THREE MONTHS AGO TODAY WE BROUGHT EMMA HOME

Three months ago today at 9:30pm we arrived in the airport with Emma in our arms. I remember as the plane landed this huge wave of emotions came over me and I started to cry. The final leg of our trip was over. We finally brought home this little girl that we waited three years for. I had so many emotions going through my head at that time. I was so excited to be home and see everyone but, I also felt such sadness that my two son's would not be there to meet their new little sister. They would never know who she is and she will only know who they are by the stories that we share with her about her brothers.
It was such a long journey to get where we got,not only the three year wait but, morning the loss of our two boys and finally having this precious little girl put in our arms.The day that they put this scared little girl in our arms is a day I will never forget. She was so tiny and just didn't know what was going on. I was crying just as hard as she was.I cried for her and I cried for me. Finally this day had arrived. We waited so long and went through so many emotions during the process. The wait was finally over.
We are on a new journey now, one of such great joy and one that helps ease the pain of Kyle and Tim. She make us laugh and smile all the time. She absolutely adores Katie, her big sister. I can't tell you how much I love seeing them together. When Katie comes home she just loves to sit in her lap and look at the laptop with her. Katie will pick her up and sit her right next to her in the chair. She always wants Katie to play the Hippopotamus song and Dominic the Donkey. She will get down from the chair and dance up a storm to them. Katie is just so good with her.
I am so lucky to have such wonderful children.
Here's a couple of pictures from 3 months ago and now.

EMMA'S FIRST NEW YEAR PARTY!

Last Saturday we were invited to a Chinese New Year party. We put on our traditional shirts and Emma wore her traditional outfit. We put the same one on that she came home in. Then off we went. When we arrived, the house was beautifully decorated with lanterns,candles, balloons, there were Panda's everywhere, crafts for the kids and even a dragon pinata. It was really a festive atmosphere. The people hosting the party were very nice and welcoming. They served up enough Chinese food to feed about sixty people. There wasn't nearly that many there.
Emma really enjoyed all of the kids and hung out with them like she has always known them. There was one little girl, Samantha that she just loved and I think Samantha felt the same was about Emma. Emma kept holding her hand and following her everywhere. She just thought that Samantha was the greatest thing. Samantha(who is 5) was really enjoying Emma. She even said that she wished everyone could go home and that Emma could stay. She was such a cute little girl. I think that Emma thought she was older then she was. She really wanted to play with the big kids.
As the party went on they pulled out a dragon pinata. It was so much fun watching all of the kids hit it. Emma just stood there watching and tried to figure out what they were doing. We attempted to have her hit it but, she didn't want to. Then when it broke open, she really couldn't figure out what was going on. After it was all done, our friend Andy took the pinata and held it up so that Emma could try and hit it. She was really cute trying to hit it. It was at her height level.
It was such a wonderful experience to share with Emma and to know that we have such a great community of adoptive parents wanting to engulf their heritage.
We will be celebrating Chinese New Year this coming Saturday with a little celebration.

EMMA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY

Emma turned 2 on Jan. 14Th. We had presents, cake and ice cream after dinner. She really didn't know what was going on. After dinner we toasted to her little life with Champagne. She was so cute. She saw us toasting and she wanted to get in on the action so we raised our glasses once again and she raised hers. She was so proud of herself. After dinner she opened presents. She is starting to get a hang of this present thing.
On Jan. 17Th we had a party with family and friends.It was a really busy day but, fun. She had a Minnie Mouse cake that was just so cute. She loves Minnie Mouse(I don't know why, maybe she takes after someone). Then more presents, cake and ice cream. We really tried to get her to dig right into the cake but, she was being too dainty. She would take one finger and lick the icing. We finally cut her a piece and then she ate it.
I can't believe that she is 2 already. At times I feel like we have always had her and other times I get so sad that I missed out on the first 20 months of her life. I feel like I missed out on so much. She is changing before our eyes and is learning something new everyday. I just don't want her to grow up too fast. I am enjoying every minute with her. She truly is a treasure. I am so lucky to have been chosen to be her mom.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!

EMMA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

Christmas finally arrived. After the power outage, shopping, decorating, baking then wrapping, I pulled it off. We had a nice Christmas.
Emma had no idea of what was going on. She looked at all the presents under the tree and wasn't sure what to do. We showed her how to open up her gifts and of course she would rather play with the boxes. It took her three days to finally open all of them. We didn't even buy her that much. She would open one and would want to play with it and didn't care about opening another one. She was so sweet. We really enjoyed having her with us this year. She helps soften a very hard Holiday for us. She just makes me smile and laugh all day. She is such a joy. It was nice to see her sitting there under the tree with Katie and trying to help Katie open her presents. It was a good feeling to have two children here for Christmas. There is still two empty spots under the tree and nothing will ever fill them but, like I said, Emma helps soften that pain and of course having Katie here with us means the world.
After all the presents were opened we had our traditional brunch then it was time to start making Christmas dinner.
We put Emma down for a nap and continued getting ready for dinner. She woke up just in time to serve dinner. Perfect timing. Family showed up and we had a really nice time with everyone.
For those of you that read about Emma's fear of Santa, by now that has changed. Over Thanksgiving my brother came in with a funny looking Santa mask and Emma was scared to death. Well, over the next few weeks we tried to get her to like him. My friend Laura even bought her a big stuffed Santa and she wouldn't go near him. Eventually she did and even started saying Ho Ho Ho!. Now every time she sees a Santa that is what she says. It is the cutest thing. My brother bought her a Ho HO HO! sign for Christmas and the first thing she said was Ho HO HO! I couldn't believe it. There is a picture of her with that sign.
There is so much more that I can write but, I won't go on. Enjoy the pictures. Now I have to catch up on New Years. MERRY LATE CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

HO HO HO!

"Aunt Maria" and Emma dancing

MORE PICTURES

Christmas dinner with family

Katie and Emma

Emma trying on Katie's new ski glasses

She loves her piano

Christmas Morning

Emma helping decorate the tree

CATCHING UP ON EVERYTHING

I must apologize to everyone for not keeping up with my posts. It all started with the power outage back in Dec. We lost our power from the ice storm up here in NH. The worst one in the history of the state. We were with out power for one week. It was tough but, we survived. Emma did very well with the cold days and nights. We would bundle her up in three layers of clothes at night and throw on four blankets. She was such a good little baby through it all. She didn't mind playing at night by candle light. I even got pretty creative giving her a bath making bottles and cooking ramen noodles in a pot on a kerosene heater. I would boil water to give her a bath in the kitchen sink, which she couldn't figure out why I was doing this. She wanted the water on and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't come on. It was cute.

We finally had to put our Christmas up during all of this. The power outage really set us back for the Holidays. I still haven't gotten my Christmas cards out. Hopefully today. With all of this we finally made it through the Holidays.

Anyway I am going to try and update the blog. Stay tuned for more posts.