2nd Gotcha Day Anniversary

Well, our 2nd anniversary was not as much fun as our first. I had to travel out of town for work and my flight home was delayed. Addie Mei and I did not get to spend a lot of time together on our actual Gotcha Day, but we had a great time celebrating the next day. Unfortunately, we did not get to go to our special place for dinner.

I spent some time making a book for her telling her adoption story. The main Character is Princess Addie Mei and I used actual pictures of our journey. She really likes seeing her pictures in a book and hearing her story. I hope this will help her grasp her history.

This past weekend, we got to go on an Easter Egg hunt and also she had her church program. She was so cute. It was the first time that she did not cry. When they were done singing and everyone was relatively quiet. She blurts out, "I love you Mama." It was so cute.

Not too much else to report. All is well in Indy!!

Blessings,

Tamie

2nd Anniversary

Addie Mei and I will celebrate two years together as a family on Wednesday!! It has been such an amazing journey. Through all of the ups and downs, I would do it all over again 10, 000 times to experience the joy this child brings to my life and the lives of so many other people.

Addie Mei is growing up so much. She is such a sweet little girl. She is a big helper and she loves to play!! She can sit for an hour playing with this little plastic princess doll and undress and redress her. She is quite persistant.

We are both looking forward to our vacation we have planned for Spring Break. Using the nice refund Uncle Sam provided, we will be heading South to the sunny state of FL!! I am going to be bringing Addie Mei to meet all of the Princesses she adores so much!! I have never been to Disney World and always wanted to go. Now I get to experience it with my daughter!! I am doubly blessed. I am thankful that we can go when it will be majical for her!! Look for the update when we return!

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tamie

Getting Big

I thought I would update on my little girl. She is changing so much. It amazes me that in just 2 short years she is such a different little girl. In a couple of weeks, we will be celebrating our 2 year Gotcha Day Anniversary. In some ways, this day has more reason to celebrate than her birthday. I know that with out her birth, obviously I would not have her. I was not there for her birth, though, so the first day we met is so special.

She has really been maturing into a such a sweet little girl. We survived the very trying early threes. That was tough for both of us. I love her so much, but was at my wits end with some of the behaviors, whining, and constant crying that we dealt with for about 4 months. Lately, she has been all over affectionate. She tells me she loves me about every hour we are together, and she is full of hugs and kisses. She is really developing her own little sense of humor. It is so cute to watch.

She is also very industrious. We have an air mattress I put on the floor for movie nights. One day, I forgot to put it away, and it became a WONDERFUL trampoline. She and a friend then decided to lean it on the love seat, and now it has become a great slide. She gets her baby dolls and wraps then in a blanket and down they go. She soon follows and is reunited with her little babies. It is so much fun to watch her. It also is used as a sinking ship where she is falling, and I have to reach down from the top to rescue her.

She seems to be starting some growth finally. At least she is eating a lot lately and sleeping very well. Hopefully, this will result in her growing a bit.

We had a wonderful opportunity recently to meet another little girl who was from the same orphanage as Addie Mei. It was so sweet to watch these little girls who share the same roots playing together half of a world away from their beginnings. They were not in the orphanage at the same time, as the other little girl left 5 days before Addie Mei arrived. Nonetheless, they do share similar roots and Addie Mei was very happy to know that Director Han took care of her friend as well. She seems to be very proud of her background, as proud as a 3 1/2 year old can be, at least. This is a picture we took while they were playing.

That is about it for now. Will post again with more pictures after Gotcha Day!

Tamie

Happy 2008

Well, we made it through a wonderful Chrsitmas with our family and had a great 2 weeks off work. We were able to spend a full week at Nana and Papa's house in MI and also a full week here with just each other. It was a wonderful vacation.

1. Addie Mei has started the second semester of preschool going 2 half days a week and she just loves it. She tells me all about what happens at school and she is just blossoming. I was very happy to hear people in MI tell me how much better she is talking and how they understand her so much more. I am with her each day, so I do not see the great progress she is making. I know the socialization at school has been a great benefit to her speech.

I enrolled her in a gymnastics class at the YMCA down here. She LOVES, I mean LOVES, her "nastics" class. She gets so excited when she just sees her little outfit in the closet. No matter her mood on a Wednesday when I pick her up, she instantly changes to a very excited little girl when I tell her it is time to get ready for class. I am so glad I did this. It is really helping her confidence, as well as, her strength. We still struggle with low muscle tone in her core, so this has been a great help. Not only does she have a great time in class, but she also "practices " at home.

Addie Mei very much enjoys doing crafts. She could sit for hours just painting something, over, and over, and over. She is so sweet and quiet. She also really enjoys her new playroom at home. I cleared out pur spare room to give her her own play space, and give me back some of my house. She loves it back there. Someone very generously dropped off a wonderful little plastic house in my driveway. I do not know who left it, but I am so thankful for their generosity. I cleaned it up and set it up in her playroom. It has become a wonderful drivethrough restaraunt. SO cute!

That is all for now. Looking forward to the next little fun thing this girl can bring into my life!!

God Bless,

Tamie

Merry Christmas Everyone

We have had a wonderful Christmas season! Addie Mei is really starting to understand that Jesus came as a baby and that is why we celebrate Christmas. She sings Happy Birthday to Jesus all the time, it is too precious!

We had fun decorating for Christmas Thanksgiving weekend, even though I was miserably sick. We were able to get both trees up and the house all decorated. Addie Mei got to put the Angel on top of her own tree this year. What a big girl. She loves having her tree in her room.

As is our tradition, we took her Christmas pictures in from on my tree. She had some fun doing this, but would have much preferred to be playing. Her picture turned out very cute, though!

We are starting a new tradition this year with having our Christmas together on the Saturday before we leave to go to MI. I want her to be able to have her presents under her tree at home, but we are always going to be in MI for Christmas day. I thought this would be a good plan so she can have a week to play with her toys before we leave. She had fun opening her presents and taking time to play with them.

I included a picture of her opening a blanket, next to a tall wooden wardrobe. The blanket is called a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." It is a Chinese tradition for friends and family to send a piece of fabric to a new mom with a good wish to go with the piece of fabric. Once the blanket is together, the child is wrapped in "100 Good Wishes." The wishes are put in a scrap book with a smaller piece of the fabric. The child then can match the fabric in the quilt to the good wish book and see who sent what wish. I was so happy with how it turned out.

The wooden wardrobe is something I made for her. I am impressed that I was able to do this. It is for her to put all of her dress up clothes on. The shelves below are for her dress up shoes. She loves it! When she is getting dressed in the morning, she likes to make faces at herself in the mirror.

We leave for MI in a couple of days and I know she will be bombarded with more presents. I hope through all of the presents, we will be able to stay mindful of the true reason for the presents, and that is Jesus!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Tamie and Addie Mei

Snow Fun

Addie Mei has had fun this early winter. She LOVES the snow, or "no" as she calls it. She has asked about when the snow was coming for a few weeks now and I am so happy she has finally gotten some. It worked out very well for me to have been home with her the day the first real snow hit. We went sledding and had hot chocolate. It was so much fun. This cute picture was taken by a friend who watches her one day a week for me. It shows her love for this white stuff.

We will be heading to MI for Christmas with our family. Addie Mei and I will have our Christmas together at home next week. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Look out, here comes Snow White!!

Here is my "Little Princess," Snow White. She went trick or treating with her best buddy, Drew. They were too cute. They managed our entire street and both carried their heavy pumpkins loaded with candy the whole way!! I have some cute footage of them BANGING on the doors yelling Trick or Treat. Not bad for their first time out! I think we are going to really like Halloween!