Another Update...

Can I just tell you how funny Rachel is! She is so comical and all we do is laugh at everything she does. We will probably pay for it later! LOL! If I'm holding Rachel, Jake will come up and say do you want to come to me and Rachel will violently shake her head no while laughing at the same time. She thinks she is so funny and of course, we do too!

We attended the Living Hope Reunion this weekend and it was a lot of fun. This was our fourth annual reunion with Living Hope and our very first time attending with Rachel. She caught everyone's attention, especially because she was the youngest and newest one there. She looked so adorable in her blue Chinese outfit. Rachel's smile just captures everyone's attention. We started the weekend off at the hotel last night with a movie and snacks. Jake thought he was too big to watch Happy Feet. We pretty much just networked with other adoptive families and caught up with those we met last year during the reunion. Saturday afternoon we went to the Homewood Suites where we enjoyed a picnic and Jake played in the hotel pool. Saturday night was a banquet which was held at St. Helena's catering hall. The food was delicious and hot, which is unusual for buffet. Following dinner, we got to enjoy some Chinese culture with a Chinese school performing traditional Chinese dances for us. We really enjoy watching these little girl's perform for us. Rachel was tired at this point, so daddy fed her a bottle. She did very well considering it was way past her bedtime. I just love seeing the kid's each year and seeing how much they've grown over the year.

I think I may have found a way to put Rachel down for bed/nap without any hassles. Normally as soon as we walk toward her room, she starts crying. I would pull her shades down, kiss her and say night night and then leave, even if she is still crying. She would cry for about 5 minutes or so and then fall to sleep. But sometimes it would take longer and me going into her a room a few times to calm her. Two nights ago, I started staying with her and talking to her softly for a minute or two until she isn't crying at all. I would rub or pat her back or bottom and tickle her face softly while I softly talked to her. She will smile at me and then I would say night night and walk out and close her door behind me. I don't hear a peep out of her! YES! I think I found the secret. This is only taking a minute or two of my time, but she is completely calm when I leave her room and she doesn't fuss whatsoever! Now I just need to train Dave. LOL! It's the small things that make us happy.

My mother in-law called me last night to inform me of a friend's father dying. This young lady has a special place in my heart because she tried to help us get pregnant (before we knew God wanted us to adopt Rachel) by donating her eggs to us. The weird thing is that I ran into her last week while having lunch with another friend. She was so excited to tell me that she got married in May. She did mention that her father had cancer, but was doing very well and was in remission. Well, he died two nights ago and I am so sad for her loss. Her family is so close. She has a son who is very close to his grandparents. Please keep Becky and her family in your prayers.

Today is Wednesday, July 3rd and we just came back from visiting my Aunt Marge. She reminded me that I haven't seen her since January! I'm a horrible niece. I wish she lived a little closer. 35-40 minutes isn't horrible, but it seems hard to go all that way sometimes. I promised myself that I won't allow that much time to by again without seeing her. She got to see Rachel in person for the first time. Rachel wouldn't let Aunt Marge hold her. She was already upset to begin with when I sat her on Aunt Marge's lap, so hopefully Aunt Marge won't take it personally.

Before going to visit Aunt Marge, I took Jake to get highlights in his hair this morning. We made a deal last fall that if he made all A's in school, I would allow him to get highlights. Well, I guess we know how he did in school. It was so fun watching him get the highlights. Jake was loving it and he informed me that he is "officially a chic magnet!" First of all, I didn't even know he cared about girls paying attention to him. Where in the world did that come from???! LOL! I don't think I'm ready for girl's yet. The girl doing his hair used a cap and pulled his hair through. Jake was in agony with the pulling. I know it is painful because that is what I used to have done before they started using foils. Of course I took a ton of photos. I really like the highlights and the longer length hair. They cut a little more off than Jake wanted, but his hair grows so fast. It took a little bit for the longer length hair to grow on me. I think the longer hair makes him look a little older and I'm not ready for him to grow up yet. I think I want him to stay young! Check out the pictures above. I know Jake really likes the highlights. Hey, if all it takes is to get him highlights to get good grades in school, I'll bite!

My friend, Heather, came over yesterday with her daughter, Abby. We had so much fun spending time together. Our daughters are only 5 weeks apart and they were so cute together. They would pull and poke each other and stare. They were pretty similar in their size too. I thought Rachel had big feet, but Abby's feet were just as long. Abby has the most amazing big blue eyes, just like her two brothers, Dylan and Josh. Rachel has her first little girlfriend! LOL! Heather invited us to her pool tomorrow and we are taking her up on her offer. I'm looking forward to it and I know Jake is too.

After swimming tomorrow, we are going to my sister's because her town is having a fireworks display. Not sure how Rachel will do with that. I know a lot of babies get scared with the loud bangs. Hopefully she won't get too freaked out.

We are truly amazed everyday of the new things Rachel picks up on. She can now clap her hands! When we praise her, we clap our hands and she mimics us! When Heather and Abby were visiting yesterday, I saw that Abby could use the claw grasp and put food into her mouth. Last night after dinner, I put gerber bites on Rachel's tray and she was using the claw grasp and putting the puffs into her mouth. I was so excited that I jumped up and down yelling and scared the living day lights out of my poor baby! LOL! She realized I was happy and started to laugh too. She isn't 100% consistent, but she is totally making progress. She is trying really hard to pull herself up when she is close to the couch or chair. I would love to see her crawl first, but I'm not sure.

Rachel got a new swing which we hung from the swingset in the back yard. She absolutely loves it! I stopped her to take some photos of her and she was not happy and started to have a temper tantrum. Oh yes, this girl does have a temper when things don't go her way.

Please, don't stop posting comments just because we are home from China. We love getting them and reading them! I cherish each comment and they all will be included in Rachel's Life Book.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

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!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Couldn't Be Happier

We are truly enjoying our new daughter and baby sister! She has been such a delight and so much fun to be around. We are starting to truly see her personality these days. Rachel gets bored very quickly and sometimes I just don't know how to appease her. When her big brother, Jake, walks into the room, everything else disappears. She gets so excited when she sees him with her arms flailing and her feet going a mile a minute. She is very good at trying to mimic him too. It's so cute watching her try and snap her fingers. Rachel is so smart. I really believe that she understands way more than we think she does. She definitely knows her name and she understands what no-no means. Rachel has a habit of trying to grab my glasses off my face or she will just grab your face and practically rib your lip off! It really hurts sometimes. Well now I'm saying no-no when she tries and OMG, you would think I took candy from her. Her feelings get so hurt. She pouts her lip and makes faces like she's going to cry. It's like she is processing in her head what just happened and she starts wailing. This has happened 3 times now and and I can't help but hug her because it breaks my heart! Boy, does she have us wrapped around her finger already.

Jake officially finished school last Wednesday in the early afternoon. He got out at 12:00 PM and Rachel and I picked him up so that we could thank his wonderful teacher for a great year! We really liked Mr. Yosifon. I can't believe in one more year he will be going to middle school. Wow, that is a scary thought. I'm sure those with high schoolers are saying, "just wait till he gets to high school!" We ended up having lunch with my good friend, Melanie, and her two girls, Kayla and Danielle to celebrate the last day of school. They were so anxious to meet Rachel for the first time.

We took Rachel for professional photos last Thursday at JC Pennys which came out okay. I was really hoping to have some of her true smiles come through, but it didn't work out that way. Rachel was up a lot the night before and she of course was tired by 10:30 for her photo shoot. What we got is cute, but I don't feel we captured her true personality. We will go back for her one year photos where I will have her and Jake done together as well as individual shots of Rachel. We may do a family photo too, but it will depend on how I'm feeling about myself that day. With all these photos lately, I'm not happy with my weight and need to do something about it.

I'm feeling better since my hospital stay. Every day gets better with the dizziness and headaches. The dizzy spells will catch me off guard at times, but they are more infrequent than before. I appreciate everyone's concern and well wishes.

Rachel went for her blood work last Friday. Can I tell you what a nightmare that was! We arrived at the hospital at 11:3o and didn't leave there until after 2:00 PM. The poor thing ended up being stuck 3 times with a needle. The technicians did good at first and got 5 vials of blood, but then the blood stopped flowing, so they wanted to try her other arm. The technician wasn't happy with the veins in her right arm, so they went in her hand instead where they got nothing. All this time, I'm in the hall with Jake and we are both crying listening to our baby girl screaming in the room. Dave was in there with Rachel and two technicians. After what seemed like and eternity, I heard them talking and saying that we can come back later. At this point I went into the room and that's when they told me that they didn't get all they needed. They could call an IV team down now or we can come back when Rachel is calmed and they would try the same arm they got the first 5 vials from. I did not want to put her through this again, let's just get it over with today. I gave Rachel a bottle while we waited for the IV team and Dave ran out to put more money in the meter. Dave wasn't back when the IV team arrived, so I had to stay in the room and comfort Rachel while they attempted another drawl. They ended up going in her right arm, but didn't get the vein right away and had to move it around. All the while, Rachel is sobbing uncontrollably. The tech finally got it and got what she needed! Amen! I pray to God that we don't have to put this poor thing through that again. She was crying and sweating so bad, that she soaked the tissue paper that goes over the beds and it was stuck in her hair. Rachel looked like she was put through a war zone with her taped up arms and hands. We hope to have all her results back within two weeks. The challenge will be later when we see how she responds when we enter the doctor's office again for well visits.

Dave returned back to work last Monday. Poor guy, he was exhausted all week. It's been a challenge being on my own this past week with Rachel, but so much fun. I love to be on the go, but it's much harder with Rachel. She really needs her morning nap, which I realized recently. She just gets too grumpy without it. So, I need to plan my schedule a little better for her! LOL! I guess I could clean or update my blog! Guess which one won???

When we were having Rachel's blood drawn and she was screaming, I saw that the skin was broken where her fourth tooth was coming through. You couldn't quite see the tooth, but the skin was definitely broken. When we woke up Saturday morning, her top tooth was completely visible now! So cute!

On Friday, after we left the hospital, we went to my in-laws where I took Rachel into the swimming pool for the first time. She did so well. I think what saved me was how warm the pool water was. Rachel started really enjoying being in the pool. Jake was thrilled and would jump out of the water playing peek-a-boo with her. We all had a blast!

We are meeting a woman today who is the mother of my friend, Andrea. She loves to sew and I'm taking my wedding gown to her to see if it's possible to make a baptism dress for Rachel. I would love for Rachel to wear Dave's christening gown, but since Rachel is so big, it won't fit her. I hope she can do it. If not, I will need to find someone who can. Before I close, can I please ask everyone to keep my brother, Paul, in your prayers. He's been in the hospital this past week with a horrible infection in his leg from pins that were put in when he broke his ankle. Due to his weight, a lot of complications have come about. They plan to do surgery today, and it's very scary. So please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you. Hope you enjoy the latest photos.Love,Dave, Sherry, Jake & Rachel

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