Gymnastics graduation...with medals!

Makena "graduated" from gymnastics this morning...drum roll, please! The kiddos were crazy as they showcased the skills they learned throughout the year! Too funny. Kena was moving too fast for us to get any clear photos, but I love the utter joy on her face in some of the blurry photos!

She was sad that her gymnastics class was over today...although she starts her new class on Tuesday!

Atlantis

Makena proved herself a good traveler yet again when the nanny sitting next to us on the plane last night complimented her on her good behavior!

We just returned home after spending a WEEK at Atlantis in the Bahamas. No, that is not a typo...it almost is more crazy that I was able to write "we" than a "week" - our entire little family got to go together! It was such a blessing to be able to spend some actual good quality time together. Being on Paradise Island didn't hurt either!

Atlantis was amazing... We relaxed on the Lazy River (about a hundred times!), the grown ups rode the rapids, we swam for hours and hours every day, we saw more ocean life than we thought possible in one place, we spent $14 on a cocktail (ugh), Charlie did ALL of the slides (and those are some *crazy* slides!), the girls got to love on a dolphin, our SD memory card blew up and we lost all of our family vacation photos (except the ones on my iPhone), we spent an afternoon at Senor Frogs and Makena danced her little way into the wait staff's hearts...as evidenced by the GIANT ice cream sundae they gave her, and we met some great people from all over the world!

(Makena with her "babies" back in "her" car on the way home...nothing sweeter than her introducing Bobble the alligator to her baby and to her baby's backpack!)

Makena Turns TWO

Makena experienced the happiest 90 minutes of her life on Saturday. Charlie and I have never seen Kena so blissful for such a long time! She beamed the entire party and showed off her sweet little personality (and her toddler gymnastics skills, although she refers to it as "ballet")!

We've always LOVED The Little Gym...but now that feeling is increased tenfold. What a magnificent place for a birthday party! I can now say that she's truly recovered from the unfortunate deer incident. We brought favors and cake - they did the rest. Her teachers made her feel like a billion bucks for the entire time, and for that I will be indebted to them forever. It was worth every penny to see the look on her face! A huge thank you goes out to all of Makena's friends and their families for coming to her party...she is still talking about her "two party"...

Most of the pictures have other children in them, so I don't want to post them on the Internet, but sufficed to say...there were a lot of smiles going around on Saturday! It will be hard to top this for her third birthday. All I can guarantee is that we will do another off-site party - it was fantastic!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet girl! We love you around the world and to the moon and back!

Potty Training

Potty training is NOT for the faint of heart...or for anyone who cares deeply about the cleanliness of their "stuff"...

Not to go into too much detail, but Makena is mostly potty trained. Her #2 training was complete in November, leaving us with one more thing to tackle. She decided that she wanted to pee on the potty at the end of January. Fast forward to the end of April...she is almost 100% potty trained IF she is wearing a diaper or pull-up. If she has to go, she'll let me know - especially if we are not at home. Her track record outside of the house is MUCH better than when we are home! I say that to say this...I thought that the transition from pull ups to underpants would be easy since we'd gotten so far with her pull ups. And since she was the one who completely initiated it. Boy, was I WRONG! Don't misunderstand though, if I set the timer for every 30 minutes, she'll happily sit on the potty until she goes and then we can be accident free. I've just come to the realization that me telling her when to go does not constitute potty trained! So I am trying something new. She is running around the house in Tinker Bell underpants and she has to tell me when it is time. We're heading into day three and so far we are not doing well. I have mopped up more pee off the floor than I did when we were housebreaking Scout and Boo! If she does start to have an accident, I scoop her up and we "run run run" to the potty. My friend shared some good advice about training for three days and that day number three was the magical day...so I am super hopeful that tomorrow is the day that she gets it! I just think it's so ironic that if I put her in a diaper she won't pee, but if I put her in underpants or leave her naked she pees all over! My poor washer/dryer...

UPDATE: All finished! Potty training was a success...it was over in 6.5 days! Yay for Kena (and for mama!)...

Traveling with a "Terrible Two"

Makena is wonderful...no, she is beyond wonderful - Charlie and I remain in *awe* when we look at her. She is, however, heading quickly into the terrible twos phase. She is perfecting her stalling tactics (for nap time, bedtime, potty time, etc.) and her graceful fall to the ground in protest over just about anything that isn't completely going her way! Charlie and I love to travel too much to let a few temper tantrums stop us though...we are very proud to say that she knows what to do in a restaurant, an airplane, and airport, and a hotel room. She is actually a better traveler than most adults and she does enjoy new things (new people not as much, but we're working on that).

Charlie is a perpetual business traveler; if you tell Makena that daddy is at work she points to the sky and says "airpane"! Given that tidbit of info, I have flown alone with Makena on all but a few of her flights, yet I am still slightly apprehensive when faced with the actual trip. So the decision we made for Makena and I to head to Florida to catch up with some of her Fu sisters and visit Disney World was both exciting and intimidating! Charlie was to be traveling through Europe at the time, so it was just the girls! We made the rather spontaneous decision, got a dog sitter, booked the tickets, and made plans all in a matter of hours...

Kena is not the world's best sleeper, but it is always in our best interest to let her sleep until she wakes up. However, when we need to be AT the airport by 6am, I have no choice but to wake her. She was slow to wake up that morning, but once she realized what was going on she started to say "airpane" over and over. Her love of travel is such a beautiful thing for us! The suitcase was in order, as was my carry-on, her backpack, the stroller, its case, and the packed car seat. All was right with the world. She charmed her way through the airport and the security line - we ate our snacks and got on the airplane. The seat next to us was empty (score!!!), so I let her sit in her own seat on the tarmac and for take-off. Turbulence was not kind to us though. She vomited three times on that flight...all over me, leaving the plane seat remarkably unscathed. Now I ALWAYS have a change of clothes for her, but I seldom (if ever) have a change of clothes for myself. When we landed, I grabbed everything (and Kena) and went in search of new clothes. The very first t-shirt I saw was a lovely brown NC shirt with orange writing. It was perfectly atrocious, yet clean...and for the record, the best $15 I had spent in a long time! The pants would have to remain on me though - they didn't sell pants at the airport! After our lovely start, the rest of our travels went great and we landed in Orlando in short order, hopped in the car, and headed to the hotel.


We did Epcot that afternoon - went to the China pavilion, saw an incredible 360 degree movie about China's history (Makena was completely intrigued), enjoyed delicious Lo Mein, and played in Tinker Bell's garden. We headed to a zoo the next morning to meet up with two of Makena's Fu sisters and their families. What a lovely day! The girls are incredible and it was so reassuring to catch up with our China "family". We planned the whole zoo trip around Makena's nap time, hoping for sleep on the way back to the hotel (it was a 90-min drive). That just wasn't going to happen! She sang and played the entire time in the car and stayed up as we headed to Magic Kingdom. Over the rest of the trip we explored all of Disney. I won't bore you with all of our trip details, but sufficed to say, she had a fantastic time! She even broke into her own little baby breakdance to some fun music as we walked through Downtown Disney one evening! Makena had her own little crowd cheering her on!


I've decided that the people who say that Disney is not appropriate for a toddler have not been there with a toddler. Makena doesn't know any of the characters except Tinker Bell, but she LOVED the rides, the people, the chaos, the various modes of transportation that you have to take to get there (bus, monorail, ferry, train, etc.), and especially the castle! If anyone is thinking of heading to Disney World (or Land...we've taken her to both), I would be happy to share some toddler tidbits! It was so frustrating though...the stuff people let their kids get away with is crazy! I was so proud of Makena for showing PATIENCE...that was the word of the weekend! She even "says" PATIENCE now when we have to wait in line! It was so stinkin' cute to see her watch a super frustrated person at the airport standing in line and hear her say her version of patience (and point incessantly)! Good thing she is sometimes hard to understand, or the ride home that day would have been much longer!


We are back home safe and sound. Charlie was super lucky to get out of Europe when he did...if his original plans had not changed, he would probably STILL be there because of the volcano. Life is wonderful...Makena is happy...all is right with the world!

Makena's Dedication

Makena was dedicated today at Westover Church. Our wonderful friends gave us rock solid support and braved Red Robin with us after the service! We are truly blessed to have the Stone family in our lives!

We love Westover. It is our home church, and although it's hard to comprehend, we've been attending for almost five years! It was important for us to have Makena dedicated and while she wasn't completely thrilled with being on stage, she did a great job. Charlie and I feel that we've witnessed God's grace through Makena and it was wonderful to share that with our church.

We chose Jeremiah 29:11 for her verse:
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Rwanda and Makena's baby sister...we're getting closer!

We are finally making good progress on our Rwandan adoption. Our paperwork is officially complete and we are getting fingerprinted this week (hopefully for the last time?). That means that if all goes as planned , which never happens in int'l adoption, we will be in line for a referral in July and travel in September. Woohoo! We are just thrilled to be that much closer...finally! We started this process on March 31, 2009...and now we're ready to start picking names...

A few updates on Makena...

Makena is growing so fast...it's true that time sure flies when you are having fun! We are enjoying each day and each new stage that accompanies it. We are bracing ourselves for the terrible twos, but I think that we are already in the mix! Makena still loves to eat, but is starting to be a bit more picky. She is good about trying everything though. Water remains her drink of choice, followed by apple juice and milkshakes (actually, it's more milk and frozen fruit blended...yummy and healthy at the same time!). Watermelon, guacamole, and dried mango are her favorite snacks, although not together. We've moved into a bigger car seat and she is able to now walk half way through the neighborhood before she wants to be carried. Makena is participating in soccer more every class and she is Miss Independent in gymnastics. In fact, she loves The Little Gym so much that we booked her birthday party for there! There are lots of little girls in her circle of friends...and her new favorite activity is collecting sticks. We are SO happy that it is finally warm outside - we spend almost the whole day outdoors! She loves to ride in the jogging stroller (yay for me!) and kick her soccer ball around the backyard. A lot more laundry is being done now that we're playing outside (and we're potty training), but I wouldn't change her love of nature and all things dirty for anything! Her one little quirk is that while her entire person can be filthy, she HATES to have dirty hands! Go figure...

Makena's Schedule

Two weeks into 2010, and we are already scheduled to the end of June! Makena is doing great in her gymnastics class and loves going each week. She doesn't always show her enthusiasm when her awesome instructor wants to help her with something, but overall she does a great job. The strides that she has made in her class from the very first time she went are amazing. We are constantly in awe of her progress. Soccer will start toward the end of this month and Charlie is convinced that Makena is going to rock their world! She LOVES to kick a ball around the house and we are proud to say that she can kick it with both feet. In general, Makena loves any organized activity (although she doesn't always decide to cooperate) and I know that she will love soccer. And before you say anything...it is Soccer Tots. They don't make the kids play a game; they teach them about running through cones and racing across the field and kicking the ball...you know, kid stuff! I committed to Makena that we would go to story time every week also. She is getting more accustomed to sitting through a book now (at least when she sees other kids doing that), and our library does an absolutely fantastic job at making story time interesting for everyone. We just joined a playgroup as well and look forward to hanging out with Makena's new buddies on Thursdays. Our children's museum has a great program for toddlers on Mondays, and we tried it out for the first time this week. They had to stop the activities a few times so that I could get Makena OFF the parachute, but all in all, it was a great time. We plan on going each week to help Makena continue to grow as a book lover and it's great to hang with other kids. That's our five days a week! Story time, activity hour, play group, gymnastics, and soccer! One lesson I have learned (sometimes the hard way), is that one big activity a day is enough for her. However, if we just hang around the house (even when we have lots of playtime) she doesn't sleep as well and starts to show her temperamental side. While Makena is still too young to really play with other kids, she definitely likes to be around them and does parallel play...especially if it is a little boy! She will just follow them around...haha! She's starting young.

Happy 2010!

I realize that we have not posted anything since September...we've been busy being a family! The last few months flew by and Makena is growing like a weed! She is learning new things every day and we are happy to report that she passed her last hearing test! Yay for Kena! Her improved hearing has made all of the difference in the world with her understanding and verbal abilities. She is saying a LOT of words now, some other folks can understand, others we only know because they get said so many times a day. She's grown about five inches in the last six months and is in need of a haircut! We are using the Chinese New Year tradition of getting your haircut right before the holiday for her first time! Not sure exactly where we will go, but my stylist is great and would be super accommodating. There just aren't any cute kid things there!

Holidays that have passed...
Halloween was incredible. It sure adds a new dimension to the holidays with a little one! Makena was a Vikings cheerleader for her main costume, but we went as an "Iron Chef Family" to our family party! Makena was too cute in her chef hat and apron...she wielded those spoons around the Tower house like she owned the place...and she almost ate all of their fruit kabobs!




Thanksgiving was relaxing. We spent much of the weekend at home, catching up and enjoying each other's company, as Charlie's travel schedule was a bit crazy. Our good friend, Phillip, had us over for Makena's first American Thanksgiving dinner! Makena and I had made the Williams-Sonoma sweet potato casserole to take, and it ended up being one of her favorite foods (possibly of all time). She entertained all of the guests and didn't throw too much food on the floor during dinner! Black Friday found us at Target and all of the other crazy places...we'll do that again - so much fun!

Christmas was simply incredible. We had NO plans. It was just the three (okay, five...we had a lot of fun with Boo and Scout) of us and we took our time, all the while trying to establish some new Brown family traditions. We went to church on Christmas Eve and only stayed for the music, as is our usual habit (Makena gets noisy...and it makes Charlie nervous). We had a nice dinner and then Makena got to open one present before we got Santa's cookies and cider ready! Christmas morning we opened our gifts, one by one, and Makena enjoyed each thing before she moved on to the next. Her favorite gift? The Learning Tower that we got her (and gave to her over Thanksgiving...why let it sit when she could enjoy it?). It is the greatest invention, and I bet that she spends a good two or three hours in it each day! Still! We rounded out the day with a trip to a dear friend's house for a wonderful Italian Christmas dinner! It was delectable...thank you Karen and Russ!













We are enjoying 2010 so far and look forward to growing as parents while Makena grows into a beautiful little girl!