Magnolia Turns One!

Too bad she was sick! She woke up on her birthday feeling fine and within a few hours she was miserable. Poor thing, she had a bad head cold, runny nose, eyes, and fever. To top it off she's cutting her two bottom teeth too. She loved her cousins and tried to play as much as she could. I never even got to put her in a pretty dress. She blew out her candle in her sleeper and didn't even eat her cupcake. :( She's feeling better now. She's very busy playing with all of her new toys!

Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate, we loved seeing all of you!

Not much of an appetite for her birthday dinner.

Magnolia with her aunts.

Pumpkin cupcake for our little pumpkin.

Napkin Face. Silly Aunt Emily. Opening presents.
Magnolia's first baby doll

Look at that shirt, she was drenched from drool.

Papa surprised me with a printed copy of our blog for my birthday.

Magnolia trying hard to play while sick.

Early Saturday morning and they all wanted pretzel rods, including Magnolia.
Papa bought pumpkin hats for all the girls. Lilah refused to wear hers. :)
Willa
Lilah and Ellie
Ellie

Lily

Lilah

My Birthday

Today was my birthday and what a special birthday to finally be a mom and share it with Magnolia. Last year on my birthday I was so depressed that it was yet another year without being a mom. I specifically remember being happier that day after my birthday. I felt like I could then start to look forward to this birthday when I knew I would have Magnolia. Little did I know that Magnolia was born on that very day! What a wonderful thing to share birthdays with her! We had so much fun today. We went to story time at the library, did some baking, went shopping, and went for a long walk. George brought home Chinese food and we had a great family night together. Tomorrow is Magnolia's birthday and we are having lots of family come this weekend. We are so excited to see everyone and Magnolia will get to play with her cousins! Check back for photos!

Color

George came home from work and quickly took us out to the front porch to see one of the most spectacular sunsets we've seen in a while. Magnolia actually pointed to it when we stepped outside.
This week Magnolia will be one and I can hardly believe it. She was only 7 months when we first saw her picture, she was only 9 months when we held her for the first time and all of a sudden she's a year! This is going way to fast for me but I'm enjoying every minute with her. She's certainly brought the color back into our lives. We even have a "pink pile" when we do laundry. In addition to the whites, darks, and brights, we a have glorious heap of tiny pink things. Pink sleepers, pink leggings, pink socks, pink onesies, and pink towels. Color is creeping back into our lives, literally and figuratively. It is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

The Little Farmer

We went to The Little Farmer on Sunday. It was a beautiful day and the drive through the countryside was gorgeous. We went on two hayrides, dipped our own caramel apples, and took LOTS of photos!

TGIF

I went to Bunco last night so George had Magnolia all to himself. Naturally she should have her own leather chair to match George's so he brought it up from the basement so they could watch t.v. together.
Magnolia and I went to the library story time this morning. We had lots of fun and met another adoptive family.
Magnolia LOVED the enchiladas I made. I didn't realize how spicy they were until we ate later but apparently she didn't mind.

Cooking & Gaining Weight

My friend, Christine, and her son, Charlie, came over for a visit yesterday. I was making granola and Charlie had the great idea of helping me. We spread oats, brown sugar, and coconut on the pan and Charlie and Magnolia had the best time spreading it around and eating it by the handfuls. I just wish I had a close-up of their faces, they were glistening with brown sugar!

I took Magnolia to the doctor today for her second round of immunizations. I asked if we could weigh her because I was sure she didn't gain anymore weight since she's still wearing some 3-6 month clothing. Oh boy was I wrong! She weighs 18.3 pounds! She gained almost a pound since our last visit! Since her little legs are so sore from the shots, I carried her in the sling while I made soup and cupcakes. I'm getting good at cooking with a baby in my arms. :)

Jing

We went out to dinner with my friend, Jing, and her husband last night. It was the first time Jing got to meet Magnolia. I was anxious to see how Magnolia would respond to Jing speaking Cantonese to her because I had heard that some babies cry, cry, cry because it brings them back to their time in China. Magnolia gave no reaction at all. She was just her usual funny, charming self. We had a great time!

Monday Monday

We met George for lunch today and just because it was a gloomy Monday and we missed him...why not wear patent leather shoes???

I think Magnolia liked them!
No photos from the weekend. We had every intention of going to a pumpkin patch but the weather turned gloomy and we got caught up in giving our house a little face lift. George painted some rooms and we did a little rearranging...looks so much better.

Busy Busy Busy

Busy playing

Busy giggling
Busy tearing up magazines
Busy getting into cabinets & dishwasher
Busy walking!
Magnolia has turned a corner with walking, she is much braver and is thrilled with her progress. She's walking up to 8 or 9 steps now. They're wild steps as you can see from the above picture! She's also smiling and laughing a lot more. If I laugh, she laughs. Her sense of humor is shining through more and more each day. She's such a delight. I never forget for one minute how long it took to find each other. I just can't imagine life without her.

Imo's

George and I have a tradition of eating Imo's pizzas on our drive home from STL. I offered a bite to Magnolia to see what she would think and before I knew it she ate a whole piece. She loved it but she'll eat anything. So today when I went to eat my leftover Imo's at lunch she must have smelled it because she kept crying and reaching for it. I finally caved in and here's a video of her reaction. She did finish her pears after the pizza.

St. Louis

We had a wonderful time in St. Louis last weekend. My only regret is that we hardly have any photos to speak of! I was so disappointed that we didn't take more. I don't know where the time went, our visit just flew by. It was fun to introduce Magnolia to her STL family. I think she just loved all the attention and of course, her cousins!

Nani reading to Magnolia

Morning walk to get coffee. Check out that syringe she's holding!

It was cracking me up, she wouldn't put it down!
Only picture we got of Magnolia at the party Nani had for her.
Asleep in her Uncle Anderson's jumper.
Magnolia was an absolute gem in the car, much better than we had anticipated.

We made it in the usual 7 hours on the way home, only stopping once!

We had a great time in St. Louis and I got to do a bit of shopping which was nice. We're looking forward to going back at Christmas, our visits always seem so short!

Balancing, Sand, & Hairbows

I stood Magnolia in the grass today and she stood for what seemed like 2 minutes! Even she was amazed at her balance and her two free hands! I've counted 5 steps she can take before crashing.



We played in Charlie's yard today and Magnolia lasted all of two seconds in the sandbox before crying...she'll get used to it eventually.
This is how I get Magnolia in her stroller for our walks, Zwieback works every time!
This was the last time I'm putting a bow in her hair on a walk. She pulls them out and drops them in the road. I didn't realize this one was missing until tonight so we got in the car and retraced our walk until we found it! Good thing it was orange, easy to spot.
Magnolia and I ate Chinese food tonight and she of course, loved it!

We are leaving tomorrow for St. Louis so Magnolia can meet all of her STL cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! Check back for photos next week! Have a great weekend everyone!

Catching Up

Just catching up on photos, video clips and updating this blog! We had a great weekend. We went to Oktoberfest on Saturday and ate entirely too much. Here are some photos from that day.

We went to the Autumn Moon Festival for Families with Children from China (FCC). It was held at a beautiful old farm. They had a lot of activities for the kids including hay rides! Magnolia was the youngest one there, most of the kids were around 8-12. We didn't stay long since we had dinner with friends that night. Thanks again Tom and Christine, the meal was fabulous!

Watching Curious George. I just love the way she has her ankles crossed.
Here are a few videos I've taken over the past week.