Wordless Wednesday

Fourth Week Home FB Posts

October 20, 2012 ~ "Come on, Mommy!!!!" ~ Maya Kisanet (Yes, I think her English is coming along nicely!!!)

October 21, 2012 ~ We've got a full day planned. Sunday School and church this morning, lunch and hopefully a sleeping nap this afternoon, church tonight, and then we're hoping and PRAYING that we can join our college kids (YACS) for their after-church fellowship!!!!! Maya Kisanet will have a busier day and stay up later tonight than she has since she got home. Prayers, please!!!!!

We are "on schedule" for the day!!! Maya Kisanet took an almost hour and a half nap and is up and happy. Next thing on our schedule - a filling snack and then we're off to church and are still planning to be able to fellowship with our college kids after the service!!!!!

We made it!!!!! She kind of fell asleep on the way home, didn't fuss or get upset as we dressed her for bed and did a very brief brushing of the teeth (I skipped the lotion and hair tonight), but then was not happy when I put her in bed and she fussed and tossed and turned for quite a while before finally falling asleep. But I'm really not going to complain. She did an AMAZING job with everything we asked of her today and I would call the day a SUCCESS!!! Now I'm just praying that she sleeps later than 6:30 a.m.!!!!

October 22, 2012 ~ I guess that I can count sleeping until 6:50 a.m. sleeping in???? I'll take it!!!!

October 23, 2012 ~ I think I can say that I have officially entered mommyhood. I just put the oatmeal in the microwave and forgot to add the water. I've NEVER done that before!!!!! In other news, we are heading to an orchard today!!!! I'm hoping that by the end of the morning Maya Kisanet will no longer call pumpkins "apples"!!!!

October 24, 2012 ~ I can't believe I forgot to post this yesterday!!!! Yesterday marked ONE MONTH since "gotcha day"!!!!! Maya Kisanet has been with her mommy and daddy 24/7 for a full month!!!!

Maya Kisanet was handing me a cracker. When I reached for it, she pulled it away and said, "What do you say?" Can you tell that we have been working on good manners???? Lol

The "down" side to using a bed guard and weaning Maya Kisanet off of holding my hand while she goes to sleep = not being able to easily tell when she IS asleep. I'll adjust!!!

October 25, 2012 ~ We practice our counting by putting chocolate chips in our oatmeal. How do YOU practice your counting????

We went to the library for our first "story time" and it was GREAT!!!! Maya Kisanet seemed to really enjoy herself and then she got to pick 4 books to take home!!! She looked at them in the car and then we sat down and read three of them as soon as we got home. Lunch is going to be late today, but it was worth it!!!

October 26, 2012 ~ I just put batteries in a noise-making toy. Please remind me later today that I did this because Maya Kisanet needs the stimulation and experiences that most children get when they are toddlers. She WILL outgrow this stage in life :-).

We're trying something new for rest time today. I put 6 chocolate chips on her dresser (where she can easily see them). She gets to eat them when the timer goes off that rest time is over!!! But every time she calls me to come to her room (with the exception of for the bathroom) I will EAT one!!!! She seemed to understand, so I'm hoping to not be called very much today!!!!

Success!!!! She is enjoying her six chocolate chips!!!!

Four weeks ago we had just arrived home with our little girl. Today, I marveled in how far we have come and how much I love that little girl!!!!

Third Week Home FB Posts

October 13, 2012 ~ Progress - I got Maya Kisanet to lay down on her tummy in her bath water today!!!! She still won't lay completely on her back, but at least she will sit in the water and doesn't want to squat while splashing the water up on herself!!!!

I was being the fun and nice mommy and cut Maya Kisanet's sandwich into two hearts. She promptly ate all the crust that I had cut off!! I love my daughter!!!!!

Thanks to Aunt Debbi for finding the $5 girl's bike at Goodwill!!! Maya Kisanet has been outside learning how to pedal and she LOVES it!!!!

She had a hard time keeping her feet on the pedals, but she was DETERMINED and after 45 minutes of hard work, she was doing FANTASTIC!!!! Now we just have to figure out how to pedal while not looking at our feet and how to keep pedaling while also turning!!!!

Guess who's planning to go to church tomorrow morning?!?!?

October 14, 2012 ~ We made it to church this morning!!!!! And we made it through lunch!!!!! And then mommy took a nap during Maya Kisanet's rest time!!!!

I'm soooooooooooooooo thankful for my amazing husband!!!! Do you know what he has been doing every night while I am staying with maya Kisanet until she goes to sleep????? He has been doing the dishes!!!! I love you, Nathan!!!!!

October 15, 2012 ~ We have had two "discipline" issues already this morning, but both of them ended with it seeming like Maya Kisanet understood what she did wrong and submitting to my "authority" fairly quickly and "calmly"!!!!! We're making progress, people!!!!!

We had our first family walk tonight, complete with a couple stops to talk about the berries on the tree, pick up a few berries from the ground, run up and down a hill, hop up and down a hill, collect leaves in our shirt (Maya K's shirt) and make a leaf pile!!!! And then we saw a bird feeder and got to talk about the birds sitting on the little "bar" and eating the food inside!!!!

October 16, 2012 ~ Maya Kisanet loves to talk on the phone to daddy when he calls at lunchtime. Today he said, "How are you, Maya Kisanet?" And she answered him with "I'm fine, thank you." I couldn't believe it!!!! He thought I told her to say that, but I didn't!!!!! When we hung up the phone, I asked her where she had heard that and she pointed to me and said "Mommy, (something, something, something) I'm fine, thank you." So apparently I say that often????

We are making HUGE progress!!!! She is finishing her lunch (with tomatoes, mushrooms and carrots all mixed up together) and she pointed to the fridge and said "Mommy........" then got a very focused look on her face as she thought and then she said "Cheese, please." I just started cheering and high-fiving my little girl!!!!! She's learning soooooooooooooooo much and trying sooooooooooooooo hard!!!!! You better believe that I gave her CHEESE!!!!!!

We had a good day today!!!! I love good days!!!!!

October 18, 2012 ~ Why, yes, I did just mix lotion with raw shae butter in my kitchen with my hand mixer. Don't you????

Our morning entertainment is courtesy of ..............................ice cubes!!! Yep, she still LOVES them!!!!!!

This is how we finished our doctor apt. trip. Maya Kisanet now knows what a Wendy's frosty is and she approves!!!!!

October 19, 2012 ~ Maya Kisanet's first doctor apt. went very well yesterday. The nurses and doctor were very kind and understanding of her potential insecurities and she was happy and playful and charmed everyone with her beautiful smile!!!! She is 39" tall and 36 lbs. They decided to not do any blood work since she already had some done in ET and we set up an appointment to start her immunizations in early December. Maya Kisanet left with FOUR books and a smile on her face!!!!!

It's been a "bleh" kind of day for me today. I was going to take Maya Kisanet to do the grocery shopping with me when she got up from her rest time, but, instead, I'm sitting here with hot chocolate and kettle corn while she works on puzzles.

My daughter was just BEGGING me for a piece of the onion I was cutting up. I found out a couple days ago that she enjoys eating straight onions!!!!

Third Week Home Photos

Second Week Home FB Posts

October 6, 2012 ~ This morning I am feeling thankful that Maya Kisanet likes breakfast!!! We've got a good rotation going of oatmeal, eggs, cheerios, and pancakes followed by a piece of fruit!!! (NOT all in the same day!!!! I just realized that it sounded like she ate that all together. One a day!!!!)

Did you know that pony beads are also good for scooping into bowls with a measuring spoon???

I'm using nap time today to wade through the post-adoption paperwork we have to complete. My head hurts!!!!

Maya Kisanet survived going out in the 45* temperatures!!!! We went to Papa Murphy's, found out she likes mushrooms (yay!!!!), walked to HyVee, got a tootsie roll from the lady at the bank, walked around the grocery store with her eyes HUGE at all the food, ate half a small cookie from the bakery, walked back to the car, ate the tootsie roll, went to the park, ran around FREEZING at the park, said "all done" after 15 minutes at the park because she was COLD, came home, and won't take her coat or shoes off because she is still cold!!!! We're doing our first family pizza and movie night!!!! We've got a sheet for the floor and are going to see how Maya Kisanet does eating pizza while watching "Tangled"!!!!

October 7, 2012 ~ I turned on my computer this morning to discover that I have a virus. Why do these things always happen to ME???? I'm on Nathan's computer right now and since he goes back to work tomorrow, I might be "absent" from FB and e-mail for a few days. In better news, Maya Kisanet went to bed decently well last night, woke up at 12:30 for the bathroom, woke up at 2:30 calling for "mommy", and then slept until 6:45 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nathan goes back to work tomorrow. I'm trying to get lots of things done today so that I am "ahead" for the week!!!! Adoptive Families - How soon did some of you start doing things with your newly adopted old child? We've been doing a few things this week (i.e. parks, the bank, pizza store to pick up pizza, small bookstore, etc.) and with Nathan going back to work I know that I am going to be wanting to get out some. But I don't want to overwhelm Kisanet. Maybe one thing/place a day and only for a short time????

I was ironing this morning and when I looked in Maya Kisanet's bedroom this is what I saw!!!!

October 8, 2012 ~ This picture is from yesterday, but we're doing some more practicing with our scissors this morning!!!!!

We are going to attempt a WalMart trip in a few minutes. Pray!!!!

Kisanet keeps wanting some of my Mt. Dew. I'm giving her juice instead. At lunch, she just pointed to her cup and said "Kisanet's juice" and then pointed to my cup and said "Mommy's juice"!!! Haha!!!!!

We're trying a "rest time" today. She's on her bed with a book, her baby, and a tub FULL of baby clothes!!! She's only called me to help dress her baby twice in the last 5 minutes!!!!!

I love seeing her connect things. She has a book with a lot of different pictures in it (with the words written under the pictures). She just called me in to her bedroom VERY excited as she pointed to a picture of a playground, which had never meant anything to her before. And then she pointed to the picture of the grocery store because it included a picture of a shopping cart which she got to ride in today for the first time!!!!

I think my little girl is getting a cold. Her nose is running and she has a deep cough. I don't think I'm ready for this!!!!!

I don't know if it was the no nap today or the benadryl I gave her for her stuffy nose, but my little girl fell asleep FAST tonight!!!! I'm praying that she sleeps MUCH better than last night, because mommy needs to sleep better than last night!!!!!

October 9, 2012 ~ I think she was TIRED!!!!! She slept for 11 1/2 hours last night with only one wake up for the bathroom!!!!!

My little girl's hair smells soooooooooooooo good!!!! Coconut oil!!!!

Well, that new lotion is out. After 30 minutes of intense scratching (and I mean INTENSE!!!), I got her up and put the "almost out" lotion on her. She promptly went to sleep. I'm hoping that the stuff I ordered comes sooner than Amazon predicted!!!!!

She seems to sleep better when I ask people to pray, so please join me in PRAYING that she sleeps well again tonight!!!!!

October 10, 2012 ~ This morning was not a very good morning. I chose to not post anything because nothing positive was coming to mind, but God was good and the afternoon was MUCH better!!! My loving husband is taking tomorrow off of work to stay home and help me (he loves me!!!!), and Maya Kisanet asked for daddy to stay with her while she went to sleep tonight. Mommy was happy to take the night off and do the dishes!!! I love my little girl sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much and even though I would love to NEVER repeat this morning, I wouldn't trade her for the world!!!!!

She's started "hamming it up" for the camera. I think we're in trouble!!!!!

October 11, 2012 ~ I washed her hair in ET, but it wasn't a very thorough job. But since I had used the shampoo there, I didn't want to wash it again too soon. So today I really got it clean!!!! And we de-tangled for the first time, AND she is letting the conditioner sit for a long time while she plays with a cup and a wash cloth (it doesn't take much for her to have fun!!!!). I'm looking forward to a CLEAN head on my baby girl!!!!

October 12, 2012 ~ I like good days!!!! We got to go meet Maya Kisanet's Aunt Heidi and two of her cousins (Jenna & Chloe) this morning!!!! And she did amazing for the longer car ride and is quietly looking at  books on her bed for quiet time. I'm praying that this continues ALL DAY!!!!

Am I horrible mommy???? She was throwing a fit because she wanted to eat the yeast I was putting in the pizza dough. She wouldn't stop so I let her taste some. She looks a little unhappy.

Second Week Home Photos

Our First Week Home

Pam ~ We've been home for one week now with Maya Kisanet and we've had plenty of hard times, but we've also had plenty of good times.

I believe that children need a good daily routine and we have been working VERY hard to create a routine for Maya K. Would you like to see what our "normal" routine is?!?!

6:30 a.m. ~ Wake up / Turn on her bedroom light / Play in bedroom until at least 7 a.m.
7:00 a.m. ~ Breakfast
7:30 a.m. ~ Play while Daddy & Mommy take turns showering and getting dressed
9:00 a.m. ~ Get dressed (or take a bath and then get dressed)
9:30 a.m. ~ Play
10:00 a.m. ~ Snack Time
10:15 a.m. ~ Play OR run errands OR go to the park OR play outside on the driveway
11:30 a.m. ~ Clean up for lunch
12:00 ~ Lunchtime
12:30 p.m. ~ Play
12:45 p.m. ~ Cleanup for nap time
1:00 p.m. ~ Lay down
1:30 p.m. ~ Nap time
2:30/3:00 p.m. ~ Wake up
3:00 p.m. ~ T.V. and snack
3:30 p.m. ~ Play at table (coloring, beads, painting, etc.)
4:30 p.m. ~ Play
5:30 p.m. ~ Dinner
6:00 p.m. ~ Play
6:45 p.m. ~ Bedtime Snack
7:00 p.m. ~ Get ready for bed ("grease" skin, pajamas, brush teeth, go potty, read a book)
7:30 p.m. ~ Bedtime
8:00/8:15 p.m. ~ Hopefully asleep :-)
9:15 p.m. ~ Up for bathroom

During the night is not going great so far. She is waking up several times for the bathroom and won't go back to sleep unless we crawl back in  bed with her. Then she will go to sleep, but often wakes up when we get out of her bed. The first few nights, she would also wake up asking to eat (which is why we started a bedtime snack) but she hasn't done that the last few nights. We are trying to be as consistent as we possibly can so that she knows what to expect from us.

Our morning routine will have to change a little when Nathan goes back to work on Monday, but we are already talking about it and we are going to try to keep it as similar as possible. The biggest difference will have to be that I will have to get up earlier to shower before he leaves for work and I will be in Maya K's bedroom every night through the week and then Nathan will take weekend "duty". We have committed to not leaving her alone in her bedroom at night for a while while she is bonding and attaching to us and while everything is still so new to her. Then we will start working towards having her sleep in her room by herself.

Here are some pictures to "highlight" our first week home.