March Madness

It's been a pretty busy month for us so far... Ivy got a mild case of croup, and we dealt with that for about a week. She's fine now, but we felt bad for they tiny tot with the big cough!
Last week, we met Kensuke, our Japanese exchange student, who is staying with us for 2 weeks. He is a delightful young man, and Ivy just loves him! He plays with her and the cat alot- fun for everyone!
This is a cake that was at the welcome party for the exchange students last week. There are 15 boys in the group, and they are on a basketball team together in Japan.

Hanging out at home with the squirrel. He is probably really puzzled about all of the squirrels I have hanging around the house.

As mentioned, Ivy just loves him! Ken has a 4 year old sister at home, so he's used to playing with a tiny tot!

Now that Ivy can stand up in her crib, she has fallen asleep in some very strange positions lately, including this one a few days ago. It would, of course, be easier if she would just lay down for her nap, but whe feels the need to explore her surroundings!

This is the beautiful udon meal that Ken made for us on Monday night! We all loved it!

So Tuesday was our big day in court to finalize Ivy's adoption paperwork! And of course she had a fancy new dress for the occasion!

Killing time before the proceedings.... it's always fun to pull everything out of a purse for inspection. These items happen to be from auntie Dianne's purse. Apparently, Ivy's examined these items before and has even made some accidental calls on Dianne's cell phone!

The court proceeding was very quick== just signing some paperwork. The judge was very nice and friendly- we can't really express how wonderful it was to have this last hurdle officially cleared!

Sharing a moment with Daddy!

After the court house, we all came back to our house for a small snack and some tea.

Sara Takehashi is now officially Ivy Sara Handshoe! She celebrated by taking a nice long nap...

During the last week or so, Ivy has sharpened her mobility skills-- she crawls easily all over the house, pulling up on any and all furniture within reach! At work, she can "run" in her walker down the wide hallways-- we have to block her with a chair so she doesn't head for an exit!

She's been kind of picky with food all of a sudden, so we checked it out with the doctor just to make sure she is ok-- he said that she is officially teething now- there's evidence on her gums that teeth are on the way. As we've been saying she's teething for months, I'll believe it when I see it!