Look who's one!

Wow it is hard to believe it has been over a month since our last post. So much for updating the blog weekly! Our little Maya is keeping us soooooooo busy it is amazing how fast time is going. On November 5th we celebrated her first birthday. It is hard to believe we have had her for two and a half months already. It makes me a little sad at how fast she is growing and changing. Now a whopping 15lbs and 11 ounces. The scrawny little girl we met in China is no longer. I wish I could just time capsule her at this age because she is so much fun. She continues to amaze us each day. She is starting to stand up from a squating position and will stand for about 5 seconds before she falls. She'll be walking in no time and then we are going to be really really busy!

"This is so embarassing!"

Cousin Kellyn taking a bite out of Maya's birthday card

Mom and dad with the birthday girl in her new rocker

"mmmmmmmm cake is gooooood!

We have struggled with some clinginess as she attaches more to us which seems pretty normal especially considering her age and all she has been through. Thank goodness she is small enough to still fit in the front baby carrier so that I can still be somewhat productive. We have also dealt with some sleep issues, mainly night terrors which for a two week period were really bad. Sometimes 4 to 5 times a night she would wake up screaming and her whole body would stiffen up and there was nothing we could do to comfort her. It was obvious she was still asleep and sometimes it would take 30 to 40 minutes to get her awake and calmed down enough to go back to sleep. It is heart breaking as a parent to see your child go through this. Luckily those have diminished lately and now we are just dealing with teething. She is starting to get her 7th and 8th teeth. She is definitely way ahead in the tooth department! But she LOVES eating so those teeth come in handy. We swear she was Italian in another life as pasta is her absolute favorite! She also really loved birthday cake. At first she wasn't so sure but once she decided it was good she was licking it off her toes! Actually she slept really good that night. Who knew that stuffing her full of cake was the key to a good nights sleep! :)

With sauce

Or without

Some of her favorite things to do are to throw her Leggos through the baby gate and listen to them bounce one by one down each wood step then proudly proclaims UH OH! She also enjoys unraveling the toilet paper roll at every opportunity she gets and I've had to chase her down the hall trying to reclaim it. Boy can she crawl quickly! She really loves bath time and whenever we are in the bathroom she will pull herself up along the tub and yell to get in. Since she likes water so much I decided to take her to the pool this past week. We have gone twice and she really enjoys it. At first she was a bit perplexed like strangers were actually in her tub. But eventually she really enjoyed it and we got to see some of her Hunan sisters. She has also enjoyed a few hikes with daddy since we have had some really nice weather lately and we can tell she enjoys the outdoors as much as we do. John has learned that timing is everything though and that hiking after naptime is much better then before naptime.


The toilet paper caper


















Getaway gone bad


















Timing is everything!


























Trying out the slide














Emergency bath

Also this past week we finalized her adoption here in the States. Actually just a formality since China adoptions are final once we get to the USA. But this will enable us to get a birth certificate that is in English and her social security card. Judge Gilmore who officiated was great with all the babies. He let Maya and the other babies hold the gavel and gave them newly minted Colorado quarters as a gift. He said this was the fun part of his job. Lets hope Maya doesn't have to see judge Gilmore again under different circumstances! She definitely has a defiant stubborn streak. Hopefully by the time she is 16 that will have lessened.

Judge Maya presiding











Making friends with the judge...smart!


Of course we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Maya's birth parents continue to be in our thoughts. We know that November 6th, 2005 had to be an extremely difficult day for them as they left her on the steps of the Dao County Civil Affairs building. I can't imagine the pain of looking into those sweet eyes and walking away knowing they would never see her again. We are so thankful that they chose to give her life and placed her somewhere that they knew she would be found. We honored her birth parents on November 6th of this year by allowing Maya to release her birthday balloons into the sky. We think that we will make this a yearly tradition as we don't want to forget the people who gave Maya life.


Well I won't make any promises as to when the next blog update will be, but I will try my best. One of these days I'll get John to put a link up to view some videos. Then you can see for yourself just how wonderful she is. Honestly the best thing we ever did! We are so lucky!!!!!!!!