this past weekend we went to indiana to visit michael's parents. we had tons of fun stuff planned and were completely worn out after our adventure!

it's a 6.5 hour drive that is really difficult for miss stella.

this is what we see behind us these days

and this is what we see behind us on weekend trips.

stella and meg have gotten to be good friends most of the time. some of the time they just tolerate each other. sometimes when stella gets cranky in the car she HATES anyone (or anything) touching her car seat. meg loves to lay her head on the arm of her car seat, so it's a constact battle to keep her from hitting meg. must be what it's like to have 2 kids!

saturday afternoon we went apple picking. i was so excited to take stella! this was actually my very first time picking apples too!

and this is what stella did the whole time we were there. she missed everything!

after apple picking we took stella to the park. it is a little park nestled back in a neighborhood that michael's mom used to take him to when he was little. she LOVE LOVE LOVES the park!

this is us swinging.

she LOVES to slide!

stella and her daddy after sliding over and over and over and over.

playing with daddy.

saturday night we had a bonfire with family and friends at michael's aunt sue's house. we ate and had smores and visited. stella got passed around of course and played REALLY hard!

swinging at aunt sue's with daddy.

watching the fire.

sunday on our way home we stopped to see some friends. this is my God-daughter and her brother (who was named after michael). they are always SO excited to see stella and we always have SO much fun seeing them! we wish they didn't live so far away!

this little clip was shot last night. STELLA WALKING! ignore my completely annoying voice and the fact that it's sideways. just tilt your head to the left and enjoy!

lots of new things going on around our house as you can see! we are taking stella trick-or-treating tomorrow night with some friends . . . can't wait to see how that goes . . . hopefully she has fun! then we will be going to their house for smores afterwards.

i'm trying REALLLLLLLY hard to post more regularly . . . so i'll try to get Halloween photos up soon too.

ANNOUNCEMENT . . .

STELLA IS WALKING!!!!!!
on thursday night last week she randomly started taking single steps. then on saturday while we were in indiana at michael's parents, she took 4 steps (only once though). then yesterday when her daddy picked her up from miss jo's she apparently had decided that day she wanted to become a big girl. miss jo said she was walking all day long! she will take about 10 steps at a time and thinks it is hilarious. probably because she knew she could do it all along and was listening to my conversations with various people about her not doing it. that little stinker.

thank you so much to all of you that called and emailed and sent comments! it's good to know i'm not crazy and that you people support me.

we didn't get any photos or video last night cause we were having too much fun with her. we will try to get some video tonight. and i do have new pictures to post, just no time to do it now. i'm training for a 10k race on saturday and i have to go meet my running group.

more later.

calling for suggestions and thoughts!!!

stella had her 18 month well visit today. at out last appointment, the dr told us if she wasn't walking by her 18 month appt she would refer us to a physical therapist. we both (michael and i) had mixed emotions about this, but we really thought she would be walking right now so weren't too worried about it. well, she isn't walking. at least not on her own. at her last appt she wasn't even pulling up on things. since that last appointment, she is pulling up + walking along furniture and the walls + standing up on her own + walking holding only one of our hands (for short distances). we have been working really hard with her and encouraging her constantly. we feel like she has made AMAZING progress just in the last couple of months. the dr today was not all that impressed.

at our very first appt with her we explained that when she first came she had NO leg muscle development and she was right a one year old. we were putting her in a johnny jumper (the one that hangs in the doorway) for at least 30 minutes every day. before too long she was jumping like a pro! obviously she has outgrown that thing now, but it gave us what we needed at the time! she seemed concerned then about the fact that she wasn't pulling up yet, but we explained that she is not an American baby and should not necessarily be compared.

obviously, compared to American babies she is behind. but the fact remains that for the first year of her life, she wasn't here. she was carried and held and loved on constantly and i would not change for anything in the world the fact that she was so loved for that year she could not be with us.

now, the dr is telling us we have one more month. then, if she isn't walking, we have to see a physical therapist. i actually couldn't go to her appt today, michael went. i'm just wondering how much (if any) experience she has with internationally adopted children. now, i'm not against seeing a physical therapist. we just haven't seen ONE SINGLE INDICATION that something is wrong. and BELIEVE ME, we have been watching. we honestly think she just doesnt' want to. she scoots around on her behind and gets around SUPER FAST, so why walk when it takes her twice as long to get anywhere . . . that's what we think.

my quesion is whether or not we should be concerned. have any other adoptive parents out there in blog world had issues or experience with this? i know there are a TON of blogs out there that i read regularly, but don't usually comment, so those of you that DO read my blog . . . please forward to anyone you may be able to send me thoughts . . . i would love to hear from someone who's been through this!!!

i'm thinking of doing a little research for another dr, but it's not as if we live in a big metropolis, so the pickins are a little slim . . .

long update.

well, it's the middle of october and i'm just now getting around to posting pictures. better late than never.

on october 4 we took stella to Silver Dollar City for the very first time. we had tons of fun and can't wait to take her back.

our first stop was the ball treehouse. she LOVED it and threw a complete fit when we made her leave.

you can see the excitement on her face.

she is screaming in this picture.

after the ball treehouse we went to see the animals. there was a goose following us around and i stood stella in front of the goose and she couldn't get away from it fast enough! she LOVES ducks (mostly because she can say the word duck i think), but i think that goose was just a little too close for comfort for her!

michael took stella on her very first ride. she had to sit in her own seat, so michael was holding her from behind so she didn't fall over when it jerked. it just went in a circle and bounced up and down. she had this horrible look on her face the whole time. when they got off i asked her if she liked it and she shook her head no. then, we pointed to another ride and asked her if she wanted to go on another one and she wrinkled her forehead all up and violently shook her head NO. it was so funny!!!

our last stop before we left was to get some photos of stella with the pumpkin displays. she cooperated pretty well for a few shots!

after we drove back from Branson, we had dinner plans with our group of close friends. stella had a TOTAL nap of 20 minutes ALL DAY that day so i thought she was going to be a complete NIGHTMARE at dinner. she was really good though, all night long! she played really hard over at their house and by the time we got home, LATE that night, this is what she looked like.

she passed OUT in the car before we even got out of their neighborhood. she was DONE. it was a long and fun family day :)

this is a random october thursday night. on thursdays, my friend jess and i walk with our girls so our husbands can go mountain biking. when we got home stella needed a snack. you can faintly see reese's little baby arm in the picture and aunt jess's leg :)

this picture is from october 10. we were waiting on daddy to get home from work so we could go to dinner and decided it was so nice outside we needed to go to the park. so we walked to the park down the street from our house. stella loves to scoot around the play equipment by herself. she still isn't walking by herself yet, but she pulls up and stands up by herself constantly! she'll be running around before we know it!

this is from First Friday Art Walk, october 3. we usually go to the coffee ethic to visit with friends and people watch. stella gets excited because she knows she gets to climb around all over the tables.

more First Friday Art Walk.

more First Friday Art Walk. playing with mommy.

hopefully some people are still checking this blog! it's so hard to try to stay caught up. leave me a comment so i know you're still out there!!!

PAT + post-placement + re-adoption

no pictures today, but i did want to post a quick update :

+ we had our first parents as teachers visit last week. it went surprisingly well! stella is not as far behind as i thought! i guess i've been focusing too much on the fact that she isn't walking yet. she is about half way through the 12-24 month list of tasks she should be doing, which is about right! she is more and more interesting in walking and gets closer every day!

+ last night was our LAST post-placement visit with a social worker. it feels amazingly good to be done with those. not that they were hard, or terrible, or negative in any way . . . i am just ready for all this STUFF to be over and for us to just go on with our 'normal' lives, whatever that is. adoption is so exhausting at times. there is just SO much extra STUFF that must be done. and even after our children are home, there is still much more to do.

+ speaking of much more to do - we have our first appt with an attorney today to get started with our re-adoption. since we didn't visit stella in guatemala before our pick up trip, we have to re-adopt her in our county of residence. another annoying task we must complete. i really think this will be the LAST step though. but honestly, at this point, i wouldn't be surprised if something else comes up.

life with stella is amazing. we can't remember what it was like before we brought her home. she will be 18 months soon and i can't believe it. she already doesn't look like a baby anymore.

funny story : stella and i were in the car waiting on daddy earlier this week and she was pointing towards the floorboard and said 'book'. of couse i almost screamed 'did you just say BOOK???' so i handed her the book and she got SOOOOOOO excited that i understood her! she squeezed her little hands into fists and wrinkled her nose up and laughed and screamed! it was so funny!

UPDATE - finally.

playing before leaving home for the office.
playing at mommy and daddy's office.
ready for my best friend reese's baby shower.

playing outside with mommy.
playing after my bath.

scooting around the floor before leaving for work with mommy & daddy.

YAY for my very first andy's frozen custard.

our family after dinner one night on vacation. july 08.

playing in the sand at the beach. july 08.

playing at the beach. july 08.

COVERED in sand at the beach. july 08.

my very first 4th of july party in the USA.

passed OUT at the beach. july 08.

loving the beach. july 08.

my adorable 'sleepy face'. july 08.

my very first popsicle. july 08.

my 'silly grin face'. july 08.

i know i know. i am a TERRIBLE blogger. the summer is always crazy for us, so add to that 2 1/2 jobs and a 1 year old and you know how it goes.

here is a little of what stella is up to these days.

* we went to the beach (destin, florida) for a week in July. she loved it! well, she loved the sand anyways. the waves scared her, but she was ok as long as one of us was holding her.

* she still isn't walking yet. she just isn't all that interested in it yet. her preferred method of travel is scooting sideways on her hiney. she is pulling up tons now. but we do have a nickname for her (cautious lu). she is a VERY cautious child. it's funny. if she is scared of something or doesn't feel comfortable doing something, you know it and she absolutely refuses to do it. at least it doesn't seem like peer pressure is going to be a problem with her!

* we went to the doc on July 21 : she weighed 23 pounds and was 30 inches tall. her head is in the 75% and her height is in in 25%. too funny :) i LOVE her big ole noggin.

* she absolutely LOVES chicken / bananas / blueberries and her newest obsession is tortilla chips. she freaks OUT when she sees the bag!

* she says momma / dada / duck / dog / no / yes / hey + she waves hi and bye (usually after the person has already closed the door) / she loves to pretend she's on the phone / she LOVE LOVE LOVES books /

well, that's a little of what's been going on with us this summer. we hope everyone else is enjoying the summer. it will be gone before we know it!

Welcome Home Party.

My other half (Jill) and Michael's other half (Mitchell or Jason - same person) threw a welcome home party for Stella this past weekend. It was at the park and we had TONS of fun!!! we had homemade ice cream, strawberries, brownie cookies and jones soda. the perfect day.

time for a party.

spending some aunt jess time.girl gabbing.

playing croquet.
enjoying the lovely weather.

getting some aunt jilli and big jer time.
lovin on bella. this is my friend angel's daughter. they were here visiting from south carolina. WE MISS THEM ALREADY!!!

uncle jason playing with the kids.
lovin on angel.

stella and bella. yes, she is crying because we put her on the ground.
daddy cheering stella up.

saying bye to marti. stella LOVES her marti visits.
spending quality time with nona.

we love ya'll for throwing stella a party! it was LOTS of fun!!!

stella swinging for the first time. i think she was too exhausted to enjoy it!

THANK YOU to everyone who joined us in body and for those of you who were there with us in spirit :) We love having you in our lives and hope those of you who haven't met stella get to very VERY soon!

yesterday was our official 1 month HOME anniversary. April 24 was our official 1 month GOTCHA anniversary. we can not believe it's been a month already! we really can't remember what our lives were like before we had stella. this girl has got some SPUNK and amazes us every single day. WE LOVE YOU STELLA LU!