BaBa says what??

Maisie started saying this a few days ago and I just had to capture it on video as it makes us laugh each time she says it.

Playing dress-up

I'm playing a little catch-up here as these pictures are so cute, I just had to post them. They are from 12/7/07, the day before we left for Aruba. Deb was kind enough to watch Maisie for a couple of hours so that I could get a few things accomplished without my help-hindering shadow. LiLi and Maisie had such a good time playing together, dressing up and dancing around. Deb, thanks for watching little Miss M and for all the cute piccies.

Christmas 2007

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon and Christmas dinner at Deb's house. Deb's house was all decked out, the table was beautiful, the food delicious and the company was lots of fun. Both children and adults had a wonderful time. Thanks L family for including us in the celebration and for the piccies.

Maisie working on opening a gift.

Kisses with my best girl.

A couple of differences and similarities from last Christmas: Last year we had 36 hours of Christmas, 27 hours of which was spent traveling home from China. This year Christmas lasted only 24 hours and we had only about 27 minutes of travel time round trip to Deb's house. Last year I returned home from China with full blown pneumonia and Maisie had ear infections and a cold, this year once again I have pneumonia but I'm already on the mend and Maisie has a cold but she too is already feeling better. ('ve had lots of pressure to get the pneumonia shot this year so not to make next year a repeat of these past two, think this is something that I'll have to arrange a.s.a.p.)  Both this year and last were wonderful as we got to be together as a family with Maisie and for us, we couldn't ask for anything better!

Hope that everyone had a wonderful day.

Tanned and tired

After some extremely long airport delays yesterday we're finally home from our wonderful two weeks in Aruba. It was a great trip but exhausting to say the least. I had a bit of a chest cold during the week before heading down to Aruba and I thought that after a few days on the beach, the sun would bake it out of me. But alas, here it is three weeks later and I'm still coughing up a lung even after completing two z-packs and chugging down more cough meds than I care to admit. Maisie too has been on meds as she's been coughing and sick, in addition her two lower 2-year molars decided to finally erupt whilst in Aruba. Needless to say we're both heading to the doctor tomorrow.

I can't believe how few pictures I took. I had such good intentions of taking lots and lots of pics but between being sick and chasing Maisie around, the picture taking just fell short. Trust me though when I say that Maisie had a blast on the beach, loved being in the ocean, taking walks along the beach, making mad dashes to the massage area, playing on the swings and slide, washing herself at the outdoor shower area, visiting with everyone on the beach, spending lots of time with her grandparents, charming everyone on the beach and just having a great beach vacation. We're looking forward to next December in Aruba and seeing all our friends again but for now it's great to be home.

Little bathing beauty.

Three generations.

Sandra, Maisie & Allan.

Gampa, Maisie & Gamma.

Final sunset 

Grandma & Maisie

We've been having a wonderful vacation thus far, beautiful weather and meeting up with so many old friends. The first day we arrived my Mom immediately took Maisie down to the beach as so many people were waiting to meet her. All of our beach friends knew about our adoption plans when we were researching agencies, then waited along with us in 2005, then last year when we were in China, read printouts of our blog posts each day as my Mother shared all our news of travels and having Maisie placed in our arms.

Maisie is having a blast on the beach and especially loves being with my parents. My Mom spends lots of time with her at the kiddie pool and when Maisie wants to see the "bubbles" (sea foam) my Mom sits with her at the water's edge. Maisie loves passing out kisses to my Mom and Dad and blowing kisses to many of our friends on the beach. She has quickly learned who has the best snacks and she knows batting her eyes, saying hi and blowing some kisses gets her lots of treats. She's managed to charm everyone she's come in contact with and I love hearing all the time, from everyone, just how adorable and cute she is and of course I can only agree.

Since we've arrived we've been having some really big waves but today the water was calm enough that Eammon and I finally took Maisie into the ocean. After a short time she became accustomed to to the feel of bobbing in the waves and over the course of the day, ended up spending a few hours in the water.

Each night we've seen some really beautiful sunsets right from our balcony. Maisie, other than the first night, has gone down for her naps and to bed in her peapod easily and has slept well. My parents have been great about watching Maisie at night so that Eammon and I can go out to dinner with friends. Not that Eammon and I have gone out every night but tonight is my parent's first night out since we arrived a week ago. Eammon and I are having a quiet night, we brought in dinner, I did some laundry and I finally got the opportunity to blog while Eammon watches some movies.

Eammon and I did take Maisie out to dinner one night at Eammon's favorite restaurant, Iguana Joe's but it was too much for her after a full day on the beach and she just had no interest in being out, in a restaurant or being social so now she stays in and we go out. In addition to dinner at Iguana Joe's we also went to The Promenade with friends Barb and Joe and then last night we had a lovely romantic dinner at my favorite, Madame Janette. We're really looking forward to this coming week where we have a few other dinner engagements planned. Tomorrow, another rough day on the beach, ta for now.

Please forgive all my misspellings as my post is being spell checked in Dutch and I don't know how to get around that.

Maisie day one year later

Dec. 11, 2006 ~ A family of three, ChongQing Civil Affairs Office, China.

Dec. 11, 2007 ~ One year a family, Aruba

Dec. 6, 2007 ~ Maisie modeling her gotcha day outfit. The shoes were too small but the outfit still fits the little peanut pretty well.

Happy one year gotcha anniversary to all our travel mates and friends who share our special day.

The Princess and her court

Maisie loves being a little Princess wearing her high heels in her kitchen and beads, beads, beads. She's also started to like having her picture taken, proving you can take it fast enough before she runs over to see it on the screen.

We had a fun Saturday night as we gathered with other waiting and adoptive families for a holiday party at Stacy & Christian's home. Their home was beautiful and the holiday decorations were lovely. Today Eammon took Maisie to the park in the morning and I worked on getting laundry done and gathering up all the suntan lotion, bathing suits, summer clothes and all the other stuff needed for our upcoming trip to visit my parents in Aruba. We have a busy week ahead of us but that's just par for the course.