Haven at 13 Months+

Hi All,

I know I'm hopelessly behind this month and that it is really almost time for next month's post...but here goes. Also, there are 4 picture posts after the text. As always you can click on a pic to see it larger.

Haven has been a trooper in the last month as she's been drug around with all our craziness. Her party was on Saturday, June 13, and then on Monday the 15 we refinanced our house. Finally, it went through. Then on Monday, June 29, we had Haven's readoption and name change hearing in the Douglas County Courts. So now Haven will get a Nebraska birth certificate which will make life much easier: future jobs, school, etc. This process also included her official name change to her American name. It also further protects her as our daughter and that fact can not be contested. Officially this was the last major step of the adoption process. Realistically we still have a few little things left like getting her name changed on all official papers and of course our annual reports to Vietnam.

Then Mike's birthday was Tuesday, June 30th. We had to celebrate Ethan's over that weekend since we'd be gone for the actual day and so that he could open most of his presents here at home.

We left for IL on Wednesday, July 1st. We didn't get a very early start and ended up stopping early and staying near Davenport, IA. We were able to spend all of Thursday and Friday morning with friends near Urbana/Champaign, IL. Their little girl is only a couple of months older than Haven so it was lots of fun watching the little ones. Shae and Kim are really good friends dating back to the college days at Grace. Thanks Jamie and Kim for letting us visit!

Then it was on to the wedding in Elgin, IL for Shae's cousin's wedding and the reason for the trip. The wedding was lovely and very edifying. Our little boys can sure cut a rug and Haven insisted on crawling out on the dance floor BY HERSELF, DO NOT HOLD ME to dance. She also enjoyed leaning against a chair on the edge of the dance floor to show her moves. I think we'll have a hard time telling Eric that Mandy our new cousin is kind of taken by marrying Shae's cousin Justin. He was enamored and danced with her multiple times.

On the 4th, Shae's uncle graciously invited the whole Landis clan out for an impromptu dinner. He lives near Elgin.

On the 5th, 19 of the family including Shae's sister, and 2 cousins families, took the train from Elgin to downtown Chicago. We had a great day exploring the Field Museum. Mike and I had been a few times before but the kids had not. The dinos and the traveling pirate exhibit were the hits.

Monday the 6th through Saturday the 11th we had a great time as just our family in the Wisconsin Dells. We stayed in an inexpensive park model (like a small 3 bed mobile home) at Christmas Mountain Village Resort which is really nice and has tons of amenities like 27 hole golf course (not that we used it), mini golf, lots of pools, different types of small boats, activities, etc. This is probably the nicest resort we've stayed in of the chain Shae's family has a membership to. We were in the low end of the accommodations but still get to use all the stuff.

We returned to the Wisconsin Deer Park which the kids loved and we rode the Ducks which was a hoot and a nice way to see the rock formations in the area and a little more interesting than the normal boat tour for the kids.

Well Miss Haven is getting really big these days. She's saying lots of words, but many times not more than once. She says don't, no, and stop a lot. LOL! Can't tell that she has big brothers at all, can you! She also barks, moos, and quacks. She still likes to call the dog with a smooching sound. She says the normal Mama, Dada, and has said Nana and Papa in the past. We've also heard, duck, sit, and baby, but some of those only once. She's starting to get a bit of sass to her. Mike was telling her to shush as she was screaming in her carseat on the drive home from WI. She pointed her finger at him, looked at him in the rearview mirror and told Daddy, "NO, NO, NO, and Don't" all while shaking her head at him.

Her carseat is finally turned around, but I'm not sure that's a good thing as now she can't see the boys for entertainment. She has also decided like most 1-year-olds that she does not like prolonged periods in said seat. She screamed a lot of the longer drives on the trip and screamed almost the whole four hours and back on a trip the weekend after vacation with taking only a 20 minute nap on the way up and not sleeping a wink on the way back. So...we might be looking to stay close at home for awhile or else packing more earplugs.

Haven now can stand without holding onto anything, but isn't taking steps yet. I really think that if we sat on the floor and had her walk back and forth to us, she probably would. Maybe next month we'll have time. Haven signs "Please" and "More". We just have to get her to use them instead of hollering from her highchair.

She has the best giggle and is very ticklish...don't ask me how I know.

She's getting in to lots of things these days much to her brothers' dismay, but everyone is still getting along pretty well.

Kindergarten starts Aug. 12 for Ethan so we're gearing up for school amongst getting ready for another consignment sale. Although this time Shae has wised up and is using the Valet service where the Sale folks will tag and hang the stuff.

Mike has been working quite a bit. He was Manager on-call most of last week and the prior weekend, back-up on-call for the entire last week and now he's on-call this week so he's had some pretty late nights. Of them all, Manager on-call seems to be the busiest although one problem can make the regular on-call week long as well.

Also, last week we finally said goodbye to the Camry. It had over 365,000 miles on it. We had to buy Mike a new car so we now have a '96 Honda Accord and it even has a sunroof. I think Mike is not so secretly thrilled after driving the Camry with all its quirks for so long. He had to be like a one man band to make the thing go. This was a change in plans though. We'd hoped to replace the minivan which is also a '96 but is also the main family vehicle. So I guess we have another vehicle to pray over that it keeps on going.

Well, this post has gotten ridiculously long and had you pretty well caught up so I better go, the kids are all asking for something and the dog is barking another sign I need to go. LOL!

Blessings,
Shae

Pics

6/22/09. The kids playing at Boingz, one of our local bounce places.




6/24/09. At Pizza Machine for Ethan's (and Haven's) Birthday.



6/24/09. At Pizza Machine.

Pics #2

6/29/09. Haven's Readoption & Name Change Hearing.




6/29/09. Haven's Readoption & Name Change Hearing with the Judge.




7/2/09. At the park in Tolono, IL where we visited friends prior to going to the wedding.



7/3/09. The fam all dressed up at Shae's cousin's wedding in Elgin.

Pics #3

7/5/09. Glammed out Haven on the train from Elgin to Union Station in downtown Chicago.



7/5/09 Standing in front of Sue, the T-Rex at the Field Museum.





7/5/09. Haven sitting in a dinosaur footprint at the Field Museum in downtown Chicago.



7/7/09 at the Wisconsin Deer Park. As you can see, hundreds of domesticated deer roam free for the feeding and the petting.

Pics #4

7/7/09 "Yeah, so I have moose antlers on my head, what about it?" We did get some smiling pics as well, but this look was too funny.




7/8/09 Playing in the Resort Pool. It was a Zero Entry Pool with lots of water features like a large waterfall, fountains, a small frog slide, teeter totter, bigger tube water slide that Haven got to ride on Mike's lap. The boys had a blast as well.




7/10/09 Petting Baby Animals at the Resort which included baby pygmy goats, a baby miniature horse, a beautiful calf, and some bunnies.



7/10/09 Clapping & Happy