New Puppies

We got two new family members!!! Chancellor Archibald and Chelsea Lila (aka Chance and Chelsea).

We all adore these pups!! :)

Fourth of July

We had such a wonderful holiday weekend! Tessa turned 2 1/2 yesterday on the fourth, which is perfect since she's our little independent firecracker! We are all doing very well, and consider ourselves incredibly blessed. Sorry my blog is so neglected these days..I mostly post on Facebook. My friend took these pictures of Tessa last night, with her first sparklers.

Tessa's Two Year Portraits

A friend of mine took these...aren't they sweet? :)

Tessa's Birthday

Our sweet Tessa turned two years old on Tuesday. I always have the hardest time with the second birthday...it seems to signify the end of babyhood. When someone asks, "How old is she?" I'll now give her age in years instead of months. She's becoming so independent these days, wanting to do everything herself. Sigh. Why does it have to go so fast? But, I look forward to watching her grow, to see who she'll become.

We had a nice birthday party, celebrating with close family. She had a ball eating her cake and opening her presents, and even managed to blow out the candle! And I impressed myself...I managed to successfully make Taiwanese tea eggs. So pretty, and delicious as well!

Finally, I pray for Tessa's birthfamily tonight. They are the only ones of all my children that we have met, ones we have real memories of. We love them as our own family and pray for them frequently.

Christmas Photos

We had a very Merry Christmas. It is so wonderful to see the joy in the kids' faces as they experience all the excitement of the season.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours....

23 Months Old

In only one month, my sweet baby will be two years old. Sigh. How I'd love to freeze time and savor these sweet baby moments before they vanish into preschooler-hood.

Tessa is still my peanut, weighing in at just 21 lbs. She is small, but mighty. She wears size 18-24 month clothes, but only for the length. Leggings are the only pants I can find to fit my sweetness around the waist.

Language is lagging. We had her evaluated by Early On and they determined that she's at about a 10 month old level in speech. She qualifies for therapy 1-3 times per month. They felt her speech lag was probably due to the fact that she heard Mandarin for the first 7 months of her life. My mommy instincts told me otherwise, so I made an appointment to get her ears checked, even though she appears to hear just fine.

So, off to the pediatrician we went. The tympanogram revealed the problem...both ears flatlined, meaning she hears like she has her fingers in her ears all the time. Poor baby. :( The pediatrician wanted to try 3 weeks worth of sinus drops in an attempt to clear out the sinuses and drain the ear canal. Then, we'll go back and have her ears retested. If we get the same results, we'll be referred to an ENT, most likely for tubes. I'm hopeful that once (and if) she receives tubes in her ears, we'll get to hear more of her sweet voice and get a chance to listen to her talk!

Other than that, she is doing amazing. She still loves her mommy fiercely, and for that I thank God every day.

We love you Tessie-boo. :)