One Year Ago

This morning I realized it was on September 4, 2012 that we received our LOA from China.  This was the day when we knew for sure that Chelsea would be a part of our family.  It was definitely a day to celebrate and I was also able to share pictures of her publicly.  You can find that post here.  

I also realized it has been a long time since I posted on the blog.   It has been since March and a whole lot has been going on.

Chelsea has continued to settle right into our family.  She is easy going and a complete social bug.  She loves going to her brothers' sporting events so she can talk to everyone around her.  She is very smart and amazes everyday with the things she has learned.  She can identify all of her alphabet and numbers.  She is speaking really well for a 2 1/2 year old.  I am really proud of all that she has learned in the last 8 months.  

She loves to play outside, blow bubbles or do anything in the water.  She is definitely a fish!  There are not many things that we have found that she does not like.  She is just a go-with-the-flow princess.

First Easter Egg Hunt at Mamaw's

That's a whole lot of cousins!

We spent a few days at the Lake with our NYC cousins and Neal's Mom and Dad

On Easter Sunday, Chelsea Reagan DeForest was baptized.  What a sweet gift she is and what a sweet gift she is given!

This was Mother's Day.  Love this pic of my 3 babies.  I am one lucky Mom!

We have spent a lot of time at the lake this summer.  Chelsea loves to ride the tube with her brothers, swim, swim, and swim and play with the water hose.  She can entertain herself forever with a little bit of water.  

Playing in the sprinklers

She loved to ride the jet ski!

Getting ready to tube

Bubbles also provide hours of entertainment.

 We also took two trips to the beach this summer.  I wasn't sure what she would think about all that sand and waves but, of course, she loved it.  I also found my beach bum partner because she likes to just hang out on the beach.  I see a lot of beach time in our futures.

Chelsea started Mom's Day Out last week at our church.  She loves it too.  Goes right in and starts to play.  I was worried about her wondering if I was coming back that first day.  She was just waking up when I returned and ran to the door to greet me.  

In July, Chelsea lost her Papa.  Neal's Dad was a very big part of our lives and the lives of our children.  He took great delight in little Ms. Chelsea.  I am so happy that she had the time she did with him.  He is missed greatly!

Football season has started and the next few months will be all about it.  Both boys are playing this year and we will go to all  the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs home games.  Farmerville football on Friday nights where Cayden is the ball boy, and of course we have to watch the Saints!  I hope Chelsea likes football, but I bet she will love it! 

Hopefully I will not wait so long between the next blogpost.  Until then....

Time for an update

I had really hoped to do a better job of keeping up with the blog but life does tend to get in the way. That is a great thing though! Chelsea has been doing great! She is easy going and really funny. She has started to sing and is doing a lot better with speaking. Of course sometimes she starts just talking a way and we can't pick a single word out. She has been loved on A LOT and especially by her big brother, Graham. He takes up lots of time with her and would give her anything she wants. We have to watch that:)






I love this pic of her strutting down the street.


One of my fav pics of Chelsea and her cousin Taylor.


Our weather has been beautiful and Chelsea loves to play outside.


We went to a crawfish boil this weekend and she found some great toys to play with.


Grandmother B had this cute little outfit made for Chelsea.


More big brother time


Chelsea's cousins are grey playmates too.





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Update!

It has been a while since I last posted but we have been having so much fun I just haven't had time!  Chelsea is doing GREAT!  We really don't know how we got so lucky.  She has adjusted just fine.  Always smiling, laughing and learning.  She eats anything and everything we give her, sleeps right on schedule and loves to play with her brothers.  This has allowed us to just have a lot of fun!  Here are some pics from the past month.  We did a lot of celebrating!

We celebrated the pretty weather and being super-cute.

We celebrated Chinese New Year.  Happy Year of the Snake!

We celebrated Mardi Gras!  We went to Cayden's parade at school and she loved the beads.

We celebrated Valentines Day

 We celebrated Presidents' Day weekend at the Lakehouse.  It was her first time there and she was right at home.  We were most concerned with her sleeping but she slept in her playpen in the laundry room (it's right next to our bathroom, not isolated:)) all night long!  She had marshmallows and her first hotdog.  

My boys never liked to clean but she is always ready to help out no matter what I'm doing.  I like this in her A LOT!

 Then on February 21st we celebrated Chelsea's 2nd birthday!!!!!  She didn't really know what was going on but that didn't stop her from taking full advantage of cake, ice cream, balloons, presents and lots of attention!

 We have also been attending Kindermusic once a week which she loves.  I took Graham and Cayden when they were little too and it has always been a special time for us.  It is neat to see how she changes and grows more comfortable each class.

 She got her first haircut.  Sat perfectly still and no crying.  Thanks Ms. Sissy!

 We have been home for 5 weeks today and it feels like she has always been here.  It was weird to celebrate her 2nd birthday when she has only been home this short time.  Here is to more great celebrations!

Also, we introduced Chelsea's Help International, a non-profit that Neal has started to help orphanages in China.  You can scroll down to see the video and instructions for ways you can help.  Thanks!

We have been very busy running the roads and visiting, trying to get settled at home and working on turning Chelsea's sleep around.  We are getting there.  Finally!

Last week we went to visit my Grandmother. We dropped in early so she didn't have her "face" on yet but Mamaw is always beautiful.  We had a fun visit.  I took some pics of her in front of the house.  The weather wasn't pretty but Chelsea sure was.  We will go back in the Spring when the flowers are blooming.

 We got to do a little shopping at my aunt and cousin's.  Chelsea is going to look so cute in her new clothes this Spring and Summer.  I think she may be dressed better than her Mama.

Saturday we went to Monroe to watch Cayden play in an indoor soccer tournament.  It was lots of fun. She is going to be a great cheerleader for her brothers.

 B & Papa came too:

Saturday afternoon Graham went to a camp out at Lincoln Parish Park.  Chelsea and I stayed at the campsite a while.  She didn't know what to think about all the tall trees and wasn't sure about walking around in the pinestraw.

Saturday evening we ran out to Squire Creek to be introduced to Nanny and Papaw's friends.  Papaw bought a round of champagne for everyone there and toasted my Mom, his bride, of 50 years.  They celebrated their anniversary the day we got home from China so Dad says that Chelsea is his anniversary gift my Mom brought him:)  She sat so nicely.  I hope she continues to do this!

We went to church yesterday for the first time since being home and Rev. Brian brought Chelsea down for a blessing.  I will post a pic when I get it.  She sat through the whole service without raising a fuss.  She also loved the band and music.

I went back to work at the church last night and left Neal with the kids.  This is what I came home to:

This morning we started Kindermusic.  At first Chelsea wasn't too sure, but she got involved pretty fast.  I think she is going to like it.