Day Care Week Two

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

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!

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?

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

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!

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!

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