Friday, February 09, 2007
The Wilson Scott Five
So we have been home a week and all is well. No one has left, no one has run away, no one has
given up. We are all doing our part to adjust to all the newness. It is taking some longer than others, but we are all patient.
Soon after we arrived home my parents went back to their home, they had frozen pipes so needed to get home to see about them. Paul's parents came as well, brought Sujina a beautiful blanket, one that only Linda can make, and on Sunday they were gone too. Paul was not to be at work until Monday am, but around 10am work called and Paul was
needed at 1pm. This meant that I was going to be "on" before I was mentally ready. So Paul went off and we went for a walk.
Beck has been having a hard time learning to share with his sister; sharing time with mom, sharing toys, books, lap time, and hugs and kisses. He tells Sujina that I am his mom, "not jina's mom". I think it has mostly to do with the fact that he is two, not that he doesn't like his new
sister.
Rowe has taken his sister in and loves her very much, he talks to her in the car, keeps Beck from
hitting her, reads to her and helps with her bottle. She had taken to him as well, she loves to crawl all over him and given him "kisses". She is curious about Beck and wants to engage him but so far he will have none of it. He has little moments when he wants to be nice, but for now they are moments only.
I remember all to well Rowe being the same way with Beck. It is hard to share mom!
I am slowly adjusting to having three kids; three kids to feed, cloth, love, read to, play with, comfort etc..... the list goes on. I am lucky that Rowe is big enough to dress him self, get himself juice and the newest item on his "big boy" list, is being able to click himself in his carseat! He is now in the back and so has taught himself to buckle all the way in. Very proud of himself too!
After Paul went to work on Sunday the kids and I decided to walk down to the lake. It was a little chilly out but was sunny and we needed to get out of the house. The boys walked and I wore Sujina in the bjorn. As usual getting to the lake was easy and fun until Beck dedided to walk through a deep water puddle. Feet soaked we kept going. We got down to the lake and it was frozen. The boys thought that was really interesting, so we had to throw lots of rocks to watch the ice crack.
We stayed a bit to long and Beck was not happy with his shoes, Sujina was getting a little cold and Rowe wanted to feed the ducks more. So we started walking back and when we got to the big hill Beck did not want to walk. He actually ran back down the hill a little and then stopped and started crying. Sujina was crying a little at this point, but on and off. Rowe was just watching what was happening.
We finally get to the top of the hill, my back is killing me but my son didn't want to walk any longer and refuses to go anymore. Sujina was full on crying at this point and Rowe was saying "Mom I think she is cold." And she was. Did I remember her bottle? No.... I just wanted us to get out of the house for a while.
By the time we all got back home, I was carring two children both crying and trying to keep Rowe together with us. We went inside and and tried to get everyone warm. Of course everyone wanted me to hold them, comfort them and make them more comfortable. Being the mom that I am, I wanted to do this for all of them. I wanted to make them all happy and relaxed. I didn't realize at the time that I was super stressed out and they were feeding off of me.
I was worried about Sujina feeling comfortable with us, worried that Beck was going to feel left out and unloved, worried that Rowe would just be mad that he had a new sister.
With everyone crying or on the verge I just sat down and started crying too. I guess I really needed to just let go. There was so much stress in Nepal and around coming home that I really needed to just let it out.
I think I freaked out Rowe and Beck a little, but after we all cried and settled down it seemed that we were all much more at ease. Paul did not come home until around 8pm and by that time we were all good.
Since then I have felt very confident about having three kids and being able to deal with them. I think I was more worried about making everyone happy and once I let that go and came to terms with not being able to, and that it was okay, my stress level went way down.
I am not saying that I have it all undercontrol now, we still have our time issues, our sharing
issues and our taking turns issues but I am mentally better prepared to deal with them now.
As each day goes by our sleeping patterns are getting back to "normal" or at least on Central
time. Sujina is sleeping through most of the night and not waking until 7am! Or if she does wake, she just wants a bottle and then back to sleep! The boys play together very well now, so I know with more time they will all play well together.
This has been a wonderful experience, and one that I would not trade for the world. Sujina is a
true blessing and we are so thankful that she is here with us.
Here is a photo of our "New Family". Now we are complete.
given up. We are all doing our part to adjust to all the newness. It is taking some longer than others, but we are all patient.
Soon after we arrived home my parents went back to their home, they had frozen pipes so needed to get home to see about them. Paul's parents came as well, brought Sujina a beautiful blanket, one that only Linda can make, and on Sunday they were gone too. Paul was not to be at work until Monday am, but around 10am work called and Paul was
needed at 1pm. This meant that I was going to be "on" before I was mentally ready. So Paul went off and we went for a walk.
Beck has been having a hard time learning to share with his sister; sharing time with mom, sharing toys, books, lap time, and hugs and kisses. He tells Sujina that I am his mom, "not jina's mom". I think it has mostly to do with the fact that he is two, not that he doesn't like his new
sister.
Rowe has taken his sister in and loves her very much, he talks to her in the car, keeps Beck from
hitting her, reads to her and helps with her bottle. She had taken to him as well, she loves to crawl all over him and given him "kisses". She is curious about Beck and wants to engage him but so far he will have none of it. He has little moments when he wants to be nice, but for now they are moments only.
I remember all to well Rowe being the same way with Beck. It is hard to share mom!
I am slowly adjusting to having three kids; three kids to feed, cloth, love, read to, play with, comfort etc..... the list goes on. I am lucky that Rowe is big enough to dress him self, get himself juice and the newest item on his "big boy" list, is being able to click himself in his carseat! He is now in the back and so has taught himself to buckle all the way in. Very proud of himself too!
After Paul went to work on Sunday the kids and I decided to walk down to the lake. It was a little chilly out but was sunny and we needed to get out of the house. The boys walked and I wore Sujina in the bjorn. As usual getting to the lake was easy and fun until Beck dedided to walk through a deep water puddle. Feet soaked we kept going. We got down to the lake and it was frozen. The boys thought that was really interesting, so we had to throw lots of rocks to watch the ice crack.
We stayed a bit to long and Beck was not happy with his shoes, Sujina was getting a little cold and Rowe wanted to feed the ducks more. So we started walking back and when we got to the big hill Beck did not want to walk. He actually ran back down the hill a little and then stopped and started crying. Sujina was crying a little at this point, but on and off. Rowe was just watching what was happening.
We finally get to the top of the hill, my back is killing me but my son didn't want to walk any longer and refuses to go anymore. Sujina was full on crying at this point and Rowe was saying "Mom I think she is cold." And she was. Did I remember her bottle? No.... I just wanted us to get out of the house for a while.
By the time we all got back home, I was carring two children both crying and trying to keep Rowe together with us. We went inside and and tried to get everyone warm. Of course everyone wanted me to hold them, comfort them and make them more comfortable. Being the mom that I am, I wanted to do this for all of them. I wanted to make them all happy and relaxed. I didn't realize at the time that I was super stressed out and they were feeding off of me.
I was worried about Sujina feeling comfortable with us, worried that Beck was going to feel left out and unloved, worried that Rowe would just be mad that he had a new sister.
With everyone crying or on the verge I just sat down and started crying too. I guess I really needed to just let go. There was so much stress in Nepal and around coming home that I really needed to just let it out.
I think I freaked out Rowe and Beck a little, but after we all cried and settled down it seemed that we were all much more at ease. Paul did not come home until around 8pm and by that time we were all good.
Since then I have felt very confident about having three kids and being able to deal with them. I think I was more worried about making everyone happy and once I let that go and came to terms with not being able to, and that it was okay, my stress level went way down.
I am not saying that I have it all undercontrol now, we still have our time issues, our sharing
issues and our taking turns issues but I am mentally better prepared to deal with them now.
As each day goes by our sleeping patterns are getting back to "normal" or at least on Central
time. Sujina is sleeping through most of the night and not waking until 7am! Or if she does wake, she just wants a bottle and then back to sleep! The boys play together very well now, so I know with more time they will all play well together.
This has been a wonderful experience, and one that I would not trade for the world. Sujina is a
true blessing and we are so thankful that she is here with us.
Here is a photo of our "New Family". Now we are complete.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Wednesday Finally.....
We woke up Wednesday and it felt like Christmas morning. I was so giddy, I was wide awake and ready to go! Sujina and Paul were till asleep and I was up, had a shower, checked email and was ready to go eat my last breakfast in the Annapurna Hotel.
Once Paul woke he too was ready. We bounded down to the breakfast room and met our usual breakfast crew. I was sad to learn that our French friend Emmanuela had switched to a new hotel closer to the French Embassy. I was not going to be able to say good bye to her and wish her well.
The people that worked in the mornings in the dinning room were all sad that we were leaving. They hugged the kids until they couldn't any longer, they brought us juice, coffee, tea anthing and everything we wanted and more until we were stuffed. The were so genuine. I was torn because I was sad to leave. This part of the journey was almost over. We had worked so hard to be here at this moment and here it was. This moment had seemed so far away for so long, but it also meant that the new journey was about to begin. The actual journey of flying 17hours home with an infant! YIKES........
We went back to our rooms packed the last of our things and sat down for a moment. It was 9:30 and we werent' leaving until 11am. Sujina and I played around the room for a while, then I told Paul to go change money and get all of that out of the way. We then started moving all of the bags down to the lobby. We had to say goodbye to everyone along the way, from the ladies that clean the room, to the room service men, to the ladies at the front desk who were extremely helpful to the resturant staff. Everyone knew us, and by us I mean the three families. We had been there for 15 days, needing help from each one of these people at some point during our stay. They were all happy and sad to see these babies leave.
Mr. Tamata, Children's Home director, came to bring us some papers and say good bye. We all thanked him for running such a wonderful home and taking great care of our little girls. We promised him to do the same in America. We all signed an agreement at the beginning of the adopting process that said we would send updates on the girls every six months. We talked about how he wanted this to look. "Short and sweet" he said. :)
Then the driver came and we all pilled in, luggage everywhere, babies everywhere and thoughts and memories everywhere.
Getting to the airport, getting our tickets and going through security was all very simple. We then had about 2 hours to wait for our plane. Still the same grungy, dirty, filthy airport we were in two days earlier. Hard to keep a toddler happy and off the floor at the same time. Lots of crackers and walking around. We decided to go in to the waiting room for our plane and Radha and David were there. So we were all waiting together. We were all processing our last day in different ways. I think there was some fear of going home and some trepidation. I know that I had not let myself think that far in advance until this moment. Coming home and having three kids, wow!
Our plane came and we all got on. Sujina was very curious about the plane and what it was all about. We were lucky and got bulkhead seats. This flight was only three hours to Bangkok. The next flight was the doosy! Sujina was able to move around a little, and I could put my leg up on the wall to help prop her up to stand and play. It was a short flight and quite uneventful.
We landed in Bangkok and had only a few minutes layover, then we were on the plane to LAX! I was so thrilled, I was a little silly. The first flight they gave us baby food for Sujina. I could not believe it and it was yummy food too. So when we got on the next flight she was pretty full and ready to go to sleep. We boarded around 6:30pm. We changed into our jammies and we were ready.
Our seats were the last row by the window and bathroom. A very nice attendent asked us if we wanted to her to find three seats so Sujina could lay down between us. We said yes please! The lady seated in front of us in the back of the plane was already not being very nice, and we could tell it would have been a long flight if we had stayed there.
So we moved up about 6-7 rows and had three seats together. Very wonderful. Sujina went to sleep about and hour after we took off and slept for about 10 hours! I could not believe it! I slept for about 3! I watched the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy. I tried to sleep but my butt kept falling asleep and hurting. The food was great and they brought us more baby food. Elizabeth and Diptee came to visit us for a while. They were in Bulkhead up in Business class, so Diptee got a bassinet that attached to the wall. I never knew they had them!
We arrived in LA and went through customs. Not one problem. They looked at our papers, stamped our passports and sent us on our way! After we all collected our luggage we said our last goodbyes. The others, Elizabeth, Clay, Radha and David were all going to get a hotel room, because they had flight the next morning. We did too but we didn't want to spend money on a hotel room at this point.
We headed over to the Contentinal Airlines office, checked in and asked if there was an earlier flight. We got on one leaving at 11:30pm and arriving at Houston around 5am. We were on standby to get to Tulsa earlier. After we got that all finalized and up through security and to our gate we called my mom. Expecting to hear squeals of excitment that we were going to get there earlier than expected, we were told that it was snowing and they were not going to be able to drive to Tulsa. They bought us tickets on American to fly direct to XNA the next morning at 8am!!!!!
WHAT????????What? what do you mean a different flight, that there is snow?
So after much deliberation we went back down to the ticket counter explained our selves, got out luggage back and went over to the American terminal. We did the same at AA, asked for an earlier flight and got it! We decided not to call until we got to Dallas becasue we were not sure if we were going to be able to actually get to XNA with the snow. We went and ate, played on the floor. Tried to use the internet, but the wireless at LAX was not working. It was a good three hours waiting for our plane. When we got to on Sujina was wired. She was not fussy nor did she cry but she did not sleep! So neither did we.
I was purly amazed at how not fussy she was. Such a great little traveler. We got to Dallas with just enough time to run to our next plane and hop on. We called mom from the plane and she was surprised and said they woudl see if they could get to the airport.
When we laned at XNA, yes there was snow everywhere. They road all looked very snow packed and icy. I was surprised that the planes were flying. Mom and Dad were on their way, but they left the boys at home. Rowe was still asleep even. It was 7:30 when we called. So my vision of the boys running into our arms at the airport was smashed, but that was okay. All of our luggage came, only one zipper was busted, but other wise we had it all.
It was so great to see my mom and dad! Such a sigh of relief. Knowing that we were home, knowing that we had Sujina, knowing that if the boys got sick again we would be there, it all came flooding over me.
We put Sujina in her carseat for the first time, she didn't think to highly of it. I gave her her bottle and she went to sleep! When we got to our house, Paul jumped out of the car and ran inside. I got Sujina out and we walked in, the boys were still in shock to see Paul. I was afraid that they were going to be mad they didn't get to go to the airport, but they were not. They were just happy we were home with them again! Sujina was in shock as well but for different reasons. I really felt bad for her, not knowing where she was or who these people were.
I was trying to hold her and hug my boys at the same time and she was not liking that at all. She did not want to go to Papa or Grama Jo. I could not hug my boys enough, it felt so good, I just wanted to never let the go. I think they thought the same.
We had breafast and played around for a while. Sujina would crawl around and look and then sit and cry. She is getting better and better. By the end of the day after several long naps she was going to Grama Jo and would let Papa touch her. She liked Rowe and Rowe like her, Beck would take some time, is still taking some time.
Sujina is doing the best anyone could ask of her. What a trooper this little ten month old is already.
Once Paul woke he too was ready. We bounded down to the breakfast room and met our usual breakfast crew. I was sad to learn that our French friend Emmanuela had switched to a new hotel closer to the French Embassy. I was not going to be able to say good bye to her and wish her well.
The people that worked in the mornings in the dinning room were all sad that we were leaving. They hugged the kids until they couldn't any longer, they brought us juice, coffee, tea anthing and everything we wanted and more until we were stuffed. The were so genuine. I was torn because I was sad to leave. This part of the journey was almost over. We had worked so hard to be here at this moment and here it was. This moment had seemed so far away for so long, but it also meant that the new journey was about to begin. The actual journey of flying 17hours home with an infant! YIKES........
We went back to our rooms packed the last of our things and sat down for a moment. It was 9:30 and we werent' leaving until 11am. Sujina and I played around the room for a while, then I told Paul to go change money and get all of that out of the way. We then started moving all of the bags down to the lobby. We had to say goodbye to everyone along the way, from the ladies that clean the room, to the room service men, to the ladies at the front desk who were extremely helpful to the resturant staff. Everyone knew us, and by us I mean the three families. We had been there for 15 days, needing help from each one of these people at some point during our stay. They were all happy and sad to see these babies leave.
Mr. Tamata, Children's Home director, came to bring us some papers and say good bye. We all thanked him for running such a wonderful home and taking great care of our little girls. We promised him to do the same in America. We all signed an agreement at the beginning of the adopting process that said we would send updates on the girls every six months. We talked about how he wanted this to look. "Short and sweet" he said. :)
Then the driver came and we all pilled in, luggage everywhere, babies everywhere and thoughts and memories everywhere.
Getting to the airport, getting our tickets and going through security was all very simple. We then had about 2 hours to wait for our plane. Still the same grungy, dirty, filthy airport we were in two days earlier. Hard to keep a toddler happy and off the floor at the same time. Lots of crackers and walking around. We decided to go in to the waiting room for our plane and Radha and David were there. So we were all waiting together. We were all processing our last day in different ways. I think there was some fear of going home and some trepidation. I know that I had not let myself think that far in advance until this moment. Coming home and having three kids, wow!
Our plane came and we all got on. Sujina was very curious about the plane and what it was all about. We were lucky and got bulkhead seats. This flight was only three hours to Bangkok. The next flight was the doosy! Sujina was able to move around a little, and I could put my leg up on the wall to help prop her up to stand and play. It was a short flight and quite uneventful.
We landed in Bangkok and had only a few minutes layover, then we were on the plane to LAX! I was so thrilled, I was a little silly. The first flight they gave us baby food for Sujina. I could not believe it and it was yummy food too. So when we got on the next flight she was pretty full and ready to go to sleep. We boarded around 6:30pm. We changed into our jammies and we were ready.
Our seats were the last row by the window and bathroom. A very nice attendent asked us if we wanted to her to find three seats so Sujina could lay down between us. We said yes please! The lady seated in front of us in the back of the plane was already not being very nice, and we could tell it would have been a long flight if we had stayed there.
So we moved up about 6-7 rows and had three seats together. Very wonderful. Sujina went to sleep about and hour after we took off and slept for about 10 hours! I could not believe it! I slept for about 3! I watched the entire first season of Grey's Anatomy. I tried to sleep but my butt kept falling asleep and hurting. The food was great and they brought us more baby food. Elizabeth and Diptee came to visit us for a while. They were in Bulkhead up in Business class, so Diptee got a bassinet that attached to the wall. I never knew they had them!
We arrived in LA and went through customs. Not one problem. They looked at our papers, stamped our passports and sent us on our way! After we all collected our luggage we said our last goodbyes. The others, Elizabeth, Clay, Radha and David were all going to get a hotel room, because they had flight the next morning. We did too but we didn't want to spend money on a hotel room at this point.
We headed over to the Contentinal Airlines office, checked in and asked if there was an earlier flight. We got on one leaving at 11:30pm and arriving at Houston around 5am. We were on standby to get to Tulsa earlier. After we got that all finalized and up through security and to our gate we called my mom. Expecting to hear squeals of excitment that we were going to get there earlier than expected, we were told that it was snowing and they were not going to be able to drive to Tulsa. They bought us tickets on American to fly direct to XNA the next morning at 8am!!!!!
WHAT????????What? what do you mean a different flight, that there is snow?
So after much deliberation we went back down to the ticket counter explained our selves, got out luggage back and went over to the American terminal. We did the same at AA, asked for an earlier flight and got it! We decided not to call until we got to Dallas becasue we were not sure if we were going to be able to actually get to XNA with the snow. We went and ate, played on the floor. Tried to use the internet, but the wireless at LAX was not working. It was a good three hours waiting for our plane. When we got to on Sujina was wired. She was not fussy nor did she cry but she did not sleep! So neither did we.
I was purly amazed at how not fussy she was. Such a great little traveler. We got to Dallas with just enough time to run to our next plane and hop on. We called mom from the plane and she was surprised and said they woudl see if they could get to the airport.
When we laned at XNA, yes there was snow everywhere. They road all looked very snow packed and icy. I was surprised that the planes were flying. Mom and Dad were on their way, but they left the boys at home. Rowe was still asleep even. It was 7:30 when we called. So my vision of the boys running into our arms at the airport was smashed, but that was okay. All of our luggage came, only one zipper was busted, but other wise we had it all.
It was so great to see my mom and dad! Such a sigh of relief. Knowing that we were home, knowing that we had Sujina, knowing that if the boys got sick again we would be there, it all came flooding over me.
We put Sujina in her carseat for the first time, she didn't think to highly of it. I gave her her bottle and she went to sleep! When we got to our house, Paul jumped out of the car and ran inside. I got Sujina out and we walked in, the boys were still in shock to see Paul. I was afraid that they were going to be mad they didn't get to go to the airport, but they were not. They were just happy we were home with them again! Sujina was in shock as well but for different reasons. I really felt bad for her, not knowing where she was or who these people were.
I was trying to hold her and hug my boys at the same time and she was not liking that at all. She did not want to go to Papa or Grama Jo. I could not hug my boys enough, it felt so good, I just wanted to never let the go. I think they thought the same.
We had breafast and played around for a while. Sujina would crawl around and look and then sit and cry. She is getting better and better. By the end of the day after several long naps she was going to Grama Jo and would let Papa touch her. She liked Rowe and Rowe like her, Beck would take some time, is still taking some time.
Sujina is doing the best anyone could ask of her. What a trooper this little ten month old is already.
Finally coming home.....
As I sit here in my own room typing at m desk, I ask myself " Was it all a dream?" Did all of this
crazy, wonderful, fun, stressful, sureal journey truly happen?
So Tuesday was a really fun day, and it needed to be after the full on stress of Monday. Paul and I were very disappointed that we were not able to come home early, and frustrated that we had to buy new tickets, but bottom line is that was really the only large bump in this crazy road.
The agency we worked with, Faith International, did a fantastic job in getting all the paperwork we needed for the individual govt agencies prepared and checked over time and time again. There were not lost papers, not forgotten or over looked papers that could have caused confusion or delay. There were not misappointments on either the Nepali or American side. So for us to let the Chinese Visa issue cause us to end on a bad note was silly.
We went into Thamel with Elizabeth and Clay and we met some new Nepali friends Paru and Narayan. Wonderful people. They spend their afternoon with us helping us purchase last minute gifts for friends, family and ourselves. Amazingly kind people the Nepalies are!
We went out for pizza after much shopping. Roadhouse Pizza - for where we were is was awesome pizza. Much needed time to sit and drink a beer, eat some pizza, talk with some new friends and watch our beautiful new children.
Paru had gone to Children's Home to look in on the girls for a few months so she felt very close to them and it was hard for her to say goodbye.
Narayan helped me find the playing board game that we saw some boys playing that I thought was Parchezzi. The Nepalis call it LUDO! He went and bought me the board and the pieces. It is great.
Paul and I also bought a beautiful Budda statue. Sujina loved walking around it and talking to it when we got it back to the room.
We came home, happy, full and energized for the dooming task of packing! But since I am the mater packer Paul was not to worried. He gave Sujina her last bath in Nepal and I packed. It was a very relaxing end to a stressfree day.
crazy, wonderful, fun, stressful, sureal journey truly happen?
So Tuesday was a really fun day, and it needed to be after the full on stress of Monday. Paul and I were very disappointed that we were not able to come home early, and frustrated that we had to buy new tickets, but bottom line is that was really the only large bump in this crazy road.
The agency we worked with, Faith International, did a fantastic job in getting all the paperwork we needed for the individual govt agencies prepared and checked over time and time again. There were not lost papers, not forgotten or over looked papers that could have caused confusion or delay. There were not misappointments on either the Nepali or American side. So for us to let the Chinese Visa issue cause us to end on a bad note was silly.
We went into Thamel with Elizabeth and Clay and we met some new Nepali friends Paru and Narayan. Wonderful people. They spend their afternoon with us helping us purchase last minute gifts for friends, family and ourselves. Amazingly kind people the Nepalies are!
We went out for pizza after much shopping. Roadhouse Pizza - for where we were is was awesome pizza. Much needed time to sit and drink a beer, eat some pizza, talk with some new friends and watch our beautiful new children.
Paru had gone to Children's Home to look in on the girls for a few months so she felt very close to them and it was hard for her to say goodbye.
Narayan helped me find the playing board game that we saw some boys playing that I thought was Parchezzi. The Nepalis call it LUDO! He went and bought me the board and the pieces. It is great.
Paul and I also bought a beautiful Budda statue. Sujina loved walking around it and talking to it when we got it back to the room.
We came home, happy, full and energized for the dooming task of packing! But since I am the mater packer Paul was not to worried. He gave Sujina her last bath in Nepal and I packed. It was a very relaxing end to a stressfree day.
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