Friday, January 29, 2010

4 Weeks Home!





Ava is doing great! Her bloodwork had to be done again and everything came back fine. She had a developmental assessement and is a bit behind, but nothing to be concerned about. We had expected that to be the case and we can see she is progessing everyday. She is a happy baby!

Friday, January 15, 2010

3 Weeks Home!




Ava is doing great! Next week we have an appointment to have her development assessed. This week she has started sitting up on her own........it's only for a few seconds at a time, but we can see her growing stronger everyday. She is really liking her baby food now. Carrots and squash are her favorites at the moment.

Each day when the girls come home from school, I stand at the window with Ava and we watch for the bus. She gets so excited when each girl walks thru the door. The girls are such a big help!



Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A Very Special Cake!


Check out this beautiful cake our friend, Nancy, made for Ava! She has a cake making business and we are so thankful for her generous gift! It looks too good to eat, but eventually the girls had to cut into it........and it's delicious!!!! What a special welcome gift........we are going to put a few crumbs in Ava's mouth so she can enjoy it too.

Friday, January 8, 2010

2 Weeks Home

I used to wonder why the families that get back from Ethiopia didn't update their blogs often to let us know how things were going. Now, I know why.........there isn't a spare minute to gather your thoughts and find time to type a blog post!

It's hard to believe we have been home with Ava for 2 weeks! That first week was somewhat of a blur. She wasn't on our time zone and as a result, she was waking up every 2-3 hours throughout the night. She also was very congested, but still she was happy and babbly.

This week we have made great progress! I took her to the international adoption doctor on Monday and he did a physical evaluation. She weighs 19 lbs!!!!! Tuesday, she had to have blood drawn. That was not a pleasant experience.....they couldn't find her vein in her left arm and after several tries, they switched to her right arm. They explained that her vein was about the size of a thread and it was really difficult, but they finally found the vein! For the past 3 days, I have been collecting "specimens" from her diaper and driving it over to the lab so they can check for parasites, etc. That too, was not a pleasant experience (for me!).

Everyday we see improvement in her development. We have been giving her small amounts of baby food and she is slowly coming around to that. She is not able to sit up yet, but we are working on that, along with developing her leg strength. Although, the weather is sooooo cold, we have had a few outings to the mall and Costco.

Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed and sent beautiful gifts! Your generosity is overwhelming and Ava is one loved little girl!!!!!!! We are loving every minute with her and are so happy to have her home with us. She is a true gift to our family!