First grade continued.  I wasnt sure if I wanted to post this part of the story but I thought it might be beneficial to others as well.

 

I got a phone call from my babysitter telling me V had not yet arrived home from school.  I told her I would call the bus department.  So I called and the lady at the department seemed irritated as she said- the buses are running behind so if he isnt there in a while to let them know.  I explained that he had specific instructions that were written into his IEP saying he had to be dropped off at the sitters and not the end of the street (which is what we were thinking might have happened) so I told her his name in hopes she could call the bus.  The lady put me on hold then came back and said he was enroute to the sitters.  I thanked them and hung up.  Not five minutes later my cell phone rang and the school was on the phone- V was at the school and needing a ride home.  The school had put him on the incorrect bus and had driven him later back to the school upon seeing the mix-up.  Noone had checked a roster to ensure he was even to ride the bus. 

 

Now here are the problems with this situation:

 

What if V had gotten off the bus somewhere without the bus driver knowing it was incorrect; and noone had even known he was on the wrong bus.

What if V had gotten off the bus and wandered away...

Why did they lie to me and say he was enroute.

Why did they not provide him with other transportation to the sitters upon seeing the error.

 

Very scary if you really think about the whole thing. 

 

I called the supervisor of the transportation department the next day and retold my story.  My main concern that they knew someone in their department had downright lied about where my son was.  Also they were not even aware they had taken him back to the school later.  I told her that LUCKILY my son was okay but what if the end result was not the same with another child in the future.  I said why isnt there a checklist when a child gets on/off a bus in place?  Just a very dumb incident that could have been easily advoided.

 

 

 

 

Today my first baby started the first grade. 

He has been going to school since he was two, so sending him off to school is not a new adventure but it just feels different. 

It is just  hard  to imagine he is going to school full-time.  I asked his teacher how often they got play time and it was definitely less recess time ,then I remember we had as children.  I cannot imagine V sitting still for such extended periods.  So last night, I laid out the outfit he wanted to wear (Power Ranger shirt and shorts- his requirement for clothes they must have a picture on it) and his new tennis shoes. Then  I packed his lunch in his new Ninja Turtles lunch bag and placed .75 cents in a baggie for milk.  I am not sure if it is .75 cents or less but I wanted to be on the safe side.  I then explained to him what the money was for and how he was to bring home anything that he didn't eat.  We also went school supply shopping.   Now he needs a calculator and headphones, some special scissors, kleenex etc...  and I have to buy it for two classrooms (he attends two rooms).  I just do not recall having to buy so much stuff when we were kids.  What happened to just good ole wood pencils and crayons for the first grade??.  When we were meeting his teachers I looked at his classmates and thought to myself, these are the children that Vitaly will know all of his school years.  Some may become his best friends, and some might even be a girlfriend or two. 

 

I thought about some of the friends I knew in first grade and some are still special friends today!  Oh and just for the record my first lunch box was Holly Hobbie, and my mom even sewed  a holly hobbie dress with a bonnet for me to wear!!!  How times have changed.

 

Leanna~

This is a link to a website that a Ukrainian girl named Elena made to document her travel into the region of Chernobyl  (the dead zone) after the fallout.  It is very sad and spooky and part of the legacy of the ukrainian people.  http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-land-of-the-wolves/author.html

 

It is amazing that four months ago we left Ukraine.  It seems a lifetime ago already.  I highly recommend journaling or blogging your journey because before you know it, everything is a distant memory, and you begin to forget how you felt and what your days were like and how emotional and tired and happy and sad you were.  It is hard to imagine,  that only four months ago I brought home a scared little girl who clung solely to me in fear that the only person she could trust might somehow disappear; the same way the only life she ever knew suddenly disappeared.

 

Some recent developments include: 

a few new words such as daddy= di-ya (very funny always makes us laugh) bye, uh-oh, mo (more)

((cant wait for those tubes))

 

She is almost completely potty trained

She loves her daddy

She is becoming a two year old by showing her independence- aka throwing a temper tantrum

She is chipmunking food- aka I do not like this piece of food, therefore it will stay in my mouth for an hour

She can pucker and give kisses

She signs I love you

 

Leanna~

 

Yes I lost 5.5 pounds!  We are doing a work weight loss and have a scale at work where we weigh in once a week. 

 

Well I lost 5.5 pounds, but I must add most of it was due to the fact that my babysitter and her children had a dreadful strain of flu- like symptoms last week, and  the kids are still okay, but I got it instead.  I pray the kids do not get it because it has not been fun!!!   It is definitely not one you want to get. 

 

But on the upside I lost 5.5 pounds. 

 

Think I will take this as a good advantage and continue on to my twenty pounds by Christmas goal! 

 

On another note Oksana scored above average age in OT and PT evaluations!  That is absolutely the coolest!  Way to go O!

 

 

 

 

Vitaly has crazy hair that is blond coarse straight and has crazy cowlicks, so at least one a month we take him to get his haircut. 

Nikolai on the other hand has this dark wavy soft hair that I love to let grow a bit because he gets the cutest curls.  Well over the weekend it was time to trim him up so we went outside and chop chop.  Vitaly meantime was fascinated with the clippers and really wanted to just "buzz" Nikolai's hair off.  I thought I see danger in my future....

 

So that night I found the clippers and scissors stashed behind Oksana's toybox.  (which of course meant someone had taking them out of the linen closet).  So I put them away and said DO NOT touch (as I picture my little O bald as a potatoe after big brothers play hair salon).

 

Well this morning, I went into Oksana's bedroom and noticed there was black fuzzy stuff all around the rocking horse.

 

Vitaly immediately boasted - I gave the horse a haircut!

and Nikolai immediately chimed in- yeah and I shaved him!

 

So now I have a rocking horse with a nice close shave!

 

Leanna~

More surgery scheduled.

 

Looks like Oksana is going back to get the eartubes in September.  I heard the surgery was pretty easy though.  She has begun to make lots more sounds and is trying to say more words.  I really think part of this transition is the turn over from Russian to English but the ear tubes will certainly help in the way she will hear sounds. 

 

Over the summer the boys have been learning to canoe and kayak in the river with their grandpa.  We took Oksana over the weekend and she enjoyed playing in the shallows.  Yesterday I played hookie from work (ill sitter) and took the kids to the local kids waterpark.  I was so proud of Vitaly as he went down the big slides and was able to swim/paddle back to the edge.  He is finally getting the hang of swimming (although I am still very cautious on keeping an eye on him at all times). 

 

My digital camera is broken and I have not gotten another one (still deciding if I should fix it or not).  I am bumming because I really wanted to take some pics of the kids in the water. 

 

If anyone has ideas on a cheap but good quality digital to buy feel free to send them to me.

 

We also got her first portrait (well not exactly) taken.  I took her to Picture People on a free coupon.  First I waited for 40 minutes (even though we had an appointment and there was no one else waiting) then Oksana went in and was a bit confused by the whole thing.  She did not want to sit /stand away from me.  When we got her posed the photographer tried peek a boo and squeaking with a toy (now how is that funny?)  Anyway she wouldnt smile and if/when she did the photographer had to run back to get the picture so O would wander away.  Okasana tired very quickly of the game so she sat down and screamed!  Yikes.  I said forget it.  The girl said I took about three pictures (and I knew they wouldnt be any good because I never saw a good one).  So in one she had her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth, one her mouth was open in a talking mode and one her mouth was closed but she looked confused.  The Manager gave me two more free coupons so I went ahead and took the one with her mouth closed because it was the only one that was anywhere normal.  They were giggling and saying the one with her tongue out is 'CUTE"! Yeah right they will say anything to make a buck.

 

Leanna~

 

 

 

Well I am not exactly a happy camper~

 

I took O back to the plastic surgeon for another post op check-up.  I as well as the Speech Therapist and Pediatrician have some concerns that she is not completely closed mainly because liquids still come out of her nose in rather large quantities at times.  They both checked and think there is some additional surgery to close needed.  Well the arrogant plastic surgeon (we will just call him Dr. Plastic) (who never seems to be involved) said well maybe but there is nothing we can do for at least one year!  What?  Now this is a little girls body and speech and development we are talking about.  Dr. Plastic said that with scar tissue there is a problem going back in right away.  I looked at him and said I am NOT paying another family deductible before the next surgery and I am very concerned that it will effect her speech more and she is getting sinus infections.  He just shrugged me off and said I will see her again in six months.  Then to put the icing on the cake the ENT comes in and said she needed tubes in her ears.  Now when I met this group of professionals they said they would do the tubes when they did her cleft repair.  When I asked pre-surgery about it they said it is usually determined the day of the surgery.  The day of the surgery I asked if she would get the tubes and Dr. Plastic said oh the ENT isnt here today was he supposed to do it?  I looked at him and said I thought so but you are the doctors and cleft team not ME! HELLO DR. PLASTIC MAN!  I called your office many times pre-op to get the specifics straightened. He also did not do additional nose restructure like he said he was going too.  Now her nose is getting sinus infections.  And post-op he never came to see her.  His office never called once she was at home- and I had to call them to make her first post-op appointment.  What is wrong with this picture?

 

 So nope they did not put the tubes in, and sure enough now she must get them soon to help her speech and hearing! 

 

I am at a loss right now but I am seriously thinking about getting more evaluations on her cleft before the six months.  I heard that there is a cleft team at the Shriners nearby and I might consider them.  The expenses are a joke that I do not even know what I owe and to who and how much anymore. 

 

Oh and to top it off she needs an MRI for another evaluation unrelated to the cleft, and she is being treated for pnuemonia.

 

I am just glad she is such a good and happy and brave little girl.   Hope you like your money Dr. Plastic thanks for the little bit of nothing you did.

 

Before we adopted Oksana- Nikolai and I were talking about his adoption and what adoption meant. I have a special story I tell the boys about their journies.  I was explaining to Nikolai how all babies are born from a mommy's belly.  I told him that some mommies cannot have babies from their bellies so they are lucky and get to adopt babies that need a mommy and daddy.   I said how he waited for us patiently growing up a little in the orphanage where they took good care of him, until we came and took him home forever.  He than turned to me and said

"Why didnt my mommy want me?" 

This of course caused made my tears well up. 

 I said "honey she did want you but she just couldnt take care of you.  She couldnt give you all the things you have now like your house, toys, room, food and  all the things you know and love."  

 I said you are extra special because you have two mommies and most kids only have one!

 

 

Today my first child turned seven years old!  Seven years ago on this day a young first time mother gave birth to her son Vitaly, in the city of Ternopil Ukraine.  She could not keep her baby so she abandoned him to the baby orphanage in Ternopil.  On a cold day in November 2000, a young couple met this little 15 month old boy with amber eyes, who weighed a mere 11 pounds, and thanked God for their miracle child!  Here is a picture of Vitaly with his dad in the orphanage

 

 

Here is my precious baby boy with me in the orphanage

 

Here is my boy on his fifth birthday with mommy (don't we look alike!)

 

 

And now he is seven years old and going into the first grade- sigh~

They really do grow too fast!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VITALY!

xxoo

 

 

 

 

I am so excited to post that a very very close personal adoption friend has gotten news of her appointment in September.  It is a joyous day because their daughter has been waiting and growing older everyday, while all of the red tape was being redone.  This little girl is a sibling to their son.  You can read her amazing news at http://starbuckslovingmommy.blogspot.com/. 

 

It is an awesome day for the orphans of Ukraine and all the families waiting for their children!

 

Leanna~

 

Well I decided to change the title of my blog since Oksana is forever home! So Its A Girl was a great title for my princess but she is now home.

 

 I started the blog as a way to journal my adoption to our daughter, but it is also a journal about the whole family. 

 

Now that we are a family of five I thought the title really said it all: 

 

 

Let me know what you think or I am open to ideas!

 

Anyway just for fun I was on another silly site and this is what I the quiz told me:

 

What bumper sticker should be on your car?

 

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

Squirrel - it's what's for supper

 

Okay that is a bit scary! I know I am a bad driver but I would never hit a squirrel on purpose or have him for supper!

 

Here is another one:

What kind of food are you?

 

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable. You pull punches, but people still love you.

I LOVE Mexican food so this works for me!!!

 

And finally my emotiocon for today is:

 

Your Emoticon is Cool

You're not feeling particularly up or down, just relaxed and calm. You're ready for whatever is going to happen next!

Leanna~