Aleaya and Audrey's B-day party

The girls blowing out the candles

Aleaya and Audrey waiting for the candles to be lit

Matt and Emmerson having some floor time

Dewey(my brother) and his daughter Emmerson

We had Aleaya's Birthday party tonight. We combined parties with her cousin Audrey who was born on Jan. 20th-they are only 1 month apart. Wish they lived closer so we could spend more time with them. Also, how adorable is baby emme?????

TRANNY $$$$$$$$

Matt received a call last night about my van. It needs a new transmission among other things for the whopping price of $4,000 OUCH.....................As we were driving to the Honda dealer to drop off my van I mentioned to Aleaya that "mommy's van is broken" She was silent for a minute thinking, pondering what to do then she said "hum, should I get some tape?" She is so clever, now if it could only be that easy!!!!!

TRANNY issues

Last week Sami's transmission went out in her new(old) car-it is at the shop right now getting a re-built transmission put in....I was driving down the rode today and my van starting acting really crazy like it was possessed. It started jerking like crazy, scared the crap out of me(not literally, but you get the drift) My wonderful "make it happen" husband got right on the phone and called the Honda dealer...I am now in a rental car until they fix the transmission in the van...........I don't know why I should be shocked, financial pit falls seem to always happen right before we are ready to go to China...Atleast the ceiling isnt falling in the family room this time-(true story)HAHA!!! My husbands quote of the day " its only money" I'm sure he might change his outlook when he sees the bill........



9 more days...............

3 YR CHECK-UP

Aleaya had her 3 yr check-up today(WOW, can't believe she is going to be 3 yrs old already) She received a flu shot and one other shot to bring her up to date on everything. She was such a big girl, she only cried for a minute. She is healthy and as cute as ever.

We are celebrating her 3rd birthday this weekend. She informed me that she wanted a Dora bike and a helmet..and of course a cupcake with some balloons...

PACKING!!

I restarted my packing nightmare and I feel better now~ I did some repacking and now I have one suitcase for Matt (and the clothes for the orphange donation) that only weighs 34 pounds-and he even has shaving cream...Skeeter's suitcase weighs 40 pounds and it was hard but I unpacked some of his cute outfits-if there is anything else he needs we can just buy it in China, I was really trying to stop the madness(my shopping habits) but any excuse will do ;)

Sami and I will finish our packing later in the week..now on to the gathering of the paperwork-FUN,FUN,FUN

FEB. 1st Tradition

Since Aleaya's b-day is Feb. 14th we have a tradition, she wears hearts the whole month of Feb. I am going to miss some of the fun (since we will be in China, YIPEE) but here our some pictures from today. She wanted to take some pictures too so she brought out her disney camera. Isn't she just adorable?

HELP!!

I feel so disorganized.......I don't even know where to start to get ready to go to China..I was so much more organized last time. Truthfully, I probably felt just as unorganized then but that was so long ago I must have forgotten what it felt like. I packed two suitcases yesterday and ended up with a suitcase that weighed 43.5 pounds-humm, they can only be 44 pounds so I think that is cutting it just a little to close. Should I get rid of some of my husbands underwear, his shaving cream, his toasty warm clothes?? After seeing the weather in China lately, I think his toasty warm clothes may be important..maybe I should get rid of some of the 45 outfits I packed for Skeeter(really I think it is about 16, yes a little over the top even for me) I didn't even fit in his PJ's before the suitcase was full, couldn't even bring myself to weigh his....okay everyone, I am going to take a deep breath and start all over again...come to think of it a beard might help to keep Matt warm.Bye-Bye shaving cream and unfortunately some of Skeeters outfits....

Baby Yuan and Scotty

Last April when Scotty passed away Love without Boundaries and Stefani with CHI asked if we could have a memorial in Scotty's name so that donations could be made to help some of the urgent children. The night Scotty passed away Amy at LWB received a call about Hua or Flower who I have already talked about, she needed heart surgery. We also were told there were some other urgent babies who needed help. While looking at the list of children I couldn't help but notice a little guy who happened to be from the same orphanage as Scotty, he needed heart surgery. His name was baby Yuan, he needed to have urgent heart surgery and Matt and I felt that it was fitting to also include Yuan in the memorial for Scotty. I was so excited to hear that Baby Yuans surgery was successful and that he was doing great. I was even more excited to learn that he was soon to be on a list for adoption. The excitement grew when I heard that Yuan had found his Forever Family. AMAZINGLY once again, I have been blessed with the chance to meet Baby Yuan and his forever family. He is moving to Washington, WOW, about 30 minutes away from our house....WOW, can this be any more amazing? I hope to meet Yuan (soon to be Owen) and his family sometime in the spring when he comes home.

one more thing, I know that the pictures of our referrals pictures sometimes have the babies in the same chair and clothes etc.....................but look at little Scotty and Baby Yuan, they are wearing the same outfit and sitting in the same chair..........that is just so sweet.

My bribery worked

I mentioned earlier that Aleaya wouldn't go potty out in public. We would leave and go home everytime she needed to go or spend 30 minutes crying in the potty without any results. Today I resorted to bribery. We were shopping at Target and I told her she could have some juice or a fruit smoothie if she went potty first. IT WORKED.........finally, my daughter went potty in public and was rewarded with a Tropical Smoothie-no crying, no tantrums.....hopefully I won't have to resort to this every time we are out and about but this was a start.

We are Going to China!!

We are leaving on Feb 13th, we meet our little boy on the 17th. We are so excited. We will travel to Beijing first for some sightseeing for a few days and then travel to Guiyang on the 16th.
We will then travel to Guangzhou for our Consulate appt-we arrive in Guangzhou on the 23rd and travel back to the US on the 29th of Feb.

Aleaya is staying home with "omma" (yes, my mom doesn't want to be called Grandma, so silly) for two weeks while we are in China. I am going to miss my little "sugar plum" so much...although, I just have to add there hasn't been anything "sweet" about her behavior lately.............whoever it was that told me three is so much easier than two-ha, I beg to differ-

My last day of work is Feb. 9th and we are celebrating Aleaya's Birthday on Feb. 10th since we will be in China for her Birthday on Valentines day...

BUNNYTOWN

Aleaya dancing to the Bunnytown hop during Saturday morning cartoons. She is just the cutest even with her bed-head!!

Motherhood-this time around-

When I wasn't able to become pregnant we chose adoption rather than go through the heartache and pain of IVF etc.....We wanted a baby and we decided adoption was the best choice for our family. I was so nervous to become a mom-I felt like I didn't even know what to do, I spent hours in Aleayas bedroom folding and unfolding her clothes, nesting, listening to lullaby's, waiting and wondering about the day we finally were able to meet our little girl. When I finally held her in my arms for the first time I was so excited-but it still took me months to get used to being a Mom-sometime it felt awkward, I was unsure a lot, not sure what my little bundle of joy wanted or needed. She taught me so much in the last two years....She taught me to love her so deeply that I cant even imagine what my life was like without her in it.

This time around it feels different, the awkwardness is gone...I am so excited to just love on my little boy and hey, I know how to make a bottle and surely know how to change a diaper this time around-certainly, there will be things that will be new, but I am so ready this time around and not scared at all, thanks to my precious little girl who taught me how to love and how to become a mother.

My baby is growing up!!

I told Aleaya that as soon as she could go potty and wear "big girl" pants she would be able to go to school. (you have to be potty trained) Since becoming potty trained that is all she talks about. I told her the other day that we needed to go to the bank. She said "No, Momma, you are going to the bank, I'm going to school" She preceded to put on her coat and then her back pack....so I guess I need to hold up my end of the bargain and start looking at schools for my little girl-My little girl is growing up way to fast!!!

VISAS

I sent our passports today so that we can receive our visas to go to China-how exciting? After all this time, can this really be happening? We have tentative plans to leave on Feb. 14Th and arrive in Beijing on the 15Th-we will go to the Great Wall and the Chinese Acrobat show- leaving on the 17Th to arrive in Skeeter(we are at a stand still for the name again, we decided to wait until we see our little boy's face and then decide on his name)so far we agree on his middle name (his Chinese name Sheng Le) okay, sorry got off the subject!! We will then arrive in Guiyang. Skeeters Province and stay for 5-6 days-we will do some sightseeing there and meet Hua and her family and of course we can't forget Trudy too, she made this all possible with Hua's family. I cant wait to meet them-we will leave on the 22ND for Guangzhou-and then off to Hong Kong to go to Disneyland-and of course more sightseeing. Hopefully all my tentative plans will all work out.............HA HA, that is so funny at this point, so far NOTHING has worked out as planned. So we will continue to leave it in Gods hands and arrive in China when the time is right. We are just so excited. It won't be long now.............

The potty again!!

Aleaya will not go potty while we are out and about in public! For some reason she wants to come home and go potty. This is fine and dandy now, I usually will stop what I am doing and just go home but this is really going to become an inconvenience at some point..it seems like maybe she is scared of the loud flushing in the public bathrooms, not to mention the "grossness" of it all...UGHH, I really can't blame her. I guess it is a good thing she is staying home when we go to China.. I think the squatty potties might be a little much for her at this point...maybe she will get used to it soon. Anyone else have this problem with their kids???? Would love any advice...

Our LOA!!!!

We waited all day Friday for our LOA to arrive by Fed Ex-it never came-I called first thing Sat. morning to see what the problem was-The gentleman on the phone told me "it will be delivered on Monday" (yes, I almost SCREAMED) but instead I asked politely if it was possible to pick it up....Matt rushed over there and picked it up-(at first they couldn't find it)-freaked out again for a second and about 15 minutes later, they found it!! Matt drove to the hospital and we signed it ASAP-he then took it to kinkos-Fed Ex to mail to Charlene-YIPEE, we are now officially waiting on our TA-it arrived at Charlene's house this afternoon-how exciting...I can't wait to hold my baby boy!!!! BTW, YES, MATT IS MY HERO!!!

Christmas pics- or lack of-

We had a great Christmas-I took lots of pictures-to my surprise when I went to download them to my computer-there were only a few........my husband decided to reformat my camera-I LOST ALL OF THEM-except for a few-I could have cried!!!! So here is one of my beautiful daughter in her new dress up princess dress-sticking out her tongue-LOL, where did she learn that???? but what a cute pic of the sisterly love!!! Glad I was able to capture that!!

My baby is Truly a Big Girl now!!!

Aleaya is completely potty trained now! I'm so proud of her!! This was so much easier than I thought it would be.....I feel like I dropped the ball and should have tried a little harder months ago-(maybe when she brought me the turd in her hand, that was a clue) She has been great!!

So for all you BTDT moms, when do you stop the M & M and sticker thing??????? I think I better keep it up for a little while. I bet everyone is glad they wont have to hear about my turd stories anymore!!! Well, you never know there probably will be a few more in my life time...

WE FINALLY HAVE IT!!!!

We received a call this morning that our LOA has arrived!! It should be at our house tomorrow and we will overnight it ASAP........I guess my little winey post brought on some good vibes!!!

I am so excited-it finally seems real!! I can't wait until I hold my baby boy in my arms!! I have wanted to be a Mommy as far back as I can remember. When we had Career day at school in first grade, I stood up proudly and told the class " I wanted to be a Mommy"- I was so proud!! It took me a long time to finally be a Mom, becoming a step-mom first. I can tell you what there is nothing like "being a Mommy" It is the best feeling in the whole wide world!!!

STILL WAITING ON OUR LOA!

I find it hard to believe we are still waiting on our LOA. We don't know if it is "really" in the mail or not. There is no hope that we will travel until after the Chinese New Year. So, poor little "Skeeter" has to wait a little longer before we can go get him-If ONE more person says to me "go eat some Chocolate" I am going to SCREAM! I am not a violent person but there might be a smack down. No amount of Chocolate is going to make me feel better at this point!

I Have our LOA on the brain BAD. I went to the H.R. Dept today at work to get my FMLA paperwork. Well, guess what I asked for?????? I said I was there to pick up my "LOA paperwork" If it was only that easy, life would be grand!

Potty update

We are doing great!! We have only had one accident in 2.5 days!!!! Of course she wears a diaper still for naps and at night! This just might work! I should have tried the 70 pant's months ago. We have gone to the Grocery store, out to lunch, and haven't had any accidents!! I'm so proud of my Big Girl!!!!

Early Christmas with my Brother and Family

We Celebrated an Early Christmas with my brother and his Family. It was so nice to see Baby Emme. My Brother lives in Oregon so we don't get to see them as much as we would like. It was great that Aleaya and cousin Audrey had a chance to play together (their birthdays are only one month apart)

A Dry Day

We put on big girl pants today...on top of those, we put those really ugly training pants-you know the ones you remember your little brother wearing back in the 70's??? Well low and behold it worked.....we have had a completely DRY day and we have gone poo poo in the big girl potty too...........WOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!! I think we are making GREAT progress...maybe I wont have two kids in diapers soon!!!!!!! That would be great and wonderful on the pocket book!!!!!

Updated picture of Our little Boy!!

I did it!!!!!!!!! It took me forever but I figured out how to fix his picture-Isn't he a cutie???

Problem with our Paperwork

I guess there is an Accounting error with our paperwork in China. We were hoping to receive our LOA last week-IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!!! I guess at this point we wont be traveling until after the CNY-late Feb. This just breaks my heart that Skeeter has to wait another two months because of a clerical error-It just doesn't seem fair-

POO-POO Update

I was cooking dinner the other night and thought Aleaya was in the living room playing-All of a sudden Aleaya yells "Momma, poo-poo" so I start running in order to get her clothes and pull up off so that she can poop. When I made it to the bathroom she was standing there with her pants off pointing at her poo-poo in the potty. I was shocked...........this is a HUGE improvement, my little girl is growing up............now we will work on the pee-pee part!!!

Halloween Picture-2007

I promised Halloween pictures. These didn't turn out very well but she was the cutest little Zebra I have ever seen.

Still waiting on our LOA

We are still waiting on our LOA. I think we are on day 98 or so by now. I was so hoping to get it last week but we didn't. It needs to hurry up and get here or we wont be able to travel before Chinese New Year. Please come this week.............

Cupcakes in Heaven

Scotty's Birthday is Dec 8Th, he would have been 2 yrs old today. If things were different we would most likely be home with him celebrating his 2nd Birthday. Well, this didn't happen and God had other plans for him. I hope you will think of our little Angel today on his special day.
We love you Scotty and I'm hoping that they have Cupcakes for our little boy in Heaven.

Picture wth Santa

Last year Aleaya cried when she saw Santa Claus. This year she was excited to see him. She yelled "Hi Santa" as soon as she saw him. So this year we have pictures. Isn't she cute???

Hua

This is Hua, she suffered from a heart defect and needed surgery. She was having episodes were she would pass out and she had a blue tinge to her skin from lack of oxygen, time seemed to be running out.
The day Scotty passed away LWB received a call from a lady named Trudy asking if there was anything they could do. It was set up so that money could be donated to Hua's surgery in Scotty's name-within a day, there was enough money donated so that Hua could have her surgery. She has since had her surgery and is looking forward to going to school. I was amazed to see that Hua is from the same province as Shae and kept wondering if it was possible to meet her. Well I emailed Amy at LWB and she gave me the email address to Trudy!!!!!!!!!!! Well I am excited to say, we get to meet Trudy, Hua and her family while in Guiyang..........how cool is that??????????????????????? I am very excited!!!!

The POO POO

Aleaya hasn't gone poo poo in her diaper in a week. This is progress. She goes potty on the big girl potty every time.............but guess what????????? She doesn't go pee???? This seems a little backwards but I'm not complaining, no more poopy diapers WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO, we will work on the peeing part!!!

Halloween 2006

Here is a picture of Aleaya last Halloween, she was the cutest little lady bug!!! This year she is going to be a Zebra-I will post pictures later tonight after we get home.

This one is for you Marcy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

container of 2t clothes for later

supplies for China

clothes for China

PJ's-you can never have to many PJ's right??????????? well, atleast in my head!!

more shirts

pants and things

shirts and some jackets

first off, My name is Erika Callahan and I am a shopaholic-;) I am embarrassed to show Skeeters closet-but here it is-made sure I took pictures of his drawers also so that you could get the full on effect!!! Maybe next I will show you Aleaya's closet so that you can really see I have issues :) LOL, also the containers are full of supplies and clothes for China...........couldn't help but show the other container full of 2t things for later...........

NO POO POO this week

So we haven't gone poo -poo in the big girl chair all week............sigh....or even pee-pee for that matter..........bigger sigh..........

Guess What???

Guess who went poo-poo on the big girl chair.?? yep, twice so far!! She was at Omma's house the other day and she put her on the big girl potty and left her alone to read her book, a little later she hears Aleaya yelling "Omma, it's working" so my Mom ran to see what was up and she had gone poo-poo..........it worked...how cute is that?? she also went poo-poo on Sunday in the potty chair-but a half hour later she went poo some more in her pull-ups...oh well, this is a start-guess she wasn't finished yet ;)

tyler's Room

This is Shae's room-We used the same decoration's we had for Aleaya's first bedroom- I know it is pretty boyish for a little girl-but I picked this out long ago and still love it!!! I couldn't bring myself to show the closet. You would die if you saw how many clothes this boy already has. Retail therapy is addicting!!!!

UPDATE-we named our little boy Tyler not Shae

Aleaya's Room

We finally finished the kid's rooms!! I can't believe Aleaya has a toddler bed. (I have been putting this off FOREVER) She is using this for naps now and still sleeping in the crib overnight in Skeeter's room. We still need some more decorations but Aleaya finally has a girly girl room.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. Aleaya had a blast. We bought 4 pumpkins, 2 little ones and 2 big ones to carve. Unfortunately, someone stole three of them out of our yard last night. We only have one little one left that Aleaya had been carrying around the house.
I find it hard to believe some one stole our pumpkins.........JERKS!!!!!!

Finally a LID-

We finally have a LID...............I am so disappointed and frustrated. Our DTC date was 8/6/07 and our LID is 9/3/07 Almost a month............sigh...So I had a good cry and then started thinking about the bright side of things....okay, the PROS- so we wont be in China for Christmas so I will get to spend Christmas with my favorite girl...(I couldn't seem to talk Matt into letting Aleaya go to China with us) , My sister will be home for Christmas this year and I get to spend time with her, I will get to meet lots of great people IRL that I have met on the CHI adoption board and their wonderful children.....more time for my foot to feel better and more PTO(paid time off) to accumulate..................the cons I WANT MY SON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

baking a cake

Aleaya and I baked our first cake together. She was so excited, of course, she was even more excited when she was able to lick the beaters. Don't worry everyone, we didn't use eggs so she isn't going to get salmonella. :) This was a Weight Watchers Pineapple cake recipe that you use a can of Fresca instead of eggs and oil. This may sound weird but it is YUMMY.

Our Scotty-It's been 6 months

It has been 6 month's since our Scotty passed away. 6 months since that horrible phone call telling us he was gone. He passed away April 4Th, 2007. He was a SN little boy we were in the process of adopting from China. He passed away at the Orphanage from Pneumonia before we were able to bring him home. I know that he is in heaven now, I feel at peace with that, although it is sometimes hard for me to fathom the reason he was taken from us before we had a chance to hold him. It took Matt months and months to say "yes" to a second adoption. He had his heart set on another girl, I had my heart set on Scotty the moment I saw his beautiful face!!! I showed Matt the picture of Scotty and he was smitten too. May our little angel know how much he is still loved, he will always be in our hearts!!!