She's just soooooo cute!!!

-Annie has a Do.ra couch that flips out. Yesterday, she flipped it over and started climbing up the back of it. I just watched because I know that she has a "sensor" that doesn't allow her to get into too much danger. She kind of freaked herself out and climbed down. It was just soooo cute!!
-Annie is holding a corn cracker in each hand right now and she is practicing standing from a squat. She almost made it to a full stand but the crackers delayed her as she tried to put one in her mouth. She laughed and smiled though as she came back down in a very controlled way. It was just sooooo cute!!
- Annie has mastered how to sit on her couch and is getting on it right now to see her books and panda. She is so proud of being able to "sit" like we do. Is is just sooo cute!!
- Annie is wearing her "K.I.S.S." onsie right now and has her hair in a fountain like you know who!! It is just sooo cute!!!!
Oh there she goes again trying to stand up!!!!
- Annie has learned to say yes but it is "YeSHSSSS". She just came and asked for another cracker using her sign language and when asked if that was what she wanted she said "YesSHSSSSS". It is just soooo cute!!!!
I could go on and on and on and on but suffice it to say, this little one communicates very well, has learned in two and a half months to raise and lower her own body weight with control and how to steal her Mommy and Daddy's hearts.... She is just sooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!

Happy birthday Liz, we miss you. We are having Chicken curry with roti and plantain for supper tonight. It will never be as good as yours but you never taught me your secrets!!!!!!!! Love, Shawn, Kristine and your namesake, Annie-Isabel.

Portrait session...

We had Annie's portraits done today and I thought that I would share a few... Oh and thank you Emma for Annie's shoes, they go perfectly with this dress!!!

Swings...

Annie loves to swing. She is so happy in the little swing, singing with glee. She giggles and laughs as she flies through the air. I also loved to swing and I am so thrilled that she loves that feeling of moving through the air. There is really nothing like it. I used to recite Robert Louise Stevenson's poem "The Swing" as I spent hours trying to go higher and higher in my backyard swing. We don't have a backyard swing but I love to take her to the park and see the joy in her little face.
Annie also loves to go down the big red slide. She laughs all the way down. My little thrill seeker!!! Ah, fun time spent at the park. I have many memories of swinging and sliding as a child and I hope that Annie will have also grow up with wonderful memories.

the PVR...

I LOVE it. We are able to record movies and shows to watch when the little sweetheart is sleeping!!!! This technology is new to us and I love the pause and stop buttons. When you have a little one and you like watching movies - this is perfect!!! The BEST part is that we can say goodbye to a million vhs tapes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We already have enough as Shawn loves to tape so many things. Ooops, baby is waking up...

For the Record...

The last two mornings that have been "Daddy's mornings" to get up with Annie, she has slept until 7am. Yep, what is up with that!! We even put her to bed almost an hour earlier last night because she was exhasted from her playdate with Asia. The other side of this is that I am up at 6am to 7am, dozing and waiting for her to truly wake up. Sheesh. Let's hope that this is a new trend that continues when they are "Mommy's mornings" again!!!!! To actually sleep until 7am and have the baby go to bed by 7pm is a dream. Shawn and I might actually have some adult time together and I can stay up past 9pm again!!!!!!

Photos...

Annie is so very helpful, here she is "helping" Daddy take down the shelves in preparation for the new built ins. He REALLY appreciated her help. Notice the pigtails, Daddy calls them her martian ears!!! Too cute.

Sitting on the table - oh Daddy, what you two get up to when I am not in the room!!!
For Joma and Auntie Tina!! Here she is in her cutie outfit from Auntie T on my playtable that Joma lovingly packed and sent. Thanks!!!

Getting lots of big hugs!!! Annie has started to hug and kiss us on her own, not just as a response to us.

Annie in her squeaky shoes, she LOVES them and brings them to me to put them on her. Thanks Maryellen!!

Annie's first spaghetti dinner - we had to take this classic photo. She had a blast eating the noodles and vegetables.

Hope that you all enjoyed the photos!! We have some great video too that I will try to put on facebook.

Age and Love...

This was my daily wisdom today:

"Age doesn't protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age."-Jeanne Moreau, in John Robert Columbo, Popcorn in Paradise (1979)

Ah, love! There's nothing like it. Love keeps us young. Love is healing. Love is powerful medicine. But where does all this love come from? It's right there inside of us, all the time. We can live a life in love. We can choose love every moment, we can express love, we can give love. -Lissa Coffey

I am feeling a little old to have my first child. I am not quite forty yet but getting there. This morning I woke up with a sore back, head and a general feeling of "I am too old for this" as my 14 month old stood grinning at me in her crib, inches away after having woken me at 6 am. This morning she is playing well on her own and I was able to check my email before lunch and found this, my daily wisdom. I like it. The more love in your life, the younger you feel. Hope that you can use some of this wisdom. These are my great loves...

My first Mother's Day...

I had a lovely day yesterday. Shawn had two cute cards and a wonderful gift of a Thai Massage waiting for me on my laptop as he had to go to work. Annie knows not to touch the laptop so it was pretty safe - we will see how long that lasts!!!
My girlfriend Veronica took Annie and I out for a lovely brunch which was very sweet. Annie then had a VERY long nap which gave me time to watch my British Soap that I had PVR'd (is that how you say it?) and drink my tea. We had a nice afternoon together and then Shawn brought home Chinese take out from one of my favorite restaurants. We spoke to our family to wish all the Mom's a happy day and my sister ran her half marathon in the time she wanted to do it!!! Congrats Katie!!!!! A great day all around.
On Saturday Veronica, Angela, baby Jack, Annie and I went to Beacon Hill park for Annie's first picnic. She LOVED it. Annie sat on the picnic blanket and had her lunch with glee, I mean REAL glee. She was thrilled with all of the food laid out in front of her. Baby Jack is 7 months old and he was crying part of the time. Annie kept looking at him and yelling "Ba" very loudly because he was ruining her time!! She was VERY serious about that!!! Too cute. It looks like picnics in the park are Annie's idea of a good time which is great because they are one of our favorite things to do!!!!!
Happy belated Mother's Day to all the Mom's and waiting Mommies!!!

Sleeping...

What else do new parents talk about other than the crazy sleeping habits of their children!!! Thanks Maryellen for your suggestion of white noise. A few days ago I put our big air filter that makes lots of great white noise, in the bedroom and that has helped us out. It hasn't changed Annie's sleeping habits but it helps.
So this morning she was up at 5:20, I put her in bed with me, she slept until 5:45 and then wanted to party. At about 6:15 I put her back in her crib and then she went back to sleep!!!! She woke us up at 7am and THEN she even used the potty!!! I am going to try this one again as I feel so much better when she sleeps.
I was at my acupuncturist yesterday and she gave me ear seeds to wear to help my general well being. Maybe that is why I feel better today too, along with my treatment of course!!! She also suggested that I need to take more care of myself. Well, that is a challenge but Annie is now able to play on her own with me responding here and there to what she gives me or shows me.
Oh and the tv thing. I KNOW that children under two shouldn't be watching tv BUT I have to say, that 10 minutes that she will watch Sesame street in the morning, allows me to make my tea and again, be human. It is a survival technique.

Thank you!!

I wanted to thank everyone for their emails of encouragement!!! I am really happy to be able to blog about Annie. It is possible right now because of her morning nap. Otherwise, I don't know when I would do it - she is such a busy little girl and my bedtime has changed.
Yes, because Miss is up between 5:45 and 6:30 - the little devil keeps changing it up- I try to be in bed reading by about 9 pm. Haven't gone to bed this early in years but I need at least 8 hours of sleep to be human and if she wakes me in the night, this gives me a little cushion. Really, she is an good sleeper if not a little restless. As her crib is right beside the bed, I wear one earplug so that her thrashing around doesn't wake me - figured that one out a few nights ago, yeah- and I can still hear and respond to her if she needs me. I have the best husband as she woke up this morning at 4am crying her heart out, actually she wasn't really awake. I was able to soothe her back to sleep but then I didn't get back to sleep until 5:30 and she was up singing at 5:40. My darling husband Shawn got up with Annie this morning while I put another earplug in and slept until 8:30am!!!!!! Wow, I almost felt sick when I woke up because I haven't slept that late in months!!! Too funny. I know that we are VERY lucky to have a child that basically sleeps through the night and other than when she is teething, is easily soothed back to sleep. BUT when you are a deep sleeper and not used to being woken in the middle of the night, it takes some getting used to!!!!!! I should have set my alarm for 3 am, then 4am the week before we left for China, just so that I could get used to it!!!!!!!!

Walking...

As many of us in the international adoption world expect, our daughter is a little behind in her gross motor skills. When we first met, she had to have a "command centre" on the bed. Her Daddy built pillows all around her and gave her all of her toys to play with. It was sweet. He refuses to go into the princess thing with her and calls her the Empress and asks her "how goes the Empire". She ordered us about from that space VERY effectively.
At that time Annie could walk holding onto our hands but she couldn't crawl or move herself around at all, even on the bed. Well since we have been home and "teaching her", she crawls everywhere and pulls herself up easily to couch serf. My girlfriend Ricci gave her a little "walker" and on Sunday, she actually started using it to walk with!!!! Today I put on her squeaky shoes for the first time and she howled with laughter as we walked from the bedroom to the living room. She is now playing with Daddy and her squeaky shoes. Too cute.
This morning, she was also standing by herself for a moment which she is soooo very proud of. She started doing this in her crib and then falling on her butt, laughing hysterically. The other night when I was making dinner, she was in "her" tupperware" drawer and she used it stand on her own a few times. It is sooo cute, the pride in her eyes and her smile when she accomplishes things. It certainly helps that I have an old scaphoid injury from Dec. and I was having trouble picking her up so we were doing lots of walking and crawling together. I have a brace now that helps but I could always pick her up for lots of cuddles and kisses!!
Oh and one of the wonderful things that we have is Arnica in little homeopathic balls. When Annie falls, which she invariably does, a few little arnica pellets help her to calm down and heal. As Colleen says, they may work, they may not but they are something to chew!!!!!

Being at home...

While I was working, I dreamed of being home all day with my little girl. I thought of all of the things that we would do together. We would go to the library, we would go to play groups, swim at the pool, cook together, play together, sleep in until 8am and have a wonderful life.
It is a wonderful life in many ways but the 8am that she slept in to stopped as soon as Daddy went back to work. This morning, it was 6am. Annie's crib is right beside our bed so I was woken with "Mamamamamamamamama" and a whack in the head. Nice. I refuse to get out of bed until 7am so we go use the potty and then climb back into bed. For an active 14 month old, the bed is like a jungle gym and luckily all I have to do is lay around while she uses me as a trampoline BUT we don't get up until 7am!!!!!!!
As for going out and doing activities, well our little miss adventure must nap in the morning during the time that all of these activities are available. Yep, afternoon naps aren't really her thing but after getting Mommy up at between 5:45 and 6 am, she MUST nap for at least 2 hours starting at around 9:30 am. We tried to change it, we worked at it but the afternoon nap stayed at 45min and she was VERY grumpy and whiny, falling asleep anyway. Oh well, from what I understand from other Mommies, this too will change as she is in nap transition.
So, the dreams have clashed with reality, imagine that!!!
Right now, we are baby proofing the house with Annie's help!!! Colleen came and we tried to put the baby safety locks on the cupboards before we went to China but it didn't work. Colleen said that maybe our daughter wouldn't be into things. Well, SHE IS!!!! Annie is bright, inquisitive and a little explorer, all wonderful things unless she gets into Daddy's collections. Nothing motivates a man to move his guitar faster than a 14 month old pulling it over!!!!!!!
So being at home is lovely. I like the fact that I don't have to leave the house early every morning and I am learning to be a slave to my 14 month old master. It is taking time for her to whip me into shape as I do have my own ideas but she is wearing me down!!!!! Being at home is nothing like I imagined but it is a very nice place to be right now...

Ad sense...

So, I have added the Adsense to this blog. I just want everyone to know that I have no control over the ads posted here but they are supposed to be about things like adoption, parenting etc. If I do receive any proceeds from this venture, I will be donating money to charities in China who do wonderful work for the children there. Annie comes from a Half the Sky Orphanage and you can really tell that she was loved and cared for. How can we not put money into the hands of people who do such wonderful work!!!! Our daughter has benefited and now we want other children to benefit from whatever we can give.

WELCOME!!!!!!

Welcome to our new blog all about our little one from China. I wanted my first post to be the post that I posted the day she was born. Here is what I wrote:

I found this through a link and just wanted to share-

I Will Wait for You...
"I know how difficult it is for you while you wait for me, because I have been waiting, too. I have waited to be held, to be fed, to be loved. I have found comfort in those who have been caring for me, and in those I have come to call my friend.Do not feel saddened, for this is the only life that I have known. I have adapted. I know of no other way to spend my day. I am content, because I know not of what I might be missing.As you await the sound of my laughter, I carry on, learning every day. From friends, and caretakers. Because I am not alone, I wait my turn, learning patience and enjoying every moment that comes my way.Some friends are no longer here, so I make new friends. We keep each other company.The day will come when your waiting will finally be over, as will mine. When that day arrives, my friends will need to make a new friend, as I will no longer be there. I will discover a life that I never knew existed. I might seem frightened at first, but once again I will quickly adapt and realize that my waiting to be held, to be fed, to be loved is over. I will be cared for like never before. I will learn so many new things.I will have a forever family!
Until that day, I will be content to live the only life that I have known, and to spend time with my friends. Waiting ...I will be here for you when your waiting has finally ended. You will hear my laughter and I will feel your loving touch. And we will both be content with the new life that we will share, together ... "
Still waiting for our little butterfly. --------------------------

Yes, I believe in signs and I am so happy to say that I hear Annie's laughter every day and we have lots of snuggle times. It hasn't been an easy time but we are getting there and falling in love more each day...