a word about the mess

I don't know what is wrong with the layout here - something went haywire...please be patient while I figure out how to make things tidy and pretty around here again.

losing my manners

I've always been a bit of a fussbudget about manners. You know, the common courtesies like 'please' and 'thank you' .

Well, since I've become a Mom, I've lost my manners.

Before March 2, 2010 - I was borderline anal about thank you notes. I loved spending extended periods of time choosing the RIGHT card for a proper thank you; and sometimes even making by hand thank you cards (which is pretty funny considering how NOT crafty I am).

I think it all started at the airport. So many people came to welcome us home and showered Anya with gifts; the thoughtfulness of taking time of of their lives to come to the airport at 11pm, and to bring a gift...well, that needed a very special thank you!

Then there are those who constantly prayed for us when we were gone. I should write a heartfelt thanks to them too.

And so many kind things have happened in the past (almost) 4 months that we've been home...all deserve a note.

We even got a package from a family we met through the Irkutsk adoption process - so sweet! I NEED to get a note to them!

...and all the friend's birthdays I've missed - Oi!

So - if you are one of those people who I owe a note to, please know that I have not forgotten. It's simply that I seem to be choosing sleep over manners lately.

I don't want to forget...

...these days. They seem to be going so fast - time just keeps going, no matter how badly I try to slow it down. I don't want to forget:

• the time I was watering plants on the deck, and Anya asked to help. I told her that was fine, and that it was OK to get the patio furniture wet. She was so excited! She told me at the Detski Dom she was not allowed to get anything outside wet. She spent the next hour drenching everything on the deck.

• Wildlife is such a big deal to Anya. We take for granted seeing animals outside - well, at least we do. At our house, I get annoyed when I see a raccoon on the deck, or a possum on our front steps. Not Anya...she gets very excited. She spends hours a day looking for groundhogs. She stands in the window with binoculars looking...just looking.

• What is real punishment? We've tried to find the thing that tips her into really considering her actions and words before she gets in trouble. Thankfully we have found what works - food. If she is bad, she isn't allowed to have candy, gum or popcorn. Funny how that one piece of gum a day can have so much power!

• I never want to forget how kind Anya's heart is. If someone is hurting, she gets sad. When someone she loves leaves, she says her heart hurts. She looks for ways to share, to connect with people.

• She tries so hard at everything. Her nature is to please people (just like all of us!), and she tries SO HARD. Some days she tells me that "today, it was hard to be a good girl! Everything she does with all of her energy and might.

• She is so talkative! She loves to tell stores. Every day she tells me a story about the Detski Dom. But what I love is when she is making up a story. The other day it was a story about Daddy - and how he stole her dreams because he woke her up, and then he was dancing like a monkey with girls hair.

• I giggle every time Marty and I are talking and she NEEDS to say something. She will raise her hand and jump around to get our attention. When we're done speaking I will ask her what she wants, and generally by then she has forgotten...
  
  

• I don't want to forget how she prays and what she prays for...

• She loves to surprise people. My birthday is this weekend. this morning she was very excited to tell me that she and Daddy....oops! She covers her mouth and said "never mind, it is a surprise!".