Best Friends

Some of my best friends in the world gave us a shower today. It was amazing!! They always do it up right!!

Avery had a great time, only had one "mini" meltdown. Avery got a couple pairs of sandals, sneakers, cute dresses, lots of bedding and some toys! Brenda and Amy gave us a kids collection of Haitian music which is going to be great for her to listen to. We are so thankful for our friends, family and the generousity that so many people have shown us over the past month.

She continues to adjust wonderfully (with the exception of her eating issues.) We have resigned to letting her eat or not eat, and to stop stressing out about it so much. Today she has eaten well so I think there are good days and bad days. Overall, she is a super happy little girl and we are looking forward to our trip to NY on Friday!!!

Home One Month

Things are going well for little Avery. She is enjoying her new home and playing with her big brother and cousins. She seems to be adapting well, but she is VERY attached to me. Literally she has to be touching me when I am nearby. She doesn't go near strangers and loves to cuddle only with us or her brothers which I guess are all good signs she is realizing who her immediate family is. Grandma has been a trooper watching her and my two nieces while I am working. I have been back to work FT since the day after she got here, so Grandma is a lifesaver! Since I couldn't dump my teaching responsibilities on my coworkers, I am planning on taking my FMLA for the fall semster. So if all goes as planned, I'll be home with Avery from May until next Jan 2011.

As far as her appetite, she is still only eating apple sauce, oatmeal, bread, peanut butter and yogurt. Hasn't really brancheed out in the food area at all. She will not drink milk (even chocolate milk.)

We have moved her into her own room on a twin bed. She stays put for about 11 hours which is nice! When she wakes, she stands in the doorway until we come get her. Usually she wakes around 715, but this morning it was 630. All in all we are not complaining for a second about how well she sleeps. Actually my five year old wakes me up many more times in the night than she does.

We are still working on "sharing" as right now if we take anything out of her hand, that turns into a temper tantrum. Although, it does seem to be getting shorter in duration! I think it will help greatly when she understands what we are saying. Right now I show her how to share and she looks at me like I have two heads. I tried to speak Creole to her, but she doesn't seem to understand that either. I haven't heard her say any words in Creole. She does attempt English, but it's not understandable. For example, the word CUP is "Da". Most everything sounds like Da. She does say "Mom" well. I am wondering at what point we should look into speech therapy if she doesn't pronounce most sounds. She does a lot of pointing, but not much speaking so far.

Hair... all I have been able to have her sit still for (barely) is little pig tails. And honestly, after we take her shirt on and off just once, her hair is all ratty looking. Haven't figured out how to make it last longer, or how to get her to sit for longer than 2 minutes.

Next weekend, she and I are flying to NY for a shower and to visit Granny (Mike's mom) and I think the boys are looking forward to some quiet time with Daddy. That is one thing my boys have noticed, the noise level has tripled since she arrived! But they also follow that up with they don't mind and they're getting used to it! They absolutely adore her! But, she sure is loud when she puts her mind to it!

So that's how we are doing so far. Sorry about the blurring cell phone photos! Haven't had time to upload the good ones from the real camera!

We are the World-Haiti

Avery loves to watch this video and was shouting HAITI after it was over!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glny4jSciVI

Struggling

Any one else struggling with meal time?

I am shocked to find out how picky an eater Avery is. She will only eat about 4 foods. Rice/beans, yogurt (as long as there is no fruit in it), oatmeal, and veggie burgers. She won't even try most anything else. If I do "force" her to try anything else she spits it right out. This includes milk, cheese, ALL meats, ALL fruits, ALL vegetables, pasta, and eggs. She even spits out mashed potatoes.

Should I just keep feeding her those same 4 foods over and over? Keep reintroducing these others? Any ideas?

Hanging in there

Well after a very busy week, we are still hanging in there. Avery is adjusting well, but I think I underestimated the discipline issues in a 2 1/2 year old who doesn't speak English who has spent her whole life in an orphanage.

Most the time she is mild mannered and sweet but when she doesn't get her own way, WATCH OUT. She will throw a temper tantrum and scream VERY LOUDLY. My boys HATE loud noises, so I can tell this upsets them when she does it. I tell her to stop and try to calm her down, but most the time this only makes the screaming louder. I am counting the days to when she can understand what I am saying and I can reason with her somewhat. Definitely takes A LOT of patience and persistance. If anyone has tips for these screaming fits in a 2 year old who doesn't understand what I am saying, I would appreciate it! :)

She is very attached to me which is good (I think) and not quite as attached to Mike or anyone else in the family. Hopefully with time, she'll feel more comfortable with them and won't have to be "my shadow" when I am around. I keep reminding myself it has only been 10 days since she got to our country so all of this will soon be in the past.

She did get her blood drawn (more screaming) and the only concern was elevated lead levels. Most all the kids at the O have elevated lead levels and these should come down over time. Not sure what exactly this will mean for her development/behavior, guess only time will tell. She had no other issues as far as labs were concerned except for the cooties growing in her intestines. She tested positive for C.Diff (bacteria) and some other protozoa thing so far. Her samples have also been passed on to the NC state lab for further testing. So far, we are treating with Flagyl and her poo issues are getting a lot better already.

She loves yogurt more than any food so far and also loves Morningstar Veggie Patties. She also enjoys flavored oatmeal each and every morning. She HATES cheese, chicken, meat, vegetables, and most fruits...hopefully her tastes will change over time so we can feed her more than 3 foods.

She also will not drink milk or soy milk. Thought for sure vanilla soy milk would go over well, but no luck.

So that's where we are at so far! Taking it one day at a time!

Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent money/clothes. It has really helped us greatly, especially with all the flights I had to cancel last week (airlines were NOT understanding at all.) We appreciate everything!!!

ONE WEEK

Have a moment to post before the day begins...

Today marks one week since Avery joined our families and she fits us like a glove! We are so proud to be her parents and her brothers adore her as well!

All kids (and myself) are off from school today because of the snow (which is strange to us New Yorkers...it hasn't snowed since Saturday!) However, I have another consulting project at a race team I must go to for 1/2 the day today. Would have been awesome to just stay in all day...

Bless my mom who will be watching my nieces (10 months and 2) and my 3 kiddos. Snow days are the opposite of a day off for her.

Here's a photo of big brother Caden enjoying his new little sis!