Thursday, June 09, 2005
Life with Hallie...
...is anything but boring! She is adjusting very well, but is very active, crawling or cruising around everywhere, trying to pet the dog, playing (breaking) the remote control for the television!
Hallie is truly a great, easy-going baby. We can take her to the store or out to a restaurant and she is great. We had a good time at Kroger yesterday! She was fascinated with the checkout and laughed and clapped at the clerk. Today we went to Lowe's to but Daddy a new hose for our yard and she loved looking and pointing at the flowers. Brett and I took her to lunch then to a playground. She loves the swing and the slide. We are thinking of building a swing set in our backyard for her after seeing her reaction.
She is eating very well. She is still on formula, but loves canned vegetables, especially carrots and green beans! She is eating some baby foods, like sweet potatoes and turkey and chicken and broccoli. She loves Cheerios, bananas, crackers, and the breadsticks at the Movie and Pizza place on Mud Island (the girls there love her, too!). She still won't drink juice, but I figure between the veggies, Cheerios, and formula she is getting plenty of vitamins.
We are having some sleeping issues. She still wakes up about two times each night crying. One of us goes up to her room, calms her down and she usually goes back to sleep. (Oh, how I wish for a full night of uninterrupted sleep again!) She absolutely HATES taking naps. It wasn't this way when we were in China so I'm not sure what is going on. Today she fought me for more than an hour. She screamed and cried! By the time she got to sleep it was almost 4 p.m. and I had to wake her at 5:30 so she would sleep tonight! I put her down a little later than usual so I hope that helps. I have to tell my self that we have only been home for a week and a half, and really, she is doing very well considering we have uprooted her from everyone and everything she has ever known, flown her to the other side of the world, introduced her to a whole new life that includes a dog and a cat and no other children (there were about 50 other children at the orphanage).
I finally figured out how to take a shower. I either jump in as fast as I can while she naps or stick her in the Jeep walker and push it into the bathroom. She finds the later only interesting for about 3 minutes, then starts to get fussy, so I have to hurry! But at least I can face the world with clean hair! Monday was the first day with just the two of us by ourselves (Brett was at work and my parents left Saturday). It was harder than I thought it would be. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get her ready for day care and myself ready for work by myself! But Brett is on the early morning shift for now so I have to find a way to make it work!
Well, this is one of the rare chances I get these days to sit at the computer for more than 5 minutes. I will try to post messages more regularly once we get more used to Hallie and she gets more used to us!
Hallie is truly a great, easy-going baby. We can take her to the store or out to a restaurant and she is great. We had a good time at Kroger yesterday! She was fascinated with the checkout and laughed and clapped at the clerk. Today we went to Lowe's to but Daddy a new hose for our yard and she loved looking and pointing at the flowers. Brett and I took her to lunch then to a playground. She loves the swing and the slide. We are thinking of building a swing set in our backyard for her after seeing her reaction.
She is eating very well. She is still on formula, but loves canned vegetables, especially carrots and green beans! She is eating some baby foods, like sweet potatoes and turkey and chicken and broccoli. She loves Cheerios, bananas, crackers, and the breadsticks at the Movie and Pizza place on Mud Island (the girls there love her, too!). She still won't drink juice, but I figure between the veggies, Cheerios, and formula she is getting plenty of vitamins.
We are having some sleeping issues. She still wakes up about two times each night crying. One of us goes up to her room, calms her down and she usually goes back to sleep. (Oh, how I wish for a full night of uninterrupted sleep again!) She absolutely HATES taking naps. It wasn't this way when we were in China so I'm not sure what is going on. Today she fought me for more than an hour. She screamed and cried! By the time she got to sleep it was almost 4 p.m. and I had to wake her at 5:30 so she would sleep tonight! I put her down a little later than usual so I hope that helps. I have to tell my self that we have only been home for a week and a half, and really, she is doing very well considering we have uprooted her from everyone and everything she has ever known, flown her to the other side of the world, introduced her to a whole new life that includes a dog and a cat and no other children (there were about 50 other children at the orphanage).
I finally figured out how to take a shower. I either jump in as fast as I can while she naps or stick her in the Jeep walker and push it into the bathroom. She finds the later only interesting for about 3 minutes, then starts to get fussy, so I have to hurry! But at least I can face the world with clean hair! Monday was the first day with just the two of us by ourselves (Brett was at work and my parents left Saturday). It was harder than I thought it would be. I'm still not sure how I'm going to get her ready for day care and myself ready for work by myself! But Brett is on the early morning shift for now so I have to find a way to make it work!
Well, this is one of the rare chances I get these days to sit at the computer for more than 5 minutes. I will try to post messages more regularly once we get more used to Hallie and she gets more used to us!
# posted by JDonnals : 10:02 PM
