Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Life outside



We have had Kaylee for 5 days now. It feels like she has been a part of our family forever. Sometimes I forget that we just took her out of an orphanage, like today at the grocery store. She was in a stroller and started screaming, I knew she was tired and just ignored it. Of course, everyone else did not ignore it, and finally I started to realize just how loud she was when I noticed all the stares. I bent down and covered her mouth with my hand and said "shhh", thinking she would be ok. Her screams got louder and I could tell she was about to cry, I picked her up and she was fine. I just forgot that she has lived her whole life in an orphanage and has only seen the four walls in her room and maybe occasionally the hall way until we arrived. So, for her to go to a grocery store and not see anyone or anything familiar was probably really terrifying to her. Poor baby.

Things have been going amazingly well with Kaylee. Like I said, she really does feel as though she has always been with us. Things are going even better than I imagined. She doesn't have any "orphanage behaviors" that I can tell. She does scream some, but I think that is just her way of communicating, since she doesn't know of any other way. She doesn't scream as much since being with us. She loves Malika and Justus, and they love her. All of my worries with Justus were for nothing. He loves her. They all act like brother and sisters already, even having the occasional fight. 

Our train ride into Kiev went so much better than the last one. There was AC on this one. I think we made the right move to take the evening train, the kids slept for the last half of it. 

Things have been a little difficult here in Kiev. We are all ready to come home, and I know it is only a few more days, but we are quite homesick. We have switched apartments since coming here, the first we only stayed at one night, because of the cost, no internet, and it was far away from everything we would need. So, we switched to a new one, which seemed much better at first, then we realized things don't work properly here or are broken and it is so dirty it is disgusting. You will thank me for not going into details :). It has internet and it is in a wonderful part of town, close to everything we need, so we are managing. I am trying not to complain too much, and that is why it has taken me so long to actually write a post, I just didn't want to complain too much. 

Today we had our first embassy appointment. The appointment went really well, and we even met another Reece's Rainbow family, the Hinz Family, they were so sweet, and like us, they brought their two biological children with them. They have adopted two children, Dusty and Sonia. When I saw the kids, I thought they were maybe 2 or 3, but no, they are 5 and 6. I am just amazed when I see children who are so neglected they look several years younger than what they truly are. I am so glad for these babies to be adopted by a loving family who will truly care and love them to health. Please pray for them, especially for Dusty. They said if you patted his belly, it sounded like a watermelon. I felt his belly and I have never felt anything like it before. And you could even feel his hip bones. The embassy doctor wasn't so kind to them and even said Dusty would not live long. Makes me angry that a doctor would barely look at him and make some comment like that, when God is the author of life and decides that. 

This evening, we met another Reece's Rainbow family, the Cox family. They actually stopped us on the street, because they saw Kaylee. I love getting to meet other RR families, even if we have nothing in common, adopting special needs kids draws us together. It is a special kind of bond.

I have figured out why Kaylee cried that first night after dinner when I put her on the floor, she loves food. I think it is funny and sad all at the same time, even if I know she has eaten enough and can't be hungry, she still wants food and cries big huge tears, and might I say, sounds pathetic. Makes me almost feel sorry for her and give her more food. She is ok after she has been distracted, or Josh brought these Mum-mum rice cake things for babies, if I give her one, she is ok with that, and I imagine it has virtually no calories. So, I have a theory about why she spit up while in the orphanage, since she hasn't spit up since we got her. I bet she cried after they fed her and felt sorry for her or thought she was still hungry and fed her more until she was over-fed. Of course, this is just a theory, so who knows. She is quite chunky, so she definitely was fed. Makes me that much  more grateful for good nannies when I see children like Dusty who looks malnourished. 

Kaylee loves food and did not seem too picky about what she ate, until we tried gerber baby foods. Two days ago, she loved it, now she turns her head away, probably knowing that our food not only smells better, but tastes better. She has eaten everything I have given her even if it is a McDonalds hamburger, she was starving though. I brought a jar of baby food to the embassy with us and she refused to eat it, but I know she was still hungry, and of course I felt sorry for her. Hey, I wouldn't eat it either. :) I promise, it won't become a habit. 



Here is a video of Justus feeding Kaylee his dinner. I love to watch her eat. 

6 comments:

  1. Aww, Crystal. This just made me cry! This is SO SWEET!! ;0) I can't wait to squeeze your children AND YOU TOO! I miss you guys sooo much!

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  2. Must have been their room...Ana would eat 24/7 if we let her. The most crying she does is when food is involved. She eats anything and will continue until we drag her away from the table.

    So glad things are going well! I was getting worried with no posts or e-mails for a bit.

    See you back in the AL soon ;)

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  4. What a sweet family picture! You guys are almost home. You're going to make it! :)

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  5. it is so great to hear your voice! she is soooo precious. i like watching her eat too. i had a dream that i adopted a little boy about 2 years old with down syndrome. what stands out to me was the moment he was officially ours and we could take him home. i guess i got a pseudo taste of the amazing joy y'all are experiencing.
    my half sister you know has down syndrome and was given for adoption. this really is drawing my heart to adopt a child with down syndrome.

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