Catching up!

Lucy was a true Beatles fan at "Abbey Road on the River" today

We have been awful, and we apologize.
We have no excuse other than our own laziness for not keeping up the blog. Really, this is all about photos of Lucy (even if it bores the world maybe it'll be fun for her to see!), and we have been bad!!!
So, in reverse order, here's what's been going on in the world of our fast-growing baby lately....!


She's always been a bubbly girl. We were hanging out today at the Beatles fest!


Last week of regular semester preschool included a "wear-something-of-Dad's" day


Proud mom and her girl on Mother's Day 2007 (no kidney stones this year, thank you, Dad!)


Our little Easter angel holding her pig Wilbur


Clowning outside Lynn's Paradise Cafe before brunch...


Do we have a future Martha Stewart?

What a difference a year makes

April 3, 2006, moments after we met Lucy in Guangdong Province, China


April 3, 2007, moments before heading to Chuck E. Cheese in America

WOW. How much Lucy has changed, how much we have changed as a family, as individuals. One year past the "gotcha day" on April 3 and her little personality has really emerged. What a sweet, smart little girl, the best child on the planet! ;)

Reflections on a very happy new year...

A goodbye hug for Lyla from Lucy


Lyla and Lucy in Lyla's big-girl room!


Lyla helps her "baby" up the stairs


From left: Pals from Yangjiang to Louisville (far right)

Ni Hao to everyone!
We are celebrating the Chinese New Year right now (it's the year of the pig if you haven't heard), and yesterday we went to the home of Lucy's "big sister" from Yangjiang orphanage in China for a CNY celebration.
It's been awhile since they've seen each other, so it was nice to have them reunited. Lucy ran around all day saying, "Lyla, Lyla, Lyla." Whether Lucy remembers her from China or not we can't be sure, be we do think Lucy loves Lyla now.

There'll be a big Chinese New Year party on Saturday, put on by our local FCC (Families with Children from China) chapter here, so we'll have more pics soon!!

I am behind in posting some fun pics, so I promise to be a better poster in the new year -- both American and Chinese!

---Mary Ann

Happy Valentine's Day

Lucy is ready to go to preschool, complete with her mother's 60's/70's-inspired foil-covered shoebox we decorated last night. She's armed with her Hello Kitty Valentines, ready to hand out to all her friends.
So happy V-Day to everyone, & sorry we've taken so long to post something new!

--Update: Joe reported on drop-off of Lucy that the 2-year-olds ooohed and aaahed over the shiny foil shoebox. She was the only one who had one. Thank goodness toddlers aren't easily embarrassed, and I got away with one there (she doesn't yet realize I'm an old Mama)!

;)

Merry Christmas!

From Santa's little helper ;)

Shop...or get off the pot!

Yes, folks...time is running out on you last-minute holiday shoppers. As you can see, our little one believes in using every available minute to scour the newspaper for good deals.

In between Joe's great snotball referred to in the last entry, I found out I had pneumonia. The fever's gone, antibiotics taken, but the cough is lingering and is pretty nasty at times, especially at night. Someone has been sick in our home since Thanksgiving!

Enough whining, I have tons of presents still to wrap. Hurry, Santa!

--M.A.

That Snot Normal

OK, you'll be glad there are no images of this, but we found out last night what has been making Joe so sick -- a very large snotball.

After a doctor initially said it was strep, but when antibiotics didn't knock the sore throat out, a second doc said the initial diagnosis was wrong and it was a severe viral infection of some sort.

We now think Joe's body identified a big snot ball as a virus.

He blew it out last night and yes, he made me look at it, and if I'd had the measuring tape handy it would have been around a foot in diameter. Actually, it was shaped a bit like a fig and was a bit larger than one. We suspect it had been growing with layer after layer of mucous for a few weeks now.

Painful coming out but, boy, did it feel good.

About 10 minutes after the expulsion he was running around the house like a kid he felt so much better.

Life is so strange sometimes.

Strepping on the feedbag

"Ahh-men!" she said on her first Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.


It wasn't much of a meal, but it tasted sooo good!


The products of the day, every day, at Chez Germ.

*****

What is it about holidays, illness and Joe.

On Mothers Day, it was kidney stones that kept him in the hospital for several days. And now, on Thanksgiving? Strep throat.

That’s right, when people throughout the United States were celebrating the holiday with roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberries and football, Joe was holed up in the guest bedroom so he didn’t spread the disease to Mary Ann and Lucy.

And Mary Ann was spending her second straight day watching Lucy alone. Don’t get me wrong, we both love watching Lucy, but if you have other things to get done, at Lucy’s age, it’s virtually impossible unless you can tag-team her.

This wasn’t going to be a big deal Thanksgiving, anyway. We’ve had lots of things going on of late and decided we would play it low-key. We were going to go over to Joe’s mom’s house where she’s recovering from abdominal surgery.

We were just going to pick up turkey dinners from Shoney’s or Cracker Barrel or some place like that, spend a few hours over there then head home for a leisurely evening. But those plans were obviously scratched – last thing Joe’s mom needs is someone with strep throat infectng her house.

So, Mary Ann swung by the Krogers, picked up a frozen turkey platter, some Stovetop stuffing and we had our first thanksgiving as a family.

We said grace with Lucy punctuating it with, “Ahh-men.”

Lucy gobbled up her Stovetop stuffing, and seemed to enjoy her Banquet turkey well enough.

Joe, who doesn’t have much of an appetite with the fever and all, choked down about a half plate of turkey and stuffing. Mary Ann didn’t even try the turkey.

And she cried. It was our first Thanksgiving with Lucy.

And it was the best Thanksgiving dinner ever.

Happy Halloween!

You can see the "TVLand" influence in Lucy's costume for her first Halloween party as she got dolled up as the title character in "I Dream of Jeannie" today for her daycare's party.

There were so many adorable kids there -- Spiderman, Batman, princesses, Scooby Doo, Bob the Builder -- even a little kid dressed like a piece of candy corn! Happy to say that Lucy was the one and only genie there. Also happy that Lucy doing the arm cross, head bob thing like Jeannie was finally caught by Mom on videotape with Lucy in full costume.


Genie with a bottle


Lucy and a gal pal who came dressed as a rag doll


Must be a sugar high from the candy


The headpiece off, it's time to eat candy with Dad!

We don't know what to do about her shyness...

Yeah, here's Miss Lucy modeling her t-shirt from Angela. She really liked the shirt. Maybe she knew what it said. ;)

Pajama Day!

Hi, y'all. Just a couple photos of Lucy all ready for preschool this morning.
Today is pizza and PJ day. Kids come in their jammies, get fed pizza for lunch, and watch movies and eat popcorn.
I cannot tell you how good this sounds to Lucy's mommy and daddy right about now!

Living vicariously through our daughter,
Joe & Mary Ann

Lucy turns 2!!!

We had a blast. Her big day was Sept. 24, sandwiched in between Dad's (22nd) and Mom's (28th). We had a fairly low-key night at paternal grandma's house.

Enjoy the photos! More will be coming in a more timely manner, I promise. We've shut down our adoption blog and will be posting here exclusively! More soon.



Cake all over!


The princess castle Bundt cake!


Birthday girl


Mother's little helper


Lucy, Mom & Dad

Baptism, sketti and pedicures

Lucy on Baptism day


Here we are during Mass


Lucy was a little scared by the baptism itself, but she wound up high-fiving the priest later...

Yes, all three have been a big part of Lucy's life lately.
Sunday she was baptized into the Catholic Church. It was a beautiful day, and we were so proud to be her parents. Happily, both of Lucy's grandmothers were there, and her godmother was her aunt, Nancy, Joe's sister. Her godfather was Joe's cousin Tyler.
Lucy, who normally loves water, found herself taken a bit by surprise when Father poured the water on her, so she cried a bit but then forgave him for scaring her by clapping for herself when he presented her to the church.


Here Lucy raises the roof with her godfather, Tyler, back at the house


With Aunt Nancy, her godmother


Lucy's cake from the party at home


(See more photos at our adoption journey website in the "Baptism Day" entry)

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It's no fun unless they have to hose you down after supper!

Eating: Unbelievable. Eats everything in sight now. And, of course, food's no good unless you get it all over yourself, as you can see with the great spaghetti incident of '06.


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On her toes...

Lucy, in her "rich-princess robe," as her Daddy calls it, watched me sand my feet this morning then decided to borrow the file (or whatever it's called) and give herself a little pedicure. Ahhh, the good life.

Welcome, Harley!

We haven't liked to talk about it much, but we lost our beloved golden retriever, Bernstein, on July 8. We knew soon after that we wanted another golden, who would come from the same rescue group where we found Bernstein, GRRAND. After a few short weeks, we decided to put in our application process, and last Saturday we looked at the one and only dog for us, Harley. He's a year old, and has a history of doing well with children. Lucy loves him. Stella, our beagle, is beginning to love him.



Harley loves our bed. People might think we're getting no sleep because of Lucy, but not true. It's Harley who is making us fend for ourselves in our bed each night, trying to claim a little piece of mattress while His Majesty is sprawled out like a 70-pound sack of flour, lifeless and unable to be moved....three words: king-size bed.

Anyway, we are proud of our new addition. Harley was his original moniker, by the way, and he answers to it very well so we decided to keep the name.

Lucy's first haircut!

Ho Yeah!


The stuff I have to put up with for beauty...


Yep, Lucy visited the local "Cookie Cutters" and sat in the pink Jeep (or whatever the vehicle was supposed to be!) last Saturday and watched her favorite DVD while the lady cut her scraggly hair.

While she may look like she was upset, Lucy really was just wanting her stylist to move outta the way so she could see the TV better...!

In the end, you can see Lucy's reaction to herself (top photo) as she views her new 'do -- what a ham!

This one's for Angela

Who is sweet to ask for Lucy updates. Well, we could bore you with our endless attempts to get her to eat food, but nothing's very visual except for this cute photo (we're biased, admittedly). One of Lucy's latest things is this: for whatever reason one day I started humming the theme from "I Dream of Jeannie" to her. She loved it, and now everytime you sing it she smiles. This photo was taken during such a moment.

I have also taught her to cross her arms and blink like Jeannie -- I'm not making this up -- but unfortunately I do not have her mimic on camera yet. Naturally a genie will be a front-runner for Halloween costumes.

Please don't yell at me for putting the song in your head now. I hope it makes you smile when you hear it, too!

--M.A.

And it stoned me...

Lucy on Mother's Day!

My first Mother's Day: lovely daughter, good friends, sick husband.

Joe woke up early Saturday morning with a kidney stone attack, his first ever! He and Lucy and I rushed to the e.r., where his self-diagnosis was confirmed. They gave him painkillers and sent him on his merry way home. We came home about 8 a.m. and crashed.

That evening Lucy and I went to my friend Ellen's for dinner. She was hosting Andrea, a friend of ours who was visiting from Chicago. Both Ellen and Andrea were bridesmaids in our wedding, so it was cool to see them both at the same time. Joe stayed home, sleeping from his Percocet pills.

Dinner at Ellen's was very nice. She had a nice Mexican buffet dinner, and everyone got to socialize and have a wonderful time. As her little 4-year-old guest Simon said, "You make a mean quesadilla."

Simon and Lucy were very cute together. Personally I think Simon rushed the relationship, but kids don't want advice from the old folks, so I'll just stay quiet for the next couple of decades and support wherever this is headed: playdates, proms, whatever. (Psst: Simon, next time bring Cheerios and she'll be eating out of your hand). Seriously. This is one of the cutest little boys I've ever met. And I've met a lot of adorable ones, too.


Cute boys are everywhere! This one's Simon

Back home to crash. Next on the agenda was a 9 a.m. brunch Sunday at the Bristol, with many of the same crew from Ellen's, plus Joe's mom. Joe again said "go ahead," so up Lucy and I went. Lucy looked cute in her dress, bought specifically to make her mother happy on her first mother's day. I have no idea if she liked the dress or not, but she sure was cute! Brunch was great, except they wouldn't let us order off-buffet and get the green chili wontons! Andrea was disappointed. We got to hang out with Julia and Diego this time. Diego was of great interest to Lucy, but she picked up none of his wonderful eating habits, I'm sorry to say. (You can see more photos at our "journey to Lucy" website, by the way).


Lucy and I and Andrea after a green-chili-wonton-less brunch


Julia and her newest, little Diego


Diego the adorable!

When we got home, Joe was sicker, so we called Ellen to drive him to the e.r. (he refused an ambulance call, he was sick but not that sick, he said). I called Joe's mom to come out and sit with Lucy while she napped so I could go be with Joe.

This was the first time since April 3, when Lucy was placed in our arms, that both of us have been away from her, and I have not yet recovered from the trauma it caused me. But I felt she needed her rest at home.

Turns out Joe's evil kidney stone had been refusing to pass, hanging out in his body and causing an infection. His white count had gone way up, which is when they decided to admit him to the hospital (this was Sunday evening). I came home to get Lucy, then we went back to the hospital to visit with Joe.


Lucy visits DaDa in the hospital

So the docs decided that the antibiotics had stopped the infection, and they decided not to do anything invasive with the stone, just to let it pass. They released Joe on Tuesday, and today he went back to work. He's tired, but overall feeling much, much better.

And I will always remember my very first wacky but wonderful Mother's Day, because in the end everyone's back home and healthy!