Grand Ole Opry and then Some

If you haven't done so yet, go and tell Emily a huge congratulations!! Lulu has a mama! Emily has become one of my best "adoption" friends through this process, and I am just so thrilled for her.

I got my camera cord back today, so I am back in business!! Thanks Holly. I got a few questions about the squeaky shoes. We actually never found them in Vietnam. I did not look that hard and I know you can get them there for very very cheap. Her's are made by a brand called Mooshu and we got them at a children's boutique. They make sandals and mostly Mary Jane type shoes. Really cute. Here is the great part, you can take the squeaker out, so when you have had enough, you can make them quiet!! I would imagine they get annoying pretty quickly.

I took Lucy to a mall here today that has a really big play area for children. I have never done this with her before mostly because I was afraid she would be intimidated or overwhelmed. When we first got there, she just stood right beside me for about 10 minutes. She would not move at all. She just stood and stared at all of the kids, and the place was packed. In the warm up process, we met a mom with an adopted Chinese daughter who was precious. Finally, she decided she was ready to check things out and she just frankensteined on over to one of the play areas. It is all of this rubbery stuff that kids can slide and climb on. She was so brave and was not scared to stand her ground. Two little boys kind of smothered her and she put them right in their place. She would look back to make sure I was there constantly, and usually wave each time. So cute. I was so proud of her. This is big for her because she is usually so shy in big strange settings. She played for quite a while and then we were on our way. She needed a big nap after such a big day!

She is so close to getting two more teeth on top. I can feel them and see them, but they just won't push through. I hate this whole teething process. It is no fun for anyone. She is not too bothered by them, but sometimes I can just tell that they are hurting. We are officially less than a week away from the big birthday! We are going to be in Dewey Beach, Delaware for her actual birthday. Never been there before, but we have to travel to meet up with her daddy so we can all be together. I think a birthday at the beach sounds perfect.

Here are some pictures of the past week and a half.

John and I playing in the hose. I am pretty sure I had more fun than he did!

What a pumpkin!

Lucy in the dressing room at the Grand Ole Opry. She looks like such a star!

Lucy and her cutie Daddy!

Lucy getting into things she shouldn't be. She thinks that everything is her personal jungle gym. She is still a huge climber and can get onto just about anything.

Helping my daddy!

Can anyone see me back here, and how do I get into these guitars?

Pretty cool!

Pool time.

Chilling with mom.

Big pouty lips.

Double fisting - popsicle style!


All ready for Jacquelyn's wedding. She was super stylin!

Mom, enough is enough already!

Lucy and her mama. I swear she won't look at the camera any more.

Walking Girl

I know I have not posted in a week or so, but there is a reason. I left my camera cord in Nashville and I don't like to post without new pictures. My sister has mailed it, so it should be here soon. Thank goodness because I have some really cute pictures to post - such as Lucy at the Grand Ole Opry and in her adorable dress that she wore to a friend's wedding. Since I don't have any pictures, I have this walking video for your viewing enjoyment. As you can see, she has decided to become a full time walker. Here she is in her squeaky shoes (and her pjs). When I first put them on her, she just stomped her foot over and over. Then she got the hang of it. She walks more than she crawls now. She still can't walk without those frankenstein hands up in the air, but she is getting closer.

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My baby girl is going to be one year old next Wednesday!! I can't believe it. I am going to work on a special post for her big day!! We can't have a party until a few weeks after her actual day, but she doesn't know the difference.

Fun Times with Friends

Hello from Nashville!! We have had a wonderful time here so far. First of all, my sister's new house is awesome!! Moving is miserable, but we have made some serious progress. Much less gets accomplished with 2 littles ones in the middle of everything. Yesterday we got to have a reunion with 2 of Lucy's Que Son roomies. We had the best time with Grace and Lily Ana and their mamas (and Grace's Aunt Terri, who we also love because she was in Vietnam with us). To see all three girls together again was very emotional for me. I didn't cry, but it was just so special. They were all in the orphanage at the same time. Grace and Lucy are only 2 weeks apart in age. Lily Ana was only 2 months old when we were in Vietnam, and boy has she changed. She still seemed so small to us because the other two have gotten so big. I am in love with her hair - it sticks straight up everywhere. She is such a mama's girl and is doing amazingly well. Grace is still the most laid back baby with just such a great demeanor. I love her personality so much and we got to see the Elvis face several times!! All three of the girls have adjusted to their new lives so so so well. They will grow up knowing one another, which is so cool. Then today we all got together for lunch and Annslee and her Mom and Dad joined us. It is so fun to play with your blogging buddies!! Thanks for so much fun girls!! Can't wait to do it again soon.

Lucy is doing great. She is in the process of switching to whole milk from her soy formula. Right now we are doing half whole milk and half formula and she is doing great. No signs of any problems, which is such a relief to me. She took about 2 weeks off from milk for no apparent reason - she was only taking 8-10 oz. (if that) total per day. Yes, I was totally stressing about it, but she is back to her normal bottle schedule. She is totally in to people food and if anyone anywhere near her is eating, she thinks she needs some as well. She is our little baby bird. She can walk across the room now. She still crawls when in a hurry. Her walk is so funny because her arms are straight up in the air the whole time.

Here are some fun pictures from our trip so far.

This was actually in Little Rock, but what a cute swimsuit!!

John thinking about sharing his cup with Lucy.

Really cute picture of John and his curls.

Gracie girl who turns 1 on Tuesday!!!!

Grace, Lucy, and Lily Ana playing with Lily Ana's fancy toys!!

Lucy and little bitty but very strong Lily Ana.

All three girls playing in boxes and paper.

The three mom's and their precious girls!!

Justin and Grace.

Justin with his Vietnam travel girls!!!

Lucy was sticking her finger in Grace's mouth and just dying laughing about it. It was all fun and games until Grace chomped a little too hard. Also, Lucy would get very jealous if I was holding Grace.

The lunch group.

The Que Son girls.

All 4 girls outside after lunch.

Two pink bowheads!!!

Beautiful Grace!!

I just love their profiles.


I feel so blessed to have made the lifelong friends that I have made through this adoption. I hope to meet more of you someday soon!

So Happy to Be Back!

Hello everyone!! We have been in Kansas visiting family with no internet access. I am so addicted to my blogs and email that I could barely stand it. I was so worried that I was going to miss something, and it seems that several people got referrals. Congratulations to everyone who has gotten good news, and for those that I was really hoping to hear of your referral but are still waiting, hold on just a little longer. We think of you all of the time. Emily, Lulu is coming soon!!

Kansas was a lot of fun and it was great for Lucy to get to meet some more of her extended family. It rained on 4th of July, so she didn't get to see any fireworks this year. She probably couldn't have made it up late enough anyway. It was great to see her play with cousins and have such a great time. She is walking up a storm these days. I still haven't caught any of her best walks on video, but here is a preview. She has walked long distances now when she slows down and does not try and run. It is so much fun to watch her and we all cheer so loud for her after every good walk. The first one I am upstairs because she does so much better when she doesn't actually see the camera.

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We are going to Nashville this week to help my sister and her family move. She is preggers and I can't wait to see how much her belly has grown and see John and Lucy together again. While we are there, we are getting to have a reunion with some of our very best Vietnam/blog friends. Lucy will get to play with her orphanage sisters and roommates Grace and Lily Ana and meet Annslee for the first time. We are very excited to say the least. I can't wait to post pictures of the girls all together again.

Here are some pictures from our trip to Kansas.

At the baseball field on July 3rd.

Eating a snow cone with cousin Kade.

Playing in the grass with Isaac.

At the 4th of July parade with family.

With my Aunt Amy. She finally got to wear her flag dress that I bought a million years ago!!


She even had a smocked flag on her bloomers.

Walking with the popper.


Flying high with Aunt Amy


Reading with Lee Lee

Lucy with all of her Kansas cousins.

11 Months Old!!

One more month to go before little Miss is 1 year old. Where oh where has the time gone? I am always amazed at how quickly our time with Lucy has flown by. She is such a big girl these days. We went to the doctor on Friday for some vaccines and here is how she measured up: 18 lbs 11 oz (25th percentile) and 29.5 inches long (75th percentile). The doctor was very very pleased with her health and development. I have been worrying about the amount of formula that she takes, but the doctor made me feel better about it. She is not wanting to drink much milk any more - not out of a bottle or out of a sippy cup. It is frustrating. I know she needs more milk, but when she decides she doesn't want it, there is no chance that she is going to take it. We are going to start slowly incorporating whole milk mixed with her soy formula to see how she responds. Hopefully she will do fine and we can get her off of the soy. Here are the fun things that Lucy does at 11 months:

-Very close to walking. Only needs one finger to walk assisted and will take 3-4 steps on her own. If she would slow down and not try to run, she would be able to walk now I think. She is the fastest little crawler around.
-Thinks that if she is squating she is hiding. Expects us to say, "Where's Lucy?" and she will pop up with a huge smile. It is really funny. She has been doing this for quite some time now.
-Eats lots of people food now. Loves fruit and crackers the most. If we give her any kind of meat, she will gum it for 15 minutes before she finally swallows one bite. Needless to say, she doesn't get much meat.
-Loves to dance to music, claps, and waves to everyone.
-Is so much more social than she used to be. Still reserved with strangers, but much much less so than she used to be.
-Still only has 4 teeth. More are close. We brush her teeth.
-Loves to be held, especially in her Hotsling.
-Says mama, dada, nah nah (which I think is her trying to say No No), ba ba, and a lot of other jibberish.
-Sings all of the time.
-If I ask her where mama's nose, mouth or eyes are, she points to them. She doesn't do this all of the time. In fact, she will do it perfectly when I am rocking her and she is supposed to be going to sleep, but she gets a little shy sometimes in front of others. She knows them all though. I can't get her to point to her own yet.
-Still naps twice a day for about 1 hour and 15 minutes each. She sleeps through the night and is usually up around 8 or 8:15 in the morning.
-We work on signing with her, but she is not real interested. Of course, I should be doing it much more with her. She will do a clap motion for more, which is close. She will make the milk sign, but not usually when milk is actually around. Again, I need to put more effort into this.
-She is so easy going and happy almost all of the time. She is such a blessing.

Here are some pictures from today and a video of her with her walker. Enjoy.

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