Vanderbilt Official Appointment

We got up this morning and loaded up to head down to Vanderbilt International Adoption Clinic. I said, "ok, lets go bye, bye" and Olivia grabbed her bag! Our appointment was at 10:00 so we wanted to be sure to give ourselves plenty of time.




We got down to the Children's hospital and found where we needed to be. After a short wait, we were taken to a room to wait a few more minutes.












Dr. Rothman came in and asked us a huge list of questions. When she finished she began the normal check up. She measured Olivia's head, looked in her throat and checked her heart. Olivia made it on the percentile chart! She is a big 1% on the weight, 28% on height, and 33% for her head. It is a start!!! :)










In looking at Olivia's paperwork, Dr. Rothman didn't see that she had had a TB test, so that was ordered. This was worse than the blood draw, but it didn't take as long.










Once that was done, we headed down to the lab for her blood draw. Olivia did great considering there was anywhere between 12 and 14 viles of blood drawn. She didn't scream, but laid her head on me and wimpered. It was pitiful!



















We left the hospital and headed toward home. Before we could even get to the interstate, Olivia had fallen asleep.




We made a couple stops to let her sleep a bit and then stopped for lunch.




We wanted to get her something since she did such a great job at the doctor, so we went to Gymboree and I picked up a could things. Ok, ok....that was for me, but she will wear it! :)






We were right at the ice cream store, so we went to get yogurt.






Last, we stopped in to get a couple of books for her. We read two of them before bed tonight!








When we got home, Oscar needed to go out, so I pulled out a car I got her last fall. She enjoyed steering and riding most of the time.






Since she didn't get her full nap, after a good bath, we headed to bed 30 min. early.
Whew, I am glad this day is O.V.E.R.!!!



Tomorrow.....the ZOO!!!!

One month as a family and the first day of spring!

Yesterday, all I could think about was, "a month ago we were doing ____." Then I would think, "Praise the Lord it is this month!" We started our day playing, as usual. Olivia decided rather than playing with the legos that she would get in the bag! Nice!! We got ready so we could meet Stephanie and Noah for breakfast at Cracker Barrell. The one in Lebanon.....not Mt. Juliet!! :) We ate a great breakfast and then headed to Cedars of Lebanon Park. Noah and Olivia had a lot of fun together! I am pretty sure there will be more outings like this to come. Hopefully, our other friends can make it! We missed you.






We came home and I met John in the parking lot of Sonic and switched vehicles. Olivia looked around as if to say, "what just happened here?" John said a couple minutes later she just started laughing! We had to do a quick switch because I had to go work at a local consignment sale. John took Olivia home and ate lunch, napped and played for the afternoon.

















We met back up and ordered dinner with Brandon, Ashley and Everley. We had a blast! It was so fun to watch the girls really get to play. They were running and laughing at full speed! It was getting late so we had to head home for bed.



We got home and I put Olivia to bed and then went to wash my face. John and Oscar were outside when I heard Olivia running frantically through the kitchen. I ran to her and grabbed her up. She was so scared. I think she thought we had left her. We went back to her room where she and I slept in her bed (yep, toddler size) until she was sound asleep. I then took my place on the floor. This lasted until around 3:30 when she woke up again. Every time I would lay her down, she would wake back up. She was sound asleep when I would lay her down. After over an hour, I asked John to take over, but I couldn't go to sleep until I knew she was ok. We are all in the same room, so I could hear every peep she was making and I couldn't just go to sleep. He went to put her down and she did the same thing....sound asleep and then wide awake once she felt he was gone. We felt that she was reacting since she had gotten scared earlier in the night. We could be overanalyzing, but who knows? So, I was going to put her next to me, but John got her and rocked some more and they slept in the rocking chair until this morning. Hopefully tonight will go better. :) As I have said before, one step forward, a few back. We will get there though!

Changes in our first month home--twenty things for a 20 mos. old!:

1. The grieving cry has lessened. I would say gone, but we heard it some last night.

2. She wakes up smiling rather than taking all day to warm up to us!

3. She has tried everything we have given her. Maybe not swallowed it, but she has tried it!

4. She has learned the signs: more, please, eat, milk, thank you, and help.

5. She can make a cow, pig, and monkey sound. Granted moo is mmmmaaaaaa, but extremely cute!

6. She loves her bath!

7. She has learned how to jump!

8. She makes car noises for her toy cars as she crashes them together.

9. This girl can dance! She slow dances when the song is slow and shakes her bootie when it is fast! Love this!

10. She can do 1 step commands such as going to get a diaper or getting a certain toy.

11. She has started snuggling with BOTH of us! After she snuggles with me she goes straight to her daddy for some snuggle time.

12. She no longer drinks formula. She drinks whole milk.

13. She loves to be rocked. When you say it is night night time she goes to get her blankie (towel) and then goes to her rocking chair.

14. She can say: mama, dada, night night, and a lot of babbling.

15. She will sit long enough to read most of a story to her.

16. She gets into her carseat with ease. She actually tries to help me buckle her in.

17. She loves to hug her cousin and friends her size.

18. She had her first ear infection.

19. She is getting much better with sleeping. She usually goes down at 9:00 or
9:30, and wakes up at 3:30 or 4. She goes back to sleep until 5:30 or 6:00 and then comes and lays with me until around 7:00.

20. She is sleeping in her bed during nap and bedtime. We will continue to stay in there until she feels more secure, but we think for now, she is doing amazing!


HAPPY SPRING!!!!!

An outside kinda day!

Today we spent the day outdoors! It was great! We met Traci and her kiddos to walk this morning. This is something that may seem like just another thing to most, but it is something we have literally talked about for a year! A year ago we talked about when John and I got our child home how we would get to go on walks with our child and her son, Landon. I refer to Olivia as "child" there because at this point a year ago we did not have a referral! We didn't know how close we were to that amazing day! Traci and I love to walk and as the weather warms up, we can't get enough of the outdoors. Well, spring came, we got our referral and Traci found out in April that she was pregnant.....with TWINS! So, a year later we took out with our two double strollers and 4 kiddos! What a special memory we made today. Yes, there is a picture, but I don't have it yet. Ding dong here forgot her camera and so I will post the pic. once I get a copy. :)

We left Traci's bunch to get a bite of lunch and then home for a nap. After nap, we went and got Annelyn to go to my school to play on the playground. We met another special friend and her daughter, Everley. Annelyn and Everley have played many times together and have always done great! Today, we added Olivia to the mix. We had fun! John came towards the end of our playtime and brought Oscar. Luckily he was there because Annelyn had a spill on her scooter and Uncle John came to the rescue. I took Annelyn back to Grammy and Grampy's where Grampy fixed her right up!
During bath tonight, I realized how many scrapes and bruises Miss. Olivia came home with from the playground. She never fussed, but she did take some falls. That is part of being outside and her age, I know, but I hate that she is all skinned up! She has a couple places on her little back from going down the slide so many times, and her knees are scraped from today and also from playing outside the other day.






She loved the slide! She went down one tunnel slide and I think that is what scraped her little back. :(


This is the scooter that caused Annelyn's boo boo. She got some pretty good speed on this thing!




Olivia is looking over to see what Annelyn is doing!


For dinner, we had pizza. John, Olivia and I had our own that a friend got for us (thanks Kim!!!) and mom ordered some for them. We had not planned on eating with them tonight, but after Annelyn fell, our afternoon totally changed. Annelyn wanted to lay on the couch and watch t.v. and Olivia would walk over and pat Annelyn's belly. Too cute!!! Somehow, we ate in rounds tonight, but Olivia was the consistant eater. I think she ate some of both kinds! While we waited for mom to get back with theirs, she had some applesauce. This is after 2 pieces of our pizza! She just nibbled on a piece of theirs, but still....she can eat!



After dinner, we took the girls to get ice cream. I thought this would make Annelyn's boo boo feel all better! :) Yep, I wanted ice cream! This was Olivia's first time to get ice cream like this, and she seemed quite pleased!



















It is safe to say that we had one dirty little girl tonight before bathtime, but we had a fun day nonetheless!