Catching up!

Wow! I haven't posted since May 1st. I have a good excuse though... we were really busy :)

My first Mother's Day was this year. It was a very nice Sunday. Hubby woke up early and got some bagels and juice. Then, we had mimosas on the deck. Stinka had pink lemonade with sprite :) Then, we went with our neighbors to a festival in town and got to eat some very yummy food. While we were there, these little boys came around and handed all the moms a carnation. It was very sweet, and I got to add it to the beautiful bouquet Hubby got me. It was nice to be acknowledged as a mom this year.

The day before Mother's Day and 2 weeks later, we went to weddings. It was Stinka's first two weddings to ever attend. I had tried once before to explain to her what weddings were all about, but I think she finally started to understand after actually attending. She didn't care much for the ceremonies. She actually kept trying to walk into the aisle to get a better view. Which is hilarious, because at church on Sundays she is content to sit in the pew. After the ceremony comes her favorite part: cake and dancing! She wiggled her way up to the front during both weddings while they were cutting the cake. At each wedding, she managed to get a gigantic corner piece with about a pound of icing. I guess they thought she needed a sugar high, lol. After that, Stinka owned the dance floor... seriously... That kid outdanced most of the adults, and because she is so dang cute they let her on the floor for some of the "special" dances. She had the time of her life, and now wants to go to weddings every week :) Anyway, according to Stinka this is what happens at a wedding.... The girl and boy give each other rings and say, "I love you forever." They kiss on the lips, then they have a big party with cake and dancing. Close enough!

Right after the second wedding, Stinka graduated Kindergarten. Hubby and I were getting everything prepped the night before the ceremony, so we were looking through the old clips on the Camcorder. We went back and watched her Christmas pagent. She had only been out of the orphanage about 2 1/2 months at that point. She kept staring at the other kids and mouthing along to the songs. I'm pretty sure she only know one line of the refrain of one song. For her graduation pagent, they sang songs again. Stinka knew most of the words to every song. She was singing along right with everyone else. I lost it. Yes, I cried like a baby during her entire ceremony. It didn't help that it was pretty much 1 year minus a few days from the first day we met her, and she was having brain surgery and skull reconstruction the week after. I was so emotional about everything. Here was this amazing little girl who drives me bananas and teaches me more about myself than I ever thought possible graduating Kindergarten with her whole life in front of her. Such a contrast to that child with brown teeth, earwax all over her ears, in dirty clothes that smelled disgusting running through the orphanage, because someone told her that her mom and dad were here. It's so hard to believe that was only a year ago. I feel like our whole family has aged years! After the ceremony, she was so excited. She knew she was on Summer break, but she asked when it would be over and when first grade was starting. To celebrate, we went to the zoo with one of her friends.

The week after that, Stinka had surgery, and I was crazy, nutso mom again. We had to get to the hospital at 5:30am to check in, then we went to the children's room to wait for pre-op. While in there, Stinka saw the red wagons and asked if she could ride in one. Of course we had to say yes. Then, it was our time to go back to pre-op and anesthesia. I drove the wagon and she was so happy. Papa took pictures. After verifying about a million times her name and procedure site, the Anesthesiologist gave her an Ativan syrup. Stinka kept giggling and she had the hiccups. "I feel silly mama!" We still had two of her stuffed animals with her, so we kept playing. Before we knew it, it was time to go. Hubby and I were so focused on Stinka, we forgot the animals, so they got to take a trip to the OR too. The surgery was supposed to take 2-3 hours, so of course at the 2 1/2 hour mark I started to get really antsy and freak out. Finally at 3 1/2 hours, the doctors came to talk to Hubby and I. Basically, the surgery went well. There was more scar tissue on her brain than expected, but it came off easier than expected. Her dura was not salvagable in that area, but it has nice healthy borders. The skull pieces were cut horizontally and a titanium mesh with screws was used to close it up. They only had to shave about a 7 inch by 1 inch section of hair, and they were mostly able to use her old scars. Oh and did I mention they brought down a plastic surgeon from 4 hours away for this surgery :) That neurosurgeon and plastic surgeon were awesome!

We had a fairly uneventful 3 day stay at the hospital. She took a long time to come out of anesthesia. She had the usual nausea/vomiting, and had difficulty going to the bathroom. But by Saturday morning, she was ready to go home. We took it easy for the next two weeks. I kept trying to come up with things for her to do, but the house can get really boring after a while. A friend suggested we go to the library. The library? I hadn't been there in years! Now, I know what I've been missing... Our public library is huge! AND they let you check out 25 books at a time. 25 books?? What would I do with 25 books? We have also been having school at home. Stinka finished Kindergarten, but she hadn't exactly mastered the material. So we have about 2-3 hours of school at home every day or so. It is amazing how fast she learns new concepts. She has also still been going to Russian tutoring 2-3 times per week. She is getting better at shifting from one language to the other. It still gives her difficulty at times. She can now say and write the Russian alphabet. We are working on reading Russian.

This past week, Stinka went to Summer camp at her school. I feel so blessed to have found that school. It is nice for her to be in a loving environment. This week was "water week," and she was able to wear her swimsuit and have fun like a normal kid without worrying about her head.

All in all, she is doing fantastic. I can't wait to see where she's at by the end of Summer.