Wells Family Blog

New Glasses...

2011-12-08T06:54:00.001-08:00

Our girl looks so stinkin cute!!!

On Monday, December 5th, Abba went for an exam after complaining that she could not see the music note on her sheet music, she plays violin. I watched her for a bit and just felt she was struggling with learning the notes but she continued to tell me she could not see. It had only been 7 months since her last eye exam but I thought I'd better be safe than sorry. She went into the doctor's office and explained to the doctor how she could not see the music notes and that sometimes she cannot see because things would be opposite. For example she said when mommy is driving the trees switch sides and the buildings switch sides. Of course the doctor was onto her and asked me if she knew anyone that recently got glasses. I said yes that her cousin did. He went on with the exam and she squinted and squirmed trying her best to show him she could not see. Little did she know she was answering all of the questions right. He also dilated her eyes just to get a good look and confirmed that she has wonderful vision at the moment. Needless to say we had one disappointed little girl. Her doctor suggested that we get her a inexpensive pair of "fashion" glasses with clear lenses.

So she is proudly wearing her "real" glasses that she picked out all by herself. Of course she wants to wear them all the time and asked if she could wear them to school. So I told her I would talk to her teacher. She was so proud walking in the building this morning as everyone she saw told her they loved her glasses, of course she was wearing a smile from ear to ear. And to top it off her teacher was totally ok with her wearing them.

Some may disagree but for now this is right for our girl. It has given her a huge confidence boost and made her feel special. She tends to feel left out at times because her sister gets a ton of attention out side of our home that Abba notices. Kaylyn is really small for her age and people always ooh and aww over her cuteness or over her clothes. Abba also dresses really cute but Kaylyn is our girly girl and loves to dress up no matter where we go. Abba goes for comfortable cute, to which she says no one tells her she is cute. Kaylyn also has needs that require our attention, hearing aids and speech and I think Abba feels this. So we have to work hard at home to help her realize she is just as beautiful and special as her sister. So if this helps then so be it!!

My heart is full today knowing my girl is so happy with her choice.

Heather

5 Years Old

2011-09-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today, in a remote part of China, a very sweet baby girl was born and on the other side of the world we had no idea what God had in store for us. I will never forget the moment I finally got to wrap my arms around her. She was so frightened and wanted nothing to do with me. It has been a though long road but that scared baby girl is so full of love and joy today. She is my little love!!!

Today at her 5 year check up she weights a whopping 30.4 lbs and is 38" tall which put her barely hitting the 3rd Percentile.

Happy 5th Birthday Princess!!!!

Back to School

2011-09-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

I am not sure if anyone still follows this blog or has even noticed that I have not blogged in nearly a year. This past year has been a year a I really don't care to rehash but at some point I will for journaling purposes. This year was all about the shock of learning Kaylyn has genetic hearing loss that will likely continue to diminish and how we will help her. But I am happy to say that we have a wonderful team of doctors and therapists that are helping us. So I thought I would get back to blogging and I could not think of a better place to start than Back to School.

We still live in Louisiana where public schools are not always the best option. But here in the small town we live the schools are great but the student to teach ratio is higher than we prefer. So the girls are attending a very small christian private school that we love.

Abba began school on August 10th, she is in Kindergarten this year and is doing great. She is however still very much a mamma's girl and asks almost daily if she can stay home with me or why I can't home school her. If she were struggling we might consider that but once she is there she does wonderful. Kindergarten requires more independence than preschool did and she struggles with that. In preschool she was dropped off in the drop off line where her teacher would be waiting and the class would walk together to there classroom. As a kindergartner once she is dropped off she has to find her way to her classroom. She is still very shy and gets nervous and because of this I have been walking her into school each day. I only walk her part of the way and watch her go down the hall. Lunch is also new this year, she refuses the lunch tray, which I don't blame her. Her favorite parts of the day are typical...lunch and recess. The most requested lunch so far has been...chicken, hummus, feta cheese and spinach in a flat bread wrap along with a side of fruit. My Abba is very serious about following the rules at school and her work. We always knew Abba has an amazing memory because she can remember things from her toddler days that most kids would have forgotten. We have seen her amazing memory put to work this year. She has homework four days a week, seriously in kindergarten...math, reading, scripture and music. Each week the students have to recite scripture aloud (individually) to the teacher, that goes with the letter of the week. We begin each Sunday with reading the scripture and by Monday after school she has it memorized, this just amazes me. Abba has changed SO much as an individual since last year. She has always been my little tomboy... played with cars, batman, spider man etc. And at school played mostly with little boys and refused to wear a dress or skirt because she was convinced that the boys would not play with her if she wore them. This year is completely opposite....she is still a tomboy don't get me wrong but we have seen many changes. She plays with the girls at school this year, plays with her "boy" toys a lot less and has began to play with more girly toys...I love that she loves both types of toys because I was just like that when I was little. This summer when it was time to shop for school uniforms she very strongly said she wanted nothing but pull over shirts, shorts and pants, NO dresses. But about a week before school started she spotted a polo style pull over dress with a pocket at Target. She asked if I would buy it for her and of course I said yes and when we got home she said that she was wearing the dress the first day of school. The first day of school arrived and she looked precious, when she got home she asked me to wash it so she could wear it again the next day, so I did. This went on and the third day I explained that she did have other uniforms and she could wear it another day. At this point the melt down began, which is very unusual for Abba, she insisted that she only wanted to wear dresses to school. So I said ok I will go buy more dresses, this made her happy. So the next day she went to school in shorts and I went shopping. The dresses had to be from Target, she has a thing for the pocket on the chest, I found only two. Their uniforms have to monogrammed so I rushed them to the monogrammer and had them done. A couple of days later I picked them up kinda proud that I got it all done so fast to make my girl happy and what does the little stinker tell me....Mommy I don't want dresses for school. Well that only lasted for a day or so and she is now thrilled to have options.

Kaylyn began private tutoring with one of the teachers at the school on August 1st. Due to Kaylyn's hearing loss she is pretty delayed in her speech and academics. She loves her tutor Mrs Tami, this was Abba's preK teacher, and she is working with Kaylyn to learn her letters and the sounds they make. When Abba began school Kaylyn was excited to walk Abba in each morning. As we would say our goodbyes, I love you's and have a good day, the girls would hug and say I love you sister, which was a perfect way to start the day. But as the days went one Kaylyn began to get very excited about starting school, the PreK program did not start until after Labor Day. Her and Abba would talk about walking in together. Abba had told me that once Kaylyn started school I could drop them off in the drop off line because she would be a big sister at school and she would walk Kaylyn to her teacher then go to her class. See Abba and Kaylyn are very different Kaylyn fears nothing....well maybe bugs but nothing else. And Abba finds strength in Kaylyn's courage. So September 6th was Kaylyn's first day of school, we all walked in together. Kaylyn hugged and kissed me said I love you and bye mommy...and believe it or not I was ok with that. I then proceeded to walk Abba to class she told me how much she would miss me and that she loved me....we hugged and that was my morning. I came home and thought wow that was easy no tears but now what am I going to do with myself. So I cleaned a little and did some laundry and before long it was time to pick Kaylyn up. She gets out at noon and Abba at 2:30. Kaylyn got in the car very excited about her day, her teacher told me she had an excellent first day. So when I asked Kaylyn about her day she remembered nothing other than at some point she saw Abba and got to say hi :) So today was day two of both girls going to school, in my mind I had planned to walk them in the remainder of the week then I would start using the drop off line. But as soon as we got in the school parking lot Kaylyn proclaimed she was a big girl and could go all by herself. REALLY as a mommy don't I get time to let go...sighhh but what can I say other than you are right you are a big girl. So we waited in the drop off line and when they got out of the car and walked into school hand in hand I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes and they began flowing. This is the first time I have cried dropping either of them off at school but suddenly I began having visions of their baby years..are they really to this point. I am so not ready for this.

So now I sit here typing about my morning I am crying again...just wishing I could keep them little forever but I know I will enjoy every phase of their youth just as I have their toddler years. Enjoy the pics!!

Love,

Heather

Hereditary Blindness Auction

2010-10-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

My dear friend's five year old daughter, who is adopted from China and from the same city as our Kaylyn, was recently diagnoased with a hereditary disease that will cause her to lose her sight if a cure is not found. On October 23rd family and friends are walking in the Vision Walk in Flordia. To date Team Katie Star has raised over $5000 for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. With your help a cure can be be found for hereditary retinal blindness.

I want to help them raise some additional funds so I have put together an auction on my Facebook Page. The auction will consist of childrens clothing "gently loved", many made by Jen at Fly Away Home Clothing Boutique and a Ergo Baby Carrier. You can view the items here. Just comment with your bid and Paypal email address. Auction will begin Friday October 8th and end Tuesday October 12th at 9:00 am. 100 % of the funds raised will be donated to the Foundation Fighting Blindess via Team Katie Starr.

Please click on the link below to read their story:

http://www.blogher.com/i-am-asking-your-help-so-my-daughter-and-others-her-are-not-left-dark

Thank you,
Heather

Kaylyn's 4th Birthday

2010-09-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

Our sweet girl turned 4 on September 29th, it seems like just yesterday we were meeting a very scared little girl in China. What an amazing two years it has been. We started celebrating Kaylyn's birthday a little early with a long weekend trip to the beach. We recently discovered Gulf Shores Beach in Alabama, the beaches are beautiful. Kaylyn loves to be center of attention it is hilarious. She loves being sang to and enjoys singing happy birthday to herself. Kaylyn finally got her American Girl Bitty Twins that she has forever wanted. She loves to play with baby's.

To My Sweet Kaylyn,

It feels like just yesterday you were placed in my arms, a very frightened baby girl who wanted nothing to do with me. I has been a long road but one I would walk a thousand times over to hold you everyday. I love your strength, your determination and you have a smile that lights a room. Your sweet brown eyes disappear into slits and your rosy cheeks and toothy smile melts my heart. And I love that everyday you challenge mommy to be a better mommy.

I love you sweet girl...Happy Birthday!!!

Enjoy the pics!!!

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Another 1st Day of "School"

2010-09-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a BIG day for our Littlest Princess. Kaylyn attended her 1st Day of "School" today, which is actually Mother's Day Out, it is only 2.5 hours. For those of you that have had the pleasure of meeting our girl you know this is huge for her. She has had a very difficult time learning to trust and attach to us. But after being home for 2.5 years I am so happy to say that our little princess has come a LONG way. She is so happy, confidant and very attached to both mommy and daddy now. And attached to her big sister is an understatement, Kaylyn has always been Abba's shadow but they are pretty much inseparable these days.

Over the summer we watched Kaylyn blossum in so many ways...she was suddenly a big girl. When Abba started school she showed interest so we asked her is she too wanted to go to school? Of course she said yes, but we were so unsure as to whether or not she would leave mommy. So we decided that MDO one day a week would be best for her but to our surprise she was very ready and was more than thrilled to be going to big girl school. She was adorable on her first day...all smiles and had a wonderful time. We were so happy to see this side of Kaylyn. As we put her in her car seat this afternoon she proclaimed more Ms. Tina (her teacher) so we are going to go ahead and let her go two days a week. So so happy for her!!!

Enjoy the pics!!

1st Day of School Pics

2010-09-07T18:43:00.001-07:00

The first day of school was a success not a single tear. Abba got herself slightly worked up at bed time and shed a few tears claiming she was not ready for school but I assured her she would do fine. And just as I had hoped she jumped out of bed this morning ready to tackle her day. Myself, Ricky and Kaylyn walked her in this morning and kissed her goodbye and she just waved and said I love you. Well, not even a tear for her mommy but I was very proud of her!!! I probably would have cried but I was so confused by the drop off process that I got distracted and even forgot to take a picture of her at her desk. So hopefully I can take one in the morning. She was very happy to see me at pick up and so excited to tell me about her day.

Ready for 1st Day of School...

2010-09-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is September 7th and my mommy life as I have known it is over. I became a mommy in March of 2006 and the moment my Abba was placed in my arms I knew I was finished working. I was fortunate enough to have the decision to be a stay at home mom and it has by far been the best choice for our girls. I am not a big scheduled person so we have just enjoyed doing what we like. Staying up late, sleeping late and just having fun and now that will all change, I must put us all on a schedule. And now that my first baby girl is headed off to school I have found myself tearing up when I think of her in school but the time has finally arrived. In June Abba turned 5 but we decided to hold off on kindergarten. She missed going to preK in 2009 due to our move to Louisiana so we just felt this would be the best option for her. We have enrolled her in a great private school and I am looking forward to watching her grow. Last week we met her teacher Mrs. Tammie and her classmates. Her class is made up of older 4 year olds and younger 5 year olds. There are 10 students in her class and by early October 5 of the students will turn 5. So I am thrilled that she will be with other children close to her age. Her class is also perfectly balanced in gender and race. So while I am sad for her to be a full time student I am excited to watch her grow. So I will send her off in the morning with a smile and cry once I safely return to my car and anxiously wait to pick her up at noon.

The above picture is her uniforms all ready for the week. The entire state of Louisiana wears uniforms, which I really dislike. I have heard all of the reasons as to why others love them but I disagree. I think it deprives them of their individuality and does not teach them life lessons. And I get that it makes things easier when it comes to picking out clothes in the morning but to me that is just part of growing up and learning about yourself. But that is just my opinion...unfortunatley we have to wear them as it is the rules but I must admit my Abba looks adorable. I cannot wait to post her 1st Day of School picture tomorrow.

Update...

2010-09-06T19:23:00.000-07:00

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Well, I started out the year strong with journaling for the girls but life got busy and here it is September and I have not posted a single thing since Chinese New Year. Keeping the text short is really easy. Living close to home has been great, over the last 6 months the girls and I have spent a ton of time in Texas with family and friends just enjoying life. I can only think of a few major milestones:

End of May 2010

Kaylyn decided she was ready to wear big girl panties. She is doing amazing and only wears pull ups at night.

Kaylyn also decided that she was ready to start talking much more. She will still require speech therapy but has come a long way.

End of July

The girls attended vacation bible school for the first time a Second Baptist Church in Kingwood, TX with friends. I volunteered in their classroom and it was an amazing week watching them grow. They were very nervous about the experience but within moments were overjoyed with being there. It was wonderful watching them learn about the Lord and embrace the experience. Not to mention shouting praise songs at the top of their lungs :)

August 26th

The girls had their six month check up with their dentist and both got a frown from him. Abba is a thumb sucker and Kaylyn loves her binky. I am a believer that children find secuity in certain items. For some it is a bottle, blanket, stuffie, thumb or binky. And I am also a believer that when they are ready they will put it down, so why push them until they are ready. I promise you they will not go off to college with a binky or thumb in their mouths. With that being said we knew our girls would likely need braces but as the dentist not so nicely pointed out it can be worse than that. Eventually thumb or binky sucking not only causes the teeth to protrude but can cause problems with the jaw. Jaw correction surgery sounds awful as it would require the jaw to be broken, trimmed down and put back properly. Obviously we do not want either of our girls to endure unnecessary surgery so we had to enforce no thumb and binky sucking. The first night was very sad, they both whined all night. Abba pleaded with me that she was not ready, she talked as if she were having to give up her best friend. They managed to only whine but I layed in bed listening to them and just cried my eyes out for them. BUT we made it through that night and it gets easier everyday. When Kaylyn thinks about her binky she tells me dentist said no, no, no and Abba she is having a harder time with her thumbs but has not even once put it in her mouth. We bought some adorable thumb covers from www.thumbuster.com and they are the perfect reminders while she is sleeping. They both have a chart that is eight weeks long and they put stickers on each day and at the end of the eight weeks they get to pick a prize.

Enjoy the pics!!!

Chinese New Year 2010

2010-03-18T22:29:00.001-07:00

I am late posting pictures from Chinese New Year. We celebrated with many old friends and met lots of new friends. The first celebration we attended was in Mississippi, my friend Margie invited us. I met Margie via a yahoo adoption group lovingly named April Pandas. This group began in 2005 and consisted of many moms and a few dads from all over the world who all had our paper work logged in to adopt from China in April of 2005. This group of waiting moms quickly became very close and 5 years later many of us still keep in touch. So it was very exciting to meet Margie and her family.

The second celebration we traveled to Houston to celebrate with friends from our old play group at the local Families with Children from China.

My girls are pictured in a embroidered T-Shirt by Jen at Fly Away Home Clothing Boutique , please check out her blog she has many new Spring outfits and several fundraisers.

St. Patrick's Day Then and Now...

2010-03-18T20:58:00.001-07:00

Happy Family Day!!!

2010-03-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, March 17, 2010, St. Patrick's Day and also the day we celebrate our Family Day or as the girls like to call it "Abba and Kaylyn Day". We traveled to China to adopt Abba in March of 2006 and spent St. Patrick's Day there, you can see us as a family of 3 sporting our green in China here
and in March of 2008 we traveled back to China to complete our little family and once again spent St. Patrick's Day there, you can see the girls in their adorable green here. So we have decided that St. Patrick's Day is our Red Thread.

We started our celebration early because the girls daddy had a few much needed days off this weekend. We spent the day shopping on Friday, Saturday we spent the majority of the day at the Baton Rouge Zoo then had a fabulous seafood dinner and Sunday was pretty relaxing with bike rides, park and we squeezed in Build a Bear. Our weekend was busy but we wanted to enjoy every moment of it as we don't know when daddy's next off days might be. The girls of course LOVED every moment of it!! Today was pretty laid back but the girls and I did dress up in our green and baked a green cake to celebrate their day. Just before Ricky got home I told the girls we need to get dressed up because we were going to go out to dinner. Abba headed to the closet in their play room and got her favorite dress up clothes and began getting "dressed up". I giggled and asked her what she was doing and she said well you said we were going to get dressed up....hehe she thought I meant pretend dress up and I just meant good clothes. She was bummed and was so excited at the thought of wearing dress up clothes out of the house. Now for me this is hard...I look at people that let there kids out in dress up clothes and think oh no way not my kids. But when I saw the pure joy on her face how could I say no. They were so excited and felt very special (although you can't tell in pictures). We took the girls to our favorite local Chinese restaurant...it was yummy as usual.

To My Sweet Abba...Mommy cannot believe it has been four years since you were placed in my arms. I waited for you and loved you my whole life and the day you were placed in my arms forever changed my world. Abba you are a precious little girl who marches to the beat of your own drum. I love how sweet and kind your heart is, I love to watch you "Rock" and dance your own little groove and sing your precious heart out. You are an amazing Big Sister full of love and you work really hard to be patient. I love your sweet smile, beautiful brown eyes and that silly bone you show us on a daily basis, although mommy must admit I fear having a class clown on my hands. Abba you have filled mommy's heart with such joy, you are an amazing little girl to parent. Mommy loves you with my heart Baby Girl.

To My Sweet Kaylyn...we have come so far from that scary day in China two years ago. You were a very scared little girl, who was so confused and unable to trust. It broke my heart to see you in such pain. We have had many hurdles and at times it seemed every time we took one step forward we would take two steps back. I love how your trust has grown, I love how you willing give mommy kisses and tell me I love you. I love how strong willed you are and how determined you are, while difficult in the toddler years they will be wonderful qualities to possess in your adult years. I love your smile and your huge belly laughs. I love that you are my girly girl who insists that every dress be called a Princess dress and you must wear one daily. You are mommy's princess, sweet girl you challenge me in ways no one ever has and you force me on a daily basis to learn to be a better mommy, for that I am thankful. We have had many ups and downs, we still have good days and bad days...sweet girl mommy will always be here to hold your hand in life and help you through the good and bad days. I love you with all my heart Princess.

I took a few pictures over the weekend and today I hope you enjoy them :)

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Happy Valentine's Day...

2010-02-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

I love to take pictures of my babies just as every mother does. Sometimes they are just typical snap shots and sometimes I feel like it is my lucky day. I LOVE these pics and they had fun. I still dream of the day I have time to learn more about photography and editing photos. I love to look at photography websites for ideas and I have started tinkering with Lightroom (which is very hard). I am sure I have done a ton wrong in these pics but I think I love them because my babies happiness is perfectly reflected in the photos.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Lots of Love,
Heather

1st Day of Home School

2010-01-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

Wow...the first day of home schooling was much easier then I expected and was a ton of fun. As I mentioned in my previous post the Calvert School has the lesson plan done for you. So I set everything up last night. Abba was so ready this morning and kept asking is it time for to do school yet? The lesson plan can be used by parents or in a preschool setting. The suggested time was nearly 3 hours but there was just no way I could make it last that long. In about 45 minutes we talked about the year, month, days of the week, weather, traffic signs, why we use traffic signs, colors red and green and sang a song. Oh and I introduced braiding with colored threads...they found this to be a challenge. They absolutely loved it, I should have started this months ago.

Now Abba attended preschool last year so I am curious if there will be lesson's that will challenge her or if this will be a refresher prior to kindergarten. And as for Kaylyn I will see how it goes. Due to her delayed language she is behind in other areas. She is just learning her letters and numbers but I am going to teach her right along with Abba and see how it goes. If anything she willingly engaged herself in conversation with us this morning and that will definitely help her with her speech.

When we completed the lesson:

Abba...Is that it?

Me...yes until tomorrow.

Abba...are we going to do this everyday?

Me...most days I said

Abba...YIPPEEE

It is funny though she tells all that they did in her old preschool. For instance we started out at a table and she said...at my school we sat in the floor. So we moved to the floor, it made her happy.

Have a good day!!

Heather

Home School

2010-01-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

When we moved to Louisiana we decided not enroll the girls in a local preschool, for many reasons. There are only a few preschool choices in Zachary and only one has a half day program and that school did not have an opening. The other schools are Monday - Friday from 8 am to 3 pm, the girls are just not ready for that nor are we. So we have decided to try home school preschool, I registered the girls at Calvert School. I received the box last week and opened it today. I was amazed at all that was inside...lesson plan, craft supplies, story book, nursery rhyme CD, puzzles, stringing beads and who knows what else I overlooked.I needed a place that does the lesson plan for me and has a place for me to go for help. So I just finished review tomorrow's lesson plan. The thought of this scares me to death but it looks simple enough. Wish me luck :) I will take pictures tomorrow while they are having their first official "school time".

Lots of Love,

Heather

The Last Five Months...

2009-09-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

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So does anybody still follow this blog? I finally took the time to catch up with my bloggy friends and it was wonderful to see what has been going on with everyone and made me realize it has been way to long since I posted an update on our little family of four. I like to blog because it is very helpful to make a photo book at the end of the year. So if I bore you with all of the details please accept my apology but I need to document it all for our end of the year family photo book :)

Wrote the below memories in September 2009...

So last time I posted was July 4th....wow where has the time gone. This summer was such a blurr and before I knew it 2009 was over. So I will attempt to remember it all. Just after we returned from our trip to Texas in June 2009, we put our house on the market and it sold for full asking price in a week, such a blessing. Just after July 4th, Ricky had to report to his new job in Louisiana and the girls and I made the trip with him to house hunt. This trip was very stressful as we did not expect housing to be as expensive as it is. Needless to say our dollar did not stretch as far in Louisiana. So we ended up signing a contract on a house still under construction in Zachary, LA, which is a very small town. At the time I remember being very upset having to live so differently than I was used to. Zachary has a few fast food restaurants and a Wal-Mart, we must drive 25 minutes to Baton Rouge for anything else.

After the girls and I got back to Omaha my wonderful father-in-law stayed with the girls and I to help out. Just before we left for Louisiana, Ricky called me to let me know there was a problem with the house in LA. He felt that I would not like the kitchen now that the cabinetry was in.

On July 24th, the movers loaded all of our belongings in Omaha. It was a bitter sweet goodbye to a place that I grew to love. When me moved to Omaha it definitely was not love a first sight. The thought of living SO far away from my Mama broke my heart and the winter was long. But just before we found out Ricky was being transferred, we finally had the opportunity to go back to Texas to visit, this was home or I so I thought. During that trip I realized that I did not miss Texas at all, I just longed for my old life, family, friends, etc. And I realized that I LOVED Omaha, Nebraska and I was very sad to leave. I actually acclimated to the winter very quickly, I loved the experiences of seasons, the cooler weather, wonderful neighbors, and the area we lived was wonderful. We could not have asked for a better place to raise our kids. When we first moved to Omaha there were so many things that were just "weird" to me but looking back I wish I would have embraced it from the beginning. Because all of my "weirds" make me laugh so hard now. For example I could not believe Pop or Fizzy Pop was equivalent to Coke, because in Texas everything is a Coke. And the idea of this city loving girl having to walk through an actual field to pick a pumpkin off a vine blew my mind. I did not know pumpkins has stickers. In Houston the pumpkins were already picked and laying in a nice clean field waiting on me. And winter clothes were a foreign concept to me, now I long for sweaters, scarfs, cute fall jackets and jeans. So this gives you an idea of some of the silly things I let bother me. Such an amazing life lesson.

So after the house was loaded my father-in-law loaded a small U-Haul full of cherished items I refuse to send with the movers, me, the girls, two dogs and a cat and drove us for nearly 18 hours to Louisiana. Upon arrival Ricky took me to see the house we signed a contract on and he was right I did not like the kitchen. It turned out to be only three feet wide. If you were standing at the stove top you could to do a little spin and you would be at the sink...not for me. I am not a cook but as all mommies know you spend most of your time in the kitchen, I could just feel the stress thinking about it. So we started searching for another house immediately. Signed a contract on a new build and lived in a temporary apartment for six weeks. During this time life became even more of a blurr. I was in shock of where I was living and found myself having to constantly remind myself of our families many blessing. I decided to not move any furniture to the apartment because this would mean moving twice and considering Ricky's work schedule this would be put on my shoulders. So we moved an Ikea chair, TV, toys and blow up mattresses to the apartment. It felt like camping out everyday....while it was fun for the girls it made for some habits that we are having to break now. Like they thought the air mattresses made great trampolines and Kaylyn was always my good sleeper. But not having the confinement of her room and toddler bed well that went out the door. Now bed time is a battle with her and I struggle with keeping her in her bed...ugghh.

August was a tough month for me....I struggled with the move, loss my grandfather and had to put my 16 year old dog down.

On August 14th, my dear PawPaw lost his battle with emphysema and COPD. He had suffered with the disease for more years than I can remember. His passing was something that our family had been prepared for, for many years, but it was still very sad to say goodbye. I have so many cherished memories of my Pawpaw and I think I will always miss him. I was the oldest grandchild and most of my life my brother and I were the only grandchildren that lived close by. I was very close to my Pawpaw and saw him in a way that most did not. He was a very grumpy man and he butted heads with many people over the years. But at 34 I still looked up to my Pawpaw just as I did as a little girl. As I grew I learned who he was as a man but to me he was my loving Pawpaw. As a little girl he told the grand kids spooky stories and he loved to sing and tell jokes. He did wood work and I remember "building" things with his scrap wood. My name is Heather Renee' and he always called me Heffer Nae and only he could call me that. Every time I saw him he would smile his wonderful smile and give me a big hug and say hey Heffer Nae. When I was a little girl he would hide behind the front door to scare me when I would go to their house to visit. I know scare a kid but you had to know him, it was all in fun. But I caught him one time and I told him "I seen you hine (behind) that door". I must have been very young and until the day he died he still told me "I seen you hine that door Heffer Nae". I could go on forever with my memories of him but I am going to share one final one. My grandfather always drank beer growing up and he would always asks the grand kids to get him a beer from the refrigerator and he would give us a quarter or two for doing so. I know that sounds horrible, but truth is my grandfather in my adult opinion did have a drinking problem but I did not live his young life and I think as many people did from him generation had many hardships and drank. So back to the memory as kids we did not care about the beer but wanted the quarters. Once, I became a mommy he began giving my daughter's quarters just as he did me when I was a little girl. No they did not get him beer's he just gave them to the girls. The memory is special I guess because the last day I was able to carry on a conversation with him I heard my treasured "hey Heffer Nae" and as he faded he wanted to give my girls quarters. They took them and I put them away and will always cherish them. Loosing him was hard and I sit here crying as I relive it but he is better now. It was also hard watching my grandmother losing him I think she was in shock. I am just as close to my grandmother and I was worried about how she would go on without him. But remarkably she is doing much better than I expected. My grandparents were married for 62 years I think...that is a lifetime. I hope I will be blessed to be married for that long.

Just before we moved into our new house we had to make the decision to put my 16 year old dachshund to sleep. Ace, he had a great life. Ace, was given to me for my 19th birthday from my high school boy friend, which was not my hubby. Ace had been through SO much of the hard parts of my young life with me and I really struggled with saying goodbye to him. Ricky used to tell people the dog was part of the "package" but honestly he too loved Ace. Over his lifetime Ace had four slipped disks in his back and Ricky being the wonderful man he is paid for each and every surgery. He used to joke and say if you opened Ace up he would be made of gold. I loved that Ricky loved me so much that he made sure my dog was taken care of. Now obviously this was all prior to kids. After kids while he was still very much my oldest baby, but he became a dog. As he aged he had many problems, arthritis, dogie version of dementia which lead to many other problems. We treated them as long as we as a family could but it became very stressful. We found a wonderful vet here in Louisiana and she told us all the medical reasons it was okay to make the decisions. She was wonderful and even called me a week later to check on me.

So on August 31st, we closed on our new house and it has been a whirl wind every since. On move in day the movers struggled with getting us in. We lost 1300 square feet and had WAY too much stuff for this house. I was begging family to take stuff. It has been a month now and there is still clutter but I am rid of all items that we don't need. I am waiting on new furniture to be delivered and I need to start working on drapes and decor so it will feel homier. I still don't like living where we do but I remind myself of the lesson I learned in Omaha. Our family is so blessed, we are all healthy and together and have all the necessities of life.

Continued January 1, 2010...

So let's see I will follow up with my last post. The girls have settled in nicely over the last couple of months. They got new beds shortly after we moved in and they now share a room. It took a while to get used to the change but they are sleeping fairly well and their relationship is absolutely beautiful. In the past they had separate bed rooms and more then once during the day I would hear Abba shouting at Kaylyn to get out of her room or to quit touching her things. Our house in Louisiana is three bedroom so they are sharing one bedroom and the other is set up as a play room. Now they play wonderfully together and love sleeping in the same room. I recently thought maybe we had made the wrong choice to put them in the same room because Kaylyn sleeps soundly through the night and Abba wakes up frequently. I talked to Abba about separating their beds and she was upset at the taught of it. So they are still sleeping in the same room and I am excited to see their sisterly bond grow.

On September 29th, Kaylyn turned 3 and she immediately began speech. The public school in Zachary accepted her evaluation from Omaha and she is doing wonderfully. A Speech teacher comes to our house weekly. She is a kind young woman and Kaylyn adores her "play time" with Ms. Kellie. The Speech Pathologist that evaluated Kaylyn believes she is nearly a full year behind in her speech. With her biggest problem being not willingly using her words. She can copy almost anything we say but chooses to not use the words on her own. So Ms. Kelly is helping us find ways to engage Kaylyn and get her to join in on conversations. Kaylyn is a loud child and if she is awake noise is pretty much coming out of her mouth. So since she began speech she is engaging in conversation more and as I have always suspected she is going to be a serious chatter box. But she is still struggling. For instance with her potty training she can use the potty but is only half successful. She will come to me to tell me she needs to go but just gives me this look. I know the look and I can usually help her but all the while I explain to her to use her words. It is slow progress but we will eventually get there.

October 3rd, we headed to Texas to celebrate Kaylyn's 3rd birthday with friends from our old playgroup. I had arranged a company to coordinate a Princess Tea Party. I was adorable and fun was had by all. There was princess dress up for the girls and knight suites for the boys. They got to wear make-up and make a craft. Tea time was adorable they drank pink lemonade in real china tea cups and had lunch on princess plates with real silver utensils. They listened to a short song by the princesses teaching them about manners and etiquette before they began. All was forgotten...lunch was enjoyed with fingers but they were very careful with their tea cups. Kaylyn had a wonderful time but we would not know it looking at the pictures. Once her lip gloss was applied she refused to smile in fear should would mess it up. It was too funny but after she ate and had cake she was all smiles. She had a day fit for a Princess and it was spent with her special friends.

October, 19, 2009, I left for Las Vegas, to be in one of my best friends wedding. It was the first time I have ever spent the night away from the girls. I was very nervous but when I landed in Vegas I was fine. This was the first time I had been to Vegas and let me tell you I felt old there. My partying days have long since been over. I really did not see much because I was very busy helping Wendy with her wedding. But I did sneak away after the ceremony to the M & M store to pick up a few gifts for the girls. The wedding was beautiful and I was truly honored to stand beside her on her special day.

October 28, 2009, Ricky and I decided that Miss Abba needed to get a bigger bike. Her knees were nearly hitting the handel bars on her bike, but she was convienced that her bike was perfect. Perfect because it was purple with little white kitties on it. So we set out to find the same brand bike just in a bigger size. Well as it turned out that was last years model. We did however find the same brand in the same purple color BUT it had butterflies on it. The guy at the bike shop tried to convience her that butterflies would be faster than kitties, but she was not buying it. But once we put her on it off she went and willingly passed her smaller bike down to Kaylyn. Now Kaylyn was VERY ready to move up to a big girl bike but she is so little that even a 12" bike is too tall. We had to have the seat cut down so that it could be adjusted super low. It is still to big but she loves it. Kaylyn loves to feel like she is a big kid and this bike makes her feel very big....she is so proud of herself.

So let's see now for the holidays. For Thanksgiving the girls and I went to Texas to spend it with my family at my grandmas house. Growing up our family always had Thanksgiving at my MawMaw and PawPaw's house but once my PawPaw got really sick my grandma did not get to cook. She said she wanted to have Thanksgiving at her house just one more time, she has relized that it is too much for her to do alone. So I went down a couple of days early to help out where should would let me, and it was wonderful to spend Thanksgiving there. And I was VERY excited to see my girls finally open up and get to know my family. They have always been very shy and rarely let any of my aunts or uncles hold them or play with them. But this visit was totally different and I really enjoyed watching them interact with everyone. The girls also got to see some of their friends and they played for hours. Wheee...I am tired thinking about all of this again. Now for Christmas...the girls and I headed to my brothers house the week before Christmas to spend time with him and his girl friend and daughter Hannah, the girls Nannie (my mom) and PopPop. I was really happy to be able to see them, as last year we lived too far away and did not get to spend the holiday's with family. Once again my girls really took the opportunity to get to know and interact with my brother. They always like him but were always a little shy. I loved watching them develope a wonderful relationship with him this trip. The girls were very spoiled with gifts by all. On this same trip I learned that my brother was going to propose to his girlfriend, which I was very happy to hear. She is a very sweet girl and has a beautiful daughter who I adore, as do the girls. A couple of days after Christmas I got the call from my brother, he said "Well I did it and she said yes" Yippieee!!! We cannot wait for Amanda and Hannah to officially join our family.

If you are wondering why daddy does not make any of the trips with us, well in Louisiana he works a lot, so he does not get much free time. BUT he was actually able to take and entire 9 days off for Christmas. It was wonderful to have him home all to ourselves. We really did not do anything special but enjoy each other. The girls loved having him home as did I. On Christmas Eve we let the girls each open a gift. Which was pajamas, which their daddy does not like the idea of. He thinks they should get to open one toy and the pj's. Ricky struggles with surprises, he is like a child and cannot wait to give presents out. When he grew up his family opened presents from their parents on Christmas Eve and Santa presents on Christmas Day. My family spent Christmas Eve with my extended family and opened gifts from our parents and Santa on Christmas Day. So we are still trying to decide where to meet in the middle. But we will keep adjusting until we find the way for our family.

Christmas day the girls had a wonderful day. Ricky and I have always had a joke between each other that someday Abba would show some excitement on Christmas day. Her first Christmas she was only 18 months and really had no idea what was going on, but a new parents Ricky and I were over joyed. The next year was the same no super excitement and last year well now we had two baby girls and the same thing neither of them were excited. But Ricky and I once again joked that this year was going to be the year. So you can imagaie our excitement to see to super excited little girls jumping around as they opened all that their little hearts desired. Abba must have thanked us and Santa a million times. So of course Ricky and I exchanged high-fives and said woohoo it only took 4 years. LOL we felt like kids ourself :) Santa brought Abba a Karoke machine and Kaylyn a American Girl Bitty Baby and our family Rock Band.

We were able to bring in 2010 with daddy at home. He bought the girls some smoke bombs, sparklers and some of those little pop things you through on the ground. The girls like to see fireworks from a distance but nothing loud up close. I like to watch fire works but want no part of lighting them or any of that. So the thought of the girls holding sparklers makes me cringe but daddy is determined that they grow up wanting to try new things and not fear everything like I do. So with caution he helped them. Abba is like me afraid of her own shadow and Kaylyn she is always ready to take on anything without fear. She really made me nervous...was so glad when that was over. Kaylyn wanted to go to sleep around 11pm and Abba stayed up with us to watch the ball drop. And in an instance 2009 was over.

So I can now say that I have grown used to where we live. I do not like it but I count my blessing and consider it another stepping stone in life. We will not be here forever so I am doing my best to make the best of it. But the girls and I have been spending as much time as possible in Texas. Ricky works a lot so every chance we get it seems we have headed to Texas. I have promised myself that I would take every opportunity to spend time with my family and friends, because who knows when, where or how far Ricky's job might take us next. I have really enjoyed getting a small portion of my old life back.

So if you are still reading this you must be my mom or Ricky's mom or NanaK. If anyone else is still ready thank you for making your way through my ramblings. I needed to complete this journaling for the girls yearly photo book. But I do promise to post regularly in 2010 and they will be much shorter posts :)

Lots of Love,
Heather

Kaylyn Funny....

2009-08-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

I know I have been absent from my blog lately but we have been so busy. I promise an update very soon. Until then I had to post a Kaylyn funny...well kinda.

Kaylyn is not potty trained and actually shows very little interest in it. But this afternoon she decided she wanted to give the potty a try. So she stripped down, not sure why this helps but both of my girls did this during potty training. She actually used the potty and was very proud of herself and so was mommy. She hopped down flushed the potty, this is the best part watching the water swish around. I got her dressed and she was washing her hands when she bumped her binky that was sitting on the counter and it flew into the toilet. Yuck straight to the trash. Now she is almost three and really needs to give up the binky but she is still VERY dependant on it, so I have not pushed the issue. Seriously she will not go to college using a binky ;) Anyway about an hour later she strolls into the living room dragging her blanket and sucking on a binky. Suddenly I start screaming as I realized she had dug the yucky binky out of the trash and it was in her mouth you know the one that took a splash into the toilet. After I finished scrubbing her tongue and teeth with her toothbrush I did not know whether to laugh or hurl for her.

Yup she is my kid....I love my silly girl. But I think it is time to say bye bye to the binkies.

Heather

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

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The girls and I had a wonderful day celebrating the 4th. Our neighborhood had a parade...kids decorated their bikes, scooters, wagons, strollers etc and paraded down the street to the local park. At the park there was a bounce house, Uncle Sam was there giving the kids patriotic stickers and taking pictures. Abba kept forgetting his name was Uncle Sam, she called him Mr. Sam...LOL at least she was using her manners. They had young girls putting temporary tatoos on the little ones, which the girls were very unsure of. Not sure why because they love them at home, I think it had to do with a stranger was apply them. They had hot dogs, cookies and frozen ice pops. The girls were super excited to start their day, Abba asked me no less than 20 times if it was time for the parade before 10 am, LOL it started at 11:00. All and all it was a great day, it could have only been better if daddy would have been with us. He had to work.

And to my Mama, I know you will read this, I missed hearing your EWWW's and Awwww's while watching fireworks. Next year I will be much closer to home and we can celebrate together. I love you!!!

Hope you all had a Safe and Happy 4th!!!

Heather

May/June Update...

2009-06-28T13:01:00.001-07:00

I just thought April and early May were busy. WOW the remainder of May and June have been action packed. In May the weather began getting lovelier by the day. We made our first trip to the zoo and it was wonderful. The girls had a great time and the zoo added a lift ride, you can just sit and see most of the zoo below you.

On June 5th, Abba turned four...oh where is my baby going. I just want her to be little forever. She loves to go to downtown Omaha and every time we go she points out the Quest Center, which is where concerts, etc are held. It is tons of blue neon lights and statues out front so she finds it really exciting. So we decided to buy tickets for the Ringling Brother's Circus at the Quest Center, she was SO excited. We had a great night celebrating her big day and finished it off with a Diego cake.

A few days later, June 7th, we packed the car and the dogs and began our road trip to Texas. This was the first time we had been home in 10 months, we were all very excited. So excited we decided to drive the entire 15 hours in one day. The girls did amazingly well...better than mommy and daddy at times. It was wonderful to see our family and friends. My brother was kind enough to let us stay with him for 10 days. This was the first time the girls had spent extended time with him, so it was fun watching them get to know one another. My brother plays guitar and writes music...this was right up our little rock stars alley. Abba was so excited to get to play a real guitar and even more excited to play drums. She still talks about how much fun she had with her Uncle Daymond. Kaylyn enjoyed it just as much and was a natural on the drums, binky and all.

Abba also had her birthday party in Texas. We did not tell her we planned a party until the morning of the party. I wanted it to be a surprise but she sometimes gets really shy when she gets embarrassed. So we told her and she was beside herself excited. Just as she did last year she had asked for a Cars party...the girl still loves her Cars. Next year I am thinking we will have a 50/50 chance that she will again request Cars. We rented a Cars jumpy house and got a Cars pinata. After you look at the pics...yes we know it was a pull string pinata but the strings kept falling out and you are supposed to wack a pinata not pull a string :) The kids had a blast hitting it but we did eventually have to break it open for them. It made my heart so happy to see the pure joy on Abba's face to play with her friends from Texas. She misses them all so much and had a blast playing with them.

On Wednesday, June 17th, we were packing the car to make the drive back to Omaha the next morning, when Ricky received a dreaded phone call from work. He is being transferred. We have only lived in Omaha for 10 months and we are just now beginning to feel settled. I am sure most of you are thinking we would be happy to leave cold Omaha, but truth is we are very sad to leave. I especially thought I really disliked Omaha, but I realized while visiting Texas that I LOVE Nebraska. I love the laid back mid-western life and the fabulous seasons, how clean everything is and how friendly people are. When we left Nebraska on the 7th it was only 55 degrees, once we arrived in Texas it was 99 degrees. I had forgotten how miserable the heat is at home. So I truly only miss my family and friends.

So we are back in Omaha and dreading this transfer. This time Ricky's job will be in Livonia, Louisiana. We will live in either Baton Rouge area or Lafayette area, who knows. We are not at all excited about moving to Louisiana, we will be back in Hurricane territory, the schools are bad and it will be hot. But together we will get through it and make the best of it. And if all goes well hopefully this job will just as short lived as Ricky's current position. We are very grateful for the opportunity for Ricky to continue moving forward with his career, we are very blessed.

So we have chosen a Realtor and our house now sports a for sale sign. Ricky has not been released from his current job and is unsure when he will leave for Louisiana. The girls and I will stay back and hopefully get this house sold. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Until next time...

Heather

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Overdue Update...

2009-05-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the long overdue update. Life has been so busy since my last post in March.

At the end of March one of my best friends came to visit and she was sporting some extra bling. Just a couple of days before she was scheduled to visit her boy friend of two years, aka Rob, "FINALLY" popped the question. So of course as soon as the plane touched down in Omaha, we hit the streets looking at wedding dresses. Before she visited Wendy and her mother did a little dress shopping themselves and Wendy found one that she really liked. But the dress could not be bought off the rack and would have to be special ordered and would be July/August 2009 before she got the dress. Wendy and Rob are planning a fun wedding in Las Vegas and had hoped to get married immediately. Well plans changed when she realized dress shopping might take a while. With that said Wendy lives in Houston where there is amazing shopping. So when we set out to shop in Omaha it was with hopes to show me a few things she found in Houston. We traveled 45 minutes from my house to Lincoln, Nebraska to a bridal store that carried the dress brand she and her mom found. We pulled probably six dresses for her to try on but wouldn't you know they had the dress she fell in love with in Houston in her exact size and the exact color combination she wanted AND she could buy it off the rack, no special order. When she tried the dress on our eyes filled with tears it was THE dress and it looked beautiful on her. They are now planning an October wedding...Wendy and Rob I cannot wait to celebrate your special day with you.

Wendy~As I sit here thinking of all that you have been through to get to this moment my eyes fill with tears. I walked this long road with you and I cannot express how very happy I am for you. Wishing you a blessed and happy life together ~ Love Ya

Oh if anyone is wondering whether or not she bought the dress in Nebraska, yes she did. So how does one get a wedding dress on the plane. Well, she decided against it...my mom was driving up the following week to visit so she took it back to Houston with her.

Immediately after Wendy left Nana and PopPop came to visit for Easter. The girls loved having them here. Since we have lived in Nebraska every time my mom comes to visit the girls make a cookie house with her, it has become their tradition and Easter was no exception. The girls enjoyed the visit and we were sad to see them leave. Easter was quiet but the girls had fun hunting eggs. Abba did a wonderful job helping her sister find eggs and Kaylyn really could not figure out why we were picking eggs up in the yard. But she was very pleased to open the plastic eggs filled with candy.

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At the end of April, we boarded a plane to Florida for our annual reunion with our travel group from Abba's adoption. Our group consisted of five families, all of our girls lived at the same orphange, at the same time. All but one of the girls share June birthdays so at the reunion we celebrate the girls birthdays. We are hoping that our girls will stay in touch over the years and develope an amazing bond. The Stevenson Family always host the reunion at their home and we always have an amazing time. This year was no exception, they were wonderful hosts and their new home in Florida was beautiful and provided a relaxing weekend. Our last day in Florida our family spent the day at Clearwater Beach. The girls loved it but mommy was hot. It was at most 85 degrees but I guess I have gotten used to the cold in Nebraska and the hummity combined with the heat felt like 100 degrees LOL. I don't think I miss Texas as much as I originally thought, I think I just miss my old life, family and friends. Can yall all just move up here :) If I tought Florida was hot in April I will probably pass out this summer when we visit Texas LOL. While we were in Flordia, Ricky's dad flew up and took care of our house and the animals. He stayed for a week with us and the girls had a great time getting to know their Pawpaw.

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After PawPaw left life started slowing down a bit. We have had severl big milestones in April and May:

April 15th - Kaylyn joined Abba's big girl gymnastic class.

April 30th -I converted Kaylyn's crib into a toddler bed. I had mentioned before that she had started climbing out of her crib. She started climbing out so much just before we left for Florida that I became afraid that she might fall and break a bone. So Kaylyn helped me convert her crib and was very excited to be able to climb in and out like a "Big Girl". This scared me and I thought on no this cannot be good but come nap time she climbed in and has stayed in it. It is funny its almost like she thinks the crib rail is still there. A couple of days ago she was having a moment not wanting to take her nap and was crying and screaming up mommy. I laughed to my self realizing she did not actually think to just get up....but thank goodness. The big girl bed is working out beautifully and she loves it.

May 2nd - Both girls got new bikes. Up until this point Abba had a tricycle but was not interested in riding it nor could she. Kaylyn on the other hand really wanted to ride. So we got them both new bikes and what do you know they love them and they both just took off.

May 9th - Kaylyn got her first salon hair cut. Her hair is so thin and whispy that I had been cutting it. But it was getting to where I was having a hard time keeping her "Baby Mullet" under control. So I found a girl who is just wonderful with the girls. After the hair cut she paints their nails, puts make up on and sprinkles glitter in their hair. Kaylyn did amazing and LOVED all the girly stuff.

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May 10th - Mother's Day

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May 12th - We pulled Kaylyn from the big girl gymnastic class and rejoined the mommy and me class. She did really well for the first two weeks but the next two weeks were bad. As soon as the instructor touched her she started melting down. The first time it happened I just pulled her from the class. I talked to the instrtuctor and had given her permission to work with Kaylyn if she melted down again. Well, sure enough as soon as Mrs Liz touched her she started melting down. Liz tried holding her in her lap during stretch time to help calm her down but Kaylyn would not have it. This really came as a big shock to us as Kaylyn is a very social child and is always first to jump in and join the fun and quickly say goodbye to mommy. So we decided to rejoin the mommy and me class. Today was the first day back and she was hesitant when we first went in the gym, not sure if I was leaving. But once she figured out I was staying she was all smiles for the entire class. So maybe we are at a new part of attachement or maybe she is just not ready, who knows. But she is happy to have me in class with her and that makes me happy.

Until next time....

Love,

Heather

Family Day Celebration...

2009-03-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

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Many families that have adopted children celebrate their child's "Gotcha Day" also known as Family Day or whatever the family chooses to refer the special occasion to. For us it is a day to not only express how blessed we are to be mommy and daddy to our girls but to also celebrate the union of our family through adoption. Abba joined our family on March 12, 2006 and Kaylyn joined our family on March 16, 2008. We have decided to tell them the story of our trip to China on their special day and celebrate our "Family Day" on St. Patrick's Day. Curious why????

Chinese folklore says there are invisible red threads that connect a newborn child's spirit to all who will be important in her life. The threads my stretch and might even tangle, but they will never break. As the child grows, the threads will shorten, drawing closer those people who are destined to be together.

Through adoption I have heard many amazing red thread stories. Stories of how families grow through adoption that you know only God could have done. So if you are wondering why St. Patrick's Day, well because we were in China on both occasions over St. Patrick's Day. So our families "Red" thread is "Green".

The girls and I had a great day. The weather was beautiful and we started our day dressed in green. For lunch I made shamrock sandwiches and green milk, they thought that was too funny. Then we baked a giant green cupcake to celebrate our special Family Day. We ended our day having dinner with daddy at our favorite Chinese Restaurant.

To My Girls...Mommy loves you all my heart. And to everyone else Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Heather

PS - I hope you enjoyed the pics but can anyone tell me what Party Like Your a Murphy means? LOL I did not type that it was my choice on Smilebox.

Custom Clothing and Hair Bows...

2009-03-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

I LOVE to order custom clothing and hair bows for my girls. With Spring in the air I wanted to share a few of my favorite links, tell them I sent you:

Jen at Fly Away Home Clothing has made many dresses for the girls. Jen's clothing is quality made clothing. She has the most adorable little model showing off her lastest desgins, you can check them out at:

www.flyawayhomeclothing.com

Jolene at China Patterns, also has some adorable girls who model her latest creations. Jolene and Jen from Fly Away Clothing work together on many items. You can check her site out at:

www.chinapatterns2005.com

Jen at Three Cup Cakes, makes the best hair bows ever. She has made many custom hair bows for my girls. Jen responds to my inquiries very quickly and is always happy to help. She is very professional in every thing she does from taking your order right down to the packing of the bows. The bows never arrive in a package where they can be crushed during shipping they are always prefectly packed in a box. Oh and most importantly the bows stay in my girls hair. You can check Jen's eBay store out at:

www.threecupcakes.com

Happy Shopping....

Newest Member of The Wells Family

2009-03-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

Before we had the girls we had three dogs and a cat. After we brought Abba home we had to make the horrible decision to put one of our dogs down over aggression. He was aggressive prior to Abba joining our family but it got progressively worse afterwards. He was from a puppy farm and as a result had many problems. After we returned home with Kaylyn our kitty managed to escape and had a horrible accident. Kitty now lives in heaven with Jesus. After kittys accident I was so sad, I just felt like goodness everytime we go to China I loose a beloved pet and we decided no more pets for a long time.

However, for the past year Abba has asked about kitty and continually asked us when she could get a new kitty. I have talked to her about the importance of being a good pet owner and about adopting a kitty from a shelter. So we went to look with intentions a waiting a few more months but the perfect kitten found our girls. This little kitty just came running up to them ready to play while her brother ran from them in terror. Knowing the importance of having an animal that approved of our family we made the decision to bring her home. Abba is thrilled to say the least.

So far she is doing a great job taking care of her kitty who she has affectionately named "Daisy". Why Daisy you ask...from Oswald of course, one of his best friends is Daisy the flower...click here to read about Oswald

Abba normally watches Noggin on and off during the day. But when I woke her up this morning her first words were, where my kitty mommy? She has spent ALL day playing with her an petting her, barely breaking to eat. Kaylyn of course loves Daisy as well but we are having to keep them separate until Kaylyn can learn gentle. Daisy is only 8 weeks old and was spaded only a couple of days ago.

We go to the vet first thing Monday morning to get a kitty exam and the remainder of her vaccinations.

Love,
Heather

March 12, 2006

2009-03-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Three years already where does the time go. On March 12, 2006, a tiny little girl was placed in our arms, she was the most amazing little blessing and continues to be today. Now that I am a mommy I know exactly what people mean when they say, "They grow up so fast". Every stage with Abba has been fun but I have to admit we have had a ton of fun between 3 - 4. She is still mommy's baby girl but wants so much to be a big girl. She is more independent, her language has changed so much and she has an imagination that keeps me laughing. This week her imagination has been taking her on pirate treasure hunts....and instead of saying Arrrghh Matties...she says Arrrghh Me Ladies...LOL

Baby Girl...it has been an amazing three years and as much as mommy wants you to stay little forever, I look forward and feel blessed to be the one who gets to walk beside you through life.

I love you all my heart Baby Girl....Mommy

Enjoy the pics and check out our blog on St. Patrick's Day, it will be a special day for our girls.

Love,
Heather

Update...

2009-03-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Well, I thought it was time that I take time to post an update on the girls. In January the girls seemed to have another milestone each week. February was a pretty quiet month for Kaylyn but Abba had a HUGE milestone.

I promised pictures of the girls in their adorable gymnastics attire...are they not too cute. They are doing great in class and absolutely love it. They are currently in separate classes but in April we are going to see if Kaylyn it ready to leave the Mommy and Me class to join the big girls.

January 26th - Abba's preschool class celebrated Chinese New Year. In December I spoke with her teacher's and asked if they could incorporate the holiday into their lesson plan. This was their first celebration of Chinese New Year and they not only taught Abba's class buy they embraced it and celebrated all week in all classes. I had the honor of offering input for the lesson and attending her class celebration. They read the book "My First Chinese New Year" and made a kid friendly lion and did a lion dance. Abba was thrilled to provide fun snacks for the event and give each of her friends a red envelope.

January 31st - We attended the Heartland Families with Children from China, Chinese New Year luncheon.

February 11th - In January with the help of a reward chart she began sleeping in her own bed. The chart covered a full month, at the end of each week she got to choose a small prize, which every week she chose a different Lightening McQueen matchbox car. On February 11th, Abba successfully completed her chart and we allowed her to pick out a larger prize...no big surprise she picked a VTech laptop in the shape of drum roll..........Lightening McQueen. Our girl still LOVES the movie Cars. And to top off this huge success for her, at the same time she decided to sleep without pull ups and she is still accident free. After a month of successfully sleeping in her bed she is still doing a really good job trying to stay in her bed, on occasion she will asked to fall asleep in my bed then I move her to her bed or every now and then I will hear the pitter patter of little feet in my room in the wee hours of the morning. Over all this is huge for her because she is very much a mommy's girl and has forever been attached to my hip and while I am SO proud of her truth is I miss her cuddling up with me at night :(

February 14th - The girls had a fun Valentine's Day. The girls woke up to balloon's and candy, which made their day. Abba celebrated at school and did a wonderful job writing her friends names and signing hers.

January and February also brought many first with the snow. It has been snowing on and off since December but Mommy did not embrace it and volunteer to play until February. It was fun for all of us and the girls had a ton of fun learning to make snow angels, trowing snow balls, sledding and making a snow man.

Lots of Love,
Heather

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

Geek Squad to the Rescue....

2009-02-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

To my new hero Steven at Geek Squad...you rock!!!

I have had the most stressful past 24 hours, I was literally making myself sick. Last night after I got the girls settled into bed, I sat down with my laptop and camera prepared to download my photos and work on my blog. When I download my photos I store them on an external hard drive. I had become very lazy and had quit backing up my files to DVD. So you can imagine my shock when I realized my hard drive was not being recognized on ANY computers. I was up until 3:30 am researching my recovery options and basically just sick. I have 15.000 + videos and photos....I suddenly felt as though I had let my girls down. I mean they came to our family with very little history and now because of my laziness I had let them down. Did I really just loose all of their photos and videos? I barely slept...it seemed like I work up every few minutes. I woke up at 8:00 this morning still sick and thought I would try to access my drive again...still nothing. So I called Geek Squad and talked to Steven who gave me little hope of them being able to recover my data. But he did say if the drive was not harmed that it was possible. So I headed to Best Buy and my stomach was literally in knots and I could feel the tears coming. I explained my situation, and I know every ones data is important to them. He disassembled my drive and to my surprise he said my data was there. WOOOHOOO!!!! He was able to transfer my photos to a new drive and I was so excited. I had told him to expect a hug from me if he saved my data...I think I shocked the poor guy when I actually hugged him LOL.

So tonight I am backing everything up on DVD's. What a hard lesson to learn.

I have some great pictures to share after I finish backing up my files.

Nite,
Heather

January Happenings...

2009-01-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

I promised myself when 2009 begain that I would attempt to post more often on our family blog. I want to journal more for my girls. I have made a few posts this month but I have missed a few big things, so this is my attempt to cover it all....

January 5th - It was three years ago that we first laid eyes on our beautiful Abba. Oh the excitment of that day was tremendous. I remember getting the call as we were driving to our agencies office, I was shaking so bad I could not write the details down. I remember them telling me she was 7 months old and that she was beautiful. As a mom-to-be you have this unconditional love for your child, I loved her before I ever knew what she looked like. And the very moment I laid eyes on her I knew that this was the child that had been growing in my heart.

January 7th - Kaylyn climbs out of her crib for the first time. Daddy was on duty while mommy was out shopping. When I left the girls were napping, as usual Abba woke up first so she joined daddy downstairs. A little later daddy decided he better wake Kaylyn up as she had been sleeping too long. As he went up stairs she met him with a camera in hand....she had been taking pictures LOL. Thanks goodness she has only done this a couple of times, she is definately not ready to leave her crib.

January 13th & 14th - Both girls began gymnastics. Both girls LOVE gymnastics but very differently. They are in seperate classes because of the age gap but both classes work on the same things each week, just at different levels. Abba loves the class because she thinks it's fun. Kaylyn however seems to take it very seriously. She has a ton of fun but is very into what she is learning. We recognized shortly after Kaylyn joined our family that she has tremendous upper body strength and is really flexable. We just watched for a while and decided to do a trial class...it was a hit. Oh and they look so darn cute in their little outfits. The outfits are very different as well. Kaylyn does not have an opinion yet so I picked a cute unitard. Abba on the other hand does have an opinion. When I pointed out at her first class how cute all the girls looked would she like to buy a unitard she said, "MOMMY, no I want to wear shorts and shirt" LOL so I managed to find something she liked. Target has a line of little girls fitness clothing. She calls it her cool gymnastics clothes. They are cool because they look like daddy's work out clothing...too cute. I will try to take pictures of them in class soon.

January 14th - Abba begins sleeping in her bed with the help of a sticker chart. Abba has pretty much always slept with us and daddy has lost his space more than once. So I thought with the help of a sticker chart it might work. It has been tough as she is scared of the dark and shadows. And the night light is not enough...so I have resorted to dimming the overhead light and this helps. Her sticker chart covers a full month, she gets a sticker for each night she sucessfully sleeps in her bed and at the end of each week she gets a small prize. So far she has completed a full week on her chart and is the proud owner of a brand new Lighting McQueen match box car.

January 16th - Abba sleeps in her bed for the 1st time without a pullup. Abba was the easiest child ever to potty train. On her 3rd birthday I told her that I ran out of diapers and put a pair of undies on her. That was 7 months ago and I could probably count the accidents on one hand. I was not sure her night time training would happen as easy but she has been dry for a few of months at night now. So when she began sleeping in her bed I told her when she thought she was ready she could quit wearing pullups to bed. She was VERY excited and was immediately ready to try. She has never woke up in the night to go potty so I was shocked when she woke up two times the first night. She is still accident free and is very proud of her self.

January 19th - Kaylyn wears her 1st Piggy Tails

January 20th - We celebrate mommy's birthday. This was my first year to live away from my mom. Every year for as long as I can remember my mom has made me the same cake. A white cake filled with mini chocolate chips and vanilla icing filled with mini chocolate chips. It is so good and so rich. There was a time when I probably ate most of the cake myself but as I have aged each year I eat less and less because it seems to get richer and richer. But I love it nonetheless...so I baked my own cake this year. My mom has always kept it simple and baked my cake in a 9 x 13 pan and just iced it in the pan (now I know why). Well, I thought I would step it up a notch. I bought two 9" round cake pans, easy enough right. LOL note to self never aspire to be a cake chef, decorator person. I was so excited that I did not wait long enough for the cake to cool properly. So it was a sliding, crumbling disaster but it tasted oh so yummy. So these pictures are for you mom...and next year have your bags packed because I am going to bring you to my kitchen to bake my cake :)

Lots of Love,
Heather

Sick Baby Girl...

2009-01-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

***UPDATE***

Well last night definately got worse before it got better. I think she has nothing more than a common cold. This morning I woke up to a little voice in my ear saying "wakey, wakey, mommy...time to get up"...it was my Abba girl wearing her biggest smile. She has no fever today and is running around as if last night never happened. Now mommy could use a nap :)

I am laying in bed with my laptop listing to my Sweet Abba sleep. Poor thing suddenly became sick tonight and her fever spiked to 102.5. The fever is down now but as she sleeps I hear the rumbling in her little nose. She looks so pretty just sleeping. When I watch my girls sleep my heart always swells and when they sleep I always hear my most treasured noise...thumb sucking or binky sucking.

I thought I would play around with a new program and I love how this picture of Abba turned out.

Nite,
Heather

Abba Funny....

2009-01-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

Abba is a very sweet, quiet little girl who does not have an ounce of agressivness in her. Kaylyn however is very different, she is sweet, LOUD and has no problem being agressive when need be.

A couple of days ago we decided to take the girls to the mall play area to burn off some energy, because it is way to cold to play outside right now. Abba is usually very shy and is content to play by herself. Kaylyn though likes to be right in the middle of all the action which usually means the kids are twice her size. One little girl decided she wanted to play with Abba and begins following her around. But Abba has the look on her face as if she were trying to escape the little girl. While Kaylyn meets a little boy who is probably 3 and they immediately hit it off. They are climbing, hiding and chasing each other all over the place and you can hear the echos of their laughter. Mean while Abba has finally escaped the little girl and realized the little boy was playing with Kaylyn. Abba makes a shy attempt to join them but the little boy was quick to put his arm around Kaylyn and looked at Abba and said "my baby". Kaylyn and the little boy carry on playing and Abba comes to me and says "that my sister mommy". So I explain that the little boy does not understand that they are sisters and they are just playing and that she sould try to join in on the fun. So she gives it another try but once again the little boy puts his arm around Kaylyn and says "my baby". I could tell Abba was upset so I went to pick her up and told her to just tell him that they were sisters and that she wanted to play with them. Third try is the charm right...well the conversation with the little boy repeated with "my baby" and my Abba girl replyed with "No that MY baby sister we got her in China"...LOL

Love,
Heather

Happy New Year...

2009-01-01T21:38:00.001-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe time ringing in 2009. Ricky was actually off New Year's Eve night so we headed to downtown Omaha to see the firework display. I was pleasantly surprised at the large display and the sound was just amazing echoing through the buildings. The girls loved it but it was entirely too cold. After the fact we realized we would have had a great view from the parking lot of daddy's work in the warmth of our car. Oh well...next year :) We stopped for yummy pizza on the way home. Daddy and Kaylyn went to bed very early but Abba stayed up and watched the ball drop with mommy. I am convinced that 2009 will be perfect for me as I got my New Year kiss from my Abba girl.

2008 for our family was VERY busy so I welcome 2009 with hopes of a slow relaxing year. But I can say 2008 was a year of many many blessings.

January 23rd - after waiting 170 days we received our Letter of Acceptance from China to adopt Kaylyn.

February 25th - we received our Travel Approval from CCAA, which gave us permission to travel to China to complete Kaylyn's adoption and finally bring her home.

March 11th - Myself, Ricky, Abba, Nana and MeMaw boarded a plane to China.

March 12th - Abigail was placed in our arms 2 years ago

March 16th - After many months of waiting we finally have Kaylyn in our arms

March 17th - It's Official Wu Hui Ci is officially Kaylyn CiAnna

March 27th - Our family of "4" is finally home in Texas

May 5th - Doctor's at Texas Children's Hospital confirm that Kaylyn's VSD is in fact very small and should close on it's own.

June 5th - My sweet Abba turned 3

July 16th - We find out that Ricky's was given a promotion but it was also a transfer to Omaha, Nebraska and he must report to Omaha ASAP.

July 19th - our Texas home went on the market

July 20th - our house "SOLD"

July 26th - we officially readopted the girls in Texas so they could have Texas Birth Certificates.

July 30th - the girls and I travel to Omaha to house hunt, we find a house and our offer is accepted.

August 8th - I closed on our house in Texas and the movers packed our house up.

August 25th - I closed on our new house in Omaha, daddy was traveling

September 16th - Abba started Preschool

September 29th - Kaylyn turned 2

October 1st - 6th month visit with our Social Worker (two follow up visit are required by China after an adoption is complete)

October 7th - Kaylyn had an appointment with a Pediatric Cardiologist at The Children's Hospital in Omaha for a second opinion on her heart. We received great news that the VSD (hole) has closed even more and can no longer be heard via a stethoscope and that when she returns in October 2009 they suspect it will be fully closed.

Well the rest of the year was just full of holiday rush. It started at Halloween and here we are a new beginning in 2009. Whew I am tired just thinking about all of that happening in one year. It was a busy one but a very blessed one and I look forward to a great year this year.

Happy 2009!!!

Love,
Heather

A Little Piece of Home Arrives...

2008-12-29T13:08:00.000-08:00

The girls and I just finished lunch...a proper lunch for them and Little Debbie snack cakes and a red licorice stick for me :) I know I am a horrible eater but if you know me you already know that. I am snacking on my licorice and the girls on a couple of gummy snacks when the door bells rings. The postman dropped a package at my front door...it is from my Mama. I knew she was sending a care package but it slipped my mind. As soon as I remembered what she was sending I trashed the licorice stick and ran to the door like a little kid. I could barely rip the box open fast enough, of course the girls were excited because mommy was. Inside I found all of our Christmas favorites...oatmeal cookies (daddy), chocolate chip cookies (mommy and Abba), no-bake cookies (daddy), and magic cookie bars (mommy) Oh how I LOVE magic cookie bars...all the chocolate chips and coconut....yummy. I usually don't share but the girls recognized the chocolate and fell in love. Every year my mom bakes me my very own batch. Oh and there were kisses, peppermint nougat and Reeses Peanut Butter Christmas trees....I think I am in sugar heaven. As for Kaylyn's favorite, she tried them all and I think she loves them all. Kaylyn is our girl who has a passion for sugar in any form. LOL

Nana the glitter pens are a hit. The girls and mommy love them.

I love you Mom and thanks for sending us a little piece of you.

Love,
Heather

Merry Christmas...

2008-12-25T22:32:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I know we did.

Christmas was very different for our family this year, we now live away from our families. For years Ricky and I have hosted Christmas at our house on Christmas day with my side of the family. My mom and Step-dad would spend the night and my mom and I would wake up early the next morning to begin cooking. We would make it all that morning and because I am not much of a cook my mom would literally have to pack her entire kitchen up just to have the necessities to cook with...LOL...but she ALWAYS forgot something and it was usually celery for the dressing. Mom I know you are reading this and you have no idea how much I missed cooking with you this year but you will be proud I do have a properly stocked kitchen now with gadgets galore.

We had to wake the girls up this morning so daddy could enjoy part of the morning with them. Daddy had worked all night and needed to get some sleep before he headed off to work again Christmas night. This was Kaylyn's first Christmas home with us and she seemed to enjoy herself. She of course did not understand why she was getting new toys but loved them regardless. And Abba we thought at 3.5 years she would be shouting with excitement. But she is still our shy girl and had to warm up to all of the excitement. They were such good girls this year, Santa was very good to them.

This year was so different yet so fun ...it was nice not to have to get up and start cooking to meet a schedule. And it was fun for the girls and I to stay in our jammies all day and just have fun...no stress, no cooking, just eating lots of sugar and playing. We even recorded the Disney Parade and watched it twice. At the last moment I did end up cooking a small meal...turkey breast with mashed potatoes and corn. We ended our day by packing daddy a lunch of goodies and he was off to work. The girls of course were exhausted from the excitement and all the jumping. Daymond your gift was so perfect not only for the girls but for me. They needed something to burn some energy and get some exercise up here in the cold winter weather but for me haha I LOVE how it wears them out....they both took 2 hour naps and went to bed early.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and to my family and friends back home I missed you all today. And to my Mama...I love you, I never knew I would miss you so much, I hope you had a wonderful day.

Lots of Love,
Heather

2008 Christmas Photos

2008-12-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

As I mentioned in my previous post we had family pictures taken and they turned out wonderful. The girls did a great job listening and actually looked at the camera and smiled...yeah. Enjoy the cuteness.

Happy Holidays,
The Wells Family

The Girls 1st Snow

2008-12-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Tuesday, December 16, 2008, was like any other busy schedule filled day.

9:00 - Drop Abba off at school
9:30 - Kaylyn's visit at Ped Office for another Vaccination
10:30 - Hair Appointment
11:30 - Pick Abba up from School
Noon - Naps
1:45 - Wake from naps to prep for Christmas Pics
2:20 - Family Christmas Pics

Whew...what a day.

Well, there was just one little thing I did not plan for when I filled my schedule...SNOW. It was maybe 4 inches but it might as well been a foot. Now being a Texas girl I have only ever seen Texas slush and VERY little of that. I did not even know how to drive on the stuff. Thank goodness Ricky was home to help me out. The day started out good and we arrived at the pediatricians office early. However, they were running late which threw my schedule off. My new hair guy is downtown and downtown for Omaha is usually only about a 30 minutes drive from where we live. So on the first day of snow I have to make this long drive by myself. I was petrified to say the least. Everyone drove so slow, there was snow and ice and big chucks of what I thought were rocks but Ricky told me was yucky snow clumps that fall from cars as they drive. My heart was racing as I drove down the highway and I was gripping the steering wheel so hard and I was driving like a little old lady with my face almost in the dash. Thank goodness I did not get in an accident or the airbag would have done a number on my face. Well, I did not make it on time...I was 20 minutes late. I have to admit I did shed a few tears...I was so scared. So I have vowed to not drive myself any distance until winter is over...LOL Once I calmed down and had a moment to take it all in I realized just how beautiful everything is topped with snow. It makes the magic of Christmas feel all the more magical.

We ended our stressful and busy day with a little snow play. Abba absolutely loved it and Kaylyn was not sure. Abba has played in snow that was blown in so she knew it would be fun. I did get lots of smiles out of Kaylyn today though. Enjoy the pics.

Lots of Love,
Heather

Holiday Card Pics...

2008-12-10T21:23:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

As I mentioned in my previous post we set up our tree while my mom was visiting and took a few pictures. My intention for the pictures was of course for Christmas cards. I have a few good ones to choose from but I have many funny pictures and wanted to share. They are too funny...getting a 3 year old and a 2 year old to look at the camera at the same time and smile is nearly impossible.

Love,
Heather

Update...

2008-12-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My mother and step-father are also known as Nana and PopPop but recently Abba has been calling them Nannie and Poppie. She still goes back and forth with Nana but I think Poppie is going to stick. I am sure most of you looked at the pictures before you read the update and please know that the song has nothing at all to do with the pictures. But it is Poppie's favorite song....LOL actually he cannot stand to hear it because when I was much yonger I used to aggravate him by singing it at the top of my lungs. Now 13 years later I still call him every time I hear it playing...love you Poppie :) Ok enough about me now on to my girlies...

We have been so busy since my last post. The girls are doing great. Abba is loving school and seems to be learning more each day. A few things she has learned...she can spell her name, write it, knows her days of the week and months of the year. I was very hesitant about the preschool she attends at first I felt as though I was dropping her off at daycare. But a few weeks ago she was telling me she did something last February. I was like wow you know the word February...and she proceeded to sing a song reciting the months of the year. Our move has also helped her learn where we live versus the state we used to live in. She has also become interested in globes. Every time she asked to be shown where we live, where Texas is and where China is.

Kaylyn is also doing great. After the move she really struggled. We think it might have taken her back to a sad place but we worked our way through it and she is happy and settled in our new home.

My mom came to visit this past weekend...it was so great to see her. When we lived in Texas I only lived 20 minutes from her and I saw her often and talked to her everyday but now I miss her terribly. I still talk to her everyday but only seeing her every few months is not enough. She was here in September and it felt like it had been forever. Abba was so excited to see her Nana and I was not sure how Kaylyn would react but she remembered Nana and loved seeing her. Weeks before my mom arrived Abba picked out their project to do with Nana...a gingerbread house. Mom I am sorry but I had to post the cute pictures. My mom decided to make the house before everyone got dresses one morning. I am glad she did because what a sticky mess. The house was adorable but had very little icing...Miss Kaylyn has a sweet tooth and every time I looked she was dipping her finger in the icing. We also put our Christmas tree up and visited Santa while Nana was here and took a few pictures.

And finally our new little friend Norwood. Santa (thank you Memaw) sent an elf to visit with the girls daily. Norwood watches over the girls and reports back to the North Pole each night to let Santa know whether or not the girls have been naughty or nice. Daddy calls him the snitch...LOL Each morning upon his return from the North Pole he is hiding in a new place and the girls have to find him. Kaylyn of course does not understand and Abba was not sure of the idea at first but now she is starting to get it and it is working. This morning she woke up ready to find "that sneaky little elf" as she calls him. And when she was doing something she should not have been doing today I reminded her Norwood was watching, she immediately stopped...LOL However, Norwood will only be visiting us until Christmas Eve once Santa leaves the gifts Norwood must return to the North Pole. The name Norwood...daddy named him. Upon receiving the elf you are given a fill in the blank letter to read to your child. One of the blanks of course being a name for your elf. I asked daddy if he remembered the name of the little elf that wanted to be a dentist in the Rudolf movie....he said Norwood. I know that is not the right name but it was funny so we had a name. Anyone remember that little elfs name?

As for Omaha we are still LOVING it...however, it is COLD. OMGoodness when you are from Texas and it is always hot...well there is no way to be prepared for the cold. I knew it would be cold but wow it is really cold and the wind is crazy. We have seen snow flurries but very little has stayed on the ground. But I am so excited to see the first snow. I have never seen snow...so I will be like a over grown kid playing in the snow. I want to do it all...sledding, snow ball fights and of course build a snow man. Check back often I am certain it will snow soon and I will post pictures.

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. I know I am super excited for the girls and I am hoping we have a white Christmas. Happy Holidays.

Lots of Love,
Heather

Halloween Cuteness...

2008-11-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Abba's preschool had a Halloween program that was adorable. However, it would have been much cuter had my little princess not had stage freight. We were told about the program but had no idea what would go on other than they were making "witches brew". But we did not know about the cute songs she was learning. Oh the kids were so cute singing the halloween songs. Now that the program is over Abba sings them all the time...LOL.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Trick or Treating was short and sweet this year. Daddy had to work and mommy was nervous about going out. Our neighborhood seems very safe and has a ton of kids but it is just that we don't know anyone. So we went to a few houses and headed back to hand out candy. Abba is still a Lightning MaQueen fan hence the costume...she has loved Cars since the movie came out in 2006 and Kaylyn was a precious lamb.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween.

Heather

Happy Halloween...

2008-10-31T14:47:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a Safe, Happy and Spooky Halloween. More pictures soon.

Too Funny...

2008-10-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

I watched this video on my friend Margie's blog. OMGosh this is hilarious and all you mommy's out there know this is exactly how we feel. Enjoy!!!

New Pics...

2008-10-14T21:46:00.001-07:00

Check out Kaylyn's two year pics on her blog...

www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-02T21:26:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox photobook

This afternoon we packed up the girls and their wagon and headed out to the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day and only about 70 degrees. It took us forever to find it as we still do not know our way around Omaha. Once we found it I immediately noticed something very different about the pumpkin patch versus pumpkin patches at home.

Some of you know me well and others do not so I will fill you in. When I was ten years old my parents moved us out to a small town because the area of Houston we lived in was turning into a not so desirable side of town to live in. So we moved to the "country"....I would prefer to leave this little town unnamed but when my hubby reads this he will scold me for not mentioning his beloved home town...Dayton, Texas. As a child this was a ton of fun...we had a couple of acres of land and there was a ton to explore and I was very much a tom boy...LOL hard to believe now. Later in my teen age years I gave up my tom boy ways and began to dislike the "country" and all things about this little town. When Ricky and I married I was 22 and the first thing we did was move. Personally I would never go back if it were not for our parents still living there. So where I am going with this is...now I love my suburban life and dislike all things country. And honestly I would love to live downtown in a loft of a big city one day. I am by no means an outdoorsy girl. Ok so back to why I am telling you all of this...so we are approaching the pumpkin patch today and I see the pumpkin field. And I say what those are still on the vine we have to walk in all those high fields and actually "pick" a pumpkin. My first reaction was NO WAY am I doing that. In Houston the pumpkin patches that I have been to are very different...the pumpkins are not in an actual pumpkin patch. They are already picked and moved to a cleared field. Just pick up the one you like...LOL. You know the saying "Country Come to Town" well today I felt like "City Come to Country". Honestly, at home I have of course seen corn and pumpkins but here it is just different. I have never been so close to corn fields and actually I have never been in an actual field. I have never seen apple orchards or ate a fresh apple...which was so good. As I began having fun with the girls all of my worries of all things yucky and country disappeared. I did go out into the pumpkin field and I loved it. However, my cute little flats are a mess and Ricky of course laughed at me. I still say I would not like living in the country but I can say one of the things I love about Omaha is where we live. We live in the suburbs and less than a mile away is Target and another couple miles is a mall but just ten minutes away you can find yourself in the country usually in a corn field. It was so nice to actually experience a true fall day and all of its beauty.

I hope you enjoy the pictures they are only a slight reflection of how much fun we had today.

Lots of Love,
Heather

Long Over Due...

2008-09-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

So many of you have pointed out that I have not updated my blog....I apologize, I know this is long over due. So where to begin...well in my last post the movers were arriving soon. And they did promptly and did a beautiful job packing, everything made it and nothing was broke...woohoo. After the movers packed us up the girls and I stayed at my mothers house for a week before Ricky flew home to drive us to Omaha. We drove because I have a few things I would not give the movers and I have two dogs who would not have done well on a plane. We were so worried and stressed about how the kids would do in the car for 1000+ miles. Well ,they did great but my oldest dog, who is 15, did horrible he literally whined for two days in the car. After arriving in Omaha we knew we would be staying in a hotel for no less then two weeks because our house would not be complete until then. So we put our dogs in one of Omaha's so called "reputable" kennels and prepared ourselves for the long stay. Within days Abba was insistent that we go see our puppies and I found their living quarters to be in horrible condition, mind you I was paying more for their private room than we were for our hotel a night. So I packed them up and we all headed back to the hotel....that was fun...two adults, two kids and two dogs all in one hotel for two weeks. But we survived and we are now in our beautiful home!!!

We have been in our home a month now and we love the house and Omaha. I was very nervous coming here thinking I would have to do without so much that I am used to in Houston. But I have been pleasantly surprised. This is a beautiful city and it has everything Houston has, except for Chick-Fil-A :-(

We are mostly unpacked except for a few boxes here and there. However, I do wish I had a magic wand that would put everything in its proper place...oh and decorate too. Oh well I will have the long cold winter to work on the house.

Since we have been here we took a trip to the zoo, which we all loved. Most of there animals have glass enclosure so you can sit right next to them. I LOVED the gorillas. While at the zoo we bumped into our travel companions Meg, Russ and their precious Caleb. Caleb is from the same orphanage as Kaylyn. Once we settle in a bit more we hope to spend some time with them. The highlight for the girls was having Nana (my mom) and Memaw (Ricky's mom) come to visit them. Abba loves her grandmothers so much and since our trip to China thinks that they are a package deal where one is the other should be too :) While they were here we celebrated Kaylyn's 2nd birthday. She was sooo precious enjoying her cake and opening presents. Her official birthday is September 29th so check out her blog tomorrow for some pi cutes.

Kaylyn went for her two year check up this past week. She weighted a whopping 21.6 lbs and is 32 inches tall. I was very impressed with the new pediatrician, he was very through. He sat with us for over an hour reviewing Kaylyn's past medicals. During his exam he of course listened to her heart and quickly said that he could "not" hear her VSD. So what does this mean???? It might possibly mean that the hole in her heart has closed. We will know more soon, on October 7th we are taking her to see a cardiologist here in Omaha. We are going to get a second opinion because I am concerned about her not growing...the pediatrician agreed. She has gotten taller over the past 6 months but has not gained weight. Having a heart defect proper growth is always a concern.

The girls have done beautifully during all of this change. They seem to like it here and the house. Abba has always been our go with the flow girl, as long a mommy and daddy are in site she is fine. And Kaylyn has surprised us, she too did very well during the transition. However, we think she is in a new phase of attachment. Her attachment has come SO far over the past six months. She has gone to not wanting a lot to do with us to really liking us now. So much so that we think she is beginning to test us over the last week. She has always loved her bed, in the beginning it was her save haven away from us. And she has always been a great sleeper until this week. Oh my goodness when we put her to bed she gets ticked off and screams at the top of her lungs...no tears just screaming. When I go in there she stops immediately and wants me to hold her...that is a first. So while this makes me feel very good we still have to give her boundaries. So when she gets ticked I check on her often and she eventually goes to sleep. But and this is huge when she wakes she is happy to see us where as before if she would have been upset like that she would not want anything to do with us. I think part of this is setteling into our family and part of it is being a two year old. But we will work through it, either way.

Well I have rambled on about everything I can think of. I promise to stay more current with my blog.

Lots of Love,

Heather

Saying Goodbye...

2008-08-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

Our last night at home....the movers came today and packed up the house. Tonight I sit here staring at this blank slate with boxes stacked higher than my head. I sit here with tears in my eyes and bitter sweet feelings. This house was the first home that Ricky and I owned. We were newlyweds when we decided apartment life was not for us. Rather than buy a resale home we went for brand new. The house was built in 1999 and we moved in that October. Nearly ten years here and I have so many wonderful memories that I will take with me. The emotions of growing to who we are today the love, the struggles, the tears and the laughter. My fondest memories I think will alway be August 2004, when we decided we wanted to be parents. We began the long journey to bring our daughters "home". This home will always be where we became a family of four. I will always remember how the silence turned into loud shrieks of two little girls.

My heart will ache tomorrow as the movers load the boxes and we have to say goodbye to our "old house" but I hope that someday I can drive down this street again and still have that warm feeling of that "was" home.

Saying goodbye has been hard for me but I am also very happy to being a step closer to Nebraska. I will miss my family and friends terribly but I am so ready for our family to be under one roof again. The girls and I miss daddy more than anything and in the end we will be sad to say goodbye but oh so happy to say hello to daddy.

See you in Nebraska.....Pictures of the new home soon!!!

Officially Texas Girls....

2008-07-26T19:15:00.000-07:00

After learning we were being transferred to Nebraska we began realizing all that we would miss about Texas and we realized how much Texas pride we have.

Now rewind prior to Kaylyn joining our family. We talked about going through the readoption process which offers an official name change and birth certificate. After deciding to adopt again we wanted to wait and complete both girls readoption at the same time. OK now fast forward to when we found out about the transfer. For some reason the first thing I began thinking about was being sad about leaving the home we brought our girls to. And then I thought oh my goodness we still need to complete their readoption. Then "IT" occurred to me that if we could not get an immediate appointment with an attorney here that our girls would not have Texas birth certificates. I know that may sound silly to some but to us it is important. Texas will always be home for us. So we contacted an attorney and she got us the first available court date. As of July 18th our girls are officially Texas girls.

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky, Abba & Kaylyn

We Are Moving...

2008-07-23T21:40:00.001-07:00

We found out last Wednesday that Ricky is being transfered to Omaha, Nebraska. Why Nebraska...well that is were Union Pacific Railroad's Corportate office is. And it is happening very fast. We put our house on the market Saturday, July 19th, it was shown on Sunday, that family made and offer on Monday and we accepted on Tuesday. AND they want to close on August 11th. Oh my goodness this is so crazy. I have barely had time to even realize that I am leaving home and my mama.

So you will have to forgive my absence until we get settled. Please keep our sweet girls in your prayers as they go through yet another transition. I am sure they will do great but I cannot help but worry :)

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky, Abba & Kaylyn

Our Big Girl Turned 3...

2008-06-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

On June 5th, our big girl turned three....where has the time gone. It seems just yesterday she was placed in my arms for the first time. Abba decided she wanted to have a Cars party so Cars it was. She celebrated last weekend with her friends and cousins. She had a permanent smile on her face and she ran around for two hours like a crazy girl, but it made my heart smile to see her so incredibly happy. Needless we barely got her in the car before she passed out.

Enjoy the pics.

Lots of Love,
Heather

Going Home Barbie Winner...

2008-05-27T08:18:00.001-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sorry I do not have video of the raffle drawing, I did not realize the battery needed charging so I took pictures of the event. And the winner is....Robert S, I will ship the barbie out today. I want to thank all of you who helped us raise money for the earthquake victims in China, together we raised $255. I donated 100% of that to Love Without Boundaries earthquake aid this morning. You can click on the LWB link to read the most recent report from China.

Thank you all again!!!

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky, Abba & Kaylyn

Steven Curtis Chapman...

2008-05-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

Please join me in lifting Steven Curtis Chapman and family up in prayer. Last night the unthinkable happened to their family....they lost their youngest daughter Maria in a tragic accident, you can read the article here. Steven Curtis Chapman is a phenomenal Gospel singer but he is very well known in the adoption community for all that he and his family do to help orphaned children around the world through their foundation Shaohannah's Hope. Visit the Shaohannah's website to "Meet Maria", have a tissue as it will make you smile and cry at the same time.

The Chapman's have three biological children and three daughter's adopted from China, Maria being their youngest. I cannot imagine how they must be filling but I do know that we can help by lifting them in prayer. If you have little ones or big ones give them an extra hug and remind your self daily to slow down because you never know how much time you have.

Cinderella

She spins and she sways
To whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting here wearing
The weight of the world on my shoulders

It's been a long day
And there's still work to do
She's pulling at me
Saying "Dad, I need you

There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I danced with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of her dress
She says, "Dad, the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I danced with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She'll be gone

Well, she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowing and telling us all they had planned
She says, "Dad, the wedding's still six months away
But I need to practice my dancing
Oh, please, Daddy, please?"

So I'll dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh, I danced with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone.

Earthquake In China...

2008-05-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

By now I am sure you have all seen the reports of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake affecting many provinces in China. While our children are not from this area, I am still heartbroken for their loss. I hurts me to my soul to see the pictures of the families holding the bodies of thier loved ones. It is especially hard to see them holding children. They have not just lost their child but they have most likely lost their only child. It is estimated that the death toll will reach around 50,000. We have traveled to China twice now to complete the adoptions of our beautiful blessings and both times we have left part of our hearts in China. It is such a beautiful county that will forever be part of our family. Today, I read that one of the orphanages in Gansu has structural damage. If you remember correctly Gansu is where Kaylyn is from. As far as we know her orphanage is unharmed and the children are safe but the earth quake was felt in her province.

So you may ask why am I posting this...because I want to help those in need and I can do that with your help through Love Without Boundaries earth quake relief fund. So this is my plan....

When families travel to China to adopt they stay at the famous White Swan Hotel. Each family receives a Going Home Barbie they are souvenirs presented by Mattel (HK) Ltd. to adopting parents of Chinese orphan children staying at the the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou, China, they are not sold to retailers. What is a Going Home Barbie you ask, it is a blond hair blue eyed barbie holding a dark haired almond shape eyed baby. This trip we had two rooms at the White Swan, one for us and one for the grandmothers, so we got two barbies. So this is how I want to help...I want to raffle the barbie off and 100% of donations received will go to help children affected by the earthquake. You can help by clicking on my Chip In account and donating. For every $5 dollars you donate your name will be entered for the raffle. So you if donate $15 your name will be entered three time. The raffle will begin today Saturday, May 17th and end on Monday, May 26th.

6th Edition Going Home Barbie

Jet Lag...

2008-04-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

My Abba rarely naps and she only sleeps in her car seat or one of our beds. But here you can see jet lag has the best of her...isn't she precious. The girls are slowly catching up on sleep and are playing together a little more. I warms my heart to hear them laughing together. I will continue to post on Kaylyn's blog for a while.

Hugs,

Heather

2nd Forever Family Day...

2008-03-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

March 12, 2006, our precious Abba was placed in our arms. She has became the most amazing little girl and such a wonderful blessing. We are truly the "Lucky" ones!!!

And what a wonderful Red Thread as we celebrate Abba joining our family we are getting on the plan in just a few short hours to bring her Mei Mei home.

Visit our travel blog and watch as we complete our family.

www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

Mommy and DaDa love you Baby Girl!!!

Happy Easter...

2008-03-07T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I know it is a bit early to be wishing you a Happy Easter but considering we will spend Easter in China...why not. Miss Abba had her picture taken with the Easter Bunny today and I was so proud of her. She sat next to the The Easter Bunny and smiled and said "Thank You Easter Bunny"...so cute. Doesn't she look beautiful in "Lellow"...she picked it out her self, as well as one for her sister. I cannot WAIT to have their pictures taken together.

Our adventures in China begin in the wee hours of the 12th....follow us once again as we travel around the world to meet our newest blessing.

Journey to Kaylyn

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

China Travel Blog...

2008-02-28T09:33:00.003-08:00

The Wells Family is finally going to China to bring our newest daughter home. Follow us to China on our travel blog:

www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

Please keep our families health and safety in your prayers as we travel.

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky and Abigail (and soon to be Kaylyn too)

I Have Been Tagged...

2008-02-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

Looks like I have been tagged by my friend Colleen

I am too list 7 strange/weird things you may not know about me. The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. Post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, most of my bloggy friends have already been tagged so I am just going to air my quirky laundry for all to see :)

1. Clowns Creep Me Out....eeeewwwww

2. I have recently decided I am somewhat OCD and when I told my mom she already knew this....love you mom

3. I don't like my food to touch and I love to eat everything from the center....for example the exact center piece of cake....yummy.

4.I have this crazy rule that when I have run out of hands that is enough kids (for me)...LOL but I secretly hope to someday return to China to adopt a little boy. Thank goodness dh rarely reads this :)

5. When I was a little girl I wanted to have a monkey instead of a kid.

6. I would love to go back to school to learn more about photography someday.

7. When I smell something really stinky, I feel like the smell is in my mouth....makes me gag.

Valentine's Day Tea Party

2008-02-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

As Abigail woke up this morning Mommy and Daddy had treats for Valentine's Day...she was so excited. Later we made some Yummy Marshmallow Treats for her friends (Thanks Colleen for the Recipe). And finally we were off to our favorite pottery place to celebrate Valentine's Day with our playgroup. We arranged for the girls to have story time and tea party. This was not your typical tea party instead of drinking tea, they painted tea cups...so cute. The girls enjoyed heart shaped sandwiches and lots of sugary treats. We had a fun day...enjoy the pics.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

PS - Please remember to continue praying for Ayla and Claire.

Make a photobook - it's easy!

Baby Powder Incident...

2008-02-14T20:08:00.001-08:00

I have been promising family and friends to add this picture, I am a week late but with no further ado here is what I caught Miss Abigail doing last Saturday and of course I could do nothing but laugh. What was even funnier is I needed to be walking out the door so that we would not be late for a baby shower. Normally this would cause me big panic but what does this mama do....dust her off and out the door we go. She smelt like a new born baby all day and at times left a trail of powder behind her :)

Lot of Love,
Heather

PS - Cleaning that mess up was a disaster, all that powder burned the motor out in my vacuum...LOL

Prayers Needed....

2008-02-06T13:35:00.001-08:00

Today I am requesting prayers for two very special girls Ayla and Claire. These two little girls are very ill and their road to recovery will be long. I am asking that you check on them often and add them to your prayers.

I have added a new link section today. Look just below my picture in the About Me section (on the left). There you will see the Prayers Needed section and you can click on the link to follow their progress.

Thank you,
Heather

Doodlebops Live...

2008-02-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Doodlebops Tickets - $50.00

T-Shirt, Flag Light, Picture, Snacks - $85.00

Momma Fun Doodlebops (until she feel asleep) - Priceless

Abigail LOVES the Doodlebops. When I heard they were coming to Houston, I struggled as to whether or not to spend the money to take her, she does not like anything loud. But I decided to and I am so glad I did. She loved it and literally until she could no longer hold her eyes open she was telling me "Momma Fun Doodlebops" (she is sleeping with her flag light). Enjoy the pics!!!

Heather

Valentine Pictures

2008-01-31T20:19:00.000-08:00

Today, Abigail had Valentine Pictures taken. She had a ton of fun playing with the flower pedals, which brought lots of smiles. Enjoy the pics!!!

Lots of Love,
Heather

Remembering Referral Day...

2008-01-05T08:25:00.001-08:00

Two years ago today we received the referral of our precious Abigail. I will never forget the roller coaster ride that week was. First, it was the rumor that we would miss the cut off by one day, but it was just that a rumor...we were in!!! Everyone started getting the calls but not our agency as it turned out the courier had sent our package to the wrong sorting facility. It took three days for the file to finally arrive at our agency. I will never forget the emotion of receiving that call. We are so blessed to be Abigail's parents. She is just an amazing little girl!!

Love,
Heather

Then...3.5 Months Old

Today...31 mos old

Prayers for Ayla...

2008-01-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Family & Friends,

The adoption community is a very tight- knit community and we always try to reach out and support one another. I found out today that one of the families with our agency needs prayers. Their little girl Ayla who has been home from China less then a year is ill and could use your prayers. Click their family site Bramlett Bunch for details. ~ Heather

Heavenly Father, watch with us over your child Ayla, and grant that she may be restored to that perfect health which it is yours alone to give; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Happy Holidays...

2007-12-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

From our family to yours...Happy Holidays!!!

With Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

The Wells Have Been Elfed....

2007-12-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

I love this!!! Clik on the link below to see this hilarious clip:

The Wells Have Been Elffed

Happy Holidays!!!

Love,
Ricky, Heather, & Abigail

My Little Brother...

2007-12-02T18:23:00.001-08:00

My little brother (the one singing) has always loved to play guitar and somewhere along the way started writing songs and singing. I love this song...enjoy.

Check out this video: Mama’ s Fool

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10th Anniversary...

2007-11-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

Ten years ago today I married my best friend!!!!

Thanksgiving...

2007-11-24T17:41:00.000-08:00

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

For as long as I can remember my family has gathered each year at my grandparents house for Thanksgiving. However, at the last minute things changed this year. My grandmother received word that she needs to have surgery rather urgently. She has an artery that is 90% blocked, therefore needs to take it easy. So this year the family went every which way...some stayed home and others still came to visit. I had my little brother and my cousin and her family over for dinner. Since it was a last minute decision I kept it kinda simple but it all turned out wonderful.

Check out my cousin Stormi's blog for more fun family photos. I put together a slide show of our time together...enjoy!!!

Love,
Heather

Make a slide show, scrapbook, or ecard

This is my cousins daughter Hannah. I love these photos!!!

Taco Bell...

2007-11-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

I normally use this blog to post about Abigail and all of her cuteness, which I know I still owe you pictures of Thanksgiving. I will post them tonight...I promise. Ok so with that said we are not as cute or as funny as Miss Abigail, but I had to post about Ricky.

The funniest thing EVER happened to him last night at the Taco Bell drive thru. Most Texans like spicy food and Ricky is no exception. When you go to Taco Bell they always ask if you want sauce, you tell them whether you want mild, hot or fire. It frustrates Ricky to no end when he says yes and they give him two tiny packets for his entire meal. Well, last night he thought ok I will fix them. He placed his order and when asked if he wanted sauce he told the kid "yes fire sauce and put as many as you can put in the bag". Well, working the drive thru was a couple of teenage boys so you can only imagine what I am about to show you....

Weighing in at a whopping 4.8 pounds, Ricky did indeed get as much fire sauce as the young man could fit into the bag.

Heather

Abigail & The Computer....

2007-11-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Abigail loves to sit at my computer at watch music videos and play games on Sesame Street games.. Her favorite is video is Rascal Flatts, Life is a Highway, from Cars. Today we searched You Tube for some Elmo music. We found lots of singers singing with Elmo but her favorite was Andrea Bocelli singing "Time to Say Goodnight"....so precious. Enjoy!!

Love, Heather & Abigail

Happy Halloween...

2007-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Tonight our playgroup got together for some trick-or-treating fun. My little Pooh Bear was not happy. She would only let mommy hold her and she kept telling me "Abba scared howween" But she did enjoy getting candy and used her best manners and thanked each and every person. We had a ton of fun and Abigail came home and crashed.

Happy Halloween!!!

Love,
Heather & Abigail

Abigail's 100 Good Wish Quilt

2007-10-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Just had to share how beautiful Abigail's big girl 100 Good Wish Quilt turned out. When family and friends sent fabric and wishes for Abigail's quilt most sent us 1/4 yard. So as it turned out Abigail has two baby size quilts and my Aunt just finished a twin size quilt. It turned out so beautiful and Abigail loves looking at all of the squares. I had my Aunt put minky fabric on the back...it is so soft...I want one for myself.

If someone is reading this and still needs their daughter or son's 100 Good Wish Quilt assembled my aunt would be more than happy to do it. You can visit her site at www.nanaksquilts.blogspot.com

Love,
Heather

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

Slide shows, scrapbooks, photo ecards, and more

Today Abigail and I visited the same pumpkin patch we visited last year with some friends. She had a wonderful time. I wanted to share pictures from last year as well as this year. I cannot believe how much she has grown. And you will immediately notice last year she was bundled up and this year she is sporting shorts. Gotta love Texas....if you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes and it will change.

Slide shows, scrapbooks, photo ecards, and more

The pumpking patch also has some exotic animals. Today they had a monkey...so exciting. A little history about me, when I was a little girl I loved anything monkey. Favorite stuffed animal was a monkey. And I thought it was pefectly normal to not want kids to want a monkey when I grew up. Well today I am glad I choose to be the mommy of my precious Abigail rather than a monkey but they are still darn cute. And my most exciting news I got to hold it!!! Oh and the last picture is my absolute favorite...that is its little fingers on mine. Oh it just made my heart melt.

Love,
Heather

Beautiful Girl & My New Toy...

2007-10-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love to take pictures but unfortunately I know nothing about photography. I have missed so many wonderful shots with my point and shoot digital camera so we finally decided to buy a digital SLR. We decided on the Cannon EOS Rebel XTi....oh my goodness I am in LOVE. It would be a dream to one day learn how to properly take pictures and do professional photography. For now though I am trying to learn which automatic choice to make....portrait, landscape, action, etc... I have been driving Abigail crazy the last few days with the camera. Today when she saw the camera come out she said "No No"...LOL

Anyway, I wanted to share some shots that I think I did ok with. But seriously how wrong can you go with such a beautiful model.

Love,
Heather

Slide shows, scrapbooks, photo ecards, and more

Race for The Cure...

2007-10-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Wendy is one of my best friends, and on Saturday, October 6th, Abigail and I walked in the Houston Susan G. Komen, Race for The Cure, in honor of Debbie (Wendy's Momma). Last year we walked with Wendy but this year her Momma was able to join us along with family and friends. Our day started out very early and very wet. Before our walk ever got started it poured down rain, so we were all soaking wet, but this was for one "Special Lady" so rain or shine we were walking.

Support Susan G. Komen for the Cure, visit www.komen.org

We all have our "Heros" but for Wendy it is her Momma. In November 2004, Wendy's mom was diagnoased with breast cancer. This news was very heart breaking but Debbie did not let it define her. She picked herself up and through faith, family and friends she fought. And "Fight" she did....she has now been cancer free for 3 years.

What Breast Cancer Cannot Do
Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple Love
It cannot shatter Hope
It cannot corrode Faith
It cannot destroy Peace
It cannot kill Friendship
It cannot suppress Memories
It cannot silence Courage
It cannot invade the Soul
It cannot steal Eternal Life
It cannot conquer the Spirit

Chinese Moon Festival

2007-09-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Abigail joining our family has changed our lives in so many wonderful ways. To name one is the exposure to another culture. We feel it is very important for Abigail to learn about the rich culture of China and to stay involved.

In China and throughout many Asian countries people celebrate the Harvest Moon on the 15th day of the eighth month of their lunar calendar. The date in the Western calendar changes yearly. This year, it falls on September 25. The Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) is a day of family reunions much like a Western Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance.

Traditional foods for a Chinese Mid-Autumn feast are red for good luck. Lobster and salmon are particular favorites along with apples, pomegranates, roasted peanuts, pomelo, chestnuts, fatt koh (sponge cakes) and moon cakes.

This year we celebrated with friends who are also adoptive parents. Our group had dinner at a local Chinese Restarauant....everything turned out wonderful. And tonight I cut open a Moon Cake, which is the Harvest Moon traditional cake. Similiar to our tradition at Thanksgiving Pumpkin or Peacan Pie. Moon Cakes come in many flavors but from what I understand the tradational is Red Bean. Well our flavor was Assorted Nut with (1) Egg....hmmm.....it looked very pretty once out of the package. So the not so brave me decides to cut it open rather then take a bit and low and behold inside is (1) Egg....you must see the picture. I did take a little taste and all I can say is interesting.

Tonight's beautiful full and very bright moon.

Moon Cake - Assorted Nut (1) Egg

(1) Egg

Happy Chinese Full Moon Festival....hope you enjoy the pics.

Love,
Heather, Ricky and Abigail

Fight Against Breast Cancer...

2007-09-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Abigail recently accepted the challenge to raise funds to support the Komen Houston Race for the Cure on October 6, 2007 in the fight against breast cancer. She will be riding in her stroller in honor of her DeeDee's mommy, Debbie Frautschi, who is a SURVIVOR.
If you would like to help Abigail reach her fund raising goal to support the fight against breast cancer visit her personal page by clicking the link below.

http://www.komen-houston.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1020&px=1176645

Love,
Heather

Catching Up...

2007-08-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

I realized a couple of nights ago that I have not updated our blog since the 4th of July. We have had a wonderful summer. Abigail is growing up so much. She suddenly started talking putting 3 to 4 words together. She can recognize most of her letters and knows most of their sounds. We are still working on counting she refuses to go past two and colors we still have some work :) everything is either red or pink. But she is doing great, we have been trying to prepare her for Kaylyn and we think she is going to be a wonderful big sister. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

"I Would Die For That"

2007-07-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is a very powerful video and I thank God for the blesssing of our daughters. Make sure you have a tissue.

Love,
Heather

Happy 4th of July...

2007-07-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th!!! Enjoy your night and be safe.

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

Abigail and Her Rocking Horse...

2007-07-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

Just before my baby shower in late 2005 I was out shopping with one of my best friends. We saw what I thought and still do think was/is the most beautiful wooden rocking horse. She surprised me with the horse at my baby shower. I was so happy but I realized the horse had this crazy looking mouth and really big teeth...kinda creepy looking. But I thought oh well it is really pretty and a baby will not see what we see. Well, Miss Abigail proved me wrong. She was scared of the horse from the moment she laid eyes on it...to the point we had to move it out of her room. Just a couple of days ago she decided he was not so scary after all. Now she rides it every day...which makes mommy very happy. Because I still love that horse scary teeth and all!!! Enjoy the pics.

Love,
Heather

Abigail Turned Two...

2007-06-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well after much delay I am finally posting. On June 5th, Miss Abigail turned two. I cannot believe how fast she is growing up. I find myself each day wishing she could stay little forever. Two is such a wonderful and cute age. She is talking like crazy, trying to potty train and is a ton of fun.

We celebrated her birthday on the 9th at Pump It Up here in Kingwood www.pumpitupparty.com. It was a lot of fun for both kids and adults. Pump It Up is two big rooms with giant inflatable bouncing/climbing/moonwalk type things. She shared her special day with her friends, family and Elmo of course.

Enjoy the pics!!

Lots of Love,
Heather

PS - Visit our other blog to read our exciting news www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

2007 Reunion

2007-06-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

L to R: Abigail, Lilly, Maggie, Sydney, Lydia (March 2006)

L to R: Lydia, Sydney, Abigail, Lilly, Maggie (June 2007)

Mommies and Girls

This past weekend Abigail and I traveled to Virginia for a reunion with our travel mates from China. Our families received our girls the same day in China and our girls are from the same orphanage. We had a wonderful time and the girls are all just beautiful....so of course I have to share a couple of pictures...enjoy!!

Heather

The Little Things...

2007-05-26T14:37:00.001-07:00

As adults we over look the little things on a daily basis. Having a child brings out your inner child and you often find yourself noticing the little things once again. Today it was the rain....

Happy Feet Dance

2007-04-15T20:34:00.001-07:00

I don't know if you know who Mumble Happy Feet is but Mumble is Abigail's newest thing. A couple of weeks ago Ricky's mom bought her the Happy Feet video and ever since Abigail has been dancing her little heart out. As soon as she opens her eyes in the morning she wants to watch Mumble, we take him with us in the car and we have even been to see him on the IMAX. She cannot get enough of this adorable little penguin. Enjoy the video.

Love,
Heather, Ricky and Abigail

Happy Easter...

2007-04-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a Happy Easter!!!

Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

Roller Skating...

2007-04-01T22:02:00.000-07:00

I DO NOT want to try this....

Ok maybe I can stand up for a minute....

ahhh yes this is more my speed...

Our friends son celebrated his 9th birthday over the weekend at a skating rink. I never imagined they would have skates small enough to fit Abigail. Are those not the cutiest things ever. Anyway, she wanted no part of it. They were so heavy on her little feet. She tried to stand for a minute but seconds after I snapped the picture she lost her balance and she was done. So we decided to try the scooter out...she loved that!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

Lots of Love,
Heather

PS - the address to our other blog it www.journeytokaylyn.blogspot.com

Abigail's Mei Mei...

2007-03-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today we will give you all your first Chinese language lesson...

Mei Mei = Little Sister…Abigail is getting one!!!

On March 15, 2007, we filed our application to adopt from China again and we were approved by our agency on March 22nd. So we are once again gathering paperwork and preparing for our first home visit with our Social Worker this Friday. This time around the process is taking much longer. As of right now the estimated wait time is 24 months. That means 24 months from the time of application until we meet our daughter. So today we will estimate that we will not travel to China until April 2009.

We hope many of you will follow our journey to China once again to bring Abigail’s Mei Mei home. We will update our blog with information as I get it. On the right side of this post you will see the links section. You can follow The Wells Family back to China by clicking on Abigail's Mei Mei.

Lots of Love,

Heather, Ricky & Abigail

One Year Ago Today...

2007-03-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Then...

Now...

In August 2004, we decided that we wanted to be parents after reading an article about a local family who adopted from China. The Lord opened our hearts that very day and we knew our daughter was waiting for us in China. In January 2005, we choose an agency, Harrah’s AIM (www.hfsadopt.org) , and began completing the paperwork. On April Fool’s Day our paperwork was sent to China and the wait began. This wait was the longest wait of our lives. Each day we desperately waited for “The Call” to learn who our daughter was and when we would finally hold her. Nine agonizing months later “The Call” finally came. On January 5, 2006, at 12:05 pm, we were told that we were the parents of a beautiful brown eyed baby girl who was 7 months old. We drove to our agency to receive her information. The moment we laid eyes on those pictures we knew she was our daughter…

Gao Shao Xiao
Born: June 5, 2005

And her picture did reveal stunningly beautiful brown eyes. Again we began waiting for approval from China to travel to adopt our daughter. On March 8, 2006, we boarded the plane for Guangzhou, China, where our lives would forever be changed.

On March 12, 2006, Abigail was placed in our arms. There are no words that can describe that moment, but I know that we will never forget it. We were finally a family of three nearly 18 months after deciding to adopt. We spent two weeks in China and while we longed to return home and began our new life; we also wished those moments in China could last forever. It was as though time stood still. It was a bitter sweet departure to leave the place of our new daughter’s birth.

Now fast forward to March 12, 2007, where has the past year gone? We now have a toddler who rapidly changed once we were home. Abigail is such an amazing little girl who is very curious, happy, loving and always full of energy. Oh how we wish she could stay little forever. We cannot imagine life without her.

March 12th will always be celebrated in our house and forever be known as “Family Day”. Each day we thank God for this wonderful blessing and for entrusting us to parent such a beautiful child. Today we will also say a prayer for Abigail’s birth parents. Hoping the Lord will give them peace and let them know how very loved their daughter is.

Lots of Love,
Heather and Ricky

Baby Girl…Mommy and Daddy love you!!!

Wreck

2007-03-02T22:44:00.001-08:00

On February 27, 2007, a woman ran a red light that caused an accident. Thank God everyone involved walked away unharmed. But I can honestly say this was by far the scarest thing I have been through that involved Abigail. I unfortunately have been in other accidents but this one was very different because Abigail was with me. All I could do was think of our precious child and how very thankful I was that she was safe. A huge thanks to my cousins husband Dave who taught me to properly install her car seat...it did not move. When I turned around to see if Abigail was ok she flashed me a big smile and said aut...which means out :) We received word today that our car will be totaled which I am thankful for because I was very worried about our family having to ride in a car that had been so badly damaged.

Thank you God for keeping us safe!!!

Love,
Heather

Xin Nian Hao

2007-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

| View Show | Create Your Own

Xin Nian Hao (Happy New Year). The Lunar New Year started on Februay 18th and lasts for 15 days. This year is the year of the pig and for China it is the year of the Golden Pig, which only comes around every 60 years. We attended a dinner with other adoptive families on the 18th and will end the celebration on the 3rd, again attending a dinner which will include a Lion Dance and traditional music.

May you all have good fortune and health in this coming year!!!

Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

Mommy & Abigail

2007-02-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

I just had to share my new favorite picture of Abigail and I. Miss Abigail is 20 months old now and is such a delight. She is growing so much and I know I am only her mommy but I think she gets cuttier everyday...those cheeks are just so smoochable :)
Lots of Love,
Heather

Abigail's New High Heels

2007-01-29T15:34:00.001-08:00

I don't know what is cuter Abigail in her new high heels or her daddy dancing with her in the back ground. Turn up your volume and enjoy!!

Love,
Heather

Our Baby Girl is Growing Too Fast...

2007-01-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

I never realized how fast children grow until we became parents. It seems like just yesterday that Abigail was placed in our arms and now she is a 19 month old toddler. On days like today I want her to stay little forever. Today she slept in her big girl bed for the first time. I was so proud and sad at the same time.

Hope you are all staying warm...if you must get out drive safe.

Lots of Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail

"Shopping at Petco"

One Year Ago Today...

2007-01-05T06:20:00.000-08:00

We finally learned who our daughter was…Gao Shao Xiao…soon to be Abigail Mae-Xiao Wells.

I will never forget the anticipation of that long awaited call. We were supposed to receive the call on January 3, 2006, then drive to our agency to receive our referral packet. So on the 3rd, Ricky and I along with my mother, Wendy, Aunt Barbara and Aunt Kay decided we would be a step ahead and wait for the call at the mall near our agency. When my cell phone rang my heart began to race, it was the agency, but it was not “the” call. They were only calling to inform us that DHL had sent the packet to the wrong hub. I will never forget the pain and disappointment. And January 4th was not much better…the packet was still in transit. But on this very day January 5th at 12:04 pm we finally received that long awaited call and the pain was instantly gone. So myself, Ricky, my mom, Amber and Wendy drove to the agency. It was as though time stood still when they handed us her pictures. My heart just sank, I knew she was my daughter and I knew that I already loved her but to finally see her precious face is a moment I will never forget.

God truly knew what he was doing when he opened our hearts to adoption. He blessed us with a beautiful daughter who compliments us perfectly. God is so GOOD!!!

Lots of Love,
Heather

Merry Christmas

2006-12-30T05:42:00.001-08:00

In 2006 we were blessed with a beautiful daughter and I thank God daily for bringing this special child into our lives. It is amazing how one precious child completely changes your life and gives it a whole new meaning. I put together a short video for Abigail and wanted to share. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and may you have a Safe and Blessed New Year.

Love,
Heather

Visit with Santa...

2006-12-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

As we waited in line to see Santa my heart began racing and my hands were shaking like crazy. I was so nervous for Abigail. But to my surprise she sat on Santa's lap and did it with a smile!!! When Abigail is unsure of things she usually clings to mommy. But I have been prepping her, telling her all about Santa, Rudolf and Frosty since Thanksgiving and it paid off!!! Well maybe I tricked her a little...LOL. Abigail has a kind of shoe fetish (thanks to her mommy) every time we see family, friends or even a complete stranger she feels like talking to she shows them her shoes. So today when we went to see Santa I put her squeaky shoes on...and of course she still likes to do her squeaky dance. So when it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap I told her to show him her shoes...LOL and it worked. Poor kid I don't think she asked for any toys but I bet Santa will bring her some new shoes.

Lots of Love,
Heather

9 Years Ago Today...

2006-11-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

I married the man of my dreams...

What started out as friendship, quickly turned to love. And as the years have gone by that bond of friendship and love has intensified. This year in particular truly changed our marriage. For nearly 10 years it was just the two of us, but this year we were blessed with a daughter. I never knew how adding a child to our marriage would change how you see and love your spouse. Now I not only see my love and best friend but now I see daddy...Abigail's daddy.

Ricky I cannot imagine you not loving me. You are my everything. I pray that we will be blessed with many happy years together.

Happy 9th Anniversary!!!

Forever Yours,

Heather

Pedicures....

2006-11-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Abigail is always digging around in my polish drawer. I did not realize that she knew what the polish was for, considering she has only watched me paint my toes a couple of times. Anyway we decided to take time out after nap today to give ourselves pedicures. I cannot tell you how many times I had to redo those wiggle toes :-) I just LOVE this kid to pieces. It is such a joy watching her become more like her mommy each day.

Lots of Love,
Heather & Abigail

New Ear Rings...

2006-11-09T20:38:00.000-08:00

Well in the beginning I had said, "I will not get her ears pierced until she is old enough to ask". Well I changed my mind this week :) I started thinking about me getting my ears pierced as a child and I really could not remember the actual event, I could only associate pain with it. So I wondered how at 31 could I remember pain from the age of 5. So I decided that I did not want Abigail to have any memory of the event so I did it. Her daddy would have no part of being there for the occasion. His big soft heart did not want to see her hurt. So I asked Wendy to tag along to support Mommy. Abigail actually did just fine. The first ear she was shocked but just before the lady did the second ear her bottom lip poked out and started to quiver. Then mommy and Wendy got teary eyed. She only cried for a quick minute then waved and said bye-bye to the lady that did the piercing.

Love,
Heather & Abigail

1st Halloween...

2006-11-03T11:04:00.000-08:00

Abigail was by far the cuttiest Ladybug in town!!! We made a family event of Abigail's 1st Halloween. Both sets of grandparents and cousins Drayton and Savannah came Trick or Treating with us. Click on the below link to see more pics...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hthrwlls1128/album?.dir=5348re2

Love,
Heather, Ricky & Abigail