It's Official!

" This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad."  - Psalm 118:24

The day we waited for finally came and we are filled with great joy, Kiley's Finalization Day !   We are elated and ecstatic really!  Although she has been ours for the last 7 months almost, the state now recognizes that WE are her parents.  I didn't think I'd be nervous, but more anxious.  Well, as the time drew closer, I became
even more nervous and anxious!  Everything went smoothly and took less than 20 minutes roughly.  A few surprisingly hard questions from the judge, but we must have done well, because she is OURS!!! Yay!  Scott's mom spent the day and last night with us.  She, my Aunt Pat and Uncle Jim came to the court house to support us and take video and pictures to always remember this special day.  Thank you so much!!! You guys rock!  My friend and neighbor, who works in the court building, was also supposed to be there to join in the celebration, but she was sick today.  : - (  God Bless her though, she got this beautiful bouquet of flowers that was absolutely gorgeous!! Many texts and calls came that let us know we were being remembered this special day.  Here are some pictures from the last few days and today,capturing our little blessing from above.  Thanks be to God!!!

I LOVE my giraffe!

I love to smile!

Ooooooooooohhhhh!

Mom loves that back side of my pants!!! 

Tummy Time Fun!

FINALIZATION DAY - Going to see the Judge!!

waiting for the elevator to go up to the court room

The McBride Family with Judge Dixie Park

posing with our social worker Missy

Scott's Mom

Yay!  It's official! 

I'm so happy I could drool!

6 Months!

I'm a "roly poly bug".

Today marks the day that Kiley was officially placed with us 6 months ago. Scott said to me, it's been half a year that we've had Kiley.  That really hit me!!! Amazing!  6 incredible months!

We just had our last post placement visit with our social worker from our agency last Friday.  We signed a few papers for the finalization and chatted a bit and we were done in about a half hour.  These visits really haven't been bad at all.  She just comes and asks what new things Kiley is doing and we talk about her non-stop really.


What is new?  Well... Miss "Drooly Monster" rolls over like crazy!! She rolls from back to belly like there is no tomorrow and then back again.  Belly to back, not as much, but she can do it!  She prefers to sleep now on her side or belly.  That freaked me out a bit because of hearing and reading how important it is to have baby sleep on her back.  Needless to say, after a night of almost no sleep and going in and turning her on her back when I heard her roll on the monitor, I learned the hard way.  Researched and read a million mommy blogs all saying the same thing... if she can now roll easily both ways, and lift and turn her head with no problems, she can sleep however she is comfortable.  SIDS decreases significantly once that happens.  So, I feel much better now.

Kiley is eating rice cereal once or twice a day.  Not much, maybe a tablespoon or more.  She sometimes does real well, but other times, it's on the spoon and next thing it's being sprayed in my face with a lovely raspberries sound!  She does love sitting in her high chair though!  She's a big girl now.

She can sit in her Bumbo seat.  It's cute to see her sit up and play with toys on her tray.  Especially this one merry go round like toy.  She really pulls and turns it, so much that it comes off both the high chair tray and Bumbo tray.

Kiley goes to the doctor for her 6 month checkup and shots this Thursday.  Anxious to find out her new stats.

She can pull her feet and toes to her mouth.  We just watch in awe of how flexible she is, my goodness!!

We are SO looking forward to the month of April.  The 16th is the BIG Finalization Day in court and the 22nd will be her Baptism.  Very special days coming up indeed!

"My "official" 6 month picture my mom makes me take every month."

You know I have to chew on my fingers at least once during photo shoots.  It's in my contract!

Okay, I'll "ham it up" a bit.  Daddy is making me laugh off to the side.

Our favorite "Smiley Kiley" picture this month.

Uncle Jeff came over and I loved touching his beard.  

This is my Bumbo seat. I'm learning how to sit up.

Doesn't she look guilty here?  It's like she's saying, "What?!!! You talkin' to me?"

Mom has been waiting for me to grow into this outfit!

I'm a cuddle bug.

5 Amazing Months!

I know I say this every month, but... WOW!  Kiley is just the most amazing little thing that entered our lives!  She got sick again, poor thing.  I don't think she even knows what healthy is!  That's sad for a mere 5 month old.

The last few weeks though have been more than "eventful".  On Super Bowl Sunday, she rolled over for the first time!! She was enjoying tummy time and trying to watch the football game, (the bright colors catch her eye), and she just rolled over and smiled!  I put her down again and she rolled over a 2nd time!  So, then we got smart and grabbed the video camera and caught the 3rd roll on our camcorder! (Duh, I know!!) She giggled and didn't quite know what she did to get that response from us, but it was pretty cool to watch.  She has not done it since then, but I'm sure it'll happen again soon.  The next weekend, she got her first tooth!! Yeah, I know, too soon too I thought!  Apparently not.  It didn't seem to bother her.  She just loved stuffing her fingers and whole fist in her mouth and drooling.  Then this last weekend came.  Oh boy!  It was supposed to be a fun birthday weekend for me, but it was nothing but.  I got the flu and was really sick.  Kiley refused her bottle all day off and on and took very little formula Saturday.  She became increasingly fussy and we were starting to worry about dehydration and what else might be going on with her.  Ended up calling the dr. and they refer you to the nurses at the hospital.  They thought she might have an ear infection and to take her to Stat Care.  Well... Scott had to go without me, because I was so sick and probably contagious.  It's probably a good thing I didn't go, because he told me all the things they did to check her out and I would've been balling my eyes out I'm sure.  She had bloodwork done.  They couldn't find her veins easily so she got poked and prodded in both arms. : - (  She had a chest x-ray, she was starting to get a cough again.  Her ears were fine, blood work came back fine, her chest was good, she was just cutting her 2nd tooth!!!!!! Kiley got extra TLC when she got home of course.  She was a trooper though!  Since then, though, I got better, but she got worse.  That cough is terrible to listen to!  Took her to the doctor yesterday and she has a viral infection.  Probably from my illness over the weekend.  She is on Prednisone.  She's been drinking more and we've supplemented with Pedialyte.  I've been and going to stay home with her the rest of the week to get her healthy again.

We received information from our agency and attorney for Kiley's Finalization Date.  We are SO looking forward to April 16th!  It will mark the "final" process of this beautiful journey we have been on.  It will mark the final day of our adoption and she "OFFICIALLY" becomes OURS!!!!! (although she has technically been ours all along in our eyes!)

We went to Baptism Class last week and took Kiley with us.  She was as good as gold!  We are hoping to get that date on the calendar here soon too.  We just have to wait confirmation from our church for the day we requested.  All in good time, I know!  We viewed a video of the baptismal process with infants and I already know I will not make it through without crying tears of great joy!  Heck, I even teared up watching the silly video!   Mushpot, mushpot, mushpot!  I know!!

So, those have been some highlights of our recent weeks.

Now for some pictures of how much Miss Kiley has changed and grown!  She is now 14 lbs. 25 inches long almost!  Eats 6.5 oz. every 3 hours or so.  Sleeps pretty good throughout the night.  Still smiles non stop.  She actually giggles when you blow "raspberries" on her neck or belly!  It's precious!  She coos and tries to talk with us a LOT!  Some days she has so much to say!  Her ezcema has cleared up quite a bit.  The new pediatrician prescribed this Derma Smoothe oil that really works well.

The look of concentration... "Where are you my yummy fingers?"

Kiley LOVES her daddy!  Sharing some tender moments.

"Ooooo, Daddy, I love feeling your whiskers!"

A parent got this cute little outfit for Kiley for  Valentine's Day.  It will be a perfect for spring!

Cutie Patootie!

"Mom is at it agaiin,.  Here's my "official" 5 month picture."

Mommy and Daddy love my blue eyes.

Such a big girl!

4 months

I love each month's milestone on the 22nd, but in the same token, I miss my baby when she was a tiny peanut!  A third of a year has gone by and holy moly, this baby girl is growing, growing!  She will go to her 4 month checkup with her new Pediatrician next Monday.  We are anxious to see her stats and how this new doctor measures up.

Well, some highlights for this month include:

Kiley is now drinking Similac Alimentum formula.  It is hypoallergenic and seems to really help with some of her symptoms she had a month ago.  We tried Soy, but that is too much for her little system.  She drinks in a "big girl" bottle.  No more little short bottles.  She drinks 6.5 oz. every 3 hours or so in the "tall" bottles now.

Ohio weather is does not help her ezcema and dry scalp.  Uggghhh. This poor girl can't get enough moisture in her skin.  We've tried Aveeno Baby Ezcema, Cetaphil, and now we're on to Aquaphor.  It is better than all we've tried thus far, but I hope maybe the new doctor will be able to prescribe something stronger.

Kiley has outgrown most of her 3 month clothing and fits in her 3-6 month stuff and even several 6 month outfits.  It depends on the brand though.  Old Navy and Target clothes tend to run small I've found.  But that's fine, she is wearing some of the cutest outfits for daycare.

She has discovered her thumb.  She still has some trouble initially, but once she finds it, she sure enjoys it.
She drools up a storm.  Most of the time her hands are covered with newborn socks because if we don't, she will "paw" at her face and scratch herself and her head.  She has given herself some pretty good scratches and rubbed her head raw one time.  We swaddle her in these cool little "sleep sacks".  They have velcro built into the blanket so it's easy to wrap her up.  Trouble is, Kiley is a little Houdini.  The little escape artist can work her arms out if she really wants to.  I can hear her on the baby monitor at night, grunting as she squirms and maneuvers her wiggly self out.  I walk in...turn on the light and what does she do?  Smiles from here to the moon!  She grins so big, you can't be mad at her!

This is one her  sleep sacks.  Notice her sneaky little hand creeping along her face?

A close up of just how she does it!  She her scratch marks too? 

That is the other HUGE thing she now does almost nonstop... SMILES!!! It's the kind where her "chipmunk" cheeks smile so much, they push up into her eyes and makes little baby "crows feet", but the most adorable ones you've ever seen!

Here are just a few pics, she got a little fussy mid way through.  Plus, she still loves putting her fingers in her mouth nonstop.  It's because she doesn't have socks on them!  She thinks, "My hands are free! I'm going to thoroughly enjoy them every second I can ,before Mommy and Daddy put those dreadful socks on me again!"

Scott is just off to the right trying to make her smile again.  She's staring him down.

"Are we almost done with this?"

"Whew!  I am exhausted, can you just put me in a onesie and get my bottle ready?"

3 months and Christmas

Where does time go?  Oh my word!  It seems like Kiley was just 6 weeks old, I went back to work, and BAM!, now time has been "fast forwarded" to 3 months already!!! Well, throw in the holidays and all the hustle and bustle involved with that, plus a lingering illness and it's easy to lose all sense of time.  Christmas was truly a beautiful day.  We enjoyed having Scott's mom stay with us Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  She got to see Kiley on Christmas morning and watch as we opened her gifts.  It was a most enjoyable time!
Later that evening, we traveled to my Uncle's for Christmas with my family.

Patiently waiting for Santa...

3 Months - couldn't keep the fingers out of the mouth

more tasty fingers...

Daddy opening one of Grandma's gifts for Kiley.  She is snoozing away.  The excitement of Christmas was too much!

Kiley continued sleeping, so we kept unwrapping.  She LOVES this puppy from Grandma!

Grandma loves her "Kiley collage" we made her.

Over Christmas Break, we were right in the middle of  "tummy time" and guess who fell asleep?  

My Aunt Pat got Kiley this adorable pink coat and I  HAD to try it on her.  It's  ADORABLE!!

Wardrobe change... another gift.  A tad big for now, but not much longer and I won't have to roll up the sleeves or legs.




Summing up the last month or so...

Recently we transitioned Kiley into her crib, from her car seat.  She had to sleep upright because of her mild reflux and cough/stuffiness.  But... the cold is sloooooooowwwwlllllyyyyyyy going away.  Just a little coughing in the morning and a little at night before bed.

She is up to 6 oz. now of formula every 3-4 hours.  We are trying an experiment with Alimentum to see if that helps with any of her symptoms.

Kiley weighed 11 lb.s and 2.5 oz. at her Dec. 23rd doctor appt.  She slipped a little percentile wise in weight because of her illness.  But, we bumped up her oz. and frequency to "chub" her up a little more.

She is a happy girl MOST of the time.  We call her "Smiley Kiley" all the time.   She's cooing up a storm most days.

We have several nicknames for her.... "Stinkapotamus" (for obvious reasons),  "Squirmalicious" (always moving and kicking, especially during diaper changes) , "Kiley Monster" (for her moody moments), "Drooly Bug" or "Little Spittlebug", (I need to find a way to make burp clothes a fashionable part of my outfit.)

We received information from our agency that the adoption finalization will take place either April 2nd or April 9th.  We are super excited for that!  We just finished our 4th post placement visit with our social worker this week.  All went well.

She will more than likely be baptized on April 15th.   The church requires adoptions to be legal before baptizing.   Kiley has been coming to mass with us and doing pretty good!  She usually sleeps for the whole thing.

Tomorrow, we go back to work and school and daycare. : - (  Mommy here is praying for a snow day!  I have thoroughly enjoyed snuggling with my sweet baby girl!

I hope to post her 4 month pics in about 3 weeks.  Hope everyone stays warm!