Savannah Turns One!!

Today is Savannah's first birthday. This day last year was was Thanksgiving Day. We don't know for sure if she was born on this day, but that is what they estimated her birth to be. Four days later she was left at a gate at the entrance of an Institute across the street from the orphanage that later became her home. What a blessing to be able to celebrate her first year even though she has only been with us for a few months. She has been in our hearts for 3 1/2 years.

So, here's an update on her birthday and how things have been going. We had a family birthday party a few weekends ago to celebrate Savannah and her two cousins who share a November birthday. My family has a lot of children, so we have to group them together. Otherwise, we would be celebrating every weekend.

Savannah has been feeling off the last two weeks. She wasn't a happy camper for her birthday party. For the first time, she wouldn't let me leave her sight. She just whined and cried for me. The sound of my voice even upset her. She was not content with Daddy. This is a big time first because Daddy is her #1. She's better, but waking up screaming around 3 and wanting to hang out. Not what we want to do at 3 am. I think we are back on the teething track. We'll see how tonight goes.

Otherwise, we are all adjusting well. Savannah continues to get heavier and heavier. Meal times are still challenging at times, but much better. She's all over the house. We are constantly, closing doors and finding way to keep her out. Today, she kept sitting on the dishwasher while daddy was trying to load it. The kitchen is where she wants to be. She's always picking up little things off the floor and keeping them in her fist. She doesn't have a clue how to feed herself or put anything in her mouth. I try to put her hand to her mouth, but she doesn't open her hand to put the food in. She has figured out how to put her fingers in get the food out of her mouth. She's smarter than she lets on to be.

Aiden and Shelby still adore her. The honeymoon period has not ended yet. They still want to actively participate in mothering her. Aiden wants to almost as much as Shelby. On many occassions, Aiden has asked If I would leave Savannah at home with him and Daddy so they can watch her. He doesn't think I should always have to take her with me. It is very cute that he wants her to himself.

I better close and tend to bedtime. Have a blessed Thanksgiving this week! We have many things to be Thankful for. I can finally say that I'm thankful to have my baby girl home from China.

God Bless,
Jennifer

Happy Birthday Savannah!

Savannah

Homeschool Field Trip To The Monterey Bay Aquarium

Photo Update!!

Late Photos of Mike's Birthday dinner.

These photos are totally out of order with all my posts. Mike's birthday was in early October. Yeah, I'm totally lagging. Blogging or just dealing with my photos has been a challeng. I'm one of those that leaves tons of photos on the memory stick and then eventually dumps them in a folder to deal with later. Blogging forces me to deal with my photos much sooner than I'm used to. I still have yet to print any of them.

Anyways, this is Mike's birthday. We had a great time and was able to use some gift cards we got before we left for China. Enjoy!!

This is my FAVORITE!!! Savannah has a special bond with her daddy!

Bye Bye Baby Food!!

Well, many of you know my challenges with feeding Savannah. When we arrived home with her she was taking 6 bottles a day. I started to introduce her to baby foods one at a time and progresses to stage 3 baby foods. During this process she protested, screamed, tightening her teeth and lips and started spitting.

Meal times were the worst time of the day. Those meals became very emotional for both of us. She would finish her meal crying and screaming and I would be ANGRY. It was causing a barrier in the bonding process. Soon, a light bulb went off and I decided that we needed to change our whole approach. She liked the Gerber puffs that her Dr. recommended, so I went with that. We started feeding her real food that she could chew rather than filling her mouth with all that messy baby food that she would spit out or let sit in her mouth. The change has been amazing!! Our meal times are clean and happy. She lets me fill her mouth and she just keeps eating. She's a bottom less pit. She eats, chicken, carrots, peas, avocado, peaches, apples, vienna sausages, noodles, scrambled eggs and waffles.

Next, she needs to figure out how to put it in her mouth herself. For now, I'm just happy she is eating and we are all happy while doing it.