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

I have not taken any new pictures this week. Totally without excuse.

Julianna has picked up a new word--"poo poo". It was really strange to hear her say it and to use it in proper context. It is not one that I have really been working on her learning, I just say it when I'm changing her diaper or to explain the purpose of toilets. Yesterday, she starting saying poo poo, and guess what, she needed a new diaper. She did it again today. She is starting to notice when she needs a new diaper and is starting to request changes. She is also not real excited about wearing diapers anymore. I had to put her in a pull up yesterday because she flat out refused the regular diaper. I'm hoping this signals the beginning of toilet training, but she is still quite young so I'm not going to pressure her about it. I'm just going to enjoy hearing about her adventures rather than smelling them. That was really bad. I think I'll send myself to time out.

Julianna had her dedication yesterday. The dress got finished on Saturday night, but not at midnight, so I had plenty of time to spare. I'm going to get some formal photos done in the dress.
Julianna has finally learned "no". Sigh. It is not her favorite word and half the time she does not use it in proper context. All in good time, I suppose. Mostly we are just thrilled that she is using words at all. She tried a sentence this week. It was "garble, garble cracker". This was progress over her usually which is "cracker" in continually increasing tones. Hopefully we will soon be saying "I would like a cracker please, mommy" (I can at least dream).

Mommy, your books don't have any duck pictures!!

Julianna has discovered that mommy likes to read books and that mommy likes to read books to her. This has lead to a new game around our house. When I am occupied in a task that does not involve her, she will get a book and come ask me to read it to her. And by read, I mean look at about four pages before she tries to take over the project or get down. In some ways it is good because she is learning to sit in my lap and read and also because it means she wants to be with mommy, which makes me happy.

We are having a word explosion around here. She is attempting lots of words and picking up more and more. She is also starting to use them for requests. Yesterday she asked for an apple and when we are out and she is ready to go home, she will starting saying house. The funniest word so far is "R2", which is has not quite mastered, but she is trying.

In my prolonged attempted to write this blog, we have now completely read through a book, cover to cover in one setting. (Plus three or four partial readings).

I was so excited on Saturday as I headed to work. I made it out of the house in one trip, with very little drama from Julianna. I had my list, my coat, my parking passes. I was set. I get to the hospital to see my first patient and there is not a stethoscope in my coat pocket. "Someone" had taken it out of my pocket. No one has of yet confessed, but I have a short list of suspects.

Our Brown Envelope has arrived!! Hallelujah, I was starting to worry.


To catch everyone up, when you adopt internationally, there is a collection of paperwork to be completed at the consulate of the country of origin. The consulate will send you the paperwork sometime after your I171 is approved so that when you travel, you will have all the necessary forms. Good thing our has finally come.

The letter accompanying our packet is actually dated for before we traveled. Why it took four and a half months to get to us, is a mystery for the US Postal service.

May I speak to Pa Pa, please?

Julianna is now the proud owner of a Library card. We attempted story hour last week, but it did not work. They will restart in the fall and hopefully by then she will be able to sit in my lap and listen to a story being read. She does like picking books off the shelves and turning pages. And the toddler size tables are just too cool. She is getting better with the books. She let me read about four pages of one before she decided the pages were just turning too slowly and she had to speed up the process.

She is working really hard on her words. The new ones are cheese, diaper, bath, bike, truck. We are trying to do sign language with her as well, but it is slow because half the time we have to look the symbol up in the book before we can use it. I think we will have to start sooner with baby #2 and learn it before we have the little one. We had not planned to use it with Julianna, but she is acquiring spoken language slower than we had anticipated.

The tech whiz has just discovered the Nintendo. Wonder if they still make games for the Super Nintendo version?

Maybe she will have her own blog at Christmas.

This is totally a staged picture. She tossed the hat every time I put it on her head, so Grammy would get all focused and ready and I would drop the hat on for a quick photo before the toss.

Finally, pictures. Julianna has decided to pick up some more words. She now says bird, bear, ball, Paul (for monkey Paul) and book. Hallelujah, she can say book. She is even starting to enjoy books. Right now she has her favorite books and likes to turn the pages and look at the animals on the pages. Every once in a while, she will let me read the words on the page and not just point out the animals. She is picky about her books, though. Not every book with animal pictures will do. It always amazes me how selective she can be.

She is going to be a technology whiz. She has been running around the TV room with my palm, trying to call Pa Pa. She has learned how to put discs into the CD drive and we are working on learning to put them back in their case. Yesterday I caught her with my iPod (trying to call Pa Pa, of course). She likes to play with the computer mouse and push the keyboard buttons, which makes blogging a challenge. She has also discovered the reset button, meaning some blogs are written twice. Thankfully, blogspot added a autosave function.

Baby's patience is now exceeded. Bye bye

It is another no picture post. I have taken some, just need to download them.

We went to the doctor today. Julianna has grown 3/4 of an inch and gained 3 ounces. He is not at all concerned. He was also not worried about her language skills and we will go back in six months for another check-up.

Happy Fourth to everyone. Mommy is taking her first real day off. I loaded Julianna and Daddy up in the car this morning, bound for his parents and I am going to relax. Would you believe it is raining at Wimbledon? I guess I can scratch that off my days plans. Probably a good thing because there are only so many hours in a day. With any luck I will finish her dedication dress today.

I am enjoying being a mommy. She is quite the little sweetheart. We seem to have come to a standstill on our language acquisition. She is pretty content with "da" and pointing. It is a bit frustrating for me because it does not work for complicated requests. I guess she does not see the need.

Well, off to start my busy day of relaxing...