Some more photos

I have posted a few more photos from our party on Sunday--I have more but will have to post those later. I put Marty in charge of taking photos and realized about 3/4 of the way into the party that he had decided he was actually going to enjoy the party and not worry about taking pictures.

I do regret not getting more photos of Elizabeth and her friends. And there are a couple of the girls that I didn't even get a photo of on the White Couch. We will have to do it again.

All in all the party was great fun. Although I have to admit that I messed up on a few things. I realized that I forgot to put all the juice boxes out for the kids to drink so I have no idea what those poor little darlings were drinking all afternoon. And there were a few kids who didn't get their goodie bags because I was so distracted--of course they will have to be personally delivered! And then there was the sad fact that I just couldn't get to visit with everyone that I wanted to. I likened it to a wedding where you have all of these people that you want to spend time with but are lucky if you get to say hello.

However, in the end, it was all fine and I think most everyone had a good time. And guess what? I can't wait till next year's party. Oh, and I will be sure and put those juice boxes out!


Here is Elizabeth in all of her birthday glory....




Okay, so I had to throw in a photo of some of the food since it turned out that everyone seemed to enjoy it.




Here is Mei Mei (Maria) looking so cute in her Chinese red outfit. She wins the prize for best Chinese outfit!




Here are Kenya and Charlotte--like mother, like daughter-both pretty as a picture. And when you see Charlotte you just can't resist the urge to hold her--although she isn't too fond of being out of mama's arms!




Here is Hope playing with Elizabeth's toy tuba. That is a tuba isn't it. I called it a trumpet but realized that wasn't right. In any case, all the kids loved this little instrument.




Here she is with Joanne...don't they look so cute together! And we were lucky that Joanne helped us with a lot of the Chinese New Year decorations. And in the future we hope she can help Elizabeth once she starts to learn Mandarin.




Here are a couple of photos of Elizabeth with her grandma and grandpa--whom she affectionately calls "uma" and "umpa".





A few photos of Elizabeth in her "party" dress. It really was the quintessential party dress. Oh, and the patent leather shoes were such a hit with her, that she has decided she will be wearing them "all the time". That means even to the playground when we are playing in the dirt. Have you ever tried to tell a two year old that she cannot wear her black patent leather shoes to the playground? It isn't pretty I assure you.








Here are the girls looking at their red envelopes.

The White Couch

Here are the girls on the couch opening up their Red Envelopes with dollar bills in them. We lined them up on the couch to replicate the "red couch" photo that is well known among all the girls adopted from China. Usually the group that traveled together to China gets the girls together on the Red Couch for a group photo. Well here they are on an American White leather couch. Plus Hope, of course.

Elizabeth and Kaila doing the Chinese Money Dance

If you wondered if Elizabeth had a good time at her party --well here she is with her "cousin" Kaila after everyone had left. They are playing with the dollar bills that they got in their "red envelopes" which are a tradition of the Chinese New Year--more on that later.

As you may know we celebrated Chinese New Year this weekend and combined it with a celebration of Elizabeth's second birthday.

I have a lot more photos to post but wanted to let you know that she had a blast with all of her friends.


Here is a photo of Elizabeth's "Elmo" cake. I think this is the biggest birthday cake I have ever seen. And I think I got as big a kick out of picking it out as Elizabeth did in seeing it--and eating it!



Here are the girls on the "white couch" photo. All of these gorgeous girls were born in China and as you can see they are all flourishing in the U.S. with their families. Oh, yeah, the gorgeous blond girl is not from China--that is Hope-which is quite an appropriate name since seeing all the babies on our couch really gives me hope about the world and the fact that yeah, great things happen in this world!


Here is Elizabeth with dada and Kaila playing in front of the Elmo cake.

She's 2

Here is a quick photo of Elizabeth. It has been a hectic week so I will write and post more photos later but here she is on her actual birthday January 15th.

Yesterday she decided she was going to prove to momma that the "terrible twos" really do exist. But it may have had something to do with the fact that she had to give up her morning half hour with Elmo to watch the inaguration. That did NOT sit well with her. I tried to explain to her the historical significance of the event and that we would finally have a new president and vice president and that it could change the world. She looked at me, rather annoyed and screamed, "ELMO!".

Ah, I suppose children know what is truly important in life.

The Last Day of Being One

So...I am feeling sort of nostalgic and oddly sentimental about the fact that tomorrow Elizabeth will leave the one year mark and become an official "two year old". Am I sad about her not being a baby anymore? Sure, in some ways. But I am more excited about seeing her grow up. Everyday she does so many things that amaze me and make me smile. She is really starting to talk now and is pretty much understanding everything--which continues to amaze me.

Sometimes it is the littlest thing that she does that really gets to me. Like today I had my wallet out and license with my picture was on the outside pocket of my wallet, Elizabeth exclaimed "mama" grabbed the license and kissed it. I kind of wanted to cry at such a simple, sweet and innocent gesture. Yeah, she is a sweetie.

Here are some photos taken over the last week or two. It has been pretty amazing how much she seems to be turning into a little actress who loves to pose for the camera. Not that she was ever a wallflower but suddenly she is really loving the limelight. And please excuse the fact that none of these photos have been edited or photoshopped...I now am lucky just to get the photos posted and hope one day to have enough spare time to fix up my photos before I post them. Maybe once Elizabeth is off to college--or Hollywood.


Here is Elizabeth in the darling tutu that Aunt Rita and Uncle Bill sent her for Christmas. I think this skirt may have been part of what has ignited the performer in her over the last couple of weeks. She loves to wear this skirt everywhere. At first I would only let her wear it in the house since I didn't want her to get it dirty but then I realized she isn't going to be able to wear it when she is tweleve so she may as well enjoy it while she can. And we have learned that a fancy pink tutu can really dress up an old pair of jeans!








She seems to think she looks pretty darn good





Here she is happy as can be --having discovered that dressing up is something she loves to do. And being the center of attention--oh yeah, she will take it.








Oh Really?


Here Sandra got Elizabeth to put on her "Dora" sunglasses and pose for the camera--yet again



Oh yeah, I'm a ham!





Here we told Elizabeth to put on her best "woe is me" face--this is what she came up with...

Becky and Elizabeth

These photos are over a couple of weeks old now but they show Elizabeth with Becky-who is the darling, smart, beautiful and sweet daughter of my college roomy Holly and her hubby Bruce. Elizabeth had so much fun with Becky. We really wish Holly and family could move next door! Alas.

Can I Wiggle?

Here is Elizabeth the night before her eye operation. She is trying to ask dada to put Wiggles on and she is making quite a show of herself and is obviously not shy about not being fully clothed. Will she hate me for posting some of these videos when she gets older? Oh yeah, but if that is all she is angry at me about I will consider myself lucky!

Eliz and Kaila and the "bottle"

Just another short video of Kaila and Elizabeth playing around with their bottles. This video also illustrates how hard it is to videotape kids...or anything that moves for that matter.

Elizabeth and Kaila share a meal

Here is a little video of Elizabeth and Kaila sharing a meal. Kaila came over the week that Elizabeth was home recuperating from her operation. Needless to say, Kaila really cheered her up. They really do have a blast together.

Happy New Year

First of all...Happy New Year.

Secondly, sorry for the delay in posting, but things have been-how shall I say-"hectic" around here.

It turns out that Elizabeth was given the opportunity by her eye doctor to have her operation earlier than we had expected. She was originally scheduled for March but doctor thought in her case that the earlier the better. So, off we went to Jules Stein Eye Institute in L.A. on December 23rd for Elizabeth's strabismus operation.

And the wonderful news is that Elizabeth did great and the doctor is really pleased with the result!

And even more exciting is that she can see better. She is doing all sorts of things she never did before--like playing on her own with little puzzle pieces, and pointing out the little cats on her pajamas (they were always there but her close up vision probably wasn't good enough for her to see them). We have also noticed her balance is better and she is barreling up and down the stairs now.

Generally she is seeming lots more independent (which has it plusses and minuses) and we think it is because she is a lot more confident now that she can see more clearly.

So if you think I am so grateful to Dr. Rosenbaum--you are right. And while he may be Jewish I am thinking of writing to the Pope to see if the good doctor can be canonized.

Being Irish I am forced to knock on wood whenever I say something is going great, but so far (knock on wood) Elizabeth's operation was a great success.

And she did so well through the whole thing. I had worried for almost a year about how things were going to go and how she might be traumatized and frightened by the whole experience. Turns out she had loads of fun at the hospital--seemed to be in love with the anesthesiologist, who carried her (smiling and waving, 'bye bye, mama, bye bye dada) into the operating room.

When she woke up, there was only about 5 minutes of her melting down and after that she was ready to play. In fact about 4 hours after the operation we went to Dr. Rosenbaum's office for him to check her eyes and she ran into his arms and gave him a big kiss. What a wonderful moment that was.

In some ways I wish I had taken photos of the day but at the time it didn't seem appropriate. Somehow taking photos at a hospital seems wrong. I suppose when a baby is born it is done all the time--but I still feel odd about the whole idea. Hospital are serious business and I suppose we associate photos with happy and carefree times. So...Elizabeth will have to settle for our explanation of how things went on December 23rd and how she was walking around Jules Stein eye Institute looking like a drunken (but very cute) sailor just hours after her operation.

Are we thrilled? Yes. Do we love Dr. Rosenbaum? Yes. Am I knocking on wood all day? Yes.

Here is just one photo of Elizabeth which shows she is feeling pretty happy...I will post more photos later, but I wanted to make sure to check in and say Happy New Year and thanks for taking this journey with us.