We Need YOU!

We have officially begun our search for baby #2.

As we have read, been told, and most importantly, experienced, when it comes to our method of family expansion(adoption, for those of you who weren't aware) it really does come down to

WHO YOU KNOW.

Therefore, we enlist anyone who does us the great honor of reading this blog into our

networking for babies campaign!

We have learned that privacy and modesty will not help us out here, so you have our permission

(actually we are begging you)

to tell everyone you know to tell everyone they know about this:

www.davidashleyadopt.blogspot.com

We are hoping to appeal to a birth-mother who is considering an adoption placement for her child, and particularly, a healthy African-American child (like Mia ).

19

Mia is now 19 months, and as silly as they come! She is a constant source of entertainment.

Grandma K got Mia these "Melmo" house slippers. She is quite proud of them. He is her favorite monster. We often catch her humming "la, la, la, la Elmo's Song."

Every time Mia gets ready for bed is an opportunity to sport a new "hat."

Hat + deftly navigating the "hello"- what more can girl need?

Another type of hat

This is Mia's favorite "silly" face

When she tilts her head, she is winding-up for more silliness...

This look must be contagious!

We get to be graced with my sister's piano practicing much of the day

& Mia makes the most of it:

Ice and Little Skates

Two facts about the Ice Palace:

1. It hosted my 9th birthday party

2. It rents skates in a whole assortment of sizes, including baby size 5

This subjects in this photo are moving at a high velocity, and Mia couldn't be more "chill."

After 2.5 hours, she was still going strong & she cried when it was time to leave.

Holiday Season, Part Two

The holidays are more than over, and we are just now getting them documented. This has been a hectic time with lots of changes for our family: relocating and all that goes with it, a new teaching job for Mom, continued schooling, etc., etc., etc. Our Christmas celebrations seemed to be hurried and we lost some of the excitement in the stress of "survival." It did allow me to continually ask myself "What do I really need to get out of Christmas?," and thus rid most holiday commercialism from our worries.

Just before Christmas, we made an attempt at a matchy extended-family photo shoot. As usual, Mia would scoff at all our efforts to get a smile...until we give up and put the camera away. THEN she won't stop smiling! Here is the closest thing we got.

As we all are, Mia is quick to squeeze her squishy baby cousin, Sydney.

On Christmas Eve', Mia (and her assistant, "T") spent a long time consulting

Aunt Mary on the importance of hair care.

She also demonstrated to Aunt Brittney the right way to "Wellie."

Christmas morning in our temporary basement bedroom:

Mia received such sweet gifts from grandparents, aunts, and friends.

Here are some of her spoils. Beautiful doll and books from our literature promoting Great Gma...

(All the "exciting" wooden puzzles are from Santa...)

A cute hat and "pack-pack" from Aunt Jasmine...

A "fort" from Gma/Gpa R...

An art easel from Gma K...

A trip to the indoor water park from Great Gma/Gpa Heinz...

This baby has no shortage of attention!

Here is our post-Christmas Sunday morning.

I love this photo because it demonstrates what happens whenever I try to snuggle Mia.

She gets silly, and I get hair in the eye.

Happy New Year!

Holiday Season, Part One

We began our series of traditions this year with Gingerbread Houses. Gma K made sure that David and I each had our own since we tend to conflict on exterior style and building methods.

Here are the results: David's is the gingerbread hut, complete with a festive, sandy beach.

egg nog 'stache and other evidence

Mia helped me put out Gma K's nativity set. Like she is doing in this photo, Mia felt inclined to kiss each of its members.

Here is our little dresser-top-we-are-in-the-middle-of-a-move tree. I still like it.

Because our tree is out of reach,

Mia gets to focus all of her ornament destruction energy on Gma's.

Here is a blurry picture(cold hands don't make for good photography)

from the Christmas light lake cruise we go on every year.

It miraculously transports us from dockside to the North Pole (just behind us)

within about 23 minutes.

And here is our iconic photo with the mall Santa.

I actually appreciate Mia's apprehension to sit on an unfamiliar, hairy man's lap.

1 & 1/2

At this point, I suppose there is no turning back. Mia is officially a toddler. Here are some of her 18 month activities:

snow excitement

mimicking

modeling practice for National Geographic

pre-"hair time" bathtub relaxation

...and other semi-nude activities

This is a common scenario.

My pre-teen sister has an unconditionally devoted fan and couldn't care less.

A DEtached car seat carries an entirely different connotation.

While evaluating our new accommodations (Gma K's house),

Mia needed to test the sofa's bounce potential.

An Up Close & Personal Itsy, Bitsy Spider

Here is a little taste of Mia's communication abilities & subtle rhythms:

Au Revoir Mon Château

We have sold our house and moved out. I am feeling a little like Ruth Wilcox in Howards End,

when she bequeaths her little summer cottage to an almost stranger rather than her own children:

To them Howards End was a house: they could not know that to her it had been a spirit, for which she sought a spiritual heir...A wych-elm tree, a vine, a wisp of hay with dew on it--can passion for such things be transmitted...?

It was difficult to finally arrive at the decision to sell it. After going round and round about our goals and struggles, we determined that these things are more valuable than this particular home:

• the ability to adopt baby #2 next year- To do so would require more usable space, like another bedroom in a smaller home overall, rather than 3500 sq. ft. of unfinished, but potentially beautiful real-estate.
• less debt into boring things like $35,000. worth of water system

Despite the woe, we feel so GRATEFUL to have been able to sell it in such a timely manner, for our asking price, and to a family with a vision for its completion and an appreciation for the details we've invested.

This is what I will miss the most. I loved opening my eyes in the morning and seeing our pretty trees through our Gothic window.

This is what would have been my future kitchen window. We built our (snow covered)water feature around it with the intention of more pleasant dishwashing experiences.

Our nostalgic "Paul Revere" lantern:

This sweet quail is just one of the many residents whom we will miss.

These dormers would have been in Mia's future bedroom. I have often imagined seeing her through those windows at various life stages.

We worked so hard to get the perfect shutters. Apparently very few homeowners are concerned with authenticity. We eventually had them custom made for the windows and spent many hours each year taking them down to re-coat with paint and then return them to functioning order! At least we were ready for all types of inclement weather with such protective measures.

Here is our last Sunday picture in our usual spot:

Goodbye, Chestnut Lane! I'm sure our neighbors won't miss us as much as they say they will. They will be saved from lots of dog rescuing excursions.