Family life

That about sums it up..... The last month has been busy just doing "stuff". This past week little Ms. Meina has had RSV which is the first time she has really been sick. She would not eat and would barely drink. Those who know our girl know that is unheard of, so we knew she was really sick. The fever lasted about 6 days and finally today she woke up ready to play and have breakfast. It is good to have my spunky lil one back! Her other accomplishment is she is potty trained. I am not sure how we got so lucky, but both of our girls have potty trained before they were two. Makes it nice to not need diapers anymore. Next step is a big girl bed, but she keeps saying no when we ask. She LOVES her crib and I am okay with her staying in it for a while longer.

Yesterday was the first day of spring and boy do we have spring FEVER. Ramzie and I went to the store and picked out seeds for our garden even though we have at least 2 months before we can plant them. Mike fixed up the trampoline and the girls spent time playing and jumping during the warm part of the day.

Ramzie lost her first tooth in February. She is so happy to have joined her friends who are getting tooth fairy visits.

The other big event this last month was Ramzie's b-day party. We usually wait till Feb/Mar to celebrate with friends because Christmas is a hard time. This year she invited just a few friends to go to a local indoor water park with her. It was a great way to spend a day. She really enjoyed it. She asked everyone to bring food to take to the local food bank instead of presents. We ended up with a trunk full of food to donate. She was very proud to take her donations in and tell them what they were from. Way to go Ramzie!

Mike and I are doing well. We are doing the P90X program and it is alot of fun. HARD but really good for us both. We usually do it in the evenings after the kids are in bed. It is our time and we are able to talk about our day and such. So far- I have lost about 12lbs and Mike is getting really cut. I highly recommend the program. It is a killer the first few weeks but it really makes you feel great too.

Happy Spring everyone.

Happy New Year- Year of the Rabbit!

Geez- so much for improving my blog record and updating once a week! To my defense we have been pretty busy and changed our Internet service. Of course there was a hiccup or two with that so now that I am back online it is time to catch everyone up.

First, on February second we marked the one year anniversary of Meina's referral. Wow- how far we have come (and traveled) in a year. As we spend each day as a family it is pretty amazing that she was not here last year.

So like most of the country Montana has been very snowy and cold this winter. We are so ready for spring and it is only February. Ramzie has already burned through two pairs of snow pants and boots, not to mention the number of mittens that have come home with holes in them. Our girl knows how to play for sure. Meina on the other hand HATES the cold and will grab her arms and say Brrrr as soon as she feels a draft.

Meina and I have been spending our days when Ramzie is in school playing and just hanging out. She is pretty attached to me and follows me from room to room like a shadow. She is also a mini-tornado and has not yet grasped the concept of putting away her things. If she loses interest in something it hits the ground and off she goes to the next thing. She is good at directions though and will happily pick things up when asked.

She is crazy about her "thissy" as she calls Ramzie. Once Ramzie is home Meina becomes her shadow.

Meina is getting better and better with her speech. She is pretty clear with the words she uses. She just does not jabber constantly like Ms. Ramz did so she seems a little quieter.

Activities this month have been many. At the first part of January, Ramzie went ice skating for the first time and I got to join her which was a lot of fun. I think we will make that a more consistent activity. Of course she is still doing gymnastics and wants to join the YMCA track team this spring.

The best activity we did this month was the Chinese New Year party with our local FCC group. Each year we get to reconnect with families that have also adopted children from China (or other countries in Asia). Of course with the slowdown in Chinese adoption there have been fewer kids come home recently. Meina was actually the newest in our group. There is another family though that just got a referral for a DARLING baby girl in the last group received on Feb 3rd!

Anyway, we really enjoyed the party and love to be able to bring some of the girls culture into our celebrations each year.

Yesterday- I visited Ramzie's class to discuss Chinese New Year traditions and pass out a few goodies (red envelope with chocolate coins, panda stickers, fortune cookies and some dragon headbands). It went well and Ramzie was very proud to share some trivia about her birth land with her peers. After our trip to school Meina and I went to the store and got stuff for our family celebration dinner. We enjoyed dumplings, noodles and brown rice sushi along with jasmine tea and oranges for dessert. We decorated with red lanterns and red banners and used the special bowel set and table runner that we picked up on our last trip to China. All in all a very nice evening.

The pictures are of everything from the past month..... Enjoy.

Joanie

Boy did we have FUN!

Cute Kids huh?

The gang of kids with Cora

Check out the disaster we made of Mom and Dad's place!

What else is in my stocking?

Sisters-these kind of photos always melt my heart!

My 6 year old birthday girl!

I got Sissy this one!

Can you believe the pile of pillow pets?

Princess Ariel

The boys and pictures= mayham!

The best seat in the house!

This year Christmas was such a blessing in more ways than we could have hoped for. We got to spend it with my mom and dad, my brother and his family and of course our two EXTRA special girls!

When I look back on last year's Christmas- I would have NEVER thought we would be spending this one with another daughter. We had all but given up on adopting another child from China, but God had another plan for our family. That plan of course was our sweet baby girl Meina. She has added to our family in such a wonderful way. She has spunk and laughter that we did not know we were missing. She is loving and just amazing in her ability to adapt and learn new things. People are drawn to her where ever we go. She has allowed us to grow as parents and has allowed Ramzie become a big sister. What an amazing year indeed!

We went to Wyoming on Christmas Eve morning. We had packed the truck the night before with everything so we could just scoop the girls up in the morning and head out. They passed the time by watching Tinkerbell and snacking on banana's and oranges. I figured that I would load them up with some fruit because once at Oma and Opa's all nutrition bets were off....

Anyway, we made it there by mid morning. It was so good to see Frank, Cora and the boys. I sure wish they lived closer- Iowa is a long drive.

Anyway, after a short shy period by both girls (about 10 minutes) they were off playing and having a blast. Let the festivities begin! We had out traditional Oyster stew meal for dinner and then started the present opening marathon!

After a short night of sleep- the kids had us up by 6:30 am it was apparent that Santa thought the kids had all been very good. Meina was kind of unsure of it all happening this early in the morning (she is not a morning girl) but warmed up and was in the middle of it all very soon.

The rest of the day was filled with play and food. We had a lovely turkey dinner and then it was BIRTHDAY TIME for Ramzie.

She now has all of the necessary items that a 6 year old could want. List (not complete just a hint)Easy bake oven (santa), Airbrush Nail Design center (santa) Life Size Tangeled Doll (Oma and Opa) Art Supplies (Mom and Dad) Pillow Pets (everyone) Princess Games (Frank and Cora) Clothes and a new Coat.

Meina was loaded up with ELMO items (Cora and Frank), finger paints and paper (Santa), Rocking Horse (Santa), Clothes and dolls (Mom and Dad) and of course-Pillow pets!

We ended the night playing Sequence. I think this is my new favorite game.

Hope everyone has had a great holiday. Now on to 2011!

Joanie

How can parents be so lucky?

One of Meina's favorite things to do is lay and talk to Ellie our dog.

You caught me mom!

Matching Jammies!

My butterfly fairies

Meina is 20 months old now. She is just blossoming in front of us.... I really marvel each day that I am the mother to these two sweet amazing children. So here is an update on Meina and her development.

She is now 25 lbs and 33.5 inches tall! Yes- that is tall for her age. She is wearing 24 month clothing and loves the color purple! She really has an opinion about what she wears already. She is running and climbing everything. She loves to color and will sit and draw for lengthy periods of time. She also enjoys story time asking for a story (again) over and over.

Every morning she will wave goodbye to her sister as she gets on the bus and then turns to me and says "Elmo". This is my que to turn on her Elmo ABC video, Lol. It is nice because it runs just long enough for me to get a shower :-) She is also talking and laughing more- both music to my ears.

She is becoming more and more attached to us as her family now. She is in a stage where she wants to be held a lot of the time and will just lean in as tight as she can, put her thumb in her mouth and take a big deep breath as if to say "finally". She was not much for being held close for any period of time up until about 2 months ago- so we are making progress. She also calls out Mama and Dada if we are out of the room. As for her relationship with Ramzie, she LOVES her. The minute Ramzie gets home from school she is her little shadow. She follows Ramzie through her after school routine (washing hands, putting away her boots and coat, showing me her seat work for the day, snack and playtime). I will be upstairs preparing dinner and hear them laughing and playing while Taylor Swift plays in the background- It just does not get any better than that.

This next week will be busy. Ramzie has a Christmas program and then we are all headed to Wyoming for the holidays. Mom has been fighting an infection and we have not seen her in a while- so it will be good to see her and my dad. Frank (brother) and his kids will be there also. It will be fun to see all of the kids together.

Well- off to wrap some presents.....

Have a good week-

Christmas