KG Gang!

These sweet boys knew Chloe before I did and I met them both in Vietnam last August.  We met up with them and FINALLY got to meet their parents this July.  Call us crazy, but Khai’s mom and I both noticed that when Chloe and Khai first saw each other they just stared at each other without moving for about 15 seconds.  Maybe they recognized something about each other?  Maybe we were looking for something that wasn’t there, but then again who really knows?  I tried to get a good picture of the two of them together, but as you can see they were much too busy for that.

 

Chloe thinking about stealing that toy from Khai

 

ok, I got the picture, I'll give up for now

Precious Mattix is obviously the good one of the group because he got the others to sit still for a couple of pictures later that day.

ok so they still weren't excited about the picture

can you believe all this cuteness?!

 

Chloe got pretty brave going down this slide

 

see how ladylike my princess is?!

It was so great to see these kids with their forever families.  I can’t wait to see them as they grow up!

…& now

I love it when she cracks herself up like this!  She is very comical…

 

I love this profile shot…with some editing it could be much better, but I’m just lucky to have rescued this picture off of Mom’s silly camera!

If you can’t see her facial expression in this next photo, click on it to blow it up.  This is what I mean by Chloe LOVES water…

Aaron was so sweet to Chloe when we visited him and his parents for our travel anniversary weekend, I wish I could say Chloe was as good at sharing toys as he was, but no luck there!  They did play together really well until he thought he should be able to hold one of her two dolls.  She shrieks pretty loudly when someone tries to steal either of her baby boys!

 

Look at Aaron’s sweet smile, what a happy little guy!

If I knew of any visitors to this site who aren’t good friends I would apologize for the lack of substance to this post.  I will keep trying, but for now I’m just focusing on catching up a little and chronicle-ing our busy busy summer.  Another post is on it’s way with some pics from St. Louis!

Then…

 

 

August 2007

 

 

Chloe & Aaron September 2007

 

 

I love this picture of the Mekong River

If I tried to add every cute pic I have from our trip to Vietnam it would take hours.  It is so amazing to me how different life is than it was a year ago.  I’m not comparing life before and after Chloe, I’m talking about Chloe last August.   She has trouble sleeping once every few weeks now contrasted with once every hour or so last year.  When she does wake up in the middle of the night she usually (absolutely not trying to sugar coat the rough nights we still have on occasion) goes back to sleep after a quick hug, pats on the back, or at most a little song from Mama.  She can sit up, she is not covered with scratches, she has muscle tone, she can walk, she understands everything I say to her, she leaves the cords to the TV and DVD player alone, she can spend a few minutes alone without having a panic attack, I can leave a room without watching the terror on her face, she loves me and she is secure enough to love a lot of other friends and family members, too.  She loves water now, and there are several pictures from our trip to prove that point!  I still remember walking to the Ben Thanh market, three blocks from our hotel in the rain one afternoon and Chloe cried for two hours after we got back because the rain attacked her face.  Again, that might have been party my fault for not bringing something to cover her head!  Don’t worry, I was educated repeatedly about my incompetence as a mother:) 

Some things have not changed, and those are almost more awesome to me than the changes.  The little things that I have now seen her do for a year remind me how quickly she began to adjust to her new life and how blessed we both were and are that the effort I put into attachment activities paid off relatively quickly.  She loves music.  A little toy that played three songs over and over was the only thing that kept her from crying hysterically in her car seat for the first couple of months, during one road trip I played those three songs (30 seconds each) over and over repeatedly for over two hours.  I was so grateful to have it!  Now she not only listens to music and dances to music, but she’s started singing, too.  I have a short video clip of this that I will upload, again when I conquer that stupid camera, and you will see why this is such a hilarious development!  She has always been a fan of the theme song to Friend*s and we are working on a little dance I used to do with my kids from camp when I was a counselor in college–Chloe is getting really good at the first part!  She likes to sit on my lap while I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor or the bed so her back is against me and she can see the world, I think it makes her feel secure.  She is a great eater.  It’s no longer really about catching up, she just likes to eat.  After last weekend, I think the list of foods she doesn’t like has about three things on it, yogurt covered raisins, cold pudding, and one particular brand of chessy organic crackers.             

Just a couple more pictures and then I’ll wrap up this long and quite disjointed post.  Chloe looked really cute in this hat, and it was great for keeping her medicine on her head.  BUT, I now blame it for making her almost bald for over a year!  Still really cute, though, and she’s finally getting some hair so I’ve almost forgiven myself.

 

 

September 2007

 

 

And one final “Then” picture…

Everything in this bathroom will be changing beyond recognition.  I love my wonderful, cozy (aka little) house, but this bathroom has been stressful since day one.  When in history was gray and red an acceptable color combination???  I can’t wait to be able to show you the new pictures of this.  I think it might be done by this time next week, they are moving really quickly and I’m really excited to see the results!!

I really will post some recent pictures to compare and talk about some of the fun we had with Aaron and his parents, our trip to St. Louis, and my NEW bathroom as soon as I get the camera figured out!!!

busy during the silence

Here are a few of the many things that have gone on since the last post on this blog…

1st anniversary of the day I left for Vietnam!

1st anniversary of the day Chloe and I met!

1st anniversary of our G&R Ceremony!

1st anniversary of meeting our travel mates back in Saigon after our LONG drive to and from Rach Gia!

Our vacation to visit said travel mates at their home!

My family’s 3rd annual long weekend vacation in KC! 

Pictures of Chloe and her cousins to compare to the pics we took last August!

And, today is the 1st anniversary of the day we got on a plane in Hanoi and arrived back in the US two days later with an air sick, jet lagged, sleep deprived, beautiful, itchy, and absolutely wonderful new center of my universe!!!

I had planned to add a post to commemorate pretty much each one of these events, but as you might have noticed, that hasn’t happened.  Not yet, any way.  If you read my travel journal, you know that I’m not opposed to catching up over a six month period!

I have a new camera that arrived on the scene during my vacation with my family and I am going to add some of those pictures to this post.  I have a bunch of great pictures on the camera I borrowed from my mom for our reunion trip with our travel mates, and even back to our reunion trip to meet our Kien Giang friends and their wonderful parents in St. Louis for that matter, but I still haven’t figured out how to upload those pics.  I have a new photo printer that I’m hoping I can upload directly into, but did I mention my bathroom is also being remodeled right now?  I’m planning to leave it in the box until the dust has settled on that project before I get it out and set it up.

Ok, enough boring details of my life!  Here are a few pictures to show a little bit of the amazing time we had together in KC!!!

Chloe and her cousin/best friend Grace…

 

lounging by the pool

Chloe leading the way to the fun at a crazy pizza place/kiddie arcade, doesn’t she look tall and grown up here?!

 

A little quick and easy photo editing on one of my new favorite pics of these little pumpkins.  Chloe does this folded arm thing all the time.  It always cracks me up, I’m not sure why!!

The background is dark here because this little sweetie is almost as good as Chloe at staying up past his bedtime and his sweet mother didn’t want him waking up his cousin or his big brother!  Look at this face, how can you tell him it’s time for bed??

On the night the adults were outnumbered by the kids because a bunch of the adults went to a baseball game we had to rely on a little help from some singing vegetables to keep things from falling apart right before bed.  As you can see, it worked like a charm!  

It may be hard to tell from the pics, but these almost 2- to almost 3-year-olds were dancing and singing and gathered around a tiny portable DVD player.  No screaming or crying, just a few shouts of excitement.  This is the most channeled their energy had been in three days!!

You just can’t look at this picture without smiling!

It was so much fun, I can’t wait for next year!