Park lesson #1: Do not lick the sand!
Seems obvious but I guess we all had to learn this one at some point in time. Georgie's turn was this past weekend. I must be a bad mom cuz I grabbed the camera first and wiped sand out of her mouth second.

No harm done, Georgie still loves the park! She especially loves to lay in the sand (either on tummy or back) and make sand angels!! This was the first visit that G decided to try the slide. She loved it!!!! Going down on her bottom was a little scary so she switched to the tummy which was fun, fun, fun!!!

Just before the sandtasting:


Yummmm!


Play, play, play!!




Such a beautiful girl!

My Lucky Charm!!!
Today is St Patrick's Day and to celebrate we took Georgiana for her monthly photo op. Again, these are the proofs so they have the watermark but you can still get the idea. Isn't she a doll???!! She's such a little stinker though. She absolutely refused to crack even the tiniest smile during the photos but, as soon as we were done, and we were waiting for the proofs HUGE SMILE and giggles galore! Ugh! Oh well, we still managed to get some cute shots. And because people always want to know, the outfit was purchased from an ebay seller who makes lots of customs and, yes, Georgie does keep bows and clips in her hair!!!

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful... beautiful girl!!!
While I was waiting for our referral--which turned out to be 31-1/2 mos from LID and just over 3 yrs from application-- I heard from people that "once we received a referral, the pain of the wait would just fade away." I never believed it, not for one second. In fact, it used to really piss me off as it seemed so dismissive.

Well, I definitely am not going to say that I have forgotten the pain of the wait. It was a long and difficult time of my life. As the months dragged on, I had many days that held more tears than smiles. I can say that even though the memory of the pain is still with me, it has dissipated somewhat. The hole in my life and heart that used to be filled with pain and longing is being replaced. Its filling with visions of G's little smile or the funny way she motions to me with her fingers squished together to let me know she'd like me to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to her one more time. The sadness is being slowly replaced with the memories we make daily. Like tonight when G was a little whiney and Casey sat on the floor and played toys with her and her face lit up!

Someday, the pain of the wait may be gone entirely. However, even if the pain never completely disappears I can say with all honesty, Georgiana was worth it! I truly believe it would be impossible for me to be any more in love with this lovely little girl. Looking at her face just melts my heart. Bobby and I have a discussion almost every day about how lucky we are that she entered our lives. We cannot believe our good fortune. Its official, she's perfect for us!

Love Without Boundaries:
LWB provides the most loving and compassionate help possible to orphaned and impoverished children in China. They do this through six main program areas: medical, education, nutrition, foster care, special assistance, and healing homes.

Love Without Boundaries began in the year 2003, after a group of adoptive parents came together to help save the life of one tiny boy in China. Following his successful heart surgery, they realized that people with a pure love for helping children can truly make a difference. LWB incorporated as a 501(c)(3) charity in the state of Oklahoma, and their worldwide team of volunteers went to work. In just five short years, their foundation has grown from providing a handful of surgeries and baby formula in 2003 to touching the lives of thousands of children today through foster care, medical, education, and nutrition programs. They work hard to maintain their overhead as low as possible in order to help the most children. In 2008, their overhead was less than 10%!!! That is almost unheard of in the non-profit world. That means 90 cents of every dollar donated goes to providing children with needed treatment and nutrition!

Below is a picture of a little boy from Georgiana's SWI, Zhangshu City SWI, who is in need of cleft and hernia repair surgery. His name is Zhong. LWB is raising funds to pay for his surgery. They currently need $1290 more before the surgery can be scheduled.

Please consider donating to LWB to help Zhong receive the surgery he needs to have a happy and healthy life. Even a small donation will bring him closer to the goal! Click on the link below to go to the LWB site. Donations can be made with a credit card, you will be emailed a receipt.

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

The Living Desert, etc.
We try to do something Georgie oriented each weekend. Its so fun to take her places and show her things. She particularly likes animals, all kinds. Its been kind of cold and rainy around here so Bobby suggested we try someplace in the desert where it would be warm and sunny!

Did a little searching and found a place out in Palm Desert called The Living Desert. Its like a wild animal park but just desert animals. One half is North American desert animals, the other is African Desert animals. I liked the giraffes the best but I think Georgie was most thrilled by the goats in the petting zoo and banging on the drums in the african village!

I also finally downloaded some of the pix from my camera and came across some of G in a few of her cute outfits. She wears the basics, jeans and onesies, all during the week the babysitter so I kind of like to dress her up a little cute on the weekends when we go out to dinner and stuff. Its funny, she definitely knows when she's "dressed up" because she gets really giggly and shows off a little. Really cute!!!

G petting the goats:




Banging the drum:


With daddy in the play area:


The giraffes were super cool!


My valentine flowers from bobby. I love, love, love the pink lilies!


My beautiful little valentine girl!


I love this outfit. Its a naartjie I picked up when they were having their winter sale (dress $9, tights $3, headband $1!!!). Georgiana wore it when we went out for our valentine dinner at Flemings. Lots of people were surprised we'd take her their but she did great!! We just order quickly and make sure she has plenty of snacks and she always does just fine. Isn't she adorable???








Thought I'd put this one in here too. These are my kitties now. They're about 10 mos old now. I love my kitties so much!!! They're so sweet.

I've been really busy...
Well, I'm back to work and Georgiana is halfway through her third week of daycare. I'll be honest, the first week was tough, on both of us. I took that week off so we could transition her to the small in-home provider we've chosen. The first 2 days she stayed for only 2 hours but by the 3rd day she was up to the full 4 hours. The first day, she cried. I gave her a kiss and a hug, assured her I was returning for her and handed her over to Sylvia --who is just perfect, very calm but firm-- and out the door I went. Hysterics from G. Surprisingly, no tears from me. I'm a practical and logical person by nature. I felt we'd chosen a good place, the right person and I really thought that Georgiana would be happy and enjoy being around the other kids. I knew she'd cry, I expected it, I knew that she'd get over it, I knew she'd be ok. Calm, cool, collected...right.

Bobby and I went to breakfast and I called Sylvia about 20 mins later just to see how things were going. I could hear G crying in the background and that was it, my heart broke. It absolutely sunk. All my logic went flying out the window and left me with only my emotions. My baby. was crying. for me. My baby, who had spent a year in an orphanage having some but not all of her needs met, was crying for her new mommy that she was just learning to trust. I am certain that she felt she was being ditched again. Handed off to some new mommy. Ouch. Daggers to the heart. Complete and utter guilt.

The first few days she didn't eat much while she was there, stuck around mostly inside, played with a few toys, and refused to let go of her stuffed monkey that she took as a comfort item.

But, things did get better. By the end of the week, she was down to a one minute whimper after the morning handoff. By the end of the week, Sylvia reported that G dropped the monkey after a while and played more.

The following monday, after the weekend break in our new routine, brought a little more crying but by the end of that week, the routine had taken hold. Georgiana now smiles when we turn the corner near Miss Sylvia's house and I begin to sing her the little song I made up to cue her to what we are doing:

"We're going to Miss Sylvia's house
Miss Sylvia's house,
Miss Sylvia's house.

We're going to Miss Sylvia's house,
where you can play and have fun!!!"

The reports are good. She's eating well, playing outside daily and seems super happy --although tired and ready to go home --when Bobby picks her up just after lunch. What a relief!!! So, objective and logical mom was right after all, but it was still rough on emotional mom and baby.

Hairbows!!!
I feel so lucky that G has so much hair. It makes hairbow and clippie shopping super fun!!! I ran across a link on RQ to a site by a fellow China PAP who is selling custom handmade bows and clippies to help finance her adoption. Super cute and original designs. I can't wait to get the Mulan clippie!!! Anyway, if you already have a little girl and need some hairbows or clippies or you're still dreaming of your little girl and want to prepare with some retail therapy, you should check out her site:

http://www.sarabethbows.blogspot.com/

happy valentine's day!!!
Georgie update!!!! Just in time for Vday, Georgie is now blowing kisses and, for the first time today, gave a real kiss to both me and Bobby! It was a nice one too, not the open mouth "I'm going to take a bite out of your face" kind. A really sweet kiss complete with the swak sound. Have I mentioned how much we are loving this little girl???


Vday: We had a fun day. Bobby sent me me beautiful flowers (roses and pink lilies, my favs!!) to work on friday. We got up early, of course now that we have a baby in the house, and we lounged around.

After Georgiana had a nice nap, we went off to the mall to have her Valentine's Day pix completed. I bought her the cutest outfit ever for the event complete with a pink boa and heart-shaped lolly for props. This is the type of thing I live for!!! I have a plan to do monthly pix this year: jan = G's bday, feb = valentine's, mar = st patty's, etc. I've been working on the outfits and props for each little by little. So much fun!!!

Anyway, after the pictures, we did a little shopping and the four of us: Casey, G, Bobby and I went off to Chili's for dinner. We're going to be doing a fancier dinner on monday but this was for all of us.

Hugs to all, especially to those who continue to wait in the China line. I know how tough that is and I wish the wait on no one.

Here are some of the pix from the studio:

OUR LITTLE FISH!!!
To celebrate the wonderful weather we're having around here (81 degrees today!!!) we thought we'd warm up the spa and let Georgiana go for a swim. Georgie loves the water. Bathtime is her absolute favorite part of the day. Bobby has taken her out in the backyard a few times to look at the pool but, until recently, it was just too darn cold. Anyway, I dressed her in the pink and green Gymboree ladybug bathing suit and sunhat that was purchased for her last summer when Georgie was still a dream. She looked adorable!!! Daddy jumped in the water with Georgie and I grabbed the camera.

Look at my sweet girl!!

Zoo!
G loves animals. We've been toying with the idea of taking her to the San Diego Zoo but its so big we decided to try a small zoo first. About 45 mins away is the Santa Ana Zoo, its pretty small but it was a good size for G. She walked most of it herself. Interestingly, her favorite animals were probably the ducks, turkeys, and roosters she saw in the farm section. We actually had to tear her away from the ducks after we just couldn't look at them anymore! We picked up some mexican food at a well known place in Corona we'd just never gotten around to trying, Miguel's. It was good.

G was so tired from her big day at the zoo she slept about 12.5 hours straight but woke up happy as can be!

Here are some pix of my beautiful girl!




G love to find little things on the ground. This is her with some sort of pod that fell from a tree. She investigated it from every angle for about 10 mins. She is a very curious girl!




This is one of my all time favorite pix of G!

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!