Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Old pictures
I never got around to loading the pictures from my old computer to my new one when we moved in 2005. I still have no idea where the pictures from Garrett's first year are, I am guessing I had them all on CD, but here are some picures of Caelan when she was a baby. Actually for some reason I am having a hard time opening most of them- but here are a few!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Ice Fishing
Bob and the kids went ice fishing yesterday. Read about it here- be sure to read the last few paragraphs!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Chinese New Year Celebration
On Saturday we had a little party with our local FCC group, actually it is FACT (Families with Asian Children Together). We ate breakfast, the kids played games, and did some crafts. It was only the second event that we have attended since bringing Lia home. All of the kids had a great time.
Oh, and just to go along with my earlier post, I have allowed Garrett and Lia to bring in their tractors (which normally stay outside).
Oh, and just to go along with my earlier post, I have allowed Garrett and Lia to bring in their tractors (which normally stay outside).
Long winter...
I feel like it has been forever since I posted. Things have been fine here, though I am so ready for winter to be over. We are all quite crabby. Thankfully, we have had a few days of decent weather and I have been able to get the kids out to play and ride bikes.
Lia is going to be further evaluated for additional speech services. I feel like she is still doing wonderfully picking up new vocabulary, but she is having a hard time combining words together. She very rarely puts two words together, so I am hoping that some additional speech will help. I talk to her constantly and repeatedly try to get her to repeat what I say, but my attempt to get her to say "more milk" always comes out as "milk" or "more" but never them both together.
I have to admit though, Lia has been having somewhat frequent and pretty extreme tantrums. I am trying to work through them and when she is really mad, I hold her and try to get her to settle down. I think part of the problem is that we just haven't been able to get outside much this winter. Everybody is stir crazy. Cold and snow is one thing, but it has been extremely cold. I also keep reminding myself that she is two. She has been hitting quite a bit and so far, I have not found an effective way to get her to stop.
Potty training is at a standstill. She was doing great- in fact at Christmas I thought she was totally potty trained- but she has definitely decided that she prefers diapers and at this point, I have given up. Once her mood improves, I will attempt it again, but right now I just feel like she has enough that she seems to be working on.
Oh, and to be quite honest, Garrett has also had a hard few months. He is a child who needs to be outdoors all of the time, and then he is simply an angel. But coop him up in a small house all winter and watch out. I have done my best, we go to the library at least one a week, go swimming once a week, play at the Mc Donalds playscape, children's museum, but it is just not enough. Bob thinks that we need to buy a farm...
I am going to do a more cheerful post with pictures from our Chinese New Year celebration in a few minutes so I don't leave you all with my venting.
Lia is going to be further evaluated for additional speech services. I feel like she is still doing wonderfully picking up new vocabulary, but she is having a hard time combining words together. She very rarely puts two words together, so I am hoping that some additional speech will help. I talk to her constantly and repeatedly try to get her to repeat what I say, but my attempt to get her to say "more milk" always comes out as "milk" or "more" but never them both together.
I have to admit though, Lia has been having somewhat frequent and pretty extreme tantrums. I am trying to work through them and when she is really mad, I hold her and try to get her to settle down. I think part of the problem is that we just haven't been able to get outside much this winter. Everybody is stir crazy. Cold and snow is one thing, but it has been extremely cold. I also keep reminding myself that she is two. She has been hitting quite a bit and so far, I have not found an effective way to get her to stop.
Potty training is at a standstill. She was doing great- in fact at Christmas I thought she was totally potty trained- but she has definitely decided that she prefers diapers and at this point, I have given up. Once her mood improves, I will attempt it again, but right now I just feel like she has enough that she seems to be working on.
Oh, and to be quite honest, Garrett has also had a hard few months. He is a child who needs to be outdoors all of the time, and then he is simply an angel. But coop him up in a small house all winter and watch out. I have done my best, we go to the library at least one a week, go swimming once a week, play at the Mc Donalds playscape, children's museum, but it is just not enough. Bob thinks that we need to buy a farm...
I am going to do a more cheerful post with pictures from our Chinese New Year celebration in a few minutes so I don't leave you all with my venting.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
A Year Ago
Well, it hasn't quite been a year, but on Friday it will be a year since I wrote this post. I can remember waiting for that call, it was excruciating... knowing that we had a child out there and not knowing who she was or where she was. What a relief it was to get her file and her pictures, but then the wait started again as we had to wait until May 5th to hold her in our arms. We knew nothing about her except that she was tiny and was a sound sleeper. She is still a sound sleeper- in fact at 6:45 every night she asks to go to bed and then skips happily to her crib!! She usually wakes 12-13 hours later. But now, we know her pretty well.
1. She loves chocolate, actually all sweets, but she is particularly fond of chocolate. Here is a picture from when I told her she could have no more chocolate. She was going to do whatever it took to get more chocolate. Now, I wouldn't normally take a picture of a crying child, but she was definitely "faker" crying, it may look like she was upset, but the minute I said, "Do you want to play?" she was done.. Note the chocolate dripping from the sides of her mouth.
2. She really likes band-aids. Whenever she asks for a band-aid I give her one, but she has caught on to the fact that the other two kids do not always get a band-aid when they ask. Here was our conversation yesterday: Lia: Band-aid? Me: Why do you need a band-aid? You are not hurt. Lia: Owie. Bleeding. Ok, so I gave her one.
3. She is still very attached to her bottle, though at the suggestion of our pediatrician who thought that 3/4 of a gallon of milk was too much for a child, we started mixing her bottles half with water. We still can't leave the house without a bottle, but she is drinking much less now.
4. She has to do everything that Garrett is doing. It is pretty funny as he has always been sort of a loner and isn't thrilled when other kids enter his personal space. She has to sit next to him thigh to thigh, plates touching.. I was trying to video her scooting closer to Garrett, while he kept scooting away. Ignore her slapping me- we are running around chasing each other moments earlier and she was still trying to play.
5. Again, she goes to bed without any complaints and loves her crib, but sometimes she doesn't fall asleep right away. The girls' bedroom is attached to a main living room, and sometimes if I am walking by (we keep the door open when it is cold because there are no heat ducts in the kids' bedrooms), Lia will yell out "Mom, doing?" Meaning "Mom, what are you doing?" It cracks me up every time.
6. She likes wearing the least amount of clothes that she comfortably can. I don't know how many times during nap time I have gone into her bedroom and found her naked and bouncing around in her crib. She also wants to wear PJ's all day long. I usually let her when all we have to do is drop off and pick up Caelan from school, but it is a fight on the other days to get her dressed.
1. She loves chocolate, actually all sweets, but she is particularly fond of chocolate. Here is a picture from when I told her she could have no more chocolate. She was going to do whatever it took to get more chocolate. Now, I wouldn't normally take a picture of a crying child, but she was definitely "faker" crying, it may look like she was upset, but the minute I said, "Do you want to play?" she was done.. Note the chocolate dripping from the sides of her mouth.
2. She really likes band-aids. Whenever she asks for a band-aid I give her one, but she has caught on to the fact that the other two kids do not always get a band-aid when they ask. Here was our conversation yesterday: Lia: Band-aid? Me: Why do you need a band-aid? You are not hurt. Lia: Owie. Bleeding. Ok, so I gave her one.
3. She is still very attached to her bottle, though at the suggestion of our pediatrician who thought that 3/4 of a gallon of milk was too much for a child, we started mixing her bottles half with water. We still can't leave the house without a bottle, but she is drinking much less now.
4. She has to do everything that Garrett is doing. It is pretty funny as he has always been sort of a loner and isn't thrilled when other kids enter his personal space. She has to sit next to him thigh to thigh, plates touching.. I was trying to video her scooting closer to Garrett, while he kept scooting away. Ignore her slapping me- we are running around chasing each other moments earlier and she was still trying to play.
5. Again, she goes to bed without any complaints and loves her crib, but sometimes she doesn't fall asleep right away. The girls' bedroom is attached to a main living room, and sometimes if I am walking by (we keep the door open when it is cold because there are no heat ducts in the kids' bedrooms), Lia will yell out "Mom, doing?" Meaning "Mom, what are you doing?" It cracks me up every time.
6. She likes wearing the least amount of clothes that she comfortably can. I don't know how many times during nap time I have gone into her bedroom and found her naked and bouncing around in her crib. She also wants to wear PJ's all day long. I usually let her when all we have to do is drop off and pick up Caelan from school, but it is a fight on the other days to get her dressed.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Christmas
We had a wonderful Holiday. WE drove to Detroit to be with my side of the family on Christmas Day and then Bob's family on the 26th.
Here the kids are in their Christmas P.J.'s setting out cookies for Santa.
Garrett's first glance at his gifts.
Caelan with her gifts and new guitar.
The Jansen family band. Lia quickly wanted to try on her new P.J.'s.
Lia got the Rose Petal COttage, and quickly added a much needed item- her potty!
My parent's five grandkids in their matching pajamas.
My Grandpa with his youngest grandchildren/great-grandchildren.
At Bob's parent's house, opening gifts
The kids with their Great Grandma Jansen
Cousins at the Jansen Christmas party
Luke and Garrett with Grandpa Jansen
More presants
Here the kids are in their Christmas P.J.'s setting out cookies for Santa.
Garrett's first glance at his gifts.
Caelan with her gifts and new guitar.
The Jansen family band. Lia quickly wanted to try on her new P.J.'s.
Lia got the Rose Petal COttage, and quickly added a much needed item- her potty!
My parent's five grandkids in their matching pajamas.
My Grandpa with his youngest grandchildren/great-grandchildren.
At Bob's parent's house, opening gifts
The kids with their Great Grandma Jansen
Cousins at the Jansen Christmas party
Luke and Garrett with Grandpa Jansen
More presants
Monday, December 15, 2008
Visit With Santa
We went to the "Santa House" on Saturday night. Neither Caelan nor Garrett have ever been even the slightest bit afraid of Santa, but I wasn't sure what Lia would think. It is a pretty overwhelming place, toys and people everywhere, not to mention Santa. Everybody was excited and when the time came Lia went walking right up to him, and then quickly turned back around to me, saying no. I asked her if she wanted to sit in Santa's lap and she said no, but then pointed to Mrs. Clause. I asked if she wanted to sit with Mrs. Clause and she said yes, so there she sat. I don't think that she said anything to her. I am pretty sure that since Lia is so tiny, people assume that she is much younger than she is and can't talk, but she did have something prepared to say if she was asked what she wanted for Christmas. She would have said "toys." Caelan asked for "surprises." Garrett would like a remote control car and some Sketchers.
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