Little Miss Thang

Justin's girlfriend Judy gave Katie Starr two new purses and as you can see little Missy really likes them. Here she is with one of them that she insisted she wear while I was giving her a bedtime bottle. Inside was a play wallet and keys. She then pretended that she was leaving with the purse and waved bye bye as she was walking towards the door. I guess that she was mimicking Mommy going to work. Uh oh, pretty soon she will be giving advice and counsel to real estate agents too. That's my girl!!

A Week of Firsts

The past week brought several firsts for our little Miss. A week ago we went to our FCC Halloween Social Dinner and Katie got to trick or treat (OK, maybe Mommy and Daddy trick or treated but don't tell our Starr). Katie got to experience her first lollipop..mmmm... and boy did she love that. As she was sucking the color right off of that sucker she would take it out of her mouth and offer it to us and her Nana and Papa. Of course we all licked right along with her; what fun!

Katie also got to meet some new friends. Molly and her mom Anna came from Texas and Kacey and her mom Julie came from Georgia for a visit. It was so wonderful to finally have our sweet girls meet.

We attended our first FCC Playgroup and it was a blast. That is a monthly event that we will be regulars at in the future.

Last but not least is that Katie spent time with both Grandmothers without us. Katie had a great deal of separation anxiety the first few months home or maybe it was mommy and daddy's separation anxiety. We finally decided that it was time for the grandparents to take care of Katie without us or Justin around and it went very well. Katie had fun, the grandmas had fun and now the parents can rest easy when we need to leave her in their care.

I will wrap it up with the fact that we had our first post placement visit this week and our social worker feels that Katie Starr has bonded very well to us. She had a rocky start with her grief and sadness but our girl is very happy now and that makes us all very happy as well.

I have put together a slideshow of a few photos from our week of firsts...enjoy! Click here for Slide Show

Bad Mama :(

I had a dream the other night that made me realize that I do not write very much about our "number one son" Justin. I dreamt that Justin started his own blog that boycotted mine because I do not write about him. Unfortunately, I am guilty of letting "the baby" steal the limelight. Even though Justin is an adult he is still my baby as well. I need to start remedying the fact that I have been so remiss.

As many of you probably remember, Justin graduated from the University of Florida and then two days later we all hopped a plane to China to adopt Katie Starr as a family. Having Justin with us in China was the best thing that could have ever happened for our family. Since there is such a huge age difference between them they would never have had the bond that they do if Justin had not experienced what we did together. He has been an amazing support to Marc and I since we have been home. Katie adores him and so do we.

Justin is working for a telecommunications company full time and is in the process of applying to law school. He took his LSAT's and he should get his score this coming week. He has been dating the same young woman for about 2 years and they have a wonderful relationship. She is still up at UF so he misses her a great deal but they do their best to visit each other and make their long distance relationship work.

Well now that I have caught you all up on our number one son; stay tuned in the next week for pictures from his birthday. He turns 22 on Halloween. He was my first treat :)

What is wrong with this picture?

I just had to take a moment to post this picture that Marc caught on his camera phone today. We had a party at the house with a few friends and their children today. Since Gabby the Chihuahua is somewhat high strung on a good day I thought for the sake of all concerned that she would be better off staying at my parents house for the day. While Marc was driving her over she decided that the very stylish Britax Marathon would be a comfortable place to sit while being chauffeured. I guess she thought what is good for the new kid on the block (Katie Starr) would be good for her too. All of the girls in our house ride in style :)

Scenes from a Play Date

I find that it is very difficult to find friends who are mothers at this stage of my life. I have lived both ends of the spectrum. I was once the youngest mother at the PTA meetings. Now I should be the oldest. All of my girlfriends with the exception of the ones that I have made through this adoption journey all have raised their children already or have not had children. Thankfully, these friends are wonderful and still are a huge part of my life. I do try to seek out other mothers though that have children around the same age as Katie Starr for the all important "Play date". Katie was on a "play date" this past Monday with her new friend Nina Sophia. Her mom works with me and is a lovely woman. The date was a success!!

Pretty Girls

Playing with the Sunflower Pinwheels

Renata and Nina Sophia

Autumn Moon Festival 2006

Wishes made for loved ones far away...

Last night we celebrated the Autumn Moon Festival by having dinner with our FCC-South Florida Family at Miss Yip's on Miami Beach. We then walked to the beach with the children with paper lanterns complete with glow sticks as well as balloons and wishes to be released while thinking of loved ones. We wrote wishes for Katie Starr's birth and foster families. We know that they thought of her this day as I am sure that they do every day and we thought of them as well. It was a happy and bittersweet day but one we will remember always.

On the way to the Beach our balloons became tangled from the wind. We released them in a bunch with all of the wishes attached. Here are videos one and two of the release...

The First Attempt to Release the Balloons....

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Ahhhh Sweet Success!!

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