5.5 months

I can't believe that we've had her for five and a half months! The time has gone by so quickly. It seems that we've always had her. Grace continues to do well. She isn't growing quickly, and she isn't gaining a lot of weight, but that might be because we aren't feeding her a lot of fat! We are really looking forward to the warmer weather, as we are all suffering from cabin fever. Poor Grace. She got a taste of good weather, and we spent as much time outside as we can. However, now when we are ready to come in the house from running errands, she cries and backs away from the door. She wants to spend more time outside! Poor thing. Believe me, I'd like nothing better than to stay outside. Especially with the week we've had!

On Tuesday I woke up to find our basement carpet wet. After investigating, I found that someone had turned our spiggot outside on. The ground was drenched from the rains that weekend, and then this...our neighbor's spiggot was on, too. (we're in a townhouse) So, we had to move most of our furniture in the basement to get the carpet pulled up. We put a dehumidifier in there and had fans running. Of course, with all the mess, we had to keep Grace out of that room. This was a struggle for me because that's her play room and our tv room. I had to entertain her for four days away from that room. GRRRRR!!!!!!

Today (Saturday) we finally felt that the carpet was dry enough to lay back down. It took us a good portion of the afternoon to get it laid down fairly flat. There's one or two bubbles...not big ones. Of course, then we had to move all the furniture back where it was. We are almost done with the furniture.

As Spring Break begins in our area, I found a handy little parent guide with all kinds of early childhood information in it like child care centers, medical centers, dentists, and best of all preschools. It reminded me that we really should begin to decide which preschool to send her to. She will be two and a half next August, and I would really like to put her into some sort of playschool or preschool. Right now, she does not have any friends that are her age outside of church. Unfortunately, she just started the Sunday School with children her own age, and I only know like two kids in her class. I really would like to get her involved with those kids more so that they can form friendships. I'm a little upset at the SS teacher. I don't know if she's just joking, or if she's serious. When we picked her up the first week, she said "She's so tiny...she's two?" I said yes. The next week, she said "I just can't believe she's two. She's so small. Are you sure she's two?" I explained to her that she was recently adopted from Russia, and that the doctors said she would always be petite- and yes, I'm sure she's two! Why would I lie about her age?

Anyway, I'll let it go for now. She is a little peanut and everyone mistakes her for being much younger. Oh well....take advantage of it now while I can, right??? Enjoy the pictures!

Grace's Birthday

We had the joy of celebrating her second birthday today. I have the flu, so it was interesting for me to get through. I managed to feel well enough for most of it. I have the chills now, and some not-so-pleasant bm's, but my stomach isn't queasy at least.

Anyway, they had pizza (Grace and Brian) for dinner. We then let her open our gifts. She is having a birthday party on Saturday at my In-Law's so we let her open ours today. We then had a tiny cake we got from Jewel. It was cute. I didn't realize they made them so small. Anyway, she loved it and signed "more".

All in all it was pretty good. I wish I wasn't feeling so cold. I'm posting some pics.

Post Placement Relief

Our social worker finallly called us today. She was unaware that our PP Report was moved up from April to March 11. She was also unaware that I was trying to get ahold of her because she had been having problems with her e-mail. She finally heard from our case worker when the president of the agency told our case worker to alert our social worker that I was trying to call. Anyway. So, the report is due on the 11th. She conducted the interview over the phone. She just asked questions about her development since December, which is when she last contacted us. She asked about her height, weight, eating habits, physical development, speech, etc... She also asked us how we as parents are handling the transition to parenthood. We will go into the office on Tuesday so she can physically see the child (necessary because we could by lying about her or something...) and then she can finish the report. However, with the interview today, she could type up most of the report and have it ready very quickly. Yay! Also, because I am taking Grace to the office it's cheaper than having a social worker come out to the house. PHEW! I am so relieved! Ok...so that's the update.

We went to the zoo yesterday while it was nice out. This time, I think Grace really "got" it. While we were walking through the tunnel, she got really excited and started bouncing in her stroller. She just absolutely loved the animals, and this time I really didn't have to work hard at trying to get her to look at the animals or find the animals. I could tell this time that she saw the animals...even when they were quite a distance away. I took one amazing shot of the leopard walking by the glass Grace was standing by, and they look like they are face-to-face. Grace loved it! At lunch time I also realized how much her eating is developing. WHen I make her a sandwich, I usually cut it up for her. At the zoo, I just let her take bites out of the bread while I held it. I turned around to eat my own lunch, and when I turned back around, she was holding the bread just like a big girl and taking a bite out of it like she's known how to all along! Now I know that she can feed herself with a sandwich and I no longer have to chop it up into tiny pieces. Just cut it in half, and she'll do the rest!

Next week, Grace turns two. On the 14th will be her first birthday party! I was just talking to my MIL today to set up the plans. We aren't doing anything fancy or big. We're just inviting our parents, grand parents, and siblings. 16 people total. I think there was some hinting around to invite more (cousins and such), but I don't want a big deal for her first party. Anyway, the 15th will be her first day in the new Sunday School and Children's Church rooms. During our Sunday School hour, she'll be in a new Toddler class, and during the Church hour, she'll go to the Two's. I'm a little nervous and also excited. The class she's in now is for new walkers (she just started walking in November), and I think that being around children her own age will really help her development. Well, that's all the new news for now. I'll post a couple of pictures from the zoo.

I am soooo mad!

Last week, we were notified that our post-placement report was due five months after we brought our daughter home rather than six months. So, our report is due March 11. However, the agency would like it two weeks early so it has time to be translated, etc... Ok, two weeks early was the day before I received the e-mail. Now, the problem doesn't end there. Other than saying what kinds of photos I should send of Grace, it said noting about what the post placement should say, so I wrote a report about how Grace has improved since we brought her home. I e-mailed a copy of it the other day, proud of myself that I've managed to get it done before the due date, only to find out today that it was supposed to be done by the HOME STUDY AGENCY!! Would have been nice to know. So, I have to try to contact the H.S. agency to get them to write the report and all before next Wednesday. Then they lay a guilt trip on my by saying that if we don't have it submitted on time, it will delay the other couples waiting because Russia wants to investigate why the reports are late. Well, they're just going to have to wait. I can't possibly submit a report I don't have, and I'm not to blame that Russia decided to change the requirement to five months. I am soooo frustrated!