She's really our daughter.
There are times when I look at Grace and think about how blessed we are. It still seems like a dream, that we could fill out some paperwork, travel half way around the world and bring home the most precious and perfect daughter. She is a one-of-a-kind treasure that we have been entrusted with completely. It's still just hard to fathom the responsibility that comes with that. I'm completely 100,000% committed to this relationship and who would ever have thought? That fierce love that I hear people talk about with their biological children - I have that same love for Grace. Sometimes I just want to wrap her up in my arms and make sure nothing, ever, hurts her. Right now she has a cold that won't go away and an ear infection that's clearly bothering her. Yet she is a trooper - you would never know she was feeling bad except for the cough and tugging on her ears. And I feel so guilty not being able to stay home with her and keep her away from all those germs. She deserves more of my time. I miss not being home with her.

She amazes me every day. She has a new word that she loves to say - "ball". In fact we had the TV on tonight and she saw a commercial with a volleyball and a tennis ball and she pointed to the TV and repeated over and over again "ball, ball, ball, ball". She not only says "ball" she loves to play ball. Big or little, she loves her balls. Do I hear soccer player in her future? You never know. It's amazing to watch her enchanting personality develop. I just want to breathe in every minute of it and not forget a thing.

Happy New Year!
It's the year of the pig (or wild boar) and last night we celebrated with friends and family. We ordered Chinese Food from China King and had a feast. We had special guests who moved here from China that made the celebration even more meaningful. And although it was a very Americanized version of the Chinese New Year's eve, it was a lot of fun and we plan to continue the tradition every year. We also had special guests from Iowa, my dear Aunt and Uncle who I don't see nearly enough. It was a real treat to have them here. Grace dressed up in her finest Chinese outerwear straight from Chinatown in San Francisco! You'd think she would at least be wearing something from China. But my Mom got her the outfit and it was perfect for the occasion so she wore it. The only problem is, now her chest is stained red from all the drooling onto her new Chinese red outfit. She's getting more teeth and drooling like a maniac! At least Ally was wearing her authentic Chinese dress. She looked fabulous in it.

Today was my first Valentine's Day as a mommy and Grace's first Valentine's Day as a daughter. I'll never forget it. The card I got from Grace made me misty - finally, a card for "mommy". I loved it. Grace was so sweet and loving this morning. I think she new it was a special day. She got a valentine book "Elmo Loves You". We read it at breakfast and she listened to every word. Wow, this Mommy stuff just keeps getting better and better. Take a look at the slideshow below - Grace made her own shout-out to our friends and family especially for Valentine's day (with a little help from MOMMY).

Hope your day was as special as mine.

P.S. Happy anniversary Jeff & Tracy!

One more thing...check out Grace's first art project from school. She made this a while ago and I'm just getting around to posting it. I believe it's an abstract of a caterpillar eating a blueberry, but you'd have to speak to the artist to find out for sure.

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