after a sabbatical

“the most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” -elizabeth foley

i hope you all have been growing and been blessed during the recent break in my blogging. we sure have.

so, while i've been away here's what you've missed:
-wren started eating table foods
-wren started eating exclusively table foods in obscene quantities.. like a whole kid's meal. seriously. she gets her own serving at dinner. seriously.
-she started army crawling
-she started army crawling all over the house AND pulling her knees under her sometimes
-wren also started pulling her knees under her ALL the time! (except when she's holding food in both hands, in which case she still wriggles on her belly so she can eat while she's moving.)
-she started pulling up to stand on everything
-she took her first daddy assisted steps (before she would always just plop down on her butt. :)
-she's started nesting blocks, finding hidden toys under things, pointing to what she wants, signing (when she feels like it.)
-she has many consonants now. dada being her favorite. :)
-wren is going on tooth number 3!!!
-she's grown enough hair for a bow. we thought it would never happen- and just like everything- it did!
-she now has her "big girl" car seat... and is loving it. she outgrew the length on the peg... 30in and 30lbs... she'd probably be 3 before she outgrew the weight limit! :)
-she had her first swim
-and first trip to the zoo
-she learned how to drink from a straw
-she learned so much from her EI therapist... i've got to devote a post solely to our amazing therapist!
here are a few pictures:

pretty girl

our great traveler... 8 hour trip

she's always happy when she's eating!

and....

WE'RE ADOPTING!

which is the main reason for the break in updates. we've been making trips back home (where the birth mother lives) to go to appointments... and between that and doing all the paperwork and keeping up with wren... whew. this momma is tired! :)
here's a picture of our sweet emeline adel, due november 7 (but will probably be joining us a little early):

it's been so long... i feel like, where do i start?
i've got some really neat ideas about some posts i'm going to be doing in the near future... they'll be coming your way soon!

bittersweet news

well, many of you know that we had our EI (early intervention) evaluation yesterday... here's a bit of history on that in case you're unfamiliar with the EI program.

wren passed, er... failed...er... didn't qualify. which is great news! it gives me hope that she's actually "going to be ok". of course, we're still early to see exactly what possible effects her prematurity could have (some we wouldn't notice until she's learning long division).. but even something so small as being "normal" for her adjusted age is really encouraging.

the bad part is that EI is the main source of support for kids here in