Lovely Leah

I've been neglecting to post some really cute pictures of Leah.  After all I've got almost a year and a half of picture taking to make up for, so I really should do better.  Leah is doing great.  It is amazing how resilient and loving children are.  She has truly opened her heart to us and her progress has been miraculous.  She is such a sweet, happy, and although this goes without saying...beautiful baby.  It is so fun to see her personality developing.  She now pulls faces and can be quite a ham.  She is such an amazing blessing and has helped me be a more patient, loving mom.  She was evaluated by a PT this morning, and I was so encouraged by his report.

Of course as expected her gross motor skills are well behind her age, but he didn't see any physiological reason for it.  He thought it was due to her rough start and lack of stimulation.  He said she has great muscle tone, and he was very impressed by the progress she's made in such a short time.  She now cruises along furniture and gets to her bottom and bum scoots all over the place.  She walks quite well with her walker.  She still lacks confidence on her feet but stood for a long time the other day by herself.  (I tricked her by giving her something to hold and then letting go.  She's a smart cookie and not about to fall for that again.  If she senses we're letting go, she immediately sits down!)  He predicted she will be taking steps on her own within a month or two at most and running around by the end of summer!  The other area she is delayed in is speech and communication which is very common among kids from an institutional setting.  We're going to kind of play this by ear and possibly start with a speech therapist.

Check out our sweet girl...(you will have to ignore her crusty nose in most pictures.  Despite non stop wiping, two rounds of antibiotics, saline drops, etc. she has had a nasty nose since the day we first met)!

This is April?

At the beginning of last week we had some freakishly warm weather. It's not often you can be running around in your swim suit in this neck of the woods in April. In fact the last two years we've had rain, snow, and parkas until June. It was a welcome change for a few days, and the kids lived it up. They spent hours jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler and slip 'n sliding.

Miss Leah got in on the action too.  She sported her first pair of shorts and enjoyed herself quite a bit!

Baby No Longer!

I continue to be amazed by how time flies by and somehow Ian turned three on Saturday.  When we got home from China with Leah he immediately seemed so huge and grown up compared to her and abruptly lost his place as the baby in the family.  I have to admit I felt a little heartsick about that for a few days.  Those first few days Ian was adjusting to having us back after such a long time, and he had accidents and tantrums that were very unlike him (not that he's above throwing a good tantrum) but this was different.  I spent several sleepless nights hoping we hadn't somehow irreversibly upset the family dynamic, and I'm so happy to say that after a few days he realized mom and dad were back to stay and became the Ian we know and love again.  This kid has a personality (and hair) that's larger than life.  We couldn't love him more.  He lives life big.  He's loud, crazy, funny, and incredibly loving.  We love this guy and are so glad he is ours!  His life was created in a miraculous way, and he continues to amaze and fill us with love.  He is truly irresistible once you get to know him...which doesn't take long because he is one of the friendliest, most uninhibited kids around.  Now with that said, he's no angel.  He's got spunk enough for ten kids and Jer and I have already voted him most likely of our kids to land us in the principal's office but to know him truly is to love him.

Ian is a child of many hairstyles.  There's the feathery bed head...

The wet mop that he hates to have dried...

The huge, static trampoline head...

The freshly washed, curly (dare I say almost girly) do....

Now on to Ian's birthday.  We kept things very simple this year with everything we've had going on, and I think Ian had a great day.  He stayed in his jammies all day, opened a present, jumped on the tramp, and ate giant sugar cookies for lunch.

After a nap we headed to the park for a summer-themed party in cold spring weather.  Ian loves sliding and playing at the playground more than almost anything else right now, so he was in heaven despite the weather.  With his brothers and cousins to play with he had a blast.

The preparations for Ian's birthday were made very last minute.  As in the night before and the day of last minute.  I've always made my kids' cakes, sad as they are, and I hated to give up the tradition quite yet.  Before it was finished Ian guessed both dinosaur and then beaver.  Beaver?  Really?  Throw me a bone Ian.  The third time was the charm, and he loved his shark cake.  He especially like the mouth, which he called the tongue, made from a fruit roll up.

We ate pizza and fruit, played, sang happy birthday, and opened presents.  Ian loved every minute of it and was so gracious and thankful for all of the presents he got.

I had to peel him out of this Cars shirt a few days later for a much needed washing.  Ian's other favorite activity right now is riding his two wheel bike.  It has no pedals so you just glide.  He has become quite skilled and very fast on it.  Sunday night he tried out his new birthday bike helmet for over an hour and right before coming in spun a super tight, fast circle and ate the pavement with his face.  His teeth did quite a number on his lip leaving it very fat...nothing a little ice cream couldn't fix though!

One last Ian story:  Last night Seth had a soccer game.  In typical Ian fashion he was socializing with everyone around him.  He is not afraid to get right in your business, stranger or not.  He eventually got very chatty with a mom of one of Seth's preschool friends that he doesn't know at all.  He then proceeded to repeatedly tell her the "joke" Luke taught him (until eventually threatened with time out in the van).  It goes a little something like this.  Ian asks you, "Guess what?"  When you innocently reply "what," he goes on to answer with a naughty grin "chicken butt!"  He just can't get enough of that one.

One Month Ago

I've added nearly as much to this blog today as I have all year so far, but we've just had such big, major, fun things going on I can't let it pass. Once I finish this I am going to clean the bathrooms and mop the floor or die trying. Everyone is sort of napping or playing or at school right now, so I better grab this chance while it lasts!

Today is the one month anniversary of Leah's Gotcha Day...so here's a look at that roller coaster of a day in pictures.

Jer was pacing by the door for hours while we waited and waited.

I was just about as nervous and anxious as I've ever been in my life at this point.  Every other family had their baby by now, and I had watched and photographed it all through a haze of tears and I thought I might burst if she didn't show up soon.

The first Leah sighting...Paul stood lookout for us at the end and took this picture as she came in from the parking lot.

Our first look and feel of Leah in the flesh.  After months of waiting all the while hoping, praying, and thinking about her incessantly...there she was!

Bring on the ugly cry face..it was emotional.  She looked so tiny and scared all bundled up in that gigantic snowsuit.

One of our first family photos.  At this point everybody in our group was taking our picture.  I'm sure it was totally overwhelming for Leah.

Our guide going over the few items that were sent from the orphanage with her.

Jer signing on the dotted line to take guardianship of Leah for the night.

Jer and his baby girl...he was hooked immediately.

Posing with the less than pleasant (especially the lady in red) orphanage workers who brought Leah before they walked out the door and never looked back.

Our first shot back at the hotel after we stripped down the layers to find a scared, sweaty, smelly little baby who had no clue where she was or what was happening to her.


One month later...Leah is beautiful and sweet, and we are so glad she's finally here.  What a blessing she is and what an amazing transformation she has begun.  Many people have commented that Leah is a lucky little girl.  I get what they mean because compared to where she's been her life is so much better but her beginnings certainly can't be described as lucky.  I think we're the lucky ones.  I have a daughter!  That still sounds weird.  Weird but good.

Yesterday I went back to volunteer at Luke's school for the first time.  He begged and pleaded for me to bring Leah.  Luke's teacher is amazing and has been so interested in Leah and the adoption, so she was very excited to see her.  All of the kids reacted so positively and just thought she was the cutest thing ever.  The best thing to see was Luke's face as he was literally beaming with pride and love for his little sister.  One month down, forever to go.

Spring and Easter Fun

Every year basically since college we have headed south to the desert for some sort of backpacking/camping trip over Spring Break. This continued during our married with no kids years and has since evolved to be mostly car camping with day hikes. It's something I look forward to each year. We missed the years right after Seth's and Ian's births but that's about it. This year we stayed home during Spring Break, but the kids still had lots of fun playing outside in the beautiful weather and spending time with friends and cousins. They celebrated Easter and hunted eggs with both sides of the family. We have enough candy and junk around here to last a lifetime. Those mini Cadbury eggs are of the devil...I can easily eat a bag myself but sadly I've eaten so many the last month I'm almost sick of them! That's saying something about the sheer volume I've ingested. We are going to wait and head south in May for our annual desert trip, and I can't wait. It will be Leah's first outdoor adventure. Here are pictures of another first...Leah's first holiday with her family...Easter. Adding a new baby to the family through the miracle of adoption certainly sets the tone for appreciating the Savior's life and resurrection.