A year at home...

Amazingly, it has already been a year since the girls became our daughters. We celebrated "Gotcha Day" on August 11th. A lot has happened over the last year. The girls have made a lot of progress. They have blossomed in many ways, struggled in others and overcame huge obstacles. We have somehow managed to work our way through their 'medical to-do list'. Everything has been checked off.... including Sophia's open heart surgery. It is a blessing to be able to look forward without the 'burden' of catching up. That is what it felt like... we were having to catch up on years of medical issues that should have already been addressed. Since they hadn't been dealt with, we had lots and lots of appointments and follow ups!

August 11th was a big deal at our house this year. Not only was it Gotcha Day, but also the first day of Kindergarten for all three of our little girls! Sophia, Anastasia (Ana) and Abby are loving it so far. They get to ride the bus with Shelby too! All three girls are in the same pod so their classes are across the hall and go to lunch, recess, field trips together. We requested Ana and Abby to be in the same class. We were not sure how Anastasia would handle school so she has the comfort of being able to see Abby throughout the day. Abby can also assist the teachers if needed with using/ understanding sign for Ana. Mom is enjoying a little much needed quiet time! ;)

Thank you so much for caring about our girls and following their journey! We have been blessed having so many people that care about our girls. It has been an amazing journey... from finding our girls, working through the adoption process, traveling to meet them, bringing them home and watching them blossom in their new home. It is not always easy, but I am always blessed.

I will not be updating here anymore now we have been home a year, and quite honestly, since I seem to never manage to update anyway! Thank you again for keeping with us. Please find us on Facebook if you would like to continue to follow along in our chaotic life! ;)

Anastasia turned 6!

Anastasia turned 6 on June 2 and had her first real birthday party Saturday, June 5th. She loved it! She has been getting ready for her party for some time now. Her favorite Signing Time dvd has been the Birthday party dvd. She has been signing 'party', 'candles', etc... all the time lately! Here is a photo of her enjoying her moment in the spotlight! :)










Sophia went for her 2 week follow up at cardiologist on Thursday(1 week follow up was with pediatrician). They found fluid around her heart. This could be just a post-op issue which will clear up on its own or an issue that is showing up that they will have to address. For now... we continue on her meds and she goes back in a week.

Update on Sophia

Sophia's surgery went well on Wednesday. There was a delay in time so she didn't go back until 12:20 w/ surgery beginning around 1:20. It was about 4:20 when they finished with everything. They were able to patch the ASD and correct the PDA. The Mitral Valve Cleft gave them some trouble though. They found the leak to be just as significant after the repair so they had to re-stop her heart and go in again to add additional stitches. Afterward, they found there to still be a leak, but insignificant. She was moved to CICU where she stayed until Thursday morning. The ventilator was removed around 9:00pm Wed and the oxygen was pulled around 5:30 am. They removed the temporary pace wires Thursday before moving her to a floor. She slept most of Thursday morning, but was feeling a little better in the afternoon. She walked up and down the halls a few laps and was awake for longer periods. Still unable to keep food down Thursday. Friday was even better with being able to eat, being awake much more and taking additional walks. They removed the chest tube Friday afternoon. The doctors were amazed at how quickly she was progressing. In fact... they let her out early on good behavior! She was discharged Saturday morning around 12:00. She has enjoyed being at home! We take her to her pediatrician on Thursday and then to her cardiologist the next Thursday. We expect nothing, but good reports. She has done exceptionally well! Thank you for your prayers and concern! (photos below of post op Wednesday pm and Thursday pm... the difference in a day)

This week we celebrate Anastasia's 6th birthday on Wednesday. We will have her party this Saturday. She has been looking forward to her big party day! Her favorite Signing Time dvd is the Birthday one. We are so excited that her day has finally come! :)

Surgery tomorrow...

For those of you that haven't followed us on Facebook...

Sophia had her heart cath a couple of weeks ago. They moved up her surgery based on that information. We are sitting in the hotel following her pre-op appt today. Her open heart surgery is tomorrow morning. Prayers appreciated.

They are both doing really well now. They are looking forward to starting K-5 next school year. We toured the school last week. I don't think the school knows fully what is heading their way! :) We have Sophia, Anastasia and Abby starting school this year. Anastasia and Abby should be in the same room per our request. Ana is still non-verbal so we want Abby with her to help with communication. Abby can translate sign for them if needed. We also feel Anastasia will benefit from being able to glance across the room and see one of her family. She gets nervous still about things. Sophia will do fine in her own class we believe. She does fine in new situations. We have requested all 3 be in the same 'pod' (group of 4 classes in the same area).

Anastasia's b'day is next week. 6/2 she will turn 6. She is excited. She loves the Signing Time dvds and her favorite right now is the Birthday dvd. She signs candle, party and hat all of the time!

If you haven't noticed... (which I doubt), I am not very good about updating her anymore! Please find us on facebook. I do a little better there! :) Well... better go now. Sophia is wanting to watch her dvd on the computer and since her surgery is in the morning..... she is getting her way! :)

Schools out EARLY

Well... we had a negative experience with the girls' 'inclusive preschool' program yesterday and have kept them at home today. We do not intend to send them back at this point. I have not spoken to the director of the program yet, but honestly do not think they can pacify me enough at this point to take the girls back. This is the scenario... Rita (from RR) was taking Bella down the hall to join the rest of the kids in the class they are integrated with when she witnessed Anastasia being taken to the restroom by another preschooler. Taken out of the class, down the hall, into the restroom and back again without adult supervision. This is a safety concern big time! Anastasia could have easily bolted and gone further down the hall and right out the front door. Also, Anastasia is still being potty trained. She needs help going to the restroom and obviously NO ONE was there to help her. Who checked to make sure the seat was clean? Who made sure she didn't need a new pull up? Who made sure she had toilet paper and that she used it? NO ONE. Needless to say, I was not happy when Rita told me what she had witnessed. I expressed my opinion to another of the staff members so they would be fully aware of our dissatisfaction with that scenario. I planned to discuss this at length with their teacher when I picked the girls back up (she was with the kids in the integrated class already). When I went to pick them up, Anastasia was not with the other children. Their teacher approached me saying she had been told by the other staff member that we were not happy about this morning's scenario. I let her know we were not happy at all and prepared to begin my discussion with her about this. Before I could get started she went on to say "and I just sent her to the restroom again". What? That is why Anastasia wasn't with the others... she was down the hall in the restroom with another preschooler again! This is AFTER the teacher was already aware of our concerns/dissatisfaction. I went into great length with her about my opinion. She tried to reassure me that it would not happen anymore, but honestly... it shouldn't have ever happened. The fact that she did it AGAIN after KNOWING we were not happy about it was the deal breaker for us. I don't know how you trust your kids with someone that has told you that they went against your wishes regarding the care of your children. I hate that they will miss out on going to preschool because they were really enjoying themselves. I was enjoying having the 3 mornings without all 4 little ones! Abby and I enjoyed having a couple of 'just us' dates. Oh well... summer was just around the corner anyway! :)

Things are going pretty good around here. The kids are enjoying outside time now that it has warmed up! Both girls seem to be adjusting rather well and we love seeing smiles on their faces more and more!

Sophia has her heart cath coming up soon. May 5th. Please remember her in your prayers. Thank you!

Another holiday at home!

The girls both enjoyed their first Easter at home. They always love dressing up and felt beautiful in their dresses and sandals. We went to church and then enjoyed time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins later. Sophia and Anastasia seem to embrace all the special occasions we celebrate here. They appreciated their treats from the Easter bunny and had a good time hunting eggs with their cousins. It is so easy to forget they have only been home eight months now.

Things are settling down a good bit for us. The girls still enjoy their preschool mornings (3x week). I went last Thursday to register all 3 girls for K-5. Hard to believe that we will have 3 starting school in 4 months! We are not sure how this will work out for Anastasia. She seems so 'young' still. We are going to try and adjust as needed. I did request Abby and Anastasia to be in the same class. With Anastasia being non-verbal, I prefer to have Abby assigned to the same class so she can help interpret sign for the teacher/aide if needed. Also, we will have daily feedback on how things are going! Abby will be our little 'spy'. :) We requested all 3 girls be assigned to the same 'pod' (group of classes). This should help me with any field trips, parties, etc... since the 'pods' stick together!

We are all grateful for the improved weather since the kids get to go out and play now! :) Sophia and Anastasia are healed up nicely from their surgeries. We are looking forward to making less trips to doctors! We do have Sophia's heart cath scheduled... May 5th. After that, maybe we will have a better estimate on when they want to schedule her open heart surgery. We are not looking forward to it at all, but are also ready to have it behind us!

Again... sorry for the lack of updates. I will most likely only update here randomly for now. I appreciate all of your concern for our girls' adjustment home! We are very thankful for all of the support and prayers! :)

Happy Valentines Day!

It was 6 months ago today that we flew out of Kiev, Ukraine on our way home with our two new daughters, Sophia and Anastasia. Wow... hard to imagine we have already had them in our family for 6 months! They have done rather well adjusting to their new home, new language, new family, new life! We have been blessed to have them as our children and know that there are many more blessings to come as they grow and blossom into their full potential. We have struggled to keep them healthy, but that has been a fight for our whole family this winter! We are now waiting for their surgery date.. March 5th. Sophia and Anastasia will be having their tonsils/adenoids removed and tubes placed in ears. Sophia will also have the eye surgery. Prayers that all goes well and they benefit greatly from these surgeries!

The girls have really been enjoying their preschool. Anastasia brings me her lunchbox on mornings that they don't have school so I'm guessing she is wanting to go even more than the 3 mornings! We continue to use/learn sign language... especially with Anastasia. Sophia just continues to amaze us with her speed of picking up English language. Anastasia has gained new sounds, but is still pretty much non-verbal.

They really enjoyed receiving/exchanging their valentines this morning with the family. Anastasia was grinning with this look questioning look... "what is the occasion this time?". It does seem like we are celebrating something every time you turn around!

I'm sure you noticed that I do not update nearly as often as I did prior to travel and prior to the computer issues. I will admit that it will most likely not improve! I am on Facebook now though, so if you want to find me there.... you will get little updates more often. I am struggling to find time/will power/ energy to get control over the chaos around here. In case I don't post before... I will go ahead and ask for your prayers now. My mother is having Hip Replacement surgery on Tuesday, Feb. 23rd. The girls' surgery is Friday, March 5th. Please pray for all of their surgeries to go well, for them all to heal quickly and for them to have great improvements afterwards! Thank you!

Catch up...

Things have been busy around here like always. We have had a time with sickness this Dec/Jan. We are still trying to get everyone well. Sophia and Anastasia are enjoying their preschool. I'm glad it seems to be working. Abby is enjoying her time at home. I'm not enjoying getting everyone up and dressed so early, but if things will settle down some... it will be worth it!

We are waiting on surgery dates for Sophia and Anastasia. Both will have tonsils and adenoids removed. Anastasia will have tubes put in her ears and Sophia will have her eye surgery at the same time. We are looking at this being one trip up to B'ham for an over-nighter and all issues being addressed for both girls. It will be a heck of a recovery period, but we can't imagine juggling separate surgery dates. Sophia's heart surgery is still in the future (1+ years)

At this time I am pleased to say that Sophia is what I call "potty trained". She has been out of pullups for a while now and rarely has accidents. Anastasia... well, that is a work in progress. Since I have been so remiss in uploading photos, I will upload a couple of Christmas photos as a 'current' photos of the girls.











and for those of you from RR.... this is 3 of my girls hanging out with Rita's 4 girls

Going to School!

Sophia and Anastasia have started preschool! This program is the first time they have attempted to due something like this in this district. The program was designed to insert children with special needs into 2 exiting typical preschool classes that have been in place since August for the benefit of inclusion (a special education teacher was being inserted into each class as well). The girls' class had 4 children with special needs assigned to it, including them. The program did a staggered start with 2 starting on Tuesday, then 2 on Wednesday and all 4 to attend on Today (Thursday). Yesterday was Sophia and Anastasia's first day and they enjoyed going, but changes were needed. The class they were assigned to was not a good fit after all. There were some behavior issues in that classes that were monopolizing the teacher's time and causing major disruptions. The academics were above the girls' current level since they are basically starting all over since whatever they did know prior would have been in Russian. With those things in mind, we were concerned that the academics would not benefit then and they would only gain the social input... which was less than desirable. A parent (and friend of mine) expressed her concerns on Tuesday after her child had attended and I expressed my concerns yesterday after observing the class for an hour. The special education teacher seemed to have already reached the conclusion that changed were needed. They were working towards a solution when I left yesterday. When I picked the girls up, the center/district had already made the decision to pull all of them from that class and place the special education teacher in her own classroom with our children and begin to pull typical children to that room during the 3 mornings they attend class (the regular preschool program is 5 days/all day). This will give them the ability to select the 'appropriate' typical children to include. I dropped them off this morning in their new class and it was a much calmer environment that will be working on material that will be geared towards their IEP goals. Now the class will have both special education teachers and all 8 students with special needs (3 year class and 4 year class) together with additional children being inserted at a more productive ratio. The other class had 21 typical children on role w/ 1 preschool teacher and was having 1 special ed teacher and 4 students with special needs inserted. I am very glad that the teachers, director and supervisor of the program recognized that environment was not going to be beneficial to my girls or any of the others children with special needs that were being 'included' in that class. I was also impressed with the speed in which they revamped their plans in order to help the program be successful.

Back to school

Now that the holidays are all behind us for 2009, it is time to start back to school. Shelby is not happy that class starts back tomorrow for her. She is even pulling the sick card out tonight. I'm thinking most of the students have colds this time of the year! We went today to the open house for the preschool for Sophia and Anastasia. It will be an inclusive environment. They will be in the same class since they are going to have 1 class for the 2 different age levels. They already have been receiving services with the Special Education teacher, the Speech Therapist, the Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist so they won't be totally overwhelmed. We are nervous going into this, but prayerful this will be good for them in preparation for starting school next year. I'm hoping it is a good sign that their preschool teacher is a lady that we know from Miracle League. She also is the mother of a 25 year old with Down Syndrome. She also has traveled to the Ukraine with her church to volunteer in orphanages for a few summers. Sounds like she may be a good fit! Fingers-crossed! :)

Happy New Year!

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays with your families and look forward to following some of your own stories during 2010 as you bring home your little ones from around the world!

We have been 'holed up' at home for the last few days. Trying to get everyone better, but I noticed Shelby is starting to come down with something as of yesterday. Hopefully this will just be a cold. School will be starting back for Courtney and Shelby in a few days. The open house for the special needs preschool class is Monday. Hopefully we will be impressed! This next week we will begin our new routine (again... this word is used very loosely here) of having Abby and Romney home each day.

Today I ship off the laptop to HP again, but this time they are supposed to REPLACE it with a new laptop so hopefully that little saga can come to an end. I'm hoping to wrap up loose ends on various little issues as we go into the new year. I hope to begin dealing with the chaos around here... maybe! :) I feel like we have been on "react" mode too long! I drive my sisters crazy when I look back at how organized I used to be, but I just can't help to think that organized person still lives in me somewhere..... buried under a mountain of chaos! :) I haven't seen that side of me since Shelby was diagnosed with Leukemia back in 2000! Maybe 'she' just took the last DECADE off! :) I may never get back to that level of organized since this last decade brought with it 3 more children and a grandchild! I would be happy with progress, not reform! :) Happy New Year to each of you and may you reach your own personal goals this year! :)