Busy Busy Weekend

We had such a busy weekend! Saturday we had dinner with our friends Mark and Alison and their girls Ashlyn and Kaitlyn. Then Sunday, it was Maisie's Birthday Blowout!

On Saturday, Mark, Alison and the girls came over to meet Briana. Briana was fascinated by the girls! She loved playing with them so much. We went to a Japanese hibachi style restaurant and came back to the house to play a little Wii. A good time was had by all!

Here is a pic of Briana waiting for the guests...

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to Maisie's Birthday party. Lisa and Eammon held it outside on their beautiful new deck (jealous over here!). Briana got to meet so many new friends! Briana met Andrew (Trixie and WaWa's little boy), April (Ilene and Michael's little girl) and Emily (Amy and David's little girl). And she saw friends she already knew - Ian and Lili, Zoe from music class and of course the birthday girl! It was a beautiful day and Maisie's cake was delish!

Lisa S. snapped this picture of Briana and Zoe trying to get through the door at the same time. I call it "the wedge". LOL!

Here is a slide show of the afternoon. I stole a few pics from Lisa's blog!

Another Week Down

I love to watch Briana when she sleeps. She is so peaceful. She is my little angel.

Briana has changed so much since we got her home. She didn't like to be rocked in the glider when we first got her home, but now she loves it. My heart melts when she is in my arms as I rock her and she looks up at me and smiles. And it has taken a while, but Briana now hugs me back. She always liked me holding her, but I didn't really feel her reciprocate. Now she really clings on and it feels so good. I really feel like she knows I am her mommy. Everything takes time...

And she walks all over the place. She is still a little klutz - kind of walks like she is drunk, but she gets stronger each day. I will be very happy when she stops falling and bumping into things. Unfortunately, I have heard from mothers with older children that it never stops completely - LOL!

We have had a busy week. Monday, we went to the playground. Tuesday, Grandma (my mom) came to visit and we went out for a ladies lunch. Wednesday, we went to music class and saw Miss Maisie on her birthday. Yesterday was errand day. And today, my friend Julie came over to meet Briana and have lunch. Mmmm, Mexican food! We have a full weekend as well - which I will blog about next week! Busy, busy, busy!

Here are a few pictures of Miss Briana...

Walking outside, waiting for Grandma to arrive...

Grandma came bearing gifts!

This groovy bean bag chair arrived via UPS from Briana's Great Aunt Eileen. She loves it! (And yes, she is holding one of my potholders. She was fascinated by it for some reason.)

And just to show that Briana is not always perfect...nice picture, huh? I took away something she wanted. Doug snapped a picture. She looks so pathetic, doesn't she? Adorable, but pathetic.

Yep, she is definitely a spicy girl...

First Trip to the Playground

Briana had the best time! Can you tell? I tell ya, this child just beams - all the time! We met Amy B. and Garrett at the playground in our neighborhood on Monday afternoon. Briana was a little unsure of the swings at first, but then she started to like it. What she liked more was running around with Garrett. She thought he was totally awesome!

Here is a little slideshow of our day...

Happy Birthday Maisie!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY Miss Maisie! I am so glad Briana and I got to see you at music class today so we could sing "Happy Birthday" to you!

Enjoy your day sweet girl!

Kathy's Baby Shower

Saturday was the big day! Kathy's Baby Shower! See how she beams as she shows off the picture of her new daughter?! What a proud mama-to-be!

Mick and I hosted the shower at the clubhouse in Kathy's neighborhood, and the place was just beautiful. It was the perfect backdrop for the party for Kathy. We had lots of food, a beautiful cake, friends galore (including Heather and Stacy who came from out of town - so exciting!), funny party games, LOTS of presents (and I mean LOTS) and many, many laughs. A good time was had by all! And the main attraction was Kathy...she was just so happy and you could see it written all over her face. OK - enough partying! Time to go get Chani!!!!

As the party wound down, we took a picture of some of the awesome ladies who came to the shower.

And here is a slide show of the wonderful day!

Visiting Daddy At Work

These are my two favorite people in the world! They are both so fun and so crazy!

Miss Briana and I went to visit Doug at The Home Depot on Tuesday to meet Doug's co-workers. She was the belle of the ball once again! And one of Doug's co-workers gave Briana a red ball to play with and you would have thought he had given her gold! She thought is was the best thing ever. She ran up and down the cubes at his office and had a total blast. She crashed in the car on the way home. It was a great day!

Briana and her favorite new toy...

Man, I love this ball!

Holding on to mama's leg - this is her new "thing". See her huge molar that just came in? She has three more coming in just like it. Unfortunately, her teething is causing her to wake up and cry at night now. Lots of teeth still to come in means lots of interrupted sleeping! Ugh!

Miss Chani

Here is Miss Chani! Isn't she just beautiful! Briana's future BFF is coming home soon! LOL! Congrats Kathy and Matt!

Briana's Flag

I never had a chance to post this, but I want to share it now. While Doug and I were on our way to China, my sister was on a business trip. This is the e-mail she sent to me while I was in China...

"Doug and Lisa:

I have to share this with you...

When you left on Tuesday morning at 10:00 to start your adventure, I was starting my own at High Hampton Inn. After sharing with my group the news about you leaving for China, Deborah S. (who arranged and ran the press trip) said we needed to do something special in honor of my new niece. So, like they do on Mount Everest, we decided to plant a flag for Briana when we got to the top of Rock Mountain (which we were going to hike). Deborah had a small American flag in her car, so that was our flag. And as a group, we were going to take it to the top! We set out at exactly 10:00 a.m.

Well, little did I know that the hike was going to turn into rock climbing. About two-thirds of the way up, I was doing pretty well -- that is until we had to scale rocks using cables. We literally were going almost vertical up to the top of the mountain. Five of us decided that we just couldn't make it and turned around -- but the others pressed on. My heroes, Bill B. and Bobby H. , promised to take the flag all the way to the top for me. And they did. (Bill and his wife Brenda have a friend who also adopted from China -- a little girl named Tess.)

So, right now, a small American flag is tied to a tree on the top of Rock Mountain in Cashiers, North Carolina. There it will stay -- in honor of the newest little American. It's Briana's flag, and our whole group had a hand in bringing it up there. I thought you'd like to see it.

Here are a few pictures that Bobby took for me -- the first is of Rock Mountain itself, and the others are from the top of the mountain. Hope you like them!

Love, Amy"

Isn't my sister the greatest?!

14 Months

Today, Briana is 14 months old. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in the two months we have had her. She is so vibrant and her smile lights up the room. I fall deeper in love with this little girl every day. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

On Tuesday, Briana and I (along with my mom) visited my grandmother in the assisted living home. Oh boy was she the center of attention that day! All the residents had so much fun meeting her and watching her run all over the place. She is a ball of energy. She keeps going, and going, and going...

Here are a few pics from the day...

Briana and Great Grandma.

Briana running down the halls.

Briana playing with Great Grandma's stuffed animals.

Congratulations Kathy and Matt!

I want to give a big CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Kathy and Matt who got their referral today for their daughter Dong Fang Mei Ren. She is almost 8 months old! They won't get a picture until early next week (boo, hiss!). We cannot wait to see Chani's beautiful little face! Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!!!