Amelia's First Movie

Before I begin this post, I'm going to preface it by saying that I realize Amelia does not like to watch television.  Don't ask me what David and I were thinking when we decided to do this.  I think it was purely selfish on our parts.

If you are going to take your daughter to her first movie, I believe that you should make it memorable.  It came to our attention by a fellow church member, Pam, that the Alabama Theater was showing The Sound of Music this afternoon.  David and I thought it would be a lot of fun, so we decided to take Amelia to her first movie.  Don't you think seeing the Sound of Music at the Alabama is the perfect first movie?  Well, we do!  

After church and lunch, we drove downtown to the theater.  We bought our tickets and chose our seats on the second floor in one of the box sections on the side.  We settled into our seats and listened to the mighty Whirlitzer Organ bellow out the score of the movie. The organist was amazing.  Amelia loved watching the organist play and was amazed when he ended the music, and the organ descended into the floor.  She was very concerned about it.  The movie began, and the huge screen caught Amelia's attention.  She was memorized when the singing began.  

 

Amelia stayed more focused than I expected considering she doesn't watch television and didn't have a nap.  Intermission couldn't have come at a more perfect time.  Amelia enjoyed exploring the theater.  She climbed each step to the very top floor where she was able to have a different view of the organ.  When intermission ended, we returned to our seats.  Amelia had a small snack and fell asleep in my lap.  This is the first time this had ever happened and was so sweet!  I enjoyed holding my precious child as David and I watched the remainder of the movie together.  Amelia awoke when the organ began to play.  She was so excited to see that it had returned to the stage!  We gathered our things and allowed Amelia to go to the front of the stage to get a closer look at the organ.  She was able to meet the organist who let her step on the stage to get the closest view possible.  

Overall, I think her first movie experience was a success.

Sarah's Birthday Party

Today, we went to our niece's birthday party.  Sarah turned 5 years old and celebrated her birthday with a pirate party at Chick-Fil-A.  Amelia had a blast on the indoor playground.  The little girls at the party were so sweet and helped Amelia climb the stairs and go down the slide.  This was Amelia's first time to have "fast food".  She liked the fries but was not impressed with the chicken nuggets.  I think she may have eaten 3 bites total of the nuggets.  She LOVED the peach milkshake and wanted that over eating her cupcake! 

Sarah and Amelia slid down the slide together MANY times.

Benjamin, Amelia, and Sarah on the playground.

Sarah and Amelia in the Chick-Fil-A car.

Isn't Amelia a precious little pirate!

First bite of nugget.

Amelia didn't really understand the eye patch.  It lasted about 10 seconds.

Family photo with the cow.

Giving RuRu some love

Don't forget the kiss!

Amelia and Aunt Laurie

House Update

We found a house, and the sellers have agreed on our offer.  The house needs some curb appeal, but the inside seems to be in great shape, and the layout will definitely work for us.  There will be a home inspection Monday afternoon to make sure there are no hidden problems.  David is very excited about the move, but I am still waiting until everything checks out with both houses before I really accept that we are moving.  The home inspection on our current house has been conducted, and the buyers have submitted a request to have some items from the report repaired.  We are in discussions about what we are willing to do for them.  Please pray that we make wise decisions and that everything with both houses work out easily.

Little Miss Smarty Pants

We have discovered that Amelia is a genius (or at least she is in our eyes).  Amelia is now able to identify her numbers 0-10, count from 0-10 (she skips 7 on occasion), and identify her shapes.  She has no interest in colors, so she may have a math brain.  We will continue to work on the colors and will begin introducing her to letters next. 

Here is a video showing her new academic skills.

 

Updates from the Pediatrician and Dermatologist Appointments

Update from the Dermatologist (this past Friday):

I am happy to say that some of Amelia's skin conditions are clearing up.  Unfortunately, others are still causing trouble.  The Molluscum treatments seem to be working.  Amelia only had to have 6 places treated compared to the 12-15 we usually have treated.  She has been such a trooper with her "boo boos".  The places on her face will hopefully go away on their own and no new ones will form.  The treatment (Beetle Juice) can cause scarring, so we don't want to take any chances with her pretty face.  The dermatologist says that Amelia has a very mild case and that it usually goes away within 1-2 years of onset.  We don't know when Amelia began to have this because she came to us with places already on her body, so we hope that we are close to the time frame.  Her body is now learning to fight this virus because of the treatment, and we are hopeful that it will go away within the next few months.

There are no signs of any scarring or problems from the scabies.

The infant psoriasis is still present on her hands and feet.  We are trying a new treatment, which seems to be helping some, but not curing it.  The dermatologist feels sure that this should go away sometime while she is 2 years old, because it mainly occurs in infants. 

Amelia has some eczema breakouts on her lower abdomen and knees, but we think this is caused by the hot weather and her sweaty skin.

We will continue to see the dermatologist every 3 weeks for follow-up treatments.  Please pray that her sensitive Asian skin will miraculously cure itself.  We can deal with sensitive skin, we just want to have the itchy breakouts go away.

Updates from the Pediatrician (today):

Amelia made it to 23 pounds now.  She has gained 1 pound since February and 3 pounds in the past 6 months.  She is 31 inches tall, so she has steadily grown taller (she was 27 inches in December).

The pediatrician is so very impressed with our girl.  She really enjoyed observing her in the room today and thinks that she is really progressing.  There were a few things on the 24 month checklist that she could not do, but that was mainly because we have not tried them with her (examples: stacking 7 blocks on top of each other and kicking a ball).  Language was a bit delayed, but we expected that.  She should be saying or at least mimicking 2 word phrases, and she absolutely refuses to do it.  We demonstrated this for the doctor, and she laughed and said it was like Amelia was trying to play with us.  There were also several things that she did in the room that were on the 3-year-old checklist (she dressed herself and only needed help getting one of her arms through the holes because her dress was twisted and pulling up the back of her diaper cover).

The doctor recommended that we do not start potty training her until she is at least 2.5 years old.  She said if Amelia is interested and asks for it then that is fine but to not push it.

Sleep is always a discussion, and we really think that Amelia will just be one of those orphanage children that will have issues with sleeping.  I hope it gets better so that I can get more sleep.

Unfortunately, Amelia had to have 4 shots today.  I thought she only had to have 2, but those 2 were the ones that would catch her up on the vaccinations she missed while she lived in China.  The other 2 were the ones she was really suppose to have at this age.  It was very traumatic, but a sucker and some rice for lunch helped.  What we didn't expect was that she would have a reaction to these shots today.  She didn't have much of one to the 4 shots on her last doctor's visit, but today she did.  Amelia ran a temperature and cried and cried because one of her legs hurt.  I gave her medicine and thought a bath would help (she loves baths), but she continued to cry.  She cried so much that she actually fell asleep in my arms.  This is the FIRST time she has EVER done this.  I had just taken her out of the bath and had a towel wrapped around her.  It was so sweet and such a new experience that I stayed as still as I could for 30 minutes until I felt like I needed to put a diaper on her.  I gently put her in her crib, but she woke up when I started to put the diaper on her.  She started crying again immediately, so I picked her up and decided to feed her dinner.  I think the Advil started to kick in because she perked up by the time David got home.  I hope that her legs are not too sore tomorrow.  Fortunately, we don't have any plans, so we can hang out at home.

Talk About Fast!!!

If you were praying that we would sell our house quickly, then I am pleased to tell you that we just signed a contract.  We have been in negotiations since Sunday and finally came to an agreement tonight.  I can hardly believe that this is happening.  Our first house had a contract in 3 days and this house has a contract after 1 week.  I would say that my dad builds a great house.  The buyers will have a home inspection within 10 days and then the final contract will be negotiated. 

Now, we need prayers that we will be able to find a new house that meets all of our needs pretty fast.  We looked at a house today and are looking at another one tomorrow.  Please also pray that my sanity remains intact.  David is really excited, and I have a headache and feel like I am going to throw up.  Also, if you have ideas about where to get boxes, please let me know. :)

Birmingham Zoo

This morning, Amelia and I went to the Birmingham Zoo with a group from our church.  It was my first time to the zoo in a VERY long time.  We have not visited a zoo since our trip to China.  In my opinion, the Birmingham Zoo is MUCH nicer than the zoos in China.  It was a very hot and sticky morning, but Amelia still seemed to have a great time.  She LOVED the train ride and watching the sea lion show.  She was more impressed with the water than the sea lions.  She also liked looking at the monkeys, and we both liked that it was air conditioned.  I wish we had been able to stay all day and see more of the zoo, but we had to get home for a rest. 

Here are pictures from our fun morning:

Amelia with Sweet Gifts

This week, we had lunch with my friend, Melissa.  She made Amelia the most precious outfit for her birthday.  I decided to let Amelia wear it to church today and took some pictures to share.  Melissa is so talented and is actually the person who taught me to knit.  I am so grateful to her for passing along her knowledge.  Now, I just need more time to actually sit and knit.  Amelia keeps me way too busy!  Thanks, Melissa!

Melissa even put her monogram on a diaper cover to match!

She's actually smiling in this picture!

It's also fun to twirl in this dress.

The Asian Bitty Baby was from my friend, Vickie, and the stroller was from my friend, Becky.  Amelia loved the stroller at first sight, but the Bitty Baby has had to grow on her.  She is just not that crazy about dolls with plastic heads.  This baby fits in the stroller perfectly.  Amelia likes to push her new baby all over the house, but it is also fun to take the baby in and out of the stroller.

 

Amelia has her two year appointment with the pediatrician on Wednesday.  I'll try to update the blog after the appointment.