Happy 3rd Gotcha Day!

Today is yet another important day to remember in the life of Miss Emily. On January 29, 2007, (which also happens to be Ryan's birthday!) a baby girl named Nadezhda, lovingly called Nadya by her caregivers, became an official member of the Hypes Family!

Today (and this weekend) we celebrate our 3rd year of having Emily as part of our family. We LOVE you, Em!

You can read more about the details of our first Gotcha day here!

As I write this journal entry, I'm enjoying Ohio noon-time temperatures of 12°F which are very similar to our daily temps in Kazakhstan 3 years ago. Oh, how I wish I could return to Uralsk for a few days for some of the things I miss:

• Visit with our drivers, coordinators and translators.
• The smell of lunches being cooked in the babyhouse while we visited.
• Eat pizza at MacJohn's.
• Shop for yummy bread in the grocery story where I can't understand anyone.
• Brush my teeth with bottled water.
• Walk up the smelly stairway to our apartment.
• Pay $500 for excessive internet use so we don't miss our shows at home. (That was an accident!)
• Watch packs stray dogs and cats walk around the city like they own the place.
• Ride in a car through car-sized potholes and drive within inches of the cars beside us.
• Shop in the outdoor markets.
• Lose another 12 lbs. due to jet lag and strange foods.
• Drinking the freshest tasting fruit nectar/juices and eating really tasty carrots and cheese.
• The exhilarating feeling of discovering peanut butter my last day there.
• Watching people.
• Walking through the Russian Orthodox churches and cemetaries.
• Learning about cultures and customs of our daughter's homeland.
• Feeling my heart break as I watched children begging in the streets and (for our safety) I was supposed to simply ignore them.
• ....I could go on and on. Oh, I miss it.

What?!?! Mommy's Naked?

(Emily's cousin, Brooke, colored this blanket for her for Christmas!)

The following story won't be a surprise to my sister after tonight's occurrence...

Tonight, our little cherub and I had a video chat with Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura. Before we signed off, we had a conversation about Emily being a flower girl for a wedding in May. When asked about her dress, she told Aunt Shell that Mommy was makin' it... which somehow came out on the other sounding like Mommy's naked. They laughed. Emily laughed.

Shortly after that, it was time to sign off and get our darling to bed. I asked her if she wanted to read Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura a story before we signed off and she trotted away to her room for her Bible. She came back, flipped through the pages and started with a little prayer of her own, "God help us -- Mommy's naked."

Oi vey.

Sleeping Beauty in the OT

If you remember a post from a few weeks ago, Emily has been reading her Bible lately.

Tonight she read to me from the Old Testament book of Nahum. Sleeping Beauty, nonetheless!

Emily's Singing

Emily (the girl who sings all the time) stopped mid-song tonight to tell us that she didn't sing very good. Tom and I were baffled. Who would have the gall to tell a toddler that? Being ready to beat up whoever said it, her daddy asked, "Emily who said that you don't sing very well?" To which she very matter of factly responded, "God." Ouch!

Within about 15 minutes, she had moved on. She placed a "Let's Go Krogering" sticker over her entire eye and told me, "Look Mommy, I'm a pirate. Arrrrrrgh!"

Maybe it's just the pirates who don't sing well? After all, they do sort of have gravelly voices!

Cold, Dreary Day = Warm Feelings

In the most beautiful, sentimental way, this morning's fresh layer of powdery snow, ankle deep muddy slush in the parking lots, 19° temps, brisk winds and gray skies for days on end remind me of Kazakhstan, where we lived for approximately 4 weeks almost 3 years ago. We bonded with a previous little baby that to this day teaches us to laugh, show compassion to others, cry when we're hurting and dance on our tippy-toes when we're excited. Who knew that such cold, dreary days could consistently elicit such happy memories and warm feelings. I love these kinds of days and I'm homesick for my daughter's homeland.

Another Botox Follow-Up

We ventured down to Children's Hospital again yesterday afternoon for Emily's botox follow-up appointment and I am happy to say that we finally had a VERY encouraging visit with the doctor. This appointment was with our "new" doctor, Dr. K. We've usually had very good experiences with our visits to Children's but this is the first time that any of Em's doctors have been really pumped (almost giddy) at the progress she's seen.

Dr. K watched Em take her (Dr. K's) assistance dog, Travis, for a walk, we took the braces off, she flexed Em's feet/ankles and had her walk again. It was nice to finally see a doctor's face light up with excitement at how well the treatment was working. I was told that her left foot is finally within normal range and her right foot is better than normal range. Dr. K said that if we can stay on this track the future could look very good.

We also talked about a few other things like how to make the injection appointments a little more tolerable for Em and how to get a little more stretch in her hamstrings since she's not able to get a restful sleep with her knee immobilizer (knee brace) on.

We are going to try sticking to the regular AFO's (day braces) and adding the knee immobilizer at nap time and then having her wear her DAFO (night brace) at night time.

Emily has major issues with being confined (i.e., being held down for shots, getting caught in blankets while sleeping, getting hung up in shirts while getting dressed) and she immediately panics and starts fussing and screaming. Needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway) I'm looking forward to being able to sleep a little better at night now that we don't have to wake up to her crying for us to take her knee brace off. (We've only been able to make it 1-2 hours any given night when we've tried to get her to wear it.)

Dr. K was thrilled with Em's progress and as a parent, it was great to hear Dr. K say that she loved ending her day with Em since she was so much fun and kept her laughing. Not all of her patients are so amiable. She said that just by observing Em she could tell that she's very intelligent and watching her made her want to adopt.

We left with a very good feeling... and then spent a little over 2 hours (during rush hour and snow/ice) making the 45 minute drive home.... but I digress. ;-)

Ok, folks (and that means you!) I've used enough "( )" (parentheses) and improper grammar today and my editor friends and family are ready to strangle me. Have a great day! (Bye!)

New Stories in the Bible

Emily read to me from her bible this afternoon. Is anyone else aware that the story of Snow White can be found in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah?

It's New Years' Eve!

Emily just asked the toilet paper at church if it was afraid of the dark. She listened to it and translated for me that it was indeed a little bit afraid... Thus ends 2009.

The Tree is Down

I didn't realize a 3-year old would act like her leg was getting cut off when the Christmas tree was put away... not that I REALLY know what it sounds like when she gets her leg cut off...

Christmas Time Part 5 of 5

For Christmas Eve this year, we mixed things up. We usually venture to Tom's side of the family and this year we decided to split up for Christmas Eve so he could visit with his family and Emily and I could visit with my side of the family that we don't get to see very often.

We all had a lot of fun with our respective families this year. Emily got to meet a few new canine friends (the highlight of her night!) as well as some cousins she hasn't seen before. Pictured below are Emily with my cousins Branya and Michele.

Here's Emily sharing the love with Zippy.

Tom came home from his family Christmas Eve party shortly after we came home from ours and he brought present with him! Emily was excited to open her gift from her cousins and can be seen sporting her tu-tu and dancing shoes below.

We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Christmas Time Part 4 of 5

In preparation for Christmas parties, Emily helped me make our Pretzel Rings, Rolo Treats, Rolo Turtles, or whatever you want to call them. They are so easy to make that Emily did most of them herself!

STEP 1: Find an adorable 3-year old to help unwrap 2 bags of rolos.

STEP 2: Put parchment paper on microwaveable plate or tray and set a rolo inside a pretzel ring. (I've had good luck finding round pretzels at Wal-Mart each year.)

STEP 3: Take an ice cream and hot chocolate break while Mommy microwaves the treats just long enough for the rolos to soften (less than 1 minute).

STEP 4: As soon as treats come out of the microwave, press a pecan, walnut half, m&m or other tasty morsel into the rolo top to smoosh it into the pretzel. When treats have cooled, move them to an air tight container and share with friends!

Christmas Time Part 3 of 5

December 18 was the first snow at our house this year. I learned from last year that we shouldn't hesitate when it snows because we could potentially lose it in an hour!

We made footprints on the way to the post office, knocked snow off the trees, made snow balls to throw in the creek, made snow angels, went sledding, slid down the snow covered slide and ate CLEAN snow for a snack.

After playing in the snow, Em came in and took a nice, warm bath and then later in the afternoon we visited with Tom's extended family at their Christmas dinner. Here's Em with her cousin, Rachel!

Christmas Time Part 2 of 5

Papa's lodge had a Christmas party a few weeks ago and the guest of honor made an appearance. In true fashion, Em ran across the room to give him a big hug before he could even make it to the Santa chair.

A little later that week, we were scheduled to have some new carpet delivered for our living room. The previous carpet was a lovely shade of 1970's gold. To save a little money, we (Tom) tore up the old carpet ourselves. We discovered that our prediction was correction... hard wood covers the dining room and living room floors. We decided to refinish the dining room while I'm off for Christmas break and we ordered new living room carpet.

Christmas Time Part 1 of 5

I'm posting several updates today in an attempt to get caught up on picture posting!

A couple of weeks ago, my parents got a new puppy named Zoe. On a few occasions when Emily couldn't remember the puppy's name, she would refer to it as "Baby Jesus". See if you can pick out Zoe from the picture below.

Here's Emily and Zoe a.k.a. "Baby Jesus" on their first day together.

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Emily, the Librarian

Emily still loves to read.

As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in bed with my laptop and am listening to Emily over the baby monitor as she's reading stories. I have every reason to believe she's sitting in her rocking chair, reading her stories out loud to her pretend audience just like her favorite librarian, Miss Susie, does each week. She's telling her "audience" about the book, then reads it to "them" and when it's all done there's a big "Yeah" from the cheering section.

She's especially fond of reading "Snow White" this morning and I've heard a little bit of "The Fussy Princess" which is a Little Critter book. I think she might be reading a story about "Ice Cream Soup" right now which will probably lead to her calling my name and asking for breakfast. Guess I should go cut her off at the pass....

Potty Training Update

Happy to say (and hoping not to jinx anything) - Emily is soooo close to being officially potty-trained. Now we just need to re-train her to use a few squares of t.p. and not a few arm lengths. I'm not sure the plumbing in our house can handle the learning curve!

The Buttometer

A few days ago, Emily's buttometer told us it had been a long day.

As soon as we were out the door today I heard, "Mommy, my butt's cold!"

The buttometer rings true yet again.

To Have The Heart of a Child...

(Note: I've added several more blog entries this evening... simply catching up notes from the last couple of weeks.)

After I picked Em up from the babysitter's yesterday, we stopped by the grocery store on the way home. As she stepped out of the car in the parking lot, I found a dime on the ground and handed it to her. We put the dime in her pocket and I told her she could put it in her piggy bank when we got home. She was very excited about our find.

We walked hand-in-hand toward the store and she was eyeing which of the "fun carts" she wanted to ride in and was talking up a storm. We took one step inside the store and she spotted the Salvation Army bell-ringers and totally switched gears. She stopped dead in her tracks, opened up her pocket and pulled out her treasured dime. Surprisingly, she also found a penny in her pocket that neither of us knew was in there. I then watched in awe as my little girl took off at a full run to the friendly folks twenty feet away at the Salvation Army collection pot. She proudly handed them her 11 cents with a huge smile on her face and told them thanks. They were very sweet and seemed to have spotted the beauty of what had just happened. They handed her the bell and she ran over to show it to me and then went back over to ring it a few times before giving it back.

I met her with the "fun cart" of her choice, told her how proud I was of her and we continued on our adventure to find some chicken for supper.

If only we could all have the heart of a child.

Another day at Children's

Em received botox injections in both calves again yesterday to help counteract the high muscle tone... She screamed and cried so hard that she actually had little red spots on her skin around her eyes -- like freckles but most likely little broken blood vessels. Today, the "freckles" are light brown in color and she's in good spirits... I'd rather be hearing about her "butt hurting" than go through that again.