6 Months

It is so hard to believe its been 6 months since we were in China! On the other hand, it's not hard to believe that it has been 6 months since Penelope joined our family.It sounds cliche but it's true-it's hard to remember life without her!

Penelope is up to 24lbs! Still super tiny, but considering she only weighed 15 lbs when we got her 6 months ago, 24 lbs is pretty impressive. She wears size 12-18 months clothes and size 4 shoes.

And by the way-she loves shoes! She loves putting on Gabe or Jason's shoes and trying to walk around in them.

What else is up? We are officially back to school! We are the proud parents of a Kindergartner, a 1st Grader, and a Freshman. It's been a busy couple of weeks. One night we had 1st Grade open house and football parent meeting (apparently it's frowned upon to skip it even if you are married to the coach?). The next night was Kindergarten open house and Freshman orientation.

Gabe refused to let me take his first day of school picture at school.

By the way, here's Gabe on his first day of 1st Grade!

My 3 favorite boys 

Dexter was ready to go! 

Quincy was a tiny bit nervous but excited. 

Penelope was't sure what to make of it but she liked watching all the kids walk in to school. 

A couple of bonus pictures. These boys try my patience some times but they are hysterical!

She Walks!

Check her out in action!

And She's Off!!

After 27 months in a Chinese orphanage and 5 more in the arms of her family, she's done it. Penelope has taken her first steps!
We are so, so proud of her. She is such a determined little girl. She's not going to let anything stop her!
When Penelope got her walker, she would just go forever. My mom put it best-she said watching Penelope you know people are NOT meant to be lazy! Penelope just keeps trying and trying.
 Finally last Saturday, she did it. She stood up off my lap and walked to her daddy. No pictures of the actual event, but here she is practicing her walking with mama.

                                                   

So what else has been going on?

Penelope's first 4th of July as an American Citizen!!

Try to keep up!!

We went over to the football field for the kids to run off some energy and Gabe to practice some snaps.

July 17th was 5 months since Gotcha Day!

Jason and Gabe have been working hard on our yard. They dug out the old brick patio and sidewalk. Last Saturday the concrete guys came and poured our new patio!

Jason had a 7 on 7 that morning. He hated to miss it. Dad, Gabe, and our fabulous neighbor Dennis were the "muscle". 

Handprints in the concrete. 

I promise this was later after it dried. Penelope approves!

We're all enjoying having a nice place to sit outside.

4 Months of Forever

June 17th marks 4 months since Penelope Mei has joined our family. She continues to amaze us each and every day.

She wasn't too interested in her 4 months picture :)

                                                  
She recently had her 3 month home check up. She saw Dr Wochner, the fabulous Dr. Bob who has taken care of all of my kids. He was properly impressed with her. 

She is up to 21lbs 4oz, 30.5 inches tall. In less than 4 months she has gained 6lbs and grown almost 2 inches!

She is now all caught up on her immunization a until kindergarten. Penelope had immunizations in China. We had options to draw blood to check titers-basically to make sure she really had them and that her system had the proper immune response- but we chose to repeat many of her immunization a including her MMR. We are taking no chances with her!

Penelope has quite the busy schedule. She has therapy 3 to 4 days per week, she is working with physical, occupational, developmental & speech therapists. She is growing to love her therapists. They are very happy with the progress she is making and expect her to catch up to her peers over time.

Right now, Penelope still can't stand or walk on her own yet, but her strength improves each day.
She had a major change a couple of weeks ago-her physical therapist brought her a walker! This was a tough one for mama, hard to acknowledge she needs this kind of help. I still firmly believe she will walk on her own, but we hope this will help her continue to make more progress. She is so proud of herself with it, her face just light up.

When I read it, it sounds like a lot, but in real life it's just day to day.  It's already impossible to imagine our life with out her!

The boys are doing great. They love, love, love Penelope. This girl always has someone in her face! She certainly doesn't lack for attention. 

Dexter & Quincy are both playing summer baseball. This is Dexter's first year of coach pitch. He loves it. He play baseball at home every day.

Quincy is in tee ball. He is a total ball hog. He chases the ball no matter where it goes. 

Gabe will be a freshman so he is now officially on the Newton Eagles Football team! He's been going to practice since he was 2, but now he is the real deal!
 

She is finally fitting into some of the dresses we bought her in China!

This is her "cute" face. 

Umm, yeah. Dexter always has some sort of injury or another. This one was  bike wreck. He jumps right back up though!

Penelope LOVES golf cart rides! "Gabe ride, Gabe ride, Gabe RIDE!!!" 

Sigh. Still trying on the picture with everyone looking at the camera.

Our adoption agency CCAI celebrated 11,000 adoptions last month! They asked for pictures of the kids holding 11,000 signs, this was Penelope's contribution.

Our friends Patrick & Leah brought their new baby Emmalin over for a visit! Words cant explain how thrilled I am for them. She is such a doll!