Home 4 Months (17 Months Old)

Since Tuesday, we have officially been home for 4 months - and Lauren turned 17 months old the same day.  Those of you that haven't adopted might wonder why we mark every month that we have been together as a family of five.  Well, its' simple: we missed so much of her life in the beginning and these moments are so precious.  Here is a short update on how our little girl is doing:

Sleep
After months of great sleep, things have slid downhill a bit.  Granted, she still sleeps great at night, so I know we should count our blessings, but naps have drastically changed.  Starting on November 8th, Lauren began fighting naps, and some days not napping at all.  On days that she does nap, it's a short 15 to 20 minutes.  She is so very tired and needs the sleep, but will not let her body rest.  With the lack of decent nap, she is much more irritable and easily frustrated.  We have tried almost everything to bring a nap back into her life, with not much luck.  Our theory is that she has developed some anxious attachment.  We have started to wear her more in the baby carrier and let her nap there, which seems to help.

Eating
Lauren is still eating pretty well and loves to feed herself.  Of course, that means she hates it when we help!  She is becoming a bit more picky in what she will eat.  She still loves her rice, fruit, noodles, and cheese.  She doesn't touch her vegetables much anymore but will eat them if we feed them to her, sneaking them in between other bites.  She also loves her sweets and just the other day said, "candy".  Wonder where she gets that from?

Speech
We still aren't hearing a lot of English words from Lauren (nor Korean, for that matter, as far as we can tell).  She does communicate what she wants and understands how to shake her head yes and no appropriately.  Every once in a while we will hear some words like:  brother, mommy, daddy, ball, book, teddy bear, cat, meow, play, and bath.  But she does babble a lot and seems to be telling us some great stories. 

Play
She loves to play with blocks, stuffed animals, musical toys, cellphones, and anything her brothers are playing with like cars.  She also loves to draw and put things in and out of containers.  She likes to listen to music and dance.  One of her favorite games is peek a boo.  Her favorite activity is climbing - she is fast!  She can make a chair out of anything, which she likes to do so she can sit and look at her books.  She would love it if we let her play on the computer.  Her favorite time of day is bath time.

Peek A Boo 

My Pouty Face 

Me and My Teddy 

Hello, Anyone There? 

Lauren's Baptism

On Sunday, November 7, 2010, Lauren's baptism was held at our church.  She was one of 4 children that were baptized that day, and let's just say it was somewhat of a disaster.  Not only did the time change occur that weekend, which threw her a bit out of sorts, but she had a cold and her molars were coming in.  Also, in order to be at church on time, her normal lunch and nap schedule had to be adjusted.  The combination of all of these led to lots of tears, temper tantrums, and screaming during the ceremony (held after mass).  Now granted, she did wonderful during mass but soon reached the end of her rope.  All the other children that were being baptized were infants and just slept through it all.  Now we understand why infants are normally baptized and not strong-willed toddlers!

Celebrating with us that day were her godparents. John (Mike's cousin), who flew in from Arizona, is her godfather. It was wonderful that he was willing to come all this way for our special day. Angela (my sister-in-law - Steven's wife) is her godmother. Also in attendance were Grandma Judy, Grandpa Al, Great Grandma Betty, Uncle Steve, Uncle Dan, Tina, and Wyatt.  Many thanks to Tina for the great pictures of the ceremony - she displayed true talent in snapping pictures during the 3 seconds Lauren was happy, which you can see below.

After we got home and put Lauren down for nap, the whole family sat down to a lovely Korean meal prepared by your truly. We are really proud of Lauren's extended family for diving in and trying a lot of Korean dishes.

I love my pretty dress!

What an angel! (This was before the meltdown.)

 Receiving the Blessing

 So peaceful

Lauren actually was calmed by the warm water. Then she was mad she couldn't take a bath in it.

I do NOT want to be here!

Wowed by the candle's flicker. 

Our Family 

Lauren with Godfather John and Godmother Angela 

Posing with Grandpa Al, Grandma Judy and Great Grandma Betty 

Chilling out with Uncle Steve, Tina, and Uncle Dan 

Tina, Lauren and Dan 

Opening Presents from Godfather John

Friends

In Early November, a group of families with children adopted from Korea got together for a fun play date.  Most of the kids are similar in age and maybe even knew each other in Korea.  It was so much fun to see the kids playing together and to chat with the parents.  We attempted a photo of the kids but trying to get a group of active one year old children to sit for a picture proved challenging. 

SNOW

Lots of snow, around 12 inches of wet heavy snow, fell last weekend.  The boys loved playing in it ,but Lauren wasn't a fan.  I think it was all the snow gear that was required, especially the boots.  She was content to watch the guys play from the warmth of the house. 

 Daddy don't put me down!

 King of the Mountain

 I don't like this white stuff.

Our poor tree didn't fare too well from the weight of the snow. 

Trick or Treat

The three kids had so much fun with Halloween this year! Both of the boys had parties at school, which they loved. All the kids looked so cute in their costumes. But the best part for them was going door-to-door in our neighborhood with some of their neighborhood friends. It was a cold night that got even colder once the sun went down, so we didn't stay out too long - but long enough for them to come home with huge bags of candy. Even Lauren now knows what candy is and loves it. The kids also loved handing out candy to those that came to our door.  Cameron dressed as Bumblebee the Transformer, Kyle was Optimus Prime the Transformer, and Lauren was a cute and cuddly white and pink cat.

Cameron at his school party

Cameron's First Grade Class

Kyle's Preschool Class

Cameron as Bumblebee

Kyle as Optimus Prime

Awww, there are those cute but serious faces! Ready to battle the Decepticons!

Strike a Pose

Lauren as Cat...and not liking it.

Did you say I get candy?  OK, this is better now .

Ready to Roll!

Trick or Treat!

Neighborhood Halloween 2010 Trick or Treat Gang

Pumpkin Painting

This year we decided that instead of carving pumpkins like we normally do, that we'd let the kids each paint their own pumpkin. They had such a blast.  Lauren was too busy playing with Grandpa to paint her pumpkin, so Kyle helped.