Misc. Stuff

Well, a lot has been going on. Lauren did get her ears pierced. The lady that pierced her kept on saying "she is going to cry, are you sure you want to do this?" She asked me like 5 or 6 times which only made me more nervous. Finally she did it and Lauren cried for all of about 2 seconds before she was whisked away by her Papoo (grandfather). It was a lot more traumatizing to me than for her. She has really been trying to walk and talk more. She has been eating so many different foods. She has discovered that she likes Italian food a LOT, squash, corn, baked beans , chicken and anything else that you put in front of her. She has also learned how to use a fork pretty well. I have a picture of that below. This also means she wants to use it all the time and sometimes she just can't. She has now been sporting another tooth which brings our total up to 8 teeth. She is a real giggle box. She has the most devilish giggle. It sounds downright evil but so funny. My mom and step dad that lives next door decided to put up their pool and she is absolutely loving it. We bought her a crab that she sits in that has a sun shade and she just kicks her feet and giggles. She especially thinks its funny when her Mommy and Daddy goes under the water and gets her feet. I am so excited that she loves the water because we are a family of swimmers. It has been exhausting her to where she sleeps a little better. She is still thinking that she needs to get up 10 times a night and only take one nap during the day but we are trying different ways to get her where she is sleeping better. Thanks Jill for that advice. It will help a lot more when she gets moved into her own room. We are almost done with our master bedroom so then everyone will have their own room. Yeah!! I have learned that until she gets her own room and her stuff goes in there...there is no way I can keep house very well. I never had this much stuff with either of my boys. A swing, playpen, baby gates, jumper, and a walker, that seems like a lot of stuff in one living room. On to Lauren's first 4th of July....she liked the sparklers but she doesn't like the loud noises. We had a very low key 4th. We normally would have a huge fireworks display and a big dinner. This year we have two people with messed up ankles and feet and my husband had to have oral surgery and wasn't feeling so hot. Not to mention everyone was sick and had to work. My oldest son took off for a week to my step sisters house. She has a 15 year old too so I have had one less child all week. She is growing like a weed and has a cute little belly that I love to kiss and blow rasberries on. She is a wonderful baby and I couldn't have asked for a better daughter. She has learned how to kiss and give hugs so well and it just melts my heart every time. Even when she is trying to delay going to sleep by doing so. Well, I apologize to anyone that is still following this blog for the delay in pictures and updates.

Happy Baby

Well, we have pretty well figured out with talking to other parents that Lauren has got a little colic. Its something that was in the back of my mind but I didn't think that a 13 month old could get it. We have been giving her medicine called gripe water by Little Tummys. It has definitely done the trick about her sleeping. She has been a real chatterbox here lately. She is saying thank you, cup, Nana, and Tyler. She has also been giving the most sweetest kisses and hugs. It just melts my heart every time she gives me one of those. She is very loving and generous. She is always trying to give you some of her meals or snacks. She is also been growing. She is now sporting her very own little buddha belly and she is starting to stand on her own for longer periods of time. Her little legs have started to get some meat on them. Hopefully she will be walking soon. She is still very tiny but she is hopefully going to start to look like a 13 month old soon. Since talking to Angela, I think I have decided to get her ears pierced. Its something that I have been wanting to do for a while but my entire family had a conniption about it. I talked to my husband that is anti piercing and tattoos, and he said when have I ever denied you anything and told me to go on ahead. He is a very generous man that spoils me rotten. And let me just say that Lauren has got him wrapped around her little finger too. Here are some random pictures.

Bedtime Problems- Need Advice

Lauren has been having a rough time of it at night time. She seems to only sleep for snatches at a time nowadays. We have tried everything but standing on our heads and we might try that before its all over with. She did so well the first 3 weeks she was home so I don't think its because of the time zone thing. Any suggestions for a calmer night would be greatly appreciated. :)) Above is a picture of her in her bed, needless to say she wasn't happy.

Bad Blogger

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. A rundown on what has been happening since I have been home with our precious little bundle. Lauren has been getting along fabulously with everyone. She weighs almost 16 pounds and considering that she only weighed 13 pounds when we got her that is an improvement. She is saying a lot more words since Vietnam. Her favorite is "cat" no matter that it might be a dog. She says doggie, Devin, Daddy, Dada, Dad, Momma, Nana, baba, bye bye and she says "that" for things that she doesn't know what they are. She has really adapted so well to our family. It is a daily routine for my Dad to take her for long walks and then takes her to my Mom and Step Dads house to play there. I catch them everyday all three of them in the floor playing and laughing with her. Lauren is so lucky to have her grandparents that just adore and love her as those three do. She has gotten over a lot of the clingyness that she had a Vietnam. She actually can amuse herself and play with her toys without always needing to be held and carried around. Which has been so much better on my back. She loves bath time. She can be screaming and so unhappy but as soon as you turn on the water in her little ducky tub she gets so excited and starts squealing with delight. It is so cute the way her face lights up. In the last few weeks she has started to stand without holding on to anything or anyone. She gets about 10 to 20 seconds in before she falls on her bottom. Then she laughs and starts clapping. She now likes riding in her car seat. We don't have her in the rear facing like we should but she acts like she is being killed if she can't see me and watch out the window. It's a Britax car seat so it sits up high so she can check everything out. Below are some random pictures of her. I will try to post more often and not be such a bad blogger.

Lauren hates the car seat! So needless to say it was a very horrible trip home from the airport. But as soon as she saw everyone she cheered right up. She was very cautious at first and then starting coming out of her shell. She is still unsure about the dogs but she has really taken an interest in the cats. She has bonded with everyone very well especially her daddy whom she has wrapped around her little finger. She has been sleeping very well but we are still on Vietnam time zone. We are taking it day by day and it is a wonderful adventure. I'll post more and download photos when I get rested up.

Home

Well, it was a long trip home but Lauren was a real trooper through the entire trip. She slept the entire trip from Hanoi to Taipei and then the long flight from Taipei to Los Angeles she slept around 8 hours of that. She was only fussy around 45 minutes of that entire flight. We had a 7 hour layover in LA so we rented a room and ate pizza, showered, and got a little shut eye before traveling on a red eye flight to Dallas. Let me just say that it was the best sleep that I have had in several weeks. The Dallas flight was pretty uneventful except for the fact that we all were wide awake at 1am but of course we were on a different time zone than everyone else. She wanted to screech at the top of her lungs and giggle loudly while everyone was trying to sleep. Lauren and I decided that it was best that we go and keep the flight attendants company for a while. Then comes the drama from Dallas to Little Rock.....the flight was canceled due to bad fog in Little Rock and in Dallas. They delayed it and delayed it and finally canceled it. Unfortunately, I didn't think that I would have enough diapers to make it through the trip so the American airlines lady sent me to the Travelers Aid office to get some. Well, when I got a little lost and asked a guy in charge where I could find this office he said to go through the revolving doors and scoffed. I asked him if I would be able to get back with no problems and again he chuckled and said yeah. By the way he was lying. When I tried to get back I realized that I would have to go back through the checkpoint security point and of course I just had my passport on me and not my boarding pass. Lauren was trying to eat it so I left it with Mom at the gate. All in all I almost had a nice little meltdown because I thought that I had missed the plane and Lauren was getting fussy. Did I mention that I had her strapped to me in her sling? We were actually able to make it back through with a little finagling but I was so stressed that I could have got down in the floor and had me a great little crying fit. My poor Daddy and Step Dad had been waiting at the airport since 7:30 that morning. We managed to make it in around 12:30pm. That is when we found out that my paintings that were done by a really talented Vietnamese artist had not arrived from Hanoi and that since they didn't give us a ticket for it that there was no way that they were going to be able to track them. I guess on Monday I will be trying to get a hold of Eva Airways to see if there is something that can be done. At this point we were just so glad that we finally were home and made it safely.

More from Hanoi

I'm very sorry that I have not been up to date on this blog. So, from the beginning.....We actually didn't get Lauren until Tuesday. We were supposed to have our G&R on Monday but that didn't work out for me. Ended up there was another paperwork snafu. My passport had to be corrected in the beginning due to the fact that my birth month was not correct well....the orphanage put on all the paperwork my old passport number. So, here I am signing all the paperwork until they catch the fact that my passport number didn't match my paperwork. They deliberated back and forth and decided I would have to come back another day to finish my G&R. That also meant that I couldn't take Lauren with me that day. Needless to say I was shell shocked and upset. It was a very trying day but the very next day we were able to get her with no more problems.
Now...on to Lauren. She is a tiny, tiny little girl. She is in size 1 diapers and is wearing 0-3 months clothes and some 3-6 months. She has had some separation anxiety so she is very clingy and God forbid you to try and put her down. She will scream like a little banshee. She has bonded with me very well and with my Mom. She is getting better about the putting her down thing. She sleeps through the night and has about 2 to 3 naps per day. She is observant of her surroundings. She doesn't crack a smile when we go out shopping she just stares at everyone. She is ticklish on her feet and belly and will die laughing when tickled. She has 2 dimples, 2 top teeth, 2 bottom teeth, and 2 more that are coming in up top. She says Momma, bye bye, and hi and is so good natured about everything. We couldn't ask for a better baby. I love being here in Hanoi but I am missing home. I can't wait to see my husband, my boys, my dad, my sister, my step-dad, and my phone so that I can call my best friend and talk to her. Thanks for all the nice comments and well wishes. It is much appreciated.