Play time

Annaka loves to sit facing the steps. She has a fun game she plays with Comet. Comet goes on the other side of the steps and he tries to bite her fingers. Its all fun and games until Annaka gets bit to hard and decides she is tired of the game. Then she cries and looks at me to console her... Scott had to lower the gate because we were afraid she could scoot under the gate. So now it is low enough that we will not have to worry about her. Excpet now Ally' s cat Daisy cant get her fat tummy under the gate to go downstairs. Such is life they say.

Chicken Pox???

Well, the latest in our household is that Annaka has chicken pox. I took her to the doctor yesterday because she had a very strange looking rash, well to my surprise it is chicken pox.
I still have my doubts, but I do think it probably is. The thing is she hasn't gotten a fever yet or really had much more bumps appear. I talked to one of my friends who is a nurse and she said sometimes children can get a reaction to the chicken pox vaccination. Annaka had her chicken pox shot on Tuesday, but the amount of pox that she has is to many for only a reaction to the shot.
Today Scott and I were supposed to bring her up to the Twin Cities for her post placement meeting but we had to reschedule. We will have to see how she does this weekend. hopefully she wont get much worse but I think that's wishful thinking.

Had to write to tell everyone that I took Annaka in for a second opinion. It just didn't make sense to me, because we were not seeing anymore spots develop or a fever. Turns out she has "folliculitis" it is a inflammation of the hair folicle. She also has a boil, which is pretty big. He put her on a oral antibiotic for 10 days. I am so glad that I brought her back. This makes so much more sense to Scott and I.

A little of this and a little of that

Annaka continues to change everyday. She is getting more verbal. Yesterday I took her to the doctor for her immunizations and while we waited she chatted with a older man. He didn't have much to say to her, but she sure talked his ear off and had to show him her play phone. I had to chuckle because I don't think the man knew what to do or where to look.
She has gained 4 pounds since we have been home. Her crawling is getting better and better, before I know it she is has usually crawled down to Alyssa's bedroom.
We finally made it to a coffee date about 1 week ago. I took a picture of Kaelyn, Laney and Annaka enjoying some play time. The girls are so fun to watch.
Annaka has a favorite toy that seems to sooth her. The yellow ducky that NaNa gave her. She brings it to every room we are in. When she holds it her soothing tongue sucking starts, its so cute to watch her do that. I am glad she found something in the orphanage to make her feel secure.
My sister, Paige came to meet Annaka. Unfortunately, we were side tracked by the goodbye's for Echo, but they still got to know each other. Annaka seems amazed at hats and glasses. When Paige was leaving, Annaka kept wanting her to hold her.

My Forever Friend

This was a hard week for me, on Tuesday I had to let my cat, Echo go to Heaven. He would have been 20 years old on April 2nd. Its hard to imagine I will not touch, see or hold him again. I know he is in a better place, he can run, jump and play like he did when he was young.

I found this poem and thought I would share it. Thank-you to everyone who was there for me. Thank-you for all the cards I recieved and for all the comfort everyone showed me. But most of all thank-you Echo for being such a special part of my life. I will never ever forget you.


They will not go quietly
the cats who've shared our lives.
In subtle ways they let us know
their spirit still survive.
Old habits still make us think
we hear a meow at the door.
Or step back when we drop a tasty morsel on the floor.
Our feet still go around the place
the food dish used to be,
And, sometimes coming home at night,
we miss them terribly.
And although time may bring new
friends and a new dish to fill,
That one place in our hearts belongs to them
and always will....

Playing around with her Best Friend

Laney came over to play on Saturday (along with her mom, dad and big sister). Laney would not get off of Annaka's little rider, she sat on it most of the night. Can you guess what she is getting for her shower gift from us? We finally got a good picture of the girls together. I had to show you all. You probably can't see that Ashley is hiding behind Annaka holding her up. It was the only way we could get them both to sit on it. Trying to get a picture of 2, 13 months old is really tough! The girls had a lot of fun.
Annaka is changing everyday. This morning was the first day she actually played in her crib when she woke up. I finally went in to check on her and she was talking to her stuffed animals. I can see her becoming more and more comfortable everyday. She talks away to me in her car seat whenever we go anywhere (that is when she isn't crying, she doesn't like her car seat!).
I have noticed my posts are getting more and more infrequent, sorry ,but I am having a harder time keeping up with things now that she is crawling. Think of my life when she starts walking!

Little Miss. Stinker

This has become quite the activity to keep Miss. Annaka busy. She loves to go to this drawer and pull everything that she possibly can out of it. I try to hold it shut with my foot sometimes and she gets very mad at me. Take a look at all the intresting things she has managed to throw on the floor!!! Then she looks up and me and tells me all about them... How fun, huh?