Thursday, March 18, 2010

Lots of stuff!!!

Hello!!!!!
I can't believe I'm updating the blog and it's only been 1 month!! This may be a record!!! (Yes, I know Kim... it's about time I keep up with my blog!!) We are all doing great, Laila's growing and growing. I keep asking her to stay small for mommy and she shakes her head no. Stinker!! She's doing great with her speech therapy, her therapist is always so impressed at how smart Laila is and how much she's learned since her last session. Laila can drink out of a straw which is a big deal for a cleft palate baby, especially when her palate hasn't been closed yet, just another reason our Laila ROCKS!!! She's the most amazing little girl and I can't believe how lucky we are to be her family!!

Here's Laila in the bathtub, she loves the bath!!


We went to the zoo a few weekends ago and ended up buying a family membership. We only saw 1/2 the zoo and we were all pooped. It's a big zoo and we had so much fun. Laila loved all the animals, especially the bears and lions. She likes to growl like a bear or lion and scare us so when she could growl at a bear or lion she was very happy. She also helped daddy feed the birds.

Laila and daddy rode the train at the zoo...
and the carousel.
We went down to Colorado Springs and to the Olympic Training Center. Here's Laila and mommy in the Olympic rings.
We also saw Dani, Michael, Devin and JT. They were in our travel group to China and they adopted JT. It was so good to see them all, JT is such a little character and cute as can be!! Unfortunately all my pictures ended up too dark, we took them outside after dinner.

Laila's grandma came out to visit for about 2 weeks to watch Laila while Scott and I worked. Here's Laila putting her feet on a chair just like grandma!!
A little shorter than grandma but gets an A+ for effort!! Here's my dad and Laila, they are great friends as you can tell!!
Nothing like a kiss from grandpa.
Here's Laila on her beanbag, eating, watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Life for a 2 year old is pretty good.
Look, Laila's hair is long enough for pony tails!!!! How stinkin' cute!!!
So there's the last month or so in a nutshell. We hope you had as much fun as we did!!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

1 year since we first saw our beautiful daughter!!!!!

Hello and welcome to our new blog, we are indeed loving life with Laila!!! She is so sweet, spunky, smart, stubborn, loving, funny and just perfect!!!

It's so hard to believe but 1 year ago, Feb. 23, 2009, we received the phone call of a lifetime!!! Sarah, from CCAI, called to say there was an adorable little girl who needed a mommy and daddy and she wondered if we might be her mommy and daddy. Here's the pictures that popped up on our computer screen shortly after that phonecall...

These 3 pictures changed our life!!! Of course we were her mommy and daddy, no doubt about it!! Absolutely the sweetest little girl we have ever seen, we were instantly in love!!! We jumped on the paperwork and in late April we left for China to get this little beauty. May 4th we held her in our arms and we have never let go. She is the light of our life, we are so lucky to be her mommy and daddy!!! Fast forward one year from that phone call and here's our sweet Laila...
She loves her puppy, Zac!!! She loves her other puppy Zoey but Zoey wasn't cooperating with the camera.
She loves her new baby she got for her birthday. She's very loving and feeds her baby it's bottle and has to sleep with baby. Baby has it's own pillow in Laila's crib!! Both Laila and baby get covered up with the blanket and Laila's arm immediately goes over baby and she happily falls asleep. So sweet!!!
See, here's baby!!!
Laila also really loves her Grandma's chicken noodle soup!!!
Little bit of a crazy sleeper though...
Ahhh... pure bliss!!!
We love, love, love you Laila!!!!

What an absolute joy she is!!! While Scott and I, our family and friends, are all so fortunate to know this sweet little girl we are well aware there is a mom and dad somewhere in China who have no idea what has become of their little girl. We know they love Laila very much, they left her somewhere she would be safe and found quickly. They kept Laila for 2 weeks before they gave her up, we truely believe they felt they had no other choice, Laila's medical needs were too great for them to handle. They gave Laila the ultimate gift of love, the opportunity to be cared for and loved by a family who could give her all she deserves in life... we are so thankful to be that family. I wish we could let her birth parents know what a beautiful little girl she is, that she's learning to count, learning her numbers, going to gymnastics and loves to wear her panties on the outside of her clothes. She loves puppies, jumping and playing in her kitchen. She has brought unmeasurable joy and love to our family. We pray you will somehow know that she is healthy, happy and has her forever family. We are so blessed!!!