handsful

Payton loves his little sis! (and vice versa)

We are asked all the time how Lainey is doing with her adjustment to her new life with us…the easy answer is the title above. She fits perfectly. That doesn’t mean things are GOING pefectly. Afterall, she’s a toddler and it’s been a while since we’ve had a toddler!

Marles and little Miss L

She fights sleep, but sleeps great once she’s snoozing. In fact, she’s now (as of last night) going to bed in her own room and crib. She was already taking her naps there, and doing great. She’s slept through the night, not a peep, for 5 nights in our room, so we decided to make the switch for bedtime last night. She slept like a champ, waking up around 7:30.

Abbey and her friend Kendall joined us all on a walk

She has a temper. Have I mentioned that? So, we’re making “adjustments” there. :) Overall, we’re over the moon blessed and happy. She’s our girl.

Wonder what a leaf tastes like?

This past week was full of medical appointments for Lainey. She had bloodwork done on Tuesday…they had to fill FIVE vials of blood. Poor girl, she was none too happy but stayed still while I and another nurse held her other arm still. We also had to do “diaper” samples…both kinds…that was weird. The GREAT news is all the bloodwork testing came back normal. We were so thankful.

A bit of not so great news is her TB skin test came back positive. After doing a bit of research, we’ve found that although TB is basically non-existent in the US, it’s still pretty rampant in China. Having a Chinese adopted child test positive for TB is actually quite common, and some say it’s because of a certain BCG vaccination that they receive (that children in the US do not). However, she was sent for a chest x-ray on Tuesday and has an appointment with a specialist next Wednesday. Lainey is showing no signs of active TB, and most likely has a non-contagious, dormant form. But, because this could become active at any point in her life, she will begin a daily antibiotic treatment that will last 9 months. Yep, that long. For more information on this, go to this article: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1011

Big bro EJ, getting some good air!

More changes for Lainey…she’s becoming interested in Jack! She still has her little cry/whine that lasts about 2 seconds (which means, hey that dog is still here and I’m protesting…), BUT she’s now reaching out for him, has petted him a few times, and doesn’t mind him being closer to her. She’s making HUGE progress, we were astounded because it basically all changed in a day. Yesterday, Randy spent some time with her, looking at pictures of Jack, and I think it really helped. We’re all relieved…especially Jack, who had taken to leaving the room when he heard her whining!

See what she’s doing here? Pulling the velcro to take off her shoes. When she’s in the careseat, she immediately pulls off her shoes and socks, and throws them down. She takes after her Dad. Barefeet is the way to go. Bet she never had that chance in the orphanage. Life is good!

The solution to Lainey’s dislike for the bath seems to be a) putting a towel under her so she’s more stable and b) adding bubbles. She’s loving bathtime now. Still hates the water-over-the-head moment…and, I did snap a pic of her unhappy self, but I won’t post it! Here are a few more happy ones…

We had a nice Sunday, with Lainey’s first debut at church. Well, since we forgot to change our clocks forward (couldn’t someone have reminded me of that??), we only made it to kid’s church. Everyone enjoyed meeting Lainey and she hammed it up as she’s getting used to doing. She loves a crowd and isn’t the least bit phased by having lots of people around, noise, etc. It’s a good thing, since she’s joined a chaos-filled family like ours! After church, we ended up bringing 2 extra kids home, friends of our big kids. So, we had 9 around the lunch table! Fun…

After lunch and her nap, we (Randy, me, Lainey, and Marley) spent some time in her room. It’s been a bit unorganized (gasp), so I busied myself with figuring out what goes in drawers while everyone played. The pic of her above is her finally liking her rocking giraffe. She’s still not thrilled that it has a face, but she was rocking the thing almost to the point of tipping backwards!

A fashion disaster, right? Red shirt, hot pink sunglasses, sweat pants, and black patent leather shoes? Like I’ve said, the girl loves shoes and insisted on trying these on as I was putting all her shoes away. I say “all” because she already has quite a collection! She clopped around in these with joy.

My middle girl and her dad! I’m so glad that all my girls are such daddy’s girls.

Randy grabbed the camera for a couple of black and whites…

She’s a beauty, truly inside and out

She’s been trying to get her hands on his camera ever since China! It’s caused at least one memorable “fit” when Randy refused to hand it over.

Lainey had her first visit to Golden Corral tonight…weird that I mention that probably, but Randy and I have fond memories of taking our then 4 year old and 3, 1 year olds and all 6 of us eating for a total of $16! Their “free for kids 4 and under” policy was taken advantage of many times…they probably hated to see us coming. Lainey loved her peas, carrots, biscuit, pears, potato, corn, cut-up popcorn shrimp, and mac ‘n cheese. You can see how her cleft is really holding her back with eating, huh?

We made some progress with bath time tonight. We added some bubbles, which she loved and by the end of it, she was even splashing. She still hates to have her hair rinsed, but I think all babies hate that.

Last thing…I have a helper around the house. Thankfully, we had a child’s broom. Today, we realize we need a child’s mop (someone spilled their drink at the lunch table…). Off to Target, I guess.

Yes, another picture of her eating. I wanted to get a shot of her with her homemade “Lainey” bib, made by Kelly B from my Ladybug believers yahoo group. Isn’t it the cutest? In case you’re wondering, that’s broken up blueberry muffins on her plate.

Lainey had her first check-up at the pediatrician today and it went well. She was very cooperative, and it was a long appointment! She weighs 23.5lbs. and is 32 inches long…that puts her 25% for height and 50% for weight on the US charts. She’s a healthy little thing :) The poor girl had a TB test (which they’ll read the results on on Monday) and 4 vaccinations! Her face turned a nice shade of purple somewhere between shot 2 and 3. She recovered quickly, though. We were told that we can start transitioning her to milk…we might gradually switch her to US toddler formula (she’s still on the Chinese) and then slowly replace it with milk. I’m sure she’ll love it. We also asked about a small scar that’s on her upper left arm. The pediatrician said it’s a mark from her small pox vaccine, which they stopped giving to children in the US sometime in the 60′s! That surprised us.

Oh, and I forgot to mention what happened yesterday…she pulled out a can of whipped cream from the fridge door and it fell directly on her big toe. Almost immediately, it turned purple under her toenail. (hmm…2 purples in one post!) So, today the pediatrician used this torture-looking tool to BURN a hole in her toenail, which relieved the pressure. It didn’t hurt her a bit! But, she said Lainey might lose her toenail.

She is scheduled for several tests and bloodwork on Monday and more shots in 4 weeks. We could have done the extra testing today, but we thought we’d give the girl a break!

I told Randy that we should give her Motrin (because of her shots) everyday, because she was in SUCH a great mood today. She had a great time playing and even starting picking up the sign for “more” at lunchtime.

Tennis anyone?

Even with her big toe bleeding (see her sock), she’s still this happy

Tonight was the girls last Upward cheering game for the season. They did great, and after missing the last 3 games because of our trip, I was so happy to be able to watch them shine. Marley is 1st on left and Abbey is 6th.

Lainey loved her first basketball game! She really watched the game and her sisters cheering…she was clapping, waving, and smiling at everyone. The girls squad did a lot of praying for us before and during our trip, and we are so thankful…they were thrilled to see Lainey and she was eating up the attention!

Lunch today was a hit…the girl loves fruit, so the peaches went first.

It’s been 18 days since Gotcha day! We’ve been home for 7 days, we returned home a week ago tomorrow. For the most part, Lainey’s transition (and ours) is going well. She has her “moments” which I believe is just a result of a lack of discipline (i.e. pitching a fit in the orphanage meant treats were given…), so we’re gently showing her that the fits won’t work around here and sometimes we just have to say “no” to something she wants. Generally, she’s a very happy girl, unless she’s tired or hungry. But, isn’t that any 20 month old? We are heaping on the love and attention, which is easier given there are 6 of us to do it!

What else have we learned about Lainey so far??

She can wave hello / bye-bye

She loves shoes…gets very excited to see them, and sticks her foot out ready to go!

She has many, many facial expressions. Some are silly, some are adorable (her eyes turn to closed slits with a big smile!), some are pitiful (the girl can cry), and some will make you fall over laughing.

She’s very good at imitating actions and some sounds.

She has few vocalizations so far. She can say “ma” which usually is accompanied by her handing you something…so, we’re interpreting it as “here ya’ go”. She can say other vowel sounds, like “uh”. Nothing meaningful yet, that we can tell. She’s not responding to “go to dada/mama” yet, but we’re working hard on that.

She knows her name, Lainey, and responds to it. She never responded consistently to QingQin, so we dropped it early on.

She knows the word no, immediately backs away from what she was trying to touch, and grins.

She still does not like stuffed animals, though we made some headway on that today as I helped her play with some of Marley’s. She actually touched them herself.

She REALLY hates the big, stuffed animal Barney of Payton’s. We use it to block off the opening in the family room between the chair and couch. It’s our Barney gate. She doesn’t scream or anything, just backs away.

She seems to like her blanket now, and has stopped throwing it off of her.

She likes the stroller (as long as it’s moving) and tolerates the car seat.

Her favorite game is taking the toy magnets off the fridge and chucking them over the gate.

The only food she’s turned her head to is babyfood green beans (who can blame her?)

We introduced her to her swing yesterday…

Lainey has her 1st pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning, and it just might involve shots. Thankfully, she knows nothing about it. :)

Lainey is having no problems at all adjusting to new foods, as you can see! Mrs. S’s spaghetti and meatballs was a hit!

Here, Randy is attempting to turn my little girl into a sports fan. She looks like a daddy’s girl!

Everyone says to get out in the sunshine to help re-set our bodies to US time, so outside we went. We took a stroller ride around the block, and then enjoyed the beautiful day in the yard. Lainey wasn’t so sure about the grass, most likely her first time with it. She eventually sat right down and started exploring.

Hmmm…wonder what a leaf tastes like…

One day, I’ll climb that tree just like my brothers and sisters!

Cool Jack, enjoyed the day as well. Lainey still wants nothing to do with the poor guy.

She’s been celebrating for about 2 weeks now…a slumber party a couple of weeks ago, out with the family to the Melting Pot for dessert and a trip to Build-A-Bear, the Winter Jam concert last Friday. The girl knows how to celebrate! We can’t believe our baby turned 12 yesterday…only one more year before the official teen years begin. We see glimpses of that teenager already, and most of the time we’re happy about it (grin). Here are a few more pictures to enjoy…

Abbey’s party…she was so nice to her momma and only invited a few friends this time!

Having a neighborhood scavenger hunt on Saturday morning…bringing back ice cubes was tricky ;)

Us girls at the Melting Pot

flaming chocolate and marshmallows anyone?? Yum…