My Big Girl

Doesn't she look like such a big girl in these pictures? Sometimes I look at her and it amazes me how much she has grown and changed. And jeans always make babies look more grown up.




She looks so calm and serene in this picture.


And then the baby of a million faces emerges...

Miss Personality

What is Miss Personality like these days?

I know this looks strange but this is something Gracie CONSTANTLY does. If you are sitting she will straddle your ankle expecting you to take her for a ride on the "horse." In this photo I was sitting on the couch and she just came up and sat on my foot.

This is Grace with her beloved Leapfrog table. Her new thing is to turn it upside down and just sit on it and rock.

Grace's favorite toy is her Winnie the Pooh car. Here it is standing on end after a crash.
At least she found an inventive use for the piece that fell off.
Her most recent injury.

She Looks Like a Wild One

Like all of us, Grace doesn't look her best in the morning. She kind of looks like a wild little baby. Doesn't she remind you of Mowgli from the Jungle Book? I think it is the hair. However I absolutely adore that wild look. It makes me think of Saturday mornings. That is when we enjoy lazy mornings in our pjs. We have so little time to just hang out, that is why Saturday mornings are so special.




I love this photo. She looks like she is doing the supermodel pose with her cheeks all sucked in.


This is Grace's favorite toy. Aunt Terri gave her this lovely Winnie the Pooh car for her birthday. It features a nice, loud horn and you can push a button and the Pooh song will play. Grace's favorite road trip starts at the sofa and ends at the window looking onto the front yard.


Barrel rolling - Gracie style

One year ago today...

I first saw Grace's face. That evening ended two excruciating weeks of uncertainty. Seriously those were the worst two weeks during the entire adoption process. You see Grace was initially referred when her friend Lucy was referred to Kelly and Justin. However Grace was turned down. She was turned down because the position of her body looked awkward in the photo.

The entire time I was aware of what was going on. I knew about the referral, questions about health, and the turn down of the referral. Normally this would not be the case, however because of internet groups I was painfully aware of what was going on with the baby. I had so many questions in my head. Would this little girl be referred? Would they classify her as special needs just because someone thought the photo was weird? Will I ever know what is going to happen to her? I couldn't get that little girl off of my mind. I must have driven my friend Susan nuts. Every night I would talk to her about this baby. She kept telling me "God knows where your baby is, if this is her they will refer her to you." I knew that was my baby. What was the hold up? Finally, after two long weeks, I found out what was in store for that little baby girl.

I had been to my parent's house to have dinner with my mother. Daddy had gone out to eat with his friends - male bonding. When I got home that evening I noticed there was a message on my machine. It was from my agency and it said "I'm going to try your cell. I'm looking at her pictures. I have to talk to you." I live next door to my parents, so I had walked down there with no purse or phone. Who doesn't have their phone AT ALL TIMES when they are so close to their referral. Me, that's who.

I immediately checked my email. Sure enough Grace's pictures were in my in box. I couldn't open them, the moment was too big. I needed someone else to witness it with me. I called my mother. She came flying out of her house and was at my door in no time. My mother and I opened up the pictures and saw nothing awkward about the beautiful in these pictures. We saw a beautiful baby girl who had a little bow of a mouth and big, pink cheeks. So kissable! Within 30 minutes my house was full of family. We couldn't take our eyes off of baby Grace.

Here are the pictures I first saw of her.

I was right. That was my baby. That baby is Olivia Grace Thao and I love her more each day. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with a daughter who is funny, stubborn, loving, nosy, and all the things that she is. I am thankful for her birth mother who wanted this little baby to have a better life. I am thankful for the woman who turned down the referral. Here is Grace's original referral photo.



This is a picture of Gracie today. Everyone has these great pictures of their baby with the referral picture. It is such a cute idea. Grace would immediately put it in her mouth. I don't know how you all got them to hold the picture and smile sweetly at the camera.



I love you Grace. Happy referral day!

Visiting Family

Yesterday was a big day. My mother's entire family got together to wish my cousin well. He, his wife, and four children are going into the foreign mission field. It will probably be about two and half years before we see them again.

They had already decided to take their two kids and become missionaries. And SURPRISE, Keri was pregnant with twins (and I don't think Paul had told her that twins run in my family). The boys are now five months old and ready to go. Here are Peyton (on the left) and Pierce with big sister Kati and mom.




They are soooooooooooo cute and have very expressive faces just like their cousin Gracie. They are about the same size and weight that Grace was when I was in Vietnam. I can barely remember her being that little. Look at my big girl, passed out from the excitement.




Kati has three brothers and was excited to play with a little girl.




Nanny holding one of the twins.




Do you think Grace is a little jealous? She looks so sad.




We love you Paul and Keri. We'll be praying for you.

More from the wedding...

Here are some more pictures from the wedding. The others didn't let you see Grace's beautiful dress, all you could see was her bib. And, well, I don't have any new pictures. I really hate that she had her bib on in all the candids.

Grace and Nanny


Grace and Sheila

Crystal's Wedding

Isn't my niece stunning? I have never seen her as beautiful as she was on her wedding day. I know that sounds cliche, but it's true. I suppose brides should be the most beautiful on that day. They take all that extra time to groom and get ready.

There was only one person who could rival the bride. Grace. The photographer got the sweetest picture of my brother, the father of the bride, blowing bubbles for his niece. She was captivated.

Grace looked so pretty in her beautiful dress. However her hair was in her eyes all day. We lost her bow somewhere between home and the church.





Out of all the memories I have from Crystal's wedding day, one stands out from the rest. Grace, my sister and I rode with my parents. As we were driving down the road, my seat belt locked. No big deal. Happens all the time, right? As I always do when this happens, I unbuckled the belt and pulled on it to unlock it. When I did this about a foot of my hair was pulled into the seatbelt mechanism. We were about 30 minutes from home and I had to ride holding my head about 2 inches from the seat. Those were the longest 30 minutes of my life! By the time we got home I was screaming for someone to give me scissors. The funny thing is that you couldn't tell where I had cut myself free. And it was a big hunk of hair. I had been growing my hair to donate to Locks of Love. After that ordeal I decided it was time to cut it. The next week I donated a 13 inch pony tail.

My Little Piggy

I wrote some time ago about how much Grace loves meat. I took this video about a month ago and am just now getting around to sharing it. It's short but I think you'll get the idea. She kills me with her "yum yum" She does that when she is particularly fond of what she is eating.

Photos

Normally when I don't post for a while it is because of pictures. I have either misplaced my usb cord, don't have time to download or simply don't have time to take new pictures. I will probably regret posting all of these at one time (when I have no new photos and have nothing to post). However here a few photos of what we've been up to as of late.

Grace had a little chocolate at Nanny's house. She's probably about 3 minutes away from "crazy baby sugar rush."


The girl of a million faces. I am so glad she is an expressive little girl, but I hope her face doesn't freeze that way.



Grace loves to grab hold of the Jumperoo and push it as hard as she can and watch it swing.


Nanny gave Grace a baby doll with a red wagon. She doesn't really care for dolls, so we tried her out in the wagon. She looks like a circus performer to me.


Here she is in a Grace-sized red wagon. She had the best time watching the dogs. she thinks they are so funny!

Splotchy Grace

When Grace had her one year checkup they gave her the MMR vaccine. Dr. Amy advised me that in 10 or so days she might develop a rash and a fever of about 101 as a side effect. I am so thankful she told me! This past Friday I came home and Grace had a fever of about 101, the rash came on Saturday. She was never uncomfortable or fussy. But she looked so pitiful, I couldn't believe that she was just business as usual.

Thankfully the fever and rash were gone after 3 days. Some bumps and a temp are a small price to pay to avoid having a really sick baby. How awful would it be if she were truly ill with the full blown sickness.

UT's Cutest Cheerleader

I am joining Kelly in her football sorrow. Saturday's trip ot the Swamp was sad. Not even UT's cutest cheerleader could save the day. It was a shameful loss to the Gators.

Here's Grace and her cousin Ryan cheering on the Vols.


After a while she could not bear to look upon the sad display.

Gracie Goes to the Doctor

Grace had her one year checkup on Wednesday, 6 weeks late. Sad I know, but that is the reality of life as a working mother. Here's a little update.

Grace is a very healthy girl - 21.5 lbs and 32 inches tall. I can't believe how tall she is getting, everyone comments on it. She seems so much heavier to me than 21.5 lbs. However I guess I shouldn't be surprised as she is still wearing 6-12 months clothes. Now that fall/winter is coming up soon it should be interesting trying to find things that are long enough and don't fall off of her.

She is a good eater. Here favorites are fruit and meat. The only thing she won't eat is jello. How weird is that?

Recently Kelly was blogging about Halloween costumes and I commented that Grace would be something that would wear a tutu. I bought one for her one year pictures. Here she is in all her cuteness.

Check out her feet. She is in first postition, ready to plie`


A little bit of attitude from the girl of a million expressions.


Aren't the pigtails great?


In Nanny's kitchen, a dress rehearsal for picture day.

Just Say Cheese

Grace is not one of those babies you can trick into smiling. Funny faces and sounds don't work on her, she smiles when she feels like smiling. And you never know what will make her smile. It could be something you say, the dog, a sound, etc. And the next time you try use that to make her laugh, she looks at you like you are so silly for thinking that is still funny to her. This makes it very difficult to get good, smiley pictures. When you get the smiles and laughs they are hard to photograph - closed eyes, drool, etc. Things weren't so funny when I tried to take these pictures.






And these may not be great pictures, but what makes them special is remembering how she laid down on the rug, threw her arms up over her head and just started laughing.