De Leon Springs Pancakes

Chris had one thing on her list while she was here. It was to eat pancakes at the Old Sugar Mill. So we drove up today and thought we were getting there early. Umm...not so much. It was a 2 hour wait. So we went for a walk, sat by the springs and entertained the baby for the long wait. Finally, M went to check on our table and we went to sit down at the table they told us to.

A fight almost broke out as some tourists thought that 'our' table was 'their' table. The wait was SOOO long and I was so hungry. I was not about to lose our table! We ended up at the table and the other people either were asked to leave or left on their own. Seriously, if there was enough room, they could of joined us. It's just pancakes for pete's sake!!!!

Poor S! She was so tired from the wait (and the bottle she just ate) that she fell asleep at the table!

Here are some pics!

Wekiva Springs

Today we went to Wekiva Springs. Went for a walk. Played frisbee. Ate lunch in the shade while we watched people swim. Then S and I went home, while M and his family went canoeing. They actually saw an alligator attack and eat an otter. Talk about living inside the nature channel! Here at some beautiful pics of S taken by M and his new camera. And yes, she is sitting up now. She has been since the beginning of December. She's getting so big!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pics from Christmas! S enjoyed opening her presents and looked so cute in the red dress from Nana.

6 month stats

Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz
Height: 25 1/4 inches

Parent's First Night Out...

We went on a date last night and left S with her first non-family babysitter! We had a blast.

Unfortunately, the babysitter didn't have as much fun.

Apparently, our little erdnuss cried when she was put down, refused to eat, and spit up all over the sitter and the floor. (We were bad parents and forgot to mention her reflux!)

Oh well. B was a brave friend! Thanks so much for the night out!!

Thanksgiving........

So last thanksgiving we were in North Carolina visiting our cousins. The house was filled with kids, noise, dogs, family and amazing food. We were just talking about adopting at that point....

So much has changed and we are so lucky.

Little S has been such a blessing. We are so lucky to have her in our lives and we have the honor of raising her as our own daughter. All of this would not have been possible without the love of my mom. She saved us from the heartbreaking rollercoaster of fertility and made it possible to become a family with S. THANKS MOM!!

Our Thanksgiving was different, but wonderful. We had brunch at my brother's house with my family and my sis-in-laws family. Good food. Football. Time with both babies. Boy is baby D so much bigger than S! It's nuts!

Then, mysteriously, my Mom wanted to come over to our house after brunch. So she did, and guess what she brought with her???

A NEW BARBEQUE GRILL!! It was an early Christmas present...but an awesome one.

So we made an improptu dinner on the new grill. After M went hunting for a propane tank (not an easy task on Thanksgiving) we cooked burgers, brauts, corn, scalloped potatoes!

Not a traditional feast, but a wonderful feast indeed.

5 Month Stats

Weight 14 pounds 14 ounces

Height 24 inches

Everytime I see her now, I want to sing the teapot song, "I'm a little teapot, SHORT and STOUT!"

I love my little teapot!

S's Second Beach Trip!

We went to Miami Beach with S on the same afternoon as the SWAT team and her first time swimming! It was a busy day!

Here is a picture of M putting S's feet in the Atlantic for the first time.

And then a big wave came and she got too wet:

She didn't like that AT ALL and the water was a little too cold. So here she is getting changed on the beach!

S's First Swim!

So after the SWAT team kicked us off the beach, we ended up at our condo's pool. The water was warm in the pool so we decided to take S in. We bought her the smallest swim diapers that we could find, but they were so big on her. They came up almost to her armpits!!

She seemed to enjoy herself but was so tired that she fell asleep while in the pool. We got her out and put her down for a nap shortly after these were taken:

S's First Beach Trip!

M and I had visitors from Germany last week. Uncle Holzi and Aunt Corinna came for a visit. We went to a condo in Pompano Beach. Totally fun.

Nutty, but fun!

We were forced off the beach by the SWAT team as they searched for a cop killer. There were helicopters circling overhead, so we had to go.

So much for S's first trip to the beach!


Here are some pictures:

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures from S's first halloween!

Adoption Celebration

We had a little party to celebrate S's adoption! Here are some pictures.

Happy 4 Month Birthday Baby!

Today S turned 4 months old! She got her shots today so she's a little grumpy, but other than that...she is doing well. She weighed in at 13 pounds 2 ounces and is 23 inches long. Still short and stout, but oh well!

Good Morning! How are you?

Every morning Baby S is smiling. She is so cute in her crib and I get her out of her crib with a silly song, I learned from my friend B.

It goes:

Good Morning!
How are you?
It's so good.
To see you.

Let's sing and be happy.
'Cause we're all back together again!

With a one and a two,
and a me and you,
A big hello and a how are you?
We're back together again.

.............................................................................

At the end of the song, I pick her up and we snuggle and she laughs. I'm out of town for a few days and am writing this from the airport.

I already miss her.

Dreams Come True

I am her mother. M is her father. Although she didn't come from us, she came to us. She is our daughter! OFFICIALLY!!

Our adoption finalization was Thursday and we are proud to annouce that S is finally ours! We had mixed feelings for this event. Part of us was happy that she was finally ours, but sad for her birth parents since she is no longer theirs. And I didn't really need a judge (although he WAS really nice!) to make us a family. We have been a family since that very first phone call. How lucky we are to have such a perfect little girl.

I am honored to be her mom.

S Laughing!

We finally got it on video, after about 30 takes!! Silly girl laughing with Daddy!

Adoption Dress Preview

This is the dress and shoes that S will be wearing Thursday at her adoption hearing. Too cute!

What a wild week!

This was a rough week, but a good one. I went back to work this week, although part-time, but it made for a LONG week! S is doing well. She's finally done with her antibiotics and is very smiley these days.

However, she didn't really smile much during our recent photo shoot....but here are some cute ones!

Pic from home!

Well, S has been home for 3 days now and seems to be doing well. Minus the almost constant explosive diarrhea, you would never know that she that she spent a week in the hospital. Today I even called the pediatrician, even though it's Sat., to ask about a bizarre colored poopy diaper. Turns out that the antibiotic does something to her digestive system that turns her poop red. Funny how the hospital or the pharmacy failed to mention that...stupid!

The good news is that S is eating again. One of the things that told us that she was sick is that she stopped eating as much and sleeping a lot. We thought it was daycare wearing her out, but no such luck. She went from eating 18-24 oz a day to only 10!! Now she's back up to 20 a day give or take a couple ounces. Much better. Not that she's underweight by any means! :)

We are all slowly recovering from the ordeals of the last weeks, and hope that things settle down soon.

Free at last!!

After 6 days and 7 IV antibiotic treatments, S was released from the hospital. Overall, we had a decent experience. I could have lived without a roommate the last 2 days, or a different meal occasionally(we ate chicken and mashed potatoes for a week for lunch and dinner!)but we survived. S still has to be on antibiotics for the next 7 days, and have a follow up with a nephrologist and her gastroenterologist in the next week or so - and a visit to her pediatrician. Oh well. She's a good natured little girl and has been through a lot and is such a great and beautiful baby! We love her! Oh and it's her 3 month birthday today!

Passing the time....

So we're still in the hospital and I am bored, bored, BORED!! S is doing much better. She's starting to eat like she did before getting sick and is definitely more smiley than she has been. I still need to get a good picture of her beautiful smile.

Here is how we pass the time. N is watching Daybreak on ABC.com and S is eating, again. She officially weighed in this morning at 11 pounds. Good girl!

S is in the hospital...

I am writing this from our room in the hospital. S hadn't been feeling well for while. We found out she had an urinary infection and needed IV antibiotics. She was admitted to the hospital Thursday (9/6) night. She's doing much better but it will still be a few more days before they let us out. Specific details to follow.

Missing S!

So I went out of town for a week for work and although I knew it would be hard, I had no idea what I was getting into. I missed S and M so much that I had a hard time focusing on my work. I'm not sure what to do about that...

Silly S Pictures

Here are some cute pictures from last week!

Urgh!!

So first, S throws up. All over me, all over the couch. So she promptly falls asleep and then wakes up and eats a few hours later. All is well with the baby.

But then, I wake up with the worst fever I have had in a while. I was SOOO cold. I put on layers of clothing and grabbed an extra blanket, but still couldn't warm up.

M has some funky stomach bug too. We're a mess. Good news though, we're all starting to feel better.

IN HER CRIB!!

S is sleeping right now in her crib! For those of you just joining our journey, this is a BIG deal. S hasn't sleep in her crib for well over a month due to her reflux.

I purchased two things for her from a medical supply company last week. One is called a Tucker Sling which is supposed to help reflux babies. It's basically half of a crib mattress pad that has a little harness attached to it. The idea is, to put the crib mattress at a 30 degree angle, and put the baby in the sling so that she doesn't slide down.

The second purchase is a WubbaNub. It's a small toy duck with a pacifier attached. She tried and and appears to like it.

I put her down for a nap around 10:30 (she ate at 8 am) and here it is 1:15 and she's just now starting to stir.

A visit with Grandpa and Nana

N's Dad and step-mom came down for a visit last weekend. They hadn't met S yet, so they drove down from the panhandle. S was so cute snuggling with Grandpa and took to Nana quickly. We had a great visit. They introduced us to the wonders of Sonny's! Great barbeque right around the corner from the house - and we'd never been. We met up with D, little D and C in Winter Park for a great lunch at BriarPatch. Both babies did great in public. Everyone thought they were so cute, and little D was flirting with all the women who walked in.

All in all, it was a great visit. Here is S with Nana and Grandpa! Hope they come down again soon!

Reading with Daddy

M is such a great Dad. This picture really captures the essence of his fatherhood. These are the two loves of my life!

Ouch! It's Shot Day!

S had her 2 month doc's appt. today. She weighed in at 9 lbs (10th percentile) and 20 3/4 in length (5th percentile). Her poor little head isn't even on the chart yet, but atleast it's closer.

She did fantastic with her shots. I will admit that it was hard for me to watch, and she screamed like she never had before, but she stopped crying after just a few minutes. M was there too, and we both were relieved that it wasn't an ordeal.

She did spike a fever later that day, but some baby tylenol took care of that. She's such a good baby!

We also got a referral to go and see a gastroenterologist to help S with her reflux. It seems as if the Zantac isn't doing it's job anymore and the pediatrician isn't comfortable increasing her dosage. We'll see how that goes.

Happy 2 Months Baby!

S is two months old today!!

She has her 2 month appointment tomorrow for her shots! :(

Here is her one month picture:

And this is our big girl now. She's getting so big (read FAT - more on that later!) Isn't she cute??

Little D's Dedication

Today we went to watch Little D get dedicated at church. He did great! We were at C's Grandpa's church and it was very nice to be back in church again. Interestingly enough, I haven't been to a church service in English in years. (They've been in German and then today in Vietnamese). M and I have been talking about fixing that....

After the service we had a fantastic lunch. There was some spectacular Vietnamese food and we had a good time watching everyone swoon over Little D. S slept through the whole thing, as usual. Here are some family pictures: