GOT ME DAY!

One year ago, today, both sets of grandparents and some close friends walked into a courtroom together to witness history being made. Eric and I were recognized by the state of Ohio as Elaina's legal parents. Forever and ever. Happily ever after.

It's just amazing - one year ago today, we finalized Elaina's adoption in an official court hearing. It's funny how I remember thinking that it really wasn't a big deal, just the last part of red tape we had to wrap up, but by the time our hearing was over, I felt a significant difference. Surprisingly, I felt even closer to our precious little girl whom we'd already given our hearts to. It was an incredible day for all of us!

So, if you've ever read a single other entry on this little 'ol blog of mine, you can probably pick up the fact that we are head over heels, crazy, in love with our girl. I want Elaina to always know how important this day is to us. Certainly not more important than her birthday of course, but almost as meaningful. This is the day that we plan to celebrate every year as "Got Me Day" to commemorate and celebrate our family becoming one. Elaina got us and we got her. Each year, we plan to do a family activity together, centered around Elaina.

You may ask, "what activity can a family enjoy with an 18 month old in the winter?" (Yeah, I asked the same thing.) First, I left work 2 hours early to pick up Elaina and take her to work to show off to so many of her admirers. Eric finished out his day about the same time and met us at my office. From there, we went to Babies R' Us in search of an umbrella stroller for vacation and picked up an Elmo DVD for his newest fan. While we were there (forever) they were offering a free 8x10 photo to new customers. Since this was such a special day, we plopped
Elaina on the photo table and rolled the dice. The photos were just okay. Perfect for "free." Had I been shelling out some money for these, I would have been greatly diappointed. The photographer was pretty good - Elaina, on the other hand, was pretty clingy. (I'll post the proofs as soon as I figure out how.)

Following this expedition, we headed to the magical fun house with the giant mouse, who goes by the name of "Chuck." Oh yeah, you know the one... the glitzy, gaming, cess pool of all things noisy, that happens to serve pizza. Elaina played a few games of skee ball with her dad, had her picture taken with Chuck E. in the moving car and made her way about freely amongst the riff and the raff of about 70 other kids. No surprise, she always ended her roundabout tour of the facilty on the funhouse slide. There were 4 giant steps for her to climb to a domed platform with a plexiglass panel for us to make faces, knock and wave at each other before she slid down a winding green slide. Wheeee ! She had a blast !

After a slight difference in opinion of when we had to leave, she was about 30 minutes away from her usual bedtime and we still hadn't gotten to go out for dinner as planned. Eric and I went back and forth, debating how she would hold up and took a chance on going to a buffet. Since Elaina (a.k.a. Picky Pickerson), continues to be so unpredictable in what she eats, we have become big fans of the buffet restaurants. There is never a wait and there's tons of variety ready to present to our little critic. Elaina blew us away - she ate so well and even tried some new things. (let's not carried away here, when I say "some" I mean she put "some" food in her mouth by herself and spit it back out herself.) The impressive part is that she actually "tried" it. "Some" of it. In all seriousness, she ate really well, was incredibly pleasant and didn't fuss at all despite being so tired. At the end of the meal, I rewarded her with her very own bowl of ice cream which she quickly scooped into her wide open mouth very happily!

As we were driving home, Eric celebrated his overeating with a lovely burp, to which Elaina quckly said, "Scuse you." Oh, this little girl and her words lately! We both cracked up!

This was an incredible day to celebrate with Elaina and I can hardly wait until next year. I'll still be beaming with the same pride and privilege that comes with being Elaina's mom. Forever and ever. Happily ever after.