Gracie's One Year Photos

So much has been going on lately and I haven't had time to post. Now to catch you up on things: Grace is walking now. She always looks so funny because her arms are always up in the air for balance. She only drinks a bottle about once a day. The rest of the time she uses a cup with a straw. Little uncoventional I know, but sippy cups always ended on the floor and she loves straws. She still loves feeding herself. That is how she wants to eat and she looks like a pig. Speaking of eating, Grace loves meat. It is her favorite thing to eat and turkey is her favorite. When she takes a bite of meat she immediately begin smacking like it is the best thing she has ever eaten. And did I ever write about her rug "thing"? She loves to feel of the back of a rug. She will lift up the rug and just rub the back of it and it doesn't matter where we happen to be at the time. Now on to the picutres.

She started out all serious.



But quickly loosened up and that expressive face of hers came out.



Isn't she beautiful?

A few photos...

My little climber loves the stairs.


I got Grace this little chair for her birthday and she hasn't really sat in it unless I sit her there. It was so funny. Yesterday we were in her room playing and she just plopped down and grabbed a book. Then she preceded to grab another in the attempt to pile them all in the floor!

Three Birthdays and a Wedding

In the last three weeks my immediate family has celebrated three birthdays and one wedding. Needless to say Grace has been the center of attention and getting a lot of extra loving. A little too much maybe.

Grace has always been such a good baby. That makes her "new personality" a bit of a surprise. She now thinks that she should get constant attention and everyone should be focused on her and hold her all the time. All the extra attention she has received has turned her into a diva.

Before if she woke during the night (for no apparent reason) she would talk to herself and fall back asleep. Now she immediately begins to yell at the top of her lungs. This isn't a cry - it is a demanding little yell. And she has staying power. She has to stop and rest peoriodically, but she can keep it going for a long, long time.

At first I was concerned there was something wrong. But if you move toward the bed she stops crying. Earlier this week she was in her playpen in her room yelling. When the sitter checked in on her, she was sitting there playing with a toy and yelling.

This must be preparation for those teenage years.


Grace with her cousins at one of her first birthday parties.


Grace with newlyweds Joel and Crystal


Kristan, who takes care of Grace while Mom is at work, celebrates a birthday.


Nanny celebrates a birthday!! We got very creative in our quest to have enough candles.


But in her mind...it's all about Gracie.

Happy Birthday Lucy Elise!!!!

One of my favorite girls is one year old today. Miss Lucy is growing up so fast. It is hard for me to believe that the girls are already one year old.

This was the first picture I saw of Lucy. Kelly and Justin had just gotten their referral and emailed me the photo. That evening I took this picture to church with me to show her off. At the time I was waiting for my referral and when I walked in with the picture everyone started screaming thinking she was mine! Little did I know that my Gracie was in the bed next to Lucy at that very moment.


Lucy was just the tiniest little thing when we met her in the orphanage. She was lost is the big red sweater she was wearing. When we left that day the girls were side by side in their beds.


The next day Lucy officially became Kelly & Justin's daughter. Here's Kelly and her daughter at the G&R. Lucy is once again dressed in a big sweater!


I am so thankful that I shared my trip to Vietnam with Lucy and her family. Here's a photo of Lucy, Kelly, Justin, Gracie and my sister Terri at our hotel in HCMC.


This is the last photo of Lucy and Grace together before we parted to travel home.
After being home for a couple of months we reunited in Nashville for a great visit.


Here's Lucy when we met up again in Nashville a couple of weeks ago.


Happy birthday Lucy! I can't wait to see you again. We love you.

Big Fun in the Pool

Here are a few more pool photos of my little water lover.

Grace is One!!!!

The birthday girl waking up on her day!


Grace's Pappy took her and her baby on a morning ride in the wagon. Still in her jammies she had a great time.








We were all guessing - how would she respond? With the presents she had a look on her face like "This looks like something I could get in trouble for." She was unsure about tearing into the paper. Like we were enticing her to do something bad. After she started opening the gifts and didn't get into trouble, she went to town tearing at the paper and the boxes. The boxes were great!

She didn't immediately dive into the cake. She kind of began pinching at the icing. Then she really got into it. She had icing in her ears and up her nose! The chocolate icing looked kind of gross, but she loved it! She was licking her fingers so she wouldn't lose any icing.

We are going to do this all again on Saturday for her official party.

A Great Weekend

This weekend was one of the best weekends of my life! I am truly serious about that. My sister Terri and I drove to Nashville to visit some dear friends who both have daughters born in Vietnam. On Saturday the Que Son Girls had a reunion. No the Que Son Girls are NOT a band for tweenies, they are three lovely girls from the Que Son orphanage. Lucy, Lily Ana and Grace are from a tiny village in central Vietnam where they slept all lined up in a row.

The Que Son Girls




Grace's history is with Lucy and Lily Ana. She has known them longer than she has known me. I am so thankful that the girls will always have each other. I am also thankful that their moms are my lifelong friends.

Saturday was great. Lily Ana's mom was gracious enough to open her home to us. Very brave lady. There is no way I can describe to you how beautiful they were playing together on the floor. Little bitty Lily Ana was amazing the way she fearlessly kept up with Lucy and Gracie. She is three months younger, but she refused to be bested by the bigger girls.

Lucy and Grace had a great time checking out Lily Ana's toys. This was a favorite.




I was speechless when I saw how much Lucy had grown. She is almost as tall as Grace. It shouldn't be surprising. She and Grace are only two weeks apart in age, but Grace has always been so extremely tall.

I was anxious to see how Grace interacted with the girls. She doesn't go to daycare and her cousins are older. She hasn't really had the opportunity to play with other kids her age. They were all fantastic. If you didn't know better, you would have thought that they play together all the time!

We spent four hours at Susan's house where they played, ate and napped. Kelly, Susan, my sister Terri and I enjoyed the girls and each other's company. We ended the day at a restaurant where the girls were the center of attention. People would come up and say "I don't mean to be nosy, but what's going on?" They were always touched and amazed as we told them the story.

On Sunday we all met up for lunch where we were joined by the lovely Annslee and her parents. She is such a big girl and Grace would just watch her at lunch. Annslee would do something and Grace would just giggle. It was fantastic.

It was very sad to part. We stood around outside the restaurant and talked for a while. There were lots of pictures taken. I left my camera in the car, but check out the pictures that Kelly took. They are fantastic.

When we got home Grace was worn out and ready to get out of the carseat. She had been in a carseat, highchair or stroller most of the day. She was thankful to get down and crawl a while. Then she was out.

Tomorrow will be another big day. Grace will be a year old! Check back for birthday pictures.

Lucy looking like a beautiful little present.


Lily Ana getting some loving from her momma.

Gracie's Story

My baby will be one year old on Tuesday. I can hardly believe. It seems like it was just yesterday that I saw her little three month old face for the first time! I stared at that little face. I memorized it. Even though she has changed so much I can still see that little baby when I look at my big girl.

I wonder what her birth mother is thinking about right now? I know that her thoughts must be about her baby and the upcoming birthday. She must be wondering so many things. Where is she? How is she? Is she happy and comfortable and loved? I wish that I could tell her what a beautiful gift she has given me. I wish I could let her know that Grace is healthy and happy and loved by many. I wish I could thank her and give her a hug.

Most of the time in adoption you never really know the baby's history and what you find out is sometimes highly suspect. I wonder about the details of the report of Grace's abandonment. After visiting the orphanage I try to picture things. Did it happen that way? I don't know the answere to that but I do know that it is the history that we have to hold on to. Therefore it is the history I will tell Grace someday.

The report said that at about 4:00 p.m. the people inside the orphanage heard a big noise coming from outside. When they went to investigate they found a baby girl who was just a few days old. She was in a blue plastic basket with blue and white towels.

I imagine a girl bringing her baby to the orphanage and then making noise so they would come out and find her. Was she hiding, watching to make sure the baby was taken inside? It makes me think of the story of Moses - birth mother who loves her child and wants the best for the baby. This is the story I will tell Grace.

The Fortress of Solitiude

Superman had The Fortress of Solitude. So does Grace. It is laughingly huge but, for her safety and my sanity, she must be contained. It is big enough that she can entertain visitors and there is still tons of room. So far she loves it. I am so thankful. And it has a playwall with a mirror. Grace can look at herself as long as she wants to!

Grace's Playzone has two extension walls. It snaps together easily and the size can be changed depending on your need. I highly recommend it. I can now go to the bathroom without fear of what will happen when I leave the room.

Gracie's First Professional Pedicure

As you may have seen in pictures, Grace has had her toes polished by her cousins. Well on Wednesday she had her first professional pedicure.

My mother has had the same people doing her nails for years. They are Vietnamese and have followed the whole adoption process. Before I left for Vietnam they translated a note for me to give the ladies at the orphanage. They have been very excited about the adoption and they talked so much about Vietnam before Terri and I left. They were so excited to see our pictures from Vietnam.

Mother went to get her nails done on Wednesday and took Grace and Kristan with her so everyone could see Grace. They all call her Thao and love to hold her and talk to her in Vietnamese (sidenote: she doesn't respond to the Vietnamese language or name like she used to). One of the guys that works there has a little girl that is about 3 years old. When he held Grace she starting crying and said "you can hold her but you can only love me". She is obviously a daddy's girl.

Before they left Kelly, one of the manicurists, offered to polish Grace's toenails. Hi picked out a color. No one can pronounce his Vietnamese name and since it sounds alot like "Hi" that's what everyone calls him. Kristan held her foot while Kelly polished.

Her toes are glow in the dark neon pink. Aren't they lovely?

The Lost Pictures

Yesterday I found a disk of photos and video from our time in HCMC. Amazing. I remember taking them but I completely forgot about them. Here are a few.

Look how much she has changed! She was such a little bald baby.


Grace looking incredibly adorable in her stroller I bought in Danang. That stroller was a lifesaver, best $30 I have ever spent. I last saw the stroller in Taipei. I am sure that it made it to LA at some time. Wouldn't it be hilarious if it showed up on my doorstep?


Kelly, Justin and Lucy in the lobby of our hotel in HCMC. One of the servers from the lobby bar was playing with Lucy. All the Vietnamese people I met had a special love for children. You could see it in their eyes.


This is Amigo's, a restaurant that was beside our hotel in HCMC. It was fantastic. My sister and I were thrilled to have a steak (real Texas beef), baked potato with sour cream and a salad with honey mustard dressing. It tasted just like home. It was a nice change.

Eleven months old.

Grace is eleven months old today. Next month is the big one. I can't believe that my baby is almost a year old. This also marks another milestone. Grace was 5 1/2 months old when we had our G&R. She has now been with me as long as she was in the orphanage.

She has six teeth - two on top and four on bottom. She has two top teeth that are about to break through.

She hates baby food. She eats steamed vegetables, baked sweet potatoes and white potatoes, a variety of fruit and deli meat. She eats deli turkey and chicken because her mother finds baby food meat revolting. Thinly sliced deli meat is the way to go.

She chews. People always laugh at the way she will work her food to the front of her mouth and chew with those six little teeth! I think it is adorable when she eats crackers. She takes petite little bites.

She is still wearing the same size clothes she wore in Vietnam. She just keeps getting longer!

She is extremely social. She loves to be out and about and is happiest when we are out shopping or in a loud restaurant.

She loves the water. In the big pool I will put her in her float and she will kick her legs like crazy. In the baby pool it is splash, splash, spash.

She pulls up on everything. She will walk up and down the couch holding on.

She is such a big girl.

Bad Hair Day?

Recently my friend Kelly wrote about how her Lucy's bangs were so long they were always in her eyes, hence the trademark Lucy bow. Grace has the same problem. Her hair is constantly in her eyes. Today her cousin Kristan thought she would try and put her hair up in pig tails. It was adorable! Well it was until Kristan and my mother took them down. Is this what they do to my daughter all day while I am at work?

Adorable Gracie


Scary Gracie


Having a conversation with the baby doll.

Bathtime Revisited

In a previous post I talked about my love of bathtime. Gracie used to lay on her little yellow sponge and splash happily with her feet. It doesn't happen like this anymore.

She's everywhere. Now I just wash things as they present themselves to me. She's up on her hands and knees and there's her butt - quick wash it! That's how it goes. She is crawling in the tub. She is inspecting the drain. She tries to stand up. Bathtime is hard work. Keeping her safe in the tub and getting everything washed is the hardest job I have all day! At least she still has a ball!