On the mend....

Well, last night Iyla was the model patient.

First, she enjoyed a bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Her appetite seemed better and she ate some raisins, crackers, and had some formula in addition to her soup. After dinner, it was time for the quickest bath ever-- seven minutes FLAT! Then, it was on to pjs, books to read, and off to dream land. I am happy to report that Iyla slept from 6:45pm all the way to 6:45am-- PEACEFULLY in the comfort of her super cute frog vaporizer.

This morning, she seemed a bit better-- cooler to the touch, good appetite, and lots of attitude.

Iyla, you are getting back to your old self-- and its a good thing, 'cause we missed you, our lively little one.

Sick Chick- Part DEUX

Well, we are back from the doctor.

The verdict is that Iyla has Croup. She was given an oral steroid, we were told to have her drink lots of fluids (thanks Mom-- Grandma Lori), use the Tylenol for fever, humidifier at night, and sent home. She should be on the mend in a few days. Already, she seemed much more lively and she is back at Grandma Sandy's. Grandma Sandy graciously accompanied Iyla and I on our trek to see Dr. C and her help at the office was much appreciated. Thanks Grandma Sandy!!

Sick Chick?

Well, I think we may have a sick chick in our midst. The Little Miss came home from her grandparents last night with a fever of 101.8. YIKES!! Thankfully, I didn't TOTALLY panic-- gave her some Tylenol and her dinner and we put her to bed with a vaporizer in her room. I also rubbed some Vicks Vaporub on her chest-- jury is still out on whether that actually helped with the congestion. In any case, she slept all night which is probably what she needs most to fight what is most likely a virus. She is also coughing and we can hear the 'stuff' in her chest. This morning she seemed a bit better (after she sat up for a while) and her fever was hovering around 100. The doctor will be called shortly this morning in case he wants us to bring her in for a visit.

Here are a few pics from this morning. She just 'loves' being bundled up for winter-- don't we all!??!
She is proudly showing off the raisins she is eating in the second one. Yum!!!







In other news, Iyla's hearing appointment was a success. She can hear and hears very well (not a big shock there-- THANK GOD!). We also learned that Iyla HATES having anything put in her ears. She had a meltdown when they tried to photograph/measure the pressure in her ears. Poor thing. Despite the protest-- they got what they needed and said Iyla's hearing is fine!

Time with our friends!

This weekend we were especially busy catching up with a few of our friends.

Friday night, we had dinner at Uno's with Leslie, Bob, and Leigha. Iyla and Leigha got to sit next to each other... Iyla enjoyed 'feeding' Leigha-- by shoving food at her. Silly girl! Both girls enjoyed their 'grown-up' meals and were good at the table.

After dinner, we all went back to the house so the girls could play. Iyla and Leigha have so much fun together!!! Iyla did a good job as hostess and shared her toys with Leigha.

Saturday we had lunch with Dana, Jason, and Courtney at Panera. The girls sat together at the table and had a nice time alternating between eating and staring at one another.

On Sunday, we visited our friends Curt and Shannon and their two children, Madison and Caleb. Iyla learned a new word-- BABY (for Caleb who is 2 months old) and had lots of fun with Madison (2 1/2 years old) playing 'kitchen'. The two whipped up a yummy looking vegetable soup-- full of plastic veggies. Good work girls!!

Here is Iyla examining the plastic potato before stirring it in with the rest of the veggies.

A balloon and a toothbrush--- in the same day!??!

Thursday, we took Iyla to the dentist for the first time. Dr. Jean looked at all of Iyla's 'pearly whites' and thought all looked good. Both Dr. Jean and the hygenist felt we were doing a great job caring for Iyla's teeth-- yay!!

She also talked about which teeth will appear next. Thankfully, she informed us that Iyla will have a bit of a break from cutting teeth after the next 'budding' teeth make it out.

And then?!? Its on to bigger and better things-- MOLARS!! Oh Goody. That should be fun.

As a reward for visiting the dentist, Iyla got a NEW toothbrush-- she was THRILLED-- just look at her!!





For all interested parties, Iyla's Mommy's dental exam was also a success-- no cavities and all looks healthy!!

To celebrate (and get out of the house a bit!!) we took Iyla over to Red Robin. She was GREAT at the table and ate her own grilled cheese sandwich. On the way out, Iyla was treated to a balloon. She fell in LOVE with her red balloon and carried it all around the house. We loved how she looked at it in amazement. Too cute!!

Valentines Day Pictures

Yesterday, we took Iyla for pictures at Kiddie Kandids. Here are the results:

** Note: Michael's hands/body are cropped out of the shots we ordered!! ;)

Weekend Fun

This weekened we had an absolute BALL!!! Grandma Lori came to stay with the Gustin family and we all enjoyed her visit.

Thanks for everything Grandma Lori and don't be a stranger-- come back to see us soon!!

Here are some pictures from her stay with us.
Saturday night:

Iyla at dinner at Beef O'Bradys.

Sunday we took Iyla to the Cincinnati Museum Center. She had a WONDERFUL time at the Children's portion of the museum. So did we!! Iyla with Grandma and the peg board

Iyla exploring the museum.

Iyla's first experience with sand. She LOVED it!! Good thing-- we have a beach vacation coming up!

Iyla and Mommy getting ready for the slide.

Iyla with the puzzle tables

Grandma, Iyla, and Daddy

Iyla-- PRE- splash!!!

Iyla-- Post-splash. She was a very good sport even though the water was FREEZING!!

Daddy and Iyla with a dinosaur in the Natural History part of the museum.

Giving up the bottle.....

Our little Iyla has started down the road to giving up the bottle-- completely.

She is getting better by the day at drinking out of sippy cups, regular cups, and even juice boxes. Additionally, she is losing interest in her bottle-- she looks at it as if to say, 'that old thing again?' Well, who are we to stand in the way of her progress?! In terms of her feeding, we will continue formula for another month for its nutritional value. Then its on to big people stuff-- like MOO JUICE!!!

So, I say-- if she done with the bottle--so be it. On to bigger and better things.....

We are proud of you Iyla (and a little sad too as you are growing up so fast!!)

What big teeth you have.....

Iyla is in the process of cutting MORE teeth (four to be exact). As you can see (above), Iyla is really WOW-ed by the whole experience. Mom, Dad, Grandma Sandy,etc are not as thrilled. It is nice to know that the wee one is growing and getting her first set of teeth-- don't get me wrong-- but she has not been exactly her cheery self as of late. These new teeth are causing Iyla a bit of discomfort, which makes her pretty cranky-- and understandably so.

We are literally watching the two on the bottom (on either side of the two she already has) come through her gums. In addition-- two more teeth are making appearances on the top as well. That will bring the GRAND total of the Iyla Teeth Tally to TEN!!!

We just hope she gets through this teething time as quickly as possible-- we ALL want our sweet Iyla back!!

What big (healthy) eyes you have...

Well, today was Iyla's first trip to the Opthamologist!! She went to see Dr North (Children's Hospital) on the recommendation of the International Adoption Center. The IAC recommends ALL children recently adopted have vision and hearing exams completed prior to being home 6 months to catch anything that may delay or impede their development. In addition, Dr. Staat wanted to be sure that Iyla does NOT have Strabismus and that instead she has Pseudo-Strabismus. After Dr. North's examination, it was decided that this is the case. Iyla has Pseudo-strabismus due to her wide nose bridge and the epicanthal (sp?) fold which covers up part of her eye. This leads her to appear slightly cross-eyed. He says her eyes work very well and operate as they should (no turning in, etc). YAY!!! We will have to go back in 6 months to make sure that the Pseudostrabismus does not develop into the real deal (has happened ON OCCASION)-- but so far so good.


Iyla was such a trooper with the drops and all the fun little eye 'games' they had her play. For a reward, she earned a brochure (she LOVES brochures-- no matter the subject matter). I thought this one was appropriate:

Relaxing weekend & sweets for the Sweet

This weekend was very relaxing-- we stayed around the house quite a bit (a BIG change of pace for us). We did manage to have fun and visit with some friends. Here is a little re-cap

On Saturday:

Iyla tried her first OREO cookie (for teething purposes, of course) and LOVED it-- BIG shock there!!

Here is our Cookie MONSTER in action!

We also spent some time with a fellow- Phu To orphanage chica, Leigha. Iyla and Leigha had a ball playing in 'Leigha-land' and the parents had fun playing with all the crazy toys too!

Getting these two divas to look at the camera at the same time is IMPOSSIBLE!!!

On Sunday we ran some errands and played at home. We also spent some time with Iyla's friend Deena. Deena and Iyla tried out Iyla's toys together and Iyla got to show off her room. Deena even brought cupcakes that she had made for Iyla.

Of course we HAD to let her try one.....

Fun at Grandma Sandy's

Iyla LOVES going to her Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Roger's house each day during the week. They play together and have a GREAT time!! Iyla even has her OWN cat at their house-- Trixie. Trixie has become a bit of a babysitter
who will not let Iyla out of her sight-- very cute!!

Here are some pictures that were taken yesterday at Grandma's house:
Iyla loves to climb the first stair and tries to scale the gate



Trixie