A week and a day

So much has changed in that amount of time since we've been home. Katy slept a full night last night not waking until 5:30 which was her usual time pre-Russia - that's the first since returning home. Thankfully, the twins have been sleeping through the night since picking them up at the orphanage. I feel like a new person after finally getting a full night's sleep. It's been such a long time - I don't think I had one uninterrupted nights sleep the whole 5 weeks in Russia so it was wonderful!

I felt so good this morning that I decided to take the 3 girls to a family reunion of sorts as it was an opportunity to see many people I haven't seen in years. I had a lot of help and, even with that, it was a lot of work but so worth it. Courtney discovered the swimming pool and I couldn't keep her out of it. Katy, who is a fish anyway, jumped in and Camryn was not far behind. Luckily, their cousins also were ready to dive in so all 3 girls got to enjoy the water today. Courtney seemed to especially love it - she was dunking her head and coming up laughing and clapping. She didn't seem to have any fear which is how Katy was before learning to swim. Scary as every where we go there are pools (including at home) so the girls will have to learn to swim very quickly. Camryn didn't seem to have any fear either and was also enthusiastic about the water but, Courtney just couldn't get enough. One thing all 3 will enjoy doing together I hope.

It has been a busy week for me. I can't provide the food quickly enough for the twins. They're barely awake before they're in the kitchen begging for food. I'm trying to break away from so much "snacking" as I want to introduce new foods but their insistent demands for food every minute makes that difficult. But, we are making progress. This morning I made them wait while I scrambled eggs for them and made pancakes. The eggs were a big hit but the pancakes today didn't go over at all. I follow everything up with a banana as they can not get enough of those. In fact, "banana", "more" and "bye bye" is the extent of the english the girls are speaking so far. And, with constant eating comes constant diaper changes. My days basically consist of feeding changing washing but I'm loving it.

Having gone through the whole adoption process with Katy I was prepared for the strangeness of it all. Having these children become my daughters when the judge (FINALLY) decided to declare it so, is beyond strange emotionally. Spending time with them in the orphanage, like with Katy, really doesn't provide much of an opportunity to get to know these little people. All of the books I've read about adoption and "attachment" only focus on the child attaching to the parent because of the possible attachment issues the child may have. The attachment the parent feels toward the child seems to rarely be discussed I'm sure because it is pretty much a given that sooner or later it will be there without having to work at it. For some parents it is the instant they first meet the child (which is what the judge wants to hear and, I'm sure, always does) and, for others, it has to grow which is the case with me. But, it grow quickly - as soon as I'm away from that environment it starts blossoming and that is what this whole week has been about.

With Katy, who was drugged in her orphanage to get her to go to sleep (go figure), I gave up any attempt of "bonding" with her in the orphanage and knew that it would grow when I could get her home. And, it did very quickly. I didn't worry about it happening instantly like I suppose it does for some people. Katy didn't have any real attachment difficulties with the exception of not knowing me from any other "mama" nearby but, as soon as we had an opportunity to be together it grew for both of us.

The twins were not drugged at their orphanage and we were pretty much left alone to spend hours at a time together. It was extremely difficult though because of the set up with doors on both sides with stairwells right outside of those. It was more of a formality to prove to the judge that I had spent the time with them and to convince her that I knew what I was getting into (thanks to the French couple). I got to know their personalities a little bit but they weren't shining through like they are now. They are so different to me now as I have been able to get to know them. They showed little glimpses of what was in there before but now it's pouring out and they are so much fun. When I look at them I am now seeing my daughters - not somebody else's abandoned kids. They are now very familiar to me and I'm becoming more familiar to them too. I expected this because it is how I reacted to Katy's arrival so I was not worried that they would never feel like my daughters but, it is so nice that they now do! I think Katy is still working on the sister part of things because she has told me to take them back at least once and then has said that she is throwing one or both of them in the recycler or trash on many different occasions! I know as time passes she will get use to them and hopefully enjoy having them with us.

I've read a lot about the "honeymoon" period often experienced by adoptive parents and will not be surprised if things get more difficult but, for now, both girls seem to be adjusting very well. Food seems to be their primary concern right now - especially Courtney who has made major progress in the last week. She's filled out a lot and looks and feels so much healthier. Camryn always did seem healthy but their skin is all cleared up (2 "preventative" scabie treatments later - highly recommended to parents preparing for their 2nd trip) and it is so soft and baby like now - very hug-able and kissable which wasn't exactly the case in the orphanage - they were a little itchy, sticky and gooey while there!

I couldn't be happier with how things are going right now and am hopeful that the girls are not going to go through major trauma later on down the road. They look at the pictures of themselves in the orphanage for long periods of time but then they're back to playing, hugging, laughing and eating without seeming sad at all.

I haven't been very good at taking pictures - surprisingly, it's much more difficult with 3 kids then it was with just the 1! But, here are some of my attempts at documenting their first week home:

Pure joy and so much fun in the sun

Courtney then Camryn figuring out how to eat oatmeal. Courtney quickly discovered that eating like the cat is much quicker and Camryn, naturally, followed suit.