Off to the Grandparents House We Go

We just got home today from a trip down to Nana and Grandy's for some quality grandparent time. Lucy, of course loved it, because she is the center of attention at their house. We did all kinds of fun things - took a golf cart ride and saw baby deer and ducks, went swimming in a lake for the first time, swam in the pool, took many wagon rides, played with all of the John Deere toys at Grandy's work, and got to meet a lot of family that have never met Lucy in person. She amazes me as she opens up more and more to people every single day. She is not nearly as shy or reserved as she used to be. She giggles and smiles all of the time. Everyone just loved her and she was such a trooper. She started this new "singing" thing that is so adorable. I am going to try and get it on video because it is worth everyone seeing. Also, she took 4 very steady and controlled steps the other day. We could not believe it. As I have said before, the steps that she takes are always diving ones, but these 4 she got her balance after each step and steadied herself. It won't be long until she is outta here!! Here are some fun pictures from our weekend.

My first swim in the lake with my Grandy!

Crawling all over the place in the grass.


I was a little scared of the waves in the lake, so this bucket of water was more fun for me to splash around in.

Lucy has a quick question.

Nana and Grandy gave me this wagon for my first birthday. I got to get it a month early!!

I really love to be strolled around in it and wave to everyone as I pass by.


Playing on the John Deere toys.

I wish one of my cousins was in here with me!!

Swimming with Grandy.

On my way back to the house in my new wagon!!

And finally, our good friend Kristin, who is also adopting from Vietnam, was over to visit us and she is a great photographer. She took some pix of Lucy and here is my one sneak preview. Let's all hope she posts some more on her blog (hint, hint)!! Lucy loved having a visitor over to the house. Thanks for coming Kristin!!

Trying to Catch Up

I just realized how many cute new pictures I have and I need to get them posted. So, there will be a lot of pictures with this one. Poor Lucy got eaten alive by a mosquito. Here is the ridiculous part - it happened in her room while she was napping. The darn thing was trapped in her room and had Lucy for a snack. She got bitten 8, yes I said 8, times. Her little skin is so soft that they welp up so big and look absolutely terrible. I found the mosquito in her crib after I realized she had been bitten. I try so hard to protect her while we are outside and then she gets attacked in her own room while she is trying to sleep. Ugh.

She still only has 4 teeth, but I swear she is working on a whole mouthful. I think one day she is just going to have all of these teeth appear. She is drooling nonstop and cannot keep her fingers out of her mouth. She LOVES to brush her 4 little teeth. I do the brushing and then let her have the toothbrush for a while. She gets mad when we take it away.

She will take about 3 diving steps. Someone had better be ready to catch her!! I think she is still a ways from real walking. We'll see though. That is about all of our exciting news. Now to the pictures.

Now this swimsuit is cute. Seriously, what could be cuter than roses on a tiny hiney?!?!




Showing off her stair climbing skills.

Look Mom, I made it!

Now, how am I going to get back down?

Doing a little reading.

Inspired by my bff Grace, Mom put some piggies in my hair. They were a huge hit!!


So cute!!


In a dress from Vietnam - it cost $5!!

Brushing my teeth like a big girl.

Happy Father's Day (A day late)

Happy Father's Day to Justin - his very first!! You are such a wonderful daddy to Lucy and she adores every second that she gets to spend with you. She bonded with you immediately. What a lucky girl she is to have such a fun dad. You make us laugh all of the time. We both love you so much!! Thanks for all you do for both of us. We are truly blessed to have you in our lives.













Also, Happy Father's Day to my dad. You are the best!! Thanks for everything. I don't know what in the world I would do without my parents. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family. I hope that all of the dads out there had a wonderful day and know how appreciated you are!

Thinking about Things

Laurie at Pho for Four, who always has awesome posts, recently got me really thinking about how things really are in our household as Justin and I adapt to being first time parents and doing that for an adopted child. She was commenting on how many adoptive parents (APs) only write about the happy times and we often don't write about the hard times, which makes our lives appear "perfect", which is most certainly not the case. I admit, I rarely write about the hard times, but we have been so fortunate and have a child who has adjusted so well and I often don't have issues to write about. Lucy is a very easy baby. She sleeps well, she eats well, she interacts well, she is attached to us (which I know is still very much a work in progress), and she is just a happy little pumpkin. We are lucky. She came from a tiny little orphanage with only a few babies and she was SO well cared for and loved. The only hard times we have had with her were in Vietnam while she was mourning the loss of everything and everyone that she had ever known in her short little life of 5 months. And even then, the only hard time was going to bed. But once we got home, it was like a switch flipped and night time was no longer a battle. As I said before, we are very fortunate. Every child is so different. As far as feeling attached to her immediately, I can honestly say that I did. I do remember feeling a little weird that she was finally with us for the first few days, but I really did always feel as though she was our child. Everyone processes this so differently and I certainly don't think it is weird for someone to not feel attached to a picture or to a child that they barely know. I am probably the weird one here for feeling so attached to a picture of a child I had never met. My feelings for her grow stronger and stronger everyday still.

So, for the time being, I don't have any major adjustment issues to write about regarding Lucy - she is doing great. That does not mean that I don't find myself having a hard time. What I find myself constantly struggling with is the age old question - Are we raising her "correctly"? Because she is adopted, I feel as though I question myself and how we do things with her all of the time. I am not sure that I would do this with a bio child. Even though she is doing so well, I am always worried that I am going to do something that makes her go backwards in her progress. Other APs out there, do you do this? Is this normal? Will this feeling eventually go away? Am I always going to be worried that I am screwing up or that I could screw up? I am sure that every parent goes through this in one way or another. I know it is normal to worry about raising your children. I just worry sometimes that I over analyze everything because she is adopted. I find myself questioning silly little things and wondering if it is related to the fact that she is adopted. And then I find myself concerned that I am going to make her feel different by worrying too much. I don't want to make her feel any more different than she already is going to feel. Again, do others feel this same way? The bottom line is, Justin and I love Lucy so very much. She is hands down the greatest thing that could have ever happened to either of us. We want to do the very best for her that we can, and that can be a big load on one's shoulders. Will I ever just feel that we are doing our best and that our best is good enough for our children?

Now that I have gotten that off of my chest, on to some lighter reading. I have a confession, I have turned into a huge game nerd. I am addicted to both Nintendo Wii (bowling being my biggest addiction and I did bowl a 246 today) and jigsaw puzzles. Random, I know, but it is true. My little sister and I have been doing puzzles pretty much nonstop for the past couple of weeks. We just finished a 2000 piece puzzle in no time at all. What a bunch of dorks we are!! It is so fun though.

Lucy's favorite tricks lately are clapping at everything, shaking her head NO to any question you ask her, and waving like a queen. She has done a funny wave for a while now, but all of the sudden, she waves like the queen. I have it on video and will upload it soon. Of course, for your viewing pleasure, here is my little pumpkin. We took her to the big pool and she was not really too sure about it. The water was cold and there were a million wild kids there, but she had a good time. She kept wanting to put her head in the water but then she would get a mouth full of water and snort some up her nose. This is all happening while I am fighting her to keep her head out of the water since she obviously did not get the whole not breathing under water thing.
Ready to swim.


In the baby pool - it was 2 feet deep and she needed her float to stay above water. Also, the whole pool has a huge shade over it which is why the water was so cold. She never touched her sunglasses one time. She apparently loves them.



Could someone get me a cold drink?

Check out those cheeks!!

Hello Again

It has been a while since my last post. First of all, I had to laugh about the numerous comments I got about Lucy being naked in the pool but still having her bow in. That did look funny. The thing with the bows is that they are actually needed. Her bangs come down to her nose and without a bow, she has hair in her eyes constantly. So, most of the time when she wakes up in the morning, a bow is popped in immediately. I occasionally have a clip around, but there is always a bow around, so she ends up a bow head all of the time.

Our lives have been pretty laid back lately. She hasn't been swimming the past several days because it has been overcast and yucky weather. She is back to sleeping wonderfully and we are all thankful for that. She has even been quite lazy lately. Sleeping in past 8 and one morning until 9 before waking up. I never thought I would think this, but when she sleeps later than about 8:15, it messes up her whole schedule so badly that it is not really worth it. I am always awake anyway, so life is easier if she just gets up. That way she still takes a good morning nap and doesn't get overly tired throughout the day.

She has really been trying to take a step or two lately. She can't do it yet, but she is trying so hard. I am really excited for her to start walking. I can't wait to be able to actually play at the park with her. She can already get anywhere she wants to get, so walking is not going to change that. She is obsessed with climbing the stairs. She loves it. After each step, she looks back to make sure someone sees her accomplishment. She also loves to put her face in between the railing on the stairs. Silly girl. Here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Love this dress - kind of cheerleaderish!!

Look at my dress all spread out.



We got her these sunglasses the other day and she LOVES them. She wore them in the store for 15 minutes without ever touching them. They look so adorable on her.

Wearing my shades with my Aunt Katy and PaPa.

I sure do love my Aunt Katy!!

Lucy looks so innocent and angelic in this little dress. Her style is not so much the smocked dress look, so this is a different look for her than usual. I LOVE smocked dresses, but Justin thinks that they are crafty and nerdy. Weirdo, I know. Justin prefers Lucy to be dressed in a hipper manner. I have to admit though, everything he picks for her is really cute. I like both looks - smocked, sweet dresses and the "hip" clothes. My little sister even commented when she saw Lucy dressed like this that it was totally not her style. So funny.

She sure does look cute in it though!!

Bath time hair spike. Her hair is so long that it took a lot of effort to get her spike to stay up.