HAPPY DADDY'S DAY

Jerry and Alisha had a special bond from the very beginning. She knew right away that she could always count on him. She no longer is scared but they still have a VERY special bond. I love watching the 2 of them together. There always are a ton of giggles and laughs. She is Daddy's Little Girl!

Jerry is a wonderful husband and father and Alisha and I wanted him to have a special 1st Father's Day. First, we let him sleep in (which never happens anymore since the munchkin joined us). A true present! After breakfast and opening his gift from Alisha and I, we went to visit Pete and Annie to meet their new addition, Gunther. He is SO SO Cute! After a trip to Toys R Us and a few hours of adult time while Alisha was napping, we took Jerry to Harry's for a nice steak. All in all a WONDERFUL DAY!

Jerry, thanks so much for being an amazing Dad and Husband. Alisha and i are very lucky girls and we love you tons and tons!!!

We LOVE the Beach

Alisha and I went to visit Lauren at the beach for Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time! Saturday was too windy for the beach, so we walked the OC Boardwalk. We had a nice afternoon enjoying the sunshine! On Sunday, we joined Lauren, Kelly and friends on the beach. Alisha loved the sand. She played with her sand toys but mostly just wanted to sit in it (or lay in it) and move it around. Luckily, Kelly's friends set up a water tub for the kids to play since the ocean was freezing. Alisha love playing (and drinking) with the water.

Thanks again Lauren for having us down. We had a GREAT weekend!!

She's 17 months Old

It's hard to believe ....Alisha is 17 months old! It's amazing to watch her each day! She is growing and learning so much and continues to get prettier and prettier. She takes my breath away!! She is an amazing little girl! Everyday, I see more and more of her personality. She is really coming out of her shell. Although she is still rather shy, she gives out smiles to all of our friends and waves Hi to everyone we see on our walks or in restaurants.

Few Notes on Alisha….:

Walking: Alisha is making great strides in her walking. She will walk around the house by herself and she is getting better and better every day. She does revert back to crawling (it’s faster for her) but when you ask her to walk, she gets up and starts walking. Outside she prefers to walk holding your hand. It’s harder for her on the uneven pavement or grass
FAVS: Alisha's favorite toys are her dishes, Learning House and Bubbles. She is even learning how to blow bubbles herself. She also loves Max’s doggy bed and will roll and bounce all over it. Her other favorite is taking out and putting things into a bag.
Sleeping: She mostly sleeps through the nights and in the morning she no longer screams for us. She starts talking to let us know she’s up. Luckily, when she does wake up during the night, she turns her music on and goes back to sleep.
Daycare: Alisha is very happy at daycare. She starts smiling when we pull in the driveway and she no longer has to be held when we drop her off. We just put her down and she is off to find a toy to play with. It great knowing we found the right place for her.
Finger Update: We went to the doctor last week and he was very happy with her progress. He said her finger is still a bit bent, but has improved SIGNIFICANTLY. He wants her to keep the splint on for another 6 months. Looks like we won’t need surgery. Keep your fingers crossed.
Talking: She is talking up a storm. Unfortunately, we still don’t know what she is saying most of the time. Her favorite words are “keys”, “Carly (a friend from daycare), ‘baba” (bottle) and “Max”. Lately, she’s been calling Jerry “mama”. He is quick to remind her that he is “dada”.

EVENTS

Alisha went to Matty's 2nd birthday party a few weeks ago. She had a great time and especially loved Matty's birthday cake.

Alisha celebrated her first Passover. She did great during the service and loved all the food. In fact, we couldn't get her to stop eating. Must be all of Mom's good cooking!

Jerry and I took Alisha to her first Point to Point (Steeple chase race). It was a perfect day for tailgating and we all had a great time.

Weekend Away: We had our first weekend away from Alisha. Jerry and I went down to the beach for Kelly and Anthony's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we were so happy to share this special day with both of them! We stayed overnight in Dewey and my Mom stayed at our house with Alisha. Alisha and Grandma had a great time together and so I heard every time I called them. Can you imagine …. She survived without me! It was wonderful that the three of us were able to spend some time together on Mother’s Day! Three generations together and I forgot to get Jerry to take a picture. It’s on my to-do list for next year.

Mother's Day

I can’t believe I celebrated my first Mother's Day. Each and every day with Alisha is amazing.... but Mother’s Day was extra special. I am so very blessed to have such a special little one to call me Mama. Alisha is my BIGGEST BLESSING and I am so lucky to be her Mom!!

Jerry and Alisha really made the day very special for me. They gave me a bouquet of beautiful flowers, a new necklace (with the Chinese symbols for Mother and Daughter) and Alisha was wearing a special shirt (GO YANKS!!). Thanks Jerry for being such a wonderful husband and father. Alisha and I are two very lucky ladies!!

I think of Alisha's birth mother and foster mom often but I felt especially thoughtful of them on Mother’s Day. Alisha is very blessed that both of these women loved her so much...her birth mother for making the hardest decision of her life not to be her parent and her wonderful foster mother who took such amazing care of her for a year. I am truly grateful for all these women did for our little girl. My wish is that they should know how much we love Alisha and that she has found her forever family.

I found this poem several months ago when I was still waiting for Alisha. I thought this would be a good occasion to share it with everyone.

Legacy of An Adopted Child
Author unknown

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality; the other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent, the other gave you aim.

One gave you emotion; the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.

One made an adoption plan that was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child, and God led her straight to you.

Now, which of these two women, Are you the product of?

Both my darling, BOTH
Just two different types of LOVE.

March Update

I guess the blog is going to be monthly since as most of you have guessed, I am a horrible blogger. Here's an update on our little sweety:

Day Care

I am back at work! It was a very hard transition for Alisha and I. Alisha is in a home day and we feel very lucky to have found Melanie. Alisha is one of six children (going down to 4 in June) and I think she is learning alot from them. We are not completely sure how much she likes daycare, but thankfully, she no longer is crying when she is dropped off. It makes going to work much easier. Melanie's house is full of kids, dogs and happiness. We are hoping Alisha thrives in this happy environment.

15 month Check-Up

Dr. DiSanto is very happy with Alisha's progress. She weights 19.4 lbs and is 30 inches tall. That lands her just under the 10 percentile for weight and 45 percentile for height. She is finally all caught up on her vaccinations and we will not need to go back until June. He was real happy to see that she has bonded to me in such a short period of time. He said they watch this very closely with adoptive children. Now if she would only start calling me Mommy.

Walking

Alisha still will not walk by herself. She likes to walk holding one hand (or finger) or on her walker but will only take a step or two on her own. We have tried letting go of her hand, but she stops in mid step and put her hands down on the ground and starts crawling. Everyone says they do it in their own time and not to push, so we keep waiting.

Talking

Alisha's favorite word is "Max" and says it over and over and over and over! It's funny that she likes to say it so much because she doesn't really like being too close to him which we know makes Max happy. She will say Mama and Dada when prompted. She did surprise us yesterday and said Bye- Bye to Nancy as she was leaving the house. What a happy surprise. Maybe there are more words to come.

She may not be saying too many words but she babbles constantly. Sometimes we think she is singing other times she is definately telling us something. If only we could understand babble as much as she is starting to understand what we are saying.

She is also catching on to some of the hand motions in nursery rhymns. She pinches her fingers together when she hears Itsy Bitsy Spider and loves Patty Cake.

Although there may not be alot of words in her vocubulary,,,, she is using a few baby signs. "more" seems to be her favorite especially, when she wants more to eat. Since, she is such a skinny little one, we have no problem to let her keep eating.

Easter

Alisha celebrated her first Easter. We decides that this year, we would skip the visit to the Easter Bunny or do an Easter Egg Hunt, but we did give her an Easter basket and filled all of her Easter eggs with CHEERIOS. I know you think I am a mean Mommy.... but she LOVES Cheerios. She was so cute and surprised when we opened the egg to find them in there. Ofcourse, we also put on her first Easter dress and she wore her pretty pink hat that Daddy bought her in China. She looked especially cute!

I think that's it for now.... Will update again soon.

Time Flying By

Time is just flying by. Its hard to believe we've been home for 2 months. We started the month by celebrating Jerry's birthday. Alisha loved helping Jerry with the wrapping paper and especially liked his birthday cake. Alisha than celebrated her first Valentine's Day. Daddy surprised her with flowers and a cute pink dragon that sings to her. Then today, was especially fun with Alisha enjoying her first sled ride. We are not sure if she really liked the snow but loved the sleigh ride.

Although Alisha is not yet walking, we have been working on it and she stands on her own for a few seconds. She is crawling and climbing all over and especially loves to climb up the stairs. I am still trying to get her to come back down, but I bet that will happen soon.

We are still waiting for Alisha to start talking but she is understanding more and more of what we are saying to her. In fact, any time you ask her a question, she responds with a yea and shakes her head yes. There is no "NO" in her vocabulary yet. (Aren't we lucky!)

Unfortunately, February has been a rough month for me. I hurt my back and was having a hard time getting better and still taking care of our little girl all day. So Grandma Joan came to our rescue and spent a week with us. Grandma and Alisha had a great time together. They played all day long, took a walk around the neighborhood and went to Gymboree. Thanks Mom for helping out. We love ya!

Other January Events

After reading last months update, I realized I left out a few important events.

Alisha celebrated her first Hanukkah in early January. We went to Uncle Mitchell and Aunt Cathy's house. There was potato latkes, brisket and tons of presents. Alisha had so much fun playing with her cousins and can't wait to see them again. There was also a ton of presents and as usual Alisha enjoyed tearing the paper.. Thanks for the great day!

The following week, we visited Grandma Joan for her first overnight away from home. Alisha had a ton of fun playing with her Grandma and then Uncle Mitchell, Aunt Cathy and Cousin Tara came for dinner. Dinner was yummy and Alisha ate and giggled the whole time.

The next day, we came home early to go to Grandma Pat's birthday lunch. Alisha had a great time hanging out with my Aunt, Uncles and Cousins. Unfortunately, we got news that Josh hurt himself on the ski slope in the Poconos. Thankfully, he is doing much better now. Feel good JOSH!