A Change Of Plans
Today we went to the Safari Park. Like everyone said, it really is good. This place is every bit as good as an amusement park in the US. It is geared toward the whole family and is centered around animals of the wild. First we boarded a train on wheels. We drove around part of the park for about 40 minutes and saw all kinds of animals up close. Hyrum and my favorite part was the Africa section. We had laughing zebra, giraffe and many other animals from Africa within 5-10 feet from us. It was so fun to see these animals up close. It really fueled my desire to go on an African Safari. I won't be picking up any children on that vacation. :) After the train tour we walked around and saw a lot of other animals. It was amazing to see so many of these animals and I am not a zoo lover. They have a section with babies of all sorts. They were so cute but I was holding my almost 4 year old son that acts like he is 2 and felt so sad for these babies and wondered if they struggle in similar ways as the poor children without a mommy. It kind of took some of the fun away.
Bria had another emotional day. She started out at breakfast with trying to control things and big bad mom wouldn't allow that. We had a battle of wills. Of course I won! She doesn't know yet that I was born and Wills. (That bad joke is for Dad). When she finally gave up she burst into tears. We had that scenario a couple of times today. This test if wills is always with mom for some reason. Bria prefers dad and for the moment and that is fine by me.
Hyrum is doing well. He was a little off today and seemed to get sad off and on but when we got to the room he did well. When Bria cries he watches intently and at times will rub her back to sooth her. He is getting used to kisses but still turns away most of the time. I have been giving him bear hugs (kids you know what those are for) but he resists them. I won't even go there with Bria at this point. Hyrum has still had a hard time sleeping and I have had to hold him to get him to go to sleep without crying. He sleeps restlessly and has woken up each night. Last night I woke up to some fussing and he was standing next to the bed on my side with his blanket in hand. I picked him up and put him next to me. He quickly fell asleep and slept well. That is the first time that he has slept next to me and been at ease. Great progress! Bria prefers the floor still. If that is the case when we get home then she will have a bed in our room on her own but still close. Somehow we have to break through her hard shell and get to the tender part of her heart. It is sad to see a 3 year old that is closed up and all feelings are staged and fake. That is way too young to be doing that. No child should have to feel that way.
OK, for the change of plans. We were supposed to go to the orphanage for Hyrum on Monday but found out today that the schedule has been changed. We will be going tomorrow. I am a little nervous for Hyrum. I have no idea how he will react. Hopefully it will not cause any problems for him. I'm not too afraid that he will want to stay. He has been doing well with attachments but it may set him back emotionally some. I guess we will see tomorrow what he does. We will be bringing gifts for the Aiyas and some suckers for the children. We also have the medicals tomorrow morning. The kids will get a simple exam that seems very useless to me. We are supposed to bring their medical info that we were given so the doctors can write down what is in there for the consulate so that it matches the info that was originally sent. I thought the exam was to have a second person confirm the health of the child to make sure there was no hidden issues. So much of the adoption process is a joke. We will also get TB tests and go back on Monday to get those checked. It will be a busy time now until we go home. The time is going by so fast and yet at times so slow.
Today we had to have some comfort food. We went to Pizza Hut. My family knows that I don't like pizza so well but this was good pizza even if we were in the states. I think food is going to be an issue for a little while for the kids. They tend to be pretty picky and pizza is not something they like. I am going to have to have rice and noodles available at all times. Casey will love that, he loves top ramen. It's a good thing that I stocked up when they were on sale. I just wish I had bought more.
Have fun with the pictures. They take a long time to post.
Bria had another emotional day. She started out at breakfast with trying to control things and big bad mom wouldn't allow that. We had a battle of wills. Of course I won! She doesn't know yet that I was born and Wills. (That bad joke is for Dad). When she finally gave up she burst into tears. We had that scenario a couple of times today. This test if wills is always with mom for some reason. Bria prefers dad and for the moment and that is fine by me.
Hyrum is doing well. He was a little off today and seemed to get sad off and on but when we got to the room he did well. When Bria cries he watches intently and at times will rub her back to sooth her. He is getting used to kisses but still turns away most of the time. I have been giving him bear hugs (kids you know what those are for) but he resists them. I won't even go there with Bria at this point. Hyrum has still had a hard time sleeping and I have had to hold him to get him to go to sleep without crying. He sleeps restlessly and has woken up each night. Last night I woke up to some fussing and he was standing next to the bed on my side with his blanket in hand. I picked him up and put him next to me. He quickly fell asleep and slept well. That is the first time that he has slept next to me and been at ease. Great progress! Bria prefers the floor still. If that is the case when we get home then she will have a bed in our room on her own but still close. Somehow we have to break through her hard shell and get to the tender part of her heart. It is sad to see a 3 year old that is closed up and all feelings are staged and fake. That is way too young to be doing that. No child should have to feel that way.
OK, for the change of plans. We were supposed to go to the orphanage for Hyrum on Monday but found out today that the schedule has been changed. We will be going tomorrow. I am a little nervous for Hyrum. I have no idea how he will react. Hopefully it will not cause any problems for him. I'm not too afraid that he will want to stay. He has been doing well with attachments but it may set him back emotionally some. I guess we will see tomorrow what he does. We will be bringing gifts for the Aiyas and some suckers for the children. We also have the medicals tomorrow morning. The kids will get a simple exam that seems very useless to me. We are supposed to bring their medical info that we were given so the doctors can write down what is in there for the consulate so that it matches the info that was originally sent. I thought the exam was to have a second person confirm the health of the child to make sure there was no hidden issues. So much of the adoption process is a joke. We will also get TB tests and go back on Monday to get those checked. It will be a busy time now until we go home. The time is going by so fast and yet at times so slow.
Today we had to have some comfort food. We went to Pizza Hut. My family knows that I don't like pizza so well but this was good pizza even if we were in the states. I think food is going to be an issue for a little while for the kids. They tend to be pretty picky and pizza is not something they like. I am going to have to have rice and noodles available at all times. Casey will love that, he loves top ramen. It's a good thing that I stocked up when they were on sale. I just wish I had bought more.
Have fun with the pictures. They take a long time to post.
Hyrum is doing his best monkey immitation....the problem is we hadn't seen the monkeys yet....
He's pretending to be mad. He has to try hard at that.
I couldn't pull the stick away until the last little bit of popcycle was gone.
Baby monkey doing his best Hyrum immitation.
I think the tiger is looking at the glare coming off the top of my head.
She knows her way around a popcycle. Not sure how many of those she has had in her life.
The whiter tigers are really cool.
Getting up close and personal with the giraffes.
Panda are pretty darn lazy. Kinda like Po from Kung Fu Panda.
Proud papa!
Bria is not quite as expressive as Hyrum is. This look on her face is pretty typical.
Proud mama!
"Al....Al.....Allen!"
We were informed that we got the quote wrong. Here goes,
"...Why the long face?" Ha, Ha,!!!............
"Yeah, I know I'm cute!"
If it really is a hassle don't stress about the pictures... but I do love them. I guess I should just send you guys an email but this is quicker. I can't wait until you are home and we can meet Hyrum and Bria. Also, the Allen picture is the wrong caption. It should be the one Pierce is so good at quoting. Maybe you were just too tactful to put that one on the blog. I love you!
ReplyDeleteNope, not to tactful just forgot. Thanks for correcting us. It is now changed.:)) Can't wait to see you too.
ReplyDeleteLove keeping up with you both on your trip- the pics are so adorable- lots of keepers! Hope the last part of the journey goes fast and that you are home with the rest of your family again. The kids are already blooming!
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