Happy Holidays

Pictures from Courtney

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Pre Halloween Pictures

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More Pics

I was on the big computer in the office trying to scan some pictures for Joe's soccer party on Saturday, and I found some pictures of Chloe and Blaine playing outside, some pictures of Chloe dressed like a princess (this was from the first week we were home) and pictures my sister took of Blaine's birthday party when we were in China. I forgot we took these. I have got to get more organized!

Big Brother, Swimming, Turning 7 years old and First Grade

Blaine has had an exciting last couple of months. In July he turned 7, and became a big brother for the first time (a job he takes very seriously). On August 10, my baby boy started first grade and so far has been doing great.

Still There?

I wouldn't blame you if you weren't. I am really bad at this blogging stuff. Chloe only takes about an hour and a half nap, so when she is napping, I am usually doing things I can't do while she is awake, and blogging is at the bottom of that list.
Chloe has been with us for almost two months now, and things are still going better than expected. She is such a loving, sweet, funny little girl, and we are just totally in love with her (and we think the feeling is mutual). A few weeks ago we took her on our first family outing. We went to the Aquarium of the America's in New Orleans. Chloe was mesmerized by all of the fish and had a great time. We had our first pediatrician visit and everything there went well too. The doctor was surprised at how well she was doing in such a short amount of time. Her English is getting better and better and she even speaks in complete sentences a lot of the time. Her favorites are "I got it" and "Baby did it" (meaning her baby doll). Chloe loves, loves, loves jumping on the trampoline in the backyard, and swinging in her pink swing, but I think her favorite activity is when her daddy pulls her around the neighborhood in Blaine's old waggon. She sits there like the princess that she is and waves and says "hello" to all of the neighbors. Enjoy the Chloe pictures from the past two months!

Announcement Pictures

OK, I finally fixed my laptop so I will finally be able to update, soon.
Chloe is doing well. She is still amazing us with her ability to adapt to new situations. She is doing so well in fact that we have decided to enroll her in a three day a week pre-school starting in September (well, she is #2 on the wait list, hopefully she will get in) We had planned to keep her home for a year, but she is doing so well we didn't want to hold her back. I think she misses being around a lot of kids her age.
Blaine is doing great. He starts first grade next Monday, and is excited to be going back to school. Blaine is a great big brother and even offered to babysit his baby sister (for a price of course) He actually thought I would let him stay home alone with her, and pay him to do it. He's 7!
We finally finalized the plans for our first family vacation. Blaine can't wait to introduce his little sister to all things Disney!

Jet lag's a Bitch!

Still too tired to write much. Chloe is doing great and loves her new big brother, and the feeling is mutual. It is wonderful to have both of my babies together. I still plan to post more pictures and to talk more about our China trip, but that will have to wait. Joe is gone for his two weeks annual training with the LA National Guard, so I am playing single mommy for awhile. My sister is still here, and I don't think I could do any of this without her. Don't tell her though, I don't want her to know how much I need her and appreciate her ;)

We're Home!!!

After about 30+ hours of traveling, we made it home. Chloe was a trooper, and slept for most of the flights. We will update soon with pictures and such, but right now we are just enjoying being home with both of our kids. Thanks for all of the prayers, well wishes and comments. It's great to be home!

Pictures and Stuff

Too tired to write. Baby girl is keeping us busy. She is so much fun, and keeps us laughing. Her singing is getting more frequent and louder. It is on key and everything, we just don't know what she is singing. She acts shy when she is around others. She is not shy around us. English words so far, hello, bye bye, baby doll, mama, dada, no, no, no, no, look, shoes. She likes to give and receive hugs and kisses from us. She yells at us in Chinese. Every other word out of her mouth is "Ai Ya" She loves to eat noodles and dumplings for every meal. She LOVES Yogurt drinks. She loves to put things in her mouth. She loves to hit, pinch, scratch and sometimes bite me, only me, but not out of anger, she thinks it's a game? She has to have her hands clean all of the time. She likes to organize her toys and shoes. She cleans up her place after every meal with a wet wipe. We are with a great travel group. All of the families are really nice and we all hope to stay in touch to see how the kids progress. Joe is ready to adopt number 3. Joe hated the Lasagna at La Dolce Vita and talked about how bad it was all the way back to the hotel. The White Swan is nice. The shopping is great. I am the only one in the travel group who can access Blogger. We think it is because we use AOL. We are ready to go home. Happy Birthday Blaine! We love you! Again no spell check and I am not going back to check, too tired. The end!