My little stars!!

I must be seeing stars!! These two just crack me up. Bubba wanted no part in this.

PS..We just got back from her follow up doctor's appt and Emily is now up to date on her immunizations and has gained 1 more pd!

Such a little personality this one has.

Emily tries to put everything in her mouth. Right before this series of photos she was drinking off one of the cups of water. I told her not to put it in her mouth because it was dirty. These are the toys from the sandbox. So here she is splashing the water and trying to catch it in her mouth instead. Such a funny little smartie pants.

Emily in the Babyhome

It's hard to believe Emily has been home with us four months now. She is doing well but we still have a long ways to go as she continues to heal and attach to us. I received a letter from my agency reminding us that it is time to begin working on the first post placement report. It made me think about when we first met Emily and how far we have all come as a family since those first days. Here's a glimpse of Emily at 12 months old on our first trip to her babyhome.

Help Support an Adopting Family

Meet a very special family. Bethany and her husband Kyle and their 2 children Mason and Payton. Bethany and Kyle are adopting a little girl from St. Petersburg, Russia. The same city that Emily came home from!! The little girl they are adopting has Down Syndrome.

It is a difficult road ahead for any orphaned child living in Eastern Europe. Now if that orphan child has a disablility like Downs their chances of having a family or any hope of a future has greatly decreased. When a child turns 4 they are moved from the babyhome to an orphanage. But a 4 year old with a disability is moved to an institution. They no longer are eligible for adoption or education. They no longer have any hope of a future. Most children in an institution are confined to their beds with little to eat and little to no physical touch or stimulation. Most of these children will die shortly after being placed there. It is heartbreaking to imagine any child not being loved and protected but imagining a child with a disability living and dying in this way...it makes your very spirit ache.

Bethany and Kyle are getting very close to their first trip and are quickly trying to raise some money for their adoption and travel costs. They are holding a raffle on their website. For every $5 donated a ticket is entered in the raffle. There is a widgit on their website that allows you to donate money and earn your raffle ticket. The prize is for a $100 gift certificate to the Polkadot Platypus, an online boutique. And since it is a blog too, you can read about this very special adoption and family.

Here's their blog address and you can also find a link on my sidebar. www.dreamingonanangel.blogspot.com

Our Anniversary

We celebrated our 8th anniversary on July 15th. We decided it would be fun to celebrate the big day in Monterey by the sea. We took the boys to their swim lessons first. We then had a picnic afterwards on the lawn, changed our clothes and made the trek to Monterey. We decided to stop at the Dennis the Menace Park for a fun few hours of climbing on trains and riding crazy slides and playing in the tunnels before heading to dinner on Cannery Row. For dinner we chose Bubba Gump's for some yummy shrimp and a great view of the bay. Pretty fitting too as we had a Bubba with us. The kids had a blast as we also got to order 2 yummy desserts to share. BW chose strawberry shortcake and Bubba chose chocolate brownie sundae. Ahh...how different they are. Emily loved her spoonfuls of the vanilla ice cream from the shortcake.

It was a nice day. A little hard to gaze in your hubby eyes across the table with three little ones trying to cover you in chocolate syrup and tartar sauce. But I imagine someday we will miss these anniversaries most. :-)

Home 3 months!

It's really hard to believe Emily has been home just a little over 3 months now. She has grown in so many ways since that time. In the baby home we could see her true self but it was like her light would dim and we would have to work really hard to get her to light back up. Since she's been home it's like she's a shiny bright light all the time. We just can't believe how comfortable she has become with us to feel safe enough to be her true self.

Here is what I know so far about my little girl:

1) She is happy, thriving and living life with enthusiasm.

2) She is one tough girl and very strong too.

3) She loves to laugh and be silly...a total ham.

4) Her sign is Pisces.

5) She was born in St Pete, Russia and spent the first year of her life living in a baby home.

6) She loves her feet and loves it when you hold them.

7) She also loves shoes and knows whose shoes belong to who. She will chase you with your shoes and try to cram them on your feet.

8) She is determined and tests limits to exhaustion and will stare you down doing it and usually with a smile on her face.

9) She has beautiful red hair with little curls in the back.

10) She has a lot of energy and doesn't walk places, she runs. She is as much of a boy as her brothers.

11) She climbs anything, totally fearless and will throw her body anywhere without thought to her face and head..ouch!

12) She loves the water..loves her baths. Will say and sign the word bath and head for the tub. She swims in the water, pushing off the tub wall with her feet and flipping over to her back. She sticks her whole head under the water spicket..she is a nut in the water.

13) She has deep green eyes, a shade I've never seen before.

14) She is 17 months old today.

15) She has lots of words now including signs and is making 2 word sentences. These are a few...All done, all right, buh bye dada, no-no mama, and hi Bubba.

16) She has a great sense of humor and made her first joke. She looked at daddy and said "mama" and just started laughing.

17) After using the potty she leans over the seat and waves and says "buh bye poo poo" as it disappears from sight. Just cracks me up.

18) She loves to pant like a dog and can put on the dog head costume all by her self.

19) Her newest word is "look". She says it for everything...look at me, look at that, look at what I can do...good or bad.

20) She loves to make new sounds. Her current 2 favorite books are Dr. Seuss's Mr. Brown can Moo and Quick as a Cricket. She will look at the pictures and when it's time for the sounds she will study my mouth, sometimes try and make the sound and then look back at the pictures in the book.

21) She was given a clean bill of health at her health appt. She is at 88% for height and weight. And between 12 months and 15 months she has gained 5 pds. I think she is getting ready to grow!! We are totally amazed by this as both our boys also got weighed that same week for their annual health check ups and they each also put on 5lbs but over a year's time. They are both on the smaller size..BW tops the charts for height and weigth at 9% and Bubba at 28%. Wow! To have a child that is over the 50% mark...wow!

22) She calls her self Em. My hubby now refers to us as "Em & M".

23) She loves to play games but especially chase.

24) She is always ready to be on the go. If she sees me grab my keys or purse..she runs to the door, turns around and says "buh bye dada."

25) She can throw one good tantrum at the drop of a hat...and will often look up to see if anyone is still watching. :-)

26) She is getting in the last 2 teeth and will have a full set minus her 2 year molars.

27) She jumped up and down for the 1st time today. Her feet actually left the ground and she landed on her feet. She was so amazed that she did it over and over again. The most jumps she got in a row before landing on her tush...FOUR!