My First Blog Award!

I have been nominated for the "Blogging with a Purpose" award by the very sweet Staci of Journey to Sarah Lu. This is my first every blogging award and I want to thank Staci very much! I feel the least "purposeful" of all those she nominated, but I do hope to live up to the award in the days/weeks/months/years to come. I'd love to nominate some people, but first I have to get my favorites back on my computer. I sure do miss checking in with everyone's blogs. Thanks again, Staci. You really made my day!

And here are the "purposes" of my blog, in case you've forgotten :)

Melody loves spinning around on my office chair.

Julie the guitar hero!

Me and my girls.

(Yes, that's a Birthday cake. Yes, I'm a year older. Am I a year wiser too? Who knows! Thanks, Becki and Anne for the yummy cake! Happy birthday to Ella too!)

Winter is Fun!

Mischief

In case you're wondering what Julie is up to these days, here's a quick overview.

As I was putting Melody down for her nap, Julie got the ink stamps out of my desk and went to town on her hands and face. She also stamped her backpack Dora (on the cheek), her Sonya Lee little people doll (on the hand), and the couch (oy!).


As I was in the bathroom, Julie unwound an entire thing of dental floss that we'd just brought home from the dentist. She was pretty proud of herself.

The other day I dressed Melody in overalls. Julie kept insisting on wearing a "blue skirt." I finally figured out that she wanted overalls too. Well, we don't own any in her size. She was inconsolable. A few days later I found her in her room putting on a pair of Melody's. She's skinny enough to wear 12 month clothes, but they're just a wee bit short!

I didn't get pictures of the time Julie unwound a thing of white-out tape, or the time she got the squirt bottle and covered Melody's face in water, or the time she smeared a slice of cheese into the carpeting at the bottom of the stairs. I believe we've finally hit the "terrible 2's" at 3.5 years of age! Give me strength!

I'm Back!

My computer is up and running, mostly. Larry worked really hard on it and took care of the clicking and re-starting. Yay! I still don't have all my programs back though, and all my "favorite" links are gone. Oh no! I have to ask Larry if he can get them back. I will be pretty devastated if not. I had so much saved in favorites. All those adoption links and blogs...ugh. I hope I can find all your blogs again. Please comment so I can follow your link!

For now, here's a little video of my sweeties. Regardless of your opinion of Barney, you have to admit that this is cute :-)

Computer Woes

Our car is fixed, but now my computer is in the shop (aka Larry's office). The hard drive is making clicking noises and every so often the whole system restarts all by itself. Larry has been trying to fix it for several days now. I'm using Larry's work computer to post this, but I hope to have my computer back sometime this weekend. I'll have some good pictures to share then!

Car Woes

Well, our very reliable car finally betrayed us this weekend. About a week ago I noticed that the clutch seemed "soft" somehow. On Saturday we all got in the car to go to the store and Larry had to fight to get the stick into gear. We ended up turning around and staying home. It would not have been fun to have been stranded with the girls somewhere. The shop couldn't take the car until today, so we spent our weekend hanging out at home. Larry drove the car in today, barely! The only way to get it in gear was to turn it off and then shift. He drove all the way to the shop in second gear so that he could keep the car on! The shop is missing a part, so it looks like we won't have a vehicle until tomorrow. I sure hope it is ready by then. I had to cancel Julie's speech therapy for today, but I'd really like to get her to preschool tomorrow. I guess we could always bundle up and walk! Fun times...!

Kitty Love

We have the best cat in the world, I'm convinced. Right now he's sitting on my lap purring. Here he is being "fed" and loved on by two adoring little girls. (He may look evil in the pictures, but that's just because cats look that way when they squint. He's really the most sweet and gentle cat I know!)

Our Crazy Week

This is our week, not including preschool. I'm so tired already...

Monday
J speech therapy

Tuesday
M physical therapy
M 15 month doc appt (5 shots plus TB test)
E MOPS leadership meeting

Wednesday
M 6 month adoption post-placement visit
J developmental ped appt (autism doctor, stressful)

Thursday
M speech therapy
M TB test reading at ped
J ENT appt (schedule next surgery)
M and J plastic surgeon appt (cleft surgeon)
J gymnastics class

Friday
visit with a good friend all day, yay!

Another Then and Now, Wow!

December 28, 2005, 1.5 years (not yet able to stand alone, but propped up looking at a pumpkin pie in the oven)

December 31, 2007, 3.5 years (watching cookies bake, yum!)

It's pretty obvious that she's grown more than 2 years' worth over the last 2 years. When we got her, she was way below the lowest curve on the growth chart (both US and Chinese). Now she holds her own at the 5th percentile on the US chart. People often think she looks tall for a 3 year old, but it's an illusion. She's really skinny, which makes her appear tall in pictures. If you stand her next to her 3 year old classmates, she looks like quite a tiny tot!

Just Us Girls

It seems that I often dress all three of us in the same color without setting out to do so. I only realize it after the fact. Here we are all dressed in pink and denim, me and my wonderful girls.

Whose Birthday?

This was Julie's Christmas Eve reaction upon realizing that it wasn't going to be her birthday in the morning!

Cookies and Snow

Chef Mommy and Chef Julie make Christmas cookies!

Julie's favorite part was eating the dough.

Our first snowman! We had more snow in December than I've seen since moving to Illinois 4 years ago. It finally feels like home around here!

Yes, there's a Melody in there somewhere...

M Walks!

Happy New Year everybody! Please excuse my absence of late. We have been facing ongoing health problems and it's been draining. I'll save the details for another time. Right now, I want to share a very special moment in the life of our little Sweet Potato! Check it out!