Cleveland Children's Museum

We took Rachel to the Cleveland Children's Museum. She had a really great time as all of the exhibits are geared towards little kids. She really liked "being on TV" giving the weather report!

Swimming

Rachel loves to go swimming. She takes swimming lessons at the Y. We took her to Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky for a couple days "mini vacation".

school, maybe?

We registered Rachel for preschool in the fall. We actually have 2 options- a private church-based preschool or the public school system developmental preschool. She has to get tested in May. I'm not sure how the timing of it is all going to work out.

So Sweet

Rachel has been so excited when daddy comes home in the evening- she shouts "Daddy's home". Every night we tell her "I love you" when it's time for bed. Yesterday morning when daddy was heading out the door for work she shouted "I love you Daddy"- so sweet!

Freebies

Who doesn't love freebies! Great Harvest Bread Company offers a free slice of fresh, warm, homemade bread when you visit their store- yummy! They also have really good pepperoni rolls!

Get a free baby cone for kids 2 and under at Handel's Homemade Ice Cream & Yogurt- my favorite ice cream place. There are also some coupons on their website.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is hubby's birthday. Happy birthday sweetie from me and Rachel!



Rachel eating a cupcake- she loved the frosting!

YMCA

The YMCA is a wonderful place to take a class with your child. There are many classes for toddlers ranging from swimming to gymnastics in the $30-$35 range. We have taken shrimp swimming, little tumblers gymnastics and signed up for Kinder-rhythm. Classes are parent with child together.



We are lucky to have a couple different Y branches and some are nicer than others. You can check online for your local YMCA location.

Berean Christian Store

Children's story time on Fridays at Berean Christian store in Copley. Check their website for a location near you. Story time and a free book.

Library Storytime

Another great weekly outing is library story time. Our library has several sessions by age group. The two-year-old class is only 20 minutes. They sing some songs and hear a few stories. My daughter really looks forward to it every week.

At another nearby library they have something called "Born To Play" . They set up a room from 1pm-4pm with different developmental toys- it is open to kids from 6 months to 4 yrs.

The library is also a great place to "rent" free DVDs!

McDonald's

A McDonald's with a play area is another toodler fun idea- but beware! I have found these often to be very dirty. You best bet is a newer store. Speaking of McDonald's they are having a promotion Thursday 2/28 and Friday 2/29. Get a free McSkillet Burrito with the purchase of a medium or large drink.



I want to give a shout out to Moneysavingmom.com for the heads up!

Things to do with a Toddler

Since I have an active 2 1/2 year old, I am always on the lookout for fun things to do- especially if they are FREE! I will try to highlight some of the kid-friendly places I have found in our area. Hope you enjoy!



We just had a Chick-fil-a restaurant open in our area. It is a very nice fast-food restaurant with good quality food. Maybe a little pricey. The new store in our area has a wonderful kids play area that is very clean. My 2 1/2 year old daughter enjoyed it very much- we couldn't get her to leave!

Gotch Day one year later

Happy Gotcha Day!

Today is the one year anniversary of the day we got our daughter Rachel. It's hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly! She is now 2 1/2 years old and quite a handful! We had cake and balloons to celebrate. Rachel got to blow out the candle.

Bedtime is hard!

I finally got her to bed- bed time is such a big struggle. She screams whenever I try to put her down or lay her down anywhere. I was sobbing myself last night. This is so hard! She did let us put her in the bath tonight along with Daddy. She is eating great and will drink watered-down juice from a sippy cup. The bottle is not that popular. She has quite a temper and is stubborn when she wants her way. She is walking- but not that steady- and she falls down a lot. Doesn't seem to phase her at all. She tries to follow the cats around- pretty funny. We have a Dr's appt tomorrow- our first trip out of the house.

Ga-ga and more

Whenever Rachel sees Cheerios- it's "ga-ga" or "ka-ga"- I guess that's Korean for a snack or sweet. She's pretty funny- she loves Cheerios and loves to feed them to Daddy!


On other news, we are so exhausted! Rachel would not sleep at all last night- she just kept screaming unless I was rocking her or holding her and walking with her. She finally had a BM- hard as rocks- poor thing! This morning she drank her whole bottle finally. She will not take our formula straight, so I've been mixing half and half with the Korean formula- but it's the diarrhea formula- so I'm sure that's making her constipated. She eats regular food pretty good especially bread.


So far the biggest lifesaver- besides Cheerios- is the Korean Lullaby CD I ordered. She is very soothed by that. She is much bigger and heavier than I was expecting- already wearing some 24 mo clothes.

Day 2

Here is more on our Gotcha Day. We drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel near the airport. The weather was very cold. My parents as sister also came with us. We went to Fridays for dinner and had really bad service then we went to the mall just to walk around and got lost on the way back. We checked on her flight a few times from the room- we had internet. We went to the airport the next morning with my mom & dad & sister. Lee's sister and mom met us there. The wait was SO LONG! I didn't want to talk to anyone. We did talk to the other families a little- there were 5 babies on the flight. The plane finally landed ( a little early) and Anita called her husband from the plane so we knew they landed. She said Rachel was wearing orange. We were standing by the metal railing for a long time. Finally someone from Northwest told us it would be a little while longer. As soon as I turned around they were coming out of the frosted glass doors! It was like I got tunnel vision all of the sudden. Rachel was in an umbrella stroller with Dr. Kempf wheeling her out. She was wearing an orange plaid fleece outfit. She was holding the little doll we sent her. Everyone was taking pictures like crazy. We went over and said hi- she didn't seem afraid at all. We showed her the doll we brought her and she let me pick her up. She was SO HEAVY! She did great- didn't cry at all. I held her for awhile and then Lee held her. I didn't want to talk to anyone- just look at her. She had cute pink shoes on. She walked a little and then we tried to put her coat on- it was too small! We carried her out to the van- it was so cold! She didn't like the car seat but it was ok for awhile and then she fell asleep. About half way home she started really crying so we stopped to change her and got Burger King- she had her first french fries. She liked them alot. We finally got home. She didn't want to drink her bottle. We put her in pajamas and she played for a little while and then she did go to sleep in her crib around 10pm. She slept until around 3AM and woke up screaming. I tried to rock her for a long time and finally took her into bed with me. She slept from 5AM until 10AM this morning with me. Today she is very clingy- she just wants to be held and carried around all the time. She will not let us sit down with her- we have to be up and walking. She does not want to drink her bottle hardly at all. She did take a few sips of water from a cup. She has not had a BM yet. She screams and thrashes around when we change her diaper. I can barely wipe her face off- let alone give her a bath or even a sponge bath.

She's Home!

Today is Gotcha Day!

Rachel So Young is home! She arrived at the Detroit airport today. What an amazing day! Rachel did so great! And it was so nice to be with Raina and the other families at the airport. Rachel did so great at the airport- she went right to me. I don't remember a word Dr. Kempf told me. She is such a daddy's girl right from the start. She just loves him. She hated the car seat- but she settled in and slept a little in the car. Then she woke up and screamed and I had to hold her. We stopped and got Burger King french fries- that was a big hit! When we got home she was full of energy. She played for a long time. Ate a little bit, wouldn't take her bottle and fell asleep. She is in her crib right now! Cheerios are a big hit too! She keeps asking for "ga-ga" I think that means snack. We got her little doll back we sent her and she's had it with her all night. She is such a big girl- her size 18 month clothes are almost too small. Going to catch some sleep while I can.

Last Day

Today is my last day at work for awhile. My old boss is driving me crazy because she is panicking. Just now she asked me if she could call me at home if she needed something. I said I guess if it's an emergency. Good thing I have caller ID! Just talked to Renee at FAC. She got an email from Karen in Korea and the trip is going well and everything is fine. I found out the greeter for the 1/25 flight to Detroit is Michelle Para from the Utica office.

Video

Please check out this cool video Lee made of Rachel's photos (you may have to copy and paste into your browser).

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=22177013e186e762712e7d833c4d3988.1699163

Travel Call!!!

Finally today after 10 months of waiting we got our travel call! Rachel is coming home Thursday January 25 to Detroit and her escorts are Karen Ristow and Dr. Ellen Kempf!

Any Day Now...

Our Social Worker called last night and said we should get the travel call any day now. The passports are issued and they are waiting on Visa stamps. She said Rachel should be home within 2 weeks! She also said we would be happy with the travel arrangements- but she couldn't say what. She said not to have too many expectations about how Rachel will be when she comes home- she will probably be very tired and may regress some. Not long now...

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12