A Fun Day at the Park

Mia loves to run around now that she is getting faster on her feet. I have had the week off from work and I definitely have enjoyed it! Mike started a job on Wednesday (after 9 months off) and it requires him to be out of town for a couple days a week. Mike and I went round and round deciding on whether he should accept the position or not, and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. It is a big sacrifice but it is going to pay off in the end. Isn't that was us parents do for our children? : ). My mom will watch Mia starting next Tuesday and I know she is looking forward to it. She already has her car seat in grandma's car.

Today Mia and I went to the Sebastian County Park and it was such a beautiful day. She looks so BIG in her overalls, she is growing up fast!

More Christmas Pictures. . . .

Santa came to our house !

What a great Christmas we had this year with Mia. I thought maybe Mia might be too young and not get into the toys, but she loves to push her Asian Cabbage Patch doll in her shopping cart and she likes her kitchen. The unwrapping of the paper was a bore, but once it was put together and making noise, she was into it.

Daddy and Grandaddy put together the kitchen the night before Christmas Eve, I love to apply all the decals, so I had a hand in it too. We had a great time unwrapping all her goodies and enjoying the morning. Typically we have a nice dinner on Christmas Eve and we unwrap gifts that evening, but now that we have Mia, the adults do the evening and the morning is all about Mia.

She had so much fun playing with everything, that Mike and I had a difficult time putting her down for a nap, talk about over-stimulation!

To all the families that follow our blog who are waiting, I know it has been long, we waited 14 months from DTC to travel, but let me tell you, it is worth the wait. Before long you'll be eating it up like Mike and I have been. Had it been a shorter wait, we would not have had Mia, she is a perfect match for us :) .

I don't know, Mike and I always say,

we really lucked out!

May 2007 be a wonderful year to everyone!

Merry Christmas

Mike and I love this time of year and having Mia to share it with is truly special. Mia loves to look at the Christmas lights and now that she is walking, she goes right over to the tree and believe it or not, just points and lightly touches. We tell her "No Touch" and she listens for now. That won't last for long I know! Christmas Eve dinner which is big in my family is at our home this year. It will be our first Christmas as parents and it will be shared in our new home.

We want to wish everyone who follows our blog a Wonderful Holiday season and a safe and Happy New Year. We have truly been blessed this year and it just reiterates, that such simple things in life are whats important. I view the world from a different perspective now and I find myself thinking "Oh Well" more often.

Merry Christmas...Happy Chanukah...Happy New Year :)

Oh Look Pretty Tree !!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know this post is about a week late but we have been BUSY! We had some company for the Holiday weekend and we started to decorate the house for Christmas. When you have lived in a house for a while and you decorate year after year, its easy. The things go in the same place and you find a new spot for something you bought along the way. Well, when you move into a new house, I have no idea where I am going to put anything, no less what kind of lights outside are we going to buy. Our old house had a simple roof line and was much smaller. So of course, Mike had to do a full analysis and determined we need more outside receptacles now!. We ordered more from the builder, but evidently we need more! The electrician will be here Saturday to do that for us and we should be able to plug it all in then.

On the Thanksgiving issue, 2 years ago on Thanksgiving is when Mike and I embarked on Our Journey of Love to start a family. This Thanksgiving was so amazing, we have so much to be thankful for and I just couldn't believe I was cutting up little turkey and sweet potatoe pieces for my daughter. She had a new Thanksgiving bib on and she ate like a horse. She wasn't feeling good and when we took her to the doctor on Friday, they confirmed she had a ear infection, poor thing. She was a little whiny but not bad. She feels so much better now and really enjoys looking at the tree and pointing to the ornaments.

Our Thanksgiving was great and we shopped, played cards, (Mike and I lost money), Steph and Molly were the winners, with Molly ( who didn't want to play and started with $2 in quarters, won the biggest pot worth $120.00). It was lots of fun, we played at my Mom and Dad's Thanksgiving night and continued the next couple nights at our house.

I thank all of you who have followed our blog and posted such nice comments. This blog was created to document the journey to Mia and thereafter. I like to post things of people, places and memories that have touched our lives, so when Mia is older we can share this with her. We plan to keep it up and journal her first few years as a Harrell.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my Dad's birthday and we celebrated by going out for Sushi. Our family loves Sushi, so we ordered a boat, well they called it the "Titanic", It was soooo good and we finished it all!!

Sweet Face

Mia loves to look out her bedroom window. I was able to catch some shots, which is very hard to do these days, she is always on the move!

Mia and I had a girls weekend! She and I drove to South Florida for the weekend and stayed with Chris, Laura and Kylee. It was so much fun visiting everyone. We went our for dinner Friday night, shopped til we dropped with Joey and Alyssa on Saturday and had fun playing with all her friends. Mike's godaughter Makenzie, Danny and Jamie, Grandaddy and Theresa and Molly came over to Chris and Laura's for some pizza and wings on Saturday night. The kids played so well together. I love the picture of Makenzie and Mia together. I am going to print it and frame it for Mike, he is going to love it! The weekend was so much fun, I can't wait to do it again!

Mike stayed home and did things around the house, went fishing and hung out with grandpa. When we pulled up in the driveway, Mike came out to greet us and Mia giggled and smiled when she saw her Daddy. I looked at Mike and he had tears in his eyes, he said he missed her. He was so happy to see Mia (not me, just Mia) Ha- Ha!

All dressed and ready to go visiting . . .

All dressed and ready to go visiting . . .
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

Hello, Do you want to play?

Hello, Do you want to play?
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

Friendly Get -Together

Friendly Get -Together
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

Mia sharing her cell phone with Kylee

Mia sharing her cell phone with Kylee
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

Cousin Makenzie

Cousin Makenzie
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

Kylee and Mia- future trouble makers!

Kylee and Mia- future trouble makers!
Originally uploaded by cygnal20.

4 Years Ago Today !

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

All smiles heading to the Clambake

This weekend is Sebastian's Annual Clambake. The town of Sebastian was known years ago as a clamming/fishing town, the Indian River was loaded with clams and known for good fishing, hence the Sebastian Inlet. Why do you think we moved here? There's an Inlet here!! We had a great time. Last night Mike, Mia and I went with my mom for a little bit to see what they had this year. We ate Italian Friday night as you can see below Mia LOVED it and today we spent most of the day at the Clambake. We met up with new friends that we met thru our local FAC (Families with Asain Children) group. Alayna is 5 years old and such a doll. What a personality! Alayna's mom followed our blog while we were in China and emailed me privately because she couldn't believe how much Mia and Alayna looked alike when Alayna was Mia's age. She contacted me via email and we made plans to meet up. When I saw Alayna's pictures for the first time, I couldn't believe how much of a resemblance at 10 months they shared. Then when I met her, I told Mike , I only pray that Mia will be as bubbly and beautiful as she is. Mike and I enjoyed spending time with their family today. My parents and grandfather thought she was such a doll. Mike and I are still riding the fence about all the FCC and local children organizations, we know how important it is for Mia to have Chinese friends but we think we like the playdate thing instead of the monthly get together with 30 children or so. We'll see how it goes. Some people can be total fanatics and that's just not us, we want to find a happy medium.

We are definately going to see Joe, Debbie and Alayna again!