Monday, February 27, 2012

Three years ago today.


February 27, 2009 started off like any other day. We had switched over China's special needs program two months before, and honestly were not expecting to be matched for several more months. Boy was I surprised when a coworker told me that I had a call from our adoption agency on hold. It took about two/tenths of a second for me to realize what it must mean. I knew all of our paperwork was up to date, I knew we did not owe them any money at the moment. There could be only one reason for them to be calling me at work. I walked to the nearest phone and picked it up in what felt like a dream-like state and tried my best to listen to what Dana was telling me about a baby girl who would be"turning one year old the very next day, has a VSD, and is really really cute". After 12 years of waiting, we were going be parents. I hung up with Dana and immediately called Doug. I rushed home, we opened up THE e-mail and saw her sweet little face for the first time.

And we knew she was ours.
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This is the best shot I could get of Kerry with her referral photo this year because, well, she had other stuff to do =).

Friday, February 24, 2012

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

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Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.~ Leo Buscaglia

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Saying goodbye to "Three"..

This girl of mine is growing and changing so much. Even as I start making preparations for her birthday, which is just a few weeks away, I can hardly fathom that she will soon be four years old! Blows my mind, somehow. Now that she'll soon be leaving "Three" behind I thought it was time to document what she's been up to lately. It's been a while.

So, lets see....we'll start with what she's really into right now. She still loves music and dancing and singing. She's into "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"and all things Disney and has even requested a Minnie Mouse themed birthday. She also has discovered "SuperWhy" and "Special Agent Oso" and she still loves her "Little Einsteins". She loves books but she'll kind of get obsessed with one or two at a time and will only want to read that one (or two) every.single.night for about a week or so. She really seems to be trying to learn to read. She's constantly asking "what's that spell? Or "How to you spell ___? Although she often says "smell" instead of "spell", hehee. She's been able to read lots of "sight words" for a long while now, but lately she's able to read and spell other 3-4 words. She's still really into numbers, too, always has been. She very recently learned to count to 100 and can do it completely on her own. We used to have to help her between the 9's and 10's (you know, fifty-nine, sixty, eight-nine, ninety..). Not anymore. And she recognizes any number she sees, even double digits. For example if she see's 74, she'll say seventy-four now, and not "seven, four".
She's taken to calling us "Mom" and "Dad" half of the time and can often be heard saying things like:
"Actually, Mom..."
"..but as you could see..."
"That's fun-tastic!"
She still loves to collect, and arrange, and store little things in boxes, containers...whatever. If something comes to her organized in a certain way or order..they have to stay that way. I bought her a new pack of markers a few weeks and after they're used she insists on putting them back in order (you know, red, orange, yellow, green, blue purple...). She's still loving her "school" on Thursdays and I'm starting to look for a real pre-school program to enroll her in this coming fall.
Naps are pretty much a thing of the past unless she falls asleep in her carseat.

She's about 38 inches and counting but seems to have been hovering around 34 pounds for months now. She's so tickled with herself that she can now reach the light switch in her bedroom now. This led to a funny conversation recently that went something like this:

K: "Mommy, are my legs growing?"
M: "Yes, honey, they certainly are."
K: "Are my arms, gonna grow?"
M: "Yes, they are."
K: "Is my head getting big?"
M: " Sure, I guess."
K: " Are my cracks growing?"
M: " Uummmmm...what???"
K: " You know....these! " (pointing to the little folds in the bends of her legs behind her knees.)
M: (giggling in relief) "Yes, honey..I suppose as you grow, your cracks will grow with you."

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But she's still not to big to fit inside this mixer box. I haven't had the heart to get rid of it because she's still having so much fun filling it with all sorts of random household "odd-jects" as she says. Including, obviously, herself. =)

Monday, February 6, 2012

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Doug and I are both home on Mondays so we usually try to make this our fun "family" day. Today was georgeously sunny and mild so we spent close to an hour at the nearby playground. Kerry has loved this place since her first summer home. Except for the swings. We found out quickly that she hated swinging when we first brought her home and would cry as soon as her little tush hit the swing seat.



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Now? She can't get enough of it. And the higher the better, thank-you-very-much. She's usually squealing in delight, or seems lost in the moment, like she does here.


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Soaring...
My photo
I've been happily married to my wonderful husband for 15 years. Two year ago we were blessed to welcome our first child, a Daughter from China and are absolutely in love with her.

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