I just wanted to post a quick update for anyone who is worried about me. I'm feeling much better today. I still have room for improvement, but my fever is gone and my smile is starting to come back. My appetite is returning slowly, but my tummy is still upset. At least the antibiotics seem to be doing their job quickly. Hopefully we can have a fun weekend. I'll have William update after his birthday party on Sunday and let you know if I was back to my usual self - life of the party!

These last two days have been the most miserable days of my life. I've been running a temperature and my tummy has been upset. It's been hard to sleep and eat. Basically all I do is sob in Mommy's arms all day except when I drift off to sleep for a little while. All the pounding on our roof from the workers reshingling has been making it even tougher to exist in our house. So today Grandma Lanz let us come over and hang out at her house. William and I didn't nap any better than we did at home yesterday with the banging, but it was a lot less stressful. And Grandma lives really close to the clinic where Mommy took me this afternoon. My regular doctor's office had no appointments left, even though they wanted me seen today. So we went to the express care over by Grandma's house where they found both my ears were infected. That explains why I have been so miserable and had such a high fever. Now I have some medicine that will hopefully make me feel better quickly. Everyone misses my smiles.

My first annual adoptive family picnic started out with a snooze. I napped for the first half hour while William made the craft and ran around the park. This year's craft was a hand print. I didn't do one since we had recently finished a really cool hand AND foot print project at home and it's not the easiest thing to do with me, or as Mommy likes to call me, "Quickfingers." Add to that the fact that everything has a tendency to go in my mouth, and sticking my fingers in plaster of paris didn't seem like a great plan. I'm sure I'll have better luck with the craft next year. Everyone else really enjoyed their dinner. (I had some tasty cereal and pears at home.) After dinner I went around in the stroller while Mommy chatted with people. Daddy and William were off getting wet in the splash pad, or at least William was. He was also getting hurt a lot. After the third time of him crying over a new injury, Daddy decided it was time for him to go home to bed. It was still pretty early, but William hadn't napped and my evening nap (the one I mentioned earlier) wasn't much to speak of. Mommy was all for it, since she's had a bad cough this week. Next year should be more fun.

I'm sure you're wondering what's new with me. Well, I'm really interested in everything that is out of my reach. A couple days ago, while Mommy was working on getting her application ready for the new job she hopes to get, I was sitting on my blanket playing as usual. And twice I managed to wiggle and scoot my way entirely off the blanket! Once I went backward and the next time I went forward. Both times I wanted to get things that were not baby toys like cardboard boxes (aka soccer goals) or swimming lesson certificates. William's going to have to be careful where he leaves things. I can get up on my hands and knees, so as soon as I can figure out how to alternate my hands and feet, I'm going to be off like a shot!

Since we have a new website, we had to start over with photos. So I have a new Picasa album for my earlier pictures.

I'm really having a lot of fun playing these days. I can sit up all by myself and reach most things. If I can't reach it from sitting, I can dive to it or scoot a little bit. But I haven't figured out crawling yet. One of my favorite new games is rolling the ball back and forth with Mommy. I also love knocking down towers! I still put everything in my mouth. I have started liking little things like the strings on my toys and I can grab them between my thumb and first finger. The other thing I enjoy these days is standing up next to things or holding on to someone's hands. I feel especially grown up when I'm standing.

I've always been a great sleeper, but it's been tough for me to fall asleep the last few days. Just when I start to drift off, I think of something fun I want to do and wake right up! I like to roll over, which I easily do front to back and back to front. Or scoot around in my crib. I can grab the handle on the musical stuffed animal in my crib and play a little song for myself. I'm just a busy little girl!

My mommy's been working on getting some video together, but in the meantime, there are a few new pictures in the July album if you want to take a peek. And if you want to leave me messages, you can sign up for an account and write comments on my blog! That would be fun!

July album

I really like food now! Mommy finally gave up on my liking rice cereal and tried mashing up a banana for me a couple weeks ago. I loved it! Then she mixed banana with rice cereal and I liked that, too. I don't even complain about plain rice cereal anymore. And this week my new food is peas. They're delicious. I'm doing a great job swallowing now and hardly spit anything out. It's been a bit tricky for me to learn, but I've got the hang of it now!

I've also gotten good at sitting up. I can even flop onto my tummy to reach things when I'm sitting. I hardly ever fall over anymore, but we still try to keep a pillow behind me. It can get kind of tricky to figure out where to put the pillow, though, because I'm getting good at turning around while I'm sitting up.

Mommy says I'm going to be her climber. I already like climbing with my feet right up the front of whoever is holding me. I like to be on the move and working my muscles.

I am still a very happy baby. I love my puppy, Belle. She makes me smile, wiggle and laugh every time I see her. I also smile really big when William is upset. Usually people smile back at me when I show them my happy baby grins, but those smiles make William angry when he's sad. I wish I could cheer him up when he's feeling like that. He takes things too seriously sometimes.

I saw a new doctor today. She and Mommy found out they went to college together! We may have to keep her, she was nice. William will try out another doctor in a couple months and then we'll decide. I liked the nurse, too. I smiled at her a lot and was very happy. She weighed and measured me. Mommy couldn't believe I didn't break 14 pounds - I was 13 lbs 15 oz! I should have waited until after the appointment to fill that diaper. I was 25 inches long, but that measurement is a little more subjective. Mommy thought the nurse shorted me a bit. It was hard for her to keep her mouth shut. But either way, I was charting perfect growth right along the curve. I would give you my exact percentiles, but Mommy had to call back to the doctor's office to get my packet mailed out. I was so distraught when we were leaving the exam room that she forgot to grab the envelope with my measurements on it. She had her hands full carrying me in one hand and my carseat (which I did NOT want to go into) in the other. I was very upset about the shots they gave me. I was such a good girl and I didn't deserve it! I made sure to look around and memorize that place because I don't want to go back there if that's the way they treat babies!

Editor's note: Don't tell Eliana that the nurse she liked actually gave her the shots. I noticed that she slipped out of the room faster than you could blink after the shots were done. Smart woman. I don't think Ellie had any idea what she had just done to her. The second nurse gave her the oral vaccine, blew the bubbles and stayed to give the rest of the info. It doesn't matter if she hates her. :)

Today was a big day for me. I got to go to court with my family and get officially recognized as a McKeever. It took all of five minutes for the judge to ask my parents their names and other basic information and then ask if they were prepared to take on the responsibilities of parents. Luckily they answered all the questions right and the judge consented to the adoption. Grandma and Grandpa Lanz, Uncle Michael, Grandma Barb, Auntie Leah, Abi, Faith and Parker were all there to cheer when the judge made his decree. Then they all visited while Mommy and Daddy did some paperwork and paid some fees to get my new birth certificate and adoption certificate.

After court, everyone came back to my house to toast me, have some Adoption Day cake, and watch a slide show that my parents made for me. You can watch it here.

I was working really hard at catching up on my sleep today. Yesterday was a long, busy day with lots of time outside. So today I took two really great naps. Then we went to Grandma Barb and Grandpa Ron's house for dinner and a pontoon ride. We got a little bit of a late start on the pontoon because Daddy and William were helping Grandpa fix the innertube that pulls behind the boat. By the time they got done Mommy said it was too late to get wet in the river and they'd have to wait until next time. (As it turns out we ended up staying out late anyway.) We had a really nice boat ride at sunset. I took a nap for a while. As we were driving by an island just down river from the house, we noticed a big barge full of fireworks and a lot of boats gathering in the area. After a little debating, we decided we would stay out and watch them. Unfortunately, we went back to the dock to pick up the anchor, a big flashlight... and a whole bunch of mosquitos. But it was a handy potty break for a few people and we just drove fast for a bit and swatted the rest of the mosquitos. I had just started thinking about another nap when POW - the first fireworks started. Then I was wide eyed enjoying another great fireworks spectacle. Yesterday I got tired of the show after 15 minutes and decided that the quilt we were sitting on was more fun. This show was the perfect length - exactly 15 minutes. And we had the best spot in the world! William pointed out how pretty the river was from all the colorful lights. I was proud of him for not covering his ears this time. Everyone agreed that today's show was the best! Surprises are always nice. Now I'll sleep well tonight!

Lately I've been busy growing. Next week I'll get to visit the doctor and see just how big I've gotten. But I feel myself growing bigger and stronger every day. I now roll over from front to back all the time. I still haven't got from back to front, though. I am sitting up really well. I much prefer playing sitting up than laying down. Mommy keeps trying to feed me that cereal stuff. I really don't care for it. What I really like is when she gives me cold water from a cup! Today she gave me some before I was done eating and then tried to give me more cereal. That was not nice at all! I cried and cried with real tears and everything - that's a big deal for me because I never cry anymore. It just broke my heart to have my water taken away.

Last Thursday I got to see my Uncle Adam and meet my Aunt Jennie. They were visiting from Colorado. Then on Friday we went to a parade. My favorite part was the color guard. I was really very tired at the parade, but I only took a short nap because I didn't want to miss a single waving flag. Saturday I spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Lanz while Mommy and Daddy went to a wedding. We all had a good time. I was passed around to all the aunts and uncles who were there visiting, and Mommy and Daddy had fun at their party. It was a great weekend!