Today is Elli's 1st day of preschool

Ellie first day of preschool was a mixed bag.  I didn't get to meet her teacher ahead of time as it was a little last minute when I found out she was starting.  We decided to let her ride the bus as the drive is about 20 minutes from our house.  However she was terrified to get on the bus and I felt awful.  I was not here when she got off the bus so my mom got her off the bus.  Apparently the bus driver said she cried the whole way home and that she is still a baby.  Isn't that the whole point of sending her to preschool??  To try to catch her up with her peers??  And of course she doesn't like the bus.  She doesn't have enough English for me to try to explain what the bus is, where it is taking her and why she is going on it.  Alas...we are still thinking of options on the bus.  I think it would be easier if they had restraints on it but they don't.  I didn't get any really good pics but I will post a couple anyway...their is one good one of Ellie and my mom.

What does the outside world look like again??

So I usually go to Wendys on fridays and meet with some friends in the adoption world.  However today I am still at home.  Ainsley is finally feeling better but I am still not top notch so I opted to stay home.  I am beginning to forget what the outside world looks like other than the glimpses from our windows!  My mom flies in tonight so that should be fun and hopefully I will be up to going to the airport to pick her up.  

Visiting with my mom and relaxing are our plans for the weekend.  Jeff has off on Monday and we may take the girls somewhere fun if we are all well.  Hope everyone has a wonderful extended weekend.  I am sure if we are all well it will be wonderful!:)

Sick!

Well...looks like the two older girls are on the mend.  Ainsley seemed to be sick only briefly and Mackenzie is finally after four days starting to perk up.  Now however I am sick.  I think I will be better in a few days but feel pretty gross right now.  You can pray that we don't infect my mom, who is flying in on Friday and my brother and his family, who have tentatively planned on driving up from SC for the extended weekend.

Lysol is my friend.

We also had yet another snow day today.  Too much of being in the house is making me stir crazy even if we aren't well enough to go anywhere!  After reading a few of my other blogs that I follow looks like there are other sick people out there too.  Hope we are all feeling better soon!

3 Month IAC Appointment

Here are two pictures of Ellie from yesterday before her IAC appointment.  We had her 3 month follow-up appointment at the International Adoption Center and it went well.  The 3 month follow-up is only with OT to see how well developmentally she is progressing.  She has made progress in all areas from her initial visit and they were pleased with that.  I think she is making amazing progress.  She finally has enough hair to get two little sprouts in it and I wanted to take a few pictures to mark this momentous occasion:)  I also had her transition meeting from First Steps to Boone County last friday.  It went well and we are happy with what will be provided for her in preschool.  She will be starting preschool at New Haven Elementary the day after President's Day in the AM preschool program.  Next year she will be going to Burlington Elementary for preschool but they didn't have any openings right now.  She will be transported on the school bus.  We shall see how it all goes and how she does.  I am hoping that preschool gives her opportunities to interact with her peers as most of the kids she is around are older than herself.

Mackenzie Montana..

Mackenzie singing with her new Hannah Montana doll

Mackenzie's 7th Birthday

Mackenzie celebrated her 7th birthday on friday night and I thought I would include a few photos...she still isn't feeling well but hopefully by tomorrow will be able to go to school. They had a snow day because of ice but she is still laying on the couch, not showing much improvement.

Trampoline

The girls received a trampoline for Christmas. They all love it but it was bought primarily with Ellie in mind as her physical therapist recommended it for her for her gross motor skills.

Here are just a few pics of her jumping on it.





Here is a video of her jumping. Enjoy!

Bath Time!

Here are a few pics of Ellie at bath time. My bible study group purchased a very cute duck bath set for Ellie before we left for China and we use it at every bath time She has mow moved from absolutely hating bath time to actually enjoying it. She still doesn't like having the water poured over her head but it is so much better now than it was before. She now will splash and play in the water, scrub her body with her washcloth and attempt to clean her hair. Here are some cute recent pics of her in the bath tub and afterward.

Gingerbread Houses

Here are a few pics of the girls working on gingerbread houses at Christmas. Jeff's mom brought out kits for the girls to use to make their own gingerbread house. Ellie chipped in by eating the frosting:)

A few pics of the girls at Chuck E. Cheese

Just trying to get caught up on my photo posting!

Pics of Mackenzie's school performance

Here is some not so good pictures of Mackenzie's first grade performance for the dance and drama class called Eeba Streeba. I didn't get any truly great shots but thought I would post a few anyway!

Mackenzie's teacher is in the last photo posted.  She is wearing a light blue shirt.  I think with my amazing photography skills, I should apply to work professionally somewhere. I would be a shoe in don't you think:)?

Ellie's Dedication

Hopefully I have figured out the computer issues and am now able to post pics. I finally found the cord to transfer pics and have found where my pictures go on the Mac when I transfer them. Now I just hope blogger allows me to upload. It hasn't on my Mac since I bought it so not sure if it is operator error or just blogger issues.

But here are some pictures of when we had Elliana dedicated at church. She is wearing a Chinese vest that we got for her in China while we were there. I think she looks adorable in it:)

The random picture in the middle is of Julie Flanagan, our fearless Children's Ministry Director and the back of Wes Sebree, our pastor.

The Jesus I Never Knew

One of my New Year's goals is to read a Christian discipleship/growth book once a month. The book for the month of Jan was The Jesus I Never Knew. Though I have started to read the book before I just haven't made it though. I am happy to say that I have finished the book though not completely in Jan. I thought it was amazing and challenging and convicting all at the same time. It really challenged my thoughts and perceptions of Jesus. How I view Jesus of the Old Testament is vitally important to how I see Him in my life today and how I should be living my life for Him. If any of you have not read the book, I HIGHLY recommend it to you. My book for next month, which is actually the current month, is Parenting the Strong-willed Child. I am looking forward to reading it and seeing what helpful parenting advice I can glean to be a more effective and loving mom to all of my kids.

I have a sick girl today. Mackenzie is sick with some kind of stomach virus. She has only thrown up once this afternoon but is running a fever and just not feeling well. I will be keeping her home from school tomorrow since she has yet to keep food down. However I have two appts for Ellie. Yikes...I guess if Jeff can't be at home, we will be rescheduling those appts.

It is also Mackenzie's birthday today. Happy Birthday to her! Poor girl sick on her b-day. However she did happily celebrate with a few friends on Friday night. The girls had a blast. I will post some pics soon but I am still uncertain how to post pictures on the Mac. There's no place to transfer photos directly from the SD card and I can't find the cord to hook the camera up to the computer. So until I find that or come up with some other solution...there won't be any pics posted. Hopefully I can solve the problem soon.

We went to church this morning and then to an open house for a Montessori school that we are looking at for Mackenzie for next year. She didn't start feeling poorly till after church and since we really wanted to check out the school we ran by right after church. Jeff went in to talk with the teachers, check out the school and get some more info. I stayed in the car for most of it and then went in quickly once he came back out. It seems like an amazing school but I think we have ruled it out due to distance and cost. Our options are dwindling, which is a bummer. But if God wants her elsewhere next year, He can work it out. Nothing is to big for our God. So I will continue to pray and trust that what is best for Mackenzie will work out.

Coming soon...a post on my opinions of our new Mac computer..you won't want to miss it!

Weight Watchers

One of my New Year's goals was to lose weight. Isn't that seriously 80% of people's New Year's goal? Now I have been trying for a while and the thing is I don't have that much to lose. 15 pounds max. But I haven't been able to take it off since Ainsley was born. I have tried the eating healthy thing but my issue seems to be portion control. I am not sure how most of you out there grew up but I was always told to eat what was on my plate and that there are starving kids all over the world...or was that what I used to say to my mom when she was praying too long at the meal..hmmm. I can't really remember now but the point it, eating everything on your plate is great IF you don't have too much on your plate. Which leads me to my next issue in weight loss. I eat too much! In the past, it hasn't been an issue because I have always been able to burn off all that I eat with all my exercise. I still exercise quite a bit but apparent my metabolism has gone on strike. So in an effor to meet my New Year's goals, I have joined Weight Watchers. Most of my friends, and I can tell this, think I am just plain crazy. You don't have any weight to lose, why would you do that..and on it goes. Though I know I don't have much to lose, i just feel much more healthy with 10 pounds off me. This Saturday will be my third meeting so we will see what I have lost. But I am able to say that I have lost 4 pounds already and have lowered my portions sizes and increased my fruits and veggies. So I am feeling successful already. And if I accomplish nothing else than that's is good enough...or so I say now:)

And on another note...I am still not over my Pats losing on Sunday. This has been a sad blow for me but I love how Bill Simmons, who write for ESPN has summed my feelings up. Jeff came home last night and pulled up this article and as Bill Simmons so aptly does...articulated my feelings in the perfect way. If any of you want to read it, here's the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/080204

Disappointed...

Well of course we are disappointed that the Patriots lost last night. They played horribly so who could really expect that they would win but all the same, a disappointing end to an amazing season. To shake off the blues I am folding laundry. Not really helping shake the blues though..neither is the gray, overcast day that is outside our window. However I am going out to dinner tonight so that should help:)

Anyway Ainsley and Ellie are playing on the trampoline and Ainsley skirt keeps falling off. Most skirt type things are difficult to keep up as Ainsley has a tiny waist so that isn't the funny part really. The funny thing is that Ellie is wearing some of those tight pants that are more like tights than pants so there's no way they will fall down. But in order to copy Ainsley, she will jump and then try to pull her pants down. Pretty cute and funny.

Not a lot happening today but want to try to keep consistent with posting so here I am. We will be filing our taxes here very soon so I guess that's pretty exciting! Or the tax return is at least:)

I will try to get some pics posted soon!

A very odd thing. I haven't been able to spell check the last two days. I am not sure if it is a blogger issue or an issue with the new computer. So if you see spelling errors, please extend some grace!

Happy Superbowl Day!

Unfortunately we do not all have Tom Brady jerseys...or even all have patriots garb. But Jeff has a Brady jersey and I was able to scrounge up a t-shirt from one of the last superbowls they won to wear to church today:)
So we are spending our day waiting for the time when we can watch the big game and hopefully see some serious football history in action! But until then, we watched the The Gameplan with Mackenzie and Ainsley while Ellie pretended to nap. Actually I put her down for a nap but when Jeff went upstairs to get ready to go for a run he heard her "talking" and went in to check on her. She was sitting up in bed just talking away. Pretty sure she hasn't yet napped. Oh well. Guess she'll be tired for the big game. She doesn't yet understand the importance of today but someday she will...someday.

Speaking of Ellie, she cracked me up at church today. I was helping out in the infant room because we were short staffed today. The infant room is right next to the toddler room. Since we are a mobile church and set up and tear down after every service, our area is open. So each room is a fenced in area with white picket fences that are attached together. I should take some pics and post them as I think it looks cool. But I digress. I was in one room with Ellie right next to me in the next fenced in area. They had just finished having a snack and apparently Ellie didn't feel she was done. I saw her walk over to the table that had the snack container on it and point to it, point to the teacher and then sign please. I had to laugh because although it was great effort..she just wasn't going to get any more snack! But it was really cute:)
Then of course on the way home, she fell asleep which leads to the current lack of naptime. She falls asleep in the car and sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how short the catnap was...she just won't go back to sleep. We'll see if daddy's encouragement of sleep helps.

Hopefully soon I will get a few pics of Ellie posted. We just had her dedicated and we did get a few photos though not a whole lot. And soon I will do a post on how I like my new Apple Macbook Pro. We decided it was time for a new computer and that we wanted a laptop so that I could take it anywhere in the house. From the reccommedations of lots of people, we decided on a Mac. The Macbook Pro was a great deal since I got a refurbished one. Or great deal comparatively speaking since the Macs cost about an organ more than a PC. I sure hope it is worth it but I will let you know what I think after I get some time so use it! So far so good...or at least for the most part but I will save that for a later post.

So on a great sunny day here in KY, may the best team win...or the best undefeated team win...GO PATRIOTS!!!

So now that I know what I am doing...

Here are some pictures of Ainsley before and during her preschool Christmas performance.

Ya'll better watch out because I am going to go video crazy! Just kidding. Seriously though I do have quite a few videos that I want to post that I have tried to post over the last few months and have been unsuccessful. So this video was taken at Ainsley's preschool Christmas concert. Hopefully I get the right one posted since we took several. This was done in Dec but since I just now figured out my issue with the video posting...alas you are all stuck watching old Christmas videos!

More cool video...I am loving this!

Playing in the snow

Here is another video of the girls playing in the snow...Enjoy!

And almost a month later...

I know I have been awful about keeping up with the blog. Computer time has been one of the things to go for me. I am going to try to do better as we have ordered a laptop that I will be using upstairs. Part of my problem is that our computer room is in the basement and although there are LOTS of toys down there, when I am on the computer neither Ainsley or Ellie want to play with toys. Especially Ellie finds the computer oh so fascinating and "helps" me by sticking her hand in to type and play with the mouse. It gets old quickly when I have to start over so I just have not had a whole lot of time the last few months to really be on the computer. By the day's end, I have all I can do to keep my eyes open longer than 10 minutes before I drop off to lala land.

Ellie continues to make improvements. It seems slow to us but I remember where she was over 2 months ago and I am blown away. She is saying about 7-8 words and signing about the same amount. She seems to be on the verge of saying more words and has started doing more babbling lately. She will play with toys though would MUCH rather have one of us holding her or chasing after her. She seems to LOVE to run/walk away from us when we are out in public and take our eyes off her for say half a millisecond! It is amazing for a child that was so slow to develop gross motor skills in the orphanage how quick she is here! The speech therapist is happy as is the physical therapist. We have yet another speech eval this week for the Boone County Preschool program. I think it is a complete waste of time, but then what do I really know. So we will go to that on Wed while Ainsley is at preschool and Mackenzie is at school. I am sure she's made it in but it is just a matter of whether they can accommodate me by getting her in morning preschool, otherwise it is a no-go. She won't make it without a nap that many days in a row. We meet to discuss all of our options for Ellie on Feb 6th I think.

Other than that, things are going well and busy as usual. I have dropped a few things for the time being to help Ainsley have some time with mommy as she has been struggling a bit in the last few months. I can see baby steps in her progress. She continues to do well in preschool and ballet. Mackenzie is doing well in school and ballet also. I just found out recently from her teacher that she apparently reads somewhere around 250 words per minute, which is pretty amazing. But she loves to read so I guess that makes sense. She has started a Sat program, called Explore More, that will continue for the next five weeks. It is for students who want some challenges academically and she is loving it. She is doing a class called "Fantasy in Literature" and they talked about Peter Pan this past week. She is looking forward to it which is great.

Thanks to my friend Kim Crawford for the help on video posting. I think we finally go it...we very much appreciate the help!

Appointments galore

I haven't been doing a very good job about keeping up with the blog the last few weeks. Ellie is doing really well and showing improvements and growth every day it seems. Sometimes it is slow going and sometimes it seems amazing but she is an amazing little girl. We have some cute videos but since as you can see from the last blog update that I haven't figured it out, I have given up trying to post any video. Suffice it to say she can be pretty funny when she tries to imitate everything that we do!
She was actually working out with me the other day trying to copy everything the workout tape did...and of course standing right in front of me, making it quite difficult to actually exercise but very cute to watch.
She is still having quite a few appt which keeps me really busy. Between her appts and Mackenzie and Ainsley we are hopping. But I do think at some point it must slow down! The orthotics that she was fitted for after Christmas will be coming in this week and I am excited to see if they help with upper and lower body strength once we start using them. She also will go to see the pediatric dentist about her teeth and under bite. Not sure if they will tell me they want to wait till her permanent teeth come in to do anything or if they want to try to correct it now..I am not sure if it is affecting her speech at all but we will see what they have to say on Friday. Then there's the regular speech and developmental therapies and ballet for the older two...and school of course. I am starting to get back into Mackenzie's school to help out weekly in her class so that will be fun.

Here's some recent photos of all the girls

Ok...so I think I have it...

I believe that Jeff has corrected the problem and that we can upload the video so I am posting video of Ainsley sliding and Ellie in the snow too. They really had so much fun that afternoon. We haven't had a lot of snow since..or well any snow since really so I am glad that I got the photos I did. The weather has been cool but not awful and no snow for Christmas. The girls have been enjoying time with their Grammie I and Uncle Adam. It is always nice to have family in town. Ellie went to get fitted for her new orthotics that she will be getting to help correct the fact that her leg tilts inward. She should be getting them in the next week or two and I will take some pics of them on her feet. They are pretty cute:) (her feet and the orthotics:)

Merry Christmas Eve Day

So Merry Christmas to all our friends scattered around the globe. I hope to get some pics up of the girls opening gifts on Christmas but still struggling with the video posting. Jeff isn't feeling well or I would ask him to figure it out. Oh well...our friends the Lukes were here briefly and of course we had a great time. Their kids are like family to us and it is always amazing how quickly they grow up..not ours but theirs! I am beginning to feel old at such a young age! But it was fun to see them. Brian, aka Mr. Luke, mentioned that Ellie was the first Miller child to not initially shun him...I think that's great:) Of course they all now love him and the rest of the Luke family.
Ellie received her Social Security card today! Yea!! Now I will go about applying for her US Passport and get started on the re-adoption stuff..though not certain of all that we need to go with that. She will get fitted for some special orthotics for her shoes on thurs and also have speech therapy, all while meeting her Grammie I and Uncle Adam. They are flying in the day after Christmas and will be here till Sat.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may we never forgot the true meaning of the season-The Celebration of Christ's birth!

Ainsley's Preschool Christmas Program

So I am trying to figure out how to upload video from our new camera. We used it in China and were able to upload then but now I can't seem to figure it out. Odd...hopefully you will see some video of her Christmas performance because it was great. We actually though Ainsley might not stay on stage as she is so shy or if she stayed she wouldn't actually sing...surprisingly for all of us...not only did she stay but she sang as well. In addition to staying and singing, she also put her arm around a boy! Hmmmm...at such a young age too! It was very cute:)

Well I have tried for about a half hour to upload video...and apparently you either can't upload it from our camera or I am just incompetent. So I will post some photos and be sad that you guys can't see the video I thought was so cute.

Official US citizen

Ellie is officially a US Citizen. Of course she was one as soon as she touched down on US soil but she has received her certificate of US Citizenship and a note from the president. I think I will put it in her scrapbook for her to treasure always..that is when I actually get around to scrap booking again! I used that certificate to and apply for her SS card which we should receive in 10-14 days. After that I will get her US passport and work on the re-adoption process.
She is doing great and we see constant change in her daily. She is gaining more and more sounds and word approximations and seems to like her speech therapist. She has also started PT and will be going to therapy every other week. We are waiting on lab work to come back from the geneticist to see if she has any chromosomal abnormalities though he doesn't appear concerned that she does. He is doing more to rule it out than actually suspect something. She still has more appt that we need to schedule. I fee like I am constantly at either therapy or appt but it will slow down soon and it is all for her benefit.
We are looking forward to our friends the Lukes coming on Sat and staying till Monday and then Jeff's mom and brother from Wed-Sat after Christmas!

Snow!

So we took Ellie out for her first time playing in the snow and she seemed to love it. I got a few cute pics of her and a quick video that I thought I would post. She went down out hill with Ainsley once and fell off. She didn't like that so much but then went down with me three times and loved it. Ainsley must be a bad driver:) Ellie is really doing well and making new strides every day. She can say up, hi, night-night, bye-bye (I think) and maybe one other. We have finished up all of our processing for First Steps and she starts therapy this week. She will have speech on Wed and then the developmental interventionist on Thurs (she is kind of a broad spectrum therapist who works on a bit of everything). She also goes to Children's today to get a PT evaluation to see what they think she needs. She is on the verge of running and her gross motor skills get better everyday. She did topple down the stairs last night. Not sure what happened as we let her climb up and down on her own and I wasn't watching. She wasn't hurt that we could tell though so that's good! Mackenzie has about a week and half left of school before her Christmas break that she is really looking forward to! She has been busy with school, ballet and playing with friends. Jeff too the two older girls to see Suessical at the Children's Theatre this past Sat evening and I stayed home with Ellie. They had fun and I got a lot of wrapping gifts done! Not sure what Ellie thought about it but she did keep trying to sit on the wrapped gifts! Ainsley is doing well. She has been battling allergy stuff for a while and we are still working on finding the right combo to help her. We just started on Zyrtec a few days ago so I will give it a few weeks and see how she does. She has had an everlasting cough that nothing can touch it seems, but last night was better and she didn't wake up thankfully. School is going well for her and she has her Christmas program on Friday night for preschool so that should be fun!