Do you know what this means?

Hint: Girl + Flower = ?

You guessed right, Meiying ("Beautiful Flower")
Got the call, our Dossier left for China today!!

So, did anyone watch The Amazing Race on Sunday night? They raced from India to China's Guangzhou Airport and then onto Guilin, which is where Meiying is! We were pretty excited to watch. So, click on the Osmanthus flower above, which is grown all over Guilin by the way, to find out the timeliness of that episode!

I’m a BIG girl now! This is me on my bike yesterday. I practiced a lot yesterday.

Today, I rode my bike while Mommy and Daddy walked Hogan. We went all the way around the loop. I did it all by myself and I didn't fall at all today. I even rode through lots of puddles. That was so much fun!

Mommy said next time she would ride her bike with me. I can't wait!!! Daddy thinks I'm going to be ready for a new-bigger bike already. Wow!

Happy Easter, Love Eliza

P.S. I do still wear my glasses, but the straps hurt me behind my ears so I take lots of breaks during the day.

Isn't she beautiful? I took these in the car after bike riding. Derek ran into Starbucks and Eliza climbed into the driver's seat. I wish the middle photo hadn't turned out blurry because it would've been one of the best pictures of Eliza.

Anyway, here's 2 of Eliza's "new" favorite videos to watch...

She loves riding her bike. When I'm weeding in the backyard, I'll find her in our shed, sitting on a big bike that she somehow managed to climb onto (and thank goodness it didn't fall over on her). She also loves to try out all the bikes when we see any in the stores. We do have a big-girl bike with training wheels that she's "working" on, but for the sake of fun and not work, she would rather ride this bike right now because she loves pedaling backwards and the big-girl bike "brakes" when you pedal backwards. Anyone remember those "Big Wheel" trike things from the 70's...this is very similar. Derek and I were reminscing about how much fun those were when we were kids. No wonder she enjoys riding it! As you can see in the video, she also enjoys riding up on the curbs and then backing down. You can't hear it in the video, but she has figured out if she pedals fast, then stops pedaling, she skids! She's so funny...

Today, APRIL 2, is World Autism Awareness Day
April is Autism Awareness month
Please take less than 1 minute to watch the 2 videos here

Will you go for a walk today
(or sometime this month, for you non walkers)
While you walk
Take a moment to say a prayer or make a donation or simply be a friend
Talk to your children about being a friend to the
1 in 150 children diagnosed with autism today
Do it for Autism awareness, research, a cure
Eliza and I thank you for your love and support

And to Amy, Beth, Kristi, Melissa, Pam, Rachel, Yolanda...
my growing number of mom friends
both home and here in the blog world
who tirelessly champion their children
who despite their diagnosis
grow and succeed in their achievements daily...

I send you hugs, high 5's (and a vacation, if I could)

You rock, your kids are amazing and you're an inspiration!

First of all, go check out my blog (Birds at the Feeder), link is in the sidebar to the right. I uploaded some wonderful videos of our hen and kitty together.

Here's a video of Eliza doing some signing. Some signs that aren't on the video are: book, i love you, walk, bad, good... I think that's it. You still have to demonstrate for her, but more and more she is doing spontaneous signing for things (just now, she signed help because she wants to watch a video on my laptop and I'm typing on it). So, she's finally learning some positive means of communication, but with that, she is learning the power of communication -- so when she doesn't get her way and she has signed something to you, she gets very annoyed. Note to self: I need to remember to learn the sign for wait and/or patience!!!

Spring keeps teasing us w/ barefeet days... I just love Eliza's artwork that comes home with her from school. Wish my toes were this pretty!

Got my computer back w/ a brand new keyboard...ahhh...happy fingers again. Also, I had gotten some bug on my hard drive, slowing my processor down terribly, so they fixed that too. In the meantime, something happened to our ability to view Eliza's videos. She was devastated (as you can see by her tears in the video that I uploaded here). Thankfully, we fixed it. She loves watching herself on the videos and loves to "do" whatever she was doing in the video when the video is over (dance, jump on the trampolene, play knock-knock with her house and mommy). It's really funny, she'll sign "more" while she watches herself on the video signing "more". After every video, she gets down from my lap or the chair, runs and does whatever she was doing in the video then comes back to watch another one. Smart cookie!

Sorry I've been such a lazy blogger...I've been other-blog obsessed lately: I was obsessed with checking Megan's blog 100 times a day while she was in China the last week and a half. I was obsessed with seeing Mia Hope finally join her family as I checked Robin's (Red Threads) blog 100 times a day... This week there are 2 families in Nanning (where we will be) receiving there daughters. One is from Meiying's orphanage and the other is not, but she's 10, so I've been obsessed checking their blogs. I'm definitely getting the China itch and am in that 2nd/3rd trimester stage of being foggy brained and tired all the time (pollen, I know), gaining weight and nesting (throwing out all the clutter)! Alright, gotta scoot to the UPS store to send off documents to the NY and Los Angeles Consulates for authentication!!!

Eliza's class usually has one field trip per month focused on a sensory-rich exploration. I had forgotten to post the last trip (I posted to Facebook, but not Blog...shame on me). Anyway, that trip was to rollerskating! Wow...that was so fun. Eliza is a natural. They tighten the kids' wheels; they can still roll, but have to work at it more. She was off on her own tho. Me...it all came back 30+ years later...the twirls, skating backwards...such a good time. E loved skating into the middle and then watching everyone whiz by her. She was smiling and dancing to the music. It was so cute. Next time, loosen her wheels; my girl is ready to roll. Count on it.

So, today, E had another big day. She rode a school bus for the very first time! Her class was invited to join the kindergarten class on their field trip to the Marble's Children Museum downtown Raleigh. Of course, I went along, but had to drive by myself. She had a blast. I forgot my camera, but her teacher took lots of pics that she said she would e-mail to me. (Her veteran teacher kept pointing out older kids that were non-verbal at E's age and would say, "Look at them now!" It was very sweet of her. ) I've always said that I long to hear Eliza's voice, but being able to communicate with us in a non-verbal way is okay; just want her to be able to communicate in a positive way and a way that other's will eventually be able to understand (ie not hitting her head out of frustration, scratching you to get your attention, throwing a water bottle at you to tell you she wants a drink -- thankfully, she hasn't done any of that for months now).

If I ever doubt that Eliza isn't listening or watching, she washes away those doubts in amazing, surprising ways....DRUM ROLL PLEASE: Tonight, E kept getting out of bed and coming downstairs. After several times, I got up and intercepted her on the stairs. This time, I asked her to tell my why she wouldn't stay in bed. I said, "Talk to mommy and tell me what you need." She looked me deep in the eyes for seconds, then slowly and steadily she looked at her hand...(Eliza will quite often tell you what she wants by looking at something or looking deep into your eyes, like "read my thoughts, mommy, you know me" and it's important to not give it to her, but rather have her point to it or sign). So on the stairs, I slowly followed her gaze and I saw that she was signing the universal handsign for "love" to me. Wow! A tearful moment and overwhelming love washed over me. You can imagine. It felt like it happened in slow motion and just like when we occasionally hear her say a word, you are almost in disbelief. But I saw it and I made sure I said it out loud to her so that she knew I understood what she was telling me. Don't you know, she stayed in bed after that. She had to tell me that she loved me. Beautiful!

Her teachers have noticed that Eliza is so on and doing things so purposeful and we've noticed it too. Problem is, because she's so quiet, if you're not watching her, you can miss some things. Like tonight on the stairs, had I not followed her gaze, I would've missed such an important communication. It was purposeful and it was as good as words to this mommy's heart.

Here's some video; you can see how purposeful and receptive she is to the beat and the lyrics that thankfully, she doesn't understand much of in this distasteful song (I'm feeling very old). Forgive my 13 year old's music choice and my hunky (not to be confused w/ honky) husband's dance moves! Enjoy...

This is a double post because I'm not sure if everyone here checks my blog for Meiying. Here's some news worth celebrating:

Immigration approval received TODAY, in record time...just 12 days after our Homestudy was filed!!!!

Here's some more birthday pictures. Make sure to watch the birthday video; it cracks me up every time. You'll see in the video that she finally "got it" this year...my little sweetie pie. She is making progress, slowly, but that's okay! Birthday gifts included the trampolene, a new Barney book, Fancy Nancy book and (my favorite) Puff the Magic Dragon book (remember that song?). The book came with a CD of the song (not the original PPM version, but a solo version by Peter of PPM -- Peter, Paul & Mary, if I'm dating myself -- and his daughter. I love it! Anyway, E came down w/a cold last night at bed time and was full-blown today. The trampolene is not staying in the house, but since there's snow on the ground and she needed some exercise, we began setting it up today. Of course, we let her jump on it!! Tonight, she wanted me to lay in bed w/ her...sniffle, sniffle, cough, cough. In true Eliza form, she started out snuggling tightly into me and then became giddy with love (hee, hee) or sensory (probably), but started tugging on my short hair (giggling), then found my ear lobe and tugged on that (giggling)...over and over again. I had to laugh with her. She is so funny at times.

More birthday pictures to come later. For now, enjoy the snow...yes, on Eliza's birthday...March 2!!! Unbelievable...and yes, school was closed. So, here's Eliza's birthday song for today: "It's my birthday and I'll play if I want to, in the puddle if I want to...and you can't stop me 'cause it's my birthday...dah dah dah dah dah dah dahhhhh!"

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY (since it's painfully slow to type on this keyboard anyway per previous post)!








That's our new horse, you can read about her on my other blog...she's 24!!

Can't type much so I won't say much, but guess who did this to my laptop? Uh huh, you're right! To my little angel, this new discovery of joy is akin to pushing all the buttons on the tv over and over again (pleasure of autism). Mind you these stims don't happen all the time and are easy to transition her away from. When it does though, she can certainly, peacefully go off in her own world. What the picture doesn't show is what my keyboard looked like before I had to put all the keys (every letter and number) back on. The ones you see missing are the broken ones that I couldn't put back together. (If you've never popped a key off, then you don't realize what else besides the black key makes up the innerworkings of your keyboard...so yes, she had all the innerworkings off in pieces too.) Where was I when this was going on? Guess? It happened in minutes and was a frightening site when I walked back in the room...just a massive pile of chaos.

I am so proud of the progress Eliza is making. She's doing so well in school; making connections; great eye contact and really developing her little personality. She's just full of herself and happy. Here's a quick video of some interraction with me and signing "more" (in this case, "again Mommy"). Hey, I know she's going to be 4 in a week, but playing this way w/ Mommy is huge and something she wouldn't do even a few months ago. She's making great strides and will take every one of them, big or small.

Miss E modeling my latest knit creation that I call the Angel Kisses hat (http://birdsatthefeeder.blogspot.com/ ) and how dare I interrupt Dragon Tales...hence the happy to annoyed expressions!First, brim folded up. Now, brim folded down...
Brim folded up again...
...No more Mommy! Get away and take the hat w/ you!!!

Here's Miss E modeling the tunic vest that I knitted. She kept running around while I was trying to capture the pose so it's bunched up on her rather than pulled down to the tunic length that it's meant to be! Oh well...trials of working with a live model. You can stop by my other blog http://birdsatthefeeder.blogspot.com/ to see it better.

And the other picture is Eliza doing a split. One of her teachers minored in dance in college and loves that Eliza naturally performs dance and yoga moves. So, on their "Gym" days at school, she's been working w/ Eliza! Perfect!! Not a flattering picture. She's wearing a courduroy skirt and doing a split?! Probably should have a little talk about being a lady! Do her legs look long? They are...she's growing like a weed. Don't you love her Converse Hightops? She has a pair in pink too...cures her obsession with taking off her shoes and going barefoot all the time. Same thing w/ wearing tights...she's been wearing lots of skirts and tights. 'Cause pants w/ socks? The socks end up off...my southern China baby should be walking barefoot on a beach!

If you've noticed that she hasn't been wearing glasses in the last few posts it's because she's broke both pairs and they're in the shop! Yup... Doesn't seem to be holding her back other than lots of rubbing of her eye at the end of the day.

I ordered this 2-piece outfit from Daleea http://ladypeedboutique.blogspot.com/ for Eliza. It is the most beautiful outfit; the pictures don't do it justice. Eliza was as excited to try it on as I was to see it on her. She loved the flirty bottoms around her ankles. It's just precious! She ran up to her room to stand on her bed so she could look at herself in the mirror on her dresser... You should visit Daleea's blog and check out some of her other amazing creations.

Snowing in the south!

Yep, school was cancelled at 9:30 p.m. last night. Some time during the night it started snowing. It's been very windy so the actual accumulated amount is suspect, but they're reporting 5 inches...we've seen it over 7 inches here at our farm. Keep in mind, we're in the South. We haven't had a snowfall like this in at least 5 years. .....You know you live in the South when it snows:

1) Instead of seeing traditional sleds, you see all the water accessories from the summer come out (tubes, floats, boogie boards, etc.)!
2) Kids think they're dressed warm to play in the snow in their jeans and a jacket (hats? mittens? boots?)!
3) You don't see snowmobiles, but you do see 4 wheelers!
4) School gets cancelled just at the forecast alone (there's been times that the snow missed us and kids got to stay home on a glorious, sunny 50 degree day)!
5) Everything shuts down, except Starbucks and Food Lion grocery stores.
6) Anything over 4 inches of snow, you can count on school being cancelled the following day too!

Okay, so here's some photos from this a.m. I promise you in the pictures of the 4 wheeler pulling the sled, Dad was driving very, very slow. Also, keep in mind, that my animals are southern born and bred...they do have warm places to go so don't feel sorry for them in these pictures; but thought the pictures were funny and worthy to post. Lastly, I guess once you're 13, you don't have to dress in what mom thinks is best for you anymore...she lasted about 10 minutes in her NON-waterproof attire. As for Eliza, she lasted about that long too simply because her cheeks were bright red from the wind and she kept losing a mitten (it is 25 degrees outside). She did enjoy the snow though and thought it was funny being bundled up in so many layers. Once the two girls were back in the house, "northern mom" and "thinks he's northern (mid-atlantic) dad" went right back outside again 4 wheeling w/ Hogan running beside us. It was a blast and Hogan LOVED the snow. He didn't want to come back in... Enjoy the pictures.