Goal of the Week

I am starting something new. On Monday of each week (I am going to try and always post on Monday but we all know how I occasionally get behind), I will post a goal of mine for the week. I will have from Monday to Sunday to complete my goal, if everything goes according to plan. This week my goal is to read Eat, Pray, Love. I keep hearing wonderful things about this book, so I got it today. I actually don't read much, but have a million books I want to read.

I am going to start posting to my Flickr account again. I have a Flickr link on my sidebar, so check it for pictures. I am really going to work on my photography skills this year. I have several weekly goals with Photography, but for now, I will stick with my book goal of the week. We will get to the others later in the year. Here are some of my favorite adoption blogs that also have amazing pictures. I get inspired when I see other people's photographs and hope that some day I can be as good as these - K at 3 Continent Family, Emily and Leslie at With Arms Wide Open. I love the style that these three have with their pictures. I was recommended to Picnik by K and now I am obsessed with it. It is free online photo editing and you can import your Flickr pics directly to it. I am going to do the upgrade so that you can do even more editing. I have played with a few of my pictures from Flickr on Picnik. I love to make the colors brighter and increase the sharpness. Any photography books or advice is welcome. I love black and white, but I have recently really enjoyed bright, sharp, color pictures even more.

Here are some older pictures that I edited. This is my first ever photo editing, so I am pleased, but still need a lot of work.








And here is one that hasn't been edited, but is just funny. Lucy is a terrible eater, but she LOVES pancakes or waffles with a little syrup to dip it in. Today she got the syrup out of the cabinet and acted like she was drinking it. The cap was clicked down, so she wasn't actually drinking any, but she really enjoyed pretending. Funny girl.

The Girl Has a Major Attitude

Lucy and I went and visited some of our best friends this weekend. We stayed with Kate, Liza, and Jason. Lucy has developed quite the little attitude in the past couple of weeks. She took quite a while to open up and play nicely with Liza. When we first got there, she didn't want Liza to touch anything that she had, she was quick to swing her arms/hit, and she was just grouchy. By the evening, she had really gotten more comfortable and showed everyone that she can be a sweet girl and play with others. It is frustrating when she is being mean to other kids and doesn't want anyone to get near her. I want her to show people how much fun she is and how sweet she is, but she rarely does right now unless she is in an environment that she is very comfortable in. I am really working with her on these things, but it is hard. Thankfully, Liza was quick to forgive and move on. I think she was a little taken aback by Lucy's tactics. I hope she outgrows these issues soon. I hope that I am doing a good job mothering her so that these things don't get out of hand. Any suggestions are welcome. Right now I just use time out and talking her through the inappropriate actions.

We got to meet Baby Cy yesterday. He was the most precious baby. He slept the whole evening and let me hold and love on him most of the night while the girls visited. Lucy was interested in the baby when they first got there, but then she just went about her business. She did not fuss one time about me holding him, which was a very nice change for her. They got there once Lucy had opened up some and was being fun.

As I said, the past couple of weeks have brought out a whole new side of Lucy. Her VERY favorite word is NO!!!!!! She says it all of the time. And it is not just a simple no, it is a yelling, bratty NO! I know this is totally normal for a child her age, but it is just frustrating at times. We are working on manners. She is such a strong willed, opinionated little thing. My mom says I am getting my pay back!! The teenage years are going to be very interesting!!!! I know she will get past this stage. She is just testing every boundary that has ever been set for her. She has that sassy girl attitude down pat.

Here are some of the pictures from the weekend. I didn't get many good ones, which makes me sad.

The girls checking out the amazing sunset!


This is what they did when we wanted to get a picture of them together. No such luck.

Checking out baby Cy


Sleeping baby Cy


Some really cute ones of Liza




I am really praying that this week brings some more I600 approvals!! Emily, this is your week!! I know there are so many others waiting. I pray for your approvals every night.

The Year in Pictures

I thought it would be fun to post a picture from each month last year so you could really see how much Lucy has changed. Size wise, she has not changed that much in a year. She is only 3-4 lbs heavier than when we left Vietnam, but she is SO much taller. I think the biggest change from month to month is really just her hair. Her long hair makes her look so big now. I got several comments about her hair in the past couple of posts. It even looks long and different to me in just the past week or so. Her hair is growing so quickly. It is going to be really long before we know it. I have also gotten a couple of comments on the pictures being great. I got a new lens for my D40 for Christmas - the 55-200 mm. I LOVE IT! I can zoom really close and not have to be all up in Lucy's face. It is awesome.

Quick update on Project Organize Our House. We have worked in the guest room for 2 days now and we are finally starting to see some progress. Still a mess, but getting better. There are actually 4 sets of drums, 5 snare drums, about 2 million drum heads, and lots of cymbals. If you can imagine, that takes up a lot of space. If our children want to play an instrument, I am going to encourage them to chose one that doesn't require so much space. :) Maybe the flute would be nice! I don't think I can handle two drummers. Bad news though, still no passport. I think I am going to have to go and get a new one. I am really upset about this because the other one has all of my Vietnam stamps, but I just don't know where it is. I am sure it will turn up the day I get a new one.

I have recently welcomed some close friends to the wonderful world of blogging. I am so happy that they finally caved and got their own blog. The first belongs to one of my closest friends, Kate. She just started and is now obsessed with getting comments. She is kind of relying on me to get her some blog traffic! Ha. All bloggers love comments. So, head on over to The Carter's and drop Kate a comment welcoming her to blog land - really, she is desperate for comments. Her little Liza is really adorable and has a wardrobe to rival Lucy's. Next, my great friend Amber just had her precious son a few days after Christmas. He is so tiny and cute! Lucy and I get to meet him this weekend. We can't wait! Amber's blog is Stephen Cyler. Go and see for yourself how precious he is.

Here is our girl growing up before our eyes. Enjoy! Can you believe how much she has grown and changed? Will you post one picture of your kids for each month last year? I would love to see them grow.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January 2008

Enjoying the Weather

It has been the most awesome weather here the past couple of days. It is not like winter, but it is so nice to get Lucy outside again. She loves being outside and when it is 75 and sunny, we take full advantage of the weather. She LOVES her new slide. She is so funny on it. She peaks over the top every single time she gets up there and grins at us. Then she will do an arabesque like pose, and finally she slides down - usually on her stomach, feet first.

When I say she does an arabesque, I mean she really stands on one foot and raises her other leg high behind her. Maybe she will be a ballerina. I still think she is going to be a gymnast. She is the most flexible baby I have ever seen. I know all babies are flexible, but this is different. I can be holding her on my hip and she will kick her outside leg up on my chest - so it is like she is doing the splits against my body with her head and chest against the leg that is up. Her back can arch so far. We know this because she is constantly throwing herself backwards when we are holding her. We know when she is going to do it, so it is not like it is scary to hold her and think she might throw herself backwards at any second. We absolutely know when she is going to do it. Either she prompts us or we prompt her. When she is laying on her back, her legs can come up to her ears and lay flat next to her head. I mean completely locked, straight legs - no bend in them and her back flat on the ground - no raising of the rear end. I think she has Cirque Du Soleil type flexibility. Are your kids like this? Are they little Gumby kids, like Lucy? I really think she could bend into any position I tried to put her in.

As far as the cleaning goes, we cleaned most of our room today. We have a large armoire in our room and the bottom half of it is just storage. WOW! You should have seen the amount of stuff shoved in this space. Almost everything we bought in VN was in there. It was really fun to go through all of that. And oh yeah, remember how we bought so much art in HCMC? We finally took it to the framer to get put back on stretchers, which may I say, cost a freaking arm and a leg. Of course, we had 13 pieces of large art, so I guess we should have expected it. It sure is a shame that there isn't a way to get it home to the states without pulling it off of the stretchers. The actually framing costs a zillion dollars, so we are going to be framing one piece every month or so to break up the cost. I am not sure where exactly 13 large paintings are going to go, but I can do it! I will post pictures when I have them back on the stretchers. I am so proud of our Vietnamese art. They are all knockoffs, but they are so amazing. There are a few originals, that are my very favorites. We are starting in on the guest room. Nicki, I think I am too embarassed to post before and after pictures of that room. I promise to post the finished products. It feels so good to be doing this project. We plan to have it completely done by Wednesday night. Think we can do it? I know we can!

Here are pictures of Lucy Goose playing outside this afternoon.


The beginning of an arabesque pose.


I don't know!




Getting into her sandbox

Gator ride



*Her hair really has gotten so long, shiny, and beautiful. It has only been cut one time and it has perfect shape. She is going to have great hair her whole life. Lucky girl, her mom's hair sucks. I have been asked multiple times if I use a special shampoo because it is so shiny. Just J&J baby wash. I am not ready to get rid of that yummy baby smell. Especially since she is looking like she is so big and old in her pictures lately. She is not at all a baby any more, even though we call her a baby all of the time!

Goals for the New Year

I did not really come up with any resolutions for the year. I never keep them, so this year I have set some goals. Maybe if it isn't called a resolution I will be better about reaching my "goals". Here is what has been going on around our house since the new year started.

My first goal is to clean out and organize every nook of our house. Crazy, I know, but we can do this. Justin is totally on board with the idea. In fact, he was the one to come up with our game plan. So far, it is going really well. We started in the laundry room and are working our way through the downstairs room by room. Then we will move upstairs. We have finished the laundry room, kitchen, and dining room - every drawer, cabinet, and closet downstairs is now beautifully clean and organized. LOVE IT! I am also done with Lucy's room. Her closet has had all of the small and summery clothes/shoes removed and categorized in plastic bins with labels. I am a little embarrassed by the amount of clothes and shoes the girl has. We definitely went overboard. Hopefully some day the clothes will be reused by either a sister or a family member's daughter. I also dug out all of the infant toys that she has no interest in any longer. Her room is looking great. Our room is pretty much a disaster area. It is going to take some time. The worst room that I have now been dragging my feet on for months and months is our guest room. It has turned into the catch all room and everything has just been getting thrown in there for quite some time. I have to tell our guests to just dig around until they find the bed! :) Really, it is bad. Justin has 3 sets of drums in there. THREE! The closet is huge and can't hold one more thing. The little office that is attached to the room has crap piled up basically to the ceiling. My passport is lost in the black hole somewhere in the office. Yikes! I am overwhelmed just thinking about that room. The good news is, Justin and I are very good about getting rid of stuff - either throwing away or giving away. Neither of us are pack rats, so a major purge is about to occur. And I love that. I don't want things cluttering up the house that no one uses or even remembers that we have. Once everything is cleaned out, I will deep clean the whole house. It is going to feel so good to be done with this goal.

My next goal is to start cooking. We eat out almost every meal. Disgusting and expensive, I know. I cooked tonight. King Ranch casserole, salad, and rolls. Justin said it was delicious and it was nice to have a home cooked meal. In connection with this goal, is just being smarter about money and things that we buy. Justin and I are both impulse buyers. If we get the urge to have something, we generally go out and buy it. This needs to stop. We need to save more and spend less. This is going to be the hardest goal for us. We have some bad spending habits, but we can do it!

I would like to start exercising again. I would like to be toned and healthy again. I think that the only way I can really do this is to start jogging. Lucy can come with me and it is free. I HATE exercising, so I will have to get in the right mindset to get this going. I am the type who will work out really hard for about 2 months. I will go almost every day and push myself really hard. But once I break my routine (like getting sick or going out of town), I never get back on track and then I am just done. I won't work out again for years. It has been almost 2 years since the last time I worked out. Terrible. I can do this, and I can continue doing it long term for the health benefits.

And finally, I am working on being more patient and really thinking before I say something. I am really bad about getting VERY easily frustrated or annoyed and then being rude about everything. I know when I am doing it and wish that I would not be hot headed, but it is hard to control sometimes. I want to treat people the way I expect to be treated. I hope to be a better wife and mother in every way.

So there it is. I have made myself accountable by putting it out there. I hope I can do it. I am really going to try my hardest.

And because you know I would not post without pictures of Lucy, here she is on her new slide that Santa brought. It was 75 degrees here today. The weather around here has been so crazy. It was freezing this week, and then 75 and sunny today.