Updates

Oh my gosh...I'm such a blog slacker. I just looked and the last post was May. Yikes.

Well...it's been a nutty summer and an even crazier Fall.

Alina turn 2 years old back in April. Which of course all my faithful followers read about. She's now 40 inches tall and 36 pounds. Instead of worry about malnutrition, I'm having to find 3T and 4T clothes that can fit my little amazon. Fortunately, her growth spurts seem to be finally slowing down. She went through 4 shoes sizes since Christmas, but only one shoe size over summer. I've been reading that Toddler time they tend to slow down. She's still a full head taller than every kid in her class.

When she turned 2 years old I kept expecting the terrible twos to start appearing. I didn't appear. Two months pass, and she's still the same sweet little girl....THEN!! Nothing....until...suddenly about 3 weeks ago Miss Independent had a full blown fit in the grocery store. I'd never seen anything like that out of her. We changed from her same daycare class about 3 weeks ago and that's when the fun began. I'm sure the messed up schedule and restructured class had part of it. But now she has several other kids to learn nasty techniques from. Oh joy!

We're starting all over again. I've done more time outs in the last few weeks than the entire previous year. So frustrating.

But! With that is the trade off of how much fun she is. She's so inquisitive and smart. She's learning routines, conversation, songs, and her personality is sparkling. Such a Ham!

We've added more nicknames...we play 'What is your name today?'...she tells us what to call her. She loves that game :)

We went on three mini-vacations this summer visiting the Georgia Aquarium with friends and to the zoo here in Birmingham. The great part of these trips was we hooked up with some other couples we met in russia who adopted kids from the same orphanage as us. Their kids are doing great too and its so neat to see the children blossoming so much.

Well, much love. I'll try to be more consistent...but work and miss thing keep us on our toes.

Much love to all.

Birthdays and Mothers Days

Well, Alina turned two on April 30th...it's like that momentous date has started the next phase in officiating her toddlerhood. Until lately she has still been so babish even if she is the size of a 3 year old. But just in the last week I ask her, how old are you 'TWO' she happily and proudly announces at the top of her lungs. We have established the use of please and thank you.

Miss thing will now no longer allow me to help her into her car seat. She climbs in and then regally allows me to buckle her in. Her favorite phrase right now is 'I did it' or 'I got it'. She so proud of herself and she should be. She's such an awesome little kid. She's her Daddy's delight and her Momma joy.

Mothers Day this Sunday she would not take a nap so we spent the whole day with a loopy crazy little girl. But she's such a hoot and silly when she gets that way. By bedtime she's stumbling around. The bath immediately gets her into bedtime book and snuggle mode.

Someone told me a year ago that it would take about 12 months to really really get her connected with us. They weren't lying. For every month in the orphanage it takes two months to recover. She was there 10 months of her little life and we're 1/2 of the way. If she's still got another 12 months to overcome any residuals from being in an orphanage I can't wait to see who this little girl is going to be. She's so amazing.

I got a present from Andy for Mother's Day, but that little energetic bundle on my lap that made it. Mothers day before 2009 meant I was sending my Mom flowers or doing something for my mother-in-law. Now, its a celebration of the life of my family which is a living breathing whole and the center for me.

Happy Mothers Day to all the Moms and Mom's to Be out there. You can be a Mother to someone in need everyday that needs one. Adoptions is AWESOME!

2 years old

Well Alina turns 2 years old next week. I can't beleive my baby is going to be so grown up.

She's talking a lot more these days. Kind of a little parrot. She doesn't do sentences, but she comments in two word responses sometimes. She's really good at saying 'No, Daddy'.

We started swim lessons 2 weeks ago so she will be ready for the summer and going to the beach a few times. She has learned climb out of the pool with help, kick, stick her face in the water...but she REALLY loves to jump in. So funny. She comes up smiling and sputtering water. We swim and practice bubbles too. She's not so good at that yet, but coming along. The days we do swim lessons she is very worn out and she sleeps like a log.

I've been looking for the Terrible Twos signs, and there have been a few, and they are just now showing up. If we use the No word, she fusses and cries sometimes. She's also getting into the 'Must have Mommy' mode and doing the leg leech. I get ready to go in the morning and she waits until my arms are full and wants to be picked up. But I love her inquisitivness which is showing so strongly.

She's interested in everything. Ever since Easter, she has been egg obsessed. She will still carry her basket around and put all her plastic eggs on the floor and then put them all back. She can spend 20 minutes with one egg, open close..open close. Such a funny bunny.

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Hope you are all well.

Jabber, Jabber, Jabber

We now have a talker. Okay, still not clear...but within the last few weeks we have gone from a 5 word vocabulary to 30 words on a regular basis. "Gotta go" in the mornings, 'Night Night', Ball/Book/Elmo/Cookie Monster (monter)/Baaah for sheep/Love You/ and much much more. Startling becuase we went from nonsense and suddenly there's something coming out of that you can recognize.

Alina has figured out who she is and says 'Nina' talking about herself. She points to herself.

This past month has been so great because her personality is starting to really emerge. She's such a happy and smart little lady.

She loves daycare and playing with the other little kids, but she loves being with Mommy and Daddy too. She's getting more and more demonstrative with hugs and kisses.

For attachment issues, we had continued her milk bottle for 9 extra months. Now we're trying to get away from it. It's her morning coffee. So the days we don't do it...we have a cranky baby with tantrum tendencies. The sweet goes out the window....but we love her crank highness anyway.

She's the highlight of our lives and much loved.

Hope you are having a good year.

1st Anniversary

Tommorrow is the 1st anniversary of meeting our daughter! I was looking at the calendar and had to go back and reference my blog. Knew it was the week I was there, but it was such a shock to think that its been that long. Just seems like yesterday but also like forever ago.

This has been a most awesome time with Alina. She has evolved from a quiet, reserved little baby. Now she's a rambuncious pistol who loves to hug, run, holler at the top of her lungs when she sees her Mommy and Daddy. She constantly brings us books. Splashes in the tub (she used to be afraid of the tub some). She understands what we say to her and is starting to speak different words like 'Cracker,Nite-Nite, and Look Daddy!'. She will climb up and go down the slide by herself. She knows all the names of her grandparents and can mostly say them ... Nana, Mimi (Memaw), Judy (Juju), and Pop (Bop).

There are so many little things and so many big things...can't begin to list them all. So much of a blessing. I thank the Lord every day for her, even when she is saying 'NO!'.

I haven't blogged much the last few months but I will periodically still come on. Not too much extra to say as we just go about our day to day. Each day we go to work/daycare and each day we come home and eat dinner, play, read, take baths, read more books, sing songs, and then go to bed. Thats Monday through Friday. Weekends we clean house (if Munchkin lets us). Fight to get her to nap. Play, read, love, and live life. I think that's the best testiment to the state of our family. We are just that, a family.

Much love to all. Hope you have a wonderful New Year.

Good going...

I can't beleive it's been since October 22nd since I posted. I started one after the conference and it's been nuts trying to keep up with everything going into the holidays. Since I'm off for Christmas I can catch up :)

The week after the conference could have been a disaster. I was so afraid that I would have a traumatized child when I came back from my conference. I've heard of regression on the development with adopted kids when you leave them for the first time. But they did Great! Daddy took her to daycare everyday and kept her to the same schedule. She didn't resent me when I came back. She was a little clingy on day after I cam back, but she did fantastic.

Halloween Alina was dressed as Minny Mouse. A friend of mine doesn't have little kids and she wanted to buy Alinas outfit. So she got the frilliest, pinkest thing she could find and that was it. It was SOOO cute. It was a 2T and if this tells you anything...she will never be able to wear it again because it was snug. Alina is growing like gangbusters.

When we got her in March, she was wearing 9-12 months clothes. Within two months of being home, she was already in 12-18 months. That was at the 1 year mark. Now she's 19 months and we're having to use 2T pants and 3T shirts because she's growing so fast and her belly pokes out of the 2T shirst. Looks like she's wearing tank tops with sleeves. She's actually quite trim, but just so tall. She's about a head taller than any other kid in her class and all of them are 2-5 months older than her. She's also growing out of her shoes too fast. She wears them hard, wears them out, and jumps into a new size within 3 months. We are now in 6 1/2 Wides. My little Amazon.

November was pretty routine and she did very well. Thanksgiving I had Andy's Aunt, Mom, and 3 of my students from school. All my students were from Korea. They ate lots of food, took all my leftovers, and Alina put on a show for them. She loves being the center of group attention. She doens't go to other people immediately which is great, she's cautious and loves to sit with Mommy, Daddy, or one of the Grandparents most of the time. But after about 20 minutes, she realizes that others are okay with Mommy and Daddy around and she starts turning on the charm. Flashes that huge smile and interacts with them.

Alina wasn't a huge fan of Turkey. She ate it, but she is more of a veggie/starch girl. She adores Stove Top Stuffing (making note to self to make some), hates green bean anything (except with ketchup-yuck), and likes cranberry salad/relish. She ate a bit of pumpkin pie, but wasn't impressed too much. Apple pie is a huge hit.

After Thanksgiving, I was hard pressed to get everything started for Christmas. I can't beleive our first Christmas is just two days away. We found out we were traveling to Russia the last week of January this time last year. It's impossible for me to imagine that journey just beginning and where we are now. Alina has become such an integral part of our lives since the beginning. I just don't feel like she's never been there. She's the child of my heart and God's blessing on our family more than anything you could imagine.

I wasn't sure how Alina would deal with ornaments. Sometimes she is so delicate when dealing with things...other times she just flings stuff around. So I put the artificial tree (yes, I know...we need a real tree...) up with lights. A blank slate. I weeded through our ornaments and just brought out ones that she could handle and I didn't have to worry about them. I showed it to her and put the first one on the tree. She went 'OOOO...Ahhh'...promptly walked over to my ornament box and got one more and brought it to me. I showed her where to put it and she put it on the tree. Okay not ON, more like IN. But it was so cute and neat. She continued to bring ornaments to me and put it in the same spot. So our system was I would move the ornaments up and back and she'd keep filling in that one spot. We decorated the whole thing together. She looks at it and fingers the ornaments occasionally, but really doens't mess with it much. She doesn't bother the presents either. I've been so impressed with her on that.

We're trying SOO hard not to overkill things this Christmas but I don't know how possible that will be. I bought about 8 presents and a millions stocking stuffers. I've put about 6 presents away for her Birthday in April. I can already see that the grandparents are going slightly demented about things, so I thought that was economical of me. Fortunately, I think we're getting some clothes for her for Christmas. We need that...she's growing out of her 2T/3T stuff too fast. Mom is bringing two pairs of shoes for Christmas. I've held off buying, knowing that was coming. Thank you for grandparents.

My Mom and Andy's Mom is coming up for Christmas. We will head down for New Year's weekend to my father's to celebrate Christmas again with them. Love to all of you. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Those of you still looking waiting to finish your forever family...it's worth the wait, the heartache to get there, and the expense. Don't lose hope, don't give up, and give the glory to God. He will hold you in His hands and carry you down the right path.

Much love to all.

Independent Girl

Well, we've had a very intersting development today. Alina can do stairs.

I kept taking Alina to the park this summer trying to get her comfortable with the swings, slide, and water. Some things worked and some things didn't. Ever since she's started walking she's been completely afraid or opposed to going up or down stairs. She's been going to daycare since late August and they go to the playground, but the area she plays in doesn't have a big slide just a baby baby slide.

Well, apparently that along with her confidence has resulted in a confident young lady.

Yesterday, I took the day off becuase I had to go to the doctor. I got her out of the daycare early and we went to the park. Alina went into the park and was having the best time. She wanted to go swing. She wanted this swing and then she insisted that we switch to the other swing and then back to the previous swing. She thought all of that was a hoot. Then we went to the big central play area. Big as brass she climbed the 4 stairs up onto the bridge area. I encouraged her and she walked across to the slide and sat down and slid down the slide!! I was so shocked because that the first I'd been able to get her to do anything like that.

Then we came home and she asked (well grunted and pointed -- she still doesn't talk much) to be put down at the top of the stairs. We have leveled stairs going down into the yard and then 12 steps going up into the house. She grabbed the rail and went all the way down and then all the way up. She's done the up before, but down has had her intimidated. It was so cute and she was so smug about it.

But its so great to see her being stronger in her walking and climbing. We've gotten some good Stride Rite shoes and she's doing so much better with them than some of the other shoes we've tried.

Next week is a bit of another hurdle. I'm going to a conference. So I'm leaving her for the first time overnight...for 3 days. I don't know whose going to have it harder, Andy with doing everything or my nerves. I think Alina will probably be fine, but I'm afraid I'll come home to a mad baby. But she doesn't hold grudges.

Much love to all.

Cutie pie..

Okay, I know...I'm prejudiced...I think my little bit is the cutest little munchkin on the planet. She and I are having so much fun now that she's getting bigger. She's starting to be more interactive with her toys and with me and Andy. She's discovered that she likes squishy things like blankets, stuffed animals, balls, towels, and Mommy. So she's hugging everything. She goes 'baby' and makes me hug them. I give them back and she hugs them and giggles.

We've also been practicing blowing kisses. She blows kisses at me from the back seat and I grab them and take them. I was putting her to bed last night after doing bed boucing. She had laughed so hard I think she was about to bust a gut. She giggled all the way to bed and as I was going out the door she blew me a kiss.

We are still struggling with who is in charge and how to she should express herself when she wants something, but we're coming along.

We got rid of some of her older toys she was bored with at a consignment sale and we bought some other ones. She loves her mega block legos and books. Total book fiend...she sits and looks at her books all the time or gives them to us to read to her as well.

Well...that's an update for now. Much love to all.

Urge to post...

It's funny, but when I'm out of town is when I get the biggest urges to blog. I guess it started when we came home with little bit. It's been 6 months since we came home with Alina this week. I can't begin to say how different it is now compared to in the beginning.

Alina flew with me yesterday to a family reunion in Raleigh, NC. This is Nana's family (my Mom). We hooked up back in June with Andy's extended family in Michigan. One of my cousins was turning 90 so her only wish was a family reunion which hadn't happened in about 3-4 years.

I was worried about flying with Alina by myself. It was the first time flying without Andy and changing planes. We did great though. Love the Nashville Airport, they had a kids playing area right across from the gate where we were waiting for our flight to Raleigh. Got lucky in that the Raleigh flight had plenty of space so Alina had her own seat. She's such much easier to entertain as a self seated toddler versus the smaller munchkin. We looked at books for the first 30 minutes of the flight...ate pretzels...and played puppet games with the bag they put for sick people. So it worked out great.

Alina turned on the charm at the reunion looking all cute. Her hair has grown so much her bangs were almost to her nose so Mom cut her hair this morning. It was nice to see her eyes...she batted them and was cute and smiley. Fortunately we were at cousin Janey's house and she had a Pack-n-Play so Alina crashed for about 2 hours this afternoon for a nap. She with down without a fuss tonight as well in the hotel, snoozing right along after having a full day of fun, food, and then running around in the hotel and hotel room for about an hour. She sighed and rolled over to sleep...she's such a blessing and fortuantely for me a good little traveler.

Well, back home tommorrow. We fly through Balimore on the way back so it's a little longer trip. I hope I'm as lucky with empty planes.

Much love to all.

Sand in odd places...

There are things you want in life for your child. Straight teeth (Andy wants to avoid orthodontics), happiness, health, and generally you want them to feel safe. Well, silly girl,where Alina reacts opposite to what I expect.

Saturday we went to Gulf Shores and went to the beach for the first time. Alina had seen sand in June in Michigan, but it was so cold we couldn't stay long and she didn't want to touch the sand. Well she screamed and cried when I tried to put her onto the sand...but walking into the ocean we got swatted by a salty wave. She squealed in delight.

Kid absolutely loves water. I think she's going to be a fish once we teach her how to swim. I found out the YMCA has a class for Moms and kids starting when they are 3years old to learn how to swim. I'm going to work on her sooner though.

We saw my father and stepmother in Gulf Shores. Pop (my Dad) hadn't seen Alina walking and his first sight of her was when we were coming towards the restaurant. Alina was stomping her way on the sidewalk straight at him. I could see him melt. She's got him and her Daddy just twisted around her cute little finger.

I can definately say, she's got me too.

Daycare is going much better. This morning I took her into her class and put her morning snack down. She sat there pretty as a picture eating her cataloupe and watching some kind of kids show. I blew her a kiss and said 'bye bye'. She blew me one back, smiled, and turned back to her show. It was so funny. I felt dismissed by the queen. She's quite the character.

Well, love to you all...

Jealousy

Okay, I'm jealous. Alina is being stubborn. She calls out when she sees Andy now 'Dada' in that cute squeaky voice. She used to say 'Mama' occassionally, but now she won't say it all. It's all Dada...Dada...Dada...(no petty jealousy here).

Andy says it's just her word of the moment so she will wear it out and then pick something else.

Daycare was all week this week for the first time. No breaks, but she's done great. It's worked out well...I take her in the morning and Andy picks her up. He's a teacher so he gets off about an hour before I would and they are already home by the time I get home.

I thought originally that daycare would wear Munchkin out, but nooo....she's wired up. She plays all day...naps less...but is even more hyper. What's the deal with that. But she still goes to bed easy at night which a huge blessing. We've had to push her bedtime about 1/2 hour in order to get her to bed and she's ready to go easily.

Love to all.

Over 4 months..hitting daycare

I was remembering about two weeks ago about the journey of the last 4 months. We came home with our little girl on March 28th. It's unbelievable to me that I've had this wonderful addition to my life such a short time ago, but she's become such an integral part of all of our lives.

We've turned this little girls life upside down and inside out since we snatched her out of her baby home. She's not that withdrawn little girl we were playing with quietly. She's a dive bombing little amazon who is running around. She used to be quiet and introspective to start. Now she's coming with books and presenting them to Mommy or Daddy to read to her. I don't know if she'd ever seen a book much before we saw her. She didn't know what to do with one other than chew on it or throw it. Now we MUST read or she is not happy.

She clearly knows her name is Alina...but also answers to Munchkin, Munchie, and booboo. Don't ask me how we ended up with these ridiculous nicknames, but we did.

When we first started everything, I was the primary caregiver for almost 12 weeks. Then Andy took over and we introduced Mother's Day Out 2 days per week. (Okay as Andy demands, Father's Day Out). Well this past two weeks we've introduced Nana (Grandma) care for a week and then this week we started Daycare....lots of changes in a little girls life.

Monday we started daycare at our church. We deliberately waited for our church daycare and also tried very hard to make this transition week easier with my Mom's help. She's been getting her out a little earlier than we will starting next week. The first day we went to daycare and all the other children that were there were so tiny and bald. Alina was a head taller and has so much hair.

We thought it was because she is so much bigger. Yesterday I went to class to drop her off with her teacher and I saw all the 5 other children. None of them walk yet. She looked like the Jolly Green Giant with munchkins from the wizard of oz. I asked how old they were and they were 9-12 months. Alina is 16 months now. They had put her in the wrong class. So after 3 days of trying to return her to a morning nap, they've put her into the right class with other 16-18 months kids. She will be with 4 little boys and 1 little girl...we shall see how this change goes...

Sorry I haven't updated the blog in so long, but we've been swamped with work and life. Love to you all. I'll try to be more regular about it.

Updates..

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since I posted. In that time Alina has grown another few inches, is fully walking, and has picked up one more word.

Alina is now about 14.5 months and we're starting to have to pull out 18-24 month clothes. We have a little Amazon on our hands.

She can walk around the house and wherever for a pretty good distance. She actually has gotten used to shoes and is more stable. But overall, she's still a little wobbly.

She now has a 5 word vocabulary: Momma, Dada (Daddy), Bye-bye and the last two are 'Uh-Oh' and 'Woof'. She's been learning vocab from the dog.

We have two more weeks of home time with Alina until she starts Daycare. The routine with Andy and going to Mother's-Day-Out two days a week has worked great. We're sincerely hoping that August will go as smoothly as the transition in June.

Love to all...

Smug Baby...

I have a smug little girl. She's so proud of herself. She leaned up against the couch and then took 6 steps to me. Then she started playing and walking around the living room. She's still trying to cruise a little bit, but she had a definate breakthrough tonight as she was walking around more.

Prior to this is was walk two steps ... FALL...walk two steps...FALL. But she's stopped doing the tippy toes and is doing flat footed.

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. We're going to visit Andy's Mom.

Love to all.

Molars...Father's Day...Sweetness

Well, we've had an interesting couple of days. Alina has been adjusting to her medicine, but then she also started teething again. I swear she doesn't go two weeks without starting teething. The last big teething was about a three weeks ago and she cut two big Molars in the back of her bottom row. Now she seemes to be getting more on the bottom and starting her top as well.

We had a nice visit with my brother and his family on Saturday, but then when we got home Alina had a bit of a meltdown and wouldn't sleep. She fought sleeping like I haven't seen in months.

Andy said that his Father's Day was the best one he's every had (funny since it's his first). He got a shirt, chocolate, and a sweet kiss from his little munchkin.

Today was so much better for Alina. We got the Motrin into her in time this morning, went to Mother Day out and got worn out, did a nap, and when I got home tonight from work she was excited to see me. She was soooo sweet this evening. She snuggled in my lap and drank some pedialyte. Andy and his Mom went to Lowe's so we did her bath, read a couple of books, and then she relaxed with her head on my shoulder while I sang her some songs. Those moments are some of the most precious.

Alina doesn't just relax. Usually she's full energy and then will just lay down for bed. We try to settle down and she won't relax against me. She doesn't usually melt into me like most other children do. It makes my heart so full when shes showing signs of trusting me, relaxing, and doing the limp noodle in my lap. Slow down enough to enjoy those moments those of you who are parents.

I looked at pictures of her just two months ago with her round pudgy face. Now she's slimming out and becoming a toddler. She's grown 6 inches in the last 4 months. But she's still my little bit.

Love to all.

Scary steps...

Well, Alina is officially (kind of) walking...well sort of. She has decided she really likes free standing and she will take about 2 steps...but then she falls. So her fun is free standing and then going into one of our recliners to cruise walk again. But she's decided she really likes climbing instead. So she now climbs onto the couch. She has no fear of course so she leans out to try and jump to the recliner.

Wish it was simple walking. So scary...but it's just beginning.

She's been doing so good this week with Andy though. They've gotten into a good rhythm and she's adjusted better to her medicine.

Love to you all...

Update on Alina

Hey everybody, as usual sorry for the delays but its been a pretty busy two weeks. We spent week before last in Michigan visiting with extended family. Alina was crazy on the plane going over and wouldn't settle down. We had a late night flight and didn't get settled until almost midnight which is too late for little bit. But once we got settled into the hotel she did very well and was a big hit with the family. She has learned that she's cute and knows how to entertain a group.

We got back last Sunday and the next day I returned to work. This week has been pretty tough on all of us as we transition to Daddy as the primary and Mommy going to work. Also, Alina had a positive TB Skin test (with neg Chest x-ray) so the doctor wanted us to start INH preventive therapy.

Alina spent the first 3 days of the week catching up on sleep from the trip...so Thursday we started her medicine. Unfortunately, she had a bad reaction to the meds with a rash and diareha. The doctor gave us some ointment and diareaha medicine and she's doing much better. So it's been a bit interesting.

Other positive developments includes walking. Alina has been practicing her steps by cruising for months. But this week she finally started walking without holding onto anything. At first it was just some free standing, but now she is taking a few steps. She's not steady and not taking a lot, but she is so smug and proud of herself when she does it.

That's about it for now. Much love to all.

The Dreaded Day Arrived...

Well, the first major at home hurdle I have been dreading arrived today. We started Alina in Mothers Day Out. I go back to work next Monday and Andy takes over, but needs coverage at least two days a week. So we started her at the MDO at our church. When Andy takes over we're calling it Father's Day Out.

Well...I took her in for the first time and left her. I didn't call and when I went there she was happy as a clam. They said she didn't freak out when she realized I was gone and she came to me so happy when she saw me. She ate lunch we took no problem and they had worn her little self out. She passed out in the car on the way home and barely moved when I changed her diaper and put her to bed for her nap.

So Day 1 was a success. She'll go again this Wednesday and then not for another week because they have Vacation Bible School next week. But I think it will be fine.

Now I just have to worry about Mommy withdrawal when I go to work next week. But Alina seems so great.

Thanks for the moral support and Love to all.

Long time...no blog...

Well, I know it's taken me a while to get back to this blog. April was a long slow month, since the beginning of May we've been running around crazy seems like. This month has flown.

She's been doing so great this month. She's trying like crazy to walk...all day long it up and down up and down and cruising around the house. She's made so many great advances with her development seems like she's catching up with herself. She says Momma (mostly when mad when I'm changing her diaper). She's also teething like mad.

Motrin is my best friend. My poor baby has 4 regular teeth, 2 incisors, and I think 2 molars coming in on her. Some of the teeth about pop up and then they go back down. But one of the molars has actually busted through.

We've been visiting grandparents and trying out new adventures such as going swimming in a pool. Alina hated the swimming ring I bought...tried to put her in it and she SCREAMED. Just had her in my arms and she loved the water. She even stuck her face in and blew bubbles. We're going to keep working on that. I'm thinking of doing a YMCA baby and me swimming class.

Other than that, we've just been doing our day to day stuff. She had her 1 year immunizations shots, has learned to eat more and more regular food, and is a busy little girl. She's been on another plane ride and her first road trip of over one hour and did great. I think she's well on the way to being just another little girl.

Next week is another time of transition for little bit though. We're going to start a Mother's Day Out program (we will start calling it Father's day out on the 8th). She will do two days per week for just 4 hours and I think it will be good for her to play with other kids. There are only 4 other children in her age group and they are mostly little girls. I think this will help with the transition to Daycare which will begin on August 10th. (Keeping fingers crossed).

Andy is done with the school year tommorrow accept for clean up and meetings and I go back to work in one more week. I am going to miss spending so much time with Alina and seeing all the great progress we've made over the last two months. I'm just going to have to make our time together as quality as I can. She's got two months with Daddy coming up and I think it will be good for both of them.

Again, sorry for the long absence from the blog. I'll try to update more later.

Love to all.

Party...Party...Party

We held our 1st Birthday Bash on Saturday. We had such a great time. Lots of friends and family came with kids in tow. It was chaos as kids played in the open area of the room we had rented.

Alina was teething big time on Thursday last week. She's cutting 6 teeth at the same time right now. Thank goodness for Motrin or she would be in total misery. Fortunately, 3 of the closest ones broke through on Friday and she was in a great mood on Saturday. She was crowing and babbling. My Mom (Nana) was in town for the weekend and met Alina for the first time. They got on fabulously and Mom was such a great help in getting things together.

We had asked everyone to bring a dish and we grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, and polish sausages. One of my friends son helped Andy grill and got to wear Andy's red apron. It made him feel like the big man.

Alina played in her excersaucer surrounded by 2 of the grandmothers, a great aunt, and 3 honorary aunts. All the little kids gave her some attention while we put things together.

About two hours into the party, Alina was placed in the center of the room with a dispoable tablecloth under her. The baby cake was placed in front of her. Immediately her attention was focused. It was white with a big red '1' in the middle. You could see on her face, 'what is this'...well even with all the noise and flashes and adults ooohhing and awwwing...she was focused. One little finger delicately touched on the cake and took out a little bit of frosting. Those little eyebrows went up in suprise''YMMMM". Second helping was two fingers of goop. After that she went in full force with a whole hand.

In the end, she had frosting in her hands, hair, every inch of her face, and managed to get it into her ears as well. Took bath over two days to find all the stuff in the crevaces. :)

My baby is 1 year old and she's great.

Love to all.