A very overdue post. I know I am probably the worst blogger in the world, but I mentioned that when I started this. Obviously, we have been home for a while. I will give a condensed version of our trip. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.
Our trip there was pretty uneventful. We arrived in Częstochowa tired and excited. The next day when they brought Madeleine to us, we were overwhelmed with emotions. I kept pinching myself b/c I just could believe that the day had finally come. Our 2 week stay in Częstochowa was both good and bad. Our time with Madeleine was wonderful and priceless. She was developmentally delayed as is expected with children from an orphanage, but she started making strides in catching up immediately. The director of the orphanage stopped by the day after we picked up Madeleine to show us how to use the inhaler for Madeleine. She bent down to talked to Madeleine, then picked her up and within seconds, Madeleine was reaching for me. We were all vey pleasantly surprised. Later that week she stopped by to pick something up from the apt and then same thing happened again. She seemed very pleased about this. Our court hearing took place in a city about 1.5 hrs away. Our judge was very nice. She kept asking if we were going to buy Madeleine a pony.
Ok, the bad thing about our stay in Czestochowa was our apartment. The frigid cold weather and snow didn't help.
Our stay in Warsaw was better, but we ended having to move 3 times. The weather was still an issue. We didn't know how severe Madeleine's lung problems were and she had had pneumonia as an infant so we didn't want to risk getting her sick. Therefore, we didn't get out much. Every day we could see her catching up. It was obvious that she was smart and curious. She loved he books and music. While one of her biggest issues was chewing and swallowing sold food, she LOVED to eat. While in Warsaw, our friends from Poznan came to visit us and we took the train to visit them the following week.
We were so happy to come home. Madeleine was unbelievably good on our trip home. Our flight leaving Warsaw was delayed 3 hrs due to fog. She fussed some during the flight and started to cry a couple of times, but we were always able to come her down. Towards the end of the flight she finally fell asleep for about 1.5 hrs. Our flight in chicago was delayed as well. Still she only fussed a little. On the flight to Charlotte, she was closer to a meltdown, but I was able to get her to fall asleep. I can't believe how well she did with only 2 hrs of sleep in a 24 hour period. My mom and youngest brother were at the airport at 12 am Christmas Eve morning to welcome us home. I had skyped with my mother while in Poland and Madeleine went right to her.
Since we have been home, Madeleine has just blossomed. She is running, dancing, climbing, doing summersaults, learning words at an amazing rate. She loves to learn. She asks to do her flash cards over and over again. She likes to play the piano and she doesnt bang on the keys (I'll try to upload the video of her playing). She still loves her books. She likes to help me cook, unload the dishwasher, and water the plants. She loves her Daddy. She squeals " Dada" when he comes home from work. Morning is their time together. He gets her up and gets her breakfast. While he drinks his coffee, she often brings him multiple books. She gets super excited to see my mom. They have tons of fun together. She tries to interact with the dogs. She calls Mya, "Myla" ( though sometimes she gets it right) and she calls Lacie, " Seesee". She is learning to count. She can count to 4 by herself and to 20 if we count with her. We are also teaching her the alphabet. She will say "o,p,q,r,s" and "a,b,c" and random letters on her own, but will say all the letters when we say them with her.
It's has to believe that we've been together for 6 months. At moments it seems like it was just yesterday that we picked her up from the orphanage, but at the same time it seems like she has been with us forever.
I will add pictures soon. I can't do it from my iPad.
