Update on our Sweet Grace

Grace has been doing great! A few words have worked their way back. She says "hi" again all the time. She has made a few animals sounds again. She has attempted to say "Nate and Aidan" . She has started to say "no" to everything.

Me: Grace, what does a cow say?
Grace: No
Me: Do you want your milk?
Grace: No. (as she grabs it from me)

She also uses it correctly at times. I'm just glad something is coming out of her mouth!

Grace still has the hives on her stomach. It has been over 2 weeks now. I took her to the doctor on the 5th day of them and after examining her, the doctor said, "she has hives.". Soooooo frustrating! We can not figure it out. The doctor put her on Zyrtec for now and we see an allergist in November. The bad part is that she has to be off all medicines 10 days prior to her appt and when we don't give her anything, the hives get huge. I've changed detergent, bought all new bedding and allergen covers for her mattress. I vacuum and dust all the time and have been trying to keep track of what she eats. Part of me suspects a seasonal allergy, but I really have no clue. As the medicine wears off in the afternoon, she starts to get little red bumps again. There is no obvious cause right now. Hopefully it isn't a mold allergy, because then that means I have mold!!! I would love for this to be a virus that just disappears, but I'm not holding my breath. She had a one day episode back in september, so that confuses me more. I hate that we can't figure this out for poor Grace.

Look how sweet! She's got her blanket, Pluto and book! Can't wait for her to meet the real Pluto next spring!

Grace has been quite the shoe girl lately. Here she is walking off with Daddy's shoes.

We just bought this new climbing thingy for Grace. It could be a long winter indoors with all that energy she has! Loving the slide!

I waited a long time for a girl and Grace has been loving the dinosaurs! Oh boy! Hopefully they will be replaced by dolls soon enough.

Now she has the cup and pitcher. I'd be glad to play tea party!

Even better!

18 Month Check Up

Grace had her 18 mo. check up today and I thought now would be a good time to do a run down of our little hot shot!

Grace...
*can point to her eyes, ears, hair, teeth, fingers, toes, belly, nose
*can run, climb and jump with both feet off the ground
*loves to read.... still
*knows the motions to at least 3 Wiggle songs and will do them randomly throughout the day. She must be singing in her head!
*knows exactly what to do to get in time-out :) And will sit there for her full minute.
*understands almost everything we say
*30 lbs - 95%ile
*34 inches - 95%ile BIG GIRL!!!
*signs "more" while making the mmmm sound
*shakes her head no and yes when asked questions
*loves all animals
*loves to cuddle and sit on your lap, but it has to be on her terms
*can do the motions for Itsy Bitsy Spider and Wheels on the Bus
*is allergic to something that we haven't figured out yet. She is on Zyrtec right now and has an allergist appt in Nov.

The things that worry me...
*Isn't talking at all right now. She has had words come and go, but the only one that really stuck was "hi". Now she barely says that. I know she hears fine and understands everything. She has even stopped doing her animal sounds when asked. She almost looks annoyed and turns away when she can tell I'm trying to get something out of her. She even shakes her head no sometimes. She does babble, but is limited on her sounds. Lately, she only really uses the letters m, g, d. Has anyone else had a similar situation?

*Will not warm up to others outside of immediate family. She does feel more comfortable with our neighbors due to seeing them all the time. She will take their hand if she wants something, but doesn't really let her guard down. There is very limited eye contact with them and interaction (laughs, smiles). She basicly ignores people, even when they call her name. Family members that we see occasionally get the "talk to the hand" attitude. She is shy and won't go near them. Even after spending 4 days with my parents on vacation, she still won't let them in her world. She will warm up a little and sit a lap, but it has to be on her terms. She will climb up on you if she see something she wants, not to cuddle. She just seems so closed off to me. She isn't this way with Brad and I or the boys. However, if she doesn't want to do something, like be held or cuddle, forget about it! We have known from the beginning that she is very strong willed. She will also ignore us when we call her name at times. But say "popsicle" softly and she whips her head around :) Overall, Grace has these walls that won't come all the way down. Any advice???

Lucky Number 17

Today is my 38th birthday and Grace also turned 18 months!!!! I love that we share the number 17! When we were in Russia and they told us her birthday, I knew it was meant to be :) We went out to dinner last night to the Outback and had a very nice family friendly meal. Grace did great as long as we kept lots of ice on her plate to eat! The girl LOVES ice! She also ate some chicken and french fries :) We went for pumpkins today at a local farm. We visited with the animals and got some ice cream. It was such a beautiful day to be outside!

I also have to mention that Aidan hit a homerun today at his baseball game! He said he did it for me since it was my birthday, but then added it was for his team too!

I guess we could have had this smile on her portrait :) She was practicing "cheeeesssssse"!

Grace helping Nate do his homework! She was also practicing again. The side pony tail was done out of desperation in trying to control her hair. Don't worry... we didn't take her out of the house looking like this :)

Love this smile!!!!! Grace playing peek-a-boo with the laundry room door.

The birthday girls :)

Grace trying to keep up with the boys while looking for birds!


The boys posing with their sad faces since all the fall festivities didn't start until noon and we had to leave for Aidan's baseball game. We'll go another time....hopefully.

Peeking at the animals.


Grace making sure Aidan is smiling nice for the camera.

Making sure Nate is cooperating too.

Checking on Aidan again. Grace knows how important nice smiles are to mommy.

Now you, Nate! Good job!

OK. We are ready!

100 Good Wishes Quilt

I'm here to beg! We are up to 37 pieces for Grace's 100 Good Wishes Quilt. I love each and every piece we have received so far and cannot wait to see it all come together. My goal is to have the quilt made for Grace's 2nd birthday in April. We received some of our fabric pieces almost 3 years ago and I'm sure those people would love to see the finished quilt. I know many of you have already given, but this is my last stitch effort to hopefully get at least 50 pieces. If you are interested, read the directions below and click on "100 Good Wishes Quilt" on the sidebar to see the squares we have already gotten. If you know someone that may be interested in participating, please pass on..... Thanks so much!!!!

It has become an adoption tradition in the U.S. to create a "100 Good Wishes Quilt" for your adopted daughter. The tradition started in China where family and friends would give 2 swatches of fabric to the new baby. One to be used in a quilt and one to go in a memory book along with a "good wish" for the baby. Adoptive parents have started making these special quilts as a way to create some history for a child that may not have any known family background. This quilt may then be passed down for generations to come. We would love to make one for Grace. Here is what to do if you would like to contribute to her quilt:
1. Pick out a fabric that you like or has special meaning to you and cut out two 8" squares.
2. On a small piece of paper, write a "good wish" for Grace. Make sure to include your name on the wish.
3. Send it to us to be a part of her 100 Good Wishes Quilt!!!

Run, Gracie, Run

Grace was extremely difficult today getting her portrait taken! The girl doesn't stop moving for two seconds!!! There were only a couple worth even taking a second glance at and one of them is her actually running! I would place her down and before I even had my hands off of her, she was running. She wouldn't sit on a bench, stool, play with props...nothing! There were tears involved too....not mine, but I was close :) I think I lost about 3 lbs just chasing her around!

She still looks cute, though! We will look at this picture for years to come and remember the unbelievable energy of our little Grace!

Cheeeessssssse!

It finally happened! Grace stopped (at least slowed down), looked at the camera and smiled big! Just in time for her portrait session tomorrow morning! Keeping my fingers crossed that I leave with actual pictures and not just a paid sitting fee :)

I'm stumped!

Grace has her "strawberry rash" back again, but it can't be from strawberries!!! This is the second time she got this rash. When we first brought Grace home she would wake up with little bite marks on her neck which we treated as dust mite reaction. Her mattress is covered, stuff animals were kicked out and I wash her sheet often. She hasn't had those in 3 months. I read online that a dust mite allergy will leave you with bite looking marks even though they aren't actual bites. Last night Grace had her shirt off and within 10 minutes she had small bite looking marks on her stomach. We thought....dust mites. Then we woke this morning with the rash you see below. It is the same exact one she got the day she ate too many strawberry products. We gave her Benadryl last time and I just gave her some now before her nap. It doesn't appear to bother her or feel itchy. Otherwise, I'm stumped! She has her 18 month check up on monday, so I'll talk to the pediatrician about it then. I also emailed the IA doctors to see what they thought.

Does anyone out there in blog land have any ideas????? Just so you all know, her stomach isn't swollen :) She just has a healthy appetite!

Yesterday was 5 months since Gotcha Day! Seems so much longer :) But when I hear myself say 5 months, I realize how far we have come in 5 short months. It feels like Grace has been here forever. She has adjusted so wonderfully and adds a little spice to our lives :) More like a lot of spice! She is very strong willed and smart. She is always entertaining us with her facial expressions, dancing and girly squeals! We love you, Gracie!

I've written several times about Grace and her love of books, well I need to add to her library. I have quite a variety (tons actually) of books since I used to teach. But I really could use some new board books since Grace loves to sit and look at books on her own. When she is left alone with paper pages, somehow pages get ripped. Strange, I know. So I thought I would ask all of you if you had any favorites to share.

Grace and I have been sick for several weeks, so I haven't gotten to the gym. Well, I went back today and things did not go well. Grace was unhappy from the beginning, but the crying (more like screaming) started after about 10 minutes. I went and got her right away and now I'm discouraged. I don't know what to do. I hate that she is scared or unhappy, but I really need this time. I tell myself that a lot of moms go back to work within several months and their babies turn out just fine, but I still feel guilty since this isn't something that is mandatory. Do I keep going and hope that she adjusts again or give up for a while????

Fall Happenings...

Aidan is playing fall ball this year and is loving it! He has really taken to baseball this past year and is doing very well.



Grace reading in her box!

Nate and his diorama! He had to choose an animal and he chose Zaboomafoo (Coquerel's Sifaka, lemur family) since Grace is a huge fan!!!


We went to Virginia this past weekend to visit with Brad's family and celebrate our niece and nephew's (Emma and Ryan) birthdays! The kids always love to see each other and now that Grace is around, Emma isn't so outnumbered :) Emma is so good with Grace and is such a help! The three boys had a blast playing with Aunt Amy's boyfriend, Rob! And I think Rob had a blast too!

It was so nice to see everyone and eat good food. Grace was actually very good in the car considering it took almost 4 hours each way.

Aidan and Ryan handcuffed.....hopefully this is the last time!!!