Thursday, November 27, 2008

Our Lives






Sorry to have been gone so long guys. Life has been beyond crazy, keeping up with therapy schedules for Ananya. Prasun has had his doctors appointment. Ananya had botox done. Then we went to PA to visit family. I’m just happy to have a week to relax. I don’t have to go anywhere. I get to just spend time with the kids. We even left homeschool books in NC. We are doing a fieldtrip on Saturday. Friday Anthony is going out with his Pap-paw for awhile. That may count as a school day too, depending on what they do.

We are getting to know Prasun’s personality. He is an interesting little boy. He is still eating everything in sight. EVERYTHING!!! He is really grouchy if he doesn’t get his food quickly. I’m trying to help him calm down alittle. I’m also usually pretty prepared and have his food ready before he gets in his chair. We are also learning that this boy needs his beauty rest. He is a bear when he gets sleepy. Night time is not his best time. It has been a struggle to ensure he gets his nap with our crazy schedule. I just have to try to plant around the nap.

We have discovered that he likes most things to eat. He doesn’t like bread, prunes or salty snacks. He likes baths. He splashes so much. He is playing with an empty coffee can at the moment. He is perfectly happy. 3 minutes ago he was laying in the floor crying. No reason really. Just being Prasun. We thought that Ananya was a drama queen. Now we have been taught what a drama queen (king) is.

Prasun likes to feed himself. He does a very good job. Sometimes I can just give him his food and actually eat my food. He likes to talk. He repeats just about everything that we say. This week in PA he has picked up “I love you” and “all done”. My personal favorite is when he says “Mommy”. The funniest thing was the day he said “baby”. Only it came out “BAAABY”. It sounded so southern. He also has started pulling himself up on the furniture. He does really well. I’m so proud of the progress he is making.

Ananya and Prasun are getting along very well. When Prasun throws a fit, Ananya will stop and stare at him. They like to hold hands and sing. It really is just the cutest thing. Prasun likes to crawl through the house saying “Ananya”. Ananya just laughs. You would think it was the funniest joke. One day, we turned around and Ananya was laying on her back and Prasun had his hand and was pulling her through the house. I’ve found him crawling on the bottom shelf of the end tables.

All of the kids are getting along well. Anthony likes having a brother and sister. He is still bonding with Prasun. He dolls over Ananya still. I know that in the next few months, they will get closer. He is a great helper for me when we have things to do. He likes to push the stroller. He opens doors for me. The 2 babies get along well. They don’t fight very much. No one has been struck in the head with any toys. I’m impressed. Prasun is a fighter when he has a toy that he likes. Ananya can’t take it from him. He gets loud and will hit. We have to watch because he bites. He has bit Patrick 2 times.

Ananya’s botox appointment went well. We were out of the hospital in less than 2 hours. She did well the rest of the day.

We got haircuts a week and a half ago. Ananya got her first haircut since coming home. We just got the ends cut off. Prasun just got his cut all over. It wasn’t quite the nightmare that I expected. Prasun didn’t hold still. I pretty much held him down. I got my hair cut off too. I was so sick of my hair being a handle.

We got lucky and got to have dinner with another Dillon family since soming to PA. Peter and Melissa were nice enough to have us for dinner on Sunday. It was very nice to get all the kids together to play. Ananya and Prasun enjoyed exploring their home. Their daughters are just gorgeous. I’ll post the pictures when I get home. We got some good pictures.

I wish I had taken more pictures since we got home. I’ve tried to get the camera out. I just don’t seem to have time. I’m trying to keep up with the house and laundry, homeschooling and therapy, and not forget any doctors appointments. Its proving to be a challenge. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon.

I’ll add more pictures when I get home. I’ll try to get a couple on my phone that I can download on to the computer.

I’ve been thinking a lot of my trip lately. I’m missing India. It was gorgeous. I can’t wait to go back. I’m hoping my next trip is to do mission work.

Well everyone have a Happy Turkey Day. I’m very thankful for all of my wonderful children, my friends and my family. Without them, I’m not sure I could have gotten through either of our adoption processes.

Monday, November 10, 2008

I Have To Brag

Today I'm realizing that I have 2 boy geniuses. I'm mom so I can say that.
Normally I don't brag on my kids alot. I think they are great but I don't expect everyone else to thing as highly as I do.
Prasun is amazing.
Today he was mimicking me. I yelled for Ananya because she was in the other room. He piped in with "Anany". He did it 2 or 3 times. Then I said "say sissy" and he said "sissy".
I know he will be talking in just a few weeks.
I'll add pictures later. I'm going to take a nap while the babies are down.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Settling and Resting





I'm getting kind of used to this. The kids are doing well. Ananya isn't quite as clingy as I thought she would be. Prasun is doing well except for time to take a nap yesterday. He refused to go to sleep. I think it was past nap time and he got over tired though. I think the poor boy is as tired as I am. I'm ok for about the first 2 hours that I'm awake. Then I start to feel really bad.
Patrick is getting used to 2 of them. Getting used to the fact that Prasun weighs so much more than Ananya. Getting used to both of them wanting held at the same time. He doesn't like to hold both of them and refuses to let me do it. I on the other hand love it. I love both of my babies in my arms.
I'm very impressed that they haven't tried to hurt each other fighting over toys. We definitely have to watch them both. They do play together well. Ananya is actually a very sweet sister. She will pat him on the back when we are laying down. Yesterday Patrick gave them a bath. Prasun is so scared of the water. He starts to hyperventilate a bit. Ananya reached over and started rubbing his back. Patrick said it was so cute. I didn't witness because I was half dead in bed.
I love seeing the differences in these 2. Prasun loves his sippy cup. He drinks so much. Ananya will mostly only drink if its sweet tea or Pepsi. Prasun loves to feed himself. Ananya is content to let us do it. Prasun hates cold drinks or anything sour like orange juice. Ananya pretty much eats everything not nailed down.
He is sitting next to me eating a banana right now. It is too cute. I think he will be saying a least a few words in the next few weeks. Patrick says he looks through the books and asks "what's that?" I heard him say thank you at the airport in Chicago after I said it. We may be able to get him cruising around with furniture soon. He stands really well. I'm excited to get all his services started soon to see how quickly he picks things up. He is so smart.
I hope to have even more pictures of the 2 of them up. Maybe even all 3 of them. Anthony is adjusting well. I'm sure they will get close once we get settled into some sort of routine. He had a birthday party to go to this weekend. I'm sure we will see this week what happens with me and all 3 kids.
Oh 1 thing I didn't mention about Prasun is that he has a temper. When things aren't going his way, boy will he scream.
Well, I have to go. He has decided he doesn't want to eat the banana or sit in the highchair. And so my day begins.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Home At Last


We are home at last. Well, yesterday we were home at last. Today I'm trying to figure out how to take care of 2 kids at the same time. I now have a realistic respect for moms of twins.
Yesterday I took the kids to Sam's (with my friend of course). Prasun had his first ride in a shopping cart. At first he was scared but just took it in stride and went with it. Ananya reached over real nice and easy. I was thinking she was being sweet and then...
She pulled his hair. I don't think she got a good grip because he didn't scream. He looked so confused though. I told her she wasn't supposed to do that. He later returned the favor. I let him pull one time before I stopped him. I'm so glad that he doesn't seem to be willing to be bullied.
One thing that I've discovered is that Ananya isn't the only jealous one. I put Ananya in the sling for a few minutes and once I took her out he threw a fit and kept reaching for the sling. He wanted in it.
He went to bed early last night so Ananya got me all to herself for dinner. She would not let anyone else get near her with food.
Oh yeah. Prasun finally started eating. The last meal on the flight he decided he would eat some yogurt. I was so happy. Although I got him in a headlock and pried his mouth open to get the first bite in. After that though, he ate 1 1/2 cups of it. When we got home, Teena was able to get some food in him. This morning he ate a good breakfast.
Which brings me to this morning. Prasun woke up several times last night. At 5:30 I just let him be up. I got a shower and dressed myself while he played with the remote. Then I dressed him. I put him in his highchair with some lucky charms and went to get Ananya up. I got her dressed and fixed her hair. Then I got everyone's breakfast ready. Let me just say that was an interesting experience. Prasun tried to feed himself but it was just enough distraction for me to get the food in. Ananya tried to refuse breakfast because I was feeding her brother. We had to have alittle discussion about that. I got the kids and the dishes cleaned up and put them in the floor to play. I've discovered a couple things:
-Some toys we might need to buy 2 of. They both went after the same toy. There was no hitting, but I wasn't sure the toy would remain in 1 piece if I didn't intervene.
-I can't sit on the couch. If I do I quickly one of them putting on my leg to pick them up. If one is up then the other wants up. That is kind of interesting because Ananya weighs in at about 21 pounds. I'm thinking Prasun is at least 25 pounds. Quite a load.
Well I have to get the other child up and pack a diaper bag so we can go to Ananya's therapy this morning.
I'll try to post alittle more later about our trip home. It may be a short post because it was a pretty uneventful trip. I do have a couple of gripes and 1 very interesting story but it can wait until we get settled down some.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot to eat breakfast this morning. And I almost gave Ananya's medicine to Prasun. Got to be careful (it probably wouldn't hurt and I won't be surprised if he ends up one the medicine too. It's related to her CP which he has.)

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Today

Well today is the day we are headed home. We are going to run to the orphanage real quick and snap some more pictures before we leave. My flight for Delhi leaves at 5:30pm and then we leave Delhi for the US at 12:55am. I'm hoping because it is so late Prasun will be able to sleep. I don't think it should be too bad.
I'm anxious to get home but would love alitle extra time with the other families. Luckily Joy is right down the road at home.
Well I'm going to finish packing.

Afternoon

Well, this evening we kind of turned a corner I think. Prasun slept all morning. Pretty much the whole thing. He would get upset, I’d comfort him, and he would fall asleep. I just let him do it. I wasn’t worried.

He woke up from a nap in Kristi’s room and seemed ok. They were going out so I joined them. I did a diaper change and put him in the sling and was ready to go. We walked for a couple blocks to the Barista. I love the iced mochas. Its nice to have coffee with Kristi. We wanted to for so long. Anyways, back to the story. We walked. Checked out some shops along the way. Tried to dodge the street vendors, then the beggars. We were pretty successful. Prasun did well. He was looking around and smiling at Kristi, even smiling at me occassionally. He fell asleep before we got to the hotel.

Once we were back in the room, I put him on the bed. He wanted to sit and play with the book that Kristi gave him. I set him up and was doing something else. When I turned again (after a few seconds), he had gone from sitting to on his knees and he was crawling across the bed. The next thing I knew he picked up the remote and put it to his ear and said “HELLO”. I couldn’t even believe it. He made a few noises, but nothing like words. Not even bengali. He said Hello several times when I asked him to do it again. I got a video of it. I can’t get it loaded on blogger though. Big surprise.

We went down to dinner for a little bit. I was really intent on getting him to eat something. I didn’t see any great options. I grabbed a dessert. Well nothing was working so I tried the strawberry mousee. He wouldn’t let me hold the spoon. I helped him feed himself a few bites of dessert. Then he started playing and like 15 Indian people sat down next to us. I just felt uncomfortable because I didn’t think they would understand our situation. I wasn’t getting anymore food in him anyways. We came back to the room, and I figured it was time for a bath.

I think the bathtub scared the crap out of him. I tried to put him in. He just looked so scared and shocked that I just jumped in with him. He relaxed alittle more that way. Didn’t enjoy it but did relax some and splash alittle. I got him all fixed in his PJ’s. It was 9pm by then and I thought he was acting very tired so I put him to sleep. Let me rephrase that. I tried to put him to sleep. He decided to show his will. He was screaming and arching his back. I just kept doing my thing. It lasted at most 10 minutes and he was out. He has been sleeping for an hour. I’ve gotten my shower. I’ve got to get up in the morning and pack. We leave tomorrow afternoon. I’m sad to leave Kristi and Jason. They have been wonderful friends and so helpful to me. I’ve loved having time to meet and get to know Kristi. I’ll be glad to get home to my other 2 babies. I’ve missed them. And my bed and my home. Only 1 more day and I’ll be back. Can’t wait.

Out of Order Post-Taj Mahal




This is from Saturday night.
Today was an exciting, exhausting day. After spending all day in bed yesterday just because I felt like it, today I was up at the crack of dawn. Kuldeep took me to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. We also visited the 2nd Red Fort and the birth place of Krishna.
Word of advice, don’t go to Agra on a Saturday. It was packed. And I mean packed like you only get in India. We had to get a guide to help us just to get in the gate. Kuldeep was so wonderful. He didn’t want to let me out of his sight for even a second. His Uncle drove us in his car and he stayed close as well. The other guest was Kuldeep’s son, who is 14. He is such a quite and shy boy.
I hate to be so brief but I’m going to upload a couple pictures with this post, eat dinner and go to bed early. I’m leaving at 5am for the airport. I’ll post more once I get to Kolkata. I’m cheaping out and didn’t get more internet access last night so I’m just going to buy a few hours worth for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll be up and running again.
I’m safe all and having a great time. Can’t wait to get back with Kristi and Jason in Kolkata tomorrow night. Gotcha day is coming quickly.
Love all of you.

November 4th... The Day After




Don't forget to scroll down. There are pics in old posts.

It was an interesting night. We had our first parent/child experience. Prasun threw up on me. He woke up and started fussing a little. I got him on to my chest. Then he started retching some. I of course didn’t catch on quick enough. I got puked on. It was really sad to see him not feeling good. He did it again at about 6:00 this morning. I was alittle quicker this time though.

I think that this is just his coping mechanism. I don’t think he is making himself throw up. I think he is so stressed that it is just happening. I’m sure it will pass with time. I just have to make sure to pack up both some extra clothes for the trip home.

I got us ready for breakfast and we went down alone. Shaili was still asleep. Prasun is completely withdrawn today. Its hard for me to watch. I just hold him tight let him know I’m here. At breakfast, he wouldn’t eat anything. I even tried chocolate pancakes that he could feed himself. He wasn’t having any of that. I did get him to drink a couple ounces of water and about 4 ounces of orange juice. He does really well with a cup. I managed to not spill most of it down the front of him. One of the waiters came up and put his arm on Prasun. He informed me that he had a fever. I feel bad because I couldn’t tell. I can never tell with Ananya either though. Afer breakfast, I came back to the room and gave him some tylenol. He quickly went to sleep. He is still napping beside me. Anytime he wakes up, I hold him and let him know that mommy is here to stay.

He is still very sad and withdrawn. I’m having a bit of a hard time with all of this. I can’t do anything but hold on to him. I know that in a few days I’ll see the change. He will start to cling to me more. He will start to come out. In a few months, we get to see his true personality coming out for good. In a year or 2, I will barely remember this child that I’m holding and stressing over today. The whole process has been the repetition of 1 phrase. “I know the ending. It is good.” Today I’m clinging to that. Ananya didn’t mourn. She decided to cling to me and not let go. He is so different. He responds more like I do. He seems to want to sleep through all this. It hurts so he wants to sleep. I’m the same way. I understand. I know that today will ge better. Tomorrow might even be better.

Today I think Amisha is coming to the hotel. Her family is picking her up. They are transfering to our hotel. I’m so excited. I’m hoping that Amisha and Prasun can be a little more comfortable being together today. Well I’m going to hold my baby. I’ll try to update as I can.

Gotcha Day Recap

Scroll down as I've added pics to other posts because Jason found a guy that rocks and fixed the computers.

OK so the internet isn’t working and I’m guessing the easiest way to do this is just journal and post as I can.

Yesterday was Gotcha Day. Kristi tried to call Ms. Roy before we went to breakfast but she wasn’t coming in until 11am. We went down to sample the breakfast here. Nothing can compare to the breakfast at the Hyatt. No more fresh squeezed juice, no coconut somosas, even the mousseli isn’t the same. They have cold mousseli here. Its kind of like cornflakes in yogurt. Its good.

After breakfast, Kristi called Ms. Roy again. This time she was able to talk to her. She was negogiating for the earliest time. Kristi is so funny. She makes me look patient. She kept saying “I just want my stinkin’ baby.” Jason arranged for a car and we were waiting anxiously for 11:15 to get here. In the meantime we tried to fix the internet connection. As you can see that was a raving success (NOT!!!).

When 11:15 finally rolled around, we loaded our stuff outside to get in the car. Guess what? Lots of stuff, little car. We managed to cram everything in there. Our driver didn’t speak english, at all. The hotel staff explained to him where we were going. We had to stop and change some money on the way. Of course the driver had to stop for directions 3 times before we finally got to the orphanage.

It was just the way I remember it. We walked up the stairs and Ms. Roy greeted us. She ushered us into the office to start going through the paperwork. She took care of Jason and Kristi first. We learned that we had a Consulate appointment at 2:00 so we didn’t have much time. As we went over Prasun’s paperwork, Kristi started snapping all the pictures. Ms. Roy informed me that Prasun was at the other building still and they were going to have us drop by and get him. I went into the other room and started admiring all the babies. I couldn’t resist picking some of them up. I can’t even imagine leaving the orphanage with one of the little ones. The next thing I knew, Ms. Roy told me Prasun was here. I grabbed Kristi and was like “you have to come with me now.”

I walked back into the reception area. My boy was sitting in the chair. My first thought was that he was so big. He is tall and filled out well. I couldn’t even believe it. I went over and kneeled down in front of him. He was scared. Ms. Roy kept telling me that he talks and he stands and he developed so much. I can vouch for the developing part. He has made huge gains in the last 18 months.

He would smile and then he would look sad. He would smile for the camera though. He is such a ham. We quickly were ushered out the door to make it to the Consulate on time.

We got there only like 5 minutes late. Not too bad. We went in and went into an office. Waited a few minutes and got sent to another office. Then we were called to the window. The agent had a form filled out by Ms. Roy already and I just had to sign it. We paid the fee, and were told that the packet would be read in a few minutes. The funniest thing about all this was that everywhere we go, people assume I’m married to Jason. I don’t know if they completely think through me and Kristi both being there. Anyways, the visa packets were both done in like 10 minutes. We were ready to go back to the hotel.

On the way back, our driver just about started a fight and caused a wreck because the person in front of us wasn’t moving as the driver thought he should. We luckily made it back to the hotel safe and in one piece.

I went to the room with Prasun. We were trying to figure each other out. I got out some cookies and ensure for him. Of course I managed to spill the ensure on him. He liked the cookies. He took one and started nibbling on it. I was just amazed. He is so different from Ananya. She’s loud and he’s quiet. She’s loud and he’s shy. She just expects food to land in her mouth and he will put it there himself. Yeah!!! It was so cute to watch him eat the cookies. After a couple I decided it was definitely nap time. After multiple tries, I figured out that I could rock him. He had cried for maybe 2 minutes but nothing big. He wants to cry so bad and just doesn’t. Its really sad. He slept for about and hour and a half. We cuddled alittle. I can tell he just cuddles because he isn’t sure what to do. He still had the sad look on his face. I sang him a few songs (poor baby) and realized that he likes “I’m picking up a baby bumble bee” the best. He will usually laugh alittle. I got him dressed for dinner. He wasn’ quite sure what to think of that.

I went next door to see if Kristi was still ok with going to dinner. After alittle debate, we ended up going. We were very glad that we did. We met 2 ladies from Sweden who had both adopted before. They were picking up the baby on Tuesday. It was a very good dinner. Prasun drank alittle water and I learned a lesson. He doesn’t like cold water. I found a small bottle of water in my purse and he was happy. I tried to give him a bite of rice and he gave me the strangest look. I tried a couple more bites but he refused so I let him. Afterwards it took us a few tries to get a cab back to the hotel. I went to Jason and Kristi’s room for a little bit. Prasun and Shaili were playing well with us. Prasun was enjoying playing with a ball. He liked to throw it. He is pretty good. He nailed me in the forehead with it once. He stood up for me. He stands really well. But then… Out of nowhere… the tears started. I rather quickly excused myself so as not to upset Shaili and went back to our room. Prasun calmed down. The inernet randomly started working. I called Patrick and Prasun started again. Luckily the internet connection died. I tried to feed Prasun some oatmeal. He didn’t like that. He didn’t want anything. I finally just concentrated on getting him to sleep. It took a couple tries and a few minutes of him crying but I got him to sleep.

Such a Big Boy!!

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