Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Emily and Kael
Last night we spent the evening with our friends Keith and Jessica and their daughter, Kael. What a fun night and the girls got along great together!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Emily's MRI Update
We took Em to Children's Hospital this morning for her brain MRI and it went better than expected. The staff there are incredible and helped us to all understand what was going to happen. The lady that worked with us was very sweet and really made over Em and kept her smiling.
Em had to be sedated for the procedure but they didn't need to poke her with any needles. Instead, they used a suppository-like method which worked like a charm. She fell asleep within just a couple of minutes and I carried her to the MRI room. They strapped her in and we were allowed to stay in the room with her the entire time.
With only a few more minutes of scanning to do, they came in to clip a meter to her toe when she started moving around a little and decided it was time for her to wake up. They pulled her out of the machine and she was bright-eyed and smiling big. I don't think they were expecting her to be so happy about waking up in there. ;-) We carried her back to her bed in the prep room and you would have never known she had been sedated. She was smiling, cooing, blowing raspberries and acting excited about seeing people. The lady told us to expect her to be a little drunken and loopy acting like how she was at the moment and we just had to laugh and tell her that was normal Emily! Heheh. They talked with the doctor who said they didn't need to sedate her again to finish the other test on the MRI... that he had enough to show what he needed.
We should get information on the results by the middle of next week. Thanks for praying for us! Your prayers were felt!
Take care and be blessed!
-jenni
Em had to be sedated for the procedure but they didn't need to poke her with any needles. Instead, they used a suppository-like method which worked like a charm. She fell asleep within just a couple of minutes and I carried her to the MRI room. They strapped her in and we were allowed to stay in the room with her the entire time.
With only a few more minutes of scanning to do, they came in to clip a meter to her toe when she started moving around a little and decided it was time for her to wake up. They pulled her out of the machine and she was bright-eyed and smiling big. I don't think they were expecting her to be so happy about waking up in there. ;-) We carried her back to her bed in the prep room and you would have never known she had been sedated. She was smiling, cooing, blowing raspberries and acting excited about seeing people. The lady told us to expect her to be a little drunken and loopy acting like how she was at the moment and we just had to laugh and tell her that was normal Emily! Heheh. They talked with the doctor who said they didn't need to sedate her again to finish the other test on the MRI... that he had enough to show what he needed.
We should get information on the results by the middle of next week. Thanks for praying for us! Your prayers were felt!
Take care and be blessed!
-jenni
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Of Potpies and Picnics...
We had a few more pictures to share with you... and I'm still waiting to get the videos off of Tom's laptop. Also, if you haven't seen it already, there's another new blog entry below about our family vacation that I just posted tonight but it's post-dated. Just scroll down a bit.
I'm having a hard time feeding Emily messy foods but I've been told that it might help her develop a better pincer grasp (using her thumb and first finger to pick small things up). The PT has said that things like applesauce (messy!), fruit (sticky!), mashed potatoes (again, messy!) would be great for her to try eating with her fingers instead of me feeding them to her on a spoon or fork. All I can think of is how much of that stuff will ooze into our carpets and walls when she gets excited and starts flailing her arms. I might as well just load up our ceiling fan blades with the stuff and turn it on high. I'm not so sure I can handle the stress of that no matter how good it might be for her. If someone insists that I do that, I just might have to permanently move her highchair to the back yard and turn the hose on her when she's done eating.
That being said, I did at least attempt giving her a little more free reign at eating lunch this week. She enjoys eating pot pies and they have most of the major food groups in one dish. She loved it and ate the whole pot pie in one sitting! Here is my attempt at letting her eat it with her hands... (Grandpa G. might have to scroll quickly past this picture!)
Since my summer vacation is starting to come to a close, I decided we needed to have at least one more picnic outside. This kid still LOVES to swing so I put her in our swing in the backyard while I set up the blanket with her high chair and food.
I bought some really yummy corn on the cob from a local farm market and decided to see what Emily would think of it. The corn wasn't exactly hot or even very warm by the time we got everything and everyone outside and frankly, Emily seemed to think a big yellow thing on her tray was kinda weird. I showed her how to take a bite of the corn off the cob and held it up to her mouth. It touched her lips and she pulled away with a bashful yet ornery grin. After that, it was hard to keep the corn on her tray. I guess she thought it was better to use it for her continual tests on the gravitational pull. I haven't seen her logbook yet, but she's got to have a lot of entries from those tests!
Although this picture looks like she's screaming for me to take the scary corn away she was actually in the middle of a silly squeal that was followed by a goofy, toothy grin.
Emily pays very close attention to everything around her and frequently looks at the leaves on the trees blowing in the breeze while we're in the house. Yesterday, she had the breeze in her face and still paused quite a few times during lunch to watch the leaves dance on the branches. She looked so pensive!
And, of course, a picnic isn't complete without an ant or two stopping by to share in the plunder. This once came around at the beginning of the picnic and stuck around for a while as he tried to figure out how to carry big bread crumb off of our blanket.
PS - Say a few prayers for us if you think about it on Friday morning (7/27). Emily is getting an MRI at Children's Hospital tomorrow on her head just so we can get any complications from her premature birth mapped out. She had a cerebral hemorrhage at birth which seems to be fairly common among kids born around 2 1/2 months early. With so little known about her birth history and what medical treatment she might have received, our pediatrician wanted to get an inside look to get an idea of how major or minor the bleed might have been and what problems it could potentially cause for us. She is to be prepped for the procedure around 8am and will need to be sedated for this.
Take care and be blessed!
I'm having a hard time feeding Emily messy foods but I've been told that it might help her develop a better pincer grasp (using her thumb and first finger to pick small things up). The PT has said that things like applesauce (messy!), fruit (sticky!), mashed potatoes (again, messy!) would be great for her to try eating with her fingers instead of me feeding them to her on a spoon or fork. All I can think of is how much of that stuff will ooze into our carpets and walls when she gets excited and starts flailing her arms. I might as well just load up our ceiling fan blades with the stuff and turn it on high. I'm not so sure I can handle the stress of that no matter how good it might be for her. If someone insists that I do that, I just might have to permanently move her highchair to the back yard and turn the hose on her when she's done eating.
That being said, I did at least attempt giving her a little more free reign at eating lunch this week. She enjoys eating pot pies and they have most of the major food groups in one dish. She loved it and ate the whole pot pie in one sitting! Here is my attempt at letting her eat it with her hands... (Grandpa G. might have to scroll quickly past this picture!)
Since my summer vacation is starting to come to a close, I decided we needed to have at least one more picnic outside. This kid still LOVES to swing so I put her in our swing in the backyard while I set up the blanket with her high chair and food.
I bought some really yummy corn on the cob from a local farm market and decided to see what Emily would think of it. The corn wasn't exactly hot or even very warm by the time we got everything and everyone outside and frankly, Emily seemed to think a big yellow thing on her tray was kinda weird. I showed her how to take a bite of the corn off the cob and held it up to her mouth. It touched her lips and she pulled away with a bashful yet ornery grin. After that, it was hard to keep the corn on her tray. I guess she thought it was better to use it for her continual tests on the gravitational pull. I haven't seen her logbook yet, but she's got to have a lot of entries from those tests!
Although this picture looks like she's screaming for me to take the scary corn away she was actually in the middle of a silly squeal that was followed by a goofy, toothy grin.
Emily pays very close attention to everything around her and frequently looks at the leaves on the trees blowing in the breeze while we're in the house. Yesterday, she had the breeze in her face and still paused quite a few times during lunch to watch the leaves dance on the branches. She looked so pensive!
And, of course, a picnic isn't complete without an ant or two stopping by to share in the plunder. This once came around at the beginning of the picnic and stuck around for a while as he tried to figure out how to carry big bread crumb off of our blanket.
PS - Say a few prayers for us if you think about it on Friday morning (7/27). Emily is getting an MRI at Children's Hospital tomorrow on her head just so we can get any complications from her premature birth mapped out. She had a cerebral hemorrhage at birth which seems to be fairly common among kids born around 2 1/2 months early. With so little known about her birth history and what medical treatment she might have received, our pediatrician wanted to get an inside look to get an idea of how major or minor the bleed might have been and what problems it could potentially cause for us. She is to be prepped for the procedure around 8am and will need to be sedated for this.
Take care and be blessed!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Praying for Adoption Families
I just received word today that our adoption agency is having to raise fees for the Kazakhstan adoption program by another $500. Even though we've completed our process, we went through all sorts of fundraising efforts for over 2 years to raise enough money to bring Emily into our family. I remember how devastating this kind of news is for families that don't have money growing on the trees in the back yard. Keep your chins up and remember that God hasn't brought you this far to let your dreams of a family come crashing down! Press on, my friends. In the long run, $500 is sooo worth the extra sweat to bring that child into your homes.
Take care and be blessed! You continue to remain in my prayers!
Take care and be blessed! You continue to remain in my prayers!
We're baaack!
The Hypes' family has just returned from a week of family vacation in Townsend, Tennessee. Ryan and Emily hung out in the backseat for the 7 1/2 hour road trip. To help pass the time, Ryan watched a few movies and Emily watched Ryan. ;-) They both handled the long time in the car very well. We stopped pretty much our normal amount of times on the way there and it seemed to work out great for diaper changes, stretching the legs and kept us from going nuts. Fortunately, Emily has always liked riding in her carseat and is still very good at keeping herself entertained.
Ryan and Emily have been bonding a little more each weekend that he comes up to visit since we've come home from Kazakhstan, but seeing the bonding process over a solid week has been amazing! There were several times in the car or in the cabin that Ryan had Emily cracking up. She's a very smiley baby but doesn't do the gut-busting laughs very often. Ryan has become very proficient at producing those almost any time he wants now. It's obvious that she loves him very much and was thrilled when he played with her or made faces at her across the table or the backseat. I think watching the 2 of them playing together was the highlight of my trip and I certainly had sore cheeks several times from smiling and laughing at them so much.
And, yes, a few weeks later, she's still enjoying playing with socks (and chewing on them)!
While we were in Townsend we visited our favorite places and added in couple new places that might become favorites in the years to come. Tom's must see's include a stop at "Deadbeat Pete's", a local restaurant that serves mostly burgers and Mexican food and "The Back Porch", which is another local restaurant that features breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, etc. He also likes to stop at the Townsend Visitors center to look at the gifts, artwork and souvenirs as it helps him switch into vacation mode a little easier. Our family also takes several trips through Cades Cove every year. This year, we took 2 trips as a family and I got up at sunrise another morning and took a solo trip through the cove. There is quite a bit of wildlife to be seen each trip... mostly deer, a few turkeys and this year we saw our first bear family in the the cove. There are also some old log cabins that you can walk through and about 3 or 4 one-room churches.
Our vacation overlapped for a few days with our friends Scott and Carrie, who were in Townsend celebrating their 1st anniversary. We met up on Tuesday for lunch at a BBQ place and then toured each others' cabins. We hung out at ours for a while so Emily could catch a nap and then drove to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for some supper at Huck Finn's and a go-cart ride. It was nice to spend a few days with friends in such a relaxed environment!
We drove back to Gatlinburg a few days later for lunch at the new Bubba Gump's restaurant and a trip to the "Aquarium in the Smokies" and really enjoyed it. This will probably become something we do each year or at least every other. I took Emily in the backpack carrier and she was able to see everything and it made walking the streets and the aquarium really easy. I would not have wanted to try walking around all those people with a stroller, it would have been very frustrating and we wouldn't have had as much fun.
Later in the week, we picked a nice rainy day to visit the local Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend. We loaded Emily up in the backpack carrier again and hiked down in the caves for a tour. Aside from Ryan smacking his noggin on the rocks on his way
down into the cavern we had a great time. The guide said there were 87 steps down... which meant 87 steps back up... and 4 days later my knees are still angry with me.
On Sunday, we visit Church of the Cove which is also a family standard for any time we happen to be in the area. We enjoy their worship service and this Sunday, the youth group did the service as they had just gotten back from a mission trip the night before and were excited to share their trip with the congregation.
Oh, and our cabin had a hot tub with it and Ryan and I were in it nearly every day. Tom and Emily joined in a couple of days (after we turned the temperature WAY down!)
And, to our fans reading the blog... the after we got home, Emily and I had some errands to run to return some movies to the library and get some groceries and such. We ran across a lot of family and friends... some new friends at our store (The Shepherd's Nook) that have been following our blog, Joyce (Laura's mom) at Hobby Lobby, our friends, Jeanie, Susie, Betsy and Lizzie at the library, and Karen and Aunt Kris at the grocery store. It was so good to meet/see everyone after our trip and just as I'm winding down my summer vacation before going back to work.
I will try to post some cute videos soon of the kids playing together in the backseat but at the moment all the videos are on Tom's laptop which is with him at work!
Ryan and Emily have been bonding a little more each weekend that he comes up to visit since we've come home from Kazakhstan, but seeing the bonding process over a solid week has been amazing! There were several times in the car or in the cabin that Ryan had Emily cracking up. She's a very smiley baby but doesn't do the gut-busting laughs very often. Ryan has become very proficient at producing those almost any time he wants now. It's obvious that she loves him very much and was thrilled when he played with her or made faces at her across the table or the backseat. I think watching the 2 of them playing together was the highlight of my trip and I certainly had sore cheeks several times from smiling and laughing at them so much.
And, yes, a few weeks later, she's still enjoying playing with socks (and chewing on them)!
While we were in Townsend we visited our favorite places and added in couple new places that might become favorites in the years to come. Tom's must see's include a stop at "Deadbeat Pete's", a local restaurant that serves mostly burgers and Mexican food and "The Back Porch", which is another local restaurant that features breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, etc. He also likes to stop at the Townsend Visitors center to look at the gifts, artwork and souvenirs as it helps him switch into vacation mode a little easier. Our family also takes several trips through Cades Cove every year. This year, we took 2 trips as a family and I got up at sunrise another morning and took a solo trip through the cove. There is quite a bit of wildlife to be seen each trip... mostly deer, a few turkeys and this year we saw our first bear family in the the cove. There are also some old log cabins that you can walk through and about 3 or 4 one-room churches.
Our vacation overlapped for a few days with our friends Scott and Carrie, who were in Townsend celebrating their 1st anniversary. We met up on Tuesday for lunch at a BBQ place and then toured each others' cabins. We hung out at ours for a while so Emily could catch a nap and then drove to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge for some supper at Huck Finn's and a go-cart ride. It was nice to spend a few days with friends in such a relaxed environment!
We drove back to Gatlinburg a few days later for lunch at the new Bubba Gump's restaurant and a trip to the "Aquarium in the Smokies" and really enjoyed it. This will probably become something we do each year or at least every other. I took Emily in the backpack carrier and she was able to see everything and it made walking the streets and the aquarium really easy. I would not have wanted to try walking around all those people with a stroller, it would have been very frustrating and we wouldn't have had as much fun.
Later in the week, we picked a nice rainy day to visit the local Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend. We loaded Emily up in the backpack carrier again and hiked down in the caves for a tour. Aside from Ryan smacking his noggin on the rocks on his way
down into the cavern we had a great time. The guide said there were 87 steps down... which meant 87 steps back up... and 4 days later my knees are still angry with me.
On Sunday, we visit Church of the Cove which is also a family standard for any time we happen to be in the area. We enjoy their worship service and this Sunday, the youth group did the service as they had just gotten back from a mission trip the night before and were excited to share their trip with the congregation.
Oh, and our cabin had a hot tub with it and Ryan and I were in it nearly every day. Tom and Emily joined in a couple of days (after we turned the temperature WAY down!)
And, to our fans reading the blog... the after we got home, Emily and I had some errands to run to return some movies to the library and get some groceries and such. We ran across a lot of family and friends... some new friends at our store (The Shepherd's Nook) that have been following our blog, Joyce (Laura's mom) at Hobby Lobby, our friends, Jeanie, Susie, Betsy and Lizzie at the library, and Karen and Aunt Kris at the grocery store. It was so good to meet/see everyone after our trip and just as I'm winding down my summer vacation before going back to work.
I will try to post some cute videos soon of the kids playing together in the backseat but at the moment all the videos are on Tom's laptop which is with him at work!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Peek-a-Boo Teeth!
Last Thursday Emily decided it would be nice to add 2 more teeth to her collection. She added one more to the top and another to the bottom and was a wee bit cranky about the whole ordeal. I'll just say I made more than a couple sippy cups laced with baby Tylenol over about 4 days.
Emily has really learned to enjoy a good game (or is it a match ?) of peek-a-boo. The object involved doesn't really seem to matter either. She will play with my hat over her head as in the video below. She will play with an airy afghan at Grandma & Grandpa's house (even though she can see perfectly well through the holes/gaps in the afghan). And, she will play peek-a-boo around Daddy's laptop screen while Daddy is working... especially if he isn't paying direct attention to her. If you listen really closely in the video you will hear my favorite part of the game... Emily cracking herself up when she's "hiding".
In the physical therapy realm, Em's physical therapist continues to be amazed at her progress. We continue to take her to PT once a week and she's doing great. We've been told we will probably continue to have setbacks each time Emily has a growth spurt but with continued stretching and hard work she can keep moving foward. I'm not sure how many PT sessions we have to go yet but I know they're planning on using/needing at least as many as our insurance will cover. And, I'm happy to say that along the way I'm learning a lot of things that we can do to keep Emily moving forward when those visits run out.
In other news, we're also beginning to help Emily learn boundaries. Now that she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up along the furniture we're trying to teach her NOT to touch the TV or the buttons on the entertainment system. Occasionally she gets it and occasionally she thinks we're playing games with her. She's already beginning to get the rebellious teenager look on her face as she dares us to come pull her away before she races to pull herself up and push the buttons... sheesh, this is going to be "fun" over the next 16 years. I'm afraid we might be in for an experience!
Emily has really learned to enjoy a good game (or is it a match ?) of peek-a-boo. The object involved doesn't really seem to matter either. She will play with my hat over her head as in the video below. She will play with an airy afghan at Grandma & Grandpa's house (even though she can see perfectly well through the holes/gaps in the afghan). And, she will play peek-a-boo around Daddy's laptop screen while Daddy is working... especially if he isn't paying direct attention to her. If you listen really closely in the video you will hear my favorite part of the game... Emily cracking herself up when she's "hiding".
In the physical therapy realm, Em's physical therapist continues to be amazed at her progress. We continue to take her to PT once a week and she's doing great. We've been told we will probably continue to have setbacks each time Emily has a growth spurt but with continued stretching and hard work she can keep moving foward. I'm not sure how many PT sessions we have to go yet but I know they're planning on using/needing at least as many as our insurance will cover. And, I'm happy to say that along the way I'm learning a lot of things that we can do to keep Emily moving forward when those visits run out.
In other news, we're also beginning to help Emily learn boundaries. Now that she is crawling all over the place and pulling herself up along the furniture we're trying to teach her NOT to touch the TV or the buttons on the entertainment system. Occasionally she gets it and occasionally she thinks we're playing games with her. She's already beginning to get the rebellious teenager look on her face as she dares us to come pull her away before she races to pull herself up and push the buttons... sheesh, this is going to be "fun" over the next 16 years. I'm afraid we might be in for an experience!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
2nd Trip To the Zoo
Yes, that's right! We had such a good time at the zoo yesterday that our family decided to take part of the afternoon today to check it out... and we decided to buy a membership so we can go more often this year.
We checked out quite a few areas but we always have to stop by the red panda exhibit for dad... they're his favorites. And, we touched all the fence posts... they're Emily's favorite exhibit at the zoo!
By the end of the day we were all feeling pretty lazy and ended up watching the people more than the animals so we figured it might be time to head out.
And, yes... Emily will usually leave a hat on if it's sunny outside but she does occasionally like to practice taking it off and putting it back on. She cracks herself up when she gets it to land on her head in almost the right position. She's very proud and she makes us giggle. :-D
We checked out quite a few areas but we always have to stop by the red panda exhibit for dad... they're his favorites. And, we touched all the fence posts... they're Emily's favorite exhibit at the zoo!
By the end of the day we were all feeling pretty lazy and ended up watching the people more than the animals so we figured it might be time to head out.
And, yes... Emily will usually leave a hat on if it's sunny outside but she does occasionally like to practice taking it off and putting it back on. She cracks herself up when she gets it to land on her head in almost the right position. She's very proud and she makes us giggle. :-D
Friday, June 29, 2007
1st Trip to the Zoo
Our friend, Tina, and I took Emily to the zoo for the first time today while Dad worked. We had a perfect day for it! The weather was amazing. It sprinkled in the morning while we were walking to the gate but stopped raining once we were inside and stayed cool for the rest of the afternoon.
We saw all kinds of bright colored, noisy birds, giant turtles, gorillas, bonobos, and then we made a stop at the aquarium. What did Miss Em think of it all?
She's really a bit young to get excited about seeing all the animals but she loved reaching out to touch the fences and the glass! That's my girl!
She was the highlight for a couple of kids in the gorilla exhibit! A little boy asked his dad, "Can I pet the baby?". He came over and met Emily and was quickly followed by another little girl and her family! I think they were amazed to see a wild saber-toothed, fuzzy-headed, Emilamericus that had been domesticated! Heheh.
After a quick lunch, we ventured into the aquarium and Emily loved watching the fish swim by right in front of her. She tried reaching out and touching a couple of them, but then that really cool glass got in the way.
Em was starting to get tired so we decided to call it a day and head out for some ice cream at Graeter's. Emily had her first taste of ice cream (Strawberry) and absolutely loved it!
After that, Emily and I decided to make a quick surprise visit to greet her fan club (and Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura) at OFA before heading back home. She had fallen asleep in the car about 15 minutes before we got there so she was a bit tired and not quite her normal jolly self. It took her a little while to warm up and then she was back to smiling at everyone again. What a trooper!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Good Book, Sockhead?
Today was interesting. Emily was awake at her normal time and we had a fairly normal morning together. She has been a lot more clingy lately and even more so today. I saw something that really scared me though...
This picture was taken on April 19th... and the exersaucer was set on the lower height.
The picture below was taken today. The exersaucer was raised up a notch (about 2 inches) about 2 weeks ago.. and her legs still look extra long!
Oi vey! My baby's growing up! Tom and I have actually noticed that she has seemed a lot longer recently and the physical therapist confirmed out theory on Friday and said that she has tightened up slightly again. As of today, most of her pants and shorts are anywhere from 3-6 months to 6-9 months. Her waist is still fairly small and anything bigger than that falls off of her. Her onesies are mostly 6-9 mos. and we're squeezing in a few 12 mos. onesies so we can get some extra wear and tear out of them over the summer.
In other news, part of our shopping spree earlier this week involved getting a new book with mirrors in it. Emily loves looking at "babies" and especially the one that smiles back at her! She spent quite a bit of time this afternoon looking through all of her books and she definitely has a special liking for her newest acquisition.
She adds a whole new meaning to the line, "Mmmmm, this is a really good book!"
And, yes, that would be part of the book cover residing on her chin! Nothing like a little extra fiber!
Not only was our tall, book-eating baby extra clingy today but she was also playing with other weird things in the house. For some reason, she took a special interest in my socks tonight! She's recently been fascinated with putting hats, links and teething rings on her head and gave me the goofiest look when she decided that my socks needed to go on her head as well! ...that was after she flailed them around like cheerleader pom-poms and sucked all the shoe juice out of them! Ewwww. And, yes, I watched her do that briefly before I snatched them away from her. She giggled at my attempt.
Oh, and I don't have a picture for this... but I learned late in the day why she was so clingy... tooth #6 (4th one on the bottom) was coming in today. She preferred to be held most of the evening. I was sitting on the floor with her hugging my neck when she decided it was time for her to get down. She crawled out of my lap and the second her toes hit the carpet she started crying like I had abandoned her and made a beeline for my neck. This one seems more painful for her than the previous 5 teeth.
This picture was taken on April 19th... and the exersaucer was set on the lower height.
The picture below was taken today. The exersaucer was raised up a notch (about 2 inches) about 2 weeks ago.. and her legs still look extra long!
Oi vey! My baby's growing up! Tom and I have actually noticed that she has seemed a lot longer recently and the physical therapist confirmed out theory on Friday and said that she has tightened up slightly again. As of today, most of her pants and shorts are anywhere from 3-6 months to 6-9 months. Her waist is still fairly small and anything bigger than that falls off of her. Her onesies are mostly 6-9 mos. and we're squeezing in a few 12 mos. onesies so we can get some extra wear and tear out of them over the summer.
In other news, part of our shopping spree earlier this week involved getting a new book with mirrors in it. Emily loves looking at "babies" and especially the one that smiles back at her! She spent quite a bit of time this afternoon looking through all of her books and she definitely has a special liking for her newest acquisition.
She adds a whole new meaning to the line, "Mmmmm, this is a really good book!"
And, yes, that would be part of the book cover residing on her chin! Nothing like a little extra fiber!
Not only was our tall, book-eating baby extra clingy today but she was also playing with other weird things in the house. For some reason, she took a special interest in my socks tonight! She's recently been fascinated with putting hats, links and teething rings on her head and gave me the goofiest look when she decided that my socks needed to go on her head as well! ...that was after she flailed them around like cheerleader pom-poms and sucked all the shoe juice out of them! Ewwww. And, yes, I watched her do that briefly before I snatched them away from her. She giggled at my attempt.
Oh, and I don't have a picture for this... but I learned late in the day why she was so clingy... tooth #6 (4th one on the bottom) was coming in today. She preferred to be held most of the evening. I was sitting on the floor with her hugging my neck when she decided it was time for her to get down. She crawled out of my lap and the second her toes hit the carpet she started crying like I had abandoned her and made a beeline for my neck. This one seems more painful for her than the previous 5 teeth.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
A Hypes For Almost 5 Mos.
On Friday, Emily will have been a Hypes for all of 5 months. It's hard to believe that she's been with us that long and at the same time it's hard to believe that she hasn't always been with us. She fits in so well with our family, our extended family and our church family.
In the 5 1/2 months that we've known her, she has learned to roll over, sit up, say "hi!", crawl, cruise along the furniture and now she's starting to wave and it won't be long before she's walking!
Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church and Emily ended up accompany me each night. I had a baby carrier (a baby backpack) in the garage that I had purchased a couple of years ago and I thought it would be good to give it a try instead of trying to carry her the whole time. (She's in the "I have to be touching Mommy" stage right now and doesn't like me walking all around without her... at least we can say the bonding and attachment is working well!) I tested the backpack out for about 20 min. at home to see how she'd do and loved it. I did laundry and made supper while she just hung out and watched everything I did. She gladly rode in the backpack for about 3 hours each night and kept an eye on the kids as they did their memory verses and learned the new songs and motions at VBS. What a kid!
Here are some pictures from today. We recently spent some more of our baby shower gift cards and money for some more baby equipment.
Since she did so well in the cheapie backpack, we decided it might not be a bad idea to buy a better one for use on vacations, shopping and trips to the post office and such. I did a lot of research online and checked out the reviews and hopefully found a good quality one that was on the lower end of the budget spectrum. Emily's sitting in front of the box in this picture and is gnawing on the rest of her loot.
She's also starting to walk a lot more and it's becoming more and more evident that this girl likes to move around standing up. I helped her figure out her walker this afternoon and she made several laps across the living room with it today. She's a girl on the move and it won't be long before we're chasing her all over the place to keep her out of things!
In the 5 1/2 months that we've known her, she has learned to roll over, sit up, say "hi!", crawl, cruise along the furniture and now she's starting to wave and it won't be long before she's walking!
Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church and Emily ended up accompany me each night. I had a baby carrier (a baby backpack) in the garage that I had purchased a couple of years ago and I thought it would be good to give it a try instead of trying to carry her the whole time. (She's in the "I have to be touching Mommy" stage right now and doesn't like me walking all around without her... at least we can say the bonding and attachment is working well!) I tested the backpack out for about 20 min. at home to see how she'd do and loved it. I did laundry and made supper while she just hung out and watched everything I did. She gladly rode in the backpack for about 3 hours each night and kept an eye on the kids as they did their memory verses and learned the new songs and motions at VBS. What a kid!
Here are some pictures from today. We recently spent some more of our baby shower gift cards and money for some more baby equipment.
Since she did so well in the cheapie backpack, we decided it might not be a bad idea to buy a better one for use on vacations, shopping and trips to the post office and such. I did a lot of research online and checked out the reviews and hopefully found a good quality one that was on the lower end of the budget spectrum. Emily's sitting in front of the box in this picture and is gnawing on the rest of her loot.
She's also starting to walk a lot more and it's becoming more and more evident that this girl likes to move around standing up. I helped her figure out her walker this afternoon and she made several laps across the living room with it today. She's a girl on the move and it won't be long before we're chasing her all over the place to keep her out of things!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Tribute to Molly
Today was Molly's day... She passed away early this afternoon. Last summer, at 15 years old, Molly started to lose her hearing. By the time we left for Kazakhstan she was totally deaf. After returning a month later, she had also lost nearly all her sight. Since that time, Molly has been slowly going down hill.
We moved her into the office upstairs a short while ago so her deaf/blind world could be a little smaller and a little easier to navigate. She has been an incredible cat and companion and I will miss her.
We moved her into the office upstairs a short while ago so her deaf/blind world could be a little smaller and a little easier to navigate. She has been an incredible cat and companion and I will miss her.
I've finally figured it out...
I took me 5 months, but I've just recently learned that the trick to getting Emily to smile for a picture is to play peek-a-boo with her by peeking out from behind the camera... it's the only way to really get that scrunched up face smile that she does so well. I'm still trying to master the timing of the shots so we can get a pict of the truly scrunched up nose and squinty eyes that she gives us at the peek of her smiles.
For Tom... Happy Father's Day!
Here's a fun blast from the past... two of my favorite guys..
This was posted previously in our blog just a few days after we first met Emily. The two of them continue to have a wonderful bond and they never cease to make me smile when I watch them playing together.
This was posted previously in our blog just a few days after we first met Emily. The two of them continue to have a wonderful bond and they never cease to make me smile when I watch them playing together.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Video to Share
I ran across this Mark Schultz video today and really enjoyed it. I am so thankful to Emily's birth mom for the gift that she gave to her daughter and our family. We don't know much about Emily's birth mom and what we do know we will share in a loving manner when Emily is ready to hear about her. Emily will know that she has been adopted and that her birth mom loved her so much that she went to a maternity hospital to make sure that Emily got the proper care she needed when it was time for her to be born (10 weeks early). I can't imagine how scared she might have been or how difficult it might have been for her to leave Emily in the care of the doctors and nurses in the hospital. We are forever grateful.
Lyrics - "Everything to Me" by Mark Schultz
I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I’m sure I must have heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried
But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my room
So if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me
And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you’d be proud of who I am
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me
And when I see you there
Watching from heaven’s gates
Into your arms
I’m gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I’ve become
(Chorus)
[www.lyricsmania.com]
Lyrics - "Everything to Me" by Mark Schultz
I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I’m sure I must have heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried
But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my room
So if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me
And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you’d be proud of who I am
(Chorus)
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me
And when I see you there
Watching from heaven’s gates
Into your arms
I’m gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I’ve become
(Chorus)
[www.lyricsmania.com]
Friday, June 08, 2007
Another update...
I'm beginning to realize there is a direct correlation with the mobility of a child and the number of blog entries posted. Now, I've never been a math major (thank goodness!) but it seems the faster my kid moves the slower I become at keeping my blog updated. Emily has been crawling with a furry and has become quite proficient at it. We have gated off our living room so she is typically confined to this area while we're hanging out at home. In other news, you have my deepest apologies for that and I hope to beg your forgiveness by posting pictures today of a few things you've missed over the past couple of weeks!
Two weeks ago, Emily was pulling herself up on my pant legs and my pant legs only in order to get up into a standing position. Last week, she started pulling up on the couch, toys, gates, crib and anything else she could get her tiny little hands on. This girl loves to be standing tall! A couple of weeks ago we had to work with her in PT to learn to shift her weight from one leg to the other in order to start "walking" forward. After a few tries at that she learned it on her own. Now, she loves to hold onto our fingers and walk everywhere. It won't be much longer and she'll be doing this on her own. Look out world! She's coming to get you!
- - - - - -
Emily has several different ways she soothes herself to sleep. When we first brought her home from Kazakhstan she would put 2 or 3 fingers in her mouth with her hand turned upside down. We haven't seen that move in a while and now she mostly puts the back of her hand, her wrist or her forearm up to her lips. Sometimes she sucks on her arm or hand but mostly she just barely touch her lips and that seems to do the trick.
Once she has worked her magic she falls off into a sweet slumber bliss.
Speaking of sleeping... Emily still greets me with a smile each morning when I go in to get her from her crib. The other day she was really zonked out from the night before. Welcome to Emily's new sleeping position!
We usually start our days by playing while I work on getting our breakfast ready. She's getting much more flexible and is able to not only sit up on her own now but she's also sitting on her knees to play.
Ryan and Emily have been becoming best buds. She loves to watch him and they frequently make faces at each other and have staring contests. I spend some time on Sunday mornings getting coffee ready for the worship café and Ryan is quick to help with keeping his sister occupied.
Emily's teeth are coming in more and more each day. She's in the process switching from formula to whole milk and we are eating more and more big people food each day as well. Here's a big toothie grin for y'all!
We have a new swing in the backyard that Em got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa. She likes to hold on while she's swinging and we're glad that she does!
Our church had a cookout this week and here are some snaps of the fun!
Until next time... Be Blessed!
Tom and Jenni
Two weeks ago, Emily was pulling herself up on my pant legs and my pant legs only in order to get up into a standing position. Last week, she started pulling up on the couch, toys, gates, crib and anything else she could get her tiny little hands on. This girl loves to be standing tall! A couple of weeks ago we had to work with her in PT to learn to shift her weight from one leg to the other in order to start "walking" forward. After a few tries at that she learned it on her own. Now, she loves to hold onto our fingers and walk everywhere. It won't be much longer and she'll be doing this on her own. Look out world! She's coming to get you!
- - - - - -
Emily has several different ways she soothes herself to sleep. When we first brought her home from Kazakhstan she would put 2 or 3 fingers in her mouth with her hand turned upside down. We haven't seen that move in a while and now she mostly puts the back of her hand, her wrist or her forearm up to her lips. Sometimes she sucks on her arm or hand but mostly she just barely touch her lips and that seems to do the trick.
Once she has worked her magic she falls off into a sweet slumber bliss.
Speaking of sleeping... Emily still greets me with a smile each morning when I go in to get her from her crib. The other day she was really zonked out from the night before. Welcome to Emily's new sleeping position!
We usually start our days by playing while I work on getting our breakfast ready. She's getting much more flexible and is able to not only sit up on her own now but she's also sitting on her knees to play.
Ryan and Emily have been becoming best buds. She loves to watch him and they frequently make faces at each other and have staring contests. I spend some time on Sunday mornings getting coffee ready for the worship café and Ryan is quick to help with keeping his sister occupied.
Emily's teeth are coming in more and more each day. She's in the process switching from formula to whole milk and we are eating more and more big people food each day as well. Here's a big toothie grin for y'all!
We have a new swing in the backyard that Em got for her birthday from Grandma and Grandpa. She likes to hold on while she's swinging and we're glad that she does!
Our church had a cookout this week and here are some snaps of the fun!
Until next time... Be Blessed!
Tom and Jenni
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
