More Visitors!!

We've been very busy here at the Basile house this summer having some pretty cool visitors!! Of course you all know Summer and her family. They are in the process of bringing home another treasure! Stop on over and leave some love!  Our families were featured together in an article HERE before we actually met in real life. I first met Summer, in real life, shortly after that article was published. We had a fun time meeting last summer, and then again after Belle was newly home, so I was so excited I would get to see her again this summer! I hadn't seen Belle since she had just gotten home and I just couldn't believe the changes in her! What a love bug that girl is! (And she loved my cheesy potatoes). Summer was a rock star, bringing her three 3 year olds without her husband...thank goodness her daughter Taylor was here to help! I do think that was the first time I've witnessed a mama changing two diapers at once all while another 3 year old monkey hung on her back! She is one talented woman!

And many of you know Teri (The Mac's House) who is such a great advocate and source of support for so many Reece's Rainbow families. Teri and I have been emailing for....hmmm...how long Teri?? Well since before we met Zoya I do believe!....so a long time! Teri is one heck of a woman let me tell you. She has encouraged me many times when I was feeling down and celebrated with me many times as well.  It really does feel like she is family! She is one of the most generous women I have ever met and it amazes me to see how dedicated she is to helping RR families through leaving encouraging blog comments, donating to fundraisers, and just being an awesome cheerleader! She is a perfect example of how God calls ALL to take care of orphans.  Even though she is not adopting a child herself, she goes above and beyond to help others in their adoptions!  Her granddaughter, Izzy, and Zoya share a birthday and that shared birthday must be the reason they are so alike! Izzy loves seeing Zoya's pictures and videos on the blog so she was so excited to come and finally meet Zoya. You would have thought this girl has visited every day for the last year with her friendliness and hugs! She just can't get enough hugs...sweet angel! Soooo I was REALLY excited when Teri said they were coming to visit family close by us! Of course we had to plan a get together so we decided that Teri and her hubby Dan, their daughter Bri, and their granddaughter Izzy would come and visit WITH Summer, her daughters Taylor, Sara, and Belle, and her son Owen....WE HAD A PARTY!

One of the most amazing things about adoption is how it brings people together...families and friends, and people who you would have never met otherwise. I just love that part. So many of my close friends are friends I've met through adoption! During Zoya's adoption, and now with Laina's I am reminded how blessed we are to have all of the support that we do have!!

Here are some pictures of our fabulous party!

Zoya waiting for her party guests...

I think Teri was confused...she must have thought it was December 25th or something....she bought Summer and I beautiful bracelets!! And she brought toys for all the kids!!

Super Owen is strong enough to push a car!

Belle is the only one looking...she is saying thank you for the cheese potatoes!

Zoya just LOVED Dan! Excuse her mouth full but it was such a cute picture!

The Chaos!

Where is Shawn??

Anybody home?

Zoya wanted to wear her life jacket...I just go with the flow....

Girls playing ball with Mya

 \

My beautiful girl...

Oh the fun of a tunnel! Even Mya wanted to play!

Shawn doing the "disappearing Owen act."

Playing together...

Super Mom with the three 3 year olds!

Love how Shawn loves on Belle!

Zoya and Daddy...

Bri lovin on Bellie :)

The June 3 birthday girls...

Giggling with Mr. Dan!

Everyone smile!

Another attempt...

Here comes a hug, Zoya-style!

Looks sweet and innocent right?

I think Izzy met her match in the hug wars!

Did you notice there is not one picture of Teri? She somehow missed all the shots!!! And I wish I would have thought to get a picture of myself with her and Summer...oh well that just means we have to do this again!!!

Catching Up....Camping

We have been so busy around here lately with normal life and with Laina's adoption preparation. Things are moving quickly! 

We have been having SOME fun though! We joined Shawn's family for the day where they were camping :)

Here are some pictures of our fun day! Somehow Grandma escaped all the pictures!

Me and my girl :)

Grandpa's girl...

Pretending to kiss Grandpa and licking him instead! She thinks this is hillarious...we are just waiting to get a call from school asking why she is licking people! Umm maybe because we laugh every time she does it!

Zoya and cousin Mattea looking scared after the ride started.

More Grandpa time

And more...Look at that smile!

Lovin' her some Daddy!

Hangin' with Aunt Kim

Taking a little rest in the shade!

These two cousins thought it'd be funny to crawl in the dog kennel...I think Zoya started it!

Let us out!

Taking after her Daddy loving the John Deere

Silly Girls

Taking a break

I guess we know who the ham is....

Trying to get a comparison picture from last year

Okay that is ENOUGH!

Just kidding, that was all a show, I was never really upset, that was my "fake cry" face

 

See? Happy!



This girl would prefer to always be in someone's arms...velcro girl!



Smoochin' on Daddy

Mattea was so funny posing for me to take pictures

Senior portrait?

How's this "hold the arm" pose Aunt Sarah?

I think Zoya is tired from such a fun day of camping!!!

More fun posts to come (if I can find another hour somehwere)!!!

I Want That!

I wrote the other day how Zoya said "I want that" to me with no prompting at all...I tried to get it on video here. I'm so proud of her! It is probably hard for others to understand what she is saying but between her signs and words I think it's pretty cool...you can see how far she's come! You will see her "groping" for words and nothing comes out...that is very common with apraxia and something we are working on in therapy. Check out my big girl!

A Case of the Giggles

Had to post this video...Zoya was cracking herself up on the way home from speech tonight. No worries Shawn was driving while I video taped her!

Maybe you had to be there but this girl had us laughing hysterically!

Back at the Top!

Life is full of mountains, sometimes we're at the bottom looking up and sometimes we're at the top looking down while admiring our victories.....today we're at the top!! And I'm gonna celebrate!

Zoya had her best day ever at school last week! She sat in her chair for snack AND she sat for circle time on the carpet and wanted to help with calendar! Her teacher told her that this week she can be the calendar helper.  She also asked her teacher to take her potty when the teacher had forgotten to take her! They go potty at 10:00 and then again at noon I believe. Zoya gets taken one time in between there usually. Her teacher told me that she had forgotten to take her and at about 11:15 Zoya signed "potty" to her :) No tears at all...the drop off was great for the most part...she was a little clingy but separated much better than in the past. And Zoya didn't want to leave when I came to pick her up.....she was so excited to see me and looked surprised when she looked up and I was standing at the door....she ran over to hug me and then went back to play. I had to bribe her with Elmo (which she earned anyways for a good day) to get her to leave!

Potty Training.....well Zoya seems to be potty trained...I am scared to type that though. For 3 weeks she has been dry! The past couple of days she has been in big girl underwear and stayed dry! We went for our first car ride without a pull up and she passed the test! She is able to hold it much longer in between and asks us to take her potty frequently throughout the day!  She stayed dry for our two hour drive to visit family and the two hour drive back! Yesterday she even did #2 on the potty!!! She ran in while I was going potty and sat Elmo down on the seat next to me and said "poop." I said "HUH?" And she said MEEEE. I put her on and what do ya know.....big girl went!! Shawn came running down the stairs when he heard me screaming LOL. We had a Poop Party! I'm not holding my breath that this will happen again anytime soon, but a mama can dream right??

And speech....wow she is talking so much more. This therapy in Buffalo is really helping her. She has been saying "me do" and "me go" about a million times a day. Today I worked a lot with her on saying "I do" instead and she's got it down! She also said "I want more" (sounds like I wwaaahhh moooore-think New Jersey accent) to ask for more "makeup." When I put my makeup on in the morning, Zoya always asks for some and I run the brush over her nose...she loves it. So today when she said that I almost fell over! I said, "You want more???" And she smiled real big and said "YAH." I'm so proud of how hard she is trying. We've worked a lot on the word "up." Zoya says "uppa" because she always drops her jaw at the end. The PROMPT therapist showed me how to hold her jaw closed at the end of "up" and Zoya is now prompting herself to do it! It is pretty cute. We still have a LONG way to go but I'm excited to see such noticeable progress for the first time.

Zoya has really been changing before our eyes...I wonder if that has anything to do with the recent increased difficulty sleeping and separating....just so many changes going on in her little self! At any rate, I'm celebrating the view from the top of the mountain and enjoying it even more knowing I'll have days where I'll be at the bottom needing to remember how great it feels to climb back up to the top!

Pictures coming soon, I promise :)