Thankful

Jia's grandma got her a cool new toy to play with while visiting their house and the grandpa put it together for her. She was quite the helper! You'll see from the pictures that Jia loved getting right in the middle of the project! Jia also was right in the middle of helping me make stuffing for the Thanksgiving dinner we hosted. I'll just say it was a very interesting experience trying to cook for 7 (only 7, whew) with Jia at my legs or on my hip! Fortunately I had a lot of help from Terrell and his family once they got here. I fell into bed at the end of day feeling pretty accomplished and very, very thankful.

Jia is doing wonderfully I'm happy to report. We enjoyed 4.5 days together over the holiday and we had a blast together. We fall into a rhythm with each other when we have more than just two weekend days together. We play, shop, run errands and nap together. It's wonderful. She's getting to be such a big girl. Still a bit grumpy in the morning and after waking from naps but other than that she is so very happy. What a wonderful personality she has. She laughed, belly laughed, threw her head back and just giggled out loud during bathtime tonight. She blinked her eyes at me and I mimicked her. Oh, the delight at getting her mommy to mimick her! We continued this pattern for 4-5 minutes while she literally threw her head back in glee with an out loud belly giggle. I love laughter. It's one of the most important things in my life and it gives me such a warm thrill to know that is in Jia's nature too. It makes life a little easier when you can throw your head back and laugh. It feels so very good.

Happy Birthday to my dear sister Laura. I miss you and hope we can all be together soon. Jia needs to see the other LaLa in the family! Love you.