Did that really happen?

On the 7th of every month I used to remember our LID~versary,

now I will celebrate Eme Grace~

Today my girl is 13th months old....she's growing up without us and that makes me sad, but the end is near and we are looking forward to it & now is the time to get ready to travel~ May 21st looks like the date as of now. However, that is tentative & the earliest would be the 14th & otherwise it may be the 28th. We started the visa paperwork process last night & apparently you need a special ed teacher to get the job done correctly. We are *hoping* to get that done today.

This period of time has been a magical, amazing & funshiney.

I could have never in my life prepared myself for just how big the day truly is. My words would never give it justice. Having Colleen here this weekend was icing on the cake. It was so magical and every time I think about it I cry. We have had a rock star kind of weekend and have thoroughly enjoyed every.single.second of it.

I know this photo is totally out of focus & I have one just like it that is not, but this photo is perfect for me. I feel like the whole weekend was a blur of excitement and I wasn't really living it. It was as if I was standing on the outside looking in at another person's life that I wanted. I must have asked 200 times in the past 4 days..."Did that really just happen?"

I have a ton of photos to edit from the weekend & I'll get to them eventually, but I must focus on the mound of paperwork that needs done first. I honestly have not had a second to sit, stand, eat or pee. I'm overwhelmed with my email box and feel truly blessed by the amount of well wishers stopping by to give my girl a looky loo. We are so proud of her and can not quit staring at her cute lil' mug. She's smiling for the love of all things holy! Can you stand it!?!

Here's a few other interesting things about our girl that we love:

On 12-31-08: She was 15.4 lbs, such a tiny little girl under all that clothing & she was 27.6 inches.

She gets up with the roosters at 6 a.m., takes a 2 hour nap and goes to bed at 8:30. *perfect* for our schedule!

She is a deep sleeper. She eats congee, noodle, meat & vegetables.

She holds her head up while lying on stomach, rolls by herself, grasps toy near hand & can switch it from hand to hand, she crawls and she stands with her hands holding on for support. Selfishly, I do not want her to walk till I get her.

She knows her name, distinguishes between acquaintance & strangers, responds to the facial expressions of adults and she laughs aloud. She is restless, loves playing with toys, has a quick reaction and she is ready with her smile! She loves playing games & is close to her caretaker. They wrote on her paperwork that her favorite things are playing outdoors and dolls. She's perfect & our family can't get enough of her.

My boys are spending some time with their over the top fabulous grandparents. They are on spring break and I seriously thought they were only going to be there through the weekend when I found out that they had planned on all week. I don't want to scare my inlaws away, so I hate to leave them there this whole week. However, I can say that I am glad that I can have the time to focus on the ridiculous amount of paperwork and all the other things that need done. It is a blessing bigger than I can imagine. Those that have 3 kids in the home know how hard it is to get any of the 'extra' stuff in life done and this paperwork mountain is more than a little extra!

Yesterday, we had more fun stork news with the arrival of PugMama's Jiangxi baby!

& Luna's beautiful Jiangxi baby!

I love these girls & could have never made it through the wait without them!
I can't wait to get all our Jiangxi babies together, nothing like giving Eme Grace some sisters from the get go!

What an amazing time! I never thought it would actually happen & here I am typing about Emerson Grace. Happy 13th month birthday to my happy girl...we want her home now.