A Beautiful Day at the Zoo!

We had a Great day today. Since my Dad got us a ZOO membership this year, we like to go even when the weather gets cooler. The animals are more fun to watch, it's not so crowded and not as miserably hot as the summers are around here. We couldn't have asked for a more beautidul day. The weather was sunny and there was just a hint of "cool" in the air. It was a blast. Sarah loved it. Enjoy some of our memories from today.

Look Mama! Me and Lili are in the Egg!

This is a fun bridge that swings a little when you walk on it, Sarah loved to walk back and forth on it!

Weeeeee, that was a fun slide! Especially cause I got to ride it with my friends, Lili and Tati.

I'm a lot smaller than the Gorilla, huh?

Look, Mama...this is a lot like the bikes we saw when we were in China!

This is the life!

Baba held me so I could pet the giraffe! He was really soft and friendly, too.

There's me and Baba looking at the zebras!

A Few Updated Photos

Well, Today I'm trying to get a little bit caught up, Here are a few updated photos of the last month or so. We have been really busy lately and the Holidays aren't even here yet! Yikes!

Here's my Baby at church last Sunday

Baba is being so silly!

Lao Lao is playing with me and my new purse that Gigi gave me. Isn't it cool?

Showing off one of my new outfits

Look, Lao Lao...maybe we can take Pebbles for a walk??

Do you think if I smile real BIG, she'll come with me? "here Pebbles!"

WEEEEEEEE I LOVE the swing!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!

Well, we had 2 heck of a celebrations for our little girl's SECOND birthday! When we traveled to Ohio to visit my family, we decided to celebrate her birthday there so that my family could be a part of her birthday and then we had another party here, the day after her actual birthday (the closest Saturday!). She had a blast both times and got A LOT of awesome presents! What a joy to FINALLY be able to celebrate a birthday with our daughter, since we hadn't met her last year for her first birthday. What joy she's brought to our lives.

Hmm, let's see this music....what song shall I play?

Music, schmusic! Who needs it? I'll just play the concerto in my head!

Look at one of my favorite presents! I got a ladybug raincoat, umbrella and cute boots to match from my Great Uncle Greg and Aunt Cathy! They're awesome!

Here's my cute cupcakes that my Mama's cousin, Christine, made for me for my birthday...I'm not so sure about those candles, Mama said that they're hot and I don't want to get burned!

Here's my new xylophone that I got from Aunt Nati...this was from my second party. I love to play songs for my Baba, but for some reason, he puts these little things in his ears and just smiles at me while I play.

This is my cool new wagon that I got from my Poppa, I LOVE to go for rides all over the neighborhood, I tell Mama and Baba, "ride wa-GON please" every day!

Peek-a-Boo!

Here I am holding my new asian baby doll that I got for my birthday, isn't she cute? She kinda looks like me in the first photo that Mama and Baba saw of me...except she has a lot more hair!

Here's the cupcakes Mama made me, and Baba is holding it so I can blow out the candle, I was feeling a little better about the candles this time.

What? Huh? Can't a girl enjoy all this sugar without that silly camera in her face?

Our First Year Gotcha Day Anniversary!

Today is a VERY special day for our family. One year ago today, we met our Sarah for the first time. We got to hug and squeeze that girl and endure all her tears! I remember reaching out for her from the caregiver in China that had been holding her. I remember her screaming her little head off-wondering who in the heck we were and why were we holding her! Where were the people she'd come to know over the past year while in Foster Care? She had probably never seen a caucasian before. Not to mention she was grieving the loss of her Foster Mother. She had been in her care from the time Sarah was 4 weeks old until the day she met us last year. It was a rough few days with our baby girl. She would only want me and cried like crazy when Troy would just look at her for the first day or 2. Then something amazing happened...he was trying to play with her on the bed the second night we had her and she smiled!! even smiled more than once. It took her a week before she'd smile for me but she would smile for her Baba after 2 days...it was emotion with him...crying or laughing, but Troy was the one who could get her to show emotion. Me? well...she just wanted me to hold her and comfort her, she wasn't really interested in showing emotion with me, just wanted me to give her comfort and all the love a mother could have for her baby in all the world. I suppose it was all part of the grieving process and starting to attach with us. I know that it took her some time in order to learn to trust us. Attachment is a process and we were thankful that she had an attached relationship with her foster mother because we knew in time she'd be able to transfer attachment to us and we'd be able to develop that kind of relationship with her.

Troy took this photo just after they handed her to me. You can see she wasn't nearly as happy about it as we were!

She slowed down here for a second...only to continue the screaming all evening long. Poor little thing. The amazing thing was-I didn't shed a tear! For those of you who know me, it's like the water works over here usually. I guess I was more worried about her and put all my energy into trying to calm her down. It wasn't until I crawled into bed that night that I started to cry tears of joy.

Of course, now things are much different. It's amazing the difference a year makes. With both of us every day, she laughs and smiles and plays. There is nothing in the world that can compare with the feeling of love coming to you from YOUR child. What a feeling!

Her first smile at her Baba!


Words just cannot express how we're feeling today. Our lives are so different than they were a year ago...what an amazing responsibility and blessing it is to have been chosen by God to be the parents of this little girl who was conceived and born half way across this planet. Thank You Lord for the gift of our daughter...and what a gift she is!

Here is our little angel today just after we gave her the first Gotcha day present...we bought it in China for her last year and got gifts for her every year until she's 21. It was nice how inexpensive things were in China that we were able to do this special thing for our baby.

Going on Vacation!

Well, I just wanted to let you all know my posts may be a little sparse for a bit. We are leaving for Ohio to visit my family this weekend and will be gone for a bit. I have been SOOO stinking busy trying to get some work done to make some money since we'll miss out on some paychecks while we're gone I feel like I'm in the middle of a whirlwind and it's winning and I'm losing! Hopefully today I'll be able to get the rest of the stuff done so that I can focus on packing tomorrow. Sorry I don't have any photos of my Noodle today. I've even been too busy for that this week, what a travesty! Well, we'll be back soon, and who knows...if I get bored while at my Mom's I may post a little or a photo or 2!

My Little Wall Flower!

Yesterday at church, Baba decided to put me up on a shelf, like a little baby doll! Mama said I looked like the prettiest wall flower she's ever seen, but I didn't know what she was talking about. I just know I was happy to have my crackers and to play with my Baba! Look, I even let Mama put a pretty yellow bow in my hair too, and I only took it out 5 or 6 times all day, not the normal every 10 seconds...cause for some reason, I'm not sure why I do it, I just love to pull it out of my hair and have Mama put it back for me.

Look, in this one I'm showing Mama and Baba my pretty teeth!

Uh, Baba...are you sure I'm okay up here?

I guess it is pretty FUN up here! heehee

Here are a few cute photos to show off of new outfits from Sarah's Lao Lao. Sarah has FINALLY progressed to keeping little bows in her hair with her waterspout! I couldn't believe it, but for the last few days, she's left them in for the most part, anyway. I can't believe how much my little baby is growing...she's getting so tall and much less like a baby and much more like a little girl! *sigh*

Yup, I am cute!

I LOVE for Baba to wrap me up in my "sof" so I am not "toad"

Yeah, I'll let Mama think that I will leave my bow in my hair...just wait 'til she turns her head...

Uh, yeah...So I have been a little busy!

Well, I'm a little bit of a slacker lately and a whole lot busy! I am finally getting back to trying to blog a little more consistently...at least until we go to Ohio in a couple of weeks to see my family. These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago after church and before naptime. I just LOVE this dress and the boots! TO DIE FOR! What a little fashion princess I have!! Thanks to Lao Lao, that is!

Hee Hee! quick, Mama, catch my smile cause it's not gonna last for very long!

Yeah, Mama...Hurry it up, will ya! I have "bottle on the brain!"

Okay, I have Winston (Sarah's FAVORITE doggie) all bundled up and ready for his nap...isn't time for me too?

UGH, Mama...can you put that camera AWAY?? I really am tired of modeling for you today! I want to go night-night!

INTRODUCING! My Uncle Robert!

Okay, So Troy's brother, Sarah's Uncle Robert, came to visit last weekend for a few days. Sarah had a BLAST with him. Unusual for her, she took to him immediately. I think that she could recognize things in him that are so similar to her Baba. She kept asking about him all the time and when he left she was always asking me about Uncle Rober? It was really cute, a few days after he left to go back to California, I was folding the laundry and there were some shirts of Troy's. 2 of them were the same color as the shirt that Robert's wearing in this photo and she kept pointing to it saying, "Rober, Rober?" I couldn't believe that she even recognized the color of one of Robert's t-shirts! God blessed me with a little smartie for a daughter! Enjoy the photos!

Okay, you can't tell they're brothers AT ALL, can you?

Let me see, Uncle Rober...what's with that fuzz on your face?

See, I love my Uncle Rober...but my Baba is over there being silly, trying to make me laugh!

A girl and her Uncle!

Doesn't she just have that, "I'm going to do something really mischievious," look?

Caught up? Yeah, right!

Well, I THOUGHT I would have a chance to get all caught up on this blog...BUT, then Life happened and well, not so much. But, here are some photos from last Friday and Sunday. I have been trying, to no avail, to get Sarah to wear bows, barrettes, headbands, you name it in her hair for the past...well-11 months since we've been together. FINALLY, I have NO idea what happened, I cannot explain it nor do I even care to...I just LOVE it!

Last Friday, I asked Sarah if I could put a bow in her hair (even though this water-spout thing is just a tiny hair tie) and she said Yes...as she always does. BUT, this time, instead of taking it out 3 seconds after I put it in...she waited about 10 mintues then took it out. BUT, the difference is she brought it to me and said, "bow?" and leaned her head over to me so that I could put it back in her hair. Miracle of it is that she left it in the rest of the day! And, since then, every morning when she wakes up and every time she wakes up from her nap, she grabs her hair and asks, "bow?" Can you believe it? It's like someone just flipped a switch in my little girl and now she has learned to appreciate "pretties" in her hair! It's gotten to the point that when I take it out at night, by morning it's so used to being in the waterspout, it's still sticking straight up waiting for another little rubber hair tie to be put in! I'm hoping we can progress soon to the pretty bows and barrettes that have been filling her drawer. I guess it doesn't take much to excite me anymore! I just realized I wrote a really long paragraph on my daughter wearing little ties in her hair. Huh. Well, anyway, hope you enjoy the waterspout series of photos! I sure do enjoy her asking for them!

Having a good laugh in her Sunday dress with waterspout, of course!

A girl and her Baba...she sure does adore him (and shhh, so do I!)

Awww, it's story time in the living room!

Look at those pearly whites! I love that girl so much, just look into those eyes and you'll fall in love, too!

Our first water spout day in a new dress from LaoLao. Notice the strawberry? Well all day on Friday, she kept showing me that she had a "shrawbear" on her dress! What a little smartie!

Mama, "toad" (cold in Sarah) she kept telling me, "toad" she HAD to have me wrap her in her sof (soft) so she wasn't "toad"!

Okay, Mama, I have my purse...I'm ready to go Bye-Bye!

Awww...I just LOVE my Baba! Gotta give kisses!

Hey, what are you doing...you have the camera AGAIN? sheesh, Mama...give a girl a break!