Wednesday, February 18, 2015

4 months since Gotcha Day!

Thought maybe I'd slip over here and write a little update..
Wow how time flies!!! 5 months since we headed out across the ocean and almost 4 months since we've been home and living life as a family of four!
Sat down this afternoon and read back for the first time through all my posts.... couldn't help but cry sometimes and laugh the next as I re-lived our sometimes stressful sometimes exciting moments of our 6 weeks in Ukraine! Can't believe it's all just a memory now...
So.. life has continued and has continued to improve :) Kody has come a looong way since the little boy we first saw in the orphanage. He is FULL of energy and usually quite a happy little guy, when at home that is :-/ It seems like the more he bonds with us and adjusts the worse he likes being out and about and 'strangers'! If we go to church or a social function he grumps and cries wanting to be held and then he looks at the door and waves bye-bye wanting to go home, as soon as we get home he give his little famous laugh and takes off for his toys happy as a lark! We try to be sensitive to his security and not go and do too much, but finally this mama needs some social life once in a while too! :) Everyone keeps telling me it's just a stage and I'm sure hoping they're right! I really feel like it's a good thing that he just wants his parents and to be at home and that it shows positive signs of adjustment, but kind of hard to remember that when your on 'clean up' at sewing and haven't done anything but tie a few knots on the comforter and watch the clock creep around till 3 :-(
Now on to his good traits :-) He loves to eat, very much unlike my other nibbler that needs encouragement for every bite, every meal! Can't remember when it was for sure, but not long after we got home and he decided he was much too old for baby food and one day he quit cold turkey and would not take another bite of it and insisted on table food! Thankfully it's cheaper HA He only has 6 teeth, but he has a great liking for meat and somehow he can manage to chew gum about any kind you give him. He must have some Italian blood in him somewhere per his great love of pasta... any kind, any flavor, cooked anyway. If it's pasta based he'll scarf it up! Still not really into the 'bottle' thing yet, but we do manage to get 3- 5oz bottles down him a day when an undisclosed amount of sugar is added ;-) Not big on juice, but goes through several sippy cups of water a day. Seems to me like he's kinda losing his baby looks and morphing into the toddler looks a little more although he still has his fat, jiggly baby cheeks that are so fun to pinch and kiss! :-) Have cut his hair several times already and I think its getting a little darker. He just thrives on love and attention, but is NOT a cuddle bug and is the rare occasion that he wants to snuggle in and be all gooshy-mooshy. He is understanding lots of words and sentences that we tell him and has a few recognizable words he says and quite a few more that only daddy and mama can decipher :) He loves, loves, LOVES to be outside and will often be found standing by the door crying, wanting to go out. I will be very glad when spring weather comes and he can just be turned loose outside for hours on end if he so desires!
We have completed all of his doctoring now and have all of his reports back from all the specialist and EVRYTHING has come back clear!! So amazing when I think of his scary Ukrainian diagnosis' and what we had to get willing for when we accepted his referral and now not a single one has proven accurate! So very thankful!!! All of his immunizations were bad so we need to start clear over on them, but that is so minute compared to what we could have been facing!!

Peyton has done extremely well with abruptly being pushed off of his pedestal of king of the castle and it just amazes me how with a 4 year age gap they get along so well and can spend hours playing together! Peyton loves to play 'farming' (and of course selling Reinke pivots) and Kody will be right in there driving his tractor making all the appropriate noises :-) Guess I just never expected them to actually play and get along so well, but boy I'm sure not complaining, just makes my heart swell with pride to watch my two little boys born countries apart and plopped down an ocean away together and acting like they so totally belong together... best buds!! Kody is the early riser and after he plays for awhile he will soon crawl in Peys room and stand up by his bed talking and banging on him trying to get him to wake up and then when Kody takes a nap Pey will keep asking how long does Kody have to sleep, can I wake him up yet? Bill thinks that they both have a special bond because they subconsciously had the same beginnings, but I think that might be pushing the imagination a little! ;-)

 I think we as a family have slowly found our new normal and enjoying every minute of our new little family grown by one little Ukrainian boy who has added so much joy and happiness to our life already!! When I think back to that October Monday day when we were so tied up in knots and sat in our humble abode begging the Lord to intervene for us if it was his will, that the Ukrainian lady would decide not to take him so he could be ours and everything that transpired since and how he is so a part of our family now and we can't imagine life without him... I humbly thank the Lord for answering our prayers more than we even asked and granting us a dream come true! Don't doubt for a minute that it was all meant to be exactly as it is!!! :-)
 Love you forever and always KODY EUGENE NICHOLS!!!