HAPPY NEW YEAR

Life is so good!!!! Nothing better than bringing in the New Year with my precious daughter sound asleep (for only 45 minutes) next to me as I watch the ball drop in NYC and kiss my sweet girl on the cheek and whisper Mommy loves you. What did I do to deserve such a sweet child - how blessed I am !!!  I know I have said it before, but thank you, thank you, thank you God and all our special Angels in Heaven for bringing us together and watching over my sweet Aubrey Mei Jing. Happy and Healthy New Year to all our family and friends!!

Sweet  dreams my precious daughter!! Mommy loves you sooooo much!!!

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!!

Vacation!

It was great seeing the family, but we missed so much seeing Uncle Jack and his family--wish so much he could have been there with us. Aubrey loves her Uncle Jack and we continue to pray for him everyday and Aubrey kisses his picture every day since he had his heart attack in May. Thank you, God and for all our family and friends who prayed for Uncle Jack and continue to do so.  The power of prayer is amazing - God is truly listening! We are so thankful that he walked out of that hospital --love to hear his voice----will never take that for granted again. We love you, Uncle Jack!

Had this post sitting in drafts for months just waiting for me to write more -- just want to get these pics posted since my sweet girl is growing so much each day and will have many more events coming up to post! Had such a great time over the summer with family -- can;t wait until next year!!



After a day on the beach with the Aunt Mary, Uncle Rob, Jared, Callen and Landen!

Cousins Callen and Landon -- not able to get kisses from Aubrey, but high fives were allowed!

Linds, Aubrey, Sydney and CJ chilling on the bed

Exhausting day at the beach!!



I reallly don't have to go to bed yet?? -- I love vacations!!!

When is my mac and cheese arriving??

Beautiful pic of Aunt Sha, Linds, Uncle Larry and Em!

Fun with  my cousins watching Shark Tales!

Taking a ride with Goppy on her scooter!

Happy baby Gia in Lil Pa's arms

how sweet!

The first time ever I saw your face....

As I rocked my little girl to sleep last night, I once again found myself crying happy tears  --- this time as I tell my sweet girl the story of the day I first looked at her beautiful face." One year ago I sat in this very room, Aubrey's room, also crying tears of joy as I knew the next day I would know you, my daughter!" I told her of how I waited 5 long years for this special day to come. One year ago, today, on my mother's (Goppy) 84th birthday --I got the call  from my agency telling me who my daughter is and opened up my email to see the most precious little face I ever saw - MY DAUGHTER! I fell in love instantly, but I already loved her before I even knew her --we were meant to be together. What a perfect match--I will be forever grateful for that person, or people in the "match room" in China that knew we belonged together. God guided them to choose me to be Aubrey's mother --what an incredible gift! Thank you, God. I love this child so much. I can not even remember what my life was like without her. Not only is this girl beautiful, but what a personality-- my baby is becoming a little girl. She is so much fun. She definitely has a mind of her own (which is great, but can be challenging for her Mommy at times :). So intelligent - they are amazed at school how advanced she is. Loves to wear her pretty dresses, checks herself out in the mirror and twirls. Loves tumbling. Loves coloring. Loves to play music. Loves to clean (obviously did not get that from me). Loves, Loves, Loves to dance and sing. What a happy, happy girl. She loves her Goppy - Happy 85th Goppy! She has such a special relationship with her Grandmother-always wants to see her. One of the first things she does in the morning is ask for Goppy. What a joy she is. The other night we were doing our nighttime ritual and looking out the window for the moon. The clouds were blocking it, so she kept saying, "no moon". About a minute later, she looks at me and said so clear in her little voice, " look Mommy, the moon!" -- What a feeling to hear my sweet daughter's voice and see the excitement in her face---how did I ever live without her?? Life is so much better with my precious Aubrey Mei!




First glimpse of my beautiful daughter

 

My beautiful daughter today...

Luckiest Mommy in the World!

I can't believe I am Mommy to the most precious, sweet, beautiful little girl. How did I get so lucky? So very blessed?? I can not even remember what my life was like without my Aubrey Mei. I miss her so much when we are not together. I get so excited at the end of the work day-- I get to go pick up my girl and see her run into my arms, yelling Mommy, Mommy. Brings tears to my eyes -- I am her MOMMY! WOW - I know I said it before, but no one could have ever prepared me for this feeling, the complete and total unconditional, immeasurable, incredible love I feel for this special child, MY DAUGHTER! I pray every day that God gives me the wisdom to make the right choices for Aubrey, that she is not harmed in anyway because of decisions I make for us. I pray everyday that she is safe in school, when I am not there to protect her. I pray everyday that she is safe in my care and feels protected and loved. The worry and guilt (having to leave her in daycare, for one) can be overwhelming at times- for I want of course what is best for my girl--- but I would not trade that for anything. It's because I love this child so much, that the worry is just  a part of it. I know God is watching over us, after all he did match us perfectly together. I had to wait over 5 years for Aubrey to be placed in my arms because she was meant to be my daughter, and me her mother --- I believe that so completely, we were meant to be together. I am just so sorry my daughter had to endure some frightening and sad times to get to this point. Just the other day we found her seahorse I brought to China with me - that was the only thing that seemed to comfort her that first night we were together, she was so scared and sad. She had no idea who this strange blond lady was and  I am sure was missing her foster Mommy so much. As we started playing the soothing music from the seahorse as I rocked her to sleep, I could not stop crying. What a difference 7 months makes. She is so comforted by me now, she knows and trusts her Mommy. She gives hugs and kisses all the time, without me asking for them. She tells me "I love you", actually she whispers " I love you" in her soft little voice. I love our nighttime ritual - after her bath, we go into her room and I rock her and always read two books to her. She always wants the same books, one from Ronnie and Sandy (On the night you were born) and one from Aunt Sha ( Time to sleep, my love). She is fascinated with the moon and both books have the moon on almost every page. We say goodnight to the moon and then the light goes out and she gets her nightly foot massage with lotion and now must have a belly massage along with it, of course all with her nighttime lullaby music playing. She still sleeps with her Jing Bear and Bridget and now must rock and sleep with her special giraffe blanket ( the one that I gave her the first night we met in China ). She sleeps for about 4 hours in her crib and when she wakes up she wants to lay with her Mommy for the rest of the night. (or maybe her mommy wants to lay with her for the rest of the night). I am still sleeping in the room with her at night, initially I did this so she would feel safe and loved and protected, now I think her mommy needs it more than she does. It is just a comfort to have her next to me and to know she is ok-- just love her so much and want to be close to her. Eventually she will probably kick her mommy out of her room! My sweet girl amazes me every single day. The other day she was hanging out at Aunt Mo's with her cousins and Aunt Mo mentioned maybe we should eat outside, Aubrey walked over to the door and looked back at us- like, come on let's go out! She was not even talking with her, just overheard our conversation. The teachers at her school say she does that all the time. They will be talking about something among themselves and Aubrey will hear and respond to whatever she overheard them talking about-- Incredible!! She knows her colors, tries to sing her ABC's -- has the rhythm down, working on sounding out the letters, but does recognize her A for Aubrey, B for Barney and knows E. Says her name as she points to herself. Points to me and says "Aubrey's mommy". She loves to play music and dance and her mommy loves to dance with her!  Aubrey loves her Goppy - we visit her often and Aubrey has a routine at Goppy's. She pulls up her little purple chair to Goppys coffee table and waits for her snack to be served. Looks at all of Goppy's pictures and tries to say the names. She knows the picture of her Uncle Pat and kisses him and says Uncle Pat and tries to say angel. Aubrey loves her Goppy so much, will just run up to her and hugs her and yells "Goppy" whenever we see her. I am so blessed to have been given such a wonderful mother, and now such a wonderful daughter. How happy it makes me to see the special relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. Thank you God for the most precious gift in the world, Aubrey Mei Jing. Your Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!!

First day as mother and daughter...

One month later...

2 months later...

3 months later...

4 months later...

5 months later...

6 months later...



TODAY...



just one more minute, mom --- almost done!

ok --- done now!

love my sweet Aubrey's giggles!!!



HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Happy Easter Aubrey Mei!

The Easter Bunny was here! Aubrey Mei had a great Easter. We started celebrating the day before Easter with Aubrey's 1st Easter Egg Hunt. She loved running after the eggs, of course the purple one was her favorite. Inside one of the eggs was a tootsie roll - we now know Aubrey loves Toosie rolls! She did see the Easter Bunny on her way to the egg hunt, but did not seem fazed, was not nervous or curious. Just acted like he was just another one of her giant stuffed animals. The night  before Easter we colored eggs for the first time together. My girl is amazing -- as you can see in the pictures, she just let the eggs sit in the cups for coloring and did not try to grab them out! She initially tried to take the eggs out of the cup, but when I told her that we had to keep the eggs in the cup to color them, she actually left them alone until her mommy took them out. She seems to understand everything I say to her, she just amazes me every day. Once the coloring was done, it was time to decorate the eggs with stickers. When I would hand Aubrey an egg she would hit it on the table -- did not know why my girl was trying to smash the eggs, then I realized that my sweet daughter loves to help with breakfast and we crack the eggs open together in the morning. She was just doing what is supposed to be done with eggs!!  She is incredible!! We had a very nice first Easter together-- she loved her basket. We went to the Paradise cafe at the Hilton and had a great time. Aubrey loved spending time with her cousins - but we really missed Goppy. Goppy was not feeling well and did not make it out to lunch with us, but we stopped by Goppy's on the way home and she did get to give her hugs and kisses. Aubrey Mei loves her Goppy!!  Thank you God for my precious girl-- she is such a blessing!!

FIRST EASTER EGG HUNT

Boy--- I look Great!!!

Let's go already, Mom!

FIRST TIME COLORING EASTER EGGS

CHEESE

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter kiss for Autumn

Just love this picture of Aubrey walking with her Aunt Mo and Uncle Rob