4 Months!

Our little one is 4 months old! It's crazy how fast times goes now that we have Wren.  Before the adoption, time just dragged and I couldn't wait to be a mom.  Now time is whizzing by and I want it to slow down a little!  I don't want my baby getting any bigger but I am glad she is growing on track!

WREN DANIELLE 4 MONTHS

                 HAPPY BABY!                                             "MOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?"

SLEEP

Wren has continued sleeping through the night which is a huge blessing!  She has had a cold the last few weeks though so she has been waking up more during the night because she is coughing or spitting her pacifier out because her nose is stuffy.  She usually goes right back to sleep once she stops coughing or I give her the pacifier back so that is nice.  It will be nice when she can get over this cold.  I am not looking forward to more winter colds :(  She still sleeps in our room in her rock and play.  I told Jesse we should move her to her room but he just wouldn't let me.  Maybe by 6 months we can get her in her room! We will see.  She has a very protective daddy :) I have been trying to put her in her crib for naps some so she can get used to sleeping in a crib for when we move her.

DEVELOPMENT

Wren has been getting bigger and bigger! Unfortunately I don't know exactly how much she gained over the last month because we didn't go to the doctor last month.  She just had her 4 month check up and she weighed 15.1 lb. and is 25 inches long.  She is in the 71st percentile for weight and 77th percentile for height! So yes she is definitely growing!  Her head is only in the 35th percentile though which seems crazy.  She doesn't look like she has a huge head but definitely not a small head either.  I think because her face is so round it makes her head look bigger than it is.  Everything checked out healthy and Wren's cold is pretty minor and should go away on it's own.  She hasn't had a temp from it and its only in her sinus not her chest so she didn't need any medicine for it.  She had to get her 4 month shots which wasn't fun but after a fussy afternoon she is back to her normal self!

Wren was on target developmentally for age 4 months when we checked a list at the doctor.  She is able to lift her head when she lays on her stomach although she still doesn't enjoy being on her stomach. She squeals and giggles when we interact with her. She loves toys and now developed and interest in books also.  She loves to put everything in her mouth if she can get it there without dropping it. She hasn't rolled over yet but hopefully if we give her more tummy time she will soon learn. Lots of drooling has now began as well.

Wren is getting some long blond strands of hair on the top of her head but not very noticeable. She definitely doesn't have thick hair but maybe one day, we will see.

PERSONALITY

Wren has continued to squeal loud and long!! She doesn't care where we are if she wants to squeal she will squeal! It's cute but not always convenient when she decides to squeal in church or out in public and everyone is looking at us :)  She did quit squealing for a few weeks when her cold was bad but the day she found her voice again she squealed all day long! She started squealing before she even opened her eyes in the morning and was squealing when we put her to bed that night!  It's fun to see her happy though so as long as they are happy squeals we can handle it! 

THINGS WREN LOVES

Wren loves her toys and now books as well!  She will sit and kick her feet when we read books to her.  She still loves her bath as well.  Wren's favorite spot is probably her swing but we are trying to avoid it somewhat because she is getting a flat head in the back.

Loving all my toys!!

THINGS WREN HATES

TUMMY TIME!!! She just hates it.  She usually just lays there a little while then gives up and screams and screams until we pick her up.  We are working on her tummy time and just sitting up in the Bumbo and other places because her head is so flat in the back.  The doctor said at 9 months the head won't change shape anymore so we have 5 months to get rid of her flat head :) At least she is a girl so her hair will one day cover it if it doesn't go away!

FUN THINGS WE DID THIS MONTH

Wren's cousin celebrated her 1st Birthday on November 11th so we went to her birthday party. It will be fun when the girls are a little older and they enjoy playing together when we get together with family!!

Hanging out with Uncle Ross at the
Birthday Party

Birthday Girl: 1 Year old!

Opening the gift from Jesse, Wren, and I

Too much cake!!

Cousin Love!

Grumpy Face :)

Getting spoiled by grandma at the birthday party

Jesse, Wren, and I took a short trip to Chicago in November! It was really cold but still fun to get away for a few days.  It was the first time we took Wren overnight somewhere other than being in Florida after her birth.  She also went swimming for the first time at the hotel!  She was emotionless the entire time so we don't really know if she loved it or not.  She must not have hated it though because she didn't cry!

Waiting for our food at Giordano's Pizza!

Wren enjoyed slobbering on her toy since she couldn't eat the pizza

First Vacation!

Squeezed in there

Our little family

Quality time with daddy

Little Lady!

I love little swim suits!

Getting ready to go swim!! Not sure what she thinks:)

Wren's cousins came over one day and helped me put up Christmas decorations! The little guy helped with the nativity and the garland and lights and the to girls helped by sitting on the chair together and playing :)

My Christmas decoration helper!

Having fun watching us put up
Christmas decorations!

RANDOM PICTURES

Sporting her owl hat, its still
a little big though!

Wrens cousin that is only a
few months older!!

Feeding time with daddy!

Some fun with her companion, hopefully someday they will play together!

Smiles, smiles :)

More feeding time with daddy!

My little cutie :)

WEEKLY PICTURES

Post Placement Update

Since getting home from Florida with Wren we have a few things to accomplish before the adoption is finalized.  Birth mom's part of the adoption was complete when we left the hospital but we still have to finalize the adoption in court and get a new Birth Certificate for Wren showing us as her legal parents.  As of now we have been given Legal Guardianship of Wren while we complete some post placement checkups before finalization.

We have a choice where to finalize the adoption.  We could do Illinois and Wren would have an Illinois birth certificate or we could finalize in Florida and Wren will have a Florida birth certificate. Florida adoption law requires two post placement visits over three months before finalization can be completed.  Illinois requires three post placement visits over 6 months before finalization.  Because Florida law is quicker and easier we are doing finalization in Florida.  Also we already have an attorney that did all the adoption paperwork so she will be doing our finalization paperwork also.

We have had both of our post placement visits that are required by Florida to finalize.  Our first one was on August 28th shortly after we got home from Florida.  It went really well.  Our case worker from Family Core came to our house and we basically just talked for awhile.  She needed to know how Wren was doing and her weights and all that from the doctor to be sure she was growing good. Also her eating and sleeping patterns and all that basic stuff.  We also talked about the adjustment to having a child and how attachment was going.  It was pretty simple.  After that visit our case worker wrote up a report on how everything was going and that report will be used to give to the judge when we petition to finalize.

Our next post placement visit was on October 14.  This was pretty much the same as the first visit and we just talked for awhile going over all the same things.  The purpose of the post placement visits is just to be sure things are going well and there aren't any significant problems that would make us not want to complete the adoption or not be fit to complete the adoption.  Overall they are simple and not much to worry about. After this visit, our case worker wrote up the second report and then sent both reports to the State of Illinois and our attorney in Florida so we can finalize!

Finalization takes place once our attorney takes a Petition for Adoption, that Jesse and I signed saying we want the courts to make a date for us to complete our finalization, and our post placement reports to the judge.  Then a date is set for finalization in the court.  Since it is in Florida we could go to Florida and appear in court to finalize or we can finalize by phone with a notary present with us since we live so far away.  Usually a judge is willing to let people finalize by phone that live further away but if he would for some reason say we had to appear in court then we will have to go to Florida (this isn't that likely but you never know).

For finalization I believe the judge calls us and asks us a few questions, then we have a notary present with us and we sign a few legal papers and thats about it! Then we get a new birth certificate for Wren showing us as her legal parents and our adoption is complete.  Legally it will be as if Wren is our biological child.

The plan was to finalize in November but that didn't happen.  Our attorney is trying all she can to get us a court date before the end of the year but the judges do not have many dates left this year and are not giving them out.  So we don't really know what will happen at this point.  We are waiting to hear from our attorney if she is able to get a court date for finalization for us in December.  If the judges refuse to give her one this year we will have to do finalization sometime at the beginning of next year.  We really hope to get it done this year simply to have it be done but also for tax purposes but there are no guarantees.

Our adoption has went so smoothly though so if it ends up being January before we finalize that will be ok, as long as we have our baby girl we are happy!!

So if you want to pray for a smooth finalization and maybe even that we can finalize this year we would really appreciate it! You have all been such wonderful support on our journey and we can't imagine having gone through this adoption without our friends and family!  The end of this journey is in sight but really it is just the beginning of many more awesome adventures to come with our little Wren!