Hi everyone!  I don’t know if anyone is still here with me but I thought I would take a minute and give you an update on how Karina is doing.  For Memorial Day we both flew to California to visit Karina’s Poppa and Nonie.  Karina loved the airplane ride there and Mommy survived it!  ; )  While there we experienced great hospitality and stayed at Poppa and Nonie’s beautiful house.  We went up to Brentwood and picked cherries (pictures included) and spent a day in San Francisco seeing sea lions, eating seafood, and strolling underneath the Golden Gate Bridge.  Karina got her first taste of Iranian food and loved it!  She had Iranian ice cream and loved it even more.  Karina really enjoyed her time at Poppa and Nonie’s and just yesterday she was strapped into her car seat play talking on her toy cell phone to Poppa and Nonie.  She had a three minute conversation with them….about what I do not know but it sounded important. 

Karina HOT NEWS Announcements:  she can sing the entire alphabet song on her own, she can print the capital letter A, she can recognize her own name printed on paper, she can recognize about 5 different letters, she can count to 10 and if I ask her how many of some thing is there she can count out the items, she knows about 4 of her colors and is learning shapes.  She loves to watch Kidsongs videos and can sing a half dozen nursery rhymes word for word, loves her Sesame Street DVDs and likes Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster and all the gang.  Karina probably says close to 60 English words now and probably understands about 75% of what I say to her.  We have passed the two month mark of my having custody of her and things are much better.  She is going to bed much more easily and after we have done our bedtime routine I am able to kiss her goodnight and go downstairs and she goes to sleep easily.  Nap time is better too but every once in a while she will still fight it.  She has learned how to be gentle with the dog and absolutely adores Honey.  She is becoming more relaxed around men and just yesterday started waving hi to everyone in the grocery store that we passed….now I just have to train her to wave to the cute single men and I will have a great ready made ice breaker.  LOL…   :  ) 

I am doing much better – in the first few weeks Karina was the one adjusting – by the third and fourth week home I was the one needing to adjust because I was so exhausted that it became hard to enjoy Karina and I would say I was def experiencing some PADs(post adoption depression)….now I have been able to catch up on my sleep, Karina is testing me less and less every day, and I have been able to really enjoy her company.  I am amazed at how hard the process was from the point of leaving for the first trip to actually about a week ago.  Even with all my research I could not have guessed how hard those four months would be….I knew that I would be exhausted at the point that I was to travel….I think every PAP should be aware that usually by the time you have done your first trip you are physically exhausted (from the global treks), financially exhausted (money doesn’t grow on trees baby), mentally exhausted (forms forms and more forms), and emotionally exhausted (the original wait, the highs and lows of the first trip, the culture shock) and so by the time you make your second trip and they hand you your child you are at a low point in all areas – a time when you need your energy the most.  I think that this might explain the PADs (post adoption depression syndrome) that most (65%) international adopters of older children experience.  But I am glad to say that those feelings have become fleeting and I am hoping that I don’t backslide and we both can move forward on to bigger and better things.  I would say that Karina is fully attached to me at this point and that she understands what I mean when I say Karina and Mommy semya (family) fsegda (forever).  Hope you enjoy the pictures will try and post again in July after we have both experienced her first 4th of July!!!