Another Birthday Celebration

Today was our buddy Alex's 9th birthday! We all got to go to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate! It was Molly's first time to go to Chuck E. Cheese and she had a great time! It's going to be a sad day when she figures out that the games are a lot more fun when you put tokens in them! :-) But for now, she and Rayna are content to run (or crawl!) around and climb on things. It was a fun day. Happy birthday, Alex!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! :-)

Today is Brian's birthday! We've kind of been celebrating all weekend. On Saturday, Brian and I had a "date day." We spent the day together and had a great time! On Sunday, Brian got to pick anywhere he wanted to eat for lunch. Guess what fancy steakhouse he picked?
Tonight we ate dinner with the Donahues. Annie Beth's birthday was yesterday and it's kind of become a Hines/Donahue tradition to eat out for Brian and Annie Beth's birthdays. We had a great time with Brad and Annie Beth!

Plus lots of cute kiddos!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! Next to me, you're the coolest!

Fun in the Sun!

I have lots of pictures from this week because we have been having lots of fun in the sun! It has been so nice to be at home with my girls and we've been staying busy! Yesterday, we went to my cousin Angie's house and had a great time visiting with family and swimming. We also got to meet my cousin's new baby--so cute! Rayna was very interested in seeing someone smaller than herself.
We got to play with the McArthurs this week. We love playing with Corrie, Ruby, and Zoe!We have been spending a lot of time at the pool this summer--Molly has the tan (and I have the sunburn) to prove it! :-) Nicole and Cooper came to the waterpark with us this this week. My mom watched Rayna so I got to spend some one-on-one time with Molly. She's turning into quite the little fish! I think Cooper encouraged her because he has no fear when it comes to the water! He is going to be swimming in no time!
We also had lunch with Brooke and Damari this week. These babies are just getting too big too fast!

Video Update

Okay--three posts later I'm finally caught up on Molly's monthly update. This video is going to have to count for Rayna, too. This is the first time I've seen Rayna climb on anything--she's so determined! And I love how Molly says that she's 16! She knows how old she is and how old she's turning on her birthday. No idea where she got 16 but it was hilarious! Cute girls!

Molly Moment

More Conversations With Molly:

Molly: Daddy, I gotta tell you 'bout somefing.
Daddy: (Expecting a serious father-daughter conversation) Yeah?
Molly: I gotta booger on my finger. I need you get it for me.

Molly: Why Rayna like her paci?
Me: Because Rayna is a baby.
Molly: Rayna got baby paci's. I got big girl paci's.

Molly: Daddy, why is it raining?
Daddy: I guess God wants it to rain today.
(Later that evening)Molly: Can I have snack?
Daddy: No, it's almost time for bed.Molly: But God wants me to have snack!!

Molly: Mommy, what I got in my tooth?Me: I don't know? What is it?
Molly: I think it's a chip. Here, you want to eat it?
Me: No, thank you!



Molly,

You are another month older! You are so fun right now! You are doing so many fun things and make us laugh everyday!

You moved into a big girl bed!! You are doing SO well in your big girl bed. You've gotten out a couple of times, but most nights you go right to sleep in your new bed. You even helped Mommy take your crib apart and put it away!

You take your job as a big sister very seriously. You take very good care of Rayna--MOST of the time! You like to try to help us feed her and when she's fussy in the car, you say, "Rayna is crying. Maybe Rayna wants to hear 'Oh, Happy Day.' " :-) Sometimes you are bossy with Rayna and take her toys away, but she's starting to "tell" on you by crying when you take her toys. Sometimes you get jealous when Mommy and Daddy are giving Rayna too much attention and you act like a baby, too. But you make sure that everyone knows that you are NOT a baby, you are a big girl! :-)

You aren't taking naps anymore. You don't mind taking naps, but then you want to stay up way too late, so now you are "napping" on the couch while you watch a DVD when Rayna takes a nap. You are doing really well with this and you're starting to go to bed a lot earlier.

You have been swimming a lot this summer and you love it! You love playing in the water and you've even been putting your face in some! We've also been going to the library this summer and you love that, too.

You are such a sweet, funny, special little girl and we just love you so much!! :-)

Happy Father's Day!

To a pretty amazing daddy! :-)

Girl Time!

The Hines girls have had a fun few days around here. Brian is out of town for work, and it just so happens that Scottie's husband, Joel, has been busy with work also, so she came for a visit so we could spend some girl time! Today, we met up with our friend Michelle and had a good time hanging out. Michelle and Scottie were two of my best college buddies so it was fun catching up. It was also the first time I'd met Michelle's newest addition, Elizabeth. Such a cutie!

Joel, I think we've decided we like having Scottie around here too much. We're going to have to keep her! :-)Everyone loves Aunt Scottie!! :-)

I Do Believe.....

I've got some pretty stinkin' cute kiddos!

Birthdays!

This morning, Molly and I went over to her friend Libby's house to celebrate Libby's second birthday. The party was themed "Two-Two's and Tiaras" and was just about the cutest thing you've ever seen. All of the little girls had tutus and tiaras (courtesy of Libby!) and had a fun time playing and eating snacks!
Tonight we celebrated another very special birthday. Our friend James turned the big 30! We had a great time celebrating with James and Anna!
It's been a super-fun start to the summer! I can't wait to spend more quality time with my girls!

Last Day of School!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Today was the last day of school! Whew! It has been such a crazy couple of weeks! I'm excited to have the summer of with my babies! But I did have such a sweet group of kids this year--I'm really going to miss them! My Room Mom this year was AWESOME and she had all of the kids write why they love me and why they love Mrs. Austin and she put them all together in a book for each of us. They were beautiful! :-)

Here is the video from my class' award ceremony. I'm assuming since all of my children signed a release form, I'm okay to post it. How cute are these sweeties?!

Rayna's New Trick

The First of Many

Of course I knew it would happen. I just didn't think she would be two years old.

Molly and I had our first REAL conversation about adoption. Molly knows she's "adopted" but doesn't really know what that means. She knows she's from Vietnam, but I think she thinks Vietnam is some type of hospital. ("Rayna was born at the hospital, I was born at Vietnam!")

I've wondered at times if this is too much, or too confusing for her. But I finally decided that it's vocabulary that isn't going to hurt her, even if she can't yet developmentally grasp the concept. It's kind of like calendar concepts. Molly has NO concept whatsoever of next week, month, year, etc. But I will still say things like, "Next Tuesday..." or "Next Winter when it snows..." It's still good for her to hear those words, even if she can't grasp "Next Tuesday." So I decided it's the same with adoption. We use terms like "birth mom" or "Vietnam" or "Asian" even though she's too young to grasp them--just so that she is hearing that important vocabulary.

Well, tonight I found myself in a discussion that I was NOT expecting this early. I was reading to Molly tonight before bed. We were reading one of the many adoption-themed books that we have. Adoptions Are Forever was a gift from our good friends the Hendricks when we were waiting on Molly to come home. We've read this book many times, but this time Molly was asking more questions than usual. She really seemed to get that the Mommy and Daddy looked like HER Mommy and Daddy (Caucasian) and the little girl looked like her (Asian). She kept saying, "That Mommy and Daddy like my Mommy and Daddy! That little girl like me!" I wasn't sure that she really got what she was saying (come on, she's two! she could have said the same thing about Elmo's family and I wouldn't have been surprised.) Until we got to the part where the little girl wonders if her hair looks like her birth Mom's.

Molly: I got black hair!
Me: You do! I bet YOUR birth Mommy has black hair, too.
Molly: You my Mommy!
Me: I am your Mommy, but you had another Mommy before me. In Vietnam.
Molly: Vietnam like me!
Me: Yeah! Like you! You grew in her tummy.
Molly: (Obviously thinking about this.) Rayna grow in your tummy. I grow in your tummy, too!
Me: Well, honey, you actually have two Mommies. You grew in your first Mommy's tummy in Vietnam. And Daddy and I adopted you. We flew on a plane (referring to book) to Vietnam and brought you home with us to be our baby.
Molly: I got one, two Mommies.
Me: You do!
Molly: You know what Mommy is my favorite?
Me: What?
Molly: (Points to me) MY Mommy!

I'm sure this is the first of many, many adoption conversations that we will have throughout the years. It absolutely melted my heart. I felt so many emotions for my tiny baby girl in that moment. Sadness. Joy. Pride. I am so proud of that little girl. I am so proud to call her my daughter.

7 Months Old

Dear Rayna,

I cannot believe you are 7 months old!! You are such a sweet, good-natured baby. You are very observant and love to be outside.

You cut your first tooth this month! Your little smile with your one tooth is just adorable. You have one more that's on it's way! You also had your first (and hopefully last!) ear infection this month. Considering you were cutting teeth and had a double ear infection, you were a real trooper! You were still mostly a pleasant, happy baby.

You went to your first wedding this month! You slept through most of it, but still loved seeing all of your family and getting a lot of attention. While you enjoyed your time out of town, you did NOT enjoy the long car ride. Once we finally convienced you to take the paci, you did a lot better.

You've started to get a little anxious around strangers lately. You know the difference between someone you know and someone you don't know. You've been a Mommy's girl, which Mommy LOVES.

You are a very, very busy baby. You like to be held, but you like to be carried around so that you can see the world. You aren't content to sit on someone's lap. You like to get down and move. You are always moving! You can now "army" crawl, get from a crawling to a sitting position, sit independently, and pull yourself up onto your knees. You are very motivated to get where you want to go.

Your six month stats:
17.8 lbs (75th percentile)
28 inches (95th percentile)

We love you so much, sweet Ray-Ray!