Boo at the Zoo 2010!

I know you'll be FOREVER connected xo

With 5 1/2+ yrs apart, I would've never known it before, but the two of you are two peas in a pod...best of buds and GREAT playmates! It has been such a joy to watch the two of you growing up together over the past yr and a half.

Wherever you are, she wants to be, whatever you're doing,she wants to do. And honestly, you rarely ever mind. You will take her for rides in your hummer, up and down the street. You will race bikes with her down the hill in our yard over and over again. You will play in the playroom with her, building her towers for her animals with blocks and such. You will set up fabulous "picnics" with the playfood for her and her babies. And my most favorite to see, you will lift her up in her bed or yours and snuggle with her while you read her endless book after book as she demands it....

Charlie D...you are the world's greatest big brother to me! Mommy could not have created a better one than you for your sis, Sophie Su!

We are so proud of you and all you do for her! She adores you through and through!
So here's to YOU! You and your Sophie Su!
xoxoxo mommy

Sophie and Addie...BFF xo

About a year and a half a part these two girls were a match made in heaven!

Addie was only 28mos old when she met Soph for the first time, and b/c she comes here to our house 3 days a week, her and my Sophie Su became best of buds very quickly!
Sophie loves all the kiddos that come to play, but I will have to say, she squeals the loudest when her "Addie Boo" comes a knockin on the door!

I love and cherish their little friendship and pray they stay this close forever :)

Daddy's girl..fun in KY

We spent an extra long weekend down home in KY to start the planning of the BIG DAY for my baby brother...his wedding day next fall! My mom and I had tons of fun planning and shopping and talking a/b the wedding with my soon to be sis-in-law!

So while I was busy lost in wedding land my sweet J had the kiddos and did like he always does, his best daddy duty!

Charlie adores his daddy, esp now at 7...but I will have to say, as a baby boy, he definetly was a mama's boy and was much more affectionate with me vs J...

Sophie Su adores her daddy, and it's the sweetest thing to see! She too is a mama's girl, but there is this sweet adoration she has for Jeff that is so amazing....ever since Ch*na really, she has been attached to him in a special sweet way, a way I didnt witness C being....

She jumps for joy when he gets home each night and hugs him so tightly...although she lately prefers me to put her to bed..she can't go up until she gives her daddy a big hug and kiss(Char-char too :) )

So anyway....it's just been a blessing to see this little sweet relationship develop between a daughter and her father....I am lucky to witness it..but she's the most lucky of all to have it !!!!

Look who's in a big girl bed!

Although we are a couple months shy of our little angel turning 2...we thought she'd had enough of the crib...she is a restless sleeper to say the least and she's been waking up the past couple months after having had slept through the night forever...so we thought maybe she was bumping into her crib????
So..we pulled out my old bed from the attic...my beloved daybed..which was fun and sentimental to set up for my own daughter..thinking this was our answer to some sleepful nights ahead....
WRONG...night four will be tonight and we shall see..but so far...she has continued to waken in the night...on the first night, I was awoken at 1:30am to her standing up in bed turning her light switch on and off b/c she can reach it now...
Night two, I was awoken at 11:30 to her climbing head first off the very end and ONLY small opening in the whole bed...Day three, last night, she woke at 12am and was at the far end of the bed throwing her stuffed animals off....
So..here we are, night 4...it's 10pm..and no word so far...we shall see!

But our sweet baby girl is growing fast...she'll be two before too long..and I know will eventually sleep tight in her new big girl bed!

Visit to one of our favorite pumpkin farms!

So the day we chose to go do our annual pumpkin hunting/farm fall festivites started out sunny and mid 60's...but as we drove out to our fav place, the storm clouds moved in and we watched the temp drop 7 degrees....
But..I will say, this ended up working greatly in our favor, b/c there were NO crowds of people as usual, and although the sun didn't shine, the rain held out and we had a blast!

And you know me..emotional me...I ended up in tears AGAIN during many moments of our day here(happy tears of course), b/c I couldnt help but flash back to 2 falls ago, Oct 2008...the last time we were here....

We brought Charlie here and had so much fun, but deep down, past all the fun, my heart had been so very heavy as we walked around this same farm, and I saw all these babies around, yet at that time, we had no idea what our future held w/Ch*na and whether or not we'd ever get to our baby girl to be...and how funny b/c looking back, our sweet Sophie Su was only one month away from being born into this world..yet I had NO idea...I was living on hope and great faith, and her spirit that has always lived in me....but it SUCKED waiting all those years, esp during times like that when I was around so many other babies and all I wanted was my baby home...

And now, like pure magic, here I stood at this same farm, as if that time never happened those 2yrs ago, or at least it just feels a million yrs ago that I was so sad and desperate for my baby girl to come home to me...and as I stood on the sidelines watching Charlie lift his baby sister into the train next to him, I couldnt help the tears that just shed down my face, the happy, happiest tears of joy that my two angels are here with me on this day at this farm.

Then tonight, we went and had dinner with two great friends of ours that are waiting for their precious baby girl to be from Ch*na..and as we sat and chatted a/b the wait,and that they probably had 3 more yrs to go,and I saw that sad look I once had in their eyes, I so desperatly wished I just could magically make them know and feel that one day, before long, they would not feel that pain of the wait and that it will all go away when they hold their daughter...it's easy for me to say, and I know they wont really feel it or get it until she's home to them.....but I know and have faith it will one day happen, and I can only hope I conveyed that in some way.
I would not trade one day in those 4yrs that we waited for our little angel, not one of them...
Thankyou God for your gifts to me, esp my Charlie and Sophie!!!