Great Report!

Grace had her appointment today with the IA Doctor and occupational therapist at CHOP. She got a great report! Overall, she is developmentally on target for a 13 month old. There are not the usual orphanage delays present. Not that we were worried :) There is no need for further visits or therapies! It was so good to hear and we couldn't be prouder of Grace. She is a very strong little girl! The doctor and therapist both felt that she must have been a favorite and received lots of one on one attention to be so on target today. That makes us feel good, but then I worry she misses that person :( She has gained 2 pounds since being home and is now in the 90% for weight and 95% for height!!!! I kept track of her eating the past 3 days to show them to make sure I wasn't overfeeding her. They were a little surprised at the WHOLE grilled cheese sandwich! But so far, I'm doing fine. The visit was fun and painless for her, UNTIL we got to the lab! They only allow one parent in the lab with her, so I sent Brad in! I didn't want to be the bad guy :) Only kidding! I did it because I knew I couldn't restrain her well enough. I had trouble with the ear check! After 8 vials of blood, she was done and all was forgotten. (At least Brad hopes so!)

Brad had taken the whole day off, so they headed out to the pool. This was Grace's first real swim... suit, sunblock, swim diaper, hat and floatation device! She loves the water and Daddy! She is bonding beautifully now with both of us!

Daddy's Girl

What a difference a weekend can make!!! Grace has finally realized what an awesome daddy she has! Grace and I have been glued at the hip lately, but this weekend I had some things I had to do without her. It was just a couple days ago that she would scream if Brad tried to feed her. Now she is going to him freely without screaming. She stills prefers me if she is tired or hurt, but thinks Daddy is pretty great! We had someone here today doing interviews for an adoption study we are participating in when Grace woke up. It was my turn to be interviewed (1 1/2 hours). When Brad brought Grace downstairs, she saw me and never reached and cried! Huge improvement!!! She hung out with Daddy for the next hour and had a blast! There were several occasions this weekend that they spent quality time together and it is so sweet to see her cuddled in her daddy's arms. The boys are loving having her home with us and are a big help too.

Here are some of Grace's Happenings!
*LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the pool (a big uh oh for me!)
*Loves the bathtub!
*sings and dances ALL THE TIME
*won't eat any fruit unless it is baby food.
*Loves meatballs and potatoes in any form
*Has possibly gained 3 pounds since being home :) I hope I am kidding!
*Is a very inconsistent napper (1/2 hour naps one day, the next they are over 1 1/2 hours)
*doesn't miss a thing! Every noise gets her attention.
*Has Inspector Gadget arms
*We nicknamed her "The Hulk" because "Hulk smash!" If she can squeeze it to death, she will!
*Makes the funniest faces and cracks herself up
*Is starting to realize that if she gets hurt, someone will give her lots of love
*Is walking more and more, but still loves to drag someone around with her. We think she likes to hold our fingers because she can run.
*LOVES being outside
*Is totally captivated by dogs
*Knows her name, our names and understands a ton of words already (outside, snack, doggy, up, no hitting, night night, drink, music, sing, bye bye, more - she actually signs "more" and shakes her head yes. There are more that I can't think of right now.
*Is falling in love with her mommy, daddy and brothers!!!
*Is totally stealing all our hearts!!!!






Grace walking. She looks like a zombie!

She doesn't care what temperature the water is. This is after she dunked her head.

Readoption?

Need some advice. We want to get some information on readoption and don't know where to begin. Has anyone ever done it in Pennsylvania? When I googled it, I got information for lawyers. I don't know what agency to start with? Thanks!

Living Wax Museum

Today was Nate's Living Wax Museum at school. The 4th graders had to read a biography, write a speech and get a costume. Then when the parents walked into the room, all we saw were statues of famous people! It was so awesome. When we walked up to a "wax figure", we would push a button on their desk and the figure would come to life and tell about themselves. It was great! I wish I could have listened to all the kids, but I had Grace with me and she only sat quietly in my arms through about 2 speeches. The project was really a neat idea to get kids into a biography. All the kids looked great!!! Nate's costume turned out pretty good considering the letter came home right before we left for our court date and I couldn't be bothered to worry about it then. Then this wednesday, I found out he needed the costume for thursday! Poor kid! We were scrambling and thanks to our dear neighbor, Kelly, Nate turned into Albert Einstein!

Albert Einstein. This was Nate's pose that he stayed in until someone hit the button. He was "working on an equation".



Paul Revere

Theodore Roosevelt

Amelia Earhart

After Nate's museum we stopped by Aidan's class for a couple minutes so they could meet Grace. Aidan has been dying for me to bring her in for show-n-tell. She had no problem making herself at home!



I took these pictures after I posted the other day. She doesn't always eat her baby doll!

Just The Two of Us

Brad went back to work yesterday, but the boys were home for election day. Today is the first day Grace and I have been alone. It is actually very nice! She's becoming more and more comfortable with us all. I'm still her favorite, though :) She is quite demanding! She screams at me then flashes the cutest grin! Every day she ventures further away from me, but I am not allowed to venture away from her! We are so impressed by how she plays with toys. There is not the usual delay that we can see. Sleeping at night is still great. She is very easy to put down for nap or bedtime, but naps are sometimes 30 minutes and sometimes 1 1/2 hours. She isn't on a set schedule yet, but close to it. She LOVES grilled cheese! My kind of girl :) Grace loves the taste of fruits but can't figure out how to eat them. She sucks on a small piece then spits it out. I can't wait to see how much she weighs next week. The girl can put away the food! She is doing great overall!!! We are so lucky to have her home!

My wonderful neighbors threw me a "get together" to welcome Grace last night. They were told "no shower!!!!" She went over with me for about an hour and did great. She hung out on me for a while then found some toys and new playmates! I then took her home and Brad put her to bed. He said she did good. No tears, just playing with her brothers. I felt guilty leaving her, but Brad had strict instructions that if she looked or acted stressed, he was to call! Grace got so many wonderful gifts! I can't wait for the weather to warm up so she can start modeling her new dresses! Grace doesn't know it yet, but she is living in the BEST neighborhood!!!!

It is near impossible to get a picture of Grace. She attacks me every time I pull out the camera! These were the best I could do today.


Grace "playing" with her new baby doll.

Birthday Girl

Grace had a great weekend! We celebrated her birthday a little late, but she's going to want to see her 1st birthday pictures some day. The boys had a blast doing it for her. They are all bonding so nicely. Grace loves to walk to them and then dive! I think they love it more though :) She is falling into a better nap schedule, but it is still a little unpredictable. Bedtime is so easy and she sleeps great all through the night. She loves any kind of potatoes! Brad has been doing the cooking this week and we have had potatoes 3 nights! She can't get enough of them. Little by little she ventures away from me and then comes back. She has had some sweet moments with Brad and we think we are on the right track. She fits so perfectly with our family. The boys keep finding similarities between themselves with her. Aidan says, "She'll eat anything like Nate!"

Grace wakes up with some serious bed head. The boys were calling her Elvis!


Watching her brothers swim in 65 degree water! She's smarter than them :)

Aidan warming up in the hot tub.

My 3 amazing kids!

Birthday girl getting ready for her cake!


She LOVED her birthday cake! She can put away the sweets pretty good!!!


The birthday girl and her daddy


A new toy!!!

Aidan, Emily, Nate and Grace

Loving her new toy!

We spent close to a half hour playing peek-a-boo around the coffee table! Grace was hysterical!!! She would squeal every time I found her! Too cute :)

Week One

We have had Grace now for a full week and things are going very well. We are tired and still adjusting, but things are definitely moving along. She is full of personality! Our biggest challenge right now (besides the attachment) is trying to figure out what causes a rash on Grace's cheek and some pretty bad poops! We think she is lactose intolerant or possibly a milk allergy. I'm a little annoyed that no one at the baby home thought to mention this. It is clear that something doesn't agree with her. We have been eliminating foods and then trying again. We think we have it narrowed down to dairy. I'm sure she had some sort of dairy at the orphanage. It's a shame that we could have avoided putting her through possible stomach aches. We'll figure it out, though. We have our IA doctor visit in a week and a half. I'm sure they will be able to offer some advice too.

Speaking of advice, thanks to all of you who offered some before on not leaving Grace. She is very clingy still and we do understand how her world has been turned upside down. However, sometimes I'm going to have to go to the bathroom solo!!! She will play with Brad more, but I better not dare hand her over to him! Nap time is still confusing, but night time is easy. Last night she slept from 9pm to 7:40am . Couldn't ask for more! Today I tried putting her in the crib awake but cozy for a nap. Didn't work! She fussed, then started screaming. Brad got her and she went right to sleep in his arms and he was able to get her in the crib. That is difficult for me. She didn't scream quite as loud at her last bath, but still didn't enjoy it. We bought the snug tub and that seemed to help. The boys are enjoying the tackling, but not the scratching :) Grace loves to play "I'm gonna get you!" She actually will start the game. She'll crawl a little bit away from me, turn around and smile and wait for me to chase her :) It's too darn cute!!!! Poor Aidan has strep throat! Now I have to worry about Grace getting it. Hopefully we'll make it through the weekend without problems.

EDIT! Since I typed this earlier today, she took a bath and had a great time! We skipped the hair washing and just let her play in the water. We soaped up what we could, but really just let her get use to the water. She learned to splash and had herself cracking up!



First swing ride. That's laughter, not screaming!



Her tongue is always going!!!