Sealed

The best part of having the finalization last week was being able to go to the temple this week. It was great to have both sets of grandparents come out for the special day. Little Bird was so happy in the temple. It was funny to hear her happy shrieks and sounds in the temple. What a great day!

It was a blustery, cold day for taking pictures, so after trying a few outside, we went to the visitors center to take a few more.

The next day Caleb did her blessing in sacrament meeting.

We are so glad to have this little girl in our family. Such a sweetheart.

Seven Months

Seven months have flown by. By our best home measurements, Little Bird is 29 inches long and 19 pounds. She has six teeth now and they make her look so much older now when she grins. She puts everything in her mouth and especially likes measuring cups (which Caleb says are not toys).

She has learned to sit up on her own by backing up until her feet hit resistance and then walking her hands up into the sitting position. This has allowed Little Bird to be quite mobile for a girl who can't crawl. She will roll around, sit up, lay down, roll, sit up, etc. all the way around the room. She gets into the crawling position and rocks back and forth but hasn't quite figured out the leg and hand coordination, but it won't be long.

Up until a couple weeks ago, Little Bird would be snugly swaddled and just stay on her back all night, sometimes rolling over once she woke up in the morning. But she started rolling over at night, still swaddled, with her face straight down in the mattress. So she would wake up crying. After one night of this, we went cold turkey on the swaddling and she did surprisingly well. We have to put her in a pajama sack to sleep otherwise she rolls around and her legs get stuck poking through the crib slats.

Now that she has figured out sitting up, after naps we often come in to find her sitting in her crib peeking out between the slats.  So cute.- Unfortunately she often sits up when she should be falling asleep and isn't very good about laying down again. Then we have to go in and rock her and try again. Silly girl.

Cold weather means coats and hats. She looks so cute in all her hats, but the monkey one fits best. Her striped hat always gets all twisted and ends up covering her face.

We have been continuing to try some new foods. Like with the applesauce, Little Bird was not a fan of peas. But she really seems to like sweet potatoes. Depending on her mood she is either a really good eater or easily distracted and trying to eat the seat belt or her bowl.

 Little Bird is getting more and more interactive with Sadie and Sylvester. She loves to let the dogs lick her (yuck). They are her buddies down on the floor.

Its Final!

Friday, November 16th, was National Adoption Day and we headed to the Hall of Justice for our finalization. We met with the judge in chambers and before we knew it everything was signed and official.

Then we hung around for the Adoption Day ceremony for all the families who were finalizing that day. They had a few speeches and then all the families went up and signed a ceremonial certificate in front of the cameras. Little Bird was smiling and showing off for everyone. It is a great feeling to be done.

Firsts of November

 This week Little Bird had a couple more firsts. She experienced her first election day as she came along to help me vote. She cheesed it up for the other people in line and then tried to help fill in the bubbles (or eat the pen).

Little Bird also tried apple sauce for the first time. We were worried that giving her "sweet" fruit would taint her for liking vegetables, but that certainly isn't the case. She does not seem to like the apple sauce at all. For many of the bites she just sat there with it in her mouth, frozen, looking like "what are you putting in my mouth." Sometimes she would gag and sometimes just pull the most pained faces. This response continued even on subsequent feedings. She seemed to get more used to it but would still periodically make the same faces.

Becoming Friends

Now that it has been a few months with Little Bird home, we have seen that Sadie and Sylvester treat her like she has always been around. In some ways that is good, in others not quite some much. They are very curious about her and like to smell her and always want to lick her. They are not the most observant and just like with me and Caleb, they will try to sit or lay on her or walk over her if she is in their path. So we have to be careful to block them.