It was a long weekend

Front of Quilt


Back of Quilt



Ming and us

Stacey, David, LilyRose & Joseph

Where to begin....

Friday morning I finished my quilt. I think it came out pretty good if I do say so myself. It was also Mom's Night Out. It was pouring rain most of the day and night, so Anthony drove me out to my friend Vicki's house and he stayed there with her husband and the kids and we went to Mom's Night Out. I always have a good time when I go there. Just a bunch of women talking about their kids and adoption. Maybe it's because I don't get out much that I enjoy myself. Who knows.

Saturday we got up super early and packed the car and headed out to Delaware. It took us 3 hours and when we finally get to Stacey's house, she was still at the store. No big deal. We waited 5 minutes and then she got home. She has the cutest condo ever. We loved it. Joseph was not feeling well on the drive up, but he said that it was allergies. I wasn't to concerned at that point. We went out to dinner and had a really nice time. LilyRose loves Stacey and her boyfriend David. They were really good with her too. When we got back from eating, Joseph really started not to feel well. I knew he was getting really sick. Of course I forgot his asthma machine and medicine. I gave him Advil and he slept ok. Sunday we had the Adoption House Picnic. It was a really nice day and we got to meet so many other families. The girls are all beautiful. Ming was in from China and she had a blast seeing all her "girls". She never got to meet LilyRose as we were in Beijing before we got LilyRose. I gave her the quilt as a kind of Thank You for her kindness. Now I have to make one for Stacey. I was originally going to make Stacey's first but when I heard Ming was coming I decided to make hers first so I didn't have to ship it to China. Worked out well for us. As the day progressed, Joseph got worse and worse. The ride home was horrid. His chest was killing him and he couldn't breath very well. Of course we hit all kinds a traffic and didn't get home until 10 pm. He had a lot of treatments during the night.

He didn't go to school today and I really thought that we were going to end up in the ER at some point today. We went to the Dr.'s and he said it was bad. We have all new kinds of medicine to take this week. Tonight was his very first Basketball practice, but he won't be there. Probably won't be going to school until the end of the week. LilyRose is not a happy camper either today. I don't know what is wrong with her but boy is she cranky. She is not use to Joseph being home all day and he is getting tons of attention and she just doesn't like it. I am totally exhausted right now. It's 4:55pm and I could go to sleep for the night right now. That so will not happen but a mother could wish... lol

I have a few pictures, enjoy.

FCC-LI Halloween Party

Our FCC-LI group had it's 1st Halloween Party on Saturday night. Yes, I know, it's Wednesday already and I am just posting about it now. Hey, I am getting better, at least it wasn't next month that I am writing about it.

SOOOOOOO, anyway, Anthony had to work and Gina was no where to be found, so I went with just me and the kids. Joseph asked me to call and see if that kid Brandan was going to be there and his mother said that they couldn't make it. Right after that his friend Vincent called and asked if Joe could hang out. So I told Joseph to ask Vin if he wanted to go and he did so that worked out well for him. We had a really good time and I stayed longer then I thought I would, so when Anthony got home I told him to come up there and meet us. He had fun meeting more of the families and seeing the kids. LilyRose was a little "off" that night. She kinda wanted to be held by anyone that would look at her, which kinda freaked me out. I had never seen some of these people and neither did she, but that did not stop here from running over to them when she made eye contact with them and throw up her arms and snuggle in. I really do not like that. She hasn't done that in ages and I have to say that I went over and took her out of their arms. I just don't like it. (Can you tell I don't like it)? lol Then I don't know what she was doing, but she ran right into a wall. BAM, knocked her right on her skinny little butt. She was dazed for a minute. Her father walked in right after it happened, couldn't have come at a better time for me. She didn't cry or anything but it was just weird. I have been keeping an eye on her since. Just want to see if any other strange behavior comes about.

Other then that, things have been quite here. We are going to Delaware this weekend for a picnic that Adoption House is throwing for the families. Ming is here from China and it will be great to see her again. She did not get to meet LilyRose as we went to Beijing first. So this will be a nice weekend I hope. I will post about that next week.

Until next time.....

Trying to catch up

AnnaClaire's Scrapbook Page

Joseph & LilyRose

Joseph & LilyRose Pumpkin Picking

Bumble Bee LilyRose

Joseph & Brandan

Emily & LilyRose

Ok, ok I know that I am way behind again. I try to stay on top of this blog but I just can't for some reason. I really have to make a point of posting every Sunday at least.

Ok, where to start. On September 29th we went to the Autumn Moon Festival Picnic. They had it at Belmont Lake State Park on the Island. Anthony had to work so of course my cousin Gina came with us. Joseph was not so happy to be going at first because he didn't know who he would hang out with. Well, he was in the middle of 7 kids his age. He made a fast friend with this 8 year old boy Brendan who was adopted from China years back. Gina and I had a blast with this boy. He was the cutest and funny too. They live about a 1/2 hour from us. I signed Joseph up for the FCC-LI Youth Group. I didn't know he could join but once he found out that his new friends were in it he agreed. His first meeting will be Nov. 3rd. He's really looking forward to that.

LilyRose had a great time with all her little friends and she even made new ones. She was also off and running with the crowd. They had a Scavenger Hunt and arts and crafts. I finally got to meet Donna. I met her online last year but we never met. So it was great to finally meet her. She doesn't live to far from us either. I got to see Bruny and her husband Joe too. Bruny has never met LilyRose in person, so that was really fun to see her meet Lily for the first time. Bruny was so excited about that. I got to see her friend Mary's referral picture of her new daughter. She is beautiful and Mary and her husband will be leaving for China at the end of this month. So I wish them the best of luck. I also met another Lisa while we were walking into the park. She was super nice and I didn't get her phone number but I hope to see her again at another FCC function. I got to see all of the other women that I do know and it was great to see them all. I had a great time and can't wait until next year. Oh btw, Anthony got to come for about an hour. He had fun saying hello to everyone too.

On October 2nd, LilyRose had an ENT appt. Her tubes are doing fine and the Dr. say LilyRose's ear are in great shape. We were very happy with the visit. She doesn't have to go back to see him until Jan. 08. AWESOME!!!

That night I went to start another quilt. Last year I did one for Joseph. I never sewed in my life and I needed to learn to make LilyRose's 100 Good Wish Quilt. It took me months and months to do Joseph's. It came out pretty good for a first timer so I am told. Well, since I forgot how to do it, I started again. I really like it, but it takes me a long time because I don't have a sewing machine. Not a problem any more, Anthony bought me the one from the quilting store that I go to and I love it. It's a Baby Lock and I learned on one of them. So we picked it up last Friday night and I was so excited to sew that when I turned it on, I forgot to set the needle in the center and I started to sew and the freakin' needle broke off. I had the damn thing 2 minutes and Pow, BROKEN!!!!!. Anthony put a new needle in but I couldn't for the life of me thread the needle. So I closed it up and sulked for the rest of the night. The next day I bring it to the store and when I walked in I told them I broke the machine. The girls were cracking up. The only thing wrong with it was that the needle was in backwards. So now that it's fixed I am happily sewing with it. LOVE IT. If my friends from my past could see me know. HAHA LOL HA.

Sunday October 7th - We had a very special family come over for an Italian dinner. The Cox family have been wonderful to us. Joseph and Thomas are good friends. I love the girls Kathleen and Elizabeth. Maureen and Noel are just awesome and we all get along great. Lifelong friends we have in them.

Monday, October 8th - Anthony was off from work today so we went Pumpkin Picking. Not the best time, but it was ok. Joseph thought it was babyish and Anthony was just damn cranky. Should have left both of them home and just taken LilyRose. She must have tripped over every pumpkin in the patch. Some of them were bigger then her. lol

Tuesday October 9th - Joseph had Basketball tryouts. He did pretty good for a kid that never played before. We will hear in 2 weeks what the results are. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets on a team with one of his friends. He's very concerned about this.

So I think I am caught up now. I got LilyRose's birthday card from her Chenzhou sister AnnaClaire. Her page is done. Just missing 2 "sisters" cards. I sent out Halloween cards with a picture of LilyRose in her costume. I hope she at least gets a few Halloween cards so I can add them to her book. ENJOY!!!!!!!

Chenzhou Bithday / Christmas Cards

The Front Cover


LilyRose's Page



Paul's Page



Lainie's Page

Makayla's Page

MeiLi's Page

Jayde's Page

YuMei's Page

LilyRose received some birthday cards from other children that were in the same SWI around the same time as she was. We will hopefully exchange birthday and Christmas cards every year so that she has that connection to her very first home. I decided to make a scrapbook so that she could look at the cards and pictures of her Chenzhou sisters and brother. I think it came out pretty good. There's 10 families including LilyRose. I am missing 3 cards and hope to receive them someday soon. Here are the pictures of the book. Let me know what you think about the job I did. Some of the pictures are blurry, sorry about that.

BBQ

We were invited to a BBQ at Vicky and Chris' house. They are the very proud parents of Emily. Emily is from Hunan just like LilyRose. I met them through the local FCC-LI group. I instantly connected with Vicky. We are alot alike and our daughters share a striking resemblance to each other. Everyone that see them notices it. No, that are not twins or anything, but they sure do resemble each other.

Well anyway, they came to LilyRose's b'day party and my husband Anthony and Vicky's husband Chris hit it off and they invited us out for the day. They actually live down the road from my cousins farm out east. We had a really good time and Joseph got to go in the pool. It was heated and like 85 degrees. He had a good time. Emily loved playing with Joseph and I think LilyRose kinda was like "Hey, that's my big brother". LilyRose does not know how to share that well yet!!!

It was a very nice day and we hope to get together a lot more in the future. Enjoy the pics and check out the cute little video of LilyRose and Emily dancing.

Party # 2

Wouldn't you know it. I am way behind again on posting. We had a 2nd party for LilyRose on September 9th for all her little friends and cousins. It turned out really nice. I had the big bouncy pit again for the older kids, but the little ones had a blast in it. I had Elmo stop by, but most of the kids were afraid. We had 3 little girls from the FCC-LI group here and how cute they all were. Nola Ann, Emily & Maya. Just love these little ones. LilyRose was so tired that right after we sang Happy Birthday, she fell fast asleep in the chair. It was really cute. I was super happy that my cousins Janeen & Kristi were able to come. They are on my fathers side of the family and I am so glad that we are able to maintain our connection since my father died 4 years ago. Our kids get along really well and they have a blast together. My other cousins were here also. Gina is a permanent fixture here. lol My cousin Gerard and his wife Elizabeth with their daughter Courtney who is absolutely gorgeous by the way were here, my cousin Michael and his wife Danielle along with their son Tyler (hey Ty, give me a pound) Cousins Siri, Kristi & Mark. Thanks for coming. But a big shout out goes to my very dear friend Liz. I have known Liz for almost 30 years. She was here with her daughter Valerie. Valerie is 2 months younger then LilyRose and I hope they will be able to say they know each other for 30+ years someday. I just love Liz. LilyRose had an awesome time and she has lots of family and friends that love her to pieces. Enjoy the pic.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILYROSE

Today our beautiful daughter LilyRose turns 2 years old.

I am so very thankful that we have her home and are able to celebrate this day with her. We will be home 7 months on the 16th of this month. WOW, time sure flies when you are having the time of your life.

LilyRose had her very first birthday party on Saturday night. I had just a few of the family over to help celebrate her birthday. I am having another party on September 9th for her little friends and my cousins that have children LilyRose's age. I have to say that I am glad I only had a few people here Saturday night as I was still so sick. I don't know what I had but it sure knocked me on my ass for 4 days. I got out of bed at 5:30pm and my company came at 6:00pm. Thank God for my mother and cousin Gina. They did most of the prep work for me and my mother even had to go and order the cake and stuff for me. I was in bad shape. I am feeling a lot better then I did a few days ago.

LilyRose had a really good time though. She got some great gifts too. My mother bought her a beautiful white table and chair set. LilyRose loves it. Her brother Joseph bought her a Yellow Care Bear and a Princess Tea Set which LilyRose loves playing with on her new table and chair set. Joseph also bought her the tiara that you will see in the pictures. Godmother Aunt Gina got her Diamond Stud Earrings. I was 38 when I got my first pair, go figure !!! Godfather Joe and Aunt Maryann got her a motorized Jeep, which she almost knows how to drive by herself, Gold Ball Earrings and the #2 Lenox Train. I cannot wait for Anthony to put up the shelves in LilyRose's room so I can get the train up and out. It's beautiful. She also got some cute clothes and she got a Magnetic Letters and numbers set. This gift came from my aunt that just passed away last week. My cousin Nancy had it for a while and the card was written out way before my aunt passed away. I just wish she gave me a heads up before I opened the card because it took me by surprise and I kinda lost it for a minute. It will be a great keep sake for LilyRose. She also got a Crayola Color Wonder which she loves.

Tonight we will have a little cake to celebrate her birthday with just us and then one more party on Sunday. I think LilyRose will love all her parties and all the fuss that is just for her. Can you believe the birthday girl just woke up and has a cold and a cough. I can't believe it. Oh, boy this is going to be fun. Oh well, I guess we will be spending some time in the doctors office today. Hope you enjoy the pictures.