Bouncy

Jenavieve has shown a lot of interest in sitting and standing this week. She doesn't like to be held like a baby anymore, she just likes to stand and sit. While my mom and I were sorting some scrapbook stuff, she was getting restless, so we pulled out a bouncy seat we had from when I used to watch Camden a lot. Her feet didn't touch the floor, or even come close, so we put a box under her, and she was too short to come up above the front of the seat, so we sat her on a blanket, and she loved it!

If you want to see a video, click here. If not, here are a couple of pictures!

Teething in style

Vivi has been showing early signs of teething, and has really enjoyed her teething toys lately. She's also learning to hold things with her hands and bring them to her mouth.

But when she is being a fashionista at daddy's softball game, she lets grandma hold the teether for her.

Playtime

Reading

This is Vivi's favorite book, Black on White by Tana Hoban. The butterfly is her favorite page.

Sonic, and cousins

The new Sonic opened in Commerce this week. Yesterday we braved the 30-45 minute wait to try it out. It was good, and the waiters really wear roller skates! All of their food sounds good, but I think we'll wait a while until the novelty wears off before we go again. 

The crazy long line-they had 6 lanes and people directing the traffic!

Note to self-if you are having a slushie the night before a post placement visit, don't choose blue! My lips were still stained a little this morning!

We went to a family dinner at Eric's parents house because Amanda, Anya, and Asia were visiting. Vivi is going through a little phase where she doesn't like anyone else to hold her, but she did let her Great Grandma Thomas hold her for a couple of minutes, and Aunt Amanda got to hold her a little too. We got a cute picture of Jenavieve with her cousins, probably the last picture of just the 3 cousins before #4 comes in September :)

PPV 1-check!

We had our first post placement visit this morning. A post placement visit is a visit to our house by a caseworker to check on how we are doing. She writes a report and sends it to our agency, and that is part of the paperwork shown to the court when we finalize the adoption. Its really just a formality and not really a big deal, but it is one milestone closer to finalization.

The visit went really well. Vivi woke up from a nap all cheerful just when the case worker was pulling up. She asked about Vivi's development, her doctor visits, her schedule, and how we are doing, and just watched us play with her for awhile. It took less than an hour. 

Now she'll just write her report and send it to Utah, and we'll see her one more time in September.

Bath Time!

All warm and cozy after a bath.

VIvi's first playdate

Vivi had her first play date yesterday with another baby, Casey's daughter Amira. They both slept through it and were pretty much unaware of each other, but we had fun. Amira was 10 days old yesterday, but only 2 pounds lighter and an inch shorter than Vivi. There was a whole lot of cuteness at our table!

Pretty in Pink

2 month check up

Vivi had her 2 month appointment on Tuesday. She didn't do a lot of growing since her last appointment, she now weighs 9.12 lbs and is 22 1/4 inches long. She's back down to the 5th percentile for weight but the doctor wasn't too worried. She suggested that it may be Vivi's sleep habits that are a factor. She currently sleeps for two 4 hour chunks at night, and then three 2-3 hour chunks during the day. Her doctor said at her age she should be sleeping for longer periods of time, and that when she does, her brain releases growth hormones. Since she won't sleep longer than 4 hours, she may not be getting enough growth hormones to get bigger. She said it would be good if she would start sleeping longer, but if not, she might just be petite. Her problem is that she wants to be looking around all the time, she doesn't want to miss anything! 

Another sleep issue is that she is such a night owl. She doesn't go to bed until around 12:30-1:30 am, and then does two 4 hour chunks, usually with some play time in between then is up for an hour, and sleeps for 2-3 hours before she's really up and ready for the day. I'm not too worried about it now, but when school starts and we go back to working early days, we may be in trouble.

The doctor also said again that she is very strong in her neck and leg muscles, and that she is very healthy. She was also impressed at how she loves tummy time. So, I'm happy with that.

She has been a lot more active this past week, she has started babbling more and still LOVES to stand and look around. She is more smiley more often, which is fun. She's still working on her giggle, sometimes she says "aha, aha" and other times it sounds more like a giggle, but its all breath noises and no voice. She's also showing a lot more personality and making her preferences known. She is a mama's girl at night, she doesn't like to go to anyone else (including daddy) and doesn't like to be out of the house late. She also hates shirts that go over her head and having her hair rubbed (which makes bath time and hair milk time so much fun!) But for the most part she's a really good baby, she doesn't really fuss, and is easily amused. 

She loves her swing, and the color red, and her Elmo doll. Her favorite book is still Black on White, which is a contrast book, and her favorite page is the butterfly. She loves to sleep while holding my hand, which is so sweet!

Hellooooooo

2 months/2 years

Yesterday was Vivi's 2 month birthday, and today was our 2 year anniversary. Eric had to work late, but got a 2 hour lunch, so we celebrated by having lunch at Siegel's Deli. I went to my parents' house to work on a cloth book we are making for Vivi, and was going to stay for dinner since Eric was working late. To my surprise, he got out early, and was able to come out and have dinner with us. After dinner, the 3 of us took a walk down to the Wixom Community Center, which was where our reception was. Of course we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way :) We ran into our friends Chris and Julie, who were also walking to DQ, so that was a nice surprise.

After ice cream, my mom met us up at the hall to take some pictures of us and drive us home since it had gotten a little too chilly for Vivi. I'm sure everyone who was there 2 years ago today remembers that we did not have that problem at the time!

Then

Now

Vivi's first 4th of July

We went to Uncle Rick and Aunt Laura's annual 4th of July party-one of the highlights of our year!

The fruit bouquet Allison made for our shower inspired me to try one, so this was the perfect opportunity. It turned out really cute, if I do say so myself :)

Vivi slept through the first part of the party, but then she woke up and visited with everyone. The kids went fishing and caught a lot of fish and then they had an adults vs kids basketball game. Then it was time for the fire, s'mores, and fireworks. 

We weren't sure how Vivi would do with the loud noises, so we planned on watching them from inside the house if they bothered her. She slept through the first 10 minutes, then when she woke up, she loved watching the fireworks! She kept looking up at them and cooing. She never jumped, even when the people at the house next door set them off.

We thought to take the video camera, which I'm SO glad because we got some cute footage of her watching the fireworks, but Vivi's adorableness has filled up my laptop and I don't have the space for it, so we are going to wipe my other computer of everything and let that be the media computer. Once we do that, I'll be posting videos!

Here is a slideshow of the pictures, if you'd like to see them bigger or at your own pace, you can view them here. If you want a high quality copy for printing, let me know and I'll email it to you.

What I get to wake up to every day

8 weeks

Vivi is 8 weeks old!!! We're seeing a lot more of her personality this week, she is becoming more vocal, using her hands more, and of course, showing off her beautiful smile more!