6 months home

Our sweet Hannah has been home for 6 months.  She is thriving! She loves to ride the bus to school and has an excellent understanding of English. She usually understands what we ask of her.  She is so social now and truly wants to be the center of everything.

Hannah can sign colors, eat, more, thank you, please, all done, friends and a few others. She is trying so hard to find her voice. She is making baby noises now and we always encourage it. Even in the grocery store when she makes a shriek.  I just ask her to not do it as loud but really, it is the same way a baby finds their voice.

Hannah gives hugs and kisses (big sloppy wet ones!) and is especially fond of Allison. Hannah and I get home from work/school first and Allison and Daddy get home about an hour later. Hannah runs up and hugs her sister every day.  She also does it first thing in the morning when they wake up.

Hannah is still sleeping in the tent and for right now, it is the safest place for her. If she wasn’t in a tent, she would fall on the floor in the middle of the night.  She was in a crib at the orphanage so a toddler bed was very foreign to her. When she came home we noticed how she would flip in her sleep. It was okay when she would roll of her mattress on the floor and onto the floor, but she would get hurt rolling off the bed in her big girl room. So for now, a tent it is. Hannah runs right in at night and when we take a road trip we take the tent with us. She loves having it with us wherever we go.

Hannah loves oatmeal for breakfast! She still can’t drink milk without spitting up. She loves broccoli so I don’t worry about milk. I can’t stand milk and think it’s gross to drink another animal’s milk so I don’t push it. Allison and Bobby both love milk.

I have to say Hannah’s favorite food would be French fries.  (Allison won’t eat a French fry!) She would eat them all the time if we left her. She gets so mad when she has to eat everything else and then the fries come.  She will point to a fry on her Daddy’s plate and sign more. We just keep telling her to eat the rest first.  She loves tomatoes and almost all fruits. She will try anything but remembers what she does and doesn’t like.  She won’t touch a scrambled egg and looks at me horrified if I put some on her plate.

Socially, she is a rock star! Her friends at Montessori love her and always hug her goodbye when I come get her. Even the little boys are so sweet with her. Although she is three, she is in with the 2 year olds. Socially and physically it is a much better fit for her. She is even smaller than some of them.

The only thing she is attached to is her lalaloopsy that she sleeps with and her American Girl baby that her Great Aunt got her. She LOVES that thing and is always putting it to bed, feeding it and sometimes even putting her in time out.

Hannah loving cupcakes at her sisters birthdya party!

Hannah still believes dogs belong outside. She points her finger at them and says GA for go or get out when they are close to her.  Is it wrong that it cracks me up? The dogs are all small dogs and very docile with the kids. One of the three is VERY attached to Hannah, although Hannah only really likes her when the gate is between them. Gracie is our one eye adopted dog and she is in love with Hannah and will lay at her feet hoping for a petting. It doesn’t happen, but Gracie never gives up, much like Hannah!

6 months home has brought many behavior changes good and bad. The bad are more of testing the water behaviors to see what she can get away with. With Bobby and I, not much. We are raising a child who will be an adult one day and needs to stay within the same safe boundaries we set for Allison. Sometimes even tighter boundaries because Allison has had more life experience in the real world.

Hannah can throw a major temper tantrum. I have no clue where she saw it; she didn’t come home doing it. Now she can throw herself on the floor and tick her legs up and down.  As long as she is safe, I just step around her and totally ignore it. She now started doing it at school and they do the same thing. Once she sees it isn’t working and stops, the very next good thing she does we go crazy with praise! So she hopefully will learn tantrums get nothing good behavior gets praise and attention.

That has been a hard one for us and her to learn. Hannah came home thinking any attention was good attention. She also must have had her hand slapped a few times because she would do something naughty and then slap her own hand. She hasn’t been doing that lately. She will however put herself in time out and sometimes I am not sure what she did to warrant it so I just take her out.

For the first few months home every single morning when she woke up and we unzipped the tent, she would let out this huge sigh of relief. Like she was just so thankful we were still all together. I am feeling like now she knows we are staying and now we just get hugs in the morning.

Allison, Poppy, Mimi and Hannah

January Zoo Day

Today was a beautiful day. We have a crazy 10 days ahead of us so we wanted to do something special with the girls. We decided on the zoo. We are zoo members and use it all the time. Our trips to the zoo average 2 and a half hours and we try to do different parts each time. This time was extra fun for me because the girls had the cutest zebra stripes. I found these one zulily and loved them. If you know Allison, you know how shocking it is she wore it. It is covered in bows and fluff and she is a minimalist. So of course, I broke out the good camera for this visit.

When I was a little girl, I drank out of the very same lion.

Hannah thought riding on Daddy's shoulders

 was the best way to see the animals.

Who can resist a good bongo?

 

That smile makes our hearts explode.

 Doesn't she deserve the best life possible...

just because she is God's child?

If you have ever thought adoption may be for you -

 please, come spend a day with us and see what a blessing it can be!

 

Dad getting in on the bongo action.

I am so blessed to be loved by him.

 

 

 

Allison figured since Hannah was getting a ride with Daddy,

 she would take Hannah's ride.

Aren't those eyes amazing? Just like her Daddy.

 

Look Hannah, we match him.

 

 Hannah is more a fan of swimming animals.

She thinks they are so funny and loves to watch the otters swimming.

 

 

 She also likes to make sure we see it too! 

 

 

Hannah and Allison love to go through the fish tube.

 

 

 

 

 Hannah always stops to take it in.

She likes to point and make sure we all see the fish!

I am so excited that she does this with us!

 

Exiting the fish tunnel. Think she was a little excited? 

 

 Hannah takes her sweet time going through allowing Allison time to do it a second time.

I think she may have been a little annoyed with my photo taking.

 

Then Hannah threw up and we left. Hey... just keeping it real.

The girls were both tired and Allison passed out in the car after 5 minutes.

 

First Day of School

Today, Hannah started public school half days.

Sister Allison was a huge help making sure she had everything she needed in her backpack.

 

 

Hannah was pretty excited, she didn't know what was happening,

 but she knew it was something good!

 

The school bus came and my Mommy nerves were on edge,

this little one was cool as a Bulgarian cucumber!

 

The aide came out right away to greet Hannah and walk her onto the bus.

She walked right on with no hesitation.

 

Once on she was strapped in and off they went.

 

So of course, I hop in the car and run up to school to get more photos of

Hannah's first day and to be sure that she did okay on the bus.

 

Of course, she rocked it! Look at her with those huge steps on her very first day.

Her teacher was thinking she was doing a great job too!

 

 

Once inside, Hannah waited for her classmates to arrive on their buses.

 

 

 

Then it was time to put up her backpack and start school.

I made my exit, but got a great email at lunch time that Hannah had a good first day.

She made a new friend and they enjoyed a long game of peek-a-boo.

 

To those of you who donated to ReecesRainbow, thank you for giving this sweet girl a life.

I know I am a bad blogger, but every single day we are so thankful for those of you who prayed for our daughter. She was made for our family.

 

PS Potty in the potty at school, at Montessori and at home! Way to go Hannah! Thanks Allison for teaching her the ropes, Daddy and I adore you bunny rabbit!

Special Needs Adoption

Today as I opened my lap-top,i saw the desktop picture of Hannah and I in the playroom of the orphanage. As I looked at it the tears came.

I could remember the smell in her hair. She was clean and loved, but you can imagine with 115 kids, they did not get hair washed often and she always had an odd smell. Her hair was course and lifeless. Fast forward to today.... her hair is so soft and shiny! She smells snugly!

I called my friend who was adopting and cried. Tears of joy that her baby will be home with her soon and tears of sadness for all the orphans in Russia that Putin has condemned to a life of death.

Putin, a big bad world leader and who does he pick on? BABIES! CHILDREN! THE WEAKEST OF THE WEAK! Here is a news flash, Putin not only are you the spawn of satan for picking on children, you are killing your own countries already shotty economy. These children will grow up. (Granted, you will have killed mass amounts of CHILDREN just from lack of funding to the orphanage.) Once the "healthy, normal" kids age out of the system and have known nothing but crime, hate and hand outs, how exactly do you think they will be productive citizens? Perhaps you just don't care because by the time that happens you will be dead and it is will be your children's children who have to deal with the problem.

People of Russia, stand up to this man! I know, you can see that this is an act of vengeance against the USA and nothing else. Time and time again I SEE the truth of what adoption can do and the beautiful children who's lives are changed.

Putin, if you have a problem with something the US did, take it out on the adults, we can stand up for ourselves and against your satin ways. We are one country under GOD and you can do nothing to break us.

IF you have a mean nasty comment, aim it at me. I am an adult and can take it. Adults who pick on children are the lowest and deserve all that will come to them in the end.

Almost 4 months ago

Almost 4 months ago, I walked into an orphanage excited, scared and truly ready to bring our daughter home. Kelly wrote that she was a witness to seeing prayers answered and truly, every single day I am amazed at how the very specific things we prayed for were given to us. Not always the way we wanted, but always the way God wanted them to happen.
Since Hannah has been home we have seen an explosion of growth. First, let me say I believe she was a favorite and very loved in her orphanage. I believe she had care givers who loved her very much and treated her with kindness and love. That being said, no matter how good it was, it was not a family. Not a mom and dad, not a sister, grandparents or freedom.

Since Hannah has been home she has grown two inches and four lbs (at least!). She is going to school and loves being with her friends! She has several signs, her favorites are eat and more. Usually used together. She is a great eater and prefers oatmeal instead of cinnamon rolls, chicken instead of red meat and French fries above all else! Her straw skills are awesome and bobby and I are shocked all the time at things she picks up just from her sister. Allison is potty training Hannah. Okay, not on purpose and we are not pushing potty training at all. Hannah watch Allison and now when Allison goes, Hannah wants to go too. Then she wants us to all clap for her. We do :)

At her school they have scheduled potty break times and Hannah is trying to hold it so she can go on the potty. She gets very upset when she tries to let us know she has to go and we don't get it. We are learning too and so is her school.

On the 30th, the girls were sick so we missed church. When we went this past Sunday, Hannah's Sunday school helper noticed right away the differences in the noises she is making. Putting several sounds together and we really believe she is trying to find her voice and words. She loves when we give her a microphone that amplifies her noises. She starts with the speech therapist this week so we are excited to find new ways to help her talk. She is like an 18 month old and experimenting all the time with her voice. She loves to hear it echo in Costco! Her eyes were checked and came back fine but she is always right up in our face watching us form the words. I try to make it big so she can see what my tongue and lips are doing as I speak.

We are dealing with Allison and Hannah having a hard time sharing. We know this is a normal sibling behavior but we are trying to find ways to work on sharing. We also have a work space (a floor mat) when you are in your work space working on a project, it is not a sharing time so you need to leave the other person alone. Hannah loves to take a toy away from Allison and run away. Her goal is not to get Allison mad or even to play with the toy, it is to get Allison to chase her and play with her. That is the one we are having the hardest time with because Allison's reaction is always to go get the toy and take it back from Hannah. Allison is learning to use her words to ask Hannah to bring it back instead of chasing. V.e.r.y. S.l.o.w., but still we try :)

Bobby is seriously a rock star of a dad. His girls adore him and he loves to play his guitar so the girls can dance. They even put on tutus. It's my favorite time!

If you have ever felt like you wanted to adopt, but you squished that feeling. Please don't please obey that feeling you have. You have it for a reason. I also want to ask you to pray for Putin. That somehow he will be moved to allow special needs a donations to continue. Children are dying starving and tied to a bed. Sometimes tied to a bed because they are to much trouble when moving around, sometimes tied to a bed because they hit them selfs for stimulation. Please pray these children are allowed to be adopted.

Merry almost Christmas!

This year we feel extra blessed to have both of our children at home. I remember the feeling last year, never feeling whole, missing our daughter so much and wondering what she was doing. I am keeping every family who can't hold their children in my prayers. Whatever the reason may be, I am praying that God gives you peace and joy on Christmas day.

This  year I am happy to report Hannah is doing awesome! She and her sister are best friends who fight sometimes. They also play together and snuggle together. They keep Bobby and I tired, but also lots of laughing. We have finally found a church home after years of searching and the girls both love it! They also have special needs teachers for one of the Sunday school classes. Hannah isn't in it. Although three, she is in with the upper two year olds. We are working on potty training so she can move up. Not working very hard, more letting her just tell us when she wants on the potty. She only goes about 20% of the time I put her on. She is making lots of baby babbles! I know she will find her words soon. She knows her body parts and we are starting to work on colors. Allison is the best teacher. If Allison can do it, Hannah wants to do it too!

Photos