Halloween and Catch Up Time

Yes it is almost Thanksgiving and I am posting Halloween pictures but they are so cute that I didn't want you all to miss out on them. Micah was a puppy this year and got to wear a costume that I made for Olivia.

Do you like his guards?

What is nice about the costumes that I made is that they actually hold up over time and each kids has worn them. Great memories when you look at the pictures of each one in the same costume!

We also did our annual pumpkin carving where each of them get to pick out their own pumpkin. Micah's choice was unique as he is, he picked a white pumpkin, it was so cute listening to him say, "whi punkin"

It usually is a very long night because just getting the guts out of four pumpkins takes awhile and we usually have a loss of interest about half way through and Russ, Olivia and I end up finishing them up. So we decided to cut our losses and have Micah color his - it worked out great that is until it rained a few days later and the washable markers washed right off. Thankfully he didn't notice.

Last year Micah was able to go trick or treating but he really did not understand what was going on. This year, he understood, it was all about candy! Every time we went to a house, I would remind him to say, trick or treat and then thank you(which only family members can really understand). What was so cute is that some people would try to hold a conversation with him, like "So what are you dressed up as?" or "Are you having fun?" and his response to everyone, no matter what the question was was "TRICK OR TREAT". I think he was trying to nicely say "Hey people, just give me the candy".

And speaking of candy, that is our reward of choice for potty training. We are doing pretty good with it but some day I feel like it will never happen. Micah know that if he does things on his own or goes #2 in the potty, he gets a bigger reward. So when he talks about it, it goes something like this: " When I go poo poo in the potty, I gets lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota lota CANDY! YEA!!. Can you tell he has a sweet tooth.

Mica is also growing like a weed. When we brought him home he literally wore a 12 months pants( at 2.5 years old!) so this summer I was wondering what he would be wearing once he was home a year.......... 3Ts! Can you believe it, now they are slightly long but still, he grew in 1 year what kids normally do in two. So back in October I took his measurements and compared them to the ones taken when he was home one week - he grew 4.75 inches and gained 10 pounds! Man, no wonder my back is aching all the time! I really try to do everything to not have to carry him anymore( no I love to hold him, if he lets me but sitting down is the preferred method).

I love how 3 year old minds work. They get something in their head and that is the way that it is. My wonderful niece sat for the kids a few weeks ago and ever since then, I get the question from Micah about "Where is Christmas?". Now her name is Christa, but for now and forever, in Micah's head - she will be Christmas.

Well I have to leave you with the wonderful picture of the week in our house. It is of our Toothless Wonder - Luc. We know what he will be singing for Christmas this year!

Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Gotcha Day One Year

Well, actually I am six days late but that is the theme lately around our house. We have had sports out the wazoo and I am ready for things to slow down so I can catch my breath before we start the holidays. Before I talk about Gotcha day I have to say "GO WILDCATS!" That is Olivia's volleyball team. They just played most of a tournament today. Her team was 7th seeded and are now going to play for 3rd/4th place. They were so amazing!

Also today is my wonderful and amazing hubby's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY! We all love you so very much.

Gotcha day was on September 29th but it did not seem right to celebrate it on that day because it was just Micah and me. But October 4th was the one year anniversary of us coming home. So this was the day that seemed right to celebrate our new family since we were all there with all having memories(except for maybe Micah). What is so amazing is to think that one year ago I went in and wisked Micah from the only place he knew as home. And I when I say wisked, I really mean it. It was a busy morning and my translator needed to get to class, so we had enough time to sign the documents, have the caregivers change him and we trotted out the door as fast as we could, I almost felt like if we did not hurry, they might change their minds and take him back. But then the fun began, seeing his reactions to everything, some with confusion and a little fear( like trying to use the large toilet in the room) and some with excitement and awe( like realizing that he could just run and have fun).

It has been an amazing year. There have been great adventures, exciting firsts and giggles. But there were also frustrations and "pulling your hair out" moments. Even though I would like to say it has been all thrills and giggles( and that is what I wanted it to be), it has not. But I have to say that I would not trade this past year for anything. It has grown me in a way that I did not know I needed to grow in, it has made me love a little more like God loves us all - unconditionally. I still have a looong way to go but my eyes have been opened to something God is trying to teach me and that is thrilling beyond description.

I can not believe that God has blessed me with such wonderful and amazing kids - I love them so very much. What is been really interesting lately is that Micah will talk about Russia. I am not really sure if he remembers or if he is combining things that he has seen in pictures and things that I have told him. Like the hat he has on below. When we went to talk his picture in it he said- " I wear this in Russia. I cry in Russia but Mommy take me home and I watch Dora." No matter what he says there is always a theme of him crying in Russia, which makes me sad, but on the upside, that means he is happy here. And that is what it is all about.

Thanks to our friends Kyle, Greg & Grace (whose Gotcha day was the same) for the idea - I have a picture from that day of Micah and myself and another one of us on our 1 year anniversary Gotcha.

September 29, 2008

September 29, 2009 ( The hat barely fits)

If you would love to be a part of making another little child happy, Check out this link. I talk about this family below and they only need about $3000 more to bring home a precious little boy when he is born, which is any day now. There is no other family that wants to adopt him and if they don't raise this money, he will go into foster care.

Blessings to all!

Helping Adoption

I have been wanted to post about our Gotcha Day Anniversary but have been so busy that I have not gotten around to it. I will do that soon but I needed to post about a friend who needs help. She is a fellow adoptive mom that has a heart so big that I can not comprehend it. She has struggled through many failed adoptions but has such a love for the orphan that she continues after God's calling on their lives. Right now there is a baby who needs a home and they are willing to be this baby's parents, they just need the money to do it. Please check out her blog "Storing up Treasures" and if you feel led to support them, please do.

Thanks for any help you may be able to give.

Court Revisited

Yes, can you believe it! One year since our court date( the second one that is 9/18). I can remember that day so vividly. It was the perfect fall day( And I love the fall:). The sky was so blue with painted white clouds floating in their perfect places and a comfortable crisp day. It started out so stressful but after the judge came back in and gave us the wonderful news, you could not get the smile off my face for the rest of the day. It is hard to believe that it has been one year.

Last week while picking up Micah from preschool, the teacher's helper asked if Micah was here last year or if this was his first year at preschool. I politely said it was his first year but I was thinking - No he was in Russia last year, he did not walk very well and barely spoke! Can you believe it!

Anniversaries are great reminders of how things have changed. How much has been accomplished and how much more will be behind you in a year from now. So when the struggles of raising a 3 year old( or any other child at any other age) come rearing their ugly head - remind me at how much has been accomplished this year.

Micah has only been to preschool 6 days so far but it seems like it has been months. He absolutely loves it. In fact he loves it so much that I have to be creative with ideas to get him to leave school. And the teachers say that he is doing very well and has good days. He is learning the rules and doing a good job of following them. I am so happy for him and what he is learning. Now if we can just get the potty training taken care of....

Here are some pictures of my "big boy", as he likes to refer to himself.

First day of Preschool with his Diego back pack(I had to hide the pink Dora one at the store so he would not want to buy it)

My Big Boy with his adorable smile.

Don't you just love this one!

WHY?

Yes, that is the 64 million dollar question, or should it be the 64 million times a day question! We have now offically entered the "why" period. When he first started asking, it was great, he was progressing and hitting another milestone. But after a week, I was ready to move on out of that phase. I try to do my best to answer the question that he is asking but after about 5 whys in a row, there is no real answer left to give except " because " or " because I say so". So when I turn the question back to him - his response now is "because I say so". Such a great example I am.

The other major hurddle we are trying to cross is the potty training. I was utterly amazed when we started. I stripped him down, since it was early summer, but we still stayed in the house, and he immediately would stop what he was doing, even in the midst of playing, and go over to the potty( for both one and two!)!! It was great but getting him to do the same thing with his pants on was a whole other story. Needless to say we are making progress by the end of the summer but he won't quite have it by the time preschool starts - but hey - Progress!

Things are really going well over all and I have to say that I am really blessed. The biggest problem we still deal with is overstimulation, especially in new areas. He just loses all control and runs around having a great time but being disruptive to others. I am really praying that his preschool teacher has great patience because preschool will be so challenging for him to focus for while.

The end of summer was great, we went on our yearly visit to King's Island amusement park and had a blast. (King's Island will always be a little different because our trip last year was the day we got our court date!) We made some money at our garage sale and then just tried to enjoy what time was left. We also had our one year post placement visit( wow it is almost a year since GOTCHA). Our social worker was amazed at how well he was doing and could not believe his speech - she could actually understand him. I remember a time when I thought there would never be a day when we would understand what he was saying - to those who are there now - it will come, it will come.

It is sad to have the kids back in school and I miss them so but I look at it as great time to complete all the projects that need to be done. And now that the weather has considerably cooled in the past week, it does feel like fall is on the way - Oh how I love the fall!

Here are a few pictures of the end of our summer.

SLiding down Grammy's water slide

Look at the BIG Tractor Wheel!

MY absolute Favorite picture of Micah!

How cool am I!

Finally I get to DRIVE!

We all love Scooby Doo and so does Micah, even though it doesn't look like it.

My beautiful kids.

Another Milestone

Besides the fact that I am posting only two weeks after the last post, Today is another wonderful day to remember for our family. It was one year ago today that we got to see(face to face) and hold our little boy. It was a fairly smooth morning and we got to get our referral and get to the orphanage before lunch. When I first got to see him, one of his caregivers carried him in to a room of about 12 adults, most of whom he probably never saw. He was so unsure of what was going on and once they handed him to me, he began to cry. I only held him for a minute or two in that first meeting, and then they wisked him out of the room. We did get to see him later that day, after his nap. He was still unsure but no crying. He was cautious but was too excited to play with the toys we brought to let that hold him back.

Here he is that first day:

By the end of the day we knew that he would be our little boy.

It is so wonderful this time of year to start the many anniversaries of our adoption. What is so amazing is to see how things have changed since then.

Here he is today telling me how much he loves me:

He is so sure of himself now and so a part of our family. I was thinking as I tucked him in tonight to bed and he looked up at me and smiled and we did our bedtime routine, one year ago tonight, someone else was putting him to bed, he had no real routine except they put him in bed. He had no hugs, no kisses, no family to love him. It breaks my heart to think that he had to go through that. But we came to get him and now there will be no more nights like that, he can always wake up to a mommy and daddy.

Another great event this weekend was that 5 families who adopted from Astrakhan in the last year all gathered at our house for the weekend. It was such a great time to see each other, to see how the kids have grown and remember and share our journeys. I will write more about that later but you can check The Beadle's blog for her update(she always is so great at posting).

Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

 At the zoo with all those adopted from Russia( one from Kaliningrad, the rest from Astrakhan) minus one.

Later in the weekend minus three( just love how Micah and Grace are trying to hold hands.)

Where oh Where...

have the Canestraro's been? Well, everywhere - almost!  It has been so busy since I last posted that by the time I get the kids down to bed, I am too tired to post. So here is what has been up.

We have had two more birthdays to celebrate

Happy Birthday Olivia! Oh, what a beautiful young lady she is.

And Happy Birthday Dominic! How handsome are they!

We also had the end of school, many doctor appointments, a vacation to the beach and finally a mini trip to WV to visit family for the 4th.

I am still amazed that after 9 month, I still can see so much changes in Micah(OK, I am tired of using initials so I am finally going to start using their names). Mainly in his speech, he just continues to amaze me in what he is learning. It will be interesting to see how much more he will learn once he is in preschool. And speaking of preschool, our summer project is potty training. Kind of hard when you are on the go all the time, but for the effort we have put forth - He is really doing very well - Candy is a good motivator.

The highlight of the past few months has been our vacation to the beach. I knew that Micah would love it, because he loves water, but I was not sure how he would handle the waves.

Here he is evaluating the situation:

Here he is after the waves knocked him down a few times:

I think he likes it! Here is his first attempt at surfing!

I am sure with his energy, he will be great at it someday. There is not much that scares this guy, but we did find something on vacation - a macaw. THere is a bird in a gift shop that we go to that talks to you. I thought he would like it - Oh no. I don't think he has ever clung to me as tightly as he did once the macaw started talking. I would even turn around so that he could see that it would be ok and he would just turn his head. He also did not like the loud noises from family setting off fireworks so I think that it has a lot to do with the loudness of things.

After the episode with the fireworks at our families house, I was not sure how he would handle the big fireworks, especially since we happened to be so close to them( family lives right next to where they are set off). But with a special set of ear plugs, he was just fine.

He daily talks about the "Boom,Boom,Boom!"

The biggest event for us(Russ and myself) was that on June 27th 2009, it was 1 year since we saw our first picture of our little boy. Here is the first glimpse of him:

And here he is today(playing in the sand this time):

It's like he is not the same child! The change still amazes me. These kids are so resilient, if just given a chance.

One other anniversary that has passed, was the one year of our first trip to Russia in May. If you go back and check our blog from June 2008, you will see that we had basically had to turn down a referral of two wonderful children that we wanted so much to adopt. Their grandparents, even though they had turned down once to adopt them, did not want them leaving the country and we were told the courts would never grant us rights to be their parents. We were also told that the grandparents were going to adopt them now. So at the time, we were at peace with the whole thing. However, as time passed, and I continually checked the Russian database, they were both still on it. Month after Month, I was so upset that they were still in an orphange, but finally in May, I checked and they were not there any more. I am not sure if they are with their grandparents or another Russian couple adopted them, but they are with a family and that is what is wonderful. The other good news is the little girl we turned down because of FAS is not on the database any more, so she is hopefully in a loving family also.

So as busy bees we continue to pack as much fun as we can in before school starts back. I hope it will be sooner before the next post. Until then, I leave you all with a picture that describes Micah better than any words.