Well, our first Christmas as a family has passed. We had a great time. We made Christmas cookies and cake and lots and lots of messes. We took the tree down today and Julianna keeps pointing at the former spot, saying, "tree, tree". She is wearing her new Pooh jacket for the second day. She would probably wear it more if she new the secret hiding place, commonly known as a coat tree.




Uncle Don Don kept her full of candy for two days. She is gradually coming off her sugar high, but not pleased with mommy's one lollipop rule. Mommy can be so demanding.









Her favorite gift was by far her Barbie car. Barbie, however, has yet to ride in it. It was commandeered by Little Elmo and Blue Dog, who have been spotted cruising up and down the halls, wind whipping in their hair.

As Julianna would say, 'Christmas Trees'.

Or as mommy would say, Happy Christmas.

Either way, Merry Christmas, everyone.

I thought I would provide a few updates from our house. First, the Internal Revenue Service is pleased to inform us that they have decided not to change our tax return. Who writes these things? It should have said, congratulations, we decided you did not lie on your forms. Or maybe, congratulations, our close examination of your finances is at an end. We are glad, but nonetheless, bitter about the whole experience.



Next up, potty training updates. Miss Kitty and Elanor Bear are diaper free. "Other Baby", as in not that baby but the other baby, is still in her diapers. She does sit on the potty sometimes. We don't have diapers small enough for this kitty, but I would have loved to have a video camera to record Julianna trying to fit one on her.

Julianna is like "other baby", still in diapers but sits on the potty sometimes. We got positive results one day and had a potty dance, but none since.

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I ever thought an open changing station was a good idea. I've spent the better part of seven months imploring certain members of our family to please not throw the diapers, shoes, towels, etc. on the floor while mommy dries her hair.







Then we had this episode. She was quite proud of herself. It was quite amusing until Wednesday, when she wanted a new diaper and proceeded to climb to the top of the changing station and laid down, with diaper in hand.






Maybe I should get my own supply of 2-0 nylon.

How many layers do you need in winter?



Apparently three.

The Minnie Pearl impersonation was an added bonus.

I wonder how long it will take to potty train a toddler, a cat and a bear?

We have been teaching Julianna to say "thank you" an also to be quiet when mommy is on the phone. It makes the weekends pretty interesting when I get a call and she starts crying. We have been doing the "shh" sound and motion when I'm on the phone. On Monday, she took my phone out of my pocket, said "thank you", "called" Maw Maw, and told me to "shh" while she "talked".

These are from Saturday. Julianna was in toddler heaven. We saw a fire truck. She got to sit in the driver's seat and crawl all over the truck. Today we went to the USS Alabama Battleship park and she got to touch planes. We spent a grand total of ten minutes on the boat because every time she looked over the edge she could see all the planes she was not touching and would start yelling "plane, touch". I'm trying to teach her to say "Z plane", but the cultural reference is just lost on her.

Now I'm off to break into the Halloween candy. I'm not 100% sure why I bought any. Last year we had a grand total of two kids, and tonight is Wednesday, so we will be a church anyway. At least I'm stocked up on chocolate for a month....

There seems to be more and more time between posts. Always so much going on. This is our mommy-got-the-camera-out face. She scrunches up her nose and smiles real big. Usually if I take two photos in a row, I get a nice one for the second picture. Then she is running to the camera so she can see them.

Life around here is flying by and Julianna is getting bigger. It has been kind of bittersweet packing up her clothes that are too small. For so long it seemed like she would never grow, now things are getting too short.

Here is a better shot of the short hairdo. It is from our outing to the pumpkin patch. We have learned that pumpkins are "beavy (heavy)", so is a full cup of water, and a case of cokes. We are so exited to have her finally learning adjectives. She knows hot, cold, heavy and loud. She even uses them appropriately. She now knows two verbs--go and see. She is starting to attempt her name. It usually comes out Nana. Language is by far the developmental area she lags most in, so we are thrilled with any progress.

Somebody has a new do...

I'm finally going to get around to doing some blogging. We had our six month post placement visit last week. Wow. Six months. Julianna showed our social worker where her patella and umbilicus are. We are so proud. I been trying to do ulna and radius and sometimes femur, but she is not keen on learning her bones yet.

Daddy bought her a new toy--a truck and tractor set. She is still a truck girl. She is, however, playing with dolls and Barbie. Mommy let her play with the Lord of the Rings action figures. We sent Faramir down the Falls of Rauros in the Elven boat. He was standing in for Boromir, who is still in the box. I pulled out Frodo and Pippin and was doing lines from the end of the first movie, the part with the boat and Sam drowning. Julianna was not impressed, especially when Daddy pointed out that I had pulled out Pippin instead of Sam (I thought it was Sam. How quickly the memory goes.)
We visited Grandma and Paw Paw this week. The cousins were spending their fall break there. Uncle Don fed Julianna coke and jalapeño potato chips. She liked the coke, not the chips so much. Grandma and Paw Paw bought her a new shirt a couple of weeks ago. When she is absolutely inconsolable, we call Paw Paw on the phone and it calms her down immediately. She also likes to call him just because. When she is sort of mad at me, she will ask for Daddy, but if she is really mad at me, she asks for Paw Paw.
This is a funny moment for all you folks in Wisconsin. I was watching a show on HGTV called "Freestyle". It is basically a show where a designer comes in and redoes a room, but spends no money (thus the free style). Anyway, a couple was having a living room done and had a pair of chairs picked up (for free) in Madison, WI on Aug 29. Made me laugh. (8/29 is the day when all student leases in Madison end, so all the students move out and leave stuff on the curb, which can range from pure junk to furniture. It's a dumpster divers heaven).

This is the envelope the IRS was kind enough to include in our inquisition packet. Standard letter size.

This is the information they requested. Maybe if I shove real hard...

I think we have an athlete in the making. Julianna new favorite shoes are her tennis shoes. Furthermore, we went to watch my cousin play Volleyball at a tournament and Julianna was very upset that she could not join in. My final proof to my hypothesis is, we are not big TV watchers around our house. We mostly watch sporting events. Julianna plopped herself down in front of the TV last week, pointed at the screen (which was off) and asked for 'ball'.

I don't have any new photographs, but I thought I would give everyone an update on our week. Yesterday, Julianna went to Mom's Day Out wearing her pearls and her truck watch. She insisted on both of them herself. Today we went to the fire station and she got to touch the trucks and sit on them. We will go again and I will get pictures. Right now she is keeping herself awake. She has decided that she does not want to be rocked to sleep and we have gone to rocking her for a while, then into the crib she goes. It can be anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before she is out. I dread her moving into a big bed, one she can get out of to keep herself awake.

I think this photo pretty much says it all.

This is going to be three posts all rolled into one.

The pictures are our new tennis outfit. Thanks, Aunt Penny and our two-bottle a day habit.


1. It is all in vain

This morning, Julianna insisted on reading a book after breakfast. But not any book would do. It had to be "I Love Trucks". Afterwards, we went for a walk in her pink stroller, wearing her pink shorts and pink floral top, with a baby doll. Our first stop? The road construction about two blocks from here so she could watch the big trucks move dirt. At least she doesn't object to wearing a dress...

2. When did that happen?

The kids at Mom's Day Out eat lunch there and the parents are suppose to make them a sack lunch. As I was getting her ready on Tuesday, I realized that she never eats a cold meal around here. Every time she sits down, at least a portion is hot off the stove. Even her sandwiches are grilled cheese. When did I become that mommy?



3. Sometimes, all you can do is shake your head.

Julianna is becoming quite the little helper. She will pick up plates in the morning and help unload the dishwasher. She is not so fond of loading, and will sometimes be busily taking dirty dishes out while we are loading others in. She has also learned to toss clothes into the washing machine. She thinks it is a great game because she gets to throw stuff. This week, I took a load of clean ones out of the dryer and put them in a basket on the floor, put wet ones in the dryer and then began putting another load in the washer. I was busy loading, when suddenly clean clothes from the basket come flying into the washer. She's a good shot and all but one sock went in.

Today is September 11. Like everyone else, I remember where I was six years ago today, what I was doing, what I felt, but I honestly did not remember that today was a day of significance until I was on my way to lunch and saw a sign on a business about remembering. Six years and the day I thought I would never forget has been forgotten. It is a sad commentary.

Today was an exciting day in our life. Today Julianna started Mom's Day Out. I spent the time sewing. Above is my machines and a pile of fabric. I finished two dresses, although one was just doing the seams of a bishop, so it did not take long. I started on a third. I managed to wait all the way to 12:08 before I could not stand it any more and had to go pick her up. I was ready to pick her up before I left the parking lot, but I persevered. We will both adjust.

When we look at the photos from China, we are always saying how much different Julianna looks. I thought it would be fun today to dress her in an outfit we had photographed her in before just to show the difference. First,you will notice that she is a whole lot less cooperative with photographs. I could not get a good photo without her playing. Second, the outfit is now about two inches too short. Third, she is steady on her feet and does not have a wide based gait. She looks like a little girl now and not a baby.

The things we find when mommy is on the phone...

This photograph came from Love Without Boundaries

They provided formula to Julianna's orphanage. It was taken November, 2006. I just think it is adorable.

I feel somewhat obligated to make at least one post about the US Open, which started Monday. I've blogged about the other three tennis slams that it feels like I should mention the one that is played in our own country. I guess all I can say right now is, I'm grateful it is played in a time zone close to mine and that some of the best matches are night games, which in my new world translates to after "baby is asleep matches".

Julianna is learning a new word this month--Audit, as in this is your friendly IRS calling. I suppose it is good that she is learning about life's little realities at such a young age. Fortunately, we have had practice in paperchasing, so finding all those little receipts should not be a huge issue. At least we don't have to certify and authenticate every single one.

We are working toward another milestone--dressing ourself. It was her idea. She grabbed a pair of shorts I was folding and proceeded to try and put them on unassisted. She can already do her shoes by herself. We still have to do the straps.

She has learned where her umbilicus is. Still working on patella.

Today was one of those really fun days in mommy-hood. Julianna has starting saying two word sentences. Right now it is always "Bye, bye (object)", but it is a discernible sentence. Today, she colored with crayons without once trying to eat them, she asked to finger paint, she stacked blocks (and knocked them down, which is apparently more fun), she pointed to five body parts, she pointed to almost all the animals on her animal picture and, best of all, we read four books before bedtime. Actually reading, all the way through, and one had more than three or four words per page. Last week she could not do any of this, but suddenly, she hits a ton of milestones in one day. Next up on the agenda is learning patella and umbilicus. And maybe our colors.

Blogging everyday is just hard work.

Our little girl is one and a half inches taller than she was on gotcha day. The first casualty of growth was shoes. It is sort of bittersweet to have her not fit the cute tiny shoes anymore. She is starting to look so much like a little girl and not like a baby.

While we are taking this nostalgia tour, Julianna and I are watching a video of Journey, live in concert from the Escape tour (1981). My very first concert experience was Journey. Ah, the memories. True to form, Julianna dances to the upbeat, rocking songs and completely ignores the slow ballads. I think her career as a concert cellist is in danger.

The word of the week is "lawnmower".

We headed up to Tennessee this week to spend some time with Phillip's family. We took a grand total of five pictures the whole time. It was a very pleasant trip. Julianna took her first boat ride. She seemed to enjoy it and wanted to get on the boat when they went out a second time. She swam a little, but this is not one of her favorite activities. She likes her feet on the ground when she is in the water, but this is not easy in a lake. She has learned to sign peach and thoroughly enjoyed eating them.

We also made a trip to the adoption clinic at UAB. They thought she was not quite where she should be, having been home for four months and want her to start some interventions. We will go back in six months for a check up. She has, however, grown an inch and gained 2.5 lbs since coming home from China.

Now I have to brag on how smart she is again. When we were doing the last minute load up and saying our goodbyes, I put Julianna in the front seat. She pulled down the safety belt and was trying to insert the tab into the catch.


Don't call the social worker. I did not let her ride here. She rides in her car seat.

This is going to be a post about how smart Julianna is. Right now she is sort of letting me watch tennis. She occasionally will go to the TV and point at the tennis balls and say "ball". But what really surprised me was when she watched a service point and then pick up her racket, took it to the TV and pointed at the one on the TV. Maybe I can enroll her in tennis lessons...

She has a great memory. When we are out walking, she remembers every house that we have seen an animal at and will start calling out the name before we reach the house--cat, cat, dog, dog. What amazes me is that we have seen the pets at most of the houses only once, but she remembers.

She is trying nearly every word she hears. She almost did a two word sentence last night. She said bye, bye dada, once, but then returned to say them each a couple of times and switching. Hopefully soon.

Every time I see her on the bike like this, I think she looks like she is ready to jump a Harley and tour the country.

It has been a strange day around our house. Julianna has suddenly decided that she does not like to have her diaper changed. She cries and whines all the way to the changing table, then sits quietly on the table. I guess she is exerting some toddler power. The other strange thing today involved Miss Kitty. She needed a bath and for the first time Julianna complained about the separation. She does not even play with her all that much during the day, but was very upset that I took her out of the crib and put her in the washer. It was just so weird. Right now she is wailing like a banshee for no apparent reason. Ah, the joys of toddlers.

This weekend we loaded up and headed to Wisconsin. We had important business there. Our mustard supply was dwindling.
Fortunately, there is a wonderful place to restock.
You can find mustards from all over the world there. It would be somewhat embarrassing to admit to the number of mustard bottles in our refrigerator. I will say, however, that there is not a single bottle of plain ol' French's anywhere in our house.
The witticism is free.
With the man himself, the Maestro of Mustard, our hero, our icon Barry Levenson.
With the local royalty, her majesty, the Duchess of Mustard.

If you have not had enough of the punnys, hop on over to the official web site, and start exploring the world of mustard.


http://www.mustardweb.com/index.htm