The Freeling Family: Home a Week!

It is hard to believe that we have now been home for just over a week now! Ok, when I started this post, we were home 5 days, then it was a week, now it is "over a week." It is much harder to find time to post when you are back in real life! Anyways, things are really going pretty well. Blayten struggled for the first couple of days, not wanting Mark or me out of his sight and not too sure he wanted Anastyn around. Now, he and Anna are pretty much inseparable. They are almost always together and each wants to do what the other is doing. Blayten watches out for Anna and will make sure she has a sippy cup or cookie. Anna also watches Blayten and has learned many new "tricks." If Blayten doesn't see Anna, he calls out "Nana" and goes looking for her. Blayten of course has his moments of tussling over a toy or whatever, but he tends to get over it fairly quickly. We have had many conversations about "being kind."

Anastyn continues to blossom. She has such a wonderful little personality. She is so sweet and feisty at the same time. We have seen her a couple of times playing with a doll or her stuffed puppy and she is being a little mommy to it, wrapping it in a blanket, giving it a bottle & kissing it. I love seeing that, because it shows me how much she was loved & cared for. She seems to be real comfortable in the house and runs all over. She isn't able to walk up & down the steps by herself yet, but can crawl up them faster than you would believe! She knows which room is her bedroom & she likes playing with her toys. Before we left, I was so concerned about if she should go in a crib or go straight into a toddler bed. We finally decided on the toddler bed, so she wouldn't have one more adjustment after she was home. She has done well with the toddler bed. When we were in China, she would scrunch herself into the corner of the crib & sleep at an angle. I am sure this is because at the City Orphanage, two children slept in the crib, so she learned to sleep that way. Now she enjoys the entire space of her bed! When we were in China, we also could just lay her in the crib & she would never make a sound & just go to sleep. Now, she has learned that she can cry & someone comes. By the way, I love her little bed. We chose a Tinkerbell canopy bed for her. Since Tinkerbell was such an important part of her life at Maria's House of Hope (she was in the Tinkerbell room,) we want to continue to incorporate it & celebrate little Tink! I think she recognizes Tinkerbell, because she will point and say something.

So, speaking of talking, Anna does talk...sort of, as much as a two year old talks. She makes lots of verbal noises, some of it is simply babbling. Other times, she is saying things in Chinese. She says "Ba Ba" which is Chinese for dad. She also says "xie xie" which means thank you. She is also saying words in English. Her first word was "no" to Blayten! She also says "Daddy, Dadda, puppy, mama (which is English and Chinese) shoe, dog, hi, bye, cookie, and she repeats lots of other words, but doesn't necessarily say them on her own. Anna understands a lot of what we are saying to her & responds appropriately when we tell her something, like "go give this to Blayten" and she does. She is also now waving "bye bye" and giving kisses. She also gives the best hugs. LUV IT!

One of my earlier blogs talked about Anastyn and her eating habits. The first few days of being home, Anna didn't want to eat most of the things given to her. Thankfully I had bought some noodle meals and she would eat those if all else failed. The last few days she has been doing much better with her eating. One night I gave her some jello. At first she wasn't going to eat it but suddenly changed her mind & now she loves jello! Blayten who used to eat everything is now not wanting to eat anything. I am not so sure it is because of Anna, but rather something he is going through. Anyways, meal time is always exciting! Both of the little ones do not like to have their hands dirty. Blayten can be covered head to toe with food, but he doesn't like it on his hands. I now set 3 napkins by me when I eat, so I can wipe hands on either side of me!

After we got home, we sat up a blow up swimming pool for Blayten & Anastyn. Blayten always has loved the water & Anna is now enjoying it as well. One of the families in our travel group had taken their daughter swimming at the hotel & afterwards she took baths easier. We have noticed the same thing with Anna. Since swimming, she likes baths, well with the exception of getting her hair washed, although she is getting better. I am telling you bath time is an event in itself. I have learned to change my clothes into something that can get soaked, because that is exactly how I end up...soaked after Blayten & Anna get done! Anna sort of lets us brush her teeth, but isn't thrilled with it. I know they definitely brushed her teeth at Maria's, but so far, we don't have it down pat. We have made a first dental appointment for her. I know the dentist is going to tell us we have to get her to stop sucking her two fingers, as her front two teeth are tilted from the sucking. I am telling you right now, its not going to happen. This has been a self-soothing, comfort for her & until she feels more secure, I am not taking this away from her. Anyways, Bethany never sucked her thumb and hardly used a pacifier and she still needed braces, so it is what it is.

On Friday, all of the kids got haircuts. I know that it probably wasn't Anastyn's first haircut, but it was the first one in America with us! I thought for sure, she would be scared, but oh no, she sat like a pro. She does love having her hair done and I guess she just thought it was part of it. Today, Bethany painted Anastyn's nails....well Blayten's too! I am telling you, you can't do to one, without doing to the other. Blayten actually sat better than Anna did. So, the kids had fun & all look pretty! Blayten has also liked wearing Anastyn's squeaker shoes that we got her in China. We should have gotten him a pair, but the sizing was so different, I just wouldn't know if I was getting the correct size or not, so instead he wears his sister's, which are so much smaller than his, but luckily squeak with every step. He wears a pair & she wears a pair and they run and run and squeak and squeak. It is quite musical...and NOISY! Anna has a strange habit of putting the soft, velcro part of the shoe on her mouth. It must feel good. She is always taking off one of her shoes in order to do this. Try it...you might like it!

Anna is not necessarily having fun with our dog. At first she was terrified of him. She is getting better and has actually touched him with our help. We have to get her use to pets or we will have to find a new babysitter, which we do NOT want to do. We have kept Blayten home with us all week to help him adjust. He will probably go a couple of days next week so he can play with his friends. I took Anastyn over Friday afternoon to meet Janet, so when it is time for her to go, she will feel more comfortable. Anna was playing with some toys when she was there, so I think she will do well. As you know, when we first got Anna she was completely shut down. She has never returned to that type of behavior, thankfully. She is unsure in new settings, situations, and people, but opens up more and more quickly every time. I don't know how she acted at Maria's but she has such a full of life personality when she is at home around us. Makes me so happy!

So we are settling into being a family of five and it is going well. Yes we are busy, yes we are tired, yes we are having a great time! I have been going on Show Hope's website that I went to so often & would see pictures and videos of Anna "Martina." We would watch her and study her, imagining who she was and what she was like. I still can hardly believe that girl from the pictures & videos is now in our home & part of our family to love & cherish. It has been such a short time that we have known her in person & yet in some ways it seems like she has always been a part of us. There are just not words to explain what this experience has been like. There are so many children that need homes. If you are at all considering adopting, please contact CCAI (Chinesechildren.org) and find out more how to adopt internationally. If you still want to help, but aren't able to adopt, go to Showhope.com and you can make a donation or sponsor a child who is waiting for their forever family!