23/365

Today I am thankful for my bedtime ritual with Lucy. She loves her bedtime routine. We do bath, brush teeth, pick out our books for the night, read, pray, sing songs, kiss, and say I Love You. Her favorite books are Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, 5 Silly Monkeys, and a few others. She ALWAYS wants to sing E-I-E-I-O, ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, and Silent Night. We always thank God for our entire family - she names everyone. Bedtime was so stressful with Lucy for a really long time. Now, it is so nice and peaceful and enjoyable.

Not much to say tonight. Annie and I had a long night together last night. Hopefully that is out of her system for tonight. Night, night. I hope you all have a marvelous weekend.





The monkey toes. Mom - this is for you. :)


I love that she is getting to wear these tiny dresses since the weather is so nice. Cute, cute, cute.




Every girl's worst nightmare.

22/365

Today I am thankful for warm, sunny days where you can play outside with your girls all day long. Just like we had today. It was a wonderful day. We had Lucy's playgroup this morning. It started when all of the babies were little and now they are big toddlers, several of whom are now big brothers or sisters. Playgroup is wild, but a lot of fun. They played outside all morning, ate a little lunch, and then came home for nap. Annie will have her own built in playgroup with all of the other new babies. After nap, we met Anna, Louis, and Mandy for ice cream and hit the park. It was so nice because sometimes Lucy clings to me, but not today. She played at the park so well. By the time we got home, it was time for dinner, bath, and bed - all of which happened with no fuss or stress. Today was a really great day.

Just so you can all see how much Annie has changed - she wore her G&R dress today so I thought I would post a then and now picture. The first picture is from her G&R in Vietnam. Just like now, she had just broken two teeth - her bottom two. She chewed her fingers all of the time then, just like she is doing right now - only it is her top two teeth that came through this time. I actually have a hard time looking at our pictures from Vietnam because it is all still so fresh in my mind and I can see the pain and sadness in her eyes, and I don't like that. I don't like what she went through and now I get almost angry. I just don't understand it. I never will. What I do understand is that I love this child so much. We are the lucky ones who get to kiss on her all day long and smile a million times over because of her.











Lucy Goose had ice cream all over her face, her hair, her shirt. She was in heaven. She ate mine and hers.

21/365

Today I am thankful for big, huge laughs with your best friends. I have really funny friends. They are always cracking me up. Life would be so boring without funny friends. Anyway, this morning I went to breakfast and the Asian market with Mandy, who thought you all should know that she is also helping plan the Tet party we are having since I didn't mention her yesterday. I had a story to tell her that I knew she would just die laughing over with me. In fact, I couldn't wait to tell her. I started the story in the car when we were almost to the greatest breakfast diner around here. I had to pause while we ordered but we had already both started laughing and I was no where near the good part. So, we sat down in our bench and I finished the story. When I was done, I was gasping for air and tears were streaming down my face and so was Mandy. I love a story like there where you both just get it and you know how funny life can be. And since I know you will all want to know, the story was about Justin and what he is like when the baby wakes him up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night. He is great and very helpful with night duty, but man, it is funny to watch him because he is just so dazed and confused for several minutes while he tries to wake up. Formula ends up everywhere, water is spilled, he is stumbling around, etc. Don't worry, Justin and I have both laughed about it multiple times today. He knows it is funny, too. I love a laugh like that. You know your morning is going well when your cheeks hurt from smiling so big.

We had gorgeous weather here today - 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, PERFECTION! Tomorrow is supposed to be up to 77 degrees and then cold again later in the weekend. I love living in the south because you get these perfect weather days thrown in to break up the misery of the cold. And no, I don't know cold at all like most of you do. I think I am going to freeze to death at 40 degrees. It just doesn't get that cold here. Those of you who are in the places where it is below zero, I have no idea how you do it. Getting back on track here. We took the girls to the park today. It was Annie's first time ever to the park and the first time she has really gotten to explore things like rocks and sticks. She was fascinated. She examined every single rock she could get her hands on. It was really sweet to watch her check everything out and be so excited about it all. It felt so good to be outside - and warm while out there. Since we have been home with Annie, we were nailed by jet lag, major sickness, holidays, cold weather, and sickness again. We have spent almost no time outside and I HATE that. I love to be out and about and busy. I like to take the girls to fun places outside and we just haven't been able to do that in months. So, it was great to be outside again and we will be spending a lot of time outside tomorrow as well.

20/365 What a Day!!

Today I am thankful for our new President, Barack Obama. It was a moving thing to watch him get sworn in and hear the people cheer and cry tears of joy. I felt extremely proud today. Proud of our choice as a country to elect this man. I think he is going to do great things for us all. I pray that he is able to achieve every single one of his lofty goals of where we should be as a country. I hope that life gets better for everyone, as a whole, due to his visions for this country and changes he makes. I wish, for just a moment, that everyone could put aside their political views. Maybe you don't agree with President Obama's politics, but we all should be able to agree that this was a special day in United States' history. The thing that makes me so happy is how this will affect my children as they grow older and start to notice things like who our President is. Growing up, all we have ever seen to this point as we studied the Presidents in history class, was white man after white man after white man. To us, this was the norm. There was no diversity. As a child, I certainly never gave two seconds worth of thought to this. Again, this was the norm and why would it stand out to me - I was also caucasian and was at a predominantly caucasian school. No one would have even thought to question such a thing at any of my schools. But now, I notice. I have two daughters who would have most definitely noticed. And I am busting at the seams with pride that when they are old enough to study American History and learn the Presidents, they will see that the first President elected after they were born was an African American man. That for the first time in our history, we were able to look past something as silly as the color of someone's skin and make a decision based on what was right for our country. The majority of Americans spoke out and said, "This is the right man for the job. I don't care that he has darker skin than me or parents who are different than mine. This country needs to see some major change and this is the man to do it." That, for my girls and all of our children, is awesome! They won't have to have ideas put into their head without someone even saying it that only a caucasian man is worthy of the job of President of the United States. No, they get to know that our country has finally made a huge step in the right direction. I hope that this really helps deter racism. I truly believe that it will make a difference in the life of my girls. And that, is so enormous. I am so, so proud. I hope that everyone, even those who have different beliefs, can at least see the importance that this will make in the lives of our children and the worth they put on themselves and others. I have real hope that it will.

A good friend of mine, Shawna, lives and works in Washington D.C. She works with the media and got to be right up front today. How cool is that?!?! Last I checked, she had not had the time to update her blog with pictures yet, but she has already told us that she got so many and will definitely be posting them. I can't wait to see it all from her viewpoint. I am so jealous that she got to witness it all up close and personal, but really happy for her that she did!!

Today we did at least get out of the house for about an hour. Yeah! Still not 100% healthy, but getting better. I had to get out for at least a bit. Does anyone have exciting plans for Tet?? We do this year and I am so excited about it. This weekend we are having a get together with 8 families from our area with Vietnamese children. I have not met several of them in person and I just can't wait! Oh, the pictures are going to be greatness. All of those cuties running wild. I hope both of my littles handle it okay. Sometimes Lucy gets overwhelmed in this kind of setting. We'll see. Louis will be there so hopefully she will just stay happy since her love is there. We are also going to a local Tet festival the next weekend. We don't know anyone who has ever been to it, so we aren't sure what to expect, but hopefully it will be great! I am really excited to have something planned for the girls.

Too many cute pictures from today to choose just one. So here are bunches.













I worked so hard to get this picture of the new teethies!


I can't believe that I forgot to comment on Annie's hair in the last post and I giggled every time one of y'all mentioned it. It is getting really wild and fluffy. This is the best I can do to let you see the longer, wild hairs mixed in the fluff. They are so funny. They just point all over the place and are crazy. I really like her spikey hair, I just wish we could get a little more coverage!


You've almost got that toe pumpkin.




Mom, don't even mention the fact that she is still in her pjs at noon and Halloween pjs at that. You should be proud that I got both girls in clothes today. :)








And just to prove that they did in fact get dressed today!


Annie, get back up here.

19/365

Helping make guacamole for dinner. Such a little helper!


Pictures without the fingers in her mouth are hard to come by these days.


Today I give thanks for Vietnam. It is such a wonderful country where the people are kind and land is full of history and culture. Both of our adoption trips were made so much better by the welcoming people of Vietnam. I can't imagine life without my two girls, and without Vietnam, I would not have them.

In case you didn't notice, I am doing a new format for my posts. I am obviously still tweaking this to my liking, but I plan on posting my favorite picture of each girl or a together picture first and what I am thankful for that day right below. That way, if you don't want to read my ramblings of not much interesting information about our day, you can see the pics and be done. I end up taking so many pictures each day and have been posting a bunch of them, but in my flickr account I add my favorites to my 365 folder so I will know which one to use when this project is done.

Today marks the two month mark since Annie's G&R. It has been an exhausting, exciting, loving, difficult, and humbling 2 months. I felt pretty good about my momma abilities until we got to Vietnam and Annie joined our family. Those were the most difficult two weeks of my entire life. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing or how to be a mom to her. I felt so helpless and inadequate the entire time we were in Vietnam. Annie was so sad and in such bad shape. When I go back and look at pictures of her from Vietnam, she now looks almost nothing like that child. You can see the sadness, fear, and anxiety in her little eyes. She didn't know how to deal with being held or fed when she needed or wanted it. She didn't want put down, but wasn't sure she wanted us holding her. She felt like crap and was really very sick. She couldn't pick up a toy and showed zero interest in touching or exploring anything. She was so tense, all of the time. Her little hands were never out of being in a fist. They were clinched so tightly all of the time. She had never put weight on her legs and had no idea how to do that. Her legs and arms were so tight that I could barely get her dressed because she would not bend at all. Her skin was covered in scars and bumps. She had such little hair. I remember saying to Justin on the ride back from our orphanage visit how calm and serene she was during our entire visit. Justin said several times that he thought that she was sick. I tried to convince myself that that was just her personality, calm, but I knew after our visit that there was a good chance that things were going to be very difficult. I kept blocking that out and thinking good thoughts. I just wanted our G&R to hurry up and get here so she could be with us and get the care she needed. Justin and I both picked up on the lack or attention that she got compared to the other babies. And we both picked up on her being extremely developmentally delayed for a 7.5 month old. She seemed like a little infant to both of us. And in every way once we got her, she was like a teeny tiny baby. A very mad, sad, and inconsolable infant.

Most of you know the rest of the story. We got home, got her the proper medical attention that she needed, and she basically instantly turned into a different child. She gained 2 lbs and grew over an inch. She went from crying around the clock to smiling around the clock. At almost 10 months old, she LOVES to be held and is learning that we will always be there for her. She plays with toys all day long - handing them back and forth from hand to hand. She is still clumsy with this, but gets better all of the time. She loves to stand on her legs. They are getting some muscle tone to them. She goes wild every time one of our dogs walks by - she really adores animals. She does not arch away from us anymore. She is still learning to laugh, but has started doing this big shriek when she is trying to laugh. We love it and are dying to hear a big belly laugh. She does the shriek every time she sees Lucy. All I have to do is peek at her and she lights up. Justin can still make her smile every time he looks at her. She has grown much more cautious of strangers, which is such a good thing. Before very long ago, she would gladly go to anyone and everyone. That is not the case now. She is still a very friendly child, but in a much more guarded way. Her big issue as we all know, is sleeping. She is still waking up multiple times a night and during nap. She just isn't quite comfortable when she is sleeping yet. A big part of it is teeth, but I just think that she still struggles at night.

I thank God for both of my girls every night as I give Annie her final bottle of the day. They are the true loves of our lives. It has been a really hard 2 months, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.