The Decision

After months of deliberation and conversation and weighing the pros and cons, Chris and I have finally come to a decision.  We have decided to go back to China to adopt another little girl.  We considered another country, but there are so many reasons to go back to China.  We filed the paperwork with CAWLI (the same agency we used to adopt Saiya) last week and we have been working on gathering all of the paperwork and arrangning a social worker.  We would have liked to use the same home study agency as we did for Saiya's adoption, but China has changed its foreign adoption regulations and now requires that the home study be completed by a Hague Accredited agency, which Florida Home Studies and Adoption is not.  So we found another agency that is (Embraced by Grace) which was willing to complete our home study for us.  I must admit, the second time around, the process is so much easier, and considerably less stressful.  I'm not sure if that is because we already have a wonderful daughter who we can enjoy while we wait or because we already know the process and therefore there should be few surprises.  Maybe a little of both.  We already have the vast majority of the paperwork completed and ready for the social worker.

We are so excited to be opening our home to another little girl.  We have talked with Saiya about bringing home a sister and she is all for it!  I think one conversation went something like this:

Me:  Saiya, what do you think about Mama and Baba getting a sister for you?
Saiya:  A sister?  From China?  YES please!
Me:  are you sure?  it means you will have to share all of your stuff, all your panda bears and your room, and you will have to share time with mama and baba too.  So when mama rocks you, she will have to rock her too.
Saiya:  I do share, i share with syrafina, but she not sharing with me.
Me:  baby, this will be different, Syrafina doesnt live here, your sister will live here, are you sure you can share with her?
Saiya:  Um... yup!  I try hard mama.  I promise, I share with my sister!

Now we are in the process of looking for new furniture (Saiya has a queen bed in her room which we are trading out for two twin beds) and deciding on a name.  So far we have:

Adlae
Kiori
Nyomi
Xylie
Yumae

At first, we picked out Nyomi,  but I am really liking Xylie so much better.  Chris is indifferent to Xylie, hence the predicament...  Ideas are always welcome.  :)

Happy Father’s Day!

This weekend was our first Father’s Day!  Saiya and I went shopping for presents for Baba and bought him some t-shirts and movies.  She made a picture frame at school for him.  She was so excited to give him all his presents that she was pulling them out of the bag for him as he was reading the cards.  It was cute!

On Saturday, we went to Seaworld.  Saiya has never been to Seaworld and even though it was unbearably hot, we all had a great time.  We played some of those carnival games and I won Saiya a HUGE stuffed dolphin, which she LOVES!  Of course, then we had to carry it around the whole park with us the rest of the day.  We watched the Shamu show, which Saiya loved, and then went to see the polar bears and whales and dolphins.  We had a lovely lunch at the Shark restaurant there.  She got to feed the seals and sealions in the pacific coast exhibit and she loved watching the dolphins in the underwater viewing areas.  It was a little disappointing that she was too short to even ride on any of the rides in the kiddie area.  By the time we were ready to leave, she was exhausted.  But she didn’t complain once while we were in the park.  She only started to complain about the heat and her poor tired feet as we were walking back to the car.

Sunday, we had a fairly relaxing day, Saiya went to see Mr. Pauper’s Penguins with nana while we watched the Green Lantern with Chris’s dad.  Later that afternoon, we had a lovely dinner at Carrabas with Uma and Umpa.

Overall, we had a fantastic weekend!  Saiya did great at Seaworld!!  Happy Father’s day to all the dads out there!

Dance Recital

Sorry, I’m a little behind with this post, but I was waiting on pictures!  On May 22, Saiya had her first dance recital.  She had a blast and did so well!  I was very proud of her.  The day was very busy as we had to be there early and didn’t leave until late, but she did have fun.  Uma, Umpa, Nana the rest of our family all went to see Saiya dance.  The recital lasted about 2 ½ hours.  After the recital, we went to dinner with the family at Olive Garden.

Saiya’s class did a tap dance to a medley of Elvis songs.  It was soooooo CUTE!

Summer Fun in the Sun!

A good friend of mine gave us a kiddie pool for our puppies.  The puppy hated it, but Saiya loves it!  She spent hours splashing around in there.  We literally had to drag her out so we could go grocery shopping.  :)  She is getting so comfortable around water.  I am willing to bet she will be swimming by the end of the summer.  Last weekend, she was paddling around my friend's pool with her star-fish tube around her.  She spent hours swimming back and forth across the pool, she didnt care that she couldnt touch bottom and was happy as a clam splashing around.

Yay Summer!

VPK Graduation!

Last night was Saiya’s graduation ceremony for VPK.  The ceremony was long, but the presentations were very cute!  They showed a slide show of the kids in class and on field trips throughout the school year and a video of the kids telling everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up.  It was adorable and certainly one of those moments where kids can say the darndest things!  Of course, my Saiya said the question was too hard!  So the little caption at the bottom of the screen was “: )”.   HAHAHAHAHA!!!  That got a laugh from the audience.  Poor Saiya!

Almost June, Can you believe it??!

She's come a long way since the first day of school!

Saiya's First Day of School

Click the link to see how much she has grown!!

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

We went to Myrtle Beach this weekend with my in-laws to visit family and have a nice little vacation.  It took us about 10 hours to drive up there.  Saiya was such a trooper in the car!  She played, colored, and watched movies in the car.  She didn’t complain at all, there was no whining and she really was fantastic the whole way!

The first day we were there, we went to the aquarium.  Saiya loved the aquarium!  The shark tank was amazing and Saiya loved playing with the horseshoe crabs and rays in the touch tanks.  Later that night, we took her to the pool where she is really learning how to swim!  One of our goals for the summer is for her to learn to swim.  She is already learning to kick with a kickboard, so it really is only a matter of time before she is swimming like a fish!

The second day, we went to a place called MagiQuest.  It is a live action medieval-type game where you run around completing quests with your “magic wand”.  You wave the wand at certain objects in the game area and you collect items and virtual money for your quests.  It was an awesome game!  Saiya had a blast!  She loved to wave the wand at the treasure chests and get all the money from them.  Every time she opened a chest she would say “Yay!  Money!!”.

 On Saturday, we went to the beach to have a picnic with Chris’s dad’s family.  She loved playing in the sand.  I tried to get her to go in the water, but it was a little cold and she didn’t like the waves knocking her all over the place.  Later that night, we went over Chris’s cousin’s house for a BBQ and she had an awesome time playing with her second cousins.

The ride home was a little shorter than the ride up there and Saiya did great in the car.  She travels so well!  I am shocked that a five-year-old can sit in a car for 8-10 hours and not complain at all!

We had a great time!  Thank you very much Uma and Umpa for inviting us on the vacation!  More pictures to come!

Mommy and Me Tea Party

On Friday, Saiya's school hosted a Mommy and Me Tea Party in honor of Mother's Day.  I was unable to go because I had a meeting, so my sister volunteered to go in my place.  Saiya was so excited that she was going to have someone there with her for the tea party.  On Friday morning, my sister had to cancel because of something she had to do for school and Saiya was so disappointed.  According to the teachers, she cried a little when she realized my sister wasnt going to be there.

In order to make it up to her, while Chris was working today, I held a special Tea Party just for Saiya and I.  We had strawberry/cream cheese danishes and all the juice we could drink out of our special wine glasses I pulled down from the cupboard.  She was thrilled to have a special Tea Party with me and I think it really made her feel special, and hopefully it made up for us not being able to be at her tea party at school.

Yesterday, Chris and Saiya brought home a whole bag full of gifts for Mother's Day.  Saiya made a cake at school and bought some flowers for me.  It was so sweet!!

I love my family!
Happy Mother's Day to all!!  I hope your weekend was as special as ours!