Month: August 2010

The Island

1 Comment

We ventured over the water to Vancouver Island last weekend. Particularly we went back to Port Alberni for the first time in four years. The last time we were there was for Dad’s final sermon at Arrowsmith Baptist before he moved to Langley to become the BCBC District Minister… The Pope of the BC Baptist Church 🙂 Jon’s mom joined us. She had been back since but this was her chance to show Livi off at church! We went back for the wedding of a dear friend of Jon’s that he grew up with. 

We took precautions for the sake of the car seat and put some training pants on Livi, instead of panties, for the 7 hour journey. She was dry the whole way! She used all the strange toilets with out complaint! Mommy was so proud 🙂 We caught an earlier ferry and Livi napped in the car on the way from Naniamo to Cathedral Grove. I wanted to make a quick stop in Cathedral Grove to show Livi the old growth forest. She was pretty amazed by all the big trees. 

Friday night we had the opportunity to visit over dinner with the Keno’s! The Keno’s introduced Jon to the world of disabilities… so really I have them to thank for preparing my husband for my world! The Keno’s have had numerous foster children with varying disabilities over the years and, after having three biological children, they adopted five more! Three with Down Syndrome and one of those three from Bulgaria! Visiting with them was invaluable. I felt so honored being able to glean from their experiences of parenting children with DS and their adoption from Bulgaria! I think I’ll save all my thoughts on that for another post though.

After dinner we stopped in at the rehearsal dinner for a quick hello and to meet the groom. We’d heard all about him but never had the opportunity to meet him. They have been living in England. Cambridge to be exact. David, the groom, is even more of a intellect than Jon and won a scholarship for his Doctorate to Cambridge! I don’t think I’ve ever met some one so smart in real life 🙂 It was not the best circumstances to really get to know him but Jon and David both agreed on a rain check and discuss the things that only intellectuals find remotely interesting over a bottle of whiskey… Very CS Lewis-esc. 

The wedding the next day was beautifully perfect for the couple… despite the rain. They are catholic, so of course said their vows in a Catholic church. The plan was to have the though-out community focused reception in a local park, but the weather did not co-operate. Fittingly the reception was held in the church that the bride grew up in… Arrowsmith. I think it was great for us too be in the church again for the first time and not have it be a Sunday morning yet. Jon enjoyed seeing many of his old friends and showing Livi off… although I think his mom enjoyed showing Livi off even more! She was awesome to have along. She babysat Livi while we were at the Keno’s and during the wedding ceremony, which was over Livi’s nap time. She also helped out A LOT on the ferry rides, long car rides and during the events. 

At the end of the wedding Livi found the unattended, and still on, microphone. 
She started singing along to the bak ground music and working the audience… 
who of course all thought she was adorable!

Sunday morning was not as emotional as I was preparing myself for. I did keep expecting to see Dad come around a corner or sitting on the stage. It was a little weird to sit through some one else preaching from “Dad’s” pulpit. I only got a little teary eyed once when Mom took Livi to the front with all the children to get dismissed to Sunday School. Dad was usually the one to tell the little story and pray over the kids before they left. It might have been my imagination but I think there was a little extra bustle of activity and shifting in seats as Mom took Livi to the front. I wish Dad could have been there to take her up himself. He would have been so proud. 

By the end of church Livi was overdue for a nap. We went back to our host’s home for a few more hours while Livi napped and we packed up the car. We headed for Naniamo that afternoon, not missing ice cream from Whiskey Creek of course! Dad would almost always offer us a stop there if he was picking us up or dropping us off from the ferry. It was very fitting to end our trip to Port with Whiskey Creek.

We stayed one more night in Naniamo so I could hold our first Chosen Children meeting. We are really starting to see some progress with the Society but still trying to figure out all the CRA stuff. I’ll post about that another time too, once I have something more concrete to report on. 

We missed the early ferry we were hoping to catch, but it was probably very good that we were early for the next ferry since the terminal was so busy. The ride home was uneventful except for one little adorable “uh oh” of Livi’s. We had again taken precautions to save the car seat from any accidents so she was wearing her pull-ups again. As we were waiting in line at the ferry terminal Livi informed us that she had to use the toilet. So, Jon jumped up threw her over his shoulder and ran the two blocks across the parking lot to the washrooms. I don’t think he thought about the impact that the repetitive bouncing on her bladder would have because half way there, Jon heard “uh oh” from behind his head. I laughed… a lot. 
Hanging out the sun roof waiting for the ferry!

We were very happy to reach our home and, more importantly, our beds. We had to share a room with Livi, while in Port, who decided it was play time at 6 am each morning because Mommy and Daddy were right there! Not sure how this is going to work with camping in two weeks!

Potty Training Update #2

Leave a comment

Day 6 – Livi partially pooped in the toilet for the first time! We had some friends over and one of the kids was a one year old still in diapers. He had a poopy diaper. While he was being changed, Livi also started pooping… she told me while she was going. I raced her naked body inside to the toilet (they had been in the pool) and had her finish going on the toilet! I thought we had got it all in the toilet at the time. Hooray! I’m counting that as a partial win. To my dismay when we were outside later, I had the misfortune of stepping on a  runaway turd.

Day 7 – Livi has peeing in the toilet down but she did have a pooping accident today. We cleaned it up and put it in the toilet. I was showing her where it was supposed to go, hoping she figures it out.

Today we also started trying to get Livi to pee in the toilet without her potty seat. She was having none of it. We were on a walk and happened to be close to a corner store when she had to pee. I tried to get her to use the big public toilet but I think she was too scared. She held it for 15 minutes until we got home! In the afternoon we went to hang out upstairs with Auntie Maggy and Marmee. When she had to pee I just took her to Marmee’s toilet, without the little seat. She didn’t like that and wouldn’t pee. This happened two or three times until she couldn’t hold it anymore. She peed in the big person’s toilet! Hooray! I feel much better about going out in public now.

Day 8 – We went shopping in the morning and she had to use the toilet so here was our test… she passed! Without even blinking she let me hold her up on the big toilet and peed! YAY!!! Still no accidents with peeing.

Day 9 – Livi woke up from her nap and was still wearing her diaper when I realized she was about to go poop. I scooped her up, told her to hold it in and put her on the toilet. She didn’t want to sit there and poop until I handed her one of her favorite books… and she did it! Mommy was REALLY proud. I’m hoping she has it figured out now and will tell me before she has to go poop instead of me having to read her properly.

She also had her first two accidents this day but I’m chalking them up as my fault. I was busy cleaning and unavailable to her. I didn’t immediately jump when she said she had to go so we didn’t quite make it. The second time she was in time out. She isn’t supposed to talk in time out so she ended up having an accident. She was so upset about it too. I felt pretty bad 😦 Every time out since I’ve explained to her that she can’t talk unless she has to go to the toilet.

Continuing Potty Training – Since then I’ve lost track of her progress. She is doing great though! Basically she is pee trained… with only the odd accident very occasionally. We are still working on the #2 part though. It is hit or miss with that. Thankfully she doesn’t have very messy bowel movements 🙂 We went to the Island last weekend and she stayed dry the entire trip to Port Alberni! We had used extra precautions and put her in pull-ups, but put her on the toilet every stop we made. She stayed dry! One accident on the way home because we were in the car in the ferry line-up when she told us she had to pee. Jon jumped out and threw her on his shoulder and ran. I don’t think the bladder bouncing on Daddy’s shoulder was very good for her control because half-way there Jon heard “uh oh” from Livi. I laughed 🙂

All in all, potty training has been way easier than I thought it would be. I hope any other children I have are going to be this easy! I’m not holding my breath 🙂 We haven’t attempted nap or night time training yet, I think I’ll wait until she is in a big girl bed and has conquered dressing herself.

6 Months

Leave a comment

It’s been six months since we committed to adopting a little girl and giving her a family, bringing home a sister for Livi, another daughter for Jon and I. I am definitely getting impatient. I’m ready to see her face, hold her in my arms, give her a kiss, start discovering her personality, see her playing with her sister (who is already starting to talk about her!), and bring her home! I try not to think of where she is right now, the possibilities make me too sad. I pray that she is in a good orphanage, if there is such a thing, and not in an institution yet.

We are still waiting to be accepted and registered in Bulgaria and we are not expecting that until the end of August or even September, assuming all the paperwork is in order. Apparently, August is a really slow month in Bulgaria for getting things done because everyone takes time off and holidays. We are really hoping for a referral any day, but I get the feeling that the agency in Bulgaria is not trying very hard. I get the feeling that the children with special needs are not very high on their priority list. They have our Homestudy so they can match us at any time but the system in Bulgaria is a little crazy. Agencies only have the files for adoptable children for two months before it gets sent on to another agency. I think there were some changes recently made to develop a national registry but it is still new and I’m not sure how efficient it is… or how it incorporates children with disabilities or in institutions.

I know six months isn’t long to wait for an adoption but it still doesn’t make it easier. As soon as our Homestudy was over I wanted my baby home! If you pray, please pray that things continue to go smoothly and we get the right referral for our little girl tomorrow!!!