Lots of firsts in February

WOW! We've had a lot of firsts this month-Baby K turned 10 months old, she got her first tooth, and has taken some steps with her activity walker. She has also mastered what we call "the monkey face" and put two words together. It would have been nice for the first words to be "love mama" but of course it had to be "bad pop-pop" referring to G's cat Lollipop.

Lollipop is our cat that we adopted when Baby K's adoption was taking so long and we wanted to reaffirm and show the positive effects of adoption to G. (Actually we went to the local SPCA and she was so irresistibly cute that we couldn't leave her behind.) Her cuteness has been severely overshadowed by the amount of destruction she has bestowed upon our house. But what are you going to do-she's part of the family now?


The Monkey Face


Concentrating on those first steps


There's that tooth in the top!

G has also had a busy month. She and I went to our first Girl Scout event. World Thinking Day 2010 was an event that spot-lighted different countries. Each troop had to pick a different country, create a display board about the country, have a food to share and a small "swap" for everyone. Our troop chose The Marshall Islands-I wonder whose suggestion that was :-) See pic below of G in her Daisy uniform-look how grown-up she looks!



We celebrated Chinese New Year at Aunt M's house-thanks Aunt M for doing such a great job on the decorations and food! I got pics of both girls in traditional Chinese dresses. This was the first of three Chinese New Year celebrations that we would attend in February. The second was organized by the local Chinese community and G actually danced in the show. I got a video and if I can find time and the instructions for the camera, I may try to load it. The third celebration will be this coming weekend with our local FCC. This is the event where G gets to see all of her China friends as she likes to say.

For all my China friends, note what's written on the bottom of Baby K's shoe. She's wearing the squeaky shoes that we brought home from China for G. It's hard for me to remember G being that little when I look at her now-she's become such a great big sister. She spends a lot of time with Baby K-see pic of the two of them watching TV together.


CNY celebration at Aunt M's house




The Jones girls kicking back watching some of the "big box"

We've had so much snow this month that I was afraid that G would miss her Valentine Party at school but they managed to get back to class and to have their party on the Monday following Valentine's Day. (Then they missed two more days after that) There is this bulletin board in the hallway outside of G's classroom that is always decorated for the current holiday-it's become our "picture spot".


The girls and our favorite cousin, J at the kindergarten V-Day party

5 Years Ago Today......

....a baby arrived by FedEx. It's hard to believe, but five years ago on this day R and I received the first picture of our baby G.

Today was so different from that day. I remember being just as nervous as the proverbial cat. We knew the package was coming because the agency had given us the tracking number, but we didn't know what time of day it would be delivered.

I had taken off of work to make sure I was here at home when the package arrived and R and I had agreed that we would wait to open it together. At that time, our house still had that neat and unlived in appearance:-) I remember that I hadn't slept much the night before and was up early and dressed. I was listening to a Nora Jones CD and just picking at things around the house when the doorbell rang.

In my haste to greet my hero the FedEx Man, I neglected to turn off the house alarm. Caught up in the moment, I am sobbing and telling this complete stranger about the contents of the package he is holding, as the house alarm has now gone from warning mode to panic mode. He was the kindest man-he said he had never delivered anyone's baby before and asked if it would be okay to pray with me. So there I am at the front door of our house, praying with the FedEx Man, the alarm is still going off, and now the phone is ringing.

Thankfully we had caller ID and I was able to call the alarm company back and have them call off the police they had dispatched. Comical now as I think back on it.....

Here's a few pics that capture the moment-


Our hero the FedEx Man


The proud new parents