Chinese New Year

We were able to get together for Chinese New Year with about 10 families with Children from China. We had the best time. There was a dumpling demonstration and then the children and adults were allowed to attempt to make dumplings. We had a great feast with local Chinese Take Out and some families cooked there own Chinese dishes to share. Some of the older girls put on a great little puppet show for all of us and the children about the year of the Rat. We were also able to finally meet with George, Julie, and Chloe, who are waiting to bring home their sweet baby Sophie from Taiwan very soon. It will be so nice to have her home so Tessa can share her early life with someone who had the same Taiwan adoption journey to our hearts and our homes. I can hardly wait to get together again with these families. Hopefully once in the summer. Happy New Year Tessa!!!!!!!!!!!!We love you.

2/27/08
Since Tessa is our big eater she decided to take her stab at getting her own seasoning this time.
She scored with the Texas Pete.... Don't worry the lid is still on. Her favorite thing is to get into the fridge and sit on the ledge. A girl after my own heart with the Hot Sauce.

Tessa and her very own Creamsicle

2/20/08 Ever since the 2nd day we had Tessa in Taipei, she loved ice cream. We found an ice cream shop in the middle of one of the shopping stores by Taipei 101 and had Raspberry Sorbets. This was so funny to see her eat it then at 9 mos. Up to this point they had only given her crackers and applesauce.To this day she will chase you down for ice cream and wants to be fed like a baby bird... Today we gave her her own.

Rocks, sticks, and leaves....Wilderness girl!!!!!!

Since our weather has been pretty fair so far we find time to go explore. I am amazed how interested Tessa is in nature and especially rocks. She loves to climb up and down the ditches to get into the leaves and get a stick. She has figured out that rocks don't taste to good either.
Tessa has been a little cranky with her new molars coming in. Her top 2 came in pretty easy but this bottom 2 teeth are killing her and us..... He He.... Tessa now has 12 teeth. Having a few more teeth has helped her get down even more of her favorite foods. She continues to eat absolutely everything that is put in front of her. She is still drinking her bottles and has been on whole milk for a month now. She is wearing 18 mos clothes and is heading to 24 mos, and is in a size 6 shoes....We have completed both of our post placements for re adoption here in NC and will now fill out more... forms and send them off to continue with the re adoption. The end result will be a US birthcertificate and a Certificate of Citizenship. We will be thankful when all of this is done. We also completed Tessa's first post placement for Taiwan on the 2nd week of January and included over 30 pictures to go back to the Agency in Taichung, Taiwan where she came from. We sure hope they know how much we adore and love her..... Tessa has been home 6 mos now and can't imagine how fast those went. She still continues to wake around 2:30 in the morning in her crib and we pick her up and she points to go to our bed. Her wish is always granted. She goes right back to sleep with us. We will continue to do whatever it takes to make her feel safe and secure. Lets hope it in not till she is 18.... He He.... we can't believe how much bigger and older she looks. She is the size of a 2 yr old. She is our beautiful not so little girl.

We love ya Tessa!

January Outings!!!!!!!!!!

Tessa with Roxy
Singing the La La song
I'm so cure holding my rock...
Blowing me the backwards kiss
Tessa decided to be independent and push her car
that Amanda and Scott brought us which was their girls.
She loves to go for rides in this.....

Merry Christmas!

I suppose now that it is the beginning of Feb I better get my Christmas pictures up of Tessa.

Christmas came and went with a vengence. I might say it was pretty smooth considering 4 children and Bob and I working really hard right now.

We had many things to be thankful for this Christmas and shared at dinner on Christmas night with all the children chiming in what they are thankful for.

We are very thankful for our 4 beautiful children, our health, our jobs, our home and of course all of our family and friends.

The 30th of Dec. marked Tessa's 5th month of being in our arms and we still can't believe she has only been with us this short time. She is soooo spunky and fun and has really let her personality shine this month. She really only played with the Christmas tree a few times a day. To our surprise.

She was not to overwhelmed by the busyness and all the noise on Christmas Day. She is a real trooper.

Tessa continues to fine tune her screaming to get our attention and continues to learn new words. She loves the animals and has really become attached to our kitty Roxy.

Tessa would prefer to be outside all day and you can hear her scream when it is time to come in.

Each day we think how lucky all of us are to have her in our lives. Tyler continues to ask if we could do 10 more adopted children. Are ya crazy??????? He easily walks in from school or work and comes and goes as he pleases of course he doesn't get the real responsibility of this. Why would he???? He is 19yrs old. Need I say more.....

I hope every Christmas for years to come will as special as Tessa's first Christmas!

We love you Tessa.... Merry 1st Christmas with your crazy family......

It's starting to Look Like Christmas....

The Holidays are here. EEEEKKKK!!!! We've decided not to put our tree up yet. I can't bear the thought of saying No, No , for almost a month.... Maybe by the middle of Dec. I will have the courage... I promise we will do it before then but oh my Tessa may climb it... Ha Ha...

Everything continues to go great with our Tessa. The kids have all done so well with her.

But I have to say she plays favorites... Travis is her fav right now... It does give me a little break. He is just so calm and loves for her to climb all over him... She continues to eat absolutely anything we put in front of her.... This will change soon I am sure. She finally is getting her 3rd and 4th tooth on the bottom. This will make 8.... She has drooled like a St. Bernard lately... YUCK!!!!!

She has definitely got a deep voice and laughs and growles all the time....

She has a very strong will. And still continues to pierce our ears with her screams. Nothing like having 2 girls in the house... We cherish everyday that we have with all 4 children and the thought that Tessa has been home 4 months now and has done so fantastic. Still wondering if she realizes how badly we wanted her and waited forever for her to come home. I know someday she will......