The Lowdown

Here's what happening in our house. I've had some repeat questions for friends, so I thought I would answer some of them here.

I went back to work on December 8 part-time. I'm so glad that I have the luxury of working part-time! I have Wednesdays off, which I think is good for me, the kids and our nanny (Rachel). So, many have asked who is watching the kids while I'm at work. My step-sister Rachel and her 20 month old son, Dominic, moved in with us in October. While I was still at home, Rachel cleaned for us, did some cooking and watched the kids as necessary when I had to run errands. Now that I am back at work, she is the nanny, and is a Godsend! She makes dinner for us on the days I work, and still does our laundry a lot. Because the kids knew Rachel when I went back to work, and were used to being alone with her, the transition when I went back to work was very easy. It has worked out beautifully.

There is a however, however. Liam has regressed in his behaviour due to my return to work. He's gotten more aggressive and tries to bite me, hits me etc again. Its not easy to stay calm when he does this, but I'm trying! I've been reading a book called, "Nurturing the Hurt Child". I think he is emotionally at about 1 year old, so I think I may need to regress him. Our little boy has a lot of hurt inside him and he has a lot of healing to do. He's a very loving little boy, but we have a lot of work to do to make him whole again. I'm learning...anyone who reads this who has some concise tips on regressing children please comment with them. I think I will be getting a bottle and bottle-feeding him some milk every night with a cuddle. No nasty comments on this please- he missed out on a lot of things with his birth mother so we need to give the nurturing back to him.

Pete is now in the vicious cycle of illness I had when I was home. He was on antibiotics for a week or so, missed a day, took the next dose and woke up with red spots covering his body a week ago. It turns out he's allergic to Penicillin! He had three days of waking up with various issues but those seem to have subsided. The spots are still there though. Now he has a very sore throat...poor guy. I can empathize.


So, the kids have reconnected with an old friend here in Michigan! A few weeks ago another mom from our adoption agency emailed me that she and her husband had adopted a little girl from Liam and Sophie's orphanage and gruppa! I had no idea that anyone else was even going to Detsky Dom 2 in Moscow, because our agency doesn't work there that often. We've had two play dates with S (won't mention her name until her mom gives me the OK) and I am just so excited that Liam and Sophie have their friend from Moscow so close! S and her family live in the city where I work, which is close to us (by large city standards). S was a little shy on the first play date, partly I'm sure because it was at our house, not on her "turf". The second play date was at an indoor playground called Jungle Java, and she and Sophie played together a lot. S would run up to Sophie and hug her and kiss her! It was so cute!

Hopefully I'll get the OK from S's mom and can post some pictures of the three kids together on their next play date.

Next up....our Santa Experience!!