Blood draw from a 2-year old with chubby arms ?

It was not a good morning for Helaina. Routine bloodwork needed to be done and last Thursday's attempt at a blood draw was not successful (picture below is Helaina looking pitifully at her bad "boo boo" from last week). We were instructed to bring her back today after "flooding" her with fluids. Mercifully her blood is now drawn, but it took hot packs, tight bands on her arm, 2 parents, 2 technicians and a lollipop to get the job done. Helaina put up a good fight, but in the end she lost the battle! Needless to say, I don't know who was more traumatized - Helaina or Momma. Daddy took it all in stride while Helaina and Momma cried throughout the ordeal. Ugh. After it was over, one of the technicians looked at us and said "She's strong, isn't she?" Yah, she is.

Here are some of the happier images from this past week. Helaina won't keep sunglasses on for very long - just long enough to snap a picture before she rips them off.

So darn cute. These sunglasses were actually Joshua's when he was a toddler.

Chillin' with big brother Josh.

We went downcity one day and met Daddy for lunch. We had Subway in Clinton Square, fed the pigeons bread crumbs, and looked at the fountain.

Helaina loves the slide and swingset in our yard. She is absolutely fearless, which is why her knees are always scraped and she has scratches on her arms. At the moment, she's got a scratch across one ear where she ran into a post on the deck, and now has a scratch across one eyebrow where she took a tumble down a few stairs last night. Most of these things happen when we're standing right next to her - it's amazing how she "hits the dirt" about 10 times a day but gets right up, brushes herself off and keeps on running.

Driveway chalk is fun.

Time out for a much-needed drink.

Bought this water table yesterday and Helaina played with it a very long time. She can spend hours pouring water from one container into another. She was soaked through by the time we put it away - and she screamed when we told her she was done playing with it for the day, of course.

Helaina is also ready for boating this summer with her new styling pink and green life jacket. Now all she needs is a pink Barbie fishing pole. Hope she catches more fish than her Daddy!

Heidi and Helaina on the front porch. Notice that Helaina has Heidi by the rope attached to her leash. She wants to be in control !

A rare tender moment between a gal and her doggie!

646 photos.....

We finally took the memory card from our camera to a store to have the photos printed. The photos are of our adventure to China and the first 3 weeks at home, for a grand total of 646 photos!! Wow. While putting them photos in albums, I decided I'd like to post a few more pictures from our trip. We really have some great photos to commemorate our journey to Helaina, and here are a few of my favorites.

Our first night together.

At a temple in Xian, Jim was being "drafted" to help out the monks with their yardwork!

At a park near our hotel in Xian, this little cutie took an interest in Helaina one day.

At a park in Guangzhou we met up with a class of children who were learning English. The teacher asked Jim if he would ask the children some simple questions and then sign their books. It was one of the more amusing highlights of our trip - all caught on video too!

Lunch one day at a restaurant in Guangzhou. Helaina would sit in the "baby chair" for only so long, then she would have to break free and run wild.

One of the more enjoyable aspects our trip was the warm weather and the greenery & flowers in China. March in China is nothing like March in Central New York!

Birthday Parties are the best.....

Helaina has learned that birthday parties usually equal fun, and the party she attended over the weekend for a friend's children was no different. It was held at a local "bouncy" place that has huge inflatables for kids to jump & bounce in until they collapse. As a bonus, there was pizza, cake, snow cones and a gift for her to bring home - what more could a 2 year old want?

Here's another adorable gift from a co-worker - a duckie towel for bathtime. Helaina likes wrapping up in it until she's dried off.

Some of my favorite things around the house are the simple reminders that there's a toddler in our presence - like the little ruby red shoes, sneaks and Chinese squeaky shoes mixed in with our footwear. There's also a little yellow snoopy toothbrush in our toothbrush holder. Life's simple pleasures.

It's been a busy week.....

Helaina has been busy this week, venturing out to different places each morning. All we have to do is say "Helaina, do you want to go bye-bye?" - she runs for her sneakers, grabs her jacket out of the closet and she's ready to go - anywhere!




The playgrounds at Onondaga Lake were a big hit - lots of slides, swings, tires and room to run around. She even fed the seagulls a few of her snacks. It was a bit cool, but that didn't stop her from testing everything out. The biggest smiles on her face came when she sped down the biggest slides.










We took a trip to the zoo one morning when it was a bit warmer and the sun was out. Helaina enjoyed looking at all the animals, but her favorite seemed to be the monkey house, probably because she could get close to them through the glass. She did seem a bit afraid of a large, colorful baboon though (I was too).



These 2 pictures crack us up. We used some of the Toys R Us and Babies R Us gift cards that people have given us and took Helaina shopping. After about 45 minutes we left the store with 2 large bags full of toys - not to be given to her all at once! The check-out clerk even asked her "Are these all for you?" Yup. It was an exhausting trip for our little one and she fell asleep in her carseat on the way home. She woke up when we got home and Jim carried her into the house and set her on the couch. She slid into this position, feet dangling over the side not even touching the floor, and promptly fell back to sleep. Is that too funny, or what. What did we buy? A playdough fun factory, fabric-covered baseball and bat, cash register, remote-control car, plastic dump truck, plastic yard rake (because she likes to help rake up leaves), velcro mitt and ball set, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't even remember at the moment!

First trip to the Carousel Mall

Helaina finally made it to the Carousel Mall. We didn't have shopping to do but wanted to let her ride a horsie on the carousel - thought it would be a big hit because she's fearless at the playground and in the house, climbing on anything and everything. She was excited waiting in the line, even darted through people's legs to get ahead! With her on the horse sandwiched in between the two of us, she was very hesitant when it started going up and down. She stayed on the horse after we reassured her that it was fun, but you can see by the look on her face we didn't quite convince her!

There are some mighty strange cartoons out there, and Helaina seems to enjoy them the most. Here she is enjoying a large, one-eyed red critter on a show called Wubsy (? or something like that). Whatever happened to my favorite - Johnny Quest?

It's best to plan your day while having breakfast, which is why Helaina is on the cell phone while eating her cream of wheat.

Helaina's favorite pj's are the silky green & pink elephant jammies from her Aunt Kathy. When she first tried them on, she smiled, rubbed her chubby hands over the silky material and said "oooooo, ahhhhhhh". Nothing but the best!

Bubbles, galore!!

Jim's boss scored big-time with a gift for Helaina - a battery-operated doggie bubble maker. Pour the bubbles in, press the handle and out come the bubbles. She popped them, ate them, busted them, squealed at them, ran through them, and generally loved them!

Helaina also visited her Daddy's office today, finally meeting in person people who have supported us in our adoption journey for a very long time. She received more gifts, danced her way through the departments leaving a trail of Kix cereal along the way, and generally had a good time. That was proven by the 2+ hour nap she took this afternoon! The photo is minus the cute purple hair barette that she started out with. Hair accessories at this point in time are not a favorite of Helaina's, being pulled out almost immediately after I put them in!

We're still unpacking (believe it or not) and uncovering the treasures we purchased while in China. This is a photo of Helaina's lucky frog with the lucky coin in his mouth. We saw the women actually making these by hand from clay and doing some of the detailed painting. We also purchased the panda bottle. This is painted completely by hand on the inside of the bottle, along with Helaina's name (which is kind of hard to see). Incredible, isn't it? These were both purchased in Xian, the province where Helaina was born.