THE DUCOMMUNS

My photo
We are the Ducommuns! There are 4 of us now-Craig, Laura, Zamara, and now Mahashavah, our 1 year old son. We adopted Zamara from Ethiopia in 2008. Our son is also from Ethiopia and we are hoping to bring him home soon. We live Flagstaff Arizona. We are so glad you found us. Take a look around and don't forget to leave us a message.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

A rough week!

This has been a difficult week for all the Ducommun's in Flagstaff (all 3 of us!).  Up until this week Zamara has just been the perfect little baby girl.  This week she has been quite fussy.  I think the reality of her new life has kicked in and she is having a hard time adjusting.  She has been waking up several times a night and not sleeping very well in general.  Staying at home full-time has also been more difficult than I thought it would be.  I am grateful to be at home, though!  I cannot imagine how difficult this transition would be if I also had to deal with working outside the home right now.  

I have talking and emailing friends who have gone through similar situations.  I have also been reading every book I can get my hands on about how to deal with infants.  I know we will get this all worked out, but please keep us in your prayers as we work toward getting our lives into a normal routine.  I think there are some real differences with biological kids and newly adopted children.  It is hard to sift through all the information and decide what to do in each situation.  

On the positive side, Zamara has gained a pound and a 1/2 since we brought her home.  She is healthy and growing.  Her cold and congestion has gone away.  That in itself is a miracle and we feel blessed to have such a healthy little girl.  

Yesterday we took her to the community pool.  It was her first time swimming.  She looked darling in her new swimsuit and ABSOLUTELY LOVED the water!  She would have stayed there all day  "swimming" around.  Her parents were tired, though, so we only stayed for about an hour.  We took pictures of her at the pool.  Hmmm, I need to find those and get them uploaded to the blog.  

Craig is back at work this week.  I think that has added to Zamara's overall sour disposition.  She loves her mommy and daddy and is the happiest when we are all together.  If only we could get paid to stay at home and hang out with our child all day...now that would be a good job!  But since we haven't seen a lot of openings for this type of position, Craig will have to continue going to work.  

Thanks for all your prayers and for continuing to check up on us every so often.  If you get a chance leave us a comment.  We love to hear from you all.  

Goodnight!  Laura

7 comments:

E said...

Hang in there, Laura! First time motherhood is a huge adjustment. I agree, adoption also adds another dimension to it - and navigating that (using baby books primarily directed toward bio babies) can sometimes be very challenging. However, I do have one book recommendation. We used it to get Abel on a happy (for all of us) sleeping schedule. Secrets of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg. We followed it to the "t" and everyone marvels at how amazingly well Abel sleeps...no one can get over that we just put him in the crib and he turns over and falls asleep. :) It did take some work initially, but it was SO worth it!

We didn't follow this method with our first child and that was fine; however, I can't be in there with Abel every time he is sleeping like I could when I only had one child. Also, this way is much easier on mama - as things can get done while baby is sleeping. :) Sorry to ramble on, but this method was a tremendous help to us as I adjusted to being Abel's mommy.

Abel's been with me now for 6 months! The 9th will mark the day we arrived home together! Can't believe it! Things get better and easier every, single month. This was true the first time around & I know I got the hang of being a mommy of two faster than being a mommy of one. However, there were different factors - like attachment (for me & for Abel) - to figure out this time around.

Sorry for such a long, rambling post. Your words touched my heart and I will certainly be praying for you as you make the adjustment. I don't know if my contact info is still on the yg. If so, please feel free to write or call anytime.

Hang in there. I pray the Lord's grace will pour over you in these early days and always.... Even once your a "pro" we all have our bad mommy days. But, I assure you, most of my mommy days are glorious and golden. I know yours will be, too! It is the best, hardest, most rewarding, messiest, most challenging job in the world!

Erica

The Bell Family said...

I also liked the Baby Whisperer Book. If you want advice on putting a child to sleep, I would say that you don't want to give them a "crutch" of any kind. Don't rock them to sleep, or lay down with them, or feed them a bottle until they sleep, etc. We did this with Logan and it takes a lot of time to "undo" it. However, with Eric, we'd learned our lesson and laid him down in his crib from day one and he is still able to get himself to sleep quickly and independently.

I'm not an expert on kids and we've never adopted, but if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you.

We love you!
Angie and all

ethiHOPEia said...

We have been following you and just want you to know that we are excited that you are home with Zamara! The Lord gives NEW mercies every morning, Great is His Faithfulness!
Blessings,
Hilary

tisha said...

Laura,
I'll be praying for you guys. I know how you feel...

Zamara looks so cute in the pictures you put on the previous post!
Tisha

Jori said...

Every child is differant and I am sure it is not going to be an exception with our adopted kiddos. Remember to use HIS new grace evey morning and hang in there ~
love, jori

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you guys got to go to the pool-how fun! I'm sorry it's been so rough. I'm sure that you will get into a routine and it will get better. I'm sure that you guys are both doing an amazing job, people are usually harder on themselves than they should be. I showed my students a picture of Zamara and they all think that she is so beautiful!

Kris said...

Do not rule out teething. Zamara is younger than Kaara when we brought her home but Kaara did well for about six weeks home and then turned into a living nightmare for 2 months with not sleeping. Turns out she was breaking through 4 molars at once. Once I saw the white bumps I knew she'd been teething the whole time. Tylenol and teething tablets got her back to sleeping well, which improved her disposition through the day as well.