Trying to Get On Schedule...

We are trying to get on schedule. Little by little we are getting there.
Zac takes an afternoon nap pretty well now (IF I don't let him fall asleep during the morning and IF my other kids don't make loud noises and wake him up!). After lunch, I feed him some warm milk in a sippie cup, rock him to sleep, and lay him in his crib. He has been sleeping for about an hour and a half.    
So that gives me an hour and a half to do all my computer work and other things I need to do.
I can do NO computer work while he is awake. I don't know that he has ever even seen a computer before, but he tries to pull the top off my laptop and bangs on the keys. So...I try to do all my banking, blogging, online shopping, etc during nap or after he is in bed at night (but by then I am too exhausted to do business stuff.)
We did school probably at 75% today. I have learned to do our family time in the morning (character trait, devotion time, and psalms reading), I need an activity for him to do. He doesn't seem to have any sort of attention span, so an activity doesn't last very long. Today I sat him in a tub of colored noodles with cups and bowls so he could transfer the noodles back and forth. He loves transferring things right now. So that kept him busy for a little while.
Bedtime is still a challenge. Last night we bathed and drank warm milk at 8pm. He fell asleep while I rocked him and then I laid him in his crib. But at 3am he woke up ready to play. I can't understand why he wakes up in the middle of the night. I have decided to take formula  upstairs to feed to him if he wakes up again. Maybe his little body needs more food at that time. But he was chatting away and laughing. I was not. I was very, very tired. Actually, I caught his little tummy bug so yesterday I was not doing very good :( Thankfully Kevin woke up and tried rocking him back to sleep. I think he finally gave up about 4:30am or so. His crying woke up Sabrina (she's a light sleeper though).
He woke up at 7:30am - - thankful he slept a little longer than the day before.
Anyway, we are still trying to figure out what he needs. He is sweet.

He loves to sing and dance. There is one song in particular that he tries to do the hand movements to, and he chatter-sings along to a song. We have no idea what it is (head/shoulders/knees/toes?) but he claps and gets really happy when he sings it!

We are taking him swimming for the first time today. I showed him the pool yesterday and he was very excited. He loves water. He loves splashing his feet.
He also poops a lot. I guess he is getting used to our American food, but wow.

Sabrina tickles him so much that now whenever she even walks into the room, he rolls over with laughter. He has the cutest sounding voice! He loves to brush his teeth. I bought him a Batman toothbrush.
I also needed some more onesies and some more daytime clothes, so I pulled out my 9mo old clothes box. He fits the 9mo old clothes perfectly. He is almost 18 months old. He is a tiny peanut!!
Oh and now he cries for food. He saw an old sippie cup on the counter yesterday (from his lunch earlier) and he screamed and cried for something to drink. And today he cried for his rice and beef because I apparently wasn't warming it up fast enough. Great progress!


Oh and now he is awake :) Less than an hour nap today...hmmmmm...oh well. We'll get it eventually!!

Letter of the Week curriculum. 

Trying out my swing for the first time.

Everybody wants to take turns pushing me!

Colored noodles sensory bin.

It's easier if I just get in the bin too.

Warming Up...

Zac's second full day with us (Sunday) was completely different than the day before.
We woke up and went to church. He slept in my sling for an hour or so. All the girls sat in church with us. They didn't want to miss a single thing Baby Zac did, so they sat quietly in church next to him.

It was really good seeing my friends and church family. I love showing him off to folks, especially folks who have helped us walk through the adoption.

The main difference is that Zac is much more comfortable with his surroundings today. He gets down from my arms and walks a few feet away from me. When he becomes uncomfortable (like if the girls are crowding him too much), he runs back to me. It is sweet.

A few other things I've noticed:
-Nicholas seems much, much larger than the day before. I always viewed Nick as my little tiny boy. I even say to him: "When are you going to grow up? Never!!". But as soon as Zac came, Nicholas seems so much heavier and so much older.
-Zac began warming up to Sabrina almost overnight. She picks him up and helps him walk around (he's very sturdy with walking now, but she "helps" him still. So adorable.) and she is always bending down and in his face. She keeps saying, "He's soooo cute! I didn't know he would be so cute".  Usually he cries when she is around but Sunday morning he started laughing whenver she walks up to him. Then sometimes she does a funny voice (which gets me rolling too) and he just laughs and laughs.
-Zac does not cry when he gets hungry. It took me a while to figure that out. He just kind of zones out, like he isn't really here in the room. But whenever I pull out the Cheerios and apple juice, he lights up! I just have to be very aware of the time of day and give him 3 meals a day with snacks in between.
-The "middles" (Emma and Sabrina) are behaving very exceptionally the last few days. Thankfully.

Monday:
Zac was awake from 1am-4am and then we had to wake up at 5am to be at the orphanage by 6:45am. We needed to see the doctor one last time for Zac's discharge. Once we received the orphanage's discharge, our official 90-day foster period begins. We signed all the papers on Friday, but the doctor only saw 2 patients on Friday afternoon and wouldn't see us. Anyway, this was our last time to go there. I was afraid Zac would see his old caretakers and try to reach out to them, but he did not. Half a dozen women excitedly kissed him and hugged him. He did not reach out to them. In fact he barely laughed at them and even turned away from them. I have such a jealous heart (one of my many flaws) so I am happy he did not prefer them over me. (Which would have been only natural of course if it happened).
We took him to breakfast at Java House (video of him dancing to follow when my internet is better).
Came home and did school with the kids. Not a full day by any means. But a "getting back in the swing of things" school day. Perfect weather. Daddy is home on paternity leave. Perfect.
The neighbor's sweet furry cat jumped over the fence into our yard. Zac was standing in the middle of the yard when the cat approached him. He freaked out and started crying and running to Daddy (who was standing right behind him). I guess he has never seen a cat before...Eventually he began to like the cat, but it was cute seeing his reaction to something so foreign to him but so familiar to us.
Also, he threw a bunch of crayons out of the basket, and I started singing the "clean up" song, and he put back every single crayon back in the basket. Strange! They must have sung that song at the orphanage too!

So Zac has changed a lot over the past few days. I love to see him experience new things every day. Like, cheese. We had cheese on our chili for dinner. He loves cheese!!

Not Superwoman After All

I am incredibly humbled by the support of my friends.

Being humble is something that I pray to become, humble like Christ. And it's usually when I have done something incredibly stupid and wind up eating my words, that I usually learn that lesson of being humble!

I try to think that I don't need help from anybody else. And, true, Christ will give me strength and will fill me completely when I ask Him. And sometimes he sends friends to do that.

I knew this would take work. I knew that bringing our baby home would be an adjustment. But I did not take into account of how exhausting this would be at first.

On Saturday Zac would literally not let me put him down. He cried whenever I put him down to, for example, go to the bathroom! And of course I love holding him and want to bond with him, but I forgot how much work it is to hold a baby all day! And how much work around the house is not getting done when I am holding a baby all day!

Zac did not sleep so well last night (which meant I didn't get a lot of sleep) and Kevin laughed at me saying, "You forgot how much work a baby is!".  He is exactly right.

So needless to say when my friend, AB, brought us dinner last night, it was a HUGE blessing. Not only did I not have to cook the dinner, I did not have to clean up dinner dishes. I am already behind on housework due to being gone Wed, Thur, and Friday. It is such a blessing not to have to clean up after dinner too. And again today, my friend AB (ha, they have the same initials, I never noticed!), brought dinner! And not only that, but apparently they have coordinated a schedule and several of my friends from church have offered to bring us a meal over the next couple of weeks. It brings me to tears. I never thought I needed help. I like to think that I (with God's help of course!) have everything under control. I'm strong. I can handle this...but WOW I realize I am not Superwoman. I am not invincible. I am tired when the baby keeps me up at night. I get frustrated and raise my voice at my kids sometimes. I am not perfect. God, thank you for keeping me humble. Thank you for bringing friends into my life that are a blessing to me.

First Full Day

I should be cleaning while the baby is napping, but if I don't sit down and write now, then I never will! And I never want to forget these "firsts" with Zac.

On Saturday he woke up around 5:45am. So we started our day! I realized that at the orphanage the kids were not allowed in the kitchen, so I put his high chair in the middle of the kitchen and I explained everything I did. We made pancakes. He was fascinated by all the stirring and mixing. He chatted and chatted with me while I flipped pancakes and fried bacon. He did not seem to like the taste of the pancakes until I added honey...and then he had a blast licking off the honey and throwing the rest of the bite on the floor. Eventually Kevin and the kids came downstairs and they played blocks in the middle of the kitchen floor while I cleaned up our pancake mess!

Kevin is amazing. I already knew that, but now I am seeing another side of him. He is so sweet and cuddly and proactive with the baby. He helps me with dishes and laundry without even being asked. The kids have been pretty well behaved as well. They are smitten with Zac, especially Sabrina. She wants to cuddle and hold him constantly. Zac doesn't always appreciate that...but he will warm up to her eventually.

Zac and I went to the playground for a few minutes around 11am. My friend walked over, and Zac held out his arms to go to her. I had just chatted with the doctor about this. Doc said Zac has no attachments to anyone because he has seen so many different people his whole life and not one constant person. Doc said Zac would do that, and that I need to hold tight to him and not let him go to someone else. I kind of feel sad if I don't let him do something he wants to do, but Doc explained it is like wearing a set belt. Kids don't want to do that either, but they have to learn for their safety. So when Zac reached out to my friend (although he is very clingy to me inside my own house), I really understood what Doc was referring to. So that was a big learning experience. Zac cried because he wanted down, but I held him. And then he asleep in my arms. Oops. Not even nap time yet.

Lunch was scarce - he did not eat a lot. Around 2pm I rocked him to sleep for his afternoon nap. He slept until around 3:30pm.

Today was the Halloween trick-or-treating on the embassy compound, so around 4pm Kevin and the kids got dressed in their costumes. They went to a party down the street and then spent an hour trick-or-treating. I stayed at home with Zac and didn't even pass out candy. I thought it would be too disruptive for him. My dear friend brought dinner, and Zac ate and ate. He ate 6 servings of beef stew. I couldn't believe it. And boy is he in a good mood when he has a snack or food on his tummy!

Zac hasn't seen much of the house or even the backyard hardly yet. Too much to take in, so we are letting him venture out on his own little by little.

I rocked him to sleep around 8pm and laid him in his crib. I had these big plans of co-sleeping with him...and we still might do that. But we have sort of a small bed and he flops around a lot. I keep waking up every time he moves, which makes for a tired mommy the next day!

Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Gotcha Day

Where our baby is!

Trying to figure out which baby is ours.

First Glance at Zac. But they didn't tell us which one was Zac. "Guess which one is your baby," said the social worker.

I held myself together pretty well. Looking back, it felt like a dream. Did this really happen?

Holding him for the first time.

We presented him with his very own blankie and fuzzy puppy.

Nick then proceeded to hand him his pj's from the diaper bag.

We took him outside to have a bit of one-on-one time away from the other toddlers.

He rocked while clutching his new puppy.

And then he fell asleep. While rocking. It was hilarious.

So I picked him up and held him while he slept.

His sleeping gave us time to investigate his hands and toes, just like a new baby. Everyone was in awe.

I just couldn't stop laughing about the fact he fell asleep. My friend said he was at peace :)

We passed him to Rachel. He kept sleeping.

We passed him to Emma. He kept sleeping.

Finally he woke up and we played together.

Sweet Daddy.

The Powers 7!

(I snagged a quick picture of his crib. Our pictures are hanging above it.)

He wore his "little brother" shirt. It was Nick's shirt when he was little. Love it.

Kiddos being very patient while Mommy feeds her baby.

Feeding him at lunchtime.

I held him during his naptime. Took me an hour of rocking and holding him, but he cried whenever I laid him in the crib, and I just couldn't do that. 

More playing after naptime.

At 5pm we fed Zac his dinner, then he joined the other dozen toddlers for potty time. When I put him on his chair, he cried and scooted towards me. So of course I picked him up. Then I bathed him and we dressed him in his pj's. And we left him with his little fuzzy blanket and puppy.

Day #2: Medicals. We picked him up and drove him to our embassy doctor for the second opinion. He was wide-eyed the entire time, watching everything out the window.

Sabrina was very excited about sitting next to her brother as we drove to the doctor.

When we returned him back to the orphanage, surprisingly, they told us we could take him home! We were expecting to come back Saturday morning and get him. Guess not! 

Last photo of the staff and friends in his "class".

All right we are home, let's eat!!  First Cheerios. First time in my new high chair at my new house.

  

Dinner!! More eating! He was not a fan of the carrots I steamed, but loved the potatoes and rice.

Bath time. Bath toys! He loves water. He splashes and laughs. PLUS the orphanage puts him to sleep at 6pm every night, but we partied until at least 8pm!! And that's the end of our Gotcha Day!