Friday, September 05, 2008
Almost a week now
We've been home with M almost a week now and we are slowing shaking off the jet lag. It has been a challenging week.
C and K started school last week and are both playing soccer. So when Kevin's parents left us Sunday afternoon, we were on our own and pretty much had to jump right back into our lives, but with an 11-month-old baby in a foreign country, with strange caregivers, HOT weather, and different food.
M is remarkably flexible and doesn't complain about being dragged up out of a nap to get in the car to pick up the kids, or to go to a soccer practice. She's not particularly happy about it, but she likes to be with us, and she likes to ride in the stroller. She's not too keen on having hoards of strange kids at school gather round and poke at her (poor thing) and I keep having to shoo them away. We're big news at school and everyone is curious. M looks very Asian (from her father, we guess) and the kids are not bashful about suggesting that she looks Chinese. I am relieved to hear their questions and comments, because I would expect most people are wondering why we don't have a Caucasian baby after adopting from Russia. We found that there are so many different ethnic groups in Russia... more than we imagined. We think she is half Russian (mother) and half either Kazakh or Kalmyk. Kalmykia is a small republic within Russia that is very close to Stavropol and is made up of Central Asian descendents from nomadic Mongols a thousand years ago (or so). At any rate, M is Caucasian. She is from the Caucasus region!
I am still trying to figure out how to get M to sleep during the day. She fights her morning nap and screams! No comforting from me to get her to lay down again helps. Her bowel system is still off and she usually upsets herself more with a dirty diaper. Yesterday I think her crying was partly just grief that everything she knew and was familiar with is gone. I held her and comforted her and it was a good moment for me. I also realized that she was hungry. It's taking me a while to figure out what she needs. I was told it takes a couple of weeks to be able to figure out how to soothe an adopted baby. I learned this from an experienced adoptive couple who sat next to us on the flight from Moscow to Atlanta, with their third child from Russia.
The flight... it was brutal. Getting through the airport in Moscow was easy enough because M was comfortable sitting in the stroller. But you have to get there early, and then you wait and wait and wait for the plane to board. Then you're on the plane. For 11 hours. I counted four couples including us that were adopting, plus other babies too. I don't recall one moment when there wasn't crying coming from somewhere on the plane. As I mentioned, we sat next to another adoptive couple. Their daughter was 15 months old and was having such a difficult time sleeping. They had to keep getting up with her and walking around the airplane. They were saints! But while I enjoyed chatting with them between screams, I almost wished we had sat a little further apart, because their daughter would wake M from her catnap, then M would scream. Then they would settle, and M would get fussy and upset their daughter. Back and forth... and across the other direction some young girl insisted on leaving her window open for the ultra-bright sun to shine right in and I had the darndest time blocking it from M's eyes. I was
so happy to deboard the plane. And all the passengers around us were probably even more relieved.
M didn't get sick, but early this morning I heard her stuffy nose whistling and she tried to suck her thumb. She's got a cold finally. Kev just walked in with her... what a smiley face! I love that about her! But her poor lip is all crusted with schputz.
My blog-time is up for now. Please excuse as I will not have time to proof-read. More to come, later!
C and K started school last week and are both playing soccer. So when Kevin's parents left us Sunday afternoon, we were on our own and pretty much had to jump right back into our lives, but with an 11-month-old baby in a foreign country, with strange caregivers, HOT weather, and different food.
M is remarkably flexible and doesn't complain about being dragged up out of a nap to get in the car to pick up the kids, or to go to a soccer practice. She's not particularly happy about it, but she likes to be with us, and she likes to ride in the stroller. She's not too keen on having hoards of strange kids at school gather round and poke at her (poor thing) and I keep having to shoo them away. We're big news at school and everyone is curious. M looks very Asian (from her father, we guess) and the kids are not bashful about suggesting that she looks Chinese. I am relieved to hear their questions and comments, because I would expect most people are wondering why we don't have a Caucasian baby after adopting from Russia. We found that there are so many different ethnic groups in Russia... more than we imagined. We think she is half Russian (mother) and half either Kazakh or Kalmyk. Kalmykia is a small republic within Russia that is very close to Stavropol and is made up of Central Asian descendents from nomadic Mongols a thousand years ago (or so). At any rate, M is Caucasian. She is from the Caucasus region!
I am still trying to figure out how to get M to sleep during the day. She fights her morning nap and screams! No comforting from me to get her to lay down again helps. Her bowel system is still off and she usually upsets herself more with a dirty diaper. Yesterday I think her crying was partly just grief that everything she knew and was familiar with is gone. I held her and comforted her and it was a good moment for me. I also realized that she was hungry. It's taking me a while to figure out what she needs. I was told it takes a couple of weeks to be able to figure out how to soothe an adopted baby. I learned this from an experienced adoptive couple who sat next to us on the flight from Moscow to Atlanta, with their third child from Russia.
The flight... it was brutal. Getting through the airport in Moscow was easy enough because M was comfortable sitting in the stroller. But you have to get there early, and then you wait and wait and wait for the plane to board. Then you're on the plane. For 11 hours. I counted four couples including us that were adopting, plus other babies too. I don't recall one moment when there wasn't crying coming from somewhere on the plane. As I mentioned, we sat next to another adoptive couple. Their daughter was 15 months old and was having such a difficult time sleeping. They had to keep getting up with her and walking around the airplane. They were saints! But while I enjoyed chatting with them between screams, I almost wished we had sat a little further apart, because their daughter would wake M from her catnap, then M would scream. Then they would settle, and M would get fussy and upset their daughter. Back and forth... and across the other direction some young girl insisted on leaving her window open for the ultra-bright sun to shine right in and I had the darndest time blocking it from M's eyes. I was
so happy to deboard the plane. And all the passengers around us were probably even more relieved.
M didn't get sick, but early this morning I heard her stuffy nose whistling and she tried to suck her thumb. She's got a cold finally. Kev just walked in with her... what a smiley face! I love that about her! But her poor lip is all crusted with schputz.
My blog-time is up for now. Please excuse as I will not have time to proof-read. More to come, later!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
sounds like you have a house full of activity.
and a heart full of love... :)))
hope the cold is short lived for M. and that each day gives you such peace...
I certainly haven't had this experience, but I can't imagine it going much differently from what you're experiencing. As you implied, everything in M's world -- and yours changed. It's going to take all of you some time to adjust and learn each other's needs.
I know that it was hard when Slugger came home. (And I know that it's not even remotely the same, so please forgive the comparison.) But we slowly settled in and we keep making improvements and progress.
Post a Comment