A Rylie Update...

We've been pretty bad about taking pictures lately, so we figured we'd do a "Rylie Update" with just a few pics at the end....

Rylie is now 14 months old. She is continuing to amaze us with new tricks each and every day.

Some of her favorite activities/ recent accomplishments---

Rylie LOVES "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes." She's got it all down except sometimes she skips shoulders and doesn't quite have the eyes in the second verse.

When asked what a monkey does, Rylie demonstrates with her arms and often includes sound effects.

Rylie "moos" for cows and "baaas" for sheep.

Rylie is a picky eater about everything except for sweets. She has a total sweet tooth and loves chocolate chip cookies! And did we mention she is the SLOWEST eater ever?

New words include: more, done, no (with a vigorous head shake), ya (accompanied by a nod), pool, shoe, up, banana (nanana), "Ra ra" (Rylie), and of course the old favorites- mama, dada, ball, and balloon(baooo.)

Rylie's been blowing kisses for a while. But now, Rylie gives kisses- upon request and also, sometimes just on her own. She has the sound effects too!

Rylie does somersaults at gym class and anywhere else she feels like it.

Rylie loves to "help", though this often results in everything taking a little bit longer :-)

Rylie loves Costco and claps and waives each time we approach a food sample. It is a bit embarrassing, though I have found a few foods that she likes which I might not have otherwise tried.

Oh, and Rylie has a boyfriend. Here is the background.... About a month ago, I went to pick Rylie up at school. I get there when she is just waking up from her nap. On this particular day, she was still asleep. The children in her classroom range from 12 months to just over 2. They sleep on these little mats with sheets on top. Rylie had rolled off of her mat and was completely on the mat of this little boy next to her. The teacher and I joked about how it was a little early for this kind of behavior. Fast forward now to this past Thursday. I went to pick Rylie up, and again, she was still asleep. A little boy (the same one who Rylie decided to share a mat with last month) ran over to Rylie, who was still asleep on her mat, looked at me at told me "Lylie night night." I thanked him for the information. He kept hovering over sleeping Rylie (or Lylie to him.) The teacher told me that the two had been playing together for a while, but for the past few days, they hug each other constantly.

Her first boyfriend.... I will say this, he is a very cute little boy, and according to the teachers, he comes from a nice family :-)

Oh, and our newest acquisition- an ergo baby carrier. I'm not sure who loves it more- Rylie or me, but we both LOVE it! How and why did we live without this for so long!!!

Here are a few pictures. We have been spending a ton of time in our pool. Rylie is a complete water baby and loves the pool. Rylie tries to blow bubbles, but it is more like her kissing the water. Her only complaint is that we don't give her more freedom in the pool. She continuously pushes our hands and says "off."

Rylie modeling her bikini. (The sticking out of the tongue was something we saw a lot of in Kazakhstan and right when we came home. We haven't seen it frequently until she began doing it a few weeks ago. Now it is constant!)

The rear viewSwimming with Daddy.Newest toy in our backyard- a WATER TABLE!!!! Rylie loves playing at the water table at school, so we weren't too surprised that she loves it at home too!And of course, bubbles!So that's the update from here.
We want to wish everyone who is going to Kazapalooza a wonderful time! We cannot wait to see pictures from the weekend! We wish we could come this year, but we're definitely planning on joining all of you next year.

And we also wanted to wish all of you Dads, new Dads, and Dads-to-be, a very Happy Father's Day!

Love to everyone-

An Extra Special Weekend...

So many wonderful things in one weekend! Any one of them would have made for a special weekend, but the combination made for an unbelievably special weekend.

We went to California to visit Adam's parents for the long weekend. We had a wonderful time and they hosted a lovely party on Sunday for Rylie to meet many more special people.

Pictures from the party...

Rylie dancing (this now involves twirling and hand movements) as she waits for her guests to arrive-

A family picture overlooking the beach-We discovered that Rylie loves humus and pita- she even dips it!Sunday was also our 5th anniversary! During our visit to Ventura, we had a chance to take Rylie for her first trip to the beach. She seemed to love playing in the sand, though it was way too cold to go in the water. The "I'm about to do something I know I'm not supposed to do" look...

We know that over the years, Rylie will have friends from different aspects of her life. But there is a small group of other children with whom she will forever share a very special bond. As you may recall from our days in Astana, we shared our time there with a few other families as we all journeyed through the unforgettable process of bringing our children home. This weekend, we got to visit with two of these special families. We are so grateful for their friendships, and we hope we will continue to be a part of each other's lives for many years to come.

On Saturday, we went to the Santa Barbara Zoo with Rylie's good buddy Pema and her parents, Kate & Scott. After spending time together in Astana, we last saw them when we landed in Frankfurt after the first leg of our trip home. They sure are not the same two girls we had on that plane ride! We had a wonderful time visiting together and catching up on the past 5 months. We captured some great shots of the two girls- we were just so sad the day went by so quickly!

Pema & Rylie- check out those 4 cheeks!

All smiles!

Pema enjoying the animals!

One of Rylie's all time favorite books is Dear Zoo. Pema seemed to love it too!
Our little monkey!

On Monday, when we got back to Phoenix, we had a very special visit with Rylie's dear friend, Aitugan, and her Mommy & Daddy. After much time spent together in Astana- including our memorable Thanksgiving dinner, it was wonderful to see Kjersten, Steve & Aitugan again! We had a wonderful time at the park and splash fountain and confirmed what we all had suspected- Rylie & Aitugan are very similar indeed. Suffice it to say, I don't believe there will be any tutus or ballet slippers in either of our families! We ended the day with dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant with some great food and some duck feeding. We had a fabulous visit together and were so sad to see them go at the end of the evening. Sadly, we didn't get any fabulous shots of the two girls, but luckily most of you know where to find some better ones!

Adam reading to Rylie & Aitugan.

Water babies!
Aitugan examining the splash fountain.Two tired girls on the way back from the splash fountain.

So that was our truly wonderful, extra-special weekend.

Otherwise, life is good and Rylie is getting ready for the start of summer camp this week. We are continuing to just enjoy life with our happy, little girl.

Love to everyone...

Our First Mother's Day Together and more...

We had a wonderful first Mother's Day together. On Friday, Rylie and I started out the weekend at her school's Mother's Day celebration. It was a lovely morning and the most perfect way to start the weekend. Here we are on Sunday morning with the art project Rylie and I did together on Friday morning (picture frame with her adorable school picture), and the adorable handprint/ footprint gift Rylie made for me. With my most favorite little gift...
Weekend outfits are important in my world. I've started to introduce Rylie to the world of weekend outfits. Here is her early summer weekend outfit. Seriously, how cute!?!Of course with her purse!Important Rule: When going for a naked walk with your baby, make sure to bring your evening bag.

Rylie loves to carry her lunch pail to and from school. Very grown up!
Hanging out in the playroom before leaving for school. Rylie loves her new table and chairs set from Nana & Pa. She sits there reads books- it is truly adorable. She enjoys coloring too, but after eating 1/2 of a red crayon earlier this week, we've put the crayons away for a while.

Our pool is warm enough! In true Rylie fashion, she sat on the steps for a few moments getting used to the water, and then jumped right in. It is a good thing I was sitting right next to her!
Until next time, love to everyone....

Keeping busy...

Time seems to be flying by. We have been keeping very busy between a visit from Adam's parents, Saba and Safta (that means Grandpa and Grandma in Hebrew,) Passover- including a seder at Rylie's school, a trip to he zoo, and of course an endless number of afternoons at the park and splash fountain.

Enjoy...

Rylie eating matzah (or more accurately licking the cream cheese off the matzah) at her school's Passover seder.

At the zoo with Caroline! Checking out the monkeys.

Visiting with Saba and Safta

Dinner at Havana Cafe with Saba and Safta for Daddy's 31st Birthday! Happy Birthday Daddy!

Rylie loves her wagon. She even pushes and pulls it all by herself. Rylie also loves her shopping cart and her new baby stroller. Rylie has been feeding herself finger food for a while now. But she is recently starting to feed herself with a spoon... it creates a much messier dinner scene, but she is so proud of herself (as are we!)Dancing while Daddy plays the guitar.
Our little Jew on Shabbat.
Giving money to Tzedakah (charity.) Until next time....

Love to everyone...

Hard to believe...

Six months ago today, we sat in a conference room in the Baby House in Astana, Kazakhstan. Filled with emotion, anxiety, and sheer exhaustion, our lives changed forever. The door opened and in came a beautiful, little six month old girl in an orange outfit we will never forget. I had heard different things about what that first meeting might be like. Some adoptive parents had told me they knew instantly, others had prepared me for the reality that it may take time for us to feel like this was our child. I will say, for me, the very first moment they brought Rylie into the room, I knew she was meant for us. It was the most surreal experience of my life. In my head, I had an image of this child with crazy black hair and huge cheeks. Well, you know the rest of the story.... We cannot believe it has been six months since that day. In some ways, time has flown by (I am still trying to find the "PAUSE" button) but in reality, it seems like Rylie has been here forever.

We are thankful each and every day for the gift of Rylie. People tell us on a regular basis how lucky Rylie is. The truth is, we are the lucky ones.

October 23rd, 2007

Now...