AR developmental update....

A little over 3 weeks ago, Annie Rice started walking! We are so so happy! There are still many things she can’t do, but I know that will come. Annie Rice is currently at a 14 month level motor skill wise. 

It was a very rough, emotional day, the following Monday during PT.  I wasn’t prepared for what I was told...

Basically, Annie Rice has low muscle tone. Once we were told that, it all started making sense, and I can see that now. We even saw glimpses of that when looking back at her previous medical history. But the therapist also noticed that Annie Rice has pronation...She walks on the inside of her feet, which isn’t good at all for the ankles or knees. With any shoes except her little crocs, the shoes rub sores on her feet because she walks on the inside of them. The PT said we would probably have to do foot braces to help correct this, and look at her wearing them for 4 years. Now don’t get me wrong, we would do WHATEVER needed to help Annie Rice, but it caught me completely off guard. Our goal physical wise, has been for her to walk. So once we got there, I thought we were good to go...I knew we would still have things to work on like jumping, running, etc, but walking has been the goal. I wasn’t prepared to hear she might have to wear foot braces for 4 years. I just started thinking about kids picking on her, and it got to me! I struggled that day a lot..I cried every time I thought about it, and Kaz and I just really kept praying over her feet. That following weekend, I was at a wedding and this little girl who looked just like Annie Rice[curly hair and all] was dancing barefoot at the reception. I couldn’t help but tear up...Satan was definitely hitting me hard. I wasn’t struggling with making the right decision, I was struggling with Annie Rice getting picked on or being different from other children. 

That Monday at PT, the therapist actually threw me off guard again! I was prepared to start the process for the braces, but she saw such improvement from the previous week in the way Annie Rice was walking, she suggested shoe inserts. These inserts look just like the braces except they don’t cover the top of the foot and she would only have to wear them about 6 hours a day! We are going to try this for 2 months and see if there’s any improvement...If there is, we may not have to do the braces. If there isn’t, then we will do the brace. Regardless, I know the Lord has a plan. He has already used her delays for His kingdom in so many ways. I know if this is the route He takes us on, it will all be for His glory. 

We are working really hard on strengthening her little muscles! We were told swimming and gymnastics would be 2 of the best things we would do to help her long term. So we start gymnastics next week, and are trying to go the pool as often as we can to get her kicking those little legs;)

These pictures were from memorial day...

 She had to take a couple "cookie" breaks:)

potty training adventures....

I am not doing potty training seriously. I wasn't planning at all to do it for awhile, but for the last few weeks Annie Rice will tell me before she has to go. She will say, "Stinky" every time. I ask does she have to stinky or pee pee and she will tell me which one! So we decided to take advantage of the situation and get her use to the potty. At first, I bought a little seat that you sit on the toilet. That worked well for awhile, but it's so hard for her sit up there on it...She was recently diagnosed with low muscle tone and her stomach muscles are already so weak, so the whole time she would constantly shake because it's so hard for her sit. So this week we went to Target to get a small potty. She loves this app on our iPad that has Elmo teaching about the ABCs. Other than that app, she's never watched Elmo. BUT she's been saying Melmo, Melmo constantly! So of course, when I asked which potty she wanted, she said Melmo! She's doing great:) She's pee pee's on the potty almost every time...The times she doesn't, we aren't home so she doesn't have the option. Now we just have to work on the stinky part...That will be a challenge because that always happens when she sleeps. It's very rare for it to happen other than nap or nite nite time! BUT we've been having a lot of fun! She's gotten a lot of "nummies-gummy worms" for pee peeing on the potty, and she gets so excited when she goes;)

She put on my glasses the other day while on the potty...She was amazed that she could see so much more stuff:)

little moments....

I love my sweet baby girl. She has such the personality and makes me laugh every day! These are moments I never want to forget...

The other day we were playing with a box of pasta, making pasta necklaces. Annie Rice and Miley knocked over the box of pasta, and Annie Rice looked at Miley and said, "uh oh Miley". It was priceless. If only I could have had it on video tape!

She constantly says, Thank You to anyone who gives her anything or does something for her. The cute part is she most of the time says "Thank You Mommy" to everyone. In the last few days she's started saying "Thank You Daddy, and Thank You Miley." I love hearing her say Thank You Mommy...it's the sweetest voice ever. 

She loves wearing my shoes or really any of my clothes! Even if they are dirty, she struts around proudly. 

She's a cookie-holic. She ask for cookies all day long! A cookie can be cheerios, animal crackers, really anything that can go in her snack trap! This morning for breakfast she had an egg and nutragrain bar. When I gave her the nutragrain bar, she held it up, giggled and said COOKIE! Yesterday, she was having a cookie nightmare. She talked in her sleep for 20 minutes about cookies and kept saying, "No cookie". 

She shows everyone her shoes! If she's not wearing shoes, you know it! When we meet random strangers at the grocery store she will say, "Hi" point to her feet and say, "SHOES".  

She loves Miley, but has started saying, "No Miley, and Stay Miley." She's putting Miley in her place at an early age:) She will somedays bless Miley out for walking by her toy...On those days, I make her tell Miley she's sorry. It's pretty funny but very sweet.

I just love my sweet baby girl...To think that this time last year, we hadn't even met her and now I can't remember what life was like without her. I am so blessed. 

Thank you Lord for the trials we went through in order for you to bless us with this sweet little girl.

 showing off her fingernails...

we're going to DISNEY WORLD...

Well, I can breathe a little...I have 4 weddings left in my crazy busy wedding season! I still have 2 from this weekend to edit + the 4 coming up, BUT I can handle it. To look at all the work I’ve done in the last few weeks, this is nothing. I think as each weekend passes, I will be able to breathe a little easier each week.

Kaz and I have been thinking about what we were going to do for vacation this year. We thought about going somewhere for a week during the summer just the 2 of us, but there’s only one week we could go and it just didn’t seem to work out....SO, Kaz mentioned the idea of Disney World! I’ve always said I would never take my child at a young age because they won’t remember it...lines are long, it’s hot, and a day at Disney will wear you out, BUT after he mentioned it, I couldn’t help but be exicted! I know Annie Rice won’t remember it, but what I’ve realized is it’s more for our memories than anything. We are only going to the park for 2 days, and then spend 2 days just relaxing at the pool and exploring. It’s so exciting to me to go back to Disney espeically the week of July 4th, BECAUSE 7 years ago at that exact time Kaz and I had a 4th of July date at Disney that I will never forget! The summer we worked at Disney World was the best, and the night before we left for the summer he asked me to start dating! We have a lot of memories from our summer there and I’m so excited to go back and share that with Annie Rice. It’s a little celebration for her birthday and adoption day! I’ve already been planning her outfits BUT it’s hard to pick just 2 disney outfits. This is one that I’ve ordered except the bow on the shirt is yellow also and her name of course and not Sophie....

I also ordered these shoes except with a white minnie and black and white polka dot bow! That way I can change the shoe strings and it match every outfit:)

The second outfit, I’m having a hard time with deciding if I want it to be a minnie mouse, fourth of July mickey outfit, or birthday mickey outfit! I know, hard decisions right? I’m just thankful that I have a little girl to buy clothes for:)

Here are a few pictures in honor of our summer working at Disney world:)

our whole group...

The night these guys let 500 crickets loose in our room! Poor Kaz had to get everyone of them! I hate bugs of any kind, and stood on the bed until they were out of our room...problem is, they were there for days and we heard them chirping all night!

a few of the people I worked with!

the girls in my room...

Anne and Chris visited for the day.

on our Hawaiian date at the Polynesian Resort..

breakfast date in the park...

what a week....

I can’t promise my postings will go back to normal right away, but I’m gonna try! The last  few weeks have been insane! There’s no other word to describe it. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been incredibly busy...but I don’t even know that accurately describes my life right now! In the last 7 days, I’ve had 4 weddings, including one on Mother’s Day. I had been very bummed when I realized I booked a wedding on my first Mother’s Day, but I have to say it was a great day all together. Kaz left me little surprises everyday last week and it was very special! 

We also celebrated Kaz’s 31st birthday yesterday! He’s been talking about an iPad for months now, but I had him thinking that just wasn’t going to happen right now! Last week, I told a few lies[just a few] and not only surprised him with an iPad but took him to the Apple Store to pick it out himself! He still didn’t believe me when we got there, because my lie of why we were going was so good! 

Annie Rice has been walking away! She’s been doing so good...She fell on Tuesday and got her eye pretty good..after that, walking wasn’t the first thing she wanted to do, but she’s back at it! A lot has been going on with her developmentally...I will share more on this in a separate post, but it’s caused for a lot of tears! 

We found out this morning that she has hand, foot, mouth disease! She normally is an awesome sleeper but last night she cried out all during the night. This morning when I got her up, she was covered from head to toe in a rash. Below is a picture of one of her feet.

I’ve had a lot of fun with her this week! We made pasta necklaces and I painted her fingernails and toenails! She’s eaten most of the fingernail polish off 2 fingers!

Kaz has been laughing at me everyday, because of my previous post. He said I spelled a lot of words wrong and I use way to many exclamation points. PLEASE IGNORE all of my mistakes. It’s no secret I’m horrible in Grammar and English...right Anne?

Well that’s a little insight in our week. I’m off to another wedding on this rainy Thursday in Charelston!

 Sorry for the blurry picture..You can see the eye accident. 

 Kaz's birthday card...

 At the doctor's office. At least she's happy right now, even though her whole body is broken out. 

i was a soldier for the day...

On Tuesday, I was an extra on Army Wives! My mom came down and watched Annie Rice for the whole day! I had a call time of 430am, which meant I had to get up at 3am! It was a lot of fun, but I was VERY tired when I got home that afternoon and it was VERY HOT! I was literally in the direct sun for about 4-5 hrs in the army gear! It gave me a whole new appreciation for men and women in the military! The only downside was I found out a couple spoilers that won't air until next season:) Overall, it was a lot of fun but I did miss being at home with my baby girl!

In one scene, I was literally standing behind Colonel Burton and Michael Holden! I was so close I could have reached out and touched them! It was very cool:)