The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 275 which was held on February 26, 2014:
1) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 10 months
2) Irish dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months
3) Dutch dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 4 years and 2 months
4) US dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status
5) German dossier from June 2011 referred a male child aged 3 years and 7 month with features in health status
6) Italian dossier from September 2011 referred a male child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status
7) French dossier from November 2011 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months
8) US dossier from July 2012 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status
9) Canadian dossier from February 2013 referred a female child aged 6 years and 11 months with features in health status
10) Italian dossier from February 2013 referred sisters aged 7 years & 8 years and 4 months
11) Italian dossier from January 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 6 months
12) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2117) with a profile on the MOJ site
13) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2181) with a profile on the MOJ site
14) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2189) with a profile on the MOJ site
Monday, March 31, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Sunday Sundries
Cooking: chocolate chip pancakes with fresh strawberries for brunch
Reading: Tuxedo Park: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
Celebrating: my kids' accomplishments
Doing: loads and loads of laundry
Feeling: happy and relaxed
Wanting: a massage
Talking: about lots of stuff with friends at the park
Needing: more quality time with my hubby
Enjoying: Chinese take out for dinner and fudge sundaes for dessert
Watching : X-Files Season 6
All in all, not a bad Sunday by far.
Reading: Tuxedo Park: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos
Celebrating: my kids' accomplishments
Doing: loads and loads of laundry
Feeling: happy and relaxed
Wanting: a massage
Talking: about lots of stuff with friends at the park
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| Once upon a time they were orphanage mates, now they are friends living in the Midwest |
Needing: more quality time with my hubby
Enjoying: Chinese take out for dinner and fudge sundaes for dessert
Watching : X-Files Season 6
All in all, not a bad Sunday by far.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Big Sister Update
Well, there is no update, really, except that by quite a coincidence we were blessed with new photos and video of our big little girl today which made us so happy.
Our dossier has been in Big Sister's birth country for six weeks. The next meeting of the government's adoption commission is slated to take place in mid-April, so we are hoping that we will then be approved as adoptive parents and invited to visit Big Sister. Fingers crossed.
Waiting is hard and there's not a day that goes by that we don't think or talk about our little girl thousands of miles away. But this time around, I am also noticing how much I have grown as a person in the last three years. I am not a pillar of patience by any means, but Rex and Emilia have taught me a certain level of acceptance about the things I cannot change, they have taught me to roll more smoothly with the ebb and flow of life, and to stay in the moment as much as possible instead of worrying about the future. All of these lessons have been helpful on this, our third, adoption journey.
Our dossier has been in Big Sister's birth country for six weeks. The next meeting of the government's adoption commission is slated to take place in mid-April, so we are hoping that we will then be approved as adoptive parents and invited to visit Big Sister. Fingers crossed.
Waiting is hard and there's not a day that goes by that we don't think or talk about our little girl thousands of miles away. But this time around, I am also noticing how much I have grown as a person in the last three years. I am not a pillar of patience by any means, but Rex and Emilia have taught me a certain level of acceptance about the things I cannot change, they have taught me to roll more smoothly with the ebb and flow of life, and to stay in the moment as much as possible instead of worrying about the future. All of these lessons have been helpful on this, our third, adoption journey.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Swings & Thanks
Last Friday, Craig took a few hours off work to go into Rex's school and help the head of maintenance hang a ceiling swing in the therapy room. The swing equipment was purchased with money that parents raised last fall in our holiday bazaar.
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The teachers and kids are loving their new swing and made this sweet sign for Craig:
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Do you see in the bottom right corner how it says, "Thanks Dad" with a heart and Rex's hand print? Love it! And love, love, love everyone at Rex's school. He couldn't be in better hands.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Lovely Sunday Morning
What a blessing to have this little bundle of joy jump into bed with us this morning to snuggle and spend time with her entire family.
Two years ago a morning like this would have been unthinkable. Our hearts are full.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
IAC 273 & 274 Results
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 273 which was held on February 12, 2014:
1) Greek dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 2 months
2) Canadian dossier from June 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months
3) German dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 11 months
4) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months
5) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 11 months
6) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months
7) Dutch dossier from September 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years
8) Spanish dossier from February 2011 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months
9) French dossier from February 2011 referred a female child aged 9 years and 2 months
10) US dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history
11) Italian dossier from December 2011 referred a female child aged 7 years and 6 months
12) French dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 years and 6 months
13) Canadian dossier from July 2012 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status and a family history
14) Italian dossier from April 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 6 months with features in health status
15) US dossier from October 2013 referred a waiting child (#1622) with a profile on the MOJ site
16) US dossier from November 2013 referred a waiting child (#1906) with a profile on the MOJ site
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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 274 which was held on February 19, 2014:
1) German dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status
2) Canadian dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 3 years and 4 months with features in health status
3) German dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 3 years and 6 months with features in health status
4) French dossier from January 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status
5) US dossier from May 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 5 years and 6 months & 8 years and 6 months
6) US dossier from January 2014 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history
7) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#4660) with a profile on the MOJ site
8) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#1725) with a profile on the MOJ site
9) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2090) with a profile on the MOJ site
10) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2082) with a profile on the MOJ site
1) Greek dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 4 years and 2 months
2) Canadian dossier from June 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months
3) German dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 11 months
4) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months
5) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 11 months
6) Spanish dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months
7) Dutch dossier from September 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years
8) Spanish dossier from February 2011 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months
9) French dossier from February 2011 referred a female child aged 9 years and 2 months
10) US dossier from July 2011 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history
11) Italian dossier from December 2011 referred a female child aged 7 years and 6 months
12) French dossier from February 2012 referred a female child aged 7 years and 6 months
13) Canadian dossier from July 2012 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status and a family history
14) Italian dossier from April 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 6 months with features in health status
15) US dossier from October 2013 referred a waiting child (#1622) with a profile on the MOJ site
16) US dossier from November 2013 referred a waiting child (#1906) with a profile on the MOJ site
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 274 which was held on February 19, 2014:
1) German dossier from July 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status
2) Canadian dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 3 years and 4 months with features in health status
3) German dossier from April 2011 referred a male child aged 3 years and 6 months with features in health status
4) French dossier from January 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status
5) US dossier from May 2013 referred a brother and sister aged 5 years and 6 months & 8 years and 6 months
6) US dossier from January 2014 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history
7) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#4660) with a profile on the MOJ site
8) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#1725) with a profile on the MOJ site
9) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2090) with a profile on the MOJ site
10) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2082) with a profile on the MOJ site
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
What's New With Emilia
Emilia is now seven weeks past her open heart surgery and aside from the scar, there's no telling that it ever happened. She is active and happy and there's almost no keeping up with her.
Emilia's speech continues to blossom. She uses hundreds of words now, many of them multi-syllabic. Sentences are still far and few between, but she makes the best of it and lets us know what she knows with little statements like, "Bear pink", "Want up", and "Light off." She is also now using the -ing verb form and accurately announcing her own activities, such as eating, running, jumping, waiting. We cannot possibly imagine how many words are in her receptive vocabulary as she constantly surprises us with the things she understands. She's still not a big fan of following instructions even though it is clear that she knows what's asked of her. It's more a battle of the wills in that area. By the end of January, Emilia had mastered all of her speech IEP goals for the school year. Oh and she can blow bubbles all by herself now which is a giant feat in oral motor planning.
Another really fun thing is that Emilia has started singing songs. She cannot produce a single complete line of any song yet, but she hums or makes other melodic sounds and throws in the words that she does know. With this method she is singing songs in English, German, French and Japanese. On a daily basis you might hear her throughout the house: "Twinkle, twinkle, mm-mm star, da-da wonder mm you are" or "Ba-boo-ba-ba dormez-vous" or "Rie ra rutsch da-dum-da-dum-da Kutsch" or "Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmmm hikaru."
Emilia's gross motor skills are coming along, albeit slowly. If she doesn't think about it, she can now walk up and down the stairs without holding on, but if she realizes she is doing it, she gets scared and reaches for the railing. She can ride a tricycle, but steering is still an issue. We can't wait for warmer weather to get in more practice. Fine motor skills are still way behind, but we can see some good developments. Emilia is trying more to use both hands when a task requires it (like holding the paper with one hand while coloring with the other). She can purposefully draw dots, lines and circles now, but everything else is still scribbles though she tells us the scribbles are Ws or stars or snowmen. Emilia has not yet picked a dominant hand and it looks like she might be mixed handed instead. As for self-help skills, don't get me started. Emilia has a streak of stubborn independence, but not when it comes to taking care of herself (with the exception of getting into any and all food left in her reach). She'd rather be pampered and babied. We have started potty-training and she's able to feed herself with a spoon or fork with the right kinds of food.
Emilia has been making wonderful progress on her pre-academic skills. She can identify and name all upper case letters of our alphabet. She can do the same with numbers 1-9 and she can count to ten. She knows at least ten colors, twenty body parts, and I have stopped tracking the number of animals, household items, instruments etc. that she can name. Emilia has learned to match objects to pictures and pictures to pictures. She is now beginning to work on sorting and already doing quite well sorting by multiple colors.
Emilia continues to have 2-3 hours of professional therapy each week and it's very helpful. We can keep an eye on her skills that way and get great ideas for what to do at home. At her most recent therapy session through our school district, her therapists told me that - based on their observations, Emilia's progress, and the way she seems to be processing information and learning best - they believe Emilia has above average and much advanced for her age visual perception skills. This might be the first time ever that a professional has told us one of our children is ahead in something.
Emilia loves to eat and has tried and enjoyed new foods lately, including homemade egg salad sandwiches, sauteed chicken breast and even Rex's spicy pesto chicken dip. She sleeps through the night though we know that after we put her to bed, she gets back out and plays in her room until she's ready to go to sleep. We find her in her bed each morning, so she knows where to lie herself down. Since the surgery, Emilia has been napping more in the afternoons again, typically anywhere from 1-3 hours. Maybe she is growing.
Some of Emilia's favorites at the moment are The Very Hungry Caterpillar (especially the Saturday page), eating hummus with a spoon, singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and guitars. The child is seriously obsessed with guitars and can often be found sitting in front of a mirror with a badminton racket pretending it's a guitar. I think there's a ukulele or something long those lines in her near future. She has also started watching movies and especially likes the Pixar animation. She cannot sit through an entire feature film yet, but returns to it with interest for 10-15 minutes at a time as it plays. Her giggles when Woody, the cowboy runs are priceless.
Come next week, Emilia will be a busy girl again. On Mondays she will attend a musical play class and a sign language class (did I mention that she acquires signs with ease?) at a local family center, on Tuesdays she has therapy at our elementary school, Wednesdays we wedge out, Thursdays she has Prompt therapy and Fridays she either has Prompt or a three hour session with Ms. Rie.
We couldn't be more thrilled to see our sweet daughter grow and learn and thrive. It feels miraculous to witness how she is blossoming and we are thankful.
Emilia's speech continues to blossom. She uses hundreds of words now, many of them multi-syllabic. Sentences are still far and few between, but she makes the best of it and lets us know what she knows with little statements like, "Bear pink", "Want up", and "Light off." She is also now using the -ing verb form and accurately announcing her own activities, such as eating, running, jumping, waiting. We cannot possibly imagine how many words are in her receptive vocabulary as she constantly surprises us with the things she understands. She's still not a big fan of following instructions even though it is clear that she knows what's asked of her. It's more a battle of the wills in that area. By the end of January, Emilia had mastered all of her speech IEP goals for the school year. Oh and she can blow bubbles all by herself now which is a giant feat in oral motor planning.
Another really fun thing is that Emilia has started singing songs. She cannot produce a single complete line of any song yet, but she hums or makes other melodic sounds and throws in the words that she does know. With this method she is singing songs in English, German, French and Japanese. On a daily basis you might hear her throughout the house: "Twinkle, twinkle, mm-mm star, da-da wonder mm you are" or "Ba-boo-ba-ba dormez-vous" or "Rie ra rutsch da-dum-da-dum-da Kutsch" or "Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmmm hikaru."
Emilia's gross motor skills are coming along, albeit slowly. If she doesn't think about it, she can now walk up and down the stairs without holding on, but if she realizes she is doing it, she gets scared and reaches for the railing. She can ride a tricycle, but steering is still an issue. We can't wait for warmer weather to get in more practice. Fine motor skills are still way behind, but we can see some good developments. Emilia is trying more to use both hands when a task requires it (like holding the paper with one hand while coloring with the other). She can purposefully draw dots, lines and circles now, but everything else is still scribbles though she tells us the scribbles are Ws or stars or snowmen. Emilia has not yet picked a dominant hand and it looks like she might be mixed handed instead. As for self-help skills, don't get me started. Emilia has a streak of stubborn independence, but not when it comes to taking care of herself (with the exception of getting into any and all food left in her reach). She'd rather be pampered and babied. We have started potty-training and she's able to feed herself with a spoon or fork with the right kinds of food.
Emilia has been making wonderful progress on her pre-academic skills. She can identify and name all upper case letters of our alphabet. She can do the same with numbers 1-9 and she can count to ten. She knows at least ten colors, twenty body parts, and I have stopped tracking the number of animals, household items, instruments etc. that she can name. Emilia has learned to match objects to pictures and pictures to pictures. She is now beginning to work on sorting and already doing quite well sorting by multiple colors.
Emilia continues to have 2-3 hours of professional therapy each week and it's very helpful. We can keep an eye on her skills that way and get great ideas for what to do at home. At her most recent therapy session through our school district, her therapists told me that - based on their observations, Emilia's progress, and the way she seems to be processing information and learning best - they believe Emilia has above average and much advanced for her age visual perception skills. This might be the first time ever that a professional has told us one of our children is ahead in something.
Emilia loves to eat and has tried and enjoyed new foods lately, including homemade egg salad sandwiches, sauteed chicken breast and even Rex's spicy pesto chicken dip. She sleeps through the night though we know that after we put her to bed, she gets back out and plays in her room until she's ready to go to sleep. We find her in her bed each morning, so she knows where to lie herself down. Since the surgery, Emilia has been napping more in the afternoons again, typically anywhere from 1-3 hours. Maybe she is growing.
Come next week, Emilia will be a busy girl again. On Mondays she will attend a musical play class and a sign language class (did I mention that she acquires signs with ease?) at a local family center, on Tuesdays she has therapy at our elementary school, Wednesdays we wedge out, Thursdays she has Prompt therapy and Fridays she either has Prompt or a three hour session with Ms. Rie.
We couldn't be more thrilled to see our sweet daughter grow and learn and thrive. It feels miraculous to witness how she is blossoming and we are thankful.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Sisterly Love
A sister is a gift to the heart,
a friend to the spirit,
a golden thread to the meaning of life.
~Isadora James
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Second Hand Steals
Last Saturday Ms. Rie and I ventured out to my favorite second hand sale of the year at a local elementary school. Ms. Rie didn't have as much luck, but I bought two grocery bags full of clothes:
2 pairs of dressy shorts and 1 dressier tee for Rex
4 dresses and 2 skirts for the girls
3 pairs of pants/shorts for the girls
1 sweater and 1 vest for the girls
1 dressier button-up shirt for Rex
2 sweaters and 1 pair of dress pants for me
Price tag: $24.75 which means about $1.37 per piece. Score!
2 pairs of dressy shorts and 1 dressier tee for Rex
4 dresses and 2 skirts for the girls
3 pairs of pants/shorts for the girls
1 sweater and 1 vest for the girls
1 dressier button-up shirt for Rex
2 sweaters and 1 pair of dress pants for me
Price tag: $24.75 which means about $1.37 per piece. Score!
Monday, March 10, 2014
Rex Is Five
Our family recently celebrated Rex's fifth birthday. That, in and of itself, is so hard to believe for me. When we first saw his little face, he had just turned one and was a baby.
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| Rex in March 2010 |
Now he's a strong, confident preschooler.
Rex took fresh fruit and gluten-free, dairy-free mud pie in to treat his fellow students.
Next we had a party with family and friends at our local fire museum. Rex had so much fun and we were quite impressed with how well he did opening his presents, showing interest in all of them, and then trying hard to go around the room for high five thank yous.
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| Really delicious, homemade gluten-free, dairy-free cake balls |
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| Finger foods to suit the many food allergies among our guests |
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| Rex and some of his guests playing in the firetruck |
 |
| Opening gifts surrounded by friends |
Rex got to spend his actual birthday with his favorite people: his dad, his sister, his oma, and his mama. He got to do his favorite things, like swinging for hours, riding big escalators, lounging on the floor with a snack while listening to music, enjoying back rubs, playing in our sensory room in the basement, and eating his favorite pizza for dinner. It was a birthday fit for our little king.
Happy fifth birthday, Rex. Daddy and I are so proud of how you're growing up and getting better at navigating our world each and every day. We can't wait to see what the next year holds for you. We love you.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Help Us Bring Her Home Adoption Auction
Our adoption auction to help us bring home Big Sister launched this morning. There are 33 items up for grabs. The auction runs for only one week through March 9 and is our final fundraiser. Please take a look and spread the word via social media:
http://martiniadoptionauction.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Viviane, Craig, Rex, Emilia and Big Sister waiting in Eastern Europe
http://martiniadoptionauction.blogspot.com/
Thanks,
Viviane, Craig, Rex, Emilia and Big Sister waiting in Eastern Europe
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