Boy Am I Ever Delinquent!!!

I cannot believe that March was my last blog post. The old adage "time flies" certainly works here. The summer is already over half gone!! Renee is growing in leaps and bounds. So...I intend to catch up, but in the mean time I'll post some photos!

We Are Home Six Months

I hope those of you that are following our blog enjoy the pictures posted. Blogging has become more challenging as the laptop has had a few mishaps (John and Renee have spilled a little milk on the keyboard;) ), certain keys are not working, and I am not the most eloquent on a good day, try figuring out what to say with limited letters and punctuation, lol!!
We have been home with Renee for six months, she turned 17 months old on Thursday. The last six months have been the happiest of my life. Oh I know how corny it must sound, but this child does complete me. She is the light of our lives. She is happy, joyful, playful, inquisitive, funny... I could go on and on. She is an absolute joy.
Renee loves to draw, loves to play, has started to feed herself and can say Momma, Dadda, Boo(that means Blues Clues!), among other words. She calls her cousin Dana, Na Na!!
I have been home again with Renee for the last several weeks, as I needed surgery. I am recovering, with the love and support of my family, it gets frustrating though, when Renee wants Momma to pick her up and I cannot. As a good friend said, this surgery was a blessing in disguise, as I have had more time with Renee, watching her grow and learn. It has been a priceless time that, although I havent always felt the best, has been wonderful.
I will do my best to try to post more often, as I have said before, my laptop time has been severely curtailed, since becoming a mommy, but I wouldnt have it any other way. I love this girl with all my heart and soul.

Home 5 Months!

On Wednesday, Renee turned 16 months old! Yesterday, was 5 months that we are home. It's amazing how quickly the time has gone. Living with Renee day to day, we don't realize how much she's grown, but if you check out the photos I'm posting, you can see it! She has gained over 3 pounds since coming home! and grown about 3 inches.
She is the smartest little girl I have ever met (ok I'm mommy and maybe a bit prejudice??), but seriously, she loves to draw!! She wants pens, pencils and crayons! and loves to sit with a blank piece of paper and fill it with squiggly lines. I can't really say whether she will be a lefty or righty, as she uses both equally.
She has such a beautiful, loving, playful personality as well. She came to us with a beautiful, hopeful look on her face. And she's been smiling and laughing ever since.

Four Months Together: Look How She's Grown!

Renee was placed in our arms on September 14th, 2009, a day I'll never forget as long as I live. John and I nervously sat in a hotel conference room in Nanning, Guangxi province, China. We waited our turn till they called "Jin Mei Sang" (our daughter's given Chinese name). We nervously walked up to the "nannies" holding her and they placed her in my arms. I remember the happy, hopeful look on my baby's face. A look I see every day and hope will always see. John and I had to wear masks due to the H1N1 scare. Renee took one look at me and pulled my mask off, lol! And the rest is history... I love the hugs and wet kisses I get every day. I love this little girl with all my heart and soul! Look how she's grown!

Catching Up

It is truly amazing how time can just fly by. My last post was for Thanksgiving and I've had every good intention to continually blog throughout the holiday season and post pictures galore. Ah but all good intentions...
Wow, it's the new year! The holidays have come and gone! I'm back at work, ugh!
Why haven't I kept up with the blog?? Well, just a couple of things...wife, mother, sister, aunt...etc, etc...Life in general. Not to mention that my lap top time has been seriously curtailed since becoming a mommy :) I've grown so dependent on my IPhone!! Also, I've gotten increasedly used to posting on facebook, it's so easy to upload photos that I've taken. Lately, trying to sync my IPhone and upload all the photos I've taken has become very difficult.
Enough rambling!! Let's talk about my daughter! Well at the moment she's taking a nap (which is why mommy can type on the lap top in the first place ;-)).
She is absolutely the most wonderful baby that John and I have been blessed to have in our lives! Her smile and laughter (we just love how she cackles!!) just fills our home with joy. Many times I stop and try to remember what life was like before we brought her home, and I realized that it was somewhat boring if you want to know the truth. No boredom in my life!
I also wondered how I would get everything done once Renee came home, especially since I'll admit that I'm a major procrastinator. Well, all I can say to that, is when you know that there is a beautiful, loving baby depending upon you, procrastination goes right out of the window!
As I had said before I had some issues uploading photo's, but I'm going to post as many as I can. More of course to follow!! Look and see how Renee has grown!! I can almost put a barrett in her hair!!

Happy Thanksgiving To All

We'd like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for so many things. For our Lord Jesus Christ, for our freedom to worship our Lord, for our warm home, for food to eat. We are thankful for our country and for all our American troops stationed all over the world, who on this day protect our freedoms, and who are missing their families. We appreciate all that they are doing for us.
For our wonderful family and friends, we love you all.
For my husband John, you rock my world, I love you soooo much. And...
for my daughter Renee Mei Sang, it may be the corniest thing to say... but it's true, she completes me. I am mommy today, and I absolutely love every minute of it.
What a gift, what a blessing, I am so thankful.

Pictures to follow :)

Pictures, pictures and more pictures....

Have lot's more pictures to share. I'm going to try to post again soon, probably once Renee goes to bed. I need the extra time :), there is so much in my heart and in my head that I'd like to blog about, I just need some uninterrupted computer time.
Needless to say, I'm am absolutely loving being mommy to this awesome baby. Gosh, I love her so much!!

Sorry For The Lapse!!

I'll have some roasted corn please!!!

Heading out east to pick pumpkins..."Hey dad are we there yet???"
I love playing "peek a boo"!!

I'm a "South Shore girl", loved Babylon by the water!!

I picked pumpkins with mommy and daddy, hey mommy, would you pick up my hood I can't see ;)!
Mommy just cracks me up!!!
I love watching Nick Jr., especially "The Wonder Pets"!

I turned one years old and thoroughly enjoyed my birthday cake!!:)

I can stand by myself now!!!

So sorry for the lapse of time since the last post. So much to catch up on. I've been posting alot on FaceBook, since I can take photo's quickly with my IPhone and then post them very easily, I have to say I've gotten a bit lazy. But, please excuse me, I'm also caring for a 1 year old who loves her momma's attention. Not to say that momma isn't loving every minute of it :). Hope you enjoy the above photo's, I'll try to label them with the events associated with them. This may take a couple of posts!!

Just When You Think You're On A Roll....

Well I really thought we were on a roll, Renee was just starting to get into a routine with eating and sleeping. Monday was our pediatrician visit, it was a long visit and they evaluated Renee from head to toe. We are so thankful, Renee is a very healthy little girl!!! Due to her time in the orphanage she has some slight catching up to do developmentally, but with the one on one attention she gets from John and I, she should catch up without an issue. While at the doctor's she had two blood tests and three injections. Ouch, my poor baby. Well, about 12 hours after the shots ( three o'clock in the morning) Renee woke up with a fever. Tuesday was a yucky day for Renee, she had fever on and off all day. I spoke with the doctor's office and they said it was probably the 3 injections. She wouldn't eat and hardly drank. I was sooo worried. By about 6p her fever broke and she started to play. She did sleep from about 8p to 5a, but awoke not only with fever again, but a rash.
I spoke with the doctor's office again and they said the rash may be viral to keep a close watch on her (as if I'd do anything else :)). She had a much better day today, she's almost her old self, except we're back to square one in regards to eating. She'll take bottles (but not like before), but no food (except for the occasional puff). It's frustrating, things were going so smoothly till we went to the doctor. I'm sure all will be fine and we'll get back on track again, but gosh, just when you think you're on a roll......
Enjoy the above photo, caught it with my iphone on the way home Monday.

Have Car Seat Will Travel!!!

Until we installed the car seat into my car, it sat in the living room, so Renee crawled over and seemed interested. So we let her sit in it, and as you can see she was tickled!! We have been getting lots of smiles, belly laughs and giggles. I love to see her two bottom teeth when she smiles!!
We went out today and although Renee had a little issue with her car seat, I'm sure that will pass. It has too!!

Mmmmmm Good!!

While in China, Renee really wouldn't eat anything, but would only drink formula. I'd heard from friends who had experienced this before, not to worry and to try again once we got home. Well over the last 2 days, my sweetie pie has started eating oatmeal, rice cereal, and some baby foods like applesauce, banannas and green beans. She gets excited when she sees the bowls with her food and you can tell by her smile that she is enjoying it. It warms my heart after her "projectile spitting" of anything we placed in her mouth 2 weeks ago. Also, as of yesterday, she loves the "puffs" and will keep eating them as long as we provide them. She's unable to put anything in her mouth. When you give her a puff she just holds it and rolls it between her fingers.
I'm going to add another post with some extra smiling pictures. I know I have a lot of China pictures to catch up on, and I promise I will. They are loaded onto my netbook and I'm on my laptop at the moment.

Jet Lag What a Pain!

We've all been feeling the effects of jet lag, inability to sleep when it's dark outside and then an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion during the daylight hours. Renee has been sleeping in spurts of anywhere from 2-4 hours at a shot. I feel bad for my sweet girl, she's completely turned around. We took a walk outside before and she fell fast asleep in her stroller, and I still can't get her up no matter how much noise I make or how many time I kiss her tummy :) She opens her eyes, smiles, then rolls back over as if to say "Hey mom, leave me alone, I'm very comfortable here!" Well I can't fight city hall! Looks like I'll be up again tonight.
The above picture is of Renee in her car seat this morning when she accompanied John and I to the grocery store. We were hesitant to put her in her car seat after her first experience Friday evening. Remember how well I said she did on all of her plane rides? Well her melt down came when my sister and brother-in-law picked us up at Newark airport and we had to put her in a car seat for the first time. In China we held her during all bus trips so this was totally foreign to her. She screamed and cried, and to make matters worse traffic was at a standstill. We actually stopped in Brooklyn to help her to calm down and make a bottle. Needless to say, we were all extremely glad when we pulled into our drive way!!
Well, this morning we decided we would have to try the car seat again as it would be a necessity. We were amazed, she was absolutely fine!! Not a peep, only smiles. And on the trip home she fell asleep!!
So...this seems to be a familiar pose lately. Let's hope we all adjust as soon as possible. More photos to come!

We're Home!

Dosen't this picture just say it all!!  Renee woke up early this morning and cuddled with John and I for about 2 hours before it was bottle time.  That smile just warms my heart and soul. Isn't she just the most precious thing you've ever seen!!

Sorry for not blogging over the last week.  The days sort of took on a momentum of there own and I really never did get used to the time change.  I plan on catching up shortly and posting lot's of photos. 

The trip home went smoothly and the long plane ride home went extremely well.  The first 4 hours were the most challenging as Renee had a hard time falling asleep, but once she did she slept most of the flight. Wish John and I could say the same! Anyway, we are home safe and sound, enjoying all the little things we take for granted here in the USA like ice and soft mattresses. LOL!

Enjoying Guangzhou and More Photos!

We have settled in to Guanzhou and the White Swan Hotel.  There are many families with children here, so we are not stared at as much.  We really enjoyed the breakfast buffet this morning so much, that I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!! LOL!

We are getting much better at reading Renee's "signals", we can tell when she's hungry or sleepy.  When hungry she starts to get a bit irritable and then let's out high pitched "Hoos" when she her bottle comes into view.  When sleepy she starts to suck either her left thumb or index finger, if you rock her on your chest, she'll usually be out in less than 5 minutes.  She's taking formula well and so far the "poopsies" have been going well too!! 

I can't tell you how much we love this little girl already!!

Well,that's enough ramble, here are some more photos!! (Oh by the way, hope Renee won't be mad at mommy one day for the bath photo, just couldn't help myself it's just so cute!) ;)