Daphne - Seven Months Old

Daphne is 7 months old!  Yesterday, to be exact.  We're just a day late in posting this.  It seems like we were writing her 6 month post just 2 minutes ago and now here we are, one month later!  A lot of the reason we write these monthly posts is for us to be able to remember what she's doing developmentally and of course so that we can remember how much of her personality is starting to come out.  And let me tell you, it is definitely starting to come out.  

She is definitely a laid back, easy going baby, and for that we are TRULY thankful.  We often get comments from neighbors, friends, or people at church, who say they've never even heard her cry.  Honestly, she doesn't cry that often.  Definitely not saying she never cries, because when she's unhappy she definitely lets us know.  If she's not getting your attention, she'll probably let you know.


Here are the updates, as we have them:


Weight: 
Six Months:  12lbs, 15ozs.  (this weight makes her officially on the charts, in the 4th percentile)
Seven Months: 13lbs, 4ozs. 

Height:  

Six Months:  25 inches  (she's in the 16th percentile -- and, wow, over 2 feet tall already!)

Seven Months:  25 inches (there was no 'official' measurement from a doctor's appointment, so we left it unchanged)

Hair Color:

Six Months: Daphne's hair has definitely thinned, but we're hoping that means when it does come in it will be nice and thick.

Seven Months: Looks like it might be growing back in; definitely brown

Eye color:

Six Months:  blue

Seven Months: blue, the pediatrician thinks they are here to stay - since she is past the 6 month mark; but I've heard that eye color can change up to 1 year old.

Here's what Daphne has been up to lately:

Daphne has been rolling over front to back and then back to front for a little while now, but she has started to branch out by trying to crawl (just the beginning stages). It is pretty hilarious to watch, because (1) she doesn't really have the hang of it, (2) once she is up in the air she doesn't really know what to do with her new found skill, and (3) once she's had enough she immediately rolls over on either side and calls it a day - with a huge smile!  Here are some photos that we were able to capture.

Almost got the hang of it!

Now, what do I do?

Enough of that, weeeee!

We've mentioned before about Daphne learning to 'blowing raspberries' but have been unsuccessful in capturing it on video...until now!  Hopefully you don't get a face full of spit watching this video.  LOL!

Save the Adoption Tax Credit

Both Adam and I (Daphne included) would like to take a moment out of your busy day and ask if you would please contact your Congressmen/women and Senators (BOTH Republican and Democrat) to help us reach legislators across the country to protect and extend the adoption tax credit and encourage the right of every child to grow up safe and loved in a family of their own.

Here is the link to locate your Senator:

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Here is the link to locate your Representative (Congressman/woman):

http://www.house.gov/representatives/

One way that adoption is affordable to many families is through the adoption tax credit. This tax credit provides a refund to families who provide proof of a finalized adoption on their taxes up to the amount of $12,650. Families can then take this refund and pay off any debts that they took out to pay for their adoption fees and costs. This adoption tax credit is our lifeline. But it’s being threatened.

The adoption tax credit is set to expire on December 31, 2012. As it’s set right now, the credit will be lowered to a maximum of only $6,000 in 2013, and will only be available to a few adoptive families {those who adopted special needs or waiting children}. This means adoption will be even harder to attain for many families who might otherwise consider it.

I simply cannot stress enough just how important this tax credit is to parents who adopt. There are thousands of families who could not even consider adoption without the aid of this tax credit. Adoption costs are sky-rocketing, and there is no end in sight. Even the $12,000 doesn’t cover the entire costs of the most affordable adoption, but it certainly helps. Please consider taking the time to contact your representative. And if you already have - THANK YOU!

Here is the website for Save The Adoption Tax Credit    http://adoptiontaxcredit.org/advocate/

(You can also 'like' them on face book!)

 

Daphne - Six Months Old

Half way to the big 1 year! That’s kind of a big deal.  How time does fly.

It has been the most rewarding half-year of our lives, watching our daughter as she takes those tiny steps towards becoming a big girl. And as she does, she teaches us the importance of slowing down, being patient, and soaking in the fleeting pleasures of life. Having started out dependent on us for just about everything, she is now so interactive and curious about exploring new things on her own. And boy, does she have a sense of humor!

Seeing her personality develop has been nothing short of a miracle. Words can’t describe how this little girl has completed our soul. The best part is that these past 6 months are just the introduction, a sneak peek if you will, of the rest of our Daphne-filled lives. How fortunate we are!

Happy Father's Day (by Adam)

So it is my first father's day, and with that it has come time for me to post on our blog my thoughts, feelings, etc.  So here it goes...

I have a great father.  I could write a whole blog posting on him and how he helped shape my life and made me the man I am today.  He was strict with me when needed, he was understanding about things, he helped me when I needed help.  He and my mother were both teachers, and they new how important education was.  They both made sure we did well in school, that we got the best teachers, that we went on to college.  And I wanted to have a chance to be like that for my child or my children.  To help shape and mold them but also let them grow.  And I always thought that would happen someday.  But….

I guess it would be an understatement to say I was scared as of a few years ago. Scared for many reasons.

First I was scared for both Rachel and myself when we came to the realization that on our own, we were not going to be able to conceive a child.  Try as we might various things, it just wasn't meant to be.  And I know that both of us wanted to have at least one child if not two.  I think both of us would have been okay if it just ended up the two of us growing old together, but deep down I know we both wanted to have a family, and if the traditional way just was not going to pan out, maybe other things needed to be looked into.

Then I was scared about adoption.  It had been mentioned and discussed before, but I never really considered it because I thought we could do things on our own and be fine.  But when that didn't happen, and you have a wonderful wife who certainly deserves to have a child, and raise that child, and support that child, etc. you suddenly contemplate things you might not have before.  And I was scared of how others might view us (or me), or how our child would be viewed, or how the whole process is now versus years and years ago, and how birthmother interaction works, and how open versus semi-open versus closed adoptions work, etc.  Scared of what family and friends would think.  Scared of a very different unknown.  

Explorations with FOOOOD!

When do you feed babies their first foods? And what foods do you introduce first? These certainly are loaded questions these days. There seems to be so much drama and finger-pointing out there about baby’s first food.

Before Daphne’s arrival, we researched how to best navigate this milestone. We decided on trying the "Baby Led" approach to weaning. Introducing solids to your baby using "table foods" rather than purees is what Baby led Weaning is all about.

Now that Daphne has passed the 5 month mark we’re feeling a bit stressed about the whole first food/feeding thing. At her previous well baby visit, her pediatrician suggested that we start with rice cereal. We definitely didn’t feel as if she was ready. She could barely hold her head up at that point.

Rachel turned to a parenting board with parents (mostly moms) of children born around the same time as Daphne. She thought it would be helpful to hear what others were doing. Bad idea! She couldn’t believe the heated arguments and judgmental posts surrounding this topic.

There are those that started feeding their babies around 4 months (the “old” norm) being judged by those waiting until their little ones are (at least!) 6 months. And those who are making their own baby purees being lambasted by those who are doing baby-led weaning. And if you feed your baby rice/oatmeal cereal you basically just need to keep quiet because you’ll surely get a long post from someone about why rice cereal is bad for your baby. Really?!? Talk about feeding into the mommy-wars (pun intended).

In the back of our minds, holding true to our decision to try the baby led approach, we were interested to find out how Daphne might fare if given traditional baby food (purees). So, this past weekend we decided to experiment. But, we had no idea where to begin this quest. With the help of a very knowledgeable mom (of 2 little boys) in the Target baby food aisle, she helped us understand some differences and pointed us in the right direction of where to start. We headed to the check-out with our jar of sweet potatoes, jar of peaches, box of baby oatmeal and some baby spoons. We were so proud of our purchases and excited to see how Daphne would react to something other than milk.  (It also made for some great photos!)

First, we experimented with rotini-shaped pasta; you know her first food was going to be pasta, didn’t you?  :)  Daphne stared at it for a bit while it was in front of her, then picked it up - with a death grip - and proceeded to try to find her mouth. She did manage to ‘taste’ it, by licking the piece of pasta; then she waved her arms around a bit (all while maintaining that death grip). The poor rotini ended up on the floor.  But, when Adam tried another piece and held it to her mouth, she actually leaned in and went for it! Not sure that she liked it, but that’s probably because there was no sauce on it!

What is that?!?!

Maybe this isn't so bad after all

Next, we tried the jar of sweet potatoes (no, not the whole jar; just a tablespoon’s worth). Do have to mention how messy this was - for all 3 of us. Daphne allowed Rachel to put the spoon in her mouth, followed by immediately looking around as if to say “What’s going on here mom, this isn’t my milk!?” She held onto the sweet potatoes for a bit before finally swallowing some and ejecting some back out onto her bib, the high chair tray, her fingers and mommy’s arm.

Hey, what is this? Spoon?  

Making a mess sure was fun!

Finally, we tried baby oatmeal. The result was similar to the sweet potatoes, only the ejected oatmeal happened at a slower pace. Maybe she liked the oatmeal better?

Not this spoon thingy again.

Daphne had a great time!