Growing fast

i can't believe how much the girls have changed in the last 6 months. it's been officially 6 months since we arrived home now and as i look back at some of their first pictures i can't get over how quickly they are changing and growing. i am trying to capture some of their changes, as i said in the last post, they are walking now. they are loving their freedom and exploring the house and places we go. this exploration always makes for a great picture, sometimes hard to catch with them moving so quickly, hehe. i will show you two of my favorites from the last few days.

phoebe is exploring outside (this photo was a brief rest in the driveway), they both loved to find the flowers on the ground. paige didn't care much for the feel of the grass but phoebe walked through it no problem.





















i just love this photo of paige, her eyes, those lips! man i am just in love with them so much and can't get over how beautiful they are.















I will try to update more often, have to say though, i am a pretty busy momma lately :-). be patient with me, i know this summer we will have lots of "first" photos to share with you.

Happy 4th of July

wishing you all an amazing holiday! we took a few family photos today to remember our first 4th together.

as you can see the girls are walking now, they had fun trying to walk in the thick grass today. they are getting around pretty fast now, and love to get into things around the house. Their shirts say, "daddy's american sweetheart".

we are going to a party then to the fireworks. hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday.

No Confusion

there should be no confusion this time around. each has their name in the background. :-)

one of the biggest concerns i had when we found out we were adopting twins was, how will i tell them apart? Really, i was so scared that we would mix them up and forever call them by the wrong name. thankfully, from the first time we held them, i have had no problem telling who is who. i am not sure if they are identical or fraternal, i guess we would have to do blood tests to find out, someday we might. But for now i will leave you with these photos.

Peek-a-Boo

the girls love to do peek-a-boo. i caught an amazing moment when they were both doing peek-a-boo at the same time. they just love to play this, anytime during the day! the only time when it becomes a little less fun for mommy is at dinner time when they have food all over their hands and they want to play, you can imagine the messy faces... hehe
enjoy

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. I hope you did too.
The girls had beautiful dresses i bought several years ago, (remember it was a long wait) they were probably for a bit colder weather, so, last night i cut the sleeves off their dresses and made them short sleeves, it was necessary for today's weather. Today, we dyed eggs, did an egg hunt and they each got a cute little Easter basket with little goodies. everyone was beautiful today. I will leave you with some pictures of the kids in the park in their Easter best.

Been Busy

we have been really busy the last 6 weeks or so, i can't even believe how much we have grown as a family as have each of the kids individually. We have been working really hard at bonding with the girls, our schedule consists of staying home most of the week, keeping to their routine and allowing them to rely and always know what to expect during the day. It has helped them to grow confidence and we have seen them just blossom and catch up developmentally too.

We have been very busy keeping up with all the doctors appointments and first check ups they have needed. In the last several weeks (just with the girls!) we have gone to the audiologist, the opthamologist, their first peds visit, a sick visit, a 1 year well visit, another sick visit, 2 cranial sacral visits with a massage therapist and 2 blood draws (and another still to come). We also had our first home study visit with out social worker and sent out our post placement packets with photos.

Paige was very sick a few weeks ago with Roseola. She had a fever for 3 days that spiked to 106 degrees, thankfully we were able to get down to about 103 after giving her a bath. a day later she broke out in a rash that lasted about a day and then she was fine. Thankfully Phoebe did not get this very contagious illness. Now, Paige has a really good croupy cough that has been lingering for about 2 weeks.

the girls are still growing like crazy, they went from below 5th percentile in weight to above 25th percentile in weight, and they are officially 20 pounders now. The doctor is very happy with the growth and developmental catch up. We are in a good routine with them and nate is doing really well with the girls and loves them so much. each day he gives them kisses on the head and a big hug. We are hoping that things will settle down in a month or two, all will be healthy and we can enjoy our summer together.

Miss. Phoebe






































Miss. Paige

Sweet

China to push ban

Ahhh, a great decision by China to ban smoking in public places. i do remember how shocked i was that everywhere we went in the hotel in Beijing there was cigarette smoke. that included the lobby, the restaurant, non-smoking rooms and even the elevators. Even with non-smoking signs posted they still did so in our hotel. Some of the stats below are a bit staggering to even wrap your brain around, 300 million smokers in China, wow!

BEIJING – Chinese health authorities are renewing a push to ban smoking in indoor public places, adding more venues like hotels and restaurants as of May 1, though still excluding many workplaces.

The guidelines given on the Health Ministry's website are the latest effort to curb tobacco use in the country with the world's largest number of smokers and where experts say huge revenues from the state-owned tobacco monopoly hinders anti-smoking measures.

Smoking, which is linked to the deaths of at least 1 million people in China every year, is one of the greatest health threats the country faces, government statistics show. Nearly 30 percent of adults in China smoke, about 300 million people — a number roughly equal to the entire U.S. population.

The guidelines released this week are part of the Health Ministry's regulations on health management in public places — a set of rules that also covers areas including ventilation, use of disinfectants, air quality and pest control.

The older regulations listed venues such as movie theaters, concert halls, libraries and shopping malls in which smoking was prohibited. The new list adds hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, hair and beauty salons and other places.

The new regulations call for no-smoking signs to be put up in public places, and require owners or managers of venues considered public places to allocate staff to persuade smokers to give up the habit.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_on_he_me/as_china_smoking

Happy Birthday!

My girls turn one today. Can't believe they have been with us for only 8 weeks and how much they have changed and grown. We have been so blessed to be able to experience so many "firsts" with them; rolling over, crawling, so close to walking, teething, talking, new foods, new experiences, a new family and their first birthday.

Happy Birthday Paige and Phoebe!

4mo










1yr

Miss Phoebe







4mo

















10 mo

















12mo

Miss Paige

4mo
















10mo

1yr