Still Here!

Katie and I are still in Bydgoszcz and settling in to a routine. We still take lots of walks since the weather has been nice and Katie enjoys hanging in the stroller and seeing all that the city has going on. And I enjoy discovering the city each day as well. I continue to make daily stops at the "piekarnia" for bread and buy lots of milk at the local market since Katie drinks so much! Sleep continues to be a challenge. Katie has a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. I am getting more consistent with her bedtime routine and the sequence in which I respond to her cries and that is helping, thanks be to God! I continue to pray for physical health, strength, and patience to get me through these final days in Bydgoszcz. I am worried about me and Katie getting sick because most of my family has this nasty cold. On the up side, feedings have become a more pleasant experience. I am finding that Katie wants nothing to do with finger food, so we are sticking with yogurt and baby food with rice cereal. My aunt gave me these things that look like Cheetos that dissolve in a child's mouth when chewed on (kind of like Wagon Wheels for you veteran parents out there) and we are trying those out for her to learn to chew food. She is very attached to her bottle and I have found it to be a good bonding time for us. I am working in slowly reducing the temperature of the milk in the bottle. Every day, I bring it down a small notch. Eventually, I envision Katie drinking milk out of the fridge. As for any other food - the only "solid" food she really seems interested in is paper! I have to keep an eye on her around Pepsi bottle labels, magazines, and newspapers! She wants to eat anything that is not food!

I think we are really finally starting to see Katie's personality come out, and it is so great to see. She is giving lots of smiles and is getting used to me as well as my family. She is babbling a lot and pulls herself up to a standing position. Maybe soon she will be walking. She is starting to play more independently as well. The most frequent comment I get is how smart she is. You can about see the wheels turning in her head when she plays and when someone demonstrates how to use a toy, she can mimic very well. When it comes to play time, Katie loves purses, bags, and shoes, and will play with any of those items endlessly. She enjoys playing with cars and trucks as well as toys that make noise. She likes music and will sway back and forth to the songs she likes. She is very attached to her pacifier so I have about 5 of them now to pop in at night or have on my purse in case it is needed. She loves playing with other kids, so I can't wait for her to meet her brother and sister. I know I am getting to be a boring playmate when I'm alone with her. She is social and likes a crowd! She likes to cuddle quite a bit too, which surprised me since she wasn't such a cuddle bug before. I sure cannot complain about that. She spends a good part of the day on my lap and that makes for good bonding time as well.

I got something very special in the mail here this week. Katie's foster mom had been promising to send me Katie's baby pictures, but was having a problem with her computer and could not get them to me. This week she was successful and I now have 2 CDs full of pictures and short video clips of Katie in her first year. I am thrilled to have these so Katie will be able to have her baby pictures to enjoy as she gets older and is curious about what she looked like way back in her first days of life.

Other than visiting our relatives, we went to a photographer and took care of Katie's pictures for her passport and visa. I also bought train tickets to get back to Warsaw. Over the weekend, my cousin took us to my grandmother and great grandmothers grave as well as the church where my mom was baptized and the house she grew up in. It was a very emotional experience - my mom was 3 when she lost her mother and she has always wanted to be the best mom she could ever be - and I love her for it. I hope that I give my all to my children the way my mom always gave to me. Being a parent is hard work but so worth it in the end.

I have so many pictures but here's just a few. One is Katie as a newborn (too cute), and one is in the Old Town area of Bydgoszcz with my aunt while feeding pigeons. You can also see Katie playing with her little cousins. Then there is one of me and Katie visiting a little cabin that my cousin has. When you live in the city, you don't have a yard so many people get these little cabins in the woods and it's a place to relax and have little kids run around. It's a lot like camping. Also there is the church where my parents got married. There was a gate blocking full entry. The picture where my mom was baptized looks better because the church was open to walk through. I wish I had taken more pictures of the great meals that my aunts have been giving me. Everything has been delicious!

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