All you need is love...

We’ve been home a month exactly today…it’s been one amazing day after another. Haley is incredible and continues to blow any expectations we had out of the water. From day one, she responded to her new name (we started using Haley the moment we got to Atlanta on
7-7-07 and have not used Nastia since). If we call out Nastia, she does not even turn around to look, but quickly responds to Haley. I think she was just waiting for a cuter name!! She loves anything we do outdoors (riding in the stroller, feeding ducks, wading in the pool), reading books, and eating! She loves bananas, Costco chicken salad (which she would eat for every meal if we let her), pickles and apples to the core! She loves opening the presents our friends and family have sent her...reading all the great books, trying on new clothes, playing with all her new toys. Here she is trying on 3 different outfits a friend sent her all at once.

The second day we were home, we visited some friends at a neighborhood pool. We didn't go to swim. We only intended to stop by so that they could meet Haley. She sat on the edge with me, burying her head in my chest. Slowly, she touched the water and after 15 minutes, Hunter was able to persuade her to be carried in the water. She was quite timid at first, but after a few minutes was giggling and splashing. Ever since that day all she wants to do is go to the pool. She LOVES it! …the blow-up pool, the big pool, the bathtub, the shower…really she is crazy about anything that has to do with water.

This is a picture of Haley with her cousin, Abbie, kicking up a tidal wave at the pool.

Every morning, she’ll say to us, “pool, pool” and makes swimming motions with her arms. It’s very cute and we have been fortunate to be able to take her most every day. We’re dreading the winter and don’t know what we’ll do without sunny days at the pool for her!

Haley has made great strides in so many areas. It’s hard to imagine that she is the same little girl we took from the orphanage last month! We joke that somehow they must have switched the children on us the day we picked her up! She learned to use the “big girl” potty just after a week of being home, she’s sleeping in her own bed (although she still doesn’t like to go to sleep and has no trouble letting us know how unhappy she is about taking naps or going to bed at night).

The first week, she slept in our bed at night (although she would take naps in her own). We had heard it was important for the bonding process for her to be with us in our bed. After a week of terrible sleep (we only had a queen size bed and somehow the little thing would take up more than half of it!), we decided to see how she would do in her own bed. She normally sleeps straight through the night, so once she was asleep, she didn’t seem cognizant of where she was anyway. Most mornings, she will crawl into bed with us when she wakes up, but my mother-in-law gave us a king size bed as a gift last week and this has been a great help! Even with the bigger bed, however, she still takes up a ton of room. For some reason she likes to sleep all over my head, chest, body…some part of her body is constantly on mine (usually her feet on my head!). But it’s a delight to have her want to be near us, so I don’t mind it.

Haley’s been on a lot of play dates and has made a lot of new friends. This is a picture with Nettie Cantey. She has developed better social skills since leaving the orphanage (where she took toys from other children and hit a lot without consequence). My sister and her husband were here last week with their five children (ages 1-12) for the week and this was a great environment for Haley to learn to “live and play” with other children of all ages. Since she was only with kids her same age at the orphanage, she wasn’t used to being with children other than the two year olds in her group. She did just great…she's learning to share, to apologize when she hits or takes a toy, to give hugs and blow kisses…

she's even learned to say “cheese” when taking a picture and smile for the camera!!

Here's an example...

"cheeeeese!"

Haley is so open to doing new things, trying new things, tasting new things. It's great. She doesn't always like them, but she'll try almost anything! A few things have surprised us...she doesn't like swings or going down slides yet (although she does love climbing up the slide, we then have to lift her up to get her down). At times she seems fearless. One afternoon, my friend Robbie brought her kids from AL to visit. We took them to McDees indoor play area. This was the first time she had been to this type of playland with the different tunnels you can climb up and slide down. She stayed most of the time on the bottom steps, stepping up and down the first platform. Just before we were leaving, she started climbing up the tunnel. She made it all the way to the very top with Sam (Robbie's child they adopted from Ukraine 2 years ago..pictured together on the teeter-totter). She was laughing and banging on the plexiglass bubble at the top. Sam made it back down, but Haley didn't want to leave. We had to send up another child to get her down.

What a little adventure-seeker!!

Haley's learned to be kind to animals. Hunter's mother brought her dog, Sweet Pea for a visit. We were nervous at first because she didn't seem to know how to refrain from hitting animals. But once she met Sweet Pea, she learned to be sweet and soft. Haley loved walking her! She gets very excited when she sees any animal and wants to run over and pet them, even the squirrels! It's hard to explain to her why she can't pet the squirrels. Fortunately, they are fast enough to get away from her when they see her coming!

Haley attended her first wedding Friday night and was the flower girl!! She walked the aisle with a basket of rose petals (although instead of throwing them, she bent down and picked them all up and put them back in her basket). After about 2 minutes, she was “done with that event” and started walking around and getting into everything. She dumped candle wax on her dress and finger, then announced to me that she had to go potty and started to cry. (I had put her in a diaper, but she does not like to use the diaper, so I had to take her to the bathroom right in the middle of the vows.) The ceremony went on and we made it back for the crucial kiss!

Haley loved the wedding cake and bubbles that followed. It was a great evening!

At the end of the month, we are taking her to the beach! We can’t wait to see her reaction to the ocean (the biggest pool she’ll ever see!). We’re dreading the 7 hour car ride, but will try to do most of the driving at night so she can sleep.

She will also be attending her first ever UNC game! My college (JMU) is playing Hunter’s college (UNC). Of course, Hunter has already schooled her in who to root for and she even has a UNC outfit to wear to the event. She’s already practicing her Tar Heel cheer…”Go Heels!”.

We’ll continue to keep you posted on Haley's development. But we are thrilled to have her home with us. She is the most amazing blessing to ever happen to us!

Thanks for all your prayers and support! The Lord definitely has been good to us! We can't wait for you all to meet her. She is wonderful!!

Blessings, Lauri and Hunter