Note of Interest

I have posted a lot of new pics and posts at the same time that has covered a long period of time since I have been too busy to get online to update the blog. So my suggestion to you is that you start from the last post you read because it posts the most recent post at the top of the blog site. It may make a little better sense if you go in the correct timeframe. So sorry for the delay but some things have to take priority and lately the blog has not been that "thing." Kassidy and Nikki both have been struggling with sleeping lately. Kassidy does pretty good once she is asleep but getting her to sleep has been the problem. She sometimes will cry 2 hours or more before she finally falls asleep. Then after this fiasco every night, Nikki cannot go to sleep even when Kassidy has conked out. We have tried everything but nothing consoles her. We have come to the conclusion that she misses her foster mother still at nighttime as she cries for "NaNa" (which we asked in China what that meant and they said a grandmother figure). We are assuming that this is who she is crying for at night since she did sleep with her and so we are hoping that while we know this is a good sign because we know her ability to bond is there but we are just hoping that she will soon be able to fill that empty feeling with her new mommy and daddy and that she will have peace soon and be able to fall asleep faster for her and mommy and daddy's sake. So sleep deprivation has been an issue in this house.

Also I just want to make mention that with all the pics that I have posted on the blog, there are still people missing for various reasons, some because we were sometimes too excited to remember to bring the camera, too tired to remember to bring the camera, or both. Also there are people who are out of state whom we have yet to be able to unite Kassidy with but are hoping to do so very soon. Also some of you would kill me if I posted some pics that I had of you that did not turn out quite well. LOL Lastly, there are sooooo many pics of people that if I posted each and every one of them I would be here forever and no one would have time to read all the blog posts. So I am asking that you forgive me if you do not see your pic in here and hopefully over time we will be able to keep up the blog and have many more pics to include more and more family and friends. Stay tuned for the next batch of blogs and hopefully it will not take so long next time.

Love you all, Billy, Nikki and Kassidy XOXOXOXOX

Shower From Nikki's Friends from Old Job

This is a shower that was thrown for Kassidy by friends of Nikki whom she worked with at her past job with the cardiologist group. She made many friends there. Even though it has been about 1-1/2 years since she quit there and moved onto working at home to make the transition with Kassidy better, they still remember the long wait that was endured even while working there with them. They would always ask if I had heard anything. So when we finally got her they too decided they would like to throw a shower for Kassidy and so here are a few pics from that very fun time. We thank all of you so much for taking the time to celebrate Kassidy's arrival and still thinking about us even if it has been awhile since you had seen us. Thank you for being so vigilant and keeping up with our process. The last pic is a pic of her first Trick or Treat bag full of goodies sent by her good buddy Talon who moved to CO before her arrival to NC. I think Angel (Talon's mommy) had a little something to do with the buying, packing and shipping also. As you can see she was ready to tear into some of her treats.

Bath Time

This is Kassidy's favorite past time except for eating time. She loves taking a bath. Her paperwork when we first got her said she loved baths and said she took them in sinks. So when we got her in China we would put her in the sink and she did not like it at all. I don't know if she did not trust us, if we was not doing it to her liking, or both but that has long changed. We got her home and with the many bath toys that she received and the roominess of a big bathtub, she goes to town on having fun with bubbles, toys, etc. When she hears us running bathwater in another room she scoots herself as fast as she can to the bathroom and starts crying to get into the bathtub. It is so cute! I also had to add a pic of one of our favorite dresses that she received. At the time it escapes me who got it for her but thank you whoever because she is so adorable in it. We thank everyone for all their wonderful and thoughtful gifts. She could not be any more blessed to have all of you who care so much for her and help make her a part of all of your lives.

More Family and Friends

More pics with Aunt Jodi, Aunt Cindy, Aunt Tammy and girls, Aunt Kim and Mamaw "Beep Beep" (Trilba). The picture of me feeding her at the open house was what Nikki spent a lot of tiime doing at the open house. If you know her at all then you know she likes to eat and she had her feel that day because that was about the only way anyone could get to hold her for a second was to feed her so we finally had to say no more food because she was going to get sick if she ate anymore but it did not stop her from begging for more.

More Open House and Family

These pictures are of several cousins Kyle, Ryan, Brigette, and Sheena along with one with Aunt Joyce. Also you will see a pic of cousin Jaxon who thought obviously that Kassidy was getting a little more attention than he was and he needed to do something about that soooooo he decided he would dump the plate of melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain on top of his head. Well...he succeeded with this strategy. He got laughs and pics taken of him for a very long time and there was absolutely no way that mommy and daddy could do any type of discipline with that cute grin on his face and with everyone acting as if he had done the best trick in the whole wide world.

Alum Creek WV Open House for Kassidy

While we live in NC, we both consider our home sweet home as WV. This is where we grew up and a lot of our friends and family live there. So we were so excited to get there to have Kassidy meet people that have loved her and anticipated her arrival for a long, long time. As you can see, they had an all out party fest for her arrival. We decided to have an open house instead of an official shower because we wanted men and children to come and to not have such a formal setting so that we could do more socializing than setting around and watching Nikki open gifts for hours, which is fun also but since we do not get to see everyone in WV that often and since it was Kassidy's first "showing" (hehe) we definitely wanted to spend more time with talk and hugs. The pics above are of the decorations, cake (made by Billy's aunt Debbie who lives in WV) and friends, family and church family in WV. We could not be more blessed to have all these people in our lives and now in Kassidy's life as I think I do not have to emphasize too much because the pics says it all. She is already so loved!

Meeting Cousins in WV for First Time

So sorry to all of you who have been checking the blog site for updates. Since getting home we have been on the go a lot traveling out of state to introduce Kassidy to her family and friends that unfortunately do not live so close. Also, we have been blessed with so many friends and church families that have been giving us showers/open houses that we have been quite busy with those too. While it has been a little very busy at times it has been so much fun and we have enjoyed it and appreciated it more than can be expressed in words and we thank all of you for all the work and time that you have put into making these events in our lives so special.

All these cuties above in the pictures are Kassidy's cousins, Reece, Bobbi Raeann, Ayden and Jaxon in WV who she was meeting for the first time. As you can see, they were all so happy to FINALLY be holding her and playing with her after not only waiting 3.5 years for the adoption but also to have to wait two weeks after we got home to the US for us to finally be rested up enough to travel to see them. I think that two weeks for them was harder than the 3.5 year wait, which I know I would be out of my mind crazy too if it had been me to be so close yet not be able to see her yet. While her cousin Jaxon is only a couple months older than she is, he is all boy and when picking her up and then picking him up, he is like one big muscle and so heavy compared to her. I wish I had got a picture of their hands together because his hands are so much bigger than hers it is just so funny. At first, he was ready to get to her and play (which is a little too aggressive as far as she was concerned). The first few days she cried every time she even saw him in the same room. She was like "Oh no...not him again." BUT after a few days she was holding her own. She got brave and would put her hand in his face and pull his hair before he would have the chance to get to her which he more or less thought was funny. I don't think she intimidated him at all but we will see how that goes in the years to come! hehe