Our Trip to Maryland

On Friday, we (Mom, Isabella, Elisabeth, and I) took a trip to Maryland to see Blake (my brother who just returned home from Iraq). Although WE were quite happy to see him, I am not sure how happy he was to see us. Having 4 girls descend upon a bachelor may not qualify as a 'good time'. He did see to our needs, though, by driving us to every mall within a 45 mile radius. We hit Ikea, Baby Gap, Carters, OshKosh, Bloomingdales, Macys, and many, many shoe stores! We also made time to eat - surprise, surpise for those who know me :) We went to a great Italian restuarant the 1st night, Chipolte and California Pizza Kitchen on Saturday, and DuClaw on Sunday. YUMMMMYYYYY!!!! No need to tell you that I am on a diet, AGAIN! The kids were so great we stopped by the Hershey Chocolate Factory on the way home and did the famous tour. Oh...and we had enough room in our stomachs to wolf a burger and fries from Fuddruckers:) I ran out of baby food and formula on the ride home so Isabella ate a brownie covered in icing for dinner...her carseat shared ;)

Wings and Soda

Elisabeth and Todd's favorite thing to eat is wings...and now Isabella has joined the pack! We went to Quaker Steak and Lube on Friday and she tried wings for the 1st time with the sauce! She loved them! She also learned to kiss....full on the mouth! You don't realize what she is doing until she is sucking your lips :) Next step is to teach her how to aim for the cheek!

I am also posting pictures of Elisabeth and Todd playing soccer-he is her coach for the soccer team she is on. Also a favorite past time they share....while I do my favorite past time-sitting on my hinney.

9 Month Doctor Visit

Somehow in the last 3 months, Isabella has gone from the 25th percentile to the 72nd percentile for height and from the 50th percentile to the 25th percentile for weight. The doctor described her as tall and skinny today...when 3 months ago, she described her as short and fat. I am totally confused but completely happy she is healthy and perfectly normal. Elisabeth took great pride in undressing her, sitting her on the 'big person' scale (with her feet hanging off-like her Mama likes to get weighed) and holding her while the doctor listened to her heart. Then we all went to Ruby Tuesdays to celebrate 7 months of being a family (yes, I use any excuse to eat out)...Isabella had peas, cucumbers, cheese, crackers, ham, diet Coke (shhhhhh..don't tell the Dr.), and broccoli soup. Elisabeth dined on peas, grapes, mozzarella sticks, and french fries and a huge piece of chocolate cake for dessert - which she got to enjoy in peace when Todd took Isabella home early :)

Hellion on Knees

What was I thinking when I wanted this child to crawl? Why wasn't I happy with her just sitting peacefully on the rug or wherever I sat her? Now, not only does she crawl, but she pulls herself up on everything! Coffee table, rocking chair, toilet, dressers with drawers that come out too easily, gates, stairs, outlets, and the vacuum cleaner-AHHHHH!!! She not only pulls herself up, but pitches everything on to the floor. Nothing is safe in our house...except her crib and playpen. To all you new mothers out there, listen to what my mother told me-USE A PLAYPEN. It is the only time you have peace of mind. She was in bed today for the 2nd time when Elisabeth and I finally got to sit down and watch a LifeTime movie...our favorite past time. No interruptions for a whole 45 minutes. If anyone was watching "Trophy Wife", email me and let me know what happened :)

Happy Easter!

Easter this year was spent in Syracuse-first the Easter egg hunt, Easter baskets, and then church and lunch. Elisabeth hid Isabella's eggs (filled with Cherrios) in very obvious places but she still needed help finding them. She preferred to pull herself up using the coffee table legs rather than search out her eggs. She also preferred the grass at the bottom of her basket. Elisabeth had a great time, though, helping Isabella and finding her own eggs. Happy Easter to everyone!

Timeline for Travel...Looking Back

I talk to so many people about our experience with World Child International (our adoption agency) and our trip to Vietnam that I thought it would be helpful and less time consuming to post a timeline of what happened when we were there. I will also post the emails/pictures I sent from Vietnam (they will be under the date they were actually sent).

Day 1/2 Flew from Syracuse to Detroit to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Hanoi, Vietnam (36 hours)
Day 3 Checked into the Guomann Hotel in Hanoi
Day 4 Sightseeing
Day 5 Traveled to see Isabella in Lang Son and file paperwork with the province
Day 6 Sightseeing
Day 7 Traveled to see Isabella again
Day 8-10 Sightseeing
Day 12 Giving and Receiving Ceremony - YEAH!!!!
Day 13 First meeting with INS
Day 14 Apply for Isabella's passport/get passport picture taken
Day 15 Medical appointment for Isabella for VISA
Day 16-22 Sit by the phone from 8 am to 4 pm waiting for a call from INS then go to Cathay Pacific to change our tickets (a total of 5 times!)
Day 23 Move to the Melia Hotel for a change of scenery
Day 24-28 Continue to sit by the phone and wait, swim in the pool, change our tickets
Day 29 Second interview with INS for Isabella's VISA...
Day 30 Pick up VISA and board the plane home :)

Tuesday Update

My sister said that my posts are slightly on the boring side so I promised to only post pictures of the kids. NOT! How can I not brag about my little angels just a little bit?? We will see what her blog is like when she has a baby:)

The pictures of the kids in the tent were taken in a store downtown that sells outdoor clothing. It will probably be the only time they experience a tent-I only do hotels.

Isabella got yet another cold on Saturday and is on antibiotics for an ear infection. Finally, a trip to the doctor's office that ended up being worth the money! A friend was over the other night and when I went to show her how Isabella moved like an inchworm, she got up on all fours and started crawling (Isabella, not my friend:). I couldn't tell who was more proud-us or Elisabeth!