Oh happy summer!

We are having such a wonderful summer with Kylie. On Father's Day, Sean received this wonderful little keepsake from Kylie. I love what it says so much that I wanted to make sure to document it. It reads:

"Sometimes you get discouraged because I'm so small and always leave my fingerprints on furniture and walls." (Not true at all...) "But everyday I'm growing, I'll be grown some day and all those tiny hand prints will surely fade away. So here's a little hand print just so you can recall Exactly how my fingers looked when I was very small." Love Kylie.

Kylie is so lucky to have Sean as her dad. He is the most, patient, loving, caring and giving person I have ever known. I have so many wonderful pics of them together and yet there are still so many more wonderful moments that although I did not capture in a photo I will always cherish. Daddy can be so silly when he is trying to make you smile baby girl! I look forward to sharing stories with Kylie about just how happy and excited she made us every day. I knew Sean was going to be a great Dad and so far he has exceeded any expectation. Happy Father's day, Honey!

On June 16th, I celebrated my birthday with great family and friends. Happy 40th to me!!! Best birthday ever complete with smooches from my sunshine!
Hanging out by the pool...
Daddy's home made popsicles are m-m-good!

Scrunchy face

Pucker up! Here comes a yummy smooch!

M-m-u-a-h!

and of course another scrunchy face...

Kylie & Katie meet!

Last weekend we had the pleasure of meeting a fantastic family who's daughter is from the Wuwei province like Kylie. Lori, Marc & Katie came to Orlando for a May DTC reunion and it was wonderful to be able to join them. I have been following their blog for almost a year now. I originally met Lori thru the Wuwei Yahoo group and she was always helpful once us crazy women who finally received their referrals started posting with a million questions. I've met so many wonderful people thru the adoption process and I believe this is the beginning of another wonderful friendship! Lori - I wished we lived closer to each other! Our girls got along great and they had a blast. I have a favorite video that I will post from this past weekend as soon as I can figure it out. In the meantime enjoy some random pics.

Kylie and Katie Starr. It was really tough trying to get these two to look at the camera at the same time.

They may not be smiling but you wouldn't either if you were constantly interrupted to pose for a pic:-) Note to self...take candid shots...

I had the pleasure of babysitting Ellie on Sat. Ellie's mommy has been a wonderful, caring and supportive friend to me from day one. Here are our precious daughters and new friends Katie, Ellie & Kylie

I just love Kylie's sweet, innocent face!

Kylie and Ellie

Watching TV has turned into some serious business around here...

She finally noticed her momma!

Another scrunchy face. Silly girl!

My big little girl...

Two weeks ago my DH and I woke up to a frightening sound outside of our bedroom at 3am. Kylie is a very good sleeper...knock on wood;-) We have had the occasional wake up call in the middle of the night but they are far and few in between. There were even nights where Kylie had such a good night sleep that she was ready to play and start her day at 2 AM but it has been several months since then thank goodness. Well, two weeks ago at approx 2am Kylie woke up crying and I tried to comfort her and stayed with her for approx 45min. When I attempted to put her limp little body back in the crib, she fought screamed and cried. After a few minutes of that mess, I decided that it was okay to see if she can comfort herself back to sleep. I walked away a little broken hearted at hearing her sobs and waited a few minutes. By the time I got back to my bedroom and checked the monitor all was good again. Until...at approx 3ish am when I woke up to a crying Kylie that sounded awfully close to our bedroom. Too close...was I dreaming? My DH who sleeps like a log, also woke up and he said he thought he heard a thump. Alarmed, we both jumped out of bed, turned on the lights and rush out of our room. There she was, our little girl blanket in hand making her way over to our bedroom. I was careful not to scare her and acted pretty normal immediately offering to pick her up and love her. I glanced her over to make sure she wasn't limping or injured by her fall from the crib and immediately brought her to bed with us with my heart racing and thankful that she was ok. We had a pediatrician appt scheduled that morning and while in the waiting room I noticed a bruise, lump and raspberry on the right hand side of her forehead. The Dr. said it was ok. I wasted no time getting info on bed rails and purchased one during my lunch hour that very same day. I no longer felt that it was safe for Kylie to be in her crib combined with about 4 other people including the Dr. that said "you know what that means mommy...it's time for a big girl bed". I waited patiently (or not so patiently) for DH to get home to convert the crib.

I thought the next mommy and daddy challenge was going to be keeping Kylie in bed now that she has a new found freedom. I am happy to report that Kylie LOVES her converted crib. The first morning after installing the bed rail, I observed Kylie on the monitor getting down from the crib, stretching her arms to get her blanket and making it over to our bedroom where I waited with a big hug. Since then, she decided on her own to call me every morning to come get her which I prefer. Well, the crib tent that I had high hopes would keep Kylie in a crib for a long time did not work out. We could not zip it up or else she would go into hysterics. I thought it would be a while before we needed to shop for her "big girl" furniture. Kylie continues to amaze us everyday with her strong willed, independent, can do/will do attitude. She is happy and healthy. Her favorite words are "no" and she no longer cares for baths, brushing her teeth or putting her toys away. Well she never did care to put her toys away:-) I guess from what I can gather from other parents, Kylie is developmentally doing well. She is right along the same lines as any toddler approaching their two's. So all is well in our household and we couldn't be happier. We are so in love with our wonderful, fun and adorable little girl!

Kylie happily possing with her converted crib right before 'night night'

Mommy's helper. It took much longer to wash my car this day:-) I love this pic! She is no taller than the tires on my car!

I love that kissable face. This pic was taken yesterday she was happy to pose with "boo boo" (Bruiser). She still has a love/hate relationship with our furry pal.

Gymnastics