Flying Lessons with Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa flew in for a quick visit this week. They arrived Sunday evening and left this morning (Wednesday). Dad bought a small airplane back in June and is enjoying flying around visiting family. Mom & Dad were at a family reunion in St Louis so they flew on over since they were in the neighborhood. It only took them a little over an hour (1 hour 9 minutes to be exact) to fly across the whole state. Much better than driving. They flew into a small regional airport that is only about 15 minutes from our house. Very convenient. We went and picked them up Sunday evening when they landed. Evvy got to sit in the "pilot's seat." Grandpa hopes she is bitten with the flying bug! She remembers grandma and grandpa very well. She about jumped out of my arms into Grandpa's arms at the airport. It was very sweet. She enjoyed snuggling up with Grandma too. Grandma had the magic touch putting Evvy to sleep. She slept until 8:30 the first morning they were here and took 2 naps. When Grandpa was in charge the next morning she didn't nap. He didn't want her to be lonely and couldn't just leave her in the room (sigh).

We had a nice visit and were able to go swimming Monday night. Evvy showed Grandpa & Grandma how much she LOVES to swim. She would go under water and pop back up (with help of course) and just laugh and want to go again.

Here are a few pictures that we took at the airport with Grandma and Grandpa. They will be back in 2 weeks to babysit while Evvy's regular babysitter goes on vacation.

Susan

One Year ago....

One year ago today I first saw pictures of my beautiful daughter. It seems just like yesterday. I refer to that day I first saw her picture as the day that she was born into my heart. So much has happened in the past year. I first totally fell in love with the pictures I received of my daughter and hearing all about her from her wonderful foster family. Then I met her in November and truly fell in love with her and felt like I was really her mother. Then the agony of going through the court system just made me love and want her home with me all the more. Then the magical day that she was placed in my arms forever. The last year I have changed in so many ways. I don't focus so much on what I need but what does Evelyn need. I have always dreamed of being a mother and it still seems surreal sometimes that I am indeed Evvy's mother. But every night as we read get our pajamas on, read our night time stories and rock and have a bottle as she totally cuddles into my chest, it feels so right. She is my daughter and I will do all in my power to protect her for the rest of her life. She truly completes me and brings so much happiness and joy into my life.

These pictures are the first pictures I saw of Evelyn. The first one is taken when she was placed with her foster family on June 15, 2006. The second one was taken 1 year ago today at her doctor's appointment and the last one is a picture taken 2 days ago on July 4th.

Love you baby girl!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! Evvy enjoyed her first Independence Day as she grows more and more independent. We got up nice and early as early and met Peggy and her kids at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was really nice to just sit and chat and relax with our kids. The kids were really well behaved. Evvy LOVES Cracker Barrel but I think she just really enjoys food. She eats just about anything but she does have her moods just like adults I think. One day she will eat something and the next day refuses to eat it. It is almost like she is saying, "I had that yesterday, give me something new."

Anyway, after naptime (she slept almost 2 hours!) we got up and had lunch and went to the waterpark. I need to remember to bring the camera to the waterpark. She has such joy there. She was more tentative the first few times we went but now she just crawls all over the place in the water and splashes and has a great time. She enjoys just floating around the lazy river in a tube also.

After we had been at the pool for 2 hours, it got really cloudy and apparently there was lightning because they told everyone to get out of the pool. We went ahead and went home and I am so glad that we did. It started pouring rain within 30 minutes. Great napping weather but alas, she didn't really want to nap for long. We hung out at the house and had dinner (ribs & potato salad which she didn't mind having 2 days in a row :) Finally, the rain stopped and it cleared off in time for the fireworks. We went to the local display and sat right near where they were shooting them off. Since they didn't start until 9:30, Evvy was super tired and she fell asleep about 9:15. I layed her in the stroller and she snoozed the rest of the time. She didn't even flinch or jump with all the loud bangs. It was soooo noisy and she slept through it all. I got her home and didn't even change her into jammies. She slept all night and was tired when I got her up for the sitter in the morning.

Here are a few pictures of Miss Evelyn in her 4th of July outfit (from Grandma) & hairbow. First time I got a bow to stay in all day. I had to put in some gel to stiffen it up though.

Susan

I need a Kleenex please!

So this is about how much Kleenex we have gone through the past couple of days. Actually, it might have been a little more than this because we worked through all the crumpled ones pictured here and got down to the few remaining in the box.

I was working on the computer one morning and Evvy, who is much more mobile now, had pulled a box of Kleenex off of the table and was sitting very happily plucking them one at a time out of the box. Luckily she hadn't started shredding them yet because we definitely needed those Kleenexes this week. We have both had very runny noses. But today my girl really was cranky and kept grabbing at her ears. I debated for a bit but finally decided to take her to the doctor's office. I LOVE my doctor's office. They actually have an urgent care clinic open on the weekends. By the time that I decided that she might be sicker than just the runny nose, it was 4:30. The urgent care closes at 5:00. I threw her in the car and luckily remembered how to get there. We were in and out super quick. It takes about 15 minutes to get there and so we arrived at 4:45 and we were out by 5:00. The nurse practioner that saw her, looked in both ears (after cleaning the wax out) and declared that she has a double ear infection. Luckily it looks like we caught it early before it got oozy. Having never experienced the oozing ear infection, I am grateful to not have to at this point. She has a RX for amoxicillan which should clear up the infection.

What did I learn from this experience? Trust your instincts. My girl is so happy most of the time and she wasn't just sitting her screaming non-stop BUT she was waking up screaming from her nap (she usually wakes up happy), would scream when I put her down and just was overall cranky. I could have just chalked this up to the fact that she has a gunky nose and is teething (cut through 2 this week and I think she is working on at least 2 more and maybe some molars too). But at one point, she just grabbed both of her ears at the same time. She has always grabbed at her ears when she is tired or nervous but this was different. Even as I was driving to the doctor, I doubted myself. But then I thought, if she isn't sick that is even better but better to be safe than sorry. It is so hard when they can't talk and tell you what is wrong.

Hopefully she will feel better soon. Luckily, she is still pretty good natured still even being sick, just much more clingy and needy.

Susan