Its all about the simple pleasures in life....


We had a wonderful Christmas. This photo sums up how Madison liked the day. This is her favorite gift of all.


Santa could have stopped at the Dora doll. Prior to Christmas is you would ask Madison what Santa Claus brings, she would say toys. After Christmas morning if you asked her what Santa brings, she would say Dora Doll. Madison is still not into unwrapping gifts. After she unwrapped one, she was done. It took much prompting on our part to get her to unwrap the rest.

Madison's 3 Year Old Portraits

Happy Halloween

A Week without Madison.....

For all the frustrations, fits, screaming, hitting the dog and just being Madison.....I miss it all. I am in Anacortes, Wa for a week. I flew out yesterday and have now missed my second day with her. I called at her bedtime and Rory put his cell phone on speaker and I got to tuck her in with him long distance. Definitely not the same, but I am glad I still got to be a part of the night time rituals. I sure do miss that little girl.

Madison is recovering nicely from a bout of pneumonia. She got a clean bill of health from the doctor on Friday and a flue shot to hopefully help ward off some other uglies she may get this winter.

These photos were taken at the Newport Aquarium a couple of weeks ago.

These photos were taken Saturday night (9/29/07):

Random Photos

A Wonderful Grandmother


On August 19 we lost Madison's Great-Grandmother (Nana). Whenever we would visit with Nana or Madison would spend the weekend with her grandparents, Nana would always insist that we leave Madison there for a few more days. She took every opportunity to tell us how much she loved Madison. Madison loved her Nana too. No one could play patty cake like Nana. Madison would always seek Nana out for a round of patty cake and then just laugh. Nana was a wonderfully warm and funny person. These are a few of the photos that we have of Nana and Madioson



First meeting


Patty cake at 2nd birthday party




Hugs

Madison's Welcome Home Party








I am hoping to get some updated photos of Madison posted soon.

Friends and Fun in Denver.....

Madison and I went to Denver last week to meet friends and go to our adoption agency's annual picnic. We had a great time and were happy to meet face to face many of our friends: Hana (both she and Madison are from Wenzhou), Shayna, Talicee, Sun and Lydia. Madison did quite well traveling, but was not really interested in many of the outings due to being tired or over-stimulated.



I did not get to take alot of pictures. Traveling single with a 2.5 year old does not present much opportunity to take photos. Hopefully I will get some from my friends.

Abby and Madison: Abby was in our travel group to China. She was the youngest in our travel group. We also saw Lily at the picnic, but sadly was unable to get a photo of the three girls together.

Ready for Dinner at the White Fence Farm. Madison was not sure about the animals and insisted they were all "Good Dogs".

Epin helps Madison get water to wash her hands after petting the goat.

How much fun can three girls have with a bucket. Madison with Hana and Talicee.

Talicee, Madison and Hana looking at Shayna in the playpen.

Madison and Talicee enjoying noodles.

Memorial Day and Celebrations.....


We had a great Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday we went and spent the day with my sister Wanda and her husband Rich. That evening they treated us out to a great Steak Dinner. Madison ate her weight in spagetti noodles. I swear she is going to turn into one. We are looking forward to going to Noodle and Co. with our friends when we go do Colorado in a couple of weeks. Monday we had lots of friends and family over. Madison played and ran around all day. I think she was happy when it was finally time for bed.




We also had a week of celebration for our one year anniversay with Madison. On May 8 we went to Chuck E Cheeses...









On Saturday we celebrated with family and friends at the Oriental Wok. This restaurant is amazing. The owner in from Hunan and he and his wife love to celebrate the special moments in our childrens lives. He says that "Gotcha Day" is their birthday as it was the day our Chinese children were born into their families.




On Sunday, Mothers Day, Madison was dedicated at church.

Family Day May 8, 2007

One Year with Madison

“Are you crazy?” “Why would you want to start over?”

These are two questions that were asked of us when we announced that we were going to adopt a baby from China. Our answer was always, “No, we are not crazy. We want another child.” So, if we were to be asked today if we were crazy the answer would definitely not be a simple, “No.” Here are some answers to the, “Are you crazy?” question.

“Are you crazy?”

• Crazy would be missing out on a years worth of hugs.
• Crazy would be continually ignoring the void in our lives that Madison now fills.
• Crazy would be not watching the same episode of Blues Clues for the 1000th time.
• Crazy would be missing out on all those bedtime kisses.
• Crazy would be missing out on explaining daily why she can’t crawl thru the dog door.
• Crazy would be missing out on the 50th Alfredo sauce hair gel styling event at dinner.
• Crazy would be not saying at every meal, “Madison, don’t feed the dogs your food.”
• Crazy would be missing out on the squeals of delight when I pick her up after work.
• Crazy would be missing out of the World Wrestling Federation matches that it takes to get Madison dressed.
• Crazy would be not being there to experience each new thing she learns.
• Crazy would be missing out on being poked in the eye for the 100th time each day as Madison shows she knows where your eyes are.
• Crazy would be not being able to say, “Good dog” for the 10th time in an hour as Madison tries to beat them over the head with whichever book she may have.
• Crazy would be missing out on the hours and hours of floor time spent looking at books and Madison naming each picture she knows.
• Crazy would be missing out on one amazing year.
  
  So, are we crazy? Yes we are! We are crazy in love with this beautiful child who has brought so much joy into our lives. The past year has been one that was gone by at warp speed and crawled at a snails pace. The year has been filled with highs and lows. We are grateful and happy that we were able to spend this last year with Madison as a family. She has indeed been a blessing and we are so fortunate that she is our child.
  

One Word Means So Much

It has been nearly a year since Madison said, "MaMa." Yes, she knows that I am Mommy. She just will not say it. Today in speech therapy we worked on the sign for MaMa. Madison showed no interest in signing. Tonight when Rory came home he continually signed Mama and repeated MaMa over and over again in conjunction with the sign for MaMa. After about fifteen minutes she very clearly said, "MaMa." I thought I would cry. She said MaMa a few more times before going to bed. My heart was so happy. Rory said he had not seen my face glow like that in a long time.

Therapy is going so well. Madison is getting stronger daily. Her vocabulary is growing. She tries to repeat the words we are saying. Sometimes we can understand what she is saying, but the fact that she is attempting to repeat is showing great improvements.