Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Happy 17 month birthday, Ellie-Kate!!
Hi Everyone--
Just a quick post b/c Ellie-Kate is enjoying her 17 month birthday so much that she just woke back up!! She's in the kitchen, laughing at our "kitty cats" as Britti tries to give her a midnight snack.
At 17 months, Ellie-Kate is doing great. She absolutely LOVES the outdoors, and, now that she can walk, she yearns to be out in the yard with a ball or on the playground as much as she can. Tonight, she walked over to her shoes, pointed, and said "shoe, shoe." We slid them on, and she walked over to Roger's shoes, picked them up, and dropped them at the door. Reaching up toward the door knob, she said "outside? outside?" Although we can certainly take a hint, we had to break the news to her that we couldn't go outside b/c we just had a rainstorm, and the ground was just too wet. After three repeated efforts to communicate with us (by dragging shoes to the door, reaching for the doorknob, and saying "outside? outside?"), we finally managed to distract her with the little slide that we have in our living room-- our own makeshift playground but not nearly like being "outside!!"
Her vocabulary has exploded over the past few weeks as well, and she recognizes much of what we say to her, even if she hasn't uttered some of those words yet. She's also walking much of the time without any assistance at all. (Yes, we're going to post new video very soon to document those steps.)
She's tremendously social, and she really loves all of us, ESPECIALLY Daddy. Tonight, we told her that it was time to say good night, and she walked to each of us around the room, said "nighty night," and waved her little fingers. (Daddy took her up to bed as the rest of us girls stayed up to watch the Disney premiere of "Princess Protection Program.")
It was nice to kick back and watch tv b/c it has been a very busy week. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp. (Thus, I had to drive her up on Sunday and pick her up yesterday-- seven hours on the road each day!!) Emmy had Girl Scout day camp in Nelsonville (25 minutes away) so we were in the car each morning and afternoon to provide transportation. Britti taught at a dance camp this week, but, fortunately, she could drive herself. Ellie-Kate got to stay home, play with whichever parent wasn't driving one of her sisters, and hone those walking and talking skills.
We'll work on uploading more pictures and video tomorrow or Sunday. In the meantime, I'd best check on our little night owl and take care of a few things before heading off to bed.
Hope that all is well and that everyone is enjoying the official start of summer!!
Christie
Just a quick post b/c Ellie-Kate is enjoying her 17 month birthday so much that she just woke back up!! She's in the kitchen, laughing at our "kitty cats" as Britti tries to give her a midnight snack.
At 17 months, Ellie-Kate is doing great. She absolutely LOVES the outdoors, and, now that she can walk, she yearns to be out in the yard with a ball or on the playground as much as she can. Tonight, she walked over to her shoes, pointed, and said "shoe, shoe." We slid them on, and she walked over to Roger's shoes, picked them up, and dropped them at the door. Reaching up toward the door knob, she said "outside? outside?" Although we can certainly take a hint, we had to break the news to her that we couldn't go outside b/c we just had a rainstorm, and the ground was just too wet. After three repeated efforts to communicate with us (by dragging shoes to the door, reaching for the doorknob, and saying "outside? outside?"), we finally managed to distract her with the little slide that we have in our living room-- our own makeshift playground but not nearly like being "outside!!"
Her vocabulary has exploded over the past few weeks as well, and she recognizes much of what we say to her, even if she hasn't uttered some of those words yet. She's also walking much of the time without any assistance at all. (Yes, we're going to post new video very soon to document those steps.)
She's tremendously social, and she really loves all of us, ESPECIALLY Daddy. Tonight, we told her that it was time to say good night, and she walked to each of us around the room, said "nighty night," and waved her little fingers. (Daddy took her up to bed as the rest of us girls stayed up to watch the Disney premiere of "Princess Protection Program.")
It was nice to kick back and watch tv b/c it has been a very busy week. Chelsea was at the College of Wooster for tennis camp. (Thus, I had to drive her up on Sunday and pick her up yesterday-- seven hours on the road each day!!) Emmy had Girl Scout day camp in Nelsonville (25 minutes away) so we were in the car each morning and afternoon to provide transportation. Britti taught at a dance camp this week, but, fortunately, she could drive herself. Ellie-Kate got to stay home, play with whichever parent wasn't driving one of her sisters, and hone those walking and talking skills.
We'll work on uploading more pictures and video tomorrow or Sunday. In the meantime, I'd best check on our little night owl and take care of a few things before heading off to bed.
Hope that all is well and that everyone is enjoying the official start of summer!!
Christie
Monday, June 22, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Update--June 19, 2009
Hi Everyone--
As the pictures that we uploaded last night indicate, we've had a busy week! Chelsea returned from Grandma P's house on Saturday; Emmy had art camp this week, and Ellie-Kate had her first toddler swimming lesson at the city pool.
We also had Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church all week, and it went great. Our theme was "Boomerang Express," and we had fun adventures in the Australian Outback (and learned a lot about Jesus along the way). I played a scientist in pursuit of a rare butterfly--the Graphium Weiske Phylum (otherwise known as the Purple Spotted Swallowtail). Yes, that's me in the pictures with a lab coat, hat, and magnifying glass. Britti was one of our group leaders; Chelsea and her friend, Elena, were helpers, and Emmy got to have fun with her friends, Patricia and Madison. Ellie-Kate and Roger came to Family Night last night as we closed down our time at VBS.
Yesterday was also a big day for our family because we went to court to officially "re-adopt" Ellie-Kate. Because Roger and I both traveled to China, the adoption was legal and final in China, and Ellie-Kate already has her U.S. Certificate of Citizenship. However, we were advised about the many benefits of creating a paper trail in the United States, and we elected to "re-adopt" her here so that she can easily request a certified version of her adoption and birth certificates here in the United States, if she needs them in the future. (It would be impossible for her to request additional certified copies of her adoption and birth certificates from China.) We filed paperwork for the court last month, and yesterday was our court date.
The re-adoption was a very special time for us for a lot of reasons. For one, it was a much more peaceful and structured process than the frenzy of completing papers just after meeting our daughter for the first time in China. It was so great that Ellie-Kate could be so calm and connected to us already as we answered questions and took pictures.
In addition to VBS and the re-adoption, we are excited to share that Ellie-Kate is now officially walking!! She took off on June 16, and she's toddling all over the house (with spotting, of course). She ran all over the church last night, and people kept commenting about how cute that she is. (We really do have to agree!!)
I'd best sign off for now. Enjoy the new pictures, and we'll post another update next week. Happy Father's Day!!
Christie
As the pictures that we uploaded last night indicate, we've had a busy week! Chelsea returned from Grandma P's house on Saturday; Emmy had art camp this week, and Ellie-Kate had her first toddler swimming lesson at the city pool.
We also had Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church all week, and it went great. Our theme was "Boomerang Express," and we had fun adventures in the Australian Outback (and learned a lot about Jesus along the way). I played a scientist in pursuit of a rare butterfly--the Graphium Weiske Phylum (otherwise known as the Purple Spotted Swallowtail). Yes, that's me in the pictures with a lab coat, hat, and magnifying glass. Britti was one of our group leaders; Chelsea and her friend, Elena, were helpers, and Emmy got to have fun with her friends, Patricia and Madison. Ellie-Kate and Roger came to Family Night last night as we closed down our time at VBS.
Yesterday was also a big day for our family because we went to court to officially "re-adopt" Ellie-Kate. Because Roger and I both traveled to China, the adoption was legal and final in China, and Ellie-Kate already has her U.S. Certificate of Citizenship. However, we were advised about the many benefits of creating a paper trail in the United States, and we elected to "re-adopt" her here so that she can easily request a certified version of her adoption and birth certificates here in the United States, if she needs them in the future. (It would be impossible for her to request additional certified copies of her adoption and birth certificates from China.) We filed paperwork for the court last month, and yesterday was our court date.
The re-adoption was a very special time for us for a lot of reasons. For one, it was a much more peaceful and structured process than the frenzy of completing papers just after meeting our daughter for the first time in China. It was so great that Ellie-Kate could be so calm and connected to us already as we answered questions and took pictures.
In addition to VBS and the re-adoption, we are excited to share that Ellie-Kate is now officially walking!! She took off on June 16, and she's toddling all over the house (with spotting, of course). She ran all over the church last night, and people kept commenting about how cute that she is. (We really do have to agree!!)
I'd best sign off for now. Enjoy the new pictures, and we'll post another update next week. Happy Father's Day!!
Christie
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
More to Praise :)
It's so hard to believe that we almost didn't consider Ellie-Kate's file... Her description indicated that she had spinal biffida occulta (a very scary sounding condition), dislocated hips, and a heart condition (also pretty scary sounding...). Praise God that He drew us to her eyes and pushed us right out of our comfort zones into the realm of completely trusting Him that we would be able to take care of her and those intimidating-sounding conditions. I can't even begin to imagine our lives without her. She fits into our family so incredibly well-- she loves sports, music, and playing with fun baby toys... she loves to "read," and she has the most amazing sense of humor and sweet spirit. She loves to laugh, and she loves us.
We are especially blessed that all of our medical visits have gone so well. We had the last appointment with a specialist today, and I am so excited to share that the cardiologist did not detect a heart murmur and feels confident that the hole in her heart has, indeed, closed. We did not put Ellie-Kate through an echocardiogram to confirm that assumption because the rest of the doctor's examination went so well. Ellie-Kate didn't like the visit one minute, but we were so grateful that this lingering issue proved not to be a major one for us at all. We're going to follow up with this doctor (as with most of the others) in a year, but, for now, we're not looking at any additional treatments or surgeries as a result of the medical conditions that landed Ellie-Kate on the special needs list in the first place. Truly, praise God!!
On the "other news" front, I (Christie) am taking another turn at being sick. (heavy sigh!!!) I didn't feel well on Friday, and I went back yesterday after just getting more ill over the week-end. I'm now on a more aggressive antibiotic for sinusitis and pretty advanced bronchitis. I'm starting to feel stronger now, and I'm grateful to have much of my voice back. Although I don't like being on the sidelines, on the bright side, all of this "downtime" in quarantine provided me with the chance to almost finish journaling our China trip (now up to 44 pages of handwritten notes!!) and to catch up on my soaps :)
Chelsea and Emmy finished school last week, and Chelsea is already off to visit Grandma P. in Virginia for this week, and Emmy is doing a four day basketball camp. The rest of the summer is filled with other camps, 4-H stuff, and a trip to Indiana to visit Grandma B. and Great-Grandma Groscost. Ellie-Kate is looking forward to much more time outside on the swing set and going for strolls. Britti is finishing up with finals as I type this post, and she's looking forward to lots of time in the sun (heavy sigh), sleep, and catching up with her friends.
Thanks much for all of your prayers and support!! I'll be posting more pictures very soon :)
Christie
We are especially blessed that all of our medical visits have gone so well. We had the last appointment with a specialist today, and I am so excited to share that the cardiologist did not detect a heart murmur and feels confident that the hole in her heart has, indeed, closed. We did not put Ellie-Kate through an echocardiogram to confirm that assumption because the rest of the doctor's examination went so well. Ellie-Kate didn't like the visit one minute, but we were so grateful that this lingering issue proved not to be a major one for us at all. We're going to follow up with this doctor (as with most of the others) in a year, but, for now, we're not looking at any additional treatments or surgeries as a result of the medical conditions that landed Ellie-Kate on the special needs list in the first place. Truly, praise God!!
On the "other news" front, I (Christie) am taking another turn at being sick. (heavy sigh!!!) I didn't feel well on Friday, and I went back yesterday after just getting more ill over the week-end. I'm now on a more aggressive antibiotic for sinusitis and pretty advanced bronchitis. I'm starting to feel stronger now, and I'm grateful to have much of my voice back. Although I don't like being on the sidelines, on the bright side, all of this "downtime" in quarantine provided me with the chance to almost finish journaling our China trip (now up to 44 pages of handwritten notes!!) and to catch up on my soaps :)
Chelsea and Emmy finished school last week, and Chelsea is already off to visit Grandma P. in Virginia for this week, and Emmy is doing a four day basketball camp. The rest of the summer is filled with other camps, 4-H stuff, and a trip to Indiana to visit Grandma B. and Great-Grandma Groscost. Ellie-Kate is looking forward to much more time outside on the swing set and going for strolls. Britti is finishing up with finals as I type this post, and she's looking forward to lots of time in the sun (heavy sigh), sleep, and catching up with her friends.
Thanks much for all of your prayers and support!! I'll be posting more pictures very soon :)
Christie
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Quick Praise!
We just had our next to last initial visit to a specialist for Ellie-Kate, and we're delighted to report that her dermatologist assured us that the marks on her skin will fade over the next few months. We're so blessed that she won't have to go through treatment; they'll go away on their own over time. Praise God!! Our next stop is the cardiologist next week. Please pray that everything will go as well with that visit too! We are just truly, truly blessed that all of the medical visits and tests have gone so well.
Have a great rest of the week--
Christie
Have a great rest of the week--
Christie
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