Walking and drool

Emma is walking everywhere, minus grass...she hates the way the grass feels, even with her shoes on. Today she went exploring around the house, touching and gumming everything she can get her mouth on. She is SO good on her feet in regards to balance and knowing when she is getting wobbly. We have gates setup and a wall of toys blocking the step-up into our kitchen. The walking is impressive and so far, no boo-boos from walking, just from fingernails and depth perception issues when picking toys up from the floor (she bends down so far, she bangs her head on the floor).

I finally got up the nerve to cut E's nails and a week later, they had grown so much, she gave her eyelid a nice clawing; must be all the food because her nails and hair is growing like crazy. Her hair is growing in all fuzzy and wild, which is impossible to tame, but I love it...the wind blows it up into a mohawk.

Teething is really giving Emma fits. I have never seen so much drool in my life and need bar mop rags to follow behind her everywhere she goes. The 2nd front tooth is coming down and I see several "buds" poking through the gum next to it, so no wonder she is drooling and whining like crazy. The teething bothers her a lot at night, but she's been really good about not coming fully awake the last few nights, so I think she is getting used to the pain. We have tried teething rings, popsicles, oragel, cold washcloth...you name it, we have tried it. The only thing she wants to chew on is her socks and bibs; she tears into them like a little tiger then gives you that beautiful open mouthed grin of hers! Her sense of humor is so much like ours, it's amazing.

Parky's Farm

Yesterday the weather was GORGEOUS and we decided to take Emma on an adventure to Parky's Farm; she is a little too young and timid for Parky's.  The majority of the animals were locked up, so we must have gone on the wrong day, despite the farm being open 365 days a year.  We did get to observe goats, ducks, chickens from afar and pet a horse in the riding lesson area, which Emma seemed to like.
 
This morning we received good news from Dr. B that all of Emma's vaccinations she received in China are valid and that she has no parasites.  Most times, the vaccinations have to be redone, but not in Emma's case.  We will go at the end of September for her 1 year old vaccinations and to re-evaluate her weight.  Speaking of weight...little mouse finally has a stomach to hold up her pants.  The 12 month jeans she couldn't wear 2 weeks ago are now perfect in the waist and in the length.  I need to get her on a scale and see how much she has gained sinced her first visit with Dr. B!
 
I can't believe Emma has been with us for a month now and very soon we will be headed for our first family vacay to Hawaii!!

A full day

Emma slept 10 hours last night and woke up a very happy mouse!  We keep telling her that she can wake up feeling this good everyday, if she would submit to the sleep.  She took her 9am nap, we played a little, then headed to Red Robin for lunch since it was near her auditory appointment at Children's Hospital.  Emma and I shared a BLTA (Bacon, lettuce, turkey and avocado) sandwich and she loved the avocado, but we both skipped the bacon.  It is amazing what this child will eat...ironically, her initials are EAT.
 
After the morning nap, she woke up just as happy and played quitely in her crib before standing up and grunting for us vs. crying.  PROGRESS.  Doug and I watched her on the monitor playing with her lullably machine, sticking her fingers through the crib rails etc.  She was gabbing, smiling, dancing...a very happy mouse.
 
The auditory appointment is routine for all children coming from an orphanage as they have a high rate of ear infections.  Emma tolerated the first half of the appointment, but when they started placing sensors in her ears, she had enough.  The auditory specialist didn't want to traumatize her and disrupt the attachment/bonding process she has with us, so we stopped and will finish the testing at a later time.  She passed todays tests with flying colors and they don't feel she has any hearing problems, but still want to do the deeper tests to be 100% sure as this deeper area affects speech sounds.   In October we will go for the routine eye check.
 
I need to post more pictures, but I only post when Emma is napping, from the laptop and the pictures are on our main computer.  As soon as I am able, I will post pics.  Our "office" is right next to her bedroom door and I am a loud typist, so not risking the naptime for a few pics right now as I have woken her when typing.

Walking

Emma is following me all over the house today and so far has not busted her melon on the hardwood or tile.  If she senses she is going to stumble, she sits down on her bum, stands back up and picks up where she left off.  Smart girl.  Emma is on her 3rd nap and I'm sure it's the walking wearing her out.  I have two very thankful arms and a smililng back today from not having to carry her so much!  I swear, she gets heavier each night.

Flying solo

Yesterday was our first day without Dada.  The day went well, other than the mouse decided NOT to sleep that night or last night, but we are getting used to less sleep finally.  Doug thinks it was the Nutrigrain bar I gave her as a snack around 7:30pm...but I ate half of it, so really the sugar content wasn't that high.  12 hours flying solo seems like a long time, but the day flew by after a few errands and a social visit.  I think the day felt longer for Doug.  We waited for Doug in the driveway around the time he was to be home and Emma got SO excited at the sight of her Dada and became really rowdy for about an hour.  We followed him around as he changed clothes and warmed up his dinner and she was beyond happy.
 
Mouse awoke at 5:30am today after a very restless night, but she's been napping since about 7am now and I see her stirring on the monitor, so the nap is about to end.  An hour and a half nap is not so bad...it's a gorgeous day, with low humidity, so maybe will venture to the park in the stroller after breakfast.

V-tech laptop etc.

We took an adventure to Babiesrus last night to use a gift card we had received to pick up baby proofing items for our tables since Emma walked about 4ft yesterday without stumbling.  If you repeat, "slow, slow" Emma will walk towards you and take her time with cute shuffling steps...of course at the very end, there is always the Grand Finale of her running the last 2 steps and flinging herself into us because she is so proud.
 
I picked up the V-tech laptop for 6+ months which plays music etc.  Emma LOVED it!  She was squeaking throughout the store holding onto the faux laptop...daddy tried to make her pick something else, but there was no denying, she wanted THIS ONE.  Since home with the toy, she would rather close the lid than listen to the music...99.9% sure she is going to slam her digits in this toy, but we have a boo-boo buddy ready in the freezer for when this happens.
 
So far all of Emma's medical testing has come back a-ok and we will be dropping off the "samples" for the parasite check in the morning.  Um, totally gag me.  The first "sample" I had to shove in the tube, I started gagging, which the little mouse decided to mimic, so I am gagging, Emma is gagging and Doug was trying to eat a salad while these shenanigans were going on.  By the 3rd "sample", it got easier, but geesh, totally disgusting!
 
We are getting Emma on a schedule...we think.  The bedtime wind down begins at 8:30pm and most nights she is sleeping until 6am (YAY).  We have a bottle at 6:30am, breakfast around 8:30am then a nap around 9am; today she took a 2 hour nap!  11:30am she gets another bottle, then lunch at 12:30 and sometimes a snack between lunch and the afternoon nap, which we are trying to aim for 2pm everyday.  Sometimes she sleeps 20 minutes during the afternoon nap and sometimes uo to 60 minutes.  We have a 3:30pm bottle, dinner around 6pm then have a snack and bottle around 8:30pm for bed.  In between the sleeping and eating we are playing with toys, reading books, going to the park and folding laundry.  The laundry and the dishes have tripled since we came home!
 
Tomorrow Doug returns to work, so this will be Mama and Emma's first time without Dada for 12 hours...god have mercy on me!  :O
 




 

All-star

Dr. B said Emma is an all-star (we already knew that). She is very impressed at Emma's attachment to us and reiterated how lucky we are because this is so rare to attach to both parents. The Dr. encouraged us to be the constant, primary caregivers to strengthen the attachment she already has with us and to never let Emma cry anything out...bad mood, sleep, boo-boos etc.

Emma is on course for eating habits and growth/development, but is still underweight at only 14th percentile; her brain development has not been affected as her head is measuring 77th percentile so she is not worried and encouraged us to keep Emma on formula longer before we transition to whole milk, which we will discuss again in about 6 weeks. The Dr. was very impressed with what she is eating as most kids have textural issues and is pleased at how active she is in regards to babbling, standing, pulling up on her own etc. at only 11 months and coming from an orphanage environment.

Today's visit included 2 vaccinations and a very unsuccessful blood draw...Emma was none too pleased and actually cried so hard she stopped breathing and left a giant wet spot from sweat on the table. We are going to Children's for a follow-up blood draw because this one did not go so well...this was at the suggestion of Dr. B. The blood work is to make sure her vaccinations are true and to check for other blood screens as a safety measure.

This morning Emma was standing in her crib when we went into get her and she's been insisting on standing most of the day. Emma slept until 6am and woke up extremely cranky, but then took naps at 8am, 11:30am and 3pm...she actually slept for 2 hours on the 2nd nap! It wasn't after some Orajel and the 2 hour nap that the crankiness wore off.

Time

It is AMAZING how much time such a little person consumes during a day...by 8pm, we are all dog-tired.  Today Emma woke up at 4:00 am, then went back to sleep for an hour at 6:30am.  Of course everytime I ran an errand, the mouse fell asleep in the car, so I usually sit in the car for about 30 minutes and let her sleep.  I think we have successfully pushed her bedtime to 8-8:30pm now, so please, no phone calls after 8pm for now.  Emma stirs VERY easy and we are in bed by 9pm, knowing she will wake anytime between 2am-4:30am.
 
The last few days we are really seeing the silly side of her personality shine...she's kooky just like us.  She loves shaking her head side to side, makes crazy faces, blows her lips and cracks herself up.  Food makes her go nuts, she bangs the tray and screams when she loves a particular food.  Tonight we had stuffed green peppers from Gramma Cheryl and she went wacky shaking her head and throwing her arms around with each bite.
 
This afternoon the weather was so beautiful we took a blanket outside and played underneath the shade of the trees in our front lawn...Emma doesn't like the grass much and got ancy after about 30 minutes, but it was relaxing while it lasted.

Pics of the last few days

Emma was hilarious today...must have been all the sleep she had throughout the day. She took 1 morning catnap, a 40 minute nap in the car on the way to buy formula, then slept on the way home from that errand for another 40 minutes. All afternoon she was smiling, clapping, shaking her head and blowing her lips...the more we laughed, the more she blew her lips. I even received 2 unsolicited hugs and a few arm pats.

We didn't allow a mid-late afternoon nap and kept her going until 7:30pm. After dinner we went to Symmes park for the first time and she fell asleep in the swing after about 5 minutes; we took pictures, then made her wake up and walked her to the pond to see the ducks, which she loved. The park was a great "keep her awake" diversion for about an hour until bath and bottle time. Doug got her to sleep within minutes and she's snoozed out now.

She is still wanting to party at 3am, but we get her back to sleep around 5:30am and she has slept until almost 8am the past two mornings, so she is getting the 10 hours she needs, but with a mini-break. During the time she is awake, we keep the lights off and refuse to engage her or make eye contact, which she is perfectly content with as long as you don't leave the room. Last night was the first night she didn't wake up hysterical, just whiny and we hope that continues.

Doug and I are both over our jet lag as of today and we've made a pact to get at least 30 minutes of exercise everyday. He ran 30 minutes with Emma using The Bob stroller today and I did Pilates while they were out. This really seemed to help both of our energy levels, plus Doug took over the "party hour" around 5am last night and let me sleep until 8am, which was just what I needed to overcome the jet lag.

Adjustments

Everyday is different right now, some days Emma seems to be adjusting well, others she seems to go backwards.  She slept 10 hours last night for the first time at home...8 hours straight through, a 2 hour break from sleep, then another 2 hours from 5:30ish-7:45am.  Today was the first time she woke up happy, but she is really nervous acting and clingy today despite the smiles; she keeps clawing/scratching the back of her neck, head, legs and hits herself in the head.  I do the same scratching thing to my neck when I'm nervous and most times I don't even realize I am doing this, so I totally get what this is about and it is all normal considering the circumstances.   

We are trying to establish a routine on food, naps and bedtime to help her feel secure here.  The food is the easy part and so is getting her to sleep...getting her to stay asleep is the hard part.  She takes a mid-morning nap during a stroller ride and mid-afternoon nap on her own, but the time in the afternoon varies and rages from 45 mins of sleep to 2 hours.  Around 6:30pm she gets really sleepy, but we are trying to establish a bedtime between 7:30pm-8:30pm because otherwise she is awake at 2am and fights for hours on going back to sleep.  Each night we adjust the bedtime by 10 minutes or so and last night we kept her awake until 7:30pm which seemed to work well.

She still continues to eat well, play hard and mimic everything we do.  Doug taught her to shrug her shoulders today which was hilarious. Music is definitely her love and it's the only time her head turns towards the TV...Sesame Street seems to get her attention the most and cartoons don't peak her interest at all. (YAY)

Crabby Patty

The day started off well, but slid downward.  We took our first trip to Krogers and Emma rode in the car seat without pitching a fit to my great relief; no one was sitting beside her as Doug stayed home, so it was our first momma/daughter trip out.  Emma slept from 7pm to 2:20am last night, but then refused to go back to sleep until about 4:30 and was awake an hour later permanently. She took about an hour and a half morning nap, but then I got a stupid sneezing fit and woke her up...her cold resolved itself, but now I have the cold plus a sore throat.  Funny thing, I dropped something on the tile and she didn't move, but the sneezing woke her?

Great Grandpa Bob came to visit after lunch and she played a little, but got tired and crabby mid-visit.  We laid her down for a nap, but an hour later she woke up hysterical/inconsolable and was that way for the rest of the day.  She was clinging to our shirts like the first day we met her, blowing out her "six shooter" for most of the day (her soothing technique is that she blows on her pointer finger) and pulling her hair.  A couple of loud noises made her jump out of her skin, so not sure what happened during afternoon nap time, but it ruined the rest of her day and she was a crabby patty all the way until bedtime.

We were limiting visitors to one visitor per day, for no more than a few hours, but maybe even one visitor a day is too much right now?

We sent our agency a couple of trip photos and they asked that we submit a particular shot for the FTIA calendar.  We will know in a few weeks if her photo wins a spot!  The photo in this blog post is the one we submitted.

Steps and balance

Emma stood, on her own, several times this evening and took about 3 falling forward steps towards whoever was nearby.  We got her on video standing in place unsupported for up to a minute at a time...she was SO pleased with herself and we kept having to calm her down so she could re-establish her balance.  She is not going to crawl, she is going straight to walking and it wouldn't shock us if she wasn't walking by the end of this month.  Today there were lots of giggles, smiles and some dancing...she has a fondness for pop/rap music.
 
I made chicken, noodles and peas mixed with mushroom soup for dinner and she LOVED it...between bites she banged on the tray demanding more.  After dinner she got really vocal and active cracking herself and us up.  We finally have the bottle portions under control by adding more table food.  She should only be consuming about 30oz of formula but was taking as much as 48-56oz while in China and the amount of wet diapers has dramatically decreased...YAY...we were going through 10-12 diapers a day. 
 
The cats are really coming around which is shocking.  Sport actually approached the highchair tonight, raised up and let Emma pet his nose.  The cats just lounge around in the sunroom amongst the toys and observe her every move.  Miah actually climbed up and took a nap with Emma and I yesterday.  I ran an errand after dinner and when I returned, Doug said she was saying cat now...no "t", but she was saying "ca".  She now says mamama, dadada, ca and has said em-ma about 5 times.  She is a progressive machine and we are taken by suprise everyday with something new.
 
We were sitting with a book this afternoon and I was pointing to the colors and pictures, saying the words aloud.  After several repetitions, she grabbed my finger and would force it to the pictures, words and numbers she wanted me to say aloud...too cute!

Oatmeal

Our little mouse loves oatmeal...she ate almost an entire bowl this AM with some blueberries.  We feel very lucky she likes to eat so well, even with a cold.  Yesterday she had one of Daddy's homemade Belgian waffles and a yogurt for breakfast, a turkey/cheese/spinach sandwich for lunch and for dinner she had half a chicken breast and bananas, plus a few snacks of raisins and Gerber puffs for snacks...all of this in addition to 5 bottles of formula.  Emma HATES baby food...I tried to give her a "dinner" jar last night and she refused by the 5th bite...anything that is on Doug and I's plate, she eats.

Last night she was awake every 2 hours and would be up for 30 minutes to 1 hour each time...this cold and her tooth breaking through is making her miserable.  Even Benadryl didn't help her sleep.

Snot.

We have snot and lots of it.  Emma woke up with a cold this AM and has been quite miserable on/off all day.  We have the humidifier running in her room this evening and hope she gets some relief.  Emma was awake every 2 hours last night, beginning at 10:30pm; would stay awake for about 45 minutes before going back to sleep each time.  Today she pretty much refused to nap, but by 3:30pm, couldn't fight the good fight anymore and slept for an hour and a half.  She woke up a crabby patty and we couldn't even get smiles from her; at 6:30pm she was passed out again so we just let her stay asleep even though it was quite early.  Hopefully she stays asleep tonight for about 10 hours which would do us all a world of good!

We are home...

After a 6 hour layover in Beijing, missing our flight in Newark and having to spend the night at the crappy airport Ramada Inn, we are home and very glad to be!  When they told us in Beijing the plane was delayed, we nearly melted into a heap...Emma had done horrible on the 3 hour flight from GZ to Beijing as she is increasingly more active and the idea of having to sit is not appealing to her.  However on the 13 hour flight, she slept about 10 hours, but since that flight she is not sleeping more than 5 hours a night and we are very sleep deprived.  Yesterday we took her on a walk to get her to sleep and nearly fell asleep ourselves...we swear, we have actually hallucinated a few times.  At the suggestion of another adoptive mom, we have put a small amount of hot chamomile tea in her bottle this evening and Emma is already sacked out.  Please God, let her sleep 10 hours, she really needs it and so do we.  They say it takes about 2 weeks to get back into the right time zone.
 
Last night she was up and playing from 11:30pm to 3:30am after only 3 hours of sleep, then was awake again at 5:30...Doug took one for the team last night so I could sleep.  I'm literally stumbling around like a drunken sailor the past 48 hours.
 
Today we took a short trip to Target and she did much better in the carseat, but still not happy to be in it.  In Target, she did great riding in the cart and was happy the whole shopping trip.  Her first carseat ride home from the airport, she screamed bloody murder for 30 mins straight and had a diaper explosion from the stress.  Over the next few weeks, we are going to slowly get her used to the carseat before Doug goes back to work.  For now I am sitting in the back with her and we bought her a mirror at Target today that will hopefully help ease me into the front seat.
 
This morning Doug and I tag teamed cleaning up 2 weeks of cat fur around the house and unloading the suitcases.  Thankfully Emma loves to be in the Ergo carrier and she helped me dust, vacuum and fold laundry while Doug ran the vacuum and mopped the floors.  I'm seriosuly considering hiring a house cleaner for a few months...
 
We will post and get pics up when we can, but it's going to be very scattered for now.
 



 

Emma's taking a nap, in her crib!

A nap, in a crib...this is a first!

Last post from China

We've been taking it easy, trying to keep Emma calm...did some small shopping, took several naps yesterday and tried to have dinner...she FREAKED for no reason.  She was having a good time eating dumplings, zucchini, beef and fruit, then BAM, game over.  I had to remover her from the dining table and head to the room.  She had a bath and was out by 8pm, but up again at midnight for an hour, then fully awake since 5:40.  5:40 is what time she wakes up every morning.
 
We are off to do a few last minute errands for packing and are going to try and wind down early as I will be waking at 3:00am to get the last minute packing done, Emma dressed/fed, then we are off to the airport. 
 
C-ya at home!
 


Jennifer T.
"The will of God will never take you
where the Grace of God will not
protect you"

Pic of the day...

Free day

Today was ours with no appointments.  We had a nice breakfast, did an hour of shopping then ate at Lucy's for dinner...Emma caught a few zzz's during the day.  We took a boat cruise down the Pearl River, which proved too stimulating for Emma, so no more post 6pm activities for awhile.  During dinner, the music got her going and her mood snowballed from there...she screamed bloody murder on the bus to the boat, but there was no way to turn back even though we wanted to.  Everything in China is so loud and she comes undone.  It took Doug quite awhile to get her to stop screaming at bedtime.  Agencies need to leave out the excursions during adoption trips, it's just too much for everyone.

Tomorrow at 2pm we go to the Consulate for the swearing in and the adoption paperwork is d-o-n-e!

Forgot to mention...she loves a bath, but hates the pool.

Favorite photo of the day

Good day

Emma slept for 8 hours and has taken a few catnaps today.  At breakfast she finally wore a bib and sat in a highchair so we could eat.  I think we have both lost 5-10lbs each.  We visited a temple and we are headed to the pool right now.  She has been "wild" for 2 hours screaming, laughing and drooling all over the place.  Of course as I type this she has passed out with a bottle...