New friends
The internet is such a great thing! At some time during the wait, I became acquainted with another China adoption family that actually lives within a mile or so of me. Their little girl, Mia, came home about 2 yrs ago. Although we communicated a bit through RQ pms and email, we never met. A few weeks after we got home from China we finally had a chance to meet for lunch. Mia is even more beautiful in person than she looked in her blog pictures http://www.tomiawithlove.blogspot.com/ and her mom, Christy, is really fun! We hit it off immediately. Its so great to have another China IA family so close to us. Also, lucky for me, Christy has a small group of other China IA moms and kids that she meets with to do fun things every so often. G and I were lucky enough to be included in their CNY celebration which included lunch at a Chinese restaraunt and then play time in the park. I didn't have my camera with me in the restarautnt --bummer because the kids were wearing Chinese silk outfits and looked really cute-- but did get some pix at the park.

G loved, loved, loved the see saw type toy:


G and Ryan. Ryan is 2-1/2 and has been home for about a year. Very handsome little guy!!


G playing in the wood chips. She kept trying to eat them --probably not healthy, right?


Kaelie (sp??) is 3 and just as sweet as can be!


Becky and her mom. Becky is almost 2 and has been home for about 7 or 8 mos. Such a pretty little girl.


And Mia!

Pierced ears!
I had planned to get G's ears pierced before her birthday but she wasn't feeling well due to a cold and teething. But, finally she was feeling up to it so off we went. She had no idea of course of what was going to happen and during the minute or so while we were getting ready looked really apprehensive. After they were done she cried for about a minute then we were able to distract her by going to look at the silk flowers. Withing a few minutes she'd already forgotten all about it. Now she has her little girly earrings. I can't wait until they're completely done healing --they said it would take about 6 weeks --and she can start wearing earrings to match her outfits!!!

Getting ready:


Almost time:


All done!


About an hour later:


We had to stop by my MILs house earlier in the day. She wasn't home but G decided to pick some flowers. Good thing I had my camera with me because she looked awfully cute in her ladybug outfit complete with squeaky shoes!

The Debut of Miss Georgiana:
This past Saturday we celebrated Georgiana's first birthday. We invited friends, family and neighbors most of whom had not yet had an opportunity to meet her. Even though Georgie was feeling a little under the weather, she still managed to have a really nice day. She is such a little trooper.

Unfortunately, G crashed out before she could get to her presents and enjoy her own little cake so that had to wait until the next day. She was lucky to receive many nice gifts including toys and beautiful, super girly clothes.

This is G wearing her birthday hat. Bobby and I picked this up in Solvang last year and thought it would be fun to get a pic of her wearing it each year.


G with my sil's mom, Frances. She brought G the most beautiful Easter dress. The pink is actually ribbon twisted and sewn onto the dress. I'd been looking online for exactly this style of Easter dress and had been pretty disappointed and then, there it was! Very thoughtful.



G with Bobby and Char:


The spread! I was going for simple so I made a no utensil rule, all finger foods. It worked out pretty well.


My first attempt at red eggs. At first I tried dipping them into the red dye but they turned brown and looked kind of icky. So, I watered down the dye a little and redipped them, then they looked orange. Oh well, not too bad. I'm going to have to keep working on this.


Casey, a little out of focus:


Daddy getting Georgie's neck. She loves that!


Lots of friends were there to welcome G and help her to celebrate!

Maria and Daniella


Terrence and Jen with the super cute Gavin! He's only about 3 weeks older than G, perfect playmate!


Faye and Patty:


Candy and her beau


Mylene and Johann with John John


Tressy and Georgie


Louie and Alicia with the ever so handsome Alexis. He's 3 weeks younger than G!


Matt and Sonia with their son Mason, such a sweetie!


Andrea kindly representing the Henry family:


Chery and David with my mom


G loved this hat!! She would cry and point to it if we took it off her head.


By 4:30, Georgie was partied out. Poor baby.


The next day, Georgie enjoyed her gifts:

Melissa and Doug puzzle. I love, love, love M&D toys, they're awesome!!


Kids classical music CD and pink clothes!


A beautiful "family" frame personalized with our name. Can't wait to get the family pic to go in it!


Every little girl adopted from China needs a ladybug dress!


Super girly jammies. Check out that gift bag, love it!


Embroidered capri set. I love this because it actually looks like something I might wear. So fun!


Toys, yeah!!!




Not sure if you can tell from the pic but this is a hippo towel and washcloth. Perfect for G, she loves her bath more than anything in the world. Great for snuggling her up with afterwards.


Georgiana loves her board books. She particularly loved this one that had fuzzy pages for her to touch. I find it somewhat unusual for a one year old but she will hold and look at her books for a long time, like 10-15 mins, while she turns the pages (usually backwards) and "reads" by saying "ubah, blah, ba-ba-ba" She likes to be read to also but often turns the pages back and forth so that you end up having to read the same page over and over. So funny!


This is a fairy dress up outfit. Everyone who knows me knows I LOVE fairies! Can't wait to dress her up in this one and take pix.


I actually have a few pix of gifts G received before her party, I'll try to post pix in the next day or so.

After presents, Georgiana was finally able to enjoy her little cake. She saw her hat and insisted on wearing it some more. Bobby wanted her to dive in with her fingers but she didn't want to. She did enjoy eating the cake off the spoon though. Such a little lady, ahhhhhh.




After cake, G's party weekend was officially over. I can only imagine what the next year will bring, I can't wait!!! Happy Birthday Georgiana Rose, I love you more than I could ever imagine!

One month ago,
Bobby, Georgiana and I walked through the door of our home after a grueling 27 hours of traveling. Finally, Georgiana was home, forever! I have to say, its been a pretty great month. Georgiana celebrated her first Christmas and New Year's, and several birthdays including her own, Bobby's and my mother in law's. She has completed her first medical evaluation in the US giving her a clean bill of health, she has gone from taking a tentative 2 or 3 steps to walking completely on her own! She's gained almost 2 lbs, grown an inch and popped out another 2 teeth for a total of 6!!!

Its not a wonder the G has gained some weight, she loves to eat! She especially loves to feed herself. Her favorite foods are: deli sliced turkey breast, grilled chicken, meatballs, sliced cooked carrots, vienna sausages, banana slices, fresh peas, mandarin oranges, string cheese, spaghetti, rice cereal, cheerios, raisins, asparagus, cooked tomatoes, and yogurt. The only thing she really doesn't like is olives which is so funny because I thought all little kids liked olives. I'm pleased to report that G is now understanding when she's full and will then stop eating or shake her head for no more.

Georgiana is learning so many things: she can say bah (ball), kuh kuh (kitty kat), bruh (brother), baba (bottle), mama, dada, bye-bye, hi, baa (bath) and nigh nigh (this is what she calls her stuffed monkey which we refer to as "night, night monkey"). Her language skills are coming along very well I think. She understands tons of words including fan, bite, and my personal favorite "kisses!" She waves hello and goodbye and can give a high and low five!

Georgiana can find her foot, ear, and nose. She can also locate them on me and sometimes on her stuffed dog! G's gone from not understanding what she was supposed to do with a toy to playing with all her toys!

Bobby, Brett, Casey and I cannot believe how lucky we are to have been given the gift of this beautiful and fun little girl. Not a day goes by when I don't thank my lucky stars that we have been given the opportunity to parent the little girl we've always needed to complete our family. She is a complete and utter joy each and every day!

And now, some gratuitously cute photos of Georgiana taken this past weekend when we went to Lake Arrowhead for lunch. I dressed her in an oh-so-cute Naartjie dress, leggings and matching headband. While we were waiting for our referral, I would walk into Naartjie just about every time we'd go to Victoria Gardens (our local mall) and look at all the uber cute little girl clothes and dream about the day we'd have a little girl to dress up. I love their clothes but they are a little pricey for the normally super cheap me! ($23 for a onesie, $28 for leggings, $36 for a dress, $12 for a headband, etc) But, this past week they were having a clearance sale! Hello! I was all over that! Dress and leggings $5 each piece, headband 59 cents!!! That's what I'm talking about!

Anyway, Georgiana loved watching us feed the ducks and seagulls on the lake. We handed her bread to toss out for the ducks but instead of throwing it, she'd just eat it!

At Papagayos --best mexican food in Arrowhead!






Playing with the train table at the toy store. Georgie loved that train table!!


Daddy and G by the lake:

Chuck E Cheese and The Long Beach Aquarium:
Its so fun to be able to take Georgie places!!! As a quick little trip we took her to Chuck E Cheese so she could try some of the little rides. She really didn't know what to think at first. She liked the horsey ride and really enjoyed looking at the characters while they danced and sang. It was a nice quiet mid-week day so there was hardly anyone else but us there. Still, got a few cute photos.





Then, on Saturday, we decided to take G to the Long Beach Aquarium. She loved seeing the many koi we saw while we were in China so I figured she's really enjoy seeing all the different kinds of fish. I dressed her in her denim overalls so she'd be able to lay on her tummy and pet the fish in the touch tanks. She LOVED it!!!! Every tank we'd come to she'd lay down and splash and splash and splash while she screamed and looked at the fish. She was so happy. The other tanks that just held fish you couldn't touch were not nearly as interesting to her. She'd look for a second then start trying to climb Bobby--I think she thought if she could just get higher she could get in with them!!! She was very impressed by the jelly fish and stood in front of the tank watching them for about 5 mins!! I have to say, the way they move so slowly and peacefully is very pleasant to me too. Its like underwater ballet. Very beautiful!!!!

Other things Georgiana found fun were chasing pigeons. She did it for a long time, I think she thought she was going to catch one. She moves pretty quickly now and actually came kind of close a few times!

Bobby and G in front of one of the many fishtanks:


Georgie looking ever so cute in her pink sunhat:


Georgie and mom in the aviary:

She's "1" and she walks!!!!

OMG!!! Its official, my sweet, adorable, funny, engaging, gorgeous, brilliant and precious little girl is one year old today! In order to give us a little breathing room after China, Christmas, and New Year's we'll be doing her coming out/birthday party in a few weeks. So, today we decided to get Miss G's first official studio shots done to celebrate her presence on earth (and general cuteness!!!) for a whole year. She had an extra long nap and lunch and then I popped her into her Birthday Girl outfit I bought her right after referral when I realized that we were going to be able to share this occasion with her. I wasn't too sure she'd tolerate the pointy hat but I was hoping for just a single shot with the whole ensemble.

Let me first say "WOW!" has studio photography improved a lot since Brett and Casey were babies or what???? Back in the olden days, I'd have to dress the boys up, haul them to the mall, and have them photographed in 5 or so pre-determined poses (you had to pay extra if you wanted to do a pose of your own choosing). The pix were taken with a film camera that was permanently affixed to the tripod. Kids (no matter how small) were photographed on those tables that were 3 feet off the ground so my boys would often cry or look terrified because they were afraid of falling. They'd shoot the pix hoping that their eyes weren't closed or that they really did catch that smile. Once finished, you'd leave and return 3 weeks later only to find that none of the pix were that good. No, Brett wasn't smiling in the one the girl thought he had been and one of them was great except mom's hand was visible at the side of the pic cuz I hadn't pulled my hand back quickly enough from holding Casey onto the table while he attained "pose" and "smile." But, "it was OK" I was told by the clerk, there would be no sitting fee if we wanted to retake them. And go through that baloney again??? No thanks. I finally got smart and started doing nice casual photos at home or at a local garden and then having them enlarged. So much nicer.

Anyway, enough of my trip down memory lane. Our pix today were done at a chain called Picture People and they were so awesome!!! G was a little wary at first but came around. Honestly, I wasn't sure if we were getting any good pix during the 15 mins or so they shot them. After that we waited about 5 mins and out they came with pre-framed photos that were so beautiful that Bobby took one look at them and the expression on my face and reached directly into his pocket, pulled out his credit card and say "ok, you got me, you win!"

The store emails you copies of the pix so you can buy more later if you missed a few ;-)

As you can see, there's a watermark on the photos but you can still get the general idea! Oh, and over the last 2 days, Miss G went from 2-4 steps to 20 plus. It's official, she's a walker!!!! Life is good, really good!!!

Trust me, you don't want any pix of this...
I have been so, so sick. It actually started on 12/28 but by the 1/1/09 I was pretty much non functioning. The next 4 days are a blur. I went from bed to couch to bed and that was about it. Finally, yesterday my mom took me to the local ER. You have to understand, I don't DO doctor's, ever. The last time I went to a doctor that wasn't adoption-physical related was about 12 yrs ago when I fell and sprained my foot so bad that the entire thing from toe to ankle, sole to top turned black from bruising --and that was after 3 days and because Bobby convinced me it must be broken. BTW, it wasn't, I would have been fine without the trip to the doctor, right? Before that it was when my kids were born, before that it was when I was 8. I always took my kids to the doctor when they needed to go but I just didn't need to go. I'd get sick then I'd get better. Not this time.

When I went to the ER I figured they'd say, "You're sick, rest, drink fluids." Ummm, no. "Pneumonia and a sinus infection" is what they said. Not nice. But, after a big bag of IV fluids and a littler bag of IV antibiotics, I feel almost like a human being! I'm looking at a computer screen and typing, those are two things I wasn't even remotely capable of doing yesterday.

On to better news, Georgie is turning 1 tomorrow!!!! Hopefully I'll feel able to go out tomorrow--I'm planning on it.