Back From Vacation

It seems like I have been planning our first big family vacation for months and it is already over. I am a little sad. I can't believe how fast it went by. Now it has taken me almost a week to finish this blog entry.

Let me start by saying we had an AWSOME time! Some of you may not know ... our daycare was closed the week of Jun11th (her daughter graduated from high school so she took her New York for vacation). So we decided to plan our vacation for that time. Origianlly I really wanted to go to Maui, it would have bee during peak time and everything was really expensive. We threw around a bunch of vacation ideas and finally decided that we would spend a few day in Orange County and go to Disneyland and the beach and stuff. This way we didn't need to fly anywhere, but we would still get away.

We left Tuesday 6/12 and we drove up the coast. We stopped for lunch then we went to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. That was really neat, Grace had a great time running around and exploring everything. After a couple of hours there we headed over to our hotel to check in. We were staying at the Doubletree Guest Suites down the street from Disneyland. The hotel was really great. The staff could not have been nicer, the room was great and the beds were comfy. We decided to go swimming for a little while. We tried out Grace's new arm floaties. She hasn't been in a big swimming pool since last summer so I wasn't sure how she would do. She loved it! At first she was a little clingy but soon got comfortable and didn't want to get out. The rest of the week she stood at the window of the room and looked out at the pool and whined waaaterrrr, waaaterrr!


The next morning we got up bright and early and were at Disneyland's gates before opening at 9:00 am. First stop was City Hall for a button for Grace that said "1st visit" then it was on to our Minnie and friends breakfast. Breakfast didn't go as well as I had planned. Grace saw the characters from across the room and she excitedly waved and said hi ... then the got closer. She FREAKED! Needless to say we shoved our breakfast down and got out of there as quick as possible.

The rest of the days at the parks weres a blur of rides. Grace rode EVERYTTHING and loved it. Here is a list of all the rides we went on in the 2-1/2 days: Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean, Winnie the Pooh, Flik's Flyer, Heimlich's Chew Chew, Small World, King Arthur's Carousel (5 times), Buzz Lightyear, Dumbo, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Storybook Boats, Monsters Inc., Goofy's House, Roger Rabbit, Golden Zephyer, Sun Wheel, and King Triton's Carousel ... Whew! We also caught the parade one night, Grace was in awe by that as long as the character's didn't come too close.

Friday afternoon my mom came down and picked up Grace and kept her overnight so Tim and I could ride the "big" rides. We had a blast! It was so fun that ee ended up splurging for annual passes while we were there. I can't wait to go back in the fall. By the time we hit the bed Friday night we were exhausted. We had so much fun!

Here is a link to a small portions of our photos from the trip, Enjoy!

http://photosmart.hpphoto.com/FilmStripHome.aspx?JobID=2bdbb7bc-78ac-4243-bb90-7363dd8910fb&SKU=HP

Good Times

Uncle Jim flew in from Pittsburgh last week and came down to spend the weekend with us. After about a half an hour in the house Grace warmed up to Uncle Jim and from then on she wanted nobody but Uncle Jim.

We packed the weekend full of fun activities. Friday night we went out to dinner. Saturday morning we went to gym class. Uncle Jim got to come with us and participate. After gym we went to the old train in Poway. After taking a ride on the train we walked across the street to the park and let Grace run wild. Later that evening I had mom's night out with two mom's from our adoption playgroup. We went out to dinner then came back to our house to work on our scrapbooks. I have finally finished Grace's 1st year and I have started on her 2nd year.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at Balboa Park. It was such a beautiful day. We walked through the park to the International Houses and we were excited to find that they were having a food fair that day. We sampled food from so many different countries. Grace really loved the noodles and Lumpia from the Philippines. After the food fair we walked through the botanical gardens and Spanish Village to the train. Grace and Uncle Jim rode the train then we walked (Grace ran) over to the carousel. It was such a fun and relaxing day. Later the evening Gramma and papa came down to spend the night.

On memorial day we had a BBQ here at our house. Kelly, Chris and the kids came down and so did Uncle Sean. Our daycare lady Lora also came and we all just hung out and ate tons of food. It was a really warm afternoon so we broke out Grace's kiddy pool and we let the kids spash around. At one point we were adding more water and Tristan was holding the hose and squirting Hailey and Grace so Tim shut off the hose and he said, "Tristan, what happened? Look in the hose and figure out what's wrong." So Tristan looked in the hose and Tim turned it on really quick, Tristan jumped a mile. It was so funny I almost wet myself.

It was such a fun and busy weekend, I loved it!

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Great Weekend

This weekend was soooooo much FUN! My best friend Amy flew out from Colorado to visit for the weekend. This year is 20 years since we met, I can't believe it! Amy is the first friend I made when we moved to California from Pittsburgh. I miss her so much, I wished she here again.

Friday morning I picked Amy up from the airport at 8:30 am. We stopped for breakfast, it was great to sit and talk get caught up with each others lives. After breakfast we picked Grace up from daycare and headed home. I had been teaching Grace to say Amy all week, but it came out like "Mamy", it was cute!

Kelly brought Tristan and Hailey down and we all piled into the van and headed to the beach. We went to Mission Beach and we decided to eat before going out on the beach. Finally out on the beach the kids had a blast. Hailey went bonsai right for the water, she couldn't get enough, she was such a happy girl. Trisan totally fell in the water and got soaked. Grace was being a bit of a chicken and attached herself to my leg. All in all it was a great time.

Saturday, Amy and I took Grace to her little gym class. She did so great this week. She tried every skill that the instructor taught, she landed on her feet everytime she let go of the bars (usually she drops on her butt), and she side stpped across the bean with hardly any help from me. I can't believe how great her balance is.

Later in the day Amy and I headed to the spa for some relaxation. We got there an hour before our facial appointments and took full advantage of relaxing in the jacuzzi. It was so nice!

Gramma Karen came down to babysit so we could all go out for a night on the town. Grace has finally mastered the word GRAMMA, my mom is so happy. It is so special to see Grace's and my mom's face light up when they see each other. My heart feels like it might burst with happiness in those moments. That evening we headed downtown for some fun!

Sunday Amy and I took Grace to the San Diego Zoo. We had a fun time. Grace always loves the petting zoo and the monkeys. After the zoo we went home and BBQed and then took Amy to the airport :( This weekend went TOO fast, I am sad to see Amy go. I am excited to see her again in a month though, her and her family are renting a beach house at Newport Beach at then end of June. I am looking forward to seeing her and her boys then.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of the mother's out there had a wonderful day! Mine was great. We went out to breakfast and then took a drive up to the little mountain town of Julian. Julian is known for their apple pies, so of course we brought one back with us. It was a beautiful day, it was so relaxing. We strolled the town and looked in all of the little shops. On the way home Grace was really cranky. As we drove the winding road back home Grace kind of caoughed and gagged and puked all over herself!!! GROSS! I think she must have gotten carsick!

Last week we had our Adopted Friends Playgroup. This time we met at Grace's favorite park ... Santee Lakes. When we got there I pulled into the parking lot next to the big play area that Grace loves and realized that they had it closed for construction! I was so bummed. Up ahead was a smaller play area so we met there. The day ended up being really great even though it didn't go as planned. All of the mommies sat in the shade on the bank of the lake and watched the kids play on the play structure or feed the ducks. We had two new babies join the group. I love hearing their adoption stories and reminiscing about our own adoption journey. This group means so much to me. I love seeing all of the kids grow up right before our eyes. Several of the families are starting the process for their second adoption. At playgroup Grace and Benjamin always seem to gravitate toward each other. At first Cindy and I would talk about how Grace and Ben are going to be best friends and part of me thought, "nah, we just want to think that Grace and Ben are such good friends because cindy and I have become good friends." Really though ... Grace and Ben play together more then any of the other kids. It's like they are in their own little world, talking their own little language, and chasing after one another all over the place. It is so cute!




This weekend Grace said soooooo many new words. All of them were so clear. She said Grammama, bubbles, bell, cow, moo, oink, water, and yellow. I think she is going to start talking like crazy now. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

All Better

Two weeks ago Grace had a runny nose when we dropped her off at daycare. Her runny nose was clear and she was biting on her fingers so we thought her last tooth was finally coming in. By the time I picked her up from daycare at the end of the day she had developed a cough and her nose was icky green. We broke out all of the cold remedies that night, you know, the humidifier, the saline nose spray, the nose sucky thing, and we raised one end of her crib so she could breathe easier. She had a pretty restless night and the next morning woke up with a fever of 105!!! We immediately got her in a cool tub and gave her motrin and called the doctor. They were able to take us right away. The outcome ... pnemonia! Our poor baby! After two weeks of some super antibiotics she is all better and back to normal, but last sunday I came down with her cold. I am all better now, hopefully Tim won't come down with it.

Last Saturday was a pretty warm day and Uncle Sean was here visiting us so we decided to take a late afternoon stroll at the beach. It was fun. Grace had a great time running up to the water's edge and running away real fast when a wave rolled in.

Mom and Dad are almost ready to move. We have spent the last couple of weekends helping them pack and get stuff into storage. Last Sunday they decided to take a little break from the packing and come down and spend the day with us. While my dad and Tim tried to change out our bathroom sink, me and mom took Grace to Victoria Gardens to pick strawberries. Grace got the hang of it right away. She was having a great time until she tried picking one that was a little too ripe and her thumb squished right through it. She stuck her had up to Gramma and said YUCK! Then she didn't want to pick anymore. After that she wanted to ride the pony. She was cracking us up, she went right with the guy and let him put her up on the pony. As the pony went around in circles she rode like she has done it a million times before. She was swaying with the rythem of the hooves and everything. It was so funny!



Well, until next time ... God Bless!































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Easter and Stuff

We have been keeping busy around here, especially on the weekends. Grace loves her gymnastics class. I can see the progress she has made in just 5 weeks. At the beginning of class we do a name song and each kid runs up and give the teacher high five. Grace has been really shy and the teacher usually has to come to her. Two weeks ago she ran right across the circle and gave the teacher high five and she has done it every week since. It is so cute! Her favorite part of class is always the bars. She can swing and hang on forever. When the teacher is demonstrating a skill she runs to the front and the teacher always uses her in the demonstration.

Two weeks ago Seaworld had a special evening just for annual members to kick off their Spring shows. We went and had so much fun. Grace actually sat thru the Sea Lion and Otter show. She was dancing with the music and laughing when everybody laughed and pointing to the animals. We went through the Wild Artic Exhibit, she loved the Walrus and Polar Bears.

Yesterday was Easter and we had such a great day. We went up to mom and dad's house and attended service at their church. Kelly, Chris, Chris's mom, Tristan and Hailey met us there. When Tim checked Grace into the childcare before church she started to get a little teary and her cousin was right there to make her happy. Tristan took her hand and said, "It's ok Gracie" and led her away to go play. HOW CUTE!!!! It is so awesome that Grace has cousins to play with now. They are going to have some great times. It reminds me so much of growing up with my cousins, especially Tim. I really miss not being around the family in Pittsburgh sometimes. Later in the day we had an egg hunt for the kids. Tristan was a pro. He had a basket full of eggs before Grace had two eggs. Grace was just fine with one egg in each hand shaking them and making lots of noise. Hailey was good just sitting in the Grass with her box of animal crackers and one egg. We tried really hard to get some good pictures of the kids but it was a difficult task. Rounding up 3 toddlers and trying to get them to sit for a picture is virtually impossible.

Easter ended up being bittersweet. It marked the last holiday we will celebrate in Mom and Dad's house. We figured out that in August it would have been 20 years since we moved from Pittsburgh to Corona, California. There are so many great memories in that house. We are looking forward to making great memories in their new house.

Conquering Addiction

Since birth Grace has been addicted to the binky. The binky goes with us everywhere. One night, about 2 months ago, we couldn't find any binkies around the house. The 3 of us searched every inch of the house calling bin-ky, bin-ky ... I was not looking forward to bedtime that night and I am sure Grace wasn't either. Finally, we found one lonely binky at the bottom of the toy basket. With Grace's horrible sleep issues we were not ready to try to deal with taking the binky away quite yet. The very next day we went out and bought 4 more binkies.

So Thursday I arrived at daycare to pick Grace up and Lora (our daycare lady) told me that she didn't give Grace her binky that day and she did ok without it. She said she was thinking about Grace's sleep issues and she said she would hate to have us finally get Grace sleeping good and then take the binky away and have her sleep issues start all over. That was a REALLY good point. I hadn't thought about that. When we got home that night Grace ran right to her room and found a binky under her bed. I took it away from her and cut the tip off really quick. I went to Grace and showed her and I told her that the binky is broken. She looked really confused and she took it from me and she stuck her finger thru it and said "ehh?" "ehh?" I said, "I'm sorry baby the binky is broken we are going to have to throw it in the trash." She held my hand and we walked over to the trash can and we threw it away. It took her about 10 seconds and then she started sobbing uncontrollably with big huge tears. It was like someone had died. It was awful. I felt soooo horrible! I started crying myself. It took a good half hour for her to calm down and then she was ok until bedtime. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be though. She cried for about 10 minutes the first night, 2-3 minutes the second night and tonight she didn't cry at all. My baby is getting so big, I am a little sad:(

Special Day

It's been over a month since I started this blog and I haven't written since. Hmmm ... Is anybody suprised? I don't think I even shared that we now have a blog. Oh well.


Since I have a few quiet minutes let me update you on what is going on with us. Life is pretty quiet right now. On March 4 we spent the afternoon with Grace's Birthmom, Sheila. We met her at a mall called Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. It was a little uncomfortable at first since we hadn't seen her in over a year but as the afternoon went on it turned out really nice.


Anybody who knows Grace knows that she is a little monkey. She loves to climb and hang and stand on anything she can find. We decided to enroll her in a toddler gymnastics class. We were actually able to find a Saturday morning class which is perfect since we both work full time. She started the class a couple of weeks ago and she loves it. It is a parent participation class and they allow both parents to attend. We have so much fun. Grace's favorite part of the class is hanging on the bars. Two weeks in a row Grace let the teacher use her in demonstrating the skill for the day. I was such a proud momma.

Since the time change and since it has been so warm these last couple of weeks we have been going to the park everyday after I pick Grace up from daycare. She loves to climb up the structure, slide down the twirly slide, climb up, slide down ... endlessly. Once and a while she will stop to run after unsuspecting people out with their dog. If the owner of the dog says that it's not a good idea to pet the dog Grace throws an absolute fit ... Ahhhh ... I think the terrible two's are around the corner :)

I think that's about it for now. I will try to write more oftern. I am not promising though.

We have decide to try out this blogging thing. Hopefully I can get Tim to do a post from time to time, we'll see. This will be a place that you can check in with what is happening with the Foley family. I am not going to make any promises so don't get mad if I don't keep up with this.

Below is a link for a video clip that I took of Grace last night. She was cracking us up! It's not very good quality and it doesn't have sound because I took it with my digital camera. I hope you enjoy it.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1725331059476885048

Till next time!