Final Post On Blogger

It has been really fun posting on our blog but the time has come to put it to bed so to speak. I may start it up again if Nina and I go down the adoption road again through China. For now I have been posting on Facebook. It is easier to control who reads it and has more features. So if you are interested in what we are doing just send me a request to be your 'friend'.

Leia is doing really well. She is speaking a lot more and seems to act like your typical 2 year old. We love her.

Thanks for reading our blog.

Jesse and Nina.

Happy New Years

Very uneventful. Hope all of yours was well. As far as I am concerned old man 2008 can't be gone soon enough. At least another Republican was not elected president.

Most importantly we finally got Leia. When you look at it that way 2008 was not so bad at all.

Jesse

Christmas Is Here

Christmas has come and I wish I could say we were in the Christmas spirit. Nina's stepfather, Angus Peyton, passed away a few days before Christmas. So it was hard to feel uplifted. Also this will be the first Christmas without my grandma.

Despite all this we are thrilled to be able to spend it with Leia as it is her first Christmas. We got her into the spirit of things by decorating the tree and opening some presents on Christmas morning.

Pictures are above.

Merry Christmas.

Jesse, Nina, and Leia.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving out in New Jersey. Once again we stayed at The Port-O-Call. Nina calls it the Port-O-John however. We were able to visit grandma and grandpa several times. Leia had a good time. Above are some pics.

First Halloween

This is Leia's first Halloween so we thought we would start it off right. We took her down the road to Snead's Farm where they have fall weekend where they sell pumpkins, do tractor rides, kettle corn consumption, and hot cider. Leia loved it. Especially the chickens. She has actually learned to communicate with them using the "buck buck buck" chicken vernacular. There were cows there also whom she saluted with a "moooooo". With that done we picked out our pumpkin and headed home to put on Leia's Halloween costume. Pics above.

BBQ

The other day we had a BBQ at our house with friends and family attending. It was a great time. I even had 5 gallons of home brew for everyone to enjoy. Leia enjoyed all of the attention especially from Mary Cunningham who taught Leia how to shake hands.

Leia is doing exceedingly well. She runs all over the house climbing chairs, sofas, stairs, and even the dining room table She loves playing on the phone and has even accidently called 911 from my cell phone. Luckily I was able to catch the operator before firetrucks and ambulances were dispatched to our house.

Leia is also learning many new words and is making a strong effort to get her point across. Our next trip out of town will be Thanksgiving to our family in New Jersey.

Some pics above.

Pics of Princess Party Pants

Cool Hand Leia

Leia is so cool!!

She is full of smiles and play. In the morning after she has been given a bottle or food we will go into the living room and read a few books. The literary kind like Duck In A Truck or Gorilla Goes To Sleep. Her favorite choice of book are the ones with the colorful pictures of animals or fruit. She will point to them and blurpble out her interpretation of the object. Usually you can make out the word. Banana is "nana", Giraffe is "ur-aff", or Lamb which is "lamp". For some reason Bottle is "dadieee". Like in the cartoons I must be a walking plastic jug full of Similac.

Nina has developed a new hobby of buying Leia cute outfits and dresses. Cannot say I blame her. Leia is the coolest baby to don on purple pajamas. Above is our latest picture of the Super Star "Lady Leia", thats her rap moniker.

Other than that life is great. I love watching her grow and change. Everyday we see something new from her.

Jesse

Update

It has been a while since we have updated the blog. Things are going well. I am home from work now on a permanent basis. My employer is keeping me on with the company on retainer. If there is some work I would like to do they will throw it my way.

I will soon be starting school again to beef up on my web development skills. Meanwhile I am home with Leia half the day while Nina takes the latter shift. Together time is usually around 2-5 PM where the whole family does something like going to the pool or a hike. At night I am still teaching Jiu-Jitsu classes in Fredericksburg.

Being a stay-at-home Dad has been great so far. I can really appreciate the changes that Leia has made over the last 3 months. When we got her she could not walk yet, did not speak much, and was insecure about leaving our side.

Now she sits confidently in the same room with us playing by herself if need be. She is still always seeking our attention especially if we are on the computer. She wants to play with the keyboard too! She loves to play with us both and I keep coming up with new games to keep her busy. Like lifting her up in the air with my two feet while holding her hands as she 'flies' over Dada.

She is running all over the place now and is always trying to talk. I bought some flashcards online from a teacher's supply store that shows a letter of the alphabet and a related picture of an object with the first letter. She may not be able to say 'elephant' but she can differentiate the correct object when asked.

She also is a great fan of dogs. It is probably her favorite word. Nina and I will have to get a nice little dog for her when she gets older. My vote is for a Jack Russell.

Well that is about it for now. I will try to post some pictures next time.

Jesse

Weekend In Ocean City New Jersey

This week the three of us went back to my old stopping grounds in South Jersey. We spent the weekend on a hotel on the board walk. Right outside were the dark green waves of the Atlantic gently rolling across the sandy shell ridden beach. The smell of funnel cake and pop corn gently wafted across the air with the shrill sounds of 50,000 children begging their parents for a quarter for the arcade. Brings back memories. Leia had a great time playing in the surf. The sand itself was a minor barrier for her. She felt safest on our lap while she let the sand pour through her little hands.

While playing feed Dada sand I accidentally bit one of her fingers. Not hard enough to bleed or leave a mark but enough for her to bawl up with the most mournful cry a parent could ever hear. I quickly whisked her away into the ocean where she quickly forgot the sharp bite and began laughing as we jumped the breakers.

We also visited with the other half of my family. They were thrilled to see her. We all shared in a BBQ. My brother and grown up sister was there. Boy time sure flies when you are away.

Pictures are attached for all to see.

Grammy makes a visit.

Grandma Handal stopped by to play with Leia today. Leia had a great time. It looks like she also is fond of hand bags.

Leia Conquers Walking and Fescue

Leia has been walking around much more recently. She toddles throughout the house showing more balance and determination each time.

I am home now on a permanent basis. I still go into work on retainer once a week to help tie up loose ends. I love being home with Leia. There is a lot of one on one interaction between us and I think it has helped her develop so much during the last few months. Above are some videos and pictures.

Leia in West Virginia

We have been in WV for the last few days. Leia has been visiting all of her family here and a few farm yard friends. Pictures above.

Summer Fun

Just some pictures from 4th of July and of the family goofing off around the house.

Fun with Leia.

Over the last few weeks we have seen Leia grow and become more comfortable with her new family. She seems very attached to Nina and I and I cannot help but feel so attached to her. Every day she shows me something new about herself. Gratefully she loves our attention.

My favorite time with her during the day is play time and nap time. When we play we are together on the carpet chasing each other around the house. We play sort of a hide and go seek tag game. She will crawl a way from me for a few feet and then look back with a devilish smile. I will stare at her for a few seconds still as rock. Then quickly I bounce up and crawl after her. This sends Leia into a fit of laughter as I chase her around the table on all fours. Other times I will hide behind an object like her crib and just peer at her with my eyes before disappearing behind the corner. She will quickly giggle and begin to follow me. Sometimes she will see through my plan and do a U-turn to cut me off at the pass. What fun!!!

Nap time is great because we just sit in the rocking chair while she lies on my stomach. I will sing to her the Intsy Wintsy spider song and an old Scottish ballad. As she drifts off to sleep I will hum the tune and then slowly stop. Either I will fall asleep with her or I will plop her into the crib.

Lately we have been going to the pool. She is a real water baby. I cannot wait until she learns how to swim and we can do some snorkeling.

Below are some videos from today's event.

Jesse

One small step for Leia.......

Leia is doing very well. We came back from Richmond yesterday after seeing the doctor who is also a specialist in international adoption. She gave us an evaluation on her health and a second specialist evaluated Leia in relation to none-adopted babies. Physically she is doing fairly well. She is slightly underweight so the doctor recommended we put more food into her belly. And we thought we were stuffing her already. Remember when Garfield would eat so much lasagna his feet could not touch the ground. Leia almost seems to have the same type of belly. She could out compete your typical NFL watching couch potato in belly size.


Milestones wise she is close behind what would be considered normal. Our doctor commented that she seems very well attached to both of us. I guess all of that time rolling around with her on the floor paid off. She is a very physical baby and shows a lot of spunk. I hope she wants to do Ju-Jitsu like her dad because she will be a terror on the mat. She still says Da-Da a lot. Da-Da is me one minute or the remote control the next followed by a cucumber sitting on my plate. Eventually she will learn that I am much more cuddly then a vegetable.


Tomorrow Nina and I plan on taking a big trip out to the farmers market to buy some vegetables and fruit. It is hard to by organic food around here so hopefully the farmers market will have a better selection.


We hope to unveil Leia to the general public on Fourth of July. We think she is ready to see more of her family and in slightly larger numbers. Until then. Below is a video of Leia's first attempts at walking. We hope she leaping over horse jumps by the end of June. We will keep our fingers crossed.