four years post court

Four years ago (yesterday) we crammed into a little court room and requested that a Russian judge please please allow us to be Oliver's parents.  I felt calm in my head.  I knew we did everything we could.  Jumped through every hope in front of us and all that was standing between us and Oliver was this judge.  My head was calm, but my heart was week.  I answered my questions in a voice I tried so hard to keep from shaking.  Over and over again I tried to explain why we were adopting and not having a biological child.  After 20 minutes, that felt like an eternity, the whole thing was over.  One moment we are not parents, and the next we are...that's just crazy.






Well, the judge said yes, so I suppose I was a parent then, but then I had to wait ten days...which was actually more like 13.  Thirteen days is a long time to be alone in Siberia and it's a really long time to be told you're a parent, but you don't actually have said child...sigh.   I slightly regret not requesting to stay in the town near his orphanage, but I didn't want to rock any boats.  I just went along with the plan and made the most of my time in Kemerovo. 

Had Oliver not been adopted, this is the year he would have moved from the baby house to the real school aged orphanage and there his odds would have dropped even more.  I wonder about those other kids in some of Oliver's orphanage photos, were they adopted by Russians, by others, or have they moved on to the big kid orphanage?  Who is loving on them?  Keep praying for Russia.  The adoption ban is totally lame.  There are hundreds of thousands of kids waiting to be adopted and the number is only growing. 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sweet Lydia!

Lydia turned two on December, 6th and we celebrated with a pancake and pajama party!  I decided on a pajama party because Lydia just loves wearing her suits (footy pjs).  It's an issue trying to get her dressed in the morning, then at nap she insists on getting back into her suit before laying down. 

Party planning began with a search for the perfect invitation.  Etsy never disappoints.

we snapped a little PJ picture for the back of the invite

then we had these customized for Lydia and printed at office max-depot
adorable!

 Instead of a regular cake I made a bunch of cinnamon rolls in the shape of a two...well, it looked more two-ish pre-baking.  Those things really rise! They rose so much that some started falling off the pan and on to the bottom of the oven, slight disaster.  You could easily use pre-made ones form the store or from the can cinnamon rolls but I used this recipe which was perfect in the bread machine. 

 Despite plenty of advanced candle blowing practice Lydia froze in the moment and had to get a mommy assist with the candles.  After singing and blowing out her candle we all feasted on

buttermilk pancakes with syrup and sprinkles
mini quiche 
a fruit platter
leftover blueberry breakfast cake from Grammy's birthday celebration
the most amazing little brie and bacon cranberry tartlets..just go make them, so good
Orange juice, cranberry juice, coffee, and fancy flavored local milk

 Lydia got a set of magnatiles and a light panel for her birthday.  I had it set out for her when she came down in the morning so she could play before the party started.  It was a big hit with all ages at the party.  We use the magnatiles almost daily, they are such a fun building toy.

 

Thanks to everyone who made Sweet Lydia's day so fun and special.  

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Lydia is a classic toddler.  She loves to climb everything.  Her favorite perch is on the counter next to the sink.  She enjoys knocking down Oliver's building projects while in mid construction.  Her favorite words are "No, Mine, Mama, Yep." She loves water..bath, shower, sink, pool, puddle, etc.  Running away from me in the Target parking lot is her main life goal with trying to jump out of the cart at Target coming in at a close second.  She likes playing football with her daddy and snuggling with her mama...then seconds later trying to dig my eyes out with her sharp little claws.  Lydia also loves doing her homework while Oliver does his, she uses her markers to scribble all over her paper, herself, the table, and occasionally on Oliver's homework...his teacher is understanding. 

We love Lydia and can't imagine our life without her, 2 already, wow.  Looking forward to the adventures that the year ahead will bring. 

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On Monday December 8th, Lydia went to the doctor for her 2 year check up.  The doctor's office just isn't Lydia's favorite place. 

Are you ready to get out of the stroller -no
Let's lay down to get measured -NO (35inches, though I question the accuracy)
Can you stand on the scale and see how much you weigh -NO WAY!!
Let's sit on the baby scale -well the screaming shows she has good working lungs (27lbs)

Okay, we need to take some clothes off so the doctor can check your body over -yeah, that was fun

Clothes back on, sitting on mama's lap, chatting with the doctor.  The doctor and nurses were impressed with Lydia potty training herself, but the doctor was concerned about her speech.  I knew there would be speech concerns, that's why I got her tested by the infant toddler people and she's receiving services.  I thought that might be enough for the doctor, but the doctor gave her a referral to go get assessed by the speech department over at Children's Mercy, she was also given a referral to get assessed by the folks over at the Leann Britten Center.  The Leann Britten Center usually helps children with more special needs, and after talking to them we've decided to wait until after getting the results from Children's Mercy before we decide if we need their help also.  For now we will continue working weekly with our speech therapist.  Lydia is improving.  She is starting to babble more, speak without being told to, and use more words and less grunting to get her point across.  Her little voice is so cute.  My favorite thing she says is "mine mama" meaning that's my mama, you'd better stand down. 

cold sore treatment

Oliver has had of history of getting pretty yucky cold scores around his lips.  I'd try to treat them with various over the counter stuff, extra fruit and veggies, other random home remedies, but we've always had to turn to an anti viral prescription from the doctor because they would just keep spreading. 

Pinterest, where all good comes from, told me that I might be able to prevent or treat cold scores using tea tree oil or melaleuca as it's called by the DoTerra folks.  Tea tree oil is a natural anti viral.  So, I find someone who sells DoTerra and place an order. 

So the oil arrives (this is months ago) and I get a little roller bottle from whole foods.  I add fractured coconut oil to the bottle and about 20 drops of melaleuca.  I roll this concoction around Oliver's mouth a few times a month in hopes of it preventing an outbreak.  I may have gotten lazy, or maybe I lost the roller, or maybe Lydia hid it, or Oliver flushed it, no I just got lazy...it happens.  Last week I noticed the little tell tail spot on his lip yelling "warning, warning, a cold sore is coming" and it did.  Rumor has it the tea tree oil could fix this so I put it on.  I mixed one drop tea tree oil and one drop coconut oil in my hand and rubbed it all over his lip area, often.  I really, didn't want to have to call in the script for the anti viral.  Know what, the tea tree oil really worked, the spreading stopped and the affected area scabbed over.  I'm still putting the oil on twice a day and some aquafor once a day, but it looks like we are in the clear this time. 

I just treated a problem naturally and saved a bunch of cash.  Good times. 

23 months

Sweet Lydia is going to be TWO next month.  What? 

Lydia is a joyful, fiercely independent, quiet, loving, playful, girl.  She adores Oliver, milk, dogs walking down the street, books, play dough, snuggles, and climbing. 

flashback

A few of her current favorites...

Helping herself to the milk in the fridge, instead of trying to chug it from the jug she now brings me all the supplies (milk, cup, lid) and I help her pour it, then she puts the milk away.  Her other favorite fridge treats are clementines, usually eating 3-4 a day, and peanut butter, which she enjoys eating by the spoonful.  Yum.

Potty training herself.  Yep she did it, just like that.  Over the past couple weeks she's hard only one daytime accident, that was today while we were outside, she just got caught up in the fun.  Lydia still wears a diaper at night but only wets about 3 a week.  I'm trying to get her to say the word "potty" or something to indicated that she has to go, so I can help her, but she usually just goes and does it herself or just lifts her shirt or dress up to let me know she needs help.  This is all very shocking to be because I wasn't even going to think about this until she was 3, but whatever, if you're going to do it yourself, you go for it girl. 

Climbing! Swinging! Sliding!  Lydia loves the park.  Climbing all over and sliding down the slides herself.  She can even ride our zipline the whole way down holding on all by herself...she is her brother's sister. I'll probably sign her up for gymnastics in the next few months. 


Doing her homework.  Oliver spends a few minutes in the morning or after school working on his school work or sight words and Lydia takes that time to get out her little school caddy and do some drawing.  Typically the drawing starts on the paper then morphs into her drawing on her feet or legs.  Whatever, it's all fine motor practice, right?

Lydia still isn't saying much and receives weekly speech therapy, we are only on week two, but it seems to be going well.  The therapist gives us a little assignment and then we work on it during the week.  I find the balance a little tricky.  The therapist wants me to make it so that Lydia has to talk to get things done, you know, make things harder for her to get to so she has to talk to get them.  I like that she is independent and tries things for herself and moves chairs around to reach stuff, so we find other places where she needs to talk.  Over the past week we worked on saying "down" so I could put the car window down for her.  We also worked on choices.  I give her two options and she answers as to what she wants...it usually doesn't sound much like either choice, but hey she's using her voice to make stuff happen.  

 My favorite thing about Lydia, she always wants more and more is one of the most clear words she says.  More hugs, more milk, more climbing the tree, more riding down the hill, more playing, more singing, more milk, more books, more, more, more.  She loves life and to explore and her family. 

She's our sweetest girl. 

 

potty training?

Potty training sucks!  Oliver came with some potty training skills, not really.  Oliver came with the ability to be compliant and sit on the toilet, it's what he was trained to do before his arrival here.  He wasn't trained to feel the sensation of needing to go and then go, no at the orphanage you sit when you are told to and stay as long as needed, maybe longer.  I taught Oliver his all his upper and lower case letters and letter sounds while sitting on the potty.  Fast forward to present day, he still has weekly accidents and let's not even discuss night time potty training, can you even train someone to not pee themselves at night?  He pees before he goes to bed, around 8pm, again when Jim goes to bed around 9ish, and again when I go to bed close to 11, and he still wakes up wet 75% of the time.  I try not to discuss it with him anymore, I figure he'll get it sometime, at least he doesn't accidents at school.


Then there is Lydia, I'm in no hurry to potty train her.  I really don't mind the adorable cloth diapers, and I'm even okay with washing them.  Lydia on the other hand, she wants nothing to do with diapers.  She rips them off before I can get them fully snapped on her.  Wednesday of last week I gave in.  It was a blah rainy day so we were not planning on going anywhere, I set the little potty outside the bathroom and decide to just let her run around in a dress with no diaper or underpants and see what happens.  She normally wakes up dry so I got her up and put her right on the potty, after a couple minutes she made it happen.  I put her dress on and tell her when she feels she needs to pee she should go sit on the potty...like she can even understand that.  She must have.  At one point we were doing homework and drawing at the table, she crawled down, walked away, and pooped on the toilet.  Hmmm.  No accidents all day.  So I guess we are doing this?  There have been accidents, but also tons of success. I just started letting her nap without her diaper, and go on outings without her diaper, and she's used a few public toilets, she even made it through church on Sunday.  She is pretty adorable in Oliver's outgrown Thomas the Train underpants. Here we go, for now. 

say what? not much...

At Lydia's 6 month appointment I mentioned that I thought she didn't babble much.

At her 1 year appointment she was supposed to be saying about 10ish words...maybe 8, maybe.

The 18 month appointment yielded news that by her 2 year visit she should be saying 50 words.  50!

 Well here we sit at 22 months old and Lydia might say 10-12 things.  Maybe she's just a quiet soul, maybe she is more thoughtful than vocal, maybe she just likes to take in the world around her...all possibilities, but it's my job to help her be as successful as possible so I call up the early intervention folks and request a developmental assessment.

They assess many areas of development, but we focus more on speech.  They ask me questions, they observe her play, and notice how she interacts with them and with JJ and myself (I sent Oliver out to play with a friend).  Now in order to qualify for help you have to be 25% or more below where you should be.  At the end of our time together the ladies tell me that Lydia doesn't qualify for services because she's around 23/24% below the norm for her age, rocking verbal production skills of a 17 month old.  Well, that's about the worst place you can be. Lucky for us, and Lydia, they said that they would give Lydia speech services.  So sometime in the near future a speech therapist will start visiting once a week and giving me different techniques to help Lydia.  Give her a few months and maybe she'll be stealing some of Oliver's air time. 

got tomatoes

We do!

Holy tomatoes batman.  Back in the spring we planted three tomato plants.  1 roma, 2 cherry.  I hoped we might grow a handful of romas to make some BLTs and a few bunches of cherry tomatoes for a couple other summer recipes.  Two of the plants went crazy choking out one of the cherry tomatoes, so we were left with one of each....and they went insane.  They are planted in our front flower garden area and have progressed to partially taking over the walkway and driveway. 

So here's a list of how we are dealing with the bunches and bunches of tomatoes we are harvesting on a weekly basis.

-We give them away to anyone who will take them.  People at church, friends, neighbors.
-The kids pick and eat them while we play outside, even Lydia knows how to just pick the red ones
-We traded two bags of tomatoes for free open gym time at the gymnastic studio ($10 savings)

Slow roasted BLTs -absolutely so delicious and you must make the basil mayo to go with it, really so perfect.  We've eaten these almost once a week.

 



Cherry tomato puff pasty tart.  Yum and super easy, like really easy.  This was devoured at our small group meeting a few weeks ago. 

 



End of summer vegetable soup.  I just delivered this to a friend and she thanked me more than once saying the soup was great.  The tomatoes are not the star of the dish, but they are there and it's a great soup, I think the roasted corn really makes it awesome.  I've made it with the popper croutons before and they are pretty good too. 

Pasta with Roasted Summer Vegatables, just make it.


BLT Salad -Most of the tomato recipes involve cooked tomatoes because I don't actually like them raw.  However, this salad is really tasty and simple.

Salad
-romaine lettuce
-thick cut bacon
-tomatoes

I bake bacon at 375 for 15-20 minutes, keep you eye on it!

Dressing
-1 cup buttermilk 
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/4 cup mayo
-clove of garlic, grated  -if you like it spicy, my kids don't like it with the garlic
-salt
-pepper

mix it all together and set it in the fridge while assembling everything else

Croutons
-bread, cubed... good bread, something crusty from the bakery
-olive oil
-salt
toss the cubed bread with some olive oil and salt then bake at 375 for 10ish minutes

Pile everything together and yum. 



Go forth and cook those tomatoes you've grown, or come raid my front yard.