No more ba, ba.....

That's right no more ba, ba (aka the bottle) for Jetta. We have been bottle free for nearly 10 days now. The first few days she was a bit resistant, but then finally decided that taking milk from a sippy wasn't so bad. She even has started to drink from a straw and seems to like that. Also, if you help her, she can drink from a regular cup. So, now that we have the ba, ba out of the way, things are much easier. She is such a big girl and can't believe how far she has come in the past almost 5 months. I look forward to every day with her, just to see what new thing she will say or do.

Her latest word is "morrow"....for "see you tomorrow". Last Thursday when I picked her up from Carrie's, I told her, tell Carrie you'll see her tomorrow and as plain as day, she said "morrow". Both Carrie and I just looked at each other and laughed. When she speaks it's so clear and think within the next few weeks she'll be saying even more. At this point she is saying about 20 words, which I think is pretty darn good, considering just a few months ago she had never heard English. I think once she does start talking we're going to be in trouble, cuz she loves to talk now and she isn't even saying much, so once she figures out how to actually tell you what she's thinking....oh boy!

I'm so grateful China chose her for us, she is so amazing and makes my life complete. I never knew being a parent could be so wonderful, but am glad that I waited and she was chosen for me. Adoption is life's miracle to a family!

Voting begins....

Just a reminder to vote for Jetta. The voting officially starts tomorrow, July 20th. So, please log on and give her your vote. I'm not exactly certain of what number she is now, as she seems to keep moving, as more and more babies are being added, but think you should be able to pick her out. She is the Asian cutie.......thanks for your votes and let's bring home a winner! As a reminder the address to vote is TheBullRocks

A day at the zoo....

Yesterday we took Jetta to the zoo for the first time. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and figured we'd take advantage of it. We met our friends Tammy and Paige there and enjoyed spending the day with them. Jetta seemed to really enjoy all the animals. Each time she saw something she would get all excited and point. She also got to ride on the carousel, which she wasn't real sure of at first, but by the time the ride ended, she seemed to enjoy it. After a few hours there, we opted to head out, as Jetta was getting tired. We had to park quite away from the zoo, as it seems everyone had the same idea of going since the day was so nice. We had barely even gotten out of the zoo and she was already asleep. I'm pretty certain we'll be making more trips there, as she gets older, I think she'll enjoy it even more. I'll post a few pics from the day.

Last post I promise

Sorry I have posted so many things, but I had alot to catch up on. However, this is the last post, but did want to make it. We entered Jetta into a cutest baby contest at a local radio station. If we win, we get two tickets to an upcoming Cardinals game, as well as dinner at one of the former players restaurant. We thought, what the heck, why not enter her, after all she is the cutest baby, right? The voting does not begin until July 20th, but I wanted to at least let you know about it and ask that you mark your calendars and vote for her once voting begins. You can log onto http://www.thebullrocks.com/ and look for the cutest baseball baby photo contest. She is baby number 71. So please vote and we'll let you know if we win. Wish us luck. The attached picture is the one we submitted.

Just a few short months ago...

As most of you know when we first got home Jetta hated her carseat. These pictures tell a much different story. After our little mishap the other day, we brought in her carseat so I could clean it up. Daddy put his in my car, so it is still sitting here in the house. I guess Jetta now likes it so much she thought she would go sit in it and enjoy a little snack. She now goes to the pantry and grabs the bag. She climbed up into her seat and just sat there like a big girl and ate her snack. The one picture with her wrinkly nose is just one of her many faces. She is such a hoot!

Grandma and Grandpa Vaughn visit....

This has been a big week for Jetta, not only did her Grandma Alexander visit, but so did her Grandma and Grandpa Vaughn. They called us the other night and said they might drive down on Saturday to visit for a bit and to have lunch. So, yesterday we talked with them and they decided to drive down. They got here late morning, visited and then we went to lunch. After lunch we went back to the house and visited a bit more before they headed back home. It was great to see them and like all her other grandparents, grandpa spoiled her too. Check out Jetta's shirt in the picture with grandpa.....we bought this a long time ago and thought it was adorable. Check out those piggies...they are getting so long and so darn cute if I do say so myself.

Our Little Einstein....

I'm posting this because I feel like the pictures are too cute not to share. The glasses are Shannon's moms reading glasses and Jetta seemed to enjoy putting them on. So, Shannon snapped a few shots. Maybe we should call the Little Einsteins or Harry Potter and see if they need another cast member? I just think she looks adorable.

The Little Gym....

These pictures are from The Little Gym. The Little Gym is a great place for kids. Carrie, our neighbor who watches Jetta, told me about it and so while I was off we took a tour and decided it would be good for her. They do group activities that encourage the kids to interact together, follow simple commands, sing songs and become independent. They also have time to explore the gym each time, which means they go and try out all the different apparatuses. They have several different levels of balance beams, uneven bars, and other gymnastic type equipment. Jetta loves the balance beam and is doing very well on it. I barely have to hold onto her and she will even do a front rollforward on it. She is also quite strong and will hold onto the bar and let us swing her. She is doing very well and seems to really enjoy it. We might have a future gymnast. She loves the instructor Ms. Megan. She has several more months in this class, which is the birdies and then will move up. I feel that this is very good for her and it allows her to interact with other kids and learn to share and be patient. My next thing is to enroll her in swimming lessons, as I feel that is a very valuable skill to have.

15 month check-up....

Our little girl is growing up and out. Yep, that's right, she is growing. She is now 17 pounds, 12.5 ounces, just 3 ounces short of gaining 3 full pounds since we brought her home. When we took her to her first visit, they said she was 14 pounds 15.5 ounces. She has also grown 2 1/4 inches. When we brought her home she was 28 1/4 inches and now is 30 1/2 inches. I guess that explains why we had to buy her some longer pj's and finally bigger shoes. When we got her she was wearing a size 3 shoe and this past week when we took her to Little Gym, she let us know that they were to small. So, I felt them and they were definitely to small. So, on Thursday we went a bought her a size 4 tennis shoe and sandals. Finally, she's growing. She is still wearing mostly 6 to 9 month clothes, a few 12 month shirts and pj's, but that is it.

At this visit she was suppose to also get 3 vaccinations, but since we had the little mishap on the way there, we opted to wait until her 18 month visit....this kid will do anything to get out of a shot...ha, ha!

Additionally, we talked with the doctor about Jetta getting an MRI for her tethered spinal cord. When we first came home, the doctor told us that she thought Jetta might have a tethered spinal cord, which today doesn't mean much, but in the next year or two it could create problems. The most common problems would be bowel and bladder problems, as well as possible paralysis. When we first got home she wasn't quite big enough for an MRI, as they will have to sedate her, in order to get a good scan. However, with her weight gain, she is now okay to have the test. We are waiting to hear from the doctors office on when the appointment will be, but are anxious to get the test done and to determine if its anything with need to be concerned with. The doctor says that 85% of the time it is nothing, but it's better to be safe, than sorry. As of now, I'm not to concerned, as she seems to be just fine, but don't want to have problems in the future.

In addition to her growing and gaining a few pounds, she is now getting 5 new teeth (all at once). When we saw the doctor I told her that I had almost given up on her getting any new teeth, as it had been months since she got her last 2. In fact it was when we first got home from China 4 months ago. She said, well, typically they get 4 teeth every 4 months. So, surprisingly that works out for us.....5 teeth and her last 2 were 4 months ago. So, once she gets these in, she'll have 11 teeth. She is doing really well chewing with the 6 she has, but I'm sure the other 5 will come in handy. She's been a drooly mess, but otherwise not to bad.

I think that pretty much covers her visit and we don't have to go back until she's 18 months, so we have 3 months before that, but am sure it will go by to fast. My little girl is growing up so fast, but I am so pleased with her progress and can't wait to see where she's at when we have our next visit.

Grandma Alexander visits....

Shannon's mom came to visit us this past week. She came in on Tuesday and left on Friday. It was great to see her, as it has been quite some time since we last saw her. Jetta and her became fast friends and really seemed to enjoy each others company. Of course, just like her other grandma, she came bearing gifts and enjoyed spoiling Jetta just a bit more. It was Grandma's birthday on Tuesday when she arrived, so after we went to Little Gym, we took her to dinner and gave her her present. We gave her a collage picture of Jetta from her first photo shoot and a necklace that we brought home from China. She loved them and we were glad she was able to be here to share her birthday with us. Unfortunately the whole trip wasn't as pleasant....Jetta broke grandma in and broke her in she did. On Thursday we went to Jetta's 15 month doctors visit and on the way Jetta decided to share her already digested milk with us. Not fun....this was the first time she has thrown up since we got her. However, grandma was great, she ripped off her seatbelt and pulled her head forward, once I got to a place where I could stop, I got out of the car, went around, pulled her out and got a wiff....whew not pleasant. I took Jetta around the back of the car, opened it up and stripped her down, so all the passerbys got a glimsp of my half naked baby. Meanwhile, grandma grabbed the wipes and went to work on cleaning up the carseat and the back of the car. Once we got things cleaned up the best we could and got Jetta calmed down, I called the doctor and said we were gonna be late. I had to head to Target to buy a new outfit for Jetta and some air freshner. Yep, that's right, I had to go buy clothes, as I only had the small diaper bag with me and didn't have a change of clothes with me. However, I do now, along with a pack of back-up wipes, air freshner and towels. Once we got that all done we headed back to the doctor for her check-up. I'll write a separate post with those details. We had planned to go sightseeing that day, but figured it was best to just stay home. On Friday, we had to take grandma back to the airport and tell her goodbye. It was a great visit and we enjoyed our time.

Three feet....

This is a picture that Shannon took last weekend. He had taken one with just he and Jetta's footprints and I said it would be neat to have all three of us. So, here is a picture from last weekend when it was raining and we were able to get all three of our footprints on the front porch. I love the picture, hope you enjoy it.

Jetta's driving....

Well, not really, but she did get her first trike and as of right now she can't reach the peddal's, but she loves getting on it and having us push her around. She climbs up on it and will stand on the seat, she is quite the little dare devil. She doesn't seem to have a "fear bone" in her body. It has blinkers, a horn and music, and when she hits the music button she dances to it. She seems to really enjoy it and I love seeing her on it. I'll include a few pictures.

Daddy's little helper and our last picture of Sammy....

This post is a tough one....while the picture is very cute of Jetta helping her daddy put mommy's new elliptical together, it's our last picture of Sammy. It was a rough week for us a few weeks back. We unfortunately lost Sam, our sheltie. He was 7 1/2 years old and was a great dog. He had been sick with his thyroid for quite some time and had been fighting a weight problem. Unfortunately 3 weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon we lost him. He was here at home with us, which I'm grateful for, but it still was very hard. He was such a good boy and we miss him immensely. We had him cremated and got him back last week and Shannon put his final touch on his box....he didn't have Sammy put on the tag, rather he had Chubby and for any of you who know us, Sam went by many names, Chubby, Chubs, CB, Table Top to name just a few. There are many more, but these are the ones that we used the most. I do however feel grateful that we lost him here the way we did, because just a few days later, our neighbor's car went through our garage and may have hurt him to a point that we would have lost him anyway. The side of the garage that the car went through was the side he laid on and with him being so heavy, he may have not been able to get up out of the way fast enough. Fortunately both Peanut and Takai were able to escape unhurt. They were both just shaken up and Peanut had made .6 miles of a trek away from home. We finally found her 5 hours later and she was very glad to see us. I'm sure glad that even though she crossed two major roads and was gone for an extended period of time that we got her back safe and sound. So, as I said, the picture is very cute and shows just how big Jetta is getting, but it is also hard for me to write about this. So, for now Chubs I write this to you and you will always have a special place in our hearts and memories. I've also included one of our favorite pictures, the black and white one of him, it shows just how sweet he was.