Sunday, September 30, 2007

Thank you's and the little singer

The comments to my last post really touched me.
Never would I have imagined the connection I feel with my Bloggin' friends out there, and that it would result "just" from journaling my thoughts and share about our lives.
Nina is indeed loved, and it blesses me that she is touching people who have never even had the chance to meet her in person. Let me tell you, she is so much sweeter than anything I could blog about!
I had tried to prepare myself for attachment issues, post-orphanage behaviour, her not liking us and so the list goes on. And I see so very, very little of that. 2 "quirks" that stand out are that she seems to have reactive airway disease (a new term for Asthma) and the fabulous abilty to somehow manage to scoot around siblings while they sleep and fall out of bed even if she was wedged securely between them *sigh* (well, and maybe some control issues and melt-downs when getting in trouble)
Tough, huh!
Some days it feels like that dream HAD to come to an end, and that it was just too good to be true. But then I wake up and look at my sleepy girl with very wild hair in the mornings, I hear her "Lob'you, Mama" at bedtime and her radiance pretty much the rest of the time.
I'm so, so blessed!
Tonight, I have a cute video to share. If you like it, I'll post the second one too :-))
I took this yesterday while we watched Anya's soccer game (yes, it was very windy! Welcome to Wyoming!). Nina is so easily entertained with a book or two or a Magna doodle, and if you throw a snack in there, she is near perfect!
She is playing with a "lift-the-flaps" Classic Pooh book, which she loves!

Monday, September 24, 2007

"Goodness gracious, Baby!"

Nina's Baby was quite demanding tonight. It had to go to the bathroom several times, needed diaper changes, clothes changed twice, and it was NOT tired!
Well, 'Grandma' decided that it was time to sleep after all, even if Baby was not tired, but then it had to go potty just one more time. Nina took it and muttered: "Goodness gracious, Baby!"
Well, Baby and Mama are tucked in now, Nina covered it gently, and then insisted that I'd cover her and the Baby with her blanket. I think the Baby is sleeping, but the little Mama is still jibbering :-))
She is so precious.
I'm so happy to see how willingly she nurtures and loves, and how easy it comes to her. What a blessing!
*****************
And then they were both sleeping...

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The littlest big brother


Wow, I have had this title and picture saved as a draft for a MONTH!
Well, a month ago my heart was very heavy, because my "little boy" was not doing very well. It seemed that adding a new sister to the bunch was hard on him. He was so withdrawn, naughty and way stand-off-ish.
Him and I have always been so close, and he is a very kind, incredibly funny and very affectionate little boy. His future wife will be one lucky lady, because he is the BEST kisser! Sound effects, hugs, and all! Whew! To see him so indifferent and shut-down was very hard on me. Good Lord, what had we done to him! I was so afraid that he would turn away from me, and that he would resent his new sister. He never hugged or kissed her, and preferred to stay away from her. He was never ever mean to her, but kept his distance. A big distance.
A month has made a HUGE difference!
Nina and Elia have very similar interests, love anything that takes good fine motor skills, and Elia was very proud to teach her how to make little bead pictures. We tried to encourage him by telling him what a good brother he was, and how many things Nina was learning from him.
He basked in that praise.
And now with the kids in school, they get to spend a lot of time together, and I can finally say that he has found his inner balance and peace again. I get the big hugs and kisses at bedtime again, the sparkle in his eyes has been restored, and he is happy to play soccer and to start swimming lessons next week (we signed him up, but he ended up on the waiting list, which devastated him.... and I just got called a couple of days ago that they had a spot for him now! Praise God!)
He is beginning to really like his sister, and they hug and kiss when we drop him off at preschool.
This is such a weight off my shoulders. Not that is was my weight to carry anyway, but I'm kind of a slow learner when it comes to letting go and just trusting...
Anyway, I have my Hoover back, and I'm so very, very happy about it!

Look at this beautiful family!

If you have been following our blog for a while, you have noticed "The Ferrills" in the comments section quite frequently. I have "met" them through our adoption (at least "virtually"), and I think very highly of their family.
They were featured on their local TV station - look for yourself!
(one thing I would like to add, though... Kimmie and Quan are not bio siblings like they mention)

Thursday, September 20, 2007

You may be missing the daily posts...

... and I apologize. Things are crazy busy around here, but we're all doing well. There are several things I would like to blog about, but the uninterrupted moments to collect my thoughts are few and far between lately. So please bear with me...
I have a really cute picture though that my sister-in-law Kami (remember her BLOG?)took of Anya. Anya accompanied Kami to a photo shoot to be her helper (photography is a passion they share!), and that's where this picture was taken.
My big girl is growing up so fast!

Monday, September 17, 2007

My Daddy and me

Today, I would like to share some beautiful pictures.
Mike and Nina have really been bonding over the last couple of weeks. For quite some time I have felt this distance between them, and although I was pretty sure it was just a matter of time until it changed, it hurt a little on the inside. Mike is a wonderful Father, and I longed to see that come to life between Nina and him.
It was also something that I could not "fix", and that was another thing that was a little hard for me ;-)))
Subtly yet very apparent to me their relationship started to change. Nina began to seek him out over me for certain things, like riding home from soccer practice with him instead of me (Ohhh, soccer, but that will be an entirely separate post - coming soon!).
This has been very encouraging to me, and a definite answer to prayer. And a relief.



Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Yeah, she is here!

The new American Girl doll, that is! Anya has had her historical doll (Kit) for a few years now and LOVES her.
A while ago I was wondering if they would ever have an Asian doll that was part of the historical series. Guess what.... a couple of weeks later I heard that in fact there was going to be one released soon.
Well, here is Ivy.
Hmm, I think I know what Nina will get for her next birthday *hint hint*
She has a very cute chinese dress, too!
I guess another American Girl collection is about to start!
It's so fun to have girls!
(Of course I ADORE my boys, too, but they just don't do much doll playing...)

This is Anya with her doll "Kit" and Kit's tea party set up. It is very cute! And a very good gift suggestion for Grandmas and Aunties!!!

You may remember that I have some special dolls from when I was little. You can find them
here
And so the legacy goes on...

Monday, September 10, 2007

Miss Artsy and her Engineer brother...

While Nico and I do our school work, Elia and Nina ususally play in the same room. I set up a little table for them and have some fun little projects ready for them. Nope, I'm not super-mom and the projects are certainly nothing elaborate, but they enjoy them and they are really good most of the time. They both like to play Duplos, and they both love anything that requires good fine motor skills: stringing beads, coloring, cutting, making the little bead pictures and so on. This morning, while Elia was at preschool, Nina glued foam shapes on construction paper and LOVED it. She made two pictures, and when I hung them up, she was sooo proud and happy! It was very cute. She did a little "Vanna White" presentation of her art work and Nico and I just laughed and laughed. She is hilarious. And so sincere and pure in her excitement.
I love that girl!
So much.
After Elia came home we took some pictures of the accomplished builders and artists. Here are the results.

Here is "Miss Posing". Just to let you know that I didn't prompt her to do ANY of this!
Doing some dancing for the camera. I think she still has some Tai-Chi in her ;-))
Elia with his "red-only" Duplo tower. His elaborate Jungle and house got destroyed in all the tower-building efforts.
Posing together. It's such a blessing how well they get along now! Her smile just warms my heart! Elia is so funny - he is totally into the "fake smiling for the camera" thing.
Of course Nina had to build her very own Duplo tower too!

Some fun projects




















I know that there are many of you out there that are the Home school pro's - I'm the total NEWBIE at it, as this is the first year I homschool - and only Nico, our oldest. Most of the time we are sooo wrapped up in trying to get our work done, that the fun goes by the wayside a bit. Not today. Nina and Elia started to build a lego tower, and pretty soon it had grown into a joint effort between all of us. Elia took the picture :-))
Then, Nico got into drawing in his "spare time", and lo and behold it fit with our art lesson this afternoon. He wanted me to take a picture of his completed work and post it. And so I am....
Lots of fun little moments we had today, as you can see in the next post about Miss Artsy....

Sunday, September 9, 2007

I do

Yesterday, my very, very special niece Dina got married. Five years ago, Dina came to live with us for 10 months. Her and I had this special little bond going ever since she was a little girl, and I see a lot of her when I look at Anya.
Due to Nina's adoption I wasn't able to fly to Switzerland to attend her wedding, and that has been really, really hard. I SO wish I could have been there to share this day with her.
My sister had "orders" to send me pictures right away. Oh boy, did she deliver! Thank you, Hanna!
Dina, I love you!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

The world through my eyes

Hi all, this is Nina. I thought I'd post for once. I take lots of pictures, too, and I'm going to show you what I find interesting around here. I have a feeling that you are tired of seeing pictures of just me anyway.

This is Elia trying to squirt me with his water gun. No dice, mister, because I will SCREAM if you get me!

Here, Alex and Elia are wrestling on the bed. I didn't know brothers were going to be sooo wild!

This is my very favorite Miao Miao Pez dispenser. I loved it so much when I first got it I had to sleep with it!

Aren't my painted nails soooo pretty? Anya painted them for me. She is such a nice sister.

This is the kitchen. Just thought I'd show you. It's pretty picked up for once (psst, don't tell Mama I said this!)

And then I have to show you my very favorite shoes I got from my Nana and Yay-uh in China. They are very special to me.

That's it for now. Thank you for being interested in my life. I'm a pretty happy girl here in Wyoming! I promise I will keep taking pictures to show you at a later time!
Love, Nina

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Elia's first day of preschool


Here is our big boy! He actually went to preschool last year too, so it's not really new for him. But this year I brought my camera. Last year I was almost embarrassed by NOT having a camera with me, since it seemed like everyone was taking pictures, videos, and parents were crying... To me it was more like - Yeah I have 2 hours to myself, see ya later! The fourth time around those things are just not such a big deal anymore.
But I realized that it was a big deal to him (duh!!). So this year I was a very considerate Mama (hee hee) and took pictures of my little Mister Hoover Groover...
(If you don't personally know us, here is how Elia got his nickname: When he was just a little guy, not even eating solids yet, he'd scoot around putting every little fuzz or string or ANYTHING in his mouth. Exasperated, I told Mike he was just like a little vacuum cleaner. Kirby didn't sound right, Electrolux was too long, but Hoover seemed right. By now there are several variations: Hoovie, Hooves, Hoover Groover or simply Hoov). Even some of our neighbors call him that! You should see the looks we get when we call him Hoover in public... priceless!)

I said I NEVER would....

.... pull Nina's hair into pigtails until it was truly long enough. Her hair is really straight and kind of stiff or wire-y, so pulling it up makes it stick straight up.
Well, so much for that one. She is a GIRLY girl through and through, and she LOVES Anya's drawer with all her hair "stuff". She INSISTED on having ponies in her hair today. By insisting I MEAN insisting.... following me around with a handful of clips and ponies, repeating over and over "Mama, ponies (insert whine here), hairclips...... Mama, ponies (whine gets louder), hairclips..... MAMA, PONIES, HAIRCLIPS!!!!!!!!!"
This girl has a one track mind! And ends up getting her way *ha*...
Here is the result... and I stand corrected - I think it looked so cute... so grown up and like a big girl! We might have to do it again tomorrow :-)))

Okay, Mike thought the above picture looked a little scary. I think it's cute, but here is another one...

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Tagged!

Oh, no! Linda got me. I was always hoping that I would be passed over with this, but oh, well.
Here are the details of this game of "Cyber-Tag":

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged & to read your blog!


I don't even know why my middle name was chosen, but it's LONG!
Here you go:

S Summer is almost over, and I'm ready for cooler temperatures!
U Underdogs.... my kids LOVE them, and according to the experts, I'm really good at giving them ;-))
S Switzerland is where my life began, and....
A America is where I ended up. I did not picture that for my life, but I'm HAPPY!~
N Nobody can copy people better than Nico
N Nighttime, and it's quiet... one of my favorite moments of the day.

A Adventures - I never thought my life would be full of them

Now, as far as the tagging goes... let's see... are you ready, ladies?
Buffi, Laine , Kim Kenward, Kim Phillips, Sonya Hodge, Melissa and Julie, you are TAGGED! Have fun!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

She is creative!


This one amazed me.
Nina and Elia were playing while I did schoolwork with Nico. Elia has been building quite a Duplo city, and Nina prefers to color. This ended up being a combination of the two.
I found it very interesting that she figured out that the marker caps fit PERFECTLY on the duplo "bumps" on top! Plus she had the right number of markers available to fill the entire car.
She is something else, let me tell you...

Just in case you ever wonder...


I hope EVERYBODY has this book.
It is so beautifully written - my eyes still sting when I read it...
We have 2 different versions of it, but this is the board book Nina received as a gift.
I read it to her the other night, and I was sad to realize that some of it does not apply to her, since we missed the first 3 1/2 years of her life. But I'm planning on explaining to her what my memories of OUR first night together are - because it was just as special.
The one thing that really jabbed a dagger into my heart and left me with many questions, was her comment about the page I pictured below. And it was only ONE word...
She looked at the Mom holding the baby, pointed to her and said "Ayi", which means "Auntie" in chinese. From what I understand, this is a commonly used word for adult women in a child's life, but it also used for Nannies in an orphanage. And that's where my heart starts to ache for Nina. In her experience it is Nannies who take care of babies, and not Mama's.
I just want to cry...
Even though her foster parents have loved her much, I so wish that Little FuBo had a Mama who cherished her, loved on her and snuggled with her.
I feel like I caught a glimpse of another dimension of what my daughter has gone through, and it's a tough one.
One that only God's love can restore in her heart.
And that is my prayer for her tonight.

Monday, September 3, 2007

2 months ago...

...this beautiful little girl became officially and legally our daughter. If you want to look back to that day you can go here . To keep things simple we decided to "celebrate" our official adoption date, and not "Nina Day", which would have been yesterday. As I get older and more forgetful (after all, the big 4 - 0 is only a couple of years away.... yikes!) it's just easier to remember one date only *ha*.
Anyways... last night, after the kids were asleep, I watched our "Nina Day" video footage for the first time. That was pretty emotional. Now that I know her so much better and I'm more familiar with her various facial expressions, watching her before and during our "receiving ceremony" was just heartbreaking. The uncertainty and fear in her eyes is so evident to me now. They are expressions that I don't see anymore. Now she is much more relaxed and trusting and full of joy. She has changed so much! And for that I'm grateful!
Today we invited my parents-in-law over to watch all our China video with us. Nina seemed okay with it, and my mother-in-law stated how she didn't think Nina remembered the emotions of that day. I was wondering whether she did or not. Well guess what? It may have been to early.... Mike and her took a nap after the videos were over, and during her nap she developed what sounded like Asthma. She was coughing and wheezing, and it got better after a breathing treatment once she was awake again. Coincidence? I think not. She has done this several times now that she developed some "mystery illness" in moments of stress.
It's such a fine line to walk.
On one hand, everything is still so new, and obviously fragile.
On the other hand I see more and more how she is becoming "one of the five". The kids have their sibling squabbles, she tattles on the other kids, they laugh and play together, and I feel like our relationship is moving onto solid ground. To find the balance between the two though is such a guessing game. I'm so thankful that the Lord fills those gaps and our inadequacies!
Something interesting happened a week ago, when we ate a local chinese restaurant. Our waiter tried to speak in Chinese to Nina, and she immediately grabbed my arm, ducked down shyly and just gave him a tiny little grin. It seemed like it caught her off guard, that someone would speak her "old" language in her "new" environment. I so know the feeling. Every so often I run into people from Switzerland, and sometimes I cannot even utter an intelligent sentence in Swiss German - just because I don't expect that language in my Wild West environment. In a way I found this little episode encouraging. Obviously she has somewhat moved on and is comfortable where she is at.

Later on today, after a MEAN waterfight that left everyone SOAKING wet (including Grandma and Grandpa - in fact, they STARTED it!!) Anya and Nina dressed up. They looked so cute together! "The pirate and her gypsy sidekick" is what Mike called the two sisters :-)) I love the way Nina looks up at Anya. She thinks the world of her big sister!

And yes, I DID make some applesauce. Not as much as I would have liked, but I got a good start!
I know you all have been wondering *ha*..

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Apples, Apples, Apples!


Today we helped Great-Grandma pick her apples. I should re-phrase that.... she let us pick her apples so they would not go to waste. Applesauce, here we come! Thank you, Great-Grandma!
The kids loved climbing on the ladder, and they have been munching apples ever since.
We have LOTS of them. Guess what I will be doing on Labor Day ;-)))