It's almost Christmas

Dear Friends and Family,

As the days are counting down to Christmas and the year is almost at end, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on what a wonderful year it has been.

January brought the biggest gift of all with the arrival home of Emme. She was well worth the wait and has brought so much more life into the family. Leah proved from the start to be a wonderful big sister.

February can and went quickly and quietly as we all adjusted to being a family of three. I was able to play stay-at-home mom this month and had a lot of fun watching Leah and Emme grow as siblings.

The end of March saw me back at work and learning that getting 2 girls up and ready in the morning was a lot more difficult than getting 1 child up. Thankfully Emme is a morning person which offsets Leah's grumpy mornings. I am just as thankful for Emme's early to sleep habit as this allowed more time to be spent just with Leah. We also took our first family trip to see Katie in Arizona. The plane trip was not so great, but the visit was.

Leah turned 5 in April and really started growing up and maturing too quickly for my taste. She no longer is my baby.

In May, Emme learned to walk, finally, during our yearly trip to Cleveland. We caught up on all the families that adopted at the same time as I adopted Leah. Wow! It always is amazing to see the girls and realize how our lives changed in 2004.

The summer months saw us at the pool, on vacation and playing outside. It was a fun summer spent with family and friends. Leah and Emme turned various shades of brown, while I turned pink/red at the sight of sun.

Leah started Kindergarten in the fall. She did much better than I ever dreamed she would do. Thanks in part to her teacher, Mrs. Collins, who Leah just adores. There have been no tears or anxiety during this transition, which goes to show how much Leah matured in the year.

October had many fall fests and of course Emme's first Halloween. I had 2 very cute mermaids and everyone enjoyed the candy that followed. Emme even managed to say a version of trick or treat to get the candy.

November brought everyone home for Thanksgiving. I am attempting to scan the family pictures into the computer and getting them on this page, but I am having trouble with the scan.

So now it is December. Christmas lists have been written and Leah is waiting for Santa to come. She has asked for a camera, a guitar and a DS for Christmas. Emme has no clue other than the mall Santa is scary. Leah thinks Emme wants a camera, a ball, and surprises.

As for me, I have everything I need, including a new automatic garage door opener (my Christmas present to myself). I have 2 happy and healthy girls that I love and adore. In a perfect world I would like a little more money, a little more quiet at times and a little more time in general. But I am not complaining. My life is just as I thought and hoped it would be this year.

Merry Christmas to all. I hope everyone has had a wonderful year and I hope Santa brings everyone what they want this year.

Jeanne

Happy Thanksgiving

It is amazing how time flies by. November came and went in a hurry, and now we are getting ready for Christmas. Emme's first Christmas home. How exciting! It was last year on the 3rd of December that the judge finally granted Emme's adoption. What a year it had been. This is a picture of that fateful day.

This November we had a lot of family time as soccer is over and the weather is getting colder. We have been spending afternoons baking, eating and being silly.

I met with Leah's teacher who stated that Leah has adjusted well to Kindergarten and she expressed that Leah is on target or ahead of schedule in all areas. Emme's vocabulary has taken off the last few weeks of November. We just may avoid Speech Therapy yet. Her favorite words are stuck, sock, cheese and eat. She also can say SpongeBob, which is really irritating since she will not say Leah.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Matt, Katie, Chad and of course Mya were all in town to visit. Ali also spent many nights at Grandma and Grandpa's house which led to Leah spending the night as well. While everyone was in town, we had a family picture done (pictures to follow later). Unfortunately, Emme and Mya did not think this was a good idea. Hopefully 1 picture out of the 200 she took will include some smiling babies.

We also got into the Christmas spirit by decorating my parent's tree and well as exchanging gifts with Katie and Chad. It was a wonderful week.

Now it is time to get ready for Santa to pay us a visit.

Pictutes of October

Here are a few photos of the Radcliffe family adventures during the month of October

Picking pumpkins at the Zoo's boo fest

Even princesses get hungry while trick-or-treating

Emme showing true team spirit while attempting to play with balloons

Halloween is so much fun, especially with Grandma and Maria joining in the fun.

October Fun

Now that we are in November, I thought I would update everyone on the events of October. Leah and Emme went Trick-or-Treating multiple times in the month, starting the first of October and ending on Halloween itself. I had 2 mermaids on my hands for the official event, but they masqueraded as princesses as well for other events. Leah had a wonderful time and really got into the spirit of Halloween (candy, candy and more candy). Emme eventually figured out that if she said a convoluted form of trick-or-treat, some one would put a piece of candy in her bucket. Amazingly, she did not eat the candy right away and was content to move candy from one container to the next.

We went to pumpkin patches, hay rides, and to the zoo for BOO fest. The girls and I helped chaperon a 13 year old boy/ girl football themed party. Emme was ready, dressed in her OSU cheerleader outfit. Leah decided that older kids were much too noisy and spent most of her time playing hide and go seek with the birthday boy's brother.

Leah seems to like school and really likes her teacher. I meet with her at the end of the month for conferences. We had an informal meeting at McDonald's the other day over dinner. She said that Leah is a bright child, but can be stubborn and likes to do things her own way. What a shock! She has Leah's personality down pat. Emme is adding several words to her vocabulary, but will not say any on command. The Kazakh's were known to be stubborn people, and I have 2 prime examples. (I would not have it any other way)

Emme- one year ago

On October 15, 2007, I met Emme Indira for the first time. She was brought into the music room by one of her caregivers and placed in my arms. One year ago today, Emme became mine.

What a year it has been. I can hardly believe that last year at this time I was in Kazakhstan starting the bonding process with Emme. I can't believe that she has been a part of our lives for only a year. Although I know that children grow, I can't believe how far she has come since the baby house in Ecik.

Gone is the rolly-polly baby who was unable to support herself in sitting and could barely commando crawl. Today she is a very active toddler who like to run, dance, climb, jump and attempt to do everything her sister does.

Gone is the passive, quite, meek baby who was content to be held all day. Now I have a loud, babbling, laughing, screeching (as her sister would say) child, who even though is not yet talking, makes her point across very clearly. She also is a very independent, stubborn, inquisitive little girl who still likes to be held, but only on her terms.

What has stayed the same is her smile that warms your heart and lights up the room. She uses that smile when happy and as a way of saying "Mom, I know I am causing trouble, but I'm so cute so I can get away with anything." (Which she doesn't, but that does not stop her from trying.)

Life goes by so fast. Although I can't say that raising 2 girls is just as easy as raising 1. Life is much more hectic than it was one year ago., however, I would not have it any other way. See how much she as grown!

School days, weddings and daily life

September is quickly slipping past us. Leah is doing very well with the school routine. She says she likes school, and her favorite time is recess. Sounds normal to me. I have been to meet the teacher night and really do like her teacher Mrs. Collins. She seems very down to earth, realistic and her main goal is to help her students like school. She describes Leah as an"independent" little girl as well as "well behaved". This is a picture of Leah's first day of school.



She will not get the perfect attendance award as she has missed 2 days of school already. Last weekend we traveled up to Michigan for the wedding of my cousin Brad. We were able to see my sister Katie, her husband Chad and their new baby Mya. It was our first time seeing Mya, and Emme actually let me hold her. Leah was also able to hold Mya, and still wants Mya to come home with us. My brother Matt was in the wedding, so we also spent some time with him. It was good to see everyone, and hopefully the whole family can be together at Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time chasing after Emme, so picture taking was kept to a minimum. I only have so many hands. I probably should have given the camera over to Leah as she does take fairly good pictures (she took the picture of Matt). Both Emme and I left Michigan with fat lips. Emme's from a fall in the lobby and mine from a dancing adventure with Leah. Emme did make a new friend while in Michigan, the bell hop, who even gave her M&M's prior to leaving.







Next week, Emme does to the doctor for her 18 month check-up, 2 months late. We will see what the doctor has to say about her speech (or lack of). We may be starting speech therapy to improve her communication, although receptively, she does well.

Leah has school pictures tomorrow provided that she is well. She stayed home today after having some stomach issues while I was attempting to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist. She is feeling better now and I hope it was just a one time episode. Although now I need to reschedule my dental appointment for the 3rd time.

Momentous week

Well, it is official, Leah is a Kindergartner. She had her first day of school on Tuesday. Tuesday morning she was a little teary and did not want to leave home to go to daycare. However the daycare workers told me that she left them at 12:30 to go to school with a big smile on her face. According to all, no tears were shed. I was able to leave work early and meet the daycare van upon her arrival home from school. She did not say much other than her first day was boring. She also told me that she had to go to the Principal's office, but she was not bad. Daycare drops her off early so they can make it to all the schools in time. So Leah will hang out in the Principal's office for about 10 minutes before classes start. She was able to color and stated that the principal was very nice.



Since Tuesday, Leah has been almost excited about going to school. She even got to ride to bus to and from our house today, just like the big kids. She is growing up so fast. I was given homework today to write out my hopes and dreams for Leah during this school year. I just hope she finds school enjoyable and learns that life is full of all sorts of possibilities.



This is also a big week in Emme's life, although she is too young to know it. A year ago today, Leah and I were at the library reading books when my cell phone rang. It was the call I had been waiting for for months. There was a baby waiting for me in Kazakhstan by the name of Indira. By 10:00 that night I was staring at my daughter. The first pictures just made me laugh. Here was this chubby-cheeked, fuzz haired girl with a smile that just lit up her face. So different from Leah's referral picture. Although the road to bring Emme home was long and nerve racking, that first sight of her made my heart melt.

We have been having a lot of fun as the summer is winding down. Leah has been busy going places with friends, starting soccer practice and enjoying the last few "free days" before the start of school. She was able to get her face painted, as seen to the left, at a festival she attended with her friend Maria. Leah usually does not like her face painted, but peer pressure did her in.

We also ave gone to the zoo a few times in the last week. The weather has been so nice, we just had to be outside. Leah and Emme always love to play on some of the animal statues outside the children's zoo. It is only fitting that they like to "ride" the camel. It is a big part of their heritage.

I can't believe that summer is almost over and I will have one is school. The years have gone much too quickly. Leah and I will have a "big girls" outing Monday. We are going out to dinner and then will meet her teacher for the first time. Leah has been at the playground of the school, but never inside. Hopefully, some of her soccer friends will be in the same class. She still is not happy that I signed her up for school. Her main aspiration in life is to grow up to be a babysitter so she can boss kids around. She is also willing to trade her sister in her cousin Mya, because at 2 months, Mya does not move!

Sisters

Leah has been wanting to take a pictures. So I have been letting her take pictures of Emme. I think Santa may have to bring Leah a camera of her own for Christmas, as she really does a good job (as you will see in some photos). We are getting Leah ready for school. She will start Kindergarten at the end of the month. I don't think either of us are ready for this. Leah is always leary about change, so I expect the first month to be rough. I just can't believe she is old enough to be going to school. She is starting to grow up so fast! Luckily, Emme still needs me, although she loves chasing after her older sister so I expect she will grow up fast as well. Over the past month, Emme has taken an interest in Leah and all of Leah's possessions. She follows her around, steals her toys and is doing all the annoying things a younger sister can do. For the most part, Leah enjoys playing the big sis role, which includes teasing her younger sister, but every now and then carries her to me and states: "It's your turn now, you are the one who wanted another baby". Leah has even offered to trade Emme for her cousin Mya, as Mya is too little to get into her toys. True sisters!

Better late than never: Vacation pictures

Life has been a little busy as of late. So vacation pictures are coming one month after the vacation. We had a great time spending the week with our family and friends at Emerald Isle, North Carolina. Leah had a great time playing with all her cousins as well as swimming in the pool. Emme did well with all the confusion, although did not like the long driving time needed to get to and from the beach.
The days were spent oceanside, in the pool, visitng with family, sleeping and of course eating. I enjoyed the help of my niece and her cousin Ali and Amber who were wonderful with both the girls.I could not ahve asked for a better week. Hopefully next year my sister Katie and her family will join us as well

Swim lessons, swim lessons, and more swim lessons

Sorry, no new pictures to post. As the title of this post states, all we do now is swim lessons. Our days have been all about time management, packing suppers, packing swim gear, and swimming. Leah continues to have swim lessons Monday through Thursday. Three weeks down and one more to go. She is developing more skills and can actually swim from point A to point B, as long as she does not know she is swimming where she can't stand. The big achievement of this week was jumping off the diving board to me and then swimming back to the edge of the pool. At first, this was not something she wanted to do. Her swim lesson class started going off the board on Tuesday. Leah was the only one to decide she was NOT going off the board. She came crying over to me as her class went to the deep end. I walked over with her and persuaded her to go off the board and jump to me. So here Leah was, crying on the diving board with her teacher telling her she did not have to jump and me telling her to JUMP. She finally did to a round of applause, and she has been jumping ever since. I created a monster because now that is all she wants to do. Unfortunately, I don't always have someone to watch Emme. Leah is not at the point where I or she is comfortable with her going without me in the water, although she has jumped off and swam to the side without assistance the last few days.

Emme is also gaining new water skills. She is sitting on the edge of the pool at the 4 foot end and "jumping" into the water. Amazingly she is not upset in the least about going under the water. She comes up for air giggling and wants to do it again. We are working on swimming with water wings to help keep her afloat.

Both Leah and I have made some new friends at the pool, even some children that she will be attending Kindergarten with in the fall. We have also are starting to become good friends with a single mom and her daughter that she adopted from China. We met last year at the pool and then seemed to see each other everywhere. They now belong to Coney and her daughter takes swim lessons at the same time as Leah. It has been nice to have someone to talk to, and keep an eye on Emme as needed (whenever Leah wants to jump off the board). The girls have gotten together on several occasions for outings.

This week I will be preparing for our annual trip to the beach. (In between work, swim lessons and more swim lessons) I can't wait to see the family and introduce Emme to all her cousins she had not yet met. Packing will prove interesting with the increased gear that is needed when traveling with a baby. But I know Leah will have a great time and Emme should enjoy the beach based on her love of the water so far. I promise to have many pictures once home from the beach for everyone to enjoy.

Jeanne

Tired girls

I have 2 tired little girls on my hands. We had a busy week at our house. Emme's regular sitter is on vacation, so I had a friend's daughter, Amelia, watch Emme 3 days this week. She is not driving yet, so her parents brought her to me in the mornings and I took her home after work. However, Leah also started swimming lessons this week. So I came home from work, at 5:00, picked Leah up at daycamp, picked Emme and Amelia up at home, packed everyone in the car, took Amelia home, drove to Coney, changed into swimsuits, ate dinner, swam a little before lessons, went to lessons at 7:00 and finally back into the car to go home and straight to bed. I think I was the most exhausted of all. Emme did better than anticipated with both the new sitter and with staying up past her 7:00 bed time. Leah proved that she has grown up in the last few years by going to lessons without my help and participating fully with what was being instructed. This was not only evident to me, but also to the instructor who just happened to be the same teacher she had when she first started lessons. At the tender age of 3, Leah refused to be separated from me, and cried through most of the lessons. Her teacher was very impressed with how far she had come not only with swimming techniques, but also in maturity.

The pool has become our home away from home, and we will continue to have lessons 4 times a week for 3 more weeks. I am increasing becoming various shades of pink and red from the sun. Leah and Emme are becoming various shades of brown. It does not matter how much sun screen I apply, they tan and I burn. I envy their skin tone.

This weekend we had fun with relatives we don't get a chance to see too often. On Saturday, we went to the Eveslage house to visit with my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John from Alabama and their daughter Julie, who is visiting from Australia with her 3 children. Zack is Leah's age and her twin girls, Abby and Zoe, just turned 3. It was fun watching them play together and watching Emme toddle after them. On Sunday, I met up with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Susan who came up from Florida to visit with my Grandma Radcliffe. It was the first time for them to meet Emme. One day I hope to get down to Florida so that Emme and Leah can meet their cousins Emily and Luke.

So lots of running around was done this week and weekend. Which led to some very tired girls (myself included). I took these pictures after coming home from the pool one evening. It all starts again on Monday.

Fun in the sun

It has been a relatively uneventful week. Life becomes a routine for a while, which is nice. Next week our routine will change as swim lessons start, which means we will be spending most nights at the pool. Luckily, Leah does not mind cool water. Emme may not be too happy about swim lessons as they infringe on her bedtime. I signed Leah up for the 7:00pm lessons and Emme is usually in bed by 7:30. But the 6:00 lesson time just did not leave enough room in the day to pick both kids up, have dinner and get to the pool on time.

Leah is enjoying the summer weather. Her daycare has a summer program that transports the kids to different field trips and activities throughout the summer. Leah loves the bus rides sometimes more that the trip itself. Last week they had a picnic in the park and went to Build A Bear, where they each got a stuffed animal to make and bring home. Build A Bear just happens to be one of Leah's favorite places.

Emme is into exploring her world on 2 feet. It's amazing that you wait and wait and wait for your child to start walking, and once they do you forget how nice it was when they stayed put. Emme is determined to walk in the opposite direction that I want her to go. She also wants to climb onto everything. This week she has also figured out how to ride on her little bike, although she is determined to ride Leah's big bike.

I have posted pictures of Leah, Emme and Leah's friend Maria on the play set that they all so enjoy. It is so nice that Leah has a neighbor friend. Right now they are sitting on the family room floor watching Nemo together. For the most part they play great together, although they both like to be the boss.

Next week not only is the start of swim lessons, but it also will be the first time Emme will have a teenage babysitter. My usual sitter is on vacation, so Amelia, who has watched Leah in the past is coming over to watch Emme 3 days this week. It could be an adventure for both of them

A week of firsts, seconds, thirds and fourths

The Radcliffe adventures continues on. This was a week filled of new experiences, new additions, and newly discovered talents.

Firsts: It was Emme's first of many trips to our pool. We went swimming at Coney Island pool Friday night. For those not familiar with Coney, the water really does not get warm enough to swim until August. However, Leah was anxious to go, so off we went. I was brave enough to get my toes wet. Leah went in up to her chest. Emme decided that bobbing her head underwater was the best form of entertainment. The water was so cold, it could be considered a form of child abuse. However my attempts to remove Emme from the water only made her more determined to get back in. I definitely have 2 water babies. I can't wait for the beach.

Seconds: Leah lost her second tooth. This time she lost the one of her top teeth, so now she really has a hole in her mouth. The tooth fairy will get to know our house well, as she had one more loose tooth to go.

Thirds: Leah is growing up. She had spent three evenings this week away from home. She has developed some friendships with other children in the neighborhood, and is going over to eat dinner at their house, watch movies and taking walks to the park. She is growing up so fast and becoming so much more independent. Luckily, I have Emme at home to keep me company.

Fourths: As of Tuesday, my parents now have 4 grandchildren (all girls). We welcomed Mya Kathryn Button into the family. This is the first child for my sister Katie and her husband Chad. I can't wait to hold her in September, if Emme will let me as she is very possessive of her "mamamammama".

Life continues to be busy and I am enjoying my girls immensely. Emme is into climbing up onto anything and clapping over her achievements. We spent part of Sat. learning how to climb up the ladder of a slide and slide down on her bottom. She would much rather stand at the top and screech at the top of her lungs to get everyone's attention. Leah is such a great big sister, helping her every step of the way.

Our Kaz friends

Memorial Day weekend found us up in Cleveland for the EAC adoption picnic. EAC was the agency that I used for Leah's adoption. Every Memorial Day, they host a picnic at the zoo and invite all past, present and future EAC adoptive families to reunite. During our stay in Kazakhstan, there were four other families adopting at the same time. Three of them were single moms like me. The 3 single moms and myself have gotten together each Memorial Day at the picnic to catch up on the past year and have out Kaz kids play. It is a powerful weekend. They estimated that there were 900 families at the picnic this year. To see all these families with children adopted from all over the world is an amazing experience.

At the picnic, the Kaz coordinator is in attendance and usually brings along a guest. This year she brought the director of Almaty Baby House #3. This was the baby house that Leah and Jade were adopted from. (see next post) She could not believe that Leah was Nurzhamal (Leah's birth name). She said she looked nothing like she thought she would. Jade on the other hand looks exactly the same. She remembered both girls well as they were essentially crib mates.

Leah had fun at the zoo with her Kaz friends, but what Leah really likes is hotel rooms. I opted to get a junior suite for a little more room for Emme's bed. The room also came with a fridge and microwave so we could eat in the room. Leah and Emme swam like fishes after the zoo and as well the next morning before we checked out. Emme loves the water. She loves to splash herself and others as she squeals in delight. The beach will be so much fun this year.

The next post has more pictures from the weekend. Enjoy.