We interrupt this usually cute blog to alert you that there is a monster lurking in the Basile household. Her name is Zoya and she can be seen poking her baby sister in the eye, telling her parents NO to everything they say, having long tantrums in time out, and peeing her pants on purpose to try to get out of time out (that trick only worked once but girl keeps tryin to see if it'll work again).
Guess the honeymoon is over folks.....
I guess after having your parents gone for weeks and then having them return with another little being that is getting just as much of her mama and daddy's love, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Hoping we're on the upswing of this after a brutal past 2 days!
Off to pour more love into my devil angel-child :)
What perfect timing to have Mila home just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for her. We are thankful we decided to trust through the pain and loss of Laina and continue on so we could understand that Mila was God's plan all along for our family.
We just hung out here (we are keeping Mila on quarantine until surgery as to minimize her risk of getting sick). Grandma and Grandpa P. came for a visit and even brought Thanksgiving dinner with them to cook for us! It was lovely!
I've gotten so many comments/emails asking to please update on how Zoya is doing as her role of big sister! We've been a bit busy but I'll do a quick little update!
Zoya is doing far better than we anticipated. I thought since she is the center of our universe, she might have a little more trouble adjusting to baby sister Mila. When Zoya met her at the airport she just loved her instantly. She is constantly around her wanting to touch her and love her. She sometimes needs reminders to be gentle, but overall is doing fabulous. We have been trying to intentionally make extra one on one time with Zoya to make the transition smoother. We've regressed her a little bit in some areas, such as holding her more than normal, snuggling her, and baby talking with her. We even gave her her own bottle because she was so interested in Mila's and got upset when she couldn't have it. As soon as we gave her her own she didn't want it any more ;) Reverse psychology at it's finest! She thinks the extra attention and treating her like a baby is funny and just eats it up. Some of you might be thinking why would we do this....one thing we found with Zoya is when change is present, or we are seeing anxiety, if we just regress her a tiny bit here and there she does fabulous. The first day home we noticed some whining and pouting and a few tears, but in all fairness to Zoya she was up late from the airport arrival and also sick. Hopefully this trend will continue and Zoya won't have any huge adjustment issues. I am thankful she is doing so well! I am so proud of our Zoya girl, she has dealt with all the changes from us being gone so long, all the way through sharing us with Mila. Having a baby really puts into perspecting how fast Zoya is growing up!
Usually when she comes home from school she runs right to her iPad and yells ELMO, because she knows if she had a good day at school she gets to watch Elmo. Well Shawn picked her up today and she came running in yelling "BABY!" She ran right over and was so excited to see Mila. She is still working on perfecting saying "Mila" so mostly she is calling her baby. Mila cried the other day and Zoya said "Mama, baby ba-ba." She could probably run the show if I needed to leave for a bit ;) Just kidding! Just as I thought Zoya is such a good helper. She will grab diapers or wipes, throw things out and even keep Mila entertained for a few minutes if I'm making a bottle!
*And after I typed all that Zoya kicked Mila and had the mother of all tantrums in time out. Ya win some, ya lose some....LOL!
Now what you all wanted to see....some sweet pictures of our beautiful daughters. We are so stinkin' blessed!
pretending she is a baby saying "sssshhhhhhh"
Practicing on the freaky life size doll (the doll is bigger than Mila LOL)
We are so thankful for Aunt Jen Jen and Xavier who moved into our house and took fabulous care of Zoya while we were gone for THREE weeks! And also to Grandma and Grandpa B for doing some weekend duties! Jen knew our hearts needed to see pictures of our sweet girl daily and see how happy she was. She posted updates on facebook almost daily and it was so nice to get a peak into what our girl was up to! Here are some of my favorite pictures:
Zoya was a ballerina for her school halloween party
Isn't she just a beautiful ballerina?
Having more fun than everyone else because that's the way we do it!
Sweet girl in the halloween parade...
With big brother X :)
Getting ready for Zoo-Boo with Mario
Cute kitty cat and Mario
Zoya and her pumpkins before pumpkin time
Painting her white pumpkin (good idea Aunt Jen Jen!)
EEEWWW guts! Jen said she actually liked it, I guess this picture just shows her Ukrainian Babushka face she likes to make now and again! LOL
Sweet jammied babes!! Xavier is such a good friend to Zoya and takes such good care of her!
I had a couple pictures of Zoya and Grandma and Grandpa but they were so blurry because Zoya was running circles around them but they are burried in my horrendous email somewhere. :) But I hear Zoya had a fabulous time being spoiled rotten by them!
Leaving Zoya for 3 weeks was the hardest thing I've ever done as a Mama! My heart hurt every day being away from her. Shawn and I were so excited to see her, but we got in at midnight Friday night and thought since we were so tired it wouldn't be a good idea to wake her up in case she didn't feel like going back to sleep LOL. So Saturday morning at 7:30 am we busted in and surprised her in her room!! Look at this sweet smile when she realized it was us! Oh I love this girl!!!
I slightly worried that Zoya might be mad at us for leaving, even though I know that is so not her personality. Thank goodness she forgave us easily! She's already trying to see if the rules are the same at every chance she gets though ;) And I think you all should leave your children for 3 weeks....no not really, but oh my goodness it really gives you a good idea of just how much progress your child is making! It is hard to see the changes when you are with your child every single day, but if you go away for 3 weeks you will realize just how quickly they change! Zoya is now doing just about everything except driving....LOL, just kidding...but seriously...she is talking SO MUCH! I got a "wuh woo too mama" (love you too mama) and it melted my heart! She is singing along with her favorite songs. And she is in love with books all of a sudden. I had to read her favorite story to her about 3 times the first day home and she keeps bringing us books saying "ree pee" (read please). She snuggled up on my lap and just giggled she was so happy I was reading her favorite story, Pip. It's our special thing to read Pip together and I could tell she really missed it! She is "reading" books on her own. She picked up a bunny book called "Hop, hop, hop" and read "Hop, hop, hop", turned the page and read again, "Hop, hop, hop." I just sat there in amazement as she put her own words with the story! She can now say the dog's name "Mya" clear as day instead of calling her "dog." She asked for my apple and ate the entire thing without having it cut up. We got in the car today to go to the store and she said, "School?" and I said, "No, tomorrow." And she said "morrow." So we turned the opposite way that we go for school and she pointed where the school was and said "cool, morrow" (school, tomorrow). Aiy, I tell you this girl is not a baby anymore that's for sure! And she seems SO HUGE compared to tiny Mila. I haven't weighed her yet but I think she gained at least a pound while we were gone! LOL. Her face even seems more grown up to me. How can all this be in just 3 weeks??? I am thankful for this perspective because it really reminds me just how fast she is growing up.
We've been talking a lot about baby Mila. When we mention her, Zoya signs, "cry." And we say, "well what will you do when baby sister cries?" And Zoya says, "Shhhh baby." So cute! I can't wait to see Zoya's reaction to her baby sister! I know she is going to be such a great sister and a big helper to Mama and Daddy!! Thanks for all your prayers for our sweet girl! God truly protected Zoya during our time away and I like to think she only thought we were gone a few days instead of three weeks!
