New pics of the girls

Christmas Pictures Continued

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I have been a very bad blogger. Things have been so hectic around her that I have toatally neglected keeping up with this blog.
I will try to do better in the new year.
I am psting some pictures from Christmas.

There are some pictures of all of the kids and some with just the girls in their Christmas dresses.

Our oldest daughter is crazy over Hannah Montana. She received 3 wigs for Christmas, so she and Arianna had some fun playing dress-up.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

I Would Die For That

This is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Get your tissues ready!

Happy Halloween!

Arianna spent her 1st Halloween with a slight fever. She has been pretty healthy since we brought her home, but today she woke up with a fever and was definately not feeling well.

Abriella was not happy about not getting to trick or treat without her sister, so I assured her that Arianna "would feel well enough to go". We spent about an hour walking around our little community. I pushed the baby in her stroller, while Abby did most of the work asking for candy for both of them.

All in all, it turned out to be a good night and the baby is feeling better today.

Here are a few pictures from Halloween and some when the girls were playing dress up.

New Pictures!!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Arianna!

USA! USA!

As you can see Arianna has grown tremendously. She is 11 months old and has 8 teeth. She is pictured with her big sister Abriella. Aren't they both beautiful little Vietnamese Princesses!
Arianna is taking 5-6 steps on her own. She is learning to communicate with us through her many words and is starting to form little sentences. (Can you imagine another person in our house trying to get in the conversations?)
Arianna is holding up one finger when we ask her how old she will be. We thought if we started early she would have it down by her first birthday. She actually mastered it in a couple of days. Big brothers can be so helpful to teach little sisters!
Life is about to change for Arianna as her her big sister and brothers go back to school in a few days. She will get lots and lots of Mommy time!

Dad

Thursday, May 10 2007

It's Thursday morning here in Ohio and it looks like it's going to be another beautiful day. We are expected to have temperatures in the lower 80's.

The baby is doing well. She is now officially 17.8 lbs and getting bigger everyday. It's nice to see how healthy and active she is.

She is babbling now. She can say bye-bye and da-da and cries mom-mom when she wants me to rescue her from her exersaucer.

She is waving, clapping and doing patty cakes!

She has started crawling( more like lunging, but it gets her where she wants to go). She spends most of her time on her tummy now and seems to favor being like that more than anything,

She is very attached to us! Our families think we have spoiled her, because she literally cries everytime someone outside of our immediate household tries to hold her. We have told them that this is a "good" thing, because that means she is bonding well with us.

Her hair is starting to grow and it's at the stage where it sticks straight up. I think it is adorable, but I hope it will tame down a bit as it gets longer.

I will post some new pictures as soon as I get some free time. Being a new Mom is more challenging than I thought it would be,LOL.

Everyday Happenings!

I have not been very good at keeping up with this blog since we've been home. With my back going out and the hundreds of things that need to be done around here daily, I've let my blogging slide.

I will try to catch you up on things that have been going on:

Arianna had 2 teeth when we met her and now at almost seven months, is working on getting her 4th tooth. She is having a hard time with this one and is a constant state of drool.

She is able to stand assisted for 20 t0 30 seconds. This is a big deal, since when we first got her she wasn't bearing any weight on her legs.

She is now 15.4lbs. and is growing out of all of her 3-6 month clothing. She can fit comfortably in 6 months and 6-9 months are just a little to big (in sleepers only).

She can sit up unassisted for 10 seconds. We think that within a month she will be sitting up all by herself.

She loves her exersaucer and can spin herself all the way around in it.

She is starting to eat cereal and some baby food. We are only feeding her green beans and squash for now. She doesn't seem to care for the squash though.

She is sleeping all night now ( about 8 hours at a time ) and laying back down in the morning for another 2-3 hours.

She absolutely adores her big brothers and sister. She loves when they come home at the end of the day. She knows it's play time!

I am still having trouble with the adoption video getting posted. I think it's too long for Youtube, so we are working on cutting it down.

I am enclosing some pictures from Easter and of her playing in her exersaucer.

Certificate of Citizenship

Congratulations Arianna!

We received Arianna's Certificate of Citizenship yesterday. It has only been 4 weeks since we arrived home with her.

We said we would not even start thinking about this until we were home for six weeks. Wow!

Now the next step, the Ohio re-adoption.

Quick update on Arianna....

She is able to sit up now, unassisted and for more than just a few seconds.
Mommy has taught her patty cakes.
Daddy has been teaching her to hug, I get a big one when I get home from work.
Big brothers have been teaching her O-H-I-O.
She watched her first Reds game with Grandma.
And her big sister is teaching her all about how to live like a princess.

I use to think our parents mold us into the adults we would someday become, but anymore, I believe my children are the ones molding me into the adult I am.

Dad