Settling in

What can I say about Kara, do you have a few days? People have asked me to post an update but there is just so much to say. It is not a short answer to their questions.



Kara is settling in, she has been to numerous grocery stores, the movies, rides in the car to take her big sister to school everyday. She did not complain when she went into her car seat at the airport when we arrived home, and she has not since. Maybe she was scared riding without one in Ukraine? It is pretty scary riding in cars there for safety conscious folks like us!


Our daily routine with her consists of getting her out of bed to take sister Julia to school. Now Kara is pretty tired because she does not like going to bed early.


We get home and both girls are changed and then we eat breakfast. Since Kara only eats soft foods, she has hot cereal, applesauce, yogurt, or similar. She also drinks either a juice, only apple because others give her a rash, or kefir. She will not drink milk or water, but we try. We know she needs to be checked for food allergies. We cannot get her into her doctor until February because they are moving offices and have very limited hours.


Feeding Kara has been interesting and sometimes frustrating because she cries when she eats. She will start crying when she sees her food and until you spoon that first mouthful in, and then in between each bite. Since I picked her up at the orphanage this has been a source of stress for me and it literally makes her ill, so I have helped her slow down how quickly she eats by playing with her. I hold the spoon up and say "Yummy, yummy, yummy" and the spoon dances around before it comes to her mouth, This makes her smile or giggle. It has worked so far and she eats half as much and leaves her high chair satisfied, where before she would sob when we removed her after 3 full bowls of food and a juice. She also does not vomit after she eats as often, though that does still happen from time to time. She has also gained a couple of pounds since she got here, so we know she is eating enough. We are setting up a eating specialist consult for her, as she still just sucks her food down, no chewing.


Another breakthrough has been to actually get her to hold her spoon and feed herself. She is also holding her arms up and not against her sides any longer. Of course I have to hold the spoon and her hand to get her to eat with it, as long as my thumb is on the spoon she will feed herself, as soon as I let go her arms drop down to her sides and she begins to whine.


Yesterday she actually picked up the spoon and fed herself, and after she was done eating carried the mostly empty applesauce tub around digging into it with her spoon and feeding herself. I took a little video of it, if I can figure out how to put it on here I will.


Kara and Meghan have been spotted actually playing with one another... Meghan has the green eyed monster disease right now, I am sure Kara would play with her more, but Meghan is irritable with her. Only time will help that one. I asked Meghan if she was happy to have her new sister here, and she said YES! So that is a good sign at least.

They got along well enough to empty an entire box of kleenex out all over the living room. I was cooking lunch and came in because both were giggling, and they were covered in kleenex! Hard to tell, but the white surrounding Kara in the picture above is the kleenex. :o)


I am having a hard time getting Kara to leave my side to play, since we left her here to take Fred to the emergency room, she has been a clinging vine. We are thinking of ways to get her away from mom, or dad if I am unavailable, but at least it seems like she is attaching to us, but not in the most healthy way.

Of course I have been so ill there is little I can do with the girls right now. Leave it up to me to stay healthy in Ukraine for 6 weeks (more or less) and come home and get a bad cold TWICE. I am getting better slowly but being away from my family did take it's toll on me. I was able to help sort and fold some laundry today, and I am sure DH is grateful as he has been doing everything when he is home. The last week has been such a challenge for me in caring for the girls when I could barely stand. Antibiotics seem to be helping my lungs clear, and the strep throat and ear infections to leave. DH did take some time off of work to get Meghan in to see a doctor, she had pink eye (which I also caught) but they could not see her and they called in an antibiotic.

I am just so happy it is a three day weekend because I need tom here to help me get stronger, I have not felt this weak since I had my 12 hour surgery, it stinks.