Happy Birthday, Oliver!

Oliver is one year old today.  I hope that they celebrated his birthday at St. Lucy's and will send us some pictures on Monday.  We have had one nursery update since our last photos.  He is now a little over 16 pounds and 26.7 inches tall.  He is a good sleeper, likes music, and to play hide and seek.  He is also starting to walk.  He stands up and walks holding the bed frame.  I spoke with our agency last night.  Our paperwork is almost done in Maryland.  Our fingers are crossed that it will be back to California by the end of the week and out to Taiwan by the end of the following week.  I know it is only a few more months before Oliver will be home, but it feels like forever when he is growing and changing so much.

We almost have Oliver's nursery finished.  Just have to hang the curtains and a few pictures.  Here are a few photos of it so far...

Happy Birthday, Baby!  We love you!!

Easter Weekend

We started our Easter weekend with a short hike at Pataspco State Park on Saturday.  Sydney did an awesome job for her first hike! She negotiated the trail really well and didn't fall once.  The morning was a bit cool and rainy...

 But the afternoon became very warm and sunny so we went outside to blow bubbles

 Sunday morning Sydney found a trail of chocolates that the Easter Bunny had left for her...

 Of course, all she wanted to do was eat the chocolates!

Sunday's temps hit the mid 80's so Sydney and I set up the pool!  She was very excited and had a great time.  

After the pool, I put in Monster's Inc. while I worked on dinner and when I went to check on her, I found she had fallen asleep, which is not surprising since she refused to take a nap.

We hope you all  had a great Easter weekend and made some wonderful memories.  I will post adoption updates on a later blog post :D

Our weekend vacation

                                                 

Grandma sent me a tutu and wings.  Thank you, Grandma, I love them!

My best friend from my Navy days came to visit.  We hadn't seen each other since 2004.  It was so great to see her and remember those days.  Sydney really loved her!

Sydney and her new friend

BethAnn and Cinda

Here are a few pictures of our recent trip to Williamsburg, VA.

Here we are visiting the oldest plantation in Virginia, the Shirley Plantation, which sits along the James River.

It was a warm day, but there were thunderstorms passing through the area.  We had to seek out shelter a few times to wait out a passing rain.  Here we are in the ice cellar waiting it out :)

We had a great time at the Great Wolf Lodge.  Sydney adores her cousins!  She did really well in the water.  She went down the water slide all by herself (several times) and was really trying to swim.
While in Williamsburg we took a trip to Newport News to visit the Living Museum.  Sydney had a great time touching sea animals, viewing wildlife and generally running around.

Our last day at the Great Wolf Lodge (here with cousin Abi)

At the Lodge's Ice Cream Parlor. 

March photos

We got some new photos of Ollie today.  Here is the best one:

It is a little blurry, but I like it because I can see he is holding his food and feeding himself. It is all we have to go on since we STILL have not had any developmental updates!  We do have our USCIS fingerprinting appointment set for April 14th.  All of our dossier paperwork is now in the process of being authenticated and translated, so hopefully it will be on the way to Taiwan in a 3-4 weeks (or less). 

And he got a haircut!  Why do they always cut MY kids' hair?  It must be hot.  The only reason I can think that they cut Sydney's hair off before we came was that she sweated a lot and it helped keep her cooler.  Because I know they don't cut everyone's hair; I have seen plenty of pictures with kids at St. Lucy's with long hair when they went home. :)

She is Taiwanese-Irish-American!

This year we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in style!

Just as she should be proud of her Taiwanese heritage, Sydney should be proud to that she is part of a Scotch/Irish clan now, too!

Learning letters and numbers has never been more fun!

Sydney's First Easter Egg Hunt...

 She had a great time and we will probably be hosting an egg hunt at our house in a couple of weeks.

It's official...

We traded in our Mazda3 for a Dodge Grand Caravan.  We are definitely living the American Dream...a house, 2 kids, a minivan.   We don't have the dog though, and I don't think one is in the picture.  

We are cat people in this house.  No dog could be as good as our 2 cats.  They are so good with Sydney and even watch over her.  They would never protect her like a dog could, but they love her and want to make sure she ok when she is upset and crying.  They play with her and let her pick them up (Simon anyway, she can't pick up Sebastian).  She is good with them, too.  Her job is to feed them and she does a great job.  I can tell she will be a good big sister by the way she takes care of them.