Emilia - Forty-Five Weeks Home

Saturday marked forty-five weeks home for our Emilia.  The last two weeks have been pretty exciting for her with her first trip to the beach, her first birthday party, the start of speech therapy, and quite a few visitors to our home.

As always, Emilia is doing well.  She is healthy, active, curious, happy and on the go with her own missions.  There are not any developmental milestones that I have noticed though I think her fine motor skills are improving. Her preschool teachers tell me that she holds her own cup at school and is getting better at feeding herself, too.  At home, I see her with activities that require some amount of fine motor control, such as placing balls into containers or ripping pages out of an old phone book.

Hot stuff with new shades from Aunt Isabelle

In speech therapy, Emilia is doing a great job.  Her therapist is impressed with her attention span as well as her ability to play with the same toy in many different ways.  Of course, she is actually verbalizing for the therapist, too.  When the bubbles ran out and Emilia wanted more, she said, "bub-bub-bub."  When it was time to clean-up, Emilia repeated, "ean-up."  These are not things she is willing to do at home though there is a lot of babbling and mouth-watching and very long, deep conversations between the two of us consisting of nothing but blowing raspberries in different ways.

I am not 100% happy with the preschool Emilia is attending.  They provide the meals and snacks, but due to Emilia's dairy allergy and feeding issues I have to supplement a lot of stuff.  I am also pretty sure that there are days when she just doesn't get the calories she needs there because there's not enough staff and time to assist her with her meals.  Secondly, and more importantly, I did not realize that their nap time is from noon to three and during those hours, the children have to remain on their cots, regardless of whether or not they are asleep.  This is very similar to the schedule and rules both Rex and Emilia experienced at their orphanages and possibly a little too reminiscent.  We are going to finish out this month and then see from there.

Practicing for cooler weather

On Thursdays, Emilia has had the pleasure of going to library story time with Ms. Rie as well as her new friend Allison and Allison's mom.  From what I hear, Emilia and Allison have some very nice conversations during the car rides and Emilia is becoming more comfortable and interactive at the library as well.  I think for where she is developmentally right now, an activity in a different environment with her peers and a trusted adult there might be the best set-up for her at this time, so we may try to do outings like this a few times a week in lieu of the preschool starting in 2013.  It's all up in the air yet and we have some time to decide.

Emilia is just a mix of sugar and spice, spunk and sweetness, strong opinions and love and we can't get enough.

Our Dream Girl

What's New with Rex?

Rex has now been home with us for 14 months and I am happy to report that after four weeks of preschool he is doing very well.  We had prepared ourselves for a more difficult transition, but were blessed with things going more smoothly than expected. 

Rex seems to love it at his school.  He gives us no trouble getting ready in the mornings and then impatiently waits by the door to the garage, signing go.  Drop-off at school involves no tears.  On the contrary, Rex often waves bye to us before we are ready to leave the room.  He seems very comfortable in his surroundings and quickly finds a toy or an activity.

The therapists tell us that Rex now understands the daily classroom routines.  He is attentive during circle time and generally cooperative during his 1:1 therapies.  His speech therapist in particular writes glowing reports, but more on that in a minute.  Rex knows that he has to go to different rooms for various purposes throughout the day and he has gotten used to the schedule enough to fall asleep quickly at nap and know the meal times.  While we are so glad that he is thriving at school, we are also happy that he gets excited when he sees us at pick-up.  He sometimes is quite wired when he arrives back home, but usually can settle down within an hour.  And bedtime for him is earlier now because he is more tired, so usually by 9:00 pm, it’s just Craig and me still awake.

The most impressive progress we have seen with Rex over the last month is his communication.  He has learned a new sign, car, and is in process of picking up another one, cookie.  He has begun to sign little sentences like “finished music” and “car go.”  The latter is what he signed to me when I picked him up from school one day.  Rex has also started imitating sounds and syllables during speech therapy and his therapists, along with us, believe that he has a first spoken, purposeful word which is more than appropriate for him.  Listen closely.

The therapists have also been helpful in introducing new foods that I provide in his lunch box to Rex.  He now loves bananas and has added cashews to his crunchy repertoire.  He has allowed grapes, carrots, and apple slices to touch his mouth.  Next up for experimentation: fruit leather.  I am so thankful that the therapists are always ready and willing to work with me on improving Rex’s nutrition.

Rex parallel plays with his classmates and has recently developed an interest in many different vehicles.  I love watching him roll them along various surfaces in the house and enjoy taking turns with him rolling them back and forth.  Sometimes we load them, too, and make play dough or Lego deliveries to our most valuable customers.

Rex also had a check-up with his plastic surgeon and we were happy to learn that Rex does not need any cleft-related surgeries for another year.  The next step will be a lip and nose revision, but they can wait.  During the visit the surgeon actually asked us if he was looking at Rex's natural palate and if Rex only had a cleft lip.  When we told him that he repaired the palate a year ago, he said, "Wow, I must be a genius."  I guess it looks great.

Overall, Rex is doing so well and we couldn't be prouder of this hard little worker and love bug.

Emilia's Third Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Emilia's birthday with our family.  We kept the party very small and rather short based on what we know our kiddos can handle at this time.  It was a fun extended lunch.

Setting up at a local park in terrific fall weather:

 Emilia chasing Cousin Michael:

Emilia chasing Cousin Colton:

Emilia on a mission known only to herself:

Emilia hanging out with Grandpa:

Lunch:

Cousin Will and Rex:

Opening presents (thanks, everyone, for the great gifts):

Time for cake.  Now this was a challenge for me because I had to keep it dairy-free for Emilia and gluten-free for Craig's step-mom.  I succeeded though with this moist chocolate cake with a layer of raspberry jam for filling and a simple chocolate ganache:

Emilia excited to try a slice:

 Emilia and Cousin Will:

Almost everyone in one shot:

We had a wonderful celebration and so enjoyed this special time with our family.  We're looking forward to many more birthdays.

We're Going To Hollywood

Okay, this title is a little misleading because we already went to Hollywood and are back home now.  Plus, it wasn't Hollywood, CA but Hollywood, FL.  Yes, we took a little trip to the beach and had a wonderful time.

We flew direct from Cincinnati to Ft. Lauderdale.  Emilia took all of it in stride.

Rex gave us a hard time at the airports, but did fantastic on the flight.

We rented half of a duplex on a quiet street and it had absolutely everything we needed.  From our front door to the beach it was exactly 100 steps.  It's a private beach, too, and we practically had it to ourselves every time we went.

The first ocean experience for the kids was a big success.  The air and the water were so warm, it would have been tough not to have a good time.

This water was so clear that even at five or six feet deep, we could see the bottom.  

Rex loved going out far with Craig.

He couldn't get enough of crashing into the waves in the safety of his daddy's arms.

Emilia made her own fun nearer the shoreline.

She also gave the waves a try with her daddy.

 Oops, I guess I missed a food cue and Emilia helped herself.

 Here's the only proof that I was on this vacation, too.

When you have two sleeping babes on the plane ride home, you know it's been a good vacation.

Oh, and in case you're wondering why we splurged on this trip... well, when you've missed two too many birthdays, you have to do the third one up right.

Happy birthday, sweet girl.  You light up our lives.

Help Zack Fundraiser Success

I just wanted to let everyone know that the fundraiser for Zack was a great success, bringing over $1100 to his Reece's Rainbow account.  Thanks to those whose generosity made this possible and to all who shared Zack's profile far and wide.  Unfortunately, his family has not yet found him, so please keep spreading the word whenever you can.

Autumn's Arrived

Our deck is full of tell-tale signs that fall is here:

This time of year always makes me feel melancholy.

All In 23 Hours' Work

I don’t know why I desire to commemorate this information on our blog, but I do.  I guess it’s just because in over a year so much stuff around the house has fallen by the wayside that it feels really good to get some of it done now.  So, in 23 hours home alone this week, I accomplished these tasks:

Cleaned up kitchen counters

Cleaned kitchen floor and baseboards

Picked up living room

Vacuumed living room and play room

Cleaned off mantle and put up new pictures

Ironed 9 work shirts and 4 work pants for Craig

Ran and unloaded the dishwasher twice and hand-washed lots of dishes

Made M&M cookies for Rex’s therapists and for us

Prepared freezer meals for the kids: vegan sweet potato risotto and vegan banana pancakes

Cleaned out the fridge

I also had time to do this:

Read

Watch TV (it’s like the world has passed me by for a year)

Take a shower (yes, undisturbed)

Talk to my mom

Write a proper thank you note

Sleep

Sit down to eat (yes, undisturbed)

I can’t wait to knock more tasks off my to-do list in the weeks to come.  It feels great.