Life is Really Good...

I am feeling much better now and we are all starting to feel a little bit normal. Kassie is doing absolutely fabulous! I am so proud of her. She is so brave, curious, interested and excited. It is so neat to discover what she likes and dislikes, what she already knows how to do and what she doesn't know or like to do... She absolutely loves to swing. We have been going just about everyday. She says, "Go in the car? Swing?" She laughs and giggles the entire time. She knows the words "push" and (thanks to Daddy teaching her tricks) "No Hands!" While in the car she loves to listen to her music and just drive around looking at the sights. She would do it for hours! One of my favorite things she likes to do is sweep the floors. She has swept our wood floors every morning for the past three days. And, she gets out the dust pan and brush and picks it up too! I never knew Bella (our dog) lost so much hair in one day! Yesterday I bought her a broom her size. Believe me, I am going to encourage this ritual! She and Bella are doing great. Bella has been quite jealous but very gentle with her. I do think Bella is really warming up to her since she likes feeding Bella some of her food. We usually don't give Bella any people food because Alaskan Malamutes have such sensitive stomachs, they get sick from it. Anyway, now Kassie feeds her dog food from her hand instead of letting her eat it out of her dog bowl. We are just so happy that it is going smoothly between them. We were warned that wild dogs were everywhere in Ethiopia and she may be terrified at first sight of her. I can confidently say that Kassie has never had a bad experience with a wild dog. She loves Bella and smiled and laughed from Day one of seeing her. Kassie is still very particular about what she wears. today we went to the farm for a cook out and I changed her into her pajamas before heading home. Her pajamas are shorts and pajama top. On the way home, Kassie had to cover her legs with her dress she was previously wearing because she is nervous about showing her knees and above in public. Women in Ethiopia did not wear anything shorter than mid calf and never wore sleeveless tops. Kassie has worn tank tops no problem but she feels very uncomfortable wearing shorts or short dresses or skirts. I'm sure she will outgrow that or perhaps not remember by the time the summer season comes around again. I made a potato salad for the cookout today and I discovered that Kassie likes hard boiled eggs. She said "Help mommy?" when I was peeling the eggs. I said yes and she took an egg, tapped it on the counter, peeled it and ate it like she had done it a million times before. Then, she helped me peel the rest of them. Each day Jeff and I are learning more and more about her. We keep getting pleasantly surprised at how much she can do. She loves to read books, write and color. Every night before bed she goes to the bathroom, washes her hands, brushes her teeth, gets a cup of water by herself. Then she counts all the bottles of shampoo, cream, tooth paste etc.. laying around in the bathroom. Its become a ritual. So counting in English is coming along as well. She loves putting cream on her body which I do for her every night to help with the bonding. She sings the alphabet repeating lmnop a few times before moving on to the rest. She is also singing, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and tells us everyone who loves her every night. (Mommy loves me, Daddy loves me, Grammie loves me, Bampie loves me etc...) I am so... I am trying to think, I am so everything! I am excited, thrilled, proud, amazed, shocked, overwhelmed, tired, but most of all happy. Jeff and I finally have a child of our own!! And, Kassie has a Mommy and Daddy of her own!! Life is really good!

catching up to me

Today its all catching up to me...I am sick! I am feverish, a bad cold, achy and exhausted. What a bummer. Auntie took Kassie for about 5 hours today so I could sleep. I am so thankful for that! I was nervous about Kassie going off and being afraid she wouldn't see us again but evidently we are over that barrier. She went happily and had a great day. I apologize to all of you who have sent e-mails and I haven't responded yet. I intend to, I am barely getting my blogs out right now. She is keeping me busy!! As soon as I can get rid of this cold I intend to get going with life as normally as possible and will hopefully start being ready for visits. Thanks to you all for your fabulous support and well wishes!

Communication Barrier

Sunday we spent around the house just the three of us. It was a long day the day before and Kassie seemed tired all day and just a little off again. We were planning to visit the Duhaimes and see their new house but we just felt she needed to be home after her big day on Saturday. We played blocks, dress up, ball and much more between small tantrums all day. Of course she wouldn't take a nap even though she was so tired. In the early evening she was out on the deck blowing bubbles and our dog Bella was chasing them. They were having a great time until Kassie spilled her bottle of bubbles. Jeff washed all the bubbles off the deck with my watering jug and Kassie started freaking out again. This time much harder and much louder. We made her come inside so she didn't disrupt the neighbors although I bet they could all still hear her. She was stomping her feet, punching the couch, kicking her legs in the air and Jeff and I kept trying to ask her to show us what she needed. Then we would walk away because we didn't want to feed into it. After a few minutes when one or the other couldn't take it anymore we'd try to pick her up or try and console her and she would kick and scream louder. I ended up leaving the room and bursting into tears. It is such a helpless feeling when your child needs something and you can't even understand the language she is speaking. I imagined all sorts of things going through her little head. I felt like she was just angry at us for taking her from Ethiopia, mad at her family for leaving her and all sorts of other issues. She kept yelling the same thing over and over. After a few minutes I pulled myself together and went back into the living room where she was still hysterically crying and squirming all over the couch and floor. I firmly told her it was OK and that she needed to show me what she needed. I moved my arms out in a big circle like I was just not knowing what it could be. And suddenly she stopped crying, took my hand and walked me upstairs to her bedroom and got her pink crocs. And then she was off... Fine, no more crying, it was done and over. It felt completely ridiculous, we spent the last hour and half in such drama and all she wanted were her crocs. I do think she is set off much easier because she has been through so many scary things lately but oh my gosh... If I had only known she just wanted her shoes. Her feet probably got wet from the bubbles spilling on the deck and wanted her shoes. How simple. Each day we are learning more and more how to communicate and bond. I love her more and more each minute that goes by. I know she loves us more and more too. That night when we put Kassie to bed, we were all laying on our bed after doing her tubby and reading books (the one thing I couldn't wait to do with her), and she took Jeff's hand and pushed all his fingers in to make a fist and then she did the same to mine and put mine and Jeff's fists against each others. Then she did her own and put it with ours. It was strange because then she pointed to Jeff's mouth and her fist and made a gulp sound, she did the same to me and pointed to Jeff's fist and made a gulping sound and then she started doing it to my fist almost like we were all pretending to eat off each others fists that were still touching each other. It was quite strange. Possibly a game? I don't know but whatever she was having us do was very serious and emotional to her. I want to learn, learn, learn about the Sidami culture!

A Day of Firsts...

Saturday we went to the farm and had a really good day. We did a lot of things for the first time. I really don't know if she had been swimming before she was brought to the Horizon House. I think it was her first time with us on Saturday. She did great! Slow at first and then she wanted to do more and more by herself. By the end of the day she jumped off the diving board (On her bottom) to Uncle Don. She really likes to try and do what everyone else is doing. She had watched her cousins jump off the diving board all day. Auntie Di painted her toe and fingernails for the first time. She absolutely loved that! I'm not surprised since it seems like we have a girly girl on our hands. She really loved holding the new kittens! She kept disappearing into the workshop looking for them. We had to keep running after her and help her find the kittens. She carried them around as long as they would let her. She went for a golf cart ride up the back field, sat in Uncle Don's tractor for a little bit and even had her first toasted marshmallow over a fire with Daddy. The only complaint I have is that I didn't get very much of her time that day but, it warms my heart watching my family bonding with her and her with them. She still doesn't talk in front of any of the adults. She talks a mile a minute to Jeff and I. She also talks to the kids when there are no adults there. That is what the nannies said happened at horizon House. I guess she did say something in Sidami to Auntie once which is good news. Grammie and Bampie arrived home at the farm late from a few days away. I was glad that they got to see her and although she was completely exhausted Grammie got to hold her for a good 15-20 minutes. What a great day, especially after the frustrating one the day before!

The Inside of Kassie's Family House

We have been asked a lot if we were able to go inside Kassie's hut. Yes we did and here are pictures. Jeff and I felt a little bit ridiculous for asking to see the inside because when we walked in it was completely pitch black. We forgot... No Electricity!! I got pictures because of the flash on my camera. It surprised me when I was looking through the camera to see cows in there. Jeff didn't know there were cows in there with us until he saw these pictures. The bed in the picture is the only bed and they all share it. We really have it made here in the USA. I will remember what I saw in Ethiopia for the rest of my life. I will try and remember the images I have in my head from this trip whenever I start to feel frustrated about my life in anyway...

Getting Settled

This past week getting settled has been overall very good. Today was definitely our hardest day yet. Kassie has been whiny and cranky all day. She had a few immunizations yesterday and I am sure that is why. looking back on the day I probably should have given her some Tylenol but the doctor told me to give her some if she kept touching her arms where she had the shots. She wasn't touching them at all so I didn't give her any. We have had 2 doctors appointments this week and had labs and an x-ray. We were required to see a doctor as soon as we get home so we went to Partners in Pediatrics in Nashua. Our social worker recommended Dr. Kaupp to us because she specializes in treating International adoptees. We had actually met her before we officially accepted the match with Kasech to have her look over her medical records from WHFC and look at her pictures. We were a bit concerned with Kassie's swollen belly although it is common in Ethiopia due to malnutrition. Dr. Kaupp warned us that 9 out of 10 children who come from Ethiopia have Giardia. Giardia is a parasite from drinking dirty water. While in Ethiopia we found out that Kasech had arrived with ascariosis (worm) and was treated and free of it. Her belly doesn't seem as swollen as in her referral pictures and were told by the nurse at Horizon House in Ethiopia that her belly had gone down since extracting the worm. She said she thought that her belly was still slightly swollen from malnutrition. So, we thought we were free and clear of the Giardia. But we found out today that Kassie does in fact have Giardia. But I guess it really isn't that big of a deal. Meds 3 times a day for 5 days and it should be gone. We are still waiting for some labs to come back but most have already and everything has been negative so far. It is a relief to us even though we were told she was healthy and saw lab results from Ethiopia. Its just nice to have them confirmed through trusted medical practices. The one big surprise was Kassie's x-ray on her hand and wrist. We had this done to somewhat accurately predict her age. The way I understand it is that her bone density can predict an age within 6 months of either side of the age given. Her result was 4.8!! Her age was listed as 21/2 but we thought she was 31/2 to maybe 4. When Jeff and I first saw her we were surprised at how big she was. But this x-ray result tells us she is at least 4+. I think we are going to make her birthday in May, not sure yet though. We need to find out more about the procedure for creating a Birth date. Anyway, enough medical stuff... Jeff and I are adjusting well. The only real concern of mine is when Kassie is having temper tantrums. They really make me nervous because I feel like I don't know what to do. She'll do things like punch Jeff and then look at him for a reaction. Then she will take her shoe off and throw it. Look at us for a reaction. Or when she gets herself so worked up she is crying and practically screaming in her language. I don't really feel confident in what to do because right now we are supposed to be bonding. She is supposed to be learning to trust me. I feel like if I handle it wrong we are going to be back at square one. I don't know... It really is all going fine. It was just a really overwhelming afternoon today. But I have to remember that everyday we make more and more strides. Even with all the drama today she is giving us kisses on the cheek now. She would not give us kisses on her own before today. She also says Hi, Hello, Thank You, Excuse me, How are you?, and I Love You. Also, all the names of people in our family. She loves to talk on the phone and that seems to be her big means of learning these words. It certainly is different having a girl around! We have been playing tea party and baby all week. Quite different than having the boys over!!

Home at Last!

Finally Home and fast asleep! The flight home was long and tiring but Kassie did great! Just a couple of meltdowns but not bad for 24 hours of flying. Mom and Dad, Deidre, Len & boys, Don & Di, and friends; The Shaw's, The Place's and The Biss' were all at the airport to meet us. We were so happy to see familiar faces! Kassie was great giving hugs and hellos to everyone. All it took was Duncan to burp for her to get giggling. Oh boy, here we go! She held hands and walked with all the kids, it was very sweet. We went home and all our family came too. Kasech was so excited when she saw her play room and her bedroom. She played ball with Uncle Don, Duncan and Doug for a little bit and roamed around checking out the house. After everyone left she looked around her play room and touched everything. I can't imagine what she was thinking. I think she understood this was all her stuff. I don't know. When we brought her upstairs to go to bed, she pointed at her new bed so, we put her in it and she was out in 5 seconds. The next day was a sleep marathon. She woke up at about 9:00 AM had some water and went to the bathroom , then back asleep. She woke up at 11:00 AM and I gave her some Cheerios and a banana, then back asleep. After that, she didn't wake up until we woke her up at 5:00 PM!! I didn't know if it was good or bad to let her sleep but after talking to mom on the phone, decided to let her until 5:00. We kept her up after that until about 10:00PM and she went right to sleep easily again. We thought few, great she is going to sleep tonight... That is until 3:20 AM... Kassie woke up and started looking in her closets and drawers etc... She was wide awake. So at about 3:45 AM she started going through all her clothes and started putting her favorite ones on the bed just like she did in the hotel. Then we had to try on every outfit until she had the one she was going to wear for the day. And I do mean for the day. She was up, wide awake and ready to go. She picked out a dress with flowers and ladybugs on it and her lady bug rain boots. Yes she wore the rain boots all day too. Jeff and I played with her until about 6:30 Am and then I went back to sleep for a little bit. But Jeff thankfully stayed up with her right through. Auntie brought Duncan over to spend the day and sleep over. Jeff and I missed him so much! He was gone to camp the week before we left and then we left before he came home! Two weeks without seeing Duncan was quite rough. Plus, Duncan was very excited to spend time with Kassie. Poor Douglas, I just couldn't take him overnight too. I'm just not ready for 3 overnight yet. Yikes!! I don't know how the rest of you do it. I guess we'll find our way. Anyway, Auntie got good snuggles because Kassie fell asleep on her lap.