making goals

I gave up on making new year's resolutions a long time ago. There are only so many times you can resolve to lose the same 50lbs before you feel like a complete defeated loser. This year I took the approach of making goals for 2015. I won't share them all but one of the most important ones to me was to MAKE MEMORIES AND TAKE ADVENTURES with Daizy. Instead of buying her lots of clothes, toys, etc...I want to invest in memories that will last her much longer than things will. So we are going to take adventures when given the chance.

We started off right by taking an adventure to Milton, Florida to visit one of my dearest friends for New Years. I haven't seen Jen in years. We both have kids now and it was long overdue for our girls to play together. We had a blast!! Jen is a Disney Travel Agent so while we were there we planned our next big adventure. That's right....we're going to DISNEY WORLD!!

DISNEY COUNTDOWN IS.....(drum roll)

Before Disney we are getting away with some friends over Mardi Gras break. Daizy will get to experience the beach for the first time. I am looking forward to having sand in my toes and the smell of salt water in the air.

COUNTDOWN TO THE BEACH....

One of my other goals was to blog more. My note on my board says "you have a story to tell....blog!" So far so good. Looking forward to many adventures this year with Daizy Mae!!

Smarty Pants

I couldn't be more proud of Daizy! She has adjusted so well to life in America that you'd never even know that English is her second language or that she's been in the states less than a year. I prayed for a smooth transition and prepare for the worst. Jesus has been gracious at easing this new mom into motherhood with a kind, obedient, tender hearted and smart little girl. Daizy has loved school from day one. She is the only kid in Louisiana who was begging to wear uniforms in the summer time. During holidays she asks repeatedly when school starts back. She wants to get there early every day. This girl loves to be social but she loves learning. Just 6 months ago she couldn't read and now she is reading chapter books. I am amazed at her determination and tenacity. There will be no stopping this girl in whatever she wants to do.

I just wanted to take a minute to brag on her because she made A/B honor roll the first 9 weeks of school and this 9 weeks she made A honor roll. That is not an easy job for a kiddo who still lacks lots of context clues when it come to words, seasons, children's songs and stories, etc. She is an overcomer and I'm proud to be her momma!

Below is a picture of her and her classmate. There is also a picture of her and Mr. Rick who treats Daizy like one of his own grandchildren. She loves him and Mrs. Joanna. Mr. Rick gave her a little money for making honor roll so we went and got Mexican food (her favorite) and ice cream on Thursday night. The last picture is her being silly at dinner.

welcome to 38...I mean 37

Good thing age is just a number and doesn't really bother me. Leading up to my birthday I thought I was turning 38. My dad kept insisting that I was only going to be 37. Turns out he was right. Well happy 37th birthday to me! It was a great birthday. I slept late. I woke up to maple bacon donuts (and adult onset diabetes). My dad and Daizy made me a birthday cake. Auntie Teri took Daizy to see Annie while I got to see a movie by myself. I had been wanting to see Mocking Jay so bad and finally got to go on my birthday. We ended the day with dinner at Outback. I'm one blessed lady.

1st Christmas in America

What mom doesn't look forward to her first Christmas with a child? There is just a special wonder about Christmas lights and gifts when kids are around. Our first Christmas together was last year in Uganda. There were no presents. No lights. Just a quiet morning that came in like all the rest. We spent the morning at church reading about the birth of our Savior and singing carols. We enjoyed a simple lunch and just enjoyed each other all day while drinking lots of soda. There was something amazing about the simplicity of it all much like I imagine the first Christmas in the stable must have been. But I won't lie....this year was so much fun.

I have been the baby of the family for 36 years. I still beg to open presents early. I shake gifts to try to figure out what they are. Let's just say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It was so fun watching Daizy try to figure out gifts and beg day in and day out to open them. No one ever gave into my begging though. I let Daizy open gifts early at home. We ended up opening a gift the day we got to Alabama. And then instead of waiting until Christmas morning we opened gifts on Christmas Eve. Daizy's pop and auntie Teri are softies where she is concerned. Getting to sleep in on Christmas morning was a great gift to this sick momma!!

The baby of the family lost her title. I usually have the biggest stack of gifts but not this year. Daizy couldn't see over her mound of presents. My heart couldn't have been happier. She loved everything she opened and just when we thought she couldn't be anymore excited she would squeal with glee over the next box. Pops definitely won the prize as best gift giver with all the pop star purple clothes and especially with the cowboy boots. Who knew Pops was such a great shopper....good thing he had an elf helper.

Mom still racked up though. I got a new north face coat, a nice smoker and many other goodies.

After having Christmas with mom on the 19th and Christmas with Auntie Teri, Pops and Potter on the 24th she still wasn't done being spoiled. We still had Christmas at Grandmother's to look forward to.

After Daizy got over strep throat I stayed sick pretty much the whole Christmas break so I didn't take many pictures with her. This is one of the only ones I managed to get and you can tell I am not at my best. Oh well....still love making memories with this kiddo.

make over

We have been blessed that Daizy has had very minimal health concerns. We had to catch up on immunizations before she could start school. And of course she has had some allergy issues that everyone who lives in Pineville has to deal with. But for the most part this girl is healthy, happy and growing like crazy. The one concern we needed to look into was her teeth. There was some obvious discoloration of her teeth that I feared were cavities. Her baby teeth were perfectly straight and glowing white but when her permanent teeth came in there were some issues. Fortunately after her first dental visit I was told that she had no cavities. Daizy has an enamel deficiency as a result of being very sick as an infant. Doctor Matthews said that once all of her permanent teeth are in and she is a bit older we could look into some more permanent fixes but for now he wanted to seal those teeth so that they didn't continue to chip away. Luckily the appearance of her teeth didn't keep her from smiling but I do remember the day she ever eluded to the fact that her smile bothered her.

In the Lord's sovereignty the time worked out that Daizy got her three front teeth fixed the day before her first presentation at school. I cannot even begin to explain the confidence boost I saw in her when she saw her smile for the first time. She couldn't stop smiling, looking in the mirror and asking me if these were forever. She was a rock star in the chair while Dr. Matthews worked his magic. And the next day she looked like a seasoned professional presenting on the Wampanoag Indians.

BEFORE

in the dentist chair

AFTER

dressed and ready for her presentation

My girl was beautiful before but it was so good to see that smile grow even bigger. I love her newly found confidence. Between the new teeth and her long hair she has turned into quite the performer and has decided she wants to be a pop star. Watch out world.

Gotcha Day Anniversary

December 19th was our official "Gotcha Day" when I was granted legal guardianship of Daizy by the court of Uganda. It's crazy that a year has already gone by. I wasn't really sure how we would celebrate our day since it was a school day. It couldn't have been more of a perfect disaster.

On Wednesday evening Daizy began complaining of a sore throat. On Thursday morning she woke up with a fever but begged to go to school because it was the day of her school Christmas program and she was so excited. She had worked long and hard to learn the words and motions to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Side note: we just take for granted that our kids come out of the womb knowing Christmas carols. This girl had to work hard this Christmas to keep up. End side note. So off to school she went full drugged with motrin to break her fever. At that moment I became "THAT MOM" who knowingly sent her kid to school sick but I just didn't have the heart to tell her she couldn't sing in the musical. They had a performance at 9am and another at 1:30pm. I had plans to attend both and we had several friends coming to each to see her. At 9am she was smiling and had a grand time. I didn't get to speak to her to see if she was feeling okay. Fast forward to about 12:00pm when I was at a work Christmas luncheon and got a call that she was running fever and didn't feel good so I need to come pick her up. Not shocked at all. So off I went. She wanted to stay for the musical but I couldn't get her in to the see the doctor that afternoon and do the musical so I had to break her little heart.

By the time we got to the doctor and two doses of motrin later she was running 103.7 fever. This kiddo was sick. The nurse told me that flu, mono and strep had been going around and some kids were coming in with all three. At this point fingers crossed that we could come out with no mono or flu. Strep it was. Unfortunately Daize got a big ole shot in the booty which we had to hold her down for. I felt horrible and understood why some moms cry in the doctors office. I felt like such a bad mom but I knew it was for the best. Unfortunately you can't return to school until you're fever free for 24 hours which meant that Daizy would miss her school Christmas party and the last day of school. (enter sad face here)

So Friday rolls around and it's our "Gotcha Day" and though I had no plans to spend it at home with a sick baby it was perfect. We got to sleep late and then I decided to surprise her by having our Christmas together. We had plans to spend Christmas in Alabama with family so instead of getting all her gifts at once or me having to haul all of her gifts to AL we just had Christmas morning on the 19th. I didn't tell her we were doing Christmas that morning so while she brushed her teeth I rushed downstairs to sit her gifts out. It couldn't have been better. We spent the day snuggled on the couch enjoying her new movies and eating her favorite foods and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

This was just the start to what turned out to be a great Christmas with family and friends. Having a child around during the holidays brings infectious joy.

FIRSTS

This year has been filled with so many "firsts" for Daizy. Most of these will be old news if you follow my social media posts. But here goes my attempt at reviewing in chronological order....

first time to the fair and riding the ferris wheel

first homecoming hoedown at LC

first time carving a pumpkin and of course she wanted me to free hand Ariel from the Little Mermaid

first report card and this baby made the honor roll

first SEC football game...it wasn't Auburn but we had a blast with Uncle Blake cheering on the Ole Miss Rebels and Daizy got to meet all the cheerleaders and take a picture with them

first set of braids...man was this an experience

first Christmas gala at LC

and finally....putting up her first Christmas tree

This has been a year full of laughter and joy as we have made so many new memories as a family. This girl has changed my life and I look forward to a lifetime of firsts!

Daizy Mae Thomas

Well I suppose it's time to play catch up again. I now know why moms fall off the face of the blogging earth when they have kids. It's a full time job then you add on an actual paying full time job and forget blogging....when I have down time I am vegging out in front of the TV or sleeping.

First things first....

On October 6, 2014 Daisy Ayiorwoth forever and always became Daizy Mae Thomas. Her adoption is official by court decree and I am her legal mother as if I had birthed her myself. Praise Jesus for this sweet gift.

This is us with Judge Yeager. He was wonderful up to the point that he told Daizy to make her mom buy her an iphone and a puppy. Seriously though he made that day enjoyable. We were in an out in no time. It almost felt anti-climatic after the long process we went through in Uganda.

And this would be our circle of support that day. So thankful for our social worker and friend, Alicé. And incredibly thankful for my best friend and sister, Amy.

Now all we have left to do is jump through a few more hoops to officially become a US citizen!!