A year ago today!

A year ago today was the first time I saw the face of my beautiful little girl. As I've reflected on this over the last couple of days I've gone between 'That was a year ago!?' and 'It's only been a year?’ Laine has is such a blessing in my life, an exasperating, trying, tiring blessing. I now understand the sentiment 'I love her more each day,' because each day is something new. I describe her development as on hyper drive, she went from being several months behind in Feb. to being ahead in verbal today. She was slow to walk, but now I miss her staying in one spot and all the scooting on her bum. It is great that she can communicate what she wants and she certainly expresses herself when she doesn't get it! The referral paperwork described her as cheerful, which is true and obstinate sometimes, I guess I should have known what I was in for if they new that at 6 months! Yes, things have changed, but I think the pictures below will bring you back to the first time that you saw sweet Laine and maybe realize that things haven't changed that much!

Fun in Florida!

Over Thanksgiving we spent a week in Florida with my parents and my sister's family, a great time was had by all and some valuable lessons were learned:

1) Laine hates the beach, I know she looks happy in the picture, but keep in mind she is being held. She hated the sand, screamed her head off if I made the slightest motion that could be interpretted as putting her down.

2) Ice cream is a daily event at Grandma's house. The parent's were quick to reinfource that second part.

3) Laine loves shoes, she was constantly trying on whatever shoes she could find. She especailly liked Trey's shoes because she could get them on herself and then still get around fairly well.

4) Having a cousin the same age is a lot of fun!

Hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Merry Christmas from the Tinks! (click here)

I was baptized!

My mom is a slacker so I'm taking over. On Aug. 31 I was baptized and my Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt, Uncle and cousin and many friends were here for the event, but you would never know based on what my mom posted. It was a wonderful service and lunch (but it got to be a long day as you can see from the picutres.) Mostly, I had fun playing in the water! My Grandma made my beautiful dress from material she bought in Guangzhou and shoes to match! I will talk to my mom about posting more pictures from Trey's visit, because we had a lot of fun together!

Happy Halloween

Laine would not go near her costume since it came in the mail, but yesterday when it came time to put it on, she came through like a trooper! Here are a few pictures from our fun day!




There was a theme in the neighborhood!




Laine figured out that an important part of Halloween is sorting through the loot!

Playing at the park

My new friend Lia was born, which I didn't find all that interesting, but I did have fun playing with her brothers at the park.

What will I be when I grow up?

A singer/song writer?

An elite soccer player?

A world leading whistler?

A food critic?

Well, for now we will just have fun!

walking and talking

Well, after several attempts, I have a semi-edited video to highlight some of Laine's new skills and to show how she has grown. I'm working of upgrading my software, but for now this will have to do.

Recent videos

Where has the month gone?

Over the last month, Laine has continued to grow and change at an amazing rate. First for her stats, she is 20 lbs and 30 inches, which puts her in the 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. She has 12 teeth, which she enjoys showing off in her infectious grin. She is doing really well and has pretty much caught up in language and gross motor, which were the two areas that she was delayed.

The big news is that Laine has taken her first steps! She took her steps while visiting grandpa and grandma’s house and on her uncle’s birthday. This is bittersweet for me, while it is exciting to watch her enter this new stage and there are some advantages to her being upright, I feel like this is the true end of baby and the beginning of toddler life and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a baby.

Laine is also quite the little mimic; she is learning new words everyday. Book, ball, bubbles, baby all sound a little similar, but there is definitely object recognition. She got into more than a little trouble because she would say ‘grandpa’ (bop pa), but not ‘grandma.’ She also knows many animal sounds. The new challenge is to figure out what she learned at daycare, one day ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ started playing and Laine started to point to her head, I had no idea that she knew the song or where her head was! Laine is still really outgoing and talks constantly, my friends were watching her for me a few weeks ago and they had to laugh that she even talks in her sleep. I’m trying to teach her to say ‘bye-bye’ because right now she blows kisses when we leave somewhere, which is really cute when it is people that we know or friends of my parents, but less so at the grocery store or the mechanic.

The visit to my parents was good, busy, but good. Laine was able to meet many members of my family, including one of her great grandmothers. She was also able to play with her cousin and while they beat up on each other a little (Laine tried to crawl on Trey’s back when he got between her and a toy!) overall, they had a good time together and it is very fun to watch them interact together. Unfortunately, the trip was too short to see many of my friends, so we will catch up on our next time through.

Overall, Laine did well traveling, but what a difference from a few months ago. Now, there are obvious differences like, I didn’t buy a seat for her and my mom wasn’t traveling with us, but there were also differences of she is more mobile and doesn’t sleep when she is tired if there are other activities going on. She had a little trouble accepting that she had to stay on mom’s lap and couldn’t go visit other people on the plane and there was a distinct moment when she was screaming when I thought ‘well, I never have to see these people again.’ Fortunately, she fell asleep shortly after that.

I return to work full-time in a few weeks, which will make home life more complicated, but will reduce some stress at work because I won’t feel so behind all the time. I think Laine will adjust to the 5 days, she is really happy at daycare. Laine will probably transition to the toddler room about the same time, this is a more structured environment, which she should do well in and she will be with kids closer to her age.

It is hard to remember life without Laine, it was only 5 months ago that we met, but I’m so over the moon in love with this kid that it is hard to believe that we have been together such a short time. I’ve been formulating a ‘good, bad and ugly’ posting in my head, but this one is pretty long, so maybe that one will be for the 6 month update (ya know, when I’m a seasoned parent!)

Help Grandma! Mommy won't buy me push toy!

Haircut, Mother's day and other fun events

In May Laine has continued to grow and change, it is hard to believe that 3 short months ago she wasn't rolling over and now she can't sit still! She is pulling herself up on furniture and has even let go a few times. She had her first haircut on this side of the ocean after Aunt Kelly accused her of having a mullet, that just would not do! She did great, was really curious about the event but not distressed. Enjoy the recent pictures--

May pictures

Gaining weight

Laine and I have been together for 3 months and she has put on 3 lbs. The following pictures and videos will demonstrate how she achieved a 17% increase in a short time. (The video of her eating tofu is for Uncle Mike C.'s benefit!)

The Story of Laine Fong

A dear friend and fellow China traveler took my photos and video from our time in China and made an amazing video. It is 15 minutes long, so grab some tissues, sit down and enjoy!


Thanks Eddie! you are the best

Watch me grow!

On the move and other fun things

Laine is mobile! she can crawl backwards and scoot forward. Laine is doing really well and adjusting to daycare. The first day went about as well as expected, but then I didn't expect much. This past week she slept and ate better and is held a lot by her different teachers. I'm adjusting to being at work and having a busy schedule when I get home. I'm glad that I have a reduced work schedule, it makes the weekend less jam packed. There are additional pictures posted below, many are pictures of all of the great visits we had with friends and family (I'm just behind in posting!)

Auntie and Trey's visit

Great Auntie adn Jenna's visit

Visitors and other pictures from the first few months home