So sorry, it has been too long since our last post! Laina is getting much "busier", running and exploring everything. She has been getting ideas...like standing on something to get to something else. We have to watch her very carefully. There's new bumps and bruises more often as she finds her way, but she is doing very well over all. Now 1 1/2 years old, she has lots of teeth. In fact, I'm not sure how many, maybe 13, and she wants to eat everything we eat, and also does not want cut-up little baby bites. She has tons of new words, more than we can count and she sings all the time.It's so much fun!Here's some pictures for you; there's one of her riding in her wagon, swinging on the new swings in town(she was the first one on them!), riding in a box with my sister Betsy's dog, Sophie and a cute one of Laina and Jimmy playing with stickers.

Although I posted yesterday, I decided that since it was a "flashback" to give you some new stuff too. Here's Laina in a cute purple dress, one of her with her Grampa, one of her outside in the snow, and one of her with her buddy, our cat Nick who really seems to like her and is very tolerant of her crawling all over him as you can see.There's also one of her in her new beanbag chair from Christmas. She likes having her own spot to sit and she plays on it a lot too.Lately, she has been getting very brave about climbing on things and wants desperately to go down the stairs. It gets scary sometimes! She has progressed a great deal with her dexterity and is doing a lot of puzzles and shape sorting. We sing the "Happy Birthday" song a few billion times a day, with an occasional burst of "Twinkle, twinkle little star"-she is getting more words everyday and fills in with her own sounds but she is starting to get the melodies.I could listen to her all day. My radio broke in my van and I don't even care!

Flashback

Yesterday, February 1, was the anniversary of our "Referral Day". This is the most exciting day for an adoptive family as it means you are finally matched to your child. We had heard through the rumors online and from emailing other families that the referrals may come on February 1. It was a Thursday. They said that they were being delivered by DSL to the agency, but then they would all(28 families total) have to be translated before anyone was called so there was nothing to do but wait...We decided that we probably wouldn't get "the call" before the afternoon so Jimmy went to work for a while. We tried to conference call but that didn't work between the phones we had. We then planned that I would take the call if it came and record it, call Jimmy right away and tell him everything, then he'd listen to the recording when he got home. I had my coat on to go out for a quick errand at 10 a.m. and the phone rang! It was our Social Worker and I scrambled to sit down and get the recording going and get my pen out and try to slow down my heart rate. She told me as much as she could about our baby and I called Jimmy right away but couldn't get him! I left a crazy voice mail and waited, clapping and jumping up and down all by myself because I was so excited. No call back...I was literally trotting up and down the stairs chanting,"call me, call me..", my adrenaline was so high.Finally I tried another number at the jobsite(after leaving 2 more voice-mails I think), got the Foreman and told him to get Jimmy to call me right away. He did and we were both so excited, he came home right away and had pink balloons to put outside. We spent the rest of the day calling everyone we knew, hugging and staring at the scribbled information I had written. It was amazing. The hardest part was that we couldn't see her pictures until Tuesday! That was a long weekend but so full of joy too. Today's post is the original referral photos that we were given that Tuesday, February 6 last year. The Social Worker left us alone in the office for privacy and handed Jimmy the manilla envelope. We looked at our beautiful baby and cried with joy. We are so blessed with our Laina. It was the birth of a family, what we call in the adoptive world our "Forever Family".

New Year, New Teeth and more news

Well, here we are in 2008. Nothing can top the excitement of last year but we're off to a good start. Laina is doing new things everyday. She now has 11 teeth, and more coming soon. She is doing Ring Around the Rosy and dancing a lot. She sings to us, and everything is the tune of Jingle Bells(Just like Elmo does it). She says a few 2 word phrases and they all have to do with food. At Day Care and now at home too, she announces "Snack Time!" when she feels sure the time is right. She is growing taller and is running out of feety pajamas quickly. We play tea party everyday with her toy dishes and there's lots of play-eating (as well as the real thing.) She sleeps pretty well, about 9-10 hours usually with a couple of adjustments during the night; you know, blankie rearranging and binkie maneuvers...She is also working hard at learning to jump, which is just the cutest thing you've ever seen. She throws her body up but doesn't get any air, but she laughs and loves it and keeps trying and trying. She puts all our coins in her nice piggy bank that she got from our friend Alexandra. I'll post a photo of that. I have a cute one of yogurt-eating. We are still encouraging the spoon but she likes to use all her senses to really experience a meal as you can see.You'll have to imagine all the lip-smacking and "nummy" sounds... She was inspired by her Daddy to try coloring with her toes, and actually did pretty well and since then, she has been trying to do a lot with her feet. Yesterday she wanted to try playing the piano that way! Well, it's almost time for her to get up from her nap. She wakes up and shouts "All Done!" (This is cute, except for at 3 or 4 a.m.) Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas continues

oops, I forgot to add a couple of pix. Here's the grocery cart one(Thanks Aunt Ronnie, she loves it!) and my favorite one of her sleeping under the tree...I'd add some with other people in them but, well, hmmmm...don't seem to have any of anyone else!

First Christmas

Hi everyone, here are some photos of Laina's first Christmas. We spent the whole weekend celebrating with both Jimmy and Nancy's families and that was loads of fun. We were very wiped out from all the festivities and as it turns out, Laina got sick on Christmas day and spent a good part of the day sleeping under the tree. I got all weepy when I was looking at her there and all I could think of was that she was the only present we could possibly need. It's been an incredible year for us, bringing home Laina is really a dream come true. 2007 will always be my favorite year, although I realize that there's lots more amazing times to come with our daughter! Here's a few photos, and I am including a couple of "runners-up" Christmas card shots too. By the way, if you are friend or family and did not receive a card, please don't take it personally. I ran out of steam, but not out of cards! Feel free to ask for one. Let's see...there's a picture with Daddy under the tree, a picture sleeping under the tree,a picture of just how much energy she had to open her stocking, and just for an action shot to liven things up, I will add a running photo with her new grocery cart. She is a very fast shopper! Happy New Year !

All I want for Christmas

These 2 photos speak for themselves...we went to see Santa for the first time this past Sunday. All Laina wanted to do was climb the little stairs to the Santa chair, as we waited in line we had to keep retreiving her. I also got a cute shot in her fish tubbie. We've found that this inflatable fish works out great as a tub for her, it is safer and smaller and FUN. She has always loved the water and has no problem getting her face wet(or drinking it!). The hard part is getting her out. Enjoy the photos, more to come...

Firsts and Funnies

Laina has been doing "firsts" everyday now, it is hard to keep track of them, especially new words. When she gets hold of a new word, she likes to practice it and she does this by SHOUTING IT! For a while, she was Baa-ing like a sheep really loud,and still does especially when you drive by a field. Then it was "apple", everything was an apple until we almost couldn't wait for the next word. But one day, she had pulled my hair that morning and I said OW! She thought that was pretty funny and did it again. So...we had a nice little talk about bodies and boo-boos, etc. End of lesson. Then we went to the grocery store...She started yelling OW,OW,OW until customers and employees were looking down the aisle at me with daggers. A store worker came up to me and asked "Is everything all right?" I was mortified but also trying not to laugh as I carefully explained that it was just the "word of the day". Laina was smiling so I think they believed me..and it helped that there was a big milk poster in the dairy aisle and she decided suddenly that yelling MOO would be fun too! Here's some new pix for you..one is of her when I gave her a whole banana to hold and eat instead of cutting it all up. Another is of her first touch of snow with Daddy. We only got a dusting but she really liked it and now she checks out the sliding glass doors all the time to see if there's any out there.We are supposed to get a little tonight so maybe tomorrow there'll be a little to play in. I will also include a photo of her with her Day Caregiver, Nancy, who she likes very much. We are lucky to find a really great place where she goes 3 days a week.Laina has really blossomed since she's been playing with the other kids, doing organized activities and learning from the older ones there. We both just wish that we could be flies on the wall so we don't miss anything.

Tunneling for Trouble

Hi Everyone. We have been recently assured that, yes, someone is "out there" still looking at our blog. All viewers have not been lost! Hi to my sister Kathy and her friends at work who check in with us regularly.(Don't tell the Boss!) Laina is becoming such a personality. She is having fun in tents and tunnels, jumping on pillows and much more active play. She also is showing her imagination by marching her animals and pretending to feed us, etc.(Yummy, ABC food, if you know what I mean...) Tonight at dinner she had a big half of a slice of carrot and was driving it around on her high chair tray like a little orange VW Bug, complete with engine sounds, it was very funny. We attended a potluck party with the AFTA group we have here, that stands for "All Families Touched by Adoption", it was a lot of fun and we feel so lucky to have this kind of group to get together with. Laina was one of 4 new kids adopted, and they got a cake with their names on it and lots of attention. I am posting a group photo of most of the kids at the party,Laina is the teeny red person in the middle, surrounded by 5 other little ones also from China and many other incredible kids from all over the world. There's a nice close-up of her beautifulness, and a couple of her recent tunneling adventures. One we made from the couch at home and one is at the Family Center where the party was held. Now, Get back to work Ladies!!

BOO

Laina's first Halloween was a busy one. We borrowed some costumes(Thank you Holly, aka the Halloween Queen), tried on some old family favorites, and had a great time. Here are some pictures. First she was a puppy but alas, the costume was too short and she said NO. Got a photo anyway...Next, she was a bumblebee for a birthday party, we put the hat with antennae on her and she said NO. We took a photo anyway...Next she tried on a hat herself, got a cute photo of that. Then finally we realized that we had received an awesome lamb costume at the baby shower and although it was too big, she said YES! And what a cute lambie she was. We went to the pumpkin patch and she picked her first pumpkin and she was also a pumpkin herself at Day Care where they made Halloween cupcakes, had a singalong in costume and she came home one tired out li'l punkin.