MONKEY GIRL

She "mastered" the gate several months ago - she just isn't sure what to do when she gets to the top - it also is hard on the toes!!! (Emily and the gate are both 30")
The window ledge is about 18 inches off the ground
She loves to walk around on the window sill, and play peak-a-boo with the curtains!!
Oscar on duty as "Mommy lookout"

YES, WE HAVE A CLIMBER!!

And this is only what I caught pictures of today!! I wish you could see the expression on her face - she is so proud of herself!!!

We "retired" the highchair last weekend (we now have a booster seat). We were forever making her sit in her highchair - she could climb out of HC if she wanted to, she just didn't know she could!!

She has been "practicing" on trying to get out of her crib. For several months now she has been able to get one leg on the top rail, but then doesn't know what to do. The last couple of days she has been trying to climb onto the attached changing table portion of her bed - it is only a matter of time!!

As you can tell, I have to watch her constantly, she can climb anything, and isn't afraid to try new mountains!!

BUSY WEEKEND

SEE MY "BEAUTIFUL BOD" - MY GRANDMA TAUGHT ME THIS TRICK!!

I LOVE YOU MS. MARY - THANK YOU FOR HELPING MY MOM AND DAD BRING ME HOME. I AM VERY HAPPY AND WELL ADJUSTED.

This Momma is getting way too old for jam packed weekends!!!

Friday night I went scrapbooking. Had a great time, and did some really cute layouts of Emily. I stayed out till 2:00 AM and had to get up at 6:30 - UGH!!! The church that I scrapbook at once a month (not my church) is having a all night scrapbook fellowship in Sept. I was really excited about that, but I will need to either get Daddy or someone to watch Emily while I sleep most of Sat., or just not stay so late - The 2:00 AM and taking care of a baby the next day whipped me!!! We also ran the roads, swam at Grannys and had a party for Granny's birthday, and just plain had an action - packed weekend. The social worker came Sunday for the last post placement visit. We have now completed all the requirements for the adoption. YIPPEE!!
Here are some pics of Emily with Mary, our social worker.

WATER BABY

Emily just loves water. She thinks it is so cool that you can do so many things with it - drink it, bathe in it, and play in it. She loves the sound of water as well. When it rains, she stands at the window and says water.

Here she is swimming with her Daddy on July 4th. Daddy would put his hand over her mouth and hold her nose and put her under the water, and she loved it!! If Daddy got her face too close to the water, she would just choke and sputter. She really wanted Daddy to just let go of her. She also enjoyed jumping off of the ladder.

She is our water baby!!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

THE CIRCUS

The white tiger - isn't this a cool picture?!
Daddy bought her this silly clown hat. Mom's reaction - You paid WHAT?!
Emily and mommy jumping rope with the pretty ladies

We took Emily to the circus last weekend. She loved it. Her eyes were as big as saucers. Daddy wasn't thrilled about going to the circus - he went at age 11 and didn't enjoy it - but he loved the circus through Emily's eyes.

She loved the clown - she let him hold her and she "beeped" his nose!! She enjoyed the elephants too. She said "Wow". The dog act was probably her favorite. It was 6 mini dashounds - 5 were brown and one was black. Her dog is black - we told her that was Dog!! Her little face lit up!! We asked her how Dog got to the circus, do you think he will beat us home, did he runaway and join the circus????

MISS PERSONALITY

Just a little post about Emily...no pictures!! She has quite the personality!!

• She is very much a people person. For that I feel very blessed, even though I have to watch her because she will go with ANYBODY!!
• Loves her dog. She calls him DOG most of the time. She sticks her tongue out and curls it when she says dog. She loves to tell him "git, git git" when he gets in my lap. She has also started saying "dog mean" and "dog bites". All of her bobo's are dog's fault she says. (She is mean to the dog, he is very good to her and would not hurt her for anything)
• She has started noticing bobos. She will point to a scratch (she scratches herself alot), and will fake cry and want you to kiss her bobo.
• If I am holding her and take her over and tell her to kiss daddy, she gets me by the back of my head and daddy by the back of the head, and wants us to kiss each other and leave her alone!!!
• She says she is daddy's girl. If I ask her is she is momma's girl or baby, she says dada.
• she refers to herself as a baby. If you call her a big girl, she says "no, baby."
• She calls her blankets baby, or bebe....It took me almost a month to figure that one out!!
• She isn't afraid of anything!!

Okay, I could go on and on....but I am sure you are bored already. Just one blessed momma here who can't say enough about her baby. I feel so blessed...I could not have asked for a better child. I don't think I could have prayed for a child as sweet, loving, beautiful....

WHAT??!! 18 MONTHS OLD???

Yup, Emily is 18 months old today. And my is she growing. I bet she has grown atleast three or four inches since she has been home. She is finally starting to pick up some weight as well. She weighed 19 lbs. and 13 oz. at last Dr. appt. about 2 weeks ago. We go at the first of July for our 18 month well baby check up. I am anxious to see how tall she has gotten. When we brought her home at almost 11 mo. she was 17 lbs. and 27 (I think) inches tall.

Not much new, just same old stuff. Emily's newest thing is to tell Daddy when he comes home from work that she wants to go out for ice cream (she signs Ice cream and please.....yes Daddy melts and readily takes his two favorite girls for ice cream). And as you can tell by the pics, she is ready to drive. It has been Donnie's joke that she is growing up so fast, that she will be asking for the car keys next week.

At the end of this month, the circus is coming to town, and we are taking Emily....I can't wait. Some other events that we are doing this summer: swimming at Granny's, going to the park (there is a state park about 45 min. from here that has fun sprinklers, fountains and such for the kiddos to play in), 4th of July picnic at church, 4th of July(Mommy can't wait to get pics of her decked out in red, white and blue.

I have also started scrapbooking again. I have so many things to scrap, that I don't know where to start!!!

ENJOY THE PICS.

POOL TIME

Emily just LOVES water. We have a little pool for her at our house, which I have gotten her in several times. She loves for us to sit on the ground and put our feet in and splash her. Then Granny has a 4 ft above ground pool at her house. Emily can't wait to get in it. Daddy put her up on the side and put her feet in - she thought that was the greatest thing. She would purposely get her feet "dirty" so that Daddy would wash them in the pool (Granny and Daddy were working on getting it cleaned and ready for summer).

COUSINS

Donnie's Aunt Mary, his cousin Tracy and husband Jerry and their two children came in for the long holiday weekend. We all had a great time. Emily loved playing with the babies, as she called them. She is right in the middle of them age-wise. Tracy suffered with infertility for a long time before she had her children, so it is extra special to us to have pictures of our babies together. Three miracle blessings!!

PHOTOS

me and mommy - photo taken Nov. 6, 2007
SSSSSHHHHHHHH
I Love Yogart!! It is good for the skin and hair!!
OREOS!!! Yes, I eat the filling first!!

Here are some recent photo of Emily. She is getting so big. The first picture of Mommy and Emily was taken the day after we got her.

JUST A LITTLE UPDATE

Well my goal was to post 3 times a month and it has now been well over a month since I posted. BAD MOMMY!! Sorry no pics this time (it is 11:00 pm, and I am exhausted.)
1) Mothers Day
2) Baby Dedication
3) Emily has been home for 6 months
4) Mommy and Daddy's 15 year anniversary
5) Emily is now 17 months old
6) Talks up a storm
7) Signs over 60 sign language signs
8) Loves to swim and just be outside
9) Loves Walmart (it sounds so cute when she says Walmart)
10) Is finally sleeping all night

NOW

And here are the most recent pics of our Asian Angel. On Wed. (April, 16,2008), she and Mommy played outside. She loves her flowers that the neighbor gave her, she even helped Mommy plant them. Then on Thurs. Daddy got an unexpected free day off from work, so we all three played. We went to the mall and Emily and Daddy rode the carousel - notice the huge grins on both of their faces!!!

Next promised post is the pictures from the orphanage....not sure how long it will take to fufill that promise...but I think I did pretty well on the Now and Then promise!!

THEN

Here is the post I have been promising. I haven't taken any new pics since the zoo....I know , bad mommy. I am plannng to take her outside to play with her bubble mower tomorrow.

Enjoy the old pics for now.

A DAY AT THE ZOO

Sat. marked 5 months with Emily. My how time flies!! I looked back at pictures of when we first got her and she looks so tiny. She has grown so much, especially in the last week or two. She has also started saying more words, signs, more "pretend play", and becoming more independent.

She loved the zoo. I have been telling her for about 2 weeks that we were going to go to the zoo. She was excited. I also have been working with her teaching her sign language of several zoo animals. Her favorite is the Elephant. When she saw the elephant, she was so excited!!! She also loved the giraffe. At every exhibit, we would tell her what the animal was, and she would repeat its name. When we left the exhibit, we told her to wave and blow kisses which she loved.

Enjoy the zoo pics. I will try to post then and now pictures soon. I also have some pictures that the orphanage gave us that they took through the months while she was there....priceless!!

Emily is signing Elephant

BLOGGING FOOL

Yeah, I FINALLY learned how to insert pictures!! Don't know what I was doing wrong, but now we have pics!! Now I am going to join Bloggy land and post more often. Check out my post below....with pictures!!

PONY RIDE

Emily loves horses. Horse is one of her newest signs. There is a horse across the road from Granny and Papa's, and because dog was the first animal she learned every animal has been a dog. Now she knows how to sign horse, and she is so proud!!! We went to a birthday party Sat. and there was a pony there. Her eyes lit up and she began signing horse. She loved to pet the pony, feed it sugar cubes, and sit on it and tell it to go. The owner of the pony would not let her ride, he was afraid she would fall off. But she got to sit on it, and touch it so she didn't care at all.

THE HUNT

Sorry picture is sideways - still learning how to post pics!!

Emily really enjoyed her first Easter Egg hunt. She is at the stage where she is constantly moving things from one container to another, so an egg hunt was right up her ally.

FOUR MONTHS WITH EMILY

Hi - Yes, we are still alive - and doing very well, I might add!!
I know, it has been a while, still not quite sure if I am going to continue to blog - but will post again I guess.

Hard to beleive that we have now been home with Emily for almost 4 months. Part of me feels like it hasn't been that long and another part of me feels like we have had her forever. Part of me misses working and daily interacting with people, but I really do enjoy being a stay at home Mom. I can't imagine having her in daycare.

Emily is doing great. She is growing like a weed!! She is now almost 15 months old. She no longer looks like a baby. She has 3 teeth and is about to cut the 4th, and her hair is growing. She is so smart!! She loves to learn new things. She talks up a storm. Ok, she doesn't really talk, she says a lot of words. She loves sign language. We average about 3 new words a day, and about 3 new signs a week. Her favorite things are dogs, babies, and books.

Now that spring is almost here, and she is getting older, we will start getting out more. We are looking forward to trips to the zoo, the park, and just plain playing outside.

I still haven't gotten our China trip photos sorted and posted, but still plan on doing that. I am planning on updating my other website with pictures in the near future as well.

Happy Spring!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2008

Well, another year has come and gone. Now that Emily is home, I am sure these years are going to roll by even faster!! I am contemplating closing my blog. I am thinking about doing weekly e-mail of pics for family and friends that are interested. Just e-mail me and let me know what you think of either idea - Is anyone still watching my blog?? HEEEELLLLOOOOO

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas!! Yes, we had a great Christmas. We kept things as simple as possible, which made it very enjoyable for all three of us!! Emily loved opening presents!! It has been Christmas for Daddy and Mommy since the first of August when we received her picture. Emily got lots of dolls, books, teddy bears, telephones and clothes. Of course, she liked the packaging the best....amazing, you don't have to teach them that!
Emily has been lots of fun. It is still hard for Mommy to beleive that she is actually here. She is babbling and talking up a storm. She also does quite a bit of sign language. She now says daddy, momma, dog (ALL animals are dogs!), Dora, bye bye and MINE (which she screams!) She now signing dog, eat, more, book, bye bye, no, yes. She likes it when mommy signs momma and daddy, but she won't do it!! She makes me do it over and over!
She eats and sleeps very well. I haven't found anything yet that she won't eat. Grandma gave her jello yesterday. once she got over the shock of cold, she loved it!!

WE'RE BACK!!

Well, we made it!! Tomorrow will be 1 month since Gotcha Day. All I can say is WOW!! I watched the video of when we received Emily, and it seems so surreal. Like I did not realize Donnie hugged Emily's Nanny. All I remember is the nanny being thrust our way for a picture. Our travel buddy that took our video videoed us for almost 30 minutes! Thanks Mike, you did a great job and it is such a blessing to us to have that footage.

We have been home for almost 3 weeks now and are adjusting quite well. Donnie was real sick when whe got home. Between being sick and jet-lag, it took him about 2 1/2 weeks to readjust. Emily has had some sleep issues since we have been home, but that was to be expected and she is sleeping better all the time.

Donnie and I are both amazed at how easygoing she is. She definately has a mix of both our personalities. I am very laid back and easy going, and Donnie is very active and intense.

Emily is doing great. We haven't got her out a whole lot yet. She loves her Grandma, Granny and Grandpa. She has met a few aunts and uncles, and her Great Grandma. She has been to church twice, and doesn't mind all the new faces - I think she loves the attention! She still doesn't have any teeth and is not walking yet. She eats very well. She is OK with the dog. She says dog and does the sign language for dog. The dog is so jealous and protective of her.

Well, I still don't know how to post pics to the blog, so I will continue to us the Journey to me site as well. I will try to post pics soon. We took over 1000 pics while we were in China, and we are in the process of getting them all sorted, catogorized, and then I will post some on my Picasa site for your viewing pleasure!!

TEN

We are now officially down to under 10 days till we leave!! I don't beleive it has has really sunk in yet. I guess it will be real when I am walking the floors with a crying baby!! In honor of 10 days out, here is a top ten list of prayer requests:

10) Safe travels
09) Good health
08) Not having to use a squatty potty!!! I know, I know, when in China Potty as the Chinese, but I just don't think I can!
07) Easy transition to China time
06) Good weather
05) Family and friends at home
04) For Emily - We have been anticipating her for 3 years, this will be very abrupt for her, and totally life changing. She is giving up EVERYTHING that she knows.
03) Greiving - that Emily would properly greive, and that we would be help her in a positive way.
02) Wisdom for Donnie and I. We have never been parents before.
01) Healthy Bonding.

I have begun packing, hope to finish next weekend, or atleast by next Tue. (we leave early Thurs morning.) This coming week will be a very rough one. My boss has asked me to work as many hours as possible this week. I am going to try to work 4 - 12 hour days, we will see. Donnie is going to be out of town alot this week too. During the evening he is going to paint the nursery. Again, a difference in our personalities, I was fine with not decorating her room, but he can't stand it. I think it also gives him something to do to prepare for her as well. I am only working throuh Thursday of this week, then I am out till atleast Dec. I plan on spending the week before we go finishing packing, and getting the house clean, and playing. There are several friends that I want to spend some time with before we leave, and I would love to find some time to scrapbook, but again, we will have to see.
I will try to post one more time before we leave. TTFN (TA TA For Now)

JOURNEY TO ME HAS UPDATED THEIR WEBSITE

Hey guys,
to those of you that will be following my journey in China, the website that I am using has been updated. You can still click on the link to the right on this website, but you will then need to click on "adopion stories", it will then bring you to a page that asks you to search by name or country. type in Emily for name, there are only 2, mine is the second. You can then save the page in your favorites for easy viewing. If you have problems, just e-mail me and I will see what I can do to help, but do it before I go to China, as I am not sure how access will be while in China. Thanks

ANOTHER MONTH DOWN, ONE MORE TO GO

Sept. has now come and gone. Hard to beleive that we have had her picture for 2 months now. Wow. It is even harder to believe that we will hold her forever in a little over a month!! Things are still really exciting around here. I bought myself a new camera with birthday money from my mother-in-law, so I am learning how to use it. Sat. I spent the day with my best friend and her family. We took the kids to the Corn Maze. They had a blast (Aunt Becky did too!).

44 DAYS AND COUNTING

It is official. We have travel approval, Visas, confirmed travel dates.....and yes, we have airline tickets!! you can check my journey website on the right, it is all there. We leave November 1, and return on November 15. In less than two months, we will be home and starting a new chapter in our life. How exciting!! The day I got our airline tickets, I was excited as the day I saw her sweet face for the first time. I can't stand the not knowing, and now I know almost everything I need to know. I know a) what she looks like, b) how old she is, c) where she is, and when I am I am going to go get her....YIPPEEE. Just as my feet were getting close to the ground again, here comes travel approval. I am beginning to like this state of euphoria......I may never come down, and you can't make me!!!
On the reality side, here are a few other things that have been going on in our life: Donnie quietly turned 41 last weekend. We have had 2 LSU parties in the LSU room, and I will turn 39 next week (for the first time I might add!).