Jamie's Baby Story: M.I.A.

Sorry I've been M.I.A. for a month but continuing to say "no news on the adoption front" gets to be old after awhile.

That and I've had a lot of time off of work lately due to the fact that my company changed its time off policy and we can no longer roll over vacation time each year. Since our fiscal year begins in October, I have until September 30th to use my vacation before I lose it. Since I had been hoarding my vacation days in anticipation of adoption placement, I suddenly found myself with weeks worth of days to take off (which is most definitely not a bad "problem" to have). I took off a lot of time in August and September which I did not feel bad about seeing as I've been with the company for over 10 years now and have earned those days. One would think that I would have blogged more but I didn't feel like spending much of my time off in front of a computer and I just didn't have much to write about in regard to the adoption.

Shay has continued to do great in school. She seems to love going and her favorite activities are morning songs, daily work (which we still haven't figured out what that consists of), lunch time and playground time. When we drop her off in the morning, school staff help her get out of the car, put her backpack on and she makes a beeline for the entrance to the school. Pick up time is our favorite because it is absolutely adorable to see the parade of 3 and 4 year olds coming out of the school, all looking so cute in their little uniforms.

Our little turtle waddling her way into school

Pajama Day

Shay is always ravenous when she gets out of school because her class goes to lunch at the earliest time slot of 10:30am. By the time we get her home, she eats like a teenage boy. We're wondering if she is also ready to or going through a growth spurt. Because she naturally regulates her eating (some days not wanting much and refusing her favorite foods and others eating like a bottomless pit), we really let her stick to her natural flow. While we do try to be consistent with meal times, I don't pay a lot of attention to the parenting advice that says to convert your kids to a strict 3 meal a day schedule because it teaches them to eat when they're not hungry and kills their natural ability to regulate appetite. It is widely argued that it is healthier for humans to eat small portions more frequently throughout the day to regulate blood sugar, foster healthy metabolism, etc. Since Shay checks out at her pediatrician visits and a "perfectly healthy" child who is in the 30th percentile for weight even while being in the 90th percentile for height and only in the 10th percentile for BMI so she's trim and healthy. Now if only I could get her to eat more veggies.

Today is her first "school picture day." After a whole lot of drama, I managed to get her hair curled. I hope they turn out cute but they could serve a funny purpose later in life if they turn out awkward . These pictures will only follow her around for the rest of her life. No pressure kid ;)

Another reason I was off the radar as of late was due to a week long trip to New Mexico. We had a wonderful time and got to see Jeff's folks and several of his relatives. Shay had a great time being spoiled and doing all kinds of fun things. I figured I'd illustrate the highlights of our trip in pictures.

Shay with Mimi & Papa at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants

Chasing pigeons out of Nana's yard

Riding the bike that Nana gave her

Shay & Nana (her great-grandmother)

Jeff & Shay in front of the house featured on Breaking Bad as Walter White's place

Jeff, *ahem* I mean Heisenberg, with blue rock candy from The Candy Lady shop (they made the rock candy that was used to portray the blue meth in seasons 1 & 2 of Breaking Bad)

Quick trip to Rebel Donuts for the Blue Sky donuts inspired by Breaking Bad. The photo in the back is of actor Aaron Paul who played Jesse Pinkman in the series.