Happy New Year!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I know everyone wants to know how Emma's first Christmas went. It's been hard to find blog time since she's not in school. I've been enjoying spending some time with her over the last couple of weeks!

Our Christmas was great. We've been waiting a few years to celebrate Christmas with a little one...it almost didn't seem real. We spent some time visiting with family which was alot of fun, but my favorite time was Christmas morning with just Terry, Emma and I. Santa didn't go all crazy with gifts this year, which suited Emma just fine. She is quite appreciative of anything she gets (which is exact opposite of how she was when she arrived home not even five months ago...it's amazing how her disposition has changed!). She seemed to enjoy the little things much more than the bigger gifts Santa brought her. I just loved seeing her reaction when she pulled each little thing from her stocking:

I also added one more video below. I thought it was so cute because she proudly held up the box before she even knew what was in it!

Another thing I enjoyed this Christmas is watching Emma give out gifts. She is just as excited to see someone open a gift as she is to open one herself! She got a camera from my brother's family, and she was sure to make Terry and I hold up each of our gifts after opening to she could capture the moment on her camera!

As we do every year, we took our tree and decorations down on boxing day. It's quite a bit of work, but it feels good to get the house back to normal. Emma was a little disappointed to see the tree go. After taking the tree down, whenever she would see someone, she would say, "Christmas all done. Tree is in the stairs." (Translation: tree is downstairs) After church on Sunday, Emma was given a candy cane. She was very excited and wanted to get home to put it on the tree. Terry and I had to giggle. Obviously she had forgotten the tree was taken down. When we got home from church, Emma raced into the house with her candy cane in hand. When she got into the living room and realized what was going on, she exclaimed, "We don't have a tree anymore!" at which point she insisted we bring the tree from downstairs so she could hang her candy cane on it! Sorry kid...your just gonna have to eat it! :)

Christmas Concert

Yesterday was Emma's Christmas concert at school. She had an afternoon and an evening performance. I took my dad and Terry's sisters and brother-in-law to the afternoon performance. Emma did a fantastic job and I bawled through the whole thing....people must think I'm crazy! Although, I wasn't the only one shedding tears! My sisters were bawling right along with me (sorry to drag you in guys!) Anyways, I was beaming as she waved and blew me kisses...proud mommy I am!

After school, Emma's Auntie Jo came to watch her open her Christmas present...a trunk full of princess costumes. She went nuts! It was a perfect gift for her. She excitedly tried each one on right after the other (I wish she could change that fast in the mornings!) We let her pick her favorite one and wear it for awhile. Then we had to get her to change into her pyjamas (that was her costume for the Christmas concert) She put up quite a fuss because she didn't want to take her princess costume off. We explained to her that she had to go back to school to do her Christmas concert again so daddy could see it. This did not sit well and she said, "but I did it already!!" I don't like the attitude, but I love the sentences she's putting together!

At the evening performance, she spotted us right away. As she was walking across the stage, she blew a kiss and said "I love you daddy!" The entire place was filled with a resounding, "AWWWWWWWWWWW!" That's our girl!....cutest one there!

More Dance

Just had to post this one cuz it's too cute!!

Emma's First Dance Class

Emma loves to dance. So much so that she can't even sit still when she hears music. Even when we're watching TV, she'll get up and dance to any type of background music. We decided it was time to try her in a dance class.

The dance class we took her to was very understanding of our situation. They let us go in for a free class last night just to make sure that it is something that Emma would like and be able to follow. They suggested putting her into hip-hop as a starting point. Emma was SO excited and absolutely loved it. She was grinning from ear to ear for the entire hour. Her dancing abilities were OK under the circumstances. She tried to follow some routines that the other kids had already learned. It was very entertaining to watch. Every time the choreography would end all the kids would stop dancing, but not Emma. She would break into her signature freestyle. Once again she was the show stopper and had all the parents in stitches.

We've decided to enroll her in the class. Even if she doesn't become a fabulous dancer, it was just so great to see her having so much fun. This morning when she woke up she said, "Dance again today?"

Check out the little video we took......

Hair to There!

I've been amazed as I've followed other people's blogs to see their before and after pictures of children that have been adopted. Usually within a matter of months, the child doesn't even look remotely the same. Usually the children are undernourished and look sickly when adopted, but with a little TLC the changes are amazing.

This hasn't been the case with Emma. When we got her in July, despite the not-so-nice condition of the orphanage, she appeared to be relatively healthy. Her height and weight were right on track for her age. Since home, she has gained a few pounds and grown about 5cm, but this has not changed her overall appearance.

However, we have seen a huge change in her hair. I didn't realize it until I was looking at some pictures the other day. It's been almost four months, and it looks to me like her hair is about four inches longer! And since being home, she had a haircut where at least an inch was taken off. And talk about thick! This child has amazing hair!

Before

After

The Perfect Gift

Every morning when I brush Emma's teeth, we have a little tradition. She has a little step stool in front of the bathroom sink she stands on so she can reach the sink. When she steps up on it, she is closer to my height, so she always wraps her arms around me for a nice big hug before we start.

This morning, in the middle of our warm embrace, she pulled back and looked me in the eyes. With all sincerity she said, "mama, I'm so happy." I was totally taken by surprise, and curious about what she would say, I asked,"Why?" Her exact words were, "because mama is so happy for me." I know she may not have been totally able to express exactly what she wanted to in english, but I caught her drift. I fought back tears as I brushed her teeth.

I've been trying to figure out over the last few weeks what I would like for Christmas. This morning I came to the realization that I already have everything I could ever want. :)