New Blog Address

I wanted to let everyone who is checking this blog to know that I started a new blog about Serena as she grows up. The new address is www.lovemykazbabylife.blogspot.com

Please feel free to leave comments or questions. Thanks for following along and I hope our blog has helped people learn what a wonderful experience adoption is. It has been the most wonderful experience of my life!

Our First Christmas Together! (Just found in draft folder)

This is our first Christmas together in 2007. I have waited for this for soooooo long. People always dream about their wedding dress, I always had dreams about my first Christmas with my child. Christmas at our house, as long as I could remember, was filled with cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends for Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. Everyone slept over and we all opened our presents under the tree in the morning, had a simple breakfast and a wonderful dinner. Things are different since alot of those people are no longer with us but sharing this Christmas with my daughter was so incredibly special to me. Even though she's too young to understand it I did. This first picture was our Christmas card.

My friend is a photographer and this was one of the funny ones. Squirmy Serena got tired of posing and this was my attempt to try to wrangle her down. Not very flattering but I thought funny.

I had so much fun putting these toys under the tree! Again, I have waited soooo long to be able to do this. My sweet baby from Kazakhstan has made it all possible. Thank you Serena!
Behind that binkie is a big smile!
I love this dress but she was not interested in having any pictures of her taken. This picture will be one of those she won't like when she's turning into a teenager. Her finger in her nose is really a rare event so I'm surprised I got a photo of it.

Serena, I am so in love with you peaches. You make me happy everyday!

September October Update

I can not believe it has been 2 months since I last updated this blog. I'm ashamed of myself for neglecting it! I have been very busy with a one year old and working full time, which I did not expect to be doing but sometimes things are not what you think and you have to make adjustments so I have much less time than I planned on.

This is Serenas first merry go round ride. She didn't know what to make of it at first but enjoyed it toward the end. We went to a time share in Atlantic City (the beach end, not the casino end) with my friend Laura like I do every year except this year I had my little Miss with me.

This is her first beach experience and I'm so happy it happened with Laura. We have been going to the beach together for close to 20 years and always talked about doing it with our children and now we can!

This is Serena, Ruby (my God Daughter) and Carson. It was great to watch her play with Lauras kids. We got on the beach and she went right into the water up to her chest! Needless to say she loved it, had no fear of it and I was so happy about it! Lots of laughing and splashing around.

Serena doesn't like hats and she did this most of the time. She would take it off and I would put it on.....over and over again until I gave up. As always, the beach was a great time!

There is a marina about a mile away from my house so we went there for a walk to see the boats. It was beautiful weather and she loves to be out and about. She's like my dad and my grandmother that way. Always interested in doing something fun.

My poor baby woke up this way one morning. She was bit by something and her eye swelled right up. It stayed like this for about 3 days and then was gone.

Serena loves her yogurt. She loves to see the baby on the front of the container and she could eat 2 of these sometimes. She likes everything she eats so far. Only recently when I started adding more foods she seems to dislike vinegar in food. She has spit out potato salad, green salad, and pickles. Everything else is "mmmmmmmm".

In town they had a fall festival so I took my Sweetness on her first community outing. My ex boyfriend and I have remained good friends and he loves Serena and she loves him too. He LOVES children and is always very good with them.

Here he is putting on Serenas sweater. I love this picture. She looks so sweet!

Harold thought it was a good idea for her to run around so I took her out of the stroller and told him as long as he chases after her I was ok with that. It's hard to push a stroller while you're chasing a 16 month old. She ended up on his shoulders and of course she loved it. It was alot of fun!

This is one of Serenas first pictures from daycare. They drew the outline and she painted the leaves in. I think she did a pretty good job at staying in the lines. Her teacher seems to think she's better at art than the other kids in the class. I'm guessing she just got lucky with painting in the lines. Time will tell but I will be thrilled if she has a talent for art considering I went to college for fine art and have done it my entire life. We will see.

This is Serena playing with the inside of the pumpkin that Grandpa came over to cut for her first Halloween. She liked it but I was not able to get a picture of that. She would grab a handful and hold it over the side of the highchair until I said "no" and then she would laugh and put it back in the bowl. She did this twice and I could see the game she was playing. She switched it up a bit and took a little piece and held it away from the tray and of course I said "no" again. Can you believe she was testing me to see if a little bit was ok to toss on the floor. She is something else and I just LOVE HER TO PIECES!!!!!

Here is Grandpa cutting into the pumpkin. I don't know why she is cryin........it just happens for no apparent reason but she gets over it quickly. I'm sure you remember the series of photos of her in Kaz where we had that really stressful day where she was happy, sad, happy, sad, sadder, and even sadder and then happy again.

She liked the pumpkin alot and had to keep sticking her hands in it. We had a candle in it but not for long.

Here is my sweet little black kitty. She didn't know what to make of this whole trick or treating thing until she saw the other kids on the street and then she was really excited. I think she knew she was a part of something that was going on.

I love this picture. The expression on her face is hysterical! Sooooooo sad, at what, I don't know. I know I post alot of pictures of her crying but they are just so funny! Normally I would say 90% of the time she is happy. She is really a happy little girl and I am blessed!

On our way out the door. The day got better and better. She liked walking up the sidewalk to the houses. We went to about 10 houses on our street.

I have been waiting years and years to be able to celebrate Halloween with my child and it was SO SO wonderful. My friend Patty and my cousin Lisa and her husband John came over too.

It was a really good night. We sat on the front porch and handed out candy while Uncle John harassed the kids who came to the front door. He's a tease and the kids seemed to like the attention. We ordered pizza and it was a really great Halloween.

Serena my love, I promise to write in this blog more often than I have. There are so many things I want to write down to remember because everyday you bring such happiness to my heart! I love to see your smiling face when I come into your room in the morning and it's such a special time when I put you to sleep in the rocking chair at night. My heart swells with love for you. You have opened me up to new emotions that run so deep inside me. I know these days will change quickly as you continue to grow up so fast. I am so grateful you are in my life. Kisses Kisses and More Kisses.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was the best! It was all about Serena. No cleaning, errands or worrying about work. I just wanted to spend my days with her having fun. It was really great to focus completely on her for the 3 days. Here she is in one of her 3 pools. Thank you Aunt Lori for this one!

Here is Serena as she gets into the pool and slips, ooooops!

This is how she landed. Do you know how badly I wish I had my video camera out?! She was perfectly comfortable and laid like this for a few. She even got out of the pool and back into this comfy position.

Here she is trying to get up. Finally the delay on the camera was good for something. I like this one.

Today Serena decided to just stick her face in the water for fun and she found out it WAS fun!


She may not look like she is having fun but she kept doing it over and over.

And over,
and over. She even did it in the tub tonight. I better get her into swim classes while she's still interested.

See how happy she looks!

More pictures during the weekend. Saturday we went to a barbeque at my cousin Lisas house which is always fun.

Sunday my neighbor had a barbeque so we stopped in there too for a couple hours. I may have found an occasional babysitter too! She is my neighbors grand daughter and she's 14. She played with Serena the whole time we were there.

With all the fun we have we still have these moments too!

She insisted on dragging the hose into the pool with her. I think she thought it was like the shower massage in the tub but it didn't work the way she wanted it to.

This is one of the funniest things Serena does. She can be doing anything, anywhere in the kitchen, and as soon as she hears the refridgerator door open, she stops what she is doing and runs to get there before the door shuts. She literally is running! It's really the funniest thing. I have to get it on video before she loses interest.

We had a great weekend and I wish I could spend everyday just focusing on her and her wishes but unfortunately someone needs to keep up with the house, shopping, cleaning, bills, etc.

Dearest Serena, you are so much work and I am so tired at the end of the day but "I wouldn't trade you in for all the diamonds in the world". (Grandma used to say that to me when I was little) You add so much love to my life that you make me feel like my heart could burst. I am so lucky to have you Sweetness in my life. So so lucky! Lots of Loves and Hugs Forever!

Six Week Update To Come

So much has happened and I really don't have the time to update the last 6 weeks but I will at some point soon.

On Our Way Home.........

This is an update from a week ago. When we left Astana it was very busy and I was asked not to use the internet because I had paid my bill 2 days before I left and they did not want anymore bills so I got behind on the blog again. This is Serena at the airport in Astana waiting to get on her first plane ride to Almaty to process paperwork to leave the country of her birth. It was a 2 hour ride and she sat in my lap. She was great the first hour, she slept, until the baby behind us started crying and woke her up. Then they cried in harmony but just a little off key.

This is the apartment building in Almaty we stayed in. This is the view off the balcony from the front door.

This is the hallway to the apartment in front of the elevator. Very creepy. This picture makes it look like a pretty nice place. This elevator fits the stroller and 2 people tightly. One day going down, just me and Serena, a man got on with us and the lights in the elevator went out. I felt really "uncomfortable" but no worries.

This is the view from the bedroom window of the street and the mountains in the backround. This day was a little overcast but when I landed in Almaty when I first arrived in Kazakhstan the mountains were really a beautful sight.

A closer look at the mountains behind the building.

This is my bedroom in the apartment. The colors are almost flourescent and notice all the mirrors, behind the bed, two in the closet, and don't forget the one on the ceiling. Serena loved to lay on the bed and look up at herself. It was very cute.

This is the same photo as above just in the dark. The room had lots of lights in all these nooks and crannies of the walls around the mirrors and other places too. They were those small lights in the tubing you see at the holidays. I'm guessing someone thought all these lights and the mirrors sets a "mood".

This is Serena checking out the plumbing. The water faucet was detached from the counter top and was moving around a little when I tried to move the spout. I have never seen his happen before and it was a pain in the butt and I couldn't understand why it wasn't fixed. Wouldn't you know when I got home, the first day my kitchen sink ended up the same way.

Bright colors in the bathroom too.

This is my sweet girl in her own seat on the way out of Almaty on July 18. She is a very squirmy 23lb girl and I knew we couldn't share a seat for 7 hours so she had her own. Our flight was at 2:40am. I tried to get Serena to sleep before we left but she had no interest, I was packing up and I guess she picked up on the energy of getting ready and she stayed awake until midnight and fell asleep in the car on the way to the airport. She was so awake and happy too, it was a good night.

We both fell asleep on the way to Frankfurt. I fell asleep with a chocolate bar in my hand and woke up with a blob of melted chocolate on my shirt. I have no idea how this happened but I thought it was pretty funny. I don't remember most of the trip home or the night we actually walked into the house. I have vague memories of it unfortunately. I was in a fog. Once we got to Frankfurt I spent time with Sarah and Sam who were also in Astana with me and Serena and another couple too that I had met at the

Embassy when all the paperwork was completed. The time went fast at Frankfurt since we spent it with other adoptive parents, it was really nice.

This is Jamie. Me and Serena were so lucky to be sitting in the same row of seats with him. Jamie is the icing on the cake of the whole adoption process. I was the most worried about flying home with her because she is so active, squirmy, curious etc. Jamie was happy to help us both. He was so interesting to talk to and just seems like a really great person. He's British but also has an apartment in New York and was traveling back to the city for a while.

This last part of the trip back home was the most difficult for me. Like I said alot of it is vague but I remember Serena wanted to be on my lap and I was so so so tired I started to get nauseous and really really antsy, I didn't think I could last the rest of the trip without going nuts. I asked Jamie how much longer before we landed in Newark and he said 2 1/2 hours. I thought I was going to die when I heard that. I couldn't possibly go another 2 1/2 hours on that plane. I kept dozing off with her in my lap and Jamie took her and played with her a bit and I walked around a little just to get a change of pace. This saved me. This really really saved me. Jamie is one of those people who made such a difference to both me and Serena. He carried my backpack off the plane for me until we went through customs and I am so grateful to him. He will always be a big part of Serenas homecoming. Thank you so much Jamie. I will never forget you and Serena will know all about you too. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

Jamie took this picture just after the plane landed. My sweet girl is now a United States citizen! This is the end of our travels and the begining of our lives in the U.S.

Serena, this is the best part of my life because of you. I have waited and waited and I can't begin to express how much you have added to my life! Grandma used to tell me I was the Love of her life. Now I can say that you are the Love of my life.........Serena You Are The Love Of My Life!!