Happy Thanksgiving

Olivia's first turkey drawing using an outline of her hand. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

No more mohawk comb over!

Olivia got her first haircut today! Aunt Connie did a wonderful job and Olivia was very calm and did not even seem to realize what was happening. The top of her hair was long in the middle and it would flop to one side in an odd way. She also had one lone curl on the side. Now her hair is more even, and looks great! It still has length and curl on top.

So, Olivia had her first haircut at 6 months and 18 days old. That is written in her baby book. Yes, we did save her hair!

Some old and new videos

I wanted to put the oldest video up and then the newest to show her progress over the past couple months, but I accidentally did it in reverse.

Here is the newest video:



Then October:



Then September:

Photos of Our Forever-Daughter!

Our family! Cats and people! Everyone loved!!!!

Olivia counted 2 million kisses today!!!!

That is what being adopted means!

It means you get kissed 2 million times!!!!

(as opposed to the normal 1 million times a day!)

And every newly adopted daughter needs

to take some time to do her studying at her desk!

We are so happy as we bask in the reality that Olivia is our Forever-Daughter!

It has been so very many years in trying to get to this point, that it is all the more amazing of a feeling. Tonight I held her just a bit longer before putting her in her crib for the night as I simply savored the reality that we officially and legally have a daughter. Olivia has been our daughter in our hearts since late February, and we certainly have been BEING her parents. Now it is just official and legal, and it feels awesome! And some would say miracles don't happen! Miracles DO indeed happen! Praise God!

Adoption Finalized

We learned this morning that the judge signed the order finalizing Olivia's adoption last Friday the 13th. Praise God for bringing Olivia into our lives and for bringing us to the end of this long journey.

Video- Olivia eating cereal

Just uploaded video to YouTube

First Try at Rice Cereal

Olivia calmly took her first mouthfuls of cereal today.

... and occasionally said this stuff feels odd in my mouth :-)

This was Olivia's first try at eating solid food. Grandma B and Daddy took photos and movies while Mommy tried her best to feed Olivia. We have been getting advice from the Speech Therapist and also information from a DVD from TalkTools. Olivia did not spit the food back out, but let it be in her mouth and tried very calmly to figure out just what to do with it.

It will take a while before Olivia is truly up to speed on eating. But this first try went better than we had expected.