Just a couple of pictures

Big girl!

Jenavieve had her very first pediatrician appointment yesterday. She was so good! She now weighs 6 pounds, 10 1/2 oz, and is 20 inches long! Her head circumference is 14 inches if that means anything to anyone.

She is in the 3rd percentile for weight and 36th percentile for height. The doctor was also impressed at how strong she was for her size and said she is very healthy, just petite.

She has been taking 3 ounces at every feeding for the past few days instead of 2, and she never misses a feeding! Her Carter's preemie clothes with the footies don't fit her anymore, but the newborns are too big. Luckily Children's Place has an up to 7 pound size, so yesterday my mom took us out and stocked us up on sleepers. She is wearing one of them in the bottom 2 pictures.

This is Vivi with Jennifer, who was my very favorite doll when I was little (go figure, huh?)

Jenavieve with her bear

Picture Post

Here are a few random pictures from our first week at home.

Zoe has decided she likes the boppy too. Luckily she's good at sharing.

Jenavieve's First Bath

Vivi got her first real bath on Saturday night, and she was so good! We just used the bathroom sink, padded with a towel, since she's so tiny. She didn't cry at all when we put her in the water, she actually seemed to enjoy it, until we took her out and the cold air hit her. But cuddling in a cozy hooded towel made it all better!

We're home!

On Wednesday we were getting pretty antsy, we had been trying not to go too far from the hotel just in case we got our call, because we really wanted to get out of there as soon as we could. Well we didn't exactly get a call, we got a text message ?!?! that said "ICPC came through, you can go" Seriously? That's what we were waiting for?? Oh well, we checked the website for flights and found one that was leaving in just over an hour. I had already packed most of our stuff, so Eric took the rental car to get washed and put gas in it while I threw the rest of the stuff in our suitcases and we booked it out of there. We had 2 rolling suitcases, a duffel bag, the pack n play, a backpack, briefcase, diaper bag, and Jenavieve in her car seat with the base attached. We probably looked ridiculous! We didn't have to wait to return the car, and there was no line to check in at the airport. Just a little bit of a line at security and a guy who was skeptical of our formula, and we got to the gate just as they announced boarding. Phew! Jenavieve was so good on both flights, she didn't cry at all. 

When we landed in Detroit, I took Vivi into the bathroom to change her diaper and put on a special outfit. It is the outfit that my mom, and Janelle and I all wore home form the hospital. I thought it would be fitting for her to wear it home from the airport. My parents and Janelle and Ryan were waiting for us with a sign, and we took a couple of minutes to take pictures and for them to visit with Vivi, then a super nice guy put all of our luggage on a cart and took it all the way out to the car (where was he in Salt Lake City when it was just the 2 of us???) and we got to go home!

Someone anonymously snuck over and decorated our front door with a sign and balloons (thank you to whoever that was!) We also came home to a couple of gifts people had sent. It was so nice to be home, the cats were happy to see us, and felt huge after carrying little Vivi! I missed our shower, and my nice conditioner, the hotel had volumizing, which my hair did not appreciate!

Thursday Vivi and I went to work while Eric caught up on sleep. It was so nice to be back, I really missed the kids, and I think they grew while I was gone! After work, Vivi and I went to visit my mom at work so she could show her off to her coworkers. Then we swung home to pick up Eric and visit his office, then to Babies R Us to finish registering and over to my parents house to see Adam and Amy (and Aunt Karen and Uncle Chris!) While we were there, Sam and Lacey were driving by and saw our car and stopped by. Then we went to see Eric's parents and Grandma for dinner so they could see Jenavieve. It was a long day but it was nice to see people we knew besides Grandma Breakfast and Chase at the hotel desk!

A friend of mine recommended a product for Vivi's hair called Carol's Daughter Hair Milk. We couldn't find it in Utah so I had my mom pick one up so we would have it when we got home, so we tried that last night. It is supposed to moisturize her hair and scalp to keep them healthy while still keeping it soft. As I rubbed it into her hair, it suddenly curled up into tight curls! It was so cute! The top of it stayed, but the back and sides pretty much flattened out when she slept on it, but it feels a lot nicer, it was really starting to dry out in Utah. 

Today Eric went back to work and I tried to nap a little, but mostly tried to organize and put stuff away. No more suitcase living for us! My mom visited on her way home from work for awhile, and Uncle Rick and Aunt Laura stopped by too.

Tomorrow so far we don't have anything planned, so we're looking forward to spending some time just hanging out at home with the cats and the baby. I think Jenavieve might get her first real bath, so we'll post pictures of that! 

We wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for their prayers for us while we were on this crazy roller coaster, it was nice to know that the whole time we were there, there were a bunch of people all over the country praying for us, we really felt it, and God really took care of us, everything went so smoothly. We are so blessed!

Size Comparison

My mom has been asking us to take a picture of Jenavieve next to something, because all of the close up pictures make it hard to tell how little she is. We didn't know what we could use that everyone would recognize, so we came up with this.

Still in Utah...

We didn't get clearance today, so we're here for at least another day. Today was an adventure though, it really helped the day go by while we were waiting for our call.

We spent some time this morning with Jenavieve's Utah grandma, the woman who puts breakfast out at the hotel. She has paid attention to us since we first got here, and knows our whole story and Jenavieve's name, and got to know our family when they were here. Every morning she greets us and says "did you get your call yet?" She goes out of her way to help us, and it has been nice to have a familiar face here. This morning she told us that she would be gone until Thursday and that even though she was going to really miss us, she hoped we would be gone when she comes back. She also told us this morning that there was a kid at breakfast earlier who was coughing a lot, so she was watching out for us. She said "if I saw you coming down I was going to send you right back up!" She's so sweet. So we let her spend some time holding Jenavieve and talking to us, and got a picture of them. We're going to send her a nice thank you card when we get home.

After a mid morning nap, we headed to a local chocolate factory because the sign said they give tours. It was alright, we were the only ones there, and we watched a documentary on the history of chocolate, which was actually really interesting, and it was fun to watch it while smelling the chocolate in the factory. They are having their slow time so the factory was pretty empty and not doing too much, but we got to see what everything did and then we got a free sample. 

Then we went back to the Old Spaghetti Factory for a late lunch. The waitress who suggested we go to Park City told us to come back and see her before we left (we're quite popular in Utah!) and the food was really good so we went and asked to be in her section. As soon as she saw us she said "Did you go to Park City? How did you like it?" She was so sweet, she even remembered what we had eaten last week. She remembered that we have to go back to finalize in November and said "I'm still planning on working here so come back and see me!". When we left she packed up our leftovers and even gave us an extra little loaf of bread. Both times she packed us extra butter and packets that have forks and salt and pepper in it, since she knew we were staying in a hotel.

We walked down to Potter Barn Kids and got Jenavieve a cute little mouse house I saw on sale last week and had been thinking about. Its all fabric so it will be easy to pack and take home, and someday when she's playing with it I can tell her how we got it in Utah when we went to make her part of our family. 

We decided to take a scenic way home, and found a road that went up hill. We drive by this mountain every day that has these huge beautiful houses and we had thought it would be cool to go find it and see the view. So when we saw that road, we followed it. There was one road that was really steep, I don't think Eric's old truck would have made it up! The sub with the huge houses was gated, but there was another road, so we followed that, and ended up finding a park, which had a trail up the mountain to a platform at the top! It was about a half mile walk up to the platform that was 498 feet up. It was a little steep, but not too bad. Good thing Eric is strong, he carried Jenavieve up in her car seat! The view was worth it though!

The view from about half way up

The view of the Great Salt Lake off in the distance. The highway you can see about a quarter of the way up is the one we use to get just about everywhere. Our hotel is about 3 miles to the right.

The big white building in the center is the capitol building. We had just driven through there so it was really fun to see it from up so high.

Jenavieve and the Great Salt Lake

Park City, Utah

Today we drove up to Park City, which was up in the mountains, about 45 minutes from the hotel. It was a beautiful drive!

Outside of Park City 

The downtown was so cute, and had a bunch of little shops and restaurants

One of the little shops had a gelato and espresso bar in the back, so we shared a carmel gelato cone that was almost as big as Vivi!

 

Another shop called Mary Janes was having a sale on Robeez, (soft soled baby shoes) 50% off! And, being the new parents of a little girl, we just had to get her a couple of pairs!

A jean-wearing moose outside the denim shop

On the way home we stopped by Utah Olympic Park, where parts of the 2002 winter olympics was held.

The Olympic ski jump tracks (I don't know if that is their technical name though)

On the way home we drove past a shopping plaza that had a Whole Foods in it, so we stopped there for the soup and salad bar. It was a welcome change from the restaurant food and lean cuisines we've been eating. They had grilled tofu and quinoa salad, ah the freshness!

Tourists in Utah

We've been here for almost a week and a half now, and its looking like its going to be at least a few more days, so we're making the best of it by getting out and doing some touristy things.

Yesterday we went to Trolley Square, which is a historic place that used to be a bunch of barns where they kept Salt Lake City's trolleys in the early 1900s, but when they stopped using them, it was just sitting there. Then in the 70's they started restoring the barns and turned them into stores. It was very cool, the walls between stores had old fashioned things and pictures and stories of when they used the trolleys. We ate a late lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory (mmm!) and our waitress was really nice and recommended that we go visit Park City, which is a mining town turned ski resort town that was voted one of the 20 prettiest cities of 2008 by Forbes magazine, so we'll be checking that out sometime this weekend.

We walked around the stores, there was a Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, a Pottery Barn Kids, which I had never seen before except for catalogs, and some novelty type shops. There was a high end children's apparel store called Secret Garden, but a lot of the stuff wasn't even cute, and the only thing that would fit Vivi was a $45 onesie. So we just looked around :)

Jenavieve by the flowers outside the hotel. We thought she needed some tourist pictures!

Her favorite sleeping position

Her first 'bath'. Her cord fell off yesterday!

All warm and cozy in pajamas

Another update from Utah

To answer the question everyone has, we don't know when we can leave yet. Someone told us that Utah has a 4 day work week so if we don't hear today, I guess we'll be here until Monday at least. We're trying to make the best of it, there are a couple of touristy things we're planning on doing.

And now for some pictures!

Sleeping with daddy

Her little bear booties fit on over socks!

She has been staring really intently at our faces when she is awake

Mommy's turn for a nap!

Stretch!

Click here for a video of Jenavieve stretching!

Small update

We're still in Utah...

Kapri and Quez left early this morning and Janelle and Ryan left this afternoon. So now its just us hanging out until we get to leave. 

Jenavieve is doing really well. She's eating more, taking the full 2 oz in the bottle most of the time now, and its she's getting hungry consistently every 3 hours now instead of 3-4. She's also getting more active, she started doing this cute stretching thing today instead of being curled up in a ball all day.

She's also sleeping a little better at night and being a little more alert during the day. We had to go to Babies R Us today to pick up a few things-we only had one bib, and one preemie sleeper, and a couple of socks that fit her, so we picked up a couple more things. The preemie sleeper we found came with a hat and a bib that says princess, which is really cute, but its a lot bigger than her other preemie outfits. I guess it depends on the brand.

Last week today was when we got the call and spent the night packing and heading out here to meet our daughter-what a crazy week! We also realized yesterday that while we were filling out our application to begin the adoption process back in October, Jenavieve was already alive and growing, and we had no idea! 

Here are a few pictures from today

My First Mother's Day!

We met Kapri and Quez for breakfast in the lobby, then spent some time resting since some people had spent a long day before flying and others were up all night because some beautiful little girl likes to sleep all day and be awake all night.

Then we all got dressed up to go to a park and take pictures and then go to dinner. This is Jenavieve's special mother's day outfit I picked out for her.

Everyone at the park

Grandma, mom, daughter

We went to Golden Corral for dinner, which is a yummy buffet

Jenavieve's buffet

A good size comparison-this is a newborn size onesie, my little peanut!

My mother's day present-my mom made a quilt for Vivi