Julia's new look



























Skipping ahead a bit because I thought you might like this quick update. We had Julia at the eye Dr's this week and yes she needed glasses. So we went out today and found some. Here's her new look. She's quite excited about being just like Allie (her cousin) and Mama and Papa and anyone else she could think of that she recently saw wearing glasses, let's hope the newness doesn't wear off too soon! :)

Memorial Day


























Memorial Day came and went while we were in Ohio and presented our first real opportunity to take Julia to a parade. You can see she was quite comfortable with her cousin Ashley. As usual, she seemed to take it all in at first and then decide it was okay to stand up and get a different perspective and be more active waving at the people passing her by.

The picture of her and Ty? Well, as you'll see in more to come that was a pretty common site all week. The two of them did quite well together, over all as always Julia had a great time with all of her cousins and is missing them this week, a long with Papa and Nai-Nai. :)

Meeting Alivia

Instant Friends

and they were off

WHEEEEE!

your turn Alivia!

we can share!

a little tight

ah, that's better!

Just Chillin'

Julia, Alivia and big sister Mary
















On our way to Ohio we detoured ever so slightly to meet up with Alivia's family. Alivia's mom and I have been in contact via email and web groups since about 2004 while we were both awaiting our turn to travel to China and have stayed in touch. It finally worked out that on one of our travels we were able to meet up! Hopefully, we'll be able to do that again in the future. We had a wonderful time and they were so nice to come out of their way and set up a meeting place for us! We had lunch at a McDonald's and then went to this park for a few hours. Let me tell you after a long day and half in the car this was a most welcome change!!

Julia and Alivia just immediately went to each other and had the best time!! As you can see they are very close to the same size and it seems from talking with Livi's mom that her and Julia are on just about the same page in nearly every aspect of life! LOL. They were just very well matched and I think they knew it. They seemed to share an instant understanding and no fear! This park had several play areas and these two girls (followed closely by Dads!) went on the biggest one there, after one time on that though we managed to keep them on the smaller scale slides and what not! Truly, no fear.

So Doug,Lisa, Mary and 'Livi, Thanks again for a great afternoon!!! It was just great meeting you all!

So much to catch up on

It will likely take me several posts to say everything I want to about this busy, busy month we have had. For starters here are some pics from a play date we set up in the park with other families in the area that have adopted from China. We took these before anyone else got there, and when all was said and done, only one other family made it after all. It didn't seem to bother the girls at all though and they had a great time and played very hard for a couple of hours! And we got to visit with the parents and share memories of China with a couple that are waiting to travel, so I still say it was a successful day. :)

Some serious thoughts for a moment

I don't know how many of you have been following the news on the Earthquake in China, or maybe I should say earthquakes as many of the aftershocks have been nearly as strong as the initial quake. I have been following the stories, closely, and getting updates from Half the Sky as well. We have been home with Julia for nearly 2 years but a part of us will always be in China and my heart breaks for the tragedies I read every morning. Please join with me in prayer for those lost, those waiting to be reunited with family, and those that never will.

If you would like to donate to Half the Sky’s Children’s Earthquake
Fund
you can do so through Global Giving:

Or directly to Half the Sky. or you can donate by calling Half the Sky
(+1-510-525-3377)

And more bad news, I woke this morning to read the news of Steven Curtis Chapman's family. I know I've spoken/written about Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman before, but as it's been awhile so I'll refresh your memory. Steven Curtis is a Contemporary Christian music artist and he and his wife are passionate about China's orphans. So much so that they have adopted 3 times from China and started the foundation Shaohannah's Hope. We were blessed enough to receive a grant from them while working to bring Julia home. They lost their youngest daughter in a tragic accident at their home yesterday. Apparently one of the older boys was going down the gravel driveway and didn't see the younger girl. I can't even fathom how he must be feeling today and the grief this family that gives so much is going through. So please also add them to your prayers today. For more information on them or the foundation please go to their website Shaohannah's Hope

Silly song time and outdoor fun

Our little munchkin loves to sing, more and more lately as her vocabulary continues to expand. She will have me sing with her until I am hoarse and even likes to have Daddy sing with her.. don't get me wrong here I love my husband but his singing.. tends to put my teeth on edge.. of course he's usually not trying very hard or I should say that is exactly his intention when he sings around me.. so in a sense he's a success. lol. now back to Julia. She has learned so many nursery rhymes songs, among songs from her favorite TV shows and she has a few nursery rhyme books and can now sit and pretty sing her way through them as she flips the pages. So cute. She's still not crazy about being caught on video though, so the clip I have she is singing but playing peek a boo under the blanket at the same time. But as you can tell we were having fun. :)


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The outdoor fun is that we picked up a small bounce house last weekend. We decided that since we are moving this summer and have a trip to Ohio later this month planned, and now a house hunting trip to FL in June as well before we move that we would not mess with setting the pool up this year. Obviously since we are moving we don't want to get an outdoor play structure either so we decided this would be a good alternative. Add this to her outdoor art easel, sand box and of course just being outside and I think she's all set for the short amount time we have left here. :) We are getting very excited for the move and Julia is asking almost weekly now to go to the beach, I can only thank Dora for that one I guess, but hopefully that will help make the move easier for her. I'm getting nervous about how she is going to handle everything. At least she will see Braden right at first when we move, he'll still be there on vacation and every summer after that as well, but when she realizes how long it's going to be between visits might be a bit rough. Do me a favor and say some prayers that she handles this next transition in her life as well as she has handled everything else. I can't believe that she will be turning 3 in just 3 short months or that we will be celebrating 2 years of bringing her home this June. She sure has seen a lot already in her life, her time in China, the trip home for the first time, trips to Ohio and Maine to see family and grandparents that adore her from afar, so much to take in.. not a wonder she still has trouble sleeping. That still comes and goes and I guess we have just learned to live on less sleep for now and I'm not even going to worry about how spoiled she is until after we move and get settled.. again. lol

Anyways.. here she is enjoying her bounce house for the first time, mostly she likes to bounce through and slide, so glad we got the one with the little slide too.


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Daddy's Girl





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I know both of these videos are dark, they were taken in this living room that appears to just swallow the light. But they were still too cute not to share. Last night Julia was watching out the window while Daddy was mowing the lawn, you can see the result. She called and talked to him like this off and on for about 15 minutes. At several points she even had Moosey looking out the window and was calling out "look Dad it's Moosey"... LOL. She is too funny.

The other was taken this morning and yes we needed to pick up the toys and books we weren't quite awake yet either of us. Anyway Julia turned the tv on as usual but I didn't change the channel right away... I usually have it on Nick Jr before the tv is even on..so it was still on Daddy's favorite Food Network. She sat herself down in her chair and proceeded to watch.. intently. I didn't realize just how much she was watching at first until the commercial came on and that was when she would take a break and ask for a drink or more food! As soon as Emeril came back on, she was lost in the tv again! What probably didn't come across on the video is that when I asked her "what does Emeril say?" she did actually whisper "Bam" Yes obviously she has seen him before and loves watching Food Tv on the weekends with Daddy, and you know what?? hey it got me out of Dora this morning!

So back to the title of this post, yes she is most definitely.. Daddy's girl!

Outdoor fun




































Since the weather has been steadily warming up, we have naturally been taking advantage and spending some time outside. Julia loves to be outside. Today I finally got sand put in her sand and water table. Good thing we didn't put water in the other side since she thought that was the perfect place to take a break and have a seat. If you look close at some of the pictures you might be able to see the blue chalk on her cheek as well. I'm not quite sure why she thought it would be good to color her face or how she smudged it but it was very funny at the time. Obviously the sand was a hit. I bought this inflatable sand and water table years ago, I think the year before we even traveled to China to get Julia. I had found it on clearance and couldn't pass it up. Glad I did, inflatable toys are great for people that move often, and Princesses are perfect for Julia. Definitely a win, win.

Good thing we went out this morning since we have storms this evening. Spring time in Texas, oh the fun.

Well we did it. We got last minute cheap seats and took Julia to see Disney's High School Musical on Ice last night. We hadn't really planned on going, but decided at the last minute it would be worth it. I have to say it so was! Watching Julia dance to "Get'cha head in the game" alone was worth it! She really enjoyed the first act and sang and danced and made Daddy and I hold hands during the duets. It was a riot! By the second half, we were kind of pushing bed time so she wasn't as into it, but she sure didn't want to leave either. However when the last song was done she looked at us and said "bye bye?" LOL.

She had us in stitches all night. On the way over to the show, she had begun chanting "Mommy, Daddy, Daddy, Mommy"... repeatedly in the car, not yelling or anything just kind of in a sing song kind of way, well at some point, she added the word "nuts" into that little chant, so it was "Mommy, Daddy, nuts, Daddy, Mommy, nuts"..etc so as Daddy is parking the car at the Ice show, she finally just comes out with "Mommy Nuts"... it's amazing he didn't wreck the car! Took him about 2 minutes to be able to breathe again to just open the car door. This is the kind of stuff this child comes out with all the time.

All in all, it was a very fun night.

Pirates and Princesses

















I may have mentioned previously that Julia loves Pirates of the Caribbean. She loves Cap'n Jack. Well a few weeks ago we took a day trip down to Grapevine to check out the Kids Room to Go showroom among other things. Julia has outgrown her baby dresser and is in need of a real one, we had seen this online and wanted to see the quality of it. Especially since they have a store close to where we will be living in FL. We are very likely going to go with the Princess set. But I have to share some of that afternoon with you. We walked into the store and Julia thought it was a giant playroom. She was having a blast checking out all the furniture and decorations, yes we have a true shopper here I believe, I think her and Aunt Alissa could have lots of fun together. So we checked out the Princess set first because this is the one I had looked most at online, then we went walking around the show room. Of course with a sales guy kind of tagging along just in case we should be buying anything. Julia got to the Pirates room set up and flipped! Her exact words " Mama it's a Pirate ship, where's the treasure??" Then she proceeded to look at the posters on the walls and point out "Will" and "Captain Jack"... the sales guy was tripping at this point! LOL. The next set was "Hannah Montana"... so Daddy asks Julia "who's that on the tag?" answer "Hannah Tana" then she read off the label on the mattress set... it said you guessed it.. DISNEY! By now the sales guy is choking and asking again "how old is she?" thought he was going to lose it when we told him 2 and 1/2. So yes, my child watches way too much TV and as you can see most of it is Disney. Can't wait to take this girl to Disney World, hopefully that will be next year. :)

Oh and I asked her which furniture she liked when we got back in the car, half afraid she would say the Pirate ship, she actually gave it some thought and said "Cinderelly bed" so I guess we were looking at the right set after all. This child is entirely too much some days! :)

Easter Morning


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More videos from our Easter morning at Dropshots all in all it was a good day and yes the Easter Bunny might have gone a bit over board.. so what else is new?? lol Sorry no pictures, I'm looking into a new camera now to solve that issue;)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Potty Training and Kai-lan

This was the start to my week and yes we are trying to work on potty training here this week. By this I mean try to give Julia just a bit of a push, she's used the potty occasionally in the past but we are hoping to get her to understand to use it all the time. Some days she gets this, others not at all. It's been a long week so far, here's a peek into the last couple of days. Enjoy and be forewarned, yes there is talk of "poo" there I said it! So if you don't want to know the details, stop reading now! :)

Since Ray is on call this week and worked most of Tuesday night, he finally got home around 9 only to get 2 more calls within 10 minutes of being home and having to head right back out the door. Because of this Julia was sleeping with me Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. From 3 Am to 4 AM I can't tell you how many times I got kicked and HARD, til finally at 4 I was just exasperated and got out of bed and came out here! Naturally within a minute my munchkin followed me. We didn't get back to sleep til around 6:30 or so, almost to the point of just getting up and dealing with it with it for the rest of the day. I almost wish we had.

Now you have to keep in mind we are potty training this week. So Julia has been in big girl underwear and we have been making an effort to go to the potty every half hour-45 minutes this first few days to get her really used to going. It's been going fairly well, of course there have been accidents. Yesterdays was a doozy. I guess I either lost track of the time or got distracted. I had a couple of phone calls come in back to back so it was likely distracted. So I didn't notice her slip her undies off (she had a dress on) well we were supposed to have another play date so I wanted to try to get her down for an early nap. I figured after our rough morning, shouldn't be too hard. On the way to check her and turn off the tv and I realize oh my she's wet, then I realize, nope no undies.. GREAT.. so where are they??? I find them and a trail of "presents" that you can imagine was very hard to see on this dark carpet in this ever so dark room, you can't light this room, it just sucks the light up. YEP, she had pooped and at least she knew she didn't like the feel of the dirty undies.. I'm holding on to that thought for all it's worth at this point... so I calmly clean it all up (or I thought all, I was still finding some as late as 7 last night!!! yikes!) and show her where it was "supposed" to go. And we go on and get ready for nap.

So nap time. At this point I was exhausted too so I'm trying every trick to get her to lie down and give in to sleep. NO such luck. The play date was supposed to be at 3 so we started this process around 1:30. she was bouncing off the ceiling., the heck with the walls. After a friend stopped by a little after 2 (and she can attest to how exhausted I'm sure I looked at this point! lol) we tried again to lie down, now I'm pretty sure at this point we are not going on the play date, because I know my child and if doesn't get at least a 45 minutes nap she's a nightmare through the evening and I was not prepared to deal with that on top of everything else. So I am getting more and more frustrated with her by the moment,

Julia has been watching "Nihao Kailan" and yesterday's lesson, yes believe it or not, was on "calm, calm down". IN the show Kailan had her friends watch the "hula ducks" going "side to side, side to side, side to side" to calm, calm down. So my entirely too intelligent child starts whispering in my ear... "side to side, side to side, side to side" LMAO off at this point because yes I am beyond exhausted and let's face it she learned the lesson!!! And then, THANK GOD she went to sleep! So I come out here, and email a quick note to daddy, only to get an unsympathetic reply of "can't breathe laughing too hard".... and found out we were the entertainment for a few guys at the shop yesterday! Wonderful, he's lucky they are dad's too and I know they and their wives have been or are currently in similar situations daily.

Good thing Ray didn't have any calls last night, however he might have been better off if he had. He could NOT stop taking delight in my day, to the point that I started picking up Julia's shoes near my chair and aiming them at him. (just the light shoes, no heels and it was really done in fun, though I'm not sure his mom understood that part. lol) To top it off, on the bottom of one of the shoes... was yep you guessed it more Poo!!!!

At this point, I called it a night and went to bed to watch a movie, he gave Julia a bath and put her to bed. Good Daddy.

Today has been better, she's already pooped on the potty first thing and told me "we don't poop in pants!" Thank you Lord!! Sadly this hasn't lasted and we have changed wet pants several times today. But we will get there. She's just learning after all.

I'm sorry this was so long, but it was truly the only way to convey our day to you all. Hope it makes you smile. Go ahead laugh, we all have.

Easter Party



Just arrived and just woke up from a nap here.


Not too sure about this party thing yet


Oh there are eggs with candy inside??


Now we're liking this deal. lol


Mama and Julia


All worn out.


Parties are such hard work.


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Meeting the Easter Bunny

Our Squadron held it's annual kids Easter party a little early this year, but as you can see we were fortunate to be blessed with an absolutely perfect day for it!! After all the recent up and down weather, 75 one day and snowing the next you can imagine how nervous the girls planning it must have been this past week. But it was truly a gorgeous day and the kids all had a great time so it worked out. Julia slept on the way to the party and on the way home, we were kind of off the beaten path aways so at least she got some sleep today. The party did fall right in the middle of her nap time, so she was pretty quiet right up til the egg hunt. There are of course more videos and pictures on Dropshots, but I'll warn you they include a lot of moving around so be prepared. LOL.

Have I mentioned lately that Julia is a "GIRL"??! LOL By that I mean she is truly becoming a girlie girl more and more the older she gets. She could not wait to get this dress on today and stood ever so still for me to put her hair quickly in pigtails because of course we were running behind. then checked herself out in the mirror before we left and I wish I had had the camera for the smile, I guess she liked the result. I promise you there really were pigtails under all those ribbons!

She absolutely loves to dress up! So grandma's and aunties if you're ever lacking in ideas for something to get her, summer dresses would be a hit every time I promise you! Her eyes light up and she says "gimme, gimme please." I wish I could say I was kidding. Auntie Alexa we were going through sorting out clothes you handed down to us, gosh I have no idea when you gave us these bags I found, but I was sure they were size 4's, imagine my surprise to find 2 whole bags of clothes in size 3's. That she is wearing RIGHT NOW! I think we just tripled her wardrobe! Now I really need to pick out a dresser for this girl!! You should have seen the fashion show as Julia tried almost all of it on. The sad part is, unless she has a major slow down and oh isn't she due to slow down here soon, the 3's will not fit for long. As it is, I think if the dress runs at all short, I'll be looking at 4's for her. Crazy isn't it?? That's just for DRESSES though, everything else I think she's fine in 3's for awhile, she's just so tall that dresses tend to look and I guess even feel short on her. She's always trying to tug at the hem to make it longer. lol. I think she likes the longer styles better. She's so funny.

All in all, we've had a really good week and with it starting to warm up hopefully a bit more consistently it will just get better from here on out.