My baby girl turned two and a half 3 days ago, right now she's sound asleep in her big girl bed for the 2nd night in a row, and today she wrote her very first letter all on her own. Sigh...she's growing up so fast. I keep telling her to slow down, just a litte bit, but she just won't listen.

(mama's X on the left, Kerry's X on the right)

Then she proceed to write X after X, getting a little better each time. She was so thrilled with herself kept saying "X! Make a X!!"

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Bye bye crib

Today was a big day for Kerry, and just a little bittersweet for Mommy. She's passing down her crib to her new cousin, who's due to arrive in early December, so today we put up her brand new big girl bed. It is a seriously sweet gloss-white antique-y metal bed. There's also a fold-away bed rail so Mommy and Daddy can sleep better knowing she's not going to fall out. She LOVES her new bed and was so excited that she completely skipped her nap.

She was not at all upset to see the crib go, in fact she kept saying "bye crib!" and she "helped" take it apart.

And, of course, she "helped" put her new bed together. After which she spent the longest time just bouncing around in it, giggling and squealing.

She has been all smiles and keeps saying "Dats KERRY's!"

She crashed early due the lack of a nap, and is currently spending her first night snoozing snugly in her new bed. Let me add, she did not actually fall asleep in her new bed, as she promised she would. Nope, she fell asleep in my arms while watching Bugs Bunny in the living room. Then I had to transfer her to the bed....and take pictures of course (yes, I'm afraid we're going to have to do something about her bedtime routine, but that's for another post). Sweet dreams little one.

She's got Daddy's glasses, Mama's shoes, and Mama's iced tea. She looked so darn cute, I couldn't resist taking photos =)

Today was Kerry's follow up appointment with her Pediatric Cardiologist for her VSD. She goes every 6 months. This is our third visit since bringing her home and we really like him. So much so that, even though he's not in our insurance "network" which means they cover less of the cost, we still see him. Kerry had an EKG, and an echocardiogram, and she was such a good patient, she never fussed once, which Mommy and the Doctor REALLY appreciated, even with the wires and leads stuck all over her little chest, and the fact that he had to spend a while on the echo to find the VSD and to view her heart from all angles. Oh, and she now weighs 31 1/2 pounds.

6 months ago at her visit, he said that her heart looked great and the hole was very small, although it hadn't really gotten any smaller than her first visit just days after bringing her home. Today he couldn't hear a murmur at all, and it wasn't until he did the echo that he confirmed that the hole is still there, but it has gotten much smaller in the last 6 months. He said it is now so small that the red blood cells have to "line themselves up" to pass through it. Praise God! At this rate, the hole should be closed by her next visit. =)

God bless corn...

This evening's dinner blessing....well, Kerrys contribution at least...went something like this:

"Bess mommy daddy! Nana Papaw! Mamaw Papaw! Si-ney (cousin Sidney)! and CORN!"

I'm telling you, this girl loves corn on the cob. She can finish a large cob on her own with no problem. And when I say finish, I mean not one kernel left. This is good, since lately she's trying her best to subsist on meat, and the occasional starch, alone.

She later went on to also ask God's blessing for her cup, daddy's cup, "weefs", trees, "buh-fies" (can you tell we were eating out on the screened patio tonight?), her fork, her mashed potatoes, our neighbor "Manda", and teeth.

After dinner which, as you can imagine, took a little longer than usual, she decided to try out her tricycle. She's almost got the pedaling on her own thing down, but not quite. Look at those little knees, I've always loved those chubby little knees =).

This child has completely and totally stolen our hearts and changed our lives in the most amazing ways. She's been with us for just over a year and sometimes, still, I'm stopped in my tracks with the realization that she is here. Maybe it's the fact that we were married almost thirteen years before she came along that it still feels almost a bit..surreal..at times. Maybe it's the fact that, for as long as I can remember, I always knew that I wanted to be a Mom. Even if I never did anything else, I wanted to be a Mom. Hard to explain. All I know is, I'm blessed. She's such a happy, sweet, opinionated, bright, funny little giver of the best hugs and kisses. I often wonder what I've done that God would bless me with this child. I have no clue, but I'm awfully glad He did =).

Oops. Lost the bubble wand.

Visiting old friends.

This past Saturday Kerry and I got to visit with Jessica, one of my oldest and dearest friends and her boys whild they were in Corbin for their family reunion. We decided to head over to Cumberland Falls to spend the afternoon together. It was so nice to see them. I've known Jess since she was younger than Kerry, and she's kinda like the little sister I never had. It's almost surreal to get together with our three children, now.

Kerry really likes Jamey and had fun being his little "shadow".

Joshua is the sweetest baby boy around. He's so easy going and lovable.

Kerry getting to know Joshie a little better, or maybe she was just wondering what he was doing in her stroller.

My girl was melting in the heat, but still had fun.

Taking a break.

Cumberland Falls..much bigger than it looks in this photo.

Kerry and Jamey checking out a little cave.

Jess, Mama, and Kerry

Hiker in training?

We spent a long weekend at Dougs parent's place at Rough River. It was HOT, HOT, HOT...as it has been for the past month. Seriously...it's been in the mid or upper 90's every. single. day. Even with that we still have a hard time staying indoors..so we made the best of it. We went for a hike that included a very old Native American rock shelter. Kerry had a blast climbing all over the rocks and exploring and seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

You'll notice that this is a "shady" activity. It was way to hot to be in the sun.

We did let her enjoy the little nearby playground for a few minutes

She also enjoyed the pontoon, swimming, and riding the golf "truck" as she refers to it.

Last night we had dinner at the "Knotty Pine". Ker-Bear enjoyed dipping her fries in white gravy, cuz that's what you do at the Knotty Pine. Mama enjoyed the fried chicken (yum), green beans, and mashed potatoes with, you guessed it, white gravy.

Getting some use out of our Zoo membership

Sweet and spicy

One of Kerry's more recent "developments" is that she's really started learning good manners in the last week or so. She says "excuse me" in the sweetest little voice if someone, or even something, is in her way. She says "please", and "thank you". And until recently if you offered her something like, say, a food, object, or activity that she didn't want, she would often respond with a vehement "NOOO!!! We've been working on that and I'm happy to report that she can now respond with a much nicer "No tank you" or just "no tanks" =). Sometimes she slips but all I have to do is give her the "Mommy look" and she usually corrects herself, after which I praise her, thoroughly. I love that she's a "spicy Jiangxi girl", and I want her to stay that way, but I also want her to have good manners and a respectful, polite attitude toward those around her. And I think that can, and should, be instilled early. Don't get me wrong, she can act like any typical two year old when she feels like it, but she really is as sweet as she is spicy, and I love her either way =).

On another note, I realized it's been a long time since I posted a list of Kerry's likes and dislikes...so I tought it was time. And I think it's another good way to document where she's at right now. You can see the first list that I posted while we were still in China getting to know our new daughter here.

Likes:

• Mommy and Daddy.
  
  
• Her "Baby Panda" and her robe, especially at naptime/bedtime.
  
  
• Going for walks.


• Crunchy type snacks.
  
  
• Any fruit juice.
  
  
• Chicken...well, any meat really. She's a little carnivore.
  
  
• Rice (any kind, plain, chinese, mexican...doesn't matter).
• jalapeno chee-to's (she likes most spicy food, in fact).
  
• Mama's berry/banana smoothies.
  
  
• her Grandparents.
  
  
• being tickled.
  
  
• bathtime.
  
  
• strawberry "mook" (milk).
  
  
• jumping on mommy and daddy's bed and playing hide and seek under the pillows.
  
  
• getting her nails painted, she insists on fingers AND toes and want's me to paint my nails, too.
  
  
• "clicking" her own seat buckles in the highchair, carseat, shopping cart..she gets upset if we try to help.
  
  
• learning new things. Which is why it's been so easy to teach her to recognize all of the basic shapes and colors by around 21 months and now almost all of the letters of the alphabet by sight.
  
  
• counting things. She can count to ten with no mistakes so I guess it's time to add some more numbers.
  
  
• music.
  
  
• dancing to music.
  
  
• collecting and/or arranging similar objects. And Lord help the person who messes up her little creations.
  
• her Lego's.
  
• hugs and kisses.
• Reading bed-time stories.
  
  

Dislikes:

fruit that isn't in juiced form.

• having dirty or sticky hands. She'll say "yuck" and ask for a "kee-nex".
  
• touching anything that feels "icky" in her book.

• getting anything in her shoes or sandals. Even the smallest bit of something gritty is enough to stop her in her tracks, holding her little foot up asking for it to be taken care of.

Up for debate:

• having her teeth brushed.
  
• staying in the church nursery without Mommy.

• going # 2 in the potty.
  
• dogs.

• going to sleep.

I'd like to thank Lisa for the tip on making my photos larger =) .