Mama's Spring Break!

Since it is Spring Break for me and my sister, Suzette- our Dad or Lily's Pop- decided to come for a visit. We spent the first day together mulching outside. So, Lily and Suzette got to play and pick flowers in the yard. Lily loves being outside. I just love this picture of the two of them!

We walked into the living room the other night and caught this moment. Lily and Pop are watching the NCAA tournament. They were both totally engrossed in the game while Lily was eating some puffcorn.

Last but not least, we had our 12-month post placement. This is Debbie, our wonderful social worker. Lily adored her, and she did not want her to leave. She loved playing with Debbie at our house, and she walked through the house saying "C'mon, Debbie" with her familiar hand-motion. At first, she called Debbie- "Kitty" which was really funny. But, eventually she got it. I did not think Debbie would ever be able to leave because Lily was not about to let her. But, Debbie was so sweet- she just followed her around and played with her forever. Thank you Debbie for being so sweet and kind to our family. We are glad God brought us together.

We are enjoying this week together! I will be sad when it is over! But, I sure am looking forward to this summer!!!

22 Months Old, too!

On our Gotcha-versary, Lily also turned 22 months old! So, these are the pictures we took that evening. We had a big day of spending time outside together followed up with ice cream. Lily loves "ice keem"! She is intently watching American Idol...

Then, she looks at the camera for a big "cheese"!

Happy 1 Year Together!

I cannot believe that last year at this time, we were in China just counting down the seconds waiting to hold Lily in our arms for the first time. Yet, a whole year has passed. Now, Lily is counting to 10, arguing that the 6 is really a 9, saying that B stands for Baba, playing hide-and-seek like it is going out of style, and saying "I love you" which just melts our hearts. On this day last year, she was crying, not able to roll over, could barely sit up, couldn't sleep through the night, couldn't talk, couldn't clap her hands together, and had no idea of what her life would be like thousands of miles away from China. God has truly blessed our lives! He has also made up for all of the years we spent without a child by giving us the most perfect, wonderful daughter He could have ever made for us. As I write this, I am listening to her squealing and laughter as Jamie gets her out of the bathtub. We are blessed... richly blessed... and I could not and would not ever want to imagine our lives without Lily.

Happy Gotcha Day Anniversary to all of our group mates!

Lily's Abby-Hair

Here are pictures with Lily and her Abby-Hair a.k.a. a little ponytail. Finally!!! Playing with her hair has been so much fun this week!

Below, you can tell how much she loves Abby!

"More Dance, Baba!"

Lily is a big fan of Dancing with the Stars- we found out the other night! This first video took place at the end of the show with the last dance. Jamie was taping her dancing moves, only to find out that somehow she knew this song. We were cracking up during the taping!

The one thing we heard over and over again throughout the show was "more dance, more dance" every time the commercials would come on. Luckily, we DVR everything now. So, the dancing could take place again quickly for Lily.

Now, you will see the quick head turn at the beginning of the next video. She was copying the dancers! She is so serious when she is trying to dance during the show. However, you notice that Jambalaya caught her attention for a moment at the end of this performance.

By the way, for those of you know that Lily has always freaked out when I want to put her hair in a ponytail- I should have realized that she wanted her hair to be like Abby Cadabby's hair. As soon as we asked her if she wanted hair like Abby's about a week ago, she has been asking for her "Abby hair" every day. I will post some pictures of this new, adorable look tomorrow!

Hope you got a good laugh! Have a great day!

Only 8 more days until our 1 year Anniversary!

This weekend, we went to Atlanta to celebrate our Gotcha Day Anniversary! We went to the High Museum to see the TerraCotta Warriors from China. Amazing.... Lily loved every moment. She loves being out and about, but she really enjoyed going to the museum. People are always amazed at how good she is to be so young. She was just completely taking in every item. It is definitely something to see. We had a great weekend, other than the fact that I got sick by Saturday evening. But, other than that, we went shopping at our favorite store for Lily, Hanna Andersson. She is too cute in those clothes! So, we got her a brand-new wardrobe for Spring and Summer courtesy of Aunt Suzette. She provides that cash, and we do the shopping. So, Lily says, "Thank you, Aunt Suzette!"
So, I am home today with acute bronchitis. Nice, huh? Well, I am just praying that Lily and Jamie won't get it, too. I had to just re-live our last year's moments one more day! The following pictures are our Gotcha Day memories... (they are posted backwards- sorry!)

This is about an hour after we got Lily back to the hotel room and changed her clothes. I know they tell you not to, but we couldn't help ourselves. She did fine, by the way. She was much happier in these clothes, too.

The next picture is right after we changed her clothes. She stopped crying completely and began to bond with me.

Our first family photo!

A picture with Lily's orphanage director.Moments after she was handed to me- she stopped crying for about 5 seconds.

The moment she was placed in my arms for the first time.

We just knew that she was our Lily...

We watched as they carried around this beautiful baby that was crying and screaming...

We were told that our babies from Wanzai were in the corner- all three of them. But, they were there first. We had to wait until the others came. More waiting....