10 Months Old...

Rachel turned 10 months old yesterday. It's hard to believe that she will be a year old in two more months. We are really enjoying her so much and each day her personality is shining through. I think she may becoming a little "spoiled." I hate to say that my child is spoiled, but she has been getting 100% attention all the time and now when we walk out of the room, she screams. She used to sit and play for an hour or so by herself in the mornings, and now I'm lucky if I get 15 minutes! LOL. But after talking to a friend and future adoptive parent, she reminded me that Rachel has bonded with us and she wants to be with us all the time. I'm so glad she reminded me of this! Our daughter knows that we are her family now! What an awesome and wonderful feeling to be a mother of two! My heart is so full of love and content!

We've received some of Rachel's blood work back and so far everything is normal and nothing negative was detected. We are still waiting to see what vaccines she's had for sure. Once all the tests are back, we will start a plan for the remainder of her vaccinations. I also need to find out about a small lump we've found in her left arm. I don't think it's anything serious, but I just want to be be certain. Rachel is also having trouble with her plumbing. The poor thing is really having trouble going #2. I'm feeding her prunes, apple juice and I started putting same karo syrup in one of her daily bottles. I'm going to give it another couple of days, and if it doesn't improve, we're going back to the pediatrician. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Rachel is moving around more and more. She isn't crawling yet, but she gets around by rolling. It's pretty funny to watch her move across the room. She is very strong and loves to stand while you are holding onto her. She likes to play "so big." I say, "how big is Rachel" and she throws her arms up and I yell "so big!" I taught Rachel how to hug too. I say "can mommy have a hug" and I will pull her towards me while rocking back and forth and say "awww awww, Rachel." Well now I will ask if mommy can have a hug and she will rock back and forth singing "awww awww." I can't believe how much she understands! She also knows night night. After I feed her a bottle, I will start towards her room saying night night. Well, she doesn't like night night and she starts crying even before I get to her bedroom. I believe we have a baby Einstein living in our house! LOL.

Last week we went to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos with my friend, Melanie, her two daughter's and her older daughter's friend. What a fantastic and fun place for families. The Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel with a indoor water park with water slides and a wave pool! I never saw anything like it! The kid's had an awesome time and they got along great too! I was afraid with the age and gender thing that they wouldn't get along or that they really wouldn't have anything in common. Thank God I was wrong. They were awesome and truly got along great! We are really hoping to plan a return trip to the lodge before the end of summer. It was so much fun and you don't have to worry about getting burned by the sun. Rachel loves the water and she really enjoyed all the kids. I don't think I held Rachel for more than 5 minutes at a time because one of the kid's would end up snatching her out of my arms to play with her. It was great having the help! Rachel put on such a show for us! We went for pizza one night for dinner and I was feeding her gerber bites which she absolutely loves. Gerber bites are very similar to puffed cereal and they basically melt in your mouth. Rachel hasn't quite figured out the claw grasp and gets frustrated when trying to put food in her mouth. Well she decided to just eat her puffs right from the table with her mouth. The funny thing was that they would get stuck on her upper lip or cheek and she would try and get it with her tongue. Melanie and I laughed so hard that we about wet ourselves! LOL! This must have went on for about half an hour. Melanie did record it with her cell but there is no way to get it from her phone. I sure wish there was a way because I'm certain it would win on America's Funniest Home Videos! Thank you Melanie for inviting us! We had an awesome time!

I got Rachel's portraits back as well as her announcements. Everything has been mailed! That feels great. I thought I wasn't too happy with the photos, but once I really saw the finished product, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I do want to go some place other than JC Penny's for her 1 year old photos and to have our family portrait done. Any suggestions?

Jake started camp this week through the township. He ended up only being there on Monday because we were told about a football camp that is happening this week at the middle school. Jake has been wanting to play football for the last few years, but because of his size, he would play with 14 year old's which we weren't comfortable with. Well a friend called us Monday night to inform us of a football league that had changed their weight requirements and it seems that Jake may be able to play after all. He will probably have to loose about 10 lbs., but with practices four nights a week starting August, they believe he will probably loose some weight... most kids do. anyway. Jake is loving football camp this week. They are outside for 6 straight hours learning the fundamentals of football. I really thought with being in the heat all day and hearing the coaches yelling that Jake would change his mind about wanting to play football. Each day he has come home totally excited and talking about what he is learning. I will miss him playing soccer in the fall, but it will be fun seeing him trying a new sport. His size will be a great advantage with football!

We've been busy meeting with friends the last week or so. Rachel is starting to "take strange" or having stranger anxiety. This is another sign that she realizes we are her family. I was a little concerned in the beginning because she let anyone hold her and didn't seem to get upset about it. Now she gets upset and only wants me to hold her. I'm secretly loving it! The night terrors have diminished a great deal! She had one the other night, but it was the first one in two weeks. Yes! Hopefully she'll get to a point where she doesn't have any at all.

Our adoption agency is having their annual reunion this weekend and it starts Friday night with a movie for the kids. Saturday is the picnic followed by a banquet in the evening. Dave, Jake and I have attended the reunion for the last three years without our daughter and this will be the first reunion where we will have Rachel with us. I'm so excited to share her with the other adoptive families. I love seeing all the kids and how much they have grown each year.

It's hard to believe that we've been home just about a month already and that in just another 6 weeks or so I have to go back to work. I feel just like I did when I had Jake and had to go back to work. You don't want to leave them! You wish you could stay home with them and mother them full time. Reality will be setting in soon and I'm dreading it! I'm very blessed that her grandmother will be able to care for her while we are at work.

Please continue to pray for my brother, Paul. He is still in the hospital suffering from a staff infection in his leg. Unfortunately, because of his weight, he can't be operated on because of his erratic breathing. He is needing oxygen most of the time to help him breathe easier. The doctor's don't feel confident in doing the surgery at this time, but if the doctor's can't get the infection under control, he could possibly loose his leg. Paul is only going to be 26 in the next two weeks. He is way too young to be dealing with these health issues. Thank God for my sister, Sandy, who really has been helping him a great deal!