far. We still have one more "Christmas" to attend to when we fly to Chicago tomorrow to see Troycha Gail and JaJa Miska and the other cousins, they are so excited. Here is a slide show of the pictures from our Holiday 2007:

Christmas picture bloopers

In my quest to get a great picture of the kids for my Christmas cards, we had plenty of bloopers, here are two of them: by the way, I never did get the perfect picture, do you know how hard it is to get two kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time??? It's impossible!!!



Happy Holidays,
Jane

Kindergarten is dangerous!

Yesterday, when I went to pick Caroline up from school, her teacher came walking out holding Caroline's hand, I knew immediately that something was wrong. The teacher told me that there is a boy in Caroline's class that has a "crush" on her and is constantly pestering her and sometimes Caroline just does not want to play with him. This boy has been reprimanded by the teacher on several occasions to stop bothering Caroline and also the boy's mother has been talked to about the situation; I had no idea this was going on. Well yesterday, this boy took it a step further and when Caroline indicated to him she did not want to play with him, he took Caroline's hand and bit her on the back of her hand!! He didn't break the skin, but left a nasty bite mark and bruise! The boy was pulled out of class, his parents were called and he was suspended for the rest of the day! I had no idea they suspended kindergarten kids. Caroline had to go to the nurses office and they iced it down and she was okay, but pretty upset. When we got in the car to come home, the first thing she said about the incident was that this boy is naughty and Santa will NOT (said emphatically) be coming to his house! My constant naughty and nice conversations are paying off! She is fine today and the kid is back in school, but he wouldn't even look at me when I dropped Caroline off this morning.

Jane

Santa's Coming!

I am milking this Santa business for all it's worth! The naughty and nice thing is the best thing ever invented! Chase and Caroline are totally buying into it. They are having so much fun getting ready for the "big guys" arrival. It looks like Santa threw up in my house; we have six trees up, there is Christmas stuff everywhere including the bathroom, just in case Santa has to peesit! Caroline and Chase have their very own tree that they decorated themselves; this was to preserve the family tree in the living room from being messed with. It finally feels like Christmas with the weather, the 80 degrees days are gone and it is now sweater weather. Here's a couple of pictures of the kids from the last week . Caroline is getting over a nasty cold sore so we are holding off taking Christmas pictures until later this week.



Our Family Tree

The kid's tree, please note the chinese takeout menu that Chase found on the front door that he made into an ornament!

Before and Now pictures

Here are the referral pictures that I receieved of "Katia and Pasha" and some recent pictures of "Caroline and Chase". It amazes me the diffence a year can make:

Referral picture August 2006


First meeting picture November 2006 (Katia would not smile the entire time we were there!) Now I can't get her to stop!


Second trip picture August 2007


Professional picture October 2007

And here's Chase:

Referral picture received August 2006


First trip picture November 2006


Second trip picture August 2007



Professional pictures October 2007

So much to be thankful for

At this time last year, Gail and I were sightseeing in Moscow and getting ready to leave for Birobidzhan to meet Katya and Pasha. It's hard to believe that a year has passed and my children have been home for over two months now. I have to say that everyone says that you forget all the waiting that you did for your adoption, well not for me. I still vividly remember the agonizing wait for a courtdate, 8 1/2 months to be exact. I also remember what my life was like before kids, at times I really do miss it but I wouldn't trade what I have now for anything.

Caroline and Chase are doing really well and I can't believe how they have changed since we got home. Chase loves the dogs, Caroline still has a little ways to go, but we are all coexisting under one roof. Caroline loves school and is learning English at lightening speed. Academically she is behind the others in her class and I don't know if she will catch up before the end of the school year, I may hold her back and have her repeat Kindergarten next year as I would rather her get up to speed rather than constantly trying to catch up. Time will tell. She is very quiet in school (unlike home where she constantly talking) but the teachers say this is normal for an ESL student. All the children want to be her friend, but she is so quiet and will not interact with them very much, that's a little hard to watch, but hopefully with time it will change. She has grown 3/4 of an inch in the past 2 months. She is a real "girly girl"; her hair always has to be perfect with a bow that matches her outfit, she thinks nothing is better than getting new clothes and shoes, I think Caroline is up to 15 pairs on shoes! She loves her Mama and her brother and has been attaching beautifully. Caroline's favorite thing to do is dance! She loves when I play hip hop music and she'll dance around with her brother. I think I will try and find a dance class for her after the first of the year.

Chase has calmed down considerably since we are home. His evaluation at Baylor Children's House indicated that he is significantly developmentally delayed (at about a 22 month level) and that he has some Sensory Integration issues. He starts twice weekly OT therapy next week to try and get him up to speed. He is no longer a terror to take into a store or restaurant most of the time, the biting, pinching, hitting and kicking have all stopped, although he does still let out an occasional scream! He is still extremely active and it wouldn't surprise me if he is diagnosed with ADHD, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. To let out some of that pent up energy, I enrolled him in gymnastics twice a week, he started about two weeks ago and loves it, he calls it "bouncy school". And the best news is that he has been accepted into preschool at the local Catholic school for two days a week! I am so excited for him, he starts next week. Chase and I spent about two hours with the principal, Sr. Bernarda, a few weeks ago and last week she called and said they would allow him into the preschool. I think I put the fear of God into him before our meeting, he was on his absolute best behaviour! Now my only fear is them kicking him out after he starts for being too disruptive, keep your fingers crossed that doesn't happen! Chase has grown 2 inches in two months! He is almost as tall as his sister. He still loves to eat although he is not hoarding anymore. We are still having issues with potty training, but hopefully that will come to an end soon. He also loves his Mama and his sister and truly has the kindest heart. He loves to help Mama with her chores around the house, loves to dance and listening to music is one of his favorite things to do.

Well that is our update! The kids and I are preparing to host Thanksgiving at our "dom", Caroline is learning all about the holiday at school, the other day, she asked when we were going to the store to "get our monkey"! She meant turkey! Too funny! I am so thankful for the blessings that I have in my life and these children are the best things that could have ever happened to me. What a great Thanksgiving this is going to be (beats eating special k bars like Gail and I did last year!)

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Love, Jane

Today at the Zoo

Caroline had off school today and it was a beautiful day so I took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo. Here are some of their favorite pics:

Tick or Tweet!

In the essence of absolute truthfulness, I need to confess why I have been such a bad blogger over the past several weeks: I have been sick, sick, sick! And being that I am a self diagnoser and self medicator I thought surely I could cure myself, but that has not worked and I will actually be making a trip to the doctor tomorrow to finally get better, this has been going on over two weeks and I have been a horrible person and mom to be around! Enough is enough!

Yesterday was Caroline and Chase's first Halloween. Caroline had a parade at school in the morning and then when she came home we got back in our Halloween costumes and went trick or treating, or as Caroline calls it "Tick or Tweeting". They had so much fun. Caroline was a Fairy and Chase was a Dinosaur. A little about Chase's dinosaur costume. My sister Gail made this costume for her son Steve almost twenty years ago; after Steve wore it, his brother Chris wore it and after that it was put up in the back of a closet for the past 18 years! Well, when Chris came down for Chase's birthday a few weeks ago, he brought it with him for Chase to wear. I have to say, it is so, so cute and Chase looked adorable in it. I wanted to take credit for making it, but that credit belongs to Gail, and she deserves it. Hopefully Gail will scan and get me the pictures of her kids in it so many years ago and I'll post them to show this now "heirloom" costume! The next generation to wear it will probably be Gail's grandchildren! I'm sure she'll choke when she reads this!!

Here are some of the pictures from the day!