March 02, 2005

A Long Overdue Update

Isn't she just the cutest...

I guess it has been a while since my last post. But guess what? I have been just a tad bit busy being a new daddy! :-)

Where do I begin? First, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has sent us emails asking us to post updates. It's so nice to know that we have friends out there keeping up with our story. You all are GREAT! And you know, blogging would be pretty boring if it was just me and my computer.

I guess this might be a long update. So please click below to catch up on life with little Kaylee girl!

Everything is going GREAT! Kaylee is absolutely wonderful. She is so much fun! I have never seen a baby smile as much as she does. But I can never get a good picture of her smiling. Every time she smiles and I press the button on my camera, she gets this serious look on her face when she sees the little red light that indicates the flash is ready. haha... It's hilarious. She goes from laughing to serious in an instant. I'll keep trying and maybe I can get some smiling pictures.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not but she just loves the TV. Baby Einstein is her favorite. If she is watching it, and you stand in front of her, she looks at you like you are crazy, then she leans over and looks around you. It's just cracks me up.

We haven't had much luck getting her to eat solid food. She still only takes the bottle. But we try every day. I know a lot (most) of the babies in our group ate solid food along with their bottle. Kaylee just doesn't want anything to do with a spoon. In fact, the only two things she will put in her mouth are her thumb and the bottle. That's it. I'm sure she will begin to eat solid food eventually. Our pediatrician tells us to keep trying.

She has been making a lot of improvements with her muscle development. She can sit up by herself but we have to keep a hand close by because she tends to eventually tilt and then tumble. And she loves to stand when we hold her under her arms. She can't wait to walk! She is not crawling yet but she sure is rolling. She can move across the floor just rolling over and over. We have been working with her and trying to teach her to crawl. But I sort of think it is something she will figure out on her own. This is one of those things that we are a little confused about. We know that most babies start crawling long before their 10th month. So we feel like maybe we should sort of show her or help her. But we know that she will catch up in her own time. And we are beginning to relax more and let her grow at her own schedule. We still work with her daily to make sure she is getting enough exercise and opportunities to practice.

I listen for sounds that Kaylee makes. Then, at a later time I will make a sound. She will get an excited look on her face. And after I make the sound a few more times, she will make it back at me. Then she gets this huge smile on her face. It might be something as simple as ba ba ba. Or maybe a kissing sound with the lips. Or a clicking sound. And I have found that when I make a new sound that she likes, it's only good for about 24 hours. Then the excitement wears off and I need to find a new one. We've gone through a lot of animal sounds. It started with a bark, then a pig sound, then a quack like a duck, then this funky frog sound I can make. I cycled back through and had another run with the bark, but again it only lasted about a day.

We took her to the pediatrician about a week after we returned from China. We went ahead and had her immunizations done again. We just wanted to make sure she was fully immunized and our doctor told us there was no harm in repeating them, even if she had them in China. Then we had a bit of a situation. They needed to take some blood so they could test it for things like HIV, Hepatitis, etc... They tried but they could not find her vein. It was absolutely horrible. I had to hold her down. We finally stopped and decided to bring her back when another nurse would be there with the hope that she could have better luck. Unfortunately the second attempt failed. No luck. We tried. But they just couldn't get any blood. So they told us to take her to the hospital. They are hoping that there will be someone there who has experience dealing with these difficult cases. We decided to wait a little while since the two previous visits were a bit traumatizing. Then we had relatives in town. So we just haven't had time. But it looks like we are going to go tomorrow. Today actually, after I go to sleep and then wake up. It is after 1:00 in the morning. Ugh...

I could go on and on and on... Kaylee is just so awesome! I will try to post a bit more frequently. Thanks everyone for the emails and for posting comments. It sure is nice to read all of your kind words, advice, and friendly notes.

Posted by Mark at March 2, 2005 01:29 AM
Comments

One thing to keep in mind with the crawling is that some babies go straight into walking without really crawling a great deal. And other babies will sort of "shuffle" on the floor instead of the classic crawling method. Don't worry, she will find a way to get into things on her own!

Posted by: Stephen at March 2, 2005 02:07 AM

My little cousin is now 1 yr old and still doesn't crawl. But walking is coming pretty close now. It is just a sign of extreme intelligence! Why walk when you have these two big servants carrying you to any place you desire? ;-) I enjoy your stories a lot, I hope you can still find the time for your weblog. Good luck!

Posted by: Patrick at March 2, 2005 03:18 AM

We went to see Dr. Jane Aronson in New York when we brought our 23 month old daughter home in September. She had the same problem with the blood drawing. She tried to draw blood from both arms. She would get a bit and then it would stop. She said that malnutrition can make the veins weak and difficult to get blood from. My husband and I and a nurse held her down on the table while the doctor took the blood from the vein in her neck. It looked pretty gruesome and she screamed horribly, but I think it was more fright from being restrained. She didn't seem to feel a lot of pain when the doctor tried her arms. The doctor got all the blood she needed and my daughter was munching cheerios a few minutes later. Glad to hear Kaylee is doing so well. Its amazing how much they can change from one day to the next.

Posted by: Ellen at March 2, 2005 09:05 PM

Quick Update: We took Kaylee to the hospital today and the nurse was able to get the blood on the first try! We were so happy! So we took her to Babies "R" Us and bought her a bunch of stuff. Haha...

Posted by: :: m a r k :: at March 2, 2005 09:14 PM

Thank you for the update! Kaylee is adorable, a total cutiepie. And obviously, she has her daddy wrapped around her tiny finger.

Keep those updates coming!!

Posted by: Shelba at March 3, 2005 02:38 PM

It's been so fun reading your update tonight! I have been wondering how things were going for you! My veins are hard to draw blood from and so I can relate to your experience. I would recommend always going to the hospital where a phlebotomist (spelling?) can draw since they have so much more experience than the nurses in the dr.'s offices. Also, maybe you guys already have one of these but I was going to mention these fun jumpers that hang from the doorway. All my children loved them and they are great exercise and lots of fun for little people not walking (or crawling yet!) Thanks again for the update. Your daughter is a cutie!

Posted by: at March 3, 2005 11:51 PM

oops! I forgot to post my name! :o)

Posted by: Mary at March 3, 2005 11:53 PM

Hi

You Kaylee is a beauty. Congratulations!!
Be careful not to let her watch to mcuh TV as children that watch too much TV before they are 4 can have attention problems by age 7 according with America Association of Peditricians.

Posted by: Dama at March 4, 2005 08:53 AM

Good advice Dama. We are already beginning to keep track of the TV time and we are finding other ways to entertain her. We definitely do not want her glued to the television.

Posted by: :: mark :: at March 4, 2005 09:40 AM

Hey Mark a little piece of electrical tape will block the red light and is easily removed when not needed or you just have Naomi hold her she always smiles for her.

Posted by: Dick at March 4, 2005 01:12 PM

Little Kaylee is so beautiful. Your family is blessed! We just got back from China with our daughter and I was surfing the web and found your great blog. Isn't it a great way to share your joy (and lack of sleep) with others? Our daughter's China adoption blog is at http://brookechina.blogspot.com

Posted by: at March 6, 2005 01:41 PM

I've been waiting for things to calm down for your family to offer my congratulations. I'm so happy for you! What a great time this must be. It sounds like all of your adjustments are normal. I'm sorry for the trouble with the blood tests--that must have been traumatic.
--Amy.

Posted by: Amy at March 6, 2005 02:36 PM

Thanks for all of the advice & the kind words.

- Dick, great advice for the camera light. I'll give it a try!

- Didn't catch your name but I added a link to your blog http://brookechina.blogspot.com in the left margin.

- Thanks Amy! Things are definintely calming down.

- Someone mentioned a jumper and I wanted to say that we have a one and Kaylee loves it! It's a great way for her to exercise her legs.

- Shelba, she definitely has me wrapped!

Thanks again for all the comments. We love reading them! :-)

Posted by: :: mark :: at March 7, 2005 11:59 AM

Hi,

Congrat's on Kaylee. She's a real cutie.

I'd like to echo on the bit about limiting TV time. It is an attractive nuisance and, unfortunately, 99% of TV programming is mindless entertainment, whatever the target age group. Do read to her often... even when she's too young to understand the words, she'll be learning, developing her language skills. It's also great quality time with Mom and/or Dad.

I've got two children and my oldest, now 5, never really did crawl. At least not until he was already walking some. It might be true about intelligence; my boy can tell you how a flourescent lamp works, but he'll hardly brush his teeth without a fight. Ah, kids.

My wife is from Beijing and she must have led a pretty sheltered life. She was totally ignorant to the chinese "orphan" situation until a couple we know in Kansas adopted a little girl from China.

Posted by: Reagan at March 7, 2005 03:43 PM