Potty Training...

Lily is very proud of herself since we are starting to learn how to only wear her "Dora panties" a.k.a. Dora Easy Ups. She has been making her stinkies on the potty since we got her in China at 10 months old. But, lately, she has been going for hours at a time without making a tinkle in her diaper. So, we thought it might be time to give this complete potty training thing a try. We will let you know how it goes.... On another exciting note, Lily is finally finished with bottles. Our doctor said that we could keep her on a bottle just for bonding purposes. She has been using a sippy cup for awhile now, but still taking a bottle at night. Over our vacation, we just left all of them at home. Of course, Lily hasn't even missed them. What are we supposed to do with her- she just keeps growing up!

More pictures of Sophia and Lily!

Sophia's Mama and Baba sent us more pictures of our day together. So, we just had to share them. Here, we are headed to the neatest little outdoor restaurant- The Happy Tomato. They had delicious BBQ. Lily was ready to go eat. She remembered eating there the day before.

How cute is Sophia leaning in for a kiss!

Here are more pictures of the girls loving on one another.

Lily was showing off her dancing moves for the people sitting near us.Here is a picture with Riz and Susan. They are such a great couple, and Riz is quite hilarious!

The girls are playing around together in Fernandina Beach area.

They both found the fish outside of one of the little shops. They were both very interested.

Here is a close-up shot of their last big hug. Lily almost knocked Sophia down on this one. She just leaned right on her and hugged her really big. Look at that smile on Lily's face.

We cannot wait to see them again this summer!!!

Meeting Sophia

What a wonderful day! As you can see, Lily and Sophia really liked each other. Lily is normally so shy in new situations. It always takes her forever to warm up to people, especially children her own age. But, with Sophia, things were a bit different. Sophia is just beautiful. They were about the same heighth, but Lily was 5 pounds heavier. Sophia's tiny frame looked even tinier with Lily beside her. Sophia is 20 months old, while Lily is 19 months old. If you haven't seen her blog, click on the link to the left titled Simply Sophia in my bloglist.

We absolutely had the best time eating out with the girls, Susan, and Riz. It was such a blessing to be able to actually meet each other. The orphanage where our girls were is a very small one, and they only had 6 adoptions this year. Three of those were in our group. There is no way to know if our girls spent time together, but it is a big possibility since they were there at the same time.

Susan and Riz- Thank you so much for a wonderful afternoon. We hope that we will be able to get together many more times in the future. It looks like a friendship is definitely in the making!

A Foggy Day & A Big Surprise!

We had to show you this picture of Lily with her Abby Cadabby doll and her brand-new daisy bracelet. She got her doll for Christmas from us, and she cannot go anywhere without Abby. She says, "Abby" before we leave the room. Then, she just carries her around and gives her periodic hugs and kisses. It is so sweet! We also did a little bit of shopping today, and we found Lily this daisy bracelet which she has not taken off all day. It has been a really foggy day here on the island, but still very warm. Here are a couple of pictures of the fog.

And now for the big surprise! There is a family who also adopted a beautiful little girl from China a few months ago. Their blogs are in my blog list- the Sunflowers blog and the Simply Sophia blog. They are actually friends with a couple who traveled with us to China in our travel group. Anyway, their daughter is from the same orphanage as Lily. So, we have kept in touch with each other through our blogs. So, guess what? We are meeting with them tomorrow in person! We are so excited! It is so wonderful to actually meet people who have traveled to China and experienced this wonderful adventure of adoption. So, come back tomorrow for pictures of Lily and Sophia!

Meeting Hannah

Dyan was my first ever friend. When I started going to Preschool at the age of 5, I met Dyan on the first day. I was scared to death, clinging to my Mom (so the story goes) when Dyan appeared out of nowhere and took my hand. She led me into one of the playrooms, and that was that. A bond and friendship was started that will never end. I haven't seen Dyan since her baby shower for her daughter, Hannah, which was over 2 years ago. So, we finally got to meet Hannah. Dyan's Mom invited us to their Christmas Dinner. So, here we are- together with our girls. Lily really liked Dyan's husband a.k.a. Hannah's Daddy. Chris read some stories to the girls and even took Lily out for a walk. She also went on a big ride with Mary K, Hannah's Nana. They rode in a wagon around the neighborhood. Lily had a blast!

Hannah was just adorable. She has the most gorgeous blue eyes! She and Lily were so cute together. At one point, they were in Hannah's room just talking to each other. It was like they were the oldest of friends.

Dyan was doing one of Lily's favorite things- coloring. So, both girls had to join in.

Thank you, Mary K., Mike, Dyan, Chris, and Hannah for a wonderful Christmas! We had the best day spending time with your family. We cannot wait to get together again!

Merry Christmas from the beach!

Our Christmas Eve dinner was delicious! We had some pizza- one of Lily's new words. Good Morning- here is our Happy Birthday Jesus cookie cake!

Lily is still sleeping....

And she is smiling. Hmm... does she know she is about to get some presents?

The view from our balcony at 7 a.m.

We had some room service for breakfast- french toast with bananas and bacon.

It is about 8:30, and the sun is finally beginning to come up through the clouds.

Lily is completely fascinated with sitting on the balcony and staring at the beach. She keeps signing please to go back out again and again. Finally time to open presents!

Lily's first bag has lots of new books and an Abby Kadabby doll. Look at her big smile- she loves opening presents!

The next present is her first set of Legos with a kitty cat. She kept kissing the kitty cat lego piece over and over again.

Next, it is time for her third gift. This one kept her entertained for 45 minutes after she opened it. She loved marking on it and erasing it.

I started bothering her while she was playing with this and erasing everything she wrote. Then, a few minutes later, I started playing with it. She came running back over, and she erased what I wrote. Then, she looked at me and laughed aloud. Too smart!

It was finally time for the cookie cake. So, Lily wanted her own piece of course.

Here she is saying, "Mama". She is showing me that she has icing all over her finger.

She is all done with her piece of Jesus's birthday cookie! Yummo!

We will be playing around this morning, then we are headed over to Dyan's house to meet her Hannah. They have invited us for Christmas dinner. Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas to everyone from the 3 of us!
We are in one of our favorite Christmas traditions- matching pajamas!
We have finally arrived in Amelia Island. We have had a long drive with such a wonderful little princess. She didn't even start crying until the last 20 minutes, and it was sporatic at that. So, she was traveling from 9:45 until 8 p.m. this evening. Bless her heart!
We are excited about having our first Christmas together. We have our 3 presents for each of us and our Happy Birthday Jesus Cookie Cake! We are ready for tomorrow morning!

Christmas with Jamie's Family

Lots of smiles this Christmas for Lily, as you can see. These pictures loaded wrong, so this is when we left Nana and Poppa's house. Lily had to get her stroller, a present from them, and hold it in her lap. She loves it that much!!! Here she is pushing it around at Nana and Poppa's house.

She is striking another pose again. These are getting really cute!

Lily and her Poppa-

Lily just opened up one of her presents- her Lady Bug Tea Set!

Here she is just realizing that she was going to get to open a lot of gifts in a few minutes.

Kentucky- Part 2

Here is Lily with her brand-new Mama shoes on! She is trying to walk with Mammow's help. Here is her fashion girl pose...

Here she is wanting some assistance from someone please!

This is the picture of her when she was trying to put them on herself.

Here she is looking precious ready for a big day on the farm with the family!

Here is a video of Jamie and Lily on the farm with lots of laughter!