Dasha’s Christmas :)

If you read our family blog, this will be a boring re-cap.  But if not…….

We started the night before by getting both littles all snuggly in their footie jammies.  We had to put out cookies for Santa but I’m not sure both of them quite got it.

Dasha’s jammies are courtesy of the always adorable Ella Grace.

See D signing “milk” and then “cookies”?

Then Daddy read “The Night Before Christmas” story -

signing “mouse” (please ignore the Wii covered leg and foot!!)

Dashlyn was home last Christmas but I feel like this was really her 1st Christmas with us.  Last year she was still pretty overwhelmed.  I didn’t do as many decorations as usual.  Presents were a littler sparser than usual.  I was overwhelmed too, from all the travel and having a new toddler in the house.  It was good and I was sooooo happy Dasha was home and all that part was behind us, but I was feeling pretty stressed.  So this year I wanted to feel more relaxed and start some traditions that hopefully the little kids will remember from year to year.

After the little 2 went to bed, the rest of us got to work.  Daddy assembled the little kitchen, M and wrapped gifts like crazy, and Andrew and Ty……..okay, they didn’t do anything useful.  But the end result was super (and after Santa came, I managed to snap a pic before bed):

In the morning we opened gifts before breakfast.  It only took ONE present and Dasha was hooked!  She loved unwrapping.  It says something about a person when every gift their kid opens makes them say something about how great that gift will be for this or that therapy!  After only a couple of weeks both my little kids should be good at colors, shapes, turn taking, and communicating!  (Yeah, right.)  Anyway, here’s a couple of present pics:

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas too!!!

A Momentous Time of Year

2 days ago was the one year anniversary of Dasha’s Gotcha Day!

Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of the day Dasha came home to America, and home to her family.  She got to see her Daddy again and meet her brothers and both Grandmas for the first time ever.

It’s been a really emotional time for me.  I love Christmas and the whole season is so sentimental for me, but adding this on top has been overwhelming at times.  I keep waiting for the novelty of having her here to wear off, but it truly isn’t.  The whole thing seems like a dream.  Did we really commit to adopting a child from a foreign country?  Did we beg, plead, and borrow money?  Did I lose the awesome friend that I just knew I would always be able to count on?  (Yep, turns out she wasn’t that great a friend after all. :( )  Did we really travel to that foreign country?  Did I really take my beautiful 14 year old daughter there?!?!

We did.  It all happened.  Surreal.

But for an update on what Dashlyn is up to:

-She walks.  (She crawled when we got her.)

-She has so many signs I would have to stop and count to give you a number.  (She had no way to communicate when we met her.)

-She loves baths.  (She was scared to death the first several times we bathed her.)

-This is a weird one.  When I go to wake her up in the morning she wiggles and giggles and tries to stay asleep.  This is funny to me because when she first came home I would go in to Dasha’s room in the morning and she would sit bolt upright and wake herself up right away.  So that part isn’t funny; it’s really sad, but the way she behaves now is really funny!

-I’ve noticed for the past few weeks that Dasha comes running for a hug any time she gets any type of perceived “owie”.  Anything.  Like even if she falls on a pillow or gets brushed when someone walks by.  It’s very sweet and I’m always happy to provide a hug even when it clearly isn’t needed!  I’m loving it really.  When she first got home you could knock her off the couch and she wouldn’t cry.  I saw her get conked in the head when her brothers were playing catch and she didn’t make a peep.  Heartbreaking.

-She drinks milk right from the fridge.  I can give her a small dish of cheerios (we have a gyrobowl – seen those?  AWESOME!!) and she eats them one at a time and doesn’t choke!  She can PICK UP the cheerios!  All things that weren’t happening when we came home.

And for the best part – pics :)

Before:

And now!

(new coat)

One year ago Today…

we met Dasha for the first time ever!  It was the first time I ever saw her with my own eyes, and held her in my own arms.  And she felt exactly like I imagined she would.

Dasha has grown so much! Her feet were floating in size 4 shoes - this morning I bought her size 7! (Granted, we had to get bigger ones to accomidate her inserts, but still!)  She was wearing 24 mos. tops and 18 mos. pants, today she wore a 4t top(!) and 24 mos adorable jeans. She has hair! She has enough signs that I lost count and although she has no actual words, she understands pretty much everything we say to her (even things we are trying to keep under wraps, like "candy"!). She talks a lot, we just don't get the words! She drinks out of a straw cup like a pro and is working on spoon and fork self feeding (if I left her to it she wouldn't starve but about 1/2 of the food would hit the floor, the chair, the girl, the dog...). She so funny and sweet. We wouldn't trade her for anything and yes, we'd do it all again. And we do have some crappy days, but no more than we would have without her.

So here’s her before:

And here she is today:

 

Yummy!!!!

Yesterday was the official start date of the Angel Tree!

And of course, I was not efficient enough to make a post yet!

But the good news is we have Daniel’s button installed so you can click on his pic which will take you to the Angel Tree page of Reece’s Rainbow.  Just click on the link to see the Angels, scroll down to Daniel’s picture, and you can use the “donate” box to send him a tax deductible donation!  If your donation is $35 or more, you will be able to receive a beautiful Reece’s Rainbow ornament with Daniel’s picture on it for your tree.  Or you can decline the ornament (but I am totally getting one!).  ANY donation is greatly appreciated!

There are other ways to donate as well:

1. Send a check to Reece’s Rainbow (also tax deductible)

Reece's Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

(Please make sure you mark the check for Daniel 2H)

2. Send cash or a check to me and I PROMISE to get it to Daniels’ account.  (I have the comments on moderate so leave me a comment with your e-mail and I will send you my address.)  The only drawback to this plan is that your donation will not be tax deductible.  But the money will still go to a WONDERFUL cause :).

Any way you’re able to donate, please let me know (leave me a comment or send me an e-mail) so I can give you a reward!  I’m trying to figure out how to do a give-a-way (hints are appreciated).

Thank You!!

Milestone Date

There are so many milestone dates attached to our adoption of Dasha. At some point I probably won't mention them, and then farther into the future maybe will think about it a day or 2 after the fact. But we're coming up on some of the biggest dates in our adoption and today is one of them!

One year ago today Allan and I got up early and went to the airport to begin our journey! One year ago! Several of our friends that adopted when we did or after are already working on or have adopted again. I guess I am more change resistant than I thought. I can't imagine being ready to do it again. Okay, I lie. I could be ready, if only I weren't so scared of the monetary requirements again. And the paperwork. And the travel. You would think after having done it once, doing it again shouldn't be so scary. But the money - too freakin' scary.

ANYWAY, today was the beginning of our journey. We were scared, anxious, excited, and ready for whatever would happen. We tried so hard to be open minded, and I think, for the most part, we were.

In a couple of days - the day we met our girl!!

31 for 21

I've been posting a lot of Down syndrome related stuff on our family blog here. I didn't see the point in putting the same post on both blogs so I'm sticking with that one :). Please visit us over there!

One of many truths

I read a post on facebook today. It wasn't posted by one of my friends, but by a friend of a friend. She said that when people use money as the only reason they don't want to adopt, it's bull. She said that the money comes; it's provided. We need to have faith, and the money will come.

But she's wrong, wrong, wrong. WRONG. We had to borrow money. A whole butt-load of it. We had fundraisers that were a bust. People that said would help and then didn't. A couple of things fell completely through. $12,000. I don't regret it. I would do it again. But if we had no way to borrow the money, we would have been screwed. If we were to ever do it again, I would know better. I would do more myself, instead of waiting. I would beg my ass off and annoy and offend the few remaining friends I have left like some other families do.

International adoption is crazy, ridiculously expensive. It's a very real reason to be hesitant. Considering we're taking a "burden" off their hands(their words, not mine), you would think they would be happy to give us our beautiful babies but they figured us out. They realized we would pay. The more they ask, the more we pay. It's never too much to save a life, we say. And darn it, we can't just say no. But it simply isn't true that the money will just appear. Raising the money is hard, hard, hard. The whole process is hard, but the money aspect makes it miserable.

So I'm not disparaging adoption. But the financial burden is real. Have a plan A, B, and C. Keep posting, asking for ideas, for help, for ways to spread the word. Our babies ARE worth it.

Lake Trip – part 2

Everybody loves water.  We have all decided that we should live here!

Dasha has learned to swim!  See how far away she got by herself?  She’s really out there!

Okay, just kidding.  Andrew is with her but we made him go under for the pic!  See the ripply spot to the left of Dashlyn?  That’s him.

And here’s the house and dock and the dock and boat– it’s the last one in the cove.  Best spot on the lake!  It’s shallow enough that we can stand until you get just about 1/2 way across the cove, but deep enough to dock a boat.  And very calm water – rarely do we get big waves so it’s super good swimming.  Perfect!

I have to show off the inside of the house.  My in-laws are updating a bit (even though it was already gorgeous) so there’s no flooring but there will be some beautiful Pergo down soon.  It’s a lake house so it’s all about easy maintenance ya know!

The kitchen:

And 2 of the living room:

 

I didn’t take any of the bedrooms or bathrooms – I forgot.  (The upstairs bath is really cute.)  Next year I can post pics of those rooms and the pretty new floor!

Thanks Mom & Dad!  We had an amazing time!

Dashlyn the daredevil

All the kids enjoy swimming at the lake and riding on the boat.  But I wasn’t sure what Miss D would think of all that.  She most likely hadn’t ever been swimming, especially in a lake.  But she liked the pool so I figured she’d be fine.  But she LOVES swimming!  And when the boat goes over waves, she cracks up!  I have a really cute short video that I’ll try to post later, but here are a couple photos:

She’s fearless, I swear!

Lake Trip – part 1

My in-laws are so nice to let us use their vacation home and we go usually every year for a week or so.  It’s so much fun and a relaxing trip.  Miss D got to go on her first boat ride!  And swim in the lake!  Those life jackets for little kids called puddle jumpers are awesome!  Jack & Dasha both love them.  And both felt confident enough to swim (or float) independently.

We love hanging out in the house:

 

And hanging out on Grandpa’s cool boat is even better!

Jack loves to drive!

Of course Dasha had to try it too!

More pics to come!

Family Float Trip

I guess I forgot to post this long ago back at the beginning of July when we went.  Oh well, it was still fun!  

Dasha’s first float trip!  I think this was Jack’s 4th :).  This year we had 3 rafts, 8 canoes, and 2 kayaks.  There was about 3 fewer people on the trip.  Everyone stayed in campers (no cabins this year).  We had beautiful weather.  The kids enjoyed hanging out on the river bank to swim and eat lunch.  It was so hot this year we didn’t enjoy campfires like we have in the past, but it was still nice to visit and just relax.  Dashlyn was, as expected, a big hit!

Uncle Dave declared this a kid-free zone but guess who did not get kicked out?!?!?!?

 

Lunch anyone?

Everyone takes turns hanging out with these 2 awesome, precious, fun little ones!  How did we get so lucky to have them in our family?

My amazing view:

M getting ready to jump off a cliff – and I let her!  (Even in a life jacket, look how gorgeous she is!)

And we took our usual family photo – us in our blue shirts!  Someone got a great shot of the WHOLE family – but it wasn’t me :(.  I’ll steal it and post it later!

The 4th of July!

I know, I’m really late posting.  But since this blog is more of an online baby book for Miss D, late is better than never!

We started Dasha’s very first 4th of July celebration by setting up the water table.  M and I thought it would be a fun idea for the little kids to play with water, without putting the pool on the deck like we have before.  (Since Jack can open & let himself and D out onto the deck, I didn’t want to leave a pool out there, even a baby one.)  And we can empty and refill this easier than a pool.  They love it!  They still need supervision but it’s fun, it’s cool on these ridiculously hot days, and they get to practice stuff like pouring.

Then we drug out the ice cream maker.  We haven’t done that in awhile so both little kids were very interested in this noisy contraption.

We had a 4th of July dinner with Dasha’s first corn on the cob – a hit!  We weren’t sure how it would go over because Miss I-eat-anything won’t eat corn!  Weird, huh?  Whatever, because she eats almost everything else!

After dinner we went out to watch my favorite part of the holiday (and something I particularly enjoy ANY time) – fireworks!!  Dashlyn wore this super cute dress I found and an awesome bow I bought off etsy.  We were so excited to show her off and see if she enjoyed the firework show.  Looks happy enough before they start:

Jack needed a little drink before the fun began :)

M and her special guy are ready too!

After the show started, Miss D’s eyes were glued to the sky.  It’s been crazy hot but it was actually a nice evening and the fireworks show was beautiful!  (look at her little hand resting on Daddy – so sweet!)

Showing her appreciation for the pretty colors -

As I’m sure most of you can imagine, I teared up more than a couple of times that day.  “Independence Day”  It means so much more to me now; and it was pretty exciting to begin with!  My newest daughter, living in a baby orphanage, in a country that didn’t recognize her as a valuable member of society and wanted her shut away forever, now lives in a country and with a family that will encourage her to grow and learn and give her a chance to be amazing!