Mmmmm! Keys! 

Caught in the act 

Baby cigar 

Grandma's outfit 

Tantrum (must be the dorky outfit her mom put her in) 

Cool Shades, Dude 

R and Grandma

2 teeth 

Cute and she knows it. 

Messy eater 

Cake good 

Birthday Cake 

Bran-Anon

Bran Bender

Another picture from China. She had played and played with these two Raisin Bran boxes and then fell asleep with them. It looks like she got drunk and passed out. Babies are funny.

Another costume change!

Traditional Red Couch outfits

So after we took the pictures the day before in the matching outfits, we all decided to do it again with the girls in Chinese silk outfits. From left to right: Lian, Lillie Grace, and R (in such a ladylike pose!).

Too Cute

Red Couch Photo

This was the first round of photos of all three of our girls. It's kind of a tradition that adoptive families all have their babies pictures taken on the Red Couch at The White Swan hotel (where most American families adopting stay to finish up all of their paperwork). The baby on the left is Lillie Grace, then R, and then Lian. R and Lian were from the same orphanage and were born two days apart. Three of the sweetest little girls ever!

HOME!!!!

We are home!!! I can't tell you how good it feels to be home and to have The Kid here with me. She is such a trooper! After the really long flight from China to LA where she slept maybe 1 hour (the rest of the time was spent screaming at the top of her lungs) and then spending another entire day in airports and on airplanes, she managed to stay up until almost 8 tonight! I plopped her down in all the toys in her room when we got home and she just didn't know what to do with herself. She was a little overwhelmed and plus I don't think she knew what to do with toys. I, too, am overwhelmed and just plain beat. I hope to post more soon (and pictures, too!!).

This is it

Well, today is the day. I got all packed last night, although I had a unsuccessful first attempt at zipping my suitcase. It was so full that I had to use the expander in order to zip it closed. SO...I went back to the drawing board and consolidated a few more things and was able to un-expand my suitcase. The expandable feature is for 'coming home' only! But I'll just say this...half of my suitcase is stuff for R. Mostly cute clothes. I just couldn't stop myself. I did stop myself from bringing toys. I brought a couple, but mostly she is going to get to play with clothes. Fun! Hopefully Grandmumsy and Auntie J have packed a couple more toys. Otherwise, it'll be like when you were a kid and you'd get clothes for your birthday and you would be all bummed. She's going to be like that. "You brought me clothes?!?! MAN!!"

I'm nervous, excited, and scared all at the same time. Watching the evening news last night didn't help matters. I'm a very nervous flyer and that was just not what I needed to hear. How amazing that they all survived....and didn't end up on a "deserted" island with a creepy French lady and "OTHERS" who want to steal children and a scary mechanical monster!!

Shower!

Sunday was my baby shower! (How weird is that!) Anyway, it was a great day with TONS of friends and family. (And I'd just like to give a special shout out to my homies in Omaha. Whazzup, peeps? Thanks for coming to DSM! You guys are the best!!) Who knew that many people liked me! HA! I had no idea that 40 people would all fit in Auntie J's house. We did and all I can say is WOW. What a haul! Thank goodness Amanda flew in from Denver (Thanks, Amanda!!), because if it hadn't been for her, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown after bringing all that stuff home. I just didn't think there was any way that we would ever get it all organized and put away. I guess I forgot that Amanda is the world's greatest organizer. We started sorting things down and before I knew it (well, okay...it was after midnight) we had EVERYTHING unpackaged and put away.

Grandmumsy has some pictures, and if I ever finish packing I'll try to get a few posted before we leave tomorrow! Okay, that just made me really nervous. I need to quit screwing around on the computer and get busy!!!