Early Morning Bloggin'

It's only 7:26. I've been awake since 6 but I'm still in bed. Leah is here next to me. She keeps whimpering and crying in her sleep. I think it's her teeth. The most confirmation I can get is that she won't let me touch them. She's always been fine with me feeling her teeth before.

So Leah had 3 teeth as she turned one. Right after she got her 4th. Totally she got 13 teeth in 11 months. So she started out slow and then zoomed through them & is totally "caught up" with the charts. All that is left is her 2 year molars. After near constant teething I really though we were gonna get a break from it. That last eye tooth took 3 weeks to break through. It was miserable!

She's had a fever on & off, bowel issues, she won't let me touch her teeth, and she's whimpering in her sleep. So, even though I don't want it to be true... I kinda have to admit it seems like she's going to get these blasted 2 year molars.

At least we'll be done after that right? *weeping*

So I'm up because Drew always sends me a text message when he gets called for work. This morning he sent it at 5:59. I had the phone on vibrate but it was laying on wood so it woke me up. With Leah's intermittent whimpering/crying in her sleep I can't get back to sleep myself.

I don't know that I ever said on my blog but we got two kitties! We decided to name them Benny & Joon (know that movie?) The orange one is a boy (did you know it's rare to have an orange girl cat? Something about the orange color being on the male gene most of the time) & the other is a black/white tuxedo girl. They are from a wild litter of kittens. We got them from the shelter. There was a full-page ad in the paper about how over crowded the cat area was. So off we went! I'm still having to work with them to get them used to human contact. Leah LOVES them. They are set up in the bathroom for now & every time we go in there Leah comes running so she can pet them. She's very gentle & it's so sweet to watch.

Sadly, Benny is sick now. I don't know if Joon will catch. Likely she will because it's "the cat cold". It's highly contagious. In an older established cat it's not a big deal but in this itty bitty kitties it's more worrisome.

Did you know a cat won't eat when they can't smell? Can you imagine when you got a cold & your nose was stuffed up if you just had to stop eating & drinking?

They are too tiny to not be eating and drinking. I've this cat cold in my house before. I had another shelter cat that came with it. Sigh. I had to feed her with a syringe to force it down her. We had taken her to the vet in Boise & she said to prepare ourselves but she wasn't going to live. Well, whatever! I nursed her through it. The other cat we had at the time got it too but she was older and while she lost a little weight was perfectly fine.

Benny's poor eye is all swollen too (the cold gets in their eyes). :(

Well, that's my early morning ramblings. I want to get up & move around but since Leah keeps crying in her sleep I feel stuck here!

Because I Said So...

I was just watching this movie (which I rented).

There's a line where a guy says...

"I love that when I breathe you in you smell like cake batter."

I love it. Love that line!

Bravery

My daughter was so brave today!

We went for a walk & there's an elementary park up the street with a park. I rarely walk that direction because it ends so soon it makes for a short walk but since it was so chilly (57 - it was 36 when I got up this morning & the wind chill was 24!)I decided to take a right and head that way. We were walking and Leah was pushing her little stroller packed with one of her dolls & her Elmo.

Anyway, about two blocks from the park she sees it, ditches the stroller, and just starts running down the side walk!

I guess first you need to know - Leah doesn't like parks. Every time I take her to one she sort of walks around and touches stuff and plays with it. However, she won't play on anything and any attempt to encourage her is might with clingy & fear.

But not today!

So we got over to the park & she kind of stands there checking everything out. It's a big park - several groups of swings, a smaller wooden climbing/slide/swing thing, and then a really big metal play thing with four slides coming off of it and lots of other climbing stuff.

So she says "Slide!" and heads over there. I'm thinking "Ya, right."

So I helped her up there & she stands there for a minute with this look I wish I could describe. The only thing that comes close is just grim determination. She was going down that slide no matter what. So I offered her my hand & down she went. "Again!" she says. (Meanwhile tons of praise for bravery from me!!) This time she didn't want me to touch her and she went down yelling "WHEEEEEE!" And then she did it a bazillion times. It was so amazing to watch her just decide to do it. She was totally scared at first & then she did it anyway! SO brave!

Then she walked across a bridge. It was railed on the sides but loosely and at least a foot over my head. She stood at the head of it for a long time before going through. Same look of grim determination. I went up there and walked back & forth across it so she saw it was safe. Then I stood underneath & stuck my fingers through the bottom which she thought was hysterical. lol

So today is the day of bravery!

Leah is so brave!

Toddler Trouble.

Leah - just this MOMENT - figured out how to open and shut doors. She's never been tall enough & just hadn't gotten it yet.

So she plays this game where she goes in & out of the closet but she never actually shuts the door all the way (it's a walk-in closet). But just now she shut the door all the way & I though "uh oh". But after a few seconds she came out & said "HEY!" and went back in.

Now she's done it about 10 times.

Great. Just great.

I WILL NOT celebrate this milestone.

And yesterday she got in her first "I'm in trouble with a friend" trouble. Her cousin (8 months older) was here (and SIL & 2 month baby girl).

They were playing with toys in Leah's room & suddenly I realized their voices were coming from the wrong side of the hall....
I run upstairs & they are in the bathroom - so far so good -

NO!

Leah has on no pants & no diaper. Elaina has on no pants & is working on her diaper. Leah's bath toys are in the TOILET and they are both wet.

That's right. You heard me. They were playing with Leah's bath toys in the toilet and laughing HYSTERICALLY.

And though I scolded them (and washed their arms up to the shoulders lol).

I gotta tell the truth - it warmed my heart & soul to stand there while my daughter got in actual mischief with another child for the first time LOLOL

BUT

Two toddler minds are NOT better than one.

Alas - Mommyland is as wonderful as ever. I sure do love this kid!

Leah's Name

I was reading some threads at forums today that had me thinking about Leah's name & I thought I'd share how we chose it.

First, I've been picking out children's names since I was in high school. On my list of girl names was always Leah. My sister's name is Leah Marie & I adore her ;)

One day when I was talking to D on the phone before Leah was born I asked her if she had named the baby. She said & I quote "I have but it doesn't matter. This is your baby & you should name her." I kept telling her I wanted to incorporate the name or something, etc. Finally I had to agree that I would name her whatever I wanted & not take it into consideration before she would tell me. She was hysterical about it but I was sad.

Anyway - FINALLY I convinced her & she said "Leah Maria". I about fainted. Cautiously, I asked how she'd chosen that name & she said "One night I was laying in bed & she was kicking me & I just said 'Leah Maria - knock that off!' It just came out like that."

I said, "D, that is my sister's name!" We were both just quiet for awhile.

I mean REALLY. What are the chances? She didn't look in baby name books, she didn't even think about it. She just called her a name I had on my list of 4 names. My SISTER'S name?

Anyway. I decided to actually just do Marie because I didn't like them both ending in the same sound. lol

I know in the online adoption world it is not PC to say that anything about adoption was "meant to be".

But even when D & I talked about it later we talked about how we felt this charge & sense of... I don't know.

So there you have it. And certainly - at the very least - it felt like Leah's name was MEANT TO BE!

*****

September 6, 2009
Adoption Round Table #6