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.

Happy Halloween

National Traveler (stopping in to say hi)

This past weekend Little Bird and I, flew to SLC via Baltimore to visit family. I was a little worried about how the flights would go, especially the 5.5 hour one. But while she only slept for 2 short 15 minute naps the entire 9 hours of traveling, she was a surprisingly happy little girl. We were both very happy to arrive and head of to Grandma's house.

Little Bird had a great time with Great Grandma and my parents and I enjoyed a little relaxing time before the busy schedule began. Being in a different time zone threw things off a little, but she adjusted pretty well. Great Grandma had a lot of fun new toys to try out. Little Bird even found another dinosaur and chewed on its tail since we left hers at home.

What's a trip to Utah without stopping at a few quilting stores? They have so many more out there and carry a very different selection than the stores close to home. Less of the traditional calico/reproduction stuff and more of the stuff that appeals to my aesthetic. A couple purchases made my bag going home a little heavier. My dad did a great job watching LB while we were gone and even handled her blow out like a pro.

Saturday night, we got together with some of my dad's family who live in the area. Little Bird got to meet great aunts and uncles and Grandma I.  We enjoyed some delicious Robintino's pizza and cookies from Aunt Donna.

Sunday was church and relaxing for most of the day. Then in the evening we had all the local relatives on Mom's side get together. We decorated pumpkins and had good food. Little Bird was thoroughly entertained to watch all the action and get passed around.

Monday we headed over to Kattie's house to hang out with the cousins, Millie-Vanillie, Anna-Banana, and Will. The girls were very curious about Little Bird--looking very closely at her and then reaching out to touch. But if she would reach out to touch them, they were not sure they like that. It was pretty funny to watch the interactions.

While we were at their house we visited Justin's new apartment, started some projects, and spent a lot of time playing on the floor. Little Bird had fun trying out their Johnny Jump-Up. She also really had a good time playing with all the "big kids" toys.

We had a great time on our trip to Utah and before we knew it, it was time to take off again. This time for KC. After a much shorter day of traveling, we met Caleb at the airport and then headed off to Nellie's house, where Little Bird got lots of love from her auntie.

Friday we drove out to Topeka to visit some of the grandparents. Little Bird got to meet Grandma Georgie and Bud. She had a great time showing off her smiles.

The gave her the funny doll that laughs when you squeeze it. She thought it was the funniest thing. It was a good distraction to get her to look and smile at the camera. And it has a hard plastic face that she like to try to eat too.

Next we headed over to Grandpa Fisher's. Caleb took a drive in the old Corvette that he is having fixed up and Little Bird tried to get the tv remotes on the couch.

That evening we hung out at Nellie's and did some moon gazing. Next time we go to Portland, we want to try out that new telescope we heard all about. Sounds neat.

Saturday night was the family Halloween party. We spent the day getting things all ready for it. Little Bird was an Owl and we were both trees. Everyone was dressed up and ready to have fun.

There were so many aunts and uncles and cousins for Little Bird to meet. She got to meet Grandma Marcell at the party too.

There were several games (pumpkin TP bowling, ring toss, etc) and a haunted garage and of course some Wii Just Dance.

It was a great trip, although a thoroughly exhausting 10 days of being away from home. But we had a great time and are glad that Little Bird got to meet so many relatives and even some good friends.