Re-Adoption

Today we had Megan's re-adoption. What is a re-adoption? It's basically a recognition of the adoption completed in China. We have to complete a re-adoption so Megan will have a US birth certificate and so that she will be considered the same as any US born child we bring into our family. (Some states do not recognize international adoptions and have been known to not give them "child" status in estate doings. Yes, it's horrible.) We had several family and friends join us for the special occasion. And we had several take photos for us...we're so grateful!


What made it being today extra special was that 4 months ago today, Megan was handed to us! And to not break with tradition, Megan slept through the ENTIRE thing! It was right at nap time, but she slept through every appointment in China too, so why not the final step in the process? That girl.

Tomorrow marks 4 months of her being our daughter. We are "celebrating" it with a road trip to visit family. It should be an interesting trip, we've not traveled this far with Megan in the car before.

A Future Fort?

This afternoon, Megan's ball went behind the table we have in our entry way. While she could simply reach in to get it, she decided maybe there was some exploring she needed to do!

Then she decided it would be a good place to attempt to stand up (holding on for support, though)!


The getting out wasn't pretty...in fact, it required a "Mom rescue"! She is really exploring her environment.

Uh-Oh

Megan loves to copy this phrase, only hers sounds like "uh-uh". So cute.

This morning I left her in her crib after she woke up...she woke up at 5:07am (yes, ugh), and when I peeked in, she was just laying there rolling back and forth occasionally talking. She really, though being pretty quiet. So, finally, about 20 minutes later, I heard a "I'm fully awake" squeal, so I went to peek. She greeted me...standing in her crib. This is a first. Every other time she's pulled herself up to her knees, but never went beyond that (hence the reason it was quiet, I suspect!). So...this is the new trick. I suspect she'll be using it quite frequently for a while...even though she is DOG tired, she'll still try to pull herself into a standing position. Little stinker. Yes, it's exciting! But, that means mom can't leave her in there for too long anymore! Crap.

We're getting closer to her feeding herself. However, in true Megan style, she's got to do it her way. If you put you hand out with a cheerio or goldfish on it, she'll look at it a second, then lean down to pick it up with her mouth--forget the hands! She also does it if you put it on the ottoman...leans over and picks it up with her mouth. I guess that's one step closer!

BTW--ornery face is back again...we're seeing it more and more...like when she's drinking her bottle! If it wasn't so darn cute...

Our Most Recent Talent

A few days ago, Megan started forgoing using her hands to pick up her paci when it fell and went right for picking it up with her mouth. I finally got it recorded this morning.

This girl is SO SILLY!

Her outfit is the cutest! The skirt finally fits, but I love this top. And the color looks so great on her!

Fun with Grandma & Photos

It's been a very busy week...it started off with Megan being up for several hours each night, but the sleeping at night has improved. We've also been VERY clingy this week...I think it's likely teething. She's spent quite a bit of time in her Lucky Baby Sling. It's been a LIFESAVER, okay, make that an arm saver!

Contemplating some trouble here

The show-down
(actually, a frequent scene at our house!)

Just being cute...notice the drool...a constant right now

Grandma came over to play the other day. Grandma can always get Megan to giggle and giggle and giggle. I was in the office and heard them giggling so I crept into the living room to record them. This is just a very SMALL part of the giggles...there were MANY more before I even got the video out.

14 Months Old

Crazy cute outfit--yes, that's strawberries for buttons!
(it is still a bit big, the pants were hard to keep up)

Our first "pooling" experience

It's actually tomorrow...but if the past week is any indication, I won't get to post then. I guess the past week has been occupied with figuring out when to catch up on sleep we're not getting at night! (It's been a bad sleep week for some reason). I swear every time we think we have a pattern figured out with the kid, she goes and changes it on us. We're in yet another change. She can pull up in her bed now (at least to her knees). Up until Wednesday morning, I assumed that meant she was awake and ready to start her day. But, I learned otherwise on Wed. We'd been up most of the night and at 4:30am she had pulled herself up in her crib after sleeping only 15 minutes in her crib after being rocked for much longer than that (and asleep in my arms). Thing was...she was SO TIRED her head was hanging...literally, hanging down it was so tired. (If I hadn't been so stinkin' tired I probably would have laughed at THAT moment...but it is funny now, BTW.) When I simply watched from the doorway, she sat that way for less than a minute, than laid herself back down. (She didn't go back to sleep, I'm sorry to say, but she did lay back down.) Crazy kid.

And today she learned to pull her hair bow out. Darn it. That 3 months of her being oblivious to what's in her hair was sure short lived! Well, I'm hoping she'll change her mind about taking them out as her hair continues to thicken and the bows stay in better.

Megan Kisses

Our new skill is to give kisses. It's not something we ever worked on and I'm sure the fact that she gets thousands of kisses a day had nothing to do with her desire to learn the skill. It started with her putting her mouth to ours when we asked for a kiss (this was just a few days ago!). But, now she makes a kiss sound. SO CUTE!

Here's a short clip of her doing it...I won't post the minute and half one of me trying to get it on video even though she is being cute. After that, I decided to lay off for a few minutes, then I turned on the camera (when she obviously wasn't paying attention!) asked for a kiss...and WHAM! Got it! (Much to my surprise!)

Happy 4th of July!

Megan has several patriotic outfits...dresses, of course...and here's the one she wore today.

Doesn't she look grown up with her arm resting like it is?

She's always making this face when I get camera out...it's hard to get a picture of her real smile (I'm guessing this will be a lifelong problem!). But it does show how big her top teeth are getting, usually I can't get a picture of those little boogers.


We went to Grandma & Papaw's for a 4th of July lunch. So we took a picture.

Uh-Oh

I had to show how long her hair is getting!

She has begun to clasp her hands together, it's SO cute!

This morning (at 4am, none the less) Megan pulled herself up onto her knees in her crib. Then at 5:30am she was sitting at the head of the crib reaching out and playing on the basket we have the monitor on. Guess we'll need to do some rearranging in her room! I've been waiting for her to do these things so I wasn't surprised. Last night was HORRIBLE for sleeping...she woke up at 3:15am. I tried to get her asleep for about 30 minutes--no go. Dad tried for about 45 minutes, finally got her to sleep...she was awake 15 minutes after he laid her down. Then she went back to sleep for me finally (probably took another 20 minutes), only to wake up 15 minutes later again. Needless to say...we're all tired at this house this morning!

Here's video of her crawling...she's really quick now!

3 months...

Three months ago today Megan came into our family. It seems like it's been longer than that! With as many changes as she has made over this short period of time, it seems like she's always been with us! She is crawling EVERYWHERE. She's also started this bear crawl thing in the kitchen (we are assuming because the floor is cold, but one never knows!).

Anyways, here is the best video we have gotten of it thus far. When she knows we're watching, then she'll stop. The little stinker. And the dogs are the inspiration to move around. She loves their tails, especially. They aren't so crazy about her now being able to chase after them.