Pics

Haven's 1st Ponytail. I'm not crazy about the Pebbles look, but you've gotta start so that you can get ready for pigtails. If you didn't know this already, Haven has wavy hair. It curls around her face and at the bottom especially after a bath. 3-26-09



"I'm so cute." 3-26-09



Our Big Girl. 3-29-09



Haven's 1st Biter Biscuit. As you can see she enjoyed (and demolished) it thoroughly. 4-1-09

More Pics

Eating bananas. 4-4-09



Haven loves to swing. 4-8-09



Pulling Up to Standing Position. I caught the 1st time on film. 4-10-09



Haven's Easter basket haul. She thought the plastic eggs were just as fun. 4-11-09.

Pics

Haven trying to not touch the grass as she crawls. 4-11-09



at Shae's Grandparents in Beatrice on Easter. 4-12-09



Haven's Easter Dress. Or at least the one of many we chose from. LOL! 4-12-09



Egg Hunting with the Cousins. 4-12-09

Haven at 10 Months

Hi all,

Well, Haven turned 10 months on Saturday and is just plain getting really big. I noticed her 6th tooth just starting to poke through on top this morning. So the final count for now is 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. She's waving "Bye Bye" really well, has said "Papa" for Grandpa and "Nana" for Grandma. She says "Ba" for bottle. She's also quite comical as she's gotten really good at "fishy lips". She had been pulling herself up to a kneeling position, but has also pulled herself up to a standing position a couple of times. She's pretty fast at crawling,more regular crawling now and less army crawling, which means she's keeping us busy keeping her out of trouble. She's discovered the Fridge Phonics Magnets on the fridge (not chokeable) and thinks they're great. However, I think the Little People collection is still her favorite toy. She has discovered that the Ball Popper (both boys' favorite toy at about 1 year) is extremely fun, but can't make it go by herself yet.

She's had quite a few table foods now (especially over Easter--LOL) like: bananas, rice, plain pasta, chicken, ham, hamburger, carrots, muffin, etc. Of course everything was soft and chopped into miniscule little bits for her. She even grabbed a bit of my cookie at church on Easter morning when I wasn't looking. She has definitely decided that she WILL be in her highchair at our mealtime pulled up to the table and fully participating. Haven continues to be pretty laid back with the one main exception having anything to do with FOOD. Then she lets her voice be heard...not always quietly. She also has her definite opinions (like most babies) about having her face washed and nose wiped. Haven can really turn on the drama for those situations creating a flood of giant tears; making it sound really, really, bad; and reminding you over the next few minutes of what an awful person you are to wipe her nose. Unfortunately for her, she's still stinking adorable and I'm not sure it conjures up the sympathy she's looking for. Overall Haven is a sweet, contented, baby. We're glad she has a little spunk. She needs it to survive around here. LOL! She's curious and will play nicely for quite a awhile. She still sleeps great, eats great, and brings joy to all of us.

It was so much fun to watch her this weekend for her 1st Easter. She had her first experience with crawling through the grass which was a funny sight. She didn't mind sitting in it(which she's also done before), but wasn't crazy about having to crawl through it. She made huge strokes with her arms pulling them way up high between "steps". It reminded me a little bit of when Ethan was a baby and learned to bear crawl to avoid having to have his knees touch the somewhat coarse sand/pebble beach on Lake Michigan.

Ethan seems to be having lots of firsts as well. We really hadn't worked with him on reading by himself yet, but had heard that the BOB Readers were a great first reader set. Well Ethan got those in his Easter basket and cracked into them today. He read 8 of the 12 while I made lunch sounding them out and mastering them. So I guess it could be said that he's reading. He will also be going off to Kindergarten in the Fall. We'll all miss him. He and Eric play a lot together and Ethan plays with Haven quite a bit whereas Eric mostly avoids her or is busy rescuing his toys from her. He's 3 after all and not sure about many of the toys he played with only a year or two ago now going to the baby. Both boys are so kind though to Haven...I've been amazed.

Well I'll try and get some pictures posted, but better run.

Shae

More Pics

2-4-09 Sitting Well



2-14-09 Cheerios & Smiles



2-14-09 Cheesy Smiles--You can't see it very well but this is her wrinkled nose cheesy smile face.



2-14-09 All the Kids Swinging in the Last Big Snow

Pictures

Sitting Pretty in the Bumbo 2-17-09



At the Zoo 2-24-09



Peaking Out 2-27-09



Eating Cheerios 2-28-09

March Update

Hi all,

Well my goal is to post an update around the 11th each month since that's Haven's birthdate, so I'm about a week late. I spent the last few weeks getting ready for a kids consignment sale with every spare minute. This is really one of the first chances we've had to start clearing out from the plethora in the basement. Saturday evening was my drop-off appointment to check-in all my stuff. Well somehow earlier in the day I managed to totally mess up my back (probably lugging the Rubbermaids around) to the point where I couldn't stand up straight, barely could walk, no stairs, couldn't lift anything including Haven, etc. Mike did the drop-off appt. for me and helped with the kids through Tuesday by working from home. I went to the chiropractor Monday and will go again tonight. The chiropractor also said "absolutely no lifting" and that I really was in bad shape. Today I'm doing okay at least able to lift Haven again, but am still sore and stiff. Each day gets a little better. So we'd appreciate your prayers that I continue to heal and can get back into the swing of things around here.

Well onto Miss Haven. She's 9 months, 1 week old. Tomorrow she will have been with us for 5 months, she's been with us longer than she was in the orphanage, and we can't imagine life without her.

She's really saying Mama and Dada now and uses them appropriately, looks for us, and I think is about to start adding new words like "Ba ba" for bottle through Mom's coaching. (She said it once earlier this morning) She is fully army crawling now and getting quite speedy especially when she sees something she wants. Fortunately we can usually hear when she's headed for trouble as she giggles the whole way. She gets up on her knees in the usual crawling position but doesn't go anywhere with it. Her 3rd tooth, which is her first upper tooth is just now coming in. She sits really well now and doesn't just throw herself backward. She claps and is learning to wave "bye bye". She loves games like "this little piggy", peek-a-boo, and so big. She really is getting into reading books and playing with our huge Little People collection. I'd say that's her favorite toy right now. She'll crawl up to the bottom of the armoire in the living room and pat the bottom cupboard to ask for it. She loves getting the pieces out by herself and pushing the different buttons to hear the respective noises. She also loves anything the boys do or say, and loves to watch the dog. Both the boys and the dog make her giggle a lot, even just on sight. Haven is eating lots of Cheerios and a few Puffs still for dessert, lots of baby food, rice cereal, and still loves her bottle.

Haven had her 9 month appointment last Friday. She was 29 1/2 inches long which put her in the 97% for height even on our Western charts. They never even bother to pull out the Asian charts for our petite (hee, hee) princess. She weighed 20 lbs and about 5 ounces which put her at 76% for height so you can see that she's not slowing down in her growth and that she's quite a big baby. Her doctor was very happy with her health, progress, and development period. There were no caveats or allowances needed for her being adopted or having had spent 4 months in an institution. So we're also thrilled that she's doing so well. At 9 months she's wearing 12 months clothing and she has lots of black hair. Hopefully we'll get some pictures up so you can see that.

We're just so thankful that the Lord entrusted this precious little girl to us and are amazed by the miracle of our situation and that she successfully came home.