Russian Adoption Journey

Summer Fun

2009-08-01T13:51:00.004-04:00

Alivia and I are enjoying our three day weekends this summer! Yesterday we spent the day at the Cabana Club at the beach. Livi LOVES the beach and we played in the surf for an hour and then moved to the pool to swim. Livi found a couple shells that she had to bring home with her. Then we cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill before going to visit Gran. And that was all just yesterday! Today is dress up day... Livi has a thing for playing with Mama's makeup so I bought her a makeup kit of her own. She's been totally enthralled and would spend hours "making face" if I let her.

Here's her royal highness on her throne. She held an audience today and I must inform you that crowd was thrilled. Such applause! Such fanfare! She then prepared a tea party for mama, Mickey Mouse and baby Gina. (We had baked the cookies a couple nights ago just for such an event!)

Livi's birthday was a few weeks ago on July 5th. We had a Mickey Mouse themed party complete with birthday cake and homemade ice cream. My cousin Stormy came over with her son Quincy and he just fell in love with Livi's tea cart. He was pushing the thing all over the house. His mama's going to blackmail him with this photo later...

What else did we do in July... we rode the ferry just to watch the dolphins play, we went to the beach a couple times, we made several batches of homemade ice cream, and we played on the swings... a lot. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over and school starts up in just three weeks! We have to start looking at school clothes and supplies and planning for the Fall holidays soon... Whew! Time sure flies when you're having fun!

~ Jeana

End of June

2009-06-27T18:29:00.005-04:00

We are quickly coming up on Alivia's birthday and our family anniversary day! It's hard to believe Alivia will be 4 years old in just a few days and that we have been a family for three years! I've been reflecting back on this last year and I am amazed at how much progress Alivia has made--especially in the last few months. Our toileting situation has its good days and its bad days. Alivia is in a new daycare situation and isn't thrilled with it, and as a result she's had a number of accidents. It's improving, though, and I think she'll do better once she feels more comfortable there. She's not crying when I drop her off, so I'm not too worried about her adjustment there--and it's only for another seven weeks.

Alivia is on a new medication--one meant to stimulate her appetite. It's working well--she's eating a lot more than she has up till now. I think she's put on a half pound or more just in the last few days. I expect I'm going to have to really start watching her snacking and make sure she's eating more fruit and healthier choices instead of cookies and sweets. It will be an unusual change from being thankful for any little bite of anything that she eats!

Today we went to Portrait Innovations and got these lovely photos done. Livi was *not* in the best of moods and didn't cooperate too well for a lot of them. We did manage to capture several good shots, though, so I'm happy. I was really looking forward to finally getting some photos of her and her American Girl doll in their matching dresses. Everyone there commented on how cute they were together.

Next week I have to make the long drive to Tallahassee to get my final post placement report apostilled. I was hoping to do it on Monday when I'm off, but it looks like I will have to take a day (or at least an afternoon) off to do it. I'm really not happy about that! I've tried calling my social worker several times to find out where it's at (I haven't received it yet!) and she has yet to return my call. She was supposed to have had it to me last week. Grrrrrrr!

Here's hoping the rest of you are staying cool! The summer is really starting to heat up here in Florida and we're expecting this weekend to be a real scorcher!

~ Jeana

Cause for Celebration!

2009-06-17T23:12:00.004-04:00

Woo Hoo! I'm utterly thrilled to announce that Alivia is finally potty trained! She's had several days with no accidents. She absolutely loves wearing her big girl panties! Long Happy Sigh... You can't imagine how happy I am that she is no longer wearing pullups except at night. I think we'll be able to curtail that soon, too! Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! (Happy dancing all over the place!)

This first photo is from Alivia's speech therapy. They are doing an electo-stimulus to her throat muscles. She has to eat and talk throughout the one hour session and it's supposed to help her with speech and cure a drooling issue that we have as a result of all the surgeries. She does pretty well with it for the most part and it seems to be helping!

While we were on our trip last month we visited my brother and his boys in Indy. This shot is Alivia with her cousins Bradley and Corey. Bradley is in school learning the automotive trade and Corey has just graduated high school this year. I'm really proud of both of them! They are really nice young men and both just doted all over Alivia while we were there. Her uncle was even more nuts over her--I was amazed at how he tolerated all her spills and demands, but he was a real trooper. (I think he loved having the chance to play with a toddler after all these years of teenagers.)

These last two photos were taken at the American Girl Store in Chicago. We were there with Christy, Cindy and Katie. Alivia got her doll that day--one of the bitty twins--and named it Jeana (after me!) Christy ordered Katie's doll and they picked her up just a few weeks ago. They got her one of the new historical dolls whose story is that she is a Russian immigrant. Both girls enjoyed visiting the store. Livi wanted to also bring home a doll stroller, but I managed to talk her out of it as we already have a couple at home.

While we were there we treated ourselves to a lovely lunch in the store's restaurant. The food was surprisingly tasty and the girls got to have companion dolls with them during the meal. The service was impeccable! I would recommend it for girls slightly older than ours, though, to really let them get the most out of the experience. Here the two girls are lying on the floor next to the American Girl star. They're such little hams!

~ Jeana

A New Look

2009-06-07T14:07:00.004-04:00

Okay... I was getting a bit bored with the old look of the blog. I decided it was time for something fresh and new. I hope you like it! I've also added an IM function so if you happen to check here and see me online, feel free to ping me!

As of this past Friday school is out for the summer for Alivia! She'll be spending her days with Gran and getting in lots of swimming, sliding, and playing. I'm hoping something will work out so that I can afford to put Alivia in dance classes over the summer, too, but things aren't looking too good in that area right now.

It's hard to believe Alivia's birthday is coming up soon! And I think we may have finally broken the potty training barrier! Hurray! She's been wearing big girl panties for a couple days now and has only had one accident. I'm hoping this trend will continue! I'm ready to stop buying pullups in a big way!

Speaking of Alivia, these two photos are from our trip last month. One is of Alivia in front of the Sanrio store in Chicago. The other is one of my favorites--a group hug with her friends Katie and Grace. I think it would make a great book cover if I ever manage to get around to writing it...

~ Jeana

Happy Mothers' Day!

2009-05-10T20:51:00.001-04:00

Sorry for not posting recently. April was an extremely busy month. My conference was the second week and then we were getting ready for our vacation. We just returned yesterday. We had a fabulous time! And I have lots of new photos to share! Hurray!

We spent the first week of vacation in Madison, Wisconsin with our friends Kelly and Grace. Christy, Cindy, and Katie joined us there, as well, and we all had a great time. We went boating on the lake, painted pottery, baked cookies, had a tea party, did a group photo shoot, went to the zoo, had a picnic, made homemade pizzas, and played outside a lot in the wonderfully mild weather. Us moms took advantage of the time together to hire a baby sitter and enjoy a childless dinner and movie. What a treat!

On Wednesday, Christy, Cindy, Katie, Alivia and I all left Madison for Chicago. We visited the Navy Pier, the American Girl Store, and Legoland. The girls really enjoyed the American Girl Store and Alivia got a new doll who she named Jeana after me! I thought that was really cool as up until this all of her dolls had been named Ali after herself. Her doll has blond hair and blue eyes just like her. I'm planning to take her and her doll to do some professional photos soon.

Then on Friday, Alivia and I left Chicago for Indianapolis where we visited with my brother and his two boys. It was a great evening--and I'm hoping we can see them again before another two years passes. We go way too long between visits!

Okay--now for the adventure tales from the trip... Livi and I had an uneventful set of flights to Indianapolis. When we got off the flight we stopped by the ladies room before going to pick up our bags and our rental car and when we got to baggage everything was gone except for our stuff. I had Livi, two suitcases, and her carseat to deal with, so I got a skycap to help us get everything out to the car. I decided to upgrade our rental at the last minute--the original vehicle only had two doors which is really difficult with a car seat. We got on the road at about 11 a.m. in pouring rain and started the 5 and a half hour drive to Madison.

About an hour and a half into the drive my cell phone rang. I had almost forgotten to bring it--in fact I had to turn around and go home to get it. Thank God I did! My dad was on the phone and informed me that we had the wrong suitcase! Apparently another passenger had a large red suitcase like ours and had picked up ours instead of hers. Since only a red suitcase and Livi's carseat were left at the baggage claim, I didn't bother to check the tags... We had to turn around and drive all the way back to Indianapolis and exchage suitcases.

We ended up hitting Chicago at rush hour and our 5.5 hour drive turned in to a good nine hours. I was so ticked! Thankfully the conference I attended over the next two days was so great and the time we spent with our friends was so enjoyable that it made all the aggravation of getting there worth while.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

~ Jeana

End of March Update

2009-03-28T22:52:00.000-04:00

Livi's surgery to remove her ear tubes went extremely well--10 minutes and they were done! While he was working on her, our ENT looked closer at her palette, though, and determined that the muscle doesn't go all the way across yet and so he's going to have to repair it. So... this summer we will be redoing her jaw and then next summer we will be doing her cleft palette. That really sucks!

In other news... Livi has been a real terror lately. She's got a super independent streak going and she's pushing her boundaries in all directions. On the upside (so to speak) I now have a new bit of leverage. We built a beautiful swing for Alivia in her play yard that she absolutely loves! If she misbehaves she loses swing time. We'll see how that goes...

We're both on spring break this week so we'll have lots of mommy and me time to try to get things back on an even keel. I'm hoping to go to Disney on Wednesday for my birthday, since I will get a $70 gift card to use in the parks. (I have a season pass so I already get in "free" on my birthday and they are giving me the gift card instead.) Livi's birthday is coming up in three months and I'd like to use the card to get her a nice Disney related gift.

No new photos to share... hopefully we'll have some in the next couple weeks.

~ Jeana

March of the Livis...

2009-03-15T00:51:00.001-04:00

Alivia and I have had an exciting March so far. We spent last weekend at Disney and Livi absolutely loved it! This was the first time she really knew who the characters were and she got so excited every time she saw one of them. She actually knocked Minnie Mouse over when she ran up to her and wrapped herself around the poor woman's legs! She also finally got to ride the roller coaster in Toon Town. She loved it, of course, and loved the Teacups, too. "Faster, Mama! Faster!"

Next week Livi has surgery--a minor one to remove her remaining ear tube. I'm hoping she doesn't have a bad reaction to the sleeping gas this time. Last time she got really sick and kept throwing up... Yucky Poo! as Livi would say.

Today Livi decided to try out Mama's mascara. Now, I hardly ever wear the stuff and I'm pretty certain she's never seen me put it on, but as you can tell from these photos she actually had a pretty fair idea of what to do with it. Thank God it was just mascara, though! At first I thought it was ink and we had a party to go to this evening. Yikes! She's also still into practicing her model poses, as you can see.

I'm hoping to spend at least part of tomorrow at a park so Livi can do some sliding and swinging. I'm also hoping to get her play area set up in the backyard over spring break so that we can swing and slide at home. Spring break is going to be a bit on the busy side as I am planning to squeeze in another Disney trip then, too. We'll see...

~ Jeana

Livi's Trophy

2009-02-11T21:41:00.000-05:00

Livi is so proud of her photo trophy. This photo was taken at the ceremony. She made the whole crowd laugh with her cute little scrunchy face. I'd love to capture more sweet smiles, but I have to admit that this one is cute!

She's been on really good behavior lately (excluding the scissors episode) so I'm thinking about taking her to the zoo this weekend. I'm hoping the weather will be nice enough for it.

This photo was taken this evening. She was wandering around the house "watching" her trophy. I can't wait until her hair grows out a bit...

~ Jeana

Oh... My... God...

2009-02-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

While I was in my office typing up my last post, Alivia was in my bathroom giving herself a haircut... Sigh... the bangs are her work. I decided there was no way to save it and cut the rest of her hair to match. Sigh... Thank goodness she waited until after the trophy ceremony to figure out how to open the medicine chest and find the scissors...

~ Jeana

Livi Got Another Trophy!

2009-02-08T18:29:00.000-05:00

Well, last year, Alivia won two runner up trophies. This year she only received one trophy, but it was for Voters Choice Overall Winner for the Most Photogenic Baby Comic Category (2-3 year old). This is the photo that we entered in that category. We also had another photo entered, but it didn't win anything. It was really difficult to decide which photos to enter because she had so many cute ones. I'm posting the one that didn't win and a few of the other cute ones below. The organization that does this contest will be posting photos of the winner getting their awards tomorrow and I'll add that one, too.

Funny story--they give out dozens of awards at this thing--mostly the small runner up trophies like Alivia won last year. This year the crowd was rather quiet and sometimes clapped and sometimes didn't as the kids went up on the stage to get their trophies and pose for a picture with the trophy. Well, Alivia made a bit of a production out of getting her trophy and did a couple of her "model" poses and then did her signature squint face. Everyone in the crowd laughed and applauded for her. It was too cute! I wish I'd had my video camera with me.

Here's one of her supermodel poses--a la Tyra Banks and America's Next Top Model...

~ Jeana

Finally a Warm Day!

2009-02-07T19:23:00.000-05:00

It has been miserably cold here for the last few weeks, but today we finally had a warm day. Alivia and I spent the day running errands--one of those errands was to check out the competition at the Most Photogenic Baby Competition. Tomorrow is the awards ceremony. I'm fairly confident that Livi will get at least one trophy. Speaking of photos, these are a couple of the photos from the photo shoot that I didn't enter into the competition. I'l post the ones from the competition tomorrow along with the results. I love doing this competition just because of the quality of the photos we get out of it. The photographer is great!

Another of our errands today was to check out summer camps at the Jax Camp Expo. Most of them catered to older kids, but there were several that she was eligible for. If we can get her potty trained it will open up more options for us. Of course all of the ones at the Expo were open to the general public and weren't specifically tailored to special needs kids, so I had to discuss our situation with each of the ones I was interested in to see if it would be a good fit. I also want to talk to some of the special needs camps, but most of them seem to cater to more profound issues than Alivia has, so I'll need to be careful in that respect, too. I'd love to find a place with a low child to adult ratio and lots of out door activities and active play that operates all day for several weeks. We'll see...

On a taking care of Mommy note, I've decided to go back to school and get my doctorate. The job market is just too scary and will be for some time, so I want to make sure I have as many options as possible. And my leg seems to be doing okay. I go back on the 13th for more x-rays, but at the moment there's little pain and it's more of an inconvenience that anything else.

Cheers!

~ Jeana

The Big Chill

2009-01-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

For the last week or so Florida has been suffering through some majorly cold weather (for Florida anyways!) It's been down in the 20's at night and only getting into the low 40's during the day. It supposed to warm up a bit this weekend (to around 60) and I'm hoping that Livi and I can get out to the park or something. Maybe the circus... although I'm not sure she's ready for that just yet.

My knee doesn't hurt at all and fortunately won't need surgery, although I do have to wear a hinged brace for three months. They will be doing xrays every few weeks to make sure the fracture doesn't depress and as long as it doesn't I should be good to go by the end of April. Right now it's mostly an inconvenience.

We did get some not so good news with regard to surgery for Alivia, this week, though. The first is okay--they are going to remove her ear tubes in March. The other is very disappointing. It appears her lower jaw is not growing as fast as the rest of her face and they are going to have to repeat the jaw surgery on her this summer. I just hope she tolerates it as well this time around. Now that she's older she's a lot more difficult to handle at times.

Otherwise, things are going well. We are looking forward to the results of the Most Photogenic Baby Contest in a couple weeks. We have two photos entered this time--one in the comical category and one in the precious category. I love them both and hope the judges like them, too.

We are also looking forward to Spring Break even though it's still a couple months away. I don't think we'll do anything other than *maybe* a trip to Disney, but it will be nice to have the time off. (Yeah, I know I just had two weeks off for the holidays... it wasn't nearly long enough!)

Speaking of Disney, Alivia is no longer just a Blue's Clues girl. She now loves to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she'll watch Sesame Street, too. Hurray! Now that she knows the Disney characters I can't wait to take her back to the Magic Kingdom. She gets so excited when she sees Mickey on the tv--just imagine her reaction to seeing him in person!

~ Jeana

Post Holiday Blues...

2009-01-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

Normally I don't get them, but this year... Actually we had a great Christmas. Livi loved every minute of it and I hope to post some pictures shortly. It was the days after Christmas where things got a bit rough. Livi and I were riding the metro train in downtown looking at Christmas lights and had an unfortunate accident. We tried to slide over on the seat to allow other passengers to sit down, but part of my leg slid and part of it didn't. OUCH!!!! I seriously injured my left knee (tore cartilage and fractured the tibia.) I won't know until next week if it's going to require surgery, but at the moment it's looking like a minimum of 3 months in a cast... We won't be going to the zoo for a while...

~ Jeana

And the Classic Elf Dance...

2008-12-11T13:05:00.001-05:00

Couldn't resist doing another one...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Alivia the Christmas Elf

2008-12-11T12:56:00.001-05:00

I played around with this a bit last year--it's really cute. This year they've added a couple new dances for your elves. Here's one of my favorites starring none other than my own dearest Alivia...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-07T00:55:00.001-05:00

I realize it's been forever (well, since September anyway) since I've had any time to post and I do apologize! This has been an incredibly hectic term at work and we've also been busy with Alivia's doctor appointments, vacation travel, and, of course, Livi's school.

This week I'm wrapping up three of the four classes I had on my teaching schedule for this term. I can't believe how much work it was keeping up with the grading and the discussion boards for these classes! It's been really crazy! I'm hoping things will slow down at least a bit after the new year... Since Spring is generally my busiest time at work, we'll just have to wait and see how that works out! Ha!

Back in October we went on a wonderful cruise with my parents and some of our friends who are also families formed by adoption--the group we get together with each year in St. Louis. Alivia, Grace and Kelly all got along great, as usual, and had a wonderful time! We did a dolphin encounter that was so much fun for the girls! We moms all tried scuba diving--tried is the operative word there. Let's just say that it's not a hobby I'm going to be taking up. I did okay during the initial training session, but when it came to the deep water dive, my ears wouldn't clear and I couldn't go down past about 15 feet. I ended up injuring one of my ear drums and I never did get what I would call "comfortable" being under water like that. I'd much rather stay in the boat and drink margaritas...

Alivia is still loving school. She adores her teachers and get's excited every morning when it's time to leave. And she's got a boyfriend! She and one of the boys in her class, Brandon, are "an item". It's so funny to watch them together. They insist on sitting by each other at lunch, they play together, talk all the time... it's the cutest thing! He's in a wheelchair (cerebral palsy, I believe) and let's her climb all over him and ride with him on the back of his chair. They're just adorable together. Even the teachers comment on it all the time.

We are dealing with some behavioral issues at school, though. Livi just can't seem to resist biting. We're trying some new ideas to try to nip her nipping, but so far we aren't seeing much success. We actually have a team of about eight people working on this right now! She also likes to pull hair, but they've given the other kids hats to wear which seems to block that activity pretty well.

She also has difficulty sitting still and paying attention and the teacher has asked about having her medicated for ADHD, but we're not going to go that route. Livi's still having problems gaining weight and the drugs for ADHD kill the appetite. Not the direction we want to go for her at all! I think her attention span can be managed by behavior therapy so we're working on that right now, too. Academically, Livi is doing well, it's just the behavioral stuff that's a problem at the moment.

I got Livi's holiday photos done--and I'm delighted with how they turned out! She can photograph so beautifully! She's still so tiny that most people are shocked to find out she's almost 3 and half years old now. Of course, in photos it's hard to tell how small she is, but she's still wearing 18 month sizes in most things. She's the smallest kid in her class--and probably always will be.

I decided not to do a Santa photo this year, although Livi has been to see Santa twice. She never seems to photograph well in those rushed kind of situations. She really needs a photographer who can take his/her time with her and then we can get wonderful photos like these. I'm looking forward to the photogenic baby contest again this year for that very reason. The photographers they use really seem to know how to engage the kids and the photos we got from them last year were great!

Mom, Dad, Livi and I are planning a little jaunt up to Savannah over the holidays. We're going to go to Lady and Sons Restaurant and tour the historic district. That will be a nice little break. Otherwise we plan to take it easy and relax. I've got all my Christmas shopping done--most of it was done online--and now I just have to get everything put together and wrapped. I'm SO looking forward to Christmas this year! Livi is now starting to "get the hang of it" so to speak. She loves seeing Santa and is excited about getting presents. It's going to be so much fun!

~ Jeana

September Already?

2008-09-04T22:28:00.000-04:00

Where did the summer go?

Alivia, contrary to all my fears, absolutely LOVES school! She hasn't cried one single day at this school, and she cried EVERY day when I took her to daycare. It's a nice change! She's also getting chattier every day and mastering new skills, too! She's even started singing along with the music in the car! (I've been trying to get her to do that for months!)

I'm busier than a postman at Christmas these days--I'm teaching three classes (with a fourth to be added in November) in addition to my regular 9-5 stuff. Plus there's all the post-storm cleanup and the storms just seem to keep coming and coming. Thankfully Hanna has stayed off shore, but Ike looks rather threatening at the moment. And I'm hoping the storms will die down by the time of our cruise in just one month.

These lovely photos were taken by my friend Justin at different times over the last few months. The one on the train is from July 4th when we went downtown to see the fireworks. The others are from a few weeks ago at the zoo. If it's nice enough this weekend I'm going to try to take Livi to the zoo again. She loves it there! The last couple days have been a little more pleasant with comfortable temps and only a little rain. Here's hoping that holds for a few more days.

Mom and I have already figured out Livi's Halloween costume for this year. She's going to be a ballerina. She has the cutest little tutu outfit. We also picked up a Princess Belle (Disney's Beauty and the Beast) gown for her, but it's a bit too big. It should do well next year, though! Of course, by then I hope to have a few other Disney costumes for her, too. Playing dress up is so much fun!

~ Jeana

First Day of School

2008-08-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

Today was Alivia's first day of school! Granted, she's in a Pre-K3 program, but it is at the regular elementary school with kids all the way to 5th grade! She's probably the tiniest student at the school. We took the obligatory first day of school photo--Livi wasn't too excited about having her picture taken first thing in the morning... Dropping her off for the first day was a lot harder on me than on her, too. She seemed enthralled with the new sights and people. Gran and Papa picked her up after school and said she was happy to see them (translation--she was more than ready to go HOME.) We'll see how she acts when I drop her off tomorrow... I have a feeling it won't go quite as smoothly as today did.

Here's another photo from our trip to St. Louis last month. Livi was in her element playing tea party! I think purple is a pretty good color for her, too... In other news, Livi had eye surgery last week. It went pretty well results-wise, but she's been very "needy" ever since. Or maybe she's just coming in to the terrible 2s-3s. It's hard to tell.

Only 7 more weeks until our cruise... Can't wait!

~ Jeana

The CHI Annual Picnic Weekend

2008-07-15T22:34:00.000-04:00

Alivia and I made it home late this afternoon after a long and exciting weekend in St. Louis with our friends Christy, Cindy, Katie, Kelly and Grace. We had a fantastic time and I've got a lot of pictures to upload, but I'm going to have to do a quick drive by post now with just a few and catch up with details and more pics later. I'm exhausted! So... please enjoy these few while I recover... The one of the three girls all dressed up is from our tea party on Monday. The other two are at the CHI picnic when Livi and Grace couldn't resist joining in with the dancers. Too cute! Enjoy!

~ Jeana

Happy Birthday, Dear Livi...

2008-07-06T22:38:00.000-04:00

Saturday was Alivia's 3rd birthday! We celebrated on Friday with Livi's first fireworks outing. She thought riding the train (the elevated railway that runs around downtown Jacksonville) was the best thing she'd ever done. It was all she could talk about the rest of the night... She enjoyed the fireworks, as well, but the train was the best!

Saturday we both slept in and then spent the late morning and early afternoon running around town looking for Blue's Clues items for her birthday celebration. The Party City near us has quit carrying them, and we had to go to two other stores before we found any. Fortunately they did have the main thing I wanted--handy, dandy notebooks! We also got a bobble-head blue for her cake topper. After we finished our shopping we went the long way home and stopped at a park we had passed on our way to one of the shops. I wish I'd had my camera there--it's a great park and Livi had a blast. The whole thing is castle-themed--you enter through the castle gates and it's divided into several courtyard areas--each with swings, slides, climbing equipment, etc. There were several families there, but it felt like we had the place to ourselves the way everything was arranged. Really cool!

After Livi's nap we headed over to Gran's and Papa's house for her birthday celebration. We cooked hot dogs on the grill and had ice cream cake. Livi really liked her new car--although she kept trying to drive it Fred Flintstone style instead of using the pedals. Too cute! She also loved the card Gran gave her--a musical one that played "Dancing in the Streets." She played it over and over again.

Overall, a nice birthday weekend for my little girl!

~ Jeana

My Little Gymnast

2008-06-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

Livi is now taking gymnastics classes. It's a parent-child class that allows me to work with her as she is not yet ready for an independent class. It's a lot of fun for both of us. If I could just get her to quit pulling the other kids' hair, it would be great! Surprisingly, for a kid who has balance issues, Livi does really well on the balance beam. She just trots from one end to the other, turns and trots right back. She is great with the tumbling activities, too. She has significant upper body strength, but tends to let go of the bar when we try to turn her over on the parallels, but I have no doubt she'll do well with those, too, once she realizes she needs to hold on.

Interestingly, tonight the US gymnastics trials were on television. Livi was riveted! Every flip got an exclamation of "Oh, gosh!" (Where she got that from, I haven't a clue!) When they would pause and throw up their arms, she would throw up hers. At the end of each routine she'd jump up and start doing tumbles across the floor. She was so excited by it and literally followed every move they made. It was incredible to watch.

Later this week Livi and I are driving up to Atlanta. Livi is going to stay with my aunt there while I audition for Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It would be so cool to get on that show and win some money! Wish me luck!

Livi also starts back at daycare this week... My mother is having surgery on her hand and won't be able to watch her for about a month. Livi's not going to like it, but it's got to be done. Thankfully, because of other things we have going on, she'll only be there three days each week.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

~ Jeana

Rain Rain Go Away...

2008-06-11T19:38:00.000-04:00

The weather has been simply awful lately! If it's not so bleeping hot and humid that we can hardly stand to go outside, it's pouring rain! I know we need the rain, but why can't it rain late at night and give us the evening to enjoy the pool and the slide? Grrrrr!!!!!

Livi had an appointment today with a genetics doctor. She agrees with us that Livi is most likely an FAS child. She is going to test for some other things, too, though. The appointment went well--I like this doctor and she talked to me like an equal, which was nice. Yesterday we had an appointment with Livi's developmental specialist. He was very encouraging this time--said he could see that Livi had made a lot of progress since he saw her in October. That was great to hear. I mean, we know she has made considerable progress, but it was really nice to hear his professional confirmation of it.

This weekend Livi will be starting gymnastics and dance lessons. It's a program that was designed for the developmentally challenged child and focuses on building confidence and ability. They also say they can help improve her attention, listening skills, and ability to follow instructions. We'll see how *that* goes!

I'm taking lots of photos lately--trying to get a few good ones to send in with her post placement report. I thought these were really cute! Livi was trying out her princess look and her glam rocker look. She's such a little cutie!

~ Jeana

Summer of Insanity

2008-06-06T22:18:00.000-04:00

So far this is looking to be one heck of a summer! Livi and I have been extraordinarily busy lately and it doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon. In the past month we have had Livi tested for school (cognitive, psychological, speech, occupational and physical evaluations), we have enclosed part of the backyard to make a play area for Livi, terraced that area so we could put up a swimming pool, pulled up a couple rows of hedges (roots and all!), planted several new flower beds, taken a long weekend vacation in Georgia to visit family, went to Canaveral to see the space shuttle launch, rebuilt the deck, and killed the front lawn (we're getting ready to put in a sprinkler system and resod...)

Livi actually is a pretty good "helper". She loves to get right in the middle of whatever it is I'm working on, but can be entertained well enough with simple tasks to keep her from slowing me down too much. She loves to "clean up" after mommy and has her own Livi-sized broom and everything. I'm going to try to get some more pictures of her this weekend to post here--I need them for our post placement report anyway. We just had our visit from the social worker this past week and will be sending that off soon. It's hard to believe that our two year anniversary is coming up!

I had, after much searching as reported in a previous post, decided on a private pre-school for Livi. Then I started debating whether to send her to school this year at all. She's not potty trained and has no interest in it at all and she loves the time with my mother and is thriving there. Livi is still receiving therapies (OT, PT, speech and early intervention services) from Early Steps until the end of this month, though, and they asked if we would consider having her tested by ChildFind to see if she qualifies for the State's ESE (special education) program. I agreed and she was tested and has qualified for their full program which will enable us to receive speech, OT and PT for as long as she needs it at no charge while she is in the school system here. So... now it looks like Livi will be going to pre-school in the Fall--and at one of the State's "A" schools (top-rated by the State and by the parents.)

I have a meeting with ChildFind in a few weeks to go over all the details, but I'm very pleased with what I know so far. It will be a M-F 8:30-3:00 program with a max of 6 children per teacher. They will work on all the usual pre-school stuff, but also provide her with the OT, PT and speech therapies she needs. They will also work on special skills like potty training, dressing herself, and otherwise helping her become more self-sufficient. The goal is to have her ready to go to kindergarten with her peers with the option of continuing any therapies she may still need. I'm hopeful that they will help us come up with a sensory diet that works for her and that her socialization skills will improve, as well.

On a lighter note, Livi and I had a fun day today (I'm off on Fridays in the summer and we try to make the most of all those three day weekends.) We lazed around the house in the morning, but this afternoon we went to the park and fed a huge flock of ducks and geese, played on the swings, and just enjoyed being outside. Tomorrow I plan for us to do a little shopping and then go swimming in the afternoon. Maybe a visit to the zoo next weekend...

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as much as we are!

~Jeana

Spring Time

2008-04-20T19:26:00.000-04:00

These last four weeks have flown by. My conference was this past week and both Livi and I survived... barely. I have to say that in some ways this was the roughest one I've ever had to deal with--and all because of one of the keynote speakers. It actually went very smoothly in all other aspects, but I had to deal with a major ego and came close to losing my temper more than once. Thankfully, I managed to hold on, but it was a close thing... Between that and going several days without my Livi fix... well, let's just say that I'm very glad that it's over and the next one is a year away! Speaking of Livi--she's really enjoying being a little girl lately. Here's a photo of her primping in front of our cheval mirror.

She's also discovered the joys of trying to walk in mommy's shoes. She actually did quite well. I was surprised. It might have been a bit easier if she'd selected a matching pair and worn them on the correct feet, but still... I also bought her a pair of platform shoes in her size and she again surprised me by walking in them very well. It only took her a few steps to get the hang of it.

This week we will be meeting with a neurologist to get the full run down on the results of her MRI from last January. I'm hoping he will be able to give us some ideas on things we can work on to assist her brain with it's re-routing of processes. She is doing well, though, even without the expert intervention. She has managed to overcome almost all of the motor skills issues and we are now focusing on speech and self-care skills. I'm hoping the decision-making skills will improve as she gets a little older, too. She seems to have very little control over impulses.

I hope to post more photos soon! In the meantime, enjoy!

~ Jeana

Happy Easter 2008!

2008-03-23T19:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long delay since the last post. This time of year is always a busy one for me and it's even tougher this year as I'm teaching three classes in addition to my regular job at the college. Livi and I are both doing great, though, and I wanted to share some recent photos. This first one is from the zoo a couple weeks ago. The gentleman holding her is Chris--one of the nicest men I think I've ever met. Livi simply adores him, too!

Alivia looked quite the little lady in her Easter dress. She's such a fun child to dress--everything looks so cute on her! I hope it remains that way as she grows up. I also actually got her to pose for a photo before we went to Gran's and she smiled and kept her eyes open! It's a rare shot, so enjoy!

These other photos are all from today--Easter. Livi had a great time hunting for Easter eggs at Gran's house--especially when she discovered that there was candy and money hidden inside them. She had to open each one of them as she found them to see what was inside. It was cute!

Here are a couple others. Enjoy!

Photo Time

2008-02-10T23:31:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to upload a few new candid photos... this first one gives you a glimpse into meal times in our household. Livi is pretty good with the spoon and fork now, but does have a little nerve damage from her last surgery. As a result she tends to drool a lot more than kids her age usually do and wears a lot of her dinner. It's getting better, though, and I'm just happy to see her able to feed herself finally! It seemed to take us forever to get to this stage.

You'll have noticed in the previous photo as well as in this one that Livi's eyes are closed. Any time you tell her to smile for a picture she squints her eyes shut like that and kind of grimaces. Thank God for digital cameras because I can sometimes take 50 shots in a row before I get one with open eyes and a pretty smile! Here she's practicing her writing at her desk in Mommy's office at home.

Today we went to the zoo, but we actually spent most of our time in the playpark there rather than looking at animals. Livi loves the giant slides and would spend all day on them (or else on the big rope spider web next to them) if she could. It's funny to watch people's reactions to her on the slides--she's so tiny that they are always amazed at how fearless and strong she is.

Speaking of the spider web--how's this for a look of concentration! At one point a much bigger boy (8 years old or so) got on it and said he was the spider and Livi was his fly. I couldn't help but laugh when moments later SHE pinned HIM down on it! I had set the camera down and couldn't get to it fast enough, but it was too cute. He had such a look of surprise on his face and she was laughing so hard she was almost in tears.

This is another zoo photo--this time on the carousel. It's the only one out of more than a dozen where she didn't have her eyes closed. She really loves the carousel now, too. The first few times we rode it last year she wasn't too sure about it, but now as soon as she sees it she starts getting excited.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

~Jeana

Preschool Hunting

2008-02-08T10:54:00.000-05:00

MandyJo asked about preschool hunting. Wow--what a challenge! The first thing you need to be aware of is that you need to start looking EARLY! Many of the schools we were interested in are already completely booked for the Fall term and it's just February! I suggest you start looking in the Fall of the year before you plan to send your child. They should be able to tell you deadlines for registration applications and what testing or admission requirements they have. Yes, I did say testing... Several of the schools in our area test the children as part of the admission process to make sure they are "mature enough" to attend school. We're talking Pre-K3 here! Sheesh!

What is important to you in selecting a school will depend a lot upon your child. Alivia has several medical and developmental issues that we need to keep in mindy. She's been diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and global developmental delays including speech, fine and gross motor skills, and cognitive issues. This means we need to find a school that is able to deal with her issues and not all schools are. You need to be prepared with a list of questions for the school and for the teacher--always make sure you get to meet with the actual teacher for the class your child might be going into. You also need to be aware, though, that there are certain things you don't want to bring up because once these things have been mentioned they become a part of your child's permanent school record if they are accepted at the school.

The questions I think are important to ask no matter what your child's situation is are:

1. What is the teacher/student ratio? (The lower the better. The school we are going with has a maximum 12:1 ratio with teacher aides assigned if more than 6 children.)
2. What is the curriculum and daily schedule of activities? (This is especially critical if your child is only attending a couple days a week instead of the full week. Do they include a good balance of academics, socialization, arts and crafts, outdoor playtime, etc.)
3. What are the school's accreditations?
4. Do you have space for my child? If not, is there a waiting list and what is an average wait time?
5. Does my child have to be potty trained?
6. What are the hours?
7. Are snacks and/or lunch provided?
8. What's the schedule for holidays/school closings?
9. How flexible are your drop-off and pick-up times? Are there late fees?
10. How much is it and do you have a payment plan for tuition?
11. How are children disciplined?
12. Do the children take a nap?
13. What is your student release policy (who do you allow to pick up my child?)
14. Can you give me references of other parents whose children are enrolled here?

You may come up with others, as well, that are particularly related to your situation and your child. For me, it was important to know if the school would allow me to arrange for therapists to visit her at school. I also talked to the teacher about some of Alivia's problems--speech, sensory issues, and a general lack of socialization with other children her age--to see what her reaction was. It was very reassuring to see that she wasn't alarmed and to hear that she has other students in her class this year who are similar in that respect. Experience with those issues means a lot. The one thing we specifically did not mention and won't (again because we don't want it in her permanent school record) is that Livi is a fetal alcohol child. Her case is very mild and --so far-- she doesn't have any behaviors associated with it that would be dangerous or disruptive. Fortunately, she's no worse than your typical child with ADHD. Basically we don't want her labeled as a "problem child" and we want to be able to integrate her into a regular classroom environment.

So what was our experience... well, we visited about a half dozen schools. One required testing for admission which I disagreed with on principle. Livi has had to deal with enough of that kind of BS and I really don't think it reveals that much about a child who's only 2 years old. One school (recommended because of their experience with developmental issues) turned out to be TOO much geared in that direction. Many of the students are autistic or have behavioral problems that I don't want Livi to learn. A third school wouldn't accept her until she turned 4. A fourth school had only two openings left in the Fall class for which we would have had to get in line at 4 in the morning on Wednesday so that we could be first in line to apply for. They also didn't have early drop off hours (earliest time to drop off your child is 9 a.m. What working mom can do that?) Otherwise they would have been a great choice. The fifth school we looked at is where Livi went to daycare for 8 weeks last summer while my mother was healing from surgery. While they are affordable, conveniently located and have a great curriculum, I was disturbed that I didn't know any of the staff when I went to visit. Their turnover is very high and I want Livi to have the same teacher for the whole year.

The final school I looked at and the one we will be using is a private Lutheran school. The tuition is moderate, they are conveniently located and they will allow Livi to go just two days per week for Pre-K3. (Pre-K4 will be 5 days.) They spend more time on socialization than academics on those two days, but that's really what she needs right now. We can work on the academics ourselves, it's the social interaction she really needs that we are having difficulty providing for her. The teacher, as I mentioned, was unfazed by Livi's special needs, but obviously skilled enough to deal with her. She's also been with the school for years, is a member of the congregation, etc., and so is not likely to leave during the year. While I'm not Lutheran, I don't mind Livi getting some religious education, as well. (In fact I've been reading the Lutheran beliefs and am looking forward to discussing them with Pastor Johnson, whom we also met when we toured the school.) I've always been fascinated with the pagentry of the Catholic Church, but don't believe in a lot of their stuff. I found it very interesting that a protestant faith has so many of the things I like about Catholocism and yet more closely aligns with my belief system.)

The application information will be sent to us in the next few days and I plan to get it in right away so that Livi is guaranteed a spot in their Fall class. It has definitely been a challenge, but I'm glad I was able to visit so many schools and get a feel for what is out there. I'm happy with our choice and confident that Livi will do well there.

~ Jeana

We Have a Winner!

2008-02-03T15:09:00.001-05:00

Woo Hoo! Alivia won two trophies today. Both are "Runner-Up" trophies, but one was for the public voting in the "beautiful 2-3 year old" category and the other was for the official judges in the "fashionable 2-3 year old" category. Hurray for Livi!

~ Jeana

February Already!

2008-02-02T15:31:00.000-05:00

The time seems to just be flying by! Okay, so I owe you guys a few updates. Here's the medical stuff... Monday morning Livi will be having an MRI. This is related to the pale optic nerve situation, but we hope it will also give us info regarding her balance issues. Then Wednesday we see Dr. Roy for her final post op from the jaw surgery. He'll want to see her again in a year or so to look at the cleft palette, but I do think we'll be done with his office until then. I'm hoping he can help us with her ear infection, too, though. I have her on some antibiotics but they don't seem to be making much of an impact on it. Then next month we see the orthopedic doctor and a developmental specialist and in April we see a neurologist. The fun just never ends!

Aren't these photos just gorgeous? Livi was entered in the Most Photogenic Baby contest. We'll get the contest results tomorrow, but I was able to get the CD of all the photos today. I just love these pictures of her. Tonight we're going to be meeting some friends for dinner and I can't wait for them to see her--it's been a couple months and she's changed quite a bit. Oh--and today we bought Livi some regular earrings to replace the original set. She's wearing the ladybug set right now--too cute! And I also got her a set that is this truly adorable pair of purses. I just love having a little girl to do all this stuff with!

Monday after her MRI we are going to go check out a couple preschools for Livi. The one that had been recommended by her other developmental specialist had too many autistic children and behaviorally challenged children. I don't need for Livi to learn more of those kinds of behaviors. Oh--and Livi has finally started to show an interest in television. She just adores Blue's Clues. You should see her when she sits in her thinking chair to think! Personally, I think she has a bit of a crush on Steve, the host (yes, we are watching the old episodes.)

Well, I'll probably try to post again tomorrow to let everyone know how Livi did in the photo contest. In the meantime, have a great weekend, everyone!

~ Jeana

Happy 2008!

2008-01-12T20:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been rather hectic during and since the holidays.

First, the holidays! Livi and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's! Christmas Eve we had my parents join us at our home for dinner. Livi was delighted to have Gran and Papa join us for our walk around the neighborhood to see all the lights. She rode in her new wagon (she got to "unwrap" one gift that evening. We finally got her in bed around 8:30 and then my parents helped me carry in all of the presents "from Santa" and get everything set up. Christmas morning Livi was up around 8 a.m. The first thing she saw when she went into the living room was her kitchen--and it probably took a good half hour to get her to even think about looking at anything else. Once she did move on to the other gifts her new tricycle was the next thing she latched onto. Judging from Livi's reactions I'd say Santa did well...

Livi and I spent Christmas afternoon at my parents house... there was another huge pile of presents for Livi. I gotta say she's finally gotten the hang of this gift opening stuff! After dinner we all visited some other family across town, then retired for an early night to get ready for our trip to Atlanta. We drove up the day after Christmas and stayed several days. Livi loved that she got to share a bed with Mommy! She spent every night snuggled up with me--it was SO sweet! My aunts, uncles and cousins all spoiled her silly, too. Then, on New Year's Day Livi had a couple more gifts to open--these from Father Frost. It was a great holiday season!

On the medical front... things didn't go as well as I'd hoped with the opthalmology exam. It seems Livi does have a lazy eye and she also has "pale optic nerves." They are doing eye patch therapy for the lazy eye, but the optic nerve situation seems to be the greater concern. It means her eyes are not getting an adequate blood supply. They are doing and MRI on her and refering us to a neurologist to try to determine the cause. I'm glad to be getting the MRI, actually, as it will give us more information about her brain and how it is growing. She has some significant balance issues still, for which we may find explanations in the MRI. The MRI is early in February, so we'll know more about that then, but the neurologist can't see us until late April...

In other news... Livi got her ears pierced today. She looks so cute with her little earrings! I'll have to get some photos to post here. Also, just before we got her ears done, Livi had a professional photo shoot as part of a "Most Photogenic Baby" contest that is raising money for Wolfson's Children's Hospital through the Chilren's Miracle Network. We have entered three of the shots in the contest. There were some really cute kids there, so it'll be a long shot for her to win, but I'm happy to participate in the fund-raising which will go to Wolfson's where Livi has had all of her surgeries. Once the contest is over (mid-February) I'll be given her photos and I'll post them here. They are absolutely gorgeous! In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy the candids from Christmas!

~ Jeana

A Little Trooper!

2007-12-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

Livi just amazes me each time we go in for surgery or some other medical procedure. She's got the most incredible recuperative powers. She took one dose of pain medication right after the surgery and hasn't needed any more since. The swelling is completely gone and she looks amazing! She's such a little trooper!

Anyway--that was our last surgery. Now we get back into our therapies routine and follow up with a couple specialists (opthalmology and orthopedics), but we don't expect any negative reports in any case. Oh--we also have an evaluation by the school district in a couple months to see what services she will qualify for once she turns 3 in July. I'm hoping they say they think she won't need anything but speech and PT, but we'll see!

Otherwise, things are going great! I've finished all the Christmas shopping and now just have to get everything wrapped and/or put together. But that's another story...

~ Jeana

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-08T22:56:00.000-05:00

December is flying by, folks! I feel like I'm in a non-stop winner-take-all race to the end of the month. This week was the last week of classes, next week is finals, I have several projects due over the next couple weeks in my day job, Livi has surgery on Wednesday, Dad has surgery on the 20th, Christmas is just a couple weeks away, and I hope I can survive the journey! Today Livi and I sojourned out to get some holiday photos done. It's in the 80's here, so it's hard to dress Christmassy! We did manage to find the perfect Livi Christmas hat, though!

Last weekend I took Livi to see Santa. She wasn't really thrilled with him. She didn't cry or anything--just wouldn't smile. We ended up with a photo that's practically a duplicate of last year's, so I'm going to use these other ones as our holiday photos for this year. I'm almost done with the Christmas shopping. I still have to find one more thing for my mom and pick up some gift cards for my brothers and nephews, but otherwise all is done! Livi is going to rack up the gifts this year, though! Whew!

I mentioned Livi's surgery earlier--it's the one to remove all of her hardware. As you can see from these photos, she has a really nice jawline now. We could have even brought it out a little bit further, but I'm happy with where it's at. She still has a mild overbite, but nothing serious. She's finally starting to build a vocabulary, too. We're up to more than 30 fairly intelligible words. Hurray! The next step is to get her to start combining them in phrases. And on the physical side, while she's still off the charts, her height has jumped up to 32.5 inches and her weight is about 21 lbs. She'll probably always be on the small side, but that's not a bad thing at all in my book!

I'll post more the next time I get to come up for air. In the meantime--happy holidays, everyone!

~ Jeana

A Time to Reflect and Give Thanks

2007-11-21T23:53:00.000-05:00

This is a year in which I truly have a lot for which to be thankful--and my family and friends are very high on my list. I have truly been blessed with wonderful people in both categories. None of could be the wonderful people that we all are, however, without the freedoms and the opportunities which we all sometimes take for granted. No, our lives aren't perfect, but they are so much better than they might be if we had been born elsewhere.

A thought has been playing through my head these last few days--a memory from the court hearing for Alivia's adoption. The judge was reading through the papers and suddenly stopped and asked why I needed such a big house. My house isn't all that big--in fact, by US standards, it's rather small and I would love to have a MUCH bigger place--yet the judge felt it was more than adequate for my needs. How much does one person or one family really need? And is it wrong to want more when there are so many in the world who don't even have their basic needs met?

Greater minds than mine have pondered these questions and, inevitably, my mind will soon tire of them and wander back to happier thoughts. But as we broach a day that our country has set aside as a day for giving thanks for what we have, it does seem appropriate to at least acknowledge the battle even if I choose not to fight it. And so among many other things...

I am thankful to have been born an American and to have been able to bring my daughter out of the poverty of Russia to be raised as an American. I am thankful that I am not an inmate in a Serbian asylum for the disabled. I am thankful that I have friends throughout the world that I can keep in touch with on this board. I am thankful that I have a job that pays well and a beautiful, albeit small, home. I am thankful that my parents are still with me and are able to enjoy spending time with their granddaughter. I am thankful that I am able to obtain medical services for me and my daughter when needed and that we can afford to travel and have a few "luxuries" in our lives. And mostly I am thankful to have her--something I never could have imagined just a few years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

~ Jeana

8 Random Things About Me...

2007-11-08T14:23:00.000-05:00

Uh oh! I've been tagged.

So, here are the rules of the 8 Random Things tag game:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

(I think the hardest part of this will be coming up with 8 other people to tag!)

Okay--so 8 random things...

1. When I was 12 years old I appeared in television commercials for Hardy's restaurants. It was my first acting gig. Somehow my acting career never did take off, though. Rats...

2. When I was 4 years old my family moved to Guam. My grandmother had just given me a new cowgirl outfit complete with a beautiful red hat. Unfortunately in the rush to board the plane with two small children, my mother forgot the hat under our seats at the airport. I cried for days... I still sometimes wonder who ended up with my beautiful red cowboy hat.

3. One of my favorite places in the whole world is a tiny little church in Paris, France, called Sainte Chappelle. The first time I visited there it was late afternoon and the sun was hitting all of the stained glass windows just so while monks chant played softly in the background. I was overcome with this incredible sense of peace and serenity that's never been matched anywhere else in my experience. The church claims to have the true Crown of Thorns as one of it's relics.

4. I hate eggplant. 'Nuff said.

5. I love Byzantine and Renaissance art. I'm not sure if it's because of the vivid jewel-tone colors that are so pervasive in both periods or the story-like renderings of the religious subject matter, but something in both of those eras speaks to my soul.

6. I once wandered through the Catacombs beneath Paris all by myself--yep, just me and a few trillion bones. Very "atmospheric", to say the least.

7. My favorite author is Diana Gabaldon. She writes a very hard to catagorize series of books (Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, etc.) about a time-travelling family. Set largely in 18th century Scotland and America, the books have enthralled me since I accidently stumbled on the first one in a grocery store many years ago. What I like about her writing is her character and story development--you truly feel like you know these people in her books and their adventures are phenomenally well written. And their "romantic encounters" aren't too badly done, either... Seriously, though, it's a rare book that can make me laugh and cry at the same time, but Diana's books always do.

8. I have never in my life had a cavity. Never. Thank God, because I'm terrified of the dentist!

Whew! Now who am I going to tag... Christy and Kelly come to mind first of all. And Cyndi, of course. Hmmm... I'm going to have to think a bit to come up with some more.

~ Jeana

Final Surgery Date!

2007-11-03T23:03:00.000-04:00

We received the date for Alivia's final surgery this week. It will be on December 12th. They'll take out all the hardware during that one and she should only have to spend one night in the hospital. Then we'll be done! Hurray!!!!

We had some other good news, as well--both of my biopsies were negative. I was rather nervous about the second one, but it turned out to be just a fibrous cyst. Thank God! I have to go back in 6 months to follow up on the one they couldn't biopsy, but they don't expect any problems, so I'm not going to worry about it until then.

Livi is having another growth spurt, I think--she's up to 32 inches in height and 20 lbs in weight. She's still very much below the charts, but catching up bit by bit. She's also becoming quite the chatterbox! I love it!

Oh--if anyone's interested, I've found another great price on a cruise and have requested a group of cabins. This one is on the Carnival Glory, October 4-11, 2008. It departs from Port Canaveral (Orlando) goes to Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, and Freeport. The fares start at just $469 per person and each cabin will receive a $100 ship's credit. If you'd like information, please email me at kizibits6@bellsouth.net and I'll send you the e-flyer.

~ Jeana

Family Reunion

2007-10-22T21:35:00.001-04:00

Livi and I spent this last weekend in Georgia for our family reunion. Livi was a little bit more shy with everyone this year compared to last year--very clingy to Mommy. I didn't mind seeing that at all! I've been worried that she wouldn't develop any stranger fear, but she does seem to be more wary of unfamiliar people than she has been. I managed to get a couple cute photos of her--in this one Livi is trying out her new jaw in earnest on an ear of corn. She managed to do a pretty good job of it! The funniest part of it was that up until now she hasn't liked corn! I guess it's all in the presentation.

This photo is Livi wearing Papa's hat. I loved the gangster look she pulled off. Too cute! Livi also surprised me this weekend with her skill on a balance beam. I was holding her hands, of course, but she was very deliberate in the placement of her feet. It was quite impressive! I can see that we're going to have some gymnastics lessons in our future. And speaking of balance--Livi is walking more and more and better and better. I'm so proud of her!

~ Jeana

The Big Wait...

2007-10-17T19:49:00.000-04:00

We have finished the "turning of the screws" and are now into the big wait for the final surgery to remove all of Livi's hardware. That will be some time in early December. We ended up moving her jaw forward 20 mm--a little more than 3/4 of an inch. The difference is incredible! I hope to get some photos this weekend.

On my health front, I still have a bit of a cough and my voice isn't yet back to full strength, but I'm improving daily. I have an appointment for a second breast biopsy on Monday--the first one came back negative, but they saw another mass that looks different, so we have to do it again... fun...

Other than that things are moving along nicely. Livi seems to like her new occupational therapist. Now that we have our whole therapy team in place I'm hoping we will see her making some good progress.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Fall weekend!

~ Jeana

Comparison Photos

2007-10-05T20:11:00.000-04:00

We are now at 14 mm and the difference is just incredible! Here are some photos for comparison:

This one is Alivia's original chin. This was taken this past July when we were in St. Louis.

This one is how she looks now in profile. The difference is just amazing!

Here are a couple other new ones from different angles. As you can tell, Livi is doing just great! She's gotta be the most amazing child in that sense. Even her doctor is amazed at how well she is doing.

Enjoy!

~ Jeana

A Taste of Fall

2007-10-01T20:56:00.001-04:00

We are finally starting to get some Fall-like weather here--lots of rain, but beautifully temperate days with nice breezes, too. I love it! If I could just get over this nasty bronchitis I'd be so happy!

Livi is doing incredibly well! As of this evening we have moved her jaw out 10 mm! You can really tell a difference. And she's tolerating it so well! No pain at all that I can tell. She is on antibiotics, but no other medications. We've also got her started back in speech therapy finally and, while she doesn't like it very much, we are already seeing some good results from it. Her new physical therapist will start on Friday and we should be getting an occupational therapist going in the next week, as well. Between those three and her cognitive therapist she's got a pretty full plate these days!

Speaking of full plates... you wouldn't believe how her appetite has suddenly picked up! She's eating much more now than she was before the two surgeries and drinking much more, too. I expect to see another growth spurt real soon.

We go back to the surgeon on Monday of next week for her next follow up appointment. I'm hoping that we will be able to stop the screw turning then and remove the rods. Then she'll have to wear the internal pieces another 6 weeks or so and we'll go back to have those removed. I expect it will mean another hospital stay, but hopefully only for a day or two at most. In the meantime, Livi continues to amaze all of us with her progress and her cheerful attitude!

~ Jeana

On the Down Hill Side

2007-09-23T20:52:00.000-04:00

Livi's surgery went very well on Thursday. She was in the OR for about 2 hours and then in recovery for about 1.5 hours before they took her to her room. She was in a lot of pain all day Thursday and most of Friday, but they kept her on morphine every two hours to deal with that. Thursday she slept most of the day away and Friday she dozed in and out, but spent the whole day in my arms. She wouldn't let me put her down for more than a minute--she needed Mommy love big time! That evening she did go for a little walk around the ICU and laughed a couple times at jokes. My friend Diane came to visit and held Livi for a couple hours so I could go home and get a much needed shower and meal. While I was gone Livi's 2nd IV (she pulled out the first one) got bent and had to be replaced. Poor thing!

On Saturday Livi was much better and actually let me sleep a bit, too. She wasn't nearly as clingy and walked around quite a bit. Saturday afternoon we did the first turning of the screws and she didn't even flinch. That evening they took her off the morphine and put her on an oral pain medicine that seems to be enough for her. She is eating a bit--her whole jaw and chin is swollen and it's hard to get her mouth open very wide, but she doesn't seem to be in much pain at all. She's been eating mac and cheese, yogurt and cream of chicken soup. Good comfort food! This morning they said Livi was doing so good that we could go home if I was comfortable with the screw turning. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all, so I am having no problem with it. Here's a photo of one of the screws.

The first photo above was taken right after we got home today. Livi's a bit swollen, but otherwise happy, as you can see! Now, if I could just get over this awful cough I have (bronchitis, I think... haven't found time to get to my doctor yet) everything would be great! Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, messages and phone calls! I'm still pretty much voiceless, but I do appreciate all the love and warm thoughts being sent our way!

~ Jeana

Surgery Update

2007-09-15T22:32:00.001-04:00

I received a call on Friday from the hospital rescheduling Alivia's surgery again... they've moved it up to Thursday, September 20th. Hopefully she will be fully over her cold by then and everything can proceed as scheduled.

In other news... Livi is living up to the terrible two's! Today she threw a tantrum just because I wouldn't open a door for her. There was nothing terribly exciting on the other side of the door--we were at my office and it just led to another hallway of offices. She pitched a royal fit, though, for about 5 minutes before finally giving up. Hopefully Livi will quickly figure out that Mommy doesn't give in to tantrums and will stop trying to play that card. Also, Kizi, the younger of my two cats, has finally decided to allow Livi to pet her. She's still cautious and quick to get away if Livi pulls or pinches, but they do seem to be getting along quite well most of the time. My other cat, Treasure, is going to be a MUCH harder sell... (and, yes, Kizi is a really BIG cat!)

We have a busy week ahead of us... Monday we start with a new speech therapist. Tuesday is a new cognitive therapist. I also have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday--they found something suspicious on my latest mammogram and want me to come in for a diagnostic one. Probably nothing, but I'm still a bit worried, I must admit. Wednesday is Livi's pre-surgical check-up, followed by the surgery itself on Thursday. If I make it to the end of the week with all my hair still attached to my head it will be a miracle...

~ Jeana

Cruise Report and More!

2007-09-10T21:27:00.000-04:00

Wow! The Celebrate Adoption Cruise was an absolute blast! I won $840 on penny slots (PENNY slots!!!!!) that I spent on a gorgeous set of blue diamond ear studs. Livi surprised me by gobbling down cream of escargo soup and other gourmet delicacies. The other families were great--especially Natalia and her daughter Marina and son Roman. Marina and Livi became quite friendly and I hope we'll get to see them again in the future! Livi won't wear her sunglasses often, but when she does...

Livi proved to be a terrific sailor. No seasickness or major problems of any kind. Of course she was ready to go home once the cruise ended. So was I. We did enjoy ourselves immensely, though, and I'm already planning our next cruise adventure. I'm looking at a 7 nighter next year in October that will stop in Belize and Cozumel. I've never been to Belize and love Cozumel, so it looks very promising so far! Anyone want to join us? This is Livi's formal portrait from the cruise.

Other highlights--I mentioned Marina already. She was such a cutie--just a few months older than Livi and only a little bigger, but she played big sister and helped Livi climb the stairs. It was so sweet! The kids all spent time together in Camp Carnival, but we were not, unfortunately, able to do much together outside of that. Everyone just had too many things they wanted to do and it was a busy 6 days.

My mother watched Livi for a few hours while we were in Nassau and decided to get her hair braided. She loved it and looks very cute with her hair beads. I have to take them out in a few days to get her ready for the surgery next week, but they are so cute that I want to leave them in as long as I can. Here's a photo I took of her in our cabin with her braids. She was in a serious mood that night...

Livi and I recieved some very good news today on the health front. We had her 6 month follow-up with the orthopedics specialist and he said that Livi has made some fantastic strides with her legs (no pun intended!) and now no longer needs braces or even shoe inserts! I felt like jumping up and down with joy! Her legs have become much stronger and straighter and she's walking quite a bit now. Here's a photo of her in motion--literally.

At the moment Livi has a slight cold that I guess she caught in Camp Carnival. I'm hoping it will clear up soon and not delay the surgery. That's scheduled for a week from Friday--on September 21. I just want to go ahead and get it over with so we can get on with the healing. Well, enough for now! I'll try to post again in a few days!

~ Jeana

Apologies and Updates

2007-09-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry I've gone so long without posting. Things have been extremely hectic here over the past few weeks. In addition to Livi's surgery (more on that in a moment) I've had to deal with one college term ending, another one beginning and a couple major deadlines in my daytime job. Whew... I'm looking forward to being out to sea next week--literally!

Livi's surgery went very well. I was rather nervous when the surgeon told me not to be surprised if Livi had to be put on a ventilator after the surgery and had to stay a few extra nights. He hadn't mentioned any of that before. This first surgery was just for tonsils, adenoids and ear tubes. Well, fortunately, Livi proved to be a real trooper--no ventilator, no additional nights in the hospital, and really minimal reaction to everything that went on. Within about five hours of the surgery she was up pushing her stroller around the PICU and trying to visit the other children. The doctors and nurses were all just amazed at her resilience. I'm just hoping that she will show the same strength when it comes to the second surgery.

Speaking of the second surgery... the date has been moved up. They now have it scheduled for September 21. It's good in one sense--I'm happy to get it over with and we're less likely to be impacted by flu and cold season. On the other hand, my parents will be out of town beginning several days before hand and not returning until several days afterwards, so I'll be missing that support. With this operation it is very likely that she will be on a ventilator for a couple days. I know that she will be in the PICU for a couple days and then in the regular pediatric surgical unit for a couple more days. I get to stay with her the whole time, but it is going to be tough to be there alone. I'm hoping that my friends here will be able to come by to see us and give me that extra support that I'm going to need. It will just depend on everyone's schedules, of course.

Work has been a challenge, too. I'm teaching two courses this term and one is a newly developed one that we had virtually no info on until a couple days before classes started. I't a hybrid course (part in class and part online) and we have some technical issues to deal with, as well. It's been a rough start to the term... My day job hasn't been much better. I've been frantically working on a Website and brochure for one of our college programs trying to get it done by today. I did manage it, but just barely... I was at work until 6:30 last night putting on the final touches. I hate being on such a tight schedule--it really impacts my time with Livi, not to mention making me too tired to be able to do some of the things with her that I want to do.

Hopefully that will all turn around now that classes are entering their second week and that major project is done. And I'm officially on vacation for a week! On Monday we'll be leaving on our cruise to Key West and Nassau, Bahamas. There are five other families in our group who have adopted little ones internationally. I think they are all from Russia, but I'm not sure. I do know that they are all close in age to Alivia--she's the youngest, but most of the others are only 10 to 12 months older. It should be a lot of fun!

I still haven't been able to get any new photos, but I'm going to try this weekend. I'll definitely get some on the cruise, too!

~ Jeana

As the Summer Winds Down

2007-08-11T00:13:00.000-04:00

Livi and I had a wonderful time in Amelia Island this past weekend. One of my cousins was able to get a gorgeous condo right on the beach for all of us and we spent the days playing in the ocean and doing a little sightseeing. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera along most of the time, so no new pics... Sorry! I'll try to get some over the next few days as Livi and I are out and about.

Livi has an ear infection--a product of her days playing surfer baby, I think. Her doctor was on vacation, but we got in to see one of the other doctors on his team and she gave us a script for amoxicillin. One of our grocery stores here, Publix, has a deal going on where all your 'cillin type drugs are free. That was nice! We managed to catch the infection before it got bad, so I'm hoping it will clear up before Livi's scheduled surgery on August 21st. Eeek! That's approching way too fast!

Next weekend is my last three day weekend of the summer (the college I work at gives us Fridays off for 13 weeks of the summer each year.) As it's also the last weekend before Livi's surgery I'm planning to get in as much play time as we can. Unfortunately we have to avoid the pool (don't want to aggravate the ear infection), but we can go to the park and stuff like that. I'm just praying the weather cools off a bit. It's been unbearably hot here the last week or so.

Oh--one of the things that's recommended for kids with sensory integration issues is a crash pit. It's a padded "pit" that they can literally crash in. Bouncing, jumping, throwing themselves down, and that kind of thing is actually good therapy for SI kids. Well, I priced crash pits and they typically run about $800 or more. I've found a great substitute, though. It's called a "pillow sac" and Overstock.com has them for $115. It measures 5' x 6' by 8" deep and is filled with shredded foam. Livi loves it and it's a great place for her to get all her jumping, bouncing and crashing out of her system!

That's all for now... I'll try to post again soon with new photos!

~ Jeana

St. Louis Trip (Long Post)

2007-07-20T22:21:00.000-04:00

Alivia and I had a fantastic time in St. Louis last weekend. I have to say that it was probably one of the most restful vacations I've ever had. We did a lot--but we did it a little at a time and we had a blast doing it! Kelly, Christy, Cindy and I all got along like we'd known each other for years. Surprisingly, for as young as they are, Alivia, Grace and Katie all got along well, too! They actually played together a bit instead of just playing side by side. Livi would drop things deliberately just to have Katie and Grace pick them up to give them back to her to drop again. It was too cute! They also all three loved playing in the peanut pool at the CHI picnic. I have several great photos from there including this one where Livi is already showing a propensity for partying hard. Grace is on the left playing with the pink and purple items and Katie is bending over in the background.

One of our first activities was a tea party for the girls. I hope we can do this one again every year! They all looked so pretty in their fancy dresses! Livi wore her pink pearls and a pretty crystal necklace, not to mention a little of the frosting from the cookies. The four of us adults dressed up a little, as well... tiaras, feather boas, and lots of jewelry! We didn't go quite as far with it as we should have, though. I think in the future we'll have to try a little harder.

The tea party was quite a feast and included cookies, heart-shaped french toast, bacon, eggs and some delicious coffees and teas. The grand finale was a beautiful (and quite delicious!) cake. The girls all helped blow out the candles. Livi decided she wasn't waiting on anyone else and also took a bite out of the frosting while the others were still blowing... That's my girl!

Each afternoon after the girls took a nap we would visit the pool. All three girls acted like they were part fish. They all loved the slides, loved floating around in the boats, loved "swimming" with Mommy, and just generally loved everything about it! Livi and I had so much fun playing in the water. I wish we had a pool like that here that we could visit every day. I can tell it's going to be a priority when shopping for my next house!

On Sunday morning Kelly and Grace had to return home, but Livi, Katie, Christy, Cindy and I kept the fun going with a visit to Grant's farm. Livi loved the Clydesdales (no surprise there!) We got a couple formal portraits done with one of them, but I left them in St. Louis. I'll have to post it later after Christy and Cindy send them to me. We took a train ride around the farm and then spent a little time feeding the goats.

Ah... the goats... they were aggressive little things and tried to eat my purse, my shirt, Livi's hair, Livi's shirt and shorts, and anything else that came in reach! One even tried to nibble on poor Katie's ear! Livi seems to just be enthralled with any and all animals and giggled when one of them tried nibbling on her fingers. The child has no fear at all!

On Monday we visited the St. Louis zoo. What a treat! It's a beautiful zoo with a number of animals that we don't get to see at our zoo at home. Livi loved the penguins and kept trying to dip her hands into their pools. She also loved the puffins (a relative of the penguins) and ended up bringing a stuffed puffin home with her. In the children's area of the zoo Livi and Katie tried their hands and legs at the spider rope climb. They both did surprisingly well! We also did a couple rides on the carousel and rode the train. The highlight of the day was the sea lion show. All in all a great day!

The other major fun thing for Livi was playing with the dogs. Christy, Cindy and Katie have two dogs--big, beautiful Labs named Butter and Abby. Butter is the younger one and was as eager for Livi's kisses as Livi was for giving them. The two could be found smooching just about any time of the day. Abby is a bit older and has some hip problems. Livi seemed to instinctively know that she had to be more gentle with Abby. Here she is cuddled up with her on the sofa. I have a feeling there's a dog or two in my future...

Here is another shot of the girls in the peanut pool at the CHI picnic on Saturday. They all had so much fun with it! I have to see about making something similar here. Not packing peanuts, though... they turned into crumbs within just a couple hours. Maybe I can find some that don't disintegrate. I've seen similar things done with plastic balls, but the peanuts seemed to be more fun for the girls. Anyone have any suggestions?

I can't begin to thank Christy and Cindy enough for the lovely hospitality they showed us last weekend. I'm SO looking forward to spending time with them again next year for the 16th CHI picnic. I'm also hoping we can all (Kelly and Grace, too!) get together more than just once a year as our girls grow up. I'd like them to grow up knowing each other and becoming fast friends. Who knows... maybe they will all go off to college together or something. Wouldn't that be a really cool thing! Okay--last picture for this post... another peanut pool shot! Hurray!

~ Jeana

2007-07-10T21:40:00.001-04:00

Today is yet another milestone in our adoption story. As of today Alivia has been with me one day longer than she has been without me. I don't know if there's an official name for it, but I call it Bonding Day. Of course, there is no doubt that Alivia and I have bonded and bonded well. She's mama's little girl in every way!

This past weekend we celebrated her birthday with a big party. She had an absolute blast! She also received tons of gifts! The funniest moment, though, was when she went to "open" a present that was in a gift bag. First thing she did was pull out the tissue paper and try to blow her nose with it. Such a cutie! These are a couple pics from the big bash along with one more of the professional ones we had done last week.

Thursday we fly to St. Louis for the CHI picnic. It's going to be a fun weekend complete with a dress up tea party and lots of swimming pool time! Livi's going to love it!

~ Jeana

Happy Independence Day!

2007-07-04T22:40:00.001-04:00

Wow! It's hard to believe that exactly one year ago my mother and I were in Tver and my mom hadn't yet met Alivia. She would meet her on her birthday--which is tomorrow! Alivia is turning 2! Hurray! In honor of her second birthday I took Alivia to get some more photos made--and we finally did a family portrait, too!

Livi will be getting lots of presents, but the most special one, in my mind, is her brand new big-girl bed! No photos yet, but she loves it. The first night she just went right to sleep with no fuss and when she woke up she just played quietly in her bed until I came to get her. Last night she again went to bed with no fuss, but when she awoke this morning she realized she could get out of bed by herself and play. She played quietly in her room for an hour or so while I dozed a little longer. Happy day!

This afternoon was her first time to nap in her new bed and it was a bit of a challenge. She kept wanting to get out of bed and play instead of nap. I finally had to sit there with her and rub her back for about 10 minutes until she fell asleep. Same thing this evening at bedtime. I had to put her back in her bed several times and the last time was preceeded with a light smack on the bum. She did stay in bed that time, though, and was asleep in just a few minutes.

Tomorrow for her birthday we are going to play at home in the morning and then go to Gran's house in the afternoon. We're going to have an ice cream cake and a special dinner and then open a few presents. We're going to be holding a birthday party for her on Saturday (which also happens to be our court date anniversary and Gotcha Day) with a few friends and their kids. I probably went overboard with the party plans (Little Mermaid everything...) but it's my first time, so everyone will just have to forgive me. Yes, my Little Bit is probably becoming a tad bit spoiled, but I think she deserves all the spoiling she can get.

This last photo is from our trip to Toronto in early June. Our whole group got together for a photo in front of The Old Mill during our furst day of locations touring. It's a beautiful inn and restaurant in Toronto that has been used in many films and television shows, including La Femme Nikita, the show we were all fans of. They do a fabulous lunch buffet if you are ever in Toronto.

~ Jeana

Two Surgeries!

2007-06-29T23:26:00.000-04:00

Well, we got the bad news today at the doctor's office. Alivia has to have two surgeries over the next few months. The first, to remover her tonsils and adenoids, will be done in August. The second, the elongate her jaw, will be done in early October. Hopefully everything will heal quickly and they'll be able to remove the jaw device by Christmas.

I'm dreading both procedures. The first will be hard just seeing her dwarfed by all the medical gadgets and such, and I know she'll be in pain. The second will be even worse and then I get to add to it with the daily screw turnings for a couple weeks. Thank God we only have to move her jaw about 12-15 mm and it will only require about two weeks of adjustments.

I have some photos to post, but I'm going to hold off on them until later this weekend. Gotta get my mind in a happier place. Anyway, just wanted to post the update since I know a lot of folks have been wondering.

~ Jeana

The Day After

2007-06-21T08:45:00.000-04:00

Man, was yesterday stressful! Alivia, Gran and I arrived at Nemours Children's Hospital for her CT scan only to be informed that we needed to go to Wolfson's Children's Hospital instead. Fortunately the two are only a couple blocks apart and are connected by a cross-interstate elevated walkway. It was much quicker to walk there than to try to move the car. We arrived pretty much on time and sat down to await our 10 a.m. appointment. At 10 they took us all back to start prepping Alivia and we hit another speed bump. The CT scan was ordered because of Alivia's small throat and jaw which meant she was high risk for airway issues which also meant they couldn't do the mild sedation they had intended and would need to do full anesthesia on her. Of course that meant they needed to find an anesthesiologist and none were available until possibly in the afternoon. So...

We left the hospital at 10:30 with orders to return at noon for a *possible* 1 p.m. procedure time. Livi, of course, still had to be kept NPO (no food or drink), poor thing, but handled it like a trooper. At 11:30 the hospital called us and told us that the earliest they could do the procedure would be 2:30 and that we needed to be back by 1:30. Gran and I decided to take Alivia home (we had gone to Toys R Us to pass the time) and let her get a short nap.

When we arrived back at the hospital we had to wait an hour before they were ready for Alivia, but, thankfully, they were able to find an anesthesiologist. She decided to try to do the procedure without putting her under, but Livi had had enough of cooperating and decided to get fussy, so they ended up knocking her out for the 5 minute procedure. Then, when Livi woke up, she REALLY decided she'd had enough and became rather intractable. By this time it was 4 in the afternoon and she was absolutely starving. My usually very quiet and sweet natured child threw a tantrum of major proportions to get some food and devoured a whole banana, a popsicle, a carton of milk, some apple juice and a handful of cheerios. The nurses were in a dither predicting that she would get sick, but she proved them all wrong.

The rest of the evening Livi remained very demanding and clingy, but this morning she was back to her normal self. Unfortunately we were not able to see the doctor yeterday so now we have to wait for an appointment to get the results and find out whether we will need to do the surgery. We have a tentative appointment for next Friday, but I'm hoping his assistant can squeeze us in sooner.

~ Jeana

Summertime Fun

2007-06-18T14:38:00.001-04:00

So far, medical issues not withstanding, Livi and I are having a terrific summer. We spent a lovely 5 days in Toronto, Ontario, Canada earlier this month. I'll try to post some pictures later. Next month we head to St. Louis for the Children's Hope International Family Picnic and then we'll end the summer with a cruise to the Bahamas. We've also been exploring the zoo and several of the many parks in our city. Livi loves swings and slides, so I'm always on the lookout for new places for us to play. Fun! Fun! Fun!

The trip to Toronto gave me my first taste of traveling as a single parent. Livi was an absolute delight! She was incredibly well-behaved and traveled like a pro! The only hassle we had was at the US-Canada border. I was asked to provide a letter from her father saying that I had permission to take her across the border. This happened in BOTH directions! Of course, there is no such letter because there is no father. And, of course, I also didn't have copies of the adoption papers or her birth certificate with me. I had her passport and didn't think I'd need those other documents. Fortunately I was able to argue our way past the passport agents and we were able to go on our merry way. It was a bit touchy, though, and I'll be sure to carry copies of those docs on our future trips.

Wednesday is Livi's CT scan appointment and we should be able to find out that same day if we will have to do the surgery or not. We're also now working on trying to get a diagnosis of "sensory integration disorder." Livi has no pain response to most things and exhibits all the other classic symptoms of hyposensitivity in most areas. It's another of those "no cure" situations, but there are treatments that can allow her to overcome the problems. Getting the diagnosis will be our first step to getting her the treatments she needs.

Livi is also back with my mom now for daycare. She did really well at the professional day care, but with all her medical and developmental issues she really needs the one on one care she can get from my mom. It means a lot more driving for me and a lot less sleep, but it's worth it to make sure she is in the best situation for her needs. I think it also is good for my mother--she missed seeing Livi every day these last two months.

I'll update again with photos as soon as I can--and with the results of our doctor appointments on Wednesday.

Cheers!

~Jeana

Medical Updates

2007-05-26T15:30:00.000-04:00

Well, things have suddenly gotten a litte stressful on the health front. We have been waiting for some time for the consultation with the ENT specialist about Alivia's small jaw size and eating issues. We finally got to see him this week. At first he was leaning away from any kind of surgical intervention. Alivia's jaw is small, but doesn't seem to be too much of an issue as she is finally eating solid foods and seems to be getting the nutrition she needs. He ran a scope through her nose and into her throat and saw how tight the opening is from her mouth to her throat and suggested that we might be looking at a simple tonsilectomy to relieve some of the space issues. Next, examined the back of her mouth and made a startling discovery. Alivia actually has the mildest form of cleft palette--the back of her mouth never fused and she has a split uvulla (sp). Now he is leaning more towards doing a jaw extension procedure that requires fracturing her jaw on both sides and then inserting a device for two months that has to be adjusted daily to extend her jaw. It's a very painful procedure, but is generally very successful. This doctor happens to be one of the top surgeons in the field and the fact that he didn't immediately jump on doing the surgery makes me feel a little better about it. I know that he isn't just trying to add another case to his resume. Anyway, we have to go back in a few weeks for a head CT so that he can get a more definitive picture of her situation and then we'll make the final decision. I'm hoping that a tonsilectomy will be all that is needed at this time, but it is more than likely inevitable that we'll have to do something about her jaw at some point. I'm worried that the situation right now actually poses a choking hazard for her.

We also did a hearing test on Alivia and had less than definitive results there. That's not unusual in a child of her age, but with the FAS situation we are concerned that she may have some hearing issues. We are scheduled to go back for another test in a few weeks that will involve sedating her and attaching electrodes to her head to measure her brain stem response to sounds.

Alivia is such a delightful child and so patient with the doctors and nurses who are seeing her. It's just amazing to watch--even they are surprised at how cheerful she is and how she doesn't cry or fuss while they poke and prod her. It just makes me so angry that she has to be put through all this all because her birth mother was stupid and drank during the pregnancy. Yes--even the cleft palette issue is one that is rooted in her mother's drinking! While I am ever thankful to her mother for giving her up so that I could adopt her, I hate her for what she did to her by drinking. All of Alivia's medical issues were so easily preventable!

Allright... I've had my rant for the day. At the moment I'm researching the procedures that the doctor is considering and just waiting to find out what the CT scan and hearing test show. On the positive side of things, Alivia is taking more and more steps independently and is picking up new things every day. She's such a happy and charming little thing. It really is hard to be anything but happy around her. I hope as the years pass that I can always say that!

~ Jeana

One Year Ago

2007-05-10T09:17:00.000-04:00

One year ago today I was sitting in my office just like today with no idea that in just a few short hours my whole life would change. It was the Thursday before Mother's Day and in between work tasks I spent a lot of the morning day dreaming about the baby girl I was waiting for. That afternoon I made the rounds of my co-workers' offices and fielded the inevitable "when will you hear something" questions. I remember smiling optimistically as I answered "could be any day now... but I won't hear anything today. It's too late in the day. They always call in the morning."

I was on my way downstairs back to my office when my cell phone rang. I remember looking at the phone number in disbelief--knowing, even before I answered it, who it was and what it was about. Time slipped into slow motion and the next few minutes seemed like an hour as I impatiently watched the photo of my new daughter-to-be download onto my computer screen. The next two months would be a whirlwind of activity punctured by long moments of suspended time as I completed last minute preparations and traveled to Russia twice to complete the adoption of my daughter.

My life has changed in immeasurable and wonderful ways since that day one year ago. Today, as I look forward to my first true Mother's Day, I do find myself daydreaming about the end of this year when I plan to start the process of adopting another little girl, but I also find myself determined to enjoy every minute of this very special time when it's just the two of us. Just me and Alivia. One year ago this moment she was still just a dream. Today she's all mine and the most precious gift this mother can ever imagine receiving.

~ Jeana

Day Care Week Two

2007-04-28T20:36:00.000-04:00

Another crazy week! Livi cried on Monday morning when I dropped her off for daycare. She had a runny nose and seemed a little out of sorts, too. I went over at lunch time and gave her some medicine and she was napping, but seemed okay, so I was really surprised and worried when they called me that afternoon to come pick her up because she was sick. The poor child was throwing up and running a fever. I ended up keeping her home until Thursday. She was one sick little girl. We ended up going though numerous changes of bed linens and pj's...

Thursday we started in daycare again and she cried all morning long. She was fine when I picked her up that afternoon. Friday she cried again and they tell me she was irritable all day. Jill, her EI instructor spent an hour with her that afternoon and said she did think Alivia was starting to adjust to daycare, though. Hopefully the crying will start to wind down a bit next week.

Work, at least, is slow at the moment, making it easy for me to take the time off to be with Livi while she was sick. Things will be picking up again soon, though, as I start teaching in just a couple weeks in addition to doing my regular work. It feels strange to hear someone call me Professor Davis...

My mom is doing very well since her surgery. She's easily tired, but is up and about and looks great! Livi and I went to see her today--we didn't get to go earlier in the week because Livi was so sick.

Also on the positive side, I was reading through the What to Expect the Toddler Years book and was happily surprised to realize how well Livi is doing now. She actually is on par with her peers in most areas of development. She's still behind in size, walking and speech, but in all other areas she seems to be pretty much caught up. I also read that walking and/or speech will often take a back seat to other things they are concentrating on and then suddenly they'll start catching up on those, too, so maybe she'll be doing the independent stroll soon! One can hope! She'll probably always be small for her age, but that's okay, too! She's utterly delightful just the way she is!

~ Jeana

First Week in Day Care

2007-04-19T16:32:00.000-04:00

Oh, my God! I never imagined how incredibly hard it would be to put Alivia in daycare. She was find when I dropped her off the first day, but dived into my arms when I arrived to pick her up. Since then she just dissolves into tears when we walk in the door each morning and her caretaker tells me she cries off and on all morning long. It just breaks my heart and yet I know that she needs to be there right now. She needs that interaction with other kids and to start learning things from them that I just don't know how to teach her. I know that mom and I have been holding her back in several ways and I know that she'll eventually settle into it and start enjoying it, but right now it's an absolute heartbreaker to see her cry like that.

Of course, the real reason for starting daycare right now is that my mom had surgery today--a cardiac bypass--and won't be able to take care of Alivia for a couple months. The surgery went very well and, knowing my mom, her recovery will be rapid. She's one very strong woman.

This has been a busy week--both at work and at home. Last week was even busier, with a trip up to Georgia for a memorial service for one of my aunts thrown in for good measure. Alivia and I did find time to do a little shopping, though, and we got some new photos done, too. Here's my favorite--a Livi Surprise! We had a lot of fun with it this time and it shows! I can't wait till she's smiling like that about daycare!

~ Jeana

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T21:36:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter, everyone! Alivia and I enjoyed our first Easter together. I let her dive into her basket right after breakfast and she sampled a little of everything and wasn't really impressed with any of it. She loves marshmallows, but didn't like the peeps at all. I guess the hard sugary coating on it wasn't to her taste. I don't like them either, so I can't say I blame her. She did manage to bite off part of her bunny's ear and get a little chocolate on her face, but really wasn't all that in to the candy. Not a bad thing at all in my book!

Later this morning we went over to Justin and Gil's for an Easter cookout. Our friend JR brought his kids, too, so there was another baby for Livi to interact with. Mia is still too young to really play with very much, but Livi did try. Mia is about 11 months old and is a little shorter and a lot heavier than Livi. It was cute to watch them eye each other up. Mia enjoyed playing with Livi's music toys and Livi didn't mind sharing.

Gil organized an egg hunt for the kids and Justin's mom Diane kindly helped Livi find her eggs while I got a chance to grab a hamburger. Livi found four eggs--including a difficult camoflage one! She quickly caught on to how it was done and really enjoyed herself. It was fun to sit back and watch her having fun!

Here's another egg hunt pic. This week Livi and I will try to get back on our regular schedule again--although it will be changing again next week in a big way. This week is the last week before my mom's surgery and so next week Livi will be going into daycare at the college for a couple months. It will mean we get to sleep in a little later in the morning, but it will be a whole new world for Livi during the day. There are five other kids in her group at the daycare and we are hoping that she will start learning some new things from them such as feeding herself, walking more, talking more, etc.

Last pic--like any child, Livi loves it when mommy swings her up into the air! Her EI teacher will still visit her every Monday morning and I will be taking her out of daycare for her PT and ST classes a couple times each week. And then, in May, I'm going to start teaching one night a week and she'll be staying with Diane after daycare on those days. Thank goodness for Diane! She lives really close to the campus I'll be teaching at and just adores Livi.

So that's where we are and where we seem to be going... I hope everyone had as lovely an Easter day as we did! As you can clearly see, Livi remains the sunshine in my every day!

~ Jeana

Where Did March Go?

2007-03-31T12:13:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting! Things have been very hectic here. I work as an event coordinator and I have a huge 5-day conference kicking off on Monday so I've been completely buried at work these last few weeks. I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with Alivia, too, as she's going to be staying with Gran and Papa all next week. I'll get to see her briefly on Tuesday night, but otherwise I'll be missing her from Sunday night till Saturday morning.

We have found time for a little fun this last couple weeks. We went down to Epcot with Gran and Papa and had a lovely day riding rides and looking at all the fun Disney stuff. Alivia fell asleep during one of the rides and got a nice nap in. She got to have lunch with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, too! We've also been back to the zoo--love the annual membership!--and we went to the international flower show out in Green Cove Springs.

The big thing has been Alivia's doctor appointments and therapy appointments. We finally got in to see the orthopedic specialist a couple days ago. The prognosis is good--Alivia's hips are fine. The problem is her leg bones themselves are twisted externally on both sides. The right one is really bad. What they want to do is continue the PT twice a week and get her walking better and give her leg muscles a chance to get stronger, then they want to put her in leg braces in about six months. She's not going to be a happy baby!

Today Alivia and I are going shopping for shoes--leather high tops--to help her with her walking. Then tomorrow we're going out to dinner with Gran and Papa to celebrate my birthday and Alivia will begin her extended visit with them.

I hope to get some new pictures at Easter and will post them as soon as I can!

~ Jeana

A Trip to the Zoo

2007-02-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

Today Alivia made her first trip to the zoo! Gran and Papa joined us for a lovely afternoon. It was cool and breezy, but warm enough in the sun. Since the weather here has been so unusually cold lately a lot of the animals were inside, but we did get to see quite a few of them--including a couple male gorillas who were rather unhappy with each other. I also was able to get a couple cute photos of Alivia including this one with Papa. You can sure tell he's one proud grandpa!

The zoo also has a carousel. Alivia's a bit young for that yet, I think, but she did enjoy posing on this carousel horse that's at the entrance to the ride. She really liked sliding her hands up and down the pole, too... I'm wondering if I should start worrying... Anyway, we bought annual memberships to the zoo so that we can take Alivia back there often. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon--especially on a weekday when it's not too crowded.

This was our last long weekend until Spring Break next month. I'm looking forward to having that whole week off to spend with Alivia!

~ Jeana

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T19:03:00.000-05:00

Alivia and I had a wonderful day today! Gran and Papa were out of town so I got to take the day off and take Alivia to her PT appointment. She hated every minute of it--wailed the whole time--but she was able to stand without support for a few seconds and even managed a few steps by herself! It was wonderful to see! We also got a call this afternoon that her speech therapy has been approved by the insurance company, so she'll be starting that next week, too! Finally! I'm hoping they can help us overcome some of her eating issues.

Later this afternoon Alivia and I went shopping for a growth chart for her wall and found a really cute one at Babies-R-Us. We also decided to get some professional photos done while we were there. I'm going to post a few of them here--they turned out really cute! We hung up the chart once we got home and of course we had to see how she measures up... Alivia is up to 29 inches now! She's a growing girl! Which brings up another issue--her changing table is only 30 inches long so we're going to have to find another place for that little chore!

In other news... Alivia is becoming more of a mommy's girl every day. She's starting to get to where she doesn't care for other people to hold her--which is fine by me! She's also becoming very curious and into everything--and she thinks "tooting" (passing gas) is the most funny thing in the world to do!

~ Jeana

February Already!

2007-02-03T18:06:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe it's February already! Alivia and I have both been sick with colds (again...) these past couple weeks. We did get to go to St. Augustine, though, and here's one of the photos we took there. They came out rather grainy... I hate disposable cameras.

Today has been a fun day. We met up with a couple other CHI families this morning for an informational meeting for some other families who are considering adoption. Everyone was wonderful and we had a great time! After the meeting all three families had lunch together at Cracker Barrel--there were 12 of us altogether representing 5 countries! It was truly an international experience! Alivia had a wonderful time playing with a couple of the other children.

My internet buddy Christy is on her way to Tver today to meet the little girl who has been referred to her. I can't wait to hear how things are going. I'm hoping she will email or post to her blog tomorrow.

What else is new... Alivia has a new physical therapist and she's absolutely wonderful! I think we're going to see some quick results now! She's also been evaluated for speech therapy and they have recommended she see someone twice a week for that, as well. They think they can help with her eating issues along with getting her talking more. They'll also be teaching her baby sign--very kewl! We have finally been able to get her scheduled to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, too, although not until the end of March.

I've made the decision to go after baby number two--another girl--from Russia. I won't be filing the application for several months to a year yet, but I'm definitely going to go ahead with it. It's just a matter of organizing the finances now.

Otherwise things are just moving along in our new normal... if we could just stop getting these nasty colds everything would be great!

~ Jeana

6 Month US Anniversary and 18 Month Check-Ups

2007-01-17T15:00:00.000-05:00

Sunday was Alivia's six month anniversary of US citizenship. We arrived in New York on July 15 this past summer. Hurray, Livi!!!!

To celebrate we ordered her US passport this week. That was a lovely way to spend two hours... I couldn't believe how slow they were at the passport office. We got it done, though, and should have her passport within 6 to 8 weeks. Since we had a Florida certificate of foreign birth it made it easy to apply. We just had to show that along with her certificate of citizenship.

Yesterday was Alivia's 18 month checkup and I was thrilled with the doctor's report. Alivia has gained both pounds and inches and is now up to 16.5 pounds and 28 inches in length. She's still below the 5% line, but she's closing in on it at last. The really great news was about her head circumference, though. It came in at 17.25 inches and put her on the 5% line for low birth weight girls! Hurray! The doctor also had really good things to say about her development, placing her at 15 months. When I first got her at the age of 12 months she was only at 7 months developmentally, so she's closing the gap there, as well.

The fun part of the day yesterday was the shots and the bloodwork. Alivia actually did well with her shots--she only cried for a few seconds. It's not the needles that bother her--it's the stingy stuff in them. Apparently the stuff she got yesterday wasn't too bad. Then, when we went to the lab, the staff there were making comments about how they don't like doing babies because they always cry so much. They obviously didn't believe me when I told them she wouldn't cry, but I explained that as long as they got it on the first stick and didn't dig around in her arm she'd be fine. I think they were amazed afterwards to find out I was right. They did a good stick on the first try, got the blood they needed and Alivia sat there quietly and just watched them do their thing. She's such a trooper!

We seem, finally, to have gotten everything straightened out for Alivia's physical therapy, speech therapy and early intervention services. It's been a real pain trying to work out the insurance coverage and get everything in place. The next thing is to get her in to a pediatric orthopedic doctor to evaluate her hips and see if we need to do anything corrective there. Otherwise everything seems to be moving right along!

We are planning an outing to St. Augustine this weekend and I'll try to get some new pics to put up. Till then, everybody stay cool!

~ Jeana

Two More Teeth!

2007-01-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

Yep, Alivia has cut two more teeth, bringing her grand total to 14! It's funny the things I can get excited about now--new teeth, regular bowel movements and every new word or facial expression each bring their own little bit of joy to my day!

Today Alivia and I took down the Christmas tree, put her new table and chairs together, and did a little shopping. It was a nice Saturday--at least until she awoke from her afternoon nap. All of the sudden Alivia went into major cling and cry mode. I don't know what the deal was, but she just wouldn't be comforted and wouldn't let me put her down even for a second--my dinner just had to wait. Fortunately she seemed to get over it after about an hour, but she had me worried for a bit. I couldn't find anything that was causing her distress and she still isn't able to communicate at that level. Things like this make me wonder if maybe she's having bad dreams or something. It only seems to happen on those rare occasions where she wakes up crying. Most times she wakes in a terrific mood. I'll be glad when she's able to tell me what's wrong. On a positive note, once I coaxed her into a better mood she stayed that way the rest of the evening.

One more bit of positivity--one of my dear internet buddies leaves for Tver on Monday to meet her referral! I can't wait to hear how things go!

~ Jeana

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

Father Frost was very good to us today! In addition to the toddler-sized table and chairs, the jack-in-the-box, the Russian Dora the Explorer doll, and the blocks I got for Alivia, we also received a beautiful photo album from our dear friends Diane and Susie. These photos are some of the photos that were included in the album.

They also used one of the photos to create a Christmas ornament for us and gave Alivia several little toys to help with her development. I have to say, though, that the photo album was the most wonderful surprise for me. I couldn't believe all the wonderful photos they got of Alivia that evening! There must be at least 70 photos in the album!

Apparently the night I went with my parents to see the Blue Man Group, Susie and Diane decided to turn a night of babysitting into a photo shoot. As you can see from the photos, they all had a great time! I'm so blessed to have friends who enjoy babysitting Alivia as much as Diane and Susie do! And I can't believe they got Alivia to wear the Santa hat for so long! She usually hates hats!

Later today Alivia and I are going over to Gran's house for New Year's dinner. I can't wait to share the photo album with Gran and Papa. They'll love it as much as I do and will no doubt want copies of several of the photos! I picked out these five photos from the album because they each show just how beautiful, curious, intense and happy Alivia is every day. I hope you all enjoy these as much as I do!
Alivia and I want to wish all of our dear friends a happy, healthy, wealthy and wonderful New Year!
~ Jeana

Christmas Gifts Galore!

2006-12-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

Some of you may think I'm referring to the huge pile of Christmas gifts that Alivia received this year, but I'm not. Two of my internet friends who have each been waiting months and months for referals for baby girls from Tver have each received their referals! One of them received hers a couple weeks ago and the other received hers just today! I'm so excited for both of them! It made me remember the incredibly intense combination of joy, fear, hope and anticipation that I felt on the day I received my own referal--just a couple days before Mother's Day this past May. For both of my friends, like me, this will be their first child. It's an unbelievably emotional time and, surprisingly, one that it's so easy to allow to fade into distant memory. My Christmas Wish for both of them and for me is that we never allow that to happen.

So today I sent out cyber hugs to my dear Web friends, patient waiters and soon to be Moms. May every Christmas of your future be as blessed and joyful as this one has turned out to be! Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years to you both!

~ Jeana

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T10:34:00.000-05:00

The last couple days have been challenging. Alivia is still sick, but is slowly getting better. She has also become very clingy and wants to be held all the time. I'm hoping this is just related to her being sick and not a new phase in her development. This morning was nice, though. Alivia enjoyed sitting in Mommy's lap and helping Mommy unwrap presents. I would rip off a strip of paper, then Alivia would rip one off. She thought that was a great game! She also liked just playing with the paper once we got it off the package. I think the paper was more fun than the presents.

Alivia loves the Winnie-the-Pooh rocking chair that Santa brought her. She sat in it and rocked for a while then wanted to sit in my lap and rock while I rocked her chair with my foot. Alivia also got a Pooh easy chair. It's not quite as much fun as a rocking chair, but she likes it, too. It's nice for climbing up and down--one of her new skills! Thank you, Auntie Gil and Uncle Justin for her lovely Pooh easy chair!

Later this morning Alivia and I will be going over to Gran and Papa's house. We have lots more presents there as well as dinner! Yum! I'll have more photos later, but thought everyone might enjoy these from our first Christmas morning together. Alivia was having a bad hair morning, but we'll fix that before we head out to Gran's.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

~ Jeana

The Busiest Month of the Year?

2006-12-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

This past week has been a rough one. Alivia has been very sick with a nasty cold. She has spiked fevers off and on and is suffering from a ferocious cough, a nasty bout of congestion and all the other trimmings. True to her nature, she hasn't been as fussy as one might expect. She's certainly done her share of whining, but overall she's still been her sweet little self most of the time. Thank God!

Yesterday I managed to get the outside lights put up while Alivia napped. I tried to take her for a walk last night to see all the neighborhood lights, but she suddenly developed an aversion to her stroller and we had to cut it short. Even at only 16 lbs. she's just too heavy to carry for very long. Maybe we'll try again this evening. The temperature is in the 70's here at night right now, so it's beautiful weather for it!

During her nap today I wrapped all the Christmas presents. All I have left to do on Christmas Eve is put togther her Winnie-the-Pooh rocking chair. I did save out a couple gifts to give her on New Year's Day, too. Those still have to be wrapped... I also have to quit going out to the shops... I bought another gift for her today. Bed, Bath, and Beyond had these cute little table and chairs sets on sale for $20. That will be one of her New Year's gifts, I think.

This week we have lots of appointments... Alivia will be meeting her new early intervention teacher Monday morning for an evaluation of her needs. Then on Tuesday she has her first physical therapy appointment. Sometime this week (I can't remember which day and didn't write it down--I have to call tomorrow to verify) I have an appointment with my doctor. Then there are a couple work-related holiday parties to go to on Monday and Wednesday... I'm going to be ready for the holiday break by the end of the week, for sure!

We're planning to go to St. Augustine on Friday with my parents to see the Nights of Lights display. They do a great little train tour through the historic district. I think Alivia will enjoy it. Hopefully she will be over her cold by then. I'll try to get some new photos when she's feeling a bit better--and definitely some on Christmas Day!

Cheers and Greetings of the Season!

~ Jeana

Getting into the Spirit

2006-12-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

Well, we have almost all of our Christmas shopping done and the tree has been decorated. I'm so excited about this first Christmas with Alivia. She hasn't any idea what it's all about, but I'm still looking forward to it. I know the next few years will be even more exciting as she starts to figure out what is going on. We also got her first photo with Santa last week. She was so funny--not afraid of him at all. She took a few moments to study him (that's the photo I ended up getting) and then she pulled on his beard, bit his finger and pulled on his beard again.

I've been thinking about Christmas traditions and trying to decide what we will do. One of the things I'm keen on is saving one of her gifts to give to her on New Year's Day. The Russian tradition is to have a New Year's tree and exchange New Year's gifts. I'm also hoping to incorporate a Russian dish or two into our holiday menu. This year, at least, we will begin with Christmas at home--just me and Alivia--in the morning. Then, after we've opened up her Santa presents and had breakfast, we'll get dressed and go over to Gran's and Papa's for more presents and Christmas dinner. I'm hoping that in years to come we can move Christmas dinner to my house on occasion, but this year I'm happy to do it over there... less house cleaning for me to worry about!

Christmas shopping has been so easy this year. Since Alivia doesn't realize what is going on, I just take her with me and watch her reactions to the various toys and things. If she likes it, I buy it, otherwise we leave it on the shelf. I don't have to hide anything yet, either. It's all sitting in a corner of my bedroom waiting to be wrapped. Starting next year I'll have to be a little more sneaky, though, I think, but that's half the fun of it!

~ Jeana

Some New Photos...

2006-11-23T21:43:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone--and happy Thanksgiving Day! Here are a couple new photos of my beautiful, blue-eyed angel... These were taken today at Gran's house. I swear she's looking less and less like a baby every day. Here she was climbing up her uncle Chris to get at his necklace. She loves any kind of jewelry!

She had a blast racing up and down the hallway--usually in pursuit of the dogs! She also enjoyed meeting her uncles and cousins--who all fell in love with her, of course!

~ Jeana

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-21T11:54:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting for my friend Justin to send me some of the new photos we took of Alivia recently, but he's taking too long, so... I'll get some more this weekend over the holidays and post them as soon as I can. In the meantime, I have a couple new Alivia stories to share...

She's truly become the sunshine in my day everyday. This morning I was holding her in my arms right after I woke her up and while she was still half asleep she reached up to my face to turn it so that she could kiss me. It was so precious!

She's also a stubborn little cuss... the other day she started spitting (raspberry style) while I was feeding her. I told her no, but she did it again. I said no again and she did it again, so I smacked her tray (doesn't hurt her at all, but makes a loud noise that gets her attention.) Well, she started wailing like you'd think I was beating her, but between every wail she'd spit again just to show me she could do it no matter what I said. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

And she's developing her sense of the absurd... a couple nights ago I was running her bath while she stood naked beside me watching the water fill the tub. She loves to play in the water and every time I'd reach in to test the temperature, she'd reach in, too, even though her little arms were just too short to reach. After a few moments I heard her giggling and glanced over to see what was up... Alivia was staring down at her feet and wiggling her toes. She'd just peed on her feet and thought it was the funniest thing that she could make little splashes with her toes before she even got into the tub.

This year I know that I truly have cause to be thankful. God has given me the most precious gift in the world.

~ Jeana

Early Intervention Evaluation

2006-11-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Alivia and I met with the Early Intervention specialists this morning to determine if she needs and is eligible for their services. It was interesting to watch them perform the evaluation--they would give her different things to play with and watch what she did with them. They also tried to get her to walk, talk, crawl, eat, and other basic activities. They took her premature birth date into account and evaluated her at the 14 months level (her gestational age) rather than her calendar age of 16 months. Their findings were pretty much what I expected. Basically, Alivia is doing fairly well verbally, but needs developmental assistance in most other areas.

She seems to be having lots of problems with her ankles turning in and her toes turning out, so they have recommended that we get high-top shoes for her with thick, hard soles--exactly the opposite of what is recommended for most babies learning to walk. They also want her to be evaluated for shoe inserts. They seem to think she may have a small amount of hip displasia, too, which contributes to the problem. They are going to set up a once-per-week physical therapy appointment for her, as well, to try to work on getting her walking correctly.

Alivia is also missing most of the fine motor skills that she should have by now She still rakes with her fingers to pick things up and doesn't like to help much at meal times. All of these things can be attributed to her spending that first year in a crib in the orphanage. The children there just don't get the stimulus and the opportunity to develop anything beyond the most rudimentary motor skills--and she was barely at that level when I got her. At 12 months she was unable to sit without support. She's come such a long way--but we still have a long way to go! They will be providing us with an in-home visit twice a month to work on this kind of thing.

The scariest part of their determinations today was that Alivia is having some cognitive difficulties. Again, this may be entirely due to the environment she lived in for her first 12 months, but there's also the possibility that it's a symptom of fetal alcohol effect or fetal alcohol syndrome. They are advising Alivia's doctor to request a geneticist see her for further evaluation along that line. If it is FAE/FAS, there is nothing that can cure or repair the damage--all we can do is try to work around it. Since she doesn't display any signs of an uncontrollable temper, hopefully the damage will be limited to some mild learning disabilities.

In general, I'm very optimistic about her situation at this time. She's a very strong, focused and determined child and I know that we can do whatever we need to do to help her to succeed.

This coming weekend we are supposed to be going with Justin and Gil to watch a medieval battle reenactment. That should be quite the experience for Alivia... I'll try to get some pictures and post them here!

Jeana

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-29T00:12:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are some photos of Alivia in her Tulip Fairy costume (and one of me in mine--an 80's glam rock groupie--with my friend Brian.) Alivia and I had a really fun time at the Halloween party this evening. She took a late nap today so she could stay up late and she did really well all evening. She loves to show off and spent most of the night entertaining everyone with fake sneezes, her version of dancing and lots of cheesy grins. The evening started out on a rough note, though, when I couldn't find my car keys and so had no way to get us to the party...

Turned out that when she and I returned from grocery shopping this afternoon my car key got separated from the rest of my key ring and fell into her car seat as I lifted her out of it. Later, when I went to change clothes, my keys got hung up in my pocket and I had to yank them out, but didn't notice that one of the keys was missing. Then, when we got ready to leave for the party I realized the car key wasn't on the ring and started desperately searching the house for it.

I had already placed Alivia in her car seat, so I left her there while I got on my hands and knees in my bedroom searching. I was SO frustrated when I couldn't find the key anywhere and after about fifteen minutes of waiting on Mom, Alivia got frustrated, too, and started crying. I went to the car to soothe her and, low and behold, when I pulled her out of the car seat I spotted the key. It was almost tucked into the side of her seat, so it was a lucky thing that I happened to see it.

Anyway, after that near disaster I buckled Alivia up again and we took off for the party. We managed to arrive only a half hour late and so got to make a grand entrance. Alivia loved the opportunity to play "Pass the Baby" and spent a little time cuddling with just about everyone there. She also got to try some chocolate covered bananas--a big hit, let me tell you!

It was nearly 11 p.m. when we got home, so I'm hoping she will sleep in a bit in the morning. She was such a trooper all evening, though, and really seemed to have a good time.

~ Jeana

Update

2006-10-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

Things are going pretty well here in Alivia-land. I hope to have some new photos to share this weekend. Alivia and I are attending a costume first anniversary party for some friends of mine and that, along with Halloween, should provide plenty of photo ops.

Alivia is developing a bit of a temper these days, though. She likes to scream when she doesn't get her way and, unfortunately, her way is usually a little too dangerous for Mom or Gran to approve. She has this incredible fascination with power cords and she loves to fall. Yes, fall... She will pull herself up to a standing position and then simply let go so she can free fall backwards. When she's on a soft surface it's usually not too problematic, but my house has hard wood floors and Gran's house is all ceramic tile (in Florida we tend to go for cooler surfaces like these) so it can be really dangerous for her to fall that way. She also has a thing for trying to eat the cats' food. At least she hasn't discovered the litter boxes yet...

I've got an appointment on November 6th to have Alivia evaluated by the early intervention specialists. Hopefully they will help us come up with ways of dealing with some of the above as well as working on her language, motor skills and and other development issues. Alivia has come a long way since coming home, but still has a lot of catching up to do, both physically and developmentally.

Speaking of physical stuff, though... Alivia is up to 27.5 inches now! She's still a lightweight, but it makes me so happy to see her growing. She's still off the bottom of the charts (29.5 is about the 5 percentile mark for a 16 month old and she's 15.5 months), but she is catching up! On the weight she is still about 4 lbs. off the 5 percentile mark for her age. Doesn't sound like much, but when you consider she's only gaining about 1 lb. per month, it's a lot. Of course, that's all using the standard growth charts. If you use the growth charts for low birth weight premature girls, she's doing a little better, but still below the 5th percentile in both areas.

Well... that's all for now. Time to get back to work!

~ Jeana

Back to Work...

2006-10-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

The dreaded day finally arrived this past Monday and I'm now back at work. Alivia is handling the transition well. She is spending her days with Gran and the dogs and doesn't have much time to miss Mama. She is overjoyed to see me when I arrive in the evenings to pick her up, though, which just warms my heart.

We had a nice time this past weekend at our family reunion in Georgia. It was the first time for most of the family to meet Alivia and she managed to charm everyone. She came home loaded down with all kinds of lovely presents from her new extended family, too! She's gonna think Christmas is nothing after this...

Our challenge now is getting over the head colds we both managed to catch while we were running around. Aivia's nose is almost always pretty red, but right now it almost glows in the dark from all the tissue wipes she's getting. Benadryl seems to be helping, but she doesn't know how to blow her nose yet so we have to constantly use the little aspirator thingy on her, too. She thinks it's the funniest thing and giggles every time we use it.

Other than that the transition back to work has been a fairly smooth one. Alivia loves being with Gran and having the dogs to play with so she's pretty happy with the situation. The only bad thing from her point of view is that Mama has to wake her up earlier than she wants to get up. And of course I'm having to get up incredibly early just to be able to get ready and get her ready to go in time. It's definitely been an adjustment!

And I have to admit that while I miss being with Alivia all the time, I do enjoy having conversations that involve more than just babies. It's nice to have adult conversations every once in a while! If only I didn't have to get up quite so early in the morning to have them...

~ Jeana

The Best Medicine!

2006-10-09T13:49:00.000-04:00

I woke up feeling ill this morning and was just laying on the sofa watching Alivia play in her play station and feeling guilty because I wasn't interacting with her more. Suddenly out of nowhere Alivia comes up with the best medicine. She was playing a little song on her play station and then turned to face me and very slowly and clearly (and for the very first time!) said "Mama." All of a sudden my upset tummy didn't matter anymore! I felt like I was on top of the world!

I wish there was a way to upload video footage here because I managed to get several minutes of her saying "Mama" and practicing her fake sneezes. I have a feeling I have a budding actress on my hands! Since I can't upload video, here's the next best thing... a photo of her all bundled up this morning because it's actually downright cold here!

Now if she'll only take those first few solo steps before I have to go back to work next week...

~ Jeana

Happy Anniversary!

2006-10-08T13:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, October 7, was the three month anniversary of court and the day Alivia and I officially became a family. We celebrated with a trip to Disney World and Alivia was a little trooper! My friends Justin and Gil went with us and we were able to take advantage of WDW's baby pass on all of the rides we wanted to go on. Baby pass is where some members of your party go on the ride while one or two members sit with the baby, then immediately after you switch off and the ones who sat with the baby get to ride while the others sit with the baby. Since there were three of us there with Alivia, Justin got to ride everything twice while Gil and I took turns sitting with Alvia. It made the day fun for all of us. And of course we went on several rides that Alivia could go on, too!

At the age of 15 months, Alivia didn't really understand the whole Disney thing, but she loved the music, the colors and the activity. She especially loved the Kabuki drummers in Epcot and danced during their whole show. The people around us were watching her more than the drummers. She was so cute! She also liked the concert that we heard by Starship at Epcot. In the Magic Kingdom we got some photos of her with Minnie Mouse, Pluto and Goofy. That was at about 8:45 p.m. and not a moment too soon--she finally passed out when we left the Toon Town County Fair character photo place. I was amazed she lasted that long! She didn't take a nap all day even though I tried to get her to do so. She just trooped right along with smiles and giggles for everyone the whole day. No tears, no fussing. It was wonderful to see--especially when we saw so many other families dealing with tantrums and tired, crying babies.

We picked a beautiful day to go--the weather was perfect (warm and breezy) and the parks weren't too crowded. I also took advantage of the baby stations in each park to feed and change her and to give her a chance to get out of her stroller and crawl around a bit. The baby stations are really nice. They have high chairs, padded changing tables, private nursing rooms, adult restrooms, a playroom for older kids with Disney cartoons playing, and a supply of diapers, formula and other baby needs in case you run out. They have a cast member on duty all the time to help you, too. It's really nice to have an air conditioned place where you can rest for a few minutes when you're there with a baby!

It was a fun day for all of us, I think, and we were all pleasantly exhausted by the end of it! We didn't get to spend enough time at Magic Kingdom, though. I'd like to take Alivia back there in a couple months and take her on Small World and a few other rides that I know she will enjoy. She's such a music lover! And I can't wait until she's old enough to understand where she is and to be excited about meeting Mickey and friends! Those will be the best trips!

~ Jeana

Happy Wednesday!

2006-10-04T11:41:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how busy you can stay with a baby in the house! Alivia and I have been having all kinds of fun! She loved having Diane and Susie babysit her when my parents and I went to see "Menopause". They played with her the entire time, singing and dancing, and literally wore her out--along with themselves, I'm sure! All of them seemed to enjoy it, though, so I've already asked them about watching her again next month when we go to see the Blue Man Group.

My return to work is looming on the horizon and I'm slowly getting ready for it. I've decided to revamp my image at work and bought a new work wardrobe with that in mind. I'm hoping it will help me to get promoted. It's going to be hard going back to work and leaving Alivia during the day--a new job with new challenges and a bigger paycheck might make it just a little bit easier. My mom is all excited about keeping Alivia while I'm at work. She's making plans for all kinds of fun activities for them. It's making me a little jealous...

This past weekend Alivia, mom and I went to Orlando for the Children's Hope International informational meeting. All of the families there were interested in adopting from Russia so I had a very interested audience to hear about our adventures in adopting. Alivia charmed everyone. I probably could have auctioned her off to the highest bidder and made a killing! She's such a little sweetheart!

This coming weekend, weather pending, we are going to head back to Orlando to go to the Magic Kingdom. If it's too hot or if it's rainy we'll see if we can find something else to do. Maybe a little early Christmas shopping...

~ Jeana

Official in Florida!

2006-09-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we received Alivia's Certificate of a Foreign Birth from the State of Florida. That was a very quick turn around! I still plan to get her a US passport, but we're going to put that off until after Christmas. We won't need it until next September anyway.

The next "official" thing on our schedule is her first post placement report. The social worker will be coming out to visit in early November, then we have to have the apostilled report in to Children's Hope International by December 7th. I had thought we were all done with apostilles, but, no... the post placement reports all need them, too. We have to do a total of four post placement reports. One this December, one in June 2007, then again in June 2008 and June 2009.

The only other "paperwork" we have to keep up with is notifying the Russian embassy if we move. Alivia has to be registered with them until she comes of age. Technically she has dual citizenship--both US and Russian. Kinda neat!

Tonight we get to experiment with our first babysitting experience. My parents and I are going out to see the musical Menopause and a couple friends of mine are coming over to watch Alivia. I'm hoping everything will go smoothly and she won't have any panic attacks. She didn't like staying at my mom's house overnight without me there, but I'm hoping that since the sitters are coming over here she'll be okay with it. I don't expect we'll be out late in any case.

Other updates... Alivia loves her little swimming pool. She still doesn't splash much, but she loves to crawl around and to play "stand up-sit down" in the water. She also tries to drink the pool water--yuck! I change the water every three days or so and just try not to think of the frogs I have to fish out of it every time she wants to get in it.

~ Jeana

Our Day in Court!

2006-09-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

Today at 10:30 a.m. EST, the Russian adoption of Alivia Elena Victoria Davis was officially recognized by the State of Florida. The judge was very nice and asked only a few questions--confirming that I was still financially capable of taking care of Alivia, why I wanted to adopt her, that I understood that it was a "forever" decision, etc. Alivia was in a terrific mood. She played quietly with my mom while the judge asked his questions. Then when it was over she started blowing kisses at everyone--including the judge! She also decided she'd had enough of her shoes and kicked those off. The judge just laughed and said it was okay, she didn't need shoes for his court.

After the hearing I had to file the court papers, then we all trooped over to the Office of Vital Statistics to apply for her new Florida birth certificate. We also tried to take some photos, but the humidity was so high today that all of the pictures came out clouded.

Once we finished with all of our business it was time to celebrate. My dad, who wasn't able to change his doctor's appointment, sadly had to miss the hearing. Instead he met us at the restaurant afterwards. Alivia got to sample some of everyone's desserts and loved every one of them! She also continued her kissing spree and enterained everyone with what I call "glee screams". She gets a big grin on her face, sticks out her tongue and squeals/screams as loudly as she can while waving her arms around. It's quite the spectacle of joy!

She was one exhausted little girl when we finally made it home this afternoon, but I'm proud to say that I don't think there's much else we can do at this point to make her any more official!

~ Jeana

A Sad Day

2006-09-13T08:48:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry for not updating this in the last couple weeks. Alivia is doing well--growing like a weed and learning new things every day. She's also getting plenty of bumps and bruises to go along with all her adventures in learning. She's still not walking by herself, but when it comes to crawling and cruising she's a little speed demon!

We have had a small crisis in the house, though. The oldest of my three cats, Trouble, has been very ill and this morning I finally had to make the decision to have him put to sleep. Trouble has been with me for 14 years, so this has been very hard to deal with. He's been suffering from the sudden onset of acute renal failure, and while he hasn't been in any pain, he's been obviously miserable. I know that this is the best decision for Trouble, but it's such a difficult thing to do. Alivia, fortunately, is still at the age where she has no idea what's going on. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with her pain here as well as my own.

On a MUCH happier note, we have court tomorrow morning for Alivia's Recognition of a Foreign Adoption hearing. I'll have photos and updates up as soon as I can!

~ Jeana

Official Court Date!

2006-09-02T14:58:00.001-04:00

Today we received the official court date for Alivia's Recognition of Foreign Adoption hearing. It will be September 14th at 10:20 a.m. Alivia didn't seem all that impressed when I told her, but the rest of us are happy! I'm hoping that my dad, who didn't get to go with mom and me to Russia, will be able to attend this milestone event. He has a doctors appointment that morning, but hopefully can get it rescheduled.

Alivia has been exploring a bit more of the house over the last few days. I'm trying to allow her a little more freedom to crawl around since she seems to be adjusting so well in every other way. The cats are learning to keep alert whenever she's near. Those cat tails are just about irresistable!

~ Jeana

The Beach

2006-08-29T15:42:00.000-04:00

Today Alivia and I made the long drive out to the beach. It was beautiful! The sun was bright, the water was warm and the beach was rather empty--the kids are back in school here, so weekdays at the beach are really nice! Alivia loved the waves and the sand. She actually tried to "dive" head first into a couple waves and ended up swallowing a bit of ocean water, but it only made her sputter a bit. No tears or fussing at all! She also tried to eat a couple fistfuls of sand. Alivia is still very much at the "everything goes in the mouth" stage. We only stayed out for about half an hour as I don't want to risk her delicate skin getting burnt.

Yesterday we spent the day at Gran and Papa's house. When we got home there was a lovely surprise in the mail--a gorgeous hand drawn card from a dear friend of mine in Canada. Don is an actor and jazz singer and now, from what I hear, has his own radio show up there. I've also been catching him doing the voice of a character on a cartoon called My Dad the Rockstar. Anyway--the card is beautiful and I wanted to share it here. A lot of my friends who have met Don in the past at the La Femme Nikita conventions and the celebrity cruises will enjoy the chance to see it. Don also decorated the envelope that he sent it in--another beautiful piece of art!

And--last, but not least--we have a tentative court date for the official Florida recognition of Alivia's foreign adoption: September 20th! Hurray!!!

~ Jeana

Photos and a Pooh Story...

2006-08-26T16:58:00.000-04:00

As promised, here is a picture of the new shelves I put up in Alivia's room. The bottom shelf contains small wooden and clay toys from Russia, including a couple matroshka dolls, a clay whistle and a bobble head duck. The upper shelves have a native costume doll which I purchased at the Olympic overlook in Moscow, a real working nutcracker, and a couple handmade fur dolls which I purchased back in 1991 when I visited Murmansk, Russia, up in the arctic circle. I hope that Alivia will come to appreciate all of these things as she grows up and learns about her heritage.

I also took the opportunity to get a couple more shots of Alivia today. Here she's in her room gazing out the window as she sits in mommy's rocking chair. You can see the picket fence and flower floor border that I did in her room, too. I just love that border!

Alivia was in a playful mood today and enjoyed posing for the camera. I love the impish little look she has in this one! The biggest problem I find now when I try to take pictures is that she wants to play with the camera. We have a few closeups now that are just a bit too close up. I have a feeling she's going to turn into a little ham before too long!

One last one to share... along with a funny story. My parents also have a nursery set up for Alivia--their's is a Winnie the Pooh themed room. Alivia, it seems, doesn't understand the difference between Pooh and poo, though, and decided to add some decorations of her own. Yesterday while we were visiting, Alivia had a major poo of the exploding diaper variety. There was poo down the inside of the legs of her little jeans, poo on her socks, poo squishing out of her diaper... and she, of course, had to spread it around a little more, smearing poo on the sheets of her crib where we were trying to change her, on the crib bumper, on a couple of the stuffed animals. She had a regular poo party! I don't think I've ever used quite so many wipes at one changing! It probably would have been easier at that point just to put her in the tub for a bath! Needless to say, her "Pooh" room has been thoroughly chistened!

~ Jeana

Two for the Price of One...

2006-08-25T21:08:00.000-04:00

This has been an interesting week. A friend of mine ran into a situation where he needed a babysitter for his 4 month old daughter while he worked and asked if I could help out. She's a sweet little girl--very good natured--and still pretty much at the sleep, eat, poop, and sleep some more stage, so I agreed to look after her for a few days. For the most part Alivia did very well with it. She did exhibit a little bit of jealousy in the form of patting my leg to get my attention a few times when I was busy with Mia, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I guess she still retains some memories of the orphanage and so is a little more amenable to sharing her mommy than she might otherwise be. The only other thing I noticed was that she woke up crying in the night after the second day of sharing me with Mia--something she hasn't done since her very first night with me after leaving the orphanage. Today we were back on our own again, though, and Alivia seemed quite herself. I was really worried that we might see some regression, but I think we came through it okay.

After this little experiment I have to give props to the mothers who manage to juggle multiple babies on a daily basis. It can really be exhausting. I don't even want to think about trying to go out to the store or anything like that with more than one. It seemed like I'd just get one settled for a few minutes and I'd have to pick up the other one for something. Thank goodness for morning and afternoon naps! You can't imagine how delighted I was that it rained here all morning this morning and the steady pattering of rain on the roof and the darkness from the cloud cover made Alivia sleep in a bit. We both needed the rest after the last three days!

The other thing I managed to do this week was paint and install some cute little shelves in Alivia's room. We now have a place to display some keepsakes from her Russian heritage. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow and post them here.

~ Jeana

New Photos!

2006-08-18T14:55:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I managed to get a couple new photos of Alivia. As you can see, she is showing much more personality these days! She's figured out that when mommy gets out this little black box and points it at her it makes nasty bright lights flash in her face. Here she's giving me "the look" to let me know she's ready for it to stop. She's also clutching her favorite treat of the moment--a creamy Nutterbutter cookie. My dad introduced her to those yesterday and she's hooked!

Here she has just finished her cookie and is trying to charm mom into giving her another one. She has the most beautiful smile--you just don't see it too often in photos. I was pleased to get this one with her impish look. I can't wait until she will smile for the camera on purpose so that I can get some nice portraits done!

And finally--here she is at Gran's house sitting in her new rocking chair. It's actually an heirloom of sorts... it was my rocking chair when I was a baby. A friend of my mom's repainted it for us and did a fabulous job! I also like this shot because it shows off her pretty dress. Believe it or not, this is a 0-3 month size dress. She's still SO tiny! She is growing, though! She's up to 26 inches in length and 15 pounds in weight.

Well, that's all for now... hope you all enjoy them!

~ Jeana

Up and at 'Em!

2006-08-17T10:38:00.000-04:00

A couple days ago Alivia decided she didn't want to take a nap and spent two hours whining and crying to get out of the crib. Being the mean mommy that I am, I wouldn't let her out and so she got angrier and angrier until she managed to teach herself to pull up on the crib bars and stand up! I wish I'd had the camera ready--there she was all red nosed, angry and frustrated and she couldn't figure out why mommy was grinning at her! Of course it hasn't all been rosy since then. She loves to pull up on the bars, but frequently loses her grip or her balance. She now has a lovely little purple bruise on her forehead. The knocks don't seem to deter her at all, though. She just gets right back at it. Alivia is starting to cruise a bit, too, and I have a feeling she'll be walking in a matter of days at this rate.

Alivia is also becoming more vocal. She doesn't know what they mean, I'm sure, but her vocabulary now includes dada, daddy, and kitty. With no "daddy" in the picture, the only useful one of those right now is the kitty--although with the way our three cats manage to avoid her reach, it's not that useful either! Can't wait for the first "mama"!

Today Alivia and I are going to Gran and Papa's house for lunch. Alivia loves Gran's house because she gets to play with the dogs. Suni especially loves to play with Alivia and the two of them have a great time together. I'll try to get some photos today and post them later on.

Hope you're all having a great week!

~ Jeana

Citizenship...

2006-08-14T19:52:00.000-04:00

Today we received Alivia's official Certificate of Citizenship along with a form letter from the President welcoming Alivia to the U.S. I was thinking of framing the certificate, but it's such an important document that I think I'll just put it away in the safe instead. I'm going to add the form letter from Pres. Bush to her life book.

Speaking of which... I really need to start pulling that together. I have a bunch of documents and adoption/Russian memorabilia that I plan to put in it. It's just a matter of getting organized. I'm sure all my colleagues at work can't believe I haven't got the thing started yet--let alone up to date! Alivia and I have just been having so much fun, though! It's hard to find time to do other stuff.

Tomorrow we're spending the day with my parents. I've got a desperately needed hair appointment in the afternoon and Mom wants to take Alivia shopping. Of course all the stylists at the hair salon want to meet Alivia, too, so they'll be dropping me off there on their way to Target. Hmmm... I wonder if I can get Mom to take care of getting Alivia's passport photos done while they are there...

~ Jeana

The Papers are Filed...

2006-08-08T21:37:00.000-04:00

I'm including some more photos of Alivia here--these are from my first trip to meet her. I'm amazed that it was only two months ago! It seems like I've had her for much longer than that! I'm also amazed at how the long wait for her referral seems to have just faded away. My life before Alivia seems like the most vague of memories and the reality of "now" with Alivia is so wonderfully real!

Today Alivia and I journeyed downtown to the courthouse to file the papers for official "Recognition of a Foreign Adoption" by the State of Florida. The filing fee was $293. Small change in the overall scheme of things! Now we are just waiting for our day in court! They told us that we should hear something in the next two to four weeks--not quite the quick turn around that I was hoping for, but I'm quite experienced when it comes to waiting now, so it's not a big deal.

Alivia was in a very happy frame of mind today. She laughed and played all day long. She is so solemn a lot of the time that it was really nice to see her chortling away at every thing. She also learned a new trick--how to fake sneeze. She discovered that whenever she "sneezes" Mommy will say bless you and she thinks that's just the most marvelous thing so she does it over and over again.

I think Alivia is also getting her first words. She keeps saying something that sounds like "ditta ditta" and I think it's coming from Dora the Explorer's "We did it!" song. I have been singing it to her when we watch it and also singing a "You did it!" version when she does special things. She spent most of this evening before bed saying "ditta ditta" and then grinning with the tip of her tongue poking out. It was just too precious!

Don't you just love babies!

~ Jeana

Progress... and a Funny Story

2006-08-07T20:22:00.000-04:00

Things are moving ahead in the paperwork department. I received Alivia's social security card today. It says she needs to sign it... hmmm... I guess I need to call them and find out if I need to sign it for her or just hold it until she's older or what... but at least we have it!

I've also made progress in the paperwork on the recognition of a foreign adoption court proceedings here in Florida. I have all the forms completed and all the supporting documents gathered. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get over to my office and have one of the ladies there notarize everything for me. Then I'll be ready to head back to the courthouse to file the papers and request a hearing. Hopefully we can get on the judge's calendar fairly quickly!

What else is happening... Alivia has cut a couple more teeth--she's now up to 12! She just got in two lower molars. She still doesn't like chunky food at all, though. She wants everything pureed. Oh--and the cats are getting a little more curious about this new creature in their house. Lots of covert sniffs today when Alivia was looking the other way.

Oh--today was our one month anniversary, too! One month ago on July 7th, Judge O. V. Aksynova pronounced Alivia and I "daughter and mother". We celebrated with some chocolate cherry ice cream for dessert. In our first month together, Alivia has easily gained more than two pounds, grown an inch in length and gained TONS of personality!

She's also gained attitude with a capital A! She and I were out with a friend of mine for dinner the other evening and after dinner I started coughing. I'm still struggling with a lingering cough from the nasty cold I caught in Russia. Well, Alivia loves to mimic my coughing and will do it time and time again, so it's fun to egg her on. My friend Lesley decides to get in on the act and interjects a cough of her own and you wouldn't believe how quickly Alivia whipped her head around to glare at Lesley! It was like she was saying this was HER game and Lesley was NOT invited to play! After glaring at Lesley for several long seconds, Alivia turned again to look at me and very deliberately coughed once, as if for emphasis. Lesley and I both burst out laughing. When she finally recovered enough to speak, Lesley said "Well, I guess she showed me!"

Just for more grins and giggles, here is Alivia's referral picture. As you can imagine, I fell in love the moment I opened the email it came in! Amazingly she just grows more beautiful with each passing day!

~ Jeana

How Time Flies!

2006-08-02T09:41:00.000-04:00

Wow--it's incredible how full my days are now! Some days it's all I can do to keep up with everything. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, though. Alivia is such a sweetie and it's wonderful to see the daily changes in her.

We found a lovely rocking horse for her at BJ's. It has sound effects of galloping and neighing and also has some motion effects--the tail swishes and the nose wiggles while it is neighing. It's so cute! It's a little big for Alivia yet--her feet don't reach the stirrups, but she still loves it!

I also found an activity station for her that I really like. Most of them have the child seated in the middle and they just spin around to access the various games and activities. This one has the baby seated on the outside and the baby has to move around the outside of the station to access everything. The seat also spins in place to allow her to turn around to see me or the tv. Alivia is just tall enough for it--her feet can sit flat on the ground while she stands in it. It's helping her with her balance and, hopefully, will also help her learn to walk. She's getting pretty good at scooting herself around the station to get to whatever activity has captured her interest!

Yesterday I went to the courthouse to find out about having Alivia's foreign adoption officially recognized here. This will enable me to get a Florida birth certificate for her which will be very helpful when it's time to register her for school in a few years. I have to go back tomorrow to meet with a case worker who will help me with all the forms. Sometimes you just wonder if the paperwork will ever end!

~ Jeana

Photos from the Orphanage

2006-07-28T16:16:00.000-04:00

Today I picked up the photos from the disposable camera I left at the orphanage between trips. It's pretty obvious that they took most of the photos on the same day, but that's okay. What's really interesting is the glimpse these photos give into the orphanage life of very young children. At her orphanage they were fortunate that the children did not have to share a crib. The cribs are all old--everything there is old--but they do the best they can with what they have.

I noticed that Alivia likes to try to drink out of regular cups and in the photos there was one of her doing just that by herself. There is also one of her eating by herself, but I don't think she did that on a regular basis. I could be wrong, of course, but her coordination just doesn't seem up to that yet. They told me when I picked her up that she was eating any "smashed" foods and drinking tea. Somehow I don't think tea is the best drink for a baby, but that's just my opinion.

They have a variety of toys for the children at Vishney Volochek--including a padded playroom that looks like it might be fun.

One of the photos I'm posting here today had another child in it. I put a black bar across his face since I don't have permission to post his photo. If someone viewing this thinks it might be their referral/adopted child, please email me and I'll be happy to send you the photo.

Enjoy the photos!
~ Jeana

New Friends

2006-07-23T22:03:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy, but fun weekend. Yesterday Alivia visited with her Gran and Papa while Mommy went to the movies with some friends. After the movie I picked her up from Gran's house and went back to the friends so they could all meet my little princess. Alivia did well with all the attention--showing a decided preference for Mommy, but a willingness to let others hold her for a bit. Oh--and the movie was good, too! We saw Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Today started out as a relaxing day, but Alivia was a bit fussy. She's teething right now and it makes her a little cranky. Things improved, though, in the afternoon. I had invited a friend from work to bring her young daughter over to meet Alivia and the two hit it off well. Chelsea is a beautiful little girl and baby crazy as most little girls are. She allowed Alivia to climb on her and poke at her and was generally pretty good natured about it. She loved finding ways to make Alivia laugh. Here's a photo of the two of them with Chelsea's mom.

Chelsea also brought Alivia a gift--a fun little car to roll about on. Alivia loved it and enjoyed having Mommy push her around for a little ride. Chelsea also loved the opportunities it provided to pose for the camera. Chelsea is quite the little ham! I love seeing the personality coming out in young children like Chelsea and can't wait to see Alivia doing the same kind of things. Here is another picture of the three of us having some fun! Chelsea and I took turns tickling each other and giving each other rabbit ears. And don't you just love Alivia's "look, everybody, no hands!" bit?

As you can see, Alivia is still loving her food--she's showing off quite the little pot belly here! She's eating very well--and a nice variety, too. She loves fruit and tolerates most meats and veggies. Cereal is still her favorite, though, and I think she'd eat it for every meal if I let her! She also still takes a bottle, but likes to try to drink from a cup. Her pediatrician wants me to keep her on formula for a while to try to help her grow a bit faster. Currently she's weighing/measuring in at the 50th percentile for a 5 month old, so she's got a bit of catching up to do!

I just wish we could get more pictures of her smiling. She smiles a lot, but rarely when there is a camera around. Makes it a bit of a challenge! We mostly get these serious faces from her on camera. Of course, it's always amazing to see just how much she is changing every day! I swear she looks so much like me as a kid! Thank you, Jennifer, for manning the camera!

~ Jeana

Happy Wednesday and a Look Back at Moscow

2006-07-19T21:22:00.000-04:00

Today was a good day, although it didn't actually start out that way. Alivia finished the last of the kasha from Russia yesterday and decided first thing this morning that she didn't care at all for the baby rice cereal or baby oatmeal cereal that I was offering. I tried everything to get her to eat it and she just locked her teeth and refused. I checked the Nestle Website for the instant kasha we had found in Russia, but it's not available here. Fortunately Jacksonville has a large immigrant population and I was able to find a European grocery store that carries some imported baby foods--including a wheat based cereal similar to kasha. I found a brand that she likes and all is now well again as far as breakfast is concerned!

This afternoon I took Alivia to her visit her Gran and Papa. She also got to meet their dogs--two dachshunds. The female, Suni, immediately went into mama-mode and actually took exception to me trying to pick Alivia up at one point. It was kind of cute. The male, Kasea, wasn't happy with the situation at all, though. He's been the family baby for the last several years and didn't like being displaced. Here's a photo of Alivia and Suni becoming acquainted.

Alivia also discovered the joys of honey nut cherrios at Gran's house. After the rough night and morning we had it was great to see her in such good spirits. (Alivia had a fever off and on all night and most of the day today as a result of the shots she received yesterday at the pediatrician's office.)

Later, while Mom and I messed around in the kitchen Alivia spent her time wisely--having a heart to heart talk with her Papa. All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon and evening. I knew she needed a little extra loving after her experience at the doctor's office and I can tell she's looking forward to visiting Gran and Papa again on Saturday while I go to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Backtracking a few days--we had a wonderful couple days in Moscow before the long flight home. I didn't take the city tour on the first trip, so the agency kindly took me, Mom and Alivia on the tour on our last morning in Moscow. We did all the major sites--St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, the Olympic lookout point, etc. My one disappointment--I'm a huge Scorpion's fan and they headlined a free concert in Red Square on our second night in Moscow in honor of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. I would have loved to go, but a rock concert just isn't the right venue for a small baby in my opinion. Even if it is in Red Square...

The embassy visit was interesting. We went on Friday and there were 23 other families there. We were told that on Thursday there had been twice as many families. I'm glad we were there on Friday. The waiting area is rather small and couldn't accommodate everyone as it was. The embassy staff were very helpful, though, and got everyone through as quickly as possible. They also made a point of going over what to expect when we got back to the States. One of the things they told us was that as soon as the airplane wheels touch down on U.S. soil, our children become U.S. citizens. As the consular aide put it--"something magical happens".

Well, on the flight home my mom was telling that story to the flight attendants and a few people sitting near us just as we were coming in to land. Everyone was oohing and ahhing over the sweet story when suddenly the plane wheels did touch down--very hard! Alivia startled and her eyes got really big and you would have sworn just from looking at her that something magical had indeed happened. As the plane taxied to the gate I looked around our section of the plane and was just amazed. Everyone--the flight attendants, the people in the rows nearby--everyone was smiling at Alivia and crying. And she, of course, was just beaming back at everyone, too!

~ Jeana

A Busy, Busy Day!

2006-07-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone! I know I promised photos, but we've been so busy since arriving home that I haven't had a chance to pull out the camera. I promise to take some tomorrow, though, and upload them so everyone can see how well Alivia's doing.

Today was an especially busy day--first thing this morning we stopped by my office so everyone there could meet her. Alivia was her usual charming self and especially seemed to take to Drew. Alivia is a little flirt and made the most of the visit, though, laughing and smiling at everyone.

After we left my office we had to go to the social security office to apply for her card. It was interesting that they wouldn't accept the certified Russian translations of her birth certificate and the adoption decree. They have to have them translated by their staff instead. I was assured that it wouldn't take long, though, and that we should receive her card in a couple weeks. They were very nice, there, and made copies of everything they needed so I didn't have to give them any originals. I was worried about that.

Once we finished there, I took Alivia home to try to get a nap before her appointment with the pediatrician. She was just a little too over-stimulated, though, and never did fall asleep. Fortunately she doesn't get too fussy when she's tired and she did well at the pediatrician's office until the needles came out. The poor girl had to have four shots today and she didn't like any of them. The upside of the visit was that she checked out VERY well! Developmentally the doctor placed her at about 9 months and physically at about 5 months (she's 12 months 13 days old). Considering that she was a couple months premature, she's been in the orphanage since birth, and her birthmom is rather petite, she's doing well. In the 11 days that she's been with me she's gained 1.25 lbs., too! That's more than she was averaging per month in the orphanage. It's simply amazing how much these kids can grow when they have the right nourishment and all the love and attention they need.

Tomorrow should be a more normal day and hopefully we can get back on our schedule of two naps and lots of playtime. Again--I promise to get some new photos of her up here sometime tomorrow. Until then!

~ Jeana

We're Home!!!!

2006-07-16T21:35:00.000-04:00

It was a very long trip--more than 26 hours of travel time--but we made it home late last night! Alivia was an angel--she only slept off and on, but she traveled so well! She only cried once when her gums were bothering her and otherwise just played happily the whole time. Now we're working on getting back on some kind of a schedule--hopefully we'll both be caught up on our sleep in the next day or so. I'll post highlights and photos as soon as I can!

~ Jeana

Almost Home Free!

2006-07-14T07:23:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! We just finished our last official appointment--the embassy visit. We will be flying out of Moscow very early in the morning and hope to be home around 8:30 Saturday evening. It's been a long, but very successful trip! Alivia is the most affectionate little baby--an absolute treat to be around!

We can't wait to get home to all our family and friends!

Love to everyone!

~ Jeana, Alivia and Barbara

Last Night in Tver

2006-07-11T14:07:00.000-04:00

We spent our last evening in Tver taking another little stroll. This time I got a picture of the old KGB building which is where adopting families go to receive their referals. It's nice that the Osnabruck Hotel is so centrally located in the city. Most of the places we need to go are within walking distance.

When we returned to the hotel we gave Alivia her bath. We've been staying in a suite here and discovered that the bidet makes a perfect baby bathtub. Alivia wasn't too happy with Gran for taking her picture while she was bathing, but Gran made it up to her afterwards with a nice lotion rub.

I'm looking forward to getting to Moscow tomorrow and being one step closer to home. Saturday still seems a long way away, but we'll be busy enough in Moscow that the time should pass quickly.

We will probably not get to post again until after we get home, but if I stumble across an internet cafe I'll see what I can do. Until then, enjoy the photos!

~ Jeana

Ice Cream!

2006-07-11T08:01:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely walk around the center of town today. Alivia definitely likes riding in the carrier better than the stroller. We walked up through the park to what I call "Gypsy Street". It's a pedestrian street where you can find real gypsies. From what I understand they sell their "wares" and look for likely targets to pick pocket. We haven't had any problems with them.

The street is lined with shops and restaurants and reminds me a lot of St. George Street in St. Augustine. We found a really good fast food restaurant near the Olympus Mall that makes great "chicken burgers", otherwise known as chicken filet sandwiches, and roasted seasoned potatoes. You don't want to try the coke from the fountain, though--the water they use makes it taste funny. Get the cokes from the bottles in the cooler.

On one corner of Gypsy Street there is a Baskin Robbins. We stopped there after lunch and ordered a rocky road cone for me and a dish of vanilla for Mom. Alivia decided she wanted some of both, but she had a decided preference for the rocky road--especially when she discovered that she could lick the cone just like her momma! You can definitely tell she was meant to be my daughter!

Tomorrow we leave Tver for Moscow. We don't know what time yet, but it will definitely be tomorrow. I don't know if I'll have internet access in Moscow, but if I can get it I will try to post a few more times before we head home on Saturday. This trip has been great, but we really can't wait to get home!

~ Jeana

It's a Beatiful Day in the Neighborhood!

2006-07-11T03:46:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! We are having another sunny and hot day in Tver--the temp is in the mid 80's already and it's not yet noon. The weather has been beautiful here the whole trip. The days are hot, but with a nice breeze and we get a brief thunder shower ever afternoon. The sun is out for so many hours that everything dries off quickly, though, and we're able to get right back outside if we need to.

I was thinking this morning about my court experience. It was actually kind of fun. Everyone--the judge, the prosecutor, the inspector--was obviously in a good mood that day and it seemed more of a formality than anything else. At one point the judge was reading the info about my house into the record and she suddenly stopped and asked if she could ask me a personal question. I said of course, and she asked if I lived alone. I said yes and she asked, "then why do you need such a big house?" Now, my house is only 1260 SF, but compared to homes and apartments here I guess that is pretty big. I thought really fast and answered that I had known I wanted a family when I bought the house so I made sure to get a big house so I could have a big family. She liked my answer. She also liked looking at the photos of my house and at the pictures of my cats.

As we got near the end of court--the prosecutor was making her last comments just before the judge would announce her decision, the judge suddenly realized that a document was missing. We had to adjourn court for a while to allow Alexey to drive back to his office to get it. The judge went ahead with her next case while we waited on Alexey, then as soon as he got back, she put her other case on hold and called us into her chambers so she could finalize the adoption. It was very sweet of her not to make us wait.

After we got back to the hotel from court, Mom and I changed clothes in record time and I ran downstairs to post the brief messages about the court decision. Then we were off on a whirlwind of shopping before we could go to the orphanage. We wanted to take a gift to the orphanage and got Alexey to get a list of things that they needed. We had to make several stops to get everything, but we were able to resupply them with some medicines, baby bottles, and other things.

These last few days with Alivia have just been amazing. When I look back at how uncertain I was during trip one of my decision to adopt her, I'm just amazed! She has blossomed so much even in this short amount of time. It's obvious that she knows she's loved. She's learning by leaps and bounds, too! She's pulling herself up now and standing with support. I have no doubt she'll be walking soon! She's curious about everything and loves to explore. (You can't tell I'm a proud mama, can you?)

~ Jeana

Monster Girl

2006-07-10T09:05:00.000-04:00

Ive decided Alivia's nickname will be Monster. She loves to tense up her whole little body and growl when you change her diaper. Then she grins and giggles. It's so cute! Here are a couple more photos of Alivia with her Gran. The first is from breakfast this morning and the other is right after her afternoon snack of carrots and plums. You can see why we also call her Piglet!

We took a nice little walk today using the baby carrier. She liked that much better than the stroller. Tonight we plan another little stroll to try to get some nice photos of the city.

~ Jeana

Miss Piglet!

2006-07-10T02:57:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! Alivia is quite the little piggy! She's such a good eater--literally dives into every bite. We're having lots of fun exploring the city and getting to know one another. I only have a couple minutes right now, but wanted to do a quick post. I'll do another one later today and add a couple new pics!

~ Jeana

Day Two!

2006-07-08T07:42:00.000-04:00

We had a few rough spots last night. Alivia awoke around midnight in tears. Her little gums were sore and she was a little feverish. The vibrating teether helped a little, but we finally had to give her a baby aspirin. After an hour or so she fell back to sleep sprawled on top of me and slept that way most of the rest of the night. I finally eased her back in her crib around 4 am or so and got a few hours sleep myself.

Alivia awoke promptly at 7:30 this morning (she knows her schedule well!) and decided Mom and I needed to get up, too. We fed her some pears and some formula then showered and dressed so we could get some breakfast, too. I think I've adopted a hobbit, though, because when we got down to the restaurant Alivia decided she was hungry again and ate a second breakfast of scrambled egg whites, peach yogurt and milk. I was surprised at how much she was able to put away!

After breakfast we played for a bit in the room and then it was naptime--for both Alivia AND me! When she awoke around 11:30 (right on schedule again!) we fed her some turkey and potatoes and more pears. She definitely prefers the fruits to the meat and veggies, but we managed to get some down her. Then it was time for our first family shopping expedition!

Alivia loved riding in her stroller as we walked up to the grocery store. At the store we picked up some of the things we've noticed she really likes--yogurt and milk, and we also picked up some instant baby cereal. She seems willing to try anything food-wise and will eat it without fussing even if she seems not to like the taste overly much. She's certainly making my job easier! We also stopped at the pharmacy and picked up some liquid baby tylenol and more diapers. By the time we returned to the hotel it was naptime again and I could tell Alivia was ready.

Her naptime ends in about ten minutes, then we'll have our "afternoon tea" before we head out with Luba to the photographer to get her passport photo done. After that the rest of the weekend is ours! Tomorrow we plan to take a stroll down to the city park which runs along the Volga and possibly even take a river boat cruise.

All in all, Alivia is doing very well! She's very smart--she's figured out that when I wrap my thumb in my fist she can tug on my fingers to release it. She's beginning to crawl, but finds it faster right now to just roll around to get to where she wants to be--usually peeking into a mirror to see what that other baby is doing. She's utterly delightful to be around--just as cheerful as can be!

I'll try to get some more pictures today--we've been so busy settling in that the camera has stayed in the bag for the most part. It's nice reading all your comments! Kelly--if I can help you in any way, please feel free to email me! I'm on the AdoptTver list, too!

Hugs to everyone back home!

~ Jeana