Audri Home Eleven Months

Summer's in full swing here, and we're taking full advantage of that fact. The kids are actually starting to sport a little bit of a tan since we're spending nearly every sunshine-filled day outside.

Both Na and La are water babies, and that suits me just fine since I love playing in the water as well. We have a season pass to a local water park, in addition to lounging around in our little wading pool here in the neighborhood. In any case, we can spend hours at a time just splashing around in the water and never really get tired of it.

Audri made her first trip to the East coast to meet my side of the family. She was a trooper on the flight over and since Pa had business to attend to in Europe, he flew to our destination and met us when we landed. We were ecstatic to see Pa after a week apart and I could see Audri's spirits soaring high above the clouds. She really, really loves it when the four of us are together, and during our week of vacation, when we were together for a concentrated amount time, she was the happiest.

We spent a day in New York City and the Fourth of July weekend in Long Island. The kids got to see their Pappy again and meet dozens of our Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. It was a real treat for me since we hardly ever go back to visit anymore. I saw friends and family I hadn't seen in over 25 years and it was awesome watching my kids and my friends' kids play with one another.

As we close in on a year with Audri home, I look back at all the pictures we took while we were at Antoshka and I am amazed that she is the same little girl. Audri has made incredible strides during these last 12 months and it's been so fulfilling watching her blossom. I can't imagine my life without her and I'm so, so, so very thankful our paths crossed last July. In fact, I look at both of our children and feel like the luckiest mom alive.

Audri Home Ten Months

I know I write this in almost every post, but I'm dead serious when I say I'm amazed by how quickly the time has passed. I cannot believe we are rounding the corner to a full year with Audri home. And she's grown soooooo much! I can't believe just last August, she was wearing clothes for a 12 month old. Now she fits into a 3T!

Speaking of milestones, today is Mr. Na's seventh birthday. Talk about fast! I'm just beside myself at how he's grown, too.






The weather here in Seattle has been perfect these last few weeks. Summer has come upon us earlier than usual. Normally, we don't get sunshine until July 5! I hope I'm not jinxing anything by writing about it.

Warmer weather means more time outside and playtime at the beach! Of course, I use the term "beach" loosely, since we live close to lakes and the Sound instead of the ocean; but to Audri, water is water is water is water and this child cannot get enough of it.







We took Audri to a check-up with her pediatrician on Friday, and all is well. We all agreed that we should have Audri evaluated for her speech, to try and get a benchmark as to where she is, developmentally. She's still having a tough time putting two or more words together, but everyone I talk to about this laughs and points to Mr. Na and says, "he'll be her speech therapist all summer long!" I agree. I think, if anyone, Mr. Na will get her talking simply by having him around all the time.

I leave you with two pictures taken on Mothers Day. I haven't really written much about Pa, but I have to tell you that the bond he and Audri have formed is precious beyond words. She loves her Papa dearly and when I went out of town for a few days over my birthday weekend, I'll admit, I was a little worried Audri would be out of sorts since we hadn't been apart from each other for a long period of time. But she took it in stride and held down the fort with the boys--even watching soccer on the couch so long as it meant snuggling with Pa.




I'm proud of my girl!

Audri Home Nine Months

May marks the beginning of our first PaNaMa with La. It's a string of celebrations that begins in May with Mother's Day, includes my birthday, then Mr. Na's birthday in June, followed by Father's Day, then Pa's birthday; and now, we've extended it through August and even October to include Miss La's Homecoming Day and birthday!

Any excuse to celebrate, right?

While I don't have a lot of new news to report, I do have a lot of pictures to share, thanks to our zippy new camera! I've included some commentary with each snap. We're still trying to work out the snazzy features, so bear with me if some of them are still a little on the fuzzy side.


This is my favorite photo. How can it not be? It's every parents' dream of catching a very rare, unprompted moment of sibling affection. Audri gave Mr. Na a hug goodbye just as his school bus pulled up.








I promised an Easter photo, and here it is. We bought her dress in Donetsk with the hope that it would fit in the spring! Audri didn't quite know what to make of Easter, but she followed her big brother's lead and gathered up as many eggs as she could find.





Here's Little Miss Monkey on the bars at gymnastics.







And here's her own trampoline at home.











Which is pretty amazing because this is what she looked like on that same trampoline, seven months ago...

















Here's La and Na playing with choo choos at a hobby shop.










Audri seeing her first real butterfly up close.






And here's La making a caterpillar at preschool.





Until next time!

Audri Home Eight Months

We're pretty excited about the change in seasons here at Casa de la PaNaMaLa. Not only does the springtime offer more opportunities to explore and play outside, it also marks the passing of two seasons since we first brought Audri home.

I cannot stress how difficult it was, initially, to see her take interest in little more than a plastic shopping bag. I mean, she literally had no playing skills. Now, she takes interest in everything from puzzles to shape sorters, stuffed animals, cars, trucks, and dolls. It's as if the little light in her head switched to "on".

Audri started pre-Preschool this week, and by that I mean it's a one day a week program that we both attend. The moment she walked in the door the first day, she honed in on the Play-Doh table and immediately got to work squishing and squeezing, and experimenting with the different molds. She also enjoyed circle time and the expression on her face was priceless with each song we sang. It was the look of: "Wow, you know these songs, too?"

This preschool is perfect in that it exposes Audri to new children her age while I'm still there beside her. She's attached herself so firmly to me that if I so much as walk out of a room she completely melts down. Some days are better than others, in that she actually goes upstairs after a meal and plays in her bedroom for a fair amount of time without needing me or Pa. But mostly, she wants me around to hold her and read to her and watch her play. I'm pretty stoked about how much she's attached to me, but sometimes it prevents me from doing anything else during the day. I'm hoping that soon she'll start to realize that I have no intention of ever leaving her and that we are her forever family.

As far as speech goes, Audri is showing signs of phrasing. It's definitely out of mimicking (we describe everything with two or more words like "red ball" or "pink balloon") but she understands the use of two words put together. This morning she said "white sheep" so I'm pretty encouraged that she'll be on to two-word phrases very soon.

While she doesn't enjoy television, she loves music and can listen to it all day. Her favorite now is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and she can carry a tune so we know what song she's trying to sing, but she still is a little fuzzy with the lyrics!

We're looking forward to a visit from the Easter Bunny this Sunday! Should be loads of fun for Mr. Na and Lady La. I'll be sure to take some pictures as I can't wait to put her in the little dress we bought for her in Donetsk!

I'll leave you with a few current pictures, plus one from last month when my Dad was here in town!

Audri loves climbing on the rocks at our local playground.






She was absolutely mesmerized by the frog fountain. She calls frogs Ribbit, Ribbit.














Not a great shot, I know, but it shows how she's playing with Mr. Na's Monster Truck launcher!








Audri wanted to go back to touching Pappy's beard!

Audri Home Seven Months

Pigtails and turkey dogs!

We seem to be turning a corner here at the house of PaNaMaLa. Audri has had far fewer tantrums and her sleep patterns have improved three-fold. And that makes us all very, very happy.

I think a lot of Audri's earlier frustrations have come from her lack of language--both in speaking and understanding. But over the last month, Audri's made a lot of progress in building her vocabulary. Now she constantly asks, "Gee?" (say it like "geese" only without the "se"), as she points to everything around her. Sometimes when we come into her room in the morning, she points to several different things in her room, saying, "Gee? Gee? Gee?" almost as if she tried remember those words and couldn't wait until someone came in to tell her what they were.

We took Audri to the audiologist a few weeks ago to take a follow-up hearing test and her hearing is now normal. We also learned she's grown a full two inches over these last seven months! That, coupled with the fact that she's gained nearly 50% of her total body weight, makes us very, very happy!

Audri had the opportunity to meet her grandfather (my dad) this weekend. She was absolutely mesmerized by his downy-soft beard and his chin and spent quite some time gently tugging on both, all the while asking, "Gee?" It was quite amusing!

Audri also attended her very first birthday party at her gymnastics studio. She was amazed by the number of balloons (her very favorite thing) and spent more time figuring out how she could covet each and every one of them than she did jumping and playing with the other kids.

In addition to her blossoming vocabulary, Audri's developed quite the super-sized, little personality. She's laughing, singing, and playing more every day, and it's apparent she's at ease in her environment. One of the cutest things I see when I come in to get her up from her nap is her sitting in her crib with her thumb in her mouth and her little legs crossed.







Audri's babyfine hair has grown to where I can now put it up in pigtails, and she reminds me less and less of Cindy-Lou Who and more of Bubbles from the Powerpuff girls.












I leave you now with one of my favorite "Little Miss Personality" shots. Enjoy!

Audri Home Six Months

I know, I know. I suck. I suck because I can't seem to get my act together and post more often. I also suck at this two kid thing. Seriously. Well, o.k., maybe not entirely. My kids still love me. They tell me so everyday!

When I last posted, Audri had tubes placed into her ears. I didn't see much of a difference after the first few days, but then...BAM! She repeats every word we say now and, while she's not stringing them together in sentences, she uses the right words for the right things. Hurray! I'd say her vocabulary has almost doubled in the last two months, easily.

The downside (and yes, there is one) is that Audri is verrrrrrry much in the throes of her terrible twos. Her favorite word is "no" and tantrums are "almost" a daily occurrence (today, for example, was a good day!) She's a very stubborn little lady who pitches the fit of all fits if she doesn't get her way. And woe to the person who is on the front line. What makes it so difficult is that it's very hard to separate the "post-orphanage" behavior from the "terrible two" behavior. You can't discipline the post-institutionalized child the way you can a firmly attached child who never missed out on nurturing, and yet we need to be careful not to let her get the upper hand. So, "firm but gentle" is the strategy, and it's not as easy as it sounds. It's downright difficult to keep from losing my cool when she's opened every drawer in her dresser and thrown all of her clothes all over the room for the third time on a given day. Or pulled the sheets off of her bed during her naptime or bedtime. Or pulled off her jammies AND diaper and smeared around her...ok, well I won't get graphic here, but you get the idea. Normally, people would say "well, just let her sleep without sheets then..." Yeah, no...you just can't do that to a hurt child.

Anyway, I really don't see myself having any "different" problems than anyone else raising a toddler. Mr. Na pulled similar stunts and he eventually grew out of them. The difference, though, is that he responded well to time-outs. We just can't do that with Audri. For now, we've just cut the feet off of all of her jammies, and we put them on her backwards so the zipper faces the back. Next up, is putting latches on the dresser drawers so she can't open them. I'm not quite sure what to do about the sheets though...

Lordy, I don't want to make it sound like it's all awful. It really isn't. Audri's favorite game is "I'm gonna get you!" She loves the chase and squeals with delight when I crawl after her. She is also singing the ABC's, though she hasn't yet gotten past "C"! She also loves singing and dancing on a daily basis, and her favorite is "The Bunny Hop".

She's still a great, healthy eater (eat is her second favorite word) and has gained 7 pounds in 6 months. Tonight, as I gave her broccoli, tomatoes and a slice of pizza, I looked at her and couldn't believe how bright and shiny her eyes sparkled. I was so amazed by her health and vigor. And all I could think of was "Yay me!" (Ha ha! I'm teasing. Kinda) This is truly one of the greatest rewards of raising a post-institutionalized child--you can see them blossom before your very eyes and it just takes your breath away! I'd love to post pictures but our camera has officially died. I've taken pictures on my Blackberry and as soon as I can figure out how to get them on to my laptop, I'll put some up.

And so, dear friends and family, until next time.

Editor's Note: Apparently uploading from a Blackberry isn't difficult. Too bad these pictures just don't do justice! Still, take a look at the pic I snapped of her a few days ago and compare it to the one I took of her on her first day home, six months ago!
Audri home six months Feb. '09
Audri first day home, August '08

Audri Home Five Months

Happy New Year!



I meant to post pictures of the kids with Santa, but time just slipped out of my hands. It's gotten to the point where I wake up some mornings and say to myself, "Whoa, where did those last four weeks go?"

Audri thoroughly enjoyed her first Christmas home and as an extra special bonus, it was a white one. I hadn't seen that much snow in Seattle since I first moved here 12 years ago. Our city shut down and we were literally house bound.

Being stuck at home was actually a wonderful thing for Audri because she had all four of us together for over a week, and as such, she started talking and playing more. It's amazing to see her little personality blossom. She has a great sense of humor.

Audri's gained 6 pounds and has grown a full inch since coming home. She went from a tiny 12 mos. clothing size up to 24 months. 2T is still a little big on her, pants-wise, but it fits nicely on her for dresses and tops.

Santa brought Audri a play kitchen that is now a fixture in ours. He also knew how crazy she was about balloons and clementines--so he loaded her stocking with both! Mr. Na got a great big kick out of seeing all those oranges roll onto the floor when she emptied her stocking!

Yesterday Audri had tubes surgically inserted into her ears to drain fluid from her middle ear. She did very well during and after and the doctors were very impressed by how mature she was for a three year-old. She led them by the hand down the hall as if it was a parade rather than a surgical procedure. When she woke up, they brought her in to where we were in the recovery area and though she was still a little groggy, she managed to wolf down a banana and drink some apple juice. Today, she's in good spirits though it's a little hard to say whether or not her hearing has improved because I'm around her so much and she's already improved on her speech; but Pa thinks it has because she's enunciating words much more clearly than before. She has a follow up in mid-February where she'll take another audiology test to see if there's improvement.

It's baffling to me that five months has already passed. What's even more amazing is that this month marks Mr. Na's fifth year home with us! With so much attention bestowed upon Audri lately, it's high time he get a little extra. So Pa will be taking him to Monster Jam later this month. Laugh all you want--I still do...but Mr. Na is C-R-A-Z-Y about monster trucks and when we took him last year for his homecoming, he was pretty scared at first from the earth-shattering noise; but as soon as we got him earplugs, he was as happy as a clam.

Eh, I'll be staying home with Audri. They can swing by later to take us out to Mr. Na's favorite restaurant: Red Robin!