Life With Lizzie!

2011-11-07T19:48:00.002-05:00

Sadly, we had to send Chloe to be with her sister Ginger. She was very thin and could barely eat or use the litter box. She was a great little friend who sometimes acted like a dog! Thanks for your friendship Chloe, we will miss you forever!

Long Over Due Update!

2011-08-11T20:38:00.005-04:00

I can't believe summer is almost over! Where did it go? So what have we been up to?

We celebrated Mom-Mom's birthday .. she is 89 this year. Here is a picture of Lizzie and Mom-Mom!

Lizzie went to the Zoo on a camp trip with Guy, and of course, she had to get her face painted. This picture is after the Zoo when Guy brought her up to my office!

Just a really cute picture of Lizzie

It was Grandpop's 72nd Birthday and Lizzie joined in singing Happy Birthday!

Our little Bathing Beauty... all 40 pounds of her!

Dutch Wonderland, June 2011

2011-06-09T21:41:00.003-04:00

We had a great time last weekend when we went to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Lizzie had a wonderful time. She got to ride a pony .. then asked us when we can buy one!

Easter 2010

2011-04-25T19:57:00.002-04:00

Easter 2010 has come and gone. The day (er night) started out with Lizzie coming into our room at 3:30....we didn't let on that we saw her. She then took her Easter Basket into her room and went back to sleep. That is until 6:00 a.m. when she flew into our room again and flipped the light on to show us everything that the Easter Bunny brought. We couldn't even open our eyes because of the super nova on our ceiling. After we recovered, we had a very Easter dinner at my sister Lisa's house.

Lizzie's First Dance Recital

2011-04-09T20:33:00.004-04:00

Lizzie had her first dance recital last weekend and she did really good! They danced two numbers and the girls were fantastic! Here are some really cute pictures. I will post the "official" pictures as soon as we receive them!

Christmas 2010

2011-02-14T20:36:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the very late post with some pictures from Christmas. We have been pretty busy! This year Christmas was Zhu-Zhu pets, a little sewing kit, a little stuffed Yorkie puppy that barks and did I say Zhu-Zhu pets! Santa gave Lizzie a call a few days before Christmas and she was very surprised. She had a great time and is already talking about this year!

Decorating!

2010-11-28T21:00:00.003-05:00

We started decorating this weekend and so foar it looks great! Lizzie is so into decorating and Christmas this year. She has been singing deck the halls all weekend!

Christmas Portraits 2010

2010-11-28T20:30:00.003-05:00

We went to Sears again this year for Lizzie's Christmas portraits, and once again, they are beautiful!! Here are just 4 of the 44 pictures they took!

Can It Really Be Five Years???

2010-11-08T20:37:00.002-05:00

Five years ago today, our beautiful and amazing Elizabeth was placed in our arms. Where did five years go. Lizzie has changed our lives so much and brought us so much joy! We thank God everyday for bringing this truly wonderful child into our lives. If you want to read about our "Gotcha Day", click on the link below. Happy Gotcha Day sweet Lizzie, Mommy and Daddy love you.
http://www.angelfire.com/magic2/stork/HarrisTravel5.html

Halloween 2010

2010-11-08T20:31:00.003-05:00

This year Lizzie decided she wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.... and I may add, she made a wonderful Dorothy!

It Finally Happened!!!

2010-10-17T20:47:00.003-04:00

After weeks of wiggly and pushing, it finally came out!! Lizzie's First Tooth!!! We all tried to pull it out, but it absolutely would not budge. Finally, Aunt Lisa came over today and tried. She couldn't pull it either. So Lizzie says, "let me try". She pull it out herself!!! I think she even surprised herself. Here are some adorable pictures. She looks so happy in the pictures. She absolutely cannot wait for the tooth fairy to come tonight!!!

Maybe Just a Little Too Much Computer!!!

2010-09-28T21:36:00.002-04:00

First Day of First Grade!!

2010-09-09T21:29:00.004-04:00

Today was a wonderful day! Today was Lizzie' first day of First Grade! We can't believe that our little baby is in First Grade! She has a really nice teacher and there are about 15 children in her room. She got picked today to be the "Line Leader" and was quite proud. Hopefully she continues to love school!!

Today was an absolutely wonderful day! Today was Lizzie' first day of First Grade! She wa

Just Remembered.....

2010-08-03T20:47:00.002-04:00

I just remembered I never posted Lizzie's Christmas pictures.... Merry Christmas in August!

Mother's Day 2010

2010-07-07T19:12:00.009-04:00

Here is Lizzie with her Mom-Mom Harris and Grandmom Evans

This year I had the opportunity to go to Lizzie's school and see the children's Mother's Day Program. I was so happy I was there! The kids did a great job and it was very touching! Here are some links to the Mother's Day Program! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLEsZr1wvB8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYG6HvyWAWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQJ0sKGQeY8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPS3UaEOnro

So Much To Update.....

2010-07-06T20:51:00.008-04:00

It has been quite a while since there were any updates, so let's get started......

Lizzie was invited to quite a few birthday parties. Her favorite party place by far was Bounce-U. It is once of those places that has many inflatables for the children to play on! She absolutely loved it.

Easter 2010

Easter was great this year! The weather was perfect and Lizzie looked adorable. We had Easter dinner at my parent's house and it was a very nice time!

Really cute picture of Lizzie and her new baby "Lilly"! Lilly is a doll that someone made for me about 25 years ago. Lizzie found her in our cedar closet and promptly took her as her own. She picked the name!

More tomorrow!

The Story of Easter as told by Lizzie

2010-03-24T21:32:00.001-04:00

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazIbhQs56s

Chinese New Year - The Year of the Tiger!

2010-02-28T20:46:00.003-05:00

For the past couple of years, we have celebrated Chinese New Year at one of our favorite Chinese restaurant, The Mandarin Court. This year my sister-in-law Stephanie and her husband Fran and my mother-in-law, as well as my sister Lisa, all joined us. My parents were unable to come this year because my mother had just had surgery on her knee. We had a really wonderful time!

Disney World 2010

2010-02-08T19:49:00.005-05:00

We just had the best vacation ever at Disney World! Guy, Lizzie, my mother and sister and I all drove down to Disney World on Saturday, January 23. We stayed overnight in Florence, South Carolina and then travelled on to Disney World on Sunday, January 24. We stayed in the Animal Kingdom at Kindani Village. We were very fortunate to have a villa with two bedrooms (one with a California King and the other with two Queen beds). The villa had three full bathrooms, a full kitchen and a washer and dryer. It was a great room!

I could probably write a book on everything we did, but the highlights were Cinderella's Royal Table for Breakfast with the Princesses, Bippitty Boppity Boo Boutique amd just about everything else! It was a little cold in the mornings, but warmed up to the mid-high 70s in the afternoon. I would recommend to anyone who goes to Disney World to get the meal plan, because the food was wonderful in every restaurant. We took over 400 photos plus video, my sister took another 200 plus photos -- far too many to post here! In any event, here are some of the highlights! We are already planning to go back in 2012!

Christmas Day 2009!

2010-01-01T22:39:00.004-05:00

Lizzie was beyond excited on Christmas morning! We told her she couldn't go downstairs until she brushed her teeth ... here is a short video!

Once we got downstairs, she was so excited! She loved all of her gifts and at one point when she was by herself in the living room, we heard her say, "thank you Santa Claus for all of my presents." She is such a sweet and caring little girl.... she is our Christmas present every year.

A Visit to Santa Claus 2009

2009-11-28T19:43:00.003-05:00

Today we headed out to the mall to have Lizzie's Christmas Photo taken and to visit Santa Claus. The Christmas Photos will be posted later. Santa Claus was so fun. My sister stood in line with Lizzie and Guy and I met them at the end of the line. Lizzie walked right up to Santa with her list ... which she wrote with her peppermint scented candy cane pen .... and as soon as he asked her what she wanted, she showed him the list and they read it together. When she was finished, she sang Jingle Bells for Santa. Then she put her list in the Santa Mail Box. She is so sweet and just loved her visit to Santa.

School Picture 2009

2009-11-13T20:07:00.003-05:00

Here is Lizzie's first school picture! She is getting so big and looks so grown up!

Four Years Ago Today.....

2009-11-08T20:17:00.002-05:00

It is hard to believe that four years ago today, our lives changed forever. We were in Nanchung, China and Lizzie came into our lives. It is so hard to remember what it was like before we got her. We had a clean and tidy house, would go out to eat all the time and took little trips at the drop of a hat. No more! Everything takes planning....but life is so much better.

Lizzie is an amazing little girl and we would not change a thing in our lives! Click here to see the entry we made on "Gotcha Day"!

God Bless our Lizzie!

Halloween 2009

2009-11-02T21:26:00.003-05:00

This year Lizzie wanted to be Snow White for her school pagent and Tinkerbelle for Trick or Treating and we aim to please. I could not get her to smile in the pictures. She was too anxious to go out and get candy! She had a great time trick or treating with Aunt Lisa and was completely wired afterward!

Lizzie's 5th Birthday!

2009-10-14T11:35:00.006-04:00

I am still in shock as I write this. Our baby is 5 years old, or as she puts it, "One Whole Hand"! We can't believe it. Where did the time go? Her birthday is 9/20 so Aunt Lisa came over with a cake and we had a small celebration. We gave Lizzie her gifts: A Zaboo stuff animal (from Zaboomafoo) and a really cute little interactive kitten that purrs and coos when you feed it. As you can see from the pictures, she is very motherly towards it!

We had Lizzie's "Official Birthday Party" on October 10 at a place called "The Little Red Schoolhouse". It is a beautiful little hall. This year Lizzie wanted Princess Belle to come to her party and we didn't want to have two parties again, one for family and one for her friends. We were supposed to have three boys at the party, but two couldn't come, the rest were all girls. Princess Belle was quite the hit of the party. She sang, danced and did face painting. She was really wonderful. The kids all had a great time.

Lizzie As Tinkerbell

2009-09-08T22:10:00.003-04:00

Ok, for a couple of weeks now, Lizzie has managed to squeeze herself into her size 2T Tinkerbell costume that she wore when she was 2 years old! She added her fairy wings and then asked me to make her hair like Tinkerbell! Of course, we needed to add some makeup! She looks so darn cute!

So, How Did Lizzie Like Her First Day????

2009-09-02T16:22:00.002-04:00

In her own words, "Loved It"! She cannot wait to go back tomorrow. We picked her up at noon and Guy went up to the door to get her, as she was coming out, she gave one of the nuns a high-five! We wanted to celebrate so we went out to lunch and then to her favorite spot in the whole world... Coldstone Creamery! She loves the cotton candy ice cream! We are going to make it a tradition on her first day of school to have lunch and ice cream!

The school she goes to is wonderful! The sent home a communication folder with her first little bit of home work, which we did, of course more forms and a Kindergarten Handbook! Oh, and before I forget, her first fundraising packet for the year -- Yankee Candles! Picture of Lizzie at Stone Cold Creamery!

First Day of Kindergarten!

2009-09-02T10:30:00.002-04:00

Well, the first day of kindergarten has arrived! Lizzie was beyond excited last night... seriously, Christmas Eve, Santa is coming excited. It carried over to this morning too. She was singing "I'm going to kindergarten," "I'm going to kindergarten" all the way to school. She could not wait to get out of the house!

Once we got to school, she became a little quiet, but you could tell she was still excited. Once her friends, Nicky, Anthony and Maddie arrived, she was all smiles again. When it came time for the kids to go into class, the teacher had them all line up. Lizzie came over and gave us a quick (I mean quick) kiss and hug and got into line! She waved as they walked into the classroom. No tears from our girl! :)

Guy and I held it together until we got back to the car. I started crying .. I just can't believe our baby is in kindergarten and will be 5 in about three weeks! Oh well, here are some pictures!

First Pictures in Uniform

2009-08-26T20:13:00.003-04:00

We took these today to see how the whole outfit looks....OMG, she looks so cute! More on the first day of school.

Final Pre-K Photos!

2009-08-25T21:12:00.003-04:00

Well, we are in the final week of Lizzie going to Pre-K. They had pictures taken about 2 weeks ago...needless to say, they are adorable!

Kindergarten next week....unbelievable!

July Update!

2009-08-09T12:10:00.004-04:00

July was a nice quiet month for us. We decided we were going to have a stay at home 4th of July, just the three of us. Well, it tuned out that Guy's mom was home by herself, so on Friday night, Guy drove over to pick her up to stay with us for the weekend. Then, we wound up having my parents over for 4th of July for an impromptu barbeque! It was actually very nice. Lizzie of course decided to visit the neighbors at their barbeque .. she went right up on their deck, ate their food and played with their grandkids. It was close to 9:00 before we could get her in the house! She was running around having a great time - which is all that counts!

Then on July 6, I started my new/old job back at my old company. I had worked there for almost 20 years and left when the travel became too much after Lizzie came into our lives. I am working out of the Atlantic City office and loving it! It is so great to be back with my friends! The only downside is Guy is the primary person who drops Lizzie off at school and picks her up. We are all adjusting to the new schedule.

Let's see, we had my father's and my birthday this month too and started to get Lizzie ready for kindergarten! We simply cannot believe that our baby is going to be 5 years old in September and will be going to kindergarten.... where does the time go. More about school later!

Not too many pictures this month, but enjoy!

Fourth of July:

That's it for now...more at the end of this month... wait until you see Lizzie in her school uniform! Needless to say, the tears were flowing!

Finally A Beautiful Day in South Jersey!

2009-06-28T12:44:00.004-04:00

Finally after weeks of rain and miserable weather we had a beautiful Sunday. We got the pool out early and Lizzie, with all of her toys was in there for a while! Here are some photos with our new camera. It is a Kodak Z980 12MP, 24X Zoom, Wide Angle Camera w/Smart Capture. We are just learning how to use it, but so far, the pictures have been amazing! These were the first outside shots. The one picture looks like Lizzie has water reflecting on her face is actually the sun reflecting off of our table!

My previous post had some random inside shots!

A Little Something...

2009-06-26T14:35:00.003-04:00

Not too much is going on. Lizzie had her first field trip for summer camp yesterday. They went to Paws Farm. She got to ride a big school bus (her words, not mine). Guy and I were really nervous, I called the school about 9:30 to get some reassurance from the Director! Well needless to say, she had a great time! (note to self: next time she goes to a farm make sure she wears sneakers and not sandals...she had dirt up to her ankles!)

Here are just a few random pictures!

Some Photos From Lizzie's Graduation!

2009-06-17T20:35:00.003-04:00

Pre-K Graduation!

2009-06-14T21:02:00.004-04:00

Spring Formal!

2009-06-07T11:49:00.003-04:00

Every year Lizzie's school has a "Spring Formal" .. I almost forgot to post the pictures! We got Lizzie's dress at a store called Libby Lou... sadly, the whole chain just closed:

It's a Beautiful Day in New Jersey!!

2009-06-07T11:21:00.006-04:00

It is so beautiful outside today. We put our blow up pool outside and filled it up (it needs to warm up a bit for Lizzie to go in) and will be going out in about an hour!

So, what's been happening with us? Lizzie is getting ready for her Pre-K graduation next week. Her school is having a graduation ceremony, yes, they are even wearing graduation caps! She has been practicing the "Star Spangled Banner" and "The Pledge of Alliegence" and knows them by heart! We cannot believe that our baby is going into Kindergarten! She has grown so fast. In the last few months, she talks non-stop, asks a million questions about everything, is really into making patterns with words and items and loves to play the rhyming game with words. We had our last parent-teacher meeting at school last week and her teacher said she is more than ready for Kindergarten. We also had her skill testing at her new (what she calls "her five-year old school"). Thank God, we were told she will have no problems getting up and running in kindergarten!

Let's see, Lizzie was invited to a birthday party last week. It was a "girl's only" party. Of course, it was a princess party and Cinderella was there to read and play games with them. Cinderella also did face painting with them. Here are some pictures:

As you can see, Lizzie wore her Belle costume. We also had the Belle shoes on, but they came off pretty quick! They have a little wedge and she could run around like a crazy girl in them, so she quickly changed into her sandals and then barefeet! All of the mother's had the hindsight to bring a change of clotes for the girls and right after Cinderella left, they changed into their play clothes!

Lizzie's school had a Mother's Day "inside picnic" and this year I had the opportunity to attend! We brought our lunches and got to eat with the kids! Here are some pictures!

Easter / School Pictures

2009-04-09T21:50:00.004-04:00

Lizzie had her school pictures taken two weeks ago. This year The Picture People started taking school photos. These were some of the best pictures she ever had taken at school. What do you think?

So, What's Been Happening With Us????

2009-04-09T20:39:00.009-04:00

So it is time for an update, as usual, not much has happened in the last month. We had another minor snowstorm, nothing big, but my office closed and Lizzie's school was closed so we had a nice day at home. Just a few pictures:

We made a visit upstate to visit Guy's aunt and uncle. It was a really nice visit and Lizzie had a great time. After our visit, we all went to a great Italian restaurant.

In the meantime, we have been looking for a kindergarten for Lizzie to attend in September. Our township doesn't have full time kindergarten so public school was not an option. We looked at several private schools, but the tuition was outrageous. So we settled on on a Roman Catholic school. Lizzie will attend there through 8th grade. We are relieved we got her in and know that it is a really good school.

We also went to at least 3 birthday parties. Two were at bouncy places (Pump It Up) and Bounce U. The last one was at a place called My Gym. This was the place that Lizzie had the most fun. We have a little video of her using the zip line..... she had a blast!!

She was so tired when we left, she was fast asleep within five minutes when we left! When we got home, Guy carried her in and put her on the sofa.... she didn't even wake up!

And Last, But Certainly Not Least....

2009-02-09T22:50:00.004-05:00

We usually have some kind of music playing at dinner time. Guy had his iPod on and Beatles' music came on. Anyway, Lizzie and I started to "dance". She just loved, Loved, LOVED the music. As one song ended, she would say, "now freeze," and when the next song came on we would have to dance again. We even danced to "Come Together". It was the cutest thing we ever saw. Sadly, I had her doing a "Marsha Brady" dance with her thumbs! (My sister will understand that!). No pictures this time, next time we hope to get some video!

Visit to the Please Touch Museum

2009-02-09T22:10:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, February 7th we were invited to a birthday party at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. The Please Touch Museum is a fantastic place with children and adults. The entire museum is child friendly and children are encouraged to touch everything! There are full sized city buses an entire city street with stores they can play in and explore. One of the most amazing attractions is a full sized antique carousel that was built in 1908 and that was recently lovingly refurbished.

The museum recently moved to Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park Philadelphia. Memorial Hall was built in 1876 for the Centennial Celebration of the United States. The building is magnificent and it was worth the trip over the bridge just to see it.

Lizzie had a FANTASTIC time at both the party and the museum. She was exhausted and was asleep within 10 minutes when we started home. Here are just a few pictures. My personal favorites are the Lizzie "Elton John" pictures!

Finally A Snow Day!!

2009-02-09T21:40:00.005-05:00

Sadly, snow has been lacking in these parts so far this year. BUT we finally had a snow storm worth mentioning. On Tuesday, February 3, we woke to a winter wonderland. Lizzie's school was closed so we went back to bed (for a while anyway) and the three of us slept, in our bed of course, unitl 9:30! We finally got up and I made pancakes and Lizzie finally realized that she wasn't going to school. Right after breakfast, we got all bundled up and went outside to play in the snow. Here are some great pictures to enjoy!

Some Random Pictures!

2009-01-25T21:53:00.004-05:00

Before I fall behind again and get "reminded" that I haven't updated, here are just some pictures from the last month.

Lizzie was invited to a "Princess & Pirates Birthday Party" two weeks ago. All of the kids came dressed up. Lizzie had a choice of Sleeping Beauty, Belle or Cinderella. She decided, once again, to be Cinderella. At the party, they had two hair stylists to do updos for the girls as well as makeup! Here are some pictures from the party!

and... just some cute pictures:

Every morning, I get up first and of course, Lizzie is in our bed. There are always really cute pictures of her and Guy. Here is another

and a really cute one of Lizzie with her fairy wings on:

Gong Hay Fat Choy (Happy New Year)!!

2009-01-25T21:21:00.007-05:00

Today our family celebrated Chinese New Year... the Year of the Ox! Each year a restaurant that we go to has a special Chinese New Year menu. The food, as always, was wonderful. Guy's mother, his sister Stephanie and her husband Fran, my parents and my sister Lisa all came and we had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Christmas Day!

2008-12-31T23:19:00.005-05:00

Christmas was amazing! Lizzie has been beside herself with excitement for a while now. Christmas Eve, Guy's mother and sister stayed overnight so Lizzie spent the night in our bed. On Christmas morning, we were still sleeping at 8:30! I rolled over and whispered to Lizzie "Do you think Santa came?" She said to me, "I don't know", so I said, "go look"... she actually said, "I'm too tired, tell Daddy to go look!" Anyway, we finally got up and we all went down to the living room. She was so excited, she didn't know where to look first! The pictures will tell it all. Enjoy!

Milk and Cookies for Santa and some carrots for Rudolph and the other reindeer!

A little snack before bed...

Christmas Day!

Still more from December....

2008-12-31T23:02:00.006-05:00

Couple of cute pictures before I continue....

On December 14, we went back to the Strasburg Railroad for the Santa Train Ride. It was the same train they use for the Thomas Train Ride. Santa came through and gave each child a little gift. They also had carolers walking through the train singing. It was really very nice and we really enjoyed ourselves. Just a few pictures!

(Almost forgot to mention, we got Lizzie's ears pierced again. We did have it done when she was about 18 months old, but it wasn't really successful...this time, she is doing really good and in about two weeks we can change out the earrings)

On December 17, Lizzie's class had a little Christmas show. The sang "I'm a Little Penguin" (I'm a Little Teapot) and Frosty the Snowman. It was really really cute.

Final Post of 2008!

2008-12-31T22:05:00.005-05:00

Well, there is much to catch up on since my last post.

Thanksgiving We spent a very nice Thanksgiving at Lisa and Rob's house. We had a great dinner and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, we didn't even think to take pictures!!

So, after Thanksgiving, we had the snowball to Christmas. We started the season with going to the mall on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and having Lizzie's Christmas pictures taken and the visit to Santa Claus! (We do have pictures of this!!). We had her pictures done at Sears this year. They were so good we bought the whole CD! Here are just a few of our favorites.

Here is Santa Picture 2009

Fall School Pictures

2008-11-02T21:20:00.003-05:00

Teddy Bear Portraits came to school two weeks ago for the fall pictures! They turned out beautiful. She looks so big!!

Halloween!!!

2008-11-02T20:08:00.006-05:00

Well, let's just say that Halloween in our next of the woods was very VERY exciting this year. As you may have heard, the Phillies won the World Series this year!!! Philadelphia through a spectacular parade on Halloween. The estimate was that at least 2 million people attended the parade. Here is the link to the pictures from the Philadelphia Inquirer. We didn't attend the parade, but the parade started right outside my office building. My firm held an open house for employees, families and clients and their families. Our day started by taking Lizzie to school in her costume, Sleeping Beauty so she could attend the Halloween parade and party. We dropped her off at school at 8:15 then came back for the parade at 11:00. After her party, we headed into Philadelphia to stop at my office for the party there. We got to my office around 1:30, had lunch and then headed back to New Jersey to get ready for trick or treat!

Miss Jannine

Ok. Now we our home for our costume change. She is transformed from Sleeping Beauty to Belle!

We visited our neighbors and had a wonderful dinner with them and then trick or treating with Aunt Lisa joining us! Lizzie got lots of candy, some of which I am taking to work!! She was so tired she fell right to sleep!

We had a fun and busy day!

We had a really fun and busy day!

Disneyland Adventure on Ice!

2008-10-28T21:26:00.006-04:00

Well, we finally got to see a Disney Ice show. Disneyland Adventure on Ice came to the Wachovia Center this month. My sister, Aunt Lisa and I took Miss Lizzie. We had really good seats (second row from the ice). Spent too much money on Disney stuff, but had a great time! Now we are planning and waiting for Disney Princesses on Ice... coming between December 26th and January 4th!! Of course, Lizzie wore her Sleeping Beauty crown too!

My "Official" Birthday Party

2008-10-28T21:16:00.003-04:00

Lizzie's birthday is September 20. So on September 20th our families came over to celebrate. Our very dear neighbors also came over. We had another Princess Themed party... Cinderella of course!

Lizzie had a wonderful time and we all collapsed afterwards!

Long Overdue Update!!

2008-10-28T19:45:00.006-04:00

I know, don't say it. Here we go:

Lizzie's 4th Birthday: We can't believe that our baby is four years old! She has grown so fast. Now we know what it means when they say Time Flies!! Even though she is only four, she acts like a little old lady sometimes. She is definitely an old soul. She also is at that little girl stage where she talks constantly! Sometimes she talks so much I feel like my head is full of scrambled eggs. She questions everything and after we give her an answer we get "Why?" Truly it can be exhausting answering questions all the time, but listening to her little voice is so great. She has the sweetest little voice and her questions are always two or three minutes long!

Well, this year we had a separate kids party. We had the party at Build-A-Bear for about 10 kids. It was really fun. Each child got a bear and an outfit for the bear. We had a party host that stayed with us for the full hour. After the party at Build-A-Bear, we went to the mall's food court. We had pre-ordered food from Chick-Fil-A and saved some tables. There were lots of balloons and the kids really had a good time! The best part was that it wasn't at our house!! One thing you will notice, Lizzie is tiny compared to the other kids in her class. Her little boyfriend Anthonny, is the tallest!

Three Years Ago Today....

2008-09-02T20:59:00.002-04:00

We finally got to see Lizzie's cute little face. Today was the day we finally got our referral. You can read the entry we made right after the referral call came and the pictures were emailed to us. The call came on Friday, September 2, 2005 at around 2:15 p.m. Our lives certainly changed that day! I didn't have a chance to post the pictures until two days later!

Our Mini-Vacation -- At Home!!

2008-08-31T20:27:00.003-04:00

Lizzie has been asking us to go on vacation. We are not even sure she knows what vacation means. Anyway, we decided that Labor Day weekend would be our kinda sorta "vacation"!

On Friday, August 29th we took a family trip to Storybook Land. Storybook Land is an amusement park just for children that has been around for over 50 years. It is located outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey. All of the rides are child sized (but some adults can squeeze in). Well, Storybook Land was really really nice. It was a beautiful day, no crowds and we had a very nice time. Lizzie is still talking about how her favorite "vacation" was the horses (carousel ride). She wanted to go back the next day!

Unfortunately, the rest of our plans didn't happen this weekend. Guy has been sick for about two weeks and I of course, got it on Thursday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Lizzie doesn't get it!

Here are some pictures from Storybook Land!

Summer School Pictures!

2008-08-21T22:03:00.001-04:00

Here are Lizzie's new summer school pictures! Enjoy!

2008 Summer Olympics

2008-08-08T21:59:00.006-04:00

I just had to write about the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics. I thought that they were just breathtaking! I guess because Lizze is from China, these Olympics hold a special place in our hearts. It was amazing watching TV and saying, we were there .. even though it seems like a lifetime ago.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to get some Olympic memorabilia to put away for Lizzie so I starting poking around the internet for the Olympic Mascots. I found them. Here are their pictures:

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.

So, one of the Fuwa is named Beibei. That was name the nannies at the HengFeng orphanage used for Lizzie when she was there!! Here is a picture of Beibei:

In China's traditional culture and art, the fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest. And so Beibei carries the blessing of prosperity. A fish is also a symbol of surplus in Chinese culture, another measure of a good year and a good life.

The ornamental lines of the water-wave designs are taken from well-known Chinese paintings of the past. Among Fuwa, Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.

So now I am busy trying to find a plush Beibei for Lizzie!!

Singing Lizzie!

2008-07-10T08:12:00.002-04:00

We finally got Lizzie on video singing! Enjoy!

Thomas the The Tank Engine Rules!!

2008-06-22T21:22:00.003-04:00

On Saturday Guy and I took Lizzie to "A Day Out With Thomas". I don't think I could put into words how excited Lizzie was and how much fun we had! The pictures that are posted really don't show the sheer joy on her face!

It was a beautiful day, just the right temperature and not too humid! Our day started fairly early. We were on the road to Strausburg, Pennsylvania by 9:00 a.m.; our tickets were for 12:45 p.m. and it was about a 2 hour ride. We arrived a little after 11:00 and were surprised to find out that the primary parking lot was full. We followed the signs to additional parking and found that it was about 2 miles down the road at a farm. We parked there and they used school buses to take us back to the train station. Our bus was full with parents and children. As we were driving back to the station, everyone saw Thomas on the train tracks... the kids starting scream "Thomas", "there's Thomas!!" One of the parents shouted out..."Are the Beatles here!" The kids were just thrilled!

So, we are now at the station and there are literally hundreds of people there, parents, children and grandparents. Everyone was doing something. Standing in line for the next ride with Thomas, buying gifts, eating. It was really unbelievable. We got in line at 12:15 for our 12:45 ride. Everything was very organized and the children were all really well behaved.

As Thomas pulled into the station, all the children were waving and shouting!! We boarded the train and our ride started. Lizzie was just so excited (I will post the video once we download it). The train car was very elegant: velevet seats with beautiful hanging lighting. The conductors had old fashioned uniforms on and were just great with the children. The ride lasted about 20 minutes and went through all of the beautiful Lancaster, Amish farms. Lizzie got really excited when we saw cows outside of the windows!

When we finally pulled back into the station, we headed right to the Thomas store....well, $50 later... LOL! By this point, Lizzie was very tired and had a little melt down in the store. We decided it was time to leave. We headed back to the bus and back to our car. We both thought Lizzie would fall right asleep...NOT... she was still so excited. She kept saying her favorite part was when Mommy and Daddy and Lizzie were all riding Thomas and she said she had the best day! Then she wanted to know if we were coming back tomorrow!

Here are some pictures... enjoy! I will post some video later in the week.

Bathing Beauty!

2008-06-08T12:15:00.005-04:00

Ok, the weather here in the mid-Atlantic is hot. Not just hot, but hot and humid.. the deadly duo. So yesterday, while shopping at Target, I picked up a 6' blow up pool. My sister, Lisa, bought us an electric air pump -- thank God! Anyway, we went outside this morning around 9:30 (not kidding) to get it set up. We went outside early because once the sun hits our patio around 11:30 am or so, the back of our house turns into a supernova! Anyway, Guy set up the pool, filled it with water, and Lizzie was out there splashing around by 10:00. It was actually pretty nice outside then. There was a nice breeze and we were in the shade. By 10:30, the humidity started to really kick in. Lizzie was still having fun so we stayed out for a little longer. By 11:30, we were getting ready to come in .. it was actually getting hard to breathe outside.

Of course, we took pictures! Here you go.... this is the first year Lizzie didn't need a pull-up in the bathing suit!! As you can see, the bathing suit is a little big!!

Just to Keep you on your Toes... Here is another post!

2008-06-01T21:27:00.004-04:00

Just a couple of pictures from the weekend. You will see, we didn't do much...but sleep! Here is Lizzie sleeping. I call this picture "Lizzie's World". It is her room with captions.

The rest of these pictures were taken tonight after Lizzie's bath. Her hair kind of looked like "That Girl" !

Long Over Due Update Continued....

2008-05-28T21:33:00.007-04:00

Ok, so I left off in March with some Easter pictures. We spent Easter at my parent's house and then went to visit Guy's Mother. We were home early, which was good since we both had to work the next day. Lizzie got candy from everyone, which wasn't too good. We kept some, but most of it went to work with me to give to the masses.

Continuing in March... Lizzie's school had a "Spring Formal". All the children came to school all dressed up for their dance. They had a nice little lunch and then the children did a little dance. Here is a picture of Lizzie and her "boyfriend" who she says she is going to marry and have 14 children. The girls will be named Mommy and the boys after her "boyfriend". I have hidden his face, but he is only 7 months older than Lizzie and he towers over her!

April was a slow month. Guy and I celebrated 15 years of marriage. We actually went out to dinner by ourselves and Lizzie stayed over night with her Aunt Fran and Uncle Lance. No pictures though!

May

Well, May brought us Mother's Day. We hosted our mothers and family on the Saturday before Mother's Day for a brunch. It was very nice and Lisa and I made some great food.

Lizzie, Aunt Lisa and I made some cupcakes and Lizzie really enjoyed icing and decorating them too! Here are the cupcake pictures and of course, more pictures of Lizzie!

Two weeks ago, we took our annual ride to Hazelton, Pennsylvania to visit Guy's relatives. It was a very nice ride and visit.

These pictures of are Lizzie, of course, she is trying on some new dresses and brace yourself, I have also put a picture of me! Yes, I actually do exist. Since my lapband surgery in January, I have lost 44 pounds. I am down a whole size in clothing .. which feels really nice!

We also went to Build-A-Bear for the first time and went to town. We thought Lizzie was going to want a little puppy, because she has been asking for a dog, but she surprised us and went for a cat. The cat is now named Princess Kitty. We got a couple of outfits, one of which being a "Little Mermaid" outfit. Well, it came with a red wig. The pictures speak for themselves!

Well, I hope I have made up for my lack of blogging for the past couple of months. I could promise to update more often, but I just don't know if I can keep that promise!!

Kelly, I miss you!!

Cathy

Ok, Three Months Is A Little Long Between Posts....

2008-05-27T21:21:00.005-04:00

Once again, it has been a while since I posted ..... once again, I am sorry. No excuses! Get ready for some updates:

March

Well, in March we our one and only snow fall of Winter 2008. In reality, it could barely be classified as snow. Nevertheless, Guy got out there to shovel and Lizzie was right behind him "helping".

Next, we had our Early Easter....and typical unpredictable weather here in the mid-Atlantic, it was cold...cold enough for Winter coats (with a Spring time hat!!)

Well, it is almost 10:30 and I am tired. I promise I will finish the update tomorrow!! Here is a tidbit... Lizzie had a Spring dance at school...formal!

That's it for now! Cathy

Almost Forgot to Mention....

2008-02-24T09:20:00.002-05:00

I had weightloss surgeryon January 17 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The surgery I chose was Lap Band surgery. To date, I have lost 33 pounds! I have found clothes in my closet that still had tags on them. You know, you buy clothes, bring them home and then realize that they don't quite fit. I have gone down a whole size! I am not ready to divulge my starting or current weight yet, maybe in another 50 pounds or so!!

Cathy

Great New Show on Nick Jr.!

2008-02-23T11:18:00.005-05:00

This morning we watched this great new show on Nick Jr. It is called Ni Hao, Kai-lan. "Ni hao!" That means "hi" in Chinese--and that's how Kai-lan greets you every day! Kai-lan Chow is an exuberant Chinese-American preschooler, almost 6, who wants you to come play with her and her best friends. Kai-lan's world is infused with Chinese culture and is brimming with magical sights and sounds, and everywhere you turn there's something amazing and beautiful to see. Along the way, she and her bilingual buddies speak in English and Chinese, but they always need kids' help to find creative solutions to the daily dilemmas that come their way!

Lizzie absolutely loved the show. She was mesmorized!! I think she like it better than Dora. They teach Mandarin and learn Chinese customs!

Chinese New Year Dinner

2008-02-10T16:46:00.001-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year -- The Year of the Rat 2008!

2008-02-10T16:16:00.000-05:00

Today our family got together at the Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant in New Jersey to celebrate the Year of the Rat with a special meal. We all had a wonderful time. Lizzie wore a special chinese outfit and she looked absolutely beautiful!

The next post will have additional photos from our dinner! Enjoy

It's Been A While.....

2008-01-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a while since I last posted. We have had Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year!! I have a lot to write about.

Thanksgiving: We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving at my sister Lisa's home with her husband Rob. Dinner was, of course, wonderful. My parents were also there and we had a nice quite dinner.

Christmas: After Thanksgiving we started the mad dash to Christmas. My sister Lisa, my mother, Lizzie and me went on our annual shopping day on Saturday, December 8. We had a great time shopping and having lunch!! Lizzie is really fun now and has a definite opinion about everything. We had Lizzie's offical Christmas portrait taken at Sears this year. They did an absolutely outstanding job! Here are some of the pictures in a slide show.

Christmas Eve:

We were fortunate to have my mother-in-law stay with us on Christmas Eve. Guy picked her up from Philadelphia in the early afternoon and then we all started getting ready for church. Lizzie's Aunt Fran and Uncle Lance gave her a beautiful Rothschild coat for Christmas. Of course, it was warm on Christmas Eve, but Lizzie wore the coat anyway!

We went to Mass at my sister Lisa's church. Lisa sang at Mass this year and we wanted to be part of it. Lisa took Lizzie over to the manger and they sang Happy Birthday to Jeasus! After Mass, we went out to dinner at a local diner then came home and started getting Lizzie to bed. We got all ready for bed then went downstairs to put out the cookies and milk for Santa and some carrots for Rudolph. Finally, Lizzie went to bed and Guy and I started putting toys together. We were at it until 1:30 a.m.!! Santa brought Lizzie the Rose Petal Cottage, a really cute little house (that has lots of pieces to put together!) Then, I was wrapping and wrapping and wrapping! We were so tired. Lesson learned... it will not happen again! Here are some Christmas Eve pictures!

Christmas Day:

Christmas Day was what I always dreamed it would be like with a little girl. Lizzie was so into Christmas this year. I think she really understood Santa and toys! She also understood out Jesus too!

She came into our bed at some point during the night, so Christmas morning I woke up about 7:30 and said to her "do you think Santa Claus came?" She looked at me and said, "I don't know" so I told her to go look down the stairs... the baby gate was locked so she couldn't go down! Guy got the video camera and went down first, followed by Mom-Mom, then me, the Lizzie...she practically ran down the stairs and was saying Oh My Word!!! She noticed right away that Santa had drank the milk and ate the cookies, then the tearing of the paper began!

Later in the day, our families came over for Christmas dinner, we had a houseful, but it was really nice! Here are some pictures from Christmas:

I will have more to write about tomorrow! Promise!!!

Cathy

Birthday Pictures

2007-11-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

Lizzie simply would not cooperate and therefore would not smile! We got a couple a little smiles, but not the usual Lizzie! Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Lizzie's Third Birthday Pictures

2007-11-20T22:10:00.001-05:00

Lizzie's Birthday

2007-11-20T22:02:00.001-05:00

Lizzie's Birthday Party

2007-11-20T21:58:00.000-05:00

I know, I am bad! It has been two months since my last post. Much has happened. But first here are some pictures from Lizzie's birthday and then her Cinderella Birthday Party two days later.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lizzie!!

2007-09-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

Well, today is Lizzie's 3rd Birthday! She is a big girl now. She sleeps in her big girl bed and uses the potty all the time now. Here are some pictures from today, Lizzie just before we woke her up this morning and once we got to school...more on Saturday when we have her Cinderella Party!

Cathy

Play Kitchen, French Fries and Thomas the Doggie!

2007-08-30T13:22:00.000-04:00

Now here is a story. On Monday, we were so excited that she had a good day potty training we told her we could go to Wendy's for dinner. We got take out and she had a cheeseburger, french fries (which we never let her have) and chocolate milk. So we go home and she starts to eat. She ate a portion of her burger and then some fries and went into the living room to watch what she calls "her shows" (honestly, she is like a little old lady watching soap operas). Her shows are Sagwa The Chinese Cat, Kipper, Dragon Tales, Thomas the Tank Engine and Noddy (all can be found on PBS Sprout's Goodnight Show). Anyway, she wanted to take her fries into the livingroom. We, being the absolutely suckers that we are, said okay. We didn't give it another thought.

Last night we were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner and she started playing with her Dora the Explorer Kitchen and got real quiet. Guy went into the dining room to see what she was doing and started to crack up. She was feeding Thomas the Doggie. She had him in her play highchair, buckled in with the tray and there were french fries on the tray. We asked her, where did you get the french fries. She said "from my kitchen". She must have put them in her kitchen on Monday for use at a later date! I told her, that they were yucky and that she can't do that anymore and not to put food in her kitchen. By the way, the fries were like rock pellets! We then searched her kitchen for anymore contraban. Luckly, there was nothing in there.

Here are some picture from my cell phone of the parties involved.

So, We Bought A King-Sized Bed, Why?????

2007-08-30T08:20:00.000-04:00

Ok. Lizzie has been in a big girl bed now for about 2 weeks. She loves it. Twin-sized bed, Cinderella sheets and pillow. She has never come out of her room at night that is until now. The last couple of nights she started coming out of her room for one thing or another. Finally I told her, big girls stay in their room and in their beds at night and go to sleep. Don't get out of your bed or come out of your room. Well, she doesn't exactly come out of her room, she opens the door, lines up all of her peeps (we call Kitty Kat, Baby Cathy, and Thomas the Doggie her peeps) just inside the door, so she is technically in her room. She then begins to call Mommy, Mommy, ever so softly at first and then it gets gradually louder. Anyway, each time, we take her back to her room and put her back to bed. Last night, this went on for 2 hours finally at 9:30 she went to sleep. We thought, good. Until 2:30 a.m. this morning. She actually came into our room on Guy's side of the bed, all of her peeps in her arms, and she started crying. We broke our first and foremost cardinal rule, never in our bed. We were exhausted and put her into bed with us.

Now, I am smart. I learned from taking naps with her to "mark my territory" because she will take over the entire bed if you let her. I spread out on my side of the bed. Unfortunately, poor Guy has not yet learned this. He was literally hanging off the side of the bed. When I got up this morning it was pitch dark, I just had to take a picture. Enjoy.

Major Events At Our House!

2007-08-27T12:22:00.000-04:00

We have had a major breakthrough out our house this weekend!! Our little monkey has decided she is finally a big girl and is going to the potty by herself! It was a rough start. She had her big girl panties on (Cinderella and Dora) and had to go. She started crying that she wanted a Pull Up (if I had to do it all again, I would not use Pull Ups). We told her that big girls don't need Pull Ups and that she should go in the potty! She cried more. (I felt like we were psychologically damaging her). Anyway, we had a few accidents, when all of a sudden, she had to go again, she went into the powder room, pulled her panties down and went on the potty (we gave her a choice of toilet or potty chair; she chose potty chair). There was great rejoicing in our house!! Mommy and Daddy cheering and clapping our hands. The princess was quite amused! Now the fun started. She went (I kid you not) at least 20 times in the next hour -- I think she wanted us to continue to make a big deal, which we did!

Today, she went to school in her big girl panties. When I called a little while ago, they said she was doing great! Now to the next big event.. poopy in the potty!

My sister Lisa bought Lizzie's Baby Cathy some new clothes. I personally think the doll looks like she belongs in Folsom Prison... you decide! (FYI. the picture is fuzzy because I took it with my cell phone!)

Many Updates!

2007-08-21T13:16:00.000-04:00

Hi. A lot has been going on since the last update. My surgery date for the lapband surgery. My original surgery date was this Thursday, August 23. Unfortunately, it needed to be changed to October 4, 2007. Let me explain: when you start your journey for weight loss surgery, you have to undergo several tests. I had to get a cardiac clearance. This entailed having a nuclear stress test. The test itself wasn't too bad. Anyway, when the cardiologist called me with results, he said that "there may be something". Well, you an imagine what I thought! He said my EKG was very good and that showed that I had a strong heart. The echocardiogram was also very good, which shows how strong the heart valves are. The actual nuclear part of the stress test showed a potential blockage! My cardiologist said he didn't think it was anything, but that the doctor that read it said it could be a blockage. Anyway, I had to have a cardiac catherization on Thursday, August 17. Thank God that everything was clear. The doctor said I have a very strong heart. Well, enough about me.

Lizzie is officially in her big girl bed now. It is a twin bed with Cinderella sheets, comforter and pillow. She absolutely loves it. No one can sit on the bed except Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Lisa and Aunt Fran. She even told her Mom-Mom to move to a chair. The first day we had it set up she was up and down the stairs at least 20 times checking on it! Our baby will be three years old on September 20. I simply cannot believe it!

Here are some random pictures for you to enjoy!

New Give-Away at 5 Minutes for Mom!

2007-07-31T20:45:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite blogs to visit is 5 Minutes for Mom. The have weekly contests for great items. This week it is a 32" flat screen TV courtesy of Best Buy. Go on over to 5 Minutes for Mom and enter the contest!

Long, Long, Long Overdue Update

2007-07-11T07:55:00.000-04:00

Okay, so flog me with a wet noodle because I haven't updated for two months! A lot has happened in my life so here is my attempt to bring you up-to-date.

Starting in June, my father went into the hospital for a double-bypass and valve replacement. He went in on June 8 and didn't get out until June 22. He had to have another surgery for an infection that set in under his breast bone and then had to have his breast bone reset because it broke in a different place than where they did the surgery! He is thankfully on the mend now at home.

At the end of June, my brother-in-law, was in a serious car accident when he was only 5 minutes away from home. He was driving north on 295 and a car travelling south on 295 came across six lanes of the highway and hit him headon. Rob broke his thigh bone, chipped his tibula, broke bones in his ankle and has a chipped vertebra at the belly-button level. God was with him because he could have been killed. He has been in the hospital since June 28 and is coming home this Friday or Saturday.

So you can see why an update hasn't been done in a while!

Lizzie is growing like a weed and chatting up a storm. She has become the Great Negotiator when she wants something. We are also enjoying the lively conversation she has at night when we put her to bed talking to Baby Cathy (her doll) and Kitty Cat. Some nights she goes on for an hour or more!

I finally have a surgery date for my LapBand surgery. August 23rd. I am a little nervous but know this is the best thing for both me and my family.

I don't have many pictures, but here are some of Lizzie on 4th of July. We took a nap and when I tried to wake her up, she laid right back down and feel asleep. Ah, the exciting life we lead!

Guess What Our Princess Did This Time.....

2007-05-03T14:19:00.000-04:00

The other afternoon/early evening, Lizzie was running around and grabbed the phone from me. Before I could get it from her, I heard a voice on the other end. I quick took the phone back and discovered she had dialed 911. Lovely! I told the man on the other end that she was two and did it by mistake. He said I would have to tell the township police and he transferred me over to them. I then explained to the police and they said they still had to send someone out to investigate. The officer came to the door about 5 minutes later. (Side Note: Young and very cute!! -- End Side note) Anyway, he said that they always have to investigate just to be sure. I thanked him and he was on his way. The lesson for today is...keep the phone away from your ambitious 2 1/2 year old!

Easter Photos 2007

2007-04-03T09:57:00.000-04:00

A friend I work with does portraits on the side. She comes to your house and takes pictures of your children. Here are some of the photos:

My New Journey

2007-03-27T08:05:00.000-04:00

Well, searching my soul long and hard, I have finally decided to have lapband surgery. I was oriignally going to have gastric bypass, but after futher research, I felt that it was not the best for me. The lapband will be a slower weight loss, but in the end the result is the same as the gastric bypass. My sister Lisa is going on the same journey with me, so we are in it together. We choose the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Noel Williams as our surgeon. I will post and give you the progress as we get further along into the process. More than likely, I will start a new blog and will post that link after I get set up!

Wish me luck.

Cathy

Another Busy Day..

2007-03-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

There is never a dull moment in our house ... not since Lizzie came that is! Here is the latest update:

Saturday night, March 17, we were finishing up dinner. Guy and I were cleaning up the dishes and Miss Lizzie was watching us. We have a half wall that separates the eat in part of the kitchen from the actual cooking part of the kitchen. Well, I guess you can see where this is going. Next thing I know, I hear this loud bang and then the screaming started. She fell of the chair and cracked the back of her head on the leg of our kitchen table. Guy grabbed her and gave her to me. I could already feel the wetness in her hair. After getting a wet paper towel, I could see the blood. We quickly grabbed what we needed and off we went to the hospital. After a 4 hour wait -- yes 4 hours, the pediatrician came and said that it was our choice whether or not we wanted a staple put on the wound. The wound was about 1/2 long and about 1/4 inch wide. He said that he would not be able to numb the area before the staple went in and the difference would be a really skinny scar or a skinny scar. We opted not to do anything but neosporin. Well it is now over a week later and she is fine. We of course, lost some of our hair over worry. She knows now that if she hops from chair to chair she can get a boo-boo on her head!

Here is a cute picture of my daughter and how busy a 2 1/2 year old can be. Out of the blue, she decided to put her shoes on. I said to her, where are you going? She said, I am taking baby Cathy for a walk. The taffy went in her mouth. Her pocketbook went on her arm and off she went taking her baby for a walk around the house. Oh, by the way, baby Cathy must wear all of the clothes she has at all times...even if it stretches them out of shape.

Sitting Here Missing My Friend....

2007-03-21T12:13:00.000-04:00

I has been exactly 16 months since I saw my friend Kelley in Guangzhou, China. Kelley was and is part of our February Love Bugs group that travelled to China together to pick up our girls. Kelley and I were co-moderators of our Yahoo support group. Kelley was also my go-to person when I had one of a million questions about what to do! You know, WWKD (What Would Kelley Do)!! She patiently answered all my questions, no matter how silly they seemed. Kelley is a wonderful person and I wish we lived closer to each other. Kelley is in Texas and we are in New Jersey! Kelley, I will be calling you soon!
Love Cathy

Alright, Enough Already....

2007-02-14T20:24:00.000-05:00

Now, before we took Lizzie to get the "official" portrait done in her Chinese dress, we took some just for fun pictures....these are priceless!

I Know Christmas Is Over But....

2007-02-14T20:19:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post Lizzie's Santa Claus picture. This picture was taken at her school right before Christmas!

Pictures of Lizzie

2007-02-14T20:11:00.000-05:00

Alright, Ok, I Know!! I Haven't Posted In A While!

2007-02-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

I know, it has been almost two months since my last post. There has been a lot going on in our family in the last two months. Most of it not real good, but I won't go into all of that right now.

Lizzie is now 2 1/2 years old. She is quite the little girl now. She is having full conversations with us now. She can sing the alphabet, count to at least 17 and knows all of her colors! She loves her babies (Baby Michelle (for Michelle Kwan) and Baby Cathy (for Mommy)! She dresses them, undresses them, dresses them (usually puts all of their clothes on at once)!

She absolutely, positively love Loves LOVES stickers! She was putting them everywhere, but we have finally trained her to only put them in her sticker book! She also loves to color. Her favorite TV shows are Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer.

We are getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year. We took her to The Picture People to have her formal portrait done in her Chinese dress. She was absolutely not going to smile until the photographer promised her stickers. Here are the pictures, we hope you enjoy them. I promise to post more often!

Christmas is Coming!!!

2006-12-21T13:51:00.000-05:00

Well, Christmas 2006 will be here in only three days! We are running around like nuts trying to get ready -- just like everyone else! This year, Christmas will be at my brother and sister-in-law's house. We usually have everyone over, but we needed a break this year! Lizzie knows who Santa Claus is this year, but is still terrified of him. We have a lovely picture of her molars that was taken when we visited Santa! If you ask her what Santa says, she goes ho-ho-ho. She can also sing her version of Jingle Bells. Here is Lizzie's official Christmas portrait and her first school picture too. I will post an update next week about Christmas Day!

Our February Love Bugs Referral Video

2006-11-14T12:31:00.000-05:00

I was remembering today when our Yahoo group put together our referral video. You can see the video on my previous post.

Cathy

2005 February Love Bugs

2006-11-14T12:29:00.001-05:00


This movie has the referral pictures of the 2005 February Love Bugs. Families who are adopting from China

Lizzie: A Year in Pictures

2006-11-10T13:48:00.000-05:00

Our One Year Anniversary As A Family!

2006-11-10T07:49:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, November 8, 2006 was the one year anniversary of us becoming a family. It is hard to believe that a year has past since our lives changed forever and this amazing child came into our lives. Everyday we thank God for this gift. Lizzie has been fun, a learning experience and definitely a challenge! Since the day we got her, we have been on a fast track!

When we first received Lizzie, she was 14 months old. She could barely stand by herself. By the time we came home from China on November 18, 2005, she was walking while holding on to furniture; by Thanksgiving, she could take very short steps; by Christmas -- she was completely mobile! Now, she moves faster then us! As for eating, that has never been a problem. She definitely needed to be fed by us one year ago and was still on a bottle. By New Year, 2006, she was feeding herself and was completely off the bottle. She now prefers a specific sippy cup with something she calls "Mommy Juice" in it. Mommy juice is Fruit-2-0! I made the mistake one day of asking her if she wanted some of mommy's juice and the name stuck!

In November 2005 she was only wearing a size 6-9 months clothes. The pictures of her from China make her look huge, but she was very tiny. She is now in 24 months to 2T sized clothes. She went from weighing 17 pounds to almost 27 pounds in a year! She was about 24 inches tall then, now she is almost 37" tall. So she is tall and skinny...lucky her!

Her language skills are truly amazing. By the time we left China, she was saying Mommmy & Daddy. Now we can have full conversations. She can count to 11 and knows her ABCs up to around "L". She is as smart as a whip and has a stubborn streak: we are definitely in the "terrible twos" now! Everything we do now with her is a struggle. We now try to give her a choice, do you want this or that. This is working...for now... until she figures it out. She puts on her own shoes and socks and is almost at the point of dressing herself. She has decided that she does not like the bath anymore, so on bath nights, the screaming begins! She stands in her little tub, stiff as a board, clutching the shampoo bottle until her evil parents are finished washing her! Hopefully this phase does last too long!

Our previously spotless house is now toy central. Everywhere toys and God help us Christmas is coming!! We have started weeding out the toys and sending them to Goodwill. She doesn't play with even a quarter of them!

Well, that is our Lizzie update. I am going to be posting some pictures for you to see how she has changed! Enjoy!!

The "Official" Birthday Party

2006-10-04T20:36:00.000-04:00

We had Lizzie's official birthday party on September 23. Friends and Family came and we all had a great time. Let me just say this... Toy Central!!!

Aunt Fran gave Lizzie her Cow Girl outfit! Hi Aunt Kelly!!!

More Birthday Pictures

2006-10-04T20:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we have been so busy! Well, you saw how Lizzie's birthday started out. Here are some pictures from when we picked her up from daycare..."The Birthday Girl"

Then, we came home, Aunt Lisa met us there and we had a little birthday party for Lizzie:

Lizzie's Birthday: The Day Begins

2006-09-20T08:21:00.000-04:00

We decided to go in and take pictures of her as she wakes up on her birthday! She was very pleasant until...I lifted her out of the crib and the screaming began: NOooooo, NOooooo, Nite-Nite, Kitty Cat....She did get pleasant again when we went downstairs for breakfast!!

Today is Lizzie's Birthday!!!

2006-09-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

Here are some more pictures from our photo session at Sears!

Lizzie's Two Year Pictures

2006-09-19T08:07:00.000-04:00

Well, our little princess will be two years old tomorrow. So, to celebrate, we took her to Sears on Saturday to get her picture taken. The pictures are absolutely amazing. It was so hard to pick just one out. Here are a few for you to look at. I will post more tomorrow!

One Year Ago....

2006-09-01T22:09:00.001-04:00

On Friday, September 2, 2005, the phone rang and our lives changed forever. At about 2:30 p.m., Great Wall called and gave us the name of our daughter. Guy and I were off that day from work planning to leave in the morning to go over to my brother's house for my mother surprise brithday party (which was the following day). Everytime we got ready to leave, something held us back. Around 2:00, my friend Kelley called and said that the calls were starting!!!! We got out our laptop and sat in the kitchen... waiting! When the call finally came and we say Great Wall's number on the caller ID, we just started crying.Amanda from Great Wall started reading the information to us over the phone and then the email came. The email with her picture! Cen Xiao Bei (soon to be Elizabeth Grace (Lizzie) was the most beautiful baby we had ever seen! The picture was from when she was six months old and by now she was already almost a year old! Here are the referral pictures:

We fell in love with her immediately! She looked like us too!! Click on the September 2005 link to read more about Referral Day!

Potty Training -- Step One

2006-08-10T08:23:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday Miss Lizzie surprised us all! We had just finished dinner and were cleaning up when she came over to us and said "poop". I said to her, did you poop? She said "da" which means yes. (Sometimes I think she is a baby Klingon (Star Trek reference here)!!) I said, let's change that diaper. Well, for a while now, she gets the changing pad, put it on the ottoman and then climbs up on top ready for her diaper change. (She also sometimes gets a book!!!) Anyway, it was almost bedtime so I didn't put a diaper on her and we walked up the stairs. I started to get her PJs out and asked her, just for the heck of it, do you want to go potty. She said "da"!!! So we walked into her bathroom and I put her up on the throne. I held her arm and she went!! I was shocked! I thought, this is a fluke and won't happen again. Boy was I wrong! This morning after I got her up, I said to her, do you want to go potty? She said "da"! (Side Note: her diaper has been dry in the mornings for a while!) Anyway, in we went to the bathroom and up on the throne. She sat there and went pee-pee. When she was finished, reached over for some paper and cleaned up, put it in the toilet, shut the lid and then flushed it!!! Guy and I stood there with our mouths hanging open.

So, today, I spoke with her teacher and they are going to work with her to start the "formal" training! We are off to buy some Pull Ups tonight! Wish us luck!!

Updates!!!

2006-08-03T08:13:00.000-04:00

I have been getting so much grief because I have not updated in over a month!!! Here you go. In the last month, Lizzie has really begun to talk. She is putting three and four words together to form sentences, she is almost singing now too! She walks around the house humming! She also discovered TV. We never really said "no TV", she just never really noticed it before. She absolutely loves Elmo, Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney. She can even say "Thomas", but it is with a kind of accent. She also loves to help us. When we go grocery shopping, we have to make sure the bags aren't too heavy so she is able to carry them and help us unload. Yes, it takes a long time, but she is so thrilled to help. We also give her paper plates and she helps to set the table! I am not kidding, this kid loves to help. If you give her a diaper wipe, she will get down on her hands and knees and wipe the floor or she will clean the table for you! She is such a worker and she loves to do it!!

Let's see, in July we celebrated my birthday and my father's birthday which was fun. We are practicing singing Happy Birthday so she is excited in September when we have her 2nd birthday party. We also celebrated my brother's birthday, which is on August 10. Next up, Daddy's birthday on August 13!

Did I mention that Elizabeth has so many summer clothes that they no longer fit in her dresser or closet so I have to keep some folded in a basket? I admit it, I got a little carried away buying her stuff this summer, but I couldn't help it!!

My new job has been absolutely wonderful and busy. I just love it! Guy and I are well -- except, Lizzie's daycare sent a note home last week about an instance of hand and mouth disease. Lizzie didn't get it, thank God, however, Guy did!!! The doctor had never seen a case in an adult before, he actually had to look it up!! Guy is much better now and just missed a couple of days of work.

Well, that is all for now. I promise to update more frequently! Take care and enjoy the pictures.

Cathy