Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I'm in Pennsylvania meeting all my family, many for the first time ever! Here I am in my new northern hat. I sure hated wearing a winter coat, and gave Mommy and Daddy lots of grief over it. Then I got used to it...but not those awful gloves!! Here I am in my winter vest and jodpurs...very stylish, don't you think? Enjoy the rest of the photos...there are plenty!

Visiting Mommy's Family

First stop, Reading, PA, to mommy's sister Cindy and her family. Cousin Cassandra and I became instant friends. Cousins Tony and Stephen were lots of fun to make faces with, and Uncle Ico let me walk him around the house for quite a while while holding one of his fingers. That was awfully nice of him. I met lots of mommy's and Aunt Cindy's friends, which was really neat.

Here's my buddy Cassie holding me. She took really good care of me and even put on her bathing suit to help Aunt Cindy bathe me. She's going to be a really good mom some day.
Massaging Sandy, the oh-so-soft family dog
Cousin Tony, home from military school, and me
Cousin Stephen just couldn't get comfortable holding a baby
My friends the Vocus, who adopted my friend Lia from the same orphanage in China

Visiting Daddy's Family

Next stop, Grammi Frani's in Scranton, where Daddy's family lives. This is where we had Thanksgiving dinner. Here's me and cousin Elizabeth at our favorite pasttime together--banging our hands against the front door. Looks like we were interrupted for a picture. We're not in trouble, are we?

This is 2nd cousin Colleen. We really liked each other...she appreciated my love of the front door.

Cousin Marianne with daughter Marie

2nd cousin Shawn, with his neat drawing

Me with Aunt Anne (Grammi's sister) and Grammi. Aunt Anne and cousins Kathleen and Irene gave me my outfit--isn't it just adorable? Cousin Shawn loved the hat and wore it around like a French man!
My buddy Cousin Casey. Cousin Kelly is laid up with a broken foot, so I couldn't hug her--we might have fallen down.
Cousin Elizabeth and her daddy, Uncle Mark
Me, Casey and Elizabeth play with Uncle John

The Schraner family, mommy and me. Cousin Kelly finally made a photo!

Grammi's favorite photo of Aunt Tracey and Elizabeth

Daddy's great aunt Nancy gives me Cheerios

Mini Reunion with Our Travel Families

While in Scranton I visited with three other families (including the Vocus) who travelled to China with Mommy and Daddy and adopted my friends from the orphanage in Cenxi City last July. What fun! Here we are watching the Wiggles Christmas special. Turns out, we all love the Wiggles!

Here are all the proud mommies with us
And here are the proud dads! And grandma Phyllis, with Jadyn.

Emily's Major Milestones:

1) My biggest news is, I started using a sippy cup! I don't quite understand that I have to tilt it to get the water, but I'm working on it!
2) Cousin Elizabeth taught me to point (well, I sort of point, with all my fingers)
3) I'm much more outgoing and babble and smile a lot!!
4) I do sign language for puppy, kitten, and bath.
5) I'm back to giving kisses again, and love to rest my head against a warm shoulder when I need down time.
6) I show more interest in other children, especially older ones who play with me. Mommy and Daddy say I'm also becoming more outgoing, which is a far cry from the serious baby they brought home.

And now I'm just pooped from all the excitement! Take care!!

Emily

I'm Walking...Yes Indeed

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay between postings, but Mommy has been especially tired lately, keeping up with Emily, the house and animals.

The latest news is, Emily is REALLY walking now! We got her first real, Striderite shoes, and the moment the salesperson put them on Emily, our little munchkin stood up and took 5 steps by herself! She loves her new shoes. Their sheer support gave her more confidence to try walking alone. Now Emily loves to walk in the grass, on gravel, up and down the driveway, in circles, etc. She hangs onto the rear basket of her stroller and pushes it around. It takes us twice as long to get anywhere, but she enjoys the trip!



Notice, Emily is wearing a purple "jumper" in the photo. Her Aunt Beryl in England made it for her! Isn't it lovely? What a very special gift. Aunt Beryl and my mom became pen pals during World War II, and have remained close friends for 50 years. My mother still remembers the sweater Aunt Beryl made for my brother, now a grown man (except when he and Kevin get together!!). Although Emily still needs to grow into her sweater, it will come in very handy when we travel to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Here's another shot of this lovely sweater.

We're Now on Toddler Food

Another bit of news...Emily suddenly gained an appetite, and wants to try everything! She's on toddler food instead of the mushy baby food, and eats crackers, dried fruit, spaghetti o's, ravioli, etc. What a thrill! She still loves her yogurt, but will try more now. Here's Emily eating her toddler "meat sticks", kind of like a baby hotdog. It was quite a sight. I cut the sticks into pieces, and she mashed every single piece before eating it. She ate close to 50 pieces of mashed meat that night.

Here she is with her sippy cup. She doesn't really use it yet, just teases Mommy by putting it to her mouth then dropping it on the floor.

And here's one of the famous house vultures, waiting for a morsel to drop.

Emily's First Haircut

Aunt Jackie cut Emily's bangs for the first time. Sorry for the less than stellar picture, but Emily didn't really enjoy having her arms held down!

Late Halloween Shots

Apologies for the late Halloween shots. I forgot to put a memory card in our digital camera, then took a dozen photos from the Halloween party at the local library, including one of Diane, the kids librarian, hugging Emily. Needless to say, none of the photos came out, because they didn't exist without the memory card!! How was I to know that??!!

So, all I have of Halloween are these two shots from the neighborhood moms' get together. It was lots of fun, with dressed up little kids running and screaming everywhere. By the end of the party, Emily and I were pooped.

Emily's November Milestones

- Walking regularly!!

- She giggles like crazy when you run her through the house in your arms, or throw a treat in the air and the dog catches it...or when the dog throws her fuzzy ball around.

- She loves to shake her tushy, shoulders, and head to music, no matter where she is (including Pizza Hut). It's infectious--you just have to dance along!

- She's still watching her Wiggles, and tries to follow their hand and foot movements, like "toot toot", a hot potato, and a monkey. Today she began doing the arm movements to the entire "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song.

- Emily's hugs and kisses are less frequent now, but she rests her head on our shoulders and pats our backs as a sign of affection.

- We got her a little push car, and she likes to ride it down to the mailbox and get the mail. Mommy puts the mail in the front of the push car, and Emily holds an envelope on the trip back.

- Daddy continues to spend all day Saturday doing "father/daughter day", caring for Emily because he wants to, taking her on hikes, exploring the back yard, or just swinging her in her garden swing. So, Mommy gets to do some much needed gardening! Hurricane Wilma battered quite a bit of our yard.

- Emily loves to bounce on the bed and then fall over giggling!

That's all for now. Thanks to Uncle Jack and Frani for the prodding so I'd do a new post. I'm going to bed!

Nite nite,

Caroline