Miss Hannah got her first haircut yesterday and she loved it! She laughed and giggled the whole time! She let Libby (hairdresser) cut her hair and dry it and when it was all over with and they were taking the cape off she said "I want to do it again". She looks so cute with her new haircut, it really brought out her curls.

 

She is growing up so fast. She is now counting to 14, knows all her abc's and can carry on a full conversation. She is getting pretty excited about Christmas coming up. She has already told us what she is going to tell Santa that she wants. She wants a guitar, drums, and a microphone."Santa" is working diligently to get these things checked off of her list. This little girl loves music! She knows the words to most songs that come on the radio and loves to sing along and dance. Who knows, we may have the next American Idol on our hands! LOL.

 My baby girl is growing up. I can't believe that she is almost 2 1/2 years old! She is getting to be such a big girl. She is now fully potty trained! Little smarty pants picked it right up with no problems at all. After about the fourth day she didn't have any more accidents. She is also able to say her abc's, count to 12 in english, and to 10 in spanish. Her vocabulary is unreal, she can say anything and can carry on a full conversation. She is so much fun!

 We have a visit with our social worker this Saturday for Hannah's post adoption report for Kazakhstan. After this one we are done for another year. Kazakhstan requires post adoption reports to be done by a social worker once a year just to ensure that the children are being taken care of. I think that it is commendable that they care enough to want to make sure that the kids are taken care of. There are too many crazy people out there that adopt kids just to abuse and mistreat them. 

 Well I guess that is about it for now. I need to get to bed, we have a fun day planned  tomorrow. Going to the park with cousin Draven tomorrow  and gymnastics tomorrow night.

 

I am sitting here this evening thinking back on our time in Kazakhstan. I am so thankful for Hannah and that God has allowed us to be her parents. Our time in Kazakhstan was amazing and I am thankful to God for it. I am also feeling very deeply burdened for the children left behind. There are so many children over there with no one to love  them and it breaks my heart. To think that there are so many kids that don't have someone to hold them when they cry, rock them to sleep at night,and kiss their hurt away. I don't think anyone truly understands this until you see it with your own eyes. The day I walked into Hannah's room at the baby house and saw all of the baby beds lined up and all of the little babies laying there, was a major eye opener for me.  While I know deep down that it is not God's will for us to adopt again right now, my prayer is that our story will influence just one family to open up their hearts and homes to a child to love.

Day three of potty training is done and Hannah only had one accident! Can you believe it?! She is doing so well it amazes me! I thought that she would have trouble today because we were on the go all day but she did not have any accidents at all while we were out. The only accident she had was first thing this morning and I think she forgot that she had panties on so when she peed she freaked out because she got dirty. After she remembered that she is now wearing panties she didn't have any more accidents. I am so proud of her. She gets so excited when she pees in the potty it is so cute. She will say "ooh I hear me pee" and get this cute little excited look on her face. The reward program is working like a charm. Tomorrow may be a tough day because we are going to the state fair so hopefully she will do well. We are wearing pull ups just in case there is an accident. She is very excited to go to the fair and see the animals . She is also tall enough to ride the rides this year so she is looking forward to that too.

Well miss Hannah is now potty training! We started yesterday and she is doing great. She only had three small accidents on her first day which is pretty good. Today is day two and she did great! She only had three accidents and did great the rest of the day. She is catching on very quickly! We are using a reward system where every time she pees in the potty she gets two blue m&m's (blue is her favorite color) and when she poo's in the potty she gets three blue m&m's and a sticker. This system works great for her. We have a busy day planned for saturday so I am nervous about how this will affect her on the potty training front. we shall see I guess! Hopefully she will do well. Im going to have to pack lots of m&m's!

Yesterday Hannah was riding her Dora tricycle down the hallway and she had her pillow and blanket in the basket on the front. She came over to me and said "come on mom get ready" I asked her where we were going and her response shocked me. She said "going to Kazakhstan" I said "we are?" and she said "yep gonna go play at the park"! Then she told her daddy to get his shoes on and get ready. We always show her pictures of us in Kazakhstan and at the baby house but none of our pictures have a park in them. This is something she made up on her own. I had to laugh because it was like she thought Kaz was just down the road and it was a vacation spot. Oh how far from the truth on both counts! I love this baby and her vivid imagination! She amazes us daily!

I know, I know, I have been a bad blogger. I am really going to try to do better, things have just been so busy this summer. We have been having a lot of fun though. We haven't been able to take a long vacation because of Josh's new work schedule so instead we have taken three mini vacations to Tennesee.  We went to Dollywood with my parents (aka grammy and pappy) in May and had a blast. Hannah loved Dollywood, she really enjoyed riding all of the rides. She is quite the little thrill seeker. We went back for a couple days in June and took her to Dixie Stampede. We knew she would like this because she loves horses. As we expected she absolutely loved it! She was so interested in the show she couldn't take her eyes off of it. Not even to eat! We went to Splash Country a couple of weeks ago .Hannah really likes the water. She has no fear though so she makes me a little nervous. We went on water slides that scared me and all she did was laugh. No fear I tell ya! She asks me all the time when we can go back and ride the water slides.

She is still growing like a weed. It seems like every day she is a little taller. We have a fit finding clothes to fit her because she is so long legged and skinny. I was noticing in gymnastics the other day that she is head and shoulders taller than the other kids in the class. I think my baby girl is going to be one tall girl! She is talking great. You can carry on a full conversation with her now. She is talking in sentances now and some of the things she comes up with amazes us. We have also officially entered the "terrible two's". Little miss Hannah has always been very strong willed and it has become even more so here lately. I love that she has a mind of her own but sometimes it is a little too much so. She is at the stage where she will push her limits, but as soon as she sees that we aren't going for it she always gives in. Then as soon as you fuss at her she will say "Sorry Mommy" and look at me with this innocent little look on her face. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh but we manage to keep a straight face so that she will know that we mean business. She is growing up so fast, it makes me sad sometimes. She is such a good girl, with a loving heart. She likes kisses and cuddling and is quite the little jokester. We have been truly blessed and we thank God daily for her and for allowing us to be her parents.

We had Hannah's 2 year check up today. She weighed in at 27 pounds and is 34 1/2 inches tall. So in the past 6 months she has gained 2 inches and 3 pounds. The doctor said all looks well and Hannah is right on track with her growth and development. She had her last immunization today, so she is done until she turnes 4. Yay! We also had to have blood drawn today for her 2 year lead test. It was a very traumatic visit for her. After the visit I took her to the mall to get a cookie as a treat for being a good girl. While we were there she had her picture made with the easter bunny. She did very well, I expected her to be scared because one day we were at the mall and the Chik Fillet cow was walking around and she flipped out. But she did good for the Easter Bunny it didn't hurt that he gave her a sucker afterwards. :-)

 Hannah turned 2 on March 26th. I can't believe that my baby girl is 2 already, she is growing up so fast. We had her a birthday party on Saturday that was dora themed of course. We had it at a local elementary school in the gym so that the kids would have plenty of room to run and play. She had so much fun. On her actual birthday she and I went to lunch and shopping and then when Josh got home from work we took her to dinner and let her open her presents. She chose Outback for dinner (oh yeah baby girl has good taste). They sang to her when they brought her cake and she loved it, the whole time they sang she clapped!

 Hannah started gymnastics a few weeks ago and she loves it. She is actually pretty good at it considering how small she is. She goes every Thursday night. It is a mommy and me gymnastics class. No worries , I do not get out there and do gymnastics! I am not that flexible nor would that be a pretty site for anyone involved! lol! I am just there to spot her and make sure she doesn't break her neck!

 She has her 2 year doctors appointment tomorrow, this is her first appointment since she was 18 months. I am anxious to see how much she has grown. She is so tall but so small around the waist. At her last appointment she weighed 24.5 pounds and you know they weigh them in just their diaper and at my doctors appointment last week she jumped up on the scale and she only weighed 26 and that was with her clothes, coat, and big heavy tennis shoes. So by the time they strip her down it doesn't look like she has gained anything! I promise I do feed her! She has shot up in height though. Poor little thing, we can't find any clothes to fit her. She needs a 12 months in the waist and an 18-24 in length! I can't wait until shorts season so it doesn't matter if her clothes are a little short!

 Well gotta go, baby girl is waking up from her nap. Enjoy the pictures!

Hannah is now in a big girl bed. On January 22nd during nap time I  heard "hep mommy hep!!" I go running in there thinking that something has a hold of her only to find her hanging by one arm from the side of the bed! I tried to get her to show me how she climbed out but she is too smart to share her secrets. Needless to say no nap that morning but during her evening nap I watched her through the crack in the door until she fell asleep because I was worried sick that she would climb out , fall, and break her neck! When I heard her stirring from her nap I went and peeked in the door and saw her putting her stuffed animals in the corner of the bed and using them as a step to boost her up enough to climb over the side of the bed! I gotta give it to her, it was pretty smart thinking! That evening we went out and bought her a toddler bed. I called around until I found someone who sold dora toddler beds because I knew that if dora was on it she would be much more excited about it and more apt to stay in it than if it were just a plain bed. I finally found one and we went and got it that evening. She was so excited to have a dora bed that she couldn't hold still, the whole time Josh was putting it together she danced around the living room like she had ants in her pants. That night we put her to bed and she fell right to sleep no problem at all. I was all ready to have to tell her to get back in bed a thousand time but she did great. She did well but mommy cried for 15 minutes after she went to bed because she wasn't in a baby bed anymore! I know, I'm crazy! She loved her bed so much that after I made her breakfast the next morning she took it back to her room and ate it in bed! She has been in it for a while now with no problems. We redecorated her room in Dora and she loves it. As I am sure you can tell Dora is her favorite thing right now. Josh laughs because he says walking in Hannah's room is like walking into a shrine to Dora.

Hannah is growing up so fast it is amazing. She is doing to saying something new everyday. She is talking in small sentances now and it is funny to hear some of the things that she says. She still loves music and dancing. If there is music on she has to stop what she is doing to sing and dance. She's pretty good too! She has the mambo down pat! Who knows maybe we have a future American Idol on our hands! If we are in the car and she hears a song that she likes she will say "Mommy , it's our song!" It is so cute. Next month will be her 2nd birthday! It is hard to believe that she is almost 2 years old. We are planning her party now, of course it will be in dora. What else!  When we ask her what she wants for her birthday she says "diamonds". I am training her well. She loves jewelry and diamonds. When we go to the mall she likes to look in all the jewelry stores. We bought her some new earrings last week and when we went to the jewelry counter the lady asked if she could help us and before I could answer Hannah looked at her and said "need diamonds". Josh is going to be in trouble, he has two girls that love jewelry! Needless to say she is not getting diamonds for her birthday. We got her Elmo's restraunt. She loves elmo and I don't think she will mind a bit giving up her diamonds for him!

 

 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I know we did. Hannah's first Christmas was as exciting as we expected it would be. It was a busy Christmas season, going from house to house but she enjoyed spending time with family and really got into opening presents. Everyone was so generous! She got so many neat new toys. We had to rearrange her room just to make room for everything!

On Christmas Eve she and I made chocolate chip cookies for Santa and then that night we layed them out with some milk. After she went to bed Josh and I set up the living room with her presents so that everything would ready for her as soon as she woke up. On Christmas morning Josh went and got her out of bed and I had the video camera ready in the living room to catch her expression when she saw all of the presents. It was great, she came down the hall not knowing that it was different from any other morning and then when she saw all the presents she started dancing and went over and dug right in. Just watching her and seeing all of her excitment made my Christmas. We truly enjoyed our first Christmas as a family and look forward to many more.

Hannah is doing really well. She continues to progress daily. She is now 32 1/2 inches tall and still weighs 24 pounds. Her vocabulary is unreal. She can say anything that you tell her too and repeats everything she hears. She knows all of her shapes and can say her abc's and count to 10 with a little help. She is so loving, she loves hugs and kisses. She is an amazing little girl. God is so good!

 

Happy New Year!

The Plumley's

Wednesday was our very first "Gotcha Day". For those of you who don't know what this is, it is the celebration of the day that we met our baby girl. On November 26,2007 we were introduced to the most amazing little angel. From the moment we saw her we knew that she was meant to be our daughter. We thank God daily for bringing us together and for allowing us to be her parents.It is amazing to think that it has been one year since we met our baby girl. On one hand it feels like she has always been here and on the other it's hard to believe that it has already been a year.  To celebrate our very first "gotcha day", we took Hannah to Chuckie Cheese. She had a blast playing games and eating pizza. We also took her to Toys R Us and let her pick out a toy.

 

Thursday of course was Thanksgiving and we had a busy day. We had Thanksgiving at Josh's grandparents at 12:00 and then with my family at 5:00. Hannah did very well she had a lot of fun visiting with every one. Today we did the dreaded Black Friday shopping. I go every year and this year I decided to take Hannah with me. She loved it! I told her before I put her to bed last night that when she got up we were going shopping. This morning when I woke her up she sat straight up in bed and said "shopping?!". She was very chipper this morning at 5:30, every one that passed us she would say "Hi" and blow them kisses. We came home around 11:00 and she is now sleeping soundly.  I thought that I would post a few pictures to show you how much baby girl has changed over the past year.

 

 

November 26, 2007

 

 

 

November 26, 2008

 

 

 

I was just looking at my blog and realized how long it had been since I have updated. Sorry for the delay! Hannah is doing great, she is growing more and more every day. She is now 19 months old and she weighs 24 pounds and is 34 inches tall. She has gained a little over 5 pounds since she has been home and grown approximately 5 inches taller. Her vocabulary is unreal! I can't even tell you how many words that she can say at this point , because she comes up with new ones every day! Her doctor is pretty impressed that she is able to speak so well considering she heard only Russian for the first 10 months of her life.

Since my last post we have been to the Rodeo, my nephew Elijah does "mutton busting" (sheep riding) It is pretty cool to watch and he is very good at it. Hannah is amazed by horses and loves to pet them and ride them. She got to ride a horse at the rodeo with the assistance of Aunt Wendi and she was tickled to death. Every time the horse would stop, Hannah would kick her feet into it and say "go, go". She had a blast!

Also we have had our first Halloween. Hannah dressed up like Minnie Mouse and she was the cutest Minnie Mouse I have ever seen! (I'm not partial or anything though! :-)

We took her and my cousin's son Draven who is 16 months old trick or treating and they had so much fun. We put them in the wagon and Josh was able to pull them right up to most of the doors so that they didn't even have to get out of the wagon. They were riding in style! It was the first time either of them had been trick or treating and they were both amazed. Hannah got so excited every time someone gave her candy and she would say " ooh thank you!" We had fun just watching how excited they were.

We have a big day coming up here very shortly. November 26th is Hannah's "Gotcha Day". This will mark one year since we met the love of our life in Kazakhstan. Some people celebrate "gotcha day" on the day that the courts declared their adoptions final but we decided to celebrate our "gotcha day" as the day we met Hannah because from the moment they put her in our arms she was our daughter and we were a family. We are taking Hannah out that day for the three of us to celebrate the best day of our lives! More updates to come soon!

 

Today I kissed an angel
I knew it from the start.
The first time my angel smiled at me,
I gave away my heart

 

Today I kissed an angel
This angel child of mine
Though not of my creation,
My child by God's design.

 

Today I kissed an angel.
My heart is dancing wild,
Our family, by a miracle,
Blessed by our angel child.

It is hard to believe that our little angel has only been home for six months, it feels like she has always been here. July 20th made six months that Hannah has been here in the states. She has filled our home and our hearts with so much love it is unbelievable. She has progressed so much in six months it is amazing. When we came home she couldn't even sit up on her own and now she is walking around everywhere (yep, she started walking on July 22 her daddy's birthday and she hasn't stopped yet!) She had no teeth and now she has 12. She had very little hair and now she has a head full of dark curly hair. She knew no words and now she knows over 30.  And most importantly she went from living in an orphanage to living with two parents who love her more than anything in this world.

Hannah is a beautiful, smart, and loving little girl. I pray that she grows up knowing how truly special and loved that she is.  God has blessed us by allowing us to be her parents and we are thankful for that.

 

Miranda

 

 

 

January of 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 July of 2008

 

 

 

Last week Hannah went on her first vacation to Myrtle Beach. We had so much fun. Hannah loved playing in the sand and sitting on the edge of the ocean and letting the water come up and hit her legs. She also really loved the pool. She is quite the little daredevil though, she decided that she was a big girl and that she would just crawl right on into the ocean! Of course we were right there with her and we didn't let her crawl into the ocean, but the child has no fear! She loved the beach, we took lots of pictures and when she sees a picture that we took at the beach she will squeel and laugh. We decided that we will make it a yearly tradition to go to the beach and spend some family time together.

 

Hannah took her first steps last week! She was playing and then just turned around and walked from the couch to the chair. After that I got her on video walking across the living room, it was so cute. She still crawls most all of the time, all she needs to do is get the confidence to let go. She will get it soon enough. Her vocabulary is continuing to grow. It amazes me how much she can say already. She also loves to dance and sing. Anytime she hears music she will stop what she is doing and dance. She knows how to sing Jesus loves me and it is so precious because she knows the words Jesus and Bible and sings them at the exact right time when we are singing.

 

That's about it for now. I will try to post again soon.

As I was sitting here about to post some pictures of Sunday (Mother's day) I started to think about how far we have come in the past year. A year ago we were preparing to turn our dossier in for approval by the Kazakhstan government. We were unsure at this time when or even if we would be approved to travel to meet our child. There were so many uncertainties all which we know are common with international adoption, but worrisome none the less. Now we are home with our gorgeous baby girl and loving every minute of the time that we are able to spend together. Josh got me a mother's day card that I feel is totally appropriate for the journey we have been on it says "We have had our ups and downs getting here but oh boy what a ride". Isn't that the truth. Every hardship, worry, and delay was placed there for a purpose. That purpose being to make it known without a doubt that God was in control of this adoption. Without his guidance and timing we would not have our precious angel Hannah. We are so thankful for the blessings that he has given us and the way that he continues to work in our lives.

 

We have had a bit of a rough week this past week. Last Monday my car got vandalized in the hospital parking lot while I was working and then on Wednesday evening Josh was hit by a drunk driver. He is okay, he just messed up his back. God was truly watching over him because he could have been hurt so much worse than he was.  His truck got pretty messed up and of course the drunk that hit him did not have insurance (imagine that!). Oh well, as I have said before the truck is just material, we can fix it or get a new one but I can't replace my wonderful husband. As long as he is okay we can deal with the rest.  Please just keep us in your prayers.

 

 Our family on Mothers day

Breaking news!! We finally have enough hair for a hairbow. I thought I would include a before and after photo to show you how much her hair has grown.

December 2007

May 2008

Hey all! I know it has been a while since I have posted but all is well. Hannah is getting bigger everyday. It is amazing to see how she changes and grows daily. She has several new words now including: light, gone, done, dog, shoes, and  kitty kitty. She can also say I love you. It sounds more like I yuh you and it is so cute. She gives kisses and is now also blowing kisses. She is such a happy baby, always laughing and smiling.

 

We had kind of a rough week last week because poor Hannah has horrible allergies and woke up last Thursday with her eyes swollen shut. We had to go to the doctor and they prescribed some eye drops that helped her tremendously. She handled it like a trooper though, the only time that she cried or got cranky is when we had to clean out her eyes or put drops in them.

 

Baby Girl  loves shoes, (she gets that after her mommy!) Josh says I have created a monster. You can't even take her into a store without her wanting to try on shoes. When we go into a store she will stick her foot out and say shoe, shoe. Im so proud! :-)

 

So that's about it for now, we are all doing well and are loving life and enjoying our time together.

 

Miranda

I am loving my new schedule, I started it this week and I get so much more time at home with my baby girl. We have had so much fun this week despite the fact that we had to go to the doctor! :-) Hannah had an appointment with her pediatrician on Wednesday and all went well except that she had to have three shots! She was not liking that at all. She now weighs 20 lbs 8 oz and is 30 inches long. She has gained 2 lbs and 1 1/2 inches since we have been home! Thursday we had to go have blood drawn for her one year labs and let me tell you, this was traumatic for both of us! It was the first time we have had blood drawn that was not just a finger stick and it was not fun. I had to hold her so that they could stick her and I cried as much as she did! It was horrible! Other than that we have had a pretty good week. Hannah is pulling up now on everything and walking along the couch. The doctor said that as far as her language skills , she is on the level of a 16-17 month old! I think this is pretty impressive considering she only heard Russian the first 9 months of her life. She also said that she is completely caught up on all of her other developmental milestones. We are pretty excited about this too. She is doing so well!  That's it for now, I will try to update again soon.

 

Miranda