Just a few pics

Just to keep this blog updated, here are a few pics. I won't be posting much this summer. My mom was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and we don't have much time left with her. These past 2 weeks have been the most difficult ones of my life. I don't want to disappear completely but posts will be sparse for awhile.

Hope you all are having a good summer!

Nice hairdo, "crazy lady"

The other night I was getting the girls ready to get in the tub. I got Allison down to her diaper and took the "waterfall" out of her hair. (She FINALLY keeps things in her hair so I can keep it out of her eyes! Before she would just pull anything I put in there right out.) So anyway her hair was sticking up flopping all over. It was so cute. Before I could get her in the tub she took an empty laundry basket and started pushing it all around the house, making funny noises while she pushed and especially when she would bump into anything. I was laughing so hard, I just videoed her while the water got cold. Allison is such a hoot!

Allison

She always wakes up happy! Here's Allison after her nap today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!!!

One big day follows another! And tomorrow is her party. A busy, happy 3 days for my little girl.

See how she's grown!

ONE YEAR OLD:



TWO YEARS OLD:



THREE YEARS OLD:



FOUR YEARS OLD:

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY!!!!

Three years ago today our beautiful Lindsey was placed in our arms. She was so stoic, didn't cry, just sat and looked around, let out an occasional "ah!". We couldn't believe how adorable she was! It was so hot in the Civil Affairs office, she was a little sweaty, dressed in a cute red romper with white shirt and little white socks. Very clean but with long dirty fingernails! She loved to scratch, scratch, scratch at everything for the first few days. After a few days she started to smile a little and open up but was nothing like the outgoing, opinionated :-) , loves life little girl that she is now! She will be 4 years old tomorrow! She can't wait for her "birtday" (no "h" when she says it, so cute!)

Happy Gotcha Day Lindsey! You are such a blessing in our lives. We love you so much!

(Ahem, you may notice Lindsey's very short bangs. You may wonder, what beautician would cut them THAT short? Well....the haircut was done at Creations by Lindsey. YES, she cut her own bangs last week when I wasn't looking!)

That dog!

As I mentioned in a post once before, my dog gets himself into so many of my photos it isn't even funny! I love him to death though. HE'S THE BEST DOG EVER. I like this pic of Allison. See Chester in there too? He's looking longingly outside. We have had some really nice weather lately!

Our Family

Last weekend before prom:

Mother and Son

Allison's Story

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know we started out in the NSN program for our second China adoption, LID 10/12/05. Ever since applying for our second adoption, we talked on and off about filling out the special needs (SN) application with our agency. We never felt quite ready until the summer of 2006. Everything just fell into place and we filled out the application in mid-July. On August 11, 2006, we received the referral of our little Allison. We were asking for a child about 2 years old, and she was only 10 months the day of referral. "She's younger than you were asking for, do you still want to know more about her?" Well, YES! :-) We accepted her referral and Gotcha Day was 10/30/06.

You also know that I started a password protected website for our travel. I also didn't know what lay ahead of us as far as treatment so I wanted to keep that information more private. But now I'd like to share about her "special need that wasn't", to give glory to God!

Allison's special need was a heart condition, atrial septal defect (ASD). She was reported to have 2 small holes in her heart that would most likely need surgery to close. About a week after we got home we took her to a pediatric cardiologist and.....her heart was fine! Either the holes closed on their own or she never had the defect. Of course we were thrilled! She is a very happy and healthy little girl.

Please forgive me!

I'm so behind. My sidebar is not up to date at all, I'll fix that when I can. Congrats to those families who received a referral in the last batch! Hugs to those who expected one and didn't get one due to the CCAA only doing 2 days worth. And Jane I hope yours comes very soon too! I can't wait to rejoice with you!

So anyway, things have been crazy around here. Jay was in the hospital over Easter weekend (he's home now and doing fine) and so many other things. I will get my sidebar updated soon. For now I'll leave you with 2 pics of the girls from last month. We actually had a warm spell for about a week and a few days after these pics were taken it even got up to 80 degrees one day. Now it's cold and snowy again but spring WILL come, right? (Lindsey SO needs to get outside and work off some energy, I think it's contributing to her, ummm, being quite naughty lately!)

Sick!

This was actually the week before last. Allison and I were both sick that whole week. Can you tell she wasn't feeling good in these pictures? :-)

We're both feeling much better, but now it's Lindsey's turn. :-( She has a runny nose, a bad cough, and a fever. This is worrisome because a little over a year ago she started out like this and it turned into pneumonia. I read you are more susceptible to it once you have it. But when she had it she was also VERY listless and breathing fast, and she's not like that this time. But a call to the doctor might be in order tomorrow. Feel better Lindsey!

4 Years!

Four years ago today we filled out the application for Lindsey's adoption. Wow time flies. I had no clue that day what an incredible journey we were in for. I am SO blessed. I love you Lindsey!

Notice Allison's little feet on the left. :-)

Basket baby

Allison is a climber! Lindsey was not/is not a climber. The girls are so different in almost every way possible. One of these days I'll post about it. Just a picture for today. Besides climbing UP on things, Allison LOVES to climb IN things, like the toy baskets. (And then most of the time she gets stuck, LOL)

Does Harvard Accept 3 Year Olds?

The Many Faces of Allison

Allison is the Queen of faces! She has so many different ones, she just cracks me up so often.

Two more

I love these! She often ends up in just her onesie for awhile between getting her clothes off and getting her jammies on before bed. She loves that. Ben and Lindsey used to love to run around in just their undershirts too. Parenting tip: when your child is cranky and you can't figure out why, get them down to their onesie! It often works!

Cute pictures, what else

I have tons of pictures to post and things to write, but for now here are 3 pics of Allison to hold you over. :-) Hoping to do more updates soon!

She looks a bit like a boy in these pics! Good thing she's wearing pink. :-)

The dog (Chester) sneaks into SO many pictures!

THE BEST DOG IN THE WHOLE WORLD

I Can't Complain

It's gorgeous outside! So how can I complain about the snow? I will say I hope this is the last of it though, bring on Spring!

Another blog (oh brother)

I need another blog like I need another hole in my head, but I recently decided to start sewing again so I started a blog to write about what I'm sewing and post pictures. Come visit if you'd like!

Don't forget about my book blog!

Sunday

It's not over yet. More snow today, more tomorrow. And we were SO close to having no snow in the yard! Oh well, I've lived here all my life so I knew this would happen, but that doesn't mean I like it. It IS pretty though. Lindsey is looking forward to going outside later today.