A Monster!

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 :)

Mila's First Thanksgiving! (and Zoya's Second)

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!

Zoya is a Big Sister!!

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)

Aunt Jen Jen's Pictures :)

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!

Reunion with Mama and Daddy....and Holy Cow Stop Growing Up so Fast Zoya!

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!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

I'm missing my Zoya girl so much! Oh how I miss her hugs and sweet smile paired with her sassy diva-ness! I can't wait to hug her and squeeze her and snuggle her when we get home!! She's going to be a fabulous big sister I just know it!

Anyways...we went to the pumpkin patch the weekend before we left for Mila's adoption. Since October is almost over, I figured I should post these pictures of our fun day!

 

She loves the corn box!

This year nobody lost their wedding ring (aahhhheeeemmmm Shawn)

It's fun to get burried in corn!

It's raining corn!

Loves the big slide!

Picking her Pumpkin :)

Love that sweet girl!!

A "My Zoya-girl is Awesome" Letter

Dear Zoya,

I miss you so much my heart aches. This is the first time Daddy and I have been away from you for more than one night. I know you’re having fun with Aunt Jen Jen and Xavier. I wish we could be with you but we can’t. You know that baby sister we’ve been talking a lot about? We’re going to meet her real soon. And one day I’ll be able to tell your little sister what a big brave girl you were to give up her mama and daddy for weeks so we could travel 5,000 miles away to meet her and bring her home to our family. I’m so proud of you for being such a big brave girl while we are gone. I hear Xavier is wearing you out and you’re happy to go down for your nap or to sleep at night! I’m glad he is breaking you in because when baby sister gets home life is going to get a little crazier, but a little more awesome too!

Everything reminds me of you.  When we were in the airport they had the automatic paper towel dispensers where you wave your hands in front of them and paper towel magically appears. I thought of you and how you love that and how you love to keep waving your hands and getting more paper towels. When we pass by McDonalds I think of how happy french fries make you.  When I heard all the Germans saying, “Hello” it reminded me of your funny accent when you say “Hello.” Zoya girl being away from you makes me realize how special you are. You have a way of making Every. Single. Little. Thing. So much fun! You bring so much joy to this world.

While I’m here I’m trying to worry less and live life big like you do every day.  It is hard to do without your contagious spirit here beside me, but you’re in my heart and that helps!  You’ve helped me to see the joy in things we take for granted. You’ve changed my heart in so many ways. I know all Mamas say this but we are so blessed to have you, we are the luckiest parents ever. I wish everyone could have a Zoya-girl but you’re all ours J Being apart from you makes me even more aware of the fact that you ROCK and you’ve seriously changed my perspective on life.  You’re the reason we’re half way across the world right now. Because through you we’ve seen that God can taken broken spirits and make them whole again. 

I am so lucky to be your mama and when I’m away from you it feels like I’m a ladybug missing her spots. Soon enough we will all be together my sweet girl!

*For those of you wondering Zoya is doing fabulous so far! Keep the prayers coming!!! We are so blessed to have Aunt Jen Jen in our lives!! We got to skype with Zoya tonight and she was amazed at being able to see an hear us. She sat and listened to us and talked a little for 15 minutes! She requested her favorite song, "More Beep Beep" and blew kisses and said, "Wuh wu" (love you). Oh how I miss her, but so good to see her doing so well!!! And I know I said I was taking a break here, but I needed to write a letter to my girl because I'm missing her!

ADOPTION BREAK!

Taking a break from blogging here while we fly across the world to meet our second daughter!

Hoping to post frequent updates of our new babe on our adoption blog:

www.hopefulheartadoption.blogspot.com

Can't wait to see Zoya's reaction to her baby sister when we get home!

Hello!

This morning when I went to get Zoya up, I had opened the door but not yet turned on the light and I hear her little voice say a perfect, "Hello" in a voice that sounded like it had an accent. It cracked me up. We had been working on saying "hello" but mostly just got "lo" or "hi." But this morning she nailed it and she's been saying it all day. It's just the cutest little word I think I've ever heard her say! It makes me laugh when I hear her little voice say it! Zoya's speech has been showing a lot of progress since she started preschool. I've been working with her on words that start with the "h" sound. It's tough for her to go from an unvoiced sound to a voiced sound but she's been doing a lot of vocal play and whispering lately and I'm loving the progress she's making! We've also been working on stopping sounds, especially "p" for "up" and "help" without saying "up-a" and "hepp-a." I took this little video after her bath tonight. Zoya girl is too sweet for words!

Surprise!

We celebrated Uncle Bub's birthday this weekend because we will miss it when we are gone. When I told Zoya Uncle Bub was coming and it was his birthday she signed "surprise." A few weeks ago we went to a surprise birthday party. Zoya was so intrigued by this concept. We all sat in the garage and when the door opened everyone of course yelled "SURPRISE!" Zoya signed "surprise" the rest of the night and kept saying "more" and "up" (for the garage door to go up).

Ever since then she has been wanting to surprise people. She thinks its fun to send someone out of the room, turn the lights off and then turn the lights on when they come back and yell "surprise." LOL. She signs it and says "PRY" So when it was time for cake we sent Uncle Bub out of the kitchen, turned the lights off and when he walked in (so unsuspecting hahaha) we all yelled SURPRISE! Oh Zoya was sooo enthusiastic about it! We actually had to repeat the scene several times per Zoya's request. She looked at me like, "we really got him good mom!" So proud of herself!!!

SURPRISE!

It just never gets old!!!

Signing "Surprise!"

(Here is the ASL sign for surprise...pretty close!)

And what happened next had us laughing so hard we almost peed our pants  cried! This girl is something else! At least she made it a memorable birthday for Uncle Bub!

(girl just started shaking her head like a wild woman and smearing frosting all over her face!)

"Aaaaannnnnd I'm DONE!"

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed watching our crazy girl! And let me just say, that was one heck of a bath she needed after!! Oh how I'm going to miss my crazy love while we go adopt baby sister! But it will all be worth it in the end :)