A Year Ago Today.....

We received the phone call that forever changed our lives! It was our referral call and the day that Yue Mei Chun entered our family. Yue Mei Chun became known as Lily Mei Chun and has brought so much joy to our lives as our daughter and baby sister. Life is busy right now (hence no posting all summer!) but today is a day to reflect on the past year. I still get emotional thinking about last August 11th but the one thing that sticks out is how I knew immediately that Yue Mei Chun was meant to be our daughter as soon as I heard her info. When we saw her picture there was no doubt that this beautiful girl with big cheeks was her daddy's girl. A year later people are still telling us how she looks like her daddy, LOL! I never knew an Irish guy and a Chinese girl could resemble each other so much! We had another milestone on July 6th. That was the day that Lily had been with our family one day longer than she had spent it the orphanage. I feel so blessed that Lily was a young as she was when she was placed in our arms. I know she will never remember her early beginnings but not a day goes by that I don't wish she never had to spend a night in the orphanage. I realize that Lily's first eight months are part of her history and without that we would not have her as our daughter. I am just so thankful that she was well cared for and was prepared to be loved by her forever family!

I 'll end with a few pictures of Lily over the summer.

Look Who's 5!!

Bryce turned 5 on Saturday. So hard to believe that my baby boy is 5 years old! We spent the day having a party with a few of his friends and then it turned into a big family/friend cookout. Bryce had a great day and loved the water slide and the bouncy house. Bryce is a very fun big brother for Lily. He is always able to make her laugh and although I am constantly telling him to be gentle, Lily loves to play rough with Bryce! Bryce and his big brother, Shea, are truly the best of friends..even if I am pulling them off each other a few times each hour! Bryce is my passionate child who lets us all know what he is thinkingand feeling. Bryce is a jokester and is always making us all laugh.

Amelia Island

Lily and I spent this last weekend at Amelia Island in Florida with some amazing people. Over my 31 month wait for Lily I became very close friends with an amazing group of women. We had a few trips with just the moms while we were waiting for our babies to arrive but now that all the babies are home we decided to meet once again. Of the 14 families in our group 10 were able to meet in Amelia Island. It was an amazing weekend. Each one of the girls were absolutely precious and fit into their families so perfectly. We had a photo shoot on Saturday night and lots of cute pictures were taken. Lily seemed to think she should be the center of attention and kept standing up and clapping. Lily and I had a great weekend together and she was a great little traveler.

Have I mentioned how much joy this little girl brings to our family every day?!!!

Dancing Queen

It's been a while since an update but Lily continues to just get cuter! On Mother's day we had lunch at an Irish Pub and there was Live Irish Music and to say Lily enjoyed herself is an understatement! She ripped it up on the dance floor and seems to have the Irish Jig down! She may just be the only Chinese girl in her Irish step class in a few years but she will be the best! She entertained quite a few people that were in the restaurant and really has some good moves!

Look at me! I can stand on my chair!

Lily Loves to read! I love this picture becasue you can really see her little brain working!

Finally after three years I have all my babies with me on Mother's Day!

The generations of daughters. My mom, me and Lily.

Life is Good!

We had a great school vacation week that ended with a visit to the zoo and to the beach. We have had 4 straight days of beautiful weather and spent a lot of time outside. Everyday Lily is introduced to a new experience and handles them all so well. Lily is just so adaptable and there is nothing better then seeing new things through her eyes. Everything is magical and wonderful. Being at the beach on Sunday was crazy and emotional. Crazy becasue we have never sat on a beach in 80 degree temperatures in Mass. in the month of April! Emotional becasue seeing my three children together on the beach has only been a dream for the past 3 summers. Finally the picture was complete. Lily took it all in and then sat down and acted like she had been shoveling sand her whole life! I just sat in awe as I looked at my daugher on the beach..she was a natural! Pat and I both were very emotional seeing our "family" together where it all started...Minot Beach, the place of our engagement!

Lily roaring at the lions with her Nana Judy

6 Months Together!

It was 6 months ago today that Lily was placed into our arms. In so many ways it feels like forever ago that we were in China. Our family of five is into a nice routine but there are still so many first with Lily remind us daily that Lily is truly a newbie to our family. Today she went to her first Boston Marathon and later this week she will have her first trip to the zoo! Everytime we celebrate a holiday I feel so blessed to have all 3 of my babies with me and this past Easter was no different. Lily is quickly becoming a toddler in every way. Her walking is turning into running, she is testing the limits and learning what "no" really means and she is becoming a pickier eater. Lily is keeping us on our toes! We all love to hear her laugh..such a beautful sound, her speech is starting to pick up and each day we hear a new word. Some of Lily's favorite things to do are to be outside or to grab a book and plop down in the middle of our lap and have it read. When I want her to go with me somewhere in the house I will put my hand down and she will hold it and follow along. She is my little shadow.

I refelected on the wait tonight when I was giving Lily her bedtime bottle. I had such a hard time with the wait..I am not a good waiter for anything. Even with all the frustratiuon, sadness and anger that I felt during the wait I would not change it. The wait made me the person I am today and taught me so much but most importantly I have my Lily Mei-Chun from Jiangxi Province that was truly destined to be our daughter and sister. I find myself appreciating all the small things that I think I may have missed when the boys were this age and I think I am a better mother to all 3 of my kids becasue of the lessons I learned through the wait. Although I can't wait to see what the next 6 months will bring us I am content in just enjoying Lily and the boys the way they are right now!

6 Months Ago 10/20/08 and then today

Its been a long time since my last post. My excuse is I picked up a part time consulting job and although its only 8 hours a week I can't seem to get anything done! I am also taking a class on Thursday nights that is a lot of reading! During the past few weeks I was able to get Lily's Easter pics done; and yes its just Lily. I did not include the boys because Lily is changing so quickly and I have portraits of the boys as babies every 3 months and want the same for Lily. They came out very cute.

Spring is in the air

First I need to brag about Shea. Shea participated in his first Pinewood Derby with his cub scout troop and came in 3rd place! He had so much fun making the car with his dad and Papa Tom and then racing it.

Spring is defiantly making its way to New England and after a few very nice days Lily is finally able to get a little outside play time. Lily was able to meet a very special person today..her great, great aunt Dot! Aunt Dot is my moms aunt who has followed Lily's journey to our family by being a regular reader of the blog. I wish I had had my camera but unfortunately I didn't and therefor no pictures. Hopefully we can have another visit soon!3 kiddos are defiantly keeping me busy and I am not sure where the time goes but I feel like nothing gets done and that my house will never be organized again. Blogging is slowly fading away and I find it hard to do the updates. Hopefully once I get my camera fixed I will be more motivated to blog but I have to find some spare time to get that camera fixed but for now hear are some pics from the video camera.

Lily's new rain coat..aint it cute!!!

She just can't get enough of her Papa Jeff

So this is grass

Big Brother Bryce and Lily sporting their St. Patty's Day shirts.