My baby turned 2 on Monday

Alyson turned two. I couldn't stop her. I guess I have to let her grow but it just seems so fast. She's losing her chubby baby thighs and cheeks :-(

Of course she's still adorable but she's turning into a real little girl now. She loves to sing and dance. The Wiggles are still her favorite. She knows all the words to The Wheels on the Bus and a bunch of other songs.

-She's very curious and still says "whas dat?" a lot. She has some funny little 2 year old speech sometimes. Everything with a "v" has an "f" sound now. When she tells Bailey to move out of her way she says "moof!" She also has something against the letter "w" even though she used to use it correctly. Now it has an "h" sound. If she says her food is too hot we'll say "no, it's just warm" then she'll say "horm?" It's a nightly dinner conversation now followed by lots of giggling.

-She had a stretch of pretty bad, but pretty typical, toddler tantrums but she's been doing better the last couple weeks. Or rather my reaction to them has been less so they've been shorter.

-She's getting opinionated about her shoes now but not her clothes thank goodness so I still have control over some things.

-She peed in her new potty a few days ago but hasn't had a repeat performance. We're not pushing it though.

-Her hair is growing pretty fast and I'm getting better at fixing it. We haven't cut it at all so what looks like bangs in the pictures is just the underneath shaved layer finally growing out.

-And the best news of all is she's pretty much sleeping through the night finally. She has been for a few weeks now but I'm not lulled into a false sense of security just yet. the best part about it is that instead of crying in the morning, or at night every so often, she yells out "Mama?" It's so great to hear that instead of the sad wail. Now she knows for sure that one of us will come get her and all she has to do is call out. She goes to bed happy and wakes up happy. I still wake up every couple of hours convinced I hear her so I'm still waking up grumpy but I'm sure that will get better.

I guess that's Alyson being two in a nutshell. I have a bunch of other pictures from January that I'll post separately another day.

Love to all! :-)

The storms in China

People have probably seen snippets of news about the snow in China but it's much more severe than what you might think. Many areas of the country are totally unprepared for this weather. Many of the orphanages in the southern provinces don't have heat, they've never needed it before.
Half the Sky is a wonderful organization that trains nannies and foster families for many of the orphanges and their website has updates on the conditions many of the orphanges are facing right now.
Please take a moment and read the updates and see if you can find it in your heart to make a donation to their little mouse emergency fund.

http://www.halfthesky.org/work/littlemouse.php

They are a reputable organization that we have been aware of since the beginning of our adoption journey.
Thank you :-)

Alyson's Baptism and (early) Birthday Party

Alyson's Baptism was last weekend. I finally got to put her in the dress I bought for the occasion when we were in Guangzhou (China). I was afraid that we waited too long and it wasn't going to fit but it turns out it was a tad too big. She looked adorable though and she handled the Baptism really well considering she's almost 2 and didn't know what was going on.

She looks thrilled doesn't she? We're just glad she's not screaming so this is a pretty happy look afterall.

We're so glad our friends could celebrate with us!

Party Time! (The doorway streamers were a big hit!)

We decided to celebrate Alyson's birthday a little early since we had our friends here.

Mmmm. Cake.

Alyson is intently checking out one of her new Bibles.

Aww. She loves her Godmother Gen :-)

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Side note: To those of you that haven't seen me in person for awhile and are wondering what's up with my crazy long hair, well, I haven't had it cut since May so now I figure I might as well grow it out long enough for Locks of Love. I need a few more inches. So yes, it kind has an 80s thing going on but I blame genetics (for the curls) and laziness and now a purpose (for the amount :-).

Just an update and December pictures

I really need to post more often. I'm afraid I'm going to start forgetting some of the cute things the kids say and do. They're both growing and changing so fast I can hardly keep up.

Christmas just whizzed by in a blur but was very low stress and fun. The low-stress part is pretty unusual for me so it was nice. The kids were properly spoiled.

We had a nice New Year's Eve with our friends over and Michael's Dad and Stepmom. Everyone except Alyson stayed up just past midnight. When I put Andrew to bed he said, "2007 was a good year! We got Alyson and a Wii!" I'm just glad he ranked Alyson first. Then again, he may have just been thinking chronologically. We did get Alyson first. The Wii came from Santa and boy is it fun! (Don't worry, I do let Andrew play with it sometimes ;-)

Alyson is talking up a storm. She says lots of recognizable sentences and some not so recognizable ones. She's really into taking inventory of everyone's whereabouts. Several times a day she says, "Where Daddy at? Where Andrew? Where Bailey?" Sometimes she'll wait for me to answer sometimes she'll just answer herself with Daddy work, Andrew school, Bailey home, Bailey sleeping. Yes, the dog sleeps a lot. She also thinks it's funny to say "Where Alyson? or Where Mama?" Even though we're right there. She likes to point to herself and say Alyson with a big grin, it's so cute how she pronounces it. I'll have to get it on video one day soon.

Alyson has been quite sick this past week with croup, and ear infection and some other respiratory combo that's not croup related. We went to the ER 3 times in 4 days because she just looked terrible and was working so hard to breathe. I'm not convinced that she doesn't have pneumonia but she didn't have it on Sunday when they did her chest x-ray during the 2nd ER visit so we'll just keep watching her and see how it goes. She's definitely better today, a lot less coughing but she still has a fever. Hopefully she's on the mend though.

Other than this episode and the RSV in October (I think), she's very healthy. I don't think I ever posted about her last cardiology appointment in September but the echo went great (thanks to a lollipop) and her doctor says the repair looks really good. He doesn't need to see her for another year! :-) At that visit he also offered me a job which has turned out to be just awesome. I only work 2 days a month and do all the EKGs and vitals on the kids. The doctors in the practice take turns coming to San Angelo from San Antonio to do clinic days twice a month. They used to always bring a nurse with them but now I do it so it's a win win situation for everyone.

I think that's all the updating I can do. Alyson is going to wake from her nap any minute now.

Here are some pictures from Andrew's birthday and Christmas. Enjoy!

Hmm. Whose pudgy little finger might that be?

The 2 best Christmas presents ever, sitting under the tree.

New hat from Aunt Julia, so cute!

Couldn't even wait to take the packaging off. She was ready to draw!

Pictures from November

some more catching up. Pictures from November...

More pecans

Just playing in the yard

Playing at the park

Thanksgiving at Grandpa Bob and Nana's

Having some whipped cream with Aunt Lauri
Decorating our tree