August 2007

It is so hard to believe 5 months have flown by since our last update and we have now just completed our 6 month post placement report for Lottie’s adoption into our family. Hard to believe and yet it feels as if she has always been a part of our lives. It’s hard to imagine life without her now. At the end of our last update we told you she was preparing to walk any day, and she did just that!! She started walking 3 days later at the Cheesecake Factory where we were celebrating her brother Noah’s award for his film production. She started walking on the tile floor out in the lobby and put on quite the show for everyone. She has been non-stop ever since!!! She has discovered that she LOVES the beach!!!! We spent Easter at the beach where she enjoyed her first Easter egg hunt and donned her Easter dress for Easter Sunday. She has had many opportunities to enjoy the sand and sea as we have made weekend trips to visit friends as well as spending a week at spring break and a week in June on the ocean. She holds her arms out and begs to be taken down to the water. She also has greatly enjoyed our neighborhood pool this summer and is like a little fish. She is not scared of the water at all and just smiles when the water gets splashed in her face. She is even jumping into our arms from the side!!! She has enjoyed the newest addition to our family. The boys finally got their wish for a puppy!!! We adopted Kona, a lab-boxer mix at the beginning of the summer. He was 10 weeks old when he came to us and weighed less than Lottie. Now he would make 3 of her. She has watched mommy train him to sit , “lie down and stay and now we find her pretending to hold a treat in her hand and telling kona “down” and backing up with her hand out telling him to “stay”. She copies everything we do now so her brothers have been warned to set a good example. She loves to blow kisses!!! She started saying “mmm bah” as she blows the kiss. Now it is more like “mmmah” and recently she just puckers up!!! We celebrated her first July 4th with a fireworks celebration the night before at a nearby park where the symphony plays while you picnic and watch the fireworks show. The night of the 4th we went to the airport to welcome home her new friend Abbey who was arriving home from China with her forever family!!!! She continues to enjoy playing with her big brothers and they have thoroughly enjoyed the time they have had at home with her this summer. The last 2 weeks of July we took off for A Disney Mediterranean cruise with Shannon’s parents and her sister’s family. . Yes, Lottie now has a U.S. Passport and has been on 3 continents and she is not yet 18 months old. It was an incredible experience visiting ports in Spain, France and Italy including tours of Barcelona, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Pompeii and more!!! . We saw the ruins of Pompeii, the coliseum and the Vatican in Rome as well as the leaning tower of Pisa. It was truly the trip of a lifetime. Lottie enjoyed meeting all the Disney characters on the ship and watching the Disney entertainment each night . She was mesmerized!!! She is still a petite beauty at only 17 1/2 pounds and not quite 29 inches tall. We switched her from formula in a bottle to whole milk in a sippy cup at 15 months old and she took right to it. She now drinks 3 – 4 sippy cups full of milk each day. She goes through phases as to what she likes and doesn’t like. Pasta is always a big hit so she loved Italy!!!! She also enjoys soup!!! And yes she has to feed herself with the spoon!!! She is quite independent and has no trouble communicating what she wants. She babbles all the time now and is starting to say some words. She consistently says mama, dada, and thank you (Ta Ta) and each day is beginning to try new words. She understands most everything we say and follows directions well.

She is growing up before our eyes and enlarging our hearts each and every day. We celebrated her 6 month anniversary by going out for Chinese. Her fortune cookie read “A small gift brings joy to the whole family” Yes!!! One small gift from the Lord has brought GREAT joy to this family!!!! We are blessed indeed!!!!