Five Months- a Family of Four

Geez- did you all think I fell off the edge of the planet? I haven't but we have been VERY busy.

We have had an absolutely great summer and fall. Mike is loving his new job, the girls are growing and thriving. Meina had been such an amazing little girl! Her willingness to trust us and let us love her is simply amazing. Everyday we see more of her personality and what a personality it is! So today's post will be about what I love to "talk" about most- MY GIRLS!

First off, Ramzie is doing so well in school. She comes home everyday laughing with a fun story to tell. She has a great and involved teacher which we are sooooo grateful for. I cannot believe the change in her maturity level in this short amount of time..... Boo hoo she is growing too fast! She has made some new friends and seems to have a new confidence that I am so proud of. She has also resumed her gymnastics classes. She has decided not to return to dance this year, but wants to try some of the YMCA programs this winter. She has been on three field trips with school- one to the fire station, one to the pumpkin patch and one to a local theater to watch a play. She loves to go to plays! Last winter we went to a production of Annie and for this winter, we have The Wizard of OZ tickets already purchased.

She has decided that she is going to be Glenda (the good witch) for Halloween this year. We found the costume at the Cracker Barrel gift shop of all places! To sum it up for Ramz- she is doing really well and THRIVING as a big sister.

Meina has also had a busy and fun-filled few months. She is getting to do quite a few firsts with us. First trip to the Zoo, first trip to Oma and Opa's, and first activity group- she is taking music (and loves it), and last Thursday she had her first trip to the pumpkin patch.

She is growing and fast! She is now 32" tall and 23 lbs. That puts her in the 75th percentile for height and 45th for weight. She will eat just about anything. The two things she is not fond of are bell pepper and lettuce. Her vocabulary is starting to expand. She has the beginning of many many words and says mama, dada, please, yes, no, ball, bus, more, Ram (Ramzie), up, down apple, green, and hungry pretty clear. She will also hold up 1 finger and say "one" when we ask her how old she is. We had her evaluated by EI (early intervention) for our post placement visit and she did very well overall and most areas she scored at 20+ months!

Not bad for a little one who could not pull herself up or crawl 5 months ago!

We have continued to keep contact with the orphanage and Meina's foster family. They are so happy to get updates from us each month.

Personality wise, we are still figuring her out. She is an extremely easy going girl most of the time. She is sweet and sensitive (we barely have to look at her cross and she melts) and really funny. She is falling into the "baby of the family" role well and can sometimes be a pill to her sister if she wants what Ramzie has. She will be a Bumble Bee for Halloween.

As you can tell by the pictures, she still will not smile for the camera- but I promise she is a really happy kid.

As for Mike and I we are both busy enjoying these two sweet girls we are blessed to raise.

Joanie

Kindergarten!

Today is a BIG day. My little Ramzie is at school as I post this! She did great- it was much harder on mom. Lol!
She really wanted to ride the bus so we put her on it and then followed it to the school. She was very brave- marched right up the stairs and sat down without hesitation. When we got to the school I could see she was happy to see a few familiar faces. After a few hello hugs she walked to her classroom, found her bag hook, hung up her bag and coat, and then looked for and found her name at her station. Her friend Abby sits right across from her. The only time she acted nervous was when the bell rang. I think she thought it was a fire alarm at first.

When we left she was happy and coloring a picture.

As much as I am sad to see her grow so fast, I am so happy for her to begin this new adventure. We have had a blast getting things ready for the big day. She and I spent the whole day Sunday school shopping. She has very particular taste all of the sudden so it was fun to watch her ponder her decisions. The shoes seemed to be the biggest debate in her mind. hmmm- pink or black Sketchers? I almost let her get both but she also wanted a pair of flats so I made her choose. As fast as she is growing (3/4 inch in August) I know we will have the opportunity to change styles later in the year :-) Trust me she has plenty of shoes to get her through.

Life really IS good.


Here she is in her carefully chosen "first day" outfit
Waiting for the bus at the end of the driveway

Getting off at school after a 5 minute ride

I found my spot!

Ramzie- You are such an amazing person. We are so proud to be your parents and cannot wait to watch you blossem this school year.

Our Sweet Girls

As I mentioned in my last post we had professional photos taken of the girls. Here are a few of my favorites. Tina the photographer is amazing! If you want to check out her work you can see it by clicking the link for Itty Bitty Portraits in my side bar.

I placed my order today.... Can't wait to get the prints in person!

Enjoy,

Joanie

Pictures of our last week or so.

We have not done anything exciting, but we always seem to be busy! Ramzie and Meina have been doing swimming every day for the past two weeks. The lessons are scheduled at 12:45pm so right in the middle of the day. I wasn't thinking that all the way through when I signed them up. It really makes it hard to do anything in the afternoon because we have to go straight home for nap time. Meina must have a 3 hour nap and Ramzie is still taking about an hour or so. I am trying to get her out of it because she starts school in August, but she will even ask for a nap if she is tired. She isn't getting to bed at her usual 8-8:30 either, so I think that doesn't help matters.

Ramzie has had quite a few play dates which are good for her and it gives Meina and I some special alone time. It seems that most of the pictures below are of Meina and I took them while Ramz was either at the neighbors or out on her trampoline (another favorite activity). Meina is getting quite the personality. She LOVES music and starts dancing and laughing every time she hears Taylor Swift. This happens to be quite a bit because Ramzie has the CD and plays it ALL THE TIME.

Speaking of pictures, last Thursday we had family pictures and pictures of the girls taken. I cannot wait to see how they turn out. I am hoping there is one or two that can be put on a canvas to cover some of the bare areas on our walls. We have been in this house almost five years and I still have some VERY bare walls in places.

Mike has been out of town on an assignment so it has been just the girls this week. As always happens when he leaves town, we had a few minor issues...
First and (kinda) minor, my washer is blinking an error code during the final spin cycle. I was sure we had not had the washer more than 3 years and "thought" I had bought the extended service plan. Turns out we bought it 4 years ago on July 30th AND I did buy the extra plan...... a four year plan. Yes, we lucked out and it had issues just days BEFORE it ran out. The not so lucky part was they did not have anyone to come out to repair it until Friday (tomorrow). I really hope it is a simple fix and they can do it while they are here. Otherwise, I will not be able to find my children in the piles of laundry that are forming downstairs!
The second thing that happened this week was I got rear-ended sitting at a stoplight. My car is only 5 months old! There does not appear to be much damage, small crack in the bumper, but it sure made me think twice about going with a smaller type vehicle.
So that about sums up our lives. Things are good.....

Sister gave me a makeover!

I gave myself a makeover and Mommy took the make-up away!

Best,

Joanie

A full life

Sisters holding hands after a long day at the Zoo!
The New Mexico and Montana Smith kids

Exploring the Zoo

Hubei girls

Daddy and his grils looking at the Tiger

Day at the park

Wading pool fun!

We have been busy this month so not much time to post to the blog.

I will start with an update on the girls.

Meina is really walking (and running) everywhere now. She has suddenly become fearless and has many boo-boo's to show for it. We are not going to get by without gates for the stairs with this little one. Several nights ago I was cooking dinner while the girls were downstairs playing in their "kitchen". Anyway, I heard a sigh or grunting sound coming from the stairs. I thought uh-oh she is going to try to come up the stairs by herself so I ran over to look. Well, the little bug was AT THE TOP ALREADY! Our staircase is not a few steps either- it is fifteen and steep. I was scared to death since 2 days earlier Mike was teaching her how to go up the stairs and had to catch her from falling back no less than three times. That is what we get for teaching her how to climb them- Lol.

We had a pediatrician visit last week for more vaccinations and she is growing well. She has grown 1 inch and gained 1.5# in 7 weeks! That places her in the 40% for weight and 90% for height. We are not surprised based on how much she eats. She will eat anything.... not picky at all.

She continues to be a easy-going kid. She does not like to be told no though and I get big tears when I take something away from her that she thinks she should have. She follows Ramzie around everywhere goes. She also loves for her daddy to wrestle and chase her.

She has wonderful receptive understanding and will follow directions very well for a 15 month baby.

She is saying many words now like- Yes (ye), more (mo), please (pss), hungry (ungy) mama, Elli (e-ie) I love you ( I uooo) and finally in the last days -dada. So all around she is doing great and we love watching her personality blossom as she starts to understand that this is IT- we are here family.

Ramzie is becoming quite the girl. all signs of baby and toddler hood are gone (sob). She is loving summer and all the swimming we get to do. She is growing like a weed also. She is 43 inches tall and 37.5#- staying steady at 20% on the growth chart. She continues to love gymnastics and has really improved. All of a sudden she can pull herself around and do a back walkover and swing around twice on the bars. She is excited to start Kindergarten in August- I am having a hard time with that thought! She is such a good big sister! She plays with Meina all the time and is VERY patient even when she is getting into her things.

We took a quick trip to Denver this last weekend to meet some dear friends from New Mexico. We met them on our first trip to China when we adopted Ramzie. We get together every year for a vacation with them and the Rice family (from New Jersey) because we love to see the girls together AND we really enjoy the company. This year, we have not been able to do a long two-week vacation together mainly because of our circumstance- trip to China and Mike starting a new job. We decided we had to at LEAST see each other, so we met up in Denver on Friday and had a great weekend. It was 103 degrees so we spent the AM at the Zoo and the PM at the Museum. We also planned to stop by CCAI (the agency we used for both adoptions) but never got there. I did call and talk to them to see when the best time to stop in was because they had just received referrals and were making calls and they said to come by in the afternoon. Well, time just got away from us so that was a bit of a bummer! But we will plan to make another reunion in the near future.

We also hit the American Girl store for a new outfit for Ramzie's Carissa doll. Wow- that place is fun!

I only have two more weeks until I head back to work so I have a lot to get done. The big thing this week is applying for Meina's passport.

Enjoy the pictures!

Joanie