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SUNSCREEN

Apparently I should have been wearing some, while gardening. Can you feel the heat through the computer screen? yeeeeeeeeeee ouch?

He's here......He's here

Actually he got here on Monday. On Monday morning I had the privilege of driving not only to Long Beach but Compton. Our shipment from China had finally come in. We sent home 2 Terra Cotta Warriors from the White Swan Hotel. One for us and one for the grandparents that babysat Jessica (whoa was that not cheap! The idea of an extra small t-shirt as a Thank you wasn't going to 'cut it'). I am soooo excitied, he's in ONE piece. The other dude will stay in his crate till we deliver him to grandma and grandpa next weekend.

A 'must buy' for those retail therapy shopping lists

For those of you enduring the endless wait for a referral from China, here's a goody to put on that shopping list.


Jessica would like to recommend Walter the Farting Dog. Given to her on her 1st birthday this has become Jessica's favorite night time read. After all the child loves dogs and thanks to preschool, thinks farts are hilarious.

Believe it or not..........Wal Mart

Quite a few people have asked where I got Emma's hair bows. Nothin' fancy....just Wal Mart. I went to buy a plethora of travel sized toiletries and there they were....the hair bows in some random spot. I thought "hmmmm those might work" They came in a 3 pack, white, pink and purple (not shown), I believe they were about 6 bucks for all 3.....not bad huh?

This, is what I was talking about

Remember when I was giving new parents a glimpse into what their future could look like? Well here's the proof, I really didn't just make it all up.


This is Jessica bruise....2 days after the professional pictures.

Of course as promised Jessica woke up with something on her face. I greeted her as she walked into our room with "Good Gawd, what happened to you!" Poor kid looked like she was clubbed on the side of her face. As I was getting her breakfast and gawking at this enormous bruise, I just had to laugh. Not only did I know this was going to happen, I said it would. We still have no idea, how she got a bruise, or what happened. Later that afternoon I slathered her face in some makeup and we proceeded with the professional photo's. After all, making another appointment for another time wasn't going to do me any good, something appears on my kids face only when I've made the photo appointment. And of course Emma woke up with a nice big cut under her eye from her fingernail.

Twins Reunited!!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/12/earlyshow/main1492377.shtml

CUTE BABY ALERT

Keep the banana cream pie comin' mama....I LUB it!




This picture was taken less than 2 months ago.




This picture was taken 4/19...two months to the day we got Emma. Think this kid loves to eat? She is always the first one eating and the last one to finish.

History repeats itself

When I was younger my mom would take us into dad's office and reintroduce us. "Kid's, this is your dad." Dad worked so much that when the dog died, all mom had to say was that "Ruffy went to work". We understood Ruffy was most likely not to be seen again. Tuesday I took the girls into Daddy's office to sorta reintroduce themselves. We both knew that there would be weeks "like this" if he took the new job.
"Sounds like you could benefit from an 80/20 going no doc. I'll send the appraiser out tomorrow."

"We're here about a loan, we both need new shoes"



If all goes well, tonight will be the first dinner where all 4 of us are present. Tonight was supposed to have been a date night between Jessica and Daddy. But since the rest of us ladies haven't seen daddy either...we're all going on a date, to Chucky Cheese....please pray for me, I loath Chucky Cheese.

TAG !! I'm it and you're next.........

Alright already, Kim tagged me. Therefore everyone in blogger world gets to know 6 weird things about me.

1. I'll admit that I read this same sorta thing on someone else's blog and it's true for me too. I put my groceries on the conveyer belt according to cans, baby food, frozen food, delicate stuff. The weird thing is I almost make it a game. How fast can I unload the cart, with everything in it's "place". I know, you're thinking "total dork"

2. All the clothes in my closet are color coded. That way when I'm looking for "that black shirt" I can find it where the black shirts live.

3. When I was younger I certain that I was Wonder Woman. I asked to change my name to Jaime. One time I climbed a tree with my "laso" and somehow ended up hanging myself. Thankfully my mom looked out the kitchen window and saw me dangling. Not sure if this is weird or just plain stupid.

4. I CAN NOT stand the sight of blood. I actually got a lump in my throat when Bart Simpson cut his finger....ya I know, he's just a cartoon.

5. On our 2nd date my husband and I found out that we each have Winnie the Pooh tatoo's

6. I don't wear undies (no comments please )

Okay, so now I have to tag 6 other people

Beth

Susan

Jen

Michelle

Jaj

Mary-Mia

If you have already been tag then don't worry about it!
Rules of the tag:

1) Now you list 6 weird facts about yourself and post them on your blog and in my comments section. Then tag 6 more people.

2) Leave a comment in their comments section telling them they are tagged and to go to your blog.

Have Fun!!

60 Minutes Report.. China: Too Many Men

The town that 60 Minutes visits for part of their report is where Emma is from.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Don't let the Easter Bunny get me!!!!!!!!!

This was the first year that Jessica really knew anything about the Easter Bunny. The more she knows, the more she wished she didn't know. She hates the Easter Bunny! Long story..short. She begged to see the Easter Bunny while on spring break. Ok, fine....we'll go. Got the girls all gussied up, bows in the hair, the whole nine yards. We come rollin' up to the 8 foot bunny at the mall. One look at the Rabbit and Jessica was literally screaming bloody murder and crawling up the leg of the woman who was to be taking the picture. Poor Emma hated him too. Trying to make a get away wasn't easy. Jessica was NOT going to walk in front of this rodent. I was trying to maneuver the double stroller, while holding Emma and trying to get Jessica under control. After 10 minutes of fighting with the double stroller (in the rain), getting everyone back in the car, buckling up the girls, blah, blah blah...I get in the car and let out a huge sigh! Then the words uttered from the back seat...."I wanna see the Easter Bunny"

The only reason I have this picture, is because I needed some place to sit Emma while I pried Jessica off the girls leg.

So these are the pictures from Easter Sunday. Phil had to work in the morning, so the Easter Bunny came after the afternoon naps.

Click HERE to see the video. note that Rupert is right underfoot.

Just ask for the "Aimee Discount"

This is crazy. Just this morning I received an email from Hebe and Hellen. You know, the girls who run the store in Guangzhou, I told everybody to buy from. I first told everyone on March 2nd about her and her awesome store. Well, she was emailing me to thank me for sending everyone and their brother to her store. Not more than 2 minutes later did I receive an email from someone on one of my yahoo groups saying she had spent a fortune at Hebe's and that Hebe does indeed have the diaper bags I was telling her to make!! I guess Hebe is giving out the "Aimee Discount"! So if you are headed to Guangzhou, do yourself a favor and go straight to Hebe's store. There really is no need to shop around...........she will have the best price! If you don't see what you want, just ask. She'll be back in 5 minutes with whatever you want. And when you've bought enough to require another suitcase, hang tight.........she has those too, for $10 US Dollars. Please tell Hebe, Aimee says "Hi"

Her store is located OFF the main drag, past Jennifers place..make a right. It's not very big, but hey...you can save $$$$$$$$$$$$
This is me, Hebe (in pink) and Hellen. Hellen speaks better English and refers to all the women as "Madam", it's pretty funny.

If anyone has a picture of the diaper bag she is now selling...I would LOVE to see a picture!

" A Man's Cat"

See this??



We laugh every time we see this bumper sticker. Then we quit laughing because, it's so not true for us. This is Rupert.


He was named after the big hairy dude from Survivor. Actually Rupert was my mom's cat for about 2 weeks. She left him with us while she went to Maui. When she came back she did not receive him back. He and Jessica (who was only 6 months at the time) became best of friends, and well...he was now her kitty.






Rupert is by far the sweetest cat you will ever met. He is always where Jessica is (now Emma too) and is willing to put up with whatever she dishes out. Now if Rupert were as smart as he is cute...we could go on the road. He's not a cat who can do tricks to the sound of a bell. I wouldn't be surprised if Rupert hears bells in his head all day long. Rupert is well, kinda, sorta....not really smart. I have only met 2 people that don't care for Rupert. We've actually had people come to the house proclaiming that they don't care for cats and by the time they leave, they're telling us how much they love Rupert. It's usually the men who proclaim, "I don't care for cats" and everytime it's that same man saying, "wow, Rupert's such a cool cat."
Rupert is an old stud cat and has been used to bathing since he was a kitten.

Because my family is long time friends with a breeder, she's given my mom, myself and my grandma many older stud cats. These cat's make the best pets for families with children. Just keep in mind that they're not as smart as they are cute!

Reading, Ranting and Rookin' cute

Yesterday after the girls naps it was time to head out for groceries. I left Jessica in the play loft and had lunch with Emma. For about 20 minutes I kept yelling up to the loft and asking Jessica to "please come down for lunch so we can go to the store". And for 20 minutes...excuses, excuses.
"Hold on mama, I comin' ", "No" and the occasional "ok".
Usually when a 2 year old is avoiding you it's because of something they've done you wish they hadn't. With every minute that passed by I was really being to wonder. As I walked up the stairs to find out what was going on, bad scenarios were going through my head. Was she drawing on the walls with Crayola's? Did she go #2 and was using it as fingerpaints? (not that she's done either of these before) Exactly what was the hold up? This is what I saw at the top of the stairs.

"Don't touch Mama, I readin' "

Sheer delight! The 2 year old loves to read. After my quick picture, I told her to "keep reading and come downstairs when you're done". And with that I went downstairs and waited another 20 minutes.

Calling all cooks, chefs, wanna be cooks...heck, I don't care if all you know is Stouffers... I need your help!

If you know me, you know I can't cook. I don't care to cook. I feel like if I'm going to put effort and time into something it ought to last longer than the 5 minutes it takes someone to devour their meal. I also can't stand when a recipe calls for an ingredient requiring you to visit some special store and by the time you've found this special ingredient, the recipe only requires a dash. In college my roommates called me "scraps". I would contribute $$$ to the cause, but never made meals for myself. I have many reasons to learn to cook.

1) the 2 year old that depends on me for nutrition
2) a 10 month old that needs to eat well
3) the husband that's suffered through enough of my "cooking"
4) I know I can do this!

Please share with me a simple, easy recipe. You get extra points if I can use the crock pot and if it's something I can convince the 2 year old to try! If you are what you eat; I'm cheap, easy and fast......which is no way to go through life ;)

i married my husband because at the time i actually met him for the 1st time he was asking what i wanted in my omlette. cute and he cooks! he used to do all the cooking.

Thank you mother nature!

Finally, a weekend that wasn't full of rain and blowing winds. We enjoyed the weekend with sun and warm enough weather to heat up the hot tub for the afternoon. This was Emma's first time in the hot tub and her new tugboat. I know she doesn't look thrilled in any of these photos, but she really did have a great time!

A glimpse into what your future could look like......

So for those of you ever waiting for your referrals, I thought I would share what your future may look like.........

You know that nice spacious house you're living in? Add baby, high chair, walker, toys, play saucer and a few random other "things" and soon you'll feel like you're living in a two story Dorito bag. Expect this to also happen with your car.

Be prepared to have your floor in the kitchen "crunch". Yup that's right..."crunch". A few Cherrios here, a couple Gerber puffs there, throw in a some Wagon Wheels and be prepared to crunch. I now wear flip flops at all times (like I didn't before?) I don't have Fido to help clean up the food. Actually the last thing I need is something else in the house that poops. Therefore I have this.

So black looks good on you? Me too, minus the formula, oatmeal, baby food and sometimes milk. Ya see, black is good at covering up things that aren't white. Unfortunate for you, the formula is white, the milk is white and even the oatmeal is white enough to make you look like a walking napkin. Have a good sense of humor so that when you're in the car far enough away from home to drive back and change, you can laugh at the fact that you have enough food clinging to your shirt to feed a small army.

Most likely this next one will only last a short while as children adopted from China are not newborns. While standing in the mirror trying to remove the mascara from under your eyes, the same mascara that you actually took off before going to bed, just stop! It's not going anywhere. It's not even mascara....that crap is permanent. It's called the "I'm not sleeping and have a baby in the house" look. The one thing that compliments this look well, would be that black shirt with all the food on it!

You might find yourself standing while scratching your head (or your ass) and wondering, "Where the hell did all this laundry come from?" Go ahead check the house....no one else moved in except that 18 pound princess. There is no other family living in the house. You really arent' doing the neighbors laundry. All that S&@ is yours. The next question is..."does this S*#@ multiply while we're sleeping?" I know....I go through this same thing every day.

Oh and for the 1st time parents. Don't expect Mr. Fluffy Pants to like your new child. Mr Murph took one smell of Jessica and that was it. He now hides all day and waits to hear her door close after she's gone to sleep. We did have a dog at one point. That was till the dog decided she was scared shitless of the baby and wanted to nip at her.

One thing I can say positive about CCAA (actually there are many, just not pertaining to how long the wait has gotten) is they are preparing 1st time parents for the "real deal". Expect the unexpected. Nothing will ever go your way.

Case and point.
It took you a solid 2 weeks to finally put together a lunch date with the girls, good for you. Too bad baby So-n-So will refuse to take a nap. You have it all planned out. Little miss fancy panties will take a nap around 10am...you'll take an hour shower, put on that cute outfit minus all the food and have a great lunch with the girls. WRONG...this is the day (totally out of the blue) that peanut will not take a nap. Therefore that hour long shower will be cut to about 3 minutes. Don't worry, you'll make it to lunch. Only you'll have miss cranky panties in tow and look like you got only half dressed.

This is especially true when it come to professional pictures. I know all the 1st time parents are dreaming about all the pictures they'll finally get to hang on the walls. Let me tell ya, it never fails. The day you have an appointment for the pictures, she'll wake up with a stye and her eye will be swollen shut. Or she'll wake up on the wrong side of the crib and nothing in the world will make her smile. Laugh now...you'll see.

And then there's enjoying going out to dinner. You'll probably only have to experience the next scenario on some occasions. You'll get the privilege of ordering drinks, dinner, the check and a "to go" box in one foul swoop. "But what about the appetizers and dessert" you ask? The appetizer would have been that granola bar you ate on the way to the restaurant. After all, it's 5pm and you can't remember if you even ate breakfast. If you don't eat something you'll pass out before you even get to order. And dessert? That's all the food left on your childs plate who refuses to eat what you've ordered them.

Geez, Aimee you make it all sound bad. It's not "bad", it's called life! If you forgot how wonderful having children can be (or will be)read previous posts.

TRUE LOVE

This is Jessica and Lambie Pie. These two are best friends and share an unconditional love for each other. Regardless of how dirty, stinky and nasty Jessica allows Lambie to get he's still right their for her. No matter how smelly and dirty Lambie Pie is, Jessica still loves him to pieces. Not too long ago we had a major scare in the house. Lambie Pie was missing. We searched high and low. I actually got in the car and drove back to the restaurant and looked in the parking lot, front of the restaurant and under all the tables. Tears started as I was coming home to deliver the devistating news. I knew how important Lambie Pie had become since Mommy and Daddy had just been gone for 3 weeks. Then the idea that maybe Lambie Pie had fallen out of the car on the way to the restaurant and the neighbors dog got a hold of it, entered. Sure enough, I was quick to knock on the neighbors door and proclaim that I really wasn't nuts, but would they be willing to look for Lambie Pie in their house as maybe one of their dogs picked it up. After a quick browse through their home, they said "She'll just have to go to sleep without it". GASP! I was quick to return with "No you don't understand. We just left one night for 3 weeks and returned home with a baby sister. Lambie Pie has become more important than ever. There is no "going to bed without him" or any substitute" Then the sweet yelp came out of my sister in laws mouth, "I found him!!!!" Oh my gosh! Lambie Pie was found outside under the table. How on earth? How did that happen? I was never so happy as to run upstairs and give Jessica her sweet loved Lambie Pie.

Lambie Pie is a true member of the family as he too requires love, bottles, baby wipes and diapers. One of the cutest things to ever come out of Jessica's mouth (and believe me there are many) was last night she and Lambie Pie came into the kitchen. Jessica was holding him in her arms and while looking at his face said. "Just look at that face". I wonder if Lambie Pie will make it to college, or her wedding....this is her first true love!




I still have my first security teddy bear. I gave Henry to Jessica when she was about a year old and as you can see, she bit his nose right off. I almost cried. Does anyone else still have their "Lambie Pie"?

One month home!

Wow, it's already been a full month. Today was also Emma's first doctors visit and baby check up. It's official, she's a pudgy panda. At 10 months, she's weighing in at 19 lbs and 7 oz and is 28 inches tall. Emma has made huge strides since being home. She went from not being able to feed herself, not being able to sit or roll over, to stuffing food in her mouth, sitting for hours on end, rolling across the room and walking in her walker. She now prefers her "Mama" over her "Baba" (Dada in Chinese)which of course makes me feel great. She still LOVES her Baba. He's greeted every night with a huge smile and arms reaching for him. The girls are getting along great. We can't believe sometimes how tolerant Jessica can be. One of the greatest things for us to see, is when Emma gets excitied over her own accomplishments. If she makes the toys play music, she'll stop and clap for herself. It's too cute. In an effort to communicate better with Emma, we've started some sign language, I'm sure this will take some time. We feel extrememly fortunate that we have two happy and healthy girls.

Finally.......some video to see

Not sure why, but we've been a little busy and posting the video of when Jessica and Emma first met, took a good while.


CLICK HERE to see the video.