Splish Splash!

Remember back to Natalie's first bath in China, and how she was scared and cried? Well, not anymore. Natalie LOVES the water. Bathtime is always a highlight in her day. She eagerly stands beside the tub, holding onto the side, watching as the tub fills. Her little body bouncing in anticipation. You can see from the photo below that we have some fun while she bathes as well...

Tonight I wasn't sure who was going to be more soaked at the end of bath time due to her 'splish-splashing' around! And it's also her tradition to take one of her cups for the tub back to the changing table for getting dressed - there's just something about cups.

Natalie also loves to play in her little pool she got as a birthday gift. With the few warm days recently we've had a chance to fill up her inflatable pool and dress her up in one of her many adorable bathing suits, and her floppy sun hat for a dip. She just sits there splashing, smiling, and laughing. Then she crawls over to me, takes a break, and goes back for more.

She likes to splash the water on her face, then lick it off!

In the pool and poolside! 6/7/09

Natalie has been doing very well over the last few weeks. She started daycare and has acclimated very well. She's sometimes a little sad at drop off, but we're assured she is happy while we're gone. Oh, and there's nothing better than that big smile you get with her outstetched arms when you pick her up at the end of the day. It makes you forget any of the days worries.

Natalie playing with all those fun things on a changing table after her first day at day care - 5/19/09.

We finally celebrated Natalie's birthday with family on Saturday, 5/24/09. We wanted to wait for Amanda to be home for our family to be complete. Some aunts, uncles, and cousins came and her friend Lily with her parents John and Beth were there to help us celebrate. The day was a bit cooler than we would have liked, but it worked out well. We had cake and ice cream on the deck and Natalie enjoyed that tremendously!

Natalie with cousins Anna, Annabelle, Joey, and Julie.

A few milestones:


First word - Saturday, June 6th 'Bye-bye' said to Nana while waving. Although her version is so cute because it's like the Back Street Boys song - 'bye-bye-bye'


More teeth - 2 more, now she has 2 on top and 2 on bottom and her smile is changing!


Stair climbing - she's a pro, she made it up 5 stairs before I realized where she was, the gates are up!


First Parade - Memorial Day Parade. She's very patriotic!


First babysitters - Kelsey and Amanda. Kelsey back in April while I ran an errand, and Amanda in May while we were at the PTSM Graduation Banquet.


Looking forward to many more 'firsts'! Alicia

Another Chapter of Changes

Well, my wonderful 8 weeks of leave from work is up and it's time for me to go back to work and time for Natalie to start daycare 3 days/week. It's been such an awesome time at home with her. We've really bonded so well! She tends to reach for me if she sees me - even if she's happily playing or being held by Daddy. She has started to hug and kiss (sort of) and snuggles to my chest when she's being shy or is frightened. It's a bit reassuring to have that happen. You work really hard to do everything 'right', but really, only time will tell what 'right' is. Amanda and Kelsey love to tease Andy and me on all the things that we did 'wrong'! However, they do give a great mark of approval for Natalie's future with us. Even with all of our mistakes raising them!

Natalie will be home with Andy on Mondays, and home with me on Fridays. She will go to daycare Tues-Thurs. She had a 2 hour trial run last Tuesday, 5/12/09. I dropped her off at 8:45 a.m. and picked her up around 10:30 a.m. Davorka said she did very well! She ate a snack and played with the kids. She seems to be comfortable with Davorka - that gives me some peace. And everyone there appears to be genuinely happy to have her join them.

Natalie with Davorka at daycare on her trial run. Davorka's son Alexsky is on the right.

It's hard to see in this picture, but Natalie was smiling and happy to be on the playground.

Tomorrow is her first full day. I pray she has a good day. Today she was a bit fussy - perhaps a growth spurt? She ate a really big dinner and flopped into bed at 7:30 p.m. It will be interesting to see how much she likes to be woken up in the morning. I've got her lunch all ready and sent over all of the required supplies with Andy today - diapers, bottles, formula, sunscreen, and her blanky. Of course it's not THE blanky, although it is a Nana creation that I'm sure Natalie will snuggle into - I HOPE - at naptime.

We pray for Natalie as she begins another chapter/adjustment of her young life. I have to admit, there is guilt in sending her to daycare. Andy and I have had many discussions about the timing, which daycare, how many days, etc., but we believe that the Lord will continue to take care of her and guide us each and every day.

Some great news we learned this weekend is that Lily will be attending the same daycare and they will be there together on Thursdays! Lily will go on Mon/Thurs/Fri. What a blessing! Who could have predicted that these precious girls, who slept side-by-side for months waiting for a family, would travel together all the way across the world, live within walking distance from each other, and go to the same day care. God is so good! Alicia

Time to catch up

Well, it's been a very long time (3 weeks!) since we've posted any news about Miss Natalie and there is so much to share. Let me just start by saying Natalie amazes us! She has adjusted so well to all of the changes in her short life and is a very happy girl!

Natalie finally met her grandparents on April 22nd. They were away visiting family and we all were so excited when they came home. We try to see them often so that she gets to know them. One day when they were visiting, Gramps was pulling at the front of his shirt and Natalie mimicked him. The next visit when she saw him she started to pull at her shirt and smile at him! It was really cute. She still keeps him at bay - when he holds his arms out to pick her up she initially puts her arms out, then quickly pulls them back - it's as if she's teasing him! Very cute. I'm sure she'll be sitting on Gramps lap soon.

She is pretty comfortable with Nana. She'll let Nana sit and play with her on the floor and sometimes, although briefly, hold her. I am definitely biased, but when you see Natalie you just want to pick her up and squeeze her! My mom (Nana) has been VERY patient waiting for Natalie, as has my dad (Gramps).

Nana and Gramps, proud grandparents, enjoying some 'Natalie time'

I (Alicia) started back to work one day per week on April 20th. Andy stays home on Mondays so it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I knew she was in capable hands and that she would get lots of love. Finally Andy and Natalie could spend time together without 'ol Mom getting in the way. Kelsey was on school break and Heather Erdmann spent the night. They all took a trip over to First Baptist to introduce Natalie to Scott Linscott, our youth pastor and friend. Then they went to lunch at Portland House of Pizza, went home and took a good nap. When I got home they were happily playing inside. Andy got a glimpse of what stay-at-home mom's days are like. Since then he and Natalie have had 2 more Monday's together. They seem to be doing just fine.

Next week is my last week of maternity leave. I have many mixed feelings. Part of me looks forward to getting back into my job, but I'm also very sad to be leaving Natalie every day. We've bonded so well that I don't want anything to get in the way to hinder the process. She will be going to Ocean House Development Center in Cape Elizabeth for 3 days/week beginning Tuesday, May 19th. Davorka will be her primary care-giver and Natalie likes her. Davorka is from the former Yugoslavia and loves children. She has a degree in early childhood development and I've liked watching her gentle way with the kids in her care. We've been visiting every week for about an hour to get Natalie some level of comfort before she begins. The two other care givers are Daniella and Karen. Both very gentle souls with an easy-going manner about them. I know Natalie will really enjoy all the activities and kids once she settles in. And she has her cousins Anna and Drew there to check-in on her. (Today Drew came in and was very sweet trying to get her to play with him. She liked his Red Sox hat!) We will just take it all a day at a time and pray...a lot! :)

The biggest news is that Natalie turned 1 year old on Thursday, April 23rd! We celebrated that day with visitors bearing gifts - Aunt Phyllis, Nana & Gramps, and Alison! Natalie felt since it was her birthday that she didn't have to nap and only slept for about 30 minutes! UGH! She was happy just the same so we took a walk in the stroller and visited the playground nearby. For dinner we, Andy, Kelsey, Natalie, Alison, and I went to Portland Pie Company - go figure, pizza for a birthday dinner with the Berglunds! She enjoyed having some bites and playing at the table. She behaves very well in her chair whenever we are out. When we got home we gave her a birthday cupcake which she promptly crushed in her hands - very sticky! I fed her a few bites and she thought that it was pretty tasty! We will have a real party when Amanda is home from college.

"Where's my pizza?"

Out for a birthday dinner with big sister Kelsey.

Natalie enjoying her birthday cupcake!

Since our last post Natalie has learned to clap her hands, wave bye-bye (or hello), pull herself up, and almost stand on her own. Yesterday I found her kneeling on the second stair of the staircase to our bedrooms, quietly playing with a toy! I guess it's time to start putting up the safety gates and latches. Although, she was quite proud of herself for managing it! Did I mention she is ninja-like when crawling? Silent and sneaky! Her only give-aways are the times when she crawls with a toy grasped in her hands. Perhaps I should tie a bell to her shoe. :)

She now only takes one nap per day - typically from 1-3pm. Bedtime is between 7:30 and 8:00 and she sleeps until about 7:30 or 8:00. She's been eating very well, which in turn has put on some (needed) weight. She will eat baby food, but prefers what is on our plates. Today she shared my turkey and cheese sandwich with me - mind you she had already eaten her lunch! She likes to eat turkey meatballs, sweet potatoes, peas (not strained - the real thing!), banana bread, pasta, turkey, chicken, rice, and so much more. She has 3 (formula) bottles a day, morning, noon, and nightime and she still really loves them. We've begun to introduce the sippy cup, but she really doesn't like it yet. I sometimes put water in and other times milk. She definitely does NOT like juice. We've tried apple and white grape - sometimes in a cup, sometimes in a bottle. It just doesn't matter - not her 'cup of tea' I guess.

We've been taking a lot of pictures and video. Below are some of my favorite photos plus a video clip of her enjoying another jumping device:

Natalie playing with Brian Eldridge

Enjoying the Prime Time Student Ministry party 4/19/09

Check out my mittens!

A brief reunion with my good friend Lily. 4/29/09


Ahh, ha ha! I love Julie and Joey's play garden!

Visiting Amanda at Gordon College 5/2/09


Charlie (nearly 3) meets her new cousin 'Madalee' at Cooper's 1st Communion party

Natalie working out, and singing, in her jolly jumper!

Natalie enjoys the Rainforest Jumperoo

Natalie is enjoying the attached toys, noises and freedom that the Rainforest Jumeroo offers. Our neighbors daughter, Quinn, loaned it to us. I think we may need to turn off the sound if she spends too much time in it!

So many people to meet

I've had good intentions every day to maintain this blog. I made a vow to continue until Natalie's first birthday - which is next week - 4/23/09. Well, life just gets in the way, or an occaisional nap! It will be made into a journal for Natalie to keep when she is older.

Natalie has been meeting a lot of people over the last several days. Everyone has been so patient waiting to meet her. It's so difficult not to just say 'come on over' to everyone that calls/emails. We've been careful not to overwhelm her with too many new faces. It can cause confusion and stress for little ones. Especially when you are adopted and have had so many adjustments in such a short time. You are just learning who your mom and dad are, then you add sisters, and after that aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, neighbors, daycare providers, and the list goes on. We so love that she has such a 'village' to rely on.

Saturday evening the Grant's came over to visit. Natalie was so at ease with them. She even held her arms out to Karen - much to Karen's delight! They brought her a gift - her first (American) Barbie. There is a story to go with why you would buy a Barbie for an 11 month old. Kelsey, Amanda, and Nicole spent hours on end playing Barbies together. Kelsey and NIcole would take an entire Saturday creating the 'set' and dressing them just to get ready to play! Natalie was very interested in the Barbie - even though she didn't make it out of the box (yet).

Sunday was Easter and she met SO many people at church. As I've mentioned before, the people at FBC have been and continue to be wonderful! They are really an extension of our family. They have supported us through the difficult wait and have relished in any news we've had. So on Sunday many were able to meet Miss Natalie for the first time. We began by meeting Luke and Elizabeth Willette before church. If you look back at my earlier post you'll hear mention of Elizabeth. She's 4 years old and is a great helper. Luke is her younger brother who turned 1 just this week. I don't dare try to list everyone else she met lest I leave someone out!



No Easter Bonnet, but isn't she smiling pretty?

We brought Natalie into the sanctuary to start. She really enjoyed the music - she swayed and sang along. Then it was off to the nursery. I stayed with her and will most likely do the same for the next several weeks. She really liked the kids and all the different toys. Unfortunately she poked her good friend Luke in the eye and made him cry.

After church Amanda and Kelsey tried their hardest to keep Natalie awake on the ride home. Her heavy lids just couldn't stay open. We put her to bed once home and I started getting Easter dinner ready. She slept through dinner, but was up when family came by after dinner. She got to meet Aunt Janet, Uncle Mike, Matthew, Annabelle (Tracy had to work), Brian, Uncle Tom, Aunt Mari, Jared, Danny, and Sarah. She was very intrigued by her cousins - especially the ones her size. It will be such fun for her to have cousins her own age to play with!


Sarah (11 mos) , Natalie (11 mos) , and Annabelle (8 mos)

Monday we took it easy. This was Natalie's first stroller ride. She was not impressed. Hopefully she'll get to like it. We have plans to jog while she happily sits there. We'll see...

Tuesday we went to visit her daycare. She will be going to Ocean House Day Care on Spurwink Ave in Cape Elizabeth. They have a great facility with fields in the back and separate playgrounds for the different age groups. Her main care giver will be Davorka. I'm not sure of the spelling but she is from Serbia and has a degree in early childhood development. Natalie went to her without any problem. We played outside for a bit, then went inside and witnessed their 'yoga time'. It was really cute to see 2 year olds doing yoga and liking it. We will continue to visit the day care once a week until I go back to work in May. Hopefully this will help her to be comfortable in (once again) different surroundings, and with different care givers.

Wednesday, Luke decided to give Natalie a second chance. Jen, Elizabeth, and Luke came for a morning visit. It was sweet to see them interact - not yet one and they were having trouble sharing the precious stacking cups! I'm hopeful Natalie will learn a lot from Luke since they are the same age. Luke is walking and starting some words. He's able to feed himself - he actually helped himself to a slab of banana bread when our heads were (briefly) turned. Too funny!


Elizabeth (4), Luke (1 yr), and Natalie - is it me or does Natalie seem to be planning her next move?

Today Jane and Nikki Laplante came for lunch and a visit. While holding Natalie on her lap Jane said 'I will name you squishy and you shall be my squishy' like in the movie Finding Nemo - maybe you needed to be there, but it was very funny. Nikki was a good playmate as she quickly retrieved all toys Natalie dropped on the floor. This made Natalie very happy.

Tomorrow we have plans to stop by Gilchrist Scott, my employer, to introduce her to the staff there. They've all been so wonderful during the wait, and during our time in China with comments, emails, phone calls. It will be fun to have them finally meet Natalie. I've been there for almost 10 years and they are very supportive. Again, another 'family' in my life. Alicia

A busy week

This week has flown by so quickly! We've been home a week now and Natalie seems to be adjusting very well. On Thursday she had her 1 year physical with Dr. Britton. It all started well with her babbling and blowing bubbles at him, then it went downhill from there. She started crying when he was checking her belly, and it didn't improve when he peeked in her ears. The worst was when it was time for her immunizations. The nurse came in with 4 to give! YIKES! When I asked her about so many at one time she explained that it was due in part to playing 'catch up' on some shots that are not administered in China. Natalie had some according to her chart from the orphanage, but had a few missing. They gave her immunizations for - 1) Chicken Pox, 2) DTP (tetanus and other), 3) Hib, and 4) Pneumococcal. Two shots in each thigh brought her to tears very quickly. She didn't fight and just looked at me with tears as if to ask 'Why are they doing this to me'! So sad!

Before all the trauma they took her measurements. She weighs 15lbs 13 oz, and is 29.25 inches tall! Long and lean - just like Amanda and Kelsey were. Her weight didn't even register on the chart for her age. Dr. Britton said he would go online to find a more appropriate growth chart for her that showed averages for Chinese children. Oh, and he noticed that her two top teeth are trying to come in so that explains all her drooling lately!


Before the dreaded shots

That was the day the nap schedule went out the window. She is still happily going to bed each night around 8pm - thankfully! But naps are a different story. She used to just grab her blanket each time I laid her down and went to sleep. Now she cries as soon as she hits the bed. We've learned that with adopted children it is not wise to let them 'cry it out' as we did at times with Amanda and Kelsey as this adds to their insecurities. So, I will let her fuss a bit, but not let her cry and get upset. Maybe once the effects of the shots wears off she'll be more amenable to her recent nap schedule, or perhaps she was just catching up and now only needs one nap per day. Who knows? We'll figure it out.

Alison, Andy's sister, came to visit on Wednesday night and Natalie warmed up pretty quickly. She was not impressed with the gift that Alison brought her. The stuffed animal (lamb) was pushed to the side and over repeatedly! It was very funny. Her aunt Phyllis came for a visit on Thursday and her gift of a stuffed animal (bunny) was treated with the same disrespect! I guess she's not a fan of the stuffed toys yet.

Natalie talking to her Aunt Alison - don't they both look so happy to be together?


Natalie with Aunt Phyllis - she seems to like the tissue and ribbon more than the gift itself!

Amanda came home for Easter break and we took a short shopping trip - all three of us. Typically she will settle into her car seat and ride contentedly. Yesterday we left home and Amanda had some banking to do so I sat in the car with Natalie while Amanda went in. She was only in the bank less than 10 minutes, but long enough for Natalie to tire of just sitting in the car seat. When started out again for the mall area she began to cry. The crying fairly quickly turned to hysteria and I found a place on Commercial Street to pull over. I got her calmed down and asked Amanda to drive so that I could sit in the back with her. Oooh boy - that was a stressful 10 minutes! She was not happy to go back into the seat and just looked at me, crying with big tears streaming down her face, and working herself into quite an upset. Poor Amanda was trying to drive and I could tell the stress was taking it's toll.

We finally made it and she was very happy to get out of the van and into her carrier. We made a couple of stops - looking for her Easter basket, of course, and went to the mall to have some lunch. We ran into Jane Laplante while there and Natalie warmed up by happily dropping her stacking cups for Jane to pickup! She was very interested in all the people and activity going on there too.

After that we stopped by the high school for Amanda to introduce Natalie to one of her favorite teachers - Madame Laplante (yes, sister-in-law to Jane!). Natalie was so happy to see everyone at the high school. Some teachers knew all about her arrival and were excited to meet her, others were confused and asked 'who is this'?

Last night Teresa, Andy, Anna, & Drew came over for a visit and Natalie really enjoyed it! She gave a show by throwing her cups, her rattle, or whatever you happened to hand her, and big grins. She is very interested in others more her size. She reached a couple of times for Anna while poor Teresa sat watching patiently waiting for the day when Natalie will feel comfortable enough to be held by her Aunt!


Anna just loving Natalie! No worries Nana! She's in a t-shirt here, but she had a sweatshirt on and was getting ready for bed!


Natalie with Amanda, Drew, and Anna - showing a bit of her fiesty nature...gee, she'll fit in here!

Bedtime last night was a breeze - she laid down easily and fell asleep almost immediately. Around 10pm she began to cry and I was worried that she was awake - but she just needed a bit of holding and fell back to sleep on my shoulder. So sweet - she just melts you!

She's been trying a lot of new foods and now seems to ask for it! She readily goes into her chair and smacks her lips waiting for her meals. Yesterday she really liked the strained peas I served! She had peas, apples/pears, and spaghetti for dinner. She doesn't mind trying different foods which is really good. And she still really likes her bottle and waits for it as soon as she's done with her 'solid' food. Her doctor recommended introducing the sippy cup more, but she is just not interested. Perhaps we need to try a different one or maybe she just needs some more time with her bottles.

So all is going extremely well. We seem to be connecting as a family of 5 now. She seems to be more and more comfortable with her surroundings and the new people we introduce dont' seem to cause her to be as nervous. It's cute to have her pulled up to the table and eating with us. Of course the conversations get a bit distracted, but we are loving that she is finally here with us, healthy, happy, and loved!

Getting ready to say good-night!


Loving my Daddy!



So sweet!

Settling in at home

It's been a couple of bumpy days. Yesterday showed signs of, dare I say, a routine again. Friday night she was all smiles and seemed to be happy to be at home. Saturday told a different story. She was fussy most of the day, as well as Sunday and Monday. The good thing is that she is sleeping through the night. On Saturday I helped her wake up around 9 a.m. and then continued to wake her up after 2-3 hour naps in order to get her adjusted to the new time zone. Sunday was more of the same. She definitely did not like being woken up! I'm sure this added to her fussiness along with all the changes going on around her - new surroundings, new faces, and teething (at last, she has just 2 front teeth on the bottom). We continued with bottles with rice cereal added to try to keep some things consistent during the tougher times. After changing her formula brand Sunday night she seemed to like it better.

Monday was another fussy day. I think Andy being gone added to her insecurity. We took a trip to Hannaford after a short morning nap of 30 minutes - typically 2 hours - and I put the baby carrier back on to shop. She really seems to like the close contact with me while in the carrier and we managed to shop and unload the groceries. Of course she got a lot of smiles from the shoppers!

That evening when Andy came home she immediately held her arms out to him! So cute! She had really missed him. Later we tried some baby Tylenol wondering if the teething was causing her to be unhappy. She seemed a bit better and played happily for a while. Again she went to bed very easily and slept through the night.

On Tuesday I started introducing baby foods. While in China she did some sampling of our foods and seemed really interested. She started off at breakfast with a bowl of oatmeal. She really liked that! Cereal was followed up with a bottle of formula. It was then time for a bath - still not happy with bath time, but it's getting better. Then it was off to CVS to pick up a few items. I used the carrier again and was able to shop without issue. After morning nap I tried adding some prunes to her cereal and she liked it, but not as well as the plain oatmeal...


Natalie eating her lunch of oatmeal and prunes...hmm, does she like it?

Natalie never passes up a chance to show us she is 'sooo big'!

After lunch we headed to Freeport to shop for some clothes. Natalie is not quite into her 12 month clothing and needed some smaller and warmer clothes. We went to Carter's and Osh Kosh and found a few things including her Easter outfit that I'm sure she'll be adorable in. She did very well riding in her car seat. She played with her links and babbled the entire way there. The trip home she took a quick nap. Of course she had another one of Nana's blankets to snuggle in on her lap! And I think I finally have the car seat figured out! :)

Kelsey got home shortly after our shopping trip and Natalie seemed happy to see her. She's been very cautious of Amanda and Kelsey. Today showed signs of her warming up. She reached for Kelsey while on the floor and happily played for a while. She still wants Andy or me close by, but doesn't need to be in our arms the entire time while playing.

Playing with Kelsey before bedtime


Showing us how 'sooo big' she is - she never tires of this!

She had a good night last night after dinner - playing, smiling, laughing - it's good to see her personality coming back. We even took a short walk to Beals and then stopped in to see Teresa, Andy, Anna and Drew! They are so excited to have her home. I think Anna must have hugged her 20 times - very sweet. Drew even got in on some hugs.

It must be a very difficult and confusing time for her. But yesterday gave us hope that she is settling in and finding her place in our family. Alicia

Video of Kelsey and Natalie Playing