Christmas #2

Wow! After all the weeks of dreading Christmas (because of the boys behavior in the past surrounding any type of celebration) it was a wonderful day! I don't know who put what in their hot chocolate last night, but it sure did the trick! They woke up happy, were calm but excited to open their gifts, shared with each other without being required to and were happy until at least 3pm when I left for work. We went to Chinese buffet for lunch with all of our children and they were well behaved there too. They ate the food they put on their plates, didn't make a huge mess, sat still, didn't complain about anything and were able to converse with each other and us. Amazing! Now I want it to be Christmas everyday! :)
Jonathan and Bethany came over last night and slept on the couches so they could be here early for the opening of gifts. We had a good time watching the boys open their gifts and a good breakfast of french toast and bacon. Plenty of playing with new toys and cleaning up the wrapping paper mess. All in all, the best holiday we have ever had with them. Hope your day was special too.
Karen

When will the Holidays be over?!

Dan keeps asking me if I've blogged - (as if he doesn't have fingers to type) so I'm taking advantage of the fact that everyone is in bed and I'm not sleepy to do a little update.

Christmas is coming and it certainly is obvious in the behavior of the boys. All we have in the way of decorations at our house is a tree with lights. We haven't even put ornaments on yet, but just having the tree up seems to have been enough to get them excited. Here's recap of the events of Tuesday to give you a taste of what it's like at our house lately.
1. Juan Pablo found a burning candle in my bathroom, lit a piece of paper and melted part of
the toilet seat with it.
2. Juan was mad about having to do his schoolwork, so he poked Andrew's leg with his pencil
(through his pants) and punctured his skin.
3. Maicol shot me in the face with his Nerf gun.
4. Maicol and Juan broke a lightbulb in one of the pendant lights over the kitchen counter.
5. Juan took a toy sled and put the rope from it around Andrew's neck and was trying to
make him follow him by pulling on the rope.
6. Neither one of them could sit still and do their schoolwork. It took them all day to finish
what should have been 2 hours worth of assignments.
7. And last night while I was rocking Andrew I discovered the "thump" I was hearing was
Juan throwing a 2-lb dumbell weight from his bed across the room and hitting the wall
putting little dents in the drywall.
I finally sat Juan on a stool in the kitchen so I could keep an eye on him and sent Maicol outside to play by himself. Why and how do they think of the things they do?! I know that alot of it is just the excitement of Christmas coming, but they were driving me crazy that day! And so they went to bed early, becuase I hope to keep the house and myself intact a little longer! :)

We haven't had much snow, but have had some ice. The boys have been sliding down the neighbor's driveway on their sleds. The ice is evidently faster than snow and is alot of fun. They are still anxiously awaiting enough snow to really sled. They still watch the weather daily to see if there is any chance of a big snow coming.

Wish there we something more interesting to say. The days continue to speed by. Maicol's behavior and attitude are improving. He still struggles with comprehending the permanence of being a part of our family and having a mom forever, but I think he is slowly allowing himself to relax and enjoy it. We're not always as much "fun" as he would like, but then that wouldn't be reality either would it? Juan Pablo continues to show his creativity. Today he was using garage door opener boxes to make race cars and space ships to play with Andrew. He and Andrew spend alot of time playing together and generally get along very well. Andrew is growing up! He isn't going to be the "baby" much longer. His vocabulary is growing rapidly and we are enjoying him so much.

Until next time....
Andrew and Maicol playing with K'nex.

Biggest brother and littlest brother.

Andrew with my Uncle Ted. I'm pretty sure he believes that Uncle Ted is Santa, otherwise I don't think he would have been so affectionate.

When I went in to check on them the other night this is where I found Andrew. Obviously not in his bed!

Moving right along

What do you do with all those leftover boxes? If you're a 9-year old boy this is what you do...

Maicol has been saving boxes since the summer so that he and Juan Pablo could pretend to be robots and fight. Not sure where he came up with the idea, but they had a great time and they still have enough to repeat the activity again.

Guess it's not really fair to complain about other people not updating their blog if you don't update your own. :) I'm full of excuses, but none of them really very good, so here goes.

Juan Pablo is now 7 years old. We went to the fabulous Chuck E Cheese's to celebrate. We unfortunately chose a cold Saturday, so it was packed. We let them use their tokens, trade their tickets in for fabulous prizes and went to Burger King for kids meals and to open presents. The cake had to wait until the next day. As was the tradition in my family every child gets a chance to blow out the candles after the birthday child has done it. Makes for alot of relighting of candles, but then everyone gets to have a little fun even if it's not their special day. We did a very low-key small celebration and it seemed to work out pretty well. Certainly better than last year. Minimal misbehavior!

We have been seeing an improvement in Maicol and his behavior, particularly toward me. Not perfect, but certainly better - fewer highs and lows, less outbursts of anger, less complaining about what I do or don't do, etc. Juan still likes to tell me "no" about whatever it is I have asked him to do. I think he has developed a habit of immediately saying it and now I'm trying to get him to think before he speaks. Not an easy task! He threw a fit outside tonight that I know anyone within a mile could hear! When he thought I was talking to Dan on the phone he immediatly got quiet, so I know that he can stop it if he wants to. After he calmed down I told him what the consequence would be for doing that again. So, we'll see if he wants to test me or not (it's not really a matter of if, but when). He made it about 2 hours before he went to bed without getting into trouble, but I don't imagine it will take him long tomorrow to try me.

I have finally converted Andrew and Juan into pancake and waffle lovers. When we first got home we tried pancakes and they all disliked them. I tried waffles with the same results. Finally about a week ago I really wanted pancakes so I decided to make them whether anyone else wanted them or not. Imagine my surprise when both Juan and Andrew declared how much they love panckes. They have been asking for them almost everyday. Maicol is still holding out.

Life just continues to move along. School is going ok. There is the usual complaining about having to do it, but it still must be done and so while the complaining doesn't result in less work assigned (quite the opposite sometimes), they still continue to do it. I have started requiring it to be done within a certain time if they want playtime with Mom and that has helped some.

We're off to Ohio to celebrate Thanksgiving next weekend. I had to work this weekend and since my family celebrates Christmas together in January, in a way it makes sense to celebrate Thanksgiving in December. :) Really looking forward to getting away and seeing everyone.

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

Andrew

Juan Pablo

Maicol

Riding the horse at Chuck E Cheese's.

Playing a firefighter game together at Chuck E Cheese's

(with Jonathan watching in the background).

Lots of tickets to trade for fabulous prizes

Checking out the birthday loot.

Blowing out the birthdday candles together.

Juan Pablo - the birthday boy.

A Nearly Perfect Day

What a great day! The weather was fantastic, school was done before noon, no major tantrums or complaining and I had dinner made by 6:30pm. So today - Maicol finished painting the cat house, we jumped on the trampoline, wrestled on the trampoline, built a fire to burn up an old wooden garage door, played hide and seek, went to the lake to throw rocks and sticks, Andrew and Juan played in the bathtub, Dan read bedtime books, I rocked everyone and I think they are all asleep! Why can't they all be like this? I guess we wouldn't appreciate the good days if we didn't have some not so good ones.

The anticipation for Halloween night was almost more than any of us could stand! Next year I am going to have to lie to them or something and say it's later because the days and hours leading up to going trick or treating were just crazy. They could hardly stand to wait and I could hardly stand them! They were so excited. Jonathan and Kristen came and took them out and evidently it went very well. I guess Andrew's system was to stand at the door and wait until he got at least 2 pieces of candy before he would say thank you and move on. That explains why he seemed to have more candy than the other two. Maicol was so excited he was running from house to house. Juan Pablo wants to sleep in his costume.

We have been trying to get outside as much as possible since I know this great weather can't last. I really dread those days when they can't get out and jump on the trampoline, run and ride bikes to wear themselves out. We've also been working on projects outside - insulating under the house, raking leaves, planting grass, and building the cat house. We're still having hot dogs roasted over the fire at least once a week. Unfortunately, winter will put a halt to that.

Maicol still has his difficult days, but most days it seems his unhappiness with me is less. He so obviously desperately wants, loves and needs me, but is so afraid to just relax and let me be his mom and take care of him. We go through days were everything is fine and then the next day nothing I do is right according to him. I think it's the up and down of one day to the next that makes me crazy. Juan doesn't like doing schoolwork (and asks me every night if there will be school the next day), but really does well once he gets going. He's trying to learn the "2-vowel rule" in reading. It's going pretty well - he can identify the two vowels in a word and knows that the first one says it's name and the second is silent. Those short vowel sounds are so ingrained in his brain it's hard for him to remember to not use them when he shouldn't. Andrew has evidently learned to count to 8 by listening to Juan Pablo. He's not sure about associating numbers and objects, but he can count. He also has started teasing his brothers by calling them "baby" and "stinky underwears". He is so much fun and so much work! He's always up to something and most of the time, it's not something good.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the update.

Karen



Juan Pablo - his face describes our day - good all the way around!

Juan Pablo - the Power Ranger

Maicol - Batman

Andrew - the white Power Ranger - looking cute and getting lots of candy!

Andrew, Juan Pablo, Maicol

Maicol, Juan Pablo, Andrew

Painting the cat house. They wanted to help paint the house, but we thought that wasn't a good idea. :) I guess we decided the cats don't need quite the level of workmanship that the rest of the house deserves, so we let them paint it. They think they're master painters now.

And last but not least, a picture to make the Grandma's nervous!

Fall is Coming

The weather is certainly turning cooler. We may even have frost tonight. The boys keep looking for snow, but I don't think that's coming soon. We raked some leaves and they jumped in them and hid in them a few times. We jumped on the trampoline and made a fire in the firepit. A fun, fall day. It started off with a tantrum from Maicol, but after some talking that turned around and we ended up with a great day.
Dan's Dad was down recently. The boys had a good time with him. He played Candyland with them (several games) and that certainly is a great way to make their day. Maicol and Juan both like playing games.
We have finally managed to get the house resided and painted. It has been an ongoing job for way too long, but it looks great all painted the same color. Dan is working on finishing the "cat house". Since we put the cats outside to live we made them a little house (like a dog house, only for cats). We're building a new one for this winter. It is sided the same as the house and has a shingle roof. The boys have been wanting to help paint, so we told them they could paint the cat house. They are dying for him to finish it so they can paint. Who knew painting was such a fabulous thing to do? :)
Not much else to report. The Maicol and Mami saga continues, tho less intense then over the summer. School is going pretty well. The boys got another round of immunizations (and the FluMist). We don't want a repeat of last year when they all had the flu at the same time (including Dan).

Playing in the leaves.

Andrew, Maicol and Juan.

He's just too cute!

Andrew is the one with the "sweet tooth". We call him the Candyman.

"Fish Face"

This picture is only to show you the vase of flowers. Juan had earned a dollar for helping Dan with putting insulation under the house and another dollar for a lost tooth. He bought these flowers for me at Kroger with one of his dollars. Dan bought a few too to make a nice bouquet.

Juan, Maicol and Andrew with Grandpa Baker.

Updates

I hate to blog without pictures, but I can't seem to get my laptop back (Bethany) where most of my pictures are so words will have to do for now. What's been going on at our house? Let's see...

1. Juan has lost 2 teeth in the last few days. He got a dollar under his pillow for the first one. Last night Dan had him put the second tooth in an envelope and when he got up this morning there was a dollar in the envelope! He was very excited.

2. Juan used one of his dollars to buy me some flowers. Very pretty yellow ones.

3. Andrew can't stop talking. It used to be it was just two of them talking at the same time, now it's all three of them competing for attention. He also has started putting his fingers in his mouth, which makes the talking harder to understand.

4. I think we're seeing some improvements in Maicol and his behavior. He is getting better at either not getting upset at all or getting over it quicker when he is disappointed. It still all revolves around me and my not meeting his expectations or not paying as much attention to him as he would like. He doesn't want to share me with anyone. While that is good, it makes it very difficult when he has siblings, a father, work, etc that need attention too.

5. Mostly school is going well. Yesterday they decided that they would refuse to do any schoolwork. I sent them to sit on their beds. I went about my day doing cleaning and such - took a walk (cause I had to get outside!) and had lunch. After lunch they decided it would be wise to do their work before Dan came home (knowing they would be in trouble for their earlier behavior). I put out their work and went about doing what I had planned for after lunch. They were unhappy that I would not stay with them and help them. (Almost all of the work they had did not really require me to help, except for occasionally explaining a few things.) I reminded them that school is for the morning and if they don't do it then, they will have to wait until I have time to help them because I have other things to do in the afternoon. They aren't allowed to play or watch a video, etc. until the work is done so they want to quickly do it when it gets to be afternoon. Hopefully we won't have to repeat this lesson too many times.

6. We have enjoyed many evenings of roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in our firepit. I just love having fires in the evening - it's especially nice now that it gets dark a little earlier and is a little cooler.

7. We're still trying to convince Andrew that chi-chi is the potty all the time is the way to go. He has good days and bad. I know that eventually he will be back to being potty trained, but we really wish it was yesterday!

8. Jonathan and Kristin are coming over Friday to be entertained by the boys. We are going to go somewhere - nothing exciting, but it will be out, alone, by ourselves, without any children (do you see a theme here?). Can't wait!

9. I have been trying to do some cleaning out of areas in the house. I have been through all of the boys clothes and sorted out what they will need for the winter, what they will be able to wear next summer and what needs to go to someone else. Went through the school material and got it reorganized. Cleaned off the desk area. I love organization - now if I could just keep myself organized and convince the other people in my house to love it too!

I think that's it for today. Have a great rest of the week.

Karen

I think that's it for today.

Then and Now

Wow! It's been a whole year since we became parents again. Some days it's hard to believe it's only been a year and other days it seems like it's been forever. Thinking about where we were a year ago and where we are now is almost unbelieveable sometimes. August 27, 2007 -the moment that we had waited and planned for. As they brought the boys into the room to meet us it was just indescribable. In an instant we were a family. We have spent the last year trying to figure each other out - who likes to eat what, who needs a nap, what makes each one smile, who likes to play what, etc. None of that has been made any easier by the language and culture barriers that we have all faced. We are still discovering what makes each one unique. The boys are still trying to figure out so many things that are different in the US. Their English is good, but all those phrases and slang terms we use and understand so easily are lost on them. We still spend alot of time each day explaining what words mean and why certain things are funny. Andrew doesn't seem to remember very much Spanish and while the other two claim they don't, they still like to watch movies in Spanish. Maicol is reading English, Juan can sound out words and Andrew has learned about 3 letters and their sounds. They have learned to ride bikes, swim, sit still in a restaurant, play computer games and sit and listen to their Papi read bedtime stories. We have learned to explain words and situations with simple words, be patient, plan ahead, cook 3 meals a day and love them regardless of what they do or say. Has it been easy for us - no. Has it been easy for them - no. Could we have imagined what it would be like - not completely. Would we do it again - YES.

Maicol asked me today - "Why do you love us?" What a question from a 9 year old. He's still trying so hard to believe that I do love him and that he will be my son forever. It doesn't matter what he says or does - I still love him. My answer to his question was "Because I decided to". While they are beautiful children and most of the time a joy to have in our home the bottom line is that love is a choice. We have made the choice to love them and they make that choice too. I know they don't understand that completely yet, but someday they will.

Here's a picture of us a year ago in Colombia and a picture taken Sunday. What were we thinking then? Probably the same thing we were thinking Sunday - "Is it bedtime yet?" :)

Thanks for following along on our journey to become a family.

Trip to Grandma's

Hangin' with primo Christopher

Juan and Andrew with Grandma

Maicol - sliding down the pole - practicing to be a fireman

Juan, Christopher, Micah, Andrew and Maicol

Juan and Andrew

We made the trip to Grandma's last weekend. The four hour drive isn't alot of fun, but it sure is worth it once you get there! There's something for everyone. I get my "comfort food" - meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy and oatmeal cake. Dan gets to sleep alot. The boys get to eat ice cream bars and stay up late playing. Plus we all get to see Grandma! My sister and her family were able to come too, so it was even better. More people to play with, talk to and we even got to play cards! We got to make homemade ice cream - a first for my boys. Lots of catching cicadas by Juan and Andrew. We walked back to the woods and "looked" for deer. Seriously, is there any possibility that we are going to see a deer with three little boys walking through the woods and fields? Maicol took his toy bow and arrow just in case. :) We did manage to see alot of poison ivy and a few deer tracks. Thankfully none of them seemed to get a rash from the poison ivy.

Jonathan, Kristin and Bethany were all over today. Jonathan and Kristin took the boys to the skateboard park and the regular park. From what I understand all of the boys did pretty well with their skateboards. They had a great time. Bethany brought them some chocolate chip cookies to spoil their dinner. We had a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner. The weather has been fantastic. In the 70's during the day and the 50-60's at night.

The Maicol and Mami saga continues. He is very jealous of the time I spend with the other boys and in particular the time I spend with Dan. He wants all of my time and my undivided attention - I can't even look at the newpaper while he does his schoolwork without him getting mad. We had a really long day Thursday. I ended up assigning him extra schoolwork and cleaning chores for his misbehavior. The next day he was much better. He has been drawing pictures and writing in a notebook for me - pictures of the two of us and some of the rest of the family and lots of pictures of hearts and the word love in every color. Today was a good day. Not sure why, but I have been trying to ignore some of the small stuff and trying to be more proactive in hugging and kissing him. He is also learning to tell me when he needs that and not just get mad.

We met our boys a year ago August 27. While we did tell them that day, we haven't done anything to celebrate, since in the past they haven't done well with celebrations. They haven't said anything else about it. We actually signed the papers September 10, so we're pondering doing something for that day. It's really the day they became ours. Still trying to decide what to do. I'd like to do something that either we would do each year, or give them some type of gift that we would add to each year. Any ideas?

Karen

Two Week Synopsis

Maicol on the bumper cars -he has waited a long time to do this and then discovered he really doesn't know anything about driving!

Learning to be skateboard experts.

Not sure about this - it hasn't been that cold, but you can see from their jackets they have grown since last winter.

Dan riding the little roller coaster with everyone.

Andrew had a good time I think!

Holiday World - their first trip to an amusement park and riding rides.

My little "tree hugger".

Dan has been "reminding" me that I need to blog, but I just don't know what to write about. Nothing new and exciting to report. We have had school nearly everyday. They still aren't wild about it, but since it's become more and more of a routine they complain less. Maicol is continuing to get better at working by himself, which helps alot. My challenge is trying to work with one, answer questions from the other and try to keep Andrew from getting into too much trouble. I have been trying various things to keep him entertained - watching a DVD, getting out a seldom-used toy, blocks of various kinds and he will lately sometimes look at a book. He is quite the mischevious one. I have started locking the front door during school so at least I know he hasn't slipped out the front door without me knowing. I can see the other door from the table where we do school. I came out from taking a quick shower the other day to find Andrew drawing on himself with a dry erase marker. I think he was quite pleased with himself, but I was not. Especially considering I saw his two brothers run from the room as I came out. They strongly denied they had any knowledge of the incident, but we all know better than that. Bethany finally got them to admit it and then I had punished them for lying to me.

We made it to Holiday World. This is an amusement park/water park. As we started to go the first day, we ended up unpacking the suitcases and staying home because of misbehavior. We did manage to get up very early the next morning and just made it a one day instead of a two day trip. They had not been to anything like this before. Maicol rode a pretty big roller coaster and was very proud of himself - even tho he was scared. The other boys weren't big enough to ride some things, but got to do enough that they had a good time. They weren't all that thrilled with the water park aspect, but did really enjoy the wave pools. Hopefully a trip to the beach will be possible next summer.

Bethany is now in her apartment. She is living there, but much of her "stuff" is still living at our house. :) She has a nice place to stay and is happy to be out on her own. We went over last week for dinner and I got to check things out since I hadn't been over there yet.

Maicol and I continue to struggle. He loves me one minute and hates me the next. Always over something that seems trivial to me, but I guess not so trivial to him. He made quite a big fuss yesterday because I didn't play with him before I went to work. Then he was mad because I didn't come quickly enough (in his opinion) to check on Andrew after he had bumped him with a truck they were playing with. He was able to stop himself several other times from complaining about other little things, so in some ways I think we are making progress. He so easily draws me into an argument. Because in many ways he is a very smart little boy, I feel like I should be able to talk and reason with him, but that usually doesn't work. You would think by now I would know that, but I still give in and try to reason with him too often. I'm getting better at putting a quick end to his complaints, but I still have a ways to go. It's still the daily barage of statements that I don't love him, don't care about him, talk mean to him, he isn't important, etc. We continue to reassure him that isn't true, but it really does get old repeating the same things over and over multiple times a day. Then I come home from work and find notes on the front door that he loves me and has drawn a picture of he and I. He's still following me around (when he's not mad) and won't go anywhere if I don't go. We're in a babysitting co-op starting in September. It's 2 friday nights a month for 4 hours. He had a terrible fit when he found out that I would be leaving him to play with other kids, watch a movie and have a snack for 4 hours twice a month. What a mean mother I am! I know that if he will let himself he will have a good time. He has such a great fear that I will either leave him or send him back because I have changed my mind about him. He just can't let himself believe that either scenario is not possible and that everything we tell him is true. He wears me out!

Dan has started reading books to them before bed. He reads and then I rock each of them. So it's "rock and read" or more accurately "read and rock" at night. He had tried reading books before, but without much success. They evidently understand enough that it's much more interesting now. They would sit and listen for hours if he would keep reading to them. Andrew and Juan really like the books. Maicol thinks he's too big, but if there's nothing else to do, he'll listen intently and have a wonderful time. Dan is really good at reading to them with lots of expression, so they are very interested.

We had our last post placement visit Thursday. Yeah, we're done! We still need to do the Ireadoption thing tho. They were a little rambunctious, I think she cut our visit a little short. It was only about 30 minutes. Maicol gets upset when we go and talk about him, so I'm glad we won't have to do it anymore. Now I just need to get all the pictures ready to send in with the report.

We're trying to enjoy the last few days of summer. Our neighborhood pool will be open this weekend and next, so we're hoping to get there as much as possible. Dan bought a slip-n-slide, so they have been enjoying that in the front yard. Bethany bought them a spray toy, so we're going to hook that up to a hose to play with too. It has been very warm the last few days. Hard to believe fall is just around the corner.

Here are a few pictures also.

Karen

The Pretty and the Not So Pretty

I'm back to work (at my part-time job) today, so I finally have a little peace and quiet! I don't return to my other job til the end of next week. I love my boys, but I really, really needed a break from them (and they are probably glad to have a break from me too)!

Since I am home on medical leave I have been busy cleaning closets and cabinets, pulling weeds in the garden and Dan and I have been painting the outside of the house. Nothing like surgery and a forced 4 week leave to get some things done. :) We have also been having school daily. While they aren't crazy about it, it has been good for them. They haven't forgotten what they had learned and it helps to have a regular schedule for the day. Juan is doing well - he has only 5 letters and sounds left to learn. He is able to sound out words. When we started I wasn't too sure how well he was going to do, but he has surprised us. He is also now able to swim well enough to jump off the diving board without a life jacket. Maicol is reading pretty well and catches on to the math easily. He is finally starting to work better by himself. My struggle with him has been that he wants me to sit beside him as he works and watch his every move. No talking to anyone else, no reading the paper, etc. If I can't also help Juan or get something else done too it makes school take way to long and we miss out on doing so many other things. Andrew now knows 2 letters - A & E ("A" is for Andrew - according to him) and the basic colors. He is still mischievous - he can find a pair of scissors, pens, markers, etc. when no one else can and use them in totally inappropriate ways. He talks all the time. Skittles are proving to be a reasonably good incentive for potty training.

It was a very long week last week. Maicol has been struggling and it is of course all directed at me. Many unkind things said about me by him and lots of anger. I finally called Jonathan and begged him to come stay with them because I really needed a little time away with Dan. He was happy to oblige and we all enjoyed the break. He finally looked at me Sunday while playing his video game and said - "So you will love me even if I'm bad?" - and I repeated what we have been saying for a long time (of course we will, but it's much more enjoyable if you're good). Since then he has been better. Did that finally sink in? Even just a little bit? I sure hope so, but I know that we will be revisiting this again and again. Now that he's happier emotionally he's become my shadow again. Following me around all day, won't go anywhere if I don't go, touching me all the time, asking me questions constantly, etc. He wants me all to himself - doesn't even want Dan to play a game with us. He's driving me crazy! And to think back almost a year ago they were so in love with Dan and could have cared less about me. Now I have the opposite problem. :)

That's pretty much the news from the last 2 weeks. Some of it pretty and some of it not so pretty. We are approaching our 1 year anniversary - August 27. Hard to believe a year has gone by. Not sure if/what we'll celebrate - the day we met them, the day we signed the adoption decree, the day we got home. They don't always do well with celebrations, so we're still deciding what to do (if anything).

Thanks for following our journey thus far.

Karen

Getting Back to "Normal"

Juan - not sure what you call this dive.

Spiderman - aka Andrew. He has been wearing this mask to the pool the last couple of days.

Maicol learning to use his skateboard.

We are slowly getting back to "normal". I have been back home for almost a week now and am doing good. Slowly getting back into the flow of things - laundry, schoolwork, rocking, etc. I think the boys believe I am back to stay. Maicol in particular has had a very hard time with my going to the hospital. I don't think we had really convinced him that I would return and everything would be fine. He has spent the last several days being very vigilant - following me around, touching me, asking me what I'm doing, not going anywhere without me - you get the idea. He's driving me crazy!! He has settled down some today tho. Still always near me, but more relaxed I think. Juan and Andrew spent the first couple of days looking at me alot, but now seem to be back to their old selves - stubborn and adorable.

We have been doing alot of swimming. They all love it. We've gotten into the habit of going later in the afternoon so that by the time we are done it's time to eat dinner and start putting people to bed. The sun and swimming seem to wear them out and they go to sleep quickly and easily. I guess it will be back to riding bikes and playing on the trampoline once swimming season is over.

Hard to believe it's been almost a year since they became a part of our family. We got the call about our assignment July 27 - four days from today. I was talking to Maicol about it tonight - what happened, the excitement of getting their pictures, etc. We had talked about it some before, but he was very interested in talking tonight while I rocked him. I hope he was able to understand the excitement we felt and how much we love them.

Here are a few swimming pictures - since that seems to be the primary thing we do lately. I have a few hospital pictures, but I'm not going to embarass myself by posting those. Suffice it to say I have certainly looked better. :)

Karen