Happy Thanksgiving To All

We'd like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for so many things. For our Lord Jesus Christ, for our freedom to worship our Lord, for our warm home, for food to eat. We are thankful for our country and for all our American troops stationed all over the world, who on this day protect our freedoms, and who are missing their families. We appreciate all that they are doing for us.
For our wonderful family and friends, we love you all.
For my husband John, you rock my world, I love you soooo much. And...
for my daughter Renee Mei Sang, it may be the corniest thing to say... but it's true, she completes me. I am mommy today, and I absolutely love every minute of it.
What a gift, what a blessing, I am so thankful.

Pictures to follow :)

Pictures, pictures and more pictures....

Have lot's more pictures to share. I'm going to try to post again soon, probably once Renee goes to bed. I need the extra time :), there is so much in my heart and in my head that I'd like to blog about, I just need some uninterrupted computer time.
Needless to say, I'm am absolutely loving being mommy to this awesome baby. Gosh, I love her so much!!

Sorry For The Lapse!!

I'll have some roasted corn please!!!

Heading out east to pick pumpkins..."Hey dad are we there yet???"
I love playing "peek a boo"!!

I'm a "South Shore girl", loved Babylon by the water!!

I picked pumpkins with mommy and daddy, hey mommy, would you pick up my hood I can't see ;)!
Mommy just cracks me up!!!
I love watching Nick Jr., especially "The Wonder Pets"!

I turned one years old and thoroughly enjoyed my birthday cake!!:)

I can stand by myself now!!!

So sorry for the lapse of time since the last post. So much to catch up on. I've been posting alot on FaceBook, since I can take photo's quickly with my IPhone and then post them very easily, I have to say I've gotten a bit lazy. But, please excuse me, I'm also caring for a 1 year old who loves her momma's attention. Not to say that momma isn't loving every minute of it :). Hope you enjoy the above photo's, I'll try to label them with the events associated with them. This may take a couple of posts!!

Just When You Think You're On A Roll....

Well I really thought we were on a roll, Renee was just starting to get into a routine with eating and sleeping. Monday was our pediatrician visit, it was a long visit and they evaluated Renee from head to toe. We are so thankful, Renee is a very healthy little girl!!! Due to her time in the orphanage she has some slight catching up to do developmentally, but with the one on one attention she gets from John and I, she should catch up without an issue. While at the doctor's she had two blood tests and three injections. Ouch, my poor baby. Well, about 12 hours after the shots ( three o'clock in the morning) Renee woke up with a fever. Tuesday was a yucky day for Renee, she had fever on and off all day. I spoke with the doctor's office and they said it was probably the 3 injections. She wouldn't eat and hardly drank. I was sooo worried. By about 6p her fever broke and she started to play. She did sleep from about 8p to 5a, but awoke not only with fever again, but a rash.
I spoke with the doctor's office again and they said the rash may be viral to keep a close watch on her (as if I'd do anything else :)). She had a much better day today, she's almost her old self, except we're back to square one in regards to eating. She'll take bottles (but not like before), but no food (except for the occasional puff). It's frustrating, things were going so smoothly till we went to the doctor. I'm sure all will be fine and we'll get back on track again, but gosh, just when you think you're on a roll......
Enjoy the above photo, caught it with my iphone on the way home Monday.

Have Car Seat Will Travel!!!

Until we installed the car seat into my car, it sat in the living room, so Renee crawled over and seemed interested. So we let her sit in it, and as you can see she was tickled!! We have been getting lots of smiles, belly laughs and giggles. I love to see her two bottom teeth when she smiles!!
We went out today and although Renee had a little issue with her car seat, I'm sure that will pass. It has too!!

Mmmmmm Good!!

While in China, Renee really wouldn't eat anything, but would only drink formula. I'd heard from friends who had experienced this before, not to worry and to try again once we got home. Well over the last 2 days, my sweetie pie has started eating oatmeal, rice cereal, and some baby foods like applesauce, banannas and green beans. She gets excited when she sees the bowls with her food and you can tell by her smile that she is enjoying it. It warms my heart after her "projectile spitting" of anything we placed in her mouth 2 weeks ago. Also, as of yesterday, she loves the "puffs" and will keep eating them as long as we provide them. She's unable to put anything in her mouth. When you give her a puff she just holds it and rolls it between her fingers.
I'm going to add another post with some extra smiling pictures. I know I have a lot of China pictures to catch up on, and I promise I will. They are loaded onto my netbook and I'm on my laptop at the moment.

Jet Lag What a Pain!

We've all been feeling the effects of jet lag, inability to sleep when it's dark outside and then an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion during the daylight hours. Renee has been sleeping in spurts of anywhere from 2-4 hours at a shot. I feel bad for my sweet girl, she's completely turned around. We took a walk outside before and she fell fast asleep in her stroller, and I still can't get her up no matter how much noise I make or how many time I kiss her tummy :) She opens her eyes, smiles, then rolls back over as if to say "Hey mom, leave me alone, I'm very comfortable here!" Well I can't fight city hall! Looks like I'll be up again tonight.
The above picture is of Renee in her car seat this morning when she accompanied John and I to the grocery store. We were hesitant to put her in her car seat after her first experience Friday evening. Remember how well I said she did on all of her plane rides? Well her melt down came when my sister and brother-in-law picked us up at Newark airport and we had to put her in a car seat for the first time. In China we held her during all bus trips so this was totally foreign to her. She screamed and cried, and to make matters worse traffic was at a standstill. We actually stopped in Brooklyn to help her to calm down and make a bottle. Needless to say, we were all extremely glad when we pulled into our drive way!!
Well, this morning we decided we would have to try the car seat again as it would be a necessity. We were amazed, she was absolutely fine!! Not a peep, only smiles. And on the trip home she fell asleep!!
So...this seems to be a familiar pose lately. Let's hope we all adjust as soon as possible. More photos to come!

We're Home!

Dosen't this picture just say it all!!  Renee woke up early this morning and cuddled with John and I for about 2 hours before it was bottle time.  That smile just warms my heart and soul. Isn't she just the most precious thing you've ever seen!!

Sorry for not blogging over the last week.  The days sort of took on a momentum of there own and I really never did get used to the time change.  I plan on catching up shortly and posting lot's of photos. 

The trip home went smoothly and the long plane ride home went extremely well.  The first 4 hours were the most challenging as Renee had a hard time falling asleep, but once she did she slept most of the flight. Wish John and I could say the same! Anyway, we are home safe and sound, enjoying all the little things we take for granted here in the USA like ice and soft mattresses. LOL!