My parents birthday gift to Katie - She liked it but can't peddle it yet. Don't ya love the Elmo helmet??!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!

I made her birthday cake and the Cookie Monster cupcakes for her party on the following day.

Cookie Monster took one for the team

Getting ready to pull the strings on the toddler Pinata

The big dive for Candy (katie is in the Elmo Shirt) She was satisfied with one lollipop :)

Katie was less than thrilled about Elmo

My dad, Elmo, Katie Starr and me

Katie's friends Hansen and Amiee liked Elmo

Katie was less than thrilled

Yeah dad, I know you like him but I will just stay here in Mama's arms!!

and the cakes kept coming.....

Just after Katie Starr's birthday comes my fathers and then mine so the cakes kep coming. We surprised my dad with one and then Marc surprised me with one. Following that we sang several renditions of Happy Birthday as there were other April Birthdays in the house.

A very happy and tired birthday girl on the ride home

Our Sweet Girl Turned Two Years Old Today!!

Katie Starr is two years old today and we can hardly believe it. She is every bit the two year old now and officially ushered this lovely stage into our lives last evening with a huge tantrum. We enjoyed every minute of it! It just proves to us yet again that she is happily ensconced into our lives and is secure as our daughter. She lets us know that whenever it is appropriate. Anyway, our hearts are full of joy today that we are the parents to this wonderful child who has surpassed every expectation that we ever held about her. We have waited a long time to share a birthday with her. We spent the day as a family, had some cake and then welcomed home her China sister Rachel this evening at the airport. I could not think of a better way to spend the this day.

Tomorrow will be her birthday party in the park. I will post pictures and commentary from her birthday after the party.

Happy Birthday Katie Starr!! We love and adore you and always will.

Our daughter the Doctor?

After receiving word yesterday about Justin's acceptance into Law School (see previous post) I received this e-mail from hubby with picture attached. One of the many reasons I love Marc is that he totally cracks me up :)

Here is the e-mail:

I can tell the competition will be tough in our house. With Justin's announcement of going into Law School; Katie decided she wasn't going to be out done, so she cracked open the books to get a head start. See attached picture.....

My Son the Lawyer :)

Justin received his first acceptance letter for Law School earlier today. He is waiting for two others before he makes a final decision but as of the fall he will be in Law School and in 2010 he will be an attorney :) whooooohooooo!!

This is a goal that Justin has wanted to achieve as far back as I can remember. I am very proud that Justin is following his dreams.

We have been thrown a bone

Today we received a very short update from the CCAA about Ethan. This is a periodic update that was sent to the agency with no pictures attached but we are grateful to receive any scraps of information thrown our way; hence we have been thrown a bone :)

Here is the updated info:
Height: 31.5 inches
Weight: 23 lbs
Head circumference: 48cm
Chest circumference: 48cm
Foot size:12cm
Teeth: 15

Physical Condition
He can walk with the help of a go-cart. He can stand by holding something. He can walk when someone holds one of his hands. He can sit well by himself.

Mental Development Condition
He is clever. He is well developed and active. He is close to his care-taker.

Meal Schedule and Preference
Eating time: 7:30am, 10:00am, 1:00pm, 4:30pm and 7:30pm. His staple food is milk powder (jinxing brand) plus lotus seed rice flour. His non-staple food is rice, noodles, meat soup, cookies and cakes and so on.

Daily Life, Personality, Hobbies etc.
He gets up at 7:00am, take a nap at 1:30pm and hit the bed at 8:00pm. I will leave out his bowel and bladder routine - Definitely TMI!!

He is active and smiles when he sees familiar people.

Favorite Toys and Activities
He likes dolls best (hmmmmm?) and likes to play outside with other children.

Foster Institute: Social Welfare Institute Of Xiajiang city, Jiangxi province
March 23, 2007

Even though the top of the document had all of Ethan's identifying information we asked for the agency to re verify the info as the narrative was written from the perspective of "she" instead of "he" and of course there was that doll comment....LOL

There is only one thing left to be said.....

A day at the Palm Beach Zoo

A little nervous before the ride started but begged to go again and again!

Look...we are both sticking out our tounge!

Greenacres is the place to be...

Double fisted coloring before lunch


Grandma and Katie in comparison to the bears

We came across this water feature at the zoo and off came the clothes :)

Cool Photo of Katie in the tunnel in the playground

A Day at Parrot Jungle Island

Isn't she lovely?

Daddy and Katie

Mommy and Katie

I am not so sure about that Blue thing!!!

Leading the Way....

I Love the Slide

Mom and Dad...these Pink Flamingos are Cool!!

The funk is lifting....

Thank you to everyone that commented on this blog publicly or contacted me privately to offer your support. Unfortunately, I worried some family members. I was not ready to jump off a bridge or anything; I was just bummed and decided to express it to the world. I also did not feel like blogging for a few days. I am feeling better. I am the type that talks about it, has a good cry and then I feel much better.

I am still waiting on our golden ticket (I-171h) to Ethan. I haunt the mailbox daily and so far...nada!! You all will hear the happy scream when we get it :)

We had a nice weekend. Friday evening was our Century 21 South Florida Annual Awards Event and I was the committee chairperson. It was much smaller event than usual as there were not the award winners as in years past due to the crummy real estate market but it was a success nonetheless. On Saturday, Justin watched Katie so that we could catch a movie. That was the first movie we had seen in the almost 11 months since China. That felt great. On Sunday we took Katie to Parrot Jungle Island here in Miami. It was a gorgeous day and Katie had a ball. She loved the birds and animals, had a blast on the playground and overall was just a joy to watch. Watching her experience the simplest things with such unbridled enthusiasm brings us such happiness. I just giggle every time I think about her talking to the birds as if they understood her or imitating the monkeys..what fun. Blogger is not allowing me to upload pics. I will try again tomorrow.

Thanks again for your caring responses to my post :O)

Burned Out

This is my current state of mind which is why I have not blogged lately.

I am burnt at work (the real estate market stinks) and burnt out on the paper chase for Ethan. We are stuck in the waiting game right now and it is not fun.

The whole adoption seems very unreal right now and quite honestly nobody seems as excited as we are about our newest addition. I guess that is the second child syndrome.

I look at his pictures every day and all I want to do is wrap my arms around him and give him the love and care that he needs.

As soon as my funk lifts I will post some more pics of our little Starr.

The Inevitable Has Happened!!

OK, we know that we are mature parents for goodness sake but I think the next exchange was a bit too much.

Marc was sitting in McDonald's with Katie today and across the dining room were two senior citizens (ladies) They looked over at Marc and commented about what a nice Grandpa he was - and then under their breath to each other they said or is it dad? Marc strongly said Dad and then proceeded to call me at work and started the conversation by telling me in a laughing tone that the "inevitable had happened and he was labeled Katie Starr's grandfather. I think his next call was to the hair stylist to have the gray covered. I on the other hand do not know and never intend to know if I am gray. Only my hair stylist knows for sure.

I know that theoretically we could be grandparents as Justin is 22; in fact I made my mom a grandmother at 46 and I am 46 next month....oy!! My grandparents seemed so much older than I seem!! I wonder if they felt the same way. Now I am toying with the idea of renaming my blog "Diapers and Depends" What do you all think?