Happy Birthday Presley!!

Our sweet baby is TWO years old today! It was exactly 11 months ago today that she came into our lives. Her adoption and transition has been so much better than expected. She has fit right into our family. We love her so much!

Her are some things that we love (and some we don't love so much) about our sweet Presley:

1. She is very BIG!! She is on the 95th percentile for both height and weight. This morning on our bathroom scale she was 30 pounds! I take her to the doctor tomorrow for her "official" measurements and will let everyone know what they say.

2. She loves to eat. She is definitely our best eater.

3. She loves dresses, nightgowns, hats, and sunglasses. She is very much a girly girl!!

4. She LOVES her bath and going swimming. We she first came home she was terrified of the bath. She has only been swimming twice, but her favorite thing is to wear her arm floaties and just float there and doesn't want anybody to touch her! We joined the YMCA and won't be surprised at all if she is swimming this summer.

5. She has very good fine motor skills. She has been an expert with silverware for at least 6 months. And now she refuses to eat with toddler silverware and has to eat with the big ones.

6. She has the best laugh EVER!!

7. She loves to mother her dolls, feed them, put them in bed, cover them up, and give them lots of kisses!

8. Though she is very coordinated, she is also clumsy! People tell me that toddlers that are tall trip a lot. We wouldn't know, our biggest biological child is only on the 15th percentile for height!!

9. She is a daddy's girl! It is great to see because when she came home she wouldn't even look at her daddy for 6 weeks without screaming!

10. She mimics everything people do. She studies them and does the exact arm motions, stance, everything. It is really funny!

11. She has a very strong personality. She will let you know when she isn't happy with what is going on. But I have also learned that once you lay down the law and enforce it, she is VERY good at following the rules. She is quite cooperative once she knows that you aren't going to back down. But until she is done testing your limits, better grab some ear plugs!!

12. I LOVE giving her a time out. Sounds crazy I know. I have only given her about 4 of them and she is so good at them. It is so cute to see her sit in that big chair quietly without complaining. And then when the buzzer goes off she gives the biggest hugs ever!

As all adoptive parents, our thoughts on this day also turn to her birth mother and family. Her birth mom has no way of knowing what has happened to her. I wish I could let her know that she is happy and healthy with a mom, dad, 2 brothers, and a sister that love and cherish her very much. That she will be given every opportunity that she wouldn't have had in China. That she has excellent medical care and her cleft lip has been fixed and will be revised in a few years and won't even be noticeable. I can't even imagine the pain her birth mom feels about not knowing what has happened to her precious girl. I hope that somehow she can just "know" that she is having a wonderful life. I know her birth mother would be so happy that she is in America. The Chinese people consider those babies going to America as very blessed. Her birth mother made the absolute best choice for her daughter. That action of abandoning her (I HATE that word) shows the amount of unconditional love they have for her.

I haven't taken a lot of picture the last couple of weeks (I know it's a shock to most of you)!! But here are a few snapshots of our big 2-year-old!!! Happy Birthday Presley Claire Xue!!! We love you very, very much!!!