A wonderful vacation!

A wonderful vacation!

Anytime away from the office is great, but a week in Florida with friends, Molly, and my mother – priceless! Molly did so well on the plane ride – thanks to an 8 year old who begged me to sit next to Molly and play with her. Was she kidding? I would PAY for someone to entertain Molly!! We arrived on time in Fort Lauderdale and headed straight for Jackie, Dave, and Ben’s new house. We had a great time that day and the next morning. On Sunday we picked up my mom from the airport, checked into the hotel, freshened up quickly and headed out to Lori, Marc, and Katie Starr’s house for a wonderful barbeque. I finally got to meet the latest additions to the South Florida FCC Families – Katie Starr, Mia, and Hansen are simply beautiful. Of course, I also enjoyed visiting with their parents and other waiting families (who have waited long enough!) We spent the next few days at the beach – Molly enjoyed playing in the sand although she would fuss every so often until my mother wiped the sand off of her hands. When she first walked on the sand, she kept wiping off her feet with every new step!! She loved her bucket and toys that I bought and my mother made about a million octopus and fish molds out of sand for Molly to destroy. Molly was less impressed with the surf – we never did get her to even put her feet in the water. She also didn’t care for the airplanes or helicopters overhead. She did love having so much attention though – her mommy and grandmother made sure that Molly had fun! On Wednesday, we had our final post placement with the social worker, Jennifer from our agency Lifelink International. Jennifer is such a nice person and I enjoyed updating her on Molly’s progress. Then we went over to Amy, Gerardo, Diego, and Dante’s house for dinner which was fabulous! Molly and Diego had a blast chasing each other around the house, yelling! Molly also seemed to like baby Dante and was very gentle with him and gave him kisses. Then Thursday night we went to the FCC dinner and as usual had a fabulous time, we got Katie Starr, Mia, and Hansen again, as well as Kacey! Plus all the other children who came home before we left South Florida. We had a great time and Molly looked absolutely adorable in her ladybug costume – the first time I tried it on her, I cried. I can’t believe how beautiful my little girl is. I enjoyed catching up with everyone and meeting some new families. I miss everyone already! On Saturday, I had to drop my mom off at the airport too early and then we headed off to see Candy’s mother and then to the Saturday playgroup. I got to see a few more faces that I hadn’t seen earlier that week – loved seeing Ally, she is just adorable and I was glad to see her and Sandy before they move away from Fort Lauderdale. Molly did not do well at the playgroup. She was very upset and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. She pretty much cried for 6 hours straight, but fortunately fell asleep just before takeoff on the flight back to Dallas. It was rough going there for awhile as she had a major meltdown when we got on the plane – every passenger must have been wondering if I was murdering my child. I got back to the house around 9:00pm and put Molly straight to sleep. She was restless and I think she is teething (which would explain the drool and runny nose last week and the fussiness this weekend). She has never been this cranky when teething, but I guess there is a first time for everything – fortunately once these molars are in, we are done!!

My friend, Jacie, collected our mail while we were gone and I went over Monday night to pick it up only to learn that my daughter can play the piano. Molly spotted Jacie’s piano and wanted to play it and she did – quite well, may I add. It was really amazing. She didn’t just bang on the keys, she really seemed to be trying to compose a tune. She figured out how to make the notes high and low and she composed! I guess it will be piano lessons soon! I’ll need earplugs since I despise classical music!! My parents tortured me with it as a child!

I had so many pictures to share so I created a slide show to display them all enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54855500@N00/show/

1. Molly at the beach; 2. Molly in the tub; 3. Mia; 4. Molly at the beach; 5. Hansen; 6. Me and Molly; 7. Molly in traditional Chinese outfit; 8. Candy with Molly; 9. Lori and Katie; 10. David with Molly; 11. Mia, Katie, and Cadence; 12. Molly with a flower given to her by a little boy in the park; 13. Aimee and Katie eating cookies; 14. Mia, Katie (showing some leg); 15. Ally; 16. Mia with Grandma Pattie; 17. Julie with Kacey and me with Molly; 18. My little ladybug; 19. Molly with her shades and jewelry; 20. Diego; 21. My current favorite photo of Molly; 22. Luke and Ella; 23. Molly and Ben; 24. Molly getting ready to slide