Christmas 2010

Grace's first Christmas was wonderful! She handled all the chaos beautifully for two days. We were so happy to finally have all our children there on Christmas morning. Grace quickly learned what presents are all about and enjoyed ripping the paper. It was great to have a baby in the house again on Christmas morning. The boys got Ipod Touches which made them VERY happy. We spent Christmas Eve at my grandmother's and Christmas day was at our house. We still get to look forward to the Wunderly Christmas next weekend with all of Brad's family.

ps. I wish I got a better picture of Grace all dressed up on Christmas Eve. She would see the camera and turn her head away... ugh! But she looked beautiful!!!!


Christmas Eve


Lexi and Christopher

Grace checking out her new book from Aunt Jean and Nanny.








I think Pop-pop may be a little too big for Grace's scooter :)







Christmas day with Mimi and Poppie.

Christmas day with Mom mom and Pop-pop.


Aidan LOVING his Phillies gear!

Someone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Love Her Giggle

Some Christmas Spirit

Look who's not crying AND looking at the camera!!! It's a Christmas miracle :)

One Year Ago

One year ago today we woke up devastated and ready to come home from Russia after sadly turning down our first referral. Little did we know that just a few hours later we would finally meet our daughter. I still remember everything about that day and the emotional roller coaster we were on. We went from such a low, sad place to utter joy!

We are so blessed!

We are complete!

Look at this face! How could we not have fallen in love???

First Snow... at least in the U.S.

Grace loved being outside this morning for her first American snow. (Although, I really doubt she was ever in the snow in Moscow because she was so young). She pitched quite a fit when I dragged her inside because I couldn't handle the cold anymore :)

You will all notice a video at the end of the post! Yes! I finally figured it out!

Meghan and Grace

Some pictures....

Just thought I would share a little from what we have been up to lately.

It looks like somebody had a growth spurt!!!


Here are the boys with the ophans they sponsored from Reese's Rainbow. Grace wouldn't hold the ornament and pose. Surprised????


Grace wore both of these hats around all day the other day! You never know when a train engineer will need military grade protection!



Grace has a love affair with Daddy's phone. She can even slide stuff around.

Oh Christmas Tree....

We went this weekend to find our Christmas tree. Every year we go to the same farm. The boys love it because they always have hot apple cider in the barn waiting for them. The family that lives there is so nice and we always have a nice time doing this as a family. We didn't dilly dally this year. It was cold and Grace just kept going after the owners' dog (who didn't look like the toddler type). Brad worked on lights when we got home and then we decorated it as a family in the evening. Grace was surprisingly good with the ornaments. She couldn't put them on but enjoyed carrying them around and trying to stick them to the tree. The boys are at great ages to do the ornaments. They put most of them on this year and I don't have to worry about them falling off the step stool anymore. Luckily our tree is in the sunroom which is closed off most of the time so Grace can't un-decorate the tree!


Grace trying to find the most perfect tree for her first Christmas with her family!

Nate bringing his dad some hot apple cider.

Sometimes you buy a gift for your kids and then you regret it:)



"Helping" set up the manger.

She was trying to tell me something about the manger here.

Second IA Appointment

We saw the IA doctor and occupational therapist today for a 6 month home follow-up. So glad we went! I mentioned before the book I was reading, Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child. This summer I read a section on sensory issues and some of it applied to Grace. At that time we were having trouble getting Grace to sleep. She would be extremely hyper prior to going upstairs. It would be up on the couch, down, up, down, up, bouncing, down, up, etc. When we would take her upstairs for bed we would rock her for about 45 minutes and the whole time she was fidgety and kicking her legs. It was so difficult to get her calmed down. We therefore changed the whole bedtime routine. Bath, milk, Zaboomafoo (favorite show), books and then bed. The other important factor is that the boys were sent to their man cave in the basement since they tend to get Grace worked up. Bedtime started taking only about 10 minutes! Ahhhh, we figured it out. I then thought we didn't have any more sensory issues. The active little girl all day is just that...active.

Well, after meeting with the OT today, within 5 minutes she said that Grace needs occupational therapy. Grace moves from one thing to the next and appears "unorganized" in her play. She is so over stimulated by all that is around her, that she doesn't know what to do. Grace has also been an off and on biter and hitter. Apparently that goes along with over stimulation. Grace gets over stimulated... Grace bites or hits. With Brad and the boys home for Thanksgiving break, Grace's behavior took a turn for the worse. Her routine was broken and there was more chaos in the house. Grace is also big on dumping and knocking things over. She also throws toys instead of handing them to you. She walks over, throws a book at you and sits on your lap for you to read to her. Fun...

One strategy that they offered was "hard touching". When Grace appears to be getting ready to bite, stop her and say "I think Grace needs a big hug" and then give her a very tight hug. That is somehow suppose to calm her. They also suggested firm squeezes (massage) on her arms and legs. We will be heading to OT and hope this helps Grace deal with her world a little better. They also told us to remove her toys and only give her three a day and limit books too. Limit books????? I love watching her sit in her pile of books and lift the flaps :)

She will also be going to speech therapy with a therapist that deals with internationally adopted children. She has about 8 words now, but mostly only the first consonant sound. For example, shoe is "sh" .

Overall, attachment is going well. We are working on getting more eye contact out of her. I've been doing it for a few weeks now and have seen some improvement. Everything we are seeing is common for IA children. It's always good to get a little reminder of what these children have gone through. She is a little survivor!!!

So Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We had a great day. Food was delicious and it was great being with family at my grandmother's house. We are soooooo thankful to finally have our completed family together for Thanksgiving. Grace is such a blessing and we are so thankful to have her in our lives. I think she enjoyed Thanksgiving. I passed out Smarties to everyone as a bribe to get Grace to go to them :) She ignores everyone when they call her name, but didn't ignore the call of smarties. She would walk over, snatch the smartie and run. Hopefully with time we won't need to bribe her to enjoy her family!

The three of them (yes, all 3) were playing rock band! Grace was more of a lethal weapon than drummer with her drumstick.

Grace's first Thanksgiving! Doesn't it look like she is getting ready to pray. More like shove corn bread in her mouth :)

My three little gifts! I'm totally burned out though trying to get a decent picture of them.

Aidan digging into his dessert.

Nate enjoying his pumpkin whoopie pie!

Grace doesn't let many people in her little world. But last night, Aunt Jean was able to break in a little with the help of Cookie Monster and Elmo! I think everyone is going to give Grace books for Christmas since that is the way to her heart. Books and Smarties :)

The five of us! Doesn't that sound nice!!!

Here are some pictures leading up to Thanksgiving....

Pretty girl :)

Aidan and his boobs.... enough said.

Aidan dying laughing as he put squishy balls in her pants. I guess the honeymoon phase is over. Let the teasing commence!

Grace getting ready to color a masterpiece. Look how many crayons she can use at once :)

Our artist at work. About 2 seconds after this, she started to eat the crayon.

This is where Grace decided to have her snack the other day :)

Bath time fun!


We had a short visit with Brad's brother's family a couple days before Thanksgiving. The kids loved seeing each other. I didn't realize until I posted this picture that Nate has bacon hanging out of his mouth. NIce!

The boys are so patient with Grace as she CONSTANTLY brings them books to read to her.