Yes, we are alive and well!

Well, as with all good intentions, catching up on our blog never really came to be…So, let’s start with now (no promises on if it will continue)…

There is SO SO SO much that has changed with our family, and Madison and Jonathon this year.  They are doing amazing!  We hope to talk more about that later…

But, now, some pictures from Myra’s NEW DSLR camera.  After 10 months of whining (since the kids came home) about how awful our point and shoot was, Joe finally was broken down and agreed to a MUCH better camera.  Myra took so many pictures the first morning (this past Saturday) of the kids (who say ‘cheeesssee’ now as soon as they see a camera),  that they eventually decided they wanted ‘Cheese” and went to the fridge to ask for it… (maybe we should repeat VEGETABLES over and over and they would feel the need for some broccoli).

Trying out the continuous shooting mode:

Madison is getting so big and is CERTAIN of what she wants.  She found this PJ shirt (above) in Jonathon’s drawer and would wear nothing else.

Jonathon is also growing so much (but he needs a haircut...much like his Daddy!):

Being silly:

Daddy: the tickle-monster:


Walking/Investigating at a local wildlife preserve:


Madison has a love/hate relationship with bugs – here she ‘caught’ an ant.  She also likes to jump off of the benches:
               
Jonathon being a clown:

It was also VERY hot this weekend – we broke out a new ‘beach ball/sprinkler”.  Madison LOVED it from the start.  Jonathon is a little reserved and needed Daddy (who was trying to clean his garage and not prepared for water fun) to bring him through to enjoy it (yes, he’s laughing!).:

Now that Myra has her new fancy camera it will get broken out more (which means that hopefully there will be more updates!).

What’s a beach?

This, among others, is a question that we imagine our kids think when we talk about going new places (and when we arrive there).  At about two months home there was a going away gathering for a friend in a park right on the water.  It was the first time we really ventured out and decided it would be a ‘safe’ place to gauge how Jonathon and Madison were doing (nice, open environment). 

This was the first time either of them had ever seen water outside of a bathtub and been to a beach-like place (it’s not a ‘real’ beach but since it was low tide it counted as one)!  We had no idea what to expect, would they be scared? run away from us to go to someone new?  love it?  Madison (who is turning out to be our risk taker) immediately wanted to check it out.  Jonathon, who is more reserved, was content staying in Joe’s arms and observing for awhile. 

Both kids impressed us by staying with us the entire day.  They were curious about other people just looking at them (Madison gave them all her serious stare down), but were interested only in being with us or near the other kids.  One example of how great they did was Madison was playing with a couple kids a little ways away when her water shoe came off.  She picked up the shoe and handed it to friends daughter and pointed at Myra then started walking towards her.  Myra was in a group of a couple other women, but Madison made sure that the shoe got to her to help get it back on!

The low tide made for a lot of tide pools with a ton of hermit crabs of all sizes.  It didn’t take long before both kids were really into it and having a blast.  A good friend of ours took amazing pictures for us:

   

Our original plan was only to stay for an hour or maybe two because of nap times and not wanting it to be too much for the kids.  However, Madison was having so much fun we couldn’t put a stop to it and Jonathon surprised us by falling asleep on Joe and then staying asleep on a nearby blanket!

   

Some friends had a homemade ice cream contraption that different people took turns with, resulting a very good chocolate milkshake.  Madison really enjoyed this – another first!

 

Our First Month Home

Okay, okay…we are SO behind!  At the request of many we are not going to wait to catch up on everything (since these catch up entries take forever and are super long) so we will be switching from past events to current blurbs about the kids progress (after this one!).  Here’s a past one (obviously)!

Wow – that first month!  It seems like an eternity ago, yet it really has not been so long.  That first month held some big challenges but also some of the greatest joys we've ever felt.  We all know that learning how to be a family is challenging, we ‘knew’ this too…but did not REALLY 'know' it. Nor did we anticipate what this new family would look like when two scared, unsure two year olds were brought thousands of miles to a new home (something they had never imagined) where only English was spoken and with parents (also a new concept) who had never parented before! Twins is an absolute blessing and we think it's great for them to have each other...but it also keeps you on your toes! 

The first couple days home were a lot of fun watching the kids discover all the new fun toys (real toys and objects that became toys) in our house and start to learn about their new home.  Jonathon can’t seem to resist luggage and both kids love their little kitchen…here they are looking at each other through the microwave window.  Good friends from Oregon sent us a ton of wonderful clothes that actually fit the kids now (so many of the clothes we had for them were way too big).  As you can see Madison liked the box they came in (it helped that Joe dragged her around the house in this box).

   

The first couple weeks were riddled with many tantrums, mostly from Madison.  Myra swore one night that the cops were sure to show up at our door as Madison screamed like a banshee for hours in the middle of the night and the neighbors blocks away were certain to have heard.  We were at a loss some nights and just tried lots of holding (when they would let us) and tried to just talk to them.  We knew they were grieving immensely, were confused and felt out of control, however we still found our patience running thin and questioned if we were up for this!  It was tough and thank God for his strength and understanding friends and families who listened with care.

Sleeping was one of the hardest things, often consisting of an hour and a half (at least) of crying and screaming before we could get them to sleep.  We quickly gave up the ‘ideal’ family bed for portable cribs next to our bed as no one was getting any sleep this first way!  Jonathon took to his immediately, seeming relieved to have his own space.  Madison cried and screamed the first night like we were abandoning her, it was heart-breaking.  But, she also quickly seemed to really like her ‘own’ bed.    Madison is very against rocking and at nap or bed time and immediately wants to be let down into the crib.  Joe is able to rock Jonathon to sleep and he seems to really need this to calm down and allow himself to go to sleep.  However, toward the end of this first month Madison wouldn’t go to sleep unless Myra was rubbing her back – progress! We settled on what our routine would be before bed (and for the whole day really) and kept things very very structured. We saw such a change in the kids (less fear) when they knew what to expect each day. For this first month, we really stuck to the same activities with very little deviation.

We quickly discovered that Madison really liked to ‘help’.  Myra was carrying out laundry one day with Madison in tow (Madison likes to follow either of us when we leave the room).  Myra turned around and Madison had disappeared, she then immediately came running with some clean clothes she found so she could carry some too.  Those clothes were extra clean that day.  She also likes to imitate us with sweeping or wiping the table:

  

As mentioned, both kids were scared to death of the bath tub.  After a couple weeks home and one very messy day of playing with the water table outside (and Joe dumping water over his head...then letting the kids do it to him), Madison decided the tub wasn’t so bad and started to cry when it was time to get OUT!  Jonathon was still very scared of it, but we could see him watching Madison closely and had high hopes.  We tried some playtime in the bath tub with clothes on, but he still wasn’t buying it with water!

Another VERY exciting event this first month was Jonathon started to walk on his own after being home about a 1.5 weeks!  With lots and lots of encouragement he went from only taking 3 or 4 steps then crawling to walking all around the house on his own he became pretty steady in just a few days – it was so wonderful to see!  Once he started, there was no stopping him!  Being able to walk also opened up so many more opportunities for development and we saw such a huge change in him in this area as well.

 

The days seemed to really fly this first month and we probably would not have eaten if it wasn’t for great friends who provided us with 2-3 meals every week!  We are SO SO SO thankful for all the fabulous food we were given, we had never eaten so well!  At the beginning of the month the kids still (understandingly) had food issues were they would scream and cry for it as soon as they saw any, but towards the end they were becoming much more selective…starting that typical two-year old behavior.  Now they are almost TOO picky :) ! They do have some favorites that are ALWAYS a hit:  yogurt, fruit, chicken tenders (for Jonathon) and hot dogs/sausage (for Madison).  They also really enjoyed their first chocolate pudding:

It was quite hard being cooped up and not being able to have visitors for more than a few minutes, although we really knew it was necessary and for the best (we can really see how important that was looking back now as well).  Still, we tried to escape for a couple short trips in the car to get the kids use to it and we really enjoyed our backyard.  Both Jonathon and Madison were so excited when they saw the big wheels, once on they were off – staying on the curving path quite well!  They also really like being pulled around in the wagon. 

  

Our cat has been one of the big sources of conflict in the house.  Anyone who knows her understands this well.  It doesn’t seem like anyone is backing down – who will win?

Despite the challenges, there has been so much joy as well. It is so fun to watch the kids discover new things and just be kids…we are really starting to see their personalities emerge and they are fun and full of life!  The kids are really staying near us throughout the day and there is even a little cuddling….no real eye contact yet or affection initiated, but it is way too soon to expect that!  Here are some fun pictures (links to a few more):

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Just because you haven’t seen enough, here are a couple favorite pictures (can you tell we are proud new parents?).

 

Believe it or not, that’s just a snapshot of our first month!  It’s still just so amazing to think that less than a year ago we never imagined that our family would look like this! Stay tuned for some bullets of what month 2 had in store! Even more awesome changes!

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see           (Hebrews 11:1)