Working on Those Motor Skills

Motor skills- the ability to draw, hold a pencil/crayon, run, walk, OR ride in or drive a vehicle.  We worked on ALL of those this week!

We drive- a LOT- so we were a tad bit concerned about Annalise' car sickness issues....  Thankfully she seems to be getting better in the car thanks to SeaBands, a static strap under the car, and windows that are often cracked just a teensy bit.

The weather was nice for one afternoon- the rest of the time it's been snowy/icy- and on this one nice afternoon, the kids all played outside, running around (yes, even Asher was running- which we were told he couldn't do), riding bikes, and "mowing" the cul-de-sac.  It was wonderful!!

Taken as I was driving- but I love it!  Annalise and Asher are holding hands, looking back at Adeline and Alden, all laughing!

He loves our neighbors caterpillar! 

Busy mowing

Her turn on the caterpillar

 We have THE BEST neighbors- the best in the entire world.  I'm serious!  Asher loves cars, and when Jennifer offered for Asher to help her drive her car into the driveway, he about jumped out of his skin with excitement!  He LOVED it!  What's funny is that once she parked, she honked the horn. She asked him if he wanted to honk and he was adamant that he NOT honk the horn!  That's Asher, not wanting to rock the boat!

Asher discovered this "truck" that was Alden's- and now he is obsessed with it.  It is neat to see him figuring out how it work, what the different buttons do.  

Loves his trucks

One morning my good friend Karen came over, and she brought water colors!  These were HUGE hits at the orphanage, and they were still a hit here!  They sat and painted (working on those fine motor skills) for a good part of an hour!  I love to see their little brains work!

Painting- and keeping an eye on her brother who was trying to drink the paint water...

Working hard

Vision Doctor- Visit #1- Check!

The twins have a rather long list of Dr's visits and procedures that they will be working through over the next few months.  We are blessed that we can provide them with these appointments- so many of them are simple fixes, or so we hope.

First up- vision!  The twins did excellently- they listened, looked where they were supposed to, behaved perfectly, and got treats at the end!  

Annalise needs glasses and they should fix her vision.  Poor thing has been seeing double every time an eye turned in- which is just about all the time.  When we walked into Costco, she looked right at the kids selection and picked out a neon-green and black Hello Kitty pair of classes!  We did try on several other pairs, but ultimately, those are the ones she got!  Hopefully this will be her last week of poor vision!

Asher will need surgery, but the Dr doesn't like to prescribe that on his first examination.  So, next month Asher will go back, be re-examined, and have his surgery scheduled.  We are told it will take about 30min, but then his vision should be pretty good!  His eye muscles can focus, and that is good.

Asher insisted on bringing Alden's black, rubber snake.  It kept him highly entertained!

Sitting with Daddy as the Assistant did his thing 

Annalise did a great job, too!

While their eyes dilated, they enjoyed the toys in the waiting room.  So many of them are classic toys- toys they had never seen and were totally enthralled with!

She loved the spiny toy- which is ironic since she gets car sick!

Good job stacking!

Settling In

We have been home a week now and are starting to settle into a routine.  The twins have had haircuts, been to Sweet Frog, painted nails (and the carpet, couch, walls, and clothing), play with PlayDoh, going sledding, rode bikes, opened Christmas gifts, gone swimming- in short, they are learning what it means to be a Perreca- and they have loved every minute of it.  It is neat to see their faces light-up with recognition when we visit a place that we sent them pictures of.

Now, what you really want, pictures!  A sweet friend of mine, Hannah, put these collages together and I think they are awesome!  Thank you, Hannah, I think you have a promising career in editing- and you are only 5!!

Fun moments together

More fun

First Haircuts

Sweet Sisters!

Happy Faces!

Next-up over the next 2 weeks are doctors appointments to help with eyes, brains, speech therapy and various parts!

Trip HOME!

Thursday, barely Thursday, we left Lithuania.  Our taxis arrived to take us to the airport at 3:40am.  We woke the kids at the last min and dressed them.  They were all a little groggy but in good spirits- THAT is an answer to many prayers, I am sure!  We were so blessed to have our new good friends the H's traveling with us on the first 2 legs of our journey.  It was nice to be able to have adult conversations, gain parenting advice (they have 2 other adopted older-children and were a wealth of information), and even divide and conquer in search of food.

We left Lithuania at 6:30am and arrived in Frankfurt at 7:30am.  There was an amazing playground not far from our next terminal, and all 7 kids (4 Perrecas and 3 H's) played pretty happily for most of our 5hr layover!  The flight from Frankfurt to DC felt like it would never end.  Asher's diaper leaked all over soaking him, his pants, and his seat.  Annalise, we discovered DOES get airsick when her dose of Benedryl wears off- poor Rebecca.  I also pity the 2 people on the next flight who get assigned to Asher and Annalises seats....  The flight from Dullas to DC, while delayed, was thankfully a very quick one (20min in the air!).  Given that the twins had never been on a plane before, I would say they both did remarkably well!  Annalise was enthralled and Asher, for the first 5min or so, freaked out- after that, he was ok.

Almost exactly 24hours after we woke-up in Lithuania, we landed in Richmond (our flight was delayed 1.5hrs).  We were greeted by an amazing group of friends- almost 70 people!  What a blessing that was- for Asher and Annalise to know from the beginning, how loved they already are, by so many people!  Asher, who has been sleeping on the plane ride there, got a 2nd wind and he was happy and chatty- especially after he was given some balloons!  Annalise, who had been given a dose of Benedyl to help her air-sickness, was groggy and may or may not remember anything from this big home coming celebration.

It was one heck of a day- and one heck of a way to celebrate our 1 week anniversary of being a family of 6!  The twins have sure experienced a LOT of change in this week!

When we arrived at our house, Annalise's face lit up- she recognized the house, her room, the playroom, the living room, the kitchen- all from the pictures we had sent.  You could tell she "got" that this was her home- and she was stoked!  Asher was excited too, but wasn't as verbal about it as Annalise- it could be that he was running high on his 2nd wind fumes....

All ready to leave- and it's only 3.30am!

Annalise saying good-bye to Lithuania

Asher was NOT a fan of seat belts and being awake so early in the morning- he did end up ok, it just took a little while to convince him of that!

 This is the amazing playground that kept our kids sane for the almost 9hr long flight from Germany to DC.  They all had a blast and actually made a few kids names!

Here is Mrs. H showing her boys an old-school Fred Flintstones cartoon- my 4 also enjoyed it!

US Citizens!!  When we touched-down in DC, the twins instantly became US Citizens!  They enjoyed the Star-Wars-esque bus we rode from our arrival terminal to the Customs terminal.

Soaking in what America looks like

 A while ago I had a friend make these A shirts- and right before our flight took off, I changed everyone into them!  My "A" team!!

Such cuties!!

Since our flight kept being delayed, Annalise and Alden lay down and went to sleep- it was past midnight for them both!

At the airport we were greeted by so many amazing friends!  There were banners, signs, balloons, and friends taking pictures and videos- all of which we will cherish.  What sweet things to share with the twins as they get older- about how loved and wanted they are but not just their family, but their church family and close friends!

What a crowd!

Annalise thanking the H's for their stickers!

Alden telling Miss B a story....

Asher charming the crowd

Karolina, a fellow Lithuanian adoptee- welcomes Annalise!

Happy Moments

These are some random happy moments on our last day in Lithuania....

Feel the love!

Alden has really struggled up to this point- but something switched and he started taking a real interest in Asher and wanting to help him- thank you, Jesus!  Asher adores Addie, but he totally looks up to Alden.  On our last day these 2 started to really play together- and that was great!

Carrying Asher around- he was smiling and laughing during most of this....

One of the few times Asher paid any attention to the computer- and Alden did an excellent job explaining the game to him, too!

Final Lithuanian dinner- Cinnamon Toast Crunch!

2 Extreams

There were 2 activities that others who had been to Lithuania all said we should do- the indoor water park and ice skating.  Since we love swimming, and the twins would live in the bathtub if we let them, we decided that the water park would be a fun thing to try.  Ice skating is something that we have never done with Adeline and Alden, so we thought it would be something good for them as well.

Off we went to the Vischy Water Park on Tuesday.  It was so neat- it was literally an indoor water park!  The twins LOVED the kiddy area and Annalise was almost swimming at the end of our 3 hour session!  Asher loved it too- and cried some pretty big tears when we had to leave.  We couldn't take any pictures inside, but imagine lots of speedos on men, lots of tiny swimsuits on some tiny and some not-so-tiny woman, lots of women wearing shower caps, people swimming laps in the lazy river, climbing 8 flights of stairs to go down a huge enclosed slide that actually goes OUTside so the temp in the slide drops, and lots of happy faces!  All 4 of our kids loved it- and Al, Rebecca and myself had fun as well!  When we got back to the apartment, all 4 kids were so tired- we bathed them, feed them, and they all went to bed without a peep.  That right there, made it totally worthwhile!

The funny warning sign- you can't smoke your pipe, run, take pictures, but you CAN feed children to a shark!

The next day, our final day in Lithuania, we took the big kids ice skating!  The rink was in the center of the Akropolis, the large shopping mall we had gone to multiple times.  When we arrived, a school group was there- what an amazing group of kids!  They all were quick to obey, kind to each other, and really good skaters!  Once it was our turn, Annalise decided SHE wanted to skate- so we let her!  Asher, while he was upset about not going, clearly did NOT want to ice skate- so Rebecca and I took turns feeding him snacks and trying to distract him.  The 3 kids and Al had a great time- what a great way to spend $15!  That is all it cost!  And we loved the little Panda Bears that the kids could hold on to- they were a huge help not only to the kids but also to Al's back!

Awaiting their turn

These 2 thought it was super cute/hysterical to match!

The kiddos all laced up and ready to go!

Annalise skating- she did pretty well, especially considering she had never done it before!

Addie was a rock star- this is the only time she used the Panda!

Daddy helping Annalise and encoring to Alden 

Alden loved it and totally got the concept at the end of  his 30min!

Final Days in Vilnius

After our Embassy appointment on Monday, we knew we would be leaving on Thursday- so we kicked up our touring!  It was a fine balance of bonding/playing in our tiny apartment and getting out and actually moving so we didn't drive each other totally bonkers!  We had a great time and it was special to know that the twins are old enough to potentially remember some of what we saw and did.

Family pic outside of the English-Speaking church we went to on Sunday- the people there were fantastic!

Rebecca took the big kids to the indoor playground at the Akropolis- it was a serious playground and they LOVED it!

When we landed in Lithuania, we met another American family who was there to adopt 3 brothers.  We actually were able to meet up with them several times while we were in Vilnius- and they were, and still are, pretty amazing!  What's neat is that they live only a few hours away from us so we hope to continue to actually see each other and not just remain friends on FB!

Our 2 families having dinner at Charlie's- yum!  7 kids under 8 and 5 adults.

The Bridge of Locks- the locks are put on to show your love is secure

Beautiful snow-covered country!

Family photo in front of this beautiful church

 We tried to end every evening by watching some of a movie- we had been told that was the twins routine in the Baby House.  Annalise showed an interest 1 evening- that was it- Asher never.  We think it may be due to their poor vision- time will tell...  Meanwhile Addie and Alden loved all the movie-time!

Our little local paper will print your picture if you take it with a copy of it in a new or strange location.  This, ironically, was our best family photo of all- and the newspaper is smack-dab in the middle of it!

It was a great last few days in Lithuania!  God totally blessed us- the temps hovered around 32 and very little snow fell.  Once we left, the temps plummeted to normal- single digits and lots of snow!