Party, Party, Party!

Here are the pictures as promised of Lisa and Eammon's New Year's Eve bash! It started at 5PM, we celebrated England's New Year at 7PM and we left at 8PM! Briana fell fast asleep in the car and transferred to her crib with no problem. Doug and I had a quiet rest of the evening and watched the ball drop in NYC on TV. It was a wonderful New Year - we have Briana - it was perfect!

Hope You're Having A Good New Year

Hope everyone had a great first day of 2008!

We had a wonderful time celebrating at Lisa & Eammon's New Year's Eve party last night. I will post pictures in a day or two. It was such a lot of fun! Thanks Lisa, Eammon and Maisie!

(Debbie took the first picture of Briana - it is so cute! Thanks Deb!)

5 Months Since Gotcha & Happy New Year 2008

On December 30, we will have had Briana in our lives for 5 whole months, and it keeps getting better and better...

I honestly cannot say that I am happy to see the year 2007 come to an end. Usually, I am ready to just get on to the next year with a fresh new perspective - always hoping that the new year will bring me a child. Well, 2007 was our year. Finally our year. After celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary, Doug and I received our referral for Jiang Ai Juan and flew to the other side of the world to become first time parents. Talk about wonderful and scary stuff! Briana is our dream that finally came true...

But the year 2007 does have to come to an end, and I will look back on it as a very happy and fulfilling year for Doug, Briana and me. I am looking so forward to seeing what 2008 will bring!

One very sad note for 2007 was that so many of my blog buddies and friends did not bring their daughters home this year. Just know that my heart is heavy for you, and I hope and pray each day that 2008 will be YOUR year. Happy New Year everyone!

This video pretty much sums up what Briana has brought to Doug's and my life. Get ready 2008 - here we come!

Daddy's Little Girl

Doug and Briana have the best time together. She is definitely daddy's little girl! This clip from Christmas Day just makes me smile!

Merry Christmas!

Today was so amazing. I hope all of you had a wonderful and magical day too. Merry Christmas!

Briana and Chani Meet For The First Time

Doug, Briana and I got a wonderful Christmas present yesterday! We got to meet Miss Chani! Chani is so amazingly adorable and such a beauty (and she let me hold her which I am so excited about!). Don't Briana and Chani look like they could be sisters in the first picture?

I wasn't sure if Matt and Kathy would be up to having us come over to visit this soon, but Kathy said they were ready when we were! So we brought over some food and spent a fun evening together. Chani was fascinated with Briana and vice versa, and Briana once again proceeded to take out, play with, and then scatter every toy that Kathy owns on the floor (Hurricane Briana strikes again!). It was wonderful seeing the girls together finally, and the proud parents were beaming! What a beautiful family they are!

Here is a slide show of our evening and directly under that, Doug put together a video of the girls pretending to be Taz (from Looney Toons). Oh - and make sure you check out the end of the video, Kathy's tree spins and Briana is sitting under it.

Joy and Appreciation

Christmas is going to be at my house this year, and my parents brought over a few gifts on Thursday in advance so they wouldn't have to bring everything over on Christmas Day (just remember my parents are first time grandparents!). While they were visiting, we decided to do the traditional "standing in front of the tree" pictures!

I have to say that I sometimes can't believe Briana is actually here with us at Christmas. It feels so surreal. There were so many times I thought it would never happen for us - having a child. But it has happened. It is the most amazing experience, and I am enjoying and appreciating every single second of it.

UGA Christmas Shirt

These pics are for Aunt Amy and Uncle Andy - they bought this shirt for Briana (Andy is a UGA alumnus). Doug is a Notre Dame fan (even though they royally stunk this year), so there was a slight protest on his part (Ha!). But cuteness won out!

Thanks Amy and Andy!

Busy Few Days With Friends

Boy, we have been busy! Thursday, my friend Miranda and her two sons, Jacob and Dylan, came over to my house to meet Briana for the first time! It was so great seeing her and seeing her boys - I cannot believe how much they have grown!

Then Thursday night, we met Amy & Kevin and their son Garrett (friends, neighbors and fellow China adopters) for some yummy Mexican food and good company. Garrett gave Briana the cutest little butterfly book for Christmas. Briana loves it - thanks Garrett!

Friday, I actually got my hair cut. Nothing drastic, but enough to get the layers back in my hair. (I don't think letting my hair grow down to my rear is a good look for me.) Doug was working from home, so I took advantage of the situation. I can't tell you how good it felt to get an actual haircut! Nice!

Saturday, we met Georgia and Jeff (friends and fellow China adopters) for dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. Gosh, those steaks were yummy!!! We had a great time! Georgia and Jeff are going to get their referral in about three weeks. I am SO excited for them! I will be stalking their blog come January!

Here are a few pictures of the visit with Jacob and Dylan...

Briana and Her Yarmulke

Here are some pictures taken the night we celebrated Hanukkah with my dad. First we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant and then headed back to the house to light the candles. And yes - my mom found a small yarmulke for Briana to wear that night. Isn't it so cute?