The Princess Leeza is "working" her mom already!

For sure, no doubt, my princess status has been totally and completely DETHRONED by the newest Serra in town...no other than...Princess Leeza Grace Serra.



We had a great time today, but she is really working her mother. When it came time to each lunch, she pulled the ole crying squirming out of her chair thing.


I finally got her settled down and she ate her soup. Then, she started having a cow again. Almagoul came over and just started shoveling it in, and she ate it ALL! I rarely get her to eat it ALL. I don't know if I was going to slow for her, or if she just knows Mommy will let her get away with not eating, or she knows I'll coddle her more, or WHAT! It's frustrating though! I could not believe how fast she was shoveling food in, and half was falling out of her mouth. It was really quite unlady like and I know my mom (Leeza's Mimi) would DEFINTELY not approve. It was quite unladylike and not very mannerly!! Leeza has never done this at meal time but it started yesterday. Since many of my faithful blog readers are adoptive parents themselves, has anyone else experienced this? I'm almost afraid Leeza is going to lose weight once she comes home with me! I hear all these stories about how kids gain weight and grow so quickly once they're home with their parents,but I am kinda paranoid Leeza will not eat and she will lose weight! Granted, she will be able to eat as often or as much as little as she wants until we figure it out, and I still remember Sean's doctor telling me that he would NOT STARVE no matter how little he would eat. I do notice that she always give a pretty good size burp after she eats, so maybe she just gets gas bubbles in her stomach or something, I don't know. Oh, by the way, her new tooth broke thru. I knew she was teething again the way she was gnawing on everything like a puppy. I have watched her get 2 new teeth since we've been here! That is kinda cool. She now has 4 on the bottom,and 4 on the top. Both of her new ones have been on the bottom. I still haven't noticed her drooling though..weird. I am sure she is saving drooling for after Gotcha day. She will save the drooling and throwing up for then I am sure.

After lunch, we put on the snow suit and hat and went for an hour and 5 minute walk. She fell asleep after 30 minutes. It was nice--a win-win for everyone. Leeza likes it outside and gets a change of scenery, and Mommy gets much needed exercise, and snuggle time with Leeza. Plus, the "powernap" always seems to do her some good!

We went to the visitation room, but there was a Kazakh couple with a lil teeny baby in there! So, we just played outside Leeza's room. I tried on her new shoes and they were pretty cute! I think they fit her, she also had on the jammies with feets and we won't be wearing those with our shoes, and they still fit with all that extra material, so I think we're good. They have fur on the inside..so cute...and only 900 tenge!





It was fun because it was a new place to play. Almagoul came out and brought 2 lil boys and one lil girl to play with us. Natasha came in with her son too, and we had a big play party. It was really fun. Almagoul was the caregiver I was scared of at first. Now, she's so nice and always give me a smile. I was so glad she brought the other kids out and she was having fun playing with Leeza's toys with the kids. The kids were so FASCINATED with new toys. However, Lil Miss Princess was not sure what she thought of her buddies playing with HER TOYS. She kept grabbing them out of the kids hands. Of course, we made her share and she got over it. On the one hand, I think she is so excited to have toys of her very own after living in a "baby commune" environment, but on the other hand, I don't want a bratty princess who doesn't share with her friends either.

She did drink her cookies and milk today no problem with no muss and no fuss. I went to put her down for her nap and she laid down, and I kissed her goodbye. She then got up, pulled herself up, and was waving at Mommy with a big grin on her face. All the other kids popped up out of their cribs and they're all smiling and laughing. I was laughing and sayin SPOT SPOT and laying them back down, but it wasn't working. They just got back up. SEAN..YOUR BUDDY 'D' said BYE BYE!!! I swear Leeza has told them all...."Guys...my mommy is so in love with me, she will do ANYTHING for you. I have heard her tell my brother Sean that YOU CAN'T SPOIL A BABY!!!



By the way, a huge thank you to those who told us that we cannot stay in Frankfurt since Leeza doesn't have a visa. I had not checked with anyone, but after Joe told me how much better staying overnight in Frankfurt was, I thought we'd just do it too. I hadn't asked Eugene and company yet. My blogger buddies are the best, as usual. Eugene explained to me today that Frankfurt requires a visa if you are Kaz citizen and that is what Lil Leeza is until she lands in the USA. I heard it's a real pain to get her a visa too. So, I guess we will not be doing that!

Mommy's night out
We had fun at the Beerhouse last night. I only had one beer, a "Carlsberg" and a salad biz maynoisa, and some string cheese and these really YUMMY croutons Ivan ordered. They were sauted in olive oil and garlic. No cotton mouth or headache this morning!!! They picked me up at 9 and I got home around midnight. Ivan and I played this "rhmye off" game. I was telling them how I like to rhmye. Ivan wrote down 4 words and had me write a rhyme. Then, I would write down 4 more words,and he would do a rhyme. He defintely has the gift of poetry as well, but his talent is much much more impressive because english is his second langauge. I have a really cute picture of Ivan, Tatiana and I but I want to ask them if it's ok if i post it on my blog.

Here are some examples of our rhyme game:

I gave Ivan these words: happy, sappy, grow, and snow
I had to explain what sappy meant. :) I was quite impressed with Ivan because Lord knows I could NEVER RHMYE in Russian!

At the baby house , I feel so happy
Seeing Susan with Leeza , it's so sappy
They're like flowers, slowly growing
In the winter when it's always snowing

I gave him book, look, pretty, and city . At the time, I was looking at Tatiana's english book (for her students at the university) had in her purse and it was called Straightforward English.

There's a Straightforward english book
A woman's going to have a look
Though I'm not drunk she looks so pretty
Perhaps the best that's in our city

He gave me dear, beer, face and grace. Here is my masterpiece!

I have to tell you, Ivan dear
I really like this Kostanai beer
But not as much as my sweet daughter's face
There's NOTHING as good as Leeza Grace!






12 days to go until Gotcha day!!