Life at Home

Our guide from Beijing “Auntie Helen”

Alison and Emily Knaggs

Our mega-sized airplane from Beijing to Germany

Russian mountains

Grandma Krantz holding Lily for the first time

The Psota family at the airport

Karen Hojnacki

Janet Duber

Allsion Duber

Maria Costanzo

Kaylee Costanzo

Kaylee & Kyle Costanzo

MacKenzie Wolfe

Nick & MacKenzie Wolfe

Jordyn Wolfe

Kim Wolfe

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve updated but the last two weeks have been a blur! I was so exhausted the first week and slept whenever Lily did. Kevin went back to work right away but is taking it slow- as much as he is able. The kids are well adjusted to Ohio time, too. The boys went back to school on Wed. but then needed to take Thursday off because they were so tired. We have had really cold temperatures here the last few days (-12 degrees and a much colder wind chill) so they had Friday off school. It has been nice that they are slowly assimilating back to school.

Lily is doing great! We had to take her to the doctor’s the Tuesday after we got home as I feared she had an ear infection and she did. She seems better now. She was not sleeping through the night and sometimes woke 2-3 times a night. I am not sure if it was solely due to the infection, her new room or what. She has improved on the sleeping which has been much better for me as I need my beauty sleep (more so at 42 than I did in my 30’s!) I was completely exhausted the first week. I love having Lily home but it has been quite an adjustment for me getting used to having a baby around full time. Believe me I am not complaining- it has been wonderful!!

Lily saw a doctor who specialized in internationally adopted children last week and had a very thorough visit (2 1/2 hours). She has a few developmental “gaps” due to being in an orphanage but very few! I feel she is doing incredibly well- she uses the pincer grasp, babbles, crawls all over the place, pulls herself up on furniture and has tried to climb the stairs! Lily also has learned to shake her head no (which she does for our amusement VERY often!), waves hi and bye (at her discretion), gives nice wet “Lily kisses” and knows how to give “five.” I know I am a little prejudiced but she is very smart! She is also a sweet natured baby. She hates her car seat but is learning to deal with it as we have run errands and gone to Rachael’s home school classes and Ryan’s basketball games with her.

On Monday we will visit Dr. Lehman at Akron Children’s Hospital to evaluate Lily for her upcoming palate surgery. A team of people will meet with us- an ENT, a surgeon, an audiologist, a pediatric dentist and an occupational therapist. We may also meet with the cranio-facial team at the Cleveland Clinic at a later date as well in order to compare programs and benefits. I am hoping to have her surgery done some time after her first birthday.

We have been blessed by so many people in the last few weeks since we’ve been home. Lots of friends have delivered some wonderful meals to us. The kids say it is like having a restaurant in our house. I am still trying to keep up with laundry, housekeeping and home schooling Rachael. We are taking our time adjusting to the new schedule but it already feels as if Lily has been with us forever. There are times when I forget that she was ever in an orphanage because she has bonded so well with us. The kids still love playing with her, feeding her and Ryan even changed a poopy diaper today (with Rachael’s help.) She willingly allows other people to hold her but prefers Mommy- (yeah!!) Daddy is the fun one in the house- he loves throwing her in the air and doing flips with her- she just laughs and laughs. She will sit on the floor and play by herself, too. Especially if she finds an errant piece of plastic wrap- she loves to crinkle it and then try to eat it! I guess I need to spruce up my housekeeping skills a little (LOL 🙂 I call her destructo-baby as she loves to find newspapers and magazines and tear them to pieces. Paper scraps are another thing she loves to try to snack on. In fact the only thing she does NOT put in her mouth is food. I think in the orphanage they must have pushed her seat in so far that her arms were trapped and she was unable to grab at her food- or maybe they just didn’t put any in front of her. When I put food in front of her she just grabs it and then drops it on the floor. She dogs love that! Speaking of dogs we found out that our basset hound Chloe has glaucoma and is blind in her right eye!  She had to see a dog eye specialist in Akron and will need continual medication and special vet care.

We plan to have Lily’s birthday party on Feb. 15th. I can’t believe she will be one already. Time flies when you are having fun!! We are also enjoying many visits from friends and will finally celebrate Christmas with Kevin’s family next Sunday.

More updates soon!