Ava and Her Cousin Alexis

We went over to my sisters yesterday to visit my niece and her little girl. The baby's name is Alexis. She is six months old. She is so cute. Laughs like crazy. Ava loves her. She was holding Alexis's hand and kissing her and hugging her. I had to post some pics.

Two - Must Reads

Terri and I purchased two books recently. The books are written by the same author. The author is a woman by the name of Xinran. The titles of the books are - Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother and The Good Women Of China. I have read the first one and am about half way through the second. They are amazing reads. Sometimes disturbing yet very informative. Some relatives of Terri's threw Ava a Welcome to the family party about six months ago. I of course had to say a little something at the party. After I was done thanking everyone for coming I said to everyone there that Terri and I wish that Ava's birth mother could only see Ava and the loving forever family that she now has. I also said that I hope that people realize the decision that Ava's birth mother had to make and that I truly believe that there isn't a day that goes by that Ava's birth mother doesn't think of her and wonders where she is. After reading these two books I can honestly say that I truly believe that this is true. We have decided that when the time is right we will give these books to Ava to read. I would recommend these books to anyone who has or is going to adopt from China. I believe the adoption agencies should put these two books on their recommended reading list prior to adopting.

Some extra cuteness.

The new babysitter! LOL Ava climbed in and Georgia followed.

Ava and Georgia

Growing up, vacations and a new friend...

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and mothers-in-waiting.
Ava is doing great. She is an amazing sponge. Soaking everything in. New words and phrases happen everyday(Somebody really has to watch her language now...lol). I am sure everyone feels that their child is the most brilliant and I have joined that club. She is so funny and full of so much personality and attitude. I am going to be in so much trouble. I think she and I are going to have a few wars in our future, we both are stubborn and want things our way. She seems to win most battles so far. We will see if I learn to back down on the right ones and stand firm on the important ones. Wish me luck!

We recently returned from a vacation to Florida. We drove down. Two 13 hour days on the road and Ava was incredible. No complaints were heard and she never balked at getting back into the car after our few stops on the way. We had alot of fun swimming and playing with her cousins Sha-Sha(Alicia) and hat(Johnny). She calls Johnny hat because in a picture we have of Alicia and Johnny he is wearing a hat...lol. We went to SeaWorld for a day which was fun but we are saving Disney for when she is a little bit older.




The day after we got home we picked up our newest addition to the family. She is a 10 week old St. Bernard named Georgia. She is so cute. Ava and she are becoming fast friends. Ava loves to try and walk her like she did Yeti and whenever the puppy is napping Ava steals a little cuddle. When Georgia is up and playing Ava is still a bit timid. Yeti never hopped around nipping at her butt! A little fear is a good thing when Georgia still has those razor sharp puppy teeth.

I returned to work Wednesday of this past week. We decided that I would return on a part-time basis. We really did not want to have to worry about daycare and my employers are very willing to work around Mike's shift work. I have enjoyed being back a work. It is nice to have some adult conversation but I really miss Ava while I am there. Ava has definitely noticed the changes in the recent days. We have gone from a week of being together 24 hours a day to me going back to work and our attention split between house training the dog and potty training Ava. Yes, that is crazy! Ava has been in Pull Ups for about a month now and for the most part she usually poops on the toilet. The challenge is the pee. I think there is no real discomfort to a Pull Up of pee. I think it may be time to get some panties and let her feel the discomfort. This will probably be put on hold though until we get the pup somewhat trained. I am crazy but not that crazy! lol