Little Lady Bug

So this week got by me and I just realize yesterday I needed pictures of Ana for the blog! I have a video I want to do for you all but Ana wasn't up for it today. I'll try to have it by next week! So last week we had the school district evaluate Ana and we will find out the results this coming Thursday. She was evaluated in comprehension, speech, self help skills, and motor skills. They will tell us what services she needs if any on Thursday. I'm not worried about anything but her speech. But honestly she has only heard English for 4 months and knows over 100 words! I'm sure she just needs time. But it can't hurt for her to get some help.

Ice Ice Baby

Ya can't really see it, but she has an ice cube in her mouth. She has this new thing with eating ice cubes. At restaurants I'm just getting a cup of ice for her so she can eat them cause I'm ending up with NO ice in my drinks!

Live and In Concert....

LOVES this piano! Couple of the kids at playgroup have this piano and Ana goes straight to it everytime. SOOOO cute when she sings and plays...she gets so serious, then laughs. I think she cracks herself up!

Time to do the laundry

Today we had ANOTHER evaluator come out to assess Ana's development, speech, etc. and I lost my temper with them and told them if they weren't going to start us in a program they were wasting my time and I'm DONE with evaluators! SO, Thurs. I have an appointment with the school district. However, I don't want to send her to a preschool. I really feel like I can do what a preschool can do for her and I'm not ready for her to "go to school" yet...I just feel like she is too young. I want a speech therapist to come to our house to work with us. We shall see what they say on Thurs. Keep your fingers cross that it isn't ANOTHER run around!
Still no new news about Andrew. Our agency still hasn't been given their accreditation so we are still waiting. Hopefully, we will hear good news next week that they got their accreditation and we can start the plans to travel by the end of Oct. We are starting to get pretty anxious. We are both ready to get him home!

17 September - Ana's Baptism

This is our church. They have been so supportive throughout Ana's entire adoption process. Terry (our pastor) did a really sweet introduction about Ana and our journey to get her. He is such a neat man. It was important to us to have him baptize her. Terry did a prayer and of course at the end everyone said, "Amen" and then Ana said it too...about 3o sec. after everyone else did and the entire congregation laughed.
I order flowers for the alter every year for my mom (with one white rose) to celebrate her birthday (which was the 18th) and that was why it was important to me to have Ana baptized this weekend. The flower arrangement is as big as Ana! :)


Ana's Papaw (Marc's dad) gave her this bible. We read to Ana every night for about 20 or 30 minutes before bed and she gets to pick the books we read and she went right over to her book case and picked up her new bible! Such a good Christian baby! It was a wonderful day!
Also, today (17 Sept.) we have had Ana home for four months exactly. Another special reason to celebrate! I really can't remember life without her!

"Ana" In The Box

Ana got a package in the mail and enjoyed the popcorn just as much as the gifts!

Notice how much popcorn was in the box in the first picture compared to this picture! Where is all that popcorn you ask? That would be ALL OVER MY HOUSE! We had a blast playing!

Shake Shake Shake!

Music class is AWESOME! She loves it, I love it and we even know some of the kids from the community that were there. Very fun! I'm SO glad we decided to do this.

Skateboards Rock Dude!

So I found this skateboard left in our grassy area next to our house! I showed Ana how to take it to the top of the little hill, sit on it, and ride it down...boy was it fun! However, the next day it was gone...

Ana got her next round of shots this past week. She does so well. Only ONE MORE SHOT left and we will do it in Oct. Then she is completely caught up!

She had a peds appt. A check up. And she isn't growing like the doctors would like. She only gained two pounds in the last three months. I guess the average child gains 8 to 9 grams a month and Ana has only gained 2 grams a month. SOOO, she now gets to eat all the breads, pasta, cheese etc. she likes. She is also to drink one to two pedisures (we are calling it bear juice because it has a bear on the bottle) a day. Wish I had this diet! :) Her next check up is her 3 year old check up and hopefully she will have gained a bit more weight.

Finally, we are having her baptized this coming Sunday. My mom's birthday would have been this coming Monday and I think it will be a neat thing to share with her. To tell Ana someday when she understands. My Uncle Tommy's birthday is also the 18th (mom's brother) so that will be neat too! We will have our church and military family there to celebrate.

Happy Birthday to Gammy, Uncle Matt, and Cousin Kaitlyn!

Bee Balloon

We went to dinner at El Paso BBQ and this lady makes balloon creatures while you wait for your food! Too FUN! Ana asked for a "BEEEE". She got a strange looking bee but it worked!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes!

Playgroup is still one of our favorite days. I think she is starting to miss her 9 brothers and sisters because I think she is getting bored at home and gets SOOO excited to see kids. I'm glad we are involved in so many different groups of kids. She is loving the Mom's Day Out program we started last Wednesday. Today was our second time there and she was in a time out when I went back to get her... for climbing! :) They said she had just started it right when I got there. She made me a "craft box" today at MDO...cute! We will be starting a Music class Friday and I'm excited for that. I'm sure Ana will love it!

Weekly Update

Last Friday we thought a speech therapist was coming out to start Ana's program...WRONG. Basically, we got a formal apology for getting dropped through the cracks and told that we need to focus on filling out our paperwork to get her into the school district. Bummer. But the lady that did come out gave me some "games" and songs to do with Ana to help with language.

We started a "Mom's Day Out" program today. Ana will go every Wednesday anytime from 8:30-11:30. I work it once a month to do "my part". I only took her for an hour today to test the waters and when I got back she just said, "Hi Mommy" and continued playing. No crying at all. When we left she kept saying "more mommy more". SO "school" (that's what I'm calling it) is going to be great for both of us!

She went to the dentist yesterday! I had talked it up quite a bit. We brush teeth everyday and I explained what was going to happen and she was fine. When they started cleaning her teeth...she kept saying "yummy" and wanted more toothpaste. Her teeth are great!

29 Aug 009

29 Aug 009
Video sent by mstitzel

Pooks and Ana playing!

Labor Day Weekend!

We went to Strawberry, Arizona with our good friends from pilot training, Todd and Kimberly Tobergte. (For those of you who have been following the blog for some time, this was the couple we went to see in Belgium. They just moved here in July!) It was a wonderful weekend! Ana had a wonderful time and was so good! This was our cabin. It was perfect for sitting on the front porch with a sweatshirt and blanket watching the stars at night. The site had everything from a playground for Ana to a firepit for smores! The weather was perfect for me and Marc, cool days with a nice breeze and chilly evenings! AND we found green grass and pine trees in ARIZONA!
Our evenings consisted of Ana entertaining us with her "bowl hat" routine. SOOO funny!
We went to find a trail to hike our first day and found this river and decided to play in it all afternoon! It was COLD at first...but I guess we numbed up enough to not notice after awhile! Ana thought this was pretty neat and loved seeing the fish swimming by her!
The boys had to take it up a notch....Ana, Kimberly, the dogs, and I sat and watch them play and prayed the under current wouldn't take them down!
The second day we went to "Tonto National Bridge". It was so neat! We hiked down into it and walked along the river. There were some "tricky" parts getting down into it but WELL worth it!
We found a waterfall while hiking! Can you believe this is AZ?
We made it back out safe and sound and in one piece! Good job Marc...it was pretty tough with Ana on his back. And she was having a blast the whole time!
The last day we went to "Montezuma Castle". It was cliff dwellings left by the Singua Indians. Pretty amazing how they lived in this!
It was a very relaxing, interesting, and fun weekend!