- Yesterday AM when the phone rang, she shouted, "Unknown"! We do this most everyday when we get a call that we don't recognize on caller ID, so I guess that is what she thinks you say when the phone rings.
- Ally is very polite when it comes to telling us "thank you", especially with food. So, when I give her anything, she will say "tank you, Mama" and if I don't quickly reply with "You're welcome, Ally", she will say it again, louder until I reply!
- She dances along with Tickle Me Elmo and Hokie Pokie Ernie - doing all the moves with them!
I'm sure there is more, but that's all for now!
Tonight we are celebrating L's b'day with a couple of friends - swimming (but not at home quite yet!)
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Ally's World
Ally is really starting to talk a lot more. Here are a few snippets and thoughts and observations.
- Any words say "A L L Y -- Ally"! She will "spell" her name and touch any letters she sees. She will say the A and the L over and over (sometimes 20 times) and follow it with saying "Ally" and throwing her hands up.
- Every night and morning she will collect her bedtime necessities - my goggie (doggie), my bankee (blanket), my pih-yo (pillow).
- She loves to brush her teeth and will point to her teeth and go into the bathroom. She uses a little stool for everything - brushing teeth, climbing onto the potty, getting in the tub, turning off the light so she can look at the glowing stars on the ceiling.
- She loves to wear her "new" gymnastics leotard. One is RWB stars, so we called her "Mary Lou" (for Retton) and now we just call the leotard her "Mary Lou".
- When we were in Savannah, Ally took her little Chinese baby doll. On the trip, Sara asked Ally what her baby's name was. Ally's reply, "Eg-roh". So, now we call her "Baby Eggroll"!
- She will say "more book" and any of us will be spending the next few minutes reading her Sesame Street "find it" book. I think Sara gets asked the most. Ally will say "my Gara" when Sara comes into the room each morning.
- She will say "Ally will do it" for most everything. She also is very insistent on "helping"; however, asking for us to help her is a last resort.
- She says her name "Aah-yee".
- If we hear/see a dog, she says "more goggie".
- In the car, she requests her "bus" CD by doing the hand motions to "Wheels on the Bus" and saying "buh, mama"
- If she sees Daddy leave the house or go outside, she will say "where daddy go?"
- She loves lotion, and when the lotion smells good, I'll tell her to smell it. Instead of smelling the lotion, she will blow on it (like it's hot food) and say "Mmmmmm".
- When she put on some new white tennis shoes last week, I said, "Those are nice new shoes, Ally". She replied, "Nice"! Now she will point to her "nice" shoes everytime she puts them on and will say "Nice".
- Racing with Lauren is her new thing to do. They will line up in our family room - Ally on a riding toy and Lauren on a tiny wagon - and roll across and back behind the sofa.
Obviously, we understand a lot of what she "says", although it is still often very muttled. It's so cute and amazing to see her learn! I know there are many more little funny things she says; I'll try to remember them!
- Any words say "A L L Y -- Ally"! She will "spell" her name and touch any letters she sees. She will say the A and the L over and over (sometimes 20 times) and follow it with saying "Ally" and throwing her hands up.
- Every night and morning she will collect her bedtime necessities - my goggie (doggie), my bankee (blanket), my pih-yo (pillow).
- She loves to brush her teeth and will point to her teeth and go into the bathroom. She uses a little stool for everything - brushing teeth, climbing onto the potty, getting in the tub, turning off the light so she can look at the glowing stars on the ceiling.
- She loves to wear her "new" gymnastics leotard. One is RWB stars, so we called her "Mary Lou" (for Retton) and now we just call the leotard her "Mary Lou".
- When we were in Savannah, Ally took her little Chinese baby doll. On the trip, Sara asked Ally what her baby's name was. Ally's reply, "Eg-roh". So, now we call her "Baby Eggroll"!
- She will say "more book" and any of us will be spending the next few minutes reading her Sesame Street "find it" book. I think Sara gets asked the most. Ally will say "my Gara" when Sara comes into the room each morning.
- She will say "Ally will do it" for most everything. She also is very insistent on "helping"; however, asking for us to help her is a last resort.
- She says her name "Aah-yee".
- If we hear/see a dog, she says "more goggie".
- In the car, she requests her "bus" CD by doing the hand motions to "Wheels on the Bus" and saying "buh, mama"
- If she sees Daddy leave the house or go outside, she will say "where daddy go?"
- She loves lotion, and when the lotion smells good, I'll tell her to smell it. Instead of smelling the lotion, she will blow on it (like it's hot food) and say "Mmmmmm".
- When she put on some new white tennis shoes last week, I said, "Those are nice new shoes, Ally". She replied, "Nice"! Now she will point to her "nice" shoes everytime she puts them on and will say "Nice".
- Racing with Lauren is her new thing to do. They will line up in our family room - Ally on a riding toy and Lauren on a tiny wagon - and roll across and back behind the sofa.
Obviously, we understand a lot of what she "says", although it is still often very muttled. It's so cute and amazing to see her learn! I know there are many more little funny things she says; I'll try to remember them!
Monday, March 24, 2008
All 3 Girls
I love to see pics of all 3 of our girls together! Here is one from Easter - the slide show was so small, so I thought I'd post this one by itself!
Doing Lunch with Friends
Ally and I enjoyed lunch with a few friends! Thanks Sharon - I stole your picture! Sharon said, as we enjoyed our meal, that it never ceases to amaze her how all of these families have come together! It is nothing short of amazing. From front left center in a clock wise direction ... Ellie (back to us) and Joan; Sharon, Ella Kate, and Savannah; Sheryl and Linzi; Lucy and Ally. It is amazing, isn't it?
I forgot to take my camera to 3rd Friday. The meeting featured a speaker that is a therapist and expert on adoption (I guess that is what she is -- I missed her intro - imagine that!). It was quite enlightening. She said that the child (no matter what age he/she is adopted) should just grow knowing he/she is adopted. There should never be that "moment" when you have to / need to tell her. It just needs to be known by the child and talked about by the parent. I felt pretty good about how we are handling this with Ally. Although we do not talk about her China mommy, I tell her the story of her adoption at least 2 times a week. I have no idea how much she can take in, but I figure that if she hears it over and over there will be no surprises. We do talk about China a lot. Who knows!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter!
Let's see -- the big girls didn't have school on Friday, so we had a fun day! We "practiced" hunting eggs with Ally in our front yard, got haircuts (as Ally says, "hah-cuh"), ate Chinese at Lin's Bistro with the Randalls, and saw Frannie and Shelby at 3rd Friday! We had a great day. Where was Daddy in all of this fun? At the golf course with his buddy, Bill.
Lauren spent most of Saturday at the soccer fields, reffing 2 games and playing 3 mini-games. She was pretty tired at the end of the day. Daddy spent the day at the fields too, making sure Lauren was doing OK with her reffing (keeping up with the time). Sara, Ally and Mommy went to the store and made it to the soccer field for Lauren's last mini-game. Ally had a ton of fun running around with a little boy who had a really fun ball. They were so cute - laughing, running and falling!
After soccer, we drove down to Mema's house, stopping for pizza along the way. YUM. We were pretty late getting to Mema's, but Ally managed to play once we got there. She was pretty comfortable with my mom and remembered being at her house. She slept in the pack and play most of the night, and woke up to eggs hidden all over Mema's family room and baskets of goodies! The first thing she did when she found an egg was to open it and check out the candy!
We went to Mema's church and Ally sat through the service until it was time for the preacher to talk. I didn't want to push our luck, so she and I made a quick exit and played in the nursery and rode the elevators until church was over! I think Mema was proud to show off another pretty grand-daughter! All of our girls looked beautiful, as you can see in the pics!
I almost forgot -- I made Ally a batch of congee. She ate 3 bowls so I must have done OK. If you don't know, congee is a rice "soup/mush" made with lots of water (4.5 cups) and a little rice (3/4 cups) and a little salt. I tossed in an egg and let it cook in too. Just keep stirring every now and then and let it cook for about an hour. She ate it at most every b'fast when we were in China, and occasionally gets it from our favorite waitress at Lin's Bistro (they like to spoil her).
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Happy Birthday, Lauren!
Lauren turned 11 today at 2:37. Yep, I told her this morning that I remember 11 years ago this morning -- I woke up at 4 AM and immediately woke Daddy-to-be-again. We took Sara to her little friend's house and headed to Northside Hospital! Our little baby Lauren was born that afternoon!
So, what do you do when you turn 11? Go to school, have Krispy Kreme donuts with the class, an ice cream cake and a couple of presents. She actually opened her "Guitar Hero" for the Wii this past Saturday. We were under tornado warnings all day (Atlanta got hit pretty hard downtown), so we gave it to her early! We ALL had a blast playing (well, trying to play)!
One of the presents that I got Lauren was another Gymboree strawberry blanket. She has had one since she was a baby and hers was/is worn out! It has had a few "surgeries" throughout the years, but continues to be her very favorite! Every night she sleeps with strawberry (blanket) and Joey (polar bear). So, I found one on ebay after years of looking, literally! I have had it for quite a few months. I didn't expect Lauren to really appreciate it, but she was really excited and surprised! She did say that she still loves the original since it is softer. I told her that was fine. Just thought it was funny!
She is now an employed soccer referee along with her buddy Amelia! They did their first games this past Sunday afternoon and loved it! I'm sure once she gets a check, she will love it even more.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
From Shaanxi Yahoo Group
FYI -- Shaanxi is the province (like a state) that Ally and Frannie are from... this was on the Shaanxi Yahoo Group this AM...
You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .
1. The fact that there are 143 million children in the world without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 + years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
The number of 143,000,000 is staggering and I can't even wrap my mind around that. I wrote it with the zeros, because, to me it's more effective. That combined with #4 on the list makes it even more mind-boggling. Anyway...
BTW - Don't you LOVE my new music (I guess it was time to change from Christmas) -- thanks Jennifer for your quick assistance! We heard SCC sing "Cinderella" a few weeks ago and it is so sweet - reminds me of "Butterfly Kisses" from a few years ago!
You Know You're An Adoptive Parent When . . .
1. The fact that there are 143 million children in the world without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love and family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who have experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's 'real' parents.
7. You have ever been 'pregnant' with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 + years!)
8. You had no idea how you would afford to adopt but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing where God calls you He will provide.
9. You have ever taken an airplane ride half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart is for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart and family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word 'Dossier' means, and you can actually pronounce it!
13. You have welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child is so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you are the blessed one to have him or her in your life.
The number of 143,000,000 is staggering and I can't even wrap my mind around that. I wrote it with the zeros, because, to me it's more effective. That combined with #4 on the list makes it even more mind-boggling. Anyway...
BTW - Don't you LOVE my new music (I guess it was time to change from Christmas) -- thanks Jennifer for your quick assistance! We heard SCC sing "Cinderella" a few weeks ago and it is so sweet - reminds me of "Butterfly Kisses" from a few years ago!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
It's the Ally Show!
Her favorite game (currently) is "Don't Break the Ice" - she says, "Pay ice, mommy".
We enjoyed our First Friday get-together. Got to meet little Ellie, just home 1 week from China. Try saying "Ella, Ellie, Ally" 3 times in a row!
Ally has enjoyed playing a lot outside this week - sand table, swing, trampoline, parachute (no jumping out of planes though).
Her dry skin has been a bit of a problem, so we have been coating her with thick cream. She loves it and enjoys putting it on herself - her "dots" both get a blob of cream everytime!
So much to blog, not enough time!
Friday, March 07, 2008
A Sad Situation in China
I got this from the Rumor Queen site...
One of the things that came out in last years’ discussion about this is that some SWI (Orphanage) Directors seem to be telling Beijing that $3,000 is no longer enough incentive for them to prepare children for adoption. Apparently some of the SWI’s get paid by the government for the number of children in the SWI. I’ve been told that this per child stipend brings in more money for the SWI over time than the orphanage donation brings in.
I understand that a huge part of adoption is the "business" of adoption. Whether it's "non-profit" or "Christian", it's a business. The above statement has nothing to do with an adoption agency, but it does remind us that somethimes the welfare of the children is not the priority. Yes, we made our "donation" to Ally's orphanage and were happy to do so. But, for this donation to not be enough reason to "bother" to get a child "paper-ready" for adoption is so sad. For the SWI directors to intentionally NOT get a child's papers ready just because it isn't "worth" it to him or her is simply heartbreaking. This is probably a contributor to the slow down.
There are lots of things about which I need to blog, but I'll wait - I want this to sink in....
One of the things that came out in last years’ discussion about this is that some SWI (Orphanage) Directors seem to be telling Beijing that $3,000 is no longer enough incentive for them to prepare children for adoption. Apparently some of the SWI’s get paid by the government for the number of children in the SWI. I’ve been told that this per child stipend brings in more money for the SWI over time than the orphanage donation brings in.
I understand that a huge part of adoption is the "business" of adoption. Whether it's "non-profit" or "Christian", it's a business. The above statement has nothing to do with an adoption agency, but it does remind us that somethimes the welfare of the children is not the priority. Yes, we made our "donation" to Ally's orphanage and were happy to do so. But, for this donation to not be enough reason to "bother" to get a child "paper-ready" for adoption is so sad. For the SWI directors to intentionally NOT get a child's papers ready just because it isn't "worth" it to him or her is simply heartbreaking. This is probably a contributor to the slow down.
There are lots of things about which I need to blog, but I'll wait - I want this to sink in....
Monday, March 03, 2008
2005 is Done!
What am I talking about? The CCAA FINALLY finished sending referrals for people logged in during 2005. It only took 32 months to get through the entire year! Isn't that ridiculous? We would STILL be waiting (our date was late January). In my January Yahoo group there are finally a few families celebrating their referrals. That is exciting. When we started the time it was taking to get a referral was about 8 months. Just last week, we would have passed the 25th month!
5 Families
Our agency, Hope for Children, posted their newest Waiting Child list last Thursday. 8 children (5 girls and 3 boys, I think) and 5 of them already have 2 families reviewing them.
Since the agency now gives only 4 days (we had 7 days) for a family to review a file, there are 5 families that will get "the call" tomorrow or Wed that their lives will change forever - their call will be a happy one; that their family was chosen to "get" the child!
There are also 5 other families that will get a call, too; theirs will not be so happy - they were not chosen.
We have been on both sides of those phone calls, and they are both very emotional!
Since the agency now gives only 4 days (we had 7 days) for a family to review a file, there are 5 families that will get "the call" tomorrow or Wed that their lives will change forever - their call will be a happy one; that their family was chosen to "get" the child!
There are also 5 other families that will get a call, too; theirs will not be so happy - they were not chosen.
We have been on both sides of those phone calls, and they are both very emotional!
Our Ocean Visit
We took a quick weekend trip to Savannah for All-State Band. Ally and Sara went along for the drive, while Lauren stayed with Aunt Amy. She had several things going on and wanted to stay here! Anyway, we took the convertible and the weather was great! So great, that we ventured out to Tybee Island to show Ally the beach and ocean for the first time. We had not come prepared with bikinis, but that didn't stop Sara from showing Ally what it was all about! The water was C*O*L*D!!! Sara rolled up her shorts and Ally shed everything but her diaper. She laughed and laughed and even dipped her head in the water! Not much this little girl is afraid of.
We had fun - mainly eating and sampling candy on River Street! We had some good pizza, shrimp, beignets (we were both covered in powdered sugar), pralines, and even ate at Paula Deen's restaurant! It was good, but nothing my mom or grandma couldn't cook! Good ole Southern Cookin' -- butter, salt and fried. It doesn't get much better than that. Oh, did I mention sugar? Ha!
I think that Ally's favorite thing was riding the elevators. Sara would pretend to race her to the elevator to get to the button first. Ally would run as fast as her little legs could move, laughing histerically every time! One time, she was running full force to get the button and the door opened right as she got there, so she did not slow down one bit and ran right into a young (mid 20's) guy. He was blind-sided and probably took a few seconds to realize what the little THUD was that hit his legs! Ally just looked up and laughed and ran around behind him to get to the buttons! Didn't phase her one bit.
We went thru the lobby of the Hyatt several times to get to River Street, although we were not staying there. If you have been to Savannah, you know that the downtown area isn't exactly stroller (or wheelchair) friendly. I guess it being some historic district makes it "immune" to the seemingly necessary upgrades/modifications. Anyway, we cut thru the Hyatt - well, the Haytt has a wonderful GLASS elevator that looks into the lobby and it goes up 7 stories! And there is even an escalator up to the 2nd floor! Talk about fun! Ally would stand right at the edge and wave to us (Sara went with her) all the way up. She would even hold the rails in the elevator and pick up her legs (yes, 7 stories up in a glass elevator). Aargh. She even got to pet a pig - in the Hyatt - not sure what that was about, but the pig was there for some convention. Crazy!
We saw lots of doggies - which is always a good thing, in Ally's opinion.
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