Thursday, August 27, 2009
Happy 19 month birthday and five month anniversary, Ellie-Kate!!
Hi Everyone--
What a busy week!! On Sunday, August 23, we celebrated five months with our precious Ellie-Kate, and yesterday, on Wednesday, August 26, we rejoiced in her 19 month birthday. She continues to amaze us, and we praise God for His gracious provision. Today, we traveled to Columbus to meet with our social worker for our mandatory six month post-placement visit. We really loved the chance to introduce Ellie-Kate to our case worker, and, as we visited, we re-realized once again just how blessed that we are.
As we explained to the caseworker that we have not had to do anything to address her previously identified "special needs," we just thanked the Good Lord that Ellie-Kate did not have to have surgery on her hips, her heart, or her tailbone. All of those issues turned out to be just fine.
As we shared about Ellie-Kate's rapid assimilation into our family, we felt so grateful that we did not have to struggle with the attachment issues that affect some other adoptive families. We praise God for a healthy, happy baby, and we really give Him all of the glory. Thanks, Lord, for sparing us and blessing us!! What a miracle that Ellie-Kate has been in our lives!!
Beyond celebrations for and with Ellie-Kate, we've had a hectic week in terms of tennis season and the start of school for Emmy and Chelsea. Chelsea had five matches in six days last week, with three of them at other schools. Emmy and Chelsea both started school on Tuesday, and Roger and I are striving to get ready for OU to begin on September 8. After the past five months away from the office, I'm working on my juggling skills to make sure that I don't drop any "balls" with kids, home life, and/or activities, but I am looking forward to the content of my fall course. The class should be fun, especially after I get back in the swing of things.
Well, that's the update on the home front! I'll post more pictures very soon :)
Christie
What a busy week!! On Sunday, August 23, we celebrated five months with our precious Ellie-Kate, and yesterday, on Wednesday, August 26, we rejoiced in her 19 month birthday. She continues to amaze us, and we praise God for His gracious provision. Today, we traveled to Columbus to meet with our social worker for our mandatory six month post-placement visit. We really loved the chance to introduce Ellie-Kate to our case worker, and, as we visited, we re-realized once again just how blessed that we are.
As we explained to the caseworker that we have not had to do anything to address her previously identified "special needs," we just thanked the Good Lord that Ellie-Kate did not have to have surgery on her hips, her heart, or her tailbone. All of those issues turned out to be just fine.
As we shared about Ellie-Kate's rapid assimilation into our family, we felt so grateful that we did not have to struggle with the attachment issues that affect some other adoptive families. We praise God for a healthy, happy baby, and we really give Him all of the glory. Thanks, Lord, for sparing us and blessing us!! What a miracle that Ellie-Kate has been in our lives!!
Beyond celebrations for and with Ellie-Kate, we've had a hectic week in terms of tennis season and the start of school for Emmy and Chelsea. Chelsea had five matches in six days last week, with three of them at other schools. Emmy and Chelsea both started school on Tuesday, and Roger and I are striving to get ready for OU to begin on September 8. After the past five months away from the office, I'm working on my juggling skills to make sure that I don't drop any "balls" with kids, home life, and/or activities, but I am looking forward to the content of my fall course. The class should be fun, especially after I get back in the swing of things.
Well, that's the update on the home front! I'll post more pictures very soon :)
Christie
Monday, August 17, 2009
18 Month Check-up-- August 17, 2009
Hi Everyone--
We finally got in for Ellie-Kate's 18 month check-up today, and she's doing GREAT!! She weighs 22 pounds and 15 ounces, and she's 32 inches long. She's at the 25th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. She has grown six inches since we met her in March!! WOW!! No wonder that she looks so much taller!! We were really surprised that she's only at the 50th percentile for height. She is right on target (or ahead of the game) for physical, social, and communication milestones.
On the downside, she had two vaccinations, and we think that she had a mild allergic reaction to one of them. She developed spiderweb-like markings on her legs and arms, and she refused to walk on her legs. The markings appeared this evening, and, combined with the lack of movement, we were alarmed enough to haul her into the ER to make sure that she was okay. The doctor was pretty reassuring, and we think that everything's alright. Of course, when we got home, the markings had pretty much disappeared and she willingly toddled around on her legs (heavy sigh...). Praise God that she seems to be just fine :)
More soon--
Christie
We finally got in for Ellie-Kate's 18 month check-up today, and she's doing GREAT!! She weighs 22 pounds and 15 ounces, and she's 32 inches long. She's at the 25th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. She has grown six inches since we met her in March!! WOW!! No wonder that she looks so much taller!! We were really surprised that she's only at the 50th percentile for height. She is right on target (or ahead of the game) for physical, social, and communication milestones.
On the downside, she had two vaccinations, and we think that she had a mild allergic reaction to one of them. She developed spiderweb-like markings on her legs and arms, and she refused to walk on her legs. The markings appeared this evening, and, combined with the lack of movement, we were alarmed enough to haul her into the ER to make sure that she was okay. The doctor was pretty reassuring, and we think that everything's alright. Of course, when we got home, the markings had pretty much disappeared and she willingly toddled around on her legs (heavy sigh...). Praise God that she seems to be just fine :)
More soon--
Christie
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Quick Update :)
Hi Everyone--
Sorry that we haven't posted to update for awhile... Life has been an absolute blur over the past three weeks. Just after our anniversary week-end, on July 28-29, we took our family plus Chelsea's 4-H skit team to the Ohio State Fair for the state championships. Ellie-Kate LOVED seeing the animals, especially the sheep and horses. The team won Outstanding of the Day again!! On August 1, Emmy showed Coco at the county dog show, winning fifth place, in spite of Coco really NOT liking the judge. After Emmy showed, we got in the car and headed back to the state fair for photography judging. Emmy and Chelsea both competed, earning excellent marks, but falling a bit short of an award.
This past week, we have been practically living at the county fair. Chelsea had seven rabbits on the grounds, and we struggled to keep them cool and alive in the heat. However, she did amazing at the show. She won Senior Showmanship as well as first place in both of her market classes. She also won Grand Champion New Zealand and Reserve Grand Champion for the overall market breed competition. Chelsea is on Junior Fair Board, and Britti is on the Junior Fair Committee so they worked a number of livestock shows as well as met up with friends throughout the week. Meanwhile, the little girls enjoyed visiting with the animals and riding rides, especially the pony ride and carousel. It was so cool to watch Ellie-Kate's face as she experienced all of these new things. She had the BEST time!! Of course, she also got LOTS of compliments on her brand new cowgirl boots and hat as she toddled around the fairgrounds every day :)
I need to sign off for now, but I'll post pictures in the next few days. Although the fair was an awesome experience (as always!!), we're all pretty beat from far too little sleep during the week. We're hoping to catch up a bit because Chelsea has five tennis matches (three away!) over the next six days.
Hope that all is well with everyone!!
Cute pictures from the fairs coming soon--
Christie
Sorry that we haven't posted to update for awhile... Life has been an absolute blur over the past three weeks. Just after our anniversary week-end, on July 28-29, we took our family plus Chelsea's 4-H skit team to the Ohio State Fair for the state championships. Ellie-Kate LOVED seeing the animals, especially the sheep and horses. The team won Outstanding of the Day again!! On August 1, Emmy showed Coco at the county dog show, winning fifth place, in spite of Coco really NOT liking the judge. After Emmy showed, we got in the car and headed back to the state fair for photography judging. Emmy and Chelsea both competed, earning excellent marks, but falling a bit short of an award.
This past week, we have been practically living at the county fair. Chelsea had seven rabbits on the grounds, and we struggled to keep them cool and alive in the heat. However, she did amazing at the show. She won Senior Showmanship as well as first place in both of her market classes. She also won Grand Champion New Zealand and Reserve Grand Champion for the overall market breed competition. Chelsea is on Junior Fair Board, and Britti is on the Junior Fair Committee so they worked a number of livestock shows as well as met up with friends throughout the week. Meanwhile, the little girls enjoyed visiting with the animals and riding rides, especially the pony ride and carousel. It was so cool to watch Ellie-Kate's face as she experienced all of these new things. She had the BEST time!! Of course, she also got LOTS of compliments on her brand new cowgirl boots and hat as she toddled around the fairgrounds every day :)
I need to sign off for now, but I'll post pictures in the next few days. Although the fair was an awesome experience (as always!!), we're all pretty beat from far too little sleep during the week. We're hoping to catch up a bit because Chelsea has five tennis matches (three away!) over the next six days.
Hope that all is well with everyone!!
Cute pictures from the fairs coming soon--
Christie
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