Big Day.. and, um, Grossness.

Hmmm, where do I start today's post...

Yesterday, after work and all day today, I went with 4 others from our church to the Women of Faith Conference in Columbus. It was a first for all of us and we had a really good time. It not only brought our group of women closer together but gave us a temporary break from life so we could regain perspective and come back to life refreshed and ready to face the challenges ahead... and then I came home... ready... to face... the challenges...

Tom did a great job caring for Emily while I was gone. I left a post-it note with schedules and instructions. The twist in the story comes when I tell you that Emily has another cold. She had just recooperated from the one she had right after Easter and within 4-5 days of that she acquired a new one. On Wednesday night she started coughing again and woke up several times in the night to cough and immediately went right back to sleep. Thursday was similar. She didn't have the runny nose this time around, just a scary, rattly cough in her chest. I put her back on cold medicine and it didn't seem to do much until Friday night. This morning, she woke up still coughing, but had a runny nose.

Tom did an excellent job taking care of Emily and had to take her to my parents' house today so he could go to work. There was a note in the diaper bag tonight from Mom that Emily had a somewhat fussy day and was tired but kept waking up from coughing so she didn't sleep much either. After work, Tom picked her up again and they headed to Columbus to get Ryan. He said she slept most of the way to Columbus and at least halfway home. I'm guessing that was probably because she was sitting upright in her carseat and not laying down where her sinuses were draining and making her cough.

Now, the fun part! Emily actually had her first semblance of a crawl today! We're going to have to start being on our toes. She wasn't in the best of moods but was doing her best to make it over to me while I was laying on the floor in front of her. It was more of a combat crawl (not really up on her knees) but it was still a forward movement! She's been rolling all over the place and recently pushing herself backwards while on her back and tummy. She did it (combat crawled) at least 3 different times tonight that I witnessed. Now... we'll have to see if she remembers this trick tomorrow.

Ok, now you're wondering about the "grossness" part of today's title... at this point you can also really start wondering why I share every little detail of our lives with you. The part that makes me chuckle is that for a guy, Tom is really pretty easy to gross out and he will be grossed out that I'm putting this in writing... hehehe... oh well, I take weird pleasure in making his stomach turn. Emily was at her finest in "class lady etiquette" tonight. Remember the runny nose? We had plenty of nose bubbles tonight! The more I wiped her nose, the more upset she got and the more bubbles we seemed to achieve. (No, I didn't take pictures and if I did... posting them might pass the gross stage for even me!)

Emily also surprised me toward the end of the evening by not downing her bedtime bottle as fast as she normally does. She just acted like she was tired and started to lose interest in it. She had downed about 1/2 of it and pulled it out of her mouth and gave it a dirty look. A few seconds later it was back in her mouth. When she had finished all but the last couple of ounces she decided she was done with her bottle. I thought to myself, "Hmmm, this is new" and sat her up to see if she needed burped. After just a minute or two she decided she didn't wanted to retain the fluid in her belly and "swallowed in reverse". My sweet, little, adorable, precious, darling girl turned into a formula sprinkler head and adorned our living room floor with the former contents of her bottle. ;-) It didn't seem to phase her a bit but mother and child needed a change of clothes afterwards. How's that for creative wording? (We'll see what Tom says after he reads this!)

We're praying for a better tomorrow and I think I just might stay home from church tomorrow with Miss Em to see if we can get her to start feeling better without sharing with the rest of the folks at church. Who knows... maybe she got it out of her system tonight!

Enough for tonight... you can thank me later for NOT posting pictures with today's entry. ;-)

Take care and be blessed!
-jenni

Not for the Queasy!

I am rejoicing today for the weirdest reason... our 11 month old daughter can finally grab her toes and put them in her mouth!




Speaking of toes... she was fascinated with Daddy's big screen TV this afternoon. First it was Judge Judy, then it was the Simpson's! This pose didn't last long.. as soon as Daddy saw what I was taking a picture of he rushed over to "hug" his daughter and rescue his TV from scary, slobbery, slimy toes! Hehehehe.

Emily Update and Pix!

Things in the Land of Em are going well. According to Mom's official "scientific" methods of measurement, she's now 18 lbs. and 27 inches long. (I believe she's gained 4 lbs. in 2 months and has grown about 2 inches!) Even though it really didn't get her down, her cold seems to have run it's course and has left the building. Thankfully, she really didn't pass it along to either of us which is surprising -- especially since she's taken great joy in wiping her nose on my face as soon as I pick her up from her crib or exersaucer. Now that the cold is gone, she's continued this trick and it has turned into a cute snuggle which is usually followed by her blowing raspberries/zerberts on my cheek or jaw. ...It's cute until her 2 little chompers decide to get in on the act. Dad's face must be a little too prickly with all those whiskers because she hasn't tried this trick on him yet.

Today is Sunday, and just since Friday afternoon's PT appointment Emily seems much more flexible. Have you ever tried changing a diaper on a straight-legged baby? It ain't easy folks! But, something must have triggered at the PT appointment and some of those muscles must be starting to relax a little. She has been much easier to change this weekend and it feels like there is less resistence.

Now that the weather has started to warm up and we're feeling the bug to take Emily out and about we decided it was time to invest in a good stroller. We have a glorified umbrella stroller that I've used a couple of times to walk down and get the mail but even my little short legs kept hitting the back axle with every step. And, if you're much taller than my ginormous 5'2" stature, you have to bend over a bit while pushing it. The next time we get out and about I'll be sure to snap a picture of Emily in her new ride for your viewing pleasure.

Speaking of your viewing pleasure, I promised some pictures in my last post. I don't have anything quite as nice as the pictures of Switzerland and France that my sister has been posting in her blog but the kiddo will have to suffice until someone wants to splurge and send me on a another trip around the world!

I've been very impressed with our kidlet over the past couple of weeks. Even with a cold, she still made amazing progress. She went from sitting up for about 10 minutes one week to sitting up for over an hour at a time. We'll spare you the nasty nose by showing you a picture from a distance... ;-)




Remember the pictures of Emily's "office" and how she was crunching numbers on her first day on the job? She's settling in nicely and her "office" now has that lived in look...




Speaking of memories -- remember how very little hair she had in the early days of our blog? Check this out!





To wrap up today's blog... here's a lovely smiling portrait of Miss Em. Enjoy and Be Blessed!

Oops!

Has it really been over a week since I last posted? Oi vey! Hmmm, since my last post we've had lots of fun. Emily turned 11 months old on Saturday. She has gained 4 lbs since the middle of February and is now up to 18 lbs. She's still small though and wears mostly size 6-9 mos. (But most of her pants have to be smaller than 9 mos or they fall off!) I can't believe how fast time has flown. Each day she learns more and more and makes us grin from ear to ear.

AT THE OFFICE: Emily continues to enjoy "staff meetings at the office". (See my Office post from the 7th.) She likes to stand up in her cubicle... ahem... exersaucer. And, the last few days she's really enjoyed bouncing in it.

AT CHURCH: She's always done really well during church. I've been trying to keep her with me during church because she hasn't been so good at sitting up by herself yet and didn't feel that was fair to the people helping in the nursery. Since Tom is the pastor of our church, Ryan and I get Emily duty on Sunday mornings. We get there about 2 hours before church starts to get everything ready. Since it's hard to make coffee (and unsafe) and hold Emily and since she likes her portable high chair so well, I decided it might be worth taking with us so she can entertain herself while I take on my morning tasks. After the preparations were made we get her out and play with her and she gets to visit with everyone at church. When church started back up, I put the portable high chair on the seat beside mine and she sat and played and "read" her book and ate Cheerios in total bliss while Daddy preached.

PHYSICAL THERAPY: Em has had 2 physical therapy appointments so far. Our insurance covers 20 visits and we're expected to need more than that unless she makes some rapid progress. We go once a week for a half hour at a time. Our physical therapist, Laurie, gives Emily a good workout and stretches out her muscles and teaches us what to do during the week to keep her limbered up. Our first visit was a little frustrating because Emily had more "high-toned" muscles than I suspected. I think I posted this already, but her spine had limited mobility and her legs were not very flexible. Her feet were in a "tippy-toe" position most of the time and it took some effort to get her to stand flat-footed. At our second visit, Laurie was impressed with the progress Emily had made and gave me some more things to work on with her. We are still working on the same stretches that I posted in our initial PT post but we are also working on what I call her butterfly stretch... while sitting or laying down, we bend her knees and rock her from side to side to stretch inner leg muscles. (I'm hoping this makes diaper changes easier in the long run... it's hard to change diapers on a straight-legged baby.)

EATING: Emily is still eating very well. As far as I can tell, she still hasn't quite figured out when she's full but I feel we're not too far away from that. We have more and more days now when she's interested in looking around while she's eating instead of waiting for the next spoonful to make it to her mouth. She still eating just about anything I offer. She's had a cold for the past week and a half and I think a couple of the things I offered her were irritating her throat. She turned her nose up at oatmeal cereal with apples & cinnamon but ate it a couple of days later. She did the same thing with a jar of chicken noodle dinner. She hasn't found anything that she doesn't like a couple of days later.... totally the opposite from how I was a kid -- or least so I'm told! ;-)

SICKIES: Speaking of her cold... she still has it, but it's not so bad except she's a little congested when she's waking up. But, shhhhh... she doesn't know she has a cold yet or that she's supposed to feel bad... and we're not going to tell her!

SLEEPING: She's still sleeping through the night and has ever since we first got custody. She woke up for an hour during the night earlier this week from coughing but decided after a little cuddling that she could go back to sleep for a few more hours until it was time for breakfast. We usually put her to bed around 8pm and she's awake and playing in her crib around 7-7:30am.

CHEERIOS vs FRUIT PUFFS: Emily has become a champion Cherrios eater. She's able to pick them up with either hand (although she tends to prefer her left hand right now). Now that she's got the skill mastered, I've been switching back and forth between Cheerios and Fruit Puffs.

Hmmmm... did I miss anything? I know, I know... pictures will be coming soon!

Sensitivity

I didn't write the summary below. It appeared on a Yahoo Group that I'm on. If you've followed my blog from the get-go you'll remember that I discussed some of my feelings as we were going through the adoption process and the things that were difficult for me. I've heard from several people that followed my blog that they appreciated my honesty online because it helped them know better how to handle situations with family and friends going through similar things. Today's post is along a similar line, but describes what a person dealing with infertility issues might be going through. Yes, some of these things also describe what I went through as we were trying to adopt. I had no real overwelming desire to become pregnant and we did not have a desire to go through infertility treatments. Please read with an open heart and tuck some of these thoughts away for the next time you offer helpful advice to someone dealing with infertility/adoption issues. ;-)

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"SOME FACTS ABOUT INFERTILITY
It may surprise you to know that one out of six women who wants to have a baby cannot conceive. There are many possible reasons for this dismal statistic: blocked fallopian tubes, ovarian failure, hormonal imbalances, husband's low sperm count, to name just a few. Moreover, after a woman turns thirty-five, it becomes difficult to have a baby primarily because many of the eggs she has left are defective and old. All these barriers to pregnancy are physical or physiological, not psychological. Tubes don't become blocked because a woman is "trying too hard" to get pregnant. Antibodies that kill sperm will not disappear if a woman simply relaxes. And a man cannot make his sperm swim faster by developing a more optimistic outlook.

Medical Intervention:
After every medical attempt at making her pregnant, she must play a waiting game that is peppered with spurts of optimism and pessimism. It is an emotional roller coaster. She doesn't know if her swollen breasts are a sign of pregnancy or a side effect of the fertility drugs. If she sees a spot of blood on her underwear, she doesn't know if an embryo is trying to implant or her period is about to begin. If she is not pregnant after an IVF procedure, she may feel as though her baby died.
How can a person grieve for a life that existed only in her mind? While trying to cope with this emotional turmoil, she gets invited to a baby shower or christening, learns that a friend or colleague is pregnant, or she reads about a one-day-old infant found abandoned in a dumpster. Can you try to imagine her envy, her rage over the inequities in life? Given that infertility permeates practically every facet of her existence, is it any wonder why she is obsessed with her quest? Every month, she wonders whether this will finally be her month. If it isn't, she wonders if she can muster the energy to try again. Will she be able to afford another procedure? How much longer will her husband continue to be supportive? Will she be forced to give up her dream? So when you speak with her, try to empathize with the burdens on her mind and on her heart. She knows you care about her, and she may need to talk with you about her ordeal. But she knows that there is
nothing you can say or do to make her pregnant. And she fears that you will offer a suggestion that will trigger even more despair.

PROBLEM SITUATIONS
Just as an ordinary room can be an obstacle course to a blind person, so can the everyday world be full of hazards for an infertile woman --- hazards that do not exist for women with children. She goes to her sister-in-law' s house for Thanksgiving. Her cousin is breast-feeding. The men are watching the football game while the women talk about problems with their kids. She feels left out, to say the least. Thanksgiving is an example of the many holidays that are particularly
difficult for her. They mark the passage of time. She remembers what came to mind last Thanksgiving --- that the next year, she would have a new son or daughter to show off to her family. Each holiday presents its own unique burden to the infertile woman. Valentine's Day reminds her of her romance, love, marriage - and the family she may never be able to create. Mother's Day and Father's Day? Their difficulties are obvious. Mundane activities like a walk down the street or going to the
shopping mall are packed with land mines. Seeing women pushing baby carriages and strollers strikes a raw nerve. While watching TV, she is bombarded by commercials for diapers, baby food, and early pregnancy tests. At a party, someone asks how long she's been married and whether she has any kids. She feels like running out of the room, but she can't. If she talks about being infertile, she's likely to get well-intentioned advice -- just the thing she doesn't need: "Just relax. Don't worry. It will happen soon." Or, "You're lucky. I've had it with my kids. I wish I had your freedom." These are the kinds of comments
that make her want to crawl under the nearest sofa and die.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Because she is infertile, life is extremely stressful for her. She's doing her best to cope. Please be understanding. Sometimes she will be depressed. Sometimes she will be angry. Sometimes she will be physically and emotionally exhausted. She's not going to be the "same old" girl she used to be. She won't want to do many of the things she used to do. She has no idea when, or if, her problem will be solved. She's engaged in an emotionally and financially taxing venture with a low probability of success. The longer she perseveres, however, the greater her chances of pregnancy become. Maybe someday she will be
successful. Maybe someday she will give up and turn to adoption, or come to terms with living a childfree life. At present, though, she has no idea what will happen. It's all she can do to keep going from one day to the next. She does not know why this is her lot. Nobody does. All she knows is the horrible anguish that she lives with every day. Please care about her. Please be sensitive to her situation. Give her your support -- she needs and wants it. "

A Day at the "Office"

Our physical therapist recommended last week that we get an exersaucer for Emily to play in so she can stand up flat-footed and stretch those feet and leg muscles. I shopped around earlier in the week for a used one and decided that most of ones in the 2nd hand stores were pretty dirty looking. We had recently received some money from the baby shower at our previous church and decided that a new exersaucer would be a good investment for the little munchkin.

I also went shopping at the stores at Lewis Center thinking they would have a bigger selection than Marion. I'm proud to say that Marion's Meijer store leaves little to be desired at the Wal-Mart and Meijer in Polaris/Lewis Center. They really didn't have much to offer in the way of baby periphenalia. Believe it or not, Marion's Meijer has the best selection of baby equipment (strollers, high chairs, exersaucers, rockers, etc.) BY FAR!

After work, Emily and I sat down in the living room to assemble her new work space. I had read product reviews on the internet that people had spent hours fumbling through the instructions in an attempt to assemble these things and I was prepared to leave my schedule open for the night.



After a mere 65 minutes, Emily was taking her new space out for a test drive! Look, she's even standing flat-footed in it during her first trial run!





Another happy customer... that's what I'm talking about!




We then had a staff meeting to discuss the upcoming years figures. I told Emily we were going to have to make some budget cuts in the diaper department and she'd need to start potty training next week. She thought that was pretty funny.




So, we did some more number crunching and we finally came up with a solid budget that she could really sink her teeth into!

Occupational Therapy

What kind of occupation can a 10 1/2 month old have and why would they need therapy? I know, I know, it sounds kinda funny. Emily is a very hard worker and earns every penny she makes. (I'm just kidding! She earns every dollar she makes!)

We had our last Occupational Therapy (OT) appointment this morning and Noelle gave us some handouts on things we can continue to do to help loosen Emily up and work on her fine motor skills. Noelle was very impressed with how much progress Emily had made since our previous visit. In 5 days Emily was sitting up much better on her own and was rolling on her own to play on her side instead of simply playing on her back or tummy. She can feed herself much better now and probably 8 out of 10 Cheerios are making it into her mouth now.

It was nice to hear that Noelle was impressed with her progress. We get to see improvements every day and get to witness Emily's new tricks but it's nice to hear a professional get excited about mastering those tasks as well.

Here's Emily with her OT friend, Noelle.

Post Dedication

After church we had Mama and Papa over to visit. Here are just a few pictures from the "photo shoot".

Emily's Baby Dedication

This morning was Emily's baby dedication. No, she's not wearing a fancy white Christening gown... she's dressed the way people in our church dress for church.

Although we had "a wardrobe malfunction" and had to run Emily home to change clothes just 20 minutes before church started, it was a very good day. Okay, it wasn't really a wardrobe malfunction of Janet Jackson quality but let's just say a onesie and a pair pants were at the opposite end of the spectrum from clean and fresh.

We (Jenni, Ryan and Emily) made it back to church 10 minutes late and found a seat in the midst of our family. Emily had lots of special visitors for the day. Along with our regularly attending church family Great Grandma Isler, Grandma and Grandpa Gaston, Aunt Michelle and Aunt Laura, Mama Hypes and Papa Hypes, Briana and Steven, Uncle Jim and Aunt Kris, Uncle Fred and Aunt Reda, Uncle Chuck and Aunt Connie and our friends Barb and Norm also came along to celebrate her special day.

Tom did a great job doing the dedication ceremony and surprisingly only teared up a little bit!

Here are some pictures from the morning.

The happy family...




Jenni, Emily, Grandpa Gaston, Grandma Gaston, Great Grandma Isler




Emily and Barb... after Emily tried eating Barb's cheek!




Uncle Fred and Cousin Abby




Ryan, Todd and Aunt Laura

Accomplishments...

This week we've made a few more strides in development. Emily has been bending her knees more and gets herself into a crawling position most of the time as I set her down on the blanket to play. I've seen her get into that position a couple of times on her own, but she's still not sure what to do once she's there.

Yesterday, I saw her feed herself for the first time (on purpose). When we eat meals in the high chair we usually wrap up by trying some finger foods. We've been using the snack puffs and they usually get so sticky from her slobbery hands that they stick and eventually work their way into her mouth. Despite this, I haven't seen her intentionally put one in her mouth on purpose. However, yesterday we had her first (and soon to be last) Occupational Therapy session. They used some Cheerios and voila! into the mouth they went after only a few failed attempts. (We'll be adding more Cheerios to our diets soon!)

I say "soon to be last" OT session because I was told yesterday that Emily really doesn't seem all that far behind and seems to be tracking on target for her age group. At our next OT appointment I will be given an overview of things to work on with Emily at home.

This afternoon we had our first Physical Therapy session to see if Emily had catch up work to do in that area. We found out that yes, she has a ways to go. Her muscles in her shoulders, waist, back, hamstrings, and thighs, etc. are unusually tight and she's been finding other ways to get around without using the correct muscles. Her tailbone tends to curve under her when she sits so that's why she hasn't been sitting up very well yet. Her feet also tend to be very tense and when we stand her up she's usually on her tippy toes. Her physical therapist, Laurie, taught me a bunch of different things that we need to work on every day to help her stretch out her muscles. Fortunately, Emily is pretty layed back and lets me work with her on these.

1. When we sit her down on the floor, we're supposed to help her roll her bottom towards her back so it's squarely under her.
2. Every time we lay her down for a diaper change we're supposed to sit her down first and then help her twist to get an arm behind her before laying her down.
3. Also when we change her diaper, we're supposed to hold down one shoulder and using her leg, twist her trunk in the opposite direction and repeat with the other side.
4. Tummy time is the most highly recommended form of play... as opposed to laying on back, jumping, rocking, etc.
5. When we sit on the floor with her, we're also supposed to have her sit on one of our feet or legs and reach down to the carpet to pick up her toys.
6. When she stands, we are supposed to make sure her feet are flat on the floor and that her body is centered over her feet so her tendons stretch out and she develops a good center of gravity.

At our next visit we'll work on adding more mobility to her spine.

I'm happy to know that the problems she has are all correctable as far as we know but it's also frustrating to learn of all these new problems. I wasn't aware that her muscles were so tense and that many of her behaviors are learned from being so immobile in her crib at the babyhouse. She overextends her neck so she can see behind her because she wasn't able to roll over for so long. Doing this seems to work the wrong muscles so it's much easier to lean back than it is to lean forward... which is why she isn't nearly as flexible as most babies. Last month she finally discovered she had knees and now, at 10 months old, she's just now flexible enough to touch her toes and grab onto them occasionally.

Fortunately, she has a loving family and extended family and we'll all work hard to help her catch up. These types of fundamental skills are the building blocks for other skills that will come with time. The goal is to help her now so she doesn't develop more problems down the road.

We have also been working on some sign language. We've been working on the word "more" while we're eating because it's a little more appropriate than grunting when you aren't getting fed fast enough. ;-) The funny part is that the sign for "more" is essentially made by tapping your fingertips from both hands together. Emily will do the sign with a little prompting but she clasps her hands together under her chin like she's ready to pray... or beg for food. If you didn't know better, you might really wonder about us! Hehehe.

Anyway, please keep us in prayer. We pray that Emily will make a smooth and speedy progression through the PT sessions and that we can remember all the stuff we're supposed to do to help her out.

Thanks!

Chompers!

I recorded these a couple of weeks ago but didn't get a chance to upload the video because it takes so long to upload sometimes. Here are a couple of videos of how Emily soothes her gums when she's thrown her teething toys on the ground. It made me giggle.






Speaking of giggles... here's Miss Em at her finest. We actually recorded it before we left Almaty, Kazakhstan with the intent of sharing it with you folks back home. It just surfaced again and I realized it never made it to the blog yet. (ps - the shirt says "Poop on Michigan"!)

PBC Shower/Welcome Home

Our friends and family at Prospect Baptist Church held a baby shower and welcome home party for Emily on Sunday (3/25). She received a lot of presents... clothes, toys, diapers, books, etc. Thank you everyone!

Aunt Shell's Friends?

On March 13th Grandma (Jenni's mom) went with us to visit Aunt Shell's office in Columbus. We had heard that Emily had quite the fan club there and she wanted to meet some of her biggest fans. Here's a synopsis of the visit:









And a special one for Laura!

Where is Kazakhstan?

Here are a couple of pictures I thought I should share...

I still get a lot of questions when we say we just got back from Kazakhstan. Usually the response is, "Kaza-what?". ;-)

Here is a map of the world with Kazakhstan in green. It was previously part of the Soviet Union but achieved its independence in 1991. They are still building their economy and trying to make life better for its citizens.





Emily's caregivers requested this picture when we were close to the end of our visits. We never got to meet the woman holding Emily but she must have been close to her. There are several pictures of just her holding Emily. We got to see the woman in the red shirt about once or twice a week. She would sometimes bring Emily in to our visits after she had been changed and when we went to pick her up after court this particular caregiver was definitely having a tough time saying goodbye. It was bittersweet. But... she did hope that Emily would make us happy and proud parents and that she would be a "good citizen of your country"... which seemed to be a theme with most of the people of Kazakhstan. ;-)

Emily's "Crib" in Uralsk

I found some more pictures this afternoon while I was cleaning up my files and I realized I never posted pictures of Emily's rooms while she was in the babyhouse.

So, for your viewing pleasure here ya go!

This is a picture of the room where Emily slept when we adopted her from Babyhouse #2 in Uralsk. She was in group #2 with 12 other babies that were roughly her age.




This is a close-up of Emily's crib!




Each baby had their own crib with their name on it. In some other countries and other regions in Kazakhstan, babies sometimes share cribs but this was not the case for Emily. She was a big girl and had her own space.




Adjacent to the crib room is the babies' playroom. And from what we can tell, there are 2 large cribs in this room as well as rocking chairs, toys, walkers and other therapy and baby equipment. This is one of the large cribs and they will sometimes hang toys from the "beam" across the top of the crib.




This is another view of the play room and you can see the type of equipment they use with the babies. When I asked if all the babies were rotated through the walkers and got to use them I was told that was sometimes the case. However, many times the walkers were actually used to isolate babies that were biters or hitters, etc. so they didn't harm the other babies.



Hope you enjoyed these! What do you think?

My Visual DNA

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Before I was a Mom...

I got this in an email today (thanks, Marla!) and thought it would be appropriate to share with all you moms out there. Sorry, I don't know who originally wrote it.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Before I was a Mom I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put them down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the
wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Celebrate Adoption group

As many of you reading this blog are already aware, Tom and I own The Shepherd's Nook, a Christian bookstore in Marion. Over the past couple of years we have been sharing our adoption progress with the customers that come in and have been very open to talk about our process and adoption status. Throughout that time, we have met so many people in the local community that have had their lives impacted by both local and international adoption. We have met children that have been adopted and adults that were adopted as children. We have been welcomed into this adoption community with open arms since we announced our plans to travel to Kazakhstan to bring home our daughter.

I never would have guessed how many lives are truly impacted by this life-changing commitment. Nearly everyone knows somebody close to them that has been adopted!

A little over a year ago we held a "Pancakes for Emily" fundraiser at All Occasions in Waldo. Our family, friends, co-workers and perfect strangers came out to support what we were doing. We are so grateful to all the people that came out to support our efforts to bring Emily into our family. I wish that all adopting families could have as much support as we have!

Tom and I have been brainstorming some ideas since that event last year. We would like to start up an adoption support group for families and individuals in the area. Some ideas we have for this group would be regular social events, an annual Celebrate Adoption gathering, internet and email support, and more. We would like to help those interested in adoption to make important connections and would like to connect families in the area that have adopted.

If you have any suggestions, comments, would like to join a group like this or know someone who would, please feel free to email me!

Thanks and be blessed!
-jenni

tjhypes@yahoo.com

Help Me Grow follow-up

This morning was Emily's appointment with Help Me Grow to get her evaluation done. They did an ELAP which I "think" stands for Early Learning Accomplishment Profile. Although Emily is 10 mos. old now, from the information they gathered earlier this week, they have said her "adjusted age" is 7 mos. This takes into account that she was born approximately 10 weeks premature and that she spent the first 8 months of her life in an orphanage/babyhouse. So, with this in mind, she should be developmentally where a 7 month old should be.

The evaluation was actually pretty fun for Emily. The girls at the agency played with her and worked with an assortment of toys to estimate how far along she was. They saw her roll over, prop herself up with one hand, pick up some blocks, turn her head for a rattle, pull a toy out of a mat, resist letting go of a toy, pull a blanket off of a toy to get to it, and much more. They also asked us some questions about things we had observed as far as putting words together, mimicking, attachment, anxiety, etc. From their 30 minutes of play (and us chatting) they then scored her results to get an idea of where she stands. I will know more next week when I get the "official" report but for now I think this is what they said.

Physical Development - 6 months (They are encouraging physical therapy to help her catch up.)
Cognitive Development - 12 months (wow!)
Language Development - 7 months
Social Development - 9 months

Again, I will know more about what each of these mean and if I remembered them correctly toward the end of next week.

A little more about Help Me Grow -- It is an agency that helps children from infant to age 3 and they service all families regardless of income level. They provide free evaluations during that time and help families connect to services and other agencies that will assist with their children's development. You can learn more about Marion County's Help Me Grow program at: http://www.marionhealthdept.com/mapp.htm

There is also very detailed information about Help Me Grow and a ton of resources available through Ohio's Department of Health at: http://www.ohiohelpmegrow.org/parents/parents.aspx

We've heard nothing but good things about Help Me Grow!

10 Mos. and More Teeth!

Today, Emily turns 10 months old and a certain little someone decided they would like to add some more chompers today! We discovered Emily's 2nd tooth today. She now has 2 bottom teeth coming in. They're still hardly noticeable until you put your finger in her mouth! She has also learned how to bite the spoon when I feed her so it's harder to pull out of her mouth. This makes her giggle.

Emily is still eating very well and is eating just about everything. The only baby food she has refused so far was Sweet Peas but she downed a whole jar of them the following week. She's even getting better at eating "puffs" and we're working on learning how to pick them up and feed ourselves. (Tom and I have it mastered, but Emily still has a way to go.)

This weekend she also discovered her toes when I left her socks off for a while... now they serve as an incentive to sit up longer. After all, it's so much fun to play with those wiggling digits! Emily is doing much better at sitting up. We practice every day. She is now flexible enough and can lean forward enough to sit up on her own once I get her into position but she still gets a little top heavy and wants to flop to the side every now and then. (Remember... Emily was stiff as a board when we first met her and has been making steady progress toward mobility every day.) She loves to stand up and look around. Again, I have to stand her up but as long as I lightly hold on to her waist for balance she will hold the pose. She gets a very proud look on her face when she's standing up!

In other news, we got a little stir crazy this weekend and we visited the Waldo Park when the temperature "spiked". Emily was a little confused about the whole process... hence the weird expression on her face. ;-)


Not the prettiest swingset but it's a swingset nonetheless!




What are you doing to me?






Get me outta here!