Two Weeks Home and Doing GREAT!

We keep being asked how everything is going. In a word--FANTASTIC! The kids have adjusted amazingly well. They have transitioned as flawlessly as we could expect, and we are so proud of the way all three of the kids have adapted to being a family of five. Time has absolutely flown by and I couldn't believe it when I noticed today that we have been home for two weeks. We continue to be blessed by visits from family and friends which has been wonderful. It's been a blast introducing Maria and Andres to all of these special people. They usually win over hearts very quickly as they love to greet people with hugs, kisses and/or huge smiles.

Matt eased back into work which was nice. The kids were able to handle his full-day absences once he got back into the swing of things. I wasn't sure how things were going to go with me parenting solo, but the kids have been great. Luke is a HUGE help, and I have to say that being a mom of three has been a million times easier than I ever expected. I don't know if it's because I prepared myself for utter chaos or what. But when I think back to how difficult it was to parent an infant, I feel so blessed to be in the here and now with a 2, 4, and 8 year old. They are all pretty easy going and I have thoroughly enjoyed every day I have spent with them!

There have been a number of things that make us laugh. For example, for the first few days at home, I kept finding Maria and Andres over by our air vents. They thought it was the neatest thing that cold air came out of them. I guess living in a stable climate of 60 degrees, they've probably never experienced air conditioning to that degree. They also find it fascinating when the garage doors open magically. I'm sure they have electronic garage doors in Colombia, but they clearly haven't seen any. Maria still squeals each day when we pick out a new outfit to wear. Andres--well he could care less. He just wants to get to his cars or the dog toys. Which leads me to our 15 year old dog, Max. He has done very well with the kids. Pretty much ignores them. Poor dog, I wonder how many years I have shaved off of his life by bringing three kids into his life. I have a feeling he'd be vying for the "oldest dog in the world" title had those factors not entered.

Their language continues to get better. They seem to understand quite a bit of what we say, or at least they are indulging us Andres tries to mimic sounds. He still points a lot rather than use word and says a lot of Mama and Papa for pretty much everything, but we have also added "choo choo" "dog" (which sounds nothing like dog but has the same vowel sound and "Dre Dre" which is what we call him sometimes. Unfortunately, with his speaking deficiency, he can't express himself when he gets upset so he likes to hit his brother and sister. If any of you have any ideas of ways to work through this, I would love it. I really am trying to get him to make sounds, even, but he's much more content and comfortable with hitting to express himself. Maria does a good job of repeating words and uses words like "chips," "water," "bubbles," "thank you," "please," and "I love you" whenever she has a chance. But I am most proud to say that I have two Jayhawks to add to the fan base. Maria loves to listen to the Jayhawk fight song and the Rock Chalk chant. Whenever they see a Jayhawk, Andres gives it a strong point of the finger while Maria screams"Jayhawk." It's music to my ears and they both look fantastic in crimson and blue!

People keep asking us what the most difficult part has been since we've been home. Well, as I could only think of two things, there hasn't been much that's led to difficulties. The first one is bedtime. The kids are not real hip on going to bed. I try to remind myself that I, too, was like that as a kid. Then I got married, had kids and, well, the rest is history. Anyway, they love to take baths and play in the water. They are pro tooth brushers (or at least Andres is a pro toothpaste eater) but they hate it when it's time to get into bed. We try to soften the blow by reading them stories. Matt reads to Maria, Luke, mainly, reads to Andres while I lay beside them. But when it's time to turn the lights out, mayhem. It took a few days to get Andres to stay in his bed. But now, he may squawk for 15 seconds and he's done. A real faker, he is! Maria, on the other hand, is a little different. She hates it and screams and cries. At one point, it got pretty bad (especially when I was out of the house--go figure on that one. She couldn't stand the sight of me the first few days we had her and now she can't stand to go to bed without seeing me--that's PROGRESS!) So, I decided to try some consequences. These kids love their fruits. So I promised her lots of fruits if she went to bed without crying. The first night, she cried/screamed. So, the next day, no fruit. The next night, NO CRYING! I was so excited. She's gone back and forth but we have gone two night in a row now with no crying. So, maybe we are making headway. The second part that's been tough is dinner time. You know, when it was the three of us, if Matt was going to be late, or if we were having a busy night (which is frequently) I shoved a Kid Cuisine in the oven for Luke and made myself a sandwich. Easy enough. Well, those days are gone. I have found it quite difficult to plan, prepare and serve a meal for five in a timely manner without it taking up a good portion of our evening and our real "family" time to go outside and play. I may have to look at one of those places that prepares meals ahead for you and then they can be frozen. I don't know. Something is going to have to change. Or maybe I'm just going to have to just give it time so I can adapt and get better at the whole thing. Thank goodness my in-laws stocked our refrigerator and pantry before we got home. Outside of running to Sam's Club for milk ($2.99/gallon which is why I go there since we go through 4+ gallons a week!) and a few other things, I have not had time to go to the store and do some full out shopping. I hoped to tackle that yesterday but it looks like it may be the weekend or later before I get the chance again. We have a pretty full weekend ahead.

Well, if you are wondering what else we have been up to here are some pics to show you:

Enjoying new toys

Playing dress up

Riding a bike

Watching balloons go up into the sky

Celebrating Luke's 8th birthday!

Discovering concrete can be beautiful

Learning what a sprinkler is

Slipping and sliding

Cheering on Big Brother Luke

Loving each other and our family every day

And eating like crazy! (Note for these final two pics: The kids acted like they had never had tacos. Andres decided to stab his with a fork, and Maria ate hers from the top of the shell.)