Hairbows 101

I have had lots of questions about Lucy's hairbows recently since I have taken it upon myself to have a HUGE bow in her hair everyday. As far as where I get them, they have come from many different places. Here is what I look for - Big and they have to have an alligator clip (which is sometimes hard to find for the big bows). I am sure we will eventually have every color, but we are still working on that. I have gotten several at a shoe place in Little Rock called Shoe Connection - weird place to buy bows, I know. I was shocked when I found them. The rest are just from little baby boutiques around Dallas or Little Rock. Any time I am in a childrens store, I check out the selection. The best bows are in the boutique type stores.

Now, here is something that you all are going to love to know. I have a secret to help keep the bows in her hair. A lady at a children's store taught me this, so I can't take credit. Lucy's hair is VERY fine and soft, so they come out easily. To solve this problem, all you need is a hot glue gun - and no, you are not going to be gluing the bow in their hair!! Open the alligator clip as wide as you can, put a line of hot glue on the part of the clip attached to the bow. Hold open the clip while it dries. Now there is a little something to hold on to the hair so it won't slip out so easily. I promise that it does not get hair stuck in it or pull their hair. Lucy can still pull the bows out if she wants and it does not pull out any hair. However, if she will leave it alone, the bow will stay in its place! It is quite nifty.

As any parent of an internationally adopted child knows, you attract a lot of attention in public. We can not go anywhere without people constantly doting on Lucy and asking questions about her. So here is your WARNING: the big hair bows seem to attract even more attention. I know it is because they look so darn cute, but most people that walk by make a comment about how precious she is. People just stare, smile, and coo at her all of the time. In return, Lucy gives them the most serious look as if she is saying - "I know I am cute and now you are just annoying me." It makes me laugh every time we are out and about and she just glares at everyone. I spend a lot of time explaining that she is not like this at home and that she does know how to smile!

So here she is in her yellow bow. I hope my tip helps those of you with fine haired babies like me. I promise again that it does not stick to their hair or pull it out either. It just helps hold it in place.

It is so hard to get a picture of Lucy. She is constantly diving for the camera. I still think this one is really cute.

Doing my favorite thing in the world - chewing on my pink blankie.

Here I come Mom!

On the go, as usual.

Wonderful Times

We have had such a fun past couple of days and Lucy has been so cheerful and happy. Yesterday we went to lunch with Mandy and Anna (Anna is adopted from Vietnam - she is the one from the readoption ceremony). We had so much fun and I just know that the girls are going to have such a great time getting to know one another. The mommas are going to have a great time as well!! I can't wait to get together with them again soon.

Tonight Lucy did my favorite thing in the world, she rocked to sleep in my arms!! It is rare for her to do this, so I really enjoy it when it happens. My little snuggle bug! I think she was worn out because she played with a friend of hers tonight, Jadie. Jadie is about a month younger than Lucy and she is precious! We ran errands today and Lucy was a happy girl the whole time. Today was just a good day for us!

Here are the most recent pictures.

These are my new kitchen gadgets. I now have my very own set on my very own shelf in the kitchen.

My favorites are the mixing bowls. They make a lot of noise when I bang them on the floor.

This is one of my favorite dresses!

Look at the ruffles on the bloomers. Cutie cutie!

This outfit is so cute as well. Lucy has the tiniest waist and all pants are always too big in the waist. She literally crawled out of these pants today. She still really needs 3-6 months in pants, but I keep thinking that her tummy is going to get bigger. Not yet!


I hope that everyone has a great weekend! We are going to relax around the house for the most part. The weather is supposed to be really nice, so we hope to spend a lot of time outside. Also, Miss Kathy is coming to visit, and we can't wait to see her.

How We Parent

I have read several posts on blogs lately about parenting styles and attachment and the sort. They have all got me thinking a lot. Nicki wrote an especially great post. Here is my thoughts on how we are parenting our child. When Lucy cries, we pick her up and comfort her. We do not believe in the "cry it out" theory. She does not sleep with us, but if she would have preferred to, we would have let her. If for some reason she is unable to sing herself to sleep one night (which is her preferred way of going to sleep), I immediately go to her and will rock or bounce her or whatever it is that she needs. When she was not sleeping through the night, she was never left to cry through it. She needed us and we were and will continue to always be there for her. We are hands on parents. She loves her toys, but we are always there playing them with her right now. She loves to climb all over us. She is independent in the way that she wants to be a "big" girl and do things on her own. However, she is always checking to make sure that Justin or I are right there watching her on her big adventure. I don't want to miss a thing while she is so little. I missed the first 5 months of her life, and I don't plan on missing any more. I am going to hold my baby as much as I can at this point, because in the blink of an eye she is going to be to big to hold any more. I never want to look back and say, I wish I would have held her more when she was little or rocked her more or anything that has to do with being close to her. Why do so many people want their babies to not act like babies? Think about it, in the big scheme of life, they are little for such a short period of time. There is no evidence that holding a child a lot makes them "spoiled" as so many claim. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Attachment parented children tend to be more compassionate and caring little people. I guess that the reason that I have decided to address this issue is because I have had several people tell me that I am spoiling Lucy by holding her so much or going to her whenever she is upset. I feel like I am constantly dodging the issue and just staying quiet about the way that I parent her. She will often cry for me when we are around other people and I think that often times they don't get why I always appease her. Well, here is why we do it. We love Lucy so much and want to do everything in our power to let her know that. We want her to be a caring, kind, and loving little person who knows how much she is loved and has the ability to love back wholeheartedly. We are well aware of the fact that there could be really hard times in the future as Lucy tries to really figure out who she is and why she is where she is. My goal in bonding so tightly with her is to help her with this in the future. I know that it is going to be hard at times, but I just want her to know that we are here for her for anything. That we are her parents and that we love her more than she will ever be able to imagine. So that is why we parent her the way we do - not to spoil her or to make her "rotten", but to let her know that she has parents there for her all of the time.

Wow, I haven't written anything very serious on this blog in a while. I just felt like talking about it today. It felt good. Now that I got that out of my system, back to the basics of the life of Lucy.

We recently switched Lucy to Dr. Brown's bottles. The nipples are smaller and they seem to get less air in her tummy. She was still having some vomitting spells even without the cough - not a lot, but enough to get me thinking again. We thought it could have something to do with the fact that she doesn't burp and was getting a big air bubble that just forced everything up. They seem to be working really really well. She switched easily and we have had no episodes. Knock on wood. She is still on soy formula. It is not a soy allergy that she has causing the throwing up. We will see if this is the magic trick!

Now for the fun part. I haven't posted a video in a really long time. The wait is over! The first video is older - she is way faster than this now. This was when she was first learning to stand and sit back down. It shows you how tough she is because she really bonks her head and thinks nothing of it. The second one shows her DEEP love of her blankie. This was just taken tonight, so that is her true size. I was asked where we got it - it is made by My Blankee and we got it at a baby boutique in Dallas. I am sure you can find it online. It is seriously the softest thing in the world and the girl would be devastated if we ever lost it. We have a light pink one as well, but her true love is for the hot pink/orange blankie.

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Who is that good looking girl in the window?? Oh yeah, it's me!

Miss Kathy gave me this adorable dress.

Some of my Faves

Sarah and Susan have not updated their blogs yet, and I am seriously going nuts to hear about what is going on. They had their G&Rs yesterday and I know that they are busy and all, with their new children, but seriously girls, we are all dying here!! The internet was down for the first part of our trip to Vietnam and I kept saying that I knew my blog readers were going to be going nuts, now I know how you all felt. This is torture. I couldn't sleep last night and I kept checking their blogs in the middle of the night since it was day time there. Hopefully that doesn't happen again tonight.

Here are some of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken of Lucy. The ones in the plaid dress are so cute to me. The white dress is a Vietnam purchase!! It fits perfectly and it has hand embroidered pink dragonflies on it - I think I paid $5 for it. AMAZING!

This might be my all time favorite Lucy picture. You can tell by that little smirk how mischievious she is.

I don't think that I have ever commented on Lucy's pink and orange blanket shown here. It is by far her favorite thing she has. She smiles and laughs every time you get it near her and she nuzzles her face in it. So cute.

Outside enjoying the warm weather.



My pretty dress bought in HCMC

Lucy is always wanting to get in the dog cage to play in their food and water!

Friends in Vietnam

I want to say a quick note that Sarah and Susan are on their way to Vietnam right now to adopt their kiddos. First of all, I consider them both friends, so that makes this special, but there is more to their adoptions that makes them extra special to me. Sarah and Susan are both going to get daughters from Lucy's itty bitty orphanage in Que Son. When we were in Vietnam, their baby girls were just teensy tinies and Justin and I got to meet them and see how precious they were back in December. When we left with Lucy and the other 2 babies adopted from their orphanage, there were only 4 babies left in the whole orphanage - and 2 are getting their families on Monday. The emotions for me are so high. I know I am going to see pictures of the nannies that took such wonderful care of Lucy again and I feel like I am sort of reliving our experience through them. Susan took a picture book of Lucy that I made to give to the nannies so that they can see how much she has grown and changed. I wish more than anything I could see their reaction to the pictures. I think they are going to be blown away by how much she has changed and blossomed. I hope that Susan and Sarah's trip goes perfectly smooth and that the babies do really well with the crazy change that they have to go through. I wish that they had cradles because the Que Son babies are used to swinging HIGH in cradles. Girls, I am so happy for you guys and wish I was there too!! Congratulations on your new babies.

Here are some new Lucy pictures. The weather has been so amazing lately, so we are enjoying it every day with a walk and sitting out back. We are trying to really enjoy it because so soon it is going to be sweltering hot.

My Lee Lee and PaPa got me this new toy. I can either ride it or it can change and I can walk behind it.

I have to be careful when I walk behind it because sometimes it gets going really fast!

Just sitting there patiently while Mom takes a zillion more pictures

I think I will stand

I wonder where my doggies are? Not in their cage

My Aunt Katy aka Seashy came to see me in Little Rock

Out to enjoy a nice walk

Fun Facts

I have come to the realization that the main reason that most people come to this blog is because they want to see our Lucy as she grows and blossoms into the amazing little pumpkin that she is becoming. So, I plan on posting lots of pictures from here on out. I will also post about her development and exciting events in her life as they happen, but if I am going to be posting every couple of days, it will mostly be pictures.

Here are a few interesting things about Lucy that I may not have ever shared yet.

1. She HATES and I do mean HATES the car. She freaks out almost every time we have to drive somewhere. It is really fun for all involved. The fact of the matter is, she prefers to be moving ALL of the time and the constraints of the car seat make her furious. Hopefully she will someday soon outgrow this little problem.

2. If you would hang her upside down all day, she would be the happiest girl alive. She is like a little monkey and she loves to be tossed around and being upside down makes her laugh her head off. We call her our little acrobat. I really do think she will love gymnastics some day.

3. Every day in the bathtub she has to stand and reexamine the faucet over and over. She is amazed by it for some reason and that she can stick her finger up the faucet and it disappears. It never gets old.

4. She lays in bed every night and sings for about 20 minutes before drifting off to sleep. It is so cute to listen to in the monitor. I would love for her to let me rock her to sleep every night, but she just likes her night time space and she seems to like to sing. We adore her singing.

5. She is not much of a cuddler. She is just too busy. But when she does slow down for a moment and allows some cuddle time, it is the best! We take full advantage of the rare snuggles. I am really not kidding though when I say that this girl wants to be moving all of the time. Busy busy busy.

6. She studies everything so closely. She will do this thing with her hand of opening and closing it on something many times to get the full feel of something. Then she will flip it around and always taste it.

7. She is tough as nails. When she falls or bumps her head, she just looks to make sure I am close by and goes on about her business. Anyone who has never met her is always amazed when she tumbles over and doesn't cry. Again, she is scared of nothing and will try anything. However, when she does get herself worked up, it is loud and everyone knows about it.

So, there are some fun facts about our girl. And here are the pictures that you all love to see!

I had to race to get a picture of her sitting still!

She is standing all of the time and on anything she can get her hands on. She has on the cutest sandals



Do you guys think I can get through here somehow? I am going to try.

Look mom, my head fits through the poles!

Catch me if you can!!

What a happy face

Lucy with my childhood pastor, Dr. Johnson. The best pastor in the world!!

Lucy and Bianca enjoying a lovely spring day

What a face

Mom, where are the bubbles?

I am patiently waiting still

I want to touch the bubbles!


I can stand on this chair too! There is nothing I can't do.

Sending our Prayers

First of all, I want to say how sad and upsetting the whole Virginia Tech massacre has been to me. I am praying for all involved with it. What a horrible thing. I just feel as though this should be addressed and let people know that we are praying for your comfort through this very very hard time. I am so sorry to all affected by this.

Secondly, I got a strange comment from my previous post. It said:

Anonymous said...
WOW, I cannot believe that your husband missed that big day. Time for a priority check???

This has more than rubbed me the wrong way. Why make such a comment without knowing whatsoever why he was not there? Why be rude when it was such a special thing for us? Anonymous, did you think that my husband just woke up and thought, "I think I will skip my daughters readoption day for the hell of it." Or maybe you thought he was out golfing with his friends or watching a baseball game. Seriously, is this what you were thinking? Just so that you know and to ease your mind, my husband was out of town working. Not something that he could miss or reschedule, that is simply not an option, which by the way is our business to deal with. So you may be thinking why not pick a different date for court? Well, the only other day in April that we could have done it he would have been gone as well. So, we made the family decision to do it on the court's Adoption day so that we could celebrate with other families who have been through similar situations. Not all of us have husband's with 9 to 5 jobs and can make it to every event. I wish that were the case, but let's be realistic, it just is not possible for all of us. Justin is the most amazing and wonderful Dad to Lucy and he would never miss a thing for her if he didn't have to. But he has to make a living so that I can stay home with her and we can live. Period. I feel better now for addressing this issue.

Now, to brighten our lives, here is the fun part that reminds me everyday how blessed we are. Yesterday, I got some of the cutest pictures to date of Lucy, but I can't upload them for a bit because we are in Little Rock visiting my parents with Lucy and don't have my camera cord. I got some cute ones today though on my mom's camera, so here you go. We are totally into the BIG bows these days. By the way, Lucy learned yesterday that she can climb up stairs. Super scary!!

ReAdopt Day for Lucy!!

Today was a big day for Lucy. We had her readoption court date today. This means that her name is officially changed to Lucy Huong Elise and that she has a Texas birth certificate!! The court house was in Fort Worth and it was "adoption day" of the month. There were several other families there doing the same thing and there were balloons, stuffed animals, cookies, and punch for everyone. It was neat to talk to the other families. Most of the kids were domestic adoptions, but guess what??? There was the most adorable little girl from Vietnam - and we live so close to one another!! What a small world. They used Dillion and Miss Anna is 2.5 years old and just about the cutest pumpkin I have ever seen. We exchanged info and agreed that we need to stay in touch so that the girls can know one another. It was so fun to visit with her family and hear about their Vietnam adventure. Here are some pictures from the afternoon. Justin had to miss this, which we are all sad about, but my parents were there to share in our joy. We miss you so much Daddy!!

Lucy and her mama before the court hearing


The court room decorated all cute for the kids


This was so funny because Lucy was sitting in my lap just taking it all in - listening to the judge and kicked back with her feet crossed.


All of our family with the judge


The judge let Lucy hold and chew on her gavel


And just for fun, here are some more adorable pictures.

I know she is always with this table, but she loves the darn thing!! So cute in her Easter present from Lee Lee


In her green cargo dress - very cute for the day but not condusive to nap time


Happy Girl!!




With her Easter flower from Aunt Seashy!!


I am done with this photo shoot


Lookin so cute in her dress that her PaPa picked out all on his own!!


Check out those cheeks!


Shear joy as PaPa throws her high in the air - she loves to be tossed around


With my flower that we made into a hat