Bringing Home Bryant: February 2012

The sick bugs have invaded our house and they just won't leave. After 3 cans of lysol, 2 bottles of hand sanitizer, & hands that feel like sandpaper the kids are still sick. Sometimes I wonder if I should just put them all in the same room and let them kiss/hug each other instead of trying to prevent the sickness. Poor Bryant and biggest sister Sara Kathryn have suffered the worst of it. They have both had 103 fever and just felt awful. Feel so sorry for them. Amelia has felt yucky but not as bad as the other two. Macie has been the strong and healthy one so far. No surprise there. She is bored and ready to have her playmates back. Today they felt a little better. Praying tomorrow will be even better than today. Bryant has not felt like eating which prompted another visit to the doctor yesterday. He weighed 16lb 12 oz. Yeah, one pound gained since coming home a milestone. We have been struggling with the eating since he feels so bad just trying to stay hydrated. I have come to the realization he may lose a little during this time.

I am finally feeling better so it is much easier to handle the kids. Bryant has been tough because he has not wanted me to put him down. He is stuck to me like glue. The one and only positive of this sickness is my little man has become super attached to Momma. There is nothing like your Momma when you are sick and he has learned this first-hand. He is so pitiful. All he wants to do is snuggle with me in the rocking chair with his stuffed lion and his thumb. He cries when I put him down. Unfortunately we have 3 other kids and they need me too. This has made things quite difficult. I know we will survive this sick bug but it has been a rough one. Need a good exterminator...

Bryant the night before the bugs came. Happy and healthy (for the moment)

Next day. One sick little boy.

Sara Kathryn and her pancake. So miserable

Amelia worried about her baby brother

My Macie, aka fashionista. She picked out this outfit for school ( those are Jeff's dress socks she has on with her red Danskos). She then bragged to Sara Kathryn she was going to school and she was not.

Two months we have been home with Bryant. Part of me thinks "Did we really go to Russia?" It seems almost like a dream now. But every morning I wake up to this big grin and I know it was not. In the past two months our lives have been blessed by the sweetest, cutest and cuddliest little boy. He is a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. We are so in love with him and I think he is in love with us now too. My heart melts when he says "Mama". I just can't imagine him being with any other mama but me. Every day he never ceases to amaze me by something he does. He is so sweet yet so determined and sometimes down right stubborn. I do think he and I have a lot of similarities. These two months have truly been the best of times and the worst (but more of the best). We are now all settling down and Bryant is really thriving.

With Bryant I have had to utilize lots of patience and persistence. Much patience was needed in figuring out his needs and wants. We picked him up with no instructions (ha ha) and he could not tell us what he wanted. So lots of trial and error on both our parts. This along with trying to adjust to our life with four children has been quite exhausting. There were times I wanted to scream but the past few weeks things are falling in to place. This is mostly due to Bryant being more comfortable in his new life. It takes time for adopted children to gain a sense of trust and security. It does not happen overnight. Persistence has also been key. I am not as good at the patience but I am really good with the persistence. In the early days when Bryant would push away from me or want to do things on his own I would persist and get closer to him. It has paid off. He now whines and reaches for me to hold him and love on him. We are both stubborn so we have gone head to head a few times but he knows Mommy is going to win. He also knows I am going to take good care of him. He has gained trust in me and he is starting to realize I will not give up on him. We do tasks and say things over and over until he gets it and he will get it. Through all this he has become a Mommy's boy and I am loving it. I have still been very adamant about keeping his world small and consistent. I do think this has helped Bryant adjust. Soon we are going to start venturing out and doing more. He has yet to visit busy places like the mall or Wal-mart.

Our lives have been full of doctors visits and speech therapy. He is such a trooper with all of the visits. He has been poked, prodded and stuck so many times. Poor guy. So far all scary blood work has come back normal and we are thankful. Bryant is so much healthier now. He is gaining weight (slower than I would like) but moving in the right direction. He loves goldfish, spaghetti, vegetables and chicken nuggets. He doesn't really like sweets. We have bought every flavor of ice cream and cookies and he throws them on the floor. I keep wondering how a child can't like sweets. I don't think he was given them in the orphanage. This week he weighed 16 lbs 8oz almost a pound since he have been home. I thought the weight gain would be easier but he just doesn't care too much about food. He is drinking whole milk now which when we picked him up he was not getting and would spit up with a sip. I have to say feeding has been the biggest challenge. I am trying not to get too frustrated thinking one day he will be excited to eat or maybe not.

On a developmental note I feel like Bryant has grown leaps and bounds. He started walking 2 weeks ago. His language is really picking up and we started 2 hours a week of speech therapy this month. He has 7 words. Yeah. He has momma, dadda, baby (his 1st word), uh-oh, bye-bye, no and duck. I am so proud of him. To think he has heard Russian for the first 13 months of life and English for 2 months I think 7 words is not too shabby. He is communicating with us and understanding what we are saying. It is crazy that it took us 6 months to learn a few Russian words but Bryant is catching on so much quicker. Kids brains really are sponges. He points to his nose and hiney bo-bo. It is so funny. He can follow simple commands like sit down etc. He blows kisses, high fives, waves and has lots of other tricks. He points at things and expresses his wants. He has also learned some bad things like how to whine and cry like his big sisters.

He love, love, loves his sisters and they love him. He really likes to play in the playroom and outside with them. He thinks he is as big as they are. The girls play daycare and house with him and he is their baby. Hilarious. He gets so upset when the girls cry especially Amelia. He crawls up to her and hugs and pats her. He is an emotional child with a big heart. Amelia and Bryant are buddies. I think because they are so close in age. They also fight and he tells her no. So glad he is finally taking up for himself.

We have had a month of sickness in our house so we are ready to be healthy and ready for some warm weather.

Please pray that Bryant continues to progress and flourish in his new home with his family who absolutely adores him.

Bryant walking

(please excuse my annoying voice)