All is well

We are alive and well. The kids are keeping us very very busy with their curiosity and newly discovered exploration skills. I need some baby gates!!! Other than trying to establish boundaries and trying to keep up with 2 extra little people, things are going very well, in fact much better than anticipated. Joseph is doing pretty well on the potty now that he is in a routine. We all clapped and cheered when he went #2 and he looked at us all like What in the World???

The language barrier isn't as big of a deal as I thought it might be. The kids are so expressive that they really make their needs known quite well.

There have only been few tears shed, the kids don't seem to be missing a thing about their former life. Praise the Lord. They are eating well, sleeping well and their digestive systems seem to work properly. How did we get it so good? Wow, thank you Lord!

The airlines lost the luggage so we spent a couple of days trying to track those down, plus the stroller. Arghh! The other major issue is that one of the kids is on medications for a pretty rare immune disorder. The orphanage promised to send us home with a 10 day supply, which turned out to be a 4 day supply. Our pediatrician had never heard of the medications and we've spent quite a bit of time just trying to figure out the American equivalent for the drugs and then finding a pharmacy who carried them. The pharmacy ended up having to special order them but then we realized that the kids aren't technically on our insurance yet so we had to pay out of pocket. Thankfully only one dose was missed. We have an appointment to see a specialist in Little Rock on Friday, which will be about a 4-5 hour drive but there are no specialists any closer.

Joseph is busy and curious but very sweet and responds pretty well to correction. He is having a blast with his two big brothers who love jumping on the trampoline with him. Playing in the water hose has become a daily routine. They even rigged up a slide to the trampoline to make a little water slide. He doesn't talk much but he can say Papa, which is so totally sweet. It's not that he doesn't like the rest of us, it's just that he loves his Papa so very much....Hope was sad yesterday. She said "Joseph doesn't like me." :( Yes he does Hope but it will take time for him to show it.

Zoya is loving having a closet full of clothes and momma's shoes to wear. Unfortunately her closet full of clothes is way too big. I was way off on her size. I stocked it with 2t/3t's thinking surely that would be right. It turns out she wears a 6-12 months on top and a 0-3 months waist. Anything bigger, even a 6 months shorts, fall right off her waist. They don't make panties for infants so you can only imagine. Of course her height is more like a 2-3 year old so it has made dressing her quite the challenge. If it fits her waist it's way to short on her. Thankfully a couple of Facebook friends came to the rescue and have offered to give us some infant clothes. My poor sweet baby. She weighs 22 pounds and is 38 inches tall. She is my first picky eater. When she finds something she likes she eats well but if not, forget it. With her being so tiny I almost feel as if I need to cater to her wishes although I don't want to reinforce bad habits.

This is funny: Hope is fascinated with Zoya's cleft palate. She is teaching Zoya to go around opening her mouth for people to show them the cleft in the roof of her mouth. Oh my!

I am loving the bedtime routine, giving each kid the affection they never had. Joseph doesn't seem to know what to do with the attention, and Zoya is eating it up. I caught her sitting up in bed boxing her ears and rocking back and forth one night, so I picked her up and rocked her and she snuggled in to me so tight, and smiled up at me so sweetly. She curls up in a fetal position and it feels just like having a tiny baby in my arms, wrapped up in a blanket. I can see she is very happy to have a momma. Part of me keeps waiting for them to get homesick any day as any child would being away from home for more a few days. But so far not one sign of homesickness.

They both seem eager to help around the house, especially Zoya. Joseph pushes the broom around the house and loves his new job of wiping the tables and chairs. Zoya is my first initiator! She walks around the house picking up items and bringing them to me. She was very concerned to see the trash can without a liner and then helped me replace it.  How cute. My other kids would just throw their trash into the empty can. She did the same thing with the empty toilet paper holder. I love that they are helpful children and but it makes me a little sad really. I don't know what makes me more sad. Wondering if they might be trying to earn their keep around here, or wondering why after all the years of training and training my other kids still whine and complain when asked to do something.

I love watching their expressions as they discover new things. They make it so clear by the confused, curious, mesmerized, perplexed or terrified looks on their faces. Here are a couple of obvious firsts for them:

-dogs
-stairs
-grocery carts
-watching somebody cook
-watching somebody put makeup on
-hairdryers
-ice
-ice cream
-peanut butter (Joseph hated the texture! Zoya loved it!)
-loud music
-car seats
-trampoline

All in all things are great. I'm taking lots of photos and hope to put together a little slideshow soon.

Thanks for still following along.