6 Month US Anniversary and 18 Month Check-Ups

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!

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!

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!

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!

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?

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

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