Tickle-Bug Dance

Hi All,

I am home with a cold and without my sunshiny little girl so that I can rest.

The link below shows a cute video clip that I hope brightens your day as much as it has mine.

Cutie-Pie Weekly ReCap

Hi Everyone,

I am continuing with my attempt to update the blog once a week. Yea, I know this is a holiday weekend and all-- but we have some projects to work on plus some fun stuff we want to do-- not that keeping ya'll updated isn't fun-- but, well, you know . . .

Last weekend I took Gabrielle and Josie with me to a party. The girls had some fun 'big sis'-'lil sis' time playing on the little hay wagon. They were very cute, but I had a hard time getting them to both look at me at the same time for the big Kodak moment.





















Most importantly, Josie and Gabrielle had a blast rolling around in the hay, giggling, and making silly faces at each other.

Josie had fun this night playing around before bedtime. She is especially interested in the cat, who isn't quite as intimidating as Phoebe, our Golden Retriever.

Josie is getting pretty good at identifying body parts-- especially those on the head. Much to our cat's dismay, Josie's current favorite is the eye.

"Look! It is the cat!"

"I am going to pet the Cat."

Josie soon became tired-out from all of the running around after the cat and pointing out her eye. She was happy to snuggle with Daddy for a few minutes before heading off to her beddie-bye basket.

The next morning, Josie had a nice treat of French Toast for breakfast. She was still pretty tired when she first started eating.

"I can't see what I'm eating."

"Mmmmm. This is pretty good."

"Oh YEA! Let's get some MORE Syrup!"

We did have a minor disappointment this week. Pictures were taken at Josie's Baby School and we went to extra lengths to have her ready for her first "school" pictures. The night before, I picked out a pretty outfit filled with fall colors. The morning of the pictures, Wim got up a little early so he and Josie would have time to stop by my office and I could fix her hair (Daddy isn't so good with the hair-- his fingers are too big for the little bands).

I am sure you know where this is heading.

Josie threw a fit at Baby School. She would not sit for the photographer and cried and cried.

So no Baby School Picture.

When we got home, I tried to take some pictures of Josie in her outfit. I thought it would be pretty to take some outside.

Josie thought differently as she kept far away from me and my camera.

"NO! I don't want my picture taken!"

Back inside the house I was able to get a few goofy shots of Josie Dong Dong, but nothing like what I was hoping to get.

Oh well. We'll have to try some other time.

Last night Wim and I took Josie out to eat and she enjoyed intelligent conversation with her Daddy about current affairs.

Even though the economy is falling apart and it is an election year, Josie was most interested in discussing last night's Red Sox game.

"The Rays are totally going to choke under this pressure!"

As we continue are fun-filled Holiday weekend, we will be heading to a pumpkin patch-- so stay tuned for more fun and games with Josie Dong Dong.

"I'm getting a pumpkin!"

New Friends

Hi Everyone,

As usual I have a ton of pictures to post and not enough time to them all or do justice to the few that I hope to post. It's been pretty busy this past week and Josie Dong Dong is the girl about town! -- with a 1st birthday party for Baby Emily and greeting Baby Grace recently home from China.

And-- without further ado-- here she is-- the Darling Baby Grace!

Mommy Michelle is still in zombie-mode from the flight back to the states from China, but Grace is happy as a lark (so is Mommy Michelle-- she's just tired from the late night crib parties).

Josie Dong Dong was very happy to finally meet Baby Grace Niu Niu and was quick to offer her some toys to play with.

"Hi. I'm baby Grace and I'm CUTE!"

"Hi Baby Grace, let's play mailbox."

It didn't take long for the girls to make friends and start tooling through Baby Grace's toys. Josie Dong Dong enjoyed showing Grace Niu Niu how to use some of her toys and Baby Grace thought Josie was pretty funny to watch!

"I like the mailbox toy a lot too!"

"This toy plays pretty music."

"This is fun! I like playing with Josie Dong Dong!"
"I like playing with Baby Grace Niu Niu!

The girl's had a blast with each other on their very first playdate and I am sure they will have more adventures together in the coming months. We'll definitely be seeing more and more of this cute little mug in the future.


We also had a very important 1st Birthday this past weekend-- Josie's cousin Emily turned one and we all helped her celebrate the occasion with presents, cakes and of course some balloons.

Josie Dong Dong is still cautious when we take her to a new place and especially if there are lots of people around. She still likes to stick close to Mommy. Luckily for Josie, she was quickly greeted by her favorite big cousin Abbie who brought her some . . .CHIPS! (what else??).


All of the kids were excited when Baby Emily opened her presents. Everyone wanted to help with the wrapping and with showing Baby Emily how to play with all her new loot!


The biggest question of the day turned out to be . . . .

How many adults DOES it take to assemble a baby toy?

We'll get back to you on that one.

Of course the next exciting party event was the cake! This was a big hit with the birthday girl!

"Oh Boy! Look at ME! I'm 1-Years Old!"

Hmmmm, I'm not sure that Baby Emily liked her cake all that much. What do you think?

"Ummmm, where did my cake go?"

Toward the end of the party, Josie Dong Dong finally settled-in enough to seek out a balloon for herself. She is still cautiously checking around each corner to see what is going on.

Josie had fun at the party, but there is nothing like returning to the safety of home after being to a new place.

"Ummm, that was fun, but we're staying home now-- right?"

Just when we thought she was all settled down-- Josie Dong Dong decided to surprise all of us by trying to streak around the house before bedtime.

This seems to be a new phenomena for Josie Dong Dong-- taking off her clothes! She keeps trying to do it-- everywhere!

"I think this shirt would be better as a hat."

"Maybe it should just be a flag I wave around."

Till next time, we'll be hanging out with Josie in her play area-- building-- well, we're not sure.

Reflections- SIX Months since Love's First Embrace

Hi Everyone,

Six months is it a long time or a short time? I know-- everything is relative. I'll just leave it at that because I don't really know how to answer the question.

All I really know is that after waiting for 2+ years, it certainly has been a whirlwind-- both a lifetime of changes in the past 6-months, yet it seems like yesterday. I guess that is why they call it a whirlwind.

Please click on the media player to hear some nice music while traveling with us down memory lane.

These pictures aren't in a particular order. I've sort of grouped them by a category (like eating etc) so that the first picture of the category is from the earlier days that we gladly became Josie's family to more recent pictures (earlier days-- it's only been 6-months. Wow! It's already been SIX MONTHS??!!)

The day we first met Josie was followed by many days of Mommy holding this new bundle of joy.

Josie first introduction to Gabrielle and Xavier, learning how much fun it is to have siblings to play with or just hang out with.

When we first met Josie she was always wide mouthed, ready to eat. As she became more assured that there was plenty of food to go around, she began displaying this behavior less and less. She now rarely opens her mouth like this for food.

Josie had a huge aversion to sand at the beginning of the summer. After a few trips to the beach she learned how much fun it is to play in the sand and now LOVES the beach and playing in the sand.

Josie has always loved to play, from her days in the Orphanage to her days now at home.

Josie new how to crawl when we met her and she was VERY reluctant to walk. She wanted to be held and carried all the time. She still likes to be carried-- Mostly, I think she likes to know that she has access to being carried.

With some coaxing Josie soon began tottering around on unsteady feet, then walking with sure steps, and before we knew it, she became a master of stair climbing.

Josie has also learned how to not only walk up her slide but also recently started climbing up the ladder to her slide as well. She is really becoming a big girl at walking and climbing.

Josie was very demanding about me picking her up and carrying her. To be honest, she still is a lot of the time. But (a good but), now I sometimes get a happy face asking to be picked up instead of the once typical (only method of request) whining and crying.

The information we received about Josie indicated that she didn't like baths and was afraid of the water. Hmmmm . . . what do you think?

Josie was extremely shy when we first met her. The first picture was taken in China while shopping at WalMart. The 2nd picture was taken at a party a couple months after we returned home. She is certainly blossoming into a little social butterfly.

Josie was scared of Wim when she first met him-- there were no men at her orphanage-- and he is one big guy. We often joked that he is the ugliest Ayee that she ever met-- Ayee is Cantonese for auntie and is what the babies call their nannies in the orphanage.

The road can still be a little rocky with the two of them sometimes, but Josie has come realize how much fun her "Dathy" is.

So here we are, her referral pictures and pictures taken recently. What a difference.

Very fitting for her 6-month Milestone-- March 23rd, Josie Dong Dong threw a fit about sitting in a high chair. This picture is of her first dinner (after the fit) sitting at the table-- still in her high chair but with it scooted up the the table-- without the high chair tray.

That's it, in a nutshell. There is so much more- I simply don't have time to sit down and write out all the wonderful attributes about my wonderful daughter and all the precious changes we've shared these past few months. It's taken me a week to compile this much.

Josie Dong Dong is truly the Sunshine of My Life!

The past 6-months have been the happiest of my life till now-- I suspect the next 6-months will be even more so-- and so on --and so on.

I can hardly wait experience with Josie all of the new and exciting things coming her way, while at the same time I want to freeze time, if only for a moment-- maybe a long moment.

Reena