Another update...

Joylin continues to sparkle in our family. We are on a roller coaster of thrills and exhaustion... I wish I could harness some of the 3 year old's energy and use it. She is average now for weight and height. She came to us not even on the Chinafemale charts so again we are amazed at how well she is doing. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Joylin with us this summer and fall. Special one of Brett with Joylin. A great big Brother who loves her very much.

Here is one with Daddy- Kurt. They have special bonding time in the morning while Mommy - me gets a chance to wake up and have a cup of coffee. We are at Burt Lake Beach. Yep she loves the water.

Garrett like to play with her. They get wild and crazy and she loves it that much more. He is also a protector too. He wants her to hug her and cuddle which she doesn't do a lot of with anyone. Too active and curious to settle for a snuggle. But here is a moment when Garrett was holding her after being in the bouncy house for awhile (hence the rosy cheeks) and a bit tired. He was making sure she was not going to get hurt by the other kids in there.

And my favorite. Since I am usually taking the picture, I don't have many of us and if I get some I have to weed out those that are not flattering. This shows how sweet she can be and we are wearing matching polka dot skirts which she thought was pretty neat.

Joylin the growing monster!

She is getting Big! Which she will hold her hands high in the air when you sing that to her! SHe loves music and the remote. We just found our TV remote in a drawer which we never knew we had.
At her Drs. Check up on 2/4 - she gained 4 lbs! She is a whopping 20 lb butter ball now. She gained 2 inches and is already taking lots of steps. She swaggers a bit but prefers to walk than crawl.
Her hair is filling in as well as her eyelashes. She had 4 teeth when we were in China and now she has 8 teeth with more on the way. She is curious and into everything (see tornado pic below). She is bonding well with Dad and me. I am, of course, the favorite:)
We are still in awe and thank God for all he has blessed us with in this little angel.

Schedule - ANYONE?

I am not an extremely organized person, but with our family and obligations- it would be nice to have a schedule. Miss Joylin thinks otherwise. She likes to keep us guessing. You know- go with the flow- be flexible. I would like to know if I can get to the store at a certain time or not. So when you tell someone to come over for a visit and then she spends the entire 2 hours sleeping - what do you do?
Here she is with the boys:













This is my "no!no! NO!" Hockey picture. Don't even hold that mini- stick!

Getting settled

We have been home now for less than a week. It feels so good to be home. Poor Joylin has a cold still and we believe is teething too. There still isn't much of a pattern to her schedule. She is pretty active at around 4 am if anyone would like to visit then. Of course, I want to run her around to everyone and show her off, but I know that is not the best timing for her right now.
We are slowly realizing all the baby proofing and she isn't even walking yet. She sure wants to. She likes the boys to take her around holding her hands. She is communicating so much more too. Not talking per say - fun babble, but you know when she is done eating (which is good for her to realize that you can quit- she didn't have much of an off button when eating), she tells you when she doesn't like her face washed and being put in the crib. Yep, she is good at expressing her opinions now. This is a good sign, meaning she is more comfortable with us. We are working towards a stronger trust with her.
We did get our first hugs- (we think that is what they were) from her. We picked her up and she kind of pats your back in excitement and a huge smile. We just melt with her.
We have a drs. appt on Friday. We are hoping she has gained weight since we were in China. Her last recorded weight was 16 lbs. at 16 months!
I'll post pictures later tonight.