I'm tired......

I am tired.....I'm physically, emotionally, mentally and whatever other way there is to be tired that's what I am! Having 7 kids in our home ranging from 16-2 plus the normal daily things going on in life on top of having 2 kids with Spina Bifida and 3 kids from orphanages is just flat out exhausting. The housework is never done, the laundry alone is ridiculous! Both our SB kids generate a ton of laundry alone due to medical issues that came with their diagnosis'. My husband is also remodeling our kitchen and dining room so we have an area big enough for all of us to eat together. Our home had a very small formal dining room and miniature breakfast nook and a cramped kitchen. Soooo on top of the messes that come along with 7 kids I also have construction mess to deal with. 

To say I'm stressed is an understatement :) we are still adjusting to life as a family of 9 for the year. Katya is still adjusting to being a part of our family and family life in general. She's doing great but of course there are bumps and pot holes in our paths. Navigating them sometimes overwhelms me and I have to cry and whine and just vent all my frustrations out. I'm not going to lie adopting from an orphanage is HARD. Our children have not had "normal" lives before they were ours. They didn't have a family to rock them as babies, no toys to play with, pretty much everything we as Americans grow up experiencing they didn't. Even the things we consider normal and routine are new and strange to them like washing their hands, brushing their teeth,  changing clothes everyday, actually playing with toys! 

Finding our new normal this time has been rough on me, I'm tired and get overwhelmed easily. It's a good thing Jared is the opposite of me and is super laid back. A lot of times I feel inadequate and like a failure because I feel guilty that the house is a mess or guilty I can't spend all my extra time (pretty much non existent) just doing fun things with my kids because we have dr appts, therapy stuff to do, home school for Katya and Pasha, grocery shopping, laundry, dusting, cooking, changing diapers, researching medical things, reading about attachment and trauma, school things for the others and just life in general. Not to mention trying to squeeze in time for Jared and I to be alone and just relax. I feel pulled in 5 million directions and bad that I'm not doing a better job at all this multitasking. 

I try to remind myself this season is just that a season. Someday it will feel "normal" again here.....someday. 

Lesia and Ashlyn got a hold of my phone last night. Now you see what I'm dealing with :) 

One month home.....

Things are still pretty crazy here. Getting into a routine with 7 kids here has been rough:) especially since I'm super unorganized and a huge procrastinator!

All the kids are doing good and getting along most of the time. They all argue just like siblings, even our 16 year old exchange student argues with Callen and Kaeden! They both are huge pests and like aggravating her. 

Katya is doing great, she's learned a few English words and is getting better at self care. Amazingly she and Pasha have become pretty close. While I was still in Ukraine she expressed several times when she'd she his pictures that she didn't like him. I think his wheelchair scared her but after me making her use one on the trip home because of her mobility and then me showing her all of her Pashas similarities she's realized they are a lot alike. 

Coloring hearts I drew then she cut them out. 

So far she's been evaluated at the Spina Bifida clinic to start getting referrals for other specialists and been to the dentist. 

I knew her teeth were in bad shape but she started complaining of pain so we had to take her sooner than we had planned. We had hoped to wait until her English was better so she could communicate easier but the pain was too much. She ended up having one tooth extracted on Monday and one filled, we still have at least 2 visits left to get the really bad stuff taken care of. She'll need at least one more tooth extracted:( 

Next week we go have some testing done at the hospital for urology so we will know more after then about our next steps medically. 

Here's me, Katya and Savannah. Pasha was in the seat behind them so you can't see him.

I'll update more on everyone else next time :) 

Here's Katya and Savannah under their blanket fort.

Katya, Kaeden and Pasha 

At the dentist 

Working on tracing and writing the alphabet 

I suck at blogging

Yes yes I know I'm a terrible blogger, I will sit down and write one out but I'm sooo tired now I just can't really form many coherent thoughts :)

We are all doing good, of course there's growing pains but overall the transition is going very well. I'll try to write this weekend about everything going on.

One of her first nights home, eating popcorn with Ashlyn

Playing with Kaeden 

At the airport greeting Lesia our foreign exchange student from Ukraine.