16 Months Old

My baby girl is 16 months old today...

Chattanooga - Aquarium and Parade

Saturday, Doug, Briana and I headed up to Chattanooga, TN to meet my friend Carole, her husband Jim and son Guy for the annual Christmas parade. Carole has asked me for years to join her for this, and unfortunately, Doug and I have not been able to go until now. Gosh I am so glad we went! It was so much fun!

We got to Chattanooga about 3PM and we were meeting Carole around 5:30, so we decided to check out the aquarium for a little while. I don't know what was going on, but the place was empty! We had the place to ourselves pretty much! I think everyone was watching the Tennessee/LSU game! What was neat was Doug and I just visited the aquarium back in June when we first got our referral and now we were able to Briana with us.

Here is a picture of me at the aquarium back in June and one from now. Pretty neat, huh?

Thank you so much Carole for inviting us to join you, Jim and Guy. We had a blast! Can't wait for next year!

Here are a couple of slide shows!

Cookie Decorating

Yep - this was pretty much what Briana did the whole time Friday morning at Debbie's cookie decorating get together. Eat. This girl can eat. And she especially LOVES cookies. While all the other girls (Maisie, Li Li, Anna and Emma) were frosting, decorating and making beautiful cookies, Briana was simply eating.

Debbie, thank you so much for hosting such a fun morning. All of your treats were delicious!

Here are a few pictures from the day...

Picking Out Our Christmas Tree

Thursday morning, Doug, Briana and I headed down to the tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree. Briana had a ball running all over the lot and touching the trees. Because it was a weekday morning, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

I am so behind on blogging. Can't do it all right now, so coming up this week...cookie decorating at Deb's, Briana's first parade with my friend Carole and her family, and our decorated Christmas tree!

Four Months Since Gotcha Day

I can't believe we have had Briana in our arms for four months now. I also can't believe how much she has changed in those four months. I am so happy that she is thriving, and Doug and I are so blessed to have her in our lives. She is a true miracle.

Briana on Gotcha Day...

Briana today...

Fun With Bows

Warning - this is what happens to your child when you go to Kathy's house...

LOL! Just kidding girl! After eating lunch out with Kathy and Randi (and Randi's cutie son Jack) on Tuesday, we headed back to Kathy's house. Kathy was trying on the bows that she has been making and wanted to see if they would stay in a child's hair. Briana's hair is so fine, and they held great! And Briana had a ball - she is finally starting to like having barretts and bows in her hair - oh yeah!

Briana had so much fun playing with Jack!

Feeling Better

Just want to let everyone know that Doug is feeling better! He even went to work today!

Thank you all so much for your concern!

You are the best!

The Up and Down of Our Weekend (*Update*)

We had quite an up and down of the weekend. On Thanksgiving, my parents offered to watch Briana for the whole day on Saturday. Doug and I needed a day off by ourselves - we have been pretty dang tired between the China trip, sickness and just learning to be new parents of a very, very active one year old. We dropped Briana off in the morning, and we went to get the oil changed in my car at the Infiniti dealership (I have an I-30) and decided to test drive a FX35. Sweet car! Then we ate at PF Changs - yummy! We did a little shopping, relaxed and then ate dinner at Henry's. Unbelievably delicious! I did order gumbo that was really good but just about burned my lips off, but the cheese fondue we ordered was to die for! We went to pick up Miss Briana that evening, and she had the best day with grandma and grandpa. I am not sure if she even missed us - ha, ha!

Then Sunday came...Doug woke up about 7AM with a kidney stone. He was in excruciating pain and needed to go to the emergency room. The baby was just about to wake up and I knew I had to get her fed and dressed before I could drive him there. So, I called my parents. Once again, they came to the rescue! My dad flew over to the house and picked up Doug to take him to the hospital so I could watch the baby. Once Doug got to the ER and got an IV, the pain started to subside. I can just imagine Doug and my dad male bonding at the hospital, LOL! Anyway, they got back home about noon, and my mom had come over in the meantime so I could go out and get Doug's prescriptions filled quickly when they got back. Doug came home VERY groggy and slept the whole afternoon away. My parents went back home around 1:30PM. Doug hasn't had any more pain, so we think the worst is over - we hope. I have to thank my parents once again for saving us! And I was supposed to see Kathy and friends for some pottery making, but I had to miss it. I am so sad!

So, that was the up and down of our weekend. Isn't that crazy?

**Update** Doug is still feeling some pain (started around 5 this morning), so the stone isn't gone yet. Thank goodness for Percocet...

Scenes From A Thanksgiving

What can I say? Thanksgiving was perfect! From turkey to pumpkin pie, from the Macy's parade to my family - it was perfect. Briana loved her first Thanksgiving dinner and ate and ate! She laughed and smiled during the whole dinner - actually the whole day! It was a great day!

Here are some pictures...

So Much To Be Thankful For

I honestly don't know how to express in words how thankful I am to have Briana in my life. Doug and I waited over 6 years for our child to be sitting with us at the Thanksgiving table, and tomorrow the moment will finally arrive. It is just surreal. So surreal...

I want to let you all know that Briana had a much better Monday and Tuesday! I had the sweetest comments after my "Rough Day" post, and there were few laughs at my expense too! Ha, Ha!

I am thankful for my family and all my friends who supported Doug and me on our long journey. And thank you to my blog buddies - you mean so much to me. For all of you who are still waiting for your daughters, please know that I think of you everyday, and I hope and pray that your dreams will come true very soon.

Below is a picture of a gift my mom gave me and Doug when we returned from China. My mom wrote the poem herself - she wrote it when we first signed up for our China adoption. She woke up one morning with the words in her head. She felt like Briana was telling her what to write. It is so beautiful (makes me cry!), and I want to share it with you. It now hangs on the wall in Briana's room. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can read it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!