August 2011

August is a busy month for birthday’s so I thought I would give a shout out to everyone who had a birthday this month! I will go in order....Happy Birthday to my dear friend in Houston, Jennifer; Happy Birthday to Calvin’s sister Connie, Happy Birthday to Calvin, Happy Birthday to our puppy dog, Cooper; Happy Birthday to my brother Douglas; Happy Birthday to our niece Katie! Oh, and Happy Anniversary to Douglas and Erica on their wedding anniversary.

So I know I am way behind so I am going to do my best to catch up....one month at a time. For Calvin’s birthday, we went out to eat burger’s and then came home and enjoyed a chocolate peanut butter cake I made. It was pretty yummy! Calvin and Emma Kate seemed to love it.

Emma Kate was at her mother’s day out on day and got several mosquito bites on her face. One was right by her eye. She seemed fine but the next morning her eye was almost swollen shut. It did not seem to bother her but she looked like she had been in the fighting ring with Mike Tyson. It finally occurred to me to give her some allergy medicine and that really helped the redness and swelling.

Emma Kate and I have this ritual at bedtime each night. We do the usual read books, have some milk, snuggle, and then into the crib. Once in the crib, she wants all her animal friends with her in a certain way. If one item is missing or not in the right place she will let me know and she will fuss until it is made right by me! I took a couple of pictures one day at nap time so I could show her when she gets older. It is pretty cute until I forget one of her friends.

We took Emma Kate to her first baseball game this month. It was to see the Gwinnett Braves. We got lawn tickets and enjoyed the game in the sunshine.

Emma Kate’s vocabulary is really growing. She is now saying so many words. Here are some of them: no, this, ball, elbow, shhhhh (with this one, she puts her finger to her mouth as she says it), daddy, mama, and ice.

That is it for August. Here are some pictures from the month.

Calvin's birthday cake

Happy 40th Calvin!

Swollen eye thanks to a mosquito

Goofing around in the kitchen- notice the hat and rain boots.

Playing in the tent from Ikea

Pretty girl!

Bedtime animal routine.....before the blanket

With the blanket and a flower on top!

Baseball game cutie

Happy Birthday Uncle Doug!

Will try to post about September later today.

July 2011.... Finally!

Calvin’s business is going great! We are very thankful for this due to the economy. Last year after we returned from China with Emma Kate, he brought Jaynie on to work with him. She has done great with the business and loves what she is doing! We love Jaynie and it feels like she is a part of our family. She came to Atlanta (she lives in the Mobile area) and trained with Calvin last August. Calvin is always thinking about ways to improve his company and decided he was going to expand his business to reach other markets in the tradeshow industry. Calvin has recently also brought on Erica, our sister in law, as part of the company too. She was excited about getting started and being a part of the growth of his company. Due to the expansion of the business, Calvin decided to bring on one more person to join the team and his name is David. David has jumped right in to be a member of the team also. They all came to Atlanta this month to meet, have some photos taken for the new website in progress and just to spend some time together as a group. Calvin started his business in 1998 and has been a one man show for the majority of the time. He is so excited about his company’s growth. I am very proud of him and the way he has built his company to be something that is flourishing and that people respect. Here is a picture of the crew from their photoshoot.

Back: David, Erica

Front: Jaynie, Calvin

We had our first bout of illness go around the house. We have been very lucky that Emma Kate has only had colds since we have brought her home from China. That luck ended this month when we all took turns with a stomach bug. Thankfully it only hit Emma Kate once but it took Calvin and I on several rounds which was loads of fun. It may actually be my fault because just before that I had mentioned that Emma Kate had not been sick since we brought her home and then BAM (and yuck)! Throwing up did not seem to bother Emma Kate too much but I think she knew something was going to happen. She would come to me and snuggle in and then throw up....on me. Poor baby! We both went through lots of clothes that one day!

Cooper went to the vet to have her teeth cleaned and ended up having 4 teeth removed! She had to get lots of loving and special care until she healed. She eats hard crunchers but she loved having soft food while she recovered.

 Emma Kate and I went to play with my friend Heidi and her little boy Max this month. They have a salt water pool in their neighborhood so we went for a swim,  then ate lunch and then we came home for a nap. Emma Kate was not excited about me holding her in the pool. She only wanted to be in her little floating fish. We just need more opportunities to be in the water but it has been so incredibly hot here this summer.

 

Emma Kate is exerting more of her independence these days. I try to take her picture when she is doing something cute and she either stops doing the “cute thing”, turns away from me, or takes of in the other direction so I can’t get a good picture. I guess this is normal but it is so frustrating!

Emma Kate continued with Mother's Day Out over the summer. She really enjoys going there. One day, there was a little girl in her class wearing a bow in her hair. Emma Kate wanted that bow and wanted to wear it in her hair. The teachers told me about this when I picked her up that day. I have not put bows in her hair much because of the simple fact that she did not have much hair to put one in but ever since that day at Mother's Day Out, she asks for a bow in her hair everyday! And she gets it.

Emma Kate and I discovered this new place to go for some fun. It is called Kangazoom. It is a play place for children. It has different large blown up structures to play on. Some even have slides. There are lots of other toys to play with there too. It is a great place to go when it is hot outside and your toddler has lots of energy. She has a great time there! I will post a video of her below playing with one of the toys.

That’s if for July! Here are some pictures and videos from the month.

Emma Kate loves to put on daddy's shoes

Pretty girl!

Entertaining herself with a book.

 

The bucking bronco....sort of!

@ Kangazoom

Cooper Love

I am so excited that these videos have posted! I have not been able to post videos for a couple of months. I will do another post soon of just some videos.

Love to you all,
Kathy and the gang

June 2011

I don’t know what is going on with posting videos to the blog but I have had a lot of trouble with that. I never could get the videos I wanted to post for last month to upload. I will try those again and see what I have for this month.

Well, another month has passed so quickly! We were busy again in June. We met with our social worker for the last time regarding our adoption. We had to do a 6 month post placement report and another one a 1 year. She will write up our report and send it to me to send off with some pictures. I can’t believe that July will mark us as having Emma Kate as part of our family for a year! WOW! The year has gone by fast! We will talk more about that in the July 2011 post. Let’s get back to June.

 We went to a cousin’s wedding in Gainesville, Florida. We try to do family reunions every couple of years on my dad’s side of the family but that probably won’t happen until next year so we really wanted to go to the wedding and enjoy all the festivities! It was a great way to see everyone and introduce them to Emma Kate. Emma Kate really enjoyed being around everyone! She also danced a little bit at the wedding. She likes to dance and will usually start “dancing” by putting her arms up in the air and twisting her body and she will shake her butt or sway her body to the music. So cute to see!

While we were in Gainesville for the wedding, Calvin’s mom became ill and was put in ICU in Pensacola. She had a stroke and brain bleed. She was not doing well. He went to be with his family while Emma Kate and I stayed in Gainesville. Calvin’s mom seemed fairly stable so he came back home and by that time we were home too. Calvin got a call a few days later that his mother had passed away. We headed back to Alabama to tend to everything and have the funeral. Wow, as much as we prepare ourselves for those phone calls, they always catch us off guard and leave us feeling raw with emotion. We are so sad she is no longer here with us but we are also thankful that she is not suffering. A fear of hers was to be put in the nursing home. She will never have to worry about that! Nell was a wonderful, sweet, loving woman that loved her children and family! She will be truly missed! Here is a picture of her with Emma Kate.

November 11, 1933 - June 17, 2011

Nell, you are missed by us all!



 We had a family vacation planned this month and had a great time. We flew into Buffalo, New York. After we ate some lunch (local favorite- Beef on Weck) we drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was so pretty there. We spent one night there but really enjoyed the time there. The next day after touring around Niagara Falls, we drove to Toronto. We spent 2 nights there. We stayed in the hotel that is attached to the Toronto Blue Jays stadium. We opted to stay in one of the rooms that overlooked the baseball field (the Blue Jays were on the road at this time). It was really neat to have that view. They had a big event there the night before so they spent the time while we were there; tearing down the stage, etc and then putting the baseball field back together for the next game. It was fascinating to see all of that happen over 3 days. We did lots of walking around Toronto and we also went to the Toronto Zoo. From Toronto, we drove to Montreal. We spent 2 nights in Montreal. Most of you probably know that French is the preferred language in Montreal and we don’t know any French. We went to breakfast at Tim Horton’s (a favorite place of ours that is in Canada) our first full day. We had some difficulty ordering our food and asking for extra items like sweetner and cream for my coffee. We thought that we would have a difficult time there but the rest of the time we did fine not speaking the language. Most people also know English.  We mostly just got out, walked around the city and really enjoyed it. From Montreal, we drove to Syracuse, New York. We spent one night there. We went to see Syracuse University the next day and then headed back to Buffalo. On the way to Buffalo, we stopped in Rochester for lunch. We ate lunch at this place called Dinosaur BBQ. It was really good. The place was kind of a biker bar but family friendly plus the BBQ was wonderful! Once in Buffalo, we just had a nice dinner and got ready for our flight out the next day. Emma Kate is turning out to be a great little traveler! She did well taking her naps and going to bed at night. We just had to be aware of our timing and make sure that she had a nap each day….or else! The days where there were at least several hours of driving, we would set up our portable DVD player and she would watch Kai-Lan, a cartoon about a Chinese girl and her animal friends. Our flight to Buffalo went really well. Emma Kate was very well behaved and there were lots of other children near us. We did our best to keep her busy. The flight home was a bit more stressful. They kept the “fasten seatbelt” sign on for the majority of the flight which meant I was supposed to keep Emma Kate in my lap….yeah, right! She was a bit fussy and very wiggly and there were no other children near us. At one point, I took her to the bathroom with me just to get up and move around. When I looked at myself in the mirror, my face and neck was all red….I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something but then figured out I was just stressed out!  

Here are some pictures from our trip!

Niagara Falls- view from the Canadian side

Emma Kate and Calvin

In front of the falls

Around Niagara Falls- we rode in the skywheel

View from our hotel- Emma Kate hamming it up!

Another view from our hotel- the border- NY and Canada

Up in the skywheel

Toronto Blue Jays Stadium

View from our room- overlooking the baseball field

The field is almost put back together

Emma Kate wanting to take her nap in the big bed

Church in Montreal

Syracuse University

Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester, NY

Well, that is it for June! Sorry it took me so long. Hopefully I will be better about our July post. Hope everyone is doing great and staying cool this summer! It is incredibly hot here in Atlanta.

Signing off until next month!

Kathy

Gotcha Day Anniversary....1 year ago today

One year ago today......we were flying from Beijing to Nanchang in preparation for meeting our precious little girl. Emma Kate was placed in our arms and we have never looked back. Can't imagine what life would be like without her! She is a joy to us. I was thinking aobut what she was able to do when we met her. She could not sit up by herself for long, she was very quiet (very little babbling), wanted to eat any thing other than congee (a Chinese dish like rice soup), loved to watch people, was a good sleeper, did not have much of a smile on her face. Today, we have a happy, active (walking and running all over), still a good eater, babbling so much more and saying some words now, still loves to watch people but also wants to interact with them and is still a good sleeper. She gives us kisses and hugs and loves to be snuggled.

Congrats to Brian, Stephanie and Sylvie on their special day too! Thanks to Douglas, Erica and Katie for being there with us to celebrate that special day. The only thing that would make this day more perfect is if I was not sick. We have had a stomach bug going around in our house and it is my turn. Yuck.

Here are two family pictures....the first one from Gotcha Day and the other from our beach trip in May. The difference is amazing to me! We love you Emma Kate!!!

Gotcha Day July 11, 2010

Family photo from May 2011

Thanks to everyone who supported us through this journey. It was a long journey which ended with such a sweet ending.

I know I have not done a post for June 2011 yet. I am working on it and hope to post it soon. Love to you all! Calvin, Kathy and Emma Kate (and Cooper too).

May 2011

Well, another month has passed and we have been busy bees around here! Emma Kate continues to grow and grow. At the first of the month, Emma Kate and I went to Auburn to hang out with some of our cousins, Caroline and Anne. We try to get together around 4 times a year to spend the weekend together. We saw lots of other relatives too which was lots of fun. We took Emma’s picture in front of the trees at Toomer’s Corner. For those of you who don’t know, some idiot Alabama fan decided it would be a good idea to pour poison on the roots of these trees. One tree seems to be more damaged than the other but it is possible that both trees will eventually die which is so sad.

Emma Kate and I got home in time to have our first Mother’s Day together. We had a nice day together.  Emma Kate gave me a beautiful necklace that says “My Mother, My Friend” on it. Emma Kate also made me a little gift at Mother’s Day Out. It was a handpainted small flower pot with a paper flower. So sweet! I remember last year on Mother’s Day. We knew that our referral was about to come. I was so hoping that we would get it in time for Mother’s Day but we did not. It came to us the next week. It was such a relief to know that it was coming.

Emma Kate is talking more and more. She attempts to repeat what we say more often now. She can say cracker and go, go, go. I have included a video below of her saying “cracker”.

We went on a little vacation this month with our friends Brian, Stephanie and their little girl Sylvie. You may remember that we traveled to China with them and our girls are from the same orphanage. We went to Seaside Beach in Florida. Brian and Stephanie go there every year but this is the first time for us. We had such a great time! We played on the beach, swam in the pool, shopped and ate yummy food and enjoyed visiting with each other! The beaches there are just beautiful; the sand is white and so soft and the water is clear blue. Emma Kate and Sylvie were afraid of the waves as they crashed on the shore but loved playing in the sand with all their toys. It was so fun seeing the girls together! I have also included a video of the girls together and a video of Emma Kate playing in her own little tide pool.

I turned another year older this month….ugh! I was spoiled on my special day…. I was taken out to eat breakfast and lunch that day. It was a nice day to be together as a family.

At Emma Kate’s last day of Mother’s Day Out this month, there was no crying when I left which is a first. I usually stay for a few minutes when we get there. This day, she was clinging to me and not leaving my side. One of the teachers pulled out a big box of play food and dishes and put it on the floor. Emma Kate seemed excited about that and jumped out of my lap and started pulling things out of the box to play with. I decided that would be a good time to leave and told her goodbye and that I would be back soon. She waved bye to me and then blew kisses to me through the window. Wow! I was so excited that I was not leaving her when she was crying! Such a big girl! She will start going to Mother’s Day Out 2 times a week starting in June. She seems to really enjoy it so I hope that transition goes well.

Update: I have been trying to upload the videos for several days now but am unable to do it for some reason. I will try again next week.

Eating ice cream

Playing at home...boots on and playing with dishes

Mother's Day gifts for mommy!

Future Auburn Tiger in the making???

In front of trees at Toomer's Corner in Auburn

Got her gear ready to play!

Smiling for the camera

Love this picture....look at the tummy!

Beautiful Sylvie on the beach!

So cute!

The whole crew!

Sunset

April 2011

Well, I am late posting about April! I can’t believe we are already into May. We have had a busy month. Emma Kate and I went to visit my Douglas, Erica, Will and Katie early this month. Then all the girls made a trip to visit my mom and step father. We went out to eat some lunch and do some bonding over shopping. It was a nice trip and Emma Kate did really well in the car and visiting. She seems to adapt so well to different situations. I am so thankful for that!

We have had such beautiful weather this month (except for the crazy storms that we have had that usually happen during the overnight hours). To enjoy the outdoors before it gets too hot here, we have been trying to do more outside. We have gone to various parks to play on the equipment or play with a ball or bubbles in the grass and we got a zoo membership so we have been there to see all the animals. Emma Kate seemed to enjoy the zoo. We also celebrated Easter and the Easter bunny! We did several practice runs of egg hunts so that Emma would know what to do. She was a little slow figuring it out but finally got the hang of it. We have also been taking Emma Kate out more in the jogging stroller. It is one thing to jog but it is very different to try to jog while pushing a stroller. I struggle just getting out of the neighborhood!



Now, about those crazy storms! We had one night that we went out for a quick bite to eat. While we were eating, we could see the wind blowing the trees but it did not seem too bad. On our way home, Calvin said, “This is perfect timing! We can get home, give Emma her bath and then off to bed.” We got to the road that our neighborhood is on and we saw a tree had fallen over the road and taken down some power lines. It looked like it just happened. We turned around and drove all around to get to the other side hoping we could access the main road to get home. There was a very unfriendly policewoman who told us the road was closed and we would just have to find someplace to go. Nice! By now, it is getting later, we have a baby in the car that needs to go to bed and a dog at home that is afraid of storms and probably needs to potty. We went to a hotel and checked in and when we were just getting into our room, our neighbor called saying we could get to our neighborhood by going through another neighborhood. Now the police officer had told us the road was closed so we did not think this was an option. Calvin ventured out in the car to make sure that was true while Emma and I stayed in the hotel room. She let me know she needed a diaper change so I changed her. I then realized that was the last diaper I had in the bag. About 5 minutes later, Emma lets me know she has another dirty diaper! UGH! I really wanted to go home! Calvin called to say we could go home but the power was out and we might be more comfortable in the hotel. I told him I thought we would really do better at home. He came back and took us home and the power came on about 11:30 pm that night. What an adventure! Emma Kate was a real trooper through the whole thing. I was the one that was upset!

Emma Kate had what some might call a baby mullet going on with her hair. We decided to take her to get her haircut. I went to this cute little place that caters to children (my neighbor told me about them) and they did a great job! All they really did for Emma’s hair was to cut the baby mullet off. It looks so much better now!

Easter weekend, Emma Kate was quite the social butterfly! She had 2 birthday parties to go to; one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. She had a great time at both of them. The party on Saturday was for my dear friend Heidi's little boy Max. He turned one! He had a rough start when he was born being born 3 months early) but you would not be able to tell that now! He is growing and he is such a sweet boy! It was a thrill to go help him celebrate this milestone. They had his party at a park so there was lots of playground equipment for the kids. I will include some pictures from the party. I did not get a picture of Chris, the proud dad. He was busy taking photos and making sure everyone was having a good time. The second party we went to was for our neighbor’s Sarah and Mike’s little boy, Ellis. He also turned one. They had an egg hunt for the kids, which was so fun! Emma Kate had a little help finding eggs from Ellis’s grandfather!

Emma Kate is still not saying words yet. She will say "Hi" while she waves but that is about it. We have taught her a variety of signs which she will do. Sometimes she will need to be prompted. She knows signs for more, all done, yes, no, please, and thank you.

Emma Kate imitating the way I was standing in the kitchen;

 notice one leg crossed over the other!

Ready for her haircut sitting in the police car!

Haircut; such a good girl!

Finished product

Our panda friend at the zoo

At the park

Listening to live music at the park

At the park for Max's birthday party;

On the big rock with daddy

  

Ready to slide

Down the slide

Heidi and Max, the birthday boy!

Max getting to enjoy his birthday treat!

Look what the Easter bunny brought Emma Kate!

Cowgirl

Flowergirl

Ready to hunt eggs

Hunting eggs

That is it for now! Signing off in Georgia.