Good-bye, May!

If you ask me, May 1 is the beginning of summer.  And with longer days and unseasonably warm temperatures this month, our new yard, since moving here in January, is finally turning into the asset we thought it would be.  The kids play outside every single day and love it.  They are safe and they are having fun.  Craig and I can kick up our feet on the deck sometimes and just relax.

Here are a few pictures from May.

A bowl of grapes for afternoon snack

Off to the swings

The kids enjoy eating outside and I like simple summer meals.

Crockpot pulled pork, rolls, and
quinoa veggie salad

Vegetarian nachos

Chowing down

We opened the pool and have been having some fun in it.

I felt motivated to exercise this month and set a goal of walking a mile a day.  Then Craig put together my bicycle and I started riding it some days instead of walking. I didn't quite get to my goal, but I did walk 17 miles and biked 18.  Since three miles of biking equal about one mile of walking, I am 8 miles short for the month which is okay.

Oh, and we have been twice to pick strawberries at a nearby farm, totaling about 18 pounds.  We've made some jam, but mostly just enjoyed all kinds of treats like icecream and yogurt with fresh strawberries on top, strawberry smoothies, and buttermilk waffles with maple syrup, strawberries and whipped cream. We've had the latter for three Sundays in a row now and Ella is seriously contemplating the question whether she likes this waffle combo better than pizza which is saying something.

Good-bye, May 2015, you've been good to us.

NKOTB

Yesterday, New Kids on the Block were in concert in Cincinnati.  For a variety of reasons, I thought I could not go this time around until Craig surprised Ella and me with last minute tickets in the afternoon.  We had a brief flurry of planning and preparations and then we were off to have some fun.

I wasn't sure how Ella would handle this experience, but she did extremely well, behaving appropriately throughout the concert and even holding it together when she started to get quite tired toward 11:00 pm.  I can only imagine that this was an overwhelming experience for her, but I think she had a good time.

Craig had gotten us fantastic seats in the first row elevated above floor level.  This was ideal for Ella who could either sit, lean or stand without anyone obstructing her view of the stage (or mine for that matter).

My teenage dream...

... still singing and dancing...

... still looking good.

That said, I think I did better.  Sorry, Jordan.

My first ever concert was NKOTB.  Now I can say my daughter's was, too.

Pick-Up Trip Days 22 & 23

October 25, 2014

Our last full day in Yerevan couldn't have been more gorgeous.  In the morning we met up with two other families picking up their children and went to see the ancient Erebuni Fortress.  Since I love history, climbing around 3000 year old ruins and enjoying incredible views of Yerevan and beyond was quite an experience for me.

Some of the ancient paintings still visible on the stones

My mom and Emilia

The elusive family photo

In the afternoon, we met up one last time with Rex's birth family at Lovers' Park.  It's quite a lovely little area as evidenced by at least ten wedding parties taking their formal pictures there.  It seemed like brides and grooms where just coming and going all the time for a good two hours while we were there.  I snapped a lot of covert photos.

See the two brides?
They were taking turns at the best photo spots.

Flower girls

More flower girls.
Can you believe that hair?

Ella amid the rose petals left behind by one of the wedding parties

During all of our meetings with Rex's first family, there had been a particular vibe between his birth father and me.   His pain was so palpable to me that my heart felt as if squeezed in a fist every time I looked at him.  He was not as easily accepting  of the unfolding story as the rest of the family.  I struggled every single time we met to say the right words or to do something to help him, but never seemed to succeed.  At the end of our final meeting though, as I was about to shut the door to the taxi, I purposefully locked eyes one last time with Rex's birth father and that's when he gave me an unexpected gift: he closed his eyes for a second and he nodded to me as if to say, "It's okay, I'm okay, we're okay."  It went straight to my heart, a moment in time that I won't forget when we connected silently and when I believe there was finally peace for both of us. 

Rex and his birth parents

October 26, 2014

We got up at 2:00 am and four airports, three planes and 27 hours later arrived in our home as a family of five.

IAC 314, 315 & 316 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 314 which was held on April 2, 2015:

1) Italian dossier from September 2014 referred a brother and sister aged 7 years and 10 months & 6 years and 1 month

2) Canadian dossier from December 2011 referred female twins aged 2 years and 1 months with features in health status

3) German dossier from March 2012 referred a male child aged 1 year and 2 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from May 2012 referred a male child aged 7 years and 8 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from October 2012 referred a female child aged 8 years and 8 months

6) Italian dossier from June 2013 referred a male child aged 8 years and 6 months

7) Italian dossier from October 2013 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status and a family history

8) US dossier from October 2014 referred female child aged 9 years and 9 months with features in health status and a family history

9)  US dossier from March 2015 referred two waiting children (#2508 & #2509) with profiles on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 315 which was held on April 16, 2015:

1) Belgian dossier from April 2015 referred a waiting child (#2898) with a profile on the MOJ site

2) US dossier from April 2015 referred two waiting children (#2224 & #2225) with profiles on the MOJ site

3) US dossier from April 2015 referred two waiting children (#1155 & #1701) with profiles on the MOJ site

4)  US dossier from April 2015 referred a waiting child (#2555) with a profile on the MOJ site

5) US dossier from April 2015 referred two waiting children (#2816 & #2817) with profiles on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 316 which was held on April 23, 2015:

1) Italian dossier from March 2011 referred a female child aged 7 years and 10 months

2) US dossier from January 2013 referred a waiting child (#2238) with a profile on the MOJ site

3) US dossier from April 2015  referred a waiting child (#2594) with a profile on the MOJ site

Manic Monday & Tuesday

Oh my goodness, folks, we had a serious Code Red Level 10 Mess Emergency in this house on Monday morning.  After a busy three days (more on that soon), having a broken washer for a week (replacement arrived on Tuesday), and the master bath out of commission due to plumbing issues for a month (finally finished the drywall and painted on Sunday), I needed to dig myself out of quite a mountain of house and yard work.

My bathroom for the last few weeks

After putting the girls on the bus on Monday, I got going:

1) Cleaned all downstairs floors (including stain removal on the rug)
2) Cleaned girls' bath
3) Made GFDF pizza for Rex and Emilia
4) Picked up EVERYWHERE
5) Loaded, ran and unloaded dishwasher
6) Collected all the dirty clothes for the 247 loads of laundry I will be doing in my new washer  after it's delivered
7) Pulled weeds and trimmed shrubs in front yard
8) Emailed kids' therapy providers and teachers
9) Weeded and swept rock path in the back yard part 1

That was half the mountain down followed by Tuesday's accomplishments:

1) Did 247 loads of laundry in my new beast of a washer
2) Baked these addictive, totally unhealthy cookies
3) Weeded and swept rock path part 2
5) Cleaned kitchen
6) Worked on assembling Ella's June homeschool curriculum (only 12 days of school left)
7) Started first draft of letter to Emilia's birth family
8) Watched final episode of Mad Men - I will miss you!

And now I am back to just the regular medium hill of daily tasks necessary to keeping a busy home and family running.  I am sure many of you can relate.

Emilia's New IEP

Emilia will start half-day kindergarten in August.  She will be in class five days a week with Ella's current, wonderful teacher.  Last week, I sat in a room with a dozen people to discuss her development and progress and to decide on goals for the coming school year.

I am extremely pleased with the IEP our new school district proposed and will implement for Emilia.  She will be in school three hours per day and have a 1:1 aide to assist her for that entire span of time.  I wouldn't have asked for this service, the team offered it from their end to allow Emilia to participate fully in all classroom activities.  Additionally, in the coming year, Emilia will work 1:1 with a special education teacher in the resource room for 30 minutes every single day.  She will also have 45 minutes of speech therapy per week and 30 minutes each of occupational and physical therapy per week.

Emilia's academic goals have been adjusted to reflect her current level of development and to accommodate her sensory needs.  Frankly, I am thrilled with some of the creativity and thoughtfulness that went into these very appropriate and useful goals.

I think we will see great things from our beautiful girl in the next 12 months.

Happy Anniversary

Recently, Craig and I celebrated a milestone anniversary.  Miraculously, we were able to arrange a sitter for the girls and a respite caregiver for Rex in our home for the same night and go out on a date.  We hadn't been on a date, sans kids, since November 2011 when Emilia came home.  So, we were fairly giddy with the prospect.

After some discussion and realizing we really couldn't go wrong, Craig and I decided to go to dinner, then head to a local park to rent a boat and get out for some quiet time on the lake.  We snapped these selfies there:

Then we sent this photo to our sitter to show to the girls.  Ella was quite indignant that we were doing something fun without her and had some choice words for us via a text from our sitter.  We were cracking up when we read it.

Happy anniversary, my love.  Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

Nappies For Nork Delivery #1

As you may remember, the Nappies for Nork Fundraiser earlier this year collected $11,000 to purchase diapers for Rex's former orphanage.  After the fundraiser closed, another $1000 donation arrived, making the total $12,000.  At that point George Yacoubian from SOAR and I decided to deliver $1000 worth of diapers for the next 12 months to the Children's Home of Yerevan in Nork Marash district.

A few days ago, the first monthly delivery was dropped off: 2740 Pampers. I am so happy for the children and want to thank again all who contributed to the fundraiser.

Ella's First Mother's Day

Today was Ella's first time experiencing Mother's Day.  She had learned about it at school and worked very hard on some gifts which she was excited to present to me. I'll admit it, I cried.

The last word is make-up
which is the height of coolness in Ella's book

Again, her teacher helped her write the answers, but I can tell by the choices for the fill in the blanks that they were all Ella's ideas and thoughts.  I think she likes me.

This morning, Craig told Ella to greet me by saying "Happy Mother's Day" which she did.  She gave me a big hug and followed up with this statement, "I woke up in my bed and I thought about Mother's Day and I cried a little because I was happy."

As I've mentioned before, Craig and I aren't big into holidays, so we kept things pretty low key here today, like any other Sunday.  I don't need to be showered with gifts (though I did receive a nice large tote for travel) or fancy meals (not having to cook because of leftovers was a great break, however) or  exuberant expressions of love (because my family shows me love and appreciation every day).  I am just happy and privileged to be the mother of these three treasures.

May 8, 2014

One year ago today, Rex reunited with his birth family.  I wrote about it here.  That day is forever edged in my memory and heart with so many strong emotions intermingling as two families loving the same little boy reached across multiple barriers to connect.  We decided together that our relationship need not be a secret, so I am not hesitant to share these photos.

Talking about hard things with Rex's first mom and grandma

Siblings

Brothers

One of my favorite photos:
a birth father and son connection

Rex and his Armenian family