birthday party pictures!!!

Oh my!!!! 38 beautiful pictures of our sweet Lucy Mei!!

We knew the orphanage had agreed to send a few photos from her "party", but 38?!!! Wow.

Totally unexpected and all unbelievably precious!!! What a surprise!!

Ann at Red Thread China emailed the photos early this morning. We sent a birthday care care package and birthday cake! -- and what a birthday cake it was!!!

Orphanages typically include a few children to celebrate with the birthday child when a birthday cake care package is sent (normally, birthdays are not recognized in the orphanage). It's a rare occurrence, and as you can see, the kiddos look confused (could it be the huge flame?)....but ready to eat!

Cute, cute, cute, cute!!!

Loving the candle!! Jack thought the "cupcake" was on fire!!

The little guy on the right is cracking me up! Love his expressions! :)

What a beautiful picture of the nannies. Warms my heart....

The nannies look so sweet and happy! Notice Lucy Mei's nanny helping her cut the cake! Awwww.....

Fruit topped cakes are very common....looks yummy!

LOVE this photo!!!

Poor little friend....I'm thinking he is NOT happy that Lucy is getting first piece! :(

Love that our girl is not afraid of getting messy!!

Pretty girl....

Cute shoes :)

Ellie was soooo happy there was a cherry on Lucy's cake!

Notice the cake box on the right says "Happy Birthday".... :)

Love this one too! All the expressions are priceless!!! 

Another great one!!!

Not quite finished!

Sharing with a friend! :0

I love this one! I know this little guy's Mama!!!....we met through the orphanage's yahoo group and we're with the same agency.....AND our paperwork is in the exact same place (meaning we may travel with them!!!)

Doesn't appear to be a big fan of the Dragon fruit or the cherry. Really, why bother?

So incredibly thankful to have these treasured photos and a glimpse into her life, her friends and her nannies and of course, her 2nd Birthday!!! 

Lucy Mei looks happy and content - not shy or timid or afraid - and she appears to be a healthy eater :) But, most importantly, she appears to be loved and well cared for. We are so very, very thankful!!!

The email from Ann also included these 4 photos dated 5/18/12....loving the bonus pictures!!!....notice her color coordinated shoes and outfit?! What a cutie pie!!! 

Awwww, seriously. Love this photo. How incredibly stinkin' cute she is! Oh my!!!!

Our little pumpkin is getting so big! She's breathtakingly beautiful. Lucy Mei, we can't wait to meet you baby girl. Happy 2nd Birthday. We love you the whole world. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mommy, Daddy, Sam, Ellie, Jack and Ben

happy birthday lucy mei!

Our sweet Lucy Mei turns 2 today! Happy 2nd Birthday baby girl!

If you know our family at all, you know we celebrate every birthday with a chocolate Long John doughnut for breakfast (a very rare treat in our house!) and a "Happy Birthday" song....it's a very special (and highly anticipated!) way to start each of these very special days.

It's also a tradition the kids LOVE!!!! So, naturally, we celebrated Lucy Mei's 2nd Birthday the same way!

Happy Birthday sweet, beautiful girl. We can't wait to celebrate Birthday #3 with you!!! 

P.S. Jack asked if we were going to send Lucy's doughnut to China....or maybe he could just eat it? Love that kid. 

photo surprise!

Today we received a surprise photo of Lucy Mei!!!

The photo was sent to us by the China Charity Project Director at our agency who met Lucy Mei on one of her visits to China.

Her email stated:

Dear Greg & Kim,

I found your little angel's photo in my folder and I took it last year. Enjoy it :) :) :)

Loving her sweet, beautiful, precious face and those tiger pajama pants! :) Can't help but notice the snack in her hand and the one in her crib! Someone is watching out for our girl!

What a gift to have this photo. So grateful to the Director for sending it to us. We will treasure it always!!

 

care package #2 (birthday!)

Lucy Mei turns 2 on May 24th!

Birthdays are a BIG deal 'round our house and every little girl needs a party! So, I contacted our agency for advice and approval on sending Lucy Mei a birthday cake using a care package service in China. They agreed (as long as we didn't request an update....all correspondence must go through the agency).

The service is called Red Thread China and the lady's name is Ann. We love Ann! We sent Ben's care package using her service and even hired her as our personal shopping assistant while in Guangzhou. We couldn't keep up with her! She's a tough little negotiator too!

Ann emailed our care package photos today and said the package will be delivered on Lucy Mei's birthday!!! :)

The package will include the following:

• a translated letter we wrote to Lucy Mei
• a disposable camera (hopefully returned to us with photos when we meet Lucy Mei!)
• candies for the nannies
• a stuffed pink puppy (soooo cute!)
• a custom pillow collage with our family photo, including Lucy Mei
• a 12-14" fresh cake 

But, most importantly, Ann said the orphanage agreed to send photos from her birthday party!!! Oh my!! YAY!!!!!

another update + 2 more photos!

Be still my heart!! This morning at 11:55 a.m. I received another email from our agency with an update on our beautiful Lucy Mei!

2 more photos, updated measurements and an updated social report!!! Wowza!

First the photos (what we all want to see!)......

LOVE the outfit!!! Seriously, could she be any cuter?!!!

Looking tall and independent! :)

Her update dated 5/11/12:

* She can stand up and does not need help.

* She can go up and down stairs with two feet by turns.

* she can feed herself finger foods.

* She can say "mama", "baba" and imitate some simple words.

* She understands "no".

* She can respond to her name.

* She can follow simple instructions and respond to people asking her for an object.

* She can point to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands. :)

* She can move to music. :)

In addition, another update from 4/28/12:

Normally she does not cry or fuss. When she sees a stranger, she is not afraid. She can play with toys on her own. She wrangles over toys with other children. She sleeps well. She can distinguish familiar people from strangers.

She eats once every 3 hours, and her supplemental foods include: little breads, rice porridge and milk.

Her weight was 26 pounds, height was 35.5" tall. On US growth charts, she's in the 45th percentile for weight and 91st percentile for height!  

Oh baby girl, how we long to wrangle with you!!!