Christmas is Coming!!!

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

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

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

Lizzie: A Year in Pictures

Our One Year Anniversary As A Family!

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

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

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

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!!!

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

Lizzie's Two Year Pictures

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....

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

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!!!

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

Lizzie Picture Updates