One Year of Love (cont'd)

It's hard to believe, but it was already a year ago yesterday... we were finally done with China and heading for home! We were ending our trip but starting the greatest journey of our lives! We were exhausted! But after over 26 hours on planes, one year ago yesterday, we arrived home as a family. Our precious daughter became an official U.S. Citizen when we landed in Newark, NJ. She was such a trooper on all those flights! By the time we finally got home, us grownups were ready to kiss the ground! But our little munchkin was just as happy as could be!

Here's how it all played out... we left Hong Kong & headed for Newark... the flight was long, and hard, especially for me because I was sick. Tommy was absolutely awesome with the baby. He had to walk her up and down the aisles of the plane, and even brought her into the little airplane bathroom to change her! This from someone who wasn't sure how he was going to handle being a dad!!! It was amazing!

So we land in Newark, only to find out that our connectingn flight has been cancelled for bad weather... the weird thing was, the bad weather had ended hours before! but they were just so far behind, they couldn't get it straight. the long story short was that instead of flying from Newark to Atlanta to Ft Myers, the only flight we could get out of Newark went to Atlanta and then Sarasota! We had to call our friends that were picking us up and ask if they could either drive 2 hours to Sarasota or pick us up the next day and we'd have to stay over in either Newark or Atlanta...

Thank goodness, they opted to pick us up in Sarasota!!! We were NOT looking forward to spending another night away from home... Well, by the time we finally got to the airport, it was way past midnight! Then our real surprise... my parents had actually made the trip with Margie & Charlie up to Sarasota! It was a terrific homecoming! We unloaded all our stuff & introduced Rachel to her new room AND her new best friend, Penny!!

It was without a doubt, a day (& NIGHT) we will NEVER forget!!

What a Day Yesterday Was

Before I do anything else, I have to say Happy Anniversary to my parents. Usually we do something to celebrate, but because it fell on our reunion weekend, we didn't have our usual dinner out...

It's Monday... and it really FEELS like a Monday! Well, it was a fantastic weekend with our Hunan Spicy Girls Family. We had so much fun that the gang has decided to do it here again next year! I am SO excited! I'm going to start planning right away... well, after I recover from THIS weekend that is!

I woke up this morning feeling awful... I'm pretty sure it's just exhaustion after all the excitement of the weekend, but I didnt want to lift my head off the couch! I spent most of the day laying here. Thank goodness, Rachel is really good about playing on her own. She spent a good part of the day reading her books (ok, HER version of reading) and playing with Penny. She also had a longer bath than usual. She finally decided it was time to play with all those foam letters & numbers the RIGHT way. She started grouping them all along the tub walls by color... She may not know what the direction the alphabet goes in yet, but she sure knows the colors! LOL

We are trying to get back to a normal schedule again too. Having all our friends here this weekend, she was totally off her game. Hardly any nap times, staying up very very late every night... It was great, but now it's back to reality. So, just like before, she was in bed by 7:30... but UNLIKE before, she was so totally exhausted, she went straight to sleep! I'm gonna like this!

Mother and Child Reunion

This weekend is the 1st Annual Hunan Spicy Girls Reunion. What an incredible, amazing weekend we are having! Our friends started arriving Thursday night... They are all staying at the Pink Shell Resort, which is absolutely wonderful! It is right on Ft Myers Beach, and the rooms are fantastic from what I saw! We tried to stick it out until everyone got there, but there were some flight delays and we just couldn't hang on that long...

On Friday, we all met up and had some fun poolside... I missed a lot of the day because I overslept, but we still had some fun with everyone before naptime... which Rachel opted to avoid! We went to Sophie & Gary's room to chill out before meeting everyone for dinner. We really tried to get the girls to sleep, but Zia was busy feeding goldfish crackers to Rachel! And of course, Rachel would not deny her that pleasure! So, no nap, no way, no how... She did, however, let Aunt Sophie put some beautiful pigtails in her hair!!!
So now it's time to meet everyone in the lobby to catch the trolley to Times Square for dinner... so of course THAT'S when Rachel decides its time for a nap! LOL.. but so did Faith (the one I always called the "Little Judge" when we were in China!)

The girls all woke up in time for dinner at a local restaurant.. I think we shocked them coming in with 16 adults and 14 kids!!! But they got us all seated in the same section and everyone seemed to enjoy the food.

On Saturday, my dear friend Nicole met us all at the beach and took some amazing shots of the girls...

This was almost as tough as the red couch shots!

Nicole also got some incredible candid shots of all the girls... it was so wonderful.

Later in the afternoon, the gang came to our house for a BBQ / Pool party... we had a BLAST! The kids all seemed to have fun, and even Penny got into the fun. Abbey... well she bit my dad so she got locked up for the duration. She really doesn't like crowds!

Nicole came back to our house and just took some fabulous pictures! We were SO happy she did this for us.

This shot is of the 3 cribmates! Kaelin Bing, Rachel & Alexis. They were reportedly close friends in the orphanage and even shared a crib!

I was also THRILLED that she got a family shot for us! We have almost NO pictures of all three of us together!

The kids had fun playing on the swing & slide, and had a real blast playing with Rachel's Bongo drums. We all enjoyed the concert they performed!

Here is my girl Sophie... this reunion was her idea, and she did such a great job putting it all together... I did my best to help, but man, she knows how to organize! And how's this for special... while they were here, my girlfriend Margie tattooed Zia's name on Gary's arm!!! She brought all her gear to the house for anyone who wanted to get a tattoo done! I felt really bad that Gary was the only one who was willing to do it. She dragged so much equiptment here thinking we had at least of FEW guys willing to do it! Oh well.. Tommy decided now he wants to get something done with my name & Rachel's name... too sweet!

This picture I took... and I think it sums up the day pretty well! Our poor Penny puppy was TOTALLY exhausted. I took a whole mess of pictures of her with her lambie wrapped around her face and she didnt even BLINK! I know WE had a fabulous time and were So happy all our friends were here with us.

We were truly blessed to have traveled with such an amazing group of people. I hope that we will have these reunions every year... I just feel so close to them all!

One Year of Love

It's so hard to believe... it has actually been a year...

This is my Facebook status... it really expresses how I feel today:

It was 1 year ago today... the first time I held my beautiful daughter... the first time I saw her face, dried her tears, saw her smile... it was 1 year ago today I became her mother... it was 1 year ago today I became whole.

One year ago today, we held our precious daughter for the very first time... I remember like it was yesterday! Walking into that dark room... all the nannies sitting under the windows holding our little girls... all of us wondering which girl was which! First it was because we were looking into the light so it was hard to actually see the girls. Plus, we were all trying to judge by the referral pictures! And those were already so old! I was looking for a chubby cheeked bald baby... but that's not what our little angel looked like when we saw her for the first time... She was beautiful. She was perfect. She had HAIR!!!

I remember the fact that she never shed a tear... I, on the other hand, was bawling my brains out! I don't think I have ever been happier in my life than I was on that hot & steamy day. It had taken 3 long & frustrating years, but this was worth every minute. I wanted this moment in my life to just freeze. I hoped that I would never ever forget just how happy I was at that very moment. Well, now that it is a whole year later, I can honestly say that it has only gotten better.

I still remember that moment as if it happened moments ago... but I also have a whole year's worth of other happy memories... and I know that there are millions more memories ahead of us. Our beautiful little girl has changed our lives forever and we are so grateful. She makes us smile every day... she is smart, funny, spirited, stubborn, adorable, loving, and beautiful... and best of all, she is all OURS & we LOVE HER...

Fly Like an Eagle

It's unbelievable, but true... one year ago today, Tommy & I started on the long journey to China! It was a long, exhausting trip... but one that we had been looking forward to for so many years it was almost like a dream... We were finally on our way to becoming a complete family...

We left from Ft Myers & headed to Miami... luckily, it wasn't too small a plane, or Tommy would have been scraping off the tarmac! I am NOT a good person when it comes to flying in an airplane... I would MUCH rather be on the ground.. or even on water! But even my fear of flying couldn't keep me from seeing my daughter for the first time! :-) From Miami we headed to Newark, NJ... our old home port! and then from there, we were Hong Kong Bound!

And from there, our lives would be forever changed for the best...

Love & Marriage

Today is a major milestone in our family... It was ten years ago today that Tommy & I walked down the aisle and made a lifetime commitment to each other.

Our Rabbi, (who we lovingly refer to as Mr Hollywood, because he "married" The Nanny to Mr Sheffield on the final season of "The Nanny" with Fran Dresher...

The first time we saw him, he had white white hair and white white teeth and a dark "George Hamilton" tan. It was crazy.

It rained on our wedding day, which everyone told us was good luck... and they were right! Because 10 years later, here we are... still married... still happy... actually, even happier... because now we have our precious daughter and we are now complete.

I will post more later... Tommy just made home made muffins for breakfast... YUM

Ok... so I fully intended to make this a much more elaborate post... I planned on scanning some of our wedding day pics, and doing all the things one is expected to do when posting a major event... BUT... I got caught up in the every day events around here... playing with the munchkin, watching Tommy grill up a totally yummy dinner... so, since we are going to my mom's tomorrow for a post-anniversary day dinner, I'll just have to take some good pics and post again here tomorrow...

Goodnight all... closing up shop early tonite... wink-wink... nudge-nudge...

No News is Good News...

Just a quick update since I'm really drained of all energy these days. My surgery went well, I am just really tired & still kinda weak. The munchkin is being SO good and just having fun with her. There are SOME perks to being home on sick leave!

Speaking of... gave her some of my home made mango ice cream last night... I think she enjoyed it, don't you?

Penny has been a total mush too... she sure looks comfy here, doesn't she?

So no other real big newsbreaks from the Shaw household...

Just that we miss all our friends & family and hope SOME of you will venture down here to visit now that the cold weather will be coming your way... :-)

Love to all...

Birthday Boy

I haven't had a chance to get on here very much since my surgery. I have to say, I'm pretty miserable. It still hurts quite a bit, and I have to keep watching Rachel's every move because she seems determined to grab my incision. I'm on so many drugs right now that I have no idea what's happening most of the time! She's generally been good, but there are those moments when all she wants to do is cuddle close to my neck and then she tries to pick at the incision.. YUCK. And on top of all the pain from the surgery, I am now dealing with a case of Thrush on top of it all!!! Yeah, life's good... just not right now!

So today is my honey's 50th birthday. I can't believe that he has come to this huge milestone and I am stuck here on the couch like a big old lump of... well... you know... I had so many ideas I wanted to try out for his birthday. I had wanted to do a party, but that was way out of the question. I even tried to get at least one or two of his friends to come up , but that didn't work out either. I feel so bad. This is such a big birthday for him and all he is doing is hanging around watching me stumble around the house!

I'm trying to make up for not having a spectacular party for him so I told him he could go thru all the take out menus and order from where ever he wants... that might have been a mistake... naturally he chose the most expensive place we go to down here! LOL... that's ok... he only turns 50 once!

My folks called a little while ago and said they were going to buy him a birthday cake so they will be coming over too.. I just feel so bad that we didn't have a big party planned. Although I wouldn't be feeling all that much like going out today, right? I had tried to get some of his friends or family to come down for a little vacation, but I waited far too long to ask, so nobody was able to come down. I really should have started planning something much longer ago, but then again, I wouldn't have been in any condition to do anything if it was scheduled for this week.

Dr Robert

Tuesday was finally my surgery day. Everything seems to be good. I'm already up & walking around. And despite all the folks telling me I wouldn't be able to eat solid foods, I have been ok. I had scrambled eggs for breakfast today, this afternoon it was lasagna and tonite I think its supposed to be tilapia... and the food just isn't bad either!!! Not as good as mine, of course, but not as miserable as I'm used to hospital food being!!
I was supposed to go home today, but the weirdest thing happened after surgery. I have this excruciating burning stabbing pain in my left hand in between my index finger and thumb... there is no explanation for this, and because the pain is SO intense, they are waiting to figure out what it is before I can go home... apparently it's some sort of nerve issue... the Dr hasn't been in yet today, so still don't know anything.
As for the neck, the incision is pretty huge... goes from just under my ear lobe to about my throat where they would put a trache... they didn't, but that's where the incision ends.
Anyway, I'm no longer on morphine... now its Valium & percoset... which is good because they would not have let me go home until the pain eased enough to get off the morphine...
speaking of... feeling a little loopy at the moment... so maybe I'll finish this later...

So the Dr came in and still can't figure out what the hell is going on with my hand. He drew around the area that hurts the most. He put me on another script, one that is specifically for nerve problems... As of this writing, I had one dose... no help at all. But I'm gonna go home on Thursday no matter what!!!!

They keep assuring me the scar won't be all that bad by the time it's all said and done... Hopefully, they are right and these will just blend into the creases in my neck...

Hurricane Years

It was 5 years ago today that Hurricane Charlie blew through our neighborhood. Hard to believe it has been 5 years already! Wow... I still remember how scared we were. It was our first hurricane & we did not prepare at all. No covers on the windows or anything! Tommy & I were in the laundry room with the dog and a mattress in front of the door. Abbey was in her cage in the alcove between the 2 spare room doors. She was totally silent, probably terrified, for the whole day. The noise was incredible, especially when the next door neighbor's tree came down about a foot and a half from the side of our livingroom! If we had the addition already done, it would have wiped it out. But when all was said & done, we made out ok. We lost power for a few hours but luckily we are on the hospital's grid, so it came back pretty quickly considering. We sustained minimal damage, mostly to the pool cage... lost a few screws, all on one side. We also lost our trees. But considering some of our neighbors lost their entire roof, or even worse, some houses were completely destroyed, we came out of it relatively unscathed. We were SO blessed. So now we can say "Happy Anniversary Hurricane Charlie... hope to never see ya again!"

Yesterday, I was so wiped out that I didn't post, so this is a twofer... We went to the beach for a couple of hours yesterday. Margie & Charlie came with their grandson Baby J... the kids really had a great time but I was a totally bad mommy and didn't take a single beach picture. I know, don't beat me up... but I did manage to take some shots of the kids in the car when we were ready to head home! They got along MUCH better in the car than they did on the sand!

Baby J was not into playing with girls. Rachel was filling her little bucket with sea shells and his bucket was full of water. Well, Rachel wanted a scoop of water so she reached her shovel into his bucket and he took HIS shovel and wacked her on the head! Margie gave him a little smack on the side of the head and said "Don't do that!". That's when Rachel leaned over and tapped him in the head too! LOL... no tears were shed from either kid, so no need to panic... it wasn't a knock down drag out free for all or anything!

After the beach, we headed for home, totally exhausted. We decided to enjoy our newly clean pool for a while to get the excess sand off! Rachel had a ball, especially because she was able to swim, which she really couldn't do at the beach with the waves and stuff... Tommy cooked BBQ chicken for dinner, and I promptly fell asleep at the table. 38 hours awake was just more than I could handle! But it was a GOOD tired... Even Rachel slept like a rock. It was her first trip to the beach, and just like the rest of us, the salt air seemed to knock her out.