Long time...no blog...

Well, I know it's taken me a while to get back to this blog. April was a long slow month, since the beginning of May we've been running around crazy seems like. This month has flown.

She's been doing so great this month. She's trying like crazy to walk...all day long it up and down up and down and cruising around the house. She's made so many great advances with her development seems like she's catching up with herself. She says Momma (mostly when mad when I'm changing her diaper). She's also teething like mad.

Motrin is my best friend. My poor baby has 4 regular teeth, 2 incisors, and I think 2 molars coming in on her. Some of the teeth about pop up and then they go back down. But one of the molars has actually busted through.

We've been visiting grandparents and trying out new adventures such as going swimming in a pool. Alina hated the swimming ring I bought...tried to put her in it and she SCREAMED. Just had her in my arms and she loved the water. She even stuck her face in and blew bubbles. We're going to keep working on that. I'm thinking of doing a YMCA baby and me swimming class.

Other than that, we've just been doing our day to day stuff. She had her 1 year immunizations shots, has learned to eat more and more regular food, and is a busy little girl. She's been on another plane ride and her first road trip of over one hour and did great. I think she's well on the way to being just another little girl.

Next week is another time of transition for little bit though. We're going to start a Mother's Day Out program (we will start calling it Father's day out on the 8th). She will do two days per week for just 4 hours and I think it will be good for her to play with other kids. There are only 4 other children in her age group and they are mostly little girls. I think this will help with the transition to Daycare which will begin on August 10th. (Keeping fingers crossed).

Andy is done with the school year tommorrow accept for clean up and meetings and I go back to work in one more week. I am going to miss spending so much time with Alina and seeing all the great progress we've made over the last two months. I'm just going to have to make our time together as quality as I can. She's got two months with Daddy coming up and I think it will be good for both of them.

Again, sorry for the long absence from the blog. I'll try to update more later.

Love to all.

Party...Party...Party

We held our 1st Birthday Bash on Saturday. We had such a great time. Lots of friends and family came with kids in tow. It was chaos as kids played in the open area of the room we had rented.

Alina was teething big time on Thursday last week. She's cutting 6 teeth at the same time right now. Thank goodness for Motrin or she would be in total misery. Fortunately, 3 of the closest ones broke through on Friday and she was in a great mood on Saturday. She was crowing and babbling. My Mom (Nana) was in town for the weekend and met Alina for the first time. They got on fabulously and Mom was such a great help in getting things together.

We had asked everyone to bring a dish and we grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, and polish sausages. One of my friends son helped Andy grill and got to wear Andy's red apron. It made him feel like the big man.

Alina played in her excersaucer surrounded by 2 of the grandmothers, a great aunt, and 3 honorary aunts. All the little kids gave her some attention while we put things together.

About two hours into the party, Alina was placed in the center of the room with a dispoable tablecloth under her. The baby cake was placed in front of her. Immediately her attention was focused. It was white with a big red '1' in the middle. You could see on her face, 'what is this'...well even with all the noise and flashes and adults ooohhing and awwwing...she was focused. One little finger delicately touched on the cake and took out a little bit of frosting. Those little eyebrows went up in suprise''YMMMM". Second helping was two fingers of goop. After that she went in full force with a whole hand.

In the end, she had frosting in her hands, hair, every inch of her face, and managed to get it into her ears as well. Took bath over two days to find all the stuff in the crevaces. :)

My baby is 1 year old and she's great.

Love to all.

Teething...

Well we didn't do much for Alina's Birthday on Thursday but I broke out one of her toys that I had bought a while back. It's an activity table. She loves the thing and it has a phone on it. She's picked up on the phone thing and thinks it a hoot. We pick it up and say 'hi'. She won't talk to it yet, but I think she will. She loves the real phone. I've also wrapped up an old remote control becuase she's always trying to steal the real one to play with and chew on. I'm debating giving it to her becuase I'm afraid she will want the other one even more. So we will see.

Unfortunately, she wasn't doing great on Thursday becuase she has started teething again. Based on what I feel I think she is cutting between 5-7 teeth. She got 7 teeth in February so I'm sure it's not unreasonable to think its that many. Thank goodness for Motrin. It's the only thing that gives her releif. She woke up a few times during the night last night, but in the end slept majority of it. She's down for a nap now.

Today is her birthday celebration. We have many friends coming for grilled hotdogs and bringing their kids to watch Alina stuff cake in her face. Should be fun and funny. I may have to hose her down afterwards. :) It's been pouring rain all morning, but we have a venue inside/outside. I rented a building at work which has a back yard area and a big function room. It was so much easier than trying to squeeze people into my little house. I could fit about 5 people and then it would be full.

I'll post how the party went later. Love to all.

Interesting approaches...

Well...we had a very nice weekend with Alina. Andy got to spend a good bit of time with her. He carried her everywhere we went: on his shoulders, in arms, or pushed the stroller. Great break for Mommy. It was also good because she got more comfortable with him. She really loves her Daddy. She actually easier on him than me I guess because he's not the primary at this time. We went to church and then drove to Tuscaloosa to see family who haven't been well recently. She was charming and played up a storm. She doesn't go to other people but she's happy to play from Mommy or Daddy's lap. Which I like because she likes people and attention, but isn't indescriminate which is something you should be concerned about with an adoptive child.

I expressed some of my attachment concerns in my last post, well I started doing somethign about it. One website A4everfamily.org give some suggested games and activities to stimulate eye contact which is one of the best attachement builders. It's called the kissing game. She thinks it's a hoot and looks at me when we do it. I stick one of her favorite snacks or anything food related that is interesting...mostly cherrios between my lips. Then I make her take them with her lips...like a little bird. She grins while she does it and grabs with her teeth but I've gottend some drooly slobbery kisses out of it. And she looks directly at me the whole time.

Another interaction is sitting in my lap while we play with a ball. It's just a minor holding time and no eye contact but she likes to play with me and not alone all the time. We send the ball against the couch and it bounces back.

The third thing we started this morning and it's the hardest. We spent almost 45 minutes with her hollering in my lap. I wouldn't let her get out because I wanted her to relax. This technique is called 'holding time' developed by Martha Welch, MD. She was hollering but there were no tears and after a while she finally heaved a big sigh and settled and when I talked to her she would look me right in the eye. When we settled down for her bottle and then I rocked her for a nap. She was much easier to get to relax.

So I'm going to try that everyday.

According to the book and my friends who have used it. They said it gets easier and builds trust. Originally when she would fuss and want to get down we woudl just let her. I still will if she just wants to play, but if I want to cuddle and relax that's something we're going to have to work on. It's not easy, especially when she's such a happy munchkin when you aren't holding her. But I want her to be equally happy when I am.

Her 1st birthday is this Thursday. I'm so excited we got her home in time. We're going to have a shindig with friends and their kids this weekend. I have to shop for that today and get everything together. I hope it goes well and I can do her nap on Saturday enough so she's in a bouncy mood for cake stuffing time.

Love to all.

Attachment and Daycare transitions...

Well, now that we've been home for three weeks...I have finally settled into the "Mommy" role for the most part. I know how to feed, bathe, and mostly satisfy my daughters basic needs. But now I'm having to start looking at the deeper issues for her long term health and happiness.

She's an adopted child and I'm reading about attachment. Alina shows great signs of starting to attach pretty strongly with me. She turns to me for comfort and I'm able to give it, she prefers me because I'm her primary caregiver, she cries when she's hurt, and she gets upset when I leave the room and then she finds out I'm still in the house but she can't see me. These are good and bad things. Good because it shows attachment, but bad because it's just me. She's more and more comfortable with Andy, but it's a slower road. She sees and spends more time with him on the weekends and about 15-20 minutes in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

That will change in June when he gets out of school, but then I'm leaving to go back to work and my time with her will change to what he has now. I'm afraid of her feeling abandoned and 'trauma'. This is something that kids who are adopted generally feel. She didn't exhibit a lot of 'loss/trauma' when we took her from her caregivers at the orphanage. And I know she was very fond of them. So is this a bad thing that we haven't seen that grief or are we just not seeing it yet?

Daycare will start sometime in July and that's another concern.

Just venting my worries here loved ones. Hope you comment.

Love to all.

Took the plunge...

As of yesterday, we have had Alina one month. Seems almost impossible that much time has passed.

I feel like she's been a part of our lives for so long. I'm still getting used Mommyness...but I can't imagine my world without her already. She's gotten to the point that she smiles when we go in to get her up in the morning. Well, let me say only if she was already waking up. My daughter is definately one who has to warm up in the mornings sometimes. But some days, I'll come and say 'Good morning sweetie' and she lights up like a Christmas tree with that big smile.

We're working on the food balancing act and I've come to the conclusion that Alina needs something on the hour every hour. Whether it's just a few cherrios and a sip of water, milk, or juice. Got to have something. Keeps kiddo very happy.

The moving off from formula is easy. She doesn't blink at the difference between Formula and Warm milk at all. She likes both, but we're still supplementing her diet with the formula until it runs out. In the meantime, I'm coming up with creative kid foods to help make my life easier for changeover.

One recipe I found uses ground turkey or ground chicken mixed with carrotts, apples, a pinch of time, pinch of black pepper, bread crumbs, and a very little onion. I made little bit sized meatballs out of that. I'm going to freeze some of them. A friend does that for her son. She likes them. I'm also going to start trying to work our dinner plans around meals that can be used for her. I'm supplementing with Gerber because it's easy...but SOO expensive. We're moving away from that.

If you have any good finger food ideas with good protien for a infant/toddler...post them in the blog comments.

I'm also working this week on finalizing plans for Alina's 1st Birthday. We're going to have a party on May 2nd to celebrate her arrival/B-day. Anyone know ideas for infant/toddler games??

Love to all.

Good news and prayers

The couple (our new friends) that we stayed with in Moscow in January are finally on their final trip to pick up their son this weekend. I'm so excited for them. It's been a month longer wait for them. We were truly blessed to be able to bring Alina home so quickly. All of the time fell exactly so that I could stay home until Andy gets out of school and then were' going to do daycare after that.

I think in June were going to do one day per week of day care and then later in the month two days. That will help with the transition a little bit.

We're in the process of planning Alina's first birthday shindig. I'm so excited because my Mom finally can come up and meet Alina. She's staying for a week.

We're also going to travel in May to visit grandparents which will be fun, but definately mess with the schedule.

We definately are a good morning napper. No morning nap the rest of the day goes haywire. She was up all day yesterday because we missed the morning nap becuase I had a doctors appointment and then she had a doctors appointment. Not a good combination of activities. But we got a great bill of health for Alina accept for some Anemia, which can be overcome with iron rich vitamins in her milk and/or more meat consumption. She loves meat so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Love to all.