Photos

playing with her rings, her favorite toy

this is the I want to play "where's Megan?" pose

Megan consistently "pauses" when she's crawling and makes this pose.
I've been trying to get it on photo for a while.

Last night Megan was wired. I think having just a small amount of grape jelly on some toast was enough to make her completely crazy--in a cute way, of course! She was being so silly. Got some good photos. Enjoy!

A Public Commitment

I've not written much on here about the dissertation I'm supposed to be working...simply because I want this to be mostly about Megan (and she's the reason for my not working on it! Well, maybe not entirely, but mostly.) But, I decided this morning...this is it. I need to jump in and really work on it hard. What's tough about it for me is that Megan does need so much of my time when she's awake. Besides who can form many intelligent sentences when you have a 16 month old in the background you have your eye on and your ear listening to? Well, maybe there are some talents folks out there that can, but I can't.

So, in sitting down to write this morning while she was napping, I decided I'm making a commitment--and then I decided I needed to blog the said commitment so I'm not the only one who knows I've made it (well, besides DH)! Can we say accountability? Yep, unfortunately. Back to my commitment...I'm going to write (aka journaling at this point) every morning when Megan naps. It's not much time, but then today I've gotten an hour, so one never knows! I'm not giving up her afternoon naps for writing (although I probably should, and will at some point in the future) as I need to rest during these times since nights are typically not that great. My body and brain need the rest.

Now it's out there...in fact, I wonder if every once in a while I need to post my progress. As in...I'm still just journaling about this and that, or I'm now onto writing my thoughts about my topic, or I'm actually now researching my topic, etc. I probably will. I don't know how often I will, but if you think of it, ask me the status. That will definitely keep me writing. It has to. If I'm going to get done by December 2009, I have about 16 months to get this done in. That's not much time. And as fast as the last 5.5 have gone since Megan came home, it's going to come fast.

This 'n That

My Little Explorer

I got another special card from my Secret Blog Pal...with a gift card to Wal-Mart...hhhmmm, what to go shopping for! I don't know...but I'm going to spend some time thinking about it! THANKS!! And the card was beautiful (an excellent craft project)!

Several people have emailed me wondering how Megan has been sleeping. Well, the best way to describe it is "hit or miss". Saturday night I took "Megan duty" because it took over an hour to get her to sleep, then she was awake within 40 minutes. So, she slept with me. I mean, she rolled around the bed with me...kicked me in the face, etc. At some point she thought it would be a good idea to put her feet at the head of the bed and I had to protect my face (as best as possible) as she kicked and rolled while trying to get comfortable. Needless to say, neither of us slept well! She did finally calm down about 2am and slept until about 5am. Dad then took over and I slept for a few more hours. Sunday night started out similarly (taking so long to get to sleep), but she actually slept pretty darn good with me. She didn't hardly wiggle and was only up one time. In fact, she was doing so well I put her in her crib and she slept a few hours in there, but came back to bed with me around 4am. Last night she was in her crib all night, but was very restless and fussed quite a bit. I typically wait for a little when she cries out to see if its "crisis" or not (the tone is different). She also came to bed with me at 4am and slept (for the 2nd day in a row) until 6am.

One night last week (I think), I was becoming very frustrated at night when she wouldn't go back to sleep. I was complaining about how I was so tired...and I needed to get some sleep (and she did too!), but I was rocking her hoping she'd go back to sleep. She did finally, but not before I was reminded that soon she'll be too independent to need me to rock her for very long. Yes, it is inconvenient for me. Yes, I am losing sleep every night. Yes, I'm losing "my evening" time. But, the day will come (and likely very soon) that she won't want snuggles. She won't want me to hold her for 2 hours in the rocking chair. I need to soak up every minute of snuggles I get (even though I'm exhausted). She's growing up so fast. She's changing so much. This season will pass too. On the one hand, I'm excited to know I'll be getting sleep soon. On the other hand, I'm sad that she's getting so big and won't "need" me in the same way anymore. Such a conflict.

Oh, and before I forget, I've been meaning to post about rocking her to sleep. First, my mom rocked each of her five children to sleep when we were young. When they could understand, she would say she was rocking for x number of minutes, then we had to go to our bed whether we were sleeping or not. I remember doing this with my younger brother and sister when I babysat them. And this is the approach we've decided to take with Megan. Yes, I know she has to learn to put herself to sleep. And she will. One day. Well, I was researching sleep issues the other day I found a pediatrician who agrees with my stance. What's more, he believes (as I had felt) that forcing to her to sleep on her own is potentially negatively impacting her bonding and attachment. I appreciated an expert confirming my feelings. So, I'm not crazy. And I'm not spoiling my child (despite what I've been told by some). Dr. Sear's site has lots of good information about all kinds of child topics. Apparently, when his first child was born (back in the 1970s) his wife felt that the child needed to sleep with them, despite what the books said. He became a proponent for co-sleeping from that point on. So, I am rocking her to sleep and if necessary, she will slept with me. It's not up for discussion. And I'm not going to feel guilty for either of them.

Secret Blog Pal Surprise!

I received a special surprise on Friday evening from my Secret Blog Pal: An e-gift card to Amazon.com! I've been wanting to get Megan a few things. The timing was perfect!!! So, I went shopping (from home, with my feet up--without having showered, but I was out of my pjs--after having done some serious house cleaning). Here's what I got:
I LOVE Boynton books...and Megan has a few that she absolutely loves, so I think she'll thoroughly enjoy these.

And this:Megan is going to be DELIGHTED to get her special presents this week. The best part is that the price of this DVD went down a $1 since we discussed getting it earlier this week. So, not only was I able to use the gift card toward these items, but I also saved money by waiting to buy it! Can it get ANY more exciting than that???

Thanks, so much!!!

My Little Escape Artist

I was washing the kitchen floor, and she decided she needs to escape from my barricade! I'm going to have to reinforce my barricade next time!

Megan's Walking!!!

Okay, so not by herself entirely...but look what she can do now!!!!

I was washing the kitchen floor, hence all the chairs and high chair in the living room. (We don't regularly keep her high chair in the living room! haha)

Hair

Back, Photo 1

Back, Photo 2

Front...with a silly face

Megan's hair in the back is simply unbelievable. These curls show up AFTER it dries, even though I comb it so that it's straight. As you can see from the 2nd picture, she's got spots that look bald--it's almost as though she as a colic right there. She's going to have so much trouble with these curls when she's gets older (assuming they stay). The 3rd picture shows how one side sticks out while the other side sort of lays down more flat and stays behind her ear, but still wavy. I'm constantly trying to tuck it behind her ear because it just sticks right out! Poor thing.

Favorites

Is it possible that Megan (at 15 1/2 months) has a favorite color? Here's why I ask...

1. Shortly after she started signing, she would sign "more" EVERY TIME we turned to the page in a book about colors. The page is the purple one. I first thought it was a fluke, but it continued to happen. The picture is of a purple monster, so it's not that the picture on the purple page is pleasant to look at. It doesn't happen as much any more, though.
   
2. We have the LeapFrog farm toy. The purple cow is her absolute favorite animal of all the ones with the toy. Could it be simply because it's a cow? I don't know.
3. One night this week, Megan was in her room "helping" Dad get her jammies. Well, Dad picked out a pair, but she reached in and decided she needed one of the purple pairs. So, Dad put the other ones back and brought the purple ones instead.
4. Also, we have one of those wooden puzzles with 4 animals on it (zebra, purple elephant, monkey and lion). She consistently picks the zebra and the purple elephant. Further proof?
   

So...could purple be her favorite color? I guess why not! I just have never known a 15 month old who had a favorite color!

And not to leave you without Megan cuteness...here's video of her attempting to walk while only holding one of Dad's hands.

And here she is wearing purple, of course!

Secret Blog Pal Surprise!

We went to the mailbox today to find this special package from my Secret Blog Pal!

Megan has already danced to the tunes! (And loves them!)
And (As you can see), I couldn't even wait to find the camera before trying out the candle!

Thanks! It made my day!!! (In fact, I completely forgot to even open the rest of the mail for quite a while!)

Five Months

On bus from the civil affairs office

My big girl, this week

On the one hand I can't believe we were in China only 5 months ago...on the other hand, it was F-I-V-E months ago? Seems like she's always been with us. She's changed so much!

Things Megan can now do:

• Knows that a cow says "mmmmm" (which means moo, of course!)
• Stands without holding onto anything
• Can walk with holding only one hand
• She walks along furniture, around her FrogLeap table, the kitchen cabinets, etc.
  
• Loves to "tickle" everyone (especially mommy!)
• Says "e-i-e-i-e-i" (leaving off the "o")
• She loves books, balls, phones and remotes
• She loves music and loves to dance to music
• She loves Signing Time DVD (she signs fish, dog, eat, mama, dada, baby, milk, bye-bye, ball, shoes, more, all-done and car). Her favorites are dog, ball, milk and, of course, shoes (she is named after her auntie Katie after all!). We're working on some additional ones from another DVD as well.
  

I know there's more...but that's all I can think of right now!!!

Trauma

I have not gone into any discussion on why Megan could be having the bad nights that she does up to this point. I guess I have said that she is a "night processor", but otherwise, I have remained quiet. I feel like now is an excellent time to share what I believe is likely impacting Megan's sleep issues: trauma. No, she likely wasn't abused or neglected. She wasn't in a car accident. Here is an excellent website that discusses trauma in adopted children for those of you interested. Essentially, trauma is experiencing loss. And Megan has experienced loss: loss of her birth parents, loss of the familiar at the orphanage (to name just a few). While many people want to simply overlook the fact that she has experienced these losses, it doesn't change the fact that she has experienced these losses. (In fact, she's experienced more losses more than some people ever experience in their adult life and she experienced it all by 11 months.)

Earlier this week, Megan's night started out bad. What's bad? Well, we can tell what kind of night it's going to be simply by how the 10 o'clock hour goes. That night, she would doze off to sleep in my arms, then wake herself up, fuss and we'd start the process over again. It went on for an hour. Finally, at about 11:30pm, she fell asleep and I was pretty certain she was very asleep, but I wasn't sure what do with her. Did I put her in her crib and risk her waking up the minute her legs hit the sheet? Or just bring her to bed with me? As I was standing over her crib praying for an answer, she woke up, looked at me, didn't make a peep but fell back to sleep. I knew my answer and promptly brought her to bed with me. I had just gotten her situated (snuggling close to me) and she began what I can imagine were bad dreams. She whimpered and began gasping like a child who had been crying hard for a long time and they were trying to calm themselves down. It was absolutely heartbreaking. I was almost in tears. It went on for I think was about 15 minutes or so. Then she calmed right down. She did look at me a few times, (and I thought, oh crap, now she's awake again) but she's just roll over and go back to sleep. I'm confident she was processing something. I believe it was some of the trauma she's experienced because it had been a very quiet few days at our house--we'd stuck around the house. She slept with me for about 3 hours, then it took about an hour to get her back to sleep, but then she slept for a couple of hours.

So...if you are wondering...since I posted about our good nights of rest...we've not had good nights at all. The last several nights have not been good. Last night Dad was on "duty" and he said she was very restless, whimpered quite a bit and lost her paci several times. That means a short night for Dad, but he did wake me up a little before 4am to trade off. She never did go back to sleep. I worked on it for 45 minutes, and she slept for only 5 (yes, minutes). Nothing is more frustrating than that! UGH!

I pray she processes her losses soon so that we can have a "normal" sleep life at our house!!!

My Secret Blog Pal

I've done Secret Pal with various church groups, but this is the first time I've done it via blog! Well, I received my first "item" in the mail yesterday. A beautiful homemade card with a lovely note. Very sweet!

So, my bloggie friend...whoever you are...THANK YOU! (I'm not crafty...likely by choice...I could probably be crafty, just do NOT have the patience--or time, for that matter--for it.) It's always fun to see what people create!

Could it be?

As I've posted here SO MANY TIMES, Megan has had sleep issues. She has never slept longer than 3 consecutive hours...oh, wait, I think she did when we were in China she would nap in the Bjorn that long and when we were on the flight home she slept quite a long time. Anyways, that was true until the last two nights. I'm NOT kidding! Wednesday night she slept from about 7pm to 11pm...needed a little comfort/confirmation that mom was still there, but went back to sleep. I would hear her whimper a few times at various points, but slept until about 4:30am. I left her in her bed as she simply talked and rolled around, but a little before 5am, she started to cry. So, I went in and got her. I sat in the rocking chair with her for a little bit, but it was pretty clear that she was awake for the day. Yeah, Megan! Oh, but was it a fluke?

Well, last night she went to sleep before 7pm, cried out a bit at 10pm, needed her paci at about 11pm, but then I pretty much heard NOTHING from her the rest of the night! But, she was awake at 4am and wouldn't go back to sleep. Two nights in a row, fluke? PLEASE tell me we're past the horrible nights...or at least where they are infrequent. PLEASE!

So, what have we done differently? Well, the only things I can think of are: 1. we were consistent about beginning to rock her sleep right around 6:30pm and 2. she's eaten a big and "late" supper both nights. Since she's decided to fully feed herself, she's been having meat. I mean we've given her meat in the past, but most of the time we'd have to go on a "fishing" expedition 30-45 minutes after eating because it was still in her mouth (those cheeks are good for something!). Well, she's been handling it fine now. She loves roast beef lunch meat (she is her daddy's girl!). She also loves green beans, but not so fond of carrots (when it used to be her favorite baby food). So between having a "heavy" supper and going to be early, something is working! I think another experience had an impact as well, but more on that later.

I feel almost human...after a fairly good night's rest two nights in a row...oh my, I could used to this VERY quickly! Now, if we can get bedtime moved to about 7:30 so we can sleep until 5:30ish, things would be good!

Explosion of Talent

Well, okay, maybe not talent, but abilities! During the past week, she has decided to perfect:

• use of the sippy cup (handles or not)
• feeding herself (and she can SHOVEL it in, with her left hand. The right hand's fine motor skills aren't as good.)
• eating table food (in fact, she only eats baby food now simply because I have some homemade servings I want to use up)
  
• standing alone (she will randomly let go of me, the table, couch or whatever she is holding on to)
• walking along things (her LeapFrog table, couch, etc.)
• signing just about every sign on her Signing Time Vol. 1 DVD (Dad being the most recent...so all day long she says "dada dada dada" and now she signs it too! Man, that really stinks for Mom! I'm about ready to go on strike...um, about that...)
• shutting doors (she's always loves to move them open, shut, but today she accidentally shut herself in her room and couldn't get out! Mom came to the rescue--to find her banging on the door and yelling as if saying, "hey, wait a minute, let me out, I didn't mean to do that!")
  
• oh, and let's not forget the temper tantrum (such a surprise coming from such a spicy, sassy girl, I know!)
  

My little baby is growing up!!!! I just said to DH tonight at supper that it's exciting she's growing up, but it's sad that my baby is no longer a baby. Now, if only we could perfect the sleeping through the night thing. Man, I will DEFINITELY be glad when that happens! Sleeping is getting better overall, but we are definitely still have really bad nights. (What is a really bad night? Let's see...mom or dad seeing every hour on the clock.) Currently, we are working on eliminating the nighttime bottle. But then, if we're up with her anyways, what's the difference, uh? Then next on the schedule will be sleeping past 5am. (Of course this morning she was awake BEFORE 5am...so maybe making it TO 5am SHOULD be achieved first! haha)

So there you have it...my baby has made serious advancements into toddler-hood over the past few days!

I Hate Enterprise

We drove on our last trip to South Dakota. Since the drive is so long, we've rented a car the last couple of times we've driven. My sister works for Enterprise, so naturally, we've selected them to rent a car from. Yes, we do get a family member discount, which plays into our decision to select them. However, DH works for a large, national corporation that has partners with various businesses to provide serious discounts to their employees. Consequently, we could utilize that benefit as well. So, to my vent.

Reading Wendy's experience with Advantage, inspired me to write about my most recent frustration (which is yet to be resolved) with Enterprise. Basically, their staff are complete jerks (okay at least in the state of Texas!) and their managers are even worse. This is the first time I've been accused of being unethical when I'm the customer and am telling the truth. My request is simply that they hold themselves to their signed contract/rental agreement. I don't think that's too much to ask. And I certainly don't think it's unethical to hold that expectation.

Anyways...I surely hope this is solved this week. I got the final document I requested from them today to prove what I've been saying "unethically" all along, so if it's not resolved by the Regional Manager, I'll let the credit card company deal with it. I'm truly done. I'm simply tired of dealing with it every few days over the past almost 3 weeks. ugh.

Few fun photos

Meggie & Mommy...self-portrait

WHEW! Scary hair...
actually, you can see how it's getting so long

Party girl!
Taken at EJ's birthday party
Can't believe she's actually smiling for the camera.

15 months old

Not the best centered photo, but the expression is adorable!

(It actually was yesterday, but...)

We went for a check up yesterday and Megan weighs over 20 lbs! And she's now 29 inches! That means she's gained over a pound and grown over an inch in 2 months! WOOHOO, Megan! There have been several skills that she has not done (whether it's chooses not to or can't--the verdict is still out). She's apparently had a great burst in abilities this week...And she decided this week to show off her talents!

• She is now holding a sippy cup (and attempting to drink, but it's a bit heavy). YIPPEE!
• She can also hold her bottle (but doesn't hold it to drink out of it, go figure)
  
• She also decided to put cheerios in her mouth as well!
  
• AND she's now standing by herself! Yeah, Megan!

It's been a busy week at our house...I swear we see more and more changes EVERY DAY!

Some of our Favorite Things

Megan now loves to pull into a standing position EVERYWHERE, for no reason, just because she can. At least in this photo, she's at the window looking out (actually, I think she's playing with the blinds), but frequently, she's just standing against the blank wall. Crazy girl. It is funny, though when she pulls up to stand at her LeapFrog table, then gets down and crawls to the other side to again stand up. She'll figure it out, soon enough.

Remember a few posts ago she climbed under the table? Well, she did it at Nana's too! She found this side table provided a good short cut to the kitchen. It was a regular path she took while we were there.

She's also found a secret passageway in our living room as well...between the chairs and also behind the chairs! She took both of them yesterday, frequently. I have the feeling this little squirt is going to be good at hiding (and she's always quiet too!).

She also loves paper...notebook paper, napkins, tissues...any type of paper really. And she loves to shred it. It was provided a great time in the car several times on the trip! Thankfully, she doesn't eat it, just shreds it into tiny pieces and simply drops it! If she can't shred it, she'll simply crumple it all up.

Road Trip

Finally! A photo of her TRUE smile!

(Obtained by playing hide-n-seek which is her favorite game right now)

We returned early Friday morning (3 am) from our road trip to visit family in SD. It was fun, but the LONG drive is absolutely exhausting. I'm not looking forward to making it anytime soon! (Megan & I are flying up at Christmas time.) Of course, once Megan is a bit older we'll take a DVD player and it will hopefully keep her occupied for a good portion of the trip!

The trip included:

Our first haircut (given by Nana Lin)

And playtime with all her cousins!

Brooklyn

Brady & Ashley

Makayla & Ryley

It was a very quick trip (well, not really, but it felt that way!!!)

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.

A sad moment....

(Oh but this face makes it ALL worth it!)

...of realization that our days of having a quiet, tranquil child are O-V-E-R. Now that Megan is mobile, the girl never stops moving. And I mean NEVER. She's really mastering the art of crawling. Both last night, earlier today and tonight she moves so much she is drenched in sweat. Like almost need another bath sweaty (of course it being so hot and humid here doesn't really help the matter any).

She has also began practicing the extremely high pitched, ear bleeding, head spinning squeal/scream. She loves to "release" the worst of it when she is being rocked to sleep (even when she's ready for bed). It almost makes us jump it's so high pitched.

I stopped at the OshKosh outlet yesterday to see if they had any good hats. I truly cannot believe how difficult it is to find a hat that has a chin strap, with a brim that doesn't come down to her nose (and thus preventing her from seeing). I had found one at Old Navy, I wasn't overly crazy about it, but after checking a number of stores and not finding one, I got it. Anyways...these I got at OshKosh are absolutely adorable! And they were on sale (even better)! I wish I would have checked for other options of the wide brim hat...it is cuter on than I realized in the store. But then, we were coming up on nap time and my time was limited.

And these were just a FEW of the ones I took! I got some REALLY good ones!

Oh my...

Yesterday afternoon...Megan was being SO SILLY!!!! She was pouting at her table. I have no idea what she was pouting about, but it was absolutely hilarious! I literally was on the floor, tears coming out of my eyes I was laughing so hard. (If you know me well, you know tears and laughing is not really that far of a stretch for me!)

Anyways...so I had to get a video of it. Unfortunately, by the time I found the camera to video it, she was not pouting as much, but still pouting. Seriously...it was SO FUNNY! So, here's the best I have on video. And let me just say...we have a SERIOUS drama queen who LOVES attention! We are in such big trouble.

Crawling

Megan is changing so much! She's added biting to the list of things she likes to do...that is biting Mom & Dad, who aren't so crazy about the idea. She tries to bite Dad's toes and Mom's leg. Hopefully this phase will pass soon!

Here's her beginning to crawl. She started doing this earlier this week, then on Friday night at Grandma's house she really started taking off. So, we were able to capture it today on video before she gets way too fast!

13 Months Old

Megan is now 13 months old! She has made such progress over the past almost 3 months. She can now:

• Stand for a few seconds without holding onto anything.
• She signs "more" all the time...even when she's sleeping! (I've witnessed this.)
  
• She loves being outside.
• She praises the dogs when they go potty by clapping her hands saying "hey, doggie!"
• She can play by herself for quite a while (if she's feeling well).
• She now has 4 teeth (the top 2 have come in now). She's working on 2 more.
• She grinds/grits her teeth...yes, the top 2 are barely poked through and you can hear her grinding/gritting away. Funny thing is, I used to grind/grit my teeth when I was little. It's a horrible sound!
• She weighs over 18lbs! And is over 28 inches tall. That means since our updated information before we traveled, she's gained almost 6lbs and grown about 4 inches. That's a lot for 10 weeks

She is such a joy...even when she's whining all day (aka yesterday!). We love her to pieces. Every time I rock her to sleep and see her peaceful sleep I give prayers of thanksgiving for the little squirt.

On a sad note...please pray for one of my cousins and his family. My cousin, Nathan, committed suicide on Fathers Day. He was in his late 20s and newly married with a young child. I cannot imagine the pain, sorrow and frustration his wife, siblings and parents are feeling. Pray that God would bring them comfort and peace.

Are you carrying any sharp objects?

She was playing at the refrigerator while I was on the phone...I saw her lean forward like she was going to stand...and yep, next thing I knew...

Up against the wall...I need to pat you down!

Notice the look of "oh crap, now what? I'm stuck."
Yep. It took Mom's help to sit back down.

This the first time she's pulled herself up on something other than her LeapFrog table. I think we're close to walking! If only she could figure out how to move her feet...

Ball Throwing Fun...and other photos

Relaxing on Mom & Dad's bed while watching Signing Time video

(her favorite! And the only thing that allows Mom to take a shower in the morning!)

Here's a face that has been in hiding for a while...
(it was replaced with the ornery eyes)
But it's BACK!!! (with a vengeance too!)
See our cute teeth?

We're such a big girl!
(Daddy's on "catching" duty--just in case!)

Today when we were playing, Megan was really hamming it up while playing catch. So, I thought I'd turn the camera on...she's really getting good at throwing the ball now! And you can see the scrunchy smile we hadn't seen for a bit, but are now seeing a lot of.

(By the way....2 months ago today we got home...boy it seems like it's been longer than that since we got home!)

Updates

Megan is sleeping fairly well through the night now. For the past several nights, she has only woke up once sometime between 11pm and 1am. (Although last night she was up for about an hour during that time! She just wouldn't go back to sleep, although she was SO tired.) She wakes up again around 4am. As long as we go in there and rock her back to sleep, she'll then sleep until about 5am or 5:30am. We also began leaving her in her crib in the morning for a bit. Yesterday morning, it didn't go so well. (But it was my mistake, I know what I did wrong.) This morning she went in and out of sleep until about 6:15am! WOOHOO! I NEVER thought I'd be "sleeping" in until 6am! Last night I slept in my bed with Dad and I taking turns answering her cries. It worked pretty well, except we are both exhausted. Hopefully, we've turned a corner and tonight will go even better.

She's working on yet another tooth...top this time. Looks like the left side bottom has cut through, or almost cut through. She's really chewing on her paci and moves it to the right side.

Oh, I think she might be a lefty. All along she has favored her left hand to pick things up, do things with and throw things. And while she uses her right hand now so much more...she still favors her left hand. So...verdict is still out, but I wouldn't doubt if my parents finally have a lefty in the family! (Both of my parents are left handed, but all of us kids are right handed...I don't think my biology teacher could ever explain that one since left handedness is a recessive trait...meaning all of us kids should have been left handed--from a genes perspective. But we aren't...although I can do several things with the left hand including writing and eating--both of which came in handy in China while holding a sleeping baby!)

So...that's all I can think of right now...sorry, but there're no photos on this computer...so I'll put some up in the coming days...

For those so far away...

Here is a video of Megan playing on her Leap Frog table. She's grown up so much!!!! You'll also see her ornery eyes in action...followed by a huge smile. We also threw in a "all done" at the end for ya, too!

She is just the cutest darn thing!!!

It's been 2 months...

Sitting in a lawn chair on the patio...
she loves sitting in that chair.

Two months....it seems like a lot longer than that ago that we brought this cute little squirt home! But, two months ago today she became our daughter. Wow. We've made such huge advancements...I thought she was getting so big, until I met a friend yesterday with her niece who is the same age as Megan. Hmm, yeah. Megan is small...very small in comparison! Not that that is a surprise...I think she's always going to be small. I just wonder when she'll peak in her extremely fast growth that's been experiencing lately. Doctor appointment in a few weeks...guess we'll find out how much she's gained in a month!