So Thankful

I am so thankful for this little girl...even in the midst of a terrible tantrum. The very worst tantrum is better than the best day I ever had before being a mom to Hayden.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful and blessed beyond measure, and we try to remember it everyday, and not just on Thanksgiving. We hope your holiday season is bright and safe. We hope that we will see many of you, but for those we don't, please know you are always in our thoughts!!

Hayden, Hayden, Hayden

Hayden blowing kisses to herself!!

Who is that baby??

loves to brush her teeth, and I do mean LOVE...we do it many times a day!!

I now have my front teeth and look even now. Two on the top and two on the bottom, makes eating a lot easier.

eye candy

Have I told you how much I love you Hayden Magee?? With all of my heart and to the moon and back:)

Random Pictures

Not much going on around here. Just starting to think about to-do list to get ready for the holidays. We just had a big garage sale and feel so relieved to have gotten rid of a lot of stuff. But otherwise it is pretty quiet here on our front. So here are some pictures of Hayden doing what she does.... She loves this toy and within seconds can have it stacked. Not in order, but she can get them on there just fine.

She loves this slide. She goes down it about 40 times a day, and she gets to the top and she counts 1, 2, 3 and then screams GO!!!

We keep her toys that are in our room in the entertainment center. One day I looked up and there she was sitting inside on top of her toys. Now she does it practically everyday. She likes me to pretend I can't see her and then she yells BOO!! I tell you people this kid is LOUD!!

I think I will take off my shoes and socks now....

Missy this shot is for you....I know you love those baby thighs, and Hayden is sporting hers with a great shot of her bloomies!!

Bubbles and more bubbles. She loves bubbles, and we go through bubbles like they are going out of style. When we are not blowing bubbles she likes to just carry around the bottle of bubbles and say "bubbles"

This picture cracks me up. David went into the bathroom, and he doesn't realize that I don't get to go to the bathroom alone. So when he shut the door, Hayden acted as though she was completely insulted by this action. So she then proceeded to lay down on the floor and try to look/see while yelling (again the yelling) Dada, dada, and then started pounding on the door. He was on the other side laughing so hard I am not sure he was actually able to take care of business. I told him, you don't get the luxury of privacy if I don't!! Hilarious this kid!!

14 months old

Hayden you are 14 months old today, and time is flying by at record speed. It feels like just yesterday you came home and were learning to crawl, and now you are running at full speed(literally) You can say about 25 words, you can sign about 13 or so. You repeat almost everything you hear. At this point I am almost certain your understand almost everything we say to you. You LOVE to take showers, you adore all dogs, but can call all of your dogs by name(we have 5) You are doing very well with eating with a fork and spoon. You can hold up one finger when we ask you how old you are...although you always say two:) You know what the cow, kitty, dog, duck, sheep and the ever famous dragon says. You can take your wooden stacking ring and in seconds have the rings back on...not in the right order, but not worried about your fine motor skills that is for sure. When I get you out of your bed each morning you whisper "baba" because you know your bottle is waiting for you on my bedside table and we will get back in bed and snuggle and have the ever loved "baba" You point to your daddy's phone and say "rhumba" which means please play the music. If either of us get a text on our phone you can immitate the sound our phone makes. Speaking of phones you LOVE phones or anything that resembles a phone and you put it up to your hear and say "hello" You act like Bon Jovi walked in the door each night when your daddy comes home, and after your bath you start saying llama mama" which is your favorite book series....yes, you sit very quietly on our laps to have any of the llama books read to you.

You have come so far in in just 6 1/2 months of being home. You are a great traveler, you are happy most of the time. You eat just about anything, but mandarin oranges, pancakes, and green beans seem to be at the top of the list right now. You are really loud, but love for mama to tell you secrets....and then you whisper for just a few minutes after. We have come to a meeting of the minds about wearing your hair bows, and you leave them in for the most part now. But you take your shoes and socks off at every possible moment available. You LOVE music and you are quite the dancer!! You are not sure at all about your daddy hugging your mama, but you huggie bear everything from daddy to the dogs to your stuffed animals...which you also will share your baba, your binka, or your goldfish. You are a very good sharer. You love to blow kisses, you check for your bellybutton and mine about 20 times a day. You know where your nose, eyes, ears, teeth and hair are located. You have finally learned and adhere to "gentle" You notice all babies, and all dogs!! You will sit and watch a full episode of the dog whisperer with Yaya. You love to SKYPE, and we do it frequently...you are usually a big show off. You love to brush your teeth, and know you must sit down on the floor in order to do it or Mama takes it away. You raise your arms when we say "be still monsters....let the rhumpus begin"

You are such a bright little girl who has so much personality!! We think you are hilarious, and have quite the sense of humor for such a little person. The list is much longer of the funny and cute things you do or have learned. I can't wait for the next 14 months to see what you are up to.

50 days until Christmas!!

We had Hayden's pictures done for the holidays and our Christmas cards. Here is just a peek at the little miss in one of her holiday dresses. You can't tell how cranky she is with her front teeth coming in or that she has quite the runny nose. Miss Yony did a fabulous job of hiding the misfortunes of the day, and was so patient with Hayden who was not really interested in her job as model for the day!! YLK photography if you are in the DFW area....Yony will not disappoint and you will love her on top it!! She takes beautiful photographs, so easy to get along with, and her prices are great!! So go check her out!!!

So if you haven't started on your holiday preparations you might want to get started, it is just around the corner, and just to make you feel better this is the only thing I have checked off my list!!

One year ago....

After waiting nearly 3 years in the adoption world, we received the phone call of our lifetime, and just a few minutes later this was the face we saw on the screen. I will never forget how I felt, what I had on and what I was doing. We stared at this picture for weeks studying every single thing about this new little person. That intent stare that she still has when she wants something, those incredibly long fingers...hoping that perhaps one day they would suit her in playing the piano, the cry in her video when the voices stopped talking to her...she still does today. No one can ever prepare you for what being a parent will feel like, how you will parent, or how you will love. I know we totally fell in love with her pictures and video, and were prepared to love this tiny treasure, but no one could have ever prepared me for the love in my heart that I have for this child. I really never thought of myself as somone that would just be "crazy in love" with anyone until I met my husband, and I thought it stopped there. Well all I can say I am so crazy in love with our daughter that it makes my heart hurt I love her so much. She has brought so much joy, happiness and love to our already FULL hearts that I just can't tell you how lucky I feel. I have no idea what I have done to deserve this life of mine....but don't ever think that I take it for granted or that I am not thankful.

One year ago today our lives changed forever and forever I will be grateful!!