Stuck

We had a little crisis over here last night. Nothing too major, everyone is fine but I guess it is just one of those things that new parents need to go through.....

The night started out normal enough, I gave Grace her bottle and then put her down for bed. She seemed a little more wired than normal so I assumed that it was going to take her a little while to fall to sleep as it sometimes does. So I headed downstairs to check my email and listened to her babble for about 10 minutes on the baby monitor. After a few more minutes the babbling turned into whining and then a bit of crying so Jen decided to head up and check on her.

As soon as Jen got upstairs she yelled down to me to come upstairs. Before I even was on the stairs she was calling me again, pretty frantically this time so I knew something was up. When Jen got upstairs she found Grace with one of her legs stuck past her knee through the slats in the front of the crib. She wasn't too upset at this point she just kept repeating "stuck stuck stuck". Jen and I both tried to pull her leg out but it was indeed stuck.

So we tried moving Grace into different positions but it wasn't coming out without hurting her. The more we tried to move her the more upset she got. Grace is normally not a crier so we knew she must have been in pain and we felt pretty helpless that we couldn't get her leg out for her. Luckily her legs aren't as chubby now as they were before she started walking but there is still enough girth there that we weren't going to just be able to pull it out.

My first inclination was to just break the slats of of the crib but Jen talked me out of that which is a good thing as I probably would have hurt her by splintering the wood. So we decided to try get her pants off to give us some room to work with. Getting her pants off was not so easy at this point as she was was crying as hard as we have ever seen her cry. We briefly considered cutting her pants off her but figured that may upset her more. After a minute we were able to finally get her pants off and saw her poor little leg starting to get all red and bruised from all of our pushing and pulling. Jen ran into the bathroom and got a soapy cloth to lube up her leg and we were finally able to slide her leg back through. Once she was out Grace and Mommy had a good cry but luckily no damage was done. The whole incident probably only lasted a couple minutes but it felt much longer to us, there is nothing worse than seeing your baby in pain.

After the fact we realized that this incident was reminiscent of a conversation we had in China with a couple families in our travel group. I don't exactly remember the context of the conversation but it had something to do with us imagining bathing Grace in a sink and her sizable hips getting stuck. Our overtired minds for some reason found immense humor in the need to butter her thighs to get her out. Who would of thought that almost one year later we would need to butter (or soap up) Grace's thigh because she was stuck in her crib.

Tired Daddy

This weekend was another Daddy weekend as Jen went away overnight for a girls' weekend. She left around noon on Saturday and was back around 1:30pm so really she was only gone a little over 24 hours but I am wiped.

My plan was to keep really busy and tire Grace out so she would sleep well so we started Saturday with a bike ride and a walk. The weather hit 80 degrees this weekend for the first time this year so it was great to be outside. Saturday night we went to have dinner with my mom and then headed home for bed. I think Grace took a little pity on me and slept right through the night, something she hasn't done in a very long time. When informed Jen of the great sleep night she gave me an incredulous look, when she realized I was telling the truth the look turned into daggers.

When Jen got home this afternoon we decided to check out a local park we have heard about. It has a small playground and lots of trails so it looks like it will be a great place to take Grace as she gets older. Below some pics from the week....

Contemplating the slide

Catch me Mommy!!!

Swingin' with Mommy

I love my kitty!!!

But Kitty doesn't love me....

This isn't really a recent picture, it was part of the Easter/18 month pictures we had done. It was a special order so it just recently came in and I just got around to scanning it. We really like how it came out so I figured I would post it here.

First Haircut

Grace's hair has been getting pretty unruly lately so Jen decided to take her down to the beauty salon for her first haircut. We weren't sure how it was going to go but Grace did really well, she didn't even shed a tear.

First Snips
Almost Done
Pretty Girl

Profile shot

Hijinx with Lucy

I just had to post this......

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all from our little Easter Bunny in her Easter dress

A Very Good Day

Today was one of those days that will stay in our memories for a very long time. I took the day off work because we had an appointment at our local probate court for Grace's re-adoption/finalization. The process is really just a formality since we already adopted Grace in China but the process allows Grace to get a US birth certificate which will make things easier for her down the road.

The local courts like to make a pretty big deal about it as they are used to dealing with criminals and people suing each other so it's nice when they get to see a happy family. So we had to be at court at 9am where we met up with Grammy, Grandpa, Gram King, Aunt Melinda, Uncle Jim, James and Sammy. They called us into the courtroom around 9:30 and we went back to the Judge's Quarters where we met Judge Manzi and the rest of the court personnel. Of course they were all enamoured with our Grace. Grace got to sit on the Judge's lap and help sign the paperwork. It was all pretty informal but everyone there was so nice and we could tell they really enjoyed being a part of the finalization of our adoption. After everything was signed we took some pictures and Grace got a special picture taken on the judge's chair.

We all went back to our house afterwards for coffee and donuts and then we took everyone out for lunch at a local restaurant that we like. It was a very cool day and we were so glad that our families got to be a part of this special moment for our family. Some pics of the day below.

Wee Ride

Back when Jen and I had free time we used to often go for bike rides. Grace is still a few years from a bike of her own but we knew she would enjoy coming along with us. We started looking around for a kid carrier for our bikes a couple weeks ago. We didn't like the idea of those old-fashion seats where the child sits behind you and you can't see them. One of our neighbors has one of those trailers that he pulls his twins around in but I am not sure how safe those are for riding on uneven pavement. Then we found the Wee Ride Kangaroo seat and we really liked the concept. The seat mounts to the top tube so the child is right between your arms and legs for protection. It also has a three point harness so it seems pretty safe. It came in last week and when the weather warmed up today we took Grace out for her first ride and she loved it. It is good for kids up to 40 pounds so we should get some good use out of it.

I wasn't sure how comfortable it was going to be for me as you need to bow your legs out a little bit so your knees don't bump the seat. It wasn't too bad, a little more work going up hills but that is to be expected with an extra 25 pounds along for the ride. Grace doesn't really like wearing a helmet but the giggling all the way down the hills proved she didn't mind too much. Some video below of our first ride.

One Year

It is hard to believe that it was one year ago today that we got the call from our agency telling us we have a daugher. A few hours later we saw the most beautiful face we had ever seen.

That day was one of the most exciting days of our lives. If you want to relive the day with us you can read about it here and here. We were on such a high that day and that high has continued to this day. It has been quite a year, it seems to have gone by so fast yet it is hard to remember what life was like before Grace.

Jen went out with some friends today so I got to spend the day with just Grace and I. At one point today I was sitting on the couch with Grace sleeping on my chest, reflecting on all that has happened in the past year. It was a pretty surreal thinking back about how much our life has changed and how much it will change in the years to come.