Rubby Ducky, You're the One

Forget blankies or stuffed animals, our girl's comfort item is her mini rubber ducky.  She carries him(her?) everywhere and if her hands are full she's carries it in her mouth.  She does occasionally present it to one of us, but quickly snatches it back.

Ariana is taking up to three wobbly steps on her own.  I think she's capable of more, but she insists on walking with toys in her hands.

It is almost impossible to get a picture of her because she is always in motion. She also gets very excited and charges the camera whenever she sees it (see ducky picture below.)

She continues to eat well and this week started drinking from a sippy cup.  We'll still use a bottle for her twice a day milk to promote attachment.

Sleep is still a struggle but improving a little at a time.  I attended a webinar on sleep issues in adopted children Thursday night. I can't say I learned a whole lot, but it feels good to know we're not alone.  We'll keep working on it.  The good news is she takes about an hour nap each day on the couch so Mama can get some computer time and recharge (me, not the computer.)

The highlight of each day is when she wakes me up each morning with some baby talk version of "Hey!"  I look over and she her standing in her crib and she flashes me a huge smile that melts my heart. Life is good.

The Baby Grand is holding up in spite of a week of mistreatment.
 She loves her music but gets a little rough on the equipment!

Piano Girl

Ariana's cousin B. passed down his  FP Baby Grand Piano to her yesterday.  I got this for him when he was about 10 months old, and I have to say I think it's just about the cutest toy ever made.  She loved it and we are sure to be hearing a lot of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in the next few days.

 A quick tutorial

You won't see Billy Joel make this move.

January 2007

What a cutie

Someone had too many sweet potatoes :)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my sister, my m-i-l, all the mothers reading this and ME!  My first Mother's Day was very sweet.

We had a wardrobe change and unplanned bath at Grandma's house after our very
 first diaper blowout.  We tried some chicken and apple baby food last night.  I think it's back to vegetarian for awhile.

Ariana get very excited and tries to type if she sees either one of us on our laptops so we got her this adorable purple Le@p Frog laptop.  Naturally she still prefers the grown up versions.

Saturday night Ariana attended her first neighborhood fire pit fire at our friends Sam & Melanie's house.  She loved the fire (& Luke) so we think she's definitely going to be a good camper-yay!

Day of Firsts

Wednesday was a big day for Ariana.  Unfortunately I somehow lost all the pictures I took :(

We had her first doctor's appointment.  We really like our new pediatrician and everything went smoothly until the blood-draw professional (phlebot-something I believe) showed up.  NINE vials of blood!  Mommy wanted to scream with Ariana.  I know it didn't hurt her, but the way she looked at us for help about broke my heart.

They are going to check the titers on the immunizations they are able to so we'll know for sure she has been immunized.  We'll assume if she has the antibodies they can test for then all her records are correct.  I personally feel they are, but the doctor says they are often inaccurate so we'll go on his advice.  They are also going to check for the Giardia parasite.

Overall she is quite healthy except for some mild delays which we expected.  Her muscle tone is only fair but I'm sure that will improve especially given the way she's been motoring around the house.

I haven't mentioned it on the blog but Ariana is really, really struggling with sleep.  Since April 15th, most nights she has only slept 1-2 hours without waking.  She is usually only up for about 10-15 minutes now, but at least once a night she is up for almost an hour.  Getting her to sleep is challenging and it's often 10p.m. or later before we can get her down and she's usually up very early.  I don't know how nursing mothers can handle this type of schedule because I am exhausted to say the least.  The doctor didn't really have any insight on this except that it almost certainly is her adjusting to her new everything.

Last week she was very miserable as she has 3 new teeth coming in.  I think we are over the worst of that for now and the drooling and snotty nose seems to have stopped.  It makes me so sad to think about her getting the six teeth she already had with no one to comfort her although I am confident the nannies did the best they could.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from China:

I wanted to end with an adorable picture of someone holding her bottle for the first time yesterday!!   So cute, but you'll just have to imagine it I guess.

One Month Anniversary

One month ago today we officially and legally became Ariana's parents.  Everything in her world has changed and we are in awe of her.  We love her more every day.

Yes, we gave her cake AGAIN!

Puffs are her true love.  I am certain puff will be her first word.  
These are not available in China and we would've paid
a hundred American for a can.

Ariana loves listening to and making music.  This was taken
on her first morning in the U.S.

Ariana and her cousin rocked their matching
Easter outfits.  They weren't really feeling the
photo shoot though.

Arriving home for the first time April 21st.  She wasn't a fan of the
carsseat and screamed her disapproval for about 3 hours.

First stroller walk was on Friday, April 29th.
I'm glad I got this "Flip-it" stroller so she can face us.