14 Weeks with ElleAnna

Its hard to believe that tomorrow will mark ElleAnna being with our family for 14 weeks. Even though that doesn't seem like long (in the scheme of life), I can hardly remember what it was like without her in our home. She fits in so well with all of us, its truly amazing. It makes me know, without a doubt, that God had picked her for our family from the begining. We just needed to be patient and let all the pieces fall into place so He could guide her to us.

We are working hard to get "yes" and "no" straight. Its coming along. Today has been all about counting and singing the alphabet. She's certainly getting them downpat. Its been amazing to experience that with her as she learns and grows. She knows when we are writing her name and is very adamant about making sure you do the "E" just right.

.

She has been sitting in the living room tonight, trying to learn how to run a four-wheeler on the PlayStation. Alex made her a character with a hot pink uniform and hot pink vehicle. She says its pretty and yells "OUCH" every time she runs it into the fence or has a wreck. She certainly has the gas pedal figured out and sometimes the steering. Going in reverse is not mastered yet though and she spends much time crashing and re-crashing. Now, she and Bryant are rolling her ladybug ball across the dining room floor to each other. It was going fine until Alex thought he would be funny and kicked it when he was passing through.

.

We hope each of you have a good week. Be sure that you take time to enjoy your families and friends!

Basketball Season is Over and Other Items of Interest

Bryant had his final basketball game of the season tonight. We lost by 9 points in a regional game. Daddy had class, so he didn't get to watch. A wild little girl named Elle and her inpatient older brother, Alex, were in the stands though along with Bryant's Mommy. Grampa and Grama were there too. Unfortunately, Bryant spent his evening warming the bench, but we were there just in case. GO BIG GREEN!

We spent a long time at the Pediatrician's Office today - doing lab work, tests, and all kinds of fun stuff, unfortunately, most of it involving needles. Elle has an ear infection, so we did not do the hearing test - obviously, she would have flunked. We will try and schedule one again soon to learn if she is going to need tubes in her ears. Tonight, her humidifier is filled with vapo-steam. We mixed it according to the bottle, but I can feel my eyes burning in the dining room, so I think we're going to have to dilute it some more!

Over the weekend, Elle suddenly was no longer afraid of the vacuum as you can see from this video. Before, she didn't even like seeing in parked in the closet. Now, its no big deal at all. Another first was that she chewed gum for a long time on Friday. We tried it again on Sunday, but when she was sneaking potato chips without Daddy knowing, she also swallowed her gum in the haste. Not good and we won't be doing gum again any time soon. Another new thing happened today - she was not afraid of the loud flushing toilets at Target and the clinic. In fact, she pushed the button on one without being prompted, and even watched the water go down. Suddenly, it was no big deal.

In the photos, the first is Elle and Daddy pretending to take a nap with the dollies. Elle was making them "fake cry". It was too funny as she'd never done that before. The second is Elle "wearing" Bryant's jeans tonight. A little size difference, don't you think?

Much Sadness

There is much sadness in our community. A very strong advocate for our children and our school passed away on Wednesday. He was a really neat man and he will be greatly missed by everyone who ever knew him! Several people in our area have also had some recent medical issues which are causing many of us to be perplexed about the fairness in our world. I will say that we are all doing our best to remain strong and hang in there. We say lots of extra prayers and try to find some sanity wherever we possibly can.

Elle has had some ups and downs this week as any little girl will. We had two nights of high school basketball games. Elle has had the "crud" that is going around. She has had a couple of nights where she (and Mommy/Daddy) got little sleep because of her coughing. She also got shots again on Wednesday. Her babysitter has been on vacation, so Elle spent three days this week with Grama and Grampa. Whenever we talk about them, she drums her fingers on her cheeks because my dad has a beard. She TOTALLY knows what is going on when "Grampa" is even mentioned. The other two days she spent with a couple that I work with. She played with their four children and had a great, great time!

On Monday the 18th, the boys nor Ken have school. Alex is going to babysit for Conlee and Dayton so my sister can go to a workshop. I'm not sure what Bryant and Ken are doing, but Elle and I are going to the Pediatrician for a check-up and more blood tests. We also will have a tympanogram done to see if her hearing has changed (hopefully IMPROVED) since we visited the Cleft Palate/Lip Team in Omaha two months ago. Monday night, Bryant has a basketball game. Its Regionals now, so when our team loses, the season will be done. Otherwise, the week will be filled with the usual craziness (Ken teaching EMS class, Ken's 42nd birthday on Wednesday, Alex's Scholarship Testing, Ken's 6th grader's reading assessments).

Here are some photos of Elle. One is her with some of the helium balloons from Valentine's Day and the other is her outside with the kitty and her Hot Wheel. She doesn't mind the cat as long as he doesn't climb on her :-).

12 Weeks with ElleAnna

Can you believe it? Elle has changed so much in those 12 weeks! It is hard to fathom! We are so lucky and blessed to have her in our family.

CNY and Other Weekend Events

Well, Friday was another night of High School Basketball and more bleacher butt. Bryant did a nice job and even got to play for a while in the A-Team game. Not bad for a Freshman! Conlee and Dayton (along with their parents) came to cheer him on too. Of course, Grampa and Grama were in the stands too as they rarely miss any of the boys' events.

Saturday, Ken and Bryant had another forensics meet. Forensics here does not involve cadaviers or crime scene investigations - well, not necessarily anyway (unless it was part of their act). The forensics I am talking about is another term for drama and acting. Bryant did a prose piece about two cows trying to drive the farmer's tractor. Some of the other high school students do duets, humerous solos, informative speeches, improptu duet acting, extemporaneous speaking, serious solos, or poetry. Bryant placed fifth in the first round, third in his second round, and he got second in the third round, but did not break into finals. He keeps improving, so maybe at the next meet, he will pull out a victory! The team represented the school very well and brought home third place. It was great!

After the forensics meet, we headed to a Chinese New Years party (CNY) with other families who have adopted children from China. There were also college students in attendance who were from China. It was good time. I believe there were at least 65 people there - making for a wild time when you realize that probably 40 of those were under the age of fifteen!

Before we could get to the party, however, we had an incident with the police when the car keys accidentally got locked in the trunk of the car. It was not funny at the time, but it is certainly a hilarious story now! In addition, Elle reached a milestone last night - she mastered sucking out of a straw. We have tried from day one to get her to do it, but she was never able. We could get her to blow bubbles, but never suck a liquid up the straw. We just came to the conclusion that because of the hole in the roof of her mouth, she wasn't able to do it - but she was certainly drinking that way last night!

Today, we stayed home from church. I have no voice left and Ken's comes and goes. Everyone is still fighting the runny noses and coughs, so maybe with a day of Lysol spraying and washing bedding, we can get ahead of the germs a little bit.

Tomorrow, Elle will spend the day with Grama and Grampa hauling cows. The babysitter is on vacation this week. The next four days, she will spend with a co-worker of mine. She has four children, but two will be at home with she and Elle during the day. They are four year old twin girls, so I'm sure the three of them will have a blast! Tuesday is another home basketball game. Friday will be the last regular game of the high school season before Regional Play Offs begin.

Here is a video of Elle doing another one of her favorite phrases "Ready, Set, Go!" There are also some pix of last night. The first is Elle on the drive down. The next photo it Elle and Daddy. Then Bryant watching Madi write "Bryant loves...." and adding a girl's name to her page. Madi's sister, Emy, is in the next photo. She is writing Bryant's detention slip. Last, but not least is Elle again. We realized that the videos are dark and there is nothing we can do about that - its because the flash does not come on while we are making a video... so, sometimes you will have to use your imagination just a little bit. SORRY!

Pix to Go with Video Post

Here are some photos from tonight. ENJOY as I know I've been a slacking blogger lately! SORRY!

Ramblings on a Cold February Night

Yesterday was a snow day. School and the basketball games were cancelled. Today, the sunshine came out and it was a beautiful crisp day. Tomorrow is Alex's last basketball game of the 2007/2008 season. He has enjoyed it, but I think he is glad that its winding down. Friday will be another game for Bryant, however. He only has two more after that before Regionals begin. Our high school team has not been so hot, so I don't imagine that we will go far before they are done for the year as well.


Elle has been working on puzzles this evening, much to Alex's dismay. Alex was frustrated - why does she keep getting another one as soon as we get one done? Ken reminded him that he (Alex) used to do the same puzzle over and over. Bryant's favorite was always one with Big Bird.

We are certain that she knew how to count in Chinese and that she knew her colors also. We are trying to help her learn them in English now. Her vocabulary is really growing. She loves to tell us the names of the animals in her books. She still uses the sign language for certain things, but we are trying to encourage words more and more. She knows lots of people's names also. Tonight, we got to talking about her favorite phrases. The ones we can think of off the top of our heads include:


"Gimme five, up high!"
"Who is it?"
"Don't!"
"Mine"
"Be nice!" - Which comes out too clear most of the time.
"No no"
"Mine"
"All done"
"Uh-oh"
"Get out"
"Elmo!"
"Good job"
"Baby Owen"
"Excuse me"
"Mine"
"Night, night"
"Thank you"
"Where is it?"


Here is a video sampling of some of the animal sounds she makes - This is hopefully a small enough version that I can actually get it to load.

Monday, February 4

I tried to post a video last night of her doing the animal sounds, but it was too large and would not load... This was the same problem I had in December when I couldn't get the video online with her doing sign language. I will see what I can do tonight or tomorrow and attempt to post a "condensed" version.... Keep your fingers crossed.