First Haircut

We missed lots of first with our little one so it's fun celebrating even simple milestones.  Olivia's hair suddenly has grown out of control over the last week.  Her bangs were in her eyes and she had a bit of a mullet.  I decided it was time to get her beautified.

I asked for her to have a cute little Asian "mini bob".  It's not quite long enough to be a true bob.  The bangs will keep the hair out of her face since she tends to pull her bows out after 2 seconds.

Love her sweet little cut and girl was a dream.  She sat patiently and seemed to enjoy the pampering.  Watch out daddy.  She might be a spa girl.

Daddy's Girl

Last night we were at the pool when Brad got home from work. When we got home he was outside working in the yard. Olivia clearly missed her daddy because every time he would open the door to grab something for outside she would yell "daddy" and run to the door only to be disappointed he wasn't there.

This morning look who she chose to cuddle with rather than me! I call this a major victory when you think about where we were 4 months ago.

After nap she wanted nothing but her daddy who happened to have run home from a meeting for a late lunch.  He chose this over eating.  

They snuggled for over 30 mins.

Beautiful Things

This Song has been running through my head lately.  I think of it when I see Olivia's beauty both her external beauty and internal beauty unfold. 

Our God truly does "make beautiful things out of dust".

As I have said many times I believe Olivia was well taken care of and loved before she was ours.  Because of this I have made an effort to stay in touch with her orphanage since we brought her home.  In  my most recent email to them I used google translate to ask them to please send any baby photos of her that we hadn't seen yet.  We were blessed with 13 new photos of our girl.  As my fellow adoptive parents know these photos are prices less.

I looked at them and couldn't help but be emotional.  They look nothing like my daughter.  Her eyes are empty and hallow, she is expressionless, tiny and has a shaved head.  

 

 

This is probably the earliest photo we have of Olivia.  Based on the length of her hair I think it was before her referral photo was taken.  This was most likely taken one year ago, in June 2012.

 

This is the same outfit she was wearing in her referral photo so most likely taken on the same day in July 2012.

 

 

 

                                               "Beautiful Things out of Dust!"

Just one year after the first photo was taken.  Here is our gorgeous, happy, expression-filled, life filled, loved daughter, treasured sister today!

 

 

Good Ol' Summertime Fun

Our weather has gone from the mid 70's to the 90's in just one week.  We can only spend so much time at the pool so yesterday I pulled out a slip n' slide that had been sitting unopened in our basement for a very long time. 

The kids were occupied and happy for hours.  Until a minor mishap involving a 3 yr old and sand on the slip n' slide (yes think friction...not good) and the same said 3 yr old who thought peeing on the slip n' slide would be thrilling.  At that point we called it a successful afternoon and went inside.