Six Months Old!

Lena has enough hair to wear her clips now!!! (But only for pictures because she would LOVE to eat the clips if I ever gave her a chance.)

Lena actually turned six months on her first big trip!  At the beginning of May we took a trip to the midwest to visit friends, family, and see the great states of: Illinois, Missiouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin.  So a big first for Lena at six months was taking her very first plane ride!  It went very well and I am happy to report that little miss Lena is an excellent traveller and will fit in nicely with Dan and I's love of travel.  Lena changed more in month 5-6 than any other month.  She is becoming much more mobile, interactive and vocal everyday.  I keep waiting for stranger anxiety to set in but she still continues to love people.  One her gifts is that she makes everyone feel loved and special. I knew she was friendly but on this trip I realized that she is friend with EVERYONE.  (Remind me to give the "Stranger Danger" talk when she is older...)  I can't count how many times this senario went down:  "Oh what a cute little girl!.  Hi.. hi little girl!"  Lena then always breaks into a huge grin with sparkling eyes and the person melts and the gushes "Oh she likes me!  She smiled at me!"  What the stranger doesn't know is that she does this for everyone.  She likes everyone.  I don't tell them that.  I just let them relish in the moment thinking that Lena has special smile just for them.  But I am happy to report that she likes me (The MAMA)  the most.  Side comment:  I have longed for the moment when I have the face that that a little child longs to see most.  During her sixth month Lena has also discovered animals.  She really lights up when one of our cats or dog is around.  It will be fun to take her to the zoo when she gets older to see some bigger animals up close.  She is content to play for long periods of time by herself.  Sometimes I won't even know she is awake from her nap because she often doesn't cry when she wakes up but instead coos and plays.  In her sixth month she has made the transition to her big girl crib in the nursery and no longer sleeps in our bedroom.  She loves to grab everything but paper is her most favorite.  It is pretty amazing how quickly she can grab things and stick them in her mouth!  She is still pretty much indifferent to solid food.  She has tried bananas, carrots, peas, pears, prunes, peaches, squash, and oatmeal and rice cereal.  Her favorite so far is sweet potatoes and her least favorite is peas.  We are still working on sleeping through the night.  Sometimes she makes it and sometimes she wakes up once or twice to eat.  She has been battling a bit of a cold and we will work on it more when she is feeling better.  She had her six month shots and check up when we got back from our trip and learned that she is really growing!  She weighed in at 13 pounds 13 ounces which puts her in the 12% for weight.  She was in the 25% for both height and head circumference.  She more than tripled her birth weight in six months and has grown almost eight inches! Our little "peanut" is still small for her age but she is quickly catching up.  The coming months should bring more mobility as the doctor says she is strong and I can tell she is dying to move around.

AWOL

Things have been crazy in the Shack family lately.  All three of us got various forms of the flu at the end of April.  Once we recovered we packed up and headed to the Midwest for two weeks and when we returned I got the flu again and then bronchitis and Lena caught a nasty cold.  Fun stuff I tell ya!  All this has left little time to blog but I have a few updates brewing.  Hang with me folks!

UPDATE:  Dan came down with a 102 degree temp and the stomach flu in the middle of the night.  Needless to say the germs have the upper hand right now and I will spend part of the day disinfecting this house!!!

To Whom Much Time is Given...

...Much is Required!  So I've found many new ways to stay accomplished in my new life as a stay at home mom.
I garden:

I craft:

I shop for nutritious ingredients at the farms:

I cook nutritious meals:

 I take care of my sweet girl:

And I do a bunch of other less picture worthy stuff too! (Like couponing, exercising, cleaning, bill paying, blogging, bible reading, etc.)  Life is good!

Happy Easter Lena!

Lena's first Easter was so much fun with all of her cousins.  Her newest cousin was  born on Good Friday.  Meet cousin Owen Benjamin!  He is grandchild # 9!

Lena wasn't quite old enough to participate in the egg hunt this year but she did like touching them. 

Five Months Old!

Lena continues to develop her social and physical skills this month and has become much more interactive.

 At twelve pounds she now loves to sit facing forward in her big girl stroller!  She has really enjoyed watching everything and being an active observer and participant.

She also got to try rice cereal for the first time this month.  We are still working on the whole eating from the spoon thing,

Lena is drooling lots and lots and occasionally gets cranky from some teething activity.  We pretty much wear a bib all day.  =)

She loves putting blankies up to her face and gets into a zen zone when she takes her bottle.  She drinks about 4 oz at a time about every 3 hours during the day. 

This month she also had her very first family vacation to Palm Desert, CA where she had her very first swim in her red and white heart bathing suit. She enjoyed the water and we are excited that she is a flexible baby and seems to travel well. 

She loves her daddy time and he really knows how to get her talking and giggling.  (Don't you just love those father-daughter baby blues!)

 This last week we finally packed up all of the newborn clothing and unpacked the 3-6 month clothing.  She is wearing mostly 0-3 right now and moving into 3-6 soon!  She is in size one diapers and wears size 1 shoes.  We have so many fun wardrobe options now and Little Miss Lena knows how to rock the fashions. 

 We love you Lena Joyce!  You are the best part of my day!

First time....swimming!

Yesterday Lena had her very first swim in a pool with mom and pop.  She was somewhat indifferent about it.  She seemed to like it well enough and definitely didn't fuss at all.  She looked super cute in her little red bathing suit!

Happy Transfer Day Lena!!!

The Miracle of Embryo Adoption:  

Our Journey to Lena Joyce

(All the pictures in this post are of Lena.) 

  ¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
-Psalm 139:13-14

"Because after all; 
A person's a person 
no matter how small." 
-Dr. Seuss 

2006 –   Lena is created in a lab through the IVF process using her genetic Dad’s sperm and an egg from an egg donor and is placed in frozen storage 18 hours after fertilization.

July 2009 -  Dan and Elizabeth begin the adoption process.

November 2010 – Lena’s donor family decide that their family is complete and donate Lena and 11 other embryos from her set back to the IVF clinic for adoption.

December 2010 -  Our doctor at the IVF clinic matches us with Lena’s set of embryos.  

February 2011 - Our legal “adoption” of Lena is complete.

March 5, 2011 – Lena is thawed after being frozen for nearly five years.

March 9, 2011 – After growing for five days in a petri dish, Lena is transferred to Elizabeth’s body.

March 19, 2011 – We find out that the transfer was successful and Elizabeth is pregnant with Lena.

April 1, 2011 – We see Lena’s heartbeat on the ultrasound for the first time at six weeks.

June 21, 2011 -  At 18 weeks we find out that Lena is a healthy little girl!

November 3, 2011 -  Lena arrives three weeks early and is born by c-section at 8:57pm at 4lbs 3oz

Thanksgiving 2011 – Lena continues to be a beautiful and healthy blessing to her mom and dad.

December 2011 - Lena is one month old.

January 2012 - Lena is two months old.

February 2012 - Lena is three months old.

March 2012 - Lena is four months old.

We can't wait to see how our Lena will grow and change.  She is such an amazing little person and we are enjoying watching her grow up.