Merry Christmas

With the preparation leading up to Christmas, I found myself at time too lazy to want to do anything. It wasn't that I was extremely busy, just lazy I guess. I was finally able to send our Christmas greetings out on Christmas Eve, but that was because my computer crashed and our picture card and letter was lost in the abyss inside. We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope all y'all did as well. We celebrated with my dad, sister, and her son on Christmas eve by going to their church's candle lit service and Rebekah made her presence known with loud resounding crying in the foyer which permiated into the sanctuary so the whole congregation was able to enjoy. She was tired and does not go to sleep while being held. After that we headed back to their house to open presents. Both Madeline and her cousin Nathan had a BLAST! After that we drove to Kelly's folks to celebrate our 2nd Christmas. We arrived at midnight and Madeline and her 2 other cousins, Reese and Teagan, were up bright and early at 6:30am. Presents were everywhere!! Madeline had asked Santa for a orange scooter, so when she woke up and looked around at the living room (which we slept in) she asked, "did Santa come?" I told her "yes, of course he came." She put her head down slowly on the pillow and said, "I'm disappointed...Santa did not bring me a scooter." Well I told her that he saw we were sleeping in here and probably did not want to wake us up so he left it in another room, so Madeline was satisfied with that and began searching the house. She found her Barbie scooter in the laundry room. A few minutes later wrapping paper was flying everywhere. Madeline and I are going to have a hard time going through all her old toys and deciding which ones to donate to pregnancy life line. (a organization who assist pregnany women and teens who need help). I am not looking forward to that.

We do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are blessed this coming year.
one chubby rebekah Daddy & Rebekah
Madleline is still a bit standoffish about Santa, but at least she will sit near him and not run away and cry.

Madeline, Rebekah, and cousin Nathan at the candlelight service.
A very tired Rebekah, who in about 30 minutes from now will begin to scream loudly for all the congregation to enjoy.
Wake up Daddy (uncle Kelly)! LETS OPEN PRESENTS!!
Look, I can play the piano!
What a stash of presents I have.
"Baby Alive" Rebekah.
Madeline learning the fine art of riding a scooter.
This is the photo I will use if I ever intend to blackmail Kelly.
Madeline, Rebekah and the cousins. This was a fun picture to take.
FEET

Its COLD in Fort Worth

We have had our official 2 days of winter in TX. Yesterday and today did not get above 32 degrees and this morning there was a dusting of snow and ice in Dallas so of course several school district were closed or delayed. Luckily Fort Worth did not get any winter precipitation so it was business as usual YEAH!!

Rebekah has changed so much over these past 3 months she has been with us. She is more active each day as well as verbal. She is also becoming more assertive. Just yesterday she began to point at the things she wants and will grunt and kick her legs. This is great because now we know what she wants but also can get frustrating with all the whining if she doesn't get it. We have taught her sign language for "more" and "cup" which has helped. Today at lunch I was eating some chips with guacamole and Rebekah decided that she wanted what I was eating and kept pointing to the chips and making it known she wanted them. I have started a "this then that" ploy where she eats what she is suppose to eat (the this) THEN she gets the thing she wants (the that). It seems to be working also. She has learned to feed herself crackers and finger foods but I still have not ventured out to let her try to feed herself with a spoon. Rebekah loves playing "where's Rebekah" and will cover up her face with her hands and squeal when she quickly takes them away. She blows sweet kisses.

Rebekah is not walking yet but getting the hang of pulling up on furniture, moving along the furniture, and taking steps while we hold her fingers (which is a big improvement because she would typically just keep her feet in one spot while we moved forward and soon she would be almost laying on the ground). She crawls all over the place. She sometimes convienently forgets how to roll over and will lay on her back and scream.

Bed and nap times are still wonderful times. Rebekah does not fuss at all when I lay her down in her crib. Even when she wakes up she will either just lay their quietly or make happy sounds. We know we are blessed with this. I am sure she leaned this in the orphanage. She also still LOVES to nap in the morning and afternoon for about 2 hours each time. This was very different for me because Madeline did NOT nap but about 30 to 45 minutes a day.

Rebekah loves being with her Jei Jei (big sister). She is now in Madeline's room with her playing with the rabbit which is allowing me to type this. Madeline is also having the time of her life with Rebekah. She has mentioned to me several times that she wishes Rebekah would grow faster so she can play with her more. Madeline will still sleep in Rebekah's room on weekends "just in case she wakes up scared."

We are looking forward to our first Christmas as a family of four.

Madeline visit from the Tooth Fairy

Madeline had to have her 2 bottom front teeth pulled last Thursday. She did much better than I did during the whole process, I almost had to leave the room. Afterwards we went for ice cream. The tooth fairy was very generous and left her a magnifing glass. Madeline's two new bottom front teeth are coming in quickly and she also has one of her 6 year molars coming in.

What a sight

I got a chance to see the space shuttle Endeavor this past Thursday as it overnighted at the Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth on its way back to Florida. It was an amazing sight to say the least. I was about 300 yards away from it as it taxied the runway before it took off piggy backing atop a 747.

I LOVE HAVING MY COMPUTER BACK!!!!!!

ARGGG!

Well I am without my computer again. We had to take it back to the shop, hopefully it is only an issue of reinstalling the operating system, but who knows. I have to wait till Kelly comes home to use his work computer to check email and all my favorite blogs. I am not happy!

a stacking cup, a mouth, & a lesson in suction

need I say more!

The day after thanksgiving we were driving home from Ye Ye & Nai Nai's when Madeline enlightened us on a new decision she has just made. "I am not going to eat eggs anymore becasue eggs are chickens." I said to her, "Madeline, chickens are chickens and you eat them." "Yes," she said, "but I am not going to eat animals anymore, except chicken nuggets (we were driving by a McDonalds at the time)...and bacon!"