Catching up.

This summer has been nothing short of wonderful!  I decided not to sign the kids up for any camps this year and just have an old fashion lazy summer.  We sleep in almost everyday until 8:30 or 9:00.  I sit around in my pjs and drink coffee.  Around 10am we get going for the day and have lots of fun.  We've gone to Lego Land and Sea Life, had friends over, swam, played baseball, rode bikes, went to some garage sales and spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge.

I dressed the kids in coordinating clothes today to go to Sea Life...Mostly because I bought the clothes for photos and then never used them.  So on the way home we stopped to take some pictures at a fountain on the Plaza. The kids were hot, tired, and hungry by the time we got there.  Needless to say, it did not go well but here are the best of the bunch.

 Jax and Polina have been working hard on swim lessons.  Jax had a lot of fear to overcome and Polina just sucked her thumb her first 2 lessons.  Look how far they have come.

We've played a lot of baseball this summer too.  Every game Polina gets a little more adventours.  Last week she discovered the sand box which had the wet sand in it from the rain we had the night before.  We had to strip her down to her diaper to get her home.  

"Seriously Mom, what's the big deal?"

I had the kids picture taken.  This one was almost perfect!  LOL

This past month Polina's speech has really taken off.  She cracks me up!  She hears the boys say "can I..." all day long and she has picked up on that.  Now Polina says "Can I over and over again.  Occasionally she'll come up with something.  Last Friday she said "Can I go Mama's (Grandma) house?"  But my favorite sentence was last Monday.  We were sitting at a restaurant and she said "I cheeseburger me" the girl would like to order her own food!  LOL

Before I go, I can't leave out the photos of our trip to Party City to buy balloons for Grandma's birthday.

Look how big she's getting!

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Birth Parent Search

I read many adoption books over the past 2 1/2 years and everything I read told me it was important for the adoptee to have a connection to their past.  Research indicates that referencing the birth family indicates to the child that you are comfortable with them and it helps the adoptee feel comfortable in talking about their thoughts and feelings with you.  When we came home with Polina I knew I wanted to do a birth family search right away.  I didn't want to wait and let the trail go cold.  My thoughts were, even if they don't find the birth mother, at least I can show her that I tried and that alone was worth my money.  So I contacted Tony Carruther (http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/postadoptbirthparentseek/) and ask him to begin the search.  After about a month he said they were able to track down not only her mother but her father too.  He sent me a full report with answers to almost all of my questions.  We received a couple of photos of her mom and dad and a video of her mother being interviewed.  I think this report will really help Polina understand why her mom didn't keep her.  I did feel like the BM lied in response to a few of the questions but I don't blame her.  I would be skeptical too of someone coming to interview me like that.  In the video, the searcher filmed the mother when they gave her the photos that I sent her.  She looked through them quickly which made me think she really didn't care but then shorty after that she was tearing up and sniffling.  I realized that she couldn't look at the photos because she didn't want to start crying.  What a treasure this video will be to Polina to know that she did mean something to them and it was a loss for them as well.  I am more than happy that we went through with this.  Polina's birth-mom indicated that she would like communication in the future and I fully intend to send something at least once a year.

Give me a break!

Lately Polina doesn't want me out of her sight!  She gets upset if I have one of the boys sitting on my lap and will try her best to push them off.  She will often come and set her hand on me and suck her thumb.  If I'm not laying by her when she wakes up she gets upset.  Tonight I handed her to daddy to put her to bed and she screamed like I had handed her to a monster.  Once I leave, she is fine but it's exhausting when you hear "mama, mama, mama" one billion times a day.  Don't get me wrong Polina is doing awesome and is a joy to have around but sometimes I just want to sit down for a minute without being told what to do.  Has anyone else had this issue?

Easter and more

Talking

Polina just had her first 4 word sentence "Mama where daddy go?"
Me - "Starbucks"

First Haircut

Polina's Aunt Emmy is a hair stylist so naturally that is where we went for our first haircut.

Before

During

 

After