July was another hectic month. Here are a few highlights:

• 4th of July weekend
• Kai and Sierra's readoption hearings
• 15 month pediatrician appointment
• Trip back to VA/WVA to meet the family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc.) and attend their first wedding (their cousin Seth)

Our readoption hearing was successful and we've since received both Kai and Sierra's new birth certificates (from the State of FL). The hearings were very brief and routine. Both Judge Simmons (Kai's judge) and Judge Perry (Sierra's judge) were very nice and posed for pictures with us after granting our readoption. Our only drama from the day was that Miss Sierra decided to make herself throw up on the way to court. Approximately 9 ounces of curdled milk went all over her and the car - you can imagine the smell. Of course there was no time to go home and we didn't bring a change of clothes (lesson learned the hard way). You could smell us coming a mile away and we had to give the "we stink" disclaimer before posing with the Judges - they were nice about it though.

Kai and Sierra's 15 month checkup with Dr. Lacy went well. Kai is up to 24 lbs and Sierra weighs 21 lbs. They did a little better on this visit and got a clean bill of health. They did get 4 more shots (supposedly the last ones until age 5), so we ended on a bad note. Fortunately, Ligia came with us, so she was able to trade off with Carla. This way Kai and Sierra didn't have to watch each other getting shots.

Our trip back to VA/WVA started a little rocky (this was our first plane trip since returning from Kazakhstan). The plane was completely full so they had to separate Jim and Carla because there weren't enough oxygen masks for 3 adults and 2 children. Even though the flight was during nap time, neither Kai or Sierra slept much (after bucking and flailing around - knocking the ladies drink over next to us, Sierra slept for about 15 min. Kai never slept). Once we were on the ground again, they did great. They were a little clingy towards the beginning of the trip (when MeMaw and Pawpaw had a pool party so everyone could meeting Kai and Sierra) but by the end of the week, they were letting others hold them (which was a great break for Mom and Dad). They were troopers. We stayed at 3 different houses across 10 days and they actually took naps (most of the time) and slept all night through the entire trip. They even did good on the 5 hour trip from VA to WVA (after we figured out that we needed to stop about every 2 hours to give them a break and let them run around). On the plane trip back to FL, we had the middle seat in addition to ours, so it went much smoother (but still no naps). It was great to visit with everyone, but nice to get back in our routine at home.

Since we've been home, Kai and Sierra seemed to have had some "acceleration" in a few development areas:

• Instead of walking - they break into a run (sort of)
• Kai now climbs up on the furniture
• Sierra likes to climb on top of the rocking horses and rock with no hands (she has amazing balance)
• Some new games include: splashing in the toilet and taking all the toilet paper off of the roll; or "robbing" the crib of the passies and stuff animals that are only supposed to be used at naps/bedtime
• Communication is much more directed. They both continue to use sign language and if they don't know a word, they'll say "please" or "more" and point to what they want. Sierra is saying a few more words (she says go, go, go while doing the sign for go; she also says dog - sounds like "gog"). Kai still prefers to sign/point/grunt - but we usually can tell what he wants. We're still working with both of them on verbalizing words in addition to the signs. Although we'll miss the frantic please/more/yes combo signs when Kai really, really wants something (usually involves food).

Here are some pictures from the month (sorry so long):