handsful

Yesterday (computer was down, couldn’t post!) was 2 years with Lainey!  We celebrated with dinner out at Al’s Pizza and she received a new book.  I started that tradition last year, giving her a special book for each Gotcha day anniversary. 

I took the above picture yesterday.  Here she is a year ago…what a difference!

See the changes?  She’s lost the “baby” look.  Sad, but I do love seeing her grow into a “big girl”. 

Here are more shots from yesterday! 

I told Lainey I wanted to take some pictures of her.  I think she misunderstood. 

belly laugh!  Abbey was tickling her…she’s a great assistant photographer. 

At the restaurant.  Obeying mom’s request for a smile…cheesy. 

Oooh, a present. 

She likes it.  I read it to her right after she opened it.  After finding out that the rabbits were both boys (she’s a stickler for needing to know gender), she listened intently.  What a sweet story. 

A squeeze from Lainey.  Slightly painful, but totally appreciated. 

Dada’s turn…

Big kids get goofy.  I’m sure the noise level wasn’t bothersome to those around us.  Nah…

We weren’t THAT loud.  Right?

After getting kicked out of …leaving the restaurant, we came home and took a shot of the special girl with her sibs.  Happy 2 years with us, Lainey!  We love you!

It’s the 1 year anniversary of Lainey Day!  One year ago today, we were given a wonderful gift…one year ago, a child was born - not to this world - but to us…one year ago, a baby girl was taken from the only life she knew and given to two people she’d never seen before…one year ago, we began building a relationship with that baby girl that today has blossomed as beautifully as the flower she holds.  We are more in awe of God’s gift everyday. 

Let’s take a step back and see where this all started…

This picture was taken exactly one year ago today…it was our “Gotcha Day”, February 18, 2008.  We’d just gotten back to our hotel room…I LOVE this picture, she looks like a porcelain doll, but there is also a sadness to it that breaks my heart.  So much change to handle for such a little one. 

Indulge me just a little, and take a look at the pictures we’ve taken on each 18th of the month since that day…

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

Ten months

Eleven months

Twelve months!

Here are the rest of the pics I took of her, on her special day…

After getting some ideas from other adoptive moms, and how they celebrate Forever Family days, we decided on these.  We’ll give her a book each year, with an inscription from us AND we bought a beautiful journal for Randy and I to add to each year.  Hopefully, it’ll be a wonderful keepsake for her to read as she gets older.  We don’t “do cards” (have you seen the price of those things?), so this will be a place where we can record our thoughts and feelings on each anniversary. 

We love you, Lainey Q…you were well worth the wait. 

11 months today…

with your…

Forever…

Family!!  We love you, Lainey Q!

Ten months as our daughter today!  Most of the time, it’s hard to remember when she wasn’t here.  She’s loud, stubborn, goofy as all get-out, smarter than we can believe, and all ours :) 

Her speech is improving and her signs are increasing.  She more easily repeats sounds, mostly vowels, and can approximate a lot of words.  She’s also much more “conversational”, relying on approximated words and a lot of signs.  I’ll try and remember her signs:  all done, light, shoes, socks, more, Lainey, all her sibs, mama, dada, Jack, cat, bear, tree, cereal, eat/food, drink, milk, fork, spoon, potty, go/car, wait, book, swim, swing, night-night, sleep, clean, dirty, doll, baby, hot, cold, loud, ball, thank you, balloon, bath, key…there has to be more, but my mind is spent thinking!

Lainey hits a major milestone tomorrow…her LAST dose of INH therapy meds!  Yippee!!  She began this daily medicine, a 1/2 pill ground into powder and mixed in with yogurt, on March 19th - a full 9 months of meds.  She had to take this as a precaution, because of a positive TB test.  Her chest x-ray was clear, but it’s general practice to take the INH anyway.  She’ll likely test positive for TB all her life, but we have a signed letter from the clinic doctor, explaining this to anyone who might need it in the future, to assure them that she is a-okay. 

The kids and I went Christmas shopping today, and I took a few pics with my new birthday Coolpix :)

Have wallet, will shop…

We were too busy power shopping for pictures, so here we are having lunch at Panera. 

The gals…Abbey shows off a Littlest Pet Shop that she bought with some Christmas money

Having a nice lunch, Lainey Q?

The girls get silly!

Yet another month has gone by with Lainey Q!  She was in the orphanage for the first 19 months of her life, so we’ve almost had her half that time.  Experts say that children need to be with their family at least as long as they were in the orphanage, to start feeling like “this is it”. 

Marley shares her ice cream with her lil’ sister.

I don’t think I remembered to mention before, but something amazing has happened between her 8th and 9th month with us.  She’s finally full.  Remember how she used to eat like mad, always cleaning her plate?  That has stopped being so consistent recently.  She eats much slower, plays more, and seems more picky about what she wants to eat.  Don’t get me wrong, she’s still an awesome eater…she’s just eating more like a ”normal” toddler now. :) 

Patiently waiting by my computer…wheels on the bus, please??

Lainey has her last visit at the infectious disease clinic tomorrow!  She’s almost done with her INH therapy medicine that started back in March.  She’s on this due to testing positive for TB at her initial pediatrician visit.  She had a chest x-ray, which came back clear…but, it’s customary to still be put on the medicine for the whole 9 months.  She’s tolerated it perfectly, absolutely no side effects at all.  Her last dose is mid December.  

I haven’t weighed her in a little while, but she’s HEAVY when I carry her upstairs.  She’s still making slow and steady progress in the speech/communication department and doing well with the potty… though, she’s still not TELLING me she has to go so that’s the big hurdle to get over!  Maybe by her 10th month?  I can hope!

One last thing…Lainey’s story is on a new website started by Stephanie (the link to her personal blog, Ni Hao Ya’ll, is on the sidebar).  She had a desire to have a website dedicated solely to helping educate others about special needs through personal stories of others adoption experiences.  I think it’s an awesome idea, and wish it would have been in place while we were in the researching stage of our SN adoption.  There’s nothing like learning the “real deal” through the eyes of someone who has gone before you.  Click below!

www.nohandsbutours.com

Another month has passed, and Lainey has now been with us for 8 months!  A few tidbits on her now:  she can now do a forward rolll…she can use a straw to drink (most of the time)…she weighs about 32 lbs…she loves lollipops and clementines…she has a different “favorite” blanket everytime she goes to bed…she rarely wants her stuffed animals in her bed with her anymore…her favorite sign (and thing) is “cookie”…she is a total copy cat and imitates everything we do…and one of her favorite things to do is steal your chair :)

Like we told a friend today, she is our joy.  We wonder what we did for dinner table entertainment before she joined us…she’s a stinker and a ham and loves to make us laugh out loud. 

She loves playing “airplane” with her sisters…

Marley teaches her the fine art of computer games

Lainey enjoys EJ’s baseball game this morning

Nice hit, EJ

Stealing 3rd base…they won 13-3

If you want to compare Lainey now to other month anniversaries, look on the “Categories” sidebar and click on “Gotcha anniversary” to see them all.  :) 

Another month has gone by since that amazing day on 2/18 when Lainey was placed in our arms.  We grow to love her more everyday, and continue to be in awe of God’s perfect gift to us.  As we like to say, we undoubtedly have the goofiest child from the Bengbu City SWI!  God knew what He was doing…our other children are also certifiably goofy.  :) 

Here are a few tidbits about Lainey these days…

• she LOVES ketchup…she dips her fry, licks, dips, etc. before actually biting it. 
• she’s always been attached to him, but dada has been extra special these days.  She does the happy dance when he walks in the door!  He works from home, but lately has had lots of meetings and a few trips away. 
• when she gets especially mad or frustrated, she’ll hit whatever inanimate object is closest…the table, toy, etc.  I try not to laugh. 
• have I shared this one yet?  If you tell her to “talk”, she immediately sticks her tongue out.  Kids taught her that little trick. 
• a new word…boo boo (comes out moo moo…too cute)
• she is more frightened of strange noises, especially some toys that make noise.  This is new.  On the other hand, big lightening and thunderstorms don’t bother her in the least. 
• she still loves playing with her play kitchen.  Her favorite thing to do these days is to wipe my face and hands with a napkin after “feeding” me. 
• When we put her down for nap or nighttime, we have to play the Which Blanket game.  She has quite a few, and you never know which one she might choose.  She’s the same way with her animals…she might want them all or none.  She’s a gal who has preferences. 
• Potty training is going well…if we take her right after lunch, she almost always goes.  She’s told us (using the universal sign for “I need to go”) twice and has gone both times. 
• Still eats anything, but has her favorites…oatmeal, graham crackers, Gerber meat sticks, all veggies especially carrots, mandarin oranges…there are many more! 

I’ve been meaning to post about this, we changed Lainey’s room a few weeks ago.  She used to be in a small room with no closet downstairs.  We moved her to the bonus room upstairs, with her “room” being in the back and the rest is her playroom.  It’s working GREAT, she loves the extra space to be free to play.

Here’s a shot of it with me standing near her crib.  We’re still working on getting everything back up on the walls. 

The mandatory after-nap snack.  Today was organic chocolate bunny crackers.  Yum.  Happy 7 months, Lainey Q!   

SIX months!  Half a year, baby!  Here are her other Gotcha anniversary pics…

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

One Month

Gotcha Day

Care for a little Lainey overload?  Here are some favorite pictures taken recently:

Taken today…can you say goofy??

It got quiet (which means Lainey is getting into something…) so I went to look for her and she came walking down the hall wearing these.  A pair of my OLD glasses!  She loves eye wear of any kind, no matter how ugly. 

She loves her books, as long as you don’t spend too much time READING the pages.  See how long her hair is! 

Someone is excited to be in the rocking chair! 

I love her delicate eye lashes. 

Taken today, 5 months since Gotcha day! 

Family and friends back in NC will appreciate this :)  Our friend Brandy ordered this adorable bib for Lainey…for those of you confused, Randy went to NC State University (red/black) and I went to UNC-Chapel Hill (blue/white).  They are rival colleges, so hence our divided house.  However, I now pull for NCSU (gasp) since it means so much more to him who wins than it does to me!   

My favorite Gotcha day picture…this was soon after we arrived at the hotel.  We had taken off her coat, and were trying to interact with her on the bed.  Her little tightly clamped lips speak volumes, I think. 

This is today, 4 months later.  Her hair is getting so long, it’s getting down right unruly!  We usually try and keep it up in a tiny pony tail on top, or with a clip off to the side.  We’re in major “hairbow training” right now…she jerks it out, I put it back, she jerks it out…get it?  We’re not doing the bang thing, so she’s either gonna have to get used to them or get used to seeing through hair.  :)