Our 2nd Gotcha Day

I was the same height as the Santas last year!!

Finally wearing our glasses most of the time!!!

Look how long my hair has gotten!!

Go CATS!!!!

With my Daddy at the Monkey Joes Bouncy House

Look How I've Changed in the past 2 years

At the orphanage the day we picked her up January 14, 2008

First bath

Ready to leave the orphanage

2 years ago today we picked Haylie up from the orphanage and started our lives together. I can not believe how fast it has gone, or how big she has gotten. She is no longer a baby, but quite the young lady. She talks a blue streak, is now mostly potty trained (still having trouble with the whole poo poo on the potty however), and never stops!!! She has gotten sooooo tall, looks like she may be a volleyball or basketball player--can we say full scholarship to UK!!! And just look how long her hair has gotten. Hard to believe she couldn't walk, talk, or eat solid food when we got her. We feel so blessed to be her parents. Time always flies, but it almost seems like we can see her grow from day to day...life is truly but a vapor. Thank you Lord for our special girl.

Merry Christmas 2009

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a really nice one despite the fact Haylie had a temperature of 105.1 on Christmas Eve with strep throat. Luckily after a few doses of antibiotics she was almost as good as new by Christmas morning. My family all came out Christmas Eve and spent two nights so everyone could see Haylie's Christmas. She's the only little one now on either side of the family, so as you might imagine she cleans up when it comes to presents!! She was really into it this year which was really fun. We went and saw Santa and she hopped right up on his lap--when he asked what she wanted for Christmas she shouted "Presents!!!!", nothing specific just presents in general. Which of course she got lots of.

Her "big" present from Santa was a talking, bouncy horse on springs which she is wild about. She rides it constantly and has already about worn out the button which turns on its talking/singing/neighing. Her other favorite gifts are a toy guitar which plays 6 or 8 different songs (very loudly unfortunately) and a really neat talking doll house (from Aunt Lisa). Also, for some reason Haylie LOVES any type of "blower" including furnace blowers, lawn blowers, hand blowers in public restrooms and hair blow dryers. My mom found a toy blow dryer that makes noise like a real one and Haylie is crazy about it.

My house is now overflowing with toys--I need to go thru them and get rid of the old ones, although she still plays really well with all of them. I swore before we got her, we wouldn't have a gazillion toys, but here we are now with my living room overrun. Not as bad as some, but worse than others I suppose. Stupidly, before she came I bought one little storage box that I was sure would hold all of her toys. That thing now doesn't even hold all of her books, and I just had to buy a 3rd storage bin for all the toys that will fit in it!!! I know I shouldn't complain, and just be happy we are so blessed to be able to have so much. I can't help but think of what kind of Christmas she might have had if she was still in Russia. Luckily, since God sent her to us, both Rich and I & Haylie have much better holidays than we ever did before, for which we are so very grateful.
Enjoy the slideshow & Happy New Year

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Santa Visit

I'm playing catch up with my posts. Here are some great pictures of Haylie with Santa this year. I'll post Christmas pictures tomorrow.

Halloween 2009

Haylie had a blast for Halloween. We went to trunk-or-treat at our church on Friday night, which was a BIG success. She loved seeing everyone dressed up, getting her candy, and the games that they had set up. She also loved her costume...she was the cutest little elephant you've ever seen. My neice Julia had used the same costume when she was Haylie's age, so it made it even more special to see Haylie in it. Since there was a home UK football game on actual trick-or-treat night, she stayed with Gram-Gram and didn't go trick-or-treating while we went to the game. She didn't even know she missed it. She got a whole pumpkin full of candythe night before. Luckily, she is not a big candy eating girl. Unluckily, daddy and I are, so we certainly didn't need anymore to eat.

In other news, Haylie moved up at her preschool into the big 3 year old room this week. So far so good. They had been keeping her in the "transitional 2's" room since she still isn't completely potty trained. The whole poo poo on the potty thing still eludes her. She does really well with the pee pee thing. But isn't doesnt' bother her a bit to poop in her pants. We've tried everything I can think of like M&M's, stickers, books, big girl panties, etc. but nothing seems to work. Hopefully she'll get the hang of it before we get to kindergarten!!!

I'm trying something new with these video's. Hopefully you can see my sweet little elephant in action.

Pumpkin Time

It's my favorite time of year!!! We've been to 2 different pumpkin patches now and still can't get a really good picture of Haylie with the pumpkins. I always see all of these cute little kids smiling and posing with the pumpkins, but my girl absolutely refuses to sit still to pose. She actually seems to look the other way on purpose. The ones on the bottom are some we tried to get at home in her adorable Halloween outfit. The sun was really bothering her eyes, and again she refused to pose. Her shirt says "Happy Boo to You", but she insists it says "Happy Boo-Hoo to you!!". She is getting pretty excited about Halloween and keeps saying "lets go trick-or-treating" even though she really has no idea what that means.

Two Years Ago Today....

Haylie THEN

We met Haylie for the very first time. I can't believe how fast these 2 years have gone. In some ways it seems like it was just yesterday, and in other ways it seems like she has always been part of our life. Boy has she made a lot of progress in these 2 years. She was 15 months old when we first met. She couldn't walk, but was crawling and pulling up. She didn't speak at all and wouldn't eat any solid food. She did smile a couple of times while we were there, but mostly just had a kind of blank stare. Her personality has changed so much, she is hardly even the same child. She is now such a happy, outgoing little girlie. She is now 31 pounds (was only 18 pounds then) and is 36 inches tall!! She eats anything and everything--she even ate chicken livers yesterday!!! She talks and/or sings constantly and can actually carry a pretty good tune. Of course, she has totally changed our world for the better. We are eternally grateful for our precious girl. Just looked how she has changed......

and Haylie NOW

Forever Friends

Two Swinging Girls

Renee & Aileen

Renee, Haylie & Aileen

Me & Aileen

I've not been a very good blogger, so thought I would try and get caught up on some posts I've been meaning to get on. A few weeks ago, my best friend from high school Aileen came to visit from Florida and brought her beautiful daughter Renee. We've been best friends all these years, and even though we go long periods of time without seeing each other or even talking, seems we can always just pick up like we've never been apart. It was sooooooo good to be able to spend some time with her. It was my first time meeting Renee who is absolutely delightful. We met up at my favorite park for our 2 girls to play for awhile. Renee played so sweet with Haylie. Haylie immediately fell in love with her. After the park, we made a trip to Mickey D's and the girls played for awhile in the playland--Haylie also fell in love with playland and of course didn't want to leave!! We spent the rest of the day just visiting and getting caught up. She's the absolute best kind of friend...not only have we been friends forever, but we know we'll always be Forever Friends. Love you Aileen!!!