Back Tracking

Ergh!  I've gotten so behind on blogging!  For some reason I've recently been feeling the "strain" of 3 kids now more than ever.  I guess it's because Allie now thinks she's a "big girl" and is in to absolutely everything!  She is nonstop movement, nonstop talking... I'm exhausted!  So in an attempt to catch up, here's some pics from the last couple months. 

Allie, Jeremy and I had the opportunity to go into Sam and Izzy's classroom to teach them about Korea. Sam was so proud to show off his sister and Izzy was thrilled to have her cousin there!

We took the kids on our  2nd annual visit to CoCo Keys Water Resort.  It is one of the boys' absolute favorite places to be.

The pics of Allie in the pink dress are from Valentine's Day, she loves dressing up!  And the boys ooh and ahh over her, it's so cute.

Allie and Evie got to play together again, it's so neat to watch them begin a friendship!

Celebrations

Here's a pic of all the grandkids celebrating with grandma on her birthday. Also a pic of Allie and her potty after she pooped on it for the first time! She is obsessed with the idea of going on the potty, she tells us every time she is going in her diaper. She has peed and pooped on the potty a couple of times, but we are not fully potty training yet... not sure if I can handle a 19 month old in underwear!

Sam & Izzy's Christmas Program 2011 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Santa Came!

Santa made everyone happy Christmas Day. Allie loves her dress-up clothes and Elmo gear. The boys are busy with their remote cars and super hero toys. Fun day with family to celebrate the real reason of the season! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve

We were so blessed to have Jeremy's Grandma come from Indiana to spend Christmas Eve with us. We all loved spending time with her and the kids were thrilled that she was here to help count down the final hours till Santa!

December 2011

Lots of excitement in December. Cousin Ethan turned 11 (which is mind b0ggling!). Jeremy and I took the kids to Christmas in Loveland, for a carriage ride and a visit with Santa (which did not go over well!). And Sam moved up to a big boy bed... hence the picture of them in their beds in their shared room. Some day we will make them bunk beds!

Allie Becomes a Coleman!

Wednesday, December 14th Allie's adoption became official! Our family of 5 traveled to Ravenna, Ohio (near Cleveland) to go to court to finalize her adoption. Although we have known she's our daughter from day 1, it was very special to have her recognized by the eyes of the court as officially a Coleman. She also became an American citizen that day.

We felt we had come full circle from a year ago. Last year, on Dec. 17th we had received the call that we had a daughter in Korea...the same week a year later it was finalized!

To make the trip even more special, our friend's daughter, Mae, came home from Korea the same day as Allie and her adoption was finalized the same day as Allie's. Then we went to their house for a Korean lunch and some playtime! Pretty special to watch them together; we have pictures of them together in Korea as well!!

November 2011

Some fun pics from November... Allie in her Thanksgiving dress and bathtime at the Colemans. We also had a visit from Aunt Ellie and Uncle Jon, home from Spain! Also a visit from cousin Carrie, Aunt Gay and Uncle Tom from Michigan. A month of family!

Family Pics

These were taken in October, our first official family photos with Allie. Ben is 5.5 years, Sam 3.5 years and Allie 15 months.

Halloween Pics

Yes, I'm way behind once again. These are too cute not to post.

Amazing Allie and the boys

We were very prepared going to the adoption that Allie may have some minor special needs, most adoptive kids do. So we are just amazed by her; not only is she doing so well, but everyone continues to be just blown away by how advanced she is developmentally. She just seems older than her 15 months; she says well over 10 English words and even her first phrase "All Done." She is so mobile, climbs and jumps from one piece of furniture to the next! And her understanding of what's going on is just unbelievable. She is one smart cookie. She had her15 month checkup last week, she's 65% in weight and 95% in height! Her doctor just can't believe that not only is she on target for everything for her age, she's able to do more than what's expected. We are so proud of her!

She sleeps about 12 hours a night and takes a good afternoon nap. And the girl can EAT (as evidenced by her size!). She loves everything we give her and furiously signs "more please" if we don't get the food to her fast enough. She drinks out of a cup and just in the past couple of days has given up her bottle (we hope!). She's still somewhat clingy and fussy, and some days are much better than others. But she's making progress!

We also had an amazing discovery; tucked inside a photo album that she came home with from Korea I found 2 letters written in Korean! We're not even sure who they are from; there is an email address that we've sent an email to, and we're also working through friends to get the letters translated. We're so excited to have a connection to someone in her birth country. Will keep you posted on the translations!

The boys are doing just awesome as well. Ben has FLOURISHED in kindergarten, he absolutely loves it. His bus fears have faded and now we're having to remind him to behave on the bus, he's having such a good time! And he has developed a sudden interest in writing, drawing, reading, spelling.... be still my little teacher's heart!! He's never been into these things, so I am just thrilled he has caught the reading and writing bug. He's also full of information about what's he's learning at school. "Mommy, this is the spine of the book." "Mommy, did you know that all songs have a steady beat?" I love it!!!!

And Sam LOVES LOVES LOVES his 3 afternoons at preschool. I fully believe he could hop on the bus and go to kindergarten with Ben if he could. He is just the most enthusiastic kid and loves everything. His teacher has a real bunny, hermit crab and fish in their classroom, so he is in animal heaven there. He's such a deep thinker, lately his prayers have been so deep and well thought out, he's got such a kind kind heart. He still hates peanut butter, so we continue to try to think of new ways to get it in him. Last night he did eat some chicken with a peanut butter sauce, although he choked it down. :)

New pictures soon!!!

Peanut Butter at last?

A few weeks ago Sam had his annual retesting for his food allergies (eggs and peanuts). We were thrilled to learn that his blood and skin test both showed completely negative for peanuts. The peanut allergy is the most dangerous and when we discovered it 3 years ago it definitely rocked our world. He was only 6 months old when we found out about it, and since then our house has been completely free of peanuts, peanut butter, all other nuts, and anything processed around nuts. That eliminated a lot of food we used to eat! But we adapted, and really the only difficult times came when eating out or holidays came about and he became very good about asking "Is this safe for me?" before eating. However, finding out that he may be safe to eat nuts now was unexpected and so exciting.

So we took him back to the allergist on Sept. 7th for a "peanut butter challenge". We were there 2.5 hours. They began by giving him a quarter of a teaspoon of PB and waiting 15 minutes. They checked him over very well, making sure he had no rashes, hives, itching, trouble breathing, etc. He was fine, so they continued to double the amount of PB every 15 minutes. His allergist pronounced him free of his peanut allergy!!! We were so thrilled, I was crying, we called family, it was amazing. Such a weight lifted off our shoulders to not have to worry about his health and safety in that way anymore. (He's still allergic to eggs, but most kids outgrow that by age 6.)

To celebrate, we bought him his first ever M&Ms on the way home (all M&Ms are processed around nuts). While we were thrilled, Sam was pretty confused to be given all this food he was always been warned not to eat! However, when we got home, he started to not feel well, and ended up throwing up. He was so upset and kept saying that he would never eat peanuts again. The allergist thinks he just had too much PB and other sweets on his stomach. Sam isn't a sweets eater anyway, he much prefers fruits and veggies, so I think it was too much for him all at one time.

So we have continued to try to give him peanut butter at least once a week, still being careful about it and watching him carefully. However, he has developed an intense fear of it and now refuses to eat it!! We've tried PB cereal, PB cereal bars, PB M&Ms, Reese Cups, PB cookies, and other snacks that contain PB. I don't tell him if it has PB in it, but he this sixth sense and just KNOWS when something contains PB and tells me it's nasty and he won't eat it!! It's been crazy to finally have permission to feed him these things and now he won't eat it. The Dr. said he should have at least one serving a week to maintain his tolerance of it; people have been known to redevelop the allergy if they don't eat it at all. So we continue to try and hope that his fears will subside. The rest of us are definitely enjoying the freedom to have PB in the house, that's for sure!

The pics show him getting a new toy to keep him busy at the allergist, one of his first attempts at eating PB (which was REALLY weird as his mom to give him something that I used to fear could seriously make him sick), Sam keeping busy with the stirrups (he is easily amused), and his first taste of M&Ms.

Mommy's Birthday

So proud of my babies! They made my birthday a very happy one.