These are 2 of my Christmas gifts that I thought I would share. The one on the left is from my sister who had Mia's name written in Chinese. I love it and thought that I could pass this to her when she is older. It came on a black leather cord and it is beautiful. The one on my right is from MIke and it is a "What's inside your Heart" locket. I tried to get a good shot but the flash is blurring it a little. It has an M for Mike and Mia, a ladybug for China adoption, a pink heart for Mia, and a police badge , because Mike is a retired officer. I have to get 1 more charm because the charms float around in the heart as they are supposed to, but I don't like when the "M" flips over and looks like a "W". We have had a busy, fun week so far and I will post great cousin shots after the weekend!

Merry Christmas! We hope that your holidays are everything you wished for. Mia's cousins are in town for 10 days and we are enjoying every minute of it! Tonight is dinner at our house and the cooking has already begun. Tomorrow morning should be total chaos at our home and we are going to love it. Two 2 year olds and a 6 year old, I see a BIG mess to clean up.

FL ReunionMakena, Mia, and Valerie

Makena and Mia playing etch a sketch

Going to the pool for a dip

Puzzles !

Makena and Mia are both from Qianjiang, Chongqing and when we went to China, we traveled the entire time with Makena's family. Makena and family flew in from Malibu, CA and they are now off to the Bahamas for a week of fun in the sun. Valerie's family lives in Florida too and was also in our travel group, she is from Guandong province. Most of the girls in our travel group are in California, so it was great to have a FL playdate. We hope to join in on the California reunion next year. It was so great to see the girls play and interact. They are so similar, but very different at the same time. Mia was so exhausted after we checked out and she was asleep by the time we hit the highway.

Bye Bye Birthmark. . . . Mia had to have her "little raisin" removed on the 7th of December. The dermatologist didn't like the way it looked so he recommended that we remove it. Unfortunately, he didn't feel comfortable doing it in the office as he would have done on an adult, so we had to have it removed by a general surgeon in an out patient surgical center. Mia was so brave and we are just waiting back answer from the pathology report. Mia did well and the surgeon said that everything went as expected with no surprises, however; she did not like the recovery room and wanted OUT! She kept reaching for her IV and was really mad. She started flexing her back and trying to wrestle out of our arms if we tried to calm her down. I felt bad for the others that were in recovery post surgery as she was screaming bloody murder. I asked the nurse at one time, where is my daughter? This is not the daughter I left before entering the OR! Once in the car, she sorta calmed down but was acting very mad. She didn't even want to go home and watch Calliou. Mike and I looked at each other and said WHOOA, she must be really PO'd, if she says no to Calliou. I think she was hungry and irritated and just wanted to get back to her environment. 15 minutes after getting home and have some juice, she was smiling and relaxing in Daddy's recliner. After her nap, she was our Mia again. She was running around acting like herself by the afternoon. No bandages, no stitches to remove, all internal and that means no picking! She doesn't remember anything because the pre-op juice has an amnesia affect. I asked her if she wanted to go see the doctor and she still says YES.
Merry Christmas!
Florida's version of snow flurries!

A little R & R before the Holidays!

Mike and I decided to do a little get away before the holidays! The inside is decorated, the tree is up, most of the shopping is done and we'll finish the outside next weekend! We left on Thursday and came home today. We stayed in Cocoa Beach (not to far) at The Ron Jon Resort and what an awesome place for the family! Mia had a ball and the weather was not so bad. We can not wait to go back again and stay for a week. The place was so great, they had a movie theatre, inside and outside playgrounds, 2 kiddie pools, a giant slide, lazy river, big pool and a enormous hot tub. Music was piped in all over the resort and the Mango margaritas during happy hour weren't too bad either. The room was so nice and everything we needed was there. Just an hour drive away and we felt like we were on an island somewhere! For those of you who are reading this with your heat on and winter coats on, come to Florida for a visit we can still be in our bathing suits in December.

Happy Thanksgivingno shopping, we are going to Disney!!
singing with the Fireman on Main Street (for grandaddy)
Ferry Ride to the Magic Kingdom
My 1st 3D movie, I loved it!

I was just looking at her today thinking,

"Where has my baby Mia gone?"

This is the pose I get when I say

"Smile and show me your teeth"

Helping Mommy

with the Laundry

Mike was cleaning out his closet and came across his police academy hat. Mia was running around the house saying "Mia Hat"

Trick or Treat

Feeding Time

Mia is really getting into her new dollies. We bought her a stroller, pack and play, and a high chair/car seat accessorie set. When we go for a walk, she puts BOTH babies in her stroller and takes them with us around the neighborhood. Here she is feeding them when I caught her blowing on her spoon, then she said hot. We were laughing! We laid one of her favorite cozy blankets on the floor in her room for a picnic today.

As I post this picture of Mia, I look and also have to laugh about all the worrying I did before our referral about hoping our child #1 would be young so she would not suffer to much separation grieving #2 She could achieve normal attachment. For some reason, after reading articles and learning of possible problems with attachment, I was obsessed.
For those of you who are waiting, I wanted to share with you what we did to form good attachment with Mia. And let me tell you she is REALLY attached. I can't even get out of her sight. She is not one of those cry babies that whines at mommy everything, but the love I can feel from her is unreal. I was just telling Mike, that Mia is the final piece I needed in my puzzle of life. Everyday, she does the darnedest things and amazes us how bright she is.

Before we left for China we decided that I would take some good pointers from a book I read on forming healthy attachment. Some of the ideas were really bizarre to the point of ridiculous.

Before we left, we explained to family and friends that they could come visit and meet Mia, however; Mike and I would be the only ones to change her diaper, bathe her, feed her, put her to bed, and console her if she was upset. We really didn't let too many people carry her around. We wanted her to know who was Mommy and Daddy and that we were always going to be here for her. In China, I took tub baths with her to get skin to skin contact and we always looked into her eyes when we fed her, her bottle. Mike would lay her on his chest and get the skin to skin contact that way. At first Mike said family would get their feelings hurt if they couldn't carry her and feed her, and I said this is NOT about the families feelings, this is about forming good attachment with Mia. We did this consistently for the 2 weeks in China and followed by 6 weeks at home. We even waited to do her Baptism and have out of town family come after we had been home 6 weeks. Everyone understood and just wanted what was best for Mia.

I hope that this information helps anyone who is really concerned about attachment and soon can be united with their precious little one!

Thank Goodness for washable paints!

Are these pictures cute or what? I can just see her hammimg it up with her school mates. These are the pictures taken by Mia's teacher with the disposable camera I sent with her cupcakes. I can remember being nervous about sending Mia to school, but she really enjoys it. There is one teacher who is bilingual and I asked her to speak to Mia in spanish all the time so she can learn a little. She now says she wants Agua! We drive by a lake or pond and she says " Mommy Agua" she cracks me up everyday!

Mia loves her new dollies. She drags them around everywhere

and wraps her blankees around them.

Saturday we celebrated Mia's 2nd Birthday and she had so much fun. The weather was horrible all week and even the morning of the party as well. Mike and I were feeling a little bummed and couldn't stop watching the local weather forecast. The party was scheduled to start at 2pm and by noon the sky was blue and there was a nice breeze. Someone was looking out for us!! The party was held at Sebastian River Inlet Park and the kids got their faces painted, Mike bought live shrimp for the kids to fish and we had a parent/child water balloon toss. We decided to have it catered and boy was that a good idea! Mike and I were able to be guests at Mia's party. The playground was right beside the pavilions and everyone seemed to have a good time.

The adult portion of the party continued at our house after the park and the margaritas and beers were flowing! My old high school friends who I have kept in touch thru the years came up and got hotel rooms for the weekend, so we invited them back to our house. Grandaddy Wayne and Grandma T stayed the weekend too! Many people came up for the day and it was so great to see everyone.

Mia received such great gifts and we had her open them the next morning. It was too hectic to do that after getting home that evening. She is at the age now where she rips the paper off the gifts and says OOOhh. She knew it was her birthday and she sings Happy Birthday. I will post some pictures from her school soon, I sent a disposable camera to school along with some cupcakes. The pictures are adorable!