Happy Easter!

Just wanted to post a quick note to say all is well in the Hill Family. Leah is adjusting wonderfully. Everyday we see an improvement in her adjusting to Milon, Davis and being away from me. She loves Greta (the dog) the most. She will leave the room at any given time to crawl after her! She is now starting to explore the various rooms in the house and even played with Davis in his room for 15 minutes! She sleeps and eats like a champ! She even gained half a pound in 1 week! She is now drinking from a sippy cup and only wants food that she can eat by herself.

We are having a combination Welcome Home party/Happy Birthday party for Leah on the 25th. Her birthday is actually the 26th but it works out better to have it on a Saturday.

I love having two children! My day is very busy and there is no time for boredom! Hmmm...do I see a third in our future??? Maybe another little miracle??

With much thought, I have decided to make the blog public. I learned so much from reading others blogs and would like to be able to share our story to help other adoptive parents.

Some Pictures!

Everyone is doing much better around here. Leah is full of smiles, crawling around after Davis on the floor, and getting braver every day to explore the house without needing me. Last night, she even let Milon carry her inside from her carseat and didn't start whining until she saw me, but I was carrying her bottle which is what she wanted! She was very excited to see him when he came home from work and played with him on the floor for awhile. We are taking babysteps until she is comfortable but I would imagine after this weekend she will have warmed back up to him. Thankfully, he has Friday and Monday off to spend time with her.

Leah is obsessed with Greta. She will even leave the room I am in to go find her. She loves her to kiss her face and the dog is totally happy to get the last bit of food off!

Both kids are going to bed at 7pm like clockwork and waking at 8am! Who says this is so hard!

Davis is in love with Leah. Yesterday, he gave her all her bottles, fed her yogurt (wow, what a mess) and would break off cheese to feed her. He was so worried about her choking that I could hardly see the pieces of cheese he was breaking off! He has to come with me to get her out of her bed after her naps. The 2 of them giggle and make funny faces and sounds all the way to the grocery store in their carseats. It's really cute to watch Davis turning into such a wonderful big brother. And I didn't realize how lonely he was!

I have finally sort of caught Leah's pig face on camera. Here is it below. She loves to make this face at you and will continue to do so until you do it back to her!

One More Update...Still No Pics

Leah had started to run a fever on Saturday along with increasing irritability. On Sunday, she still had a fever and I knew something was not right. I called our pediatrician but they would not see her on Sunday since she wasn't an established patient. I took her to UNC's Pediatric ER and at the time her fever was 104.5! They ran a bunch of tests and diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection! They gave her a shot of an antibiotic to get it in her system fast and we have one for 14 more days to take. They said she should be feeling better in 2 days. Whew! They also did a chest xray, stool sample for parasites (which hasn't come back yet) and whole series of blood tests. They are concerned because she only weighs 15lbs but said she could flourish in the next few months and have an explosive growth spurt. So far they see no reason for her lack of weight gain and think she could just be malnourished. It also could be parasites, but the test hasn't come back yet. They were exceptionally surprised with how active and developmentally on target she is and said that is a great sign.

Today is my first day alone with the 2 of them! Yikes! It is 7:50am and both are still sleeping! I am hoping she wakes up feeling better. Gotta run and get something done before they wake up!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound. I am not going to sugar coat the trip home, it was awfull!

I woke Leah at 11:30pm the night of our departure. She only slept 1 hour on the first flight which lasted 7.5 hours! She pretty much cried the rest of the time. Thankfully, we were on the same flight as Elise and her daughter Sabina. Elise and I were able to talk and help each other out! We then had a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt which Leah didn't cry as long as I didn't put her in the stroller. I had to at times in order to get through the airport. Elise and I stopped at a coffee shop and chatted over coffee and the kids did pretty good. The flight from Frankfurt to Chicago was the worst! Leah only slept 1 hour on am 8 hour flight. I spent most of the time in the bathroom with her trying to get her to sleep! I didn't want the other passengers to be annoyed by her crying! She would fall asleep but her eyes were like slits were she wasn't secure enough to really fall asleep. People on the plane were exceptionally nice. They helped me out best they could. There were a few girls from Bulgaria who didn't understand she was just adopted and has some separation anxieties who tried to take her from me to give me a break. They quickly learned that wasn't an option! She finally fell asleep in the Chicago airport and slept until we landed in RDU.



Milon, Davis, Gigi and Poppa, Grandpa, Chris, April and their 2 kids Ryan and Carson met us at the airport. Leah was excited to see the kids and sat on the airport floor smiling at them. Carson (3) says to his mom and dad "Mommy, I want a baby like Davis." We all got a chuckle.



Leah went to sleep about 11pm and woke up at 1am. Went back to sleep at 2am and slept till 1pm! Then had another long nap in the afternoon. She went to bed at 6:50 and woke up at 8!



We woke to a beautiful sunny day, high of 74! Ahhh, to be home again!

Leah is terrified of Milon. She cries if he gets too close to her. We are starting small by having him stand beside me while she eats. Every few bites, he would put a piece of ham in her mouth. I am not sure she realizes he is doing this. Then he would give her the bottle of juice. We sit and all play on the floor and she if great at making funny faces at him, clapping hands, etc. She is still afraid that he is going to "take" her. Hopefully, each day this will get better and better.

She loves her highchair, had a huge lunch of ham and cheese and had a bath with Davis. She is a little afraid of the dog, but mainly becausee Greta is determined to give her big wet kisses on her face! Although, she crawled out of the room after Greta, so go figure but when Greta returned she got scared. Then Greta laid down across the room and Leah crawled back over to her!

She doesn't mind the carseat like I thought she would. We took a trip to Target and she did great. She loved sitting in the shopping cart also, and I have a feeling it is because it faces me! When she is in the stroller, she can't see me!

I am glad it is all over and excited about the furture. Davis is already making plans for him and Leah to play hockey when she wakes from her nap! I will post pictures in a few days!