Oh Baby, Baby

Autumn’s real gotcha day outfit...



Last spring when Andrea from Reece’s Rainbow emailed me about a six month old cardiac baby, nicknamed Peach, who needed a family ASAP, I was excited. It is almost impossible to adopt a child under the age of one from Eastern Europe and I felt blessed to have the opportunity.

As the adoption process moved slowly along, I struggled with the feelings of losing her... the real chance of it due to her heart and the fact that her babyhood was slipping by week by week. Our infant would be ten months old by the time we got to her.



But when they brought her to me for the first time, both sides of that fear melted away. She was so tiny, almost bald like all my other babies, and light as a kitten. But she was strong. She could hold herself up steady and grab onto fingers and toys. She could vocalize several consonant sounds, and would smile at will.


(In Kyiv, her bed was the stroller...)

She can roll over and push herself up on her forearms. She likes to sing and will take turns “talking” with me. She blows raspberries. She watches me and tries to get me to look at her when I am going by. If I do look at her, she cracks a huge smile and then cries if I don’t pick her up.


(because we found out soon enough that this floor bed couldn’t contain her.)

She is a thumb sucker and a belly sleeper. She loves hair and will chew on mine whenever she gets the chance. She is a good eater and so far has tried rice cereal, banana, pumpkin/banana, and prune baby food, and a few bites of a sryupless pancake. When we got her, she was a big puker but now she is keeping down her food quite well, thanks to all the great ideas my FB friends shared with me about smaller portions and thickening, and of course holding her up endlessly, lol.

Autumn had a cold and was hospitalized right before we picked her up. She has been to see the pediatrician who put her on antibiotics and eye drops. He listened to her heart and lungs and said she sounds good. In a couple weeks she will visit the cardiologist for a follow-up echocardiogram.



She is enjoying her role as the family baby, basking in adoration from her brother Jade who can’t keep his hands off her. Of course, Kimani is not impressed by her and thinks the tuft of hair on her head is a convenient handle. Masha, my mini-me, mothers her... she brings her toys, tries to clean her face, helps me change her diapers, and pats her along with me when I burp her. Gecko thinks she is cute and loves the fact that “she is so tiny.”



She is a beautiful baby. I look at her and wonder... isn’t it amazing that she is mine?