Happy Birthday Auntie Rhino!

Today to celebrate Auntie Erin's (alias"Auntie Rhino") birthday, we will honor her with all things RHINO!

The Rhino that gave Auntie Rhino her name......

I have my rhino shirt on and even woke up with Rhino-ish hair although the picture doesn't give it justice. As you can tell by the absence of my glasses, I was not cooperating for pics much this AM so of course the glasses are the first thing to go when I am not happy!

We hope you have a great birthday Auntie Rhino and yes, like everyone else, your present is in the mail, LATE. Say hi to "Untle Bwian"!

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THE end of an era....literally.

We finally got rid of the last circa 60's toilet. This one was a wonderful shade of mint green and sounded like the house was flooding when it was flushed. As of Monday, we now have a nice, efficient, white Kohler toilet....it is a happy ending....literally! ;)

We had a slower week with my allergies and sinuses acting up. Just didn't have the energy to deal with his current unpredictability outside the house. Thank goodness for his Dora and Diego CD's and the ever present Little Einsteins line-up. I truly think these tv moments have helped with his english and singing skills! ;)

Pat has been working hard on getting a grant out this week so we are both a little worn out. We did get to have our first official date night last Sunday thanks to my friend Eleanor. We went to the movies and saw Bourne Ultimatum. Good Flick! It felt weird but great. Nick did fine even though he had not done well at church or earlier in the day. Eleanor has the Nanny touch. Kids love her. Lucky for us!

We have started working on several things lately. We are slowly trying to get Nick into an earlier bedtime routine and in the process help him go to sleep with out us in the room. He is starting to fight naps a bit in the afternoon so I have designated 130-3 as quiet time. He has to be in his room whether or not he chooses to sleep. He can read, sing, whatever as long as he does it quietly. I usually stay for about 15-20 minutes and then whether he is asleep or not, I tell him I love him and that he needs to have quiet time. We have done this for a few days and at least it helps me not to have to stay in the room while he is jumping and running around and trying to get me to talk to him. He can make a mess of the room but since we have left it fairly empty, it is manageable and I have him help me pick up. We are waiting to start the night time routine until he gets his new bed but we have started talking about Moose taking our place next to him for bedtime. We know he can go to bed on his own....he has done it for 3 years before coming here but with all of the changes, we decided to make bedtime our last big change because this is a good time for bonding and trust building.

We have also been preparing Nick for preschool that starts next week. We had orientation last night. I have to say it was a bit overwhelming for me. If I had not done the Nanny thing and known about the carpool line and all of the rules that go with that, I would have thought these nice people were crazy. It seems a bit surreal to have only been a mom for about 6 months and already dealing with the school thing. I think he will do fine but I do worry about all the things that they expect them to be able to do at 3. I know he can do them but will he understand what they are saying quick enough to do it in a timely manner. I guess that is where their experience comes in handy. I took a few pictures so that I can show Nick and try to prepare him before he goes. He will also go visit his teacher next week on Tuesday.

This is his homeroom and we love that the school is called Little Elks since Nick is so familiar with this image. He will probably call it Little Moose but that is OK with us.

The rooms are so cheery and cute. I almost wish I could be there to watch him learn. His teacher is Ms. Marsha. She has taught there for over 20 years and I think she will be great for Nick. Lots of understanding and patience!

Well, August is over. I hope the heat goes with it. We have had Tx heat this summer and I don't like that....I moved from there for just that reason. Fall is my favorite time of year. I can't wait to get Nick in a bunch of Woodsy looking clothes (probably some moose on them) and get him outside raking leaves. You know he will love that! Have a Happy Labor Day Holiday!

Love, K and the boys

And The Grammy or Dove Award goes to..........

We went on a ride in the new wagon and he as usual found a stick but this one had a little bend at the top that made it look like a "micaphone" so our little singer started singing on it the rest of the night. We love his imaginative and creative mind. So hilarious that we had to document online for the family. Enjoy!

He started with a folksy twinkle, twinkle.....

Continued with a R&B Luther Vandross love song

Had the crowd cheering with the bass part of Swing Low Sweet Chariot.....

and ended the night with three encores of the Hallelujah Chorus.....wow! amazing! fantastic!

OK, he was really only singing La, La, La, La but I have great dreams for him....

Thought you would like to start your week out with a smile.

More birthdays!

Happy Birthday Great-Grandma Norma!

We really have a card for you but like everyone else's card this year....it's late.

Happy Birthday also to Great Aunt Carol! Glad to hear you made it safe to the Homeland. Now you need to do a blog so we can keep up with you! Give Saul, Shifra and the kids our love!

Sorry, I can't find a picture of you in our files. I missed so many picture opportunites at the wedding. Someone was distracting me, I wonder who?

Nick and Pat had boys night tonight. They took the new wagon out for a spin. Pat said it was a huge hit. I had the privilege of going to my first movie since becoming a mother. Wow! We went to see the Nannie Diaries.....pretty good chick flick although I don't think it was really like my nannie experience at all..... but I sure enjoyed the company, Thanks Girls!. We have one of those new Movie Taverns where you can watch the movie and eat too. I still had the staple popcorn and soda but think it might be a fun night for a "date" in the future. They had a full menu, waiters and everything and it really didn't disturb the movie. Thanks to my sweet husband for giving me a breather!

Thanks also to Shannon for having a bunch of Toddlers at her house for some elementary Spanish. Each week we sing songs and try to learn a new color and a new animal.They were hilariously loud today. I almost didn't go today because Nick just hasn't been very interested and quite distracting but I went for me and wouldn't you know it, he did much better today with a small change in venue (less toys in his immediate viewing area! --thanks, Shannon! ) I am finding that toddler moms probably need "talk/chat"time with other toddler moms more than any other group. I personally need to know that other moms think their children act like aliens at times, they sometimes feel like crying all day, and may feel inadequate in most ways just like me. It is a relief and a breath of fresh air at the end of the week. So, Shannon, thanks for teaching us spanish and allowing us to feel normal if but for just a moment. ps. I was explaining and singing the juanito song for Pat tonight and Nick all of the sudden belted out the Baila, Baila, Baila part. Cracked me up! They are learning even amongst the chaos :)

Have a good weekend everyone! K-Pat and Nick

Happy Half Birthday Nicholas!

My Half Birthday present was a pretend doctor's kit......I have been to so many lately that I know exactly what to do.........

Moose was kind enough to be my guinea pig for practice, and then I moved on to my patient.

Notice the car, I make house calls (really, he drove his car over to Pat...so funny) and then pulled up his doctor's chair (aka, sand bucket) and went to work.

Nick is 3 1/2 today.....so I guess it is more fitting to do his funny stuff today as a celebration of the essence of Nick. So be patient as I journal for posterity's sake.....

1. Winnie the Pooh on TV........"Mama, Mama (pointing at TV) Poop!"

2. Delicious......."licious"

3. Kiss...."Keees!" and usually followed by "BIG ug!"

4. Kazakhstan......Ah-Zah-Kan...He says "Nick barn(born) ah-zah-kan"

5. Aunt Erin gave Nick a stuffed rhino and when he met her he would always use his Rhino hand sign to talk about her and then he started calling her Auntie Rhino (with a little encouragement from her brothers!)

6. He is doing well with his manners but has gotten a little confused with what comes first and after so he just says "thawnk on welcome". He also says excuse me most times after any bodily noise but a sneeze, requires an "achoo" and if you say excuse me, he says "no, Achoo!"

7. wheely, Seeyee - this is our favorite thing that Nick does right now. He will be sitting with both of us and look at me and say Mama, Papa wheely, seeyee (really silly) and have his hand cupped over his mouth like he is telling me a secret and when I agree with him then he will look over at Pat and cup his hand and do the same thing with him, Papa, Mama wheely, seeyee. The way he does his face is the funniest like he is really telling us something funny and important but the funniest thing is how he plays both sides of the fence....do you think he will be a polititian, I hope not.....honesty is way too important to me.

8. want ta want.....he is learning about choices so he will pick up two books and say want ta want (which one do you want). very cute

9. I have been around enough kids in my lifetime to see a difference in how he is acquiring language versus just learning to talk. It is very funny to me when he puts sentences together. He uses all the right words just no middle stuff.

For example:

Mama, car, hold u hand, big road, car, bonk, Nick, hurt, mamapapa, cryin

Mama, Savanna, papa, big jake, up, up, up, singing, watch different jay, jay, K ?(OK)

The first one is self explanatory but the second one is about one of his favorite videos. He calls the sleek Jet whos name is Savanna (Mama) and the big lumbering work horse plane, big jake, (papa) and he likes to watch the planes go up and loves it when savanna sings and tells us which one he like to watch by saying jay, jay or different jay, jay and then he will see if you know what he is saying by saying K? which is OK do you get all this.....sometimes we do, sometimes we don't! ;)

10. Any piece of paper he sees with what looks like a listing of something, he will say hamburger, fries like it is a menu.

11. His first english sentence in Kaz and still an all time favorite is "I low way" His version of I love you has become a staple in our house. Now Pat and I even say it. I tried to get him to say "you" by saying I love you hoo.....so he said that for a while but still says I low way most of the time.

12. The word for Later is Pohzhah in russian. We always said the english and the russian as we were helping him learn the language but now even though he knows to use later, he just says "le-le-pohsha" It is so cute.

13. When he is going somewhere, he will look at you and raise his eyebrows and his little index finger and say "wootback" for "be right back"

14. I thought of another sentence that cracks me up....Nick, li-li (little)church, Mama Papa, big church, micaphone, singin, mamapapa, nick, gwosswi-store, ride-a-car, seatbelt, round in ciwcles

He actually said this one last week while going to church. His treat for staying in sunday school is to ride in the little car carts at the grocery store. It is obnoxiously big but a cheap treat!

---There is so much about Nick that can't be written in words. His facial expressions, his love that he gives, his laugh and giggles, his singing, and his all out extreme fits...nobody believes us! :) I think that is indeed the gift and the challenge of parenting. Only a parent gets the best stuff and only the parent gets the worst stuff. I think that is why God chooses Abba Father (Daddy) for one of the names He uses for himself in the Word. I can almost hear Him up in Heaven saying to the angels...oh, I wish you could have seen him or her do this, or I wish you could have heard what they said when....He is the one that gets to see our triumph over temptation, our choice to let go of self at any certain moment, He beams when we honor Him with our actions, and He gets to receive our praise and worship when we are in relationship with Him.......but just as this brings Him immense joy, think of what it means when we disobey, lash out, mock, and curse Him. The pain it must bring to Him when His children are having "issues".

So much in the bible makes sense when you become a parent. The ability to love even when you don't feel like it, the ability to forgive even when you have been hurt badly, the ability to cry and hurt more deeply than I have ever hurt but to feel joy and love at that same extreme also. Starting out parenthood with a 3 year old has given us this enormous range of emotions in triplicate but all of the sudden I can now more understand Christ's willingness to go to the cross for us even though we have misbehaved so badly and often just turn our head away. He is our Father (dad) and wouldn't any parent sacrifice all for the joy and intimacy of that relationship that is above all else despite the pain. I hope someday that we will be able to explain the depth of what we have learned about God, the adoptive parent, for we are all adopted into the family of God, and God, the Papa, the loving parent. There are many days I don't "enjoy" this journey especially the bad days, the rebellion, the disobedience, the inability to explain that I am just protecting him and showing him how to live in this world but I would do it all again, just to also get the laughs, the hugs, the looks, the joy when he"gets it" or learns something new, the feeling of being called Mama.

I am going to try and remember daily that GOD is Father, Daddy most of all, because somehow, that helps me just"get it" and understand more of His character and love for me.....and somewhere up in Heaven, God is nudging an angel saying ...oh, I wish you would have just heard what one of my daughters just said, It was so special and somehow all that groanin and moanin I did today is as far as the east is from the west and a Loving Father is enjoying relationship with one of His children......... just like all the battles of our day are soon forgotten and at end of the day at VAH-NA! (bath in Russian) time, Nick has a "appy face" and I am enjoying it.

We love you Nick, Happy half Birthday! Mama and Papa (the Wheely Seeyee ones)

Welcome Nick Party!

Last night, we celebrated Nick's homecoming with Pat's UK co-workers. They have been such great friends and support thru the whole adoption process. Rachel and Archie Gleason hosted the party and they are fellow adoptive parents also! Silas is from Guatemala and he is waiting for a new sister in the coming months. Silas and Nick played seperately for the first half of the party but, by the end, they were playing together and were quite hilarious as they pushed each other around in the car and had a water spraying adventure of sorts. We look forward to some more playdates with Silas especially if they are moving near the ZOO!


Nick trying out Silas's wagon before he knew that he was getting one too!
Great summer picnic food......Thanks everyone!

This is a great chair but what am I supposed to do with it?



You want me to rip the paper off? OK but this is strange, wait, what is it, oh my gosh, it is a WAGON.....probably one of my first english words in the beginning, I have wanted one for soooo long, "thawnk on" so much........

There's more? Look, it is a twist-a-tryke like Logan's. I am so excited. (For new parents out there that want more bang for their buck, this is a great invention...a tricycle and then as they get bigger it becomes a big wheel with a twist and an adjustment...hmm, sounds kind of like becoming a mom at 40!

This is my first BLUE BELL homemade vanilla ice cream ( we have it here now!) It is the only part of Tx that my mom misses besides the family....now if only they would come here too!

Silas and I were serious about our ice cream. Being a hot day and having Ice Cream was part of our water hose adventure. Unfortunately, we were such an act that mama and papa didn't even get pictures.



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It is a very rainy Tuesday morning here and Nick is playing with his cars and trucks while I type this and we are listening to a Gaither Vocal Band CD. A pretty good morning so far. We have had a few rough days lately but we just continue to learn and grow as a family. I promised myself that I would journal about all of the funny things that Nick is doing and saying so here are just a few......you truly cannot catch most of his antics in words because he is so expressive.

BREAKING NEWS.......

OK, we just had major happenings between the sentences here......I let Nick go out in the rain because he loves umbrellas right now and it was not lightning or thundering. He had a blast although he was a bit stressed that we had to leave his car outside in the rain until it dried off. After I brought him back in, I called Pat to tell him about our adventure and glanced over in the kitchen and there was water pouring in thru one of our recessed lights. That's right, the roof is leaking into our new (well almost newly remodeled ) kitchen. So, Pat rushed home and was unsuccessful at getting to the exact spot where it was leaking so he made a Home Depot run and bought a tarp. So, in the rain and trying to keep track of Nick, we got a tarp on the roof and the insurance company called. I don't think there is much damage since I was here and caught it but UGH! I guess this could be a result of the hail storm last month but maybe just an old roof...who knows. The adjuster should be out in a few days. What an eventful few hours! BUT, here are a few pics from Nick's first Rainy day adventure.

Trying to figure out a way to hold the unbrella and ride in my car.

He wanted a jacket and then a hat.....I think our next purchase will be a raincoat!

I bet Dr. Roza would be mortified if she could see me in the rain. This most likely will cause some disease or allergy of some sort but it sure is fun!

Now, BACK TO THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG.....the funny stuff.........tomorrow. Sorry, I am too brain fried now to concentrate......you know how it is....how much is the roof going to cost, was there any other damage, I don't want them to mess up my new kitchen, will our insurance go up, am I going to have to go back to work, aaaaaah! Cast your Cares upon the Lord for He cares for you.....Do not be anxious for anything, God does not give you more than you can handle, Pray without ceasing, Lift your eyes to the hills, from where your help comes, my Help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth......deep breath, deep breath.....Ok, I'm good and Nick's asleep. Peace and Quiet for a moment. I must go enjoy it. Stay tuned. K

This was a play date for the boys. I am convinced that this is one of the reasons that God gave us a three year old. Look at all his friends who are close in age.....and this isn't even all of them!
It was very humorous trying to get them all to sit and face the front for a pic. They were all in a constant state of motion.

This was spanish class....again we had trouble getting them all to cooperate....but it was a little quicker than when we did all boys. Maybe Lauren Clay was the stabilizing factor being the only girl!

Just thought we would show our typical bedtime routine. It often includes 3 or 4 books but booktime always ends with Great-Grandma Norma's Dog book that he was given at Auntie Erin's wedding. He has to look at every dog. He even has faces that go with it although we couldn't capture them on camera. Great-Grandma Norma picked out the best book ever!

Our other nighttime routine is his stretches with dad. They touch toes, twist, stretch high, twist and then papa has to try and lift him high in the air even though he is so heavy!

Lately Nick has been putting his towel over his head for the lift?? GO figure?

They end the ritual with the fight for the light. Papa tries to keep Nick from turning the light off but "somehow" Nick always wins at getting that silly light off. You can't tell that the room is dark because the camera flashed but this was after Nick succeeded in turning the light off. I love the smiles on my boys!

All my Children.....

Anyone who knows me at all, knows that before Nick, there were my first kids, Alex, Will, and Ellie. They came into my life when I was rather tired of the Dietitian world and just wanted a change so for the next 4 years or so I was priveleged to help take care of them as a Nanny of sorts. Alex and Will were 7 months old when I started and Ellie was born while I was there. The boys are 10 and Ellie is the cutest 7 year old ever and Nick and I love to go play with them whenever we can.

A calm moment with the boys. Will, Alex and Nick

I also keep up with my fellow babysitting buddies and Anora is standing here with Ellie and Nick. She is the beautiful grand-daughter of Eleanor who was my co-babysitter during the baby years.

All the kids were offering great smiles for the picture except Nick. He was yelling at me to stop taking pics.

So, of course, I continued clicking and he just turned his head. So, 3 year old! I always remind the boys that they gave me good preparation for Nick! ha!

Pretty good.......

Better........

and Ta! Dah! BEST!

We hope this is how Nick's vision has improved with his NEW glasses. We have had pretty good luck so far with him keeping them on. He has only hurled them 3 times. If we keep the head band connected, he cannot get them off quicker than we can get to them and grab them! ;) We told him that he cannot read or watch tv unless they are on so that seems to be pretty good motivation since he is a book fanatic and loves little Einsteins....he is constantly playing his pretend drums and trumpet while singing now. So cute.

Glasses Rule!

Life is Good!

From my first ride from je-ka-gan to 'maty and then from A-za-kan to A-may-ca, I have loved Airplanes so to go to the children's museum and get to sit in the "pilots seat" is the greatest thing ever!

Do you think Nick and Amigo have become brothers?

To most this would just look like a boy playing with his toys...... To me, it is heaven! Nick is finally starting to play alone with his toys for short spurts of time so Mama can have a small break to clean or talk on the phone. Yippee! He is the greatest pretender and I love to just sit and listen to him play. I have even been able to video him some. FINALLY!

These are usually the grins I get when he is just enjoying doing what he is doing. The grin is usually accompanied by a kiss or sweet hug. He will be good advertisement for his Life is Good T-shirt once he grows into it!

This picture is for Auntie Rhino (Erin). I am modeling my new target shirt with a football playing Rhino on the front and my Rhino hand sign.

My new favorite place to play is this fire engine at a local park.

Funny to think that I started out not liking to be pushed high at all....now, I like the higher, the better.

Papa was on the other side but preferred to remain anonymous :)
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We thought the grandparents were getting a little sad so we thought we would catch up on some pictures this week. Nick is completely recovered from his snip and has survived another round of vaccines. We found out that all of his previous vaccines in Kaz had not given him immunity so we have to do all of those over also.

We have had a good week. Nick is starting to learn to play on his own without Mama's constant companionship. I didn't mind playing and reading all day like I did when I nannied but this time there wasn't a cook and a housekeeper available to keep up with the rest of the stuff so I kind of needed little breaks to keep chaos at bay.

We have had a little less hitting and biting since we have started a different discipline plan. The time-out mat worked initially but then it became a battle ground where we had to fight with him to stay on it. It was stressing all of us out. Now, he gets one warning and then he goes to his room for time-out. This allows him to calm down and allows us to take a deep breath also. It has cut our biting and hitting episodes down significantly. It is so funny to me how every child is so different and you just have to keep trying until you find what works for you and then be flexible to try something new again if needed.

Nick went to his second eye appointment last week. Yes, it was traumatic again. For some reason, 3 yr olds really don't like their eyes dilated. ugh! The doctor confirmed that he is farsighted and the one eye (left) that I have been wondering about is much weaker than the other and he would continue to get worse with the crossing if we did not get glasses. So, we went and picked out some glasses on Thursday and will pick them up this next week. Please pray that he will think they are so great and wear them without difficulty. Luckily, we both wear glasses so we are using that as the WOW! factor.

We have enrolled Nick in preschool for two days a week in the fall. I think this will be a great opportunity to learn and have a great time. We have little under a month to continue to acclimate him to being in a group setting without us. We have had a little regression with the church attendance. He started crying last week before we ever got in the room so this week we are going to try something different. If it works, I will let you know what we did, If not, I won't be embarrassed that we thought of it! ;)

This week since I have had time just to sit back and watch Nick play and be a little boy, I have just been amazed at how far we have come since our first bonding day with him on Feb 12th. We often have to remind ourselves that we have only been back in the states for 3 1/2 months and for most new parents they are just getting their newborn to sleep all night and finally getting a stretch of 5-6 hours of sleep themselves. We pretty much have experienced the same thing only our newborn talks back and can slug like Oscar De la Hoya. I personally have to remind myself daily to not only give Nick the grace that he deserves as a "newborn" of sorts but also us as new parents. It is OK if we don't have it all figured out and as the months go by, we are figuring it out, getting a plan, and most of all starting to have a bunch of fun with our little boy. Somehow it was easier to watch all of my friends go thru that new mom thing with lots of understanding and empathy but when it was our turn, we felt like we should know more just because he was three. Well, we didn't and as usual, it is just by God's grace and assurance that this is right were He wants us, dependent on Him to make it thru the day, that we have made it thru the last very difficult 5 months. Oh, I am sure that we will have many more hard days ahead like every family but I actually feel that we have started to choose Joy instead of fear and are daily reminded that GOD is good and knows what is best and, well, that just means in general that "Life is Good". I added a very poignant look at Nick on our first bonding day and Nick with us today. It is amazing what just LOVE can do! Love to all! Happy August! K-Pat and Nick

Feb 12th, 2007........................... August 4th, 2007