The 411 on Sleeping

Inquiring minds want to know and who am I to withhold information from said inquiring minds. Let's see...Day 1 in the hotel in Ark Xavier went to sleep within 10 minutes of being put in the crib. I'm sure that was his routine in the baby home and he was still in shock that day. All the days in Russia we were very strict with his schedule, except days we flew. He had his nap at the scheduled time and he started the bedtime process at the scheduled time. We gave him a bath every night. We did slowly start to change things. We dropped the bed time snack while in Russia. J.J. insisted that letting him sleep with us was good for bonding (he is usually right by the way, which can be frustrating) so he starting laying with J.J. in the mornings after I got up. We also tried laying beside him to get him asleep at nap time. I starting rocking him to sleep. I could not be outdone at this bonding business. We spent 10 days in Russia with Xavier and then came home. He spent the first 2 weeks at home in a pack-n-play in our bedroom. We did not have a baby monitor and we did not want to risk not hearing him wake up. He slept fairly well those 2 weeks. He would usually spend the last few hours of each morning with us in bed or with J.J. in bed. He flops like a fish though and after one long/short night in a hotel on the way home from his check-up in which we had to share a tiny bed I had almost gave up on letting him sleep with us at all. Week 3 we got a baby monitor and moved him into the crib in his room. Oh, he had been taking naps in his room all along. The first night was super smooth and I thought "Yes! This is going to work". The rest of that week was rough! We did all the same things we always had but he was not falling asleep or staying asleep. In retrospect I don't think he was ready to be in that room all alone. Then he got a cough and a runny nose. He would wake himself up coughing. We have now moved him back to the pack-n-play in our room. The last two nights have been much better, even with a late drive home from a baseball game he fell right asleep in the car seat and stayed asleep expect for one coughing fit, but he went right back asleep. Thanks for all the prayers!! That is the best help you can give. We will keep working on his routine to make it the best possible for all of us.

Pictures

Coloring in the coloring book. We also color on the table, on the couch and on the wall. =)

This pool was not very durable and it has already bit the dust, but it was super fun while it lasted!

I caught him reading the book from bedtime this morning. Too cute!

He got the baby powder open when I turned my back to grab a diaper. The room smelled really good after this adventure.

He loves anything with light including this flashlight. I so glad children enjoy simple things!

Our New Normal

First I would like to say that I have tried to blog twice and I've had technical difficulties both times, but to my credit I have tried twice. Okay, things are different around our home. Different even from the first few days at home. We've had our warm fuzzy days of euphoria and now we are settling into the dailiness of parenting. It is good, don't get me wrong, but it is also tough. Xavier is still pretty easy going. He now says up, (pl)ease, bye bye, allo (hello, but only when he is pretending to talk on the phone), upa (open), ball, and oh yeah! He can sign more, please, thank you, finished, and he did chicken once. He is still eating fairly well, but I really think he eats less now that in the first few weeks. He will now tell us when he is finished eating. He will also tell us when he is finished in the car seat or when he is finished in the shopping cart which unfortunately usually doesn't correspond to when we are actually finished. He does throw some fits now, which is perfectly normal for his age and shows a level of comfort with us as his caregivers. Doesn't make them any more fun though. He can make the sound for cats, dogs, and I really think he did a sheep today. He laughs really hard when J.J. tosses him up, when you play games like "cover his head with a hat" or "make mock surprised faces". He also thinks sprinklers are hilarious. We had his first check-up and it went really well, except he is anemic. We now have iron supplements but I'm not entirely sure how we are suppose to get this medicine in his body because it is suppose to be mixed with 8 oz. of water and we are already stretching it to get him to drink one sippy full of Pediasure a day and one sippy full of pedialight a day. We had to drop juice because he was having diarrhea. I might have to call that doctor again on that one. The biggest challenge is sleep. He has fought sleep from the second day. It makes sense; we are still one step above strangers, he is still in a strange place, he doesn't really know that we will be here when he wakes up, we don't really know how sleeping was at his first home or in the baby home. I try really hard to keep those things in mind, but I just don't do well without sleep. I never knew how much I valued my sleep until this little person came along and pushed me beyond my limits. We try to keep a routine going, but our summer schedule is pretty lax. We now give him a snack, read a story, play this little song/video from a Russian children's program "Spakoina Nochie" (which I would highly recommend other adoptive parents watching on You Tube even if it is just for the experience because it is interesting at least and seems to be soothing to him), rock him while singing and then rock him while praying. Some nights it works, some nights is doesn't. That is the troublesome part. I wish I could make one whole week as uniform as possible so we could eliminate some of the variables and maybe have a better idea why things keep going downhill, but that seems to be impossible. For now, we just do our best. We have taken some pictures, but I better sleep while I can. Da Zaphtra!

The List

So many people have asked me what we need but I'm always caught off guard and unprepared for an answer so I am going to attempt a list on the blog. I know Facebook would make more sense, but it would take forever to tag all the appropriate people so I'm just going to send them to our blog for this info. If you have no desire to know what we still need feel free to use your time in other more productive ways than reading this post........

Okay, we now have all the correct people reading so here goes nothing.

Meal Supplies: Bowls, spoons, forks, bibs, sippy cups (we have been using Take-n-Toss so anything similar), table mats for restaurants, mat to go under the high chair

Diaper Supplies: Diapers in size 3 (I currently prefer Pampers and Luvs, but I really don't care yet), wipes, diaper rash cream, baby powder, a travel changing pad (I can't find ours?), Little Swimmers

Bath Time Supplies: A tray or net to corral all the toys for the tub, towels, wash cloths, someone to come fix the drain on our tub. No, seriously could someone come fix it? It has not drained properly in the almost 4 years we have lived here and J.J. and I have just lived with it, but it makes bathing an almost two year old who is convinced if there is water he should still be in the tub much more difficult. It also makes keeping the tub clean so much work because stuff just settles instead of getting sucked down the drain. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there. You can't say I'm not giving you a variety of gift options!

Misc. Stuff: Memory card for the camera =), any kind of baby medicine (we just don't have any yet), one of those things that covers the shopping cart, a hands-free carrier (he might outgrow it fast but it would still be nice), picture frames, crib sheets

Toys/Clothing: He really has an abundance of toys and clothing already, but since I know those are the fun things to buy I guess you can get some if you just can't help yourselves. Xavier is currently wearing size 12 months tops and bottoms, but the bottoms have to be all elastic waist or they fall down. I know the temptation is to buy larger sizes as well, but I just don't know how fast he will grow. If we end up with a bunch of 18 month summer clothes they may not do us any good because he might not be big enough to wear them until the weather gets cooler. Just keep that in mind. He actually needs some 12 month clothing that will work better for church and other occasions for dressing up. He is wearing size 5 shoes. He does need socks. If you want to get a toy he loves anything that spins, has wheels, plays music, or involves hitting (hammers, drums, etc). His mother loves books and art supplies. Also just something to keep in mind. =) His father, who probably spends more time playing directly with Xavier and the toys, likes anything sports related and dinosaurs. Once again, lots of options.

I hope that helps. He is doing just fine really. We have our basics covered, but I really appreciate your generosity and willingness to help us as we learn about the incredible amount of stuff children seem to require. Maybe require is not the word, but you know what I mean. Thanks again!

Happy Belated Father's Day

Yes, I know the middle picture is a little blurry, but it was so cute that I had to include it. I used the almost full memory card again so I only had a few snaps available. If you don't look at Cake Wrecks J.J.'s cake won't make much sense, but trust me when I say it is funny. I hope you all had a great Father's Day. I know we did!

A Xavier Update

I am coming to terms with some of the new realities in our lives. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to finally have our son home, but any change, good or bad, takes some adjustment. I have developed some new strategies but I will save those for another post. For now I will focus on Xavier because I learned long before I had a child of my own that once you become a parent you also become chopped liver. People only ask about your child. They want to see pictures of the child. You lose your name and become the child's mom/dad. This is normal, so this post is for all you Xavier crazy people out there. We started our journey home on a Thursday morning. Dimitri is so thorough that he wants you to leave for your flight ridiculously early so even though our flight didn't leave until 1:00pm we left the hotel around 9:00am. His paranoia turned out to be a good thing for once. We got stuck in traffic. They shut down the road to the airport because Putin was using the airport that day as well. Xavier threw up for the first time in poor Natalia's van. I really think it was a combination of the heat and the stop/start motion of the car. He perked right up when we got to the airport. We have put a ton of thought into the long flight from Moscow to New York and carefully picked the seats behind the bulk head to give us maximum room. Xavier had a "infant in arms" ticket which did not reserve him a seat, but we ended up with a patient seat mate who was going to Las Vegas. He didn't actually say that but I was nosy and read his customs entry paperwork while he filled it out. He did introduce himself and made a few short attempts at conversation. Xavier was not a true lap child because he was up and down most of the flight. He played well on the floor between our feet. He slept the first 45 minutes and the last 2 plus hours of that flight. He colored in the books I carefully saved just for this flight so they would be special. I gave in on my TV hiatus and let him watch Charlie Brown and Elmo on the little screen in front of my seat. He really seemed to like Elmo. I am keeping that information in the back of my brain for just such another emergency situation. He did not want to walk in the aisle. In the airport in New York he was silly tired and he refused to be still in case he just might fall asleep. The next flight found us all sitting on the plane waiting out a thunderstorm for around 2 hours. Xavier slept the whole time!! He slept until we arrived in Detroit where a thrilled brand new mother got to sleep in a real bed in America for the first time. I learned from our first trip and I carefully researched and reserved a room at the hotel in the airport. It was totally worth it. I only wish I had been more awake so I could have enjoy the whole experience. Xavier slept again through the night in the hotel room. He slept again for a little while on the final flight to OKC. He got fussy toward the end, but he was ready for his big arrival as his grandparents came to the airport to meet us. It was a wonderful low key welcome home and I was grateful to see everyone and yet not be too fussed over. Xavier had his first Happy Meal and his first ride in a car seat. He fought sleep the whole trip home, but he wasn't overly cranky. He fell asleep within minutes of getting his pajamas on that first night. We've been home a full week now. We've learned some things about him, but I still feel confused so much of the time. He still loves water, even showers. He likes spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, cantelope, anything strawberry, and anything peach. Sometimes he eats well and sometimes he doesn't. Oh, he also enjoys mashed potatoes with chicken strips. Hooray!! He is giving us kisses now. Sometimes he'll give J.J. one without a request. We were worried that J.J.'s new busier schedule might hurt things, and it did stress me out at least, but Xavier still seems to favor his dad when it comes to talking and play time. He can find his nose on request and he can find J.J.'s nose on request. He likes anything with wheels or things that spin. He got a ton of gifts from his Aunt Sady (and Uncle Daniel). I think his favorite was the pinwheel.

He had already been blowing on random toys. We have no idea where that behavior was learned. Maybe dandelions?? They have plenty in Russia. He will bob his head to music sometimes. He does a happy dance in his high chair. He still doesn't like cold drinks or cold things in general. He doesn't love being told that it is bedtime. He doesn't like having his teeth brushed. He doesn't really know what to think of our dogs, but he already loves the cat. Sometimes he will wave and say "BaBa". That is the closest thing to English words, other than "Dada", that we have got out of him. Oh he babbles and squeaks all the time and I'm really not concerned about his progress right now. In fact right now I just want to have some quiet days at home and hopefully this next week will bring a few. Whew! I hope that was enough Xavier-ims for now. =) More to come later.

I'm Back!

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. It sort of feels like I gained a child in Russia but I lost part of my brain. I hate to admit that but I just don't feel like I've got things pulled back together into this new "normal" and this blog is one of those things. Xavier is doing really well. I wish I had some new photos, but we filled the memory card and I haven't tried to delete photos or find the other memory card. We are all at a teenage church camp helping on and off this week. J.J. is there more than the rest of us and I miss him tremendously. I'm ready to have a nice boring quiet summer. It has been nice to praise God with others and hear the Word preached though. Well since I am typing this on my tiny IPod screen and it is after 11:00pm I better call this a good first attempt at blogging post adoption. Thanks for all the prayers during our travels. Things went smoothly for the most part and Xavier handled it so well. He is a little trooper! I'll try to get a real update later this week.