Silly Saturday Morning

I filled most of my time waiting for Isabel either reading or writing blog posts. I lived vicariously experiencing what motherhood would be like... especially to a tiny Chinese baby girl.


I also remember being disappointed when folks would suddenly slow down their blog posting after the chid got home. And while I know, logically, that this was an inevitably reality, I found myself sort of sad. I wanted to know what  Life After the Adoption was like.

The irony, of course, being that I am now one of those people.

Life continues. All the more busy with this new baby>toddler>little girl. And so, I find myself with a child at the halfway point of her Kindergarten year and stand in awe at how quickly it has all passed.

Life is good. Isabel fills my life with joy. She is a pack rat, a lover of laughter, the ocean and cheese.

And so, if anyone is still reading this blog, here are some photos from yesterday morning. They totally convey her personality.

New Blog

Last month I read several blogs who were participating in Project 365. Basically, it is a challenge to post a picture a day for a year. At the end of the year you get a glimpse into what your day-to-day life was like. There was something about it that I both liked (capturing an image a day) and didn't like (it was too broad for me). Then I saw a variation that I really liked over at Stepping on Legos. Nicki chose to take the challenge but focus on one color a month. She posted this at the end of the month and I just loved it! It was just what I needed to get started.

And so... I started another blog to capture daily images of our life with a monthly color theme. I started February first and just finished the first week. The color theme this month is RED. You can check it out here.

Year in Review ~ 2009

A couple of years ago, I read an End of the Year post over at Stepping on Legos and loved the idea behind it. Basically, you take the first sentence from the first blog entry of each of the twelve months of the previous year. (Phew... that was a LOT of "of's" in that last sentence!) I have done this for the last three years... since Isabel came home. It's a fun way to recap the year succinctly. And so... here is this past year's summation.

2009

• January ~ A trip to Saint Augustine last night included a visit to Winter Wonderland, where Isabel and I explored an elf village, walked through a candy cane forest, watched folks speeding down a double two-story ice luge, and experienced out first ice skating foray together.

• February ~ Isabel changed preschools and her verbal skills have taken off exponentially

• March ~ Spring break… how I have longed for your arrival.

• April ~ So I decided the best place to decorate the eggs would be outside.

• May ~ We were able to get together with some friends for a fun night outside watching Finding Nemo.

• June ~ Another night of great laughter, good wine and wonderful friends… with three (daringly courageous) newbies that joined us.

• July ~ What a whirlwind of a trip this has been.

• August ~ When I bought this house five years ago, I knew immediately which bedroom was going to be mine and which was going to be Isabel’s.

• September ~ Seven little girls, plus assorted dancewear and footwear and one dance teacher equals an hour of fun.

• October ~ What a great day.

• November ~ As a rule, I don’t let Isabel have a lot of candy.

• December ~ Three years ago today, I sat in my classroom and watched the face of my long-awaited daughter appeared on the computer screen.