I will try to remember the highlights from the past couple weeks.
I had my 10-year high school reunion June 9th. It was wonderfully attended and I was able to catch up with several classmates. I also got to spend time with Jody (from CA). Jody (you might remember her from her great wedding toast) facilitated Anara's adoption and if it hadn't been for her we probably wouldn't have been considering adoption at the time we did.
Anara had her suture (remaining from a surgery in Kyrgyzstan shortly after birth) removed last Monday and we stayed overnight at Riley. The MD removed a sizable abcess and he had to leave the wound open to avoid further infection. We have been packing Anara's open wound and this has been an unpleasant experience for all involved. I had a really difficult time with it initially and Nate's mom (a nurse) came Wednesday evening and stayed through Saturday to help. Anara seems to be in considerable pain when we are stuffing the gauze in her wound and it doesn't appear that the tylenol is helping. Anara's big surgery is tentatively set for September 6th. The MD wants her to have plenty of time to heal from this procedure and he would like to see her put on a little more weight (maybe at least hit the bottom line of the growth chart).
Violet has been having a rough time. I can imagine that her struggles are due to her life changing and not being the center of our attention as often as she would like. She is also getting two-year molars and has been sick almost constantly since we returned from Kyrg. We would like to see her healthy for at least a couple weeks. She has also been really rashy and itchy. We don't know if it is heat, allergies, or anxiety but it is pretty annoying. She scratches her head, back, shoulders, stomach and has even been scratching until she bleeds. I haven't changed soaps, shampoos, or detergents so we are stumped.
Anara's newest accomplishments:
-saying "Hi"
-"holding a toy phone to her head and saying, "Hi"
-feeding her baby doll a bottle
-successfully placing puzzle pieces and matching with the shape sorter
-saying "Daddy" and sometimes "Mama"
-bathing without screaming
-she is starting to sit more and sometimes can sit for a short while unassisted
-hitting (She can be pretty aggressive, but I think she is testing her limits. She will smack me in the face and then make a sad face and hug me.)
Violet quotes: I am terrible at trying to write them the way she says them, and I am torn between my lame attempts at her pronounciation or just writing it in English.
-"I dopted her. I dopted dis baby. I got her from Kurgisan."
-"Can I have nother wapper for my owie? I need a wapper on it. (After Band-aid applied) Can me walk with dis banaid? Can me pay with dis banaid on? Can me read books with my banaid? Can me go to sleep with my bandaid?"
-I think Violet must have an advanced sense of humor because she has already started making poop jokes. One day in the car Violet said, "I smell like poop breath. (then she laughed to herself) and then went on and on "poop juice, poop gum, gum poop, poop breath....."
-Violet removed her baby's diaper and then announced, "My baby has an owie on her botton" I said, "Aw, how did your baby get an owie on her bottom?" Her reply, "From the ophanage."
-"Someone wants their little Bible Mama. Someone wants their little Bible. Someone wants their Bible. Mama it's Violet Mama, Violet wants her Bible." She was using this excuse to try and prolong the going to bed process. She yelled this for about 10 minutes one night.
-"Can my have some makeup Mama. Can me have some makeup my own makeup? Mama, I'm findin makeup for you, Mama. I'm findin some makeup for you." She was saying the last part as she was flipping through the pages of her Bible - I have no idea.
Anara presurgery
Anara trying to make a break for it
Anara taking a little break from trying to reset her IV 
Violet enjoying Anara's hospital bed much more than Anara
Daddy and Naraboo
Violet's attempt at dressing herself. She was so proud.
My efforts at salvaging a disposable diaper that the tab ripped off
Anara hiding from Violet after biting her toes
Anara's 1st bath without tears
3 comments:
Amanda,
I'm so glad to see you blogging again! I'm so glad things are going well with the girls, Anara is getting prettier and prettier, she really looks like she is settling in, Violet is just a doll baby...
OMG Violet cracks me up. She is hillarious. What a stinker. Carter makes us laugh alot too, but he also can be quite a stubborn little squirt. He has quite the temper tantrums. But your whole story about Violet talking about poop breath, etc., made me think of a couple months ago with Carter. We were in Savannah's bedroom and he was holding one of her Barbie dolls. He didn't know I was watching him and he proceeded to talk to the doll. Then all of a sudden he goes, "Can I eat your butt?" and then he answered back in a girl voice, "Yes you can". And then he bit the doll... I said, Carter, WHAT did you just say (laughing under my breath of course). And he shrugged his shoulders. And then he said, "Mommy, can I eat my butt?" And then he just kept saying it over and over and I tried to scold him, but I just kept laughing. This went on for about a week. Thank God he doesn't say it anymore, especially in public. How embarressing. What a cheeseball. ;)
My daughter Katie (who is 20 years old) must also have an advanced sense of humor as sheis reading this blog over and over, laughing out loud and saying to no one in particular "I smell like poop breath"..."poop gum"..."poop juice" AND "can I eat your butt?"
She is a 4.0 student at Malone College where I am sure this fall many members of the cross country team will be repeating these same phrases, maybe even while racing!! It's a good thing she is studying early childhood education...she'll fit right in! I'm just glad Aaron and Jacob have not been reading the blog. I'd really be in trouble then! (Harkening back to the days of Ace Ventura!)
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