life at home after the first shots

Meredith had her first pediatrician appointment on Tuesday morning. The good news is, the doctor thinks she is doing very well for a baby born about 3 months early. She clocks in at the 10-15th percentile for height and weight for her preemie-adjusted age of 9 months. This is not bad at all, especially since living in a baby home in Russia usually slows growth relative to living in a home with parents. So she is doing well. The only specialist we will probably see is an opthalmalogist, since her eyes will likely need some help due to her extreme prematurity (apparently they're one of the later things to develop in the womb, and early exposure to oxygen isn't good for them). As far as we can tell, her sight is very functional and she makes eye contact a lot, so we are hopeful that there won't be any extreme issues. However, it is possible she would start wearing glasses at a young age due to likely farsightedness. Good thing little tyke glasses are so cute!

The end of the doctor appointment was not so fun, as Meredith had to get 3 shots and a finger poke. She did what any kid would do and screamed her head off :( She calmed down OK afterward. But then she had the (apparently common) experience of a fever and irritability (soreness maybe?) for the next two days. A little longer than we expected, and it wasn't fun for anyone including Meredith. What happens when a little girl who used to take 3 two-hour naps instead takes - with considerable effort on her parents' part - 3 half-hour naps? Cranky, cranky, cranky! She was pretty exhausting all day Tuesday and Wednesday and part of Thursday.

Yesterday (Friday) I went back to work - without Meredith - for about 5 hours. I actually enjoyed it a lot - it was a good reminder that I have multiple callings in my life. I was also happy to leave her with Rob, both because I think their bonding is equally important and, honestly, because she had been so difficult the previous few days when I was with her almost all day. Also, Rob and I made a deal that whoever is going to work has the privilege of trying to sleep if Meredith wakes up at 3 in the morning and needs help getting back to sleep (which she does pretty much every night) since the person staying home can presumably get in a nap during one of Meredith's naps (again, HA!). So what do you suppose I heard when I got home at 1:30 yesterday afternoon?

Me: So Rob, how was it?

Rob: It was great! She was up from 3:00 to 3:30, but then she slept until 8:00 and was so happy! She didn't cry with a diaper change, didn't whine when I put the bib on her (note: unprecedented), ate lots of her breakfast, and then she was all cheerful and talkative and we played for a while and then she started getting tired so I brought her in for a nap at 10:30 and she woke up at 1:00 and just had her lunch. And now she's here just playing happily.

Me: (moment of silence...) You stink!

Of course, I was happy that she was doing better and so I don't begrudge Rob his great day with her. Hopefully today will be great too - we are heading to an adoption group picnic at Blue Springs Park. I will be sure to get a photo of Meredith in her amazingly adorable bathing suit. You really won't believe how cute she is! We are so excited to finally end our spell as the eternally "expecting" adoptive parents in the group - we've been attending for 2 years and very often were the only people at the meetings without kids. Luckily, we've made such good friends there and learned so much that we managed to keep attending all that time. It's a great group, with several types of adoption situations - international, domestic, interracial, foster-to-adopt, you name it. We are glad that Meredith will have other friends who are adopted so that she does not feel like she is unusual in her situation growing up adopted.

I have some videos I want to post but I will need Rob to help with that, so for now you get a few more photos. Our friend Nate took some amazing shots the other night.