#45 Photo Challenge- BFF

Mia absolutely loves Daniel. Daniel is the son of our dear friends, Danny and Jamie. Mia says his name perfectly and he gets embarrassed when she goes crazy when she sees him. This photo was taken on 4th of July. He was holding her and she leaned toward him to plant a kiss on his lips. You can see from the picture he was staring at her thinking Oh my God! We think its so cute. Although Mia doesn't have a particular person I can consider her best friend yet, I do know she LOVES Daniel. She is going to go crazy when she finds out we are invited to his house on Saturday for some swimming and barb-qing!

Birthdays & more Birthdays

Thursday the 23rd was my birthday so we celebrated at home. Friday we headed south to go to 2 more birthday parties. We mixed in a little visiting and poof the weekend flew by very fast. My 2 good friends had parties for their children on Saturday. One party at noon and the other at 6:30pm, we snuck in a 3 hour nap and we were off again. We stayed with our friend Molly who needed a little pick me up and I think Mia helped : ) Grandaddy enjoyed seeing his little Mia and he'll be up to see us on the holiday weekend.

FFFF #44

This week's challenge took all of 1 minute to decide on. I immediately remembered this photo I took when Mia went in to wake Daddy up and give him a BIG smooch!

Today we had our 12 month post placement visit done in order to fulfill our commitment to China. Mia was so cute and our social worker (Fran) just loves her. At one point Mia walked over to her and grabbed her hand to do Ring Around The Rosie. Fran proceeded to ask Mike, so are you ready for #2? Mike laughed and said, "The jury is still out on that one".

I posted these pictures because when you ask Mia her name she says "A Mia" then I ask her how old she is and she says 1 while holding her finger up. She seems to add "A " before her words lately. No idea where that started. She also now knows how to pose for pictures. Don't you just love the pose of her facing away from the camera.

Check out the tan, she's giving me some competition. If you read my posts before we received our referral, I often wondered if she would be fair skinned. I was praying for a daughter that would love water and be able to handle some sun, as we are often outside doing something!

FFF #43 Duckies

Today's photo challenge is Duckies and I searched and searched for decent photos of Mia with rubber duckies and I came across this one. We tied her balloon to this duckie to keep it from getting caught in the cieling fans. This photo, Mia was sitting on our bed watching me fold some laundry and she looked so cute, I shot the photo.

Look at what a difference

1 year makes!

Tonight we celebrated our FAMILY DAY with Grandma, Grandpa, and Abuelo!
We have been so blessed to have Mia in our lives. Everyday she does something different to amaze us. She calls my grandfather (her great grandfather) Abuelo and she says it so good. So we now have Mia's first spanish word to add to the lists of firsts. We can't wait for the day that we can share with her what a wonderful journey we took to China. I often think of what her life would be like, had she stayed in China. Just typing it gives me a pit in my stomach. We have so many dreams for our precious Mia and as we patiently wait for each one, we will just keep loving and enjoying every minute.

1 year ago today!

We were arriving in China to meet up with the rest of our travel companions to do a mini tour of Beijing before heading to be united with our daughters.I had been frantically packing and rechecking list after list from medication, to cash, to important documents. The thought of not knowing if I brought enough diapers, medications,the correct size clothes for Mia, etc. kept me awake at night at times. Is my luggage to heavy? WHHOOO! We were nervous about the quality of the cash to bring (China wants new bills), Did we bring enough cash? Do they take American Express?. I drove my bank crazy! In the end, we were very prepared and we enjoyed every minute of it, however; after 18 days living out of a suitcase and 7 flights later we were back on US soil with our beautiful daughter Mia. Thinking back to that time gives me butterflies. Having Mia in our lives has been so much more than we expected. I remember everything as if it was yesterday. I remember opening the Fed-Ex package and seeing her picture for the first time and just breaking out in tears, hugging Mike and my parents. Anyone who personally knows Mike or I, knows what this little girl means to us and knows we waited a long time for her. Our lives are so much richer and not all things are taken for granted anymore. We definately don't sweat the small stuff anymore!

Tonight we went to National Night Out 2007 which was sponsored by our local law enforcement officers. This event was celebrated in many communities across the US. We decided to go for a stroll and enjoy the evening. They were offering child fingerprinting and photos by the local Sherriff's office, so we took Mia to get her prints done! It was also held at the Vero Beach Outlet's (darn) so we mixed in a little shopping too. It was neat, there were big fire trucks, ambulances, K9 and SWAT Team demonstrations.

Mia got to sit in the drivers seat in a helicopter.

Mike's friend Jimmy who is a Motor Man was there with his shiny motorcycle, which Mia was allowed to sit on for a photo opportunity.

McGruff the crime dog was not a hit with Mia, she shook her head and said, "NO DOG" over and over. When he left on a golf cart, she did wave bye bye to him.

We had to take this picture for Joe!
K9 Police

Mia got her hair trimmed up and evened out. I want to let her hair grow out one length, so in the meantime my hairdresser left her bangs long and gave her some slight layers. It looks cute on the days when we don't feel like putting a clip or bow in it. It is still long enough to do a ponytail and use all those crazy hair accessories we own now : ) Mike and I decided that Mia was ready to go to a place where she could interact with other children her age. She has been home with one of us since we returned from China last August. I was recommended to a learning center close to work and Mia now goes a couple days a week. I think she is still a little unsure about it so far, but I really like the director and the staff. The have small class sizes and she has lots of fun. I was a little worried about the nap thing on a mat, and much to our surprise she did well. She saw all the other kids and followed along. We are able to let her bring a favorite blankee and that helps as well. The other day I went to pick her up and they were all marching in line with different musical instruments. Mia had the tambourine and she was shaking it around. I just stood back and watched for a few minutes and saw how much she was enjoying herself. It reassured me that we made the right decision and she is going to enjoy it!

Saw the shirt and had to get it! Mia points to her

"Bikle" and goes for a ride!

Today is my nephew Torey's 2nd Birthday.

Thank you for letting us celebrate with you !

We hope you have a great day.

We Love You!

Friday Photo Challenge #41- Helper Bee