One year ago today...

We received "the call" at 2:12 pm from our SW, Rachael!!!! I was carrying my cell phone with me everywhere so I wouldn't miss that long awaited call. When it finally came, just hearing Rachael say "Kris?" made me break into tears, get all shaky and make my mind go blank! I couldn't believe it was FINALLY the day! We got so few details...but did find out that she was very little just 24 inches tall and weighed a whopping 12.5 lbs! A few hours later, we opened our email to see these precious photos.



And today she's doubled her weight and grown about 7 inches! Who would have known that her hair would grow in curly...that she's have so much personality...that we could be SO IN LOVE!

She is our "Sweets", our "Meg-alicious", our "Meg-pie". In every way a perfect fit for our family. I am still overwhelmed by the awesomeness of how she joined our family. We are so blessed and eternally grateful.

Fun at the park

This weekend we stopped at the park for some family fun.

Okay, so this was AFTER the park

Daddy & Megan by the slide

How sweet...

Today Megan & I stopped at an outdoor play area at the mall
I happened to have the camera from our weekend fun

Goodbye, Mr. President

Saw this awesome video on Debbie's blog...thought I'd share!

I'm still recovering from bronchitis, I'll post more about Megan later.

To catch up...

...well, not really catch up, I guess, but update. We have been sick around here. I'm still fighting my bronchitis stuff (on my 2nd med and still coughing like crazy), DH is experiencing allergy stuff and poor Megan has some sort of upper respiratory yuck. She started meds on Friday and we seem to see an improvement already. She has not been sleeping well (when can when you can't breath and feel yucky?). I spent the entire week sleeping on the floor in her room. It was easier to be there to "ssshhh" than having to jump out of bed and run across the hall to do it. And when she's fussing literally (at times) every few minutes, I would have just laid down and have to be back up again. Needless to say everyone is sleep deprived around here. It's been a tough week.

Let see...a few things noteworthy of late:

• Megan weighs 25 lbs 5 oz. They didn't measure her height, but I know she has grown. She has already grown out of some of the clothes we got her for Christmas and is entering into size 18 months.
• She is coloring now. We've tried numerous times, but she just had no interest what-so-ever. But lately, she's really enjoying it. Today she liked to take all the colors out of the box, organize them on the paper, then put them all back in the box. Then promptly take them back out. Whatever makes her happy! She is attracted to the red, fuschia and purple colors. In fact one day a few weeks ago, I gave her a few colors to chose from (blue, purple, pink and red, maybe--I don't remember exactly), she grabbed the blue one and threw it--literally threw it. Well, she wasn't interested in the blue one! It was quite funny.
• She is using a fork some, if we help her stab the food on it. She's tried a spoon, but she insists on turning it before getting it to her mouth, so keeping the food on it--and getting it off in her mouth when it's turned is tough.
• She's also eating off a plate. I know that sounds basic, but when I had tried in the past, she would grab the plate and throw it. I hadn't tried for a long time, and decided I should again. She's doing fairly well with it. I can't say that we haven't attempted to throw it, but it hasn't happened too often.
• She's decided she's "too old" for the Nuby sippy cups. I'm not sure when it started, but she would refuse to drink and I couldn't figure out how to get to. So, I decided I'd try the hard topped ones (like the playtex or gerber ones) to see if she'd drink out of them. BINGO! Yep, loves them. Really I think her favorite are the disposable ones, but they leak REALLY bad. I'll let her drink out of them at the table, but not anywhere else.
• She's decided water isn't cool. I've always kept water in a cup in the LR so she could get a drink anytime she wanted. If it dripped or whatever, I really didn't care since it was just water. But now she won't drink it unless there is some juice in there. I hope this passes quickly! I don't give her much juice, but just enough--I guess--to give it some flavor.
• She's starting to pick out her hair clips. Last week I thought I'd give her a choice to pick out which hair clip she wanted to wear (she had a choice of 2). When she picked it, it appeared that she doesn't pull it out! And I've been combing her hair with her sitting on the bathroom vanity so she can see. It sure helps her keep her head still! We started using a kid-friendly detangler on the back and it sure has helped keep it from snarling and looking all frizzy after nap. It does, however, kind of make her curls so flat in the back .

We've just marked Megan being 20 months old (I can't believe we almost have a 2 year old!). And we are coming up on marking 10 months home! How time flies!!!!

School update

Right-after-school photo

I know, I'm late, but this week has been C-R-A-Z-Y. It was topped off with me getting hives on Monday night from the antibiotic I had been taking for 10 days. It was bad. I'm still a little itchy in my hair and behind my ears, but its manageable (although no fun!) compared to what it was Monday night. I've had hives from meds before, but this time was much worse than last time. I had them on my face--including my eye lids--besides all over my neck and torso. I think last time was on day 10, too. ugh.

I meant to take a picture BEFORE we went to school and I completely forgot, so I took one as soon as we got home (hence the blankey in the photo!). Megan did really well. We had planned on her being there for just 30 minutes. But, when I went to get her after 30 minutes, she was playing well (she didn't see me!), so I left and returned 30 minutes later. When I got there, she was crying (I could hear her when I walked in the door). She had been fine doing her own thing, but the teacher had just checked her diaper and I guess it was a reminder that Mom wasn't there. I don't know. Anyways, we came home. She hung on to blankey for about 20 minutes or so after we got home, then she dropped it and was fine. She then took a TWO HOUR nap! At an hour and half, I checked on her and she had not even moved. She was exhausted!

So, today was School: day 2. The plan was for her to be there an hour. She did well. They had music which she loved, of course. There are more kids there on Wednesdays. The teacher just said, there are more boys and it would overwhelm her sometimes (aka boys are rowdy!). So the teacher would simply take her into the hall to give her some space. She had her blankey and paci when I got there. There were signs she had been crying before and she was whimpering when I got there. She was glad to see me. She is really tired today, too. Between the stress of school, getting up early and not having a morning nap, I think she'll sleep pretty well this afternoon!

All Sorts of Stuff.

So a few things from the past few weeks...

Not only does she like peas for dinner, but she
likes to "chew" on her peas from her play kitchen, too!

She LOVES to steal the Swiffer and drag it all over the house.
(Can't wait until she can use it to clean!)

Took this picture tonight before bed.
It's so hard to get a photo of her smiling right now.
(Can't wait until that phase is over!)

Things have been so busy. I'm still attempting to recover from an upper respiratory infection of some kind. Spring semester starts on the 20th; we're using a new book, so I've been updating my class. Megan is beginning to object to her morning nap...which is problematic when she's still up between 4-5am. She only has 1 incisor left to cut (thank goodness!). Oh, and the most important thing happening right now...Megan is starting school (aka Mother's Day Out) on Monday! We're going to take it slow at the beginning, but she'll be going 2 days a week. Hopefully, she'll adjust quickly because I need time to work on school while she's at school. I think she will enjoy it when she realizes it's okay to be without mom. I'm happy to report that one of her play friends, Bethany, will be starting school with her, too, and they will be in the same class. I'm so grateful that the girls will be together!

I'll post more on her first day of school next week.

And Now it's 2009

We had lots of fun in SD (well except when I got the stomach virus, which thankfully was short lived!). Here's a few photos...

Auntie Jodi, Cousin Ashley & Megan

Uncle Keith & Megan making "ornery eyes" at each other

NanaLin, Cousin Brooklyn & Megan

Cousin Brady & Megan "negotiating" just how close he could sit by her
(he was constantly trying to steal kisses, which was not approved by the princess!)

Auntie Katie & Megan

What a year 2008 was. We have marked 9 months Megan has been with us...and we are just a month away from the first anniversary of seeing her sweet precious face. Boy has time flown!

Merry Christmas and Goodnight...

Here's Megan reaching to touch her bear.
She got it for Christmas from Uncle Randy & Aunt Kamala
The bear recites "Twas the Night Before Christmas"
(We listen to it at least twice daily!)

I'm sure this will be the last post this year...since we leave on Friday morning for SD and don't get back until late afternoon on the 31st...

Merry Christmas!

We opened presents this afternoon...I can't say I had a certain expectation, but she was so wild she wouldn't stay still to open them. (No, I didn't give her any sugar or caffeine, I don't know why she was so hyper! Maybe it was she was seeing DH for the first time since Sunday.) She did eventually open her rocking horse from Grandpa C & Grandma V, but it took almost an hour to get her to do that! I pretty much opened all the presents I wrapped for her to open...while attempting to get her to open them. Oh well, next year she'll "get it" and it'll be different, I'm sure.

A Funny...

The last several days Megan has refused to eat anything except peas. Well, I guess she's eaten some peaches and a few other little things here and there, but overall, all her favorites have not been "eatable" this past week. Well, everything that is except peas! So, last night for supper I was trying to figure out how to get her to eat something other than peas. I mean peas are not going to stick with her throughout the entire night, so I thought I'd try even though last week she would hardly eat an egg (she usually eats almost 2). I put some cheese in the eggs, but that didn't seem to matter. She wanted very little to do with them. So, I broke out the peas.

Well, all she wanted to eat was the peas...she kept signing "more, more, more" whenever there were none on her tray. So, finally I decided I needed to "take action" to get her to eat some egg. I said, you cannot have more peas until you eat one bite of egg. She threw a huge fit and kept signing "more, more, more!". I stuck to my guns. Honestly, I didn't think she understood what I was trying to get her to do. Oh, how wrong I was! Suddenly she grabbed a piece of egg and shoved it in her mouth (not without much wailing, I might add!). So, just like Pavlov, I gave her peas. I'll be darned if she didn't do it at least 3 times to get more peas!

I've said for quite a while that she is ALWAYS listening...but I'll be darned...she knows she's supposed to eat something other than peas! Although, I guess she could be demanding something FAR more unhealthy!

In just 5 short days...

Megan & I will be getting on a plane to visit family! I'm excited since this is the first Christmas since right after we got married 11 years ago that I'll be home for the family Christmas. HOWEVER, going to SD when they are having serious arctic blasts, is not exactly my idea of fun. Consequently, I've had to re-evaluate our clothing at least twice. I've gotten the warmest clothes we have, layering them and still don't think we'll be warm. Oh well. I'll appreciate our "frigid" 30 degrees when we get get back home.

Anyways...the next several days are going to be VERY tough. DH is being "required" to work 8-10 hrs of overtime this week--yes, Christmas week. And he has to work Saturday (which doesn't count toward those overtime hours). I think he's decided to work 4 OT hours on Monday & Tuesday. So, he'll leave the house at 4:30am and not likely return until close to 8pm those two days. ugh. And to top it off, I have a chest cold and sinus issues. Good timing, uh? I just pray that it's all over by the time we leave. So far Megan has shown no signs of not feeling well, but DH hasn't been so lucky. It seems he might be coming down with something to. I'm sure the fact that work has been so stressful and having to work so many hours doesn't help. Besides, neither of us have gotten much sleep this week. Megan is working on her "I" teeth...and I'm quite certain it has disrupted everything for her. Consequently, she's been awake from about 11pm-2am at least 3 nights this week. It is so frustrating that both of us end up being up for a portion of that time period. Yes, we're giving her pain meds...the poor girl has been on almost constant pain meds for about a month. We've gone through so many bottles of ibprofen, it's not even funny.

Needless to say, sleep has not been good at our house. I'm looking forward to seeing if our sleep issues are resolved once these teeth get in. I feel like we can't even determine if she has sleep problems (non-teeth related) until the teeth are in.

Our Christmas Card

This year's card had 3 photos on it.

One of Dad & Megan:
One of Me & Megan:


One of the family:


I was VERY please with how it turned out...and the photos we got. No, she's not smiling, but right now she simply WON'T smile for the camera. So, it is what it is. I'm hope the phase passes soon! No, the poor doggie kids did not get in the Christmas photo this year. I figured wrangling Megan was a tough enough job, I didn't want to have to wrangle the dogs too!

Art, Baggies & Doggie

Our first artwork
(in Daddy's birthday card)
That is ALL her, I made one light squiggle, she took over from there

She loves this drawer (perfect height for her)
She has a passion for zipper baggies
You can see one in her hand (look by her head)
Thank goodness, she only takes out the ones she's taken out before

Last week I took several videos of Megan doing her "thing". Here is one with her taking her puppy doggie for a "walk". Poor doggie.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Debbie. This photo is from our trip to SD in August. I believe we were playing peek-a-boo.



1. Open the 4th picture folder your computer.
2. Choose the 4th picture and post it on your blog.

3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same

I tag: D & A, Vicki, Suz and Wendy.

Dinner..

It started like this:
(so hungry she couldn't wait to get in her chair)
(Yes, it's a TRUE action shot! It's not posed, she wouldn't have stood for that!)

And ended like this!

Boy that lasagna was good! Needless to say...today was a "2 Bath" kind of day! And yes, we do feed her...but for some reason both yesterday and today she is starving ALL THE TIME!!!

HI

Megan's favorite thing right now is saying "HI" and waving. Holy cow I hear "hi" ALL THE TIME, good thing it's so darn cute! And the waving thing...oh my goodness, adorable! We were on our way to the Christmas party and she was saying "hi" and waving so much, I decided to film it. She did her "usual" (aka clam up in front of the camera), but when she thought I wasn't doing anything with the camera, she decided it was "okay" to talk! She adds a "Love you" sign (Megan version, of course) at the end!

After the party, we went out for dinner to celebrate DH's birthday. Megan decided she should read her coloring page/menu. She has never seen us read the paper like this, but she has seen us review menus like this. How funny.


Also, I trimmed her hair this week. It looks so much better. And she looks so much older . Part of growing up, right?

Christmas Photos...Progression

Yesterday afternoon, before leaving our our agency's Christmas party, I attempted to get a solo photo of Megan in this cute dress. Um, yeah. She REFUSED to stand by the tree...so here are SOME of the "fabulous" photos I got.

She immediately went "down"

Then promptly crawled me (fussing, of course!)

When I was able to get her to stand up,
she walked to me rather than still

Ultimately, we ended up taking a parent/child photo. The ones with mom worked much better than the ones with dad. Stinker. We did get two great family photos at the party thanks to Debbie. The photo cards are at the lab now, will be ready today to be picked up, addressed and mailed.

Oh, Wow What A Day!

A new favorite place to play

Grandma V & Papaw on Thanksgiving
(Yes...TWO rings.)

She found this new place that's the PERFECT height for her crawl up on.

Today it seems like Megan had an exposition of new abilities! First, while I was getting her dressed this morning I asked her what a horse says. What was her response? She said, "Horse". WOW! I about fell over. I couldn't believe she said it!!! Then she was sitting on the couch, when she wanted to get down, she turned around and slid down feet first! I'm always sitting on the floor right by the couch to catch her if she decides to go head first, and when she's ready to get down, I help her by showing her how to turn around and go feet first. I think I've shown her a handful of times. I was absolutely AMAZED that she did it! In fact, to prove she knew it, when she was sitting on the fireplace and was ready to get off, she did the same thing! TWICE in fact! YEAH!!!!

And if THAT wasn't enough for one day...she colored for the first time. I've tried putting colors in her hand before to show her how to write on paper, but she's always just pulled her hand away and said "AAHHH" (aka, leave me alone!). But today, (when we were signing Daddy's birthday card--ssshhh, don't tell him, he'll get the card on Saturday) she grabbed the crayon, I showed her what it did on the paper with just a little help and she went CRAZY! It was very cute. Yes, we did get a few crayon marks on the floor, but they're easy to get off the tile.

But, wait, it gets better! She FINALLY drank out of a STRAW! I never thought the day would come. Truly. I've tried at various times--and she's always been fascinated by straws--but she just chews or grabs it and examines it. Well, today I had a straw in my coke (which she loves, by the way) and she sucked some up. Just a little the first time...she was SO SURPRISED to get some coke! Of course she signed "more"! haha. The next 2 times she really got a mouth full!! It was very cute!!! At this point, I said "all gone" despite her signing "more. more. more".

Quite an eventful day today...maybe that's why the night was SO CRAPPY!? Well, after 145am was crappy...I probably got about 30 minutes of sleep from that point on. Although, she did sleep until 5am--but then she didn't go to sleep until 730pm last night.

YEAH! It's Christmas Time

This year's tree decor...a little different from last year

Our Ian Angel ornament
(experimenting with the camera)

So far, this year's tree is my favorite of the 11 years of decorating our Christmas Tree. I told DH I've always wanted my tree to look like what I see in the stores...beautiful. Last year I felt like I was very close, but this year, I feel like maybe I've "arrived". Anyways...I love getting it set up and enjoy it throughout the holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving as a family.

What are we thankful for...well, just look at the scowling bundle in pink in the photo.
(I don't know why she was scowling...oh wait, we had already taken one photo, that's likely what it was from! Silly Megan.)

Blog Award

I'm so honored! I've been awarded the uber amazing blog award by Tracey. (Okay, so I got it last week, I'm a bit behind!) I'm so excited! Tracey & I "met" by being each other's Secret Blog Pal this fall.

Here is a little bit about the award: The "uber" (synonym for super) is a blog award given to sites who:
- inspire you
- make you smile and laugh
- or maybe give you amazing information
- a great read
- has an amazing design
- and any other reason you can think of that makes them uber amazing!

The rules of the award are:

1-Put the logo on your blog or post.
2- Nominate at least five blogs (can be more) that for you are uber amazing
3- Let them know that they have received this uber amazing award by commenting on their blog
4-Share the love by linking to this post and the person you received the award from.

So, here are my award recipients:

1. Wendy at Adoption & Fire. I've gotten to know Wendy when we were both waiting for our girls. She was logged in 7 days after us and we got referrals at the same time! She traveled before us so had Catherine just days before we got Megan. Wendy always has such a great information on her blog. She's a Fire Chaplain and is always so inspiring! And I love seeing new photos of Catherine!

2. Debbie over at Family Reunion. Debbie always has such great information! Besides Izzy is an absolute doll!

3. Christy over at To Mia with Love. I found her blog because of a "fluke" when she was skipped and didn't receive her referral when she was supposed to. Later she found out her daughter was "running late"...and she was matched to Mia. Mia is also a Hunan princess. Christy is the one who recommended the lady who I found all Megan's hair clips from (Love to Sparkle)...and for that, I cannot be grateful enough! (DH might not agree! haha!)

4. D & A over at Around the World and 2 Kids. D & A just returned from Ethiopia with their precious Ella. They are waiting for their child from China as well. Yes, I know them in the real world, but I love their humor and honesty about the waiting, waiting, waiting. Besides Ella is absolutely PRECIOUS!

5. Tracey. I don't know if I can actually do that...but I'm going to! I am so glad that I was her Secret Blog Pal and have gotten to know her! I regularly check her blog to see her posts which range from inspirational to humorous. Can't wait until little Sam is born!!!

18 months Old

She's has always loved to throw the balls onto the shelf...
but now she's found a new "purpose" for it!
(oh man, that's dusty, ugh.)

She's "snuggling" blankey...while playing music, of course.

Okay, so I'm a few days late...but Megan has officially moved in the "difficult" age (I recently read an article that said when kids hit their 1/2 birthday they test their independence and become more "difficult" to parent). Some highlights....

• She has 12 teeth (currently working on the next 4)
  
• She is running
• She weighs 24.2 lbs (50th percentile) and is 30.5 inches tall (25th percentile)
• She's FINALLY out of size 6-9 mo (mostly anyways)
• She's "talking" more
• She loves to make EVERYTHING a phone (including a small piece of paper)
  
• She says "hi" ALL THE TIME!!! (Especially in stores...and will get increasingly louder if people don't acknowledge her.)
• She knows what a cow, sheep, horse, duck and dog say
• She knows 9 body parts
• She loves to blow kisses
• She loves to snuggle--even snuggling with the dogs (aka resting her head on them)
• She is sleeping so much better...some nights better than others, but overall getting at least 11 hours of sleep, but does get 12 occasionally.
  

There are many more things she does, but I can't think of them right at this moment. She's growing up so fast. Even at her most difficult, she's still SO SWEET! We are definitely blessed.

Down Right Scary

Okay...I am going to interrupt this "Megan blog" for just a moment. I saw this in an article and it is disturbing, yet confirms what I suspected.



Well, you can see the source at the end of the video. One other thing, a documentary is coming out with more information. There is more information on the website at the end.

NOTE: I'M MORE FRUSTRATED WITH THE MEDIA FOR NOT DOING THEIR JOB: report the facts on both candidates.

Okay, returning to regular "programming" (aka Megan!).

Our future Cook

This weekend we decided it was time to move the treadmill out of the office and move in Megan's play kitchen. She got it as a shower gift from DH's work, and now that she is walking around almost all the time, we figured it was a good time to get it out. She doesn't ENTIRELY get the concept, but I figure if we consistently show her what to do, she'll get it. (Besides, she is a little young for imagination play.)

Don't I have a cute hat???

What's in here????

Photos & Stuff

SUPER Wild hair from this morning.
I think the bananas, turkey and pasta sauce all helped!

Okay, so may not the best photo, but doesn't she look AMAZING
in the color of these pjs?

She was being so snuggly on this morning
(probably one we were up at 330!)
She had never done this before.

Every day I am amazed at how blessed I am to be Megan's mommy. She is the most precious, adorable little girl. I am moved to tears to think about our life with her. Of course, we could sleep past 4am, but what's a little sleep! She's more than worth missing sleep for a few months!

A funny...

This morning Megan wanted to get on her scooter...she stood there for a few minutes looking at me yelling "aaahhhh". I asked her "do you want on your scooter?"--she just yelled some more. I said "sign please" (as I'm illustrating the sign). She looks at me, signs "share" then "my turn". Now, some background...in her favorite movie they have "please", "share", "your turn" and "my turn" in a song. So, whether she was simply doing what the song does...or she was telling me I needed to share and it was her turn to get on the scooter, who knows. But, it sure was funny!

Check up

Finding the dog bones for...

Making what I call "Bone art"
She loves to arrange them on the floor.
(well, actually, just throw them on the floor!)

On Monday we went to a new doctor (one closer to home) and got Megan's flu shot. While we were there we were able to get her 18 month check up out of the way, too. She weighs 24 lbs 2 oz and is 30.5 inches tall! That means since her medical exam in China, she's gained 11lbs and grown 7.5 inches! That's INCREDIBLE for about 7 months! It's no wonder she eats like an adult! Seriously, she does. The other night she ate almost an entire chicken leg and thigh. Needless to say, that was when we decided we now need to make a full piece of chicken just for her! She does love chicken--she is my girl!

The face is healing nicely...the scab has fallen off and the mark is barely visible. It's supposed to be REALLY cold (okay, cold by Texas standards!) and windy on Saturday when we are doing pictures. Go figure (it's been in the 70s!). So, I'm having to think about back ups for keeping Megan warm. I had planned on having her wear a cute dress shirt/onesie with a lacy collar and cuffs from Children's Place (that I now cannot find online to link here), and she still will. But, I'll have an undershirt on her as well as thick tights. It's a good thing her pants are too big! That's a lot of extra around the booty (tights with 2 onesies!)!!! Guess she'll have an extra warm tush! haha. I'm also planning on bringing a warm blanket that we can wrap her in between shots. Grandma V is coming to ensure Megan will smile (she has the magical touch!) so she can hold the blanket & jackets while we're taking photos.

Okay, nap time as started, I need to get some research done!

Cheek Vs. Dishwasher

Yep, you guessed it. The dishwasher won. The door just doesn't give. Poor baby...she was tottling around the kitchen as I was loading the DW. I saw her go down, but I just wasn't fast enough. And boy did she cry (not that I blame her!). I just felt HORRIBLE!

We are taking fancy family photos (the kind with the hour long photo session!!!) next Saturday, I sure hope it's healed up by then!

First walking boo-boo

I would have thought it would have happened before now. We've been pretty fortunate. It happened Sunday...very early morning...she lost her balance and hit the corner of the toy basket (I tried to grab her, but I wasn't fast enough). For the record, wicker doesn't give--much. Dear old dad grabbed the camera while Mom grabbed the crying kid. Poor thing. She did cut her lip a little, she probably bit it. Thank goodness it wasn't too bad. We're waiting for the bad one that gives the black eye or cut face, you know the one.

Ella's with her Parents

Another Buckner family has their daughter, Ella! Drop by and and tell D & A congrats and see their precious Ella! They are currently in Ethiopia preparing to bring her home. We met them at various agency events. They are also waiting to travel to China to bring their child home. They started with China, but with the extended wait, they decided to go to Ethiopia while waiting for their Chinese child.

Ella is absolutely precious! Congrats D & A!

7 Months!

It's hard to believe, but 7 months ago today our little Megan became....Megan!

April 1, 2008 in China
(doesn't that rice look yummy? But she loved it.)

October 31, 2008
(with her puppy--one of her favorites right now!)

Boy has she changed!!! And how time has flown!