More cuteness.

I let Peanut play with the spoon when she was done eating and here is what she did.

That same night she was being adorable, as always and then we turned around and....

she did this. Silly girl :)

We met, for what will hopefully be the last time, with the Birth to 3 program. As expected, Peanut does not qualify for services except for speech therapy. We at this time have turned it down as we feel like she is still catching up and will catch up in time. We talked with the Early Intervention Teacher and even she was not that concerned about the delay in Peanut's speech. This was reassuring and helped us with our decision to not pursue speech therapy at this point. We can always call them back if we need to. They left us with some great info and some handouts on speech activities we can do with Peanut.

We were thrilled with all the help they already given us and even though we don't really qualify for services, I am glad we called. I would highly recommend any parent calling their Birth to 3 or Early Intervention program if you have any questions at all about your child's development. It is such a great resource.

Peanut is 7 months old!

I can't even believe it. Peanut is 7 months old and the joy of my life. Here are 7 of the 100's of things I love about Peanut.

1) The way she smiles up at me in the mornings when I go to get her out of her crib.

2) The way she will spontaneously start laughing and at what we have no idea.

3) The way she tries to shove all of her fingers in her mouth.

4) The way she snuggled in and fell asleep while I was wearing her in the Ergo.

5) The way she 'talks' to her toys.

6) Just how truly sweet, amazing, strong willed and independent she is.

7) Just how perfectly she fits in our family. Truly a gift from God.

Love you always and forever Peanut. Pictures will come maybe tomorrow, I think teething got the best of Peanut and her mood today...

Peanut's first baseball game

Well the day arrived. It was time for Peanut's first Brewer's game. As you can see below she was super excited and dressed for the game.

See, she can't wait to get there :)

And here she is just before the game started taking everything in.

Here is how she spent most of her time at the game, strapped to me in the Ergo. And yes that is a beer in my hand :) You can't go to a Brewer's game and not have a Miller Lite :)

This nice girl behind us took our picture. Our first family outing to Miller Park.

So truth, how did she do? GREAT! We fed her in the car before we entered the stadium and I was prepared with 2 additional bottles if need be. She was on our laps for the pre-game and the 1st inning. By the end of the 1st she was a little overwhelmed so we strapped her in the Ergo and Peanut and I took a walk around Miller Park for 2 innings.

We returned to our seats in the middle of the 4th inning and that is where we stayed. We kept her strapped in the Ergo and she did better than expected given this was a) her first baseball game and b) her first time being in the Ergo for more than 15 minutes. She was totally enamored with this guy behind us and just stared and smiled at him.

She started to get sleepy and hungry so we made up her bottle and fed her while wearing her. Challenging but it worked. She drank about half of her bottle and then fell asleep. We had talked about leaving after the 7th if she didn't fall asleep but she did. She woke up a little later and finished her bottle and then was down for the count. A guy in front of us said we were truly blessed with the best baby and he couldn't get over how good she was.

We did wind up leaving in the 9th inning just before all the good stuff happened but overall it was a great experience. Peanut was a rockstar for sure and she made some new friends :) Will she go to the next game with us...we shall see. Peanut far surpassed any expectations I had and I even got to watch a little baseball.

The screaming phase...

Well it happened, sweet little Peanut has learned how to scream and scream loudly and VERY high pitched. No she isn't screaming because she is upset or screaming while crying; she is screaming to scream and if you look at her she smiles.

Sometimes it is hard to not laugh at her while she is doing and other times I cringe and hurry out of the coffee shop, restaurant, etc. I have been warned that this phase of little girls last FOREVER.

She spent 50 minutes this morning in her crib giggling, squealing and then screaming instead of napping. She finally fell asleep. What did I do? I took a shower, started some laundry and now I am blogging.

We are gearing up for the weekend as we are taking Peanut to her first Brewers game. I am prepared for it to be challenging and we have agreed that if things go downhill we will leave early. The game starts at 6:05 so schedule wise it works to feed her either before we leave here or in the car once we get there and then she will get her bottle between 7:30-8pm and hopefully fall asleep in the Ergo. I am not worried about the first 2 hours or so that we are there it is after that that may get challenging and boring for Peanut. We will take pictures for sure :)

Well apparently nap time is over as I hear Peanut and guess what she is SCREAMING oh and then laughing :)

Peanut Pictures

Couldn't resist the cuteness. Here is my beginning attempts at finger coils and Peanut with her two favorite things, her finger and a cloth diaper.

Look she puts toys in her mouth!!! She wouldn't do this weeks ago :)

She hated the Exersaucer when she first got home and now she loves it.

And here is Peanut and her favorite pug, Sebastian.

Peanut is the sweetest little girl and such a joy!

In other news, we had Badger in to the vet today. He has what appears to be a collection of fat cells under his rib cage. It is rather large so we thought it was a tumor but the vet doesn't think so. Either way we have scheduled Badger for a dental cleaning and while he is under they will remove this and a skin tag on his face. Sigh of relief that our vet isn't too worried about little Badger because we sure were.

Good news :)

We got the report today from the Birth to 3 program. I have been anxiously awaiting this and it came with great news!

To quote:

"Peanut is developing within expected ranges in the areas of gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social-emotional, and self help skills"

Go Peanut go. She is right on track and within averages based on other children her age. She is most behind in communication but the evaluators felt she was doing really well considering she has only been hearing English regularly for a month.

The evaluators are coming back at the end of the month to discuss their report and the game plan. It doesn't appear that Peanut qualifies for services except maybe speech therapy. Peanut is VERY vocal yet not making sounds like 'ba, da, ga, etc'. Those I don't doubt will come in time. We read to her every day so that will help.

A huge sigh of relief has been let out here. I am glad baby girl is doing well and I can take some things off of my worry list. What a great way to start the weekend.

Mini update and some more pictures :)

So I couldn't resist posting some more cute pics of Miss Peanut! Here she is just after eating and playing with a cool toy borrowed from a great friend--thanks Kerry(and Lilly).

I managed to get Peanut to smile while petting Sebastian. She just loves him and her loves her. He is so patient since she isn't the gentlest of petters. As you can see Badger moved as far away as possible. We don't push it with him. We let him dictate what he can handle from her.

Ok--guilty took a picture of her sleeping because it is just too cute. No worries though she didn't even flinch and I took 3 pictures with flash. :)

As for the mini update, we have an appointment for Peanut on July 2nd at the Feeding Clinic. The therapist is staying late so she can see her. We are so grateful. That said we adjusted Peanut's feeding schedule and things have been better. She still coughs but using the Playtex bottles with the drop in liners has really helped. At this point we are still concerned about her coughing so we are going to go through with the appointment just to make sure. It could be she is just bored with the bottle, not coordinated enough, drooling too much because of teething or an attention getter. Those are still on the table as possibilities.

Additionally, did you notice how well Miss Peanut was sitting on the couch next to the dogs??? We think she is getting closer and closer to sitting up. She will sit up by herself on the couch, her changing table and with her back up against something for a little while. She has started to use her hands to maintain balance and adjust herself when she starts to tip over. Not always but sometimes. Big improvement! I even got her to lay on her side and roll over to her stomach today. We did it twice. Usually she throws a fit when you put her on her side. I stopped after twice since that went so well. The Birth to 3 therapist suggested we do this so we try a few times throughout the day when she is in a good mood.

So things are going well right now with the food issues and Peanut is just such a joy. We love her more and more every day.

Plan of Action sort of

We think that we might have an answer to Peanut's issue. Reflux. So we are coming up with a plan of action in a way.

Step 1: I have started a food journal for Peanut. I am writing down what time she is eating, what she is eating and what the level of coughing was if any and then if she spits up what time and how much (a little, a lot or vomit). So far it has only been a little and usually an 1-2 hours after she eats and it hasn't been after every feeding. We are also trying to spread out her feedings so feed her less more often.

Step 2: I am currently waiting to hear from the Feeding Clinic as they are backed up until mid July but the nurse I spoke to is trying to work something out since Peanut is young.

Step 3: I will contact the Birth to 3 program if it is determined to be a swallowing issue and not a reflux issue. They are due to present their report at the end of the month about her physical development and possible resources available.

Step 4: Stay in touch with our pediatrician who we love by the way. She is great with Peanut and is really awesome about calling and checking in and getting answers for us.

Step 5: Remain calm and trust my instincts. Peanut is doing GREAT. She is gaining weight which is awesome and she is growing developmentally more each day. Someone told me once that it is perfectly normal for adopted kids who spent months in care to be a little behind as much as a few months. We are on top of it and we can see the changes already.

Okay time to feed Peanut so wish us luck :)

Rough few days

Well just when we thought things were settling in to a new normal a surprise popped up. Miss Peanut has developed these coughing fits during bottle feedings. Why? Well we don't know and neither does the doctor. There are a couple theories floating around and we are looking in to all of them.

First, we switched her to soy formula thinking in might have been a milk tolerance issue. She has had this raspy breathing thing going on so we figured we would try it and see if the soy would help. The raspy breathing seems to be getting better but the coughing is still there.

We took her to our doctor this morning and no ear infection present,lungs are clear and overall she seemed fine. The doctor would like us to visit the feeding clinic for an evaluation since the coughing is at its worst during her bottle feedings. It could be nothing or it may be reflux (minus the excessive spitting up and vomiting, she doesn't do either of those things so if it is reflux it isn't severe but still annoying for Peanut).

She is teething which is definitely affecting her mood and her eating so it could be that. There are so many possibilities and not a lot of answers right now and that is tough. As a Mom, I hate that my baby girl is uncomfortable and I can't just snap my fingers and fix it. It got so bad last night that she went to bed without a bottle. She was just screaming and refusing to eat so we didn't want to force her so we calmed her down and put her to bed. She slept for over 10 hours straight.

Today it took three different bottles/sippy cups to get 7 ounces of formula in her in an hour time span. She would drink a little and then scream so we took a break. We tried again and she drank some more and then screamed. On the third and what I determined last try and back to the bottles we used in Ethiopia, she coughed less and finished the last 5 ounces without throwing a single fit.

The hardest part is that this is recent. She was doing so well and overall she still is. She eats her solids really well with little to no coughing and she is gaining weight so that is all good news. We just need to get some answers for this coughing thing so we can focus on the fun stuff.

Pictures :)

Here are some more pictures of Peanut. This is one of many taken with Peanut's great grandmother. She was kind of over the picture thing at this point but she is still adorable.

I love this picture because 3 weeks ago, Peanut couldn't sit in the Bumbo much less hold on to a toy and sit in the Bumbo. She is growing and changing so fast. She amazes me everyday.

She was being adorable after bath time and just didn't want to let go of that towel.

Here she is again sitting perfectly in the Bumbo and making a mess while eating at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

And now she was just showing off and being silly. Yes we realize the bib is just about bigger than she is but there are days where that large bib comes in handy. This was one of them.

Happy 9th Birthday Sebastian!!

Monday was Sebastian's 9th birthday. We had a little mini-party for our awesome pug. The first picture is of Peanut with her new hairstyle. I really enjoy doing Peanut's hair and she is pretty good about it most of the time. And really she is just adorable :)

And here is little Badger with his new toy and hiding one of his favorites underneath him. So cute!

And here is the birthday boy himself. I can't believe he is 9 years old already. He is just the best dog and so sweet. He has been fabulous with Peanut too.

Here was Sebastian's birthday gift pre-destruction. The treat didn't last long and the stuffed lobster has so far survived the crazy tug of war that is having two pugs. I will be shocked though if either new toy makes it through the week but you never know :)

Hopefully he had a great day :) We plan on taking him for a walk tonight if it doesn't rain.

Family Day

We met Peanut one month ago. We became united as a family. We had been a family for many months but we were finally physically together. May 8th will forever be Peanut day in our household. So for this post I will look back on the day we met our precious little girl.


It was a Friday morning in Ethiopia. We had gotten little sleep as we arrived late the night before. All the families gathered for breakfast and then we headed out to the main office for a brief orientation.

Honestly, I remember very little about the orientation other than them telling us how friendly and affectionate Ethiopian people are and that if we needed anything at all to ask the guesthouse manager. I found both to be very true statements.


We then herded back on the bus for the short drive to the care center. I was nervous, excited and already on the verge of tears. This was it. I was finally going to be able to hold my daughter in my arms. I have dreamed of this day for many many years.

We waited our turn and went up stairs, the tears rolling down my face. I had no idea what was about to happen and then we got to the 4th floor and walked in the room. I saw her immediately. She was on the floor doing tummy time. Our social worker bent down to grab her and I remember that Peanut spit up. We got that cleaned up and then our social worker handed her to me. Oh my goodness. Never has anything felt more perfect. It was like she was made just for us. She just fit so perfectly in our arms. I didn't really want to let her go but at one point turned to my husband and asked him if he wanted to hold her. Duh, of course he did. I could see it in his eyes. And what a beautiful sight it was to see Daddy finally holding his little Peanut.


I remember that she was so smiley at first and then got really serious. She wasn't sure what was going on. She was so alert and so aware that things were a little different now. I will forever be grateful that we have our first moments with her on DVD. I have watched it twice now and it still gets to me each time and I am guessing it will get me every time I watch it.


These are moments that will forever be ingrained in my head and my heart. The months of waiting had come to an end. Finally meeting Peanut made all of those long months make sense. I hit a really rough spot emotionally during the wait in November of 2008. Little did I know that during that same month my daughter was born and her mother was facing a very difficult decision. God definitely had a hand in Peanut finding us and in guiding her dear birth mother during this difficult time. There are no words to ever be able to express my gratitude for this beautiful gift of a daughter.


This whole journey to Ethiopia has forever changed my life in ways that I cannot even begin to express. My life isn't just about me or us any more. We are now a family of 3 and still growing.

3 weeks

I can't believe that 3 weeks ago at this time I was on an airplane on my way home with my baby girl. Where or where did the time go? Oh yeah, enjoying every second with my little girl.

She is doing amazingly well. We had a rough couple of hours yesterday but I think it boiled down to gas and her teething and quite possibly her refusal to take a good afternoon nap.

She is a very strong willed little one and if she doesn't want to nap she will let you know. I think the issue is she sleeps so long at night and then takes a good morning nap that all she needs is these little 30-45 minute cat naps and she doesn't want to take those in her crib. Maybe there is just too much going on and she is afraid to miss out, who knows.

Yesterday she also didn't want me to be out of her line of sight. While I find it kind of sweet it did make it a little hard to go to the bathroom. Thank goodness for the bumbo.

Her ear infections seems to be gone and we are done with medication. Today is the first full day of no medication since May 18th. Woohoo! At least she liked this last stuff. She was even licking it off the spoon.

This weekend we are going to try her in the Ergo baby carrier again. She was way to little while we were in Ethiopia and she hated it. 3 weeks ago her legs wouldn't even go far enough apart to fit in the Ergo at all. She is bigger now and has a lot more strength so we are hoping it will work. It will come in handy if she is having one of those clingy days to be able to carry her around but still have my hands free to do other things.

We will take lots more cute pics this weekend and get those up next week.

More Pictures :)

So here is my first attempt at doing Peanut's hair. Not perfect but I must say pretty good for my first attempt. She did pretty well too. I found some other bands to put is her hair so next time I will try those. My guess is these will be in a few days or so and then we may try something else.

And then she was just showing off her extreme cuteness:)

Then there is the look that make me think we are going to be in TROUBLE when this little one gets older. Look at that attitude...

Here is her meager attempt at being shy.

And our first attempt at pictures with Peanut and Sebastian. Badger took off so I think that picture will be a much bigger challenge. Sebastian was being really sweet though.

Amazed

I am amazed everyday by Peanut and what she can do. When we first met her she was bearing little to no weight on her legs and wasn't really a fan of being held for too long. She also didn't really grab things with her hands.

Now at just a few weeks home and a couple days past 6 months old she has been an overachiever. She is starting to bear more and more weight on her legs everyday. She loves to snuggle and be held. And she is starting to bat at the toys on the play mat and grab on to some of them. She even tried to put a toy in her mouth yesterday. YEAH!!! And boy can that girl be chatty. She loves to babble, grunt, laugh, squeal and she just figured out how to make a clicking noise with her tongue.

She loves the pugs. She and Sebastian are good buddies. He is so sweet and gives her kisses and she reaches out to pet him and even has pulled on his fur and he didn't care at all. Badger will give her a kiss, smell her and then if she tries to touch him, he runs away. Badger is just shy sometimes, we are working on it.

We had out initial meeting with the Birth to 3 program and that went great. Based on the assessment, they are going to send a teacher and a physical therapist out to really evaluate Peanut. We don't know yet if she will qualify for any assistance but want to have her evaluated anyway. When the woman was here on Friday I had to answer no to a bunch of questions but if she came today I could answer sometimes. Peanut is amazing and I know she will be fine. If nothing else, I am getting tons of great info on exercises to do with Peanut to strengthen her development.

More pictures to come soon!