Life is great!

Thursday will be a month that we have been home. And things are going great! Ava has blended right in with our family. It's as if she was supposed to be with us. She is very observant and alert. Always taking everything in. She continues to sleep good at night and now is starting on a regular nap schedule during the day. She is over her HepA. She was mostly over it by the time we came home. The boys still think she's great. Nate said yesterday that this is going to be the best Christmas yet. Hard to believe it's next week already.

My biggest challenge has been trying to get my work done. Mark is still working part time, mornings, so I work when she naps in the morning. Then when Mark gets home, he takes over the parenting duties and I can work for the afternoon. It doesn't seem to be quite enough, so I sometimes work after they have gone to bed. She just started taking a couple hour morning nap, so that has helped.

We're so looking forward to getting together with family and friends over the holidays.

Ava is doing great!

Ava is doing great! Even though she tested positive for HepA, you would never know it by her actions. She certainly doesn't act like she's sick. She's a happy, good natured baby. She sleeps 10-12 hours/night, which Mark and I are really enjoying.

She has really bonded with our family. At the end of November, we went to a family get together. Of course, everyone wanted to hold her, but she wasn't thinking the same thing. Whenever anyone else held her, she just cried. Then Mark or I would hold her and she would settle down. Again, this past weekend, we went to a holiday party, where she met some more people for the first time. And if anyone picked her up, or got too close looking at her, she would cry. She would look for Mark or I.

I'm really enjoying having a baby again. The boys are great with her. And even the dog is gentle. One day I had her on a blanket on the floor, and Cody lay down on the corner of it.

Ava's medical update

The pediatrician called last Friday to say that Ava tested positive for HepA. She is mostly done with it. She more than likely was infected in the orphanage when someone changed the diaper of an infected baby and didn't wash their hands and then touched her. It is only transmitted by stool. So there isn't anything we need to do. It probably peaked when we were in Vietnam with her, remembering back when she had a fever and probably general not feeling good. The doctor said if you're going to have Hep, you want to have A. She won't have any lasting effects of it and won't get it again. Other than that, everything else was normal. We were so glad to hear this.