You never stop learning...

It's been very busy... as you can imagine, I'm sure!

Ella continues to do very well, growing and learning! Here is just a sample of things she's done over the past couple weeks:

- Swimming lessons: As many of you know, Ella is in swimming classes with daddy every Thursday night at the YMCA. The first class was canceled because of a little dirty accident in the pool NOT caused by Ella. But last Thursday was the first one. We had a lot of fun. She did Humpty Dumpty, Wheels on the Bus and the Hokey Pokey where her head went all the way under. Once that happened, she was DONE! It was hilarious. But she does love the water.

- Music class: Jenn takes her to MSUs early on music class every Wednesday evening. She's only had one so far, but had a really good time with it. She does love her music.

- Story time: Ella continues to go to the library every Wednesday morning for story time.

- Daycare: Once a week, Jenn takes Ella to her daycare so she can get acclimated and know the kids and teachers. Last Thursday, she had lunch there. Ella had a lot of fun playing with all the other kids... all boys... so I'm sure once she starts going in late October Ella will toughen up quickly.

- Baby showers: Last Sunday was a baby shower hosted by Jenn's girlfriends. We received a lot of great gifts, books, toys, etc. Everyone was so gracious... special thanks to Shalom and Danielle for organizing and hosting. We are very thankful to have such wonderful friends and neighbors. Today, the OC at the paper are hosting a shower for us... I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun there, too!

- Playdate: Ella had her first play date with Anabelle. She had SO much fun at their house and, of course, Sweetie-licious for lunch! She had her first bite of a Sweetie cookie... YUM YUM.

- Mid-Autumn Festival: yesterday, as part of FCC (Families with Children from China), we went to the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a great time meeting all sorts of families with adopted Asian children and their parents and grandparents. Such a great group of people. Ella had a ball!

- Early On: the State of Michigan has a program titled, Early On, that evaluates children from a developmental perspective. They spent about 90 minutes at our home with Ella and Jennifer. Basically, they said she's developmentally delayed, which is no surprise. A report will be shared with us in about two weeks. We've heard these reports are an inch (or more) thick. Some immediate next steps include: vision/hearing test (Tuesday), joining an Early On playgroup (Wednesday), physical therapy and then occupational therapy. They really want her to focus on crawling, picking things up with her thumb and first finger, and naps. The more sleep she can get the better. They did say with all of this stimulation (which she's not used to) is just exhausting her. They were very happy with what we've (mostly Jenn) been doing with her. She's come a LONG way in a SHORT time.

Some great things also have happened in the past two weeks:

- She says her name, Ella.
- She kisses everything, even her daddy!
- She is doing the army crawl.
- She knows where her baby doll is -- Deb she LOVES the baby doll.
- She continues to eat very well... and has even started chewing... well, sort of.
- We received her birth certificates in the mail, which were incorrect. So Jenn called and got that all straightened out and now we have the correct ones. Apparently, my name is not Kevin McFatridge, it's Kevin Matthew.
- She is starting to hold her bottle by herself.
- She is discovering more of the house... checking out the laundry room and Jenn's office. She does really like to scratch the walls with her nails, which drives daddy absolutely CRAZY.
- She knows the word "No" very well now. She stops whatever she's doing, looks at me and then turns right around and does it again, quickly as if I wouldn't notice.

Below are a lot of random photos. We finally downloaded from our iPhones and our camera. We don't think there are any duplicates, but you'll find some of the things I've mentioned above.

Here's the thing... being a parent is hard. Yes, I know, this comes as no surprise to any of you that are already parents. And, it really doesn't come to any surprise to me either. However, what's hard is balancing work and life. I never realized how hard this would be.

I find that I just want to be here all the time and when I'm here, I'm constantly thinking about work and projects and ideas and and and...

I find myself jealous of my wife being the primary caregiver. But at the same time, I'm thrilled it's her and not me. This stems from when I asked how her day was and she said "for three hours we handed a subscription card back and forth to one another to work on her fine motor skills." Yeah, I could NOT do that. I'm so A.D.D. that the poor thing would be confused.

I find myself jealous of other parents whose 15 month old's (and some younger) are far more advanced than Ella. But Ella does things in her own time. It's fun to see the light turn on when she finally understands.

When Early On was out and evaluated her and Jenn filled me in on everything I found myself irritated that someone would JUDGE my daughter and tell me she's developmentally delayed. Yeah, whatever. But, I know they are here to help. So, I just need to get over it and help her.

And before any of you say anything, I know she was not given the opportunity to thrive. I know her chronological age is 15 months, but her emotional age is much younger... but I just want her to succeed and be the smartest kid I know she can be. I want to be able to provide whatever she needs to her... emotionally, developmentally, financially and security. And we are. These are just the random thoughts in my head. It's hard. It's just hard.

But, I'm loving every minute of it.