Holidays 2011

The holidays kept up very busy last year! We are so blessed in so many ways and God continues to bless us with our amazing little girl! She is so funny, sweet and so confident. I love that she is so strong (somedays). Mia now sings the alphabet, she will sing to my ringtone on my phone and loves to twirl around and dance too. She's doing very well in day care. She doesn't cry anymore at all. Some days she pushes us out the door and blows us a kiss. She is very much about routine and structure (like her mommy).

She is fully potty trained. I'm very happy about that. She reminds us in the morning that it's "No pamper day". That's how we got her fully trained. We would practice on weekends with no pampers and tell her it was "No pamper day". Now she says it everyday!

She loves to learn, she loves for us to read her books and will make us read them several times. She still loves to color, paint, glue anything and her puzzles. She just started to show interest in baby dolls which is adorable. She likes to watch Dora, Blue's Clues, Ni Hao Kai-Lan, Wonder Pets, Yo Gabba Gabba and likes the Fresh Beat Band videos.

She is talking so much. We can understand 90% of it but there are still somethings we are working out. She still speaks Spanish and English and I'm working on some Mandarin through songs and the few words I know.

Wishing you a wonderful New Year with many blessings!

Thanksgiving

Bubbles in the Backyard

Mia and Cousin Amanda

Christmas morning

Family Christmas photo 2011

Savannah Riverfront

Hilton Head Island, SC

Callaway Gardens Festival in Lights

Xavier and Frankie with Mia at the park

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful weekend in Disney. We enjoyed Mickey's No-So-Scary Halloween. Mia got the hang of trick-or-treating real fast and enjoyed it. We also had fun at the food and wine festival at Epcot. This is our 5th year attending and it has become one of our traditions. We hit Animal Kingdom Saturday and had fun there too through the rain and all.

Mia had fun doing it all over again on Halloween. She went trick-or-treating with her Titi Nancy (Hawaiin) and Tio Mike (Brett Michaels). I had fun too, as Snow White sans the 7 Dwarves. We had lots of fun and Mia kept inventory of all her candy.

Fall is Here!!

I can't believe it's October again. Last year, at this time I was taking care of the last minute things in preparation for our trip to China. I remember being in tears fighting with DHS to get our final approval so we could travel. I remember the emotions so clearly. It was all worth every minute and more. Every blog I read, every list I prepared was informative but none prepared me for the overwhelming feeling of completeness that I felt and still feel in being a mom. We are so blessed to have such an awesome daughter, who couldn't be more like us. I wasn't prepared for how perfect she would be for us, for ME!

Here are some pictures from our visit to the Pumpkin Patch! She had fun running around and playing with the hay. My sweet baby girl is growing so fast!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Mia's 2nd Birthday!!!

We celebrated Mia's 2nd Birthday at daycare and my parent's house yesterday! It was fun filled day. We are so blessed to have Mia in our lives. She is the light of many lives. The first 10 months of being a mommy has been so amazing. I feel like we're living a fairytale!

Mia is talking a lot more, dancing, and she even sings! She's 34in tall, almost 30lbs.

Happy Birthday to my princess!!!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Mia's 1st Day in a new classroom

My little cupcake!

It's the start of a new school year so the older kids in Mia's class were moved to the next level which is Toddler 2 for 2 year olds. Although she isn't quite 2 yet, she's ready to move up. She's such a funny little girl. She's talking so much, or trying to I should say. She loves to copy us and say "Ma too!" which means "Mia too!". These are pictures of her first day in T2. My baby is growing so fast!

We had a wonderful weekend in Disney which I'll have to post as soon as I can get myself organized. I hope all is well with your family.

4th of July Weekend!

We rented a little villa in the Keys for the July 4th weekend. We were super excited since this would be Mia's first visit to the Keys. We've dreamt of this moment for years. The swimming lessons have made her more comfortable around water and she enjoyed the beach much more than before. On the 4th we went to Theater of the Sea. It was a first for our little family since Chris nor I had ever been there either. It was alright. Mia might enjoy it a bit more when she's older. It was way too hot for us but we did learn that there is a little lagoon in the back that is nice to cool off. Mia was able to enjoy that a little, but Chris and I didn't have swim suits. So Mia had all the fun.

We had a FABULOUS dinner at Pierre's Restaurant. Oh my word! The restaurant is beautiful and romantic, overlooking the bay. The food was delicious! We had a very nice dinner and even Mia behaved very well.

We hope you enjoyed your holiday too!

Mia's last gym class

Mia's last gym class was on Saturday. When we signed her up in December when we returned from China, she couldn't walk yet. Now she runs. She has changed so much in the last 7 months. It really is amazing to us that she is such an awesome little girl. Here she is doing her forward roll on the balance beam with her fantastic teacher, Ms. Ashley. Then you can watch her as she climbs on the lower balance beam all by herself. She's grown so much and so independent now. I almost miss the moments when she was a velcro baby.

Running over to do it again!

Mia's first swimming class

We signed Mia up for swimming school this summer. We decided to do a water activity since we want her to learn how to swim early and water safety is so important. She wasn't in a very good mood at the beginning of the class but she started to enjoy it after a little while. The pool is saline, heated and indoor. I think she'll enjoy the next class a little more.

School Pictures

Here is the little ham smiling for the camera! She is such a little personality. These were taken in May for her "school" pictures. I wish I could get her to smile like that for our pictures.

Pictures from our cruise

Click here to view these pictures larger

May Pictures

Mia is growing and doing wonderful. Thank you God! She is still a funny little girl. She's not much of a beach fan yet but she doesn't mind the water, she just doesn't want to touch the sand. We went on a weekend cruise for our 7 year anniversary and we had a wonderful time. The slideshow above are the pictures from the cruise.

I also go to celebrate my first Mother's Day this year. As you can imagine, I was so excited.

We hope you are doing well too!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Easter & More

We had a wonderful Easter with Mia & family! She loved picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. She loved it so much, she made my Dad do it again for her. She's so funny! She's wearing a yellow and white dress in these pictures that my grandmother crocheted for her.

Mia also went to the beach for the 1st time this past weekend. She's such a good baby, she didn't complain. She played with the sand and sat with us in the water. She's a cool baby.

Our 6-month post placement report with our social worker was just completed and all is well!

Family Disney Trip - April 2011

We went to Disney in April with 2 of my other cousins and their families.

It was great to see the kids together and we had so much fun! Can't wait to do it again.

Click here to view these pictures larger