Old Post #2 and more

I'm not going to lie. I am excited beyond belief about my first Mother's Day. I have been waiting for this for 2 long years. Mother's are so very very important and mine held my hand all the way through the adoption process...well, until I left for court and she became very ill. About a month ago my mom was diagnosed with a disease called Wegener's granulomatosis...now they just call it Vasculitis, which in my opinion kind of softens the severity and urgency of treatment for those who are lucky enough to get diagnosed.  The disease usually shows up with insignificant symptoms and doctors aren't looking for it. There are fewer than 10 cases of this per million each year. Undiagnosed the survival rate is 5 months and until a few years ago it was never diagnosed before it was too late (I mean it's so rare that they don't know about it or think about it). Thank goodness my mom's team of doctors were ON THE BALL. I could kiss them all. She has been getting treatment for over a month (was admitted to the hospital the day after we left for Russia and stayed a month) and she is doing well. She's a strong lady with a positive attitude. She currently has to go to dialysis for kidney damage three days a week and is doing chemotherapy as well to fight the disease. She's going to kick this thing into remission. She's having trouble walking and needs a walker or wheelchair...but she insists on cooking, doing laundry and now grocery shopping. Little E likes to ride in her lap. My mom is an amazing woman. I know she will pull through (but some warm thoughts for her are always welcome). I call this Old Post #2 because I wanted to re-live some posts I wrote about my mom...

http://heartsonstrings-jl.blogspot.com/2010/01/future-day-of-celebration.html 

http://heartsonstrings-jl.blogspot.com/2010/05/black-eyed-susans-and-other-wild-ladies.html

Old Post #1

I was just looking back at my old posts seeing where I was awhile ago and I came across this one from January 2010. Did I mention that our girl is in a yellow dress in our referral photos?

http://heartsonstrings-jl.blogspot.com/2010/01/thank-you-for-being-so.html

Definition of Awesome

When a little girl who has never had a mommy comes up to you voluntarily with lips puckered wanting a kiss.

One Month Gotchaversary

Can you believe it has been a month since we walked into the orphanage and walked out with our little bundle of sugar? Sometimes it feels like yesterday and other times it seems like she has been with us forever. I love it when she runs up to me with arms up saying "papa!" with the biggest smile on her face. Yes, she calls both of us "papa." To her it just means parental unit. We're still working on the Papa and Mommy thing. Some days I think of myself as "papa" and it cracks me up. Like when I took her out of the crib for a cuddle (when I went to the crib she had her arms up and said "papa!") and I thought to myself "papa loves you...wait, I'm mama."

She has changed so much. She has gained over a pound. She smiles and laughs all the time. She eats a lot. She ASKS for baths "splash, splash" and runs around the house tearing the place up from 6 am to 8 pm every night. WE ARE SO IN LOVE.

She was hanging out with me while I was typing earlier (she was under the table) and papa said "can you believe that she is here sitting under OUR table?" It's hard to believe. I just keep touching her soft skin and staring at her. Yes. WE ARE SO IN LOVE.

Happy one month Gotchaversary to us!!

~mama

E in a Nutshell

Howdy! My name has officially changed from MAMA to MOMMY...she just couldn't differentiate between MAMA and PAPA so we decided to try to make the words sound different. She still doesn't know Mommy either but we're working on it. For now we are both PAPA in E's world.

She is so beautiful. I just can't believe that she is really here. She amazes us with her growth and knowledge every day. She is so smart. She doesn't say many English words but she knows A LOT of what we are saying to her and she is constantly asking us what things are. One of her favorite things is the hot water heater. When we open the door to the laundry room she takes off running to look at it and hit it asking us to say "yes, hot water heater." This is usually followed by the dryer and then the washing machine. Maybe she just loves appliances because we do this with the stove and the dishwasher too...oh wait we also do it with doors, windows, lamps, lights, fans, screen doors, trees (pine, palm, dogwood, crepe myrtle, etc.), leaves, cars (which she says with a Boston accent), sticks, stroller and so many more things. REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT. I love her so much! She also loves her belly button which she calls "bubbom." I could go on and on.

Bath time is great now. She loves it so it's no problem.

She's eating A LOT. Maybe too much (checking with the doctor tomorrow) and she is trying all foods. She still doesn't chew so we have to give them in tiny pieces.

We JUST started trying to ween her off of co-sleeping. She's had a few crib naps that went well but the night time isn't so easy. It might be because papa does naps and mama does night time and mama is a pushover and gives in to playing. She did sleep in the crib last night but woke up early around 5:15 a.m. (see I'm not a total pushover). Tonight papa is putting her to sleep in the crib and I will sleep on the floor next to the crib.

Anyway, that's what is happening in a nutshell! We are tired but we are SO SO SO in love.

~Mommy...I think I'll stick with Mama as my blog name if that's okay.