Life in General

- Life has been speeding by lately and I can hardly believe that Yohanis has been home almost 4 weeks already. I can't say it enough: Yohanis is an amazing little boy! I can't believe how well his adjustment into our family is going. I am in awe of this kid! 


- This week has been hard for Colson though. I think he is starting to realize that Yohanis is here to stay and he doesn't like it. It's tough going from being the oldest child to suddenly being the middle child. He has been acting out more this week and I think it's his way of saying he needs more attention. I have been making a point to spend more one-on-one time with Colson the past few days so that he doesn't feel left out.


- You know how Yohanis was deathly afraid of taking a bath in the beginning? Yeah, not so much anymore. He absolutely LOVES it now. This kid could live in the bathtub if we let him! He asks me all.the.time if he can take a bath. He goes crazy when he gets in the bathtub, splashing and giggling and having a grand time! 

-We have been in the US for almost 3 months now and are so anxious to get home to Turkey (we have a few more things to take care of here, but hope to go home by the end of March). We have loved every minute with our families, but we are looking forward to having our own space again and to get settled into our life in Turkey with Yohanis. We talked to some of our Turkish friends yesterday over Skype and they keep asking us when we're coming back :( We miss them! It's been hard feeling like I'm living in two different worlds. 

-We got a family picture taken this week. I wasn't sure how it would go so I brought along lots of candy and gum :) Trying to get a family picture is stressful. This is as good as it gets, folks. I'm just happy everyone is looking at the camera and smiling, even if they are big fat fake smiles (thank you, Colson).  

-Last week I finally got to meet my blog-friend Becky! I first got to know Becky when I started researching Ethiopian adoption. I found her blog and was hooked. She writes with such honesty and from her heart. I finally left a comment one time after stalking reading along for a few weeks. Then we started emailing back and forth and a friendship was formed. She has prayed for me and spoken so much wisdom into my life over the past year and I'm so glad that God has put her in my life. When I found out they live close to Joel's parents I knew we just had to get together. I'm so glad we did, we had SO much fun! They are the coolest family and totally "get us". I felt like we were old friends even though we were just meeting in person for the first time. It was such a great evening and I can't wait to do it again! Thanks for having us, Becky :)

Vienna and their daughter, Heidi, had almost identical blankies. They both suck their thumbs too.

It got a little loud at times - we felt right at home :)

 All the kids, minus Heidi, in their jammies.

Vienna really hit it off with their son, Shane. She just adored him and he was so sweet to her.



Have a great weekend everyone!

Brothers

I have good intentions of posting an update soon, but pictures will have to be enough for today.

But can I just say that having two boys is SO much fun?! Boy, do they keep me on my toes! I mean, Colson was a ball of energy before, but together with Yohanis, well, it's just craziness at times! They are rowdy, loud, energetic, loud, they love to wrestle, be outside and get muddy, and have I mentioned they are loud?!

I love being a mommy to these two!

Last Wednesday we headed out to Huntingdon County (about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Lancaster) to spend some time with Joel's family. I wasn't sure how Yohanis would do with the change, but he has been doing awesome! We actually haven't had a hard day since last Saturday. I am seeing such a huge difference in Yohanis from last week to this week.

Last week when he would get upset about something he would completely shut down and wouldn't want us to look at him, talk to him or hold him and it could take him up to an hour to come around again. This week has been completely different. If he gets upset about something he will come to me (even if I'm the one he's upset at) and let me snuggle him and he is over it in less than five minutes. I'm amazed at the change in him. He is the sweetest little boy and brings so much joy to our family.  

We've been having fun up here in the mountains. The kids love being here. The other day we made a campfire and the kids had a blast playing in the snow and then sitting around the fire when they got cold. Then after dinner we made mountain pies.

For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, a mountain pie is made by buttering two pieces of bread and in between them you put either cheese or fruit filling. Then you place the sandwich inside the pie iron (pictured below) and cook it over the fire and a few minutes later you have a perfectly toasted sandwich. We made apple mountain pies and they were delicious!!

Some pictures from the day:

Even though it's been so cold outside, we've still been finding time to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Yohanis doesn't seem to mind the cold and he had fun throwing snowballs the other day. I love seeing him experience all these things for the first time!

One week home!

First of all, thank you for all your encouraging comments on my last post. I can tell people are praying because the last two days I have not shed a single tear :) 

Yohanis has been home for a week now and he is doing so well. I mean, he was doing great last week too, but this week has been even better. He seems much happier and is really starting to open up more. He is also eating a lot better. He is actually trying different foods instead of completely refusing like before. He loves fruit, especially bananas and oranges, but getting him to eat vegetables has been a bit more difficult. Yesterday we got him to try corn. When he first saw it he told me he didn't want any. So I put a tiny bit on his plate and told him just to try it. He sniffed it (like he does with everything) and then took a bite. He LOVED it and had three more helpings. Success!

One thing that has been a bit difficult is when something doesn't go his way. He gets mad and then just completely shuts down. He won't do anything and we can't talk to him or hold him and it takes him a long time to come around. The first few days it happened pretty often, but the last two days have been great. I noticed the days that were harder were days that were busier, like on Friday morning when we took him to the doctor the rest of the day was kind of rough. We have just been trying to keep life simple and keep his world small for awhile. The last two days have been pretty low-key and they have gone much more smoothly.

Yohanis, Colson and Vienna are still all getting along so well. I am amazed! All three of them love playing together, I'm surprised more fights haven't broken out since sometimes three is a crowd. But not these three. I mean, they have their moments, but for the most part they do very well sharing and playing together. Their favorite activities include playing dominoes, sliding down the steps and dancing around in the living room.

Yohanis' English is growing by leaps and bounds. He is already understanding us a lot more and saying more words on his own without our prompting. He absolutely LOVES my sister's cd and about 20 times a day he runs up to me and asks: "Mommy, music?" then runs into the kitchen to turn on the cd. He already has the first two songs memorized, this kid learns fast!

I am doing better too. I am feeling a lot more like myself and like we're starting to find our groove. The last two days have been so much fun! And I love that Yohanis feels so comfortable with us and loves showing both of us so much affection. He especially loves his Daddy! My favorite thing is to hear him say I love you with his cute little accent. Melts my heart! And he gives the absolute best hugs!!
 

 

Can I be honest?

When Colson was born on March 1, 2007 and made me a mom for the first time, I could not have been happier! He was the sweetest little baby (besides all the spit up) and was a great sleeper. But I would find myself getting all weepy and emotional every evening when the sun would go down. I didn't know what was wrong with me and I hated having those feelings. Besides, I had the most precious baby in the world, why was I feeling like this? What was wrong with me? 

I distinctly remember driving home from my parents house with Joel and Colson one evening when Colson was about a week old. I just started crying and Joel pulled the car over and asked me what was wrong and I just cried all the harder and said exasperatedly, "I don't know!" Those first few weeks I was a mess, but within two months it got better and I truly did love being Colson's mommy. When Vienna came along 20 months later the same thing happened. I was an emotional wreck for the first couple weeks following her birth, but then things started to get easier and I really did love being a mom to two kids once we found our groove. 


I have to be honest, this first week with Yohanis has been hard for me. I find myself crying over the smallest things and feeling like I'm a horrible mother. I know it will just take some time and I shouldn't be so discouraged, but I'm a mess right now. I went into this adoption very prepared; I did all the research, read all the books, asked questions to other adoptive parents about what to expect and how Yohanis might feel upon entering our family. But I guess I didn't prepare myself enough for the way that I might feel once Yohanis got home. Don't get me wrong, I love my son very, very much. It has just been a huge adjustment for me and it will take me some time to feel like I've got this being-a-mommy-to-three-kiddos thing down.


Yohanis, on the other hand, is doing amazing! Some days have been better than others, but Joel and I keep saying to each other that we can't believe how well he's doing. He absolutely loves being with us and playing with his brother and sister. He is an incredible little boy and I am so blessed to be his mommy. I love him to pieces! I will write more later with an update on Yohanis, but if you think about it, could you pray for us, well, pretty much just me? My husband would really like his emotionally stable wife back and I would really like to not break down crying in front of my children anymore this week. Thanks :)

Since he's been home . . .

Time for an update on how we're doing so far since Yohanis has been home! This might be a random update since I'm still learning how to be a mommy to three kids and I'm tired! It's a good tired though :)

Well, first of all, we're not really home yet (we've been bouncing around between my parents and Joel's parents and living out of suitcases for the last two months) so I've been thinking a lot about how it's going to be when we go home to Turkey in another month or so. Yohanis has been through so many changes already and he's going to have another big change coming up soon. I've already been praying so much for his adjustment!

I know he's only been with us for two days, but he is doing amazingly well! I am in awe of this little boy who knows barely any English and how he can just hop on a plane with a total stranger and travel halfway around the world to join a family who looks different than he does, talks different than he does, eats different foods than he does and has a completely different way of life than he does. I mean, I know he didn't have a choice in the matter, but he is handling all these changes extremely well so far.

Colson and Vienna love their new brother. It is so cute to see their friendships forming. Vienna and Yohanis are getting along the best so far. Vienna absolutely adores Yohanis and is always trying to kiss him. He always lets her, but gives her this cute little grin as if to say, "Did you really have to do that?!" It's so stinkin' cute! I love watching these two together. He is so sweet to her. If she cries, he's right there beside her trying to make her feel better.

The first day was a little rough for Colson and he seemed to be getting jealous of all the attention Yohanis was getting. Today went a lot better and Colson and Yohanis had a lot of fun playing together, especially tonight before bed. Yohanis' favorite "toy" has been a green balloon. He has played with this balloon more than anything else for the last two days. He LOVES it and is always running around the house with it in his hand (you can see the ribbon from the balloon in the picture below).

We finally managed to give Yohanis a bath. He flat out refused the first time we tried, until we realized he was afraid of getting into a bathtub full of water. So once we showed him the small bucket of soapy water we were going to use to wash him off, he was okay with that and willingly let Joel scrub him clean. The only other issue has been with food, but that is completely understandable since everything looks and tastes different to him. He ate breakfast great this morning (2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 1/2 oranges and 2 pieces of toast), but hardly touched his lunch, which I think was partly because he was so tired, he's still getting over jetlag. Dinner was another struggle, but we finally got him to eat some. He can be pretty stubborn when he wants to be :)

Communicating with each other has not been that big of a deal. We have been able to get by with gestures and he does seem to understand some of what we're saying. He will also try to repeat words and he knows his ABCs and can count to 100. 
 
Overall, he is doing great! I'm having so much fun getting to know my son. He loves to snuggle us and give us kisses. He loves to be chased and tickled. He loves to sing the ABC song. He loves grape juice. He loves to call me mommy and I love, love, love hearing it!

Well, that's enough for now. I'm off to bed and hoping that Yohanis doesn't have to get up three times to use the bathroom like he did last night :)

Together at last!

Wow, what an incredible day it has been! As I write this, I have three (!) kids and a husband (he's exhausted too) peacefully asleep upstairs. Boy, am I blessed or what?