Look At My Cute Outfit!!!

Lemonade Stand

Friday we had a garage sale and Braylen wanted to have a lemonade stand just like Curious George did! She also wanted to sell cookies. We didn't have time to bake cookies, so we decided on brownies. She sold each item for 25 cents and made a little over 10 dollars! She was very pleased with her sales and had fun counting her money, over and over again! One funny: A lady gave her $1 for 2 brownies and wanted her change. The lady was trying to show her that she needed 2 quarters back and Braylen was shaking her head "NO!" Bray thought the lady was stealing money from her! I went to the poor lady's rescue and gave her the change. I thought Bray was going to cry. We then had a discussion on giving money back and change. Not too sure she yet understands, but hey, she's only 4!!!

She is very excited to go shopping with her money! We'll keep you posted on what she decides to buy.

Alea

Here are some pictures of Alea. She is doing really well now that she is on Zantac. One night last week we forgot to give her the medicine and she woke up screaming in the night! We gave her the meds then and rocked her to sleep. We were wondering if the acid reflux diagnosis was correct, and now we both feel confident it is. She has been eating MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better! She has even had a few bowel movements on her own without Miralax! We have seen a much happier baby and a less shy baby! She has been going to others more often. She LOVED playing with Papaw Weaver on Friday during our garage sale. He was a lifesavor on Friday. I don't know what I would have done with Alea during the sale had he not been here! We were very busy and he played with her all morning for me! I think he liked the fact that she only wanted him!!!

Our Braylen

Friday Mamaw Weaver asked Braylen if she wanted to go with her to her hair appointment. Braylen disappeared and when we looked to find her, this is what we found! She was definately going and making sure her carseat was in Mamaw's car! I snapped away capturing her getting ready for her mini-date!!

This sums up our Braylen to a tee! She loves to go, go, go and spend time with people and meet new people! This is what I love about Braylen! She loves to experience and live life to the fullest!

50's Night at Preschool

Last night we went to 50's night at Braylen's preschool. We had fun doing the bunny hop, watching the teachers sing and dance, watching tumbling skills, hoola hooping and bubble blowing contests. We enjoyed root beer floats and poodle skirts. It was a very fun night and we discovered our daughter is very good at tumbling! Maybe gymnastics is in the future???? Thanks, Mamaw for the poodle skirt! She LOVES it and was sure to tell everyone that you had made it for her!

Crazy Hair Night

It was Crazy Hair night at Awana tonight. Here is Bray's do!!! We had fun inventing this style!

Summer Olympics

Today was the Summer Olympics at Preschool. Braylen had so much fun participating. Alea and I loved cheering her on! Way to Go Bray!!!!

Opening Ceremonies included lighting the torch and stretching


Shot Put Event


Are you ready to Tumble????



"Hi Mom" was shouted often from my little one!!





Alea met her friend there and they had fun holding hands, clapping and sharing Cheerios!!






Long Distance run. Notice Braylen in the back talking to the Dad running with them--always the social one!!






Braylen came in second to last, but she had a great time!!

Monday

Well, so far today is going pretty well. Alea is still home, not in the hospital. She is drinking pretty well and the diarhea has stopped. She has not vomited since Saturday and she is eating a few bites at each meal, definately not enough, but at least something. I am at the point of giving her whatever she will eat since it has been 6 days with no food. She ate 3 bites of waffle and 2 bites of cheese for breakfast, 1/2 slice of bologna and 1 tablespoon of peas and carrots for lunch. This is the most she has had in 6 days, so I am pleased. Hopefully she will eat at least that much at dinner. She had a few cheerios for a.m. snack as well. Please keep praying for her to get over the virus and for her appetite to come back soon. She cannot afford to lose any weight and I know she already has lost some.

Update on Chiquita

Yesterday morning Alea was still not doing well, so I called and talked to the doctor personally. He reassured me that as long as she was drinking she should be fine and that it would take 4-5 days for the Zantac to work. As the day went on Alea got worse and worse and wouldn't eat or drink. When she woke from her nap in a coughing state she had fever. I took her back to the doctor and he said this definately is not just acid reflux. He sent us to the hospital for labs and x-rays. He told me to wait at the hospital for the results and for his visit or phone call and he would let me know if we would be coming home or staying. At the hospital they could not find a vein for the bloodwork. They poked my baby 4 times to no avail. Finally, they called the director of the department and she was able to get in, but couldn't get much blood. They ran the tests they could with what blood they had. The x-rays came back fine and the blood work showed a viral infection and dehydration. We were able to get 8 ounces of juice down her at the hospital. Because of this, the doctor went ahead and let us come home with the pretense that we call if she stops drinking. We came home, got more fluids down her, gave her cough medicine and put her to bed. She slept all night for the first time in a long time! She drank a full bottle at bed, we put a sippy cup of juice in her crib and it was gone this morning and then she drank another bottle of milk this morning. She still has not eaten, but is doing ok on drinking. She has developed diarrhea this afternoon/evening. I have no clue where that is coming from since she has not eaten in days, maybe all the liquid??? The nurse called today to check on her and said that it's ok to not eat today and tomorrow, but will call again on Monday and check on her progress.

She looks so much better today (this picture was not taken today--I wish she looked as good as she does in that picture above!!) and has acted better. Please continue to pray. Thank the Lord it wasn't pnemonia as suspected, but an infection regardless that is causing her discomfort. Once the infection is gone, we'll tackle the acid reflux and eating!!!

Our Little Chiquita

On Friday Alea went to the doctor for her 15 month well baby check up and shots. Our pediatrician is not satisfied with her placement/progress on the growth chart. She is sitting on the line of the beginning of the growth chart on head size and weight and just in the chart on height. He wants to watch her for 3 more months and then "make decisions" whatever that means???? I talked to him about the trouble she still has with bowel movements (cannot have them on her own w/o miralax), eating habits and still waking at night screaming and hungry. He said to keep working on it, but no real pointers. She weighed in at 17 pounds 12 ounces. He wanted us to have First Steps come in and evaluate her development and speech.

So, here we are today and First Steps came in and got the ball rolling. We don't know if she qualifies for their services yet, another group will come in and do an evaluation. As soon as they left, I scooted back to the doctor AGAIN with Alea. She has been vomitting about 45 minutes after we put her to bed and nap everyday since Friday. I called and they were concerned and wanted to see her. Doctor thinks she may have acid reflux. He said if she does, and is helped by the medicine Zantac, than that may explain her bowel movement situation, sleeping pattern and eating habits! She may also be developing an allergy to milk as well. We are going to start with the acid reflux route and see where that lands us.

I feel like we always take 3 steps forward and then 2 steps backwards with Alea. When Braylen was a baby I was always able to predict what was wrong and find a solution. Not the case at all with Alea. Please pray for her little tummy, eating habits and development. All along we haven't been too worried about her, but I am beginning to worry. I pray that God's hand will be upon my baby and that he will cause her to grow and flourish the way she should.

Adoption Day

Tomorrow is Braylen's Adoption Day or Gotch Day. Since she will be at Awana tomorrow, we decided to celebrate today. While she was at school today, I set up her Adoption Day Corner. I got out all the things we bought in Kazakhstan and put them on display. She loved seeing it all and asking and learning. That little girl learned so much today! She had a lot of fun and it was fun to teach her about Kazakhstan.

One tradition we have is to make a food from Kazakhstan each year. I asked Braylen what she wanted me to fix for supper today and she wanted breakfast food. That made it very simple. I made Russian pancakes called Biliny. We got the recipe from our translator while in Kazakhstan. They were yummy!

Braylen enjoyed reading a book from Kazakhstan that had the Kazakh, Russian and English translation, seeing Tenge money, playing with alphabet blocks and playing with a Kazakh barbie. I think her favorite was playing with the Russian stackable wooden dolls--cannot remember the name.

Mamaw Carol and Great Grandma Fleck joined us tonight. Mamaw brought her a balloon and Grandma brought her a Care Bear. We had a great evening and we feel very blessed to have Braylen in our forever family!

Look What We Did Tonight!!!

Braylen got her ears pierced! Yes, I gave in. I had said she couldn't do it until she was at least in 1st grade, but I gave in! We took Bray to see Underdog and out to eat at a new Mexican restaurant and then shopping for cousin's birthday gifts. While shopping, we went to Claires looking for earings for a cousin and we asked Bray if she wanted to get hers pierced like Ellen, Madi and Aubreigh. She said YES immediately and then when I told her it may hurt a little she backed out, but then on her own suggested doing it a bit later. She was so brave! She sat perfectly still and was so good! She teared up a bit when they pierced and then got a huge smile on her face when she saw them in her ears! She is on cloud nine tonight making frequent trips to the mirror. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me when we got them pierced, but here they are tonight!

Alea stayed with my grandpa and grandma during all this excitement tonight. She had a good time there and it was nice to have a date with Braylen.

Mommy's Helper

Alea helped mommy fold the towels tonight! I am not sure if she was better at destroying or folding...we'll let you guess that!!

Alea is walking!!! She started walking all over the living room today! She is still wobbly, but doing very well. We video taped it, maybe I'll put it on the blog.

First Day of Preschool

Today Braylen started her school year. She is in the Bluebird class. Her teachers are Mrs. Baer and Mrs. White. She came home chatting away about getting to go to the museum, zoo, fire station, apple orchard... As the day progressed she decided she wanted to take a toy to school tomorrow and I told her she wasn't allowed to take toys unless it was show and tell day. She tried every possible angle to get to take that toy and then said she didn't want to go to school anymore, just have school at home. We told her she had to go tomorrow and then we'd discuss that. I am positive the only reason she said this was because she wanted to take the toy. She loves her teachers and friends. We'll keep you all posted on our schooling decision!!!

A Basketful of Alea

This morning Alea and I were alone in the house and she was being very quiet so I went to check on her and this is how I found her! I had to run for the camera! So cute!!!! This basket is pretty small and she fits inside! She had tossed all her playfood out to make room for herself. When she saw me looking at her, she waved and said "Hi!" I love the picture of her lounging in the basket. Just had to share these with everyone else :)

Sunday Fun

Yesterday evening we went to Kevin and Jill's. We had fun playing badminton, volleyball, horseshoes, eating pizza and ice cream. Here Bray is playing badminton with friends Keaton and Kearston and Alea and Jill are watching from the deck. Alea would clap and cheer each time a point was scored! It was so cute to watch her! Her favorite part was visiting the ice cream trailor! She LOVES ice-cream and sampled several different flavors last night (along with mommy!!)

An Afternoon with Friends

Saturday afternoon, good friends Ken and Karla Krom came to visit. Ken and Brad were best friends through school and Ken was our best man in our wedding and their oldest son, Wyatt was our ringbearer. We could not believe how much the kids had grown! Wyatt is now a 7th grader! Braylen had a blast playing with Cassidy and Morgan. Wyatt enjoyed playing with Alea. We love this family are were so glad they were able to visit us in between family visits on their trip home!