Can't believe it's already February...

It's all official, June has legally joined our family forever. It feels so great to have everything behind us. Now all that's left is receiving her birth certificate and having her SSN issued which we hope to have within the weeks!

Can't you see the excitement and relief on our faces? The day was so special and the judge was wonderful...he was so personal and casual with us, after he asked a couple of questions and handed us the official paperwork, he asked to take June up behind his desk and let her sit and hold/play with the gavel. Then he asked us all to come up there and take pictures.

It's February now, we just received some snow and super cold weather. The girls are gearing up now for Valentine's Day.

June is still so petite (still 20 lbs)...she is a pretty picky eater...its funny because in the beginning she wasn't, she ate everything, but now its hit and miss every day.  Now she will try more to eat when I ask her to, I can ask her to take another sip of milk or bite of X and she will...which is good...we keep working to get more fat on her bones but she's healthy, happy and thriving every day. The other day at her preschool I had the joy of witnessing her first little social situation at school where she was so excited to see her little girl friend, she hugged her, talked to her in baby talk then stuck her foot out said "shoe" as she pointed to her 3 day old new shoes she was clearly so proud of! So sweet...

Ava is having fun at school, she's definitely more into the Valentines Day and her daddy's upcoming birthday. We've got some fun valentine crafts and card making ideas we plan to make together.  She is really enjoying her extra Art classes we've put her in and I think is quite talented. My absolute favorite piece she made was a self-portrait...which I think is pretty incredible.

I feel so blessed to have two extraordinary, beautiful, smart, sweet, special little girls!!

Well, back to the craft table I go...

Tomorrow is the big day!

It's been a really long time since I last posted...I took a little hiatus.

Things have been going well and tomorrow is THE BIG DAY! We appear in court to finally finalize our adoption with June.

It's such a special day for our family and extended family. Grandparents have flown in and we, along with Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents will be attending the court proceedings together...to finally call June ours forever!

My heart beams with love and joy for her and our family. She is the sweetest, funniest, cutest, smartest and most adventurous little girl. She adores and looks up to her big sister, coos over her daddy and longs for her mommy to comfort and hold her tight at night. Looking at Ava and June together, takes my breath away...Ava is the most beautiful girl, inside and out and truly loves and cares for her sister June.

Tomorrow afternoon, it will all be behind us, all the paperwork, legal and technical work out of the way...it's surreal to think this day is finally here.

Thank you God. Thank you friends and family for all of your love and support...we are so grateful!

"Sister" and Finalization of Adoption

Life is in full swing with our family of four and dog. It has been 4-1/2 months since we've grown from a family of 3 to 4.  Things are more adjusted, routines are established and growth on all sides continues.

Ava loves loves loves kindergarten...she is so organized and thrives on learning. Every night she lays out her clothes, hair accessories, shoes, socks (placed in her shoes), backpack (with her school materials placed just so in each section in the backpack) and her water bottled pre-filled. She did this on her own so that "she is running around crazy looking for things". She loves order which I love.  Although the education is a little behind what she already knows, we are having to continue supplementing so that she can stay challenged and continue to learn. She also is in soccer and is enjoying that as well, boy she is a super fast runner. She has also looking forward to Halloween and her upcoming 6 year old birthday. For halloween she has asked to be Cleopatra.

As for June, every day she talks more and more. I've lost count of how many words she is saying. The sweetest new word today was "Sister". Her daddy was holding her looking at pictures of Ava in the hall and June said "Sister" very clearly. She also says Hi, Bye bye, Night-night, All Done, More, Wawa (water), Apple, Doggie, Up, Down, Off, Chocolate, Bottle, Sister, Dada, Mama, Vava, Volvo, June, Eye, Nose, Mouth, Shoe, Sock, Love, You, Ouch, Wow, Moo, Quack, Roar, Baubles (still the word for stuffed animals and blanket), Baby, Ball, Cracker, Bebo (belly button). She will pretty much try to repeat any word you ask which is great and brave. She knows where her eyes, mouth, nose, ears, head, hair, belly button, toes are. She tells us (points to her diaper or brings it to us) when she needs her diaper changed, she points to her bed and says "night night" when she wants to go to bed.

Then we received super exciting news last week about a court date in December to finalize our adoption with June. At that point we will no longer be considered "foster parents" but legally in the court of law considered her parents. It just finalizes things on paper and puts this other chapter behind us as we continue looking ahead as a happy, loving, complete family of four plus our dog.

Rice gruel and kindergarten...

When June came home with us, she started off eating everything under the sun...almost 4 months later she still eats most things but is a tad pickier...and when she isn't feeling well (we had our first projectile vomit/virus bug a couple of weeks ago) its difficult to get her to eat much else besides milk.

So after a few days of not eating much I thought I'd pull out the old tried and true dish...rice gruel...and she gobbled it up! She loves loves loves this stuff and would probably eat it for every meal.  Rice gruel is essentially rice in broth. In Korea she ate this all the time except hers had meat in it...since we don't eat a lot of meat I decided to include some seaweed, which is an alternate source of protein. She can eat bowls and bowls of this and loves to slurp up the broth.

Rice gruel

June continues to do well...every day she says a new word. Other than da-da (her favorite word which she says with so much passion) she says bye-bye, night-night, hi, up, more, baby, ball, baubles (this is the name of one of our girls stuffed animals, so now she calls all dolls and stuffed animals this), milk, doggie, chocolate, here...then just today, when we said "I love you" she said made a "lauv" sound :-) which we think was her trying to say love!

In the car being silly

She also loves loves to draw...I think she'd be happy for hours with a pen and piece of paper scribbling away. She also likes to dance, sing (she hums when I sing or Ava sings), try hats or other clothes on as hats, play and hold baby dolls, and walk around with purses on her shoulders. She's a happy camper.

As for Ava, she just started kindergarten last week! It was a big day and I'm so proud and excited for her as she starts this new chapter in her life. She loves kindergarten, is enjoying having homework, making new friends and being a big girl. Her first day she was all business...as soon as the bell rang, she immediately ran to her chair, sat down then realized she still had her backpack on, stood up to take it off, put it away then sat back down patiently waiting with a serious look on her face. It was so sweet...our little girl is growing up!

This week we discovered she has one of her back molars coming in...I was surprised they came in so early but again, another sign she keeps growing up.

It goes by so fast...grab your kids, record every moment, time is so precious, especially when they are young.

Ava's 1st day at kindergarten

Milestones!

Things continue to be busy which makes it difficult to post as often as I'd like. Everything is going just great here...it feels like the summer is almost gone and it just got here. I still hate how fast the stores bring in and out seasons...I just received an email from pottery barn kids letting me know about their Halloween costumes.

Time goes by so fast and it just goes by faster and faster. I remember when I was a teenager and I told my dad how fast time went by...he told me to "just wait, until I got older...this is nothing like what you'll experience later in life, it will really go by fast then"...and it has!

I've had a lot happen in my life along with difficult losses while I was a teenager, young adult and older adult...all of which have impressed in me how fleeting life is and the importance of 'living in the moment'.  At a young age, I adopted the mentality that I can't live to please others, life is too short to worry about what other people think about me and my "energy" is limited and should be spent on the things that matter and not on worrying about things I have no control over or interest in. I remember when I was younger and began to have this "shift" in the way I lived and approached each day. I take each day a step at a time, I try not to dwell on the past or "what could have been" moments nor do I live in the future. I try to live in the now. I find, I'm sure like many people, that I don't have enough time in the day to do all the things I want. It's difficult being a working mom, raising two busy girls, being a wife, mother, sister, friend, daughter...trying to fill all those roles plus tend to the things I'm personally interested in pursuing outside of work (publishing children books, painting, cooking, etc). Sometimes I get overwhelmed because I'm not able to excel in all the areas mentioned above. So when the year is over half way over and I haven't accomplished the things I set out to do this year...it's hard not to feel bummed.

But, I also can reflect back and note some significant and proud milestones we've experienced as a family this year :  

• Ava began to lose her baby teeth (four to-date, two on the bottom and two on the top); 
• Ava had her first road-trip w/out her mommy and daddy (don't think we'll do that again, that was really hard on her mommy!!);  
• Our family finally grew from 3 to 4 with baby June's longly anticipated arrival; 
• Ava had her 2nd ballet recital; 
• June gives Ava, Daddy, and Mommy kisses; 
• Ava played soccer the first time; June no longer has restless nights nor sucks her thumbs/fingers; 
• Ava had her first major injury by smashing her thumb in the car door;  
• June picks up new words every day (Hi, Bye Bye, Night night, More, Milk, Vava, Da da, Ma ma, Baby, Shoe, Mooo, Quack, Woof, Up); 
• June had her first road trip with her family to see her grandparents and great-grand parents;
• Mommy and daddy survived their first long road trip with two kids who were anxious to not be in the car;
• Ava rode her bicycle for the first time w/out training wheels;  
• Ava said 'good-bye' to her preschool and is getting ready to say 'hello' to kindergarten; 
• June said 'hello' to her preschool part-time; 

There are still so many things I want to accomplish and go after this year with our family and personally...hopefully I'll continue to motivate myself so I can rise above the challenge!!