October 31 October in Review

October 15 - Lacie Bug / Lady Bug Birthday Party
Lacie had a wonderful first birthday celebration. At her party were six of seven grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and two friends and their parents. Lacie’s Aunt Janey brought cute ladybug cupcakes and her mawmaw brought a ladybug cake. There were ladybug decorations and stickers and gifts. Our Lacie bug had a wonderful time and never appeared overwhelmed or even over stimulated. She snacked next to her older cousins and friends on the fireplace hearth and was not intimated when the crowd sang Happy Birthday Dear Lacie, Happy Birthday to you! She did not get overly messy eating three pieces of cake. She was the perfect hostess of a perfect party.
Gifts

Cake
clean up

October 18 – we took Lacie to the doctor for a two week ear recheck from that infection I wrote about before. She checked out fine. At a year old, she weighed 21 pounds and was 29.5 inches long. She also has eight full teeth. She is not eating baby food anymore. She can do all the things “the book” say’s she should be doing.

October 8th, 28th and 29th - Our sweet one year old got lots of loot for Halloween this year for her parents. We first went to the Worlds largest Halloween party at the Louisville zoo on Oct. 8th. Lacie and her friend Noah did great collecting candy. They also attracted lots of attention because they were the cutest kids there. Local Fox News was at the entrance and they were filming the children. Lacie was one of the special ones that made the cut – she was on TV her first time that evening. We also went trick or treating at mommy’s office where they had their first annual Halloween party and trick or treat for the children of the attorneys and staff. It was fun. We had a third opportunity to “trunk” or treat at our church. Again – Lacie got lots of candy – and mommy and daddy just HAVE to eat it so it won’t go bad. You will never guess what Lacie’s costume was this year . . .

October 17 through 31^st
Standing and walking – Oh MY! Mommy really pushed Lacie to crawl as soon as she could. We wanted her to survive in preschool in a class were all the children were already walking. But once she mastered the crawl – mommy was ok to wait as long as possible for Lacie to walk. Daddy on the other hand was so excited about the next big thing – he would say, “Lets work with her again tonight.” Mommy held her ground – Lacie will walk when it is time for her to walk. On October 17 at our baby signs class Lacie stood up for the first time by herself. She pushed off our friend Charlotte’s leg. It was so much fun. We all clapped for her and cheered. Then on Tuesday, October 18, Lacie began standing over and over again. It was like she realized that it was a huge deal and she needed to practice over and over and over. She stood up first by standing on her head. Then she would get to her feet and then get excited and then boom – fall. She got up on her feet, and fell. It became a game. Mommy had the video camera and daddy had the digital. Oh what a fun evening it was. We all slept real hard that night. Here are pictures of her standing by herself for the first time.

On Saturday evening, October 29, Lacie took her very first one step, literally one step. She was startled and then fell. Then on Sunday, October 30^th, Lacie took a total of three steps at one time. It was fun to see her excitement again and also the startled look on her face as she did it. Daddy ran and got the video camera and each time we were ready to get her on film – Lacie wouldn’t do it. Then when we would relax, she would be up again. Today on October 31, 2005 – Lacie took about five steps. I walked in the door from work and she got up and took about five! John swears that she did not do that before I got home and that it was all for me. We are ready when she takes a few more steps – John can’t wait. I can – it just means she is growing up faster and faster - my sweet baby – our sweet baby. Oh we are in love!

October 13 - Lacie is a year old

Today Lacie turns a year old. We are so happy to celebrate this special day with her. We have truly been blessed - as I believe I report each time I post. This time I recognize our blessings because although we only got to have her from nine months old, many families do not meet their babies until after they have already turned a year old. So, to have had three extra months to spend with her, bonding and doing most of her “firsts” with her - is very special. We are celebrating her birthday on Saturday so we will not have any “Birthday” photos to share today - but just wait! I will include a Lacie photo or two before I close - for often times I am sure some just want to see the new picture.

I have thought a lot about Lacie’s birth mom again this week and especially today - and wonder about her. That woman will never know the bond I feel towards or with her and how much we have been blessed by her loss. The more I grow to love Lacie, which is deeper with each passing day, I just cannot imagine looking into that special face a year ago and letting her go. So, today I also pray for a wonderful woman in China, who will always be connected to us by an invisible red thread - and by a little girl who has literally blessed the hearts of so many people who have met her so far, both in the East and the West. I do not really know what she thought or felt a year ago, but I believe that she loves Lacie and chose for her what she thought was best under whatever circumstances she had to work. So I pray that God gives her peace today as she most likely recognizes this special day as well.

Today is a special day too for another reason - and it is because it marks the three month anniversary of us becoming a forever family. The 13th of every month will always be extra special for us. I personally cannot believe it has already been three months and as I have said before, “it has ONLY been three months?” Lacie is now about 20 lbs. She technically has 8 teeth and officially has 6 (Two teeth on bottom have still not completely come all the way up.) She is crawling with skill and pulls up on everything. She can stand by herself (until she realizes she is doing it and then sits real quick). She can drink from a sippy cup (with handles) without help. She can feed herself most foods on her own (not yet using a spoon but holds one while eating.). She is also figuring out she has somewhat of a choice – now denying certain foods like the veggies she once loved. She has discovered chicken this last month and ground burger and other foods and loves Cheddar Cheese.

Lacie’s love is growing daily for her daddy and she does not cry when I leave for work. John has lately picked her up early from daycare and spent additional afternoon time with her. She still loves mommy and still offers her kisses and hugs generously. When she has not seen me all day she will hug me tight, make an “ahhhhh” sound and pat me on the shoulder. That is totally totally priceless and special!

I am attaching pictures of her first portraits at 10.5 months old. We think our daughter is just totally awesome!

October 7 Beginning preschool

On September 26, 2005 Lacie officially began preschool and on Tuesday September 27^th, mommy officially went back to work. The previous week we went to daycare every day in the a.m. and stayed through lunch - just to sit in and play with them and to get a feel for the teachers and the children. Lacie enjoyed herself but was always ready to go home. Every day when we left that trial week I cried on the way home - Lacie did not know that by the way. Anyway - one day I left her in the room for about 15 minutes to talk to the daycare director about food issues and while Lacie did well in my absence - mommy sat in the director's office and bawled like a baby. She handed me a tissue and kept saying - all mommies go through this - it is perfectly normal to feel sad.

The week of the 26^th, I worked a short week – only six-hour days to ease Lacie into daycare. She apparently did well – but each day picking her up she seemed to be less excited about life. By Friday she did not seem herself. I took her temperature and she had a 101 degree temp – her first temp since we have had her. Only one week into preschool and she is already catching some bug. That Saturday a.m. we took her in to see the doctor. He diagnosed her with an ear infection and indicated she was wheezing and prescribed antibiotics and breathing treatments four times a day for two days and then two times a day for two weeks. UGH! So we went home with the nebulizer machine and picked up a boat load of drugs. I was surprised at the hype over a little cough and ear infection and slight fever. Yes, ME – worry and obsessive mommy – was a little bothered by the doctor’s prescription of the breathing treatments. It seemed a little extreme. By late afternoon and evening Lacie became very lifeless. Her temp had shot up to 104.6. OK that did not set well with me. 101 I can accept – 104 did alarm me. Her cough began to get worse as did her congestion. I then appreciated the breathing treatments. At least we could do something actively to try and help her feel better. The breathing treatments were very difficult at first. You tell an 11 month old she has to sit still with a Donald duck mask on her face for 20 minutes. I remembered how my little nephew (he is not little anymore though) had breathing treatments and watched Barnie and he did very well. So, we put in a Baby Einstein video and she actually sat still and watched “Baby Bach” during her treatment. We have been so good to make sure she is not a couch potato baby – and now she gets to watch Baby Einstein two times a day for breathing treatments. She absolutely LOVES to watch those videos. I am amazed how totally involved she gets. By Sunday afternoon she was much better, but still not totally herself and of course we also had just experienced the first week of daycare.

We began our second week of work and daycare this week on a full time schedule. Each day she is getting better and adapting to her teachers and new friends. Each day she comes home exhausted and is ready to go to bed by 8:00 or 8:30. Of course I spend more time rocking her after she falls asleep at night – I miss my days with her. Lacie’s teacher told me she gets excited during circle time when they see flash cards of animals and colors and shapes and they learn the animal sounds, etc.

Mommy has been liberated where food is concerned. Lacie is enjoying real food at daycare (within reason and some restrictions), but now I know that we can feed her regular foods more often than baby food. She absolutely loves cheddar cheese and so now she gets it as if it is desert because she will not eat anything else if we give it to her first.

Daddy is doing a great job taking care of Lacie in the mornings and evenings. I try and leave for work around 7:30 and he takes over until she goes to preschool at 9:00. After I feed her the morning bottle and lay out her clothes for the day and leave for work, John is busy fixing breakfast - regularly cheerios, bananas, and cheddar cheese. Occasionally he gives her applesauce instead of the bananas. Daddy then deals with the dirty diaper, cleans her up and dresses her and then they head off to school. My only request is that she not get there before 9:00. Daddy has also been picking Lacie up by 5:00 and getting her home by 5:30 and giving her an evening bottle – which is soothing for her and also gives her a jump start in case lunch was not good or her afternoon snacks were not satisfying. They are really bonding now that I am out of the picture for a couple hours a day. This has been great for both of them. Soon I will begin picking her up after work once we have a few more days/weeks of adjusting for all of us.

Lacie is still very happy and just loves to laugh and play and love and be loved on. She continues to amaze us every day with her spunk and her wonderful personality. She is also beginning to assert herself, which is fun to experience – for now. Life is good!

Here is what Lacie looked like when I picked her up the first day. No, mommy did not do her hair.

Here are pics of the results of only one week of school - already reading . . .

And breathing treatments