Photos

Just some new photos.

FOOTBALL!

Our little Jenni Lin went to her first football game last night! She did great. Of course she had 3 of her Aunties and 2 uncles to keep her occupied. Those of you that know me well know that I love football!! The Spokane Shock (AF2)are one of my favorite teams and they are now in 1st place and the playoffs start next week. It is always so loud in there but Jenni didn't seem to mind. We tried to put ear plugs in her ears but they kept falling out. Jenni just kept watching everyone and taking it all in. Afterwards, we went dinner to celebrate one of my sister's birthday and Jenni again did really well and it was past her bedtime. After dinner (about 9:30) we got in the car and she was out in about 2 minutes. She had a full day and slept in until 8:00am this morning. My father-in-law is arriving from Ohio this evening to see his granddaughter! I am excited for the two to meet. I know Jenni will just love him. He is staying with us while he is here which is the first time anyone else has been with Jenni longer than a few hours so it will be neat to see how Jenni reacts having someone else in the house helping to take care of her. I have included 2 pictures this blog. One is of Jenni at friends house swimming (note-no smile!-still working on the smiling part). Her pictures just don't do her justice. When you meet her in person and she gives you her big smile she is just too cute. The other picture is of me and my niece, Autumn. Jenni loves her "tum,tum". Autumn has gotten to be such a grown up girl. She use to be as tiny as Jenni Lin.

Terri

More Pictures from China

Jenni Lin had her baby well care exam yesterday. We would have done it earlier but right when we came home from China she was sick so they wanted to wait. She is doing great. She weighs 16lbs, length is 27inches and her head is 16 1/2. She is just so wiggly. Her doctor just laughed and said we will have our hands full with this one. My friend nicknamed her "Jello". She is like holding Jello!. She wants on your lap, off your lap, standing on your lap, laying on your lap, flipping over your lap. We are definately going to try and get her either gymnastics or dance. She is just so flexible and has so much energy! We did have to have some lab work done on Jenni and that was so hard. It took four of us to hold her down to get it done. The poor little thing..it just broke your heart hearing her cry in pure terror. But she recovered quickly and we are doing great today! I got some new pictures from Lisa that went to China to get Ren, her daughter. I had to include one them as Ren is just so precious. Ren needs to teach Jenni how to smile in pictures. Also, a picture of our group on the bus before we got the babies, a picture of the three of us on registration day

New Pictures!

I finally have some updated pictures! Like I said before it is very challenging to get good pictures of Miss Jenni Lin. She is so wiggly and she hates the flash on the camera so she often hides her face when we get the camera out. We have had a great week. Although, I have seemed to have hurt my lower back. I am hoping it is just a strained muscle as I am not use to carrying around a baby and being down on the floor so much. Yesterday, it was a sharp pain that took a few minutes to go away. I was putting together her Jumper and all of sudden it just came on. I was literally laying on the floor unable to move for a few minutes. Luckily, Rich was still here and the baby was taking her morning nap. However, Rich was in the shower so I layed there wondering if he would eventually come looking for me. I was able to get up but it was horrible shooting pain. I was really worried about not be able to take care of Jenni and having to call one of my sisters to come over and help but after about 30 minutes the pain eased. Although, I am still having discomfort today but it is a little better. Rich and one of my sisters both have had to had back surgery for a herniated disc so that was my first scary thought. I just plan on resting my back as much as possible today and tomorrow while Rich is home. I do have a doctor appointment on Monday that was already scheduled weeks ago so I think I will talk to them about it then. The above pictures are of Rich reading to Jenni, Jenni learning that a credit card can buy her toys (note the excitement!) and the other one is when I went to get Jenni up from her nap she had the her baby doll's bottle in her mouth and was actually fussing because she couldn't get anything out of it. It was too cute!

1 Month anniversary!!

Can't believe we have had our baby girl for 1 month now. She has enriched our lives more than we could have ever hoped for. Today, we just had a mommy and baby day. Daddy was home until 10:45 this morning so he got to spend a little time with her before going to work. She just loves her daddy!! She was full of smiles and giggles today. She is sleeping so well. She usually goes down about 8:15Pm and sleeps until 6:45am. She sometimes wakes up once about between 10:00pm and 1:00am but all she usually needs is a diaper change and a snuggle and back to bed but most nights she just sleeps straight through. She takes a morning nap about 9:00am to 10:30am and then afternoon nap for about another 1 1/2. We had alot of mommy and baby time today playing and snuggling. She is now just taking 3 to 4 bottles a day and has solid foods for lunch and dinner. Still pretty picky but she loves her mashed potatoes. She really dislikes rice and not too fond of pasta which is funny because that is a main staple in China. I think because she had so much rice in her bottle in China she really doesn't want it anymore. She won't take any juice but is finally taking water again. We went to the waterpark with some friends on Monday and she really loves the water although she was a little shy as their were alot of people there and she got a little bit overwhelmed. But she loves seeing my friends children and playing with them. It hard to go shopping with her if you are in a hurry as she is just so cute that people stop and talk to her all of time and tell me how pretty or cute she is. She sits in the shopping cart really well but looks so tiny and cute that it stops people. I have to admit she is pretty cute!!! She was really charming a couple of older men at Costco the other day that they shared some food that they had with her. I will try and get some updated photos on the blog soon. She is very challenging getting any photos as she is constantly moving and it is hard to get any good photos of her actually looking at the camera.

Terri

Parenthood

We had a great weekend. It is just so much fun being a "family". I keep waiting for the this "wonderful feeling of joy" to wear off but it never does. Even when Jenni is fussy I just can't wipe this feeling of "joy" off of my face. Rich said yesterday.."This is starting to feel normal" as if "Jenni has been with us forever". I always tried to be very understanding of "parents" even though I never had a child I always loved children so I thought I understood, at least a little bit, what other parents go through. But I never in my life knew how important your child can be to you. It is like nothing else matters but that little person that needs your attention. I find myself actually missing Jenni when we are with other family that are holding her and giving her attention. I have to go give her a kiss or hug after a few minutes. It is not jealousy of the other family or friends holding her or loving her as I just love having Jenni having that interaction but I just actually "need" to give her a love or kiss. It is going to be hard going back to work but I know it will be ok. She loves being around other children and having that interaction will be really good for her. She still is not crawling but she sure scoots and rolls around really well. She is eating more solid foods now and seems to be finally putting on weight. She has her baby well check next week so we will find out. Well, better go!

Hugs,
Terri

Fire in our neighborhood

It has been such a fun week except for the fire. Each day is a new day with new adventures and milestones reached. Her sleep schedule is becoming more routine and she is now eating solid foods, although still pretty picky, on a regular basis. I have enjoyed having the last 4 weeks off of work but I do have to admit I do miss my co-workers. Never thought I miss work so much. Trust me it is not the getting up at 4:30am that I miss but I do miss our patients and the interactions with my boss and co-workers. I can't thank them enough for covering for me so I can enjoy this time with our daughter. Jenni Lin is now rolling around so much and is very close to crawling. The dog and cat have been an incentive to her as they lay just far enough away that she tries to crawl to them. We did have a little bit of a scare on Thursday as we had a big fire, the Valley View Fire, that was just blocks from our home. 13 homes were loss to this fire and over 1000 acres burned. We actually started to pack up some stuff to evacuate but thanks to the awesome fire fighters we were fine. They said there were over 100 firefighters that fought this fire. It is amazing how now that we have a child our value of our "things" don't seem as important. I was just more worried to make sure we had Jenni out and our pets everything else can be replace. Well, I better go as Jenni Lin is wanting me to play with her!!

Hugs,
Terri

Some Pictures from China

Just wanted to put a couple of pictures from China on the blog. We do have alot more just no time to get them all downloaded and "resized" to work on the blog but I will get it done!! The above pictures are of Jenni Lin saying goodbye to Changsha from our hotel window and a group photo of all of our travel group with babies. I really do miss them all!!

Terri

A Routine!!

Things are going much better in our household. Jenni Lin has been sleeping through the night again the last 2 nights. She is sleeping from 9:00PM to 7:00am and then lays down for a 2 hour nap in the morning and about a 1 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. We finally have her on Soy Formula which has help with her congestion. We tried doing regular formula the other day and she got all congested again so we think there is probably a sensitivity to the Milk-based formula. She is eating some solid foods but wants what Rich and I eat and not baby food. I think the baby food is too bland or something. She doesn't seem to like anything too sweet and when she is done she is done! I could learn to eat better if I followed her eating pattern..stop when you are full! I was able to go to work for about 4 hours on Saturday and she did great with daddy. Today is daddy's first day back to work after 3 weeks. I will really miss having him here. We make such a great team and he is so good about changing diapers and taking her to the toilet and everything else that comes with parenting. She did get set back a little bit on the potty training when she was sick but we are again working on it. She will go if we take her to the toilet on a regular basis but I have to admit we haven't been as diligent as we were in China. She still likes me to be in her eye sight at all times and in the evenings she loves to snuggle with me on the couch.

Terri

Wednesday

Sleep is still an issue but seems to slowly be getting better. It is a comfort knowing that alot of the other babies from our travel group are having the same issue getting on USA time. We tried really hard to not let Jenni sleep so much today in hopes of getting her to sleep through the night tonight. We don't mind her waking up to take a bottle or a diaper change but when she refuses to go back to sleep and wants to stay up for 3 hours is what is hard at 2:00am in the morning. Today we went and visited some friends and family and kept her going all day. She seems to be feeling much better and actually had a day without vomiting. We gave her a very small amount of solid food and she was able to keep it down. She occasionally has raspy breathing and a cough but it is much better. She is responding well to family and friends and we are having so much fun being parents. She loves to give big kisses and we must remember to give her a fingernail trim tomorrow as she loves to grab your face and lips and her fingernails are sharp! We went and bought her a walker and johnny jumper today as she just can't seem to sit still her legs are strong and she wants to stand all the time. Well, I hear her coughing on the baby monitor so I should go up and check on her. So much for her sleeping through the night!!

Hugs
Terri

Busy day!

Today was a busy day. Jenni did pretty well last night. She slept from 7:30 to 12:15am and then was up until 3:30am and then slept until 9:45am. I am still not sleeping very well. I sleep with 1 ear open still so worried about my sick little girl. She now has starting vomiting several times a day. Usually right after trying to eat something solid. She also HATES the soy formula. We decided to keep her on the regular formula just for a couple more days until she is over her cough otherwise she just won't eat at all. She actually lost a little weight since China so we are more concerned with her keeping her strength up to fight the croup off. We are just so waiting for our little angel to start feeling better soon so we can all enjoy each other more! We were able to get out of the house today for quite awhile which Jenni seemed to enjoy. I went to work and was able to get about 2 1/2 hours of work done while Rich and Jenni took a nap in our waiting area (office was closed today)and then we went and visited my boss's wife and Jenni just loved Kim and wanted her to hold her and kept kissing her (open mouth!)she also loved watching Kim's children playing and entertaining her. We then ran a couple of errands. Jenni is getting more use to the car seat and actually fell asleep in it several times today. She still initially cries but if I sit in the back seat with her she will settle down. We are struggling to get into a routine and I am so happy Rich is off work right now as Jenni wants me to hold her all the time which I enjoy but it makes it impossible to get anything done around the house. Rich is such a good daddy and he definitely loves his little girl. He often goes in to check on her sleeping. She is such beauty and when you go and get her when she wakes up the smile she gives you is just so worth everything we went through to finally bring her home. She has some of Rich's traits which cracks me up. She hates having her feet covered with a blanket at night and actually has her legs and feet moving constantly (which Rich does also). She loves the cat and cat loves her. The cat is constantly checking on her and will come and get me if she hears her fussing. Vern, our dog, tolerates her really well and today actually came over to play with both Jenni and I on the floor. Vern is getting older and normally doesn't like to play much anymore but he seemed to be having fun with Jenni and Jenni trys so hard to be "gentle" with the dog but it is just so tempting to pull on those ears she just can't help herself. Thanks to all of my family and friends for being patient with us on returning phone calls and emails. Sometimes it is just easier for me to blog than return everyone's phone calls and emails right now as the only time I find time right now to call anyone is usually after 9:00pm at night and most people are going to bed at that time. Hopefully within a few days we can get into a better routine and Jenni will be more secure with me putting her down so I can get our daily tasks done.

Terri