Gotcha Day

It is typical for families who adopt girls from China to refer to the day they met their daughters as 'Gotcha Day.' I don't know how to feel about the term - it always makes me think of that movie ('Gotcha') where the kid from 'Revenge of the Nerds' was a college student and expert paint-ball player (?) but the dirty Russians thought he was a spy and he had to get back to the US with the secret microfiche in order to prevent us from losing the Cold War and having to speak Russian and eat Borscht. Or something like that.

Anyway, I really don't want my girlies to have anything to do with the kid from 'Revenge of the Nerds' (he is now an old bald guy, like me) who also played 'Goose' in 'Top Gun', but I guess we still have to call it 'Gotcha Day' because, well, that's what they call it and no well-reasoned Anthony Edwards-related discussion can change that.

We are even extra lucky because our 'Gotcha Day' was June 18th, which is also the girlies birthday. So our friends Brian and Liz, who were with us in China when we all met our new daughters, decided to come to NY to celebrate the day with us. They have some friends (Anne and Michael) who live in Tribeca in a most amazing apartment, and so we spent the day together at their apartment celebrating Sally and Amelia's birthday and the day we all met our daughters. It was quite swell.

Here are some photos:

Kim and Liz, hugging:

Sally, being cute

The girlies, sitting on the stairs

Amelia, playing with a big bubble making thingy

All of the kids dressed in their Chinese dresses - very cute

And now for one and only one enjoyable video:

Sally and Amelia on the stairs:

The Girlies Second Birthday Party!

The girlies turned two on June 18th, and the Saturday before that we had a party for them in Central Park. Below are some photos - we didn't get too many photos because were too busy trying to light candles and fighting with the ridiculous woman throwing a party next to ours. Several of the photos below are from our friend Brian from Seattle, who has a much better camera (and some actual photographic skills).

Our wonderful neighbor, Maria, waiting for Sheep's Meadow to open

My friend from college, Eric Nielsen, happened to be in town that weekend with his lovely wife Shelby. Eric seems to be keeping most of his hair, unlike me.

Kim and Sally, with Liz and Katie Rose - Liz and her husband Brian (Mr. Photographer) were in China with us last year - they adopted the beautiful Anna Grace (not pictured) from Jiangxi the same day we met the girlies

Super-neighbor Maria with Amelia

Worst. Elmo. Ever.

Trying to show Sally the Elmo bubble-blower

Amelia is so cute!

Mimi with the stroller - just the other day Mimi broke her ankle because of a rabid poodle, and none of us are happy about it.

Random June stuff

As I already noted, June was the girlies birthday and also their 'Gotcha Day.' Below are some other random photos from June:

Kim's friend Stacy Bielema-O'Malley was in to try to con some doofus into purchasing more overnight delivery services. When she was done with that, she came to see us and the girlies.

Our friends Gene and Staceeee bought the girlies this tent for their birthday - it is very cool and it is a huge attraction every time we set it up in the park.

With our friends Liz and Brian from Seattle and our new friends Anne and Michael who live in Tribeca where we had our 'Gotcha Day' party (see other blog entry).

Sally looks pretty cool in my socks

Our nephew Elijah bought the girlie enormous stuffed animals for Christmas, but Jenny kept forgetting to send them to us. We finally got them and the girlies love them.

Our friends Shawn and Kristen Crowley were in town from suburban Ohio. She enjoys bunko and he likes to run long distances for no reason. They have two boys, both Irish.

Below are some videos:

Amelia in our garden:

Sally gardening:



Amelia HATES Kim's singing:

Amelia giggling

Mexico in May with Judy Ann y Don

Much to the frustration of my lovely and talented wife Kim, I have had a very difficult time updating this blog. One reason is that I want to include videos from the YouTube and I can't do that at work (my company blocks the YouTube because they don't want the employees wasting valuable work time watching videos of guys getting hit in their, uh, you know, sensitive region, which is about 85% of what is on there).

But anyway, I would prefer to update this at work rather than at home, because at work all I do is talk to annoying people who won't do what I say, and at home I want to try to want to focus on being a caring, attentive, thoughtful, loving husband and father instead of spending all my time on the World Wide Internet updating this here blog. But, my company won't let me do the YouTube so I keep procrastinating and it never gets done. I do tend to find time to drink wine and watch the third-place Cardinals on TV, though, so it's not like I am that busy.

The other reason why it has taken so long is that I thought I should wait until I was inspired to be witty and charming and hilarious and thought-provoking. Clearly that has not happened, so I will just be boring.

Enough of that - in May we went to Mexico with Judy and Don. It was an absolutely terrific vacation. We had a room on the ground floor right by the pool and the outdoor restaurant, and the girlies were the hit of the resort. This was the first vacation we have had with them and they had such an amazingly good time. We spent most mornings at the beach (I am about to become one of those annoying parents who use baby-talk, but it can't be avoided. They were so cute - "Ocean" was "Oshy", "Beach" was Beesh", and "Sea shells" was, well, "Sea shells") and the afternoons in the pool.

The other wonderful thing was that it was the first time that the girlies were around Grammy and Papa Don (my Mom and Don - I would prefer if my children called them 'Grandma and Grandpa', but I was outvoted) for an extended period , and it was terrific to see them having such a wonderful time with their grandparents.

Below are some photos - please enjoy them, won't you?

The girlies at the airport

Amelia is cool

So is Sally

Walking up the 'slippery floor' - I don't know why we called it that but now the girlies now love to walk up ramps

The four of us after a wonderful dinner. Don paid, which made it even better.

Don and Mike with the girlies and two macaws (parrots). Amelia is trying to hide. I used to really want to have a macaw, a blue and gold one like the one on Don's shoulder. I guess if I got one our cats would eat it, which would be very messy.

Kim in the surf with the beautiful Amelia.

Judy and Don

Amelia in her crib - the resort was nice enough to give us cribs for the rooms, but they were apparently built for dwarves, so I was afraid they (the girlies, not dwarves) (Is it 'dwarves' or 'dwarfs'?) would crawl out. They didn't. Amelia is very cute with Big Bird and Grover. Did you know I met the guy who played Big Bird at the Barnes and Noble? I did. He is not the guy who choked me, by the way, but it was the same Barnes and Noble.

My favorite people in the world - Amelia with a big smile!

The girlies next to the pool - we rarely get a picture of them together

Me with Sally at the beach

All of us in front of the villa

Sally and Don

Judy with Amelia - the girlies just loved being with their Grandma

Sally thinks that lady in the background should wear a cover-up

The girlies and Kim

Amelia and Judy sitting on the steps outside our room

The girlies in their hats and no pants. Amelia is a very smiley baby but we usually can't seem to get her to smile in photos, so it is good and unusual that she is so smiley in so many of these photos.

Kim in her Crocodile Dundee hat with Sally on the beach

Judy and Don with Amelia in the surf

Judy with Sally in the baby pool

Judy walking with Amelia - once again Amelia has a huge smile on her face.

And now for some videos from Mexico:

Judy and Don with Amelia on the beach:



The girlies in the villa, looking at themselves in the glass:



Playtime at the pool:



Judy, Amelia and Big Bird sitting on the patio (Judy singing!):



More with Judy and Amelia:



Kim with Sally on the patio:



Judy, Amelia and a bird:



Amelia playing in the sand at the beach:

Kim with Amelia and Sally on the beach:

Pink Baby and Plaid Baby Day

Today is Pink Baby and Plaid Baby Day. One year ago today - April 6, 2007- we got the notification that we had been referred the beautiful Ling Cha Yao (Amelia) and Ling Cha Qiong (Sally).

That night we went to China Fun, a Chinese restaurant, to celebrate with Laura, DeYan, Gene, Stacie, Julian and our nephew Jake.

Tonight, on Pink Baby and Plaid Baby Day, we talked a lot about what a great day that was, and we went back to China Fun with Laura and DeYan to revisit the day. Every year on April 6th we will celebrate and tell the girlies about how happy we were when we got the call.

March with the Girlies

In March my 'Mom' and her latest husband Don came to visit us for Easter. It was all good fun - they came to see the girlies at Gymboree and, uh, some other stuff.

March is also Kim's birthday, which as you all know is the most important day on the calendar. For Kim's birthday I decided to surprise her with theater tickets for 'The Little Mermaid', Kim's favorite movie ever. Then I decided to surprise myself by realizing, at 7 PM the night of the show, that I had tickets for the 2:00 show earlier. Man, was she surprised. There are no photos of that, but I thought I would tell the story anyway, because a lot of people think I am perfect and never make mistakes. Listen, I'm not perfect. I put my pants on just like the rest of you - one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records.

Also that night, Amelia decided to vomit huge volumes of vomit about five times.

Amelia writing her memoirs

Amelia on the phone with her publisher (see above)

Kim is absolutely beautiful

Kim and Sally at Gymboree

Me on the swings with Amelia, with my 'Mom'

Papa Don pushing Sally on the swings - they are both laughing like crazy!

My 'Mom' and Elmo with Sally

Oh man - that is really freaky! (Or: Ozzie got into the Uranium again!)

Easter Dinner!

Judy kissing the girlies at the Natural History Museum

Papa Don doing the same

Judy and Sally walking out of the museum

I think Amelia is going to win!

Sally takes the lead!

As my sister might say, "I could die of cuteness"

The girlies about to hug at the Botanical Garden

Videos:



Amelia LOVES to pick stuff up - whenever she hears the 'Clean Up' song she jumps up and starts putting stuff away. I love this, of course, because it is important to clean and stuff. Here she is singing her daddy's favorite song.

Sally having a great time at Gymboree



At the park with Judy and Don - Amelia going down the slide by herself



Easter morning with the girlies - they are very happy



The girlies with their Easter squeaky shoes



The girlies at the NY Botanical Garden - they were holding hands and being incredibly cute



Can you give a big hug?