Thankful Thursday

Ian chasing Fergie on Christmas morning

At the mall on 12/27

1. I am grateful for the life and ministry of a dear woman, Kathy Brown, who passed away on Tuesday night. I had Mrs. Brown as one of my middle school teachers when I was in 6th-8th grade (1983-1986), and then she was the administrator (at the same school) during my first two years as a teacher (1992-1994). I also sang alto in the church choir with her from 1986-1990 and 1992-1994. If I had to pick my three favorite teachers from Kindergarten through high school, she would definitely be one of them. She was also an outstanding boss. My heart is aching for her husband, children, and grandchildren. I am guessing she was in her 60's when she passed away. Knowing the physical suffering she has gone through the last two years makes it easier to handle her death. I know for certain she is feeling MUCH better in Heaven today than she has the past few years as she's dealt with Amyloidosis and other illnesses.

I put Susie's hair in curlers on 12/22.

2. I'm thankful that Ian is now sleeping 11-11.75 hours at night. What an improvement! Last night he went to bed at 7:15pm, and he got up at 7:00am this morning. I have to give the boy credit because in her 2.5 years Nadia has never had a regular wake-up time as late as Ian, who now usually gets up between 7-7:30am. We usually put him down on his back these days. One day this week I put him down on his belly, and he got up into a sitting position and fell asleep sitting up. There have been times I've fallen asleep sitting in a chair or in the car, but I don't ever recall falling asleep sitting up in the middle of my bed, lol. I am hoping next month to get Nadia on a schedule of going to bed at 8pm and not getting up any sooner than 7am.

3. I love the funny things that Nadia says which make me laugh or smile every day. One morning this week I was talking about football with her. I told her that Mommy cheers for the Steelers, and Daddy cheers for the Giants. I then asked her which team she likes, and she said "The cat in the hat." LOL!

Rachel (19 months) making Christmas cookies!

4. I'm very thankful that Paul has not been to PSU since 12/16, and he won't be heading back there until 1/17. That will be his longest break of making that commute since he started his PhD there in August 2008. We're saving a lot of money on gasoline for one thing. It's also great to have him home albeit he's in his office working on the computer many, many hours a day (which is good because we want him to graduate asap!).

5. On Monday when we made a much needed trip to the grocery store, I perused the Christmas items that were marked down 80% or more. I bought a stuffed snowman for $1.99 (originally $9.99). He looks so cute sitting on the top of our toilet in the half-bathroom which also has a snowman rug during the winter months. He's not Christmasy so I plan to leave him out a few more months (he has a light blue scarf which matches the bathroom perfectly). Every time I look at him, I smile - a well spent $2.11 (when you add in sales tax).

Nadia making her very first Christmas cookie!

6. It was great to spend time with many of our relatives last week.

7. I am thankful for all the new gifts we received. I've already used my new crockpot, the kids have worn some of their new clothing, they've had fun playing with new toys, etc. The Wii is partially set up. I'm looking forward to using that in the near future.

8. I love the new pictures of Nadia that Wendy took. I can't wait to order some and put them in frames around our house, on our refrigerator, in my wallet, etc. Thanks, Wendy! I also am grateful that she showed me some tricks for using the photo editing software that I purchased in May but have yet to start using.

9. I'm thankful that normally Ian is in a pleasant mood. I say that because the past two days he has cried for a large portion of the day. I have lost track of how many times the poor guy has thrown up this week. It's been almost nonstop. Both kids have been sick.



Wendy, Susie, and I wore matching clothes on 12/23!



Ian with his cousin, Brandi (16)

Christmas caroling in my parent's neighborhood on 12/23

We asked Nadia to hug Ian, lol!



Aunt Wendy reading to Ian at our parents house on 12/23

P.S. Yesterday I updated the text of Nadia's 2.5 year old post in case you're interested. :-)

5 Days of Christmas

There have been other Christmas celebrations this month such as the Christmas banquet at church and the Christmas cantata last Sunday, but December 22-26 were all about spending time with family and celebrating Christ's birth. On Wednesday morning after eating breakfast we did our family gift exchange. It was the first time Nadia really grasped the concept. I had been asking her what she wanted for Christmas for a few weeks, and a few days before Christmas she finally gave her first request - Sweetpea Beauty (stuffed animal). Thank goodness I had already bought and wrapped that item for her! She thoroughly enjoyed unwrapping ALL the presents under our tree. Of course Paul, Ian, and I didn't mind that she opened our gifts. Next year Ian will probably want to participate in the experience of unwrapping gifts. Ian loved the one gift I got for him - a set of musical instruments. I got Nadia an assortment of things, but hands down her favorite was Sweetpea (a VeggieTale character).  Paul got me two Christmas turtlenecks, and I got him two Duke t-shirts and a video card for his computer.

We started the trip to my parents home at about 11:45am and arrived at their home about 4.5 hours later. The trip takes longer with kids as we need to make stops to change diapers and such. Nadia had taken a morning nap at home; I hadn't tried to have that happen, but she fell asleep playing in her room. In light of that we didn't insist that she sleep in the car. She either listened to Christmas cd's or watched dvd's the whole time. Ian watched her dvd a little, played some, and slept some. He cried for part of the trip, but all things considered it went smoothly. We spent the next 50 hours at my parents house. My brother lives with my parents, and my sister from Chicago along with her hubby and three kids were also there. We enjoyed spending time together doing things like making Christmas cookies, caroling at the neighbors houses, and such on Thursday. On Christmas Eve we had our gift exchange in the morning, and my mom cooked a delicious turkey dinner for the noon meal. That night after they headed to their Christmas eve service at church, we drove to Paul's parents home. Ian slept the whole way there. Nadia watched dvd's for most of the trip and slept for the last part. Thankfully the trip took a few minutes less than 3 hours. We had no trouble getting Nadia back to sleep. Both kids were asleep when we pulled in their driveway, but they both woke up while taking them out of their carseats. Ian kept alternating between sleeping and crying for the next 5 hours. Thankfully he finally fell asleep for good at 2am.

On Christmas morning Nadia woke up at 6:15 (which was great as she had awakened at 5am on Christmas Eve) and Ian woke up at 7:15. After everyone had gotten dressed and eaten breakfast, we exchanged gifts with Paul's parents. While Nadia was napping, Paul's grandmother and his brother's family arrived. We ate a delicious ham and roast beef dinner while Nadia slept. She didn't wake up until about 3:30pm. Almost all of the presents (except for hers) had been opened while she slept. This was her least enthusiastic experience in terms of unwrapping presents. She was still waking up, and she was hungry. This translated to an emotionally fragile child. She perked up after I fed her. The only table food I gave Ian was the cream cheese from inside of a pumpkin roll. He loved it!

Ian has done a LOT of crawling the last few days. His speed has increased dramatically. The two biggest motivations to get him crawling at top speed are #1 the sight of Christmas lights (such as on a tree) and #2 Paul's parents dog. Fergie is 17 years old so she's not as keen on young children as she used to be, but Ian squealed with delight whenever he got near her.

Tomorrow we are going to church with Paul's family and then heading to Harrisburg to spend the afternoon at Paul's Aunt's home (his mom's sister). Paul's cousins and their spouses and children will be there as well. That will be the last day of our Christmas celebration for 2010. On Monday life will return back to normal, which will be good for my waistline as all these celebrations have involved lots of yummy food! I was planning to start exercising at home next week so I can lose a little more weight before our cruise, and since my parents gave us a Wii fit for Christmas I think I'll give that a whirl starting on Monday. It was great to see almost all our family over the past few days. We didn't get to see my sister, Yvonne, or her family in person, but at least we were able to chat with them via Skype on Friday. Although we've had a wonderful time the last few days, I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night.

2.5 Years Old!

Her first experience making Christmas cookies!

 I can't believe that tomorrow (Christmas Day) my girl will be closer to age 3 than age 2. She's growing up WAY too fast. It scares me to think how quickly the next 15.5 years will likely fly by. At times it seems as if she's older than 2 1/2. I think having a younger brother makes her seem more advanced than she is. At least when asked her age she now answers "two" rather than "four." I'm glad she isn't already four! Actually today she did tell someone she was 2 1/2. She sounds like a big girl when she says that!

A few of Nadia's favorite questions to ask these days are:

1. "What's your name?" She asks this of every cashier we encounter, etc. Even if they answer her, she keeps asking them over and over again. Thankfully most people are gracious and keep answering her question. If they ask her what her name is, she now says "Na- T- ia." For many months she's pronounced her name "naia" (no consonant in the middle). Just within the last week she's started pronouncing the "d" in her name as a "t."



Two cousins and their dolls wearing matching dresses!



2. "May I (fill in the blank) please, Mom?" Although she never remembers to say the word "please" when asking for things like milk, she always remembers when it's something she wants to do. She really emphasizes the word please. It cracks me up! She does a great job at saying thank you (pronounced bank you). She rarely needs prompting on that one.

3. "Who made that?" Then once she's told who made it, she says "bank you, xyz" whether that person is present or not.

4. "Who bought that?" She asks this question a million times a day. And again says "bank you, Mom" (or Grandma or whomever) whether that person is present or not. I have no idea why she's so fixated on this, but all throughout the day she asks me who bought a certain food item, toy, Christmas tree, article of clothing, etc.

5. "What time is it?" She's not wanting a numerical answer. She's wondering what we're doing now or what we'll be doing next. She is fixated on the schedule of the day. She also often asks "what are we doing first" and "what are we doing next." She rehearses the events of the day all throughout the day, and before she goes to bed at night she starts asking about the next day. She wants very specific answers not something generic like "it's time to play."

A few recent additions to her list of favorite books would include:

1. A book of nursery rhymes

2. Olivia and the Missing Toy

3. The Three Little Pigs (I have to add that Ian adores this book because of the different voices that I use when I read it).

4. Llama, Llama Misses Mama

She's starting to grasp the concept of letters. She's picked out the letter "D" and said that says Daddy, and she's picked out the letter "N" and said that says Nadia.

She had one accident in Maryland last week because no one responded to her repeated requests in time. That was the first accident in more than 2 months.

She's been a rather picky eater lately. We need to work on that over the next few months. I also want to keep working on getting her to drink more water. She loves drinking water at Grandma's house, but at our house she just wants milk all day long.

Way to go, Ian!

Going to sleep is still traumatic for Ian because I have to put him down on his back. Thankfully it hasn't occured to him to roll over, lol. His naps are still pathetic, BUT he's doing great at sleeping at night! The last five mornings he's gotten up at 6:30 once, 7:30 twice, and 7:00 once. He went to bed between 7-8pm each night so he's sleeping between 11.25-11.75 hours!!!! Two of those nights he did wake up once and cry for awhile some time during the night. Unfortunately Nadia who used to get up around 6:30 has been getting up prior to 6am (usually around 5am). Today she got up at 5:45, which was the latest she's gotten up in several days. I'm hoping the trend continues toward later wake up times. It's so ironic that Nadia has slept through the night almost all the time for about 2 years and now that Ian is doing well she's waking up several times during the night and getting up earlier than usual. Last night was the first night in seven nights that both children were quiet between the hours of 8pm and 5:45am. I've gotten up at 2 and 3 am so many times lately that my body is now programmed to wake up at those hours. I haven't slept much past those hours even when the kids have slept. Hopefully my body will readjust to the concept of sleeping from 10pm-6am in the near future!

Blogging for 4 years

I started this blog on 12/22/06 to chronicle our adoption of 2-3 children from Ukraine. God had other plans in store for our family! I am copying Joy's idea and listing the 11 posts that had the most comments over the past 4 years. Over the last 4 years over 1,500 comments have been posted on my blog. I greatly appreciate comments as well as messages on Facebook and emails in reference to one of my posts! Eight of the posts listed below were from 2008, one from 2007, and two from 2009. No posts from 2006 or 2010 had at least 10 comments. Fifty-seven of the 129 comments listed below came within four days of Nadia's birth. Two of the posts were about Ian (the pregnancy announcement and the birth story), and the other nine posts were about Nadia. I haven't changed the url, but a couple of months ago I changed the title of the blog from "Journey to our children" to "Journey with our children" because it seems that unless there is a surprise in the future, our family is complete.

23 - NST (6/23/08)
13 - Birth Story! (6/25/08)
11 - Birth Story (12/13/09)
11 - We're thinking PINK! (3/4/08)
11 - Firsts (6/28/08)
10 - PREGNANT! (11/9/07)
10 - Baby Registries (1/20/08)
10 - She has a name! (5/16/08)
10 - Stats (6/26/08)
10 - Huggies?? (9/13/08)
10 - Two Lines!!! (5/11/09)

I also have been thinking about 12/22/09. What a VERY happy day that was! Ian was released from the NICU. It seems wrong to say this, but honestly that day (12/22) was happier for me than the day of his birth (12/12). I knew when I gave birth on 12/22 that he'd be heading to the NICU, and I knew from our experience with Nadia what a horribly stressful experience that would be. I also knew that I wouldn't get to hold him on the day of his birth, and I knew that due to H1N1 I would be experiencing a long separation from Nadia. Up until that point I hadn't spent even one day (or one night) apart from her. We did have a little contact a few times during those 11 days, but it was still very, very hard to be separated from her that long. The day I was able to come home from the hospital, sleep in my own bed (I should say just sleep in ANY bed since the last few days I was at the hospital I had no bed), be reunited with my daughter, and bring my son home was a VERY happy day. It has been SOOO wonderful to be a family of four the past year!

Two Firsts

Paul switched Ian's carseat around on Friday night. Today was the first time Ian was riding in the car facing forward. He seemed to enjoy it. Staring at the back of the backseat of the car can't be that interesting although it has always helped that Nadia is usually back there to entertain him some. I like that I can see him now.

I painted Nadia's fingernails for the first time ever this morning. She did a great job keeping her hands on the magazine until the polish dried. I think her fingernails looked oh so pretty! I'm sure it won't be the last time I paint them. Maybe I'll paint her toenails for the first time the day before we leave for our cruise.

Last night Ian slept through the night (7:15pm to 6:00am). I went to bed earlier than I had been going to bed lately, but Nadia, who almost always sleeps through the night, kept waking up and crying a little ALL throughout the night. It was very annoying. Every time either Paul or I would go talk to her for a minute about going back to sleep because we were worried that she was going to wake Ian up. Around 5:30 we finally let her join us in our bed. She didn't eat her dinner last night. Paul thinks that's why she didn't sleep well last night. I hope both children sleep through the night tonight because it's been quite awhile since I got more than 6-7 hours of sleep at night due to the kids getting up and/or me staying up grading. I will say I do seem to function better on less sleep than I used to. I can count on one hand the number of times I got 8 or more hours of sleep in 2010, and I used to get 8-9 hours almost every night prior to Ian's birth (with the exception of the first 4 months of Nadia's life).

This morning our church choir presented a Christmas cantata during the morning worship service. It went really well. I was very grateful for the 2 hour rehearsal yesterday morning as I had missed a lot of rehearsal time this semester due to teaching on Wednesday nights. I love Christmas music! The choir is one of the main reasons I picked this particular church. The choir director is excellent, and she chooses a nice variety of challenging music. It has amazed me each December that we only sing the cantata music the one Sunday and all the other Sundays we sing different Christmas music. This means we have a LOT of Christmas music to rehearse since we sing every Sunday plus they sing a few songs on Christmas Eve. We'll be driving from MD to PA on Christmas Eve so I won't be singing in that service.


He loves to clap!



Letting her fingernails dry

Poor Little Guy

Ian went 7 days in a row of not getting up until sometime between 6:15-6:30am. I was thrilled. Well the last few nights have been rough for the little guy. Wednesday night he woke up around 11pm and stood up in his crib for the first time. The little guy looked terrified. He couldn't figure out how to get back down. Paul lowered the crib and removed the mobile. It took forever to get him back to sleep. Yesterday morning he woke up at 5:45, and I did get him. He woke up many times during the night the last 3 nights. Last night every time I put him back down he'd crawl to the side and then stand up again. I finally decided to put him down on his back instead. He wasn't happy about that, but it did the trick. Hopefully this standing up in bed phase will end in the near future as it's not fun for any of us. It's amazing how mobile he's become in the past few days. He rarely stays in the same place any more like he did for the past 12 months. He's a boy on the go. He prefers cruising to crawling but uses crawling to get someplace where he can stand and cruise.

In addition to having trouble sleeping through the night, he woke up with a rash on Friday morning on his face. I called the pediatrician, and they didn't seem concerned. I wondered if he was having a reaction to the chicken pox vaccine he got on Tuesday? He also has been congested the past few days which means he is throwing up ALL day long. Now that we put solid foods in his bottles it means that what he upchucks is orange or some other color. Our clothes and carpets have been thoroughly doused the last few days. I'm hoping his congestion clears up soon. In light of all his upchucking I haven't tried to decrease his milk intake at all. The insurance company did sign an agreement with the hospital a couple of days ago so we will be going to his feeding team appointment on January 7th. I'll wait until then to make any changes. On Wednesday I kept track of his milk intake, and I think he had at most 30 ounces. I was forgetting that his bottles contain baby food in them when I made my first estimate. Speaking of which, do food allergies cause a rash? Nadia never had any food allergies so I admit I haven't been as careful with Ian about waiting a few days before introducing a new food. Maybe I need to just put cereal in his bottles for a few days to try to figure out if it's a food that's causing his rash. I am so grateful we got his pictures done before he got this rash!

Nine to Twelve Months Old

The differences between the two munchkins were even more dramatic these last three months. Here are some similarities and differences:


1. Nadia started crawling all over the place at 8.5 months old. Ian really took off a few days after he turned 12 months old. Nadia took her first steps (without holding on to anything) at 9 months and was walking (no  more crawling) before she turned 11 months. Ian is cruising but hasn't taken any steps yet.

Nadia at 9 months (3/24/09)

2. At 9 months old Nadia was still taking 3 naps a day. Ian had already moved to 2 naps a day. Nadia did switch to 2 naps a day during this time span. Her naps were much longer than Ian's. Ian often only naps for 60 minutes a day. Every once in a while he takes an 80 minute long nap, but the norm for him is 20-30 minutes per nap. They both slept on their bellies. I would put Nadia down on her back, and she would roll over. I put Ian down on his belly.

 3. Nadia and Ian were both sleeping 11 hours straight (going to bed between 7:00-7:30pm and getting up between 6:00-6:30am). Nadia had this sleeping habit during this whole age span. Ian got into this pattern by the end of this age span. Nadia didn't cry when we put her in her crib awake (even at 9 months). We have just recently started working on this with Ian. He still usually cries a little bit.

Ian at 9 months (9/12/10)

4. At 9 months old Nadia was only eating table food (no more baby food). At 12 months old Ian can only eat a little bit of baby food. He has a long way to go before he's eating table food. She was feeding herself finger food at 11 months old. Aside from maybe 1-2 saltine crackers and 1-2 biter biscuits, Ian hasn't put any other food in his mouth.

5. Ian had a lot of really bad diaper rash during this 3 month time span. He didn't have much prior to turning 9 months old. I'm hoping the next 3 months won't be so bad, but at least I'm prepared with my big jar of Triple Paste! Nadia never had a bad case of diaper rash. I think part of the reason for the difference between the two is that Nadia only pooped once a day, and Ian well he poops many times a day and if I happen not to notice it RIGHT away - he gets diaper rash. I am not sure if the diaper rash or the surgery are the cause, but he cries as soon as I lie him down to change his diaper. Nadia had a brief phase of crying during diaper changes, but giving her a toy to play with ended that problem. I haven't found a solution for Ian although I will say at least he doesn't have a fit every single time.

Ian at 1 year (12/12/10)

6. At 9 months old Nadia was shaking her head to communicate "no." At 11 months old she was signing the word "milk" and saying Dada or Daddy when she saw Paul. Ian says "dada" and "mama" but hasn't clearly used them in reference to either of us yet. I haven't done sign language with him. Nadia had a VERY large receptive vocabulary at 1 year old. I could say something like "go play the piano," and she'd walk into the other room and play the piano (while standing on the floor). The only things Ian does on command are clap and splash (in the bathtub). I really have no idea what other words he comprehends.

 

7. Ian can stay in a moving stroller much longer than Nadia could at this age.

8. Ian entered the clapping all the time stage a few weeks before Nadia did as she didn't until she was 1 week away from turning 13 months old.

9. Nadia mastered the art of climbing the stairs at 9 months. Ian hasn't shown any interest in climbing anything let alone steps. He does love to JUMP though. Nadia never jumped as much as Ian does. Nadia loved to climb anything and everything from about age 8 months onward.

Nadia at 1 year (6/27/09)

10. At one year old Nadia had 6 teeth. Ian only has 2 teeth thus far. Both of them did get their bottom two front teeth first.

11. Both of them during this age span enjoyed listening to music, being read to, being tickled, and playing peekaboo.

12. Ian is far more boisterous in everything he does including splashing in the bathtub! Also unlike his sister he absolutely loves wheels and balls.

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian is crawling! I was afraid he was going to skip crawling and go right to walking. He's been crawling a little the last couple of weeks, but yesterday was the first day he really went a long distance. Today he's crawling all over the place. Be careful what you wish for, lol! I am going to be using the word "no" a lot more with him now that he can get into trouble more!

2. The first 2 photos were taken yesterday at the mall. I had purchased a book of 6 tickets for $5. I should have done so sooner. What fun! They allowed me to stand beside Nadia holding Ian. He enjoyed it very much, and they didn't require a ticket for him. So for about 80 cents the three of us had a lot of fun. We rode the carousel again today since Nadia cooperated for the pictures at Sears. The lady operating the ride gave us a coupon for Annie Anne's (we love those pretzels!) yesterday and today, and she let us know that if we showed our store receipts at the customer service (right next to the ride) we'd get a free gift. I took advantage of that today and received 4 packets of Godiva hot chocolate. Sounds yummy!

3. The bedding I ordered from Walmart came in the mail last week. I love the sets! They match the decor in their rooms really well. I was particularly stunned how well Nadia's comforter matched her wallpaper border - even down to a small detail of some aqua polka dots. I'm looking forward to setting up her big girl bed next month! I'm in no hurry to put Ian's to use. I don't want him to grow up too fast since he's most likely the baby of the family!

4. I got some good bargains yesterday at the mall. I had a 50% off anything coupon for Borders that I used to buy Ian one more Christmas present since I was feeling delinquent in that regard. I got him a Melissa & Doug wooden car carrier (that also came with 4 wooden cars).
5. As of Tuesday night I was caught up with grading. That isn't true any more since I haven't graded last night's exams yet, but on Tuesday I submitted grades for 3 of my 8 classes this semester (2 are just individualized instructions). After I grade last night's exam and the exam I'll give tonight and the work for the three individualized instruction students, I'll be done! The end of grading (for the next 6 months) is in sight!

6. We got some good photos today! That's always an answer to prayer as with a baby and a toddler, it's definitely not a given. I couldn't find Nadia's red headband before we left. That's my only complaint regarding this picture (at left) is that I wish I had something for Nadia's hair. Almost all the pictures were just of Ian for his 1 year pictures. My sister has volunteered to take some Christmas photos of the kids next week at my parent's house. I'll have Ian wear the Christmas vest that he wore on his birthday, and I'll have Nadia wear a different Christmas dress (she has quite the collection thanks to yard sales and clearance racks). Ian's crawling ability made the pictures more challenging. The photographer or I would sit him down and immediately he'd start crawling across the room. She tried to get photos without his tongue sticking out, but I told her that was highly unlikely as Ian's tongue is usually out. :-) I'm also thrilled that the pictures can be picked up on December 22nd. I didn't think they'd be ready that quickly. This means we can pass them out when we see our families next week!

7. Yesterday I got Paul's grandmother a gift, and today I got Paul's sister-in-law a gift. This means I have only ONE person left to buy a gift for - Paul's brother. Whew. I am not usually still shopping on December 16th. In contrast, Paul never does any shopping this "early." We are truly opposite in some regards! :-) Because the kids were so good, I not only let them ride the carousel, but I also let them ride the other rides that are coin operated. The nice thing is that they enjoy "riding" them even without me putting any money in them. So those rides are free for now, and the kids have a blast! Some day I imagine they will only enjoy riding them if I insert quarters, but I'm hoping this stage will last as long as possible since it's free entertainment.

8. Last night two of my students gave me a gift  bag. The gift bag included two small candles and a snowman that lights up and changes colors. How incredibly sweet! It was common to get gifts when I was a middle school teacher, but I have only gotten maybe 2-3 gifts the past 8 years as a professor. One of the other ones was actually this semester. A student in my Monday night class gave me two small stuffed animals in October when she learned about Ian's surgery. I was again touched by the student's thoughtfulness and generosity!