Shovelin' and Sleddin'...

Just a good little memory video...

3.-Month "Family of 3 Day"

Dan and I have always been a family. And we've had a great life together. We have two four legged daughters--that we really do cherish as if they were our children. They have given us more pleasure than we ever could imagine. We hate to think of what we'd do without them. If not for Montana--I'm not sure I'd ever been ready when I met Dan. After getting her--she gave me a reason to come home for lunch and ontime from work. Therefore she helped me make room in my life for Dan--that fateful night in July of 1998--when I looked over my shoulder and said, "Hey what'ca doin?" Like him--I knew the minute I saw her face--that Izabella was my daughter and we only needed to find our way through the maze of craziness to her--to step out on faith--and wrap our arms, our hearts and our love around her FOREVER. I still look at her in amazement that she is REALLY OURS. She brings so much sunshine to our days. It's truly the most amazing blessing.

Three-Months ago today--we arrived home to the United States from a very long and crazy 'magic carpet ride" to China--with our precious Izabella. Here are some memories and some changes we've seen:

Izabella you now:

• have LOTS of words in your vocablary. Your first few words were "Mama, Papa, Up, More, Down, I love you and all-done" You now surprise us everyday with new words every day. The latest word you learned is "self". You want to do it by yourself when you say this.
  
• pray to God. Whenever we mention His name, you immediately press your hands together and say, "God, I love you, Amen." It's so sweet and innocent--and no one can tell me you don't understand what you're doing or saying. I believe you and God have had a relationship for a long time now. I asked you last night if God told you that you had a family, and that we were on our way to bring you home?" You said, with a HUGE smile on your face and your eyes lit up with sparkles of joy shook your head quickly, "Yes, Mama, Papa." Then signed to me the sign we showed her for what papa does "driving his BIG Truck."
  
• You still don't sleep very well at night. No matter how many times I pray you have sweet dreams, it seems this is the only time you show any greiving for your old life, for your birth parents and for all you had and left behind in China. It breaks my heart to hear you whale and cry and not be able to sooth these wounds. All I can do is say, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Mama and Papa love you and will never ever leave you."
  
• You are so flexible. You like a schedule, but do not get fussy or miserable when everything isn't exactly on schedule.
  
• The orphanage told us you had a fascination for dogs--curiousity was also used--but, when you saw Montana and Sadie--you were afraid. Within a week you were hugging on them and saying command like a pro!
  
• Since the third day we got you--you opened up and smiled and relaxed. But everyday, you show us a new part of your personality. You are still unfolding like a the "beautiful spring flower bud" your chinese name meaning says.
  
• You love your hair in pigtails, headbands, bows and everyting girlie. Even want to put on make-up with mom in the morning. And love Dad's chapstick!
• You write, fingerpaint and do everything with such delicate detail and percision. Nothing is fast and furious to you.
• You don't like to be messy.
  
• Your giggle is contagious and could wake the soft part of a big crazy old dragons soul.
  
• You are very independent and strong. We love this about you-as we know this skill, trait will serve you well as you venture out into the world on your own. You always want to try to do it yourself first--when you can not figure it out on your own--you accept help willingly and with intense concentration--so you'll be able to do it next time yourself.
  
• You love your bathtime! But you rarely give a fuss when we say, "all done". You say "bye-bye water" and even know how to pull and turn the bath plug to let the water go down.
  
• You are very energy wise--you always remind me to shut off the light before we leave a room.
  
• You are the most loving child I have ever met. You insist on kissing each cheek and our forehead everytime you love on us. And your empathy for others well being--family and strangers alike is so amazing to watch. I love how you have no problem with "public display of affection (PDA). When shopping, you will say, "mama" and signal me to come closer. Then you plant a big kiss on my cheek. Sometimes you just bend your head down to my hand on the cart and kiss it with all you got--smooching noises and all. with a giggle behind every kiss--like it tickled you pink with Joy.
  
• You love to share everything. Sometimes things we don't want to share.
  
• You help me set the table everynight--and love to help me do "everything mommy". Especially pushing the swifter broom around the kitchen, doing laundry, and cooking.
  
• Mama and Papa had never left you since the day we met you. Except for a couple hours the other day when Mama went to a lunch appointment and you stayed with your cousin Tatie (Katie) for a couple hours. She said you were upset for about 10 minutes then settled in and were fine. And the joy on your face when I came home--like when papa comes home was an unbelievable sight indeed.
  
• You are a trooper about all things doctors. Experienced far beyond your years in this area.
• Your walk was very unsteady when we met--and just three months later your little legs with not much muscle are so strong. And you're starting to run! And you are learning to climb the stairs up and down. And can even do a sommersault!
  
• You love your babies. Always have. I will never forget the day in China when you picked up your baby and comforted her, kissed her, rocked her by swaying from side to side, and then changed her diapers by picking up her legs with one hand. I knew that day, you had seen your share of caring for babies and knew exactly what to do.
  
• You can put on your shoes by yourself.
  
• You can almost draw a face like your Grammy Cota taught you.
• You love to sing and dance. You especially love the commercial jingles.
  
• You love to put things on your head. Anything that will fit--hats of all kinds, boxes, blankets..anything! And love to crawl in and out of boxes.
  
• You're amazed at the snow--the first day papa took you out when it was snowing. You stuck your tongue out to catch them.
  

I could go on and on. But these are a few of the highlights.

This video shows a little peek at how you are and it was just events of yesterday morning--in about 1.5 hours....you're so much fun to just watch. We love you beyond words!

Happy 3-Month Anniversay in your forever family Izabella. I keep counting the months and saying, "has it only been that long?" It feels like you've been with us forever.

This is PART One:



This is Part two:




I say this little saying to you each time we sit and rock you to sleep. I've said it since the first day we rocked together for a nap. You always shake your head in agreement after each statement and that little nod always warms my heart in a HUGE way.

"Mama loves Izabella. Papa loves Izabella. Izabella loves Mama. Izabella loves Papa. Mama loves Papa. Papa loves Mama. And that makes us all a FAMILY forever and ever!"

Amen.

A busy week...work, fun, singing, sommersaults...

A very busy week....warning...long post...sorry....Dan had to work A LOT of overtime...I know I'm tired of typing that tune!

McDonald's Playground Fun...So we met Papa for a lunch at McDonalds and there was a playground at this one. So after Papa left to go back to work, we took Izabella to the playground for a little. At first she didn't want anything to do with the colorful tubes of fun. Then I helped her into the first bubble, she hung out there for a while, checking it out. Then she decided she could "go"...the movie below shows the rest of this story.

Fingerpainting! We tried fingerpainting this week too! She is so fussy about having dirty hands, it was interesting to do this activity with her. She would only put one finger in, and paint with the same detail she draws, and colors with. Not much "fast scribbling and scrubbing" for this one. You can see by the look on her face...she was soooo excited. We took her finger paintings and made them into Valentine's for Papa. But, when Papa was having a bad day--we decided to give him one early to cheer him up a little. As we headed out to meet him for lunch, I gave one of the valentines to her to give to Papa when she saw him. She fell asleep in the car, but never let go of that valentine. I wish I had a picture. When I went to get her out of her car seat..she still had a death grip on it. She gave it to Papa..and clearly it lifted his day. He put it in his pocket for safe keeping. Even checked before he left to be sure it had not fallen out. Very sweet.


Building Towers! Izabella loves to build towers with her blocks Aunt Shelly and Uncle Topher gave her. She'll build one anywhere, anytime and then come to me and say, "Mama. Mama. Tall. Tall." Sure enough, it was tall. The pictures below are so precious. Not how she's putting that last block on. I thought for sure it was going over, but it didn't. And the last picture is not of after that "barely on there block", but it's what she does after each block is placed successfully! So fun...


Learning to navigate the stairs! We started learning to do the stairs. She's really picking it up quickly. And it's great for building muscles in her legs. We met with an Early Access Iowa today to get an appointment to get her an development assessment. I think she's on track, just want to be sure there's nothing we're missing. I was concerned her walking is so wobbly. She's getting much better, and doesn't fall much. But given her first step was taken in February of 2009 almost a year ago--I thought she should be a little more stable. After chatting with them--it occurred to me she just doesn't have any real muscles in her little legs. We know in the orphanage they kept the heart babies activity to a minimum--concerned about stressing their little hearts. So she really needs to build up the muscles. The stairs definitely help her do that. She's doing it better and better and with more endurance each time. She's so determined--every time we go upstairs she says, "Self, Self". She wants to do it by herself..holding my hand of course.


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It's a special Carry-Along personalized water jug. Izabella LOVES water and our friends Shayna and Matt gave us this jug right after we got her referral. I pulled it out and she loves it! Wants to carry it around all day! And wants us to keep refilling it. I'm not sure if she wants the water as much as it is the novelty of this really cool cup that she can carry around on a strap on her neck. The outfit she has on is from them too--for Christmas...and it all matches--how funny is that. Thank you Shayna and Matt.
Just a cool picture of them looking for Papa at the front door.

You can now vote for our Izabella! Please do!

The server has been down so no one could get in and vote.....ugh...but they are now up. So if you couldn't vote before--and you can now.

And I'd so appreciate it if you would pass the word around for our girl. If we win it enters us into the BIG 2010 Cuties Kid contest--which comes with a prize of a $25,000 college scholarship!!! Appreciate all your support--as always--you're all a blessing in our lives--we're thankful everyday!

Go here vote for her. I don't believe there is any obligation. And if you're so inclined--post this link (http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/67405)on your blog to help us win!

I can't beleive this! Soooo fun!

Thank you so much!

Here is the email we got this morning the link here:

Vote Today!

Congratulations! Your photo is currently in the running to become a weekly winner on Parents Photo Faves. The photo with the most votes this week will take home the honors so make sure you vote for your photo today. Click here to cast your vote. Get your friends and family to vote too! Just forward this email to them or share the link. http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/67405

Vote for our Izabella!!! Parents Magzine photo contest!

We're so excited! I entered a couple favorite pictures of Izabella in this contest and we actually got picked to be in the running for a weekly winner this week. Sooooo fun!! Infact it's the picture I chose to feature on our blog of her (to the right--it's one of my favorites of her--shows her joyful spirit).

I'd appreciate it if you would vote for her. I don't believe there is any obligation. And if you're so inclined--post this link (http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/67405)on your blog to help us win!

I can't beleive this! Soooo fun!

Thank you so much!

Here is the email we got this morning the link here:

Vote Today!

Congratulations! Your photo is currently in the running to become a weekly winner on Parents Photo Faves. The photo with the most votes this week will take home the honors so make sure you vote for your photo today. Click here to cast your vote. Get your friends and family to vote too! Just forward this email to them or share the link. http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/67405

Practice, Practice, Practice...

1.31.10: Today we went bowling to practice our skill. Dan doesn't need the practice as much as I do. But he really enjoys bowling and it's great exercise. I have increased my average from an 84 before China to now my average is 103 and I'm hoping by the end of the league I'll be at a 130. That's a high goal--but it's a good one to try to reach. Sunday mornings at the bowling alley they ahve $1.29/game/person so it's a good inexpensive time to practice. We've been talking about doing it for weeks--and finally got going and did it. I'm so glad we did. We got 3 games in--I played a 120, 91, 123! OK the second game was awful-sticky fingers. But overall--Dan's coaching is paying off--and as always practice make perfect.

Nothing exciting really-I love this picture of Dan and Izabella with the bowling alley and pins in the background. Tried to get one of her and I--she was not cooperating--as well as the people next to us LOVED her and were distracting her like crazy--ugh! And how 'bout my man--nice style eh? PS Dan bowled a 168, 216, 206...yeah would love to be that good.


Anyway--I love taking pictures of my loves....truly. Drives Dan crazy sometimes...but...oh well!

It's a wild animal adventure...YUP...in Iowa in the dead of winter!

1.30.10: After taking care of some outdoor chores (don't want to go into details...just think, we have two dogs and they eat a lot of food and it has to end up somewhere.) Papa told me to get my zoom lense and camera and let's go for a ride. So we did. I love these surprise adventures. Our adventure started out at the lake at a spot where he has spotted a few bald eagles on a regular basis, but there were none to be seen today.

Then we headed over to a farm that has elk and buffalo, and along the way we saw a whole herd of wild turkey's feasting in a corn field, and lots of deer in the woods. It was so fun! I didn't get pics of the wild turkey's wish I would have.

Elk! A boy and a girl...we think they're husband and wife. :) They were eating and just staring away at us. This was so cool. Don't recall I've ever seen an Elk in my life!

These deer were just hanging out next to this home. We think they are feeding them. There was a whole herd of them there. There is so little food this winter--it's so harsh out there.

A Buffalo!! OK, never saw one of these before either! Wow! Fun!

Then he took us to Jester park look-out to see if we could find those bald eagles that weren't at the other side of the lake. They were not--but we had fun looking for them through the huge binoculars.

This picture is one of my favorites today. All day she kept talking to us--pointing out the window and everywhere--she loves all these new things in her world. She'll say with such excitement, "Momma! Momma! and point at whatever it is she doesn't want me to miss. We look in the direction she's pointing and we can't see what it is that's so exciting! Cause it's all just normal stuff for us--to her it's a whole new world. So it is now for us too.

Then we headed over to the equestrian center to see some horses.

These horses were so beautiful...and looked like the cold didn't bother them one bit!

Look how white his/her coat is! Gorgeous Animal.

This was also our first outing that we took the "girls" with us. We haven't dared to do this yet--but how could we go on a wild animal adventure without them? They LOVED it...as you can see. I took this picture in my rear view mirror while we were headed down the road. I LOVE IT...they are in Dog Heaven! Ears flopping in the wind and all! It was so nice to have them with us. Our first FULL family outing! So many first...! Life is so good!
I'll end this wild adventure..with a couple pics of our beautful Izabella! Just because. :) She's ours...BIG SMILE :)