Time flies when you are going at the speed of sound.....

Can't believe Annie has been home over eight months now! In some ways, it seems like just yesterday that I first saw her in the orphanage yet it's also like she's always been my daughter. I can't imagine life without her. She's grown taller (although she's still tiny enough that it's tough to keep her pants on, she lacks enough bum or belly to fill them out), talking up a storm that I hope to understand 100% some day and her smile lights up the room. Most importantly she's an adapter as her life has been full of change since the day she first saw me. In seven months, Annie was united with her "Momma" (often spoken like she's spent time in Italy), gained a Daddy and as of July 9th had a baby brother added to her life. Yep, just a few changes........ but she LOVES her Daddy, who will be adopting her as a stepparent just as soon as the re-adoption is complete and she is fascinated with (and yes at times jealous of) her baby brother. Yesterday when she came home from day care, she walked right past me and straight to the baby!

To back up a bit, there is no way that I intended to put Annie through so much in such a short time but life had other plans as shocker of all shockers I discovered I was pregnant just as I was bringing Annie home. During the wait for my referral I met the love of my life and amazingly enough he didn't blink when I told him (just as we were getting to know each other) thatI was adopting and that NOTHING would get in the way of it. I'm still amazed that I found such a wonderful man who was willing to essentially wait for me until Annie came home. So the original plan was to get married in the summer after Annie had adapted to her new world (which she ended up doing in less than two months) but then the pregnancy test came back positive and after a brief period of speechlessness life went into high gear. Annie thrived, my belly grew, my love made plans to move in with us and in early April Annie walked me down the aisle in my parent's backyard. On that day, I gained a husband and the man she had already begun to call Daddy became well Daddy! We haven't had time to look back since Annie's brother was born on July 9th. He's mellow to her energetic air, fair to her dark beauty and both are loved beyond belief. Yes, we are tired, I can't really remember a lot of early July and my once wonderful yard is showing definite signs of neglect but really can life get much better??? :-)